( 5 )
been prepared in past years with due care and proper enquiry. Reference to
this incompleteness has been made in previous reports. The Superintendent of
the Berhampore Asylum reports that of 122 admissions no less than 40 medical
history sheets contained no useful information. As true causative factors
the assigned causes are therefore not always reliable. For instance of the 185
admissions in 1908, 8 are attributed to heredity. If the antecedents were
followed up carefully and intelligently at the outset it would probably be
found that heredity has played an important part in a much larger propor-
tion of cases. There was not much improvement I regret to report in the
filling up of the medical history sheets in 1903. Physical causes were, as
usual, responsible for most of the admissions, viz., 63 in 1906, 82 in 1907 and
89 in 1908, the percentages being 29.84, 41.84 and 48.11 respectively.
Intoxicants were credited with 41 cases in 1906, 38 in 1907 and 56 in 1908.
Ganja smoking was alleged as the cause of lunacy in 29 admissions in 1906,
21 in 1907 and 33 in 1908. The cases returned in 1908 were accepted as
reliable after due enquiries by the Superintendents. There was one case at
Bhowanipur, an East Indian, whose insanity was attributed to abuse of ganja.
Spirit drinking was the assigned cause of lunacy in 10 cases in 1906, 13 in
1907 and 12 in 1908. Most of the cases were admitted in the Berhampore
Asylum. Moral causes accounted for 23 admissions or 10.90 per cent. in 1906,
24 and 12.24 in 1907 and 25 and 13.51 in 1908. In 59.24 per cent. of the
cases admitted the causes were not known in 1906, 45.92 in 1907 and 38.38
in 1903, an average of 47.84 against 55.63 in the previous triennium.
This much better result is due in a great measure to the exertions of the
Superintendents.
18. Injuries and accidents.—-There were a good many cases of assaults
and accidents at Berhampore in 1908, which had a daily resident population
of 606.83. Most of them were, however, of a trivial nature, slight wounds,
sprains, burns, &c, which require no detailed account. In two cases the
assaults were of a serious nature from which the patients died. A lunatic
kicked a fellow lunatic in a ward of the hospital which caused his death.
The post mortem examination disclosed that the deceased died of rupture of the
liver. A judicial enquiry was held in the matter. The warder on duty
having been absent at the time of the occurrence was dismissed. Another
lunatic, an educated man of the Hospital Assistant Class, who has been in
the Asylum since 1883 and had never shown any homicidal tendencies, struck
another lunatic on the head with a piece of iron which he got from the cook-
shed, causing his death. A judicial enquiry was held and it was found that
no one of the Asylum staff was to blame for this regrettable accident. In two
instances only in 1908 were the patients roughly treated by the warders, in
one case the latter was dismissed and in the other he was fined.
19. Escapes.—There was one escape from the Asylums in each of the
years 1906 and 1908. There were none in 1907. The escapes occurred from
the Berhampore Asylum. One was recaptured, and the other who escaped in
1908 is still at large. The defaulting warders were suitably punished.
20. European lunatics—The total number admitted and re-admitted was
20 in 1906, 28 in 1907 and 18 in 1908, while the number discharged otherwise
than by death was 16, 15 and 13 respectively. The daily average strength
was 38.10 in 1906, 38'64 in 1907 and 32.71 in 1908. Calculated on these
figures the percentage of recoveries was 18.37, 23.29 and 18.34 respectively.
There were 2 more recoveries in 1907 increasing the recovery rate by 26.78
per cent. Deaths numbered 3 or 7.87 per cent. in 1906, 1 and 2.58 in 1907
and 2 and 6.11 in 1908 respectively. Of the 18 patients admitted in 1908, 9
were Europeans and Eurasians, 7 East Indians, 1 Armenian and 1 Jew.
21. The total expenditure was Rs. 26,436 in 1906, Rs. 27,028 in 1907
and Rs. 25,585 in 1908, the incidence of cost per lunatic being Rs. 693-13-8,
Rs. 699-7-8 and Rs. 782-2-9 respectively. The saving in the gross cost in
1908 is mainly attributable to there having been fewer patients than in 1907.
The cost of superintendence in this Asylum was more by Rs. 726 in 1906 owing
to the inclusion in the accounts of the Deputy Superintendent's and Matron's
leave allowances as well as the officiating incumbents' pay. In 1908 there was
a saving of Rs. 634 due to the retirement of the permanent Matron who drew
leave allowance throughout the year 1907 in addition to pay of the Matron who
did the work. Public works charges increased by Rs. 635 in 1908 owing to
quadrennial repairs. Contingencies showed an increase of Rs. 427 due to the
purchase of new bedsteads and crockery. Although the gross cost was less in