CHAPTER II.

THE WESTMINSTER INFIRMARY.

About a twelvemonth after the Act was in operation I appealed, through

the medical journals, to my brethren in the provinces as to the

arrangements that had been made in their respective localities. A large

number of letters from all parts of England and Wales were sent to me,

and with the information thus furnished I prepared a paper which I

called "Chaos," in which I turned into ridicule the arrangements that

had been made, showing that the Department, faithful to its traditions,

had made a complete mess of the administrative arrangements. This paper,

read at the meeting of the British Medical Association at Sheffield,

attracted a good deal of attention both in the medical and general

Press. It materially acted in evolving order out of the chaos into which

the subject had drifted, owing to the indifference and incompetence of

those who had drafted the measure.

In the spring of 1872 I was informed that the alterations and

enlargement of the old Workhouse of St. James's, commenced at the time

when the Westminster Union was formed, were complete, and that Mr.

French, who had been the medical officer of the workhouse and parish of

St. James's for upwards of forty years, was about to retire on a

superannuation allowance of £200 a year. I was told that the Chairman of

the Board, a Mr. Bonthron, a Scotch baker living in Regent Street, had

selected a fellow Scotchman, one Dr. S., as Mr. French's successor, and

as Mr. Bonthron claimed to be omnipotent at the Board, this gentleman's

appointment to the vacancy was considered to be certain. In the course

of a few days I heard that a formidable opponent to Dr. S. had appeared

in the person of Dr. M., who was also a Scotchman. In due course the

election took place, when Dr. M. was elected. This resulted from a

protest on the part of certain members of the Board who resented the

predominance of Mr. Bonthron. When apprised of the result of the

election, I remarked that Dr. M. could not take the office as he did not

possess the necessary legal qualifications. On the following Saturday

morning a member of the Board told me that a letter had been read at

the meeting of the Guardians, held the previous evening, announcing that

the election of Dr. M. was null and void, as he held no surgical

qualifications. As his election had surprised all the Guardians, because

it proved that the Chairman had not the influence he claimed, my

informant advised me to apply for the office. At first I hesitated, but

upon being urged again I assented. The same evening I called on Dr. M.,

told him of my intention, and asked him for the support of his friends.

To my utter astonishment he told me he had made up his mind to try

again. "Nonsense," I said; "how can you get a diploma from the College

of Surgeons?" "Oh," he replied, "I have arranged all that; I have a

splendid memory, and I remember all my anatomy and surgery." As I had

every ground for the belief that he had never attended lectures on

surgery, nor attended the surgical practice of an hospital, inasmuch as

I had known him ever since he had come to London, I saw that, without

collusion with some one in authority, it was impossible for it to be

done; but, as he appeared determined, I left him. As soon as it was

known that I seriously intended to compete for the appointment,

testimonials in my favour were forwarded to me by several eminent

physicians and surgeons, by Members of Parliament, among them one of a

very flattering character from Mr. C. P. Villiers, M.P., the

ex-President of the Poor Law Board, who strongly recommended me to the

Board of Guardians, those lady visitors who had known me at the Strand,

and others. Two days before the election took place I was surprised by a

visit from Dr. M., who called to inform me that he had passed his

examination at the College of Surgeons the night before, and now asked

me to retire in his favour. On my declining to do as he wished, he said

it was very hard I would not, as he had incurred an expense of upwards

of £60 to get the diploma. Prior to the election my friends entered into

a compact with his supporters to the effect that if I was in a minority

on the show of hands my name was to be withdrawn, when they would

support him, but if I was in the majority his friends would support me.

This occurring, I was elected, to the great surprise of the Chairman,

who looked on me as a dangerous person, seeing that I had taken an

active part in bringing about the formation of the Union, whereby St.

Anne's had been joined to St. James's, which had the effect of somewhat

increasing his poor rate assessment in St. James's--for St. Anne's, a

poor parish, had considerably improved its position by being put into

union with St. James's, which was comparatively a rich one.

Having at this time received an invitation from the Irish Dispensary

Medical Officers Association to address them at the College of

Physicians in Dublin, I did so, when Sir Dominic Corrigan, Bart., M.P.,

was in the chair; and I afterwards spent a very pleasant week there,

visiting the North and South Dublin Workhouses, the latter having 4,000

inmates, with a large staff of visiting physicians and surgeons, besides

resident medical officers. It is one of the finest hospitals in Dublin,

and the arrangements for the efficient treatment of the sick poor were

in the highest degree creditable to the Irish Poor Law, now the Local

Government Board.

I also visited the Richmond Lunatic Asylum, situated on the outskirts of

Dublin, at that date under the superintendence of Dr. Lalor, who, I

understand, was the first physician who introduced vocal and

instrumental music as a means of relieving the insane. There I witnessed

one of the most extraordinary sights it was ever my lot to see. I will

give a sketch of the tableau. In the foreground sat a young lady

discoursing most eloquent music on a harmonium, immediately behind her

there stood some young Irish women, three or four of them, singularly

beautiful, with music in their hands, accompanying her; behind them were

older women, and then on to the old and weird, all joining most heartily

in the performance. The fringe of this female gathering of nearly 100

performers were harmless imbeciles and idiots. I stood and listened some

moments whilst this singular performance continued. I was so struck with

the beauty of one of the Irish girls that I asked her history, when I

was informed that her condition had been induced by a disappointment in

a love affair. It was the old story of love followed by desertion, and

she had been admitted some six months before in a state of maniacal

excitement. She was too young and altogether too pretty to be an inmate

of a lunatic asylum. Dr. Lalor also showed me a typical case, exhibiting

the truth of the opinion I have long held, that of all the forms of

insanity, none are so uncertain of having been really cured as those

which have exhibited symptoms of homicidal or suicidal violence. The

patient in question had been admitted when suffering with a homicidal

tendency but had steadily improved, and his name was on the list of

those to go before the Visiting Committee for discharge on probation,

when a startling incident occurred. He had secreted one of the knives

used in the asylum about his person, and he had, when unobserved,

whittled away the thick, blunt portion used in the asylum, until he had

given it a sharp cutting edge, from handle to point; when, raising his

right leg up, he cut through the calf down to the bone, severing the

muscle completely. This patient, Dr. Lalor told me, had been employed on

various offices of trust, and that he was commonly considered to be

completely cured, and altogether harmless. I obtained one of the old

knives used in this asylum, had it copied, and, having got the sanction

of the Board for getting several, used them all the time I was at the

Westminster Union, in the male and female insane wards. The cutting edge

was about two inches in length, but the rest of the knife was about the

twelfth of an inch thick. It was impossible for lunatics to do any harm

either to themselves or others with such knives.

On my return to London I was informed that my appointment to the

Westminster Union had been confirmed by the Local Government Board.

A day or so before the 23rd of June an appointment was made by Mr.

French for me to go over the House with him, and to have the

establishment formally handed over to me. I went, accompanied by a young

Irish physician, recently one of the resident surgeons of an Irish

hospital, with whom I was in treaty to be my assistant. I had never

been in this workhouse infirmary before. Shortly after my arrival Mr.

French joined us, and, in company with the head nurse on the female

side, we went through the female part of the establishment. The nurse

was most elaborately "got up." We went on and examined each patient, a

large number of whom were in the wards--in fact, although it was

midsummer, the place was full. I noticed bed-cards over each patient's

bed, but as I could not make out what was given to the patients, I asked

what was being done for this and that case. To my astonishment Mr.

French said, "Nothing; I do not believe in physic, and therefore do not

give the people anything." Presently we entered a large ward where a

woman, evidently in great pain, was lying in bed, writhing in apparent

agony. After ascertaining the nature of the case, which was one of

colicky diarrhoea, I asked, "Well, what do you here?" to which he

replied, "Nurse, give her a glass of Number Two." With that, he pulled

me into the centre of the ward, and giving me a friendly nudge of the

ribs, laughingly said, "What do you imagine is Number Two? Why it is

peppermint-water coloured; I never give any physic." Feeling by this

time somewhat disgusted by these remarkable confessions, seeing that his

stipend was £350 a year, out of which it was arranged by the Board that

he should supply these medicines. I dropped his company, and went on

examining the people independently. Mr. French speedily buttonholed my

young companion, and went on looking at the patients with him. At last

our visit came to an end, and on coming out of the male sick wards he

shook me warmly by the hand and wished me the same happy official life

as he had had. He had hardly got out of hearing when the young Irishman

commenced to reproach me with having transferred Mr. French to him;

saying, "I take it, sir, as a very unkind thing that you should have

done so, as I was shocked at his boasting that he never did anything at

all for these poor sick people."

The next day I entered on my duties. On taking my seat in the

consulting-room the master brought in and laid before me a large volume,

the Workhouse Medical Relief Book. I turned over the pages for the week,

and noticed the names and extras ordered for the sick. I saw that ham,

sausages, tripe, fish, eggs, were entered rather frequently. At last I

said to the master, who was standing by, "You surely have not all these

people on the sick list in the House! I did not see a third of this

number when I went over the House yesterday." "Yes," he replied, "they

are here;" on which I said, "Let everything remain as entered in the

book until I can arrange to go over the establishment and see them all,

which I will do this week." I then went through the sick and infirm

wards. On going through the wards I ordered what in my judgment was

necessary for the sick in the way of medicines, much to the astonishment

of the head nurse, who stared at me in a half-dazed manner. There was

one patient with a very foul and offensive ulcer, for whom I ordered a

charcoal poultice: she came to me before I left the House to ask me

"what I meant." I replied, "A charcoal poultice." She then said, "I

never heard of such a thing before." I then asked her how long she had

been there; she said eight years. The next day I had occasion to order a

carrot poultice; I met with the same astonishment and ignorance of what

was meant. At last she frankly stated that she was about to learn her

duties, for nothing of the kind had ever been used by her before; and

further, she said that as she never had any medicine to give the people,

she had not troubled herself much about the patients; indeed, I learned

on inquiry that she used to be in waiting to see the doctor each

morning, and so soon as he was gone she considered her duties were over,

and she returned to her own sitting-room till next day. I could never

get her to give my medicines as directed. Apart from this indifference

as to medicines, she was kind to the patients and respectful to me. On

the male side I found a superintendent nurse who really knew her duties.

