( 3 )
I know the difficulties of obtaining information, when perhaps the constable who seizes,
the Thannadar or Deputy Inspector who receives the charge, is himself wanting in intelli-
gence ; but it inflicts a terrible injury upon a native when he is incarcerated in a lock-up, or
hand-cuffed and taken to the Lunatic Asylum, perhaps to wait information regarding him.
The lunatics, when discharged from the Asylum are brought before the visitors, and
in most cases are taken over by friends at the door, who give written security for their care
and safe-keeping.
In No. 5 Return it is shown that of the 41 admissions during 1871, 27 were sent in
from Dehli; 4 came from Gurgáon ; 4 from Rohtak,—Meerut, Hissár, Oude, Sirsa, Ulwur,
and Bikanír each furnished one.
Hindús were to Muhammadans as 25 to 16, and males to females as 30 to 11.
These figures accord with my experience of insanity in this country, that it is more
prevalent amongst the former than the latter.
In No. 6 Return is tabulated the trades and occupations of the 41 persons admitted
during 1871.
Shop-keepers and laborers head the list; then come faquirs, weavers, and mehtranís
make up five, and there are five whose previous life is unknown.
No. 7 is a comprehensive table showing the ages of the whole of the inmates remaining
as well as admitted, and at a glance it will be seen that disorder of the mind occurs in
natives, both males and females, more frequently between 20 and 40 years of age or the
middle period of life, not in early youth nor in old age.
The two youths under 20 were cases of idiotcy.
The information required for No. 8 regarding the duration of insanity before admission
has been very imperfect. It shows that greater efforts must be made in every case of lunacy
to find out and report every possible detail.
No. 10 Return will in future show the general state of health on admission and dis-
charge, together with their weight, as is done for prisoners.
The mortality has been very small. In Return 11 we find one case died in June from
pneumonia, not of an infectious character, another from dysentery in April, and two died in
November from anœmia, œdema and general wasting produced by exhaustion of the vital
powers.
The classification of the forms of madness as manifested in natives is, in my opinion-
susceptible of a more simple arrangement than that laid down in Return 12, in which we
have acute and chronic mania, and also acute and chronic dementia. Instead of these
four heads, I would make two great forms of mental derangement, one characterized by visible
excitement, the other by depression. Melancholia, when the mind is engrossed in some
painful sentiment, with perhaps propensity to suicide or homicidal impulse, may complicate
almost every form of derangement of mind, but it is alway dependent on delusion expressed
or not, and, therefore, is correctly made a separate disorder. Females are more subject to
melancholia than males. I think paralysis, which one so often sees and hears of in the
Lunatic Asylums at home, is not common out here, in fact, in my little experience in India
I think it is very rare. Idiotcy of course comes under a separate heading. Epileptic
mania is very common and has been placed under chronic mania.
The patients remaining under treatment from year to year become chronic, while the
majority of fresh admissions are of an acute character.
Twenty-eight cases of acute mania were treated, of which 24 were fresh admissions. Of
the 30 cases of chronic mania treated during 1871, 16 were remaining from previous years.
The proportion of recoveries has been about the same in each variety of the disease, 11
cases of acute, and 11 cases of chronic mania.
There were 4 cases of melancholia, 8 of dementia, and 3 idiots.
No. 13 shows the causes of insanity amongst all the cases remaining and admitted
during 1871. They are either moral or physical; and of these the latter preponderate,
especially, gánja, bhang, spirit or dissipation, which induce heat or congestion of brain
and fever. I have already reported that we have abundant evidence of the use and abuse
of the preparations of cannabis or Indian hemp in the large city of Dehli where there are
two lacs of people, and especially with a Hindú population in excess of Muhammadans.
Both the rich and the poor amongst Hindús in dulge in this narcotic, whereas only the
lowest class of Muhammadans partake of it.
The habitual indulgers are to be found amongst saises, dhobís, faquírs, laborers,
kahárs, halálkhors. You may find them in groups of 20 or 30 from three to five in the
afternoon in the Kudum Sharíf Pánch Kua, the Eedgah, or on the banks of the Jumna,
clubbing together for a smoke at from a dumri to a pie or two per head. The pipe is passed
round until they become merry or angry, and too often quite intoxicated.