1863.

No. 3.

[No. 3.]

REPORT of the Joint Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives, on the Asylum for the Insane.

The committees of the Senate and House of Representatives, on the Asylum for the Insane, who were authorized to act as a joint committee, and to visit the Asylum, preparatory to making their report, have performed that duty, and would respectfully present, for the consideration of their respective branches of the Legislature, the following report:

Your committee visited the Asylum on the 29th and 30th ultimo, and examined and inquired into the condition and workings of the Institution, as thoroughly as the brief space of time which they felt at liberty to devote to that object, would allow. The facts connected with the workings of the Institution, are detailed in the Reports of the Trustees, and of the several officers of the Asylum, which reports the committee would recommend to the careful attention and consideration of the Legislature. But your committee would do injustice to themselves, and to the subject, if they failed to express their entire satisfaction with the management, and the evident success of the enterprise, during the short period it has been in operation—a success

gether with the amendments suggested, without recommendation, and ask to be discharged from the further consideration of the subject.

DARIUS MONROE, Chairman.

providing for the care, maintenance and recovery of the in

sane.

Other objects of misfortune demand our attention and support, but none more urgently than the insane. Delay in providing for the wants of the latter, is likely to be attended with much more serious consequences than in ordinary cases. A fair proportion of cases of insanity, not of long standing, may, by timely care and treatment, be cured, when a few months, or perhaps weeks delay, would render them incurable. Besides, in some cases, the safety of individuals or the security of property, requires that a safe and secure retreat should be provided for them.

Of the amounts heretofore appropriated for building purposes, about $42,000 remains unexpended. It is estimated by the officers of the Asylum, that an additional sum of $58,000, making a total of $100,000, would be nearly, or quite sufficient, to complete the north wing of the building. It would'evidently be poor economy to expend half, or nearly half enough, to complete the work, and then, allowing it to stand for years, before deriving any benefit from the outlay. Many of the current expenses of the Institution, such as fuel and apparatus for warming and ventilating the rooms, the engines and machinery used for these and other purposes, the salaries of officers, the wages of the engineers, &c., are expenses common to the whole establishment, and would be but slightly increased, comparatively, if the building were completed, and the number of patients increased to the full capacity of the Institution, when completed. Your committee are not insensible to the fact that the State is, at present, laboring under heavy burdens, imposed upon us by the war, but from the foregoing considerations, they are forced to the conclusion that an enlightened economy, as well as an enlarged philanthropy, demands the completion of the buildings at the earliest practicable moment. They have therefore instructed their chairman to recommend that the necessary appropriation be made, and also to report to the

mended, and ask to be discharged from the further considera

tion of the subject.

All of which is respectfully submitted.

S. H. BLACKMAN,

THOMAS F. MOORE,

Senate Committee.

H. P. COMBES,

F. H. RANKIN,

J. B. COBB,

A. J. KEENEY,

W. F. JENISON,

House Committee.

providing for the care, maintenance and recovery of the in

sane.

Other objects of misfortune demand our attention and support, but none more urgently than the insane. Delay in providing for the wants of the latter, is likely to be attended with much more serious consequences than in ordinary cases. A fair proportion of cases of insanity, not of long standing, may, by timely care and treatment, be cured, when a few months, or perhaps weeks delay, would render them incurable. Besides, in some cases, the safety of individuals or the security of property, requires that a safe and secure retreat should be provided for them.

Of the amounts heretofore appropriated for building purposes, about $42,000 remains unexpended. It is estimated by the officers of the Asylum, that an additional sum of $58,000, making a total of $100,000, would be nearly, or quite sufficient, to complete the north wing of the building. It would'evidently be poor economy to expend half, or nearly half enough, to complete the work, and then, allowing it to stand for years, before deriving any benefit from the outlay. Many of the current expenses of the Institution, such as fuel and apparatus for warming and ventilating the rooms, the engines and machinery used for these and other purposes, the salaries of officers, the wages of the engineers, &c., are expenses common to the whole establishment, and would be but slightly increased, comparatively, if the building were completed, and the number of patients increased to the full capacity of the Institution, when completed. Your committee are not insensible to the fact that the State is, at present, laboring under heavy burdens, imposed upon us by the war, but from the foregoing considerations, they are forced to the conclusion that an enlightened economy, as well as an enlarged philanthropy, demands the completion of the buildings at the earliest practicable moment. They have therefore instructed their chairman to recommend that the necessary appropriation be made, and also to report to the