VPRS 7689 Medical Journals

Each asylum was required to maintain a Medical Journal under section 21 of the Lunacy Statute 1867. Every week the Superintendent of the Asylum was to enter, or cause to be entered in the Medical Journal, a statement showing the date of such statement, the number of patients of each sex then in asylum, the name of every patient placed in seclusion or under restraint since the last entry, the reasons, length of time and means of such seclusion/restraint and also the name of any patient under medical treatment, and for what (if any) bodily disorder, the condition of the asylum, and every death, injury and "violence" to patients since last entry.After the 4th October 1902 details relating to the seclusion and/or restraint of patients are no longer recorded and reference is made to a 'Restraint and Seclusion Book'. These Restraint and Seclusion Books were not extant at the time of transfer of this series. (The significance of the date and number in register reference given after 4 October 1902 is unknown.)Legislation:Lunacy Statute 1867, Act No.309Lunacy Act 1903, Act No.1873