| Description Of Item | Four journal article pages on Mr Smith’s notes on the treatment of insanity at Lincolnshire County Lunatic Hospital. From the collection of Thomas Laycock. Surgeon [Francis] D Walsh of Lincoln Asylum notes best practice depending on the types of insanity. Doctor Nicholson is noted to have given a patient a sedative which resulting in dancing mania for the patient. A female patient is mentioned as having a similar case of mania – and was put on hyoscyamus, antimony, and digitalis leaving the patient unwell. Doctors [Edward Parker] Charlesworth (senior physician at Lincoln) and [Richard] Elmhirst are mentioned as having no faith in narcotics or sedatives. Doctors W [William] D Cookson and John Nicholson are noted as ‘the only physicians’ at Lincoln to have employed them. Surgeon Doctor Walsh is noted to be opposed to sedatives. Doctors [Antonio Maria] Vanslava and [Giovanni Battista] Margagni are noted to have condemned narcotics as harmful to patients. Doctor George Mann Burrows is cautious on the subject of narcotics in his ‘Commentaries’– noting regimen, labour, and exercise as the only remedies for sleeplessness. Sir W C [William Charles] Ellis is noted to have stated in his ‘Treatise on Insanity’ how some narcotics such as opium increase negative effects rather than cure them. Doctor [John] Halsam in his ‘Observations on Madness and Melancholy’ is noted to have a similar reflection on opium and other narcotic poisons. Doctor Conolly of Hanwell Asylum similarly does not have high opinions on sedatives. The subject of narcotics and sedatives is noted to have been discussed in the Annual Reports of the Lincoln Asylum. |