4
LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.
Statement No. 2.
Asylums.
Dullunda ... ...
Dacca
...
...
Patna
...
...
Cuttack
...
...
Moydapore
...
...
Berhampore ... ...
Hazareebagh ... ...
All Asylums ... ...
Males ...
Females ...
Pee cent of—
Average strength.
Recovered.
22.36
2.90
16.32
4.93
5.59
6.6
1.96
10.61
9.52
14.92
Improved, &c.
9.64
11.60
3.57
14.81
3.73
4.34
.49
6.53
7.16
4.03
Total.
32.00
13.50
19.89
19.74
9.32
9.93
2.45
17.14
16.68
18.95
Total treated.
Recovered.
13.97
1.98
11.08
3.57
5.08
3.96
1.48
8.58
7.75
11.78
Improved, &c.
6.02
7.94
2.36
10.71
3.38
2.64
.37
5.28
5.82
3.18
Total.
19.97
9.92
13.44
14.28
8.46
6.60
1.85
13.86
13.57
14.96
Admissions.
Recovered.
45.45
9.23
46.83
14.28
......
31.57
20.00
35.51
31.74
50.68
Improved, &c.
19.58
36.92
10.12
42.85
......
21.05
5.00
21.85
23.88
13.7
Total.
65.03
46.15
55.95
57.13
......
52.62
25.00
57.36
55.62
64.38
During the year (males 93, females 37) 130 insane patients, or at the rate of (males 9.52,
females 14.92) 10.61 per cent. of average strength, were discharged “ cured.” This result
compares unfavourably with that registered in 1875, viz. (males 13.47, females 14.75) 13.76.
This has been markedly the lowest proportion of recoveries (calculated on the average
strength) that has been returned in any year of the preceding decennial period; and it will
be observed in Table No. I of the Appendix that the proportion of those discharged
“ cured ” has been gradually decreasing from 1866 up to 1876, with the exception of in
1868 and 1873, when, from some unexplained cause, there was a sudden increase. Review-
ing the asylums separately under this heading, and in comparison with the figures of 1875,
it will be found that the proportion of “ cured ” to the average strength had decreased in the
Dullunda Asylum by 4.5 per cent.; and the decrease was considered by the Superintendent
(paragraph 6 of the Dullunda Asylum Report) to be due to the fall in the admission rate,
and to the population consisting more largely of criminal lunatics and chronic cases. In
the Dacca Asylum the proportion of those “ cured ” was at the small rate of 2.90 per cent.
of average strength, or nearly one-half less than was shown in 1875. The explanation of
such an unsatisfactory result will be found (in paragraph 6 of the report of that asylum) to
be that a large proportion of the number transferred to friends were perfectly sane on leaving
the asylum. In the Patna Asylum there was, as compared with 1875, an increase in the
proportion “ cured ” by 2.8 per cent.; but still it was below the average of the preceding
five years. In the Cuttack Asylum but 4.9 per cent. were discharged “ cured,” against 12.8
in 1875 ; and no explanation has been offered by the Superintendent regarding the cause of
such a result. In the Moydapore Asylum, only 5.6 per cent. were discharged “ cured,”
against 10.7 in 1875. But such a result may not be surprising, since 70 per cent. of the
population (paragraph 7 of Moydapore report) are said to have been cases of chronic and
hopelessly confirmed insanity. In the Berhampore Asylum the proportion of those discharged
“cured,” though at the low rate of 6.6 per cent., shows an increase of nearly 2 per cent. on
the results of 1875. It may, however, be remarked that, although the average proportion
of those discharged “ cured” was considerably lower than has been observed in former years,
it nevertheless compares favourably with the statistics of the public asylums of Middlesex and
Surrey for the ten years from 1865 to 1874, which were compiled by the “ Lancet Commission
on Lunatic Asylums." These statistics show that in the Hanwell, Wandsworth, Colney
Hatch, Stone, and Brookwood Asylums, the average proportion of cures to admissions, for the
period just stated, was at the rate of 30.51 per cent.; of cures to cases treated, at the rate of
22.95 per cent. ; and of cures to average strength, 7.56.
With reference to the annual decrease in the proportion of recoveries, I quote further
from the report of the Lancet Commission as follows:—" It is an important and weighty fact