She confirmed the statement voluntarily made by Mr. French, that no

medicines were ever provided for the sick. She also said that the

Guardians knew all about it, and that they treated it as a great joke.

This was not correct as regards some of the Guardians, as I subsequently

ascertained. It was known to the St. James's section of the Board, but

repudiated by those of St. Anne's. Seeing that we had had a medical

inspector and self-called medical adviser for five years, whose duty it

was to visit this Workhouse infirmary, his failure to discover these

omissions was in the highest degree remarkable; but then the system

prevailed at the Local Government Board, and our Workhouse Infirmaries

Association had utterly failed to alter it. The reason for all this was

not far to seek.

On the day after, in company with a pauper inmate, told off to carry the

Medical Relief Book, I went through the wards for the purpose of seeing

the infirm men and women who were on extras. I found on the women's side

that, as it was leave-day, many had gone out, and therefore drew the

inference that if they were well enough to go out they could dispense

with sausages, ham, tripe, eggs, &c., entered against their names, and

could eat the ordinary infirm diet provided by Dr. Markham's diet table,

which I saw hung up in the wards, which diet table had been drawn up

from the form drafted by our Association some years before. It is

curious that he claimed it to be his, without any reference to any one.

Whilst going through the female wards some of the inmates returned

drunk, one old woman very much so. She at once proceeded to ask me who I

was, and what I was doing there. On my replying that I had come into the

ward to see why she was on a diet of daily sausages, she tartly replied,

pulling up her petticoats and showing both her legs, which she struck

with her hands, "For these bad legs." I at once ran the pen through her

name. She lived in the House years after that, but she ate no more

sausages. I learned on inquiry that this fat old woman, who could go out

and return drunk, had had sausages, nominally, as her dinner for two

years. I write nominally because I learned afterwards that in the matter

of diets an extensive system of exchange obtained throughout the House

without any check or hindrance on the part of the officials. It took me

the greater part of four days to see all the infirm people on extras,

but the result was satisfactory, as it enabled me to put the

establishment so far as the diets were concerned, on an economic basis.

The clerk of the Board assured me at the time that I had caused a saving

of some hundreds of pounds, a statement which I honestly believe was the

truth.

It might be a matter of wonder how this could be, but having regard to

the very large amount of extras purchased from day to day, none of which

were supplied under contract, it can be well understood what an

opportunity was given for large prices being charged for such extras, as

practically no check existed on the cupidity of the tradesmen (selected

by the master) who supplied these things. I do not state that such was

the case here, but unless some good understanding existed between those

who ordered and those who supplied, how is it possible that masters of

workhouses, with their limited incomes, should succeed in leaving at

their deaths so much money, as many of them do? I was informed that the

old master who preceded Catch at the Strand Union had gone there after

failing in business as a tradesman in Covent Garden, that he held office

as master twelve years, and when he died that he left some £2,000.

I found on inspection of the specially infirm, paralytic, and wholly

infirm, that the women were located in wards 16, 17, and 18, and on

inquiry discovered that there were no conveniences whatever for the

instantaneous removal of excreta, and yet this condition of things had

not been discovered by the Government Inspectors or by the medical

advisers, or if it had been no steps had been taken to alter it.

On my first visit to these wards I noticed some black patches in the

corners of the compartments, which stood out very distinctly from the

recently whitewashed ceiling and walls. Noticing some days after that

these patches had increased in size, I asked the nurse what it was due

to, when she quietly said, "Those are bugs." So soon as I could I saw

the master, and told him of it, and asked him to see to it. He did not

say he would or he would not, he only laughed. Finding some days after

that nothing had been done, I again saw him in his office, when I told

him that I must insist on those bugs being removed. The labour master

was present, who remarked, "Well, doctor, as you make such a fuss about

the bugs I will see to it for you" (evidently regarding the matter in

the light of a personal favour); and the bugs were swept down into a

dustpan by hundreds and put into the fire and burnt. This was told me

by an eye-witness, who was present whilst it was being done.

I do not wish it supposed that the master was harsh or cruel; quite the

reverse, he was very kind to the inmates. But he had lived long enough

in the service of the Poor Law not to be fully aware that no good would

accrue to him or his by too much zeal in the performance of his duty. He

calmly let things slide; consequently there was more drunkenness on

liberty days than could be possibly imagined, and was unchecked, and

although I repeatedly begged that the names of all persons who were on

my sick list who had been allowed to go out should be reported to me if

they came home drunk, I never could get my wishes attended to, though

occasionally it happened that I discovered the circumstance, especially

when an accident occurred.

I was not wholly unprepared for this laxity of discipline, as some few

days before entering on my duties I met the ex-chaplain of the Strand

Workhouse, who, whilst congratulating me on my return to the Poor Law

service, said, "You will have a great deal to meet with at St. James's.

I have taken the duty there for the chaplain occasionally, and the

scenes of drunkenness and quarrelling among the inmates on their return

home on liberty days, which I have witnessed, exceeds anything you can

imagine." One of the most terrible exhibitions of this kind I ever

witnessed was on the first Christmas Day after my appointment. The

subject having previously been brought under the attention of the Board,

an order was issued that for the future this indiscriminate permission

to the inmates to leave the house on Christmas Day should be stopped. It

will hardly be believed that on the next Christmas Day the Chairman took

upon himself, most presumptuously, to go to the House and give

permission for them to again go out. The scene that occurred that night

was the most disgraceful that ever happened in the history of a

workhouse. Several of the drunken inmates on their return home fought

like demons. I and my assistant were engaged for some time in dealing

with the injuries that were caused. I must state that I never saw the

master so justly indignant as he was at the impertinent interference of

this Chairman, in setting his authority and that of the Board at

defiance in the way he had done.

Finding that no dietary for the sick and infirm had been adopted at the

House, I at once drew up a form which continued in force until

ill-health caused my resignation. It was similar to that which I had

introduced at the Strand several years before. There was one diet for

which I claim especial credit. It was framed with the view of dealing

with capricious appetites or severe sickness. It was called Number Five,

or _ad. lib._, and consisted of either eggs, fish, a chop, beef-tea, or

arrowroot, or anything else of the same value. It was enjoined that the

nurse should at 8 a.m. ask what these special sick would take for

dinner. When she had ascertained the wishes of the patient, a statement

on a diet-sheet showing how many of each description of diet would be

required was sent down to the kitchen. At the end of the week the cook

handed to the master's clerk the number of each diets she had supplied,

who then proceeded to distribute these among all those who were on _ad.

lib._ diet. It might appear on the master's side of the Medical Relief

Book that A or B had had a chop daily, whilst in reality the dinner

might, by this arrangement, have been changed every day. This plan of

dealing with capricious appetites has since been adopted in several

workhouses.

Although five years had passed away since the Metropolitan Poor Law Act

had become law, no attempt had been made to carry out the dispensary

clauses until after my election, and one of the first things I had to do

was to put the dispensary in order. I had been taught a lesson in

economic prescribing whilst at the Strand, and therefore was enabled to

speedily arrange for a pharmacopoeia. I also drew up a formula for the

supply of large bottles of simple medicines, which were placed in charge

of the nurses, for administration in trivial ailments so common among

the aged poor. I also introduced bed pulleys, to enable the sick to

assist themselves in rising, or in getting in or out of bed. I also

ordered small shawls for the aged women and woollen jackets for the

men--a great comfort to those who were suffering from consumption or

bronchitis, the principal affections I had to encounter.

I have stated that although it was midsummer the House was full of sick

people, which arose partly on account of the sickness that prevailed in

the worst part of St. Anne's and similarly in that of St. James's, and

also to the fact that the Chairman had opposed the transfer of any of

the sick to the Sick Asylum Hospital, at Highgate, to which the

Westminster Union, in conjunction with the Strand, St. Giles's, and St.

Pancras, was affiliated. He had opposed the junction of the two parishes

on personal grounds, and being beaten, had, in conjunction with his

party, obstructed the removal of the acutely sick.

As medical officer I did not object to this, for as the sick wards were

extremely good and were all that I had desired to carry out when I

initiated the Workhouse infirmary movement, I simply complied with the

wishes of the majority of the Guardians not to send any one away. I had

held office some weeks when, in the autumn of the year, I encountered

Dr. Drydges in Regent Street. This gentleman, who had acted temporarily

whilst Dr. Markham was ill, had about this time been permanently

appointed to be Metropolitan Inspector, Dr. Markham having resigned. He

came up to me and said, "I was coming to the Westminster Union to learn

why it was you did not comply with the law, and send your acute sick

away." "Oh," I replied, "that is soon explained; it is because the

majority of the Board will not let me." "Indeed," he said; "you must do

your duty, even if the Board object to it." To which I replied, "I did

that at the Strand, and your Secretary called on me to resign because I

was not sufficiently respectful to the Guardians. I shall comply with

the wishes of the Guardians now, and not with that of the Local

Government Board, as they would throw me over." To which he rather

angrily replied, "You speak to me like that, when I am an Inspector, and

you only a Workhouse medical officer?" To which I answered, "And who,

pray, made you a Poor Law Inspector. Why, if it had not been for me and

my initiation, neither you nor Dr. Markham would ever have been

Inspectors." "Oh," he replied, "I did not know you had had anything to

do with it." "I think," I said, "if you will trouble yourself to inquire

you will find what I state to be correct." When I broke down in 1886,

and he had to call and see me, he was then most kind and sympathetic,

and I take this opportunity of stating as much.

