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                                 RULES

                                  AND

                              REGULATIONS

                                OF THE

                     INSANE ASYLUM OF CALIFORNIA.


                 PRESCRIBED BY THE RESIDENT PHYSICIAN,
                            AUGUST 1, 1861.


                               STOCKTON:
                       ARMOR & CLAYES, PRINTERS.
                                 1861.




RESIDENT PHYSICIAN.


The Resident Physician, who shall also be the Superintendent, shall be
the chief executive officer of the Asylum; he shall have the general
superintendence of the buildings, grounds, and property, subject to the
laws and regulations of the Trustees; he shall have the sole control and
management of the patients; he shall ascertain their condition, daily
prescribe their treatment, and adopt such sanitary measures as he may
think best; he shall appoint, with the approval of the Trustees, so many
attendants and assistants as he may think proper and necessary for the
economical and efficient performance of the business of the Asylum,
prescribe their several duties and places;--he shall, also, from time to
time, give such orders and instructions as he may judge best calculated
to insure good conduct, fidelity and economy in every department of
labor and expense; and he is authorized and enjoined to maintain
salutary discipline among all who are employed by the Institution, and
uniform obedience to all the rules and regulations of the
Asylum.--[_State Law of 1858._




ASSISTANT PHYSICIAN.


FIRST.

"The Assistant Physician shall perform" the "duties, and be subject to
the responsibility of the Superintendent, in his sickness or absence,
and" he "may call to his aid, for the time being, such medical
assistance, as he may deem necessary"--"and perform such other duties as
may be directed by the Superintendent and prescribed by the
By-Laws."--[_State Law of 1858._


SECOND.

He shall prepare and superintend the administration of medicines, visit
the wards frequently, and carefully note the condition and progress of
individual cases; see that the directions of the Superintendent are
faithfully executed, and promptly report any case of neglect or abuse
that may come under his observation, or of which he may be informed.


THIRD.

He shall assist in devising employment and recreation for the patients,
and endeavor in every way to promote their comfort and recovery; keep
such records of cases as the Superintendent may direct, assist in
preparing statistics, and conducting correspondence, and he shall
perform such other duties of his office as properly belong thereto.




GENERAL RULES.


1. Persons employed in the service of the Asylum will learn that
character, proper deportment, and faithfulness to duty, will alone keep
them in the situations in which they are placed; and they should
consider well, before entering upon service, whether they are prepared
to devote all their time, talents, and efforts, in the discharge of the
duties assigned to them. The Institution will deal in strict good faith
with its employees, and it will expect, in return, prompt, faithful, and
self-denying service.

2. No one can justly take offense when respectfully informed by the
Superintendent, that his or her temperament is better adapted to some
other employment; and those receiving such information should regard it
as kindly given, that they may have opportunity to avoid the
unpleasantness of being discharged.

3. Those employed at the Asylum be expected to hold themselves in
readiness for duty when directed by its officers; and the neglect of any
labor, or duty, on the ground that laboring hours are over, or to
hesitate, after proper direction, on such pretexts, will be regarded as
evidence against the fitness of the employee for the place he or she may
hold.

4. It must be remembered by all the employees, that their duties are
peculiar and confidential, and that there is an obvious impropriety in
disclosing the names, peculiarities, or acts of the inmates. It should
never be forgotten that the most cruel wounds may, by imprudent
disclosures, be inflicted on those whose conduct and language, during
their misfortune, should be covered with the veil of deepest secrecy.
Conversations, in relation to the Asylum and its inmates, sought by the
idle and mischievous, should be studiously avoided.

5. All persons employed in the Asylum are required to cultivate a calm
and deliberate method of performing their daily duties--carelessness and
precipitation being never more out of place than in an insane asylum.
Loud talking, hurrying up and down stairs, rude forms of address to one
another, and unsightly styles of dress, are wholly misplaced where
everything should be strictly decorous and orderly.

6. In the management of patients, unvarying kindness must be strictly
observed by all. When spoken to, mild, pleasant and persuasive language
must never give place to authoritative expressions of any kind. All
threats, taunts, or other kinds of abuse in language, are expressly
forbidden. A blow, kick, or any other kind of physical abuse, inflicted
on a patient, will be immediately followed by the dismissal of the
person so offending.

7. Employees having charge of patients outside of the wards, whether for
labor or exercise, will be held responsible for their safe return,
unless, by the direction of an officer they shall be transferred to the
charge of some other person; and when patients employed out of doors
become excited, they must be immediately returned to the wards whence
they were taken, and the fact reported at the office.

8. It will be expected of all employed in or about the Asylum, to check,
as far as possible, all conversations or allusions, on the part of
patients, to subjects of an obscene or improper nature, and remove, when
in their power, false impressions on their minds, respecting their
confinement or management; and any person who shall discover a patient
devising plans for escape, suicide, or violence to others, is enjoined
to report it to an officer without delay.

