( 2 )
this type, and of these 38 resulted in recoveries during the year. In Dacca
the percentage of cures on admissions was 28.07; in Patna it was 35.8; in
Cuttack 28.6; in Berhampore, where the admissions showed a considerable
reduction and presumably include a large proportion of acute cases, 76.1. In
Hazareebagh there were only 10 admissions and there were 17 cures among
245 patients; it is not stated how many recoveries were effected among the new
patients; the percentage of cures is satisfactory, as most of the inmates of
the asylum were originally selected for transfer from other asylums as chronic
cases.
4. The Moydapore Asylum was closed during the year under the Lieute-
nant-Governor's orders, and it is not anticipated that there will be any necessity
for re-opening it. The gross capacity of the remaining asylums is 1,407, and
the number confined in them on the last day of the year was 1,077. There
was thus ample accommodation, and there was never anything but the most
trifling overcrowding in any of the asylums. In Dullunda, Patna, and
Hazareebagh the numbers in confinement on 31st December were much below
the capacity of the asylums. They contained 202, 206, and 220 respectively,
with accommodation for 293, 260, and 392. In Dullunda, however, the
number of female lunatics was slightly in excess of the accommodation avail-
able for this class. The Lieutenant-Governor has decided to utilize the asylum
building at Dacca in the construction of a new central jail for the Eastern
districts. A new asylum is being built. The Lieutenant-Governor has recently
appointed a committee to consider the possibility of some modification in the
distribution of the lunatics among the other asylums and of reductions in the
cost of establishment.
5. The number of criminal lunatics in confinement continues to exhibit
an increase. The following table shows the progress of the asylum population
of this class during the past ten years:—
1868 ... ...
1869 ... ...
1870 ... ...
1871
...
...
1872
...
...
133
156
160
166
192
1873 ... ...
1874 ... ...
1875 ... ...
1876 ... ...
1877 ... ...
216
213
232
269
278
Only 68 new cases were admitted in 1877, against 85 in 1876, and discharges
numbered 51 against 31. There is reason to believe that if a proper discre-
tion is exercised in the admission of lunatics of this class the number now in
confinement need not be exceeded. It has until recently been the custom to
direct the confinement in a lunatic asylum of any prisoner who is acquitted
on the ground of insanity, or who is unable from a similar cause to make his
defence. But it is quite anomalous that a trifling offence, a petty theft or
assault, which in a sane person would lead to a sentence of fine or a short term
of imprisonment, should, in the case of an idiot, be followed by confinement
in an asylum at the public cost for an unlimited period. The police are only
too ready to arrest and send up for trial people of this class. In cases where
such a person has been acquitted on the ground of insanity, there appears to
be no reason why he should be detained in a lunatic asylum. An enquiry has
now been instituted with the view of ascertaining how many of the so-called
criminal lunatics at present in confinement belong to this class. The Lieu-
tenant-Governor is quite satisfied of the importance of segregating bonâ fide
criminal lunatics from ordinary insane patients, and a committee is now
engaged in considering which of the existing asylums can best be utilized
for this purpose. The question of the disposal of recovered lunatics, who
have been acquitted of previous crimes on the ground of insanity, will also be
disposed of, and it will probably be decided to confine such persons in a jail
so situated that the Inspector-General will easily be able to comply with the
requirements of section 431 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
6. Of 1,416 persons who were under treatment during the year, 274 were
suffering from acute mania, 548 from chronic mania, 116 from melancholia,
93 from acute dementia, 331 from chronic dementia, 11 from idiocy, 5 from
imbecility, and 2 from amentia, while 36 are described as "not insane."
There were 60 cases of recovery from acute and 38 from chronic mania, 7 from
melancholia, and 9 from acute and 12 from chronic dementia. There were 97
patients suffering from melancholia at the close of the year. It is understood