This refusal on the part of the majority of the Board, led on by this

Chairman, to allow me to send suitable cases of sickness to the Asylum

Hospital, was in the highest degree absurd, seeing that the ratepayers

of the Union had to pay their proportion of all expenses at the Asylum

Hospital, and for the beds to which the Union were entitled; and

although this Workhouse infirmary was a perfect paradise in comparison

with the den at the Strand, still the House had not been arranged on the

principle that all the sick should be retained in it. My nursing staff

was insufficient to enable me effectually to deal with the great number

of sick persons there at the time of my entrance on my duties. One

illustration will suffice. There was a man in an infirm ward who had

been under Mr. French some five or six years. He did not belong to

Westminster, he was kept there because he alleged he was so ill that he

could not bear the fatigue of journeying some sixty miles in the

country. He was a healthy-looking man about forty years of age. He

always lay in bed with his knees drawn up, and constantly asserted that

he could not stand nor walk, nor put his legs down. He complained

piteously of his sufferings. I exhausted every conceivable treatment,

but all without the least apparent benefit, as he never owned to being

any better for my attention to him. This went on for two years, until I

began to get suspicious of him. One day an inmate of the ward, who had

recovered and left the House, called on me at my private residence. On

seeing me he said, "I have called to thank you for your kindness to me,

and also to tell you that you have been deceived by that man Webster,

who you have done so much for. He is an impostor. He can walk as well as

I can, and, what is more, does walk about." "Nonsense," I replied; "he

says he cannot get out of bed, and the nurses confirm it." "Well," he

continued, "he takes very good care never to allow them to see him get

out of bed, he takes his constitutional walk about the wards between 2

and 4 a.m., when the lights are down, and most of the inmates asleep."

"But, surely," I said, "the night nurse must have seen him, and if so

she would report it to me!" "Oh," he replied, "she hardly ever comes

into the ward during the night, she is generally in her own room fast

asleep--she gets herself called when she is wanted." I made some further

inquiries, and finding that there was evidence of deception, I sent him

to the Asylum Hospital with a letter to the superintendent medical

officer, giving his history, and telling him of my suspicions, and

asking that he might be carefully watched by reliable persons. He came

back in a fortnight, having been found out. He was immediately

transferred to his settlement, where doubtless he recommenced the game

of deception, having found it answer so well.

It may be here said, If you had not confidence in your nurses, why did

you not get rid of them? For the simple reason that I had no power to do

so. They were not selected by me, but by the Guardians, and therefore

were not my officers, but the Board's. I once reported the night nurse

on the male side (the woman who had allowed the malingerer to deceive

me) for drunkenness, but I had so much trouble to get rid of her that I

was not induced to repeat the experiment, added to which I was most

grossly insulted by the master for bringing this woman's conduct before

the Guardians.

In my opinion the medical officer should select and discharge all the

nurses--of course, reason for this latter action being shown. I should

have discharged several at the Westminster Union for neglect of duty and

for general incompetence if I had had the power. Simple complaint would

be attended by no beneficial result, as it would be a hundred to one

that the nurse would be supported in her misconduct by some member of

the Board, whose protege she might be. On mentioning this to an

ex-workhouse medical officer, he told me that on having occasion to

represent the conduct of the resident midwife, who claimed and exercised

the right to go out on every Sunday for several hours, leaving the wards

wholly unattended on every such occasion except by pauper helps, the

only action taken by the Board as a return for it, at the instance of

the midwife's friend, was the adoption of a resolution that a return

should be prepared and laid on the Board-room table, showing the

occasions when the medical officer went out and the length of time he

was out, &c., &c. Of course he found out that he had achieved worse than

nothing by his effort to check this abuse. This circumstance occurred in

one of the largest of our metropolitan workhouse infirmaries.

When first I entered on my duties at the Westminster Union the chaplain

there was a very energetic little man named Duval. I do not remember his

Christian name, for the reason that he was known and spoken of as Claude

Duval, and for a long while I supposed him to possess no other. At last

I discovered that the name had been given him in joke, and that he was

in no way connected with the celebrated highwayman. He most assuredly

did not convey the idea that he had any brigand blood in his veins. He

was extremely attentive to his duties, and deserved and had gained the

respect of all the inmates and officers.

Frequently he organized entertainments for the aged and infirm. These

were held in the dining-hall, which on all such occasions was crowded to

excess. After I had held office about a year he desired me to provide an

entertainment, which I did on several occasions, and my efforts met with

much success. In the carrying out of these entertainments, which were

musical and recitative, I had the assistance of my nephew, Mr. Julian

Rogers, and his wife, who brought with them vocalists of a high order,

who contributed much to the pleasure of the inmates. These

entertainments were highly appreciated by the inmates, and were

frequently attended by members of the Board, and by some of the

ratepayers living in the neighbourhood. Now and then I used to read

extracts suitable for penny readings. On two occasions my efforts took a

higher form, when I gave a lecture on the "Ear and Hearing," and on

"Sight and the Eye." The preparation of these lectures and the diagrams

to illustrate them was a work of considerable trouble and some anxiety,

but the signal success achieved on both occasions amply repaid me for

any trouble occasioned. To show the appreciation of my audience for a

joke, I will relate an incident that occurred during the delivery of my

lecture on "Sight and the Eye." I was describing the function of the

iris, or coloured portion of the eye, as an involuntary movable veil,

which regulated the amount of light which should be admitted to the eye,

and said that in order to make the veil complete it was covered behind

with a black pigment, so as to exclude all light except that which

passed through the pupil. I then told them that in certain animals this

pigment was wanting, and not only there but in the skin generally, and

instanced the white mouse, ferret, &c., and showed that all these

animals had red eyes and always blinked and winked when exposed to a

strong light. I then passed on to state that this condition was

sometimes found in man, where again the winking and blinking was

noticeable as well as the whiteness of the skin and hair, from the

absence of this dark pigment, hence the name of "albinos" applied to

those thus afflicted. I then went on to state that recently we had a

notable example of this in the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who suffered

from this infirmity, and that his dread of light was so extreme that he

had attempted actually to put a tax on matches. This joke was followed

by a positive scream of delight from visitors and inmates--showing that

Mr. Lowe's fiscal effort to increase the revenue was known to them all.

At the conclusion of the night's proceedings, Miss Augusta Clifford, who

was present, came up and said she should repeat my story of Mr. Lowe and

the match tax wherever she went. At the next meeting of the Board,

several of the Guardians having been present on the occasion referred

to, it was moved and seconded and carried unanimously, that a vote of

thanks should be given to Dr. Rogers for the entertainment provided by

him, and for the highly interesting and instructive lecture which he had

delivered.

I found in the sick and infirm wards several of my old acquaintances of

the Strand, who were chargeable to St. Anne's, and had been transferred

to this House when the Union was formed, among them a woman by the name

of Maria Hall. She had gone into the Strand several years before I left;

her friends at first paid for her maintenance. She was an epileptic--and

something beside. When I knew her in the Strand she professed an

inability to talk, except unintelligible gibberish. She was very artful;

she claimed to be a deeply religious character, and contrived to take in

the benevolent lady visitors to a considerable extent. She continually

showed me letters she had received, and books that had been given her by

ladies, and would ask me to share with her the grapes, cakes, and

sweetmeats sent her by her dupes. This went on for several years,

altogether about twenty. She always posed and was spoken of as "poor

Maria"--in fact, she was the pet of the nurse and of the ward. At last

it came to my knowledge that she presumed on her condition to be

exacting and troublesome. Finding that remonstrance was unavailing, I

reluctantly ordered her removal to the insane ward. It was attended with

the best result, for, finding that she was at last sternly dealt with,

she threw off the mask she had worn for twenty years and talked as

distinctly and clearly as any healthy person. She had traded for years

on her alleged infirmity. It was true she was an epileptic, and

eventually died from that form of disease; but she had been the most

persistent cheat I had ever met with.

On the male side I found a poor fellow who had also been transferred

from the Strand, where I had known him when he was first admitted there.

He was paralyzed all down on one side. He was the most patient, honest

fellow I had ever seen. After I had been in office some years Sir

Charles Trevelyan came to call on me respecting a public movement that

we were both engaged in. Finding I was at the infirmary, he came round

to the House and was shown into my room. I asked him to go over the

wards with me. He did so. I introduced the poor paralytic to him as an

honest, patient, and grateful poor man. Sir Charles asked him how long

he had been afflicted, and he answered, "Some twenty years." Then I

said, "This poor fellow cannot get downstairs; he has not seen the

streets for all these years, but he is always happy and cheerful." Sir

Charles kindly left with me £1 to pay his cab fare, so that he might

have the chance of seeing them once again. As I had to send two people

with him each time the £1 soon went. His enjoyment of this treat in his

daily dull, routine life was, I was informed, most pleasing to witness.

There were several other very interesting persons I found on both sides

of the ward. One was an old man who was said to be eighty-eight years

old. On my morning visit he was always standing on the staircase

smoking. He had lived many years in Australia, and his long white hair

and beard, which reached to his waist, conjoined with a florid

complexion and bright blue eyes, caused me to consider him one of the

handsomest old men I had ever seen. One day I took two young ladies over

the infirmary. We found the old man in his usual place. I jocularly

introduced him to them as the Adonis of the House. The old man was

terribly offended. As we walked away I heard him muttering aloud,

"That's a pretty name to call a man--'Donis indeed!" He did not forgive

me for a long while. I wonder what he thought the epithet really was

intended to signify.

