4
LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.
to be provided at Cuttack and Dacca. At Patna no overcrowding is entered in the
return. Here the verandahs are used as sleeping places, and are frequently
made wet from driving rain in the south-west monsoon. They are consequently
damp. If verandahs are to be taken into the account when calculating
capacity, then there was no overcrowding at Patna. I would suggest that the
brick platforms throughout this asylum be either Portland cemented or covered
with hard asphalt. Parts of the asylum enclosure are subject to inundation which
is said to result from the imperfect system of outside drainage. Dr. Nicholson,
the Superintendent, informed me that, the subject of rectifying this evil was
being considered by the proper authorities. The buildings in the Patna
Asylum are old, and le tout ensemble of their arrangement and adaptation,
can hardly be viewed as a suitable place, according to our modern ideas, in
which to treat the insane.
TABLE NO. 5.
Return of Criminal lunatics in the Asylums in Bengal for the year 1886 and ten previous years.
1
YEARS.
1876 ... ...
1877 ... ...
1878 ... ...
1879 ... ...
1880 ... ...
1881 ... ...
18S2 ... ...
1883 ... ...
1884 ... ...
1885 ... ...
1886 ... ...
2
REMAINING
ON 1ST
JANUARY.
Males.
207
245
255
265
252
264
269
291
332
332
349
Females.
25
24
23
23
24
31
28
27
27
31
38
Total.
232
269
278
288
276
295
297
318
359
363
387
3
ADMITTED
Males.
78
62
62
69
64
64
69
85
65
81
74
Females.
7
6
8
3
14
8
8
8
9
12
7
Total.
85
68
70
72
78
72
77
93
74
93
81
4
RE-ADMIT
TED.
Males.
6
6
8
12
14
12
9
12
10
10
10
Females.
...
1
...
1
1
1
1
...
2
1
2
Total.
6
7
8
13
15
13
10
12
12
11
12
5
TOTAL.
Males.
291
313
326
346
330
340
347
388
407
423
433
Females.
32
31
31
27
39
40
37
35
38
44
47
Total.
323
44
856
373
369
380
384
423
445
467
480
6
DISCHARG-
ED TRANS-
FERRED, &C.
Males.
26
45
50
67
40
51
35
44
56
46
54
Females.
5
6
7
2
5
8
6
6
5
4
6
Total.
31
51
57
69
45
59
41
50
61
50
60
7
DIED.
Males.
20
13
10
27
26
20
21
12
19
28
19
Females.
3
2
1
1
3
4
4
2
2
2
4
Total.
23
15
11
28
29
24
25
14
21
30
23
8
REMAINING
ON 31ST
DECEMBER.
Males.
245
253
265
252
284
269
201
332
332
349
360
Females.
24
23
23
24
3l
28
27
27
31
38
37
Total.
269
278
288
276
295
297
318
359
363
387
397
9
DAILY AVERAGE
STRENGTH.
Males.
222.81
246.55
256.75
248.2
253.41
250.98
278.7
314.52
301.81
336.74
359.2
Females.
25.3
21.66
21.35
22.56
27.64
26.42
27.05
288
30.24
36.22
37.45
Total.
247.61
268.21
278.1
270.76
281.05
277.4
305.75
342.82
332.05
372.96
396.65
6. Criminal Lunatics.—It may be considered that the figures in this
table are open to the objection, that they represent not altogether cases of
genuine insanity but possibly include cases in which insanity has been
successfully pleaded in Court, and that they include also cases of crime
committed under mere intoxication.
It is apparent from the statement
showing the "crimes charged" against each admission, that the offences
under the headings, assault, dacoity, attempts at robbery, trespass,
mischief by fire, drunkenness, bad-behaviour, bad-livelihood, committing
a public nuisance, riot and defrauding, &c, though generally appearing
in each successive annual return, do not present themselves in sufficient
numbers to enable me to arrive at any sound conclusion. What, however,
is of interest and importance to the Government is the increasing
strength of criminal lunatics remaining in the asylums from year to year. The
total of this class of persons has steadily augmented in the past decade,
exhibiting an increase from 232, remaining in confinement on 1st January
1876, to 387 on 1st January 1887.
7. On the 1st January 1886, there were in the asylums 387 criminal
lunatics, or 349 males and 38 females. It will be noted that while the admissions
during the year were less by 12 than in 1885, the discharges increased by 10.
The deaths fell off by 7. Again, it will be observed that, while a decided
decrease in the admissions of criminal lunatics took place in 1886, the commit-
ments for the graver crimes decreased. Taking the decennial period the fluc-
tuations in the amount of admissions for graver crimes appear slight. The
relation which these fluctuations may bear, however, to the use of intoxicants,
both in the shape of alcohol and indigenous toxic drugs, and the material condi-
tion of the people, in any one year, might elicit valuable facts, could the enquiry
be pursued with any certainty of success. Again, it is noteworthy that crimes
associated with an activity of the animal functions are conspicuous by their