Part I.]
GENERAL REPORT.
11
Superstition of the
natives as to
causation.
According to Dr. Wise, the natives generally ascribe insanity to "Bayu"
which seems to be vertigo, due to blood poisoning from putridal emanations,
or to any chronic and debilitating disease.
Over-crowding.
Overcrowding everywhere existed in the province of Lower Bengal, and the
population of the asylums was actually 52 per cent. in excess of the existing
accommodation. There was " a dangerous want of room for the lodgment of
patients " at Dullunda. Dacca was "grossly overcrowded"; and in both of these
institutions the mortality from chest affections as a result of overcrowding was
heavy. Increased accommodation is urgently appealed for in the case of the
Patna asylum. The male wards of the Cuttack asylum accommodated a daily
average of 40.5 patients, whilst their capacity entitled them to not more than
31; and to prevent a still further increase of population, it was found necessary
to prohibit the transfer of insanes from the Central Provinces, as hitherto
existed. In the Moydapore asylum the population continued large in propor-
tion to the size of the institution, but there was the prospect of speedy relief
by the transfer of its inmates to the new and larger buildings at Berhampore.
The following table, which is extracted from the appendix to the Surgeon-
General's report to the Bengal Government, shows the capacity of each of the
asylums in the province, calculated at the rate of 50 superficial feet per inmate,
together with the number resident on December 31st, 1872.
ASYLUMS.
Dullunda ... ... ...
Dacca ... ... ...
Patna ... ... ...
Cuttack ... ... ...
Moydapore ... ... ...
Total ...
CAPACITY.
Males.
246
127
59
31
37
500
Females.
47
50
20
13
10
140
Total.
293
177
79
44
47
640
IN CONFINEMENT ON THE 31ST
DECEMBER 1872.
Males.
290
190
200
39
47
766
Females.
87
43
57
10
9
207
Total.
377
233
257
49
56
972
Elsewhere, overcrowding is not complained of, but some of the populations
are increasing so steadily, that the future necessity for increased accommoda-
tion cannot wisely be lost sight of.
Additional accom-
modation to relieve
overcrowding.
Additional accommodation is being provided at Berhampore, calculated to
contain 225 patients. The building of a new asylum sanctioned at Cuttack by
Government in September, with accommodation for 80 to 100 patients, is about to
be carried out. Both these new sites promise to prove suitable in all but one
particular, viz., the deficiency of large and shady trees, which add so much to the
comfort and health of the patients by enabling them to live for the chief part
in the open air. It was intended that the new asylum at Berhampore should
supersede that at Moydapore, but in consequence of the urgent necessity for
space, His Honor the Lieutenant-Governor has decided to maintain the latter
in addition to the former, thus affording relief to Dullunda and Patna. The
construction of an asylum at Tezpore to receive insanes from Assam, which
province is at present a tax upon the Dacca institution, is under the considera-
tion of Government. In the North-Western Provinces, as stated in the last
year's report, a new asylum is being constructed at Pandeypore, intended to
supersede the present Benares institution, but not much progress was made
in the building during the year.
Gheel system.
The Belgian or Gheel system of boarding out harmless lunatics, which was
sanctioned in 1872 by the Bengal Government, was tried on a small scale at
Dacca, with very poor success so far; but it would seem probable that, when the
natives have overcome their dread of the consequences of their responsibility in
accepting such charges, the system is one calculated to commend itself to them,
and by perseverance alone can success be attained. It may here be mentioned
that the conditions upon which Government desire to establish the system are a
careful selection of perfectly harmless insanes ; that their friends are not in a
position to maintain them; that they are domiciled in a known place with a
known person; that they are periodically inspected, and that, when visited, the
general care bestowed upon them be investigated.