Part 7 (2/2)
The princ.i.p.al entrance to this hospital is situated in the rue Bourgerue.
THE ASYLUM FOR THE INSANE,
_Situated in the rue Saint-Julien, suburb of Saint-Sever._
The _freres de Saint-Yon_, having been invited, in 1705, to come and establish themselves in Rouen, by the archbishop Nicolas Colbert and the first president Nicolas Camus de Pont-Carre, they accordingly purchased the portion of ground, which bears their name, in 1708. They erected the church themselves without the a.s.sistance of an architect, even acting as masons and workmen. The first stone was laid on the 7th june 1728. This edifice is of remarkable execution. In the exterior, its elevation is about ninety six feet including a lantern of about thirty, which stands above the transept of the edifice. In the interior, the length is one hundred and twenty five feet and the breadth twenty five feet. On the 16th of july 1734, the _Freres de Saint-Yon_, carried with great pomp, to their Church, the remains of their founder, the venerable Lasalle, who died in 1719, and was buried in the church of Saint-Sever.
Independently of poor children, who were instructed by the monks according to their condition, they likewise received incorrigible children, who were sent by their parents to be taken care of; they also received a limited number of insane persons, thirty were habitually kept here at the expence of their families.
From the time when the _Freres de Saint-Yon_, as also all other religious communities, were suppressed, untill 1820, the house of Saint-Yon, became successivly a revolutionary prison, a barrack, a _grenier d'abondance_, or corn store house, a house of detention for spanish prisoners, an hospital for wounded soldiers in 1814, and a poor house. This last establishment was one of the most considerable of this description; but, it was suppressed in 1820, by royal ordonance.
Already in the preceding year, the _Conseil general_ of the departement of the Seine-Inferieure had taken into consideration the deplorable state, to which the unfortunate insane were reduced, and they resolved to alleviate their wretched condition. It had been represented to them that these unfortunate people could not receive in the hospitals of Rouen, Havre or Dieppe, where there were great numbers of them shut up, the great attention, which their position required, or not even those which humanity demanded.
The _conseil general_ on a proposition from Mr Malouet, then prefect of the departement, voted the establishment of a special asylum for the insane belonging to the departement. The buildings and dependencies of the ancient monastery of Saint-Yon were designated as being fit for that purpose. The situation of the place at the extremity of the suburb, and in a healthy situation, and the numerous plantations which it would be easy to make in the large gardens which surround the establishment, appeared as many favourable circ.u.mstances, to fix the choice of the administration.
Therefore, in 1821, they entered into a contract for the building of five different courts for the treatement of insane persons.
On the 25th August 1822, on the feast of Saint-Louis, the prefect Mr de Vanssay laid the first stone of the establishement.
From that time the works were carried on with activity. Already in July 1825, fifty seven patients had been admitted. This asylum contains at this time, 390 boarders and 150 poors at the charge of the departement.
It occupies a superficies of nine or ten hectares. The inmates are taken care of by the sisters of Saint-Joseph of Cluny.
The admirable order which reigns in the establishment, the internal management to which the insane are subjected, have already attracted the attention of foreign medical men, who are charged with the treatement of the same malady in the hospitals of their own countries. It may be said that this asylum has, for several years served as a model to all the others.
PRISONS.
There are two princ.i.p.al prisons in Rouen: the _house of correction_, and the _maison de justice_, in the court of the Palais-de-Justice. The first, commonly called _Bicetre_, contains the debtors, prisoners accused but not tried, and those sentenced to imprisonment under twelve months; in the second those already convicted for crimes are confined.
Those sentenced to more than twelve months are sent to the central depot at Gaillon, ten leagues distant from Rouen.
According to a statement made by Mr Vingtrinier, the princ.i.p.al physician of the prisons, the average of the population of the house of correction is about three hundred; that of the _maison de justice_ about ninety; the mortality about one in fifty nine, in the first, and one in sixty eight, in the second.
SOLDIERS BARRACKS.
There are three different barracks in Rouen: the first is situated near the _quai aux Meules_ at Saint-Sever, and contains about one thousand men. The second on the Champ-de-Mars, and contains about seven hundred and fifty men. The third is the _caserne Bonne-Nouvelle_, situated in the suburb of Saint-Sever. Most people pa.s.s the ancient priory of _Bonne-Nouvelle_ (so named by Queen Matilda, on receiving the news of the victory of Hastings), and see only a barrack. To the monks who formerly inhabited this ancient priory, cuira.s.siers, dragoons and foot soldiers have succeeded.
The barracks of _Bonne-Nouvelle_ will contain about three hundred cavalry or about six hundred infantry.
REMARKABLE EDIFICES.
<script>