I also found in the male infirm ward an old French physician whom I had

known by sight for a great many years when he was practising his

profession in Soho. He was a tall, fine man when I first knew him. He

always used to wear a very singular-looking broad-brimmed hat. He was in

all externals a very gentlemanly-looking person. I had missed him for a

long time, and was surprised and hurt to think that he should have

drifted to a workhouse infirmary. On inquiring into the cause of his

becoming an inmate of the House, for I always thought he was well-to-do,

as he dressed exceedingly well, I learned that he had lived with a lady

who was an _employé_ at a French milliner's in Regent Street, that she

was much younger than he was, and that he had given to her all his

money, which she, in preparation for possible consequences, had put in

the Funds, but in her own name only. Unfortunately for him she was taken

suddenly ill, and being ignorant of English courts made no disposition

of the property, simply telling him, on her deathbed, where it was. When

she was dead, he found to his dismay that the money could not be

obtained, as he could not establish any legal claim of ownership. Grief

at the loss of his mistress and of all his money caused the complete

break-down of the poor fellow, and he had come into the House utterly

crushed. He was a very interesting old man, being the only son of a

French noble family. His mother and father were both executed during the

Reign of Terror, and when the family property was confiscated he was but

a youth. When he grew up he studied medicine, and in the year 1802

entered Napoleon's army as a regimental surgeon. After serving with his

regiment in Germany, Italy, and Austria, he was attached to the Army of

England, as it was called, which was stationed on the heights of

Boulogne. He was there some time. Suddenly an announcement came that the

encampment would be broken up, and that the army would go to Russia. He

traversed the whole of Europe, taking part in the various engagements on

the road to Moscow, which he saw in flames. He was in the memorable

retreat, and returned to France without a scratch. On the return from

Elba he rejoined his old regiment, and, as its surgeon, fought against

the English at Waterloo. After the peace his regiment was disbanded, and

as the old soldiers of the empire were very much at a discount he

elected to come to England, where he lived since 1816. He died at the

age of ninety-five, retaining his faculties to the last. After his death

I raised a fund to bury him, by writing a letter to _The Times_, in

which I gave his history, heading my letter, "A Relic of the Grand

Armée," and asking any friends of the first Napoleon to help me in

burying him in some other place than a pauper's grave. My appeal having

brought me £25, the Empress Eugenie being one of the subscribers, he was

buried at the Catholic Cemetery at Kensal Green. There were two

seamstresses who lived in Gilbert Street, Oxford Street, who were his

countrywomen and his sole visitors, with the exception of the Catholic

priest of the French chapel in Leicester Square. I asked them and the

priest to accompany me to the funeral, which I attended as chief

mourner. On our arrival at the mortuary chapel, the coffin was placed on

a raised bier with three others. Presently two lads, wearing long black

cloaks which reached to the ground, came from the altar. When they

arrived at the spot where the coffin was resting, one lad suddenly

produced from under his cloak a censer containing fire and proceeded to

incense the quartette. How he ever carried the fiery thing without

setting fire to himself was to me a wonder. He was immediately followed

by the other lad, who, taking just as rapidly from under his cloak a

vessel like a whitewash-pot, proceeded with a brush to throw holy water

on the coffins. This being completed, the coffin was put on a truck and

we hurried away as fast as we could go through the miry ground for a

long distance to the grave. On reaching it, down went my two lady

companions on their knees in the clay. My respect for the deceased did

not carry me so far as that, especially as it was raining hard and the

ground was a mere bog. Presently the acolyte produced his whitewash-pot

and brush, and I was courteously asked to sprinkle the poor fellow's

coffin with holy water, which I did. This having been also done by my

companions, I was amused by a little girl about fourteen, who, suddenly

taking the brush and pot from one of the young women, went to work

sprinkling in grand style, and, what was rather alarming, let me in for

more than I had expected. On our return journey the priest asked me to

attend service in the Catholic Chapel, in Leicester Square, on the next

Sunday. This I did. He was a very gentlemanly person. He thanked me very

much for the little service I was enabled to render to the poor old

French doctor, whom I missed very much, as it was my habit to sit beside

the old man's bed and hear him fight his battles o'er again.

The opposition to the removal of the sick to the Asylum Hospital at

Highgate continuing, and plausible ground for some action having been

shown in the fact of that establishment being so far away, a move on the

part of the Department became necessary. The old Workhouse in Cleveland

Street being no longer wanted by the Strand Board (as they had built a

new House at Edmonton), it was proposed to pull down and rebuild an

additional Asylum Hospital upon the site. The vestry of St. James's,

instigated by the Chairman of the Board, gave a determined opposition

to the proposition. But for once the Department was firm and the

hospital was built. At first the four Unions were associated in its use

and management, but after a time its use for the reception of acute

cases was limited to the St. Giles's, and St. George's, Bloomsbury, the

Strand, and Westminster Unions. The Chairman having for a time retired

from the Board, his place was filled by a fresh Chairman, and no

obstacle being made to my utilization of Cleveland Street Asylum,

suitable cases were transferred there, to the relief of the Westminster

House, which, through the resistance of the Board, had become

inconveniently full. The new Chairman was a very weak man, who was

neither by his financial position or general intelligence justified in

aspiring to hold such an office. It is possible that if he had devoted

the time he spent at the Board and at the Sick Asylum to his private

business he might have delayed, and possibly have staved off, his

eventual bankruptcy and ultimate death in the Asylum Hospital in

Cleveland Street, to the building of which he gave the most determined

opposition. His successor as Chairman was a surgeon in Soho, who was a

man of very fair attainments, and during the time he occupied the chair

the business of the Board was carried on with remarkable success. I

received from him the most generous support, and during his tenure of

office my official life was hardly chequered by a single cloud.

I have spoken of the clerk of the Board as having expressed a favourable

opinion of the economy I had effected on my first entrance on my duties.

The clerk had occupied a similar position at St. Martin's prior to its

amalgamation with the Strand Union. As I never went near the clerk of

that Union after the discovery of his perfidy in making, in conjunction

with Catch, a false charge against me, I was often at a loss to know to

whom I could go when any difficulty cropped up. Having had an

introduction to this clerk, I frequently called and consulted him;

consequently I was not surprised when, through the loss of his office,

as the result of St. Martin's being joined to the remaining parishes of

the old Strand Union, he was without employment, that he should call on

me and invoke my good offices in favour of his being appointed to a

similar position in the Westminster Union--the gentleman who had filled

the office and that of vestry clerk for St. James's having elected to

continue in the latter office only, and not to combine therewith any

appointment under the Poor Law. Having some influence in St. Anne's at

that time, and being also known in St. James's, I gave him my support,

with the result that he was elected clerk to the Board. He never

exhibited gratitude for my doing this; indeed, on the contrary, he was

distinctly hostile to me during the first few years after my

appointment, more especially in all matters relating to lunatics, the

truth being that he had a sympathy with all those who were alleged to be

of unsound mind, arising, I consider, from the fact that he had a

consciousness of not being quite right himself. During the

two-and-twenty years I knew him I never saw him half-a-dozen times with

a shirt on. I do not state that he never wore one, it was simply never

visible; what did duty for it was a sheet of more or less crumpled

whitey-brown paper. His clothes were as torn and ragged as those of the

most poverty-stricken casual--his shoes down at heel, and the legs of

his seedy-looking black trousers hanging in rags. He always complained

of being so very poor through the strain put upon him in having to

support some needy relatives. His condition and poverty-stricken

appearance were often the subject of conversation and commiseration:

"Poor fellow," it used to be said, "he has had a great deal of trouble,

and is very poor." It was therefore a matter of great astonishment to

find, after his death, which took place somewhat suddenly, that he was

possessed of several thousand pounds. He died without making any will,

and there was a legal struggle among distant relations as to who should

secure his very considerable belongings. I have frequently noticed on

the part of eccentric people this disbelief in and morbid sympathy with

lunatics, and believe it to arise from a species of innate consciousness

of mental deficiency, and a fear lest they also should be incarcerated.

One morning, some time before his death, he came to me in my room and

showed me a letter he had received from the military Commandant of

Devonport Barracks Hospital, which was to the effect that they had a

young soldier under treatment for lunacy, who, in his attestation when

enlisting, had stated that he belonged to St. James's, London, and that

the authorities determined to send him up to us. The clerk said to me,

"That does not show that he belongs here, as there are several St.

James's in London; I shall write and refuse to take him until his

settlement has been determined." But he reckoned without his host, for

when did the military ever recognize the civil power? The same evening I

was requested to go to the insane ward, where I found the young soldier,

and the attendant informed me that he had been brought by a corporal and

left in the ward, and that the corporal said that he should call the

next day for the hospital clothes. The attendant also stated that when

brought in the man's hands were tied together behind his back. I could

make nothing of the poor fellow, as no history was brought with him, and

he would not speak. As he appeared to be very exhausted I ordered him

some milk, beef-tea, and wine, and desired that when the corporal called

the next day he should be detained, so that I might learn something

about the patient, but when asked to stay and explain, the corporal

would not stop.

