Short Account of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Lunatic Asylum at Edinburgh, with Some Remarks on the General Treatment of Lunatics, Pointing Out The Advantages of Avoiding All Severity. To which is annexed, A Complete List of the Contributors Received, Whether from Towns, Parishes, or Individuals, for Erecting a Proper Building for the Cure of Insanity in the Metropolis of Scotland.

Notes

Attributed by the BL catalogue to Andrew Duncan, who was on the Medical Board of the Asylum and had campaigned on the matter, this pamphlet explains the state of mental health treatment in Edinburgh, along with proposals for the new asylum, then under construction. The plates depict the plan and elevation of the building, which was completed in 1813 - but are reused from the Scots Magazine for April 1808, at which time the asylum had funding but not yet land to build on. Duncan covers the lack of suitable hospitalisation for both mentally ill persons and the 'criminally insane', and the text is followed by a list of monied contributions to the Lunatic Asylum, featuring prominent Scots the Duke of Buccleuch, William Fettes and others (including those abroad in India) from 1792 to 1812. The original building does not survive but its expansion from the 1840s remains the oldest building in the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.