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Royal Edinburgh Asylum
The Edinburgh Lunatic Asylum first opened in 1813, following fundraising efforts by Duncan and monies gifted by the British Parliament. The asylum originally consisted of a building called East House which accepted only paying patients, but a second building called West House, designed by William Burn, was opened in 1842 in order to accommodate poor patients as well. The inmates of Edinburgh's bedlam were later admitted in 1844.

The asylum's first Physician Superintendent Dr William MacKinnon, who took up the post in 1839, encouraged patients to be active through skills and hobbies they already possessed, including gardening, pig farming, carpentry, sewing, tailoring, poultry keeping, and curling. Shortly thereafter, in 1845, the asylum installed a printing press and the hospital began to produce a monthly magazine, the Morningside Mirror.