12
LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.
43. From anæmia, debility, anasarca, and dropsy there were 16 deaths
in 1879 and 14 in 1880. The variations were, at the Presidency from 4 to
6 ; at Patna from 6 to 3 ; at Dacca from 1 to 3 ; at Berhampore from 3 to
1; at Cuttack from 2 to 1. Of the fatal cases at the Presidency, 4 were
ill from admission, and at Dacca all were ill from admission. Here the events
of 1880 indicate no preventive action.
44. Deaths from cholera fell in total from 7 in 1879 to 4 in 1880.
Of the latter number, 3 were contributed by Berhampore and 1 by Patna.
45. Diarrhœa and dysentery were fatal to 36 persons in 1879 and to 29
in 1880. At the Presidency there was no variation. Of the 6 persons who
died, 5 brought their illness to the asylum. At Dacca the number of deaths
fell from 9 to 3, at Patna it rose from 9 to 15, and at Berhampore fell from
12 to 5. At Cuttack there was no death from either affection.
46. Coupling the course of fatal bowel disorders with that of cholera in
1879 and 1880, and with the comparison between jail and asylum mortality at
Patna and Berhampore, I propose to direct attention to the water-supply
of these two places.
47. Deaths from fever other than agues fell from 6 to 3, these latter
being all contributed by the Presidency Asylum, where fatal fever has hereto-
fore been very uncommon. Two of these new-comers never left hospital from
their admission. One had his fever when he arrived, the other was old, blind,
and very weak.
48. Of deaths from pulmonary diseases other than phthisis—viz.
asthma or emphysema, bronchitis, pleurisy, pneumonia, apoplexy, and gan-
grene of the lungs—there were 13 in 1880, against 11 in 1879. In each year
there were 4 deaths at the Presidency, 2 from pneumonia, which is rarely
fatal here. They occurred in two persons whose phrenzy made examination
of the chest impossible. At Dacca 1 death only occurred in 1880 ; there were
4 in 1879. At Patna 2 in 1879 and 5 in 1880; none of them in good
health on admission. At Berhampore there was some increase of pneumonia,
but the cases were few. There was nowhere such prevalence of these diseases
as to call for minute enquiry.
49. Mortality from phthisis was examined in some detail in my last report
with reference to the great prevalence of the disease in the Presidency Asylum.
I showed then that there was no good ground for supposing that there had been
any exceptional production of the disease locally in 1879 ; that there were facts
to show the year to have been unfavourable to pulmonary invalids in general,
but nothing more specific than this. So much as this appeared on the records
of the neighbouring jails, but no information could be derived from the statistics
of the town. The deaths from phthisis in 1880 in all the asylums rose from
21 to 23. They fell at the Presidency from 16 to 11, at Dacca from 3 to
1, at Patna they rose from 2 to 9, at Cuttack from 0 to 2. At Berhampore
no death was recorded in 1880.
50. Of the 11 cases at the Presidency, 6 dated from admission, and
3 of them were new-comers. Four came from Hazaribagh with two other
persons who died of other diseases, but had signs of phthisis. All the
rest were chronic invalids. Of 1 case only could it be said that the fatal
condition had originated locally in 1880. At Dacca the single death appeared
to belong to the year. At Patna the deaths were chiefly among old residents,
who are noted as received in weak condition. It is remarkable that 5 of
the 9 persons who died had come from Hazaribagh. At Cuttack 1 of 2
deaths took place soon after admission. It would not appear that the quantity
of phthisis recorded year by year proves to have been produced either in the
asylums or the period, and, so far as general increase of the disease in the last
two years is concerned, it is evidently due in no small degree to importation
from Hazaribagh, where a marked tendency to this disease had become
developed before the asylum was closed.
51. For the rest—that is, concerning the apparent increase of phthisis not
brought from Hazaribagh—I think there is much doubt as to its reality.
Having regard to the great difficulty and frequent impossibilty of examining