On visiting the man on the next morning I found that he had taken

nothing, and as he would not open his mouth, speak to me, nor do

anything, I sent for the stomach-pump and some of the strongest of the

pauper inmates, that he might be fed by artificial means. It took four

to take him out of bed, secure him in a chair, and to assist me to get

his mouth open, when I made the dreadful discovery that all his teeth

had recently been broken away in the forcible efforts that had been made

to feed him. After a most desperate struggle I administered some

beef-tea, arrowroot, and wine. This had to be repeated for two or three

days, until the necessary certificates were ready, which enabled me to

send him away to Hanwell. I was so disgusted with the barbarous manner

in which the young man had been treated, that I wrote an indignant

letter to the military authorities at Devonport, complaining of his

treatment, and their neglect in sending the poor fellow to the Workhouse

without affording any history of his case. The reply was a cool denial

of the truth of my statement, and an assertion that he took his food

readily and without artificial feeding. I sent this letter to the

medical superintendent of Hanwell, and asked for his opinion, when he

replied that the man had been forcibly fed for some time, and that his

teeth had been destroyed in doing so. I then wrote an account of the

case and sent it to Dr. Lush, M.P. for Salisbury, and asked him to see

the Minister for War on the subject, and in the House to ask the

question I had drafted.

A few days after Dr. Lush replied, telling me that he had seen the

Minister, who read the statement, and said he thought that it was a very

shocking story, but he hoped that I would not press for an official

inquiry, as it would ruin the officers inculpated, and promised that he

would send out to all military hospitals such an instructional letter as

would prevent the occurrence of such things in future. Dr. Lush also

added, "I have promised not to press the matter, especially as the

Minister for War did not hesitate to tell me that he entirely believed

your statement," and continuing, said, "I know, Rogers, you do not want

to ruin anybody, and if the matter is made public there will be a

dreadful row, and the whole blame will be thrown on the doctor." I

reluctantly assented to this view, and the matter dropped.

The poor fellow was afterwards proved not to belong to St. James's,

Westminster, but to some parish in the East End. He did not remain

chargeable to any parish very long, as he died soon after at Hanwell.

Dr. Raynor, when I appealed to him for his opinion, stated that if I had

not written at the time of his admission and explained how I had become

possessed of the man, he should have felt it his duty to have made a

special representation to the Commissioners in Lunacy as to the

condition he was in on admission, and the barbarous usage he had

received.

When at the Strand I was required to give the certificate in lunacy and

attend before the magistrates in its support, and was paid a fee for my

trouble; when appointed to the Westminster Union it was arranged that my

salary should include all extra fees, particularly because the

magistrates at Great Marlborough Street, contrary to the statute,

required two certificates. The Guardians being unwilling to pay the

fees of two medical men, the medical man called upon to give the second

certificate was paid. As this appointment was dependent on the caprice

of the Board, it frequently happened that the other medical man, who was

aware of the feeling of certain of the Guardians, would refuse to

endorse my opinion, but I always succeeded in getting my way in the end.

One medical man who held this office for some time was constantly

striving to secure favour by giving the most unaccountable certificates

as to the condition of the lunatic submitted to him. I had the

satisfaction of getting rid of him at last, but not until he had given

me and the officers of the House a great deal of unnecessary trouble and

annoyance. In addition to this, the magistrates at Great Marlborough

Street, forgetting altogether that when two certificates were presented

their duty became simply a ministerial one, would frequently decline to

certify for removal of undeniably insane persons, and direct the return

to the House for further observation. No magistrate was more original in

this way than Mr. Newton, of Miss Cass notoriety. Over and over again

Mr. Newton has set up his expression of opinion in opposition to my

certificate and that of the extern, but after giving unnecessary trouble

and delaying the removal of the patient, thereby diminishing her or his

chance of recovery, he would eventually be obliged to affix his

signature to the certificate. To such an extent did this action prevail,

and so much were the officers worried by this magistrate, that it became

a custom on the part of the removal officer to send and inquire what

magistrate would be on the bench, and if he found it was Mr. Newton, to

take the case on the next day when he was not there.

As I am on the subject of lunacy, and as I believe that much mischief

has ensued from the laity assuming that persons are improperly confined

in asylums, I will relate one or two instances of ill results that have

followed from treating insane persons as responsible for their conduct

when a very small amount of consideration of their actions would show

that they were of unsound mind. Upon one occasion, on going into the

male insane ward, a tall, decent-looking man, turned round and looked at

me. His aspect instantly told me that he was of unsound mind. To my

inquiry where he came from the attendant replied, "I do not know, sir;

all I do know is that his wife brought him here yesterday and left him".

I spoke to the poor fellow, and was perfectly convinced that he was

insane. I directed the attendant to go for the wife. On my return from

the wards to the consulting-room I found a decent-looking little woman

waiting my arrival. To my inquiry what she wanted, she said, "You sent

for me." "Oh," I replied, "you are the wife of that poor fellow over the

way in the insane ward--how long has he been out of his mind, and where

have you brought him from?" To my astonishment she burst into tears, at

the same time saying, "He came out of prison yesterday, sir." "Out of

prison," I replied; "why, how could he have got into a prison? That poor

man has, to my certain knowledge, been a lunatic for a long while." She

immediately said, "Yes, sir, I have known it for nearly a twelvemonth,

but no one but you has ever said so before." I told her to compose

herself and tell me his history, when she stated as follows: "We have

been married about five years, and a better husband no woman could have

had, but about a twelvemonth ago he complained of his head, and could

not sleep or work as he had done. I did my best to cheer him up, and

told him to struggle against the feeling and all would come right. His

occupation was that of a coat-maker for one of the best West End master

tailors. One afternoon, some months ago, he threw down a coat he was

making, saying he could not go on with it, he must go out, which he did.

About an hour afterwards a policeman came to tell me my husband was in

Vine Street Police Station, and that he had been taken up for stealing.

I hurried there, when I heard that, walking along Little Pulteney

Street, he came opposite a poulterer's shop, when, suddenly springing on

the show-board, he clambered up by the hooks till he reached the top,

and, taking off a hare, he put it over his shoulder, and jumping down

some ten feet, he stood there. The proprietor gave him into custody. The

next day he was taken before Mr. Knox, who committed him for a term of

six weeks' imprisonment and hard labour, it being his first offence.

"Whilst he was in prison I had to part with many of my things to keep my

children. On his discharge I met him at the prison gate, and saw he was

worse. I did my best to cheer him up, and told him if he would not do

anything of the kind again I would do all I could for him. On his

reaching home I said that I had been compelled to part with some of our

things, and that, therefore, he must go to work at once. The same day I

went to one of our employers, a master tailor in Maddox Street, and

asked for some work. A dress coat was given me to make up. My husband

went to work at it, but he did it so badly that when he took it to the

shop the master refused to pay him, and gave it him back again. During

the conversation my poor husband took off a pair of black dress

trousers from a hook, and put them under his arm. He had not long left

the shop when it was discovered, and one of the shopmen, running after

him, caught him with the property. He was again given into custody, and

taken before Mr. Knox, who committed him for trial. At his trial at

Clerkenwell Sessions shortly after, he was found guilty, and evidence of

a previous conviction having been given, he was sentenced to six months'

imprisonment and hard labour. That his time was up yesterday morning,

that she had met him at the prison gate, and seeing that he was much

worse she had brought him straight to the Workhouse, so that he might be

kept out of further mischief." She followed it up by saying (with a

burst of tears), "You are the only gentleman who has ever said that he

was not right in his head, but I have known of it for months past."

I stood utterly astonished that so gross a miscarriage of justice should

have been perpetrated; that a man evidently so bereft of the knowledge

of right and wrong should have been punished as a criminal. After

inquiring where she lived, and also for some references, I told her if

my inquiries bore out what she had stated, I would publicly expose the

treatment her husband had been subjected to. I made inquiry the same

afternoon, and found that both the husband and wife had borne a most

excellent character up to the time of his first arrest. The next

morning, so soon as my official duties were over, I went to Great

Marlborough Street Police Court, and asked to see Mr. Knox. I related

the story to the magistrate. When I had finished it he was very much

affected, and expressed his regret that such a dreadful thing should

have occurred. He also went on to state that they had so many people

brought before them, and it was all done in such a hurried way, that

without special attention was drawn to a case, and if the facts were not

disputed, and if no one appeared for a prisoner, a decision was come to

at once. He further said, "I remember the poor fellow being brought

before me perfectly. I do not think that it is desirable that this story

should be made public; it can do no good. Send the wife to me and I will

give her a present from the poor-box."

When leaving the court the jailor followed me, and said, "I am pleased

you have been here. I saw that poor fellow was out of his mind on each

occasion when he was brought before the magistrate." On reaching the

street I met Mr. W. J. Fraser, Guardian, and now the Chairman of the

Board, to whom I told the circumstances. Mr. Fraser was very much

shocked at the treatment this poor lunatic had received, and that Mr.

Knox had desired that no publicity should be given to the case, and

replied, "Give it every publicity you can." That same evening I wrote to

the editor of _The Times_ the particulars of the case, and, as the poor

husband's condition was irremediable, I pleaded that monies should be

sent me to enable me to put the wife into some way of earning her

livelihood. The letter duly appeared, and caused a great deal of

sensation, many subsequent letters from gentlemen interested in the

question of lunacy being published. As a result the sum of £85 was

subscribed for the wife, and was sent to me.

It was a puzzle to me to know what to do with the money, which was not

enough to buy a chandler's shop and stock it. I decided to set the woman

up in business as a laundress at Battersea. I went there, took a

suitable cottage, and guaranteed the rent for six months. Then I went to

a firm in Holborn and purchased the laundry plant, which, under the

special circumstances of the case, was sold to me at a reduced rate. I

got a forewoman whom I borrowed from one of my patients in a large way

of business as a laundress, and started her by inducing people to

patronize her. I could do all this, but I could not make the poor woman

a laundress, and after a few months' trial she came and asked me to let

her dispose of the business and plant that she might go to her friends

in the country. I assented, for I had discovered that she was a business

failure. She sold off everything, went away, and I have never heard of

her since. Her poor husband did not long survive, and without doubt his

death was hastened by prison life and the treatment he had received

there. He died at Hanwell of general paralysis of the insane.

