[Maximum limit, 4 pages.]
No. 150½D.
FROM COLONEL S. H. BROWNE, M.D., C.I.E., I.M.S.,
Inpector-General of Civil Hospitals, Bengal,
To THE SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL,
MUNICIPAL DEPARTMENT.
Dated Darjeeling, the 19th April 1905.
SIR,
I HAVE the honour to submit the annual statistical returns of the
lunatic asylums in Bengal for the year 1904, together with brief explanatory
notes.
Statement I.
The increase in the asylum population noted in the report for the year 1903
continued during 1904, the numbers under deten-
tion at the close of the year having risen to 1,101
against 1,045 on the 31st December 1903. The daily average number also rose,
being 1084.35 as compared with 1053.79 in the previous year, whilst the total
number of lunatics dealt with during the year shows an increase of 29 over the
figures for 1903. Two hundred and ninety-one new admissions were registered,
41 were readmitted, 176 were discharged and 100 died.
The increase in numbers was confined to the Dullunda, Patna and Berham-
pore Asylums, whilst elsewhere a small decrease occurred. At the Dullunda
Asylum the increase was mainly due to the admission of an unusually large
number of criminal lunatics (13), whilst at Patna an exceptionally large number
of admissions from the Saran district ran up the total. The ultimate causes
of this growth in the asylum population are difficult to trace : it remains to be
seen whether they were temporary and exceptional or whether, as has been
suggested, the increase is a natural result of the general growth of the popula-
tion of the province. Possibly the stress caused by the prevalence of plague
in Behar may have driven a number of insanes into the asylum at Patna.
However this may be, there is nothing in the statistics to justify the belief that
there has been any important increase of insanity amongst the people. The
ratio of the insane to the population in Bengal is infinitesimal when compared
with that occurring in England, where, according to the returns for the year
1903, it amounts to 34.71 per 10,000 of the population. In this province the
ratio works out at 2.93, but allowance must be made for the completeness of
registration of diseases in England.
The increase in numbers led to some overcrowding in the Dacca and
Dullunda Asylums, but this was relieved by transfers to Berhampore, where
the accommodation has been increased by the occupation of some of the wards
recently erected there in connection with the scheme for the establishment of a
central asylum.
Of the total number of lunatics dealt with during the year, 107, or 9.86 per
cent. of the daily average number, were discharged cured. This result corre-
sponds very closely with that obtained in the English asylums, where the
percentage of recoveries in 1903 was 9.17. An important difference exists,
however, as the statistics of the English asylums do not include those of the
idiot establishments, whereas in Bengal idiots are classed with other insanes.
Taking the asylums individually, the number of recoveries were as follows:—
Total under detention ...
Recoveries ...
Bhowanipur.
52
4
Dullunda.
371
36
Dacca.
315
19
Patna.
284
18
Cuttack.
49
4
Berhampore.
306
26
Readmissions—Number 41 as in the previous year. The majority of these
were criminal lunatics readmitted after trial. In some cases where the insanity
had been caused by ganja, a return to former habits after discharge produced a
relapse.
A