Clement’s Asylum, Venice
Art. X.?A VISIT TO ST. .
This asylum, one of the largest in Italy, is exclusively for female patients, containing upwards of six hundred inmates. It is situated on a small island east of San Servolo, near Venice. The island of St. Clement’s was formerly the dwelling-place of the hermits of Rua, and refractory priests were originally confined there. It has recently been enlarged, and at the beginning of 1873 a large asylum was opened, at a cost of two million and a half francs.
The asylum is a large, handsome, and well-constructed building ; the rooms lofty, spacious, and well ventilated. The building is quadrilateral in shape, containing eleven long cor- ridors. On each side of the building two of the corridors are used for day wards, the length of these being one hundred and thirty-five Italian metres, or about one hundred and seventy yards in length, and well lighted by means of thirty large windows. The two sides of the corridors are joined by wings eighty-five yards in length, and the floors of these are composed of handsome tessellated marble. The dormitories are equally large and well lighted, containing beds varying in number from four to thirty. An infirmary connected with the asylum is separated only from it by means of iron gates. At the time of my visit there were about fifty of the inmates in the infirmary under medical treatment. The patients were severally employed in various occupations, some working in the laundry and others at needlework. There are several small courtyards, in which about eighty of the patients take exercise at a time, and one very large courtyard, and in this I saw about two hundred and fifty patients walking about, with naked feet, and some in chains.
The staff of attendants is very small, and this no doubt accounts for the free use of restraint. The principal means used for re- straining patients is by thick leather straps round the waist, attached by means of chains to small manacles fastened round the feet or hands, and sometimes both. I saw some cases where considerable ecchymosis and swelling had been produced by the pressure of these chains. One patient, whose hands were chained, was able to play the harmonium without appa- rently any inconvenience. Many of the patients in the asylum were either chronic or incurable cases, and a considerable proportion were idiots.
During my visit I had an opportunity of witnessing the mechanical feeding of a patient who refused her food. A a visit to st. Clement’s asylum, Venice. 133
catheter was passed into the nose, and an instrument called chestone de peltron, consisting of a large syringe with a small tube at the end, was placed in the upper end of the catheter, and the food was then forced through the catheter down the nose, the whole process occupying less than a minute, and only a few drops being wasted ; but I question whether it is advisable to suddenly gorge the stomach of a patient who has doubtless fasted for some considerable time. Seclusion was sparingly used here, and I only saw two rooms for this purpose.
The asylum is supported by voluntary contributions, but there are about fifty private cases who pay at the rate of one pound per week, and who receive first-class accommodation and care. The private cases are kept distinct from the pensioners. In conclusion, it is a matter of great regret that the asylum is not subjected to official visitation. During my visit I met with the greatest courtesy from the medical officers, who were desirous of giving me every information.
I am unable to give particulars relative to statistics or other matters connected with the asylum, for being of so recent a date none have been as yet published; but hope on a future occasion to be furnished with further details for publication in this Journal.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.