leaving a balance on hand, December 1st, seven thousand seven hundred sixty-four dollars and seventy-four cents. About three years ago, an opportunity presented of purchasing a valuable tract of land known as "Chandler Hill," containing twentyseven acres, for three thousand dollars. The land was needed for the use of the Hospital, but the Trustees were not authorized by law to pay a sum exceeding five hundred dollars annually for the purchase of real estate. Hon. Stephen Salisbury proposed to purchase and hold the land for the use of the Hospital, receiving interest annually for its use, and to deed when paid for. The Trustees thought best to accept the liberal offer of Mr. Salisbury. The Trustees would suggest the propriety of having legislative authority granted for paying for said land out of the funds now lying idle in the hands of the Treasurer, which may be done without prejudice to any other wants of the Hospital, and would relieve it from the payment of interest and taxes on the land. The lot is now considered worth four times the amount paid for it by Mr. Salisbury. The Report which the Treasurer will submit to you, affords an ample and complete exhibition of the financial condition of the Hospital. The able Report of Doct. Chandler, which is herewith submitted, contains much valuable information, and, with the statistics, forms a safe basis for many interesting and important deductions in regard to insanity, and the condition of the Hospital in its details. Dr. Chandler brings to the arduous duties of Superintendent, abilities rarely equalled, and an untiring zeal in the faithful execution of them. We cheerfully accord to him our unqualified approbation and thanks. We regret to state that Charles P. Hitchcock, Esq., in consequence of ill health, resigned his place last April. In the retirement of Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock, the Hospital has lost a kind and affable Matron, and a Steward than whom none could be found more "faithful." His judicious and efficient services need no encomium, for he has devoted many of the best years of his life to the interests of the Institution, winning, by his kindness and gentlemanly deportment, the esteem of all, and, by his scrupulous fidelity, the respect and confidence of those officially connected with him. We trust the consciousness of having contributed, in no small measure, to the comfort and happiness of those who seek an asylum here, will lend additional zest to the pleasures of the retirement he has chosen, and to which he carries our hearty thanks and our kindest wishes. Since his resignation, the duties of Steward have been discharged under the immediate direction of the Superintendent, until the first December, when Mr. Thomas Hill was appointed Steward. Miss Elizabeth A. Reed has been appointed Matron. Dr. Rufus Woodward, one of the assistant physicians, has vacated his place to visit the hospitals of Europe, that he may become intimately acquainted with their arrangement, and the mode of treatment adopted in them, and the more completely to perfect himself in his profession. The vacancy was supplied by the appointment of Dr. Thomas E. Hatch, who has performed the labors allotted to him with success and ability, but who has been compelled to give them up on account of ill health. To him, and to Dr. John R. Lee, the senior assistant, an acknowledgment is due for their valuable services. Dr. Merrick Bemis has been appointed in his place. During the past year, fifteen strong rooms for the more violent female patients have been completed and brought into use. They fully answer the expectations of those having charge of the Hospital, and the result proves them to have been a desideratum, for they are of the greatest utility in promoting the comfort of the more quietly disposed patients, by removing from their wards those more excited. The amount paid for the building containing the strong rooms, as shown by the Treasurer's account, is forty-six hundred seventy-three dollars and seventy-seven cents. By a resolve of the Legislature, in 1847, the Trustees were authorized to use the balance of the Johonnot Fund, thirty-seven hundred eleven dollars and fifty-three cents, together with an appropriation of six thousand dollars from the State Treasury, for the purpose of erecting strong rooms for the more furiously insane. Only fifteen hundred dollars of that appropriation have been drawn from the State Treasury; there is now in the hands of the Treasurer of that fund, five hundred sixty-five dollars and seventy-six cents. The average number of patients, the past year, has been four hundred and four, one hundred and fifty of whom are foreigners, and mostly State paupers. The maximum capacity of the Hospital for the comfortable accommodation of patients, and the most effectual application of remedial treatment, has, some time since, been reached, so that now the Institution labors under a disadvantage, notwithstanding the addition of the fifteen strong rooms. The number of incurables is every year increasing, consequently, unless more room is provided, many, whose insanity is recent, and who, if sent here, might reasonably be expected to recover, must be denied the benefits of this charity, while the wards will be filled by those whose condition is hopeless, unless the alternative is adopted of turning out the incurables upon their friends, or sending them to pauper-houses or prisons. This expedient is revolting to those who know how much more comfortable and happy they are made by a place here, where every thing is adapted to their peculiar circum stances. The insane not only deserve the sympathy of those to whom the use of their faculties is still vouchsafed, but they have a positive claim to our substantial aid, which we cannot repudiate with impunity. To discharge the obligation which rests upon the people of this Commonwealth, more ample accommodations must be supplied for these "poor who are always with us," and the time has come for the question to be asked, Shall we provide a place for all who need the benefits of an Insane Hospital, or shall we allow a portion of our fellow-beings, who cannot be admitted here, to forego that amelioration of their pitiable condition, and, in many cases, that effectual cure, which cannot otherwise be obtained than in an Institution for the Insane? The Trustees will not here express an opinion as to whether it is more expedient to enlarge the present establishment or to erect a new Hospital in some other part of the State; but they are unanimous in the belief, that no time should be lost in making more provision for the proper accommodation of this most unfortunate portion of the human family. THOS. F. PLUNKETT, STATE LUNATIC HOSPITAL, } TREASURER'S REPORT. i To His Excellency the Governor, and the Honorable Council of the Commonwealth : The Treasurer of the State Lunatic Hospital respectfully presents the following Report : The balance of cash in the Treasury, as stated in his report of December, 1847, was • • • $6,218 47 The receipts, within the year ending December 1, 1848, from the State, for the support of lunatic paupers, and from cities, towns, and individuals, have amounted to forty-three thousand fifty-two dollars, Amount received for articles sold and accounted for by the Steward and Superintendent, • • • 1,354 06 $50,624 79 The Treasurer is credited as follows : For payments on account of salaries, wages, and labor, • • • $10,888 61 1,690 27 1,609 81 783 91 Furniture, Clothing, |