after the commencement of the term for which the appended reports are exhibited, and in that comparatively brief time, two of their number have been summoned from their councils by death. In April of 1878, Dr. H. H. Bethshares, one of the members from West Tennessee, who had twice met with us, succumbed to a chronic illness of some months duration. He was a gentleman of excellent professional repute, and at a former period, had been in the medical employment of the Institution. His practical knowledge of the requirements of a hospital made him a valuable member, and his amiable and gentlemanly deportment rendered him a pleasant associate. On September 2, 1878, at Grenada, Miss., fell our remaining West Tennessee member-Butler P. Anderson, of Memphis. He had gone thither on a noble and philanthropic mission, and his generous and courageous service in the fearful epidemic at that point, has embalmed his name in tender memory and enrolled it among the hero-martyrs of the time. In all the attributes of manhood he was admirable, of superior intelligence, lofty integrity, and cordial and engaging manners. His death was a public loss, and to this Institution a serious one. In respect to the memory of our deceased associates we have entered an appropriate minute on the records of the Board. In conformity to the statute in such cases provided, as will be seen by the signatures, the Governor has filled the vacancies in the West Tennessee membership. INSURANCE. In view of the contingencies of fire, in spite of all the regulations which may be prescribed, and ail the vigilance which may be exercised, which surround an institution of this kind; its distance from the city and inaccessibility to aid from the city fire department in such an event; and in consideration of the immediate need for pecuniary succor for the care of inmates, should such a calamity befall, we have deemed it proper to effect an insurance for seventy-five thousand dollars on the main building and furniture. This we were enabled to accomplish at low rates, and think it prudent to continue it. Ordinarily it may be said, that a State is able to insure its own property, but in the present stringent condition of State finances, the extraordinary emergency which a total or even partial destruction by fire would cause, would embarrass all if occurring in the interim of legislative sessions, and under any circumstances would do so, and a fund from insurance might prove a timely, as well as helpful and wise provision and resource. SUPERINTENDENT'S SUGGESTIONS. The considerations presented in the Report of the Superintendent which we herewith submit, will arrest your attention. They comprise full statistics as to the operations of the Hospital during the past two years, and the remarks thereon will inform you as to the condition of the population in all details. It will be observed that there is a suggestion that the law of admission to patients from counties needs a slight amendment, in order to facilitate removals and admissions, and render the exchange of restored patients for those needing hospital care, more expeditious. This, we think, should be done. The committal of insane convicts to the wards of the Hospital, which is spoken of as improper and injudicious, is a matter which we submit to your discretion. The objections presented are serious, and if it can be avoided it would seem that another system should be adopted. FINANCIAL ESTIMATES. An examination of the Treasurer's Report will show that a proper economy has been practiced, and that the Hospital has been maintained. within the annual appropriations from the State Treasury for that purpose. The comparative tables as to cost in a number of other institutions adduced by the Superintendent in his remarks on the subject, attest that the pecuniary burden of our insane is not so great as in many commonwealths, and certainly not beyond what the community will consider reasonable and proper. The question of repairs, now or very shortly to be needed, we commend to your consideration, and if your body should place a contingent fund for this purpose, it will be used only as occasion and necessity may require, and we think the measure would be a wise and prudent one. It will be observed that the Institution is full to its legal and actual capacity, and with the prevalence of insanity and the improbability of its dimunition to which the Report of the Superintendent refers, we cannot expect our numbers to be less, aud therefore think the estimates for the coming biennial support should bear reference to this fact, and that the present provision cannot properly be reduced in justice to the Institution and its work. The general suggestions, and especially the improvements recommended in the Superintendent's Report appear to us upon a careful inspection to be wholesome and greatly needed, and we trust that His Excellency will specially direct the attention of the General Assembly to the importance of prompt action in the premises, and wherever legislative aid is demanded. CONCLUSION. The Report of the Superintendent, as a whole, is a masterly and full exposition of the practical operations, as well as the wants and necessities of the Hospital, and embodies philosophic reflections as to the causes of the various phases of insanity and in regard to kindred matters, which will be valuable everywhere. We feel that we would scarcely be true to our duty as the Supervisors of this splendid charity, did we not say in conclusion that the people of Tennessee owe to the Superintendent and his subordinates the boon of a public recognition of the great ability and fidelity with which they have discharged their delicate and difficult trust. H. B. BUCKNER, PRESIDENT, Davidson County. JOHN L. T. SNEED, Shelby County. T. NIXON VAN DYKE, McMinn County. REPORT OF THE SUPERINTENDENT. OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT, December 19, 1878. To the Board of Trustees of the Tennessee Hospital for the Insane: } The statute prescribing the government and administration of this Institution, held in trust by you for the benefit of the unfortunate class of the population of the State for which it was founded, makes it my duty, immediately before each session of the General Assembly, to prepare and present to you a Report specifically setting forth certain details of the important work for which it was designed, and exhibiting the statistics of its population for the biennial term, together with such other facts regarding its operations as may be necessary for the information of the body to which you report its history and condition. INTRODUCTORY. In submitting this, the twelfth biennial report of the Hospital, I am gratified to be able to do so under a sense that the term just closed has witnessed a fair degree of success in the accomplishment of the beneficent ends for which it was established, and that its career of uniform prosperity and good repute which has so long commended it to the public confidence, is unbroken. The period included has not been noted by events of unusual importance in the curriculum of affairs in an institution of this character, nor has it developed any facts of peculiar interest pertaining to the dreadful malady which afflicts its hapless household. To those who have immediate care and concern in the endeavor to ameliorate and restore minds blighted by disease, or wrecked by the adverse vicissitudes of fate, however monotonous may be the daily and nightly work, every fact possesses interest, and compels attention. The routine of such duty is never so complete as to exempt from the anxieties inseparable from its responsibility, or to permit relaxation of vigilance in any department. Amid a numerous and often crowded congregation of persons distempered and distraught as is that collected in the wards of an asylum for the insane, there is constant exposure to occurences unpleasant in character, and occasionally of untoward and regretful consequences, and in reflecting upon the history of a year or a term, the first impulse of one charged with the superintendency is to revert in gratitude to that from which those committed to his keeping have been spared, rather than to dwell upon that which has been effected in their behalf. The term reported has not witnessed a casualty to a patient from any source, nor has there been a successful attempt at suicide the ever-haunting spectre of the apprehensions of those in care of the insane. It has been a number of years since a painful record of the latter kind has been made, and in view of the fact that, at times, our wards are overfull, the exemption should be marked to the credit of the faithful and thoughtful attendants whose association with patients is most constant and intimate. It is gratifying also, to note the absence of intercurrent disease amongst our population, or an impairment of its health dependent on local causes, or those generated by influences preventable by rigid cleanliness and sanitary foresight. During the autumn of this year, so calamitous in the ravages of disease in some sections of the State, and when the minds of all-the skilled and unskilled alike-were tortured with fears of the invasion of the inscrutable pestilence which seemed to go, as the wind, where it listed, extraordinary care was exercised to prevent the introduction of infection in any form, and the household had immunity even from fear of it. The statistical tables herewith appended furnish an exhibit of the numbers and characteristics of the population. |