It would prove instructive if it could be ascertained how many poor

creatures have been similarly taken into custody, convicted, imprisoned,

and after spending more or less time in prison discharged with their

mental condition hopelessly shattered from the treatment received. Some

years since I went over the Naval Hospital at Yarmouth, for those who

had become insane whilst in the service. There were several men of

magnificent physique, who were stricken with the same kind of mental

infirmity as that which had caused the death of my unfortunate patient.

I inquired of the courteous medical superintendent whether he had any

history of these men. He said yes. I asked whether the first evidence of

their mental ailment was not the exhibition of some departure from

discipline or of theft, or some other action which was totally at

variance with their previous conduct. He informed me that their records

showed that such was the case.

Woful results have followed the action of judges and police magistrates

in dealing with numbers of their fellow-creatures as criminals when they

rather required a nurse and skilful attention than the rough services of

a prison warder. But then this deplorable condition of things will

continue so long as such scant consideration is shown to the actions of

the poor, who, being without means, cannot command the services either

of barristers or solicitors.

It was during the reign of the Chairman of the Board who subsequently

died in Cleveland Street Asylum, that one of the most extraordinary

cases of lunacy I ever witnessed came under notice--extraordinary in one

sense only, viz., in the manifest determination of certain officials to

prevent me from sending to the asylum one of the most artful and yet

hopeless lunatics I ever encountered.

Originally she had been admitted as a woman of unsound mind. I examined

her at the time, and at once filled in a certificate that she was a case

for removal to an asylum. She was not, however, sent away, as the clerk

intervened, and at the next meeting of the Board he showed that the

woman was the wife of the parish broker, who was a man of means and

quite able to keep his wife in a private asylum, whereupon it was

ordered that the husband should take her out. After her return home her

husband asked me to see her; he could not live with her, her conduct was

in every way so objectionable. I saw her again, certified that she was

of unsound mind, and she was sent to St. Luke's, and her husband paid £1

a week for her maintenance therein. Getting tired of this, for he was a

most penurious person, he took her out. Sometime after he was taken ill

and died, leaving upwards of £4,000. Dying intestate, his property was

divided between two brothers and the widow, her share, the third, being

upwards of £1,500. The solicitor who wound up the estate, recognizing

her mental condition, tried to induce her to let him invest the money in

some security, but she refused. She would have her money paid over to

her absolutely. This was in November. By the middle of the following

August the money was all gone. She had squandered it all away; and

having by her habits, which were to the last degree objectionable,

caused her ejection from one lodging after another, the relieving

officer was again called in, and removed this wretched woman to the

Workhouse insane ward. She brought with her a large amount of property

which was not convertible into cash. Now, it may be asked, How was the

large sum of £1,500 got rid of in but little over eight months? The

explanation is a sad one. The first thing this poor woman did was to buy

some £24 worth of plants in pots, which were taken to a furnished room

she had hired in Gerrard Street, Soho. She never attempted to attend to

them in any way, and, therefore, in a very short time they were all

dead. She then sent to a well-known drapery business in Regent Street to

buy some clothes. Before she left the shop the person in the department

she went to had induced her to buy some £300 worth of personal clothing,

which was all sent to this single room in Gerrard Street. She also went

to a pianoforte manufacturer in Regent Street, and purchased a sixty

guinea piano, at the same time being absolutely ignorant of music; and

if any one had taken much trouble they must have recognized by her

appearance her mental deficiency. About two months after she first

purchased at this draper's shop, the shopwoman who had sold her £300

worth of clothing, called on her in Gerrard Street, and, although this

room contained the dead flowers and unopened boxes of the first

purchase, she induced her to buy £250 worth more, thus making a total

of £550 expended by a poor insane woman. The Rector of St. Anne's, Soho,

informed me that she regularly attended the sacrament, and always put £1

in the plate in new gold. What made the conduct of the shopkeeper of the

firm in Regent Street the more inexcusable was that at the time she

called on her the woman was in such a state, in consequence of her dirty

habits, as to be plainly insane, and this compelled the landlady shortly

afterwards to insist on her leaving the house, as all the other lodgers

complained. When she was first admitted to the Workhouse her habits were

so repulsive that she was an intolerable nuisance to the other inmates

and nurses, for she was alive with parasites.

I considered the treatment this poor creature had received at the hands

of the proprietors of the drapery establishment so abominable that it

merited exposure, and with that view I called on a gentleman connected

with the Press, and asked him to take the matter up. He declined, as it

was not within the province of his journal. At the same time he gave me

an introduction to the editor of _Truth_, who he said would do so. On

going home I drew up a history of the case, and sent it in a letter

marked private to the editor, enclosing the letter of introduction, and

asking that he would grant me an interview, when we might arrange for

publishing my statements without my name appearing. I received no answer

from the editor, but a day or two afterwards I was told that my

statement had been published _in extenso_ in _Truth_. A day or two after

that the Chairman, who lived nearly opposite the draper's shop, called

on me and stated that he was deputed by the firm to inform me that if I

did not at once write to the editor of _Truth_ and disavow the letter

and story an action for libel would be commenced against me without

delay. My answer was as follows: "Go back to this firm and say that I

did not give any authority for the story to appear as it has done, but

as it is all absolutely true I shall decline to withdraw or modify a

single syllable." I certainly did write to the editor and complained of

the way in which he had published the story, and told him of the threat

which had been made of prosecuting me. The only result was that an

annotation appeared in the next week's issue which, under the guise of

an explanation, made the scandalous story a great deal worse. The firm

did not prosecute me or the editor of _Truth_.

It would be imagined by my readers that there would have been no

difficulty in getting this poor woman sent to an asylum, but I never had

greater trouble in my life, owing to the action of Mr. Newton, the

police magistrate at Great Marlborough Street. Five times during the

five months that she was detained in the insane ward, where her habits

were most disgusting and highly objectionable to the other inmates and

to the nurses, I certified for her removal. On each occasion she was

sent back by this magistrate. Hearing that he was gone for a holiday, I,

for the sixth time, filled in a certificate and went with her and my

out-door colleague to the police office. To my surprise I found the

Chairman of the Board and two of his friends, members of the Board, in

attendance to give evidence in this woman's favour. The clerk had found

out what I was doing, and had sent word to them. At the hearing before

the magistrate they attempted to interrupt me in my evidence, but they

were very properly put down by the magistrate. He at once countersigned

the certificate and she was removed. But my troubles were not at an end.

The trio sent to the Commissioners in Lunacy an intimation that I had

unjustifiably sent a sane woman to Hanwell Asylum. Upon this coming to

my knowledge I went there to see her, when the medical superintendent

of the female side informed me that a special letter had been sent from

the Lunacy Commissioners requiring him, at the end of three weeks, to

send a detailed account of the case to them. He said, "I never met with

such a case. I was sure from your certificate she must be insane, but

she pulled herself together so wonderfully and was so well conducted

that I had come to the conclusion that you must be mistaken, when

suddenly she broke down, and her insanity became apparent, and I have

reported in that sense to the Commissioners in Lunacy." This story

illustrates the utter absurdity of the provision in the Lord

Chancellor's Bill committing the examination of these cases to a county

court judge, police magistrate, or Justice of the Peace, who cannot

possibly understand anything about the varied phases which insanity

presents. The district medical officer who jointly filled in the

certificate with me was deprived of his office, and a more manageable

person was elected by the Board in his stead--that person I have before

referred to in the earlier part of this narrative as giving me so much

needless trouble.

Some three years ago I had occasion to go to Hanwell. Whilst there I

asked whether the woman was still in the asylum. On learning that she

was I expressed a desire to see her, when the superintendent medical

officer gave directions that she should be brought down. Immediately on

seeing me she sprung upon me, and, before I was able to defend myself,

pinioned me in her arms, at the same time imploring that I would take

her away with me. It took three able-bodied women to release me from her

grasp. Should I ever go to Hanwell again I will keep clear of her. I

have had quite enough of her. She is a hopelessly incurable lunatic. As

she gets older she will become more and more demented, and will be

eventually removed to some imbecile establishment.

The female insane ward at the Westminster Union was always full, and

when a noisy or dangerous lunatic was sent in, and whilst the necessary

steps were being taken to get them away, the harmless patients had

anything but a pleasant time of it. But then the comfort of these people

was never at any time considered by those members of the Board who

considered themselves authorities in lunacy. Fortunately they could not

state that my action arose from the desire to get a fee, as I was never

paid one, but they did say that I sent them away as I did not want to

attend to them.

We had on several occasions very amusing cases of lunacy. One of the

most so was a Welshman, who, until he lost his reason, had been a very

respectable journeyman tailor. I was asked to see him by a member of the

Vestry in whose house he lodged, and who gave him a most excellent

character for honesty and industry. He had saved money, and was

exceptionally respectable in his appearance and conduct. On being shown

into his room he rose and received me with much politeness. I noticed a

quantity of ladies' underclothing on the table, and evidently intended

for some small woman, as the various things were all on the same

diminutive scale. On asking what it all meant he said, "Oh, that is for

the lady I am about to marry. I have just purchased a complete set of

ladies' underclothing as a present for my future bride." "Indeed," I

said, "is it usual for the gentleman to buy his future wife's

underclothing?" "Well," he replied, "perhaps not, but I am a very

particular person, and my wife must dress as a lady." "Just so," I said,

"but how have you managed to get all these things so exactly arranged as

to size?" To which he replied, "You see, I am accustomed to measure

people, and I have taken my dear little girl's size exactly." I then

took up a pair of some two dozen of kid gloves, with the remark, "You

have bought her some good gloves, at any rate." "Do you think so?" he

said. "Do oblige me by taking a pair away with you; they may suit one of

your daughters." As his insanity was undoubted, I suggested his removal

to the insane ward. This was carried out. On seeing me next day in the

House he spoke rapturously of the ward he was in, and of his companions,

all of whom he had invited to his wedding. They would have been

sorry-looking persons to have made part of a company at a

marriage-feast!

