Page:U.S. Department of the Interior Annual Report 1873.djvu/109

Rh ward-separation of those classes of the insane whose "most humane care and enlightened curative treatment" is required alike by the laws of Congress and the public sentiment which those laws embody.

The members of the board of visitors have in the past year, as in all previous years since the organization of the board in 1855, made frequent and careful inspections of all departments of the hospital, and it affords them much pleasure to be able to certify that the general condition and management of the institution under their supervision are highly satisfactory, and to express their belief, founded upon personal observation, that the assistant physicians and principal heads of the several divisions of the hospital service have been earnest and faithful in the discharge of their respective duties, and devoted to the comfort and welfare of the patients.

Chapel services having been interrupted for some time for the improvement of the general-assembly room, two vacancies in the corps of chaplains, which occurred by reason of the removal of the incumbents from the district, were not filled by the appointment of other clergymen. The chapel and other religious services have been satisfactorily conducted. The chaplains and occasional visitors frequently express surprise at the quiet that generally prevails among the patients. and the close and apparently intelligent attention that is paid to all the exercises.

We should not fail to acknowledge the valuable services of several of the attendants of both sexes, who by their tact, patience, and kindness in their treatment of the inmates under their immediate care have won not only the high respect both of the officers of the institution and of the best of their own associates and friends, but the gratitude of many patients and of their relatives and friends. We are, very respectfully, your obedient servants, W. GUNTON President of the Board. C. H. NICHOLS, Secretary ac-officio. Hon. , Secretary of the Interior.