We pass now to 1879, in order that we may consider the changes which had taken place during the quinquennium succeeding the year in which we have given a return of the number of insane in England and Wales, and their distribution. The following figures are derived from the thirty-third Report of the Lunacy Commissioners, and exhibit the total number of registered lunatics, idiots, and persons of unsound mind on the 1st of January, 1879:--In county and borough asylums, 38,871; naval and military hospitals and Royal India Asylum, 342; Bethlem and St. Luke's Hospitals, 430; other public asylums, 2407; metropolitan licensed houses, 2664; provincial, 2049; Broadmoor, 483; workhouses (ordinary), 11,697; metropolitan district asylums, 4308; outdoor paupers, 6230; private single patients, 472; total, 69,885; exclusive of 202 Chancery lunatics in the charge of committees.
On the next page will be found the general distribution and numbers of the insane, January 1, 1881. A more detailed statement will be given, in the Appendix (K I.), of the county asylums and lunatic hospitals now existing for the care and cure of the insane, with the numbers confined therein.
On the 1st of January, 1881, the proportion per cent. maintained in asylums, hospitals, and licensed houses was 64.91; in workhouses, 25.72; and as outdoor paupers, 9.37.
As some of the tables of the Commissioners extend back twenty-three years, exhibiting the number, sex, classification, and distribution of all registered lunatics, January 1, 1859-1881, as also the ratio of the total insane to the total population, we may derive much valuable information for the purpose of our historical review.
-------------------------------+------------------+----------------- Location. | Patients. | Patients. | 1859. | 1881. -------------------------------+------------------+----------------- In county and borough asylums | 15,844 | 41,355 In registered hospitals | 1,855 | 2,948 In metropolitan private asylums| 2,551 | 2,511 In provincial " " | 2,465 | 2,115 In naval and military hospitals| | and Royal India Asylum | 164 | 307 In Broadmoor Asylum for | Not opened | 491 criminal lunatics | till 1863 | In workhouses-- | | Ordinary workhouses | 7,963 | 12,093 Metropolitan district asylums| Not opened | 4,718 | till 1870 | Residing with relatives or | 5,920 | 6,575 others (pauper and private) | | +------------------+----------------- |M. 16,756} |M. 32,973} Total |F. 20,006} 36,762 |F. 40,140} 73,113 -------------------------------+------------------+-----------------