( 3 )
of sick in the asylums was only 60, or 5.7 per cent. of mean strength,
against 68.99, or 6.17 per cent. of mean strength in 1877, and 8.02 and 7.75
per cent. in 1876 and 1875 respectively. The numbers in hospital, as well
as the percentages on the mean strength, were, as in 1877, highest in
Hazareebagh, Dacca and Patna, the percentages of sick in the asylums at these
stations being 10.32, 8.17 and 5.83 respectively.
Notwithstanding the
prevalence of sickness in Calcutta and its neighbourhood, the Dullunda
asylum was remarkably healthy during the past year. With a daily
average population of 204 persons, the average number of sick was only
3.15. Out of 784 cases treated in the hospitals of the different asylums
during the year, 240, 111, and 119 were respectively cases of fever, dysentery,
and diarrhoea, while in Dullunda only one case of fever and one of diarrhœa,
and not a single case of dysentery, occurred. This remarkable freedom from
disease is no doubt due to the excellent arrangements made by Dr. Payne to
prevent his patients having access to any but pure water, and the absence of any
such arrangements was clearly the cause of the great sickness and mortality in
the Hazareebagh asylum. Out of 242 cases treated in the hospital of the latter
asylum during the year, 90 were cases of cholera, dysentery and diarrhœa,
31 of the remainder being cases of fever. The orders for the abolition of this
asylum render it unnecessary to consider the question of improving its sani-
tary condition. Of 189 cases treated in the Berhampore asylum, 110 were
cases of fever and 55 of dysentery. The Dullunda and Patna asylums were
entirely free from cholera; in each of the Dacca and Cuttack asylums there
was one case; in Berhampore there were 4, and in Hazareebagh 10 admissions to
hospital from this disease. Out of the 16 cases, 10 ended fatally. The Dacca
and Hazareebagh asylums are still conspicuous for the number of cases of
injuries sustained by patients. There were 21 such cases in the Dacca asylum
against 32 in 1877, and the number in the Hazareebagh asylum was 28 in
each of the past two years. Of the Dacca cases, 14 were caused by other
patients; of those in Hazareebagh, 15 were caused by other lunatics, and four
were self-inflicted. Dr. Crombie considers it surprising that the cases in the
Dacca asylum in his charge should be so few, considering the large number of
criminal lunatics, and the fact that they are entrusted with tools required for
the manufactures on which they are employed. This explanation cannot, how-
ever, be accepted. The Dullunda, Patna, and Berhampore asylums also contain
a very large number of criminal lunatics, and yet in none of these asylums was
there a single case of wound or contusion admitted to hospital during the year.
In Hazareebagh, where the number of injuries sustained by patients was
largest, there was only an average of one criminal lunatic throughout the year,
In the Lieutenant-Governor's opinion the frequency of cases of violence in
the Dacca and Hazareebagh asylums is very unsatisfactory, and can only be
accounted for either by a want of discretion in the selection of lunatics entrusted
with dangerous tools, or by defective discipline and negligence on the part
of the keepers.
7. In all the asylums taken together there were 100 deaths, or 9.5 per
cent. of average strength, against 73, or 6.5 per cent. in 1877, and 119, or 9.7
per cent. in 1876. The increased mortality of 1878, as compared with the
previous year, is more than accounted for by the heavy death-rate in the
Hazareebagh asylum, where there were 43 deaths with a daily average strength
of only 207. There was an outbreak of cholera in this asylum in July, and
that disease, and dysentery and diarrhœa, account for 25 out of the 43 deaths.
Omitting Hazareebagh, where the mortality was quite abnormal, there were
only 57 deaths out of an average daily strength of 844, against 62 out of an
average daily strength of 895 in 1877. In all the asylums together there were
20 deaths from diarrhoea, 17 from dysentery, 10 from cholera, 10 from pneumonia,
and 7 from phthisis. Seven out of the ten deaths from pneumonia occurred at
Hazareebagh, and four out of the seven cases of phthisis at Dullunda.
8. The gross expense during the year was Rs. 1,14,629 with a daily
average of 1,051 lunatics, against Rs. 1,13,458, with a daily average of 1,117
in 1877. The gross average cost was therefore Rs. 109 against Rs. 101 in
1877. The amount realized from the relations or friends of lunatics was
Rs. 2,548 against Rs. 1,704, and the profits from manufactures were Rs. 11,259
against Rs. 12,237 in 1877, and Rs. 8,177 in 1876. The gross and net average