I was so amused at this poor fellow's delusions that next day I took one

of my young lady relatives to see him. On my asking the attendant to

bring him out into the yard, he came. At first he looked dazed, but,

seeing a young lady, he ran towards her, and, peeping under her bonnet,

he looked up and said, "She is devilishly like Mary Jane," this being

the only name he had for his imaginary future wife. My young companion

was so tickled that she burst into a hearty laugh in which the poor

fellow joined. Subsequently he was sent to Hanwell. On visiting the

asylum some months afterwards I asked to see him, when he was sent for.

On entering the room he recognized me instantly, and expressed his

gratification at my calling to see him. His delusions were as marked as

ever. As I had gone there on other business I resumed my conversation

with Dr. Raynor, and forgot our Welsh friend altogether. Presently we

both went out into the yard, when, to our astonishment, we found that he

had gone out, and would have escaped altogether if he had not luckily

been observed and taken back to his ward. Poor fellow! Some time after

he was removed to Wales, where he was settled, and he ultimately died of

general paralysis, and so the contemplated wedding was adjourned _sine

die_. The underclothing, gloves, silk stockings, &c., were all sold to

help pay for his maintenance. I never saw such a genial and absolutely

happy lunatic. He lived in the company of his imaginary Mary Jane. It

must not, however, be imagined that all are so light-hearted as this

Welshman. I have encountered homicidal lunatics, and have personally

experienced what some are capable of, having sometimes sustained severe

assaults from incautiously going too near them.

Early in 1872 the present Chairman of the Westminster Union, W. J.

Fraser, Esq., solicitor, asked me to visit the Rev. H. Watson, ex-master

of Stockwell Grammar School, who was then located in Horsemonger Lane

Gaol on the charge of killing his wife. I did so, and after an interview

which lasted an hour, came away and wrote a report that in my judgment

he was of unsound mind. I formed that opinion from the levity of his

manner, his self-exaltation, his total indifference to his fate, the

absence of all regret for what he had done, and the absolute want of any

feeling on the subject. He was lost in the belief that his services in

the education of youth precluded the possibility of any punishment for

his deed. At the Old Bailey, as I was about being called upon to give

evidence, the counsel who defended him, the late Sergeant Parry, called

me over to tell me that they had decided not to call me as a witness,

but only just to support the views of the others. He said, "We think you

may be a dangerous witness." After asking me a few questions he said,

"You can stand down." But I was not to stand down, for the prosecuting

counsel, Mr. Poland, immediately proceeded to severely cross-examine me.

But to all his questions I had my reply ready, and after some half

hour's trial of questions and answers I managed to get out all the

points on which I relied to prove Watson's mental unsoundness. When I

got down Dr. Blandford said, "You have done well; you have convinced the

judge;" which was shown in his summing up and in his after action at the

Home Office.

Whilst under cross-examination I spoke of his enormous self-exaltation,

&c., giving instances, whereupon Mr. Poland said, in a professional tone

of voice, "Oh, you consider that is a sign of insanity, do you?" "Well,"

I said, "seeing he was only a schoolmaster, I do." Whereupon Watson, who

was listening attentively to my evidence, wrote on a piece of paper and

gave it to Mr. Fraser for presentation to his counsel. He had written,

"What does this d----d fellow mean by calling me 'only a schoolmaster'?"

After his conviction and sentence he was removed to Horsemonger Lane

Gaol. When Mr. Fraser went to see him next day the only thing he

complained of was my having spoken of him as only a schoolmaster. He had

nothing to say about his conviction and fate; as regards that he was

absolutely indifferent. There was a terrible row in the Press about this

man, and the doctors were all condemned for their efforts to prove that

his mind was unhinged. It was therefore some comfort to me when, in

going down the street in which I then lived some few days after, I saw

Lord Elliot, the son of the Earl of St. Germains. On meeting me he

crossed over the road, came up to me, and holding out his hand and

taking mine he said, "I see you have been figuring at the Old Bailey."

"Yes, my lord," I replied; "I hope, however, you do not think I have

done wrong in giving the evidence I did?" "Oh no," he said; "I have just

come from the Home Office, and have met there the Lord Chief Justice

(Cockburn) and Mr. Justice Byles, who have both advised the Home

Secretary that they consider that the plea of insanity was, in their

judgment, fully sustained: at any rate, he will not be hanged." His

sentence was commuted to penal servitude for life. Poor old Watson was

sent to Parkhurst Prison. Some years after the governor and surgeon

informed me that he preserved the same callous and indifferent manner

which I had described at his trial. His only complaint was that he could

not get the particular copy of the Greek Testament he wanted, and he

never to the last referred to or expressed any regret for the act he had

committed.[1]

After I had been at the Workhouse some two years I was requested by the

Board to go down and take temporary charge of the Union school at

Wandsworth Common. It would appear that there had been a quarrel

between the superintendent matron and the medical officer, and an

official inquiry having been held by a Poor Law Inspector he had

reported that he could not decide which was in the wrong; he would

advise the Board to call on all three to resign at the end of the

following Midsummer quarter.

The medical officer, Dr. Noel, who, strange to say, had been a

schoolfellow of mine nearly fifty years before, at once sent in his

resignation. I took over the duty at the end of April, and had charge of

the schools nine weeks. It was a very pleasant excuse for an outing, and

as the Common at that time was not much built upon and the gorse was in

full bloom, it made for me a very agreeable change. At the Midsummer

quarter a new medical officer was appointed, and my temporary

appointment came to an end. There was extremely little sickness during

the time I had charge of the establishment, and I therefore came to the

conclusion that the only possible explanation of the quarrelling was

because they had so very little to do. My successor was appointed on the

distinct understanding that in the event of any serious illness

occurring he was to send for me. His neglect to do this led, some five

years afterwards, to his being called on to resign, and to my being put

again in control of the schools and retention of the office for eight

months. The occasion for my being sent down the second time was a

serious outbreak of ophthalmia which had taken place, one-half of the

school, about sixty children, being more or less affected with it. I

could not afford the time or undergo the fatigue to go there every day,

so on my return home I made a report to the Board that on condition that

the Board gave me full powers to act as I thought best I would root out

the epidemic. This was assented to, whereupon I brought back forty-eight

of the worst cases to the Workhouse, and isolated them in the large

wards at the top of the main building. I also brought with me the nurse

and assistant school-mistress. I told the Board that some of the cases

were so very bad that I must be allowed to call in an ophthalmic surgeon

to aid me in my treatment. This was also assented to. I also arranged

that the children should go for a run in the park every day, weather

permitting. I considered the dietary of the children, and, finding it to

be wholly insufficient, I amended it. I adopted a similar course at the

school. Fortunately for the children the Chairman of the Board, a

medical man, supported me in all I advised and did. I had the children's

hospital at the school whitewashed and painted green and varnished, the

walls stopped and covered with neatly-framed engravings kindly sent me

by the proprietors of _The Graphic_. At the end of eight months I gave

up the appointment, leaving the children perfectly well, except in a few

cases where irretrievable mischief had taken place ere I was called in.

Much of my success was due to the Chairman of the Board, the late Mr.

Henry Cooper, of Soho, who throughout gave me the most generous and

unfaltering support. Many of these poor children would have hopelessly

gone blind if it had not happened that at the period of the epidemic the

Board fortunately possessed an intelligent and public spirited Chairman.

Not a very long time afterwards he was taken ill, and after lingering

some time died, to be succeeded by another person who, most unluckily

for the welfare of the House, had again been returned as a member of the

Board and elected the Chairman.

About some two years after my appointment a woman, extremely ill, was

brought from Vine Street Police Station. She was an unfortunate, as it

is called, who had been taken ill in the cell. Repeated requests from

her for attendance met with no attention. At last, her condition

appearing desperate even to the constables, the divisional surgeon was

sent for, who directed that she should at once be removed to the

Workhouse. She was brought in on a stretcher, and I was summoned to

attend her without delay. I found that she was dying, and not a long

while afterwards she succumbed. A coroner's inquiry taking place I made

a post mortem, when I found that she had died from the rupture on an

aneurism of the abdominal aorta, which, giving way in the loins, had

slowly infiltrated the tissues until, a vent being found, the whole

thing gave way. There is no doubt that this rupture had been

precipitated by the violence attending her arrest. The verdict, under

the direction of the coroner, led to a censure of the police for their

inhumanity and indifference. The ultimate result was to immensely add to

my troubles, as will hereafter be shown.

Just at this time the old and sagacious surgeon of the division died,

and his place was sought after by several medical men living in the

neighbourhood of the two police stations in St. James's, some of whom

were men of acknowledged position. The gift of the appointment was

vested in the Chief Surgeon of Police, Mr. Timothy Holmes, of St.