9. The place of duty of those having charge of patients is in the wards,
or in the yards, or in the garden with the patients. During the day and
while the patients are out of their sleeping apartments, they have no
business in their rooms, except for a momentary errand to adjust their
own clothing; and any employee who shall enter his or her room, and
engage in reading, writing, entertaining visitors, or be otherwise off
duty, will be acting in violation of rule.

10. The employees are not permitted to correspond with the friends of
patients; and all letters or packages to, or from, patients, must pass
through the hands of the Superintendent or Assistant Physician. All
making of dresses, working of embroidery, or any mechanism, for the use
of employees, is prohibited, unless by the special permission of the
Superintendent; and no employee of the Institution shall ever make any
bargain with any patient, or his or her friends, or accept of any fee,
reward or gratuity from any patient, or his or her friends, without the
Superintendent's consent.

11. Employees will not be permitted to leave the Asylum without the
consent of the Superintendent or Assistant Physician, and, when allowed
to leave, they will be expected to return by 9 o'clock P. M.--unless
expressly permitted to remain out longer. Before leaving they must hang
up their keys in the place, in the office, provided for that purpose.
Non-residents will not be permitted to remain in the Institution at
night without the knowledge and consent of the Superintendent or
Assistant Physician.

12. No person will be employed in or about the Asylum who is intemperate
in habits, or who engages in gambling or any other immoral or
disreputable practice; and as the patients are not allowed the use of
tobacco, within the Asylum, the employees are expected not to use it, in
any form, in their presence.

13. While employees are not prohibited from _occasionally_ visiting each
other in their wards, it should never become a habit, and the indulgence
is only allowed in view of the spirit of emulation, which may thus be
encouraged by sometimes inspecting each other's sphere of duty. When it
is discovered that the permission is abused, or that visits are being
spent in idle conversation, it will be held as a violation of rule.

14. The two departments of the Institution--male and female--must always
be separate to its employees, and no person, whose post of duty is
exclusively in the one, shall ever be permitted to enter the other,
unless some express or proper occasion shall demand it; and any one who
shall discover, and not disclose, or who shall in any way encourage, an
acquaintance between two patients, of opposite sex, will be held highly
culpable for such misdemeanor, and will be forthwith dismissed from
service.

15. No employee will be permitted to appropriate to his or her use any
article belonging to the Asylum, or purchased for the use of the
patients, however small or comparatively valueless it may be. From the
salary of the person so offending, the cost of the article will be
deducted, and he or she dismissed from service.


STEWARD.

1. The Steward shall have a general oversight of the business of the
farm, garden, grounds, fences and buildings; he shall assist in
maintaining the police regulations of the Asylum, observe the deportment
of those employed in subordinate positions, see that they do their duty,
and report to the Superintendent any instance of neglect or misconduct,
that he may observe, or of which he may be informed; he shall see to the
opening and closing of the house; that the employees rise and commence
their duties at the ringing of the bell, and return at proper season at
night; that the bell is rung promptly at such hours as may be
designated, from time to time, by the Superintendent. He shall have a
general care of the male patients, see that they are kindly treated,
that their clothes are taken care of, that their food is properly
cooked, served and distributed, that the rooms, passages and other
apartments are kept clean and properly warmed and ventilated, and that
every thing pertaining to the Asylum property is kept in order and in
good repair.

2. The Steward shall receive and store all provisions, fuel, clothing,
etc. provided by contracts, and, also, all supplies purchased under the
direction of the Superintendent, and he will be held responsible for the
safe-keeping and economical distribution of the same.

3. He shall keep just, accurate and methodical accounts of all articles
received, and all articles purchased by him, together with all
distributions of supplies to the several departments of the
Institution--each and every day's accounts exhibiting, in detail, the
number, quantity weight or measurement, as the nature of the case may
be, of each and every article received, and from whom, and distributed,
and to whom.

4. On the receipt of supplies, whether obtained under contract, or
purchased by order of the Superintendent, the Steward shall require a
bill or invoice of the same, and if, upon a careful examination of the
quality, quantity, weight or measurement of the article or articles,
they shall be found to correspond with the item or items of the bill, he
shall enter the aggregate amount, with the date and number of the
invoice, in a book provided for that purpose, after which he shall
endorse the bill _correct_, and file it, together with an abstract of
his daily disbursements, in the office of the Superintendent.

5. The Steward will be expected to devote his whole time to the
interests of the Institution, assist, in every way in his power, to
preserve order in the house, and faithfulness among the employees, and
see that all the rules and regulations of the Asylum are fully observed.


MATRON.

1. The Matron shall have charge of the female department of the Asylum.
It will be expected of her to be with the female patients, in all the
wards, as much as possible; see that they are kindly treated; that their
food is properly cooked, served and distributed; that their apartments
are kept clean and in good order, and properly warmed and ventilated;
that the female employees attend to their duties in all respects, and
report to the Superintendent any departure, on their part, from the
rules and regulations of the Institution.

2. The bedding, table linen, napkins, and drapery furniture, carpets,
table covers, and all similar property of the female department, as well
as the clothing of the female patients, shall be under her general care
and supervision. She shall direct the employment and amusements of all
the inmates of the female wards; in short, it will be expected of her to
look frequently and carefully