Insanity: Its Causes and Prevention. Henry Putnam Stearns
among the pauper class.
It is apparent that the above statistics present only the total number of increase, without relation to the increase of the population. To enable us to appreciate their full significance, another statement, therefore, becomes necessary.
The ratio of the insane to the sane, the total number of the population being estimated at the middle of the year, for the several years of the decade, was as follows:
| In | 1859 | one in | 535 |
| " | 1860 | "" | 523 |
| " | 1861 | "" | 507 |
| " | 1862 | "" | 495 |
| " | 1863 | "" | 478 |
| " | 1864 | "" | 466 |
| " | 1865 | "" | 460 |
| " | 1866 | "" | 449 |
| " | 1867 | "" | 441 |
| " | 1868 | "" | 430 |
exhibiting a higher ratio of the insane to the sane for every year of the decade.
I now introduce the statistics of the second decade, viz., from 1869 to 1878 inclusive; and perhaps it is fair to assume that these will be more nearly perfect than those of the former period, as the system employed had been longer in operation, and the conditions of the problem somewhat simplified, as the result of previous labors. For convenience, I shall group together the private and pauper patients.
In 1869, there were of both private and pauper patients in the county and borough asylums twenty-six thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven (26,867); in 1878, there were of the same classes of persons, thirty-seven thousand seven hundred and sixty-three (37,763): exhibiting an increase of ten thousand eight hundred and ninety-six (10,896).
There were in registered hospitals, in 1869, of both private and pauper patients, twenty-three hundred and fifty-two (2,352); and in 1878, twenty-seven hundred and seventy-eight (2,778): showing an increase of four hundred and twenty-six (426).
In licensed houses, there were, in 1869, four thousand seven hundred and ninety-six (4,796); and in 1878, there were four thousand two hundred and two (4,202): exhibiting a decrease of five hundred and ninety-four (594).
In naval and military hospitals, in 1869, there were two hundred and nine (209); and in 1878, three hundred and sixty (360): an increase of one hundred and fifty-one (151).
In the Criminal Lunatic Asylum at Broadmoor, in 1869, there were four hundred and sixty-one (461); and in 1878, four hundred and eighty-two (482): an increase of twenty-one (21).
In the workhouses there were, in 1869, eleven thousand one hundred and eighty-one (11,181); and in 1878, sixteen thousand two hundred and sixty-five (16,265): equal to an increase of five thousand and eighty-four (5,084).
Residing with relatives and others, there were, in 1869, seven thousand three hundred and eleven (7,311); and in 1878, six thousand six hundred and eighty-eight (6,688): giving a decrease of six hundred and twenty-three (623).
By the addition of these several sums of increase, and deducting those of decrease, we have a total of increase during these ten years of fifteen thousand three hundred and sixty-one (15,361).
The increase, therefore, as between the first and second decade, amounts to one thousand one hundred and twenty-three (1,123).
The ratio this increase bears to the total number of the population, from year to year, appears from the following table:
| In | 1869 | one in | 417 |
| " | 1870 | "" | 411 |
| " | 1871 | "" | 401 |
| " | 1872 | "" | 396 |
| " | 1873 | "" | 387 |
| " | 1874 | "" | 381 |
| " | 1875 | "" | 375 |
| " | 1876 | "" | 373 |
| " | 1877 | "" | 364 |
| " | 1878 | "" | 362 |
It will be observed from the above statistics, that there has been a considerably uniform increase of insanity, greater than that of the general population, but that it has been less rapid during the second decade than the first. By reference to the last Report of the Commissioners, I find that in 1880 there is one insane person to every three hundred and fifty-seven (357), which indicates that insanity continued to that time to increase more rapidly in proportion than the general population.
I have presented the above numbers somewhat more in detail as to classes and methods of distribution than was necessary, thinking the lay reader may be interested to understand something as to these points, in the care of the insane in England. As these methods are quite similar in Scotland, I shall, in some measure, omit this detail in presenting the statistics relating to that country.
From the Reports of the Board of Commissioners in Lunacy for Scotland, it appears that in 1860 there were of insane persons:
1. Of paupers in asylums and poorhouses, three thousand three hundred and seventy-nine (3,379); of the same class in private dwellings, eighteen hundred and forty-seven (1,847).
2. Of private patients in asylums, nine hundred and seventy-one (971); and in private dwellings, twenty-one (21): making a total of both classes of six thousand two hundred and eighteen (6,218).
These