The Increase of Insanity. 



27 



The counties which have had the largest increase are: 



Milwaukee 27 



Winnebago 14 



Green 11 



Brown 9 



Sheboygan 9 



St. Croix 8 



Waukesha 8 



Chippewa 7 



Columbia 7 



Trempealeau 7 



Buffalo 6 



Calumet 6 



Iowa 6 



The counties which have had a decrease of insane under 

 pubKc care, are : 



La Crosse 6 



Manitowoc 5 



Racine 4 



Clark 3 



Dane 3 



Dodge 3 



Door 3 



Fond du Lac 3 



Washington 3 



Pierce 2 



Eau Claire 2 



Green Lake 2 



Pepin 2 



Kenosha 1 



Wood 1 



The decrease in the insane under pubHc care may come 

 from three different sources : The insane may recover, or at 

 least improve so much as to be discharged from public care; 

 they may die; or they may be returned as chronic insane 

 from the state institutions to the counties, and in consequence 

 of the counties having no adequate provision for them they 

 may be left under private care by their relatives. Decrease, 

 of course, occurred from all these causes, and in the counties 

 just named the decrease from these causes was greater than 

 the increase from new cases of insanity, or from old cases 

 placed under public care. From the fact that none of the 

 counties have had during the past year adequate accommo- 

 dations for the chronic insane, though some of them are 

 preparing such accommodations, I think it is fair to conclude 

 that in most of the counties this decrease is not a real de- 

 crease of the insane, by death or recovery, but only an 

 apparent decrease, caused by sending chronic insane back 

 from state institutions to the care of their relatives. 



If this is the case, we shall see another year a considerable 

 increase in the number of insane under public care, owing 

 to the increased accommodations which will be provided in 

 the new county asylums. 



I am unable to find any law governing the distribution of 

 insanity in this state, except the one I gave last year, that 



