CnNNT.CTKTT. 



243 



of six members, to bo appointed by tho < Inv- 

 entor, throe gentlemen and three ladies, win. . 

 iluty it H i>ersonally to visit mich institutions, 

 inspect tin- manner in which they are con- 

 diictnl, niul ii-.i-1-rtaiii tlu-ir condition in all re- 

 -, with a vii-w to provide for their wants, 

 i oport to the Legislature on the result of 

 its operations. This board has accordingly 

 been organized, and presented its first report to 

 the General Assembly. 



Tl 10 whole number of patients under treat- 

 ment in the Hospital for the Insane, at the be- 

 ginning of May, 1874, was 894; of whom 85 

 only were regarded as curable. This is said to 

 be due in a great measure to the chronic con- 

 dition of that large number of patients who 

 have been removed to the institution from the 

 almsbouses of the towns, where the treatment 

 necessary to their cure could not be had ; their 

 recovery having been rendered by long delay 

 more difficult, if not impossible. As these 

 chronic patients cannot be discharged to make 

 room for new ones, the necessity of enlarging 

 the hospital-building at no distant day is ap- 

 parent, although it is capable at present of ac- 

 commodating some 60 patients more than it ac- 

 tually contains. Of 896 patients admitted in 

 the hospital since its beginning, 799 have been 

 beneficiaries of the State. The income of the 

 hospital last year amounted to about $92,000, 

 and the expenditures to $87,000. 



The number of pupils at the School for Im- 

 beciles, at Lakeville in Salisbury, is 64. Twenty- 

 nine of these are State beneficiaries, all orphans 

 except two. 



At the American Asylum for the Deaf and 

 Dumb, at Hartford, 66 scholars have received 

 State aid during the year ; the expense for that 

 purpose having been $9,279.23. The State has 

 also aided 15 blind children at the Perkins In- 

 stitute in. Boston. 



The number of discharged soldiers who have 

 been under medical and surgical treatment at 

 the hospitals of New Haven and Hartford was 

 182, at a total cost to the State of $18,000 ; 

 the services rendered for that purpose by the 

 medical profession in either city having been 

 gratuitous. 



For the support of soldiers' children in the 

 different towns, the State appropriated last year 

 nearly $90,000. About $2,700 were also appro- 

 priated for the support of such paupers as do 

 not belong to any town. 



The inmates of the Industrial School for 

 Girls, at the end of April, 1874, numbered 76, 

 sent thither from forty-three towns in the 

 State. Henceforward, these girls will be not 

 nnprofitably occupied in the details belonging 

 to a box-factory which has recently been estab- 

 lished in connection with the school. It is an- 

 ticipated that the institution will thereby be- 

 come financially independent. 



In the State Keform School there were 811 

 boys kept under correction. During the year 

 200 of them had been received into the school, 

 and 190 discharged. 



With reference to persons arrested for drunk- 

 enness and kindred offenses, the General A- 

 .-n i lly, at the last session, passed an act ap- 

 pointing a commission to inquire into tli.-ir 

 1 :i il treatment, and also into the expediency 

 of establishing a State Asylum for Inebriates. 

 The report of this commission was made. 



A bill was also passed by the Legislature at 

 the session of 1874, incorporating the State 

 Inebriate Asylum, to be called " The Connecti- 

 cut Reformatory Home." An additional bill 

 has also been passed, entitled "An act con- 

 cerning inebriates, dipsomaniacs, and habit- 

 ual drunkards," approved July 25, 1874, which 

 provides for their reception into the asylum, 

 their treatment, and discharge ; its first section 

 being as follows: 



SECTION 1. Whenever any person shall have be- 

 come an habitual drunkard, a dipsomaniac, or so far 

 addicted to the intemperate use of narcotics or stim- 

 ulants as to have lost the power of self-control, the 

 Court of Probate for the district in which such per- 

 son resides, or has a legal domicil, shall, on applica- 

 tion of a majority of the selectmen of the town where 

 such person resides, or has a legal domicil, or of any 

 relative of such person, make due inquiry, and if it 

 shall find such person to have become an habitual 

 drunkard, or so fur addicted to the intemperate use 

 of narcotics or stimulants as to have lost the power 

 of self-control, then said court shall order such per- 

 son to be taken to some inebriate asylum within this 

 State, for treatment, care, and custody, for a term 

 not less than four months, and not more than twelve 

 months ; but if said person shall be found to be a 

 dipsomaniac, said term of commitment shall be for 

 the period of three years : Provided, however, That the 

 Court of Probate shall not, in either case, make such 

 order without the certificate of at least two respecta- 

 ble practising physicians, after a personal examina- 

 tion, made within one week before the time of said 

 application, or said commitment^ which certificate 

 shall contain the opinion of said physicians that 

 such person has become, as the case may he, a dip- 

 somaniac, an habitual drunkard, or has, by reason 

 of the intemperate use of narcotics or stimulants, lost 

 the power or self-control, and requires the treatment, 

 care, and custody of some inebriate asylum, and shall 

 be subscribed and sworn to by said physicians before 

 an authority empowered to administer oaths. 



In the State penitentiary there were 181 

 convicts in confinement at the beginning of 

 May, 1874; all males except two one white, 

 and one colored woman. Twenty-nine of the 

 whole number were foreign-born. The con- 

 victs are employed in remunerative work. 

 Notwithstanding a reduction in the price of 

 prison- labor, necessitated by the prostration 

 of business during the winter of 1878-'74, a 

 net income of $2,114.80 has been received into 

 the Treasury from the prison. 



The General Assembly of 1874 continned its 

 session eighty-two days, and was adjourned on 

 the 25th of- July. A large number of acts were 

 passed on subjects not only of a local or pri- 

 vate interest, but more of a general character 

 and importance. Among these last named are 

 the following : The license law already exist- 

 ing has been so amended that, while its gen- 

 eral features have suffered no change, altera- 

 tions have been made in it calculated to secure 

 an impartial and thorough enforcement of its 



