8
LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.
that the resort to drugs of this class is the cause and not the effect of the mental
failure. It occurs to me, after a very considerable experience in the treat-
ment of such cases, that the habit grows upon the individual, who has,
as time goes on, to increase the dose to produce the desired effect, until the
special object is no longer attainable, or until the gradually enlarged quantities
indulged in result not only in a confirmed habit, but are quickly followed by
insanity on the excess taken. I am more than borne out in this opinion, based
as it is on a large experience in the treatment of the insanes, by the facts that
women do not acquire the bhang ganja or churus habits, and for obvious reasons;
and that, the majority of the cases admitted into our asylums suffering from
first effects are young or middle-aged men. I do not mean to say that these
drugs are never used, save for the above purpose. The exceptions, however,
are so very rare that they may be said to prove the rule. Throughout the
year one female only was admitted under the head of ganja Fever is said
to have led to 7 cases of insanity, although the type is not given. Nine are
set down to hereditary predisposition; 5 to epilepsy, and 1 to childbirth. Fur-
ther than this it is needless to comment upon the figures recorded in this state-
ment.
TABLE No. 9.
Admissions into hospitals
...
...
...
...
...
Ditto per cent. of mean strength
...
...
...
Daily average sick
...
...
...
...
...
...
Ditto
in 1884
...
...
...
...
Ditto
per cent. of mean strengh ...
Ditto
ditto
in 1884 ...
Daily average number of out-patients
...
...
...
Dullunda.
68
27.33
10.58
13.38
4.25
5.88
15.23
Dacca.
127
56.71
10.46
11.88
4.67
5.22
5.41
Patna.
86
37.02
8.07
13.3
3.47
5.73
7.04
Cuttack.
17
28.47
3.49
2.95
5.84
5.02
12.81
Berhampore.
53
30.28
2.78
3.19
1.59
1.81
5.87
Total.
351
37.35
35.38
44.7
3.76
4.85
46.36
20. Sickness.—The daily average sick fell considerably in the Dullunda
and Patna Asylums, and slightly in Dacca and Berhampore. It rose a little in
Cuttack, The admissions into hospital in Dullunda and Patna were 68 and 86
in 1885, against 93 and 84 in 1884, respectively.
21. As I remarked in my previous report, in analysing the figures presented
in statement VIII, much depends on factors unseen. Atmospheric influences
play a very decided part in the rise and fall of sickness among large
bodies of men in confinement, as they do among free populations; and
insanes in asylums are equally subject to such influences. The admissions
into all the insane hospitals from all causes numbered 351 against 365 in 1884,
235 in 1883, 394 in 1882, and 385 in 1881; the total strength for the same
years being 1,151, 1,139, 1,081, 1,056, and 1,094 respectively. The greatest
decrease from all causes occurred in Dullunda. Here the fall was from 93 in
1884 to 68 in 1885, or a percentage to mean strength of from 40.93 to 27.33.
Dacca comes next in the return, giving a decrease from 59.77 to 56.71; Patna
and Cuttack exhibit a slight increase; while the largest rise occurred in
Berhampore, where the rate per cent. of admissions to mean strength
increased from to 20.48 to 30.28.
TABLE No. 10.
Showing the prevalence of principal Diseases in 1884 and 1885.
Anæmia and debility
...
...
Diarrhœa ... ... ... ...
Dropsy
...
...
...
...
Dysentery
...
...
...
...
Fever
...
...
...
...
Pneumonia
...
...
...
...
Phthisis
... ... ... ...
Cholera
...
...
...
....
Dullunda.
1884.
13
9
4
11
3
1
1
......
1885.
8
8
2
11
1
2
1
......
Dacca.
1884.
14
18
3
8
72
4
9
3
1885.
15
28
......
9
59
......
2
......
Patna.
1884.
17
9
1
5
17
......
19
......
1885.
19
5
4
7
39
......
8
......
Cuttack.
1884.
2
......
......
2
11
......
2
......
1885.
2
1
......
5
5
......
1
......
Berhampore.
1884.
4
5
1
......
13
.....
3
......
1885.
7
5
......
3
25
......
4
2
Total.
1884.
50
42
9
26
116
5
34
3
1885.
51
47
6
35
129
2
16
2