George's Hospital. He gave the office to one of his old pupils who at

the time was non-resident, but who at once took a house in Jermyn

Street. It was not very long before I experienced the result of the

change. Case after case was sent into the House from the two stations

with certificates that the persons were ill when they were undeniably

and plainly drunk. At first I complained of this to the inspectors, but

it led to no result. I then wrote to the Commissioners of Police,

complaining of the annoyance. I got only an official reply. At last the

nuisance became so great, for we were always called to these police

cases sent in from the station in the small hours of the morning, that I

again wrote to the Commissioners and requested an interview. This was

granted. I took with me my assistant who had been principally called out

of bed to attend to these cases, sometimes only to dress a wound which

the police surgeon was too indolent to do himself although he was paid a

fee for each visit. On arrival we stated our complaint, but, although

the Commissioners listened to us attentively, not much benefit accrued.

It is true they stated that an inquiry should be made and instructions

given and that more care should be exhibited. Some time after this I

happened to be at the gate when a constable brought a perfectly drunken

woman, who, he said, had fallen down in a fit. I said, "Why, she is only

drunk and incapable; take her away to the station;" and turning to the

master I said, "Do not admit her." An entertainment was being held that

evening which I had assisted to get up, and I went on into the

dining-hall. About an hour afterwards the master came to me and said,

"They have brought that woman back with a certificate from the doctor

that she is dangerously ill." I went to see her. She was only a shade

more under the influence of liquor than she was before, but, not caring

to contest the subject any further, I directed that she should be sent

to the receiving ward and put to bed. The next morning on seeing her she

had got over the drunkenness, and she owned to me that she had been only

drunk the night before. On going to my room I directed that a special

messenger should take a letter from me to the station, telling the

inspector on duty that the woman that had been sent in the night before

alleged to be ill, had confessed to having been only drunk, and

requesting him to send a constable and take her away. The constable

came. In the after-part of the day, a constable of that division called

at my house and said that Mr. Newton requested that I should attend the

police court the next morning. I went, when I found the woman there and

the divisional surgeon. The magistrate, before hearing a word from me,

proceeded to inveigh against me for my action in the matter, and

peremptorily ordered me to admit the woman at once. The divisional

surgeon also jumped up and protested against my refusal to admit the

woman, and stated, to my astonishment, that she had heart disease, and

that she was a confirmed epileptic. I mildly replied that she was

suffering under nothing of the kind, but Mr. Newton told me to leave the

court. The woman did not come into the Workhouse until the evening, and

she was then under the influence of drink.

On my return to the Workhouse I told the master what had occurred, and

also asked him if he knew where she came from. "Oh," he said, "the

receiving wards woman informs me that she belongs to Whitechapel Union,

whose clothes she is wearing." I then asked him to write to the master

of the Whitechapel Union and ask him what he knew of her. In less than

twenty-four hours the reply came. It was to the effect that she was one

of the most abandoned characters ever in their House; that she did not

suffer from fits, though she often assumed to have one; that she never

went out except to return drunk; that she had no heart disease, but was

a hale, hearty woman; that on the day she went out, wearing the House

clothes, it was after three months' detention, she having returned on

the last occasion drunk and disorderly.

Having received this report, I sent it to Mr. Newton. At the same time I

protested against his having sent for me to attend his court, and for

the remarks he had made to me on the faith of the opinion expressed by a

person of very little experience, and further informed him that I should

continue to protest against the use of the wards of the Workhouse as a

receptacle for merely drunken men and women, and should advise the

master accordingly.

The annoyance still continuing, I made a point of sending for the police

each morning after every drunken admission. Then a new antagonistic

element was imported in the shape of a letter to the Local Government

Board from Mr. Timothy Holmes, containing a complaint against me for the

trouble I was giving the police authorities in objecting to the

reception of sick people from the station to the Workhouse. The letter

having been sent to me to answer, I forwarded to the Local Government

Board the names of some sixty persons brought in by the police under

the certificate of the divisional surgeon, and showed that two-thirds of

the entire number were proved to be only drunk and incapable, and that

the rest were, in the majority of instances, very trivial cases of

illness. The nuisance after this was very much diminished.

It may be asked, What are the police to do with persons who allege that

they are ill? Are these complaints to be disregarded? Certainly not. But

I contend that reasonable care should be taken by police surgeons,

before they send cases of alleged illness to a workhouse infirmary; for

it must be remembered that they are paid a fee for each visit and

examination. To go, therefore, to the station, make a cursory

examination, and then write a certificate that the person is seriously

ill and must be removed without delay, or in the case of a simply cut

head send it at once away to the infirmary for the workhouse surgeon to

get out of bed and dress it, is, in my judgment, an entirely

unsatisfactory procedure, especially as the latter is paid no special

fee, be his trouble ever so great. There was nothing in all my duty as a

workhouse medical officer, which irritated me more than these police

cases. I remember on one occasion a superintendent of police said to me,

"I hold that if after our surgeon makes these mistakes he were to

forfeit his fee, which should be paid to you, you would not have many

then."

Sometimes the police brought cases of interest. On one occasion two

Italian children were admitted. One was a boy of nine, clean and well

nourished, the other was a little fellow of about five, wonderfully

emaciated, and bearing about his little lean body evidence of recent

ill-usage. The parents, who were Italian Jews, had been taken into

custody for maltreating this child, and had been remanded. He was

dreadfully dirty. I had him weighed and found that he was much lighter

than he should have been, regard being had to his age. He was ravenous;

but he had to be fed with care so as to prevent mischief. His parents

had been remanded for a week, and a good-natured constable of the C

Division who had intervened and got the parents arrested came and asked

me to attend at the re-examination. Before taking the child to the court

I again weighed him, and found he had gained three pounds. After some

four remands at each of which I was enabled to show he had gained in

weight, the parents were committed for trial. I attended as a witness at

the Old Bailey when the trial came on, and the parents were convicted

and sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment with hard labour. The

poor little fellow was brought back to our House, whilst the elder

brother was sent to the school.

Foreseeing what was probably in store for this unhappy child, if he ever

passed into the hands of his unnatural parents, I wrote to _The Times_

paper, and pointed out what would be the inevitable fate of this boy

when his parents came out of prison and claimed possession of him, and

pointed out that, as the Italian Consul had found counsel for the

defence of the parents at the trial, I trusted that they would find some

means whereby the child might be secured against further ill-treatment.

On the same day that the letter appeared, I received a letter from the

Consul asking me to call on him, which I did, when he told me that he

would bring the case under the attention of the King of Italy. Some

three weeks after I received a communication stating that the King had

resolved to take the child, and bring him up at the cost of the State,

as a ward of the Italian Government. Some ten days afterwards a tailor

came and measured him for clothing, and a messenger from the Italian

Consul having given an undertaking to the Board, he was taken away and I

saw him no more. If alive he must be now some eighteen years old. I

write "if alive," for the poor little fellow had a singular deformity.

He had no abdominal muscles; what did duty for them was a dull,

parchment-like-looking structure, stretched across the abdomen. One

could make out without much difficulty the various abdominal organs. I

had never seen anything like it before. Strange to relate, just at this

time a young lady from Natal was sent over to me with a request from her

parents that I would ask some expert to see her. On her arrival I found

that she had exactly the same infirmity. The late Dr. Alfred Meadows,

who saw her with me, would not believe my statement at all until he had

himself seen and examined her. Her mother was very anxious to know

whether she might be permitted to marry the gentleman to whom she was

engaged. We gave a guarded opinion on the subject, and she returned to

Natal, and was married, and has two or three children. I therefore trust

that the little Jew Italian boy has also survived. I have never heard

anything of him since he left the Poland Street Workhouse.

One morning in 1877, shortly after I had left the House, the attendant

came round to my residence, and informed me of the almost sudden death

of the master, who was at my official visit half an hour before

apparently in good health. He had never been partial to me, as my system

of management clashed considerably with the stereotyped arrangements

that had prevailed in the House prior to my appointment, and I very much

question whether he ever approved of my having caused almost everything

consumed in the House to be supplied under contract. He did not openly

quarrel with me, but contented himself with passive resistance; and if I

complained of any order not being carried out, he always excused himself

by saying, Did you give an order for this, that, and the other? all the

time knowing full well, that I had given the order. A striking instance

of this obstructiveness occurred in the first autumn and winter after I

took office. I had asked the Board's permission that some jackets should

be supplied for the sick men and some shawls for the women, which they

might wear when sitting up in bed to keep their chests and shoulders

warm. This application was made to the Board of Guardians early in

October, and was at once acceded to. Week after week went by, and in

spite of repeated requests made by me, either to the master or matron,

no notice was taken beyond the same answer which was always given when

the one or the other thought fit to reply at all, "Oh, I have given the

order for the material and for the shawls, but the contractor is so

negligent, he has not sent us in the goods."

In the early part of January I received a letter from Dr. Mouatt, Poor

Law Inspector, stating that he had been instructed by the Local

Government Board to go over the House and see how many persons could be

described as fit to be sent away to the Sick Asylum, and, as he wished

me to accompany him, he desired to know what day would suit me best. In

reply I fixed the next Sunday, and as I did not wish the master to

accompany us, for I knew he would report all that took place to the

Board, I wrote in that sense to Dr. Mouatt. Dr. Mouatt came on the

following Sunday morning. I had told the master he was coming, and, just

as I expected, he stayed away from chapel, in order to go with us. Dr.

Mouatt promptly said, "As this is a purely medical visit, master, we can

dispense with your company." He coloured up and looked very much put

out, but he had to comply. As I went through the wards I told the

Inspector that I had asked the Board three months before to let me have

some shawls for the women and jackets for the men, that the Board had

given an order for them, but neither the master nor matron had supplied

them, and that I felt satisfied they did not intend to do so, to which

he quietly said, "I will soon alter that." At the same time I urged on

him the necessity of so referring to the subject, as not to make them

think I had said anything about it, but that the necessity for them had

occurred to him, "For," I said, "if you do, they will make it the

subject of an open quarrel." It was humbling to do this, but I knew what

these people would do.