( 2 )
Paragraphs 19 to 24.
* 1802
...
...
...
1893 ... ... ...
1894
...
...
...
1895
...
...
...
1896
...
...
...
49.50
59.38
61.20
60.50
61.24
3. Judging from the figures quoted on the margin* which give the
daily average strength of criminal lunatics in
the Lahore Asylum for each of the past five
years, it would appear that this class of patient is
steadily, if almost imperceptibly, on the increase.
They now number nearly one quarter of the
population of the Asylum. The total population
in the Lahore Asylum of lunatics tried and acquitted on the ground of insanity
was
1896. A difficulty having
been experienced in properly supervising the criminal lunatics owing among
other causes to structural defects in the present Asylum buildings an extra
expenditure for warders has been sanctioned as a temporary measure pending
the decision that may be arrived at in respect to the proposed new Central
Asylum. The criminal population of the Delhi Asylum remains of much the
same strength as in former years, and criminals constitute less than one-ninth of
the population of this Asylum.
Paragraphs 37, 38 and 42 to 44.
† 1894
...
...
1895 ... ...
1896 ... ...
517
492
367
4. The year under review was a healthier one for the Lahore Asylum than it
has recently enjoyed. There was no special Visita-
tion of malaria as in 1894 or of pneumonia as in
1895. There were fewer admissions into hospital†
than in these two years, and the death-rate per
cent. of daily average strength fell to 7 66, or
4.22 less than the average of 11.88 for the past ten years. The general healthi-
ness of the year and the absence of epidemics among the general population of the
country likely to affect the inmates of the Asylum may have had a great deal to
do with this favourable state of things. At the same time it seems only reason-
able to suppose that the greater care shown for the comfort of the lunatics in
providing them with an extra meal and a warm jersey may have played a not
unimportant part in the general improvement in health. As regards the continued
prevalence of bowel complaints, which has been attributed to the propensity of
lunatics to eat the earth in the walls and floors, it was suggested in the review on
the Report for the year 1895 that perhaps special arrangements could be made to
prevent this. It is now reported that the practice is so exceedingly common among
insanes that to segregate them so as to prevent them from getting at earth is
practieally impossible. It appears to the Lieutenant-Governor that much depends
on the character of the Asylum buildings. In preparing the plans for the pro-
posed new Asylum the desirability of furnishing a certain number of cells with
pakka floors and walls pakka up to a certain height should be borne in mind, as
this is probably the only effectual means of checking the unwholesome habit.
Paragraphs 12 to 18, 39 to 41 and 45.
giving an increase of 18.
† 1894
1895
1896
... ...
...
... ... ...
... ... ...
163
163
101
5. At the commencement of the year 1896 there were 108 inmates (80 males,
28 females) in the Delhi Asylum ; at the end of
the year there were 126 (92 males, 34 females),
The total population of the Asylum was, however,
much the same as in the two previous years.‡
The daily average strength for these years was
105.14, 111.23 and 118.22, respectively, against
an average daily strength of 98.86 for the past ten years. But here again, as in
the case of the Lahore Asylum and for similar reasons, the year under review
was an unusually healthy one. Indeed it was exceedingly so, there having been
but 4 deaths, giving a death-rate of 3.39 per cent. only of the daily average
strength against 9.88 for 1895 and an average of 11.82 for the previous decade.
The death-rate of 3.39 is worthy of notice as being the smallest ever recorded.
The percentage of cures to daily strength was, however, considerably less than in
the year 1895 and in the previous decade, the figures being 10.15 for 1895,
17-98 for 1895 and 19 32 for the past ten years. It would be interesting to
know whether any reasons can be assigned for the low percentage of the year
under review, and this subject should have been discussed in the Report
Primâ
facie the year having been so very healthy a higher percentage of recoveries might
have been anticipated from the healthy influences of the body on the mind.