LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.
7
Daily average
strength.
Death-rate.
20. The daily average strength of the criminal lunatics was (males 222.31, females 25.30)
247.61, and they consequently formed (males 22.76, females 10.20) 20.22 per cent. of the total
mean strength of the asylum population. Their death-rate for the year was (males 8.99,
females 11.85) 9.28 per cent. of average strength.
Proportion of
criminal lunatics
in the several
asylums.
21. Taking the asylums separately, it has been ascertained that the class of criminal
lunatics formed nearly one-fourth of the average daily strength of the Dullunda Asylum.
In the Dacca Asylum there were 33.24 per cent. of them. In the Patna Asylum there were
nearly 22 per cent. of criminal lunatics. In the Cuttack Asylum they formed upwards of
one-fifth of the mean population. In the Moydapore and in the Berhampore Asylums criminal
lunatics formed 23.44 per cent. and 20.07 per cent. respectively of the mean population.
No criminals were in the Hazareebagh Asylum.
The disposal of
criminal lunatics
is an important
question.
22. The disposal of criminal lunatics is an important question, and one which it is
unnecessary to discuss in the present report; but the fact may again be repeated that their
presence in the asylums has long been considered as a cause of great embarrassment, if not
one of permanent danger. It is now generally acknowledged that a person who has com-
mitted murder and has been acquitted on the ground of insanity should never on any
account be liberated, because, even though the criminal lunatic may have long-lucid
intervals, it is impossible to say whether the homicidal tendency has been so completely got
rid of that he may be liberated with safety either to the public or himself. Our asylums,
considering the large proportion of criminal lunatics they contain (as will be gathered from
the preceding paragraph), have been singularly free from reports of life being taken or
injuries inflicted by these irresponsible agents; and it is difficult to explain satisfactorily
why this should be the case. In England, those murderers who have been acquitted through
the plea of insanity never form part of the general asylum population ; on the contrary, they
are confined in a special institution at Broadmoor, where, quoting from Taylor's Medical
Jurisprudence, “ they are, or ought to be, as dead to the world as if the earth had closed over
them. Beyond the walls, whether sane or insane, the murderers, once committed to Broad-
moor, it is said, never pass either in life or after death.” Perhaps the establishment of such
an institution in India, and conducted on the same principles as that at Broadmoor, or else
the transfer of the criminal lunatics to jails in which separate accommodation for them could
be provided, might be beneficial, not only for the rigorous seclusion and proper discipline of
those who had taken life, but also from the moral effect which would be produced on the
population generally by the knowledge of the fact that an asylum existed within which, when
once immured, the lunatic who had taken life would be completely and for ever shut off from
the outside world.
Caste and sex of
those admitted and
re-admitted.
23. The following statement, which explains in detail the figures shown in Table
No. III of the Appendix, exhibits the caste and sex of the patients admitted and re-admitted
into the several asylums during the past year, as well as the proportion of each sex to the total
admissions. The great preponderance of Hindoo patients in the numbers admitted is very
evident, and is apparently in accordance with the observations of preceding years
ASYLUMS.
Dullunda ...
Dacca ...
Patna ...
Cuttack ...
Moydapore ...
Berhampore ...
Hazareebagh...
Total ...
HINDOOS.
Males.
67
33
57
19
...
18
14
208
Females.
29
5
10
1
...
5
...
50
Total.
96
38
67
20
...
23
14
258
MAHOMEDANS.
Males.
30
24
6
1
...
11
5
77
Females.
8
1
3
...
...
3
...
15
Total.
38
25
9
1
...
14
5
92
CHRISTIANS.
Males.
3
...
...
...
...
...
...
3
Females.
6
...
1
...
...
...
...
7
Total.
9
...
1
...
...
...
...
10
OTHER CASTES.
Males.
...
2
1
...
...
1
1
5
Females.
...
...
1
...
...
...
...
1
Total.
...
2
2
...
...
1
1
6
TOTAL.
Males.
160
59
64
20
...
30
20
293
Females.
43
6
15
1
...
8
...
73
Total.
143
65
79
21
...
38
20
366
PER CENT. OF EACH
SEX TO THE TOTAL
ADMISSIONS AND
RE-ADMISSIONS.
Males.
69.93
90.76
81.01
95.23
...
78.94
100
80.05
Females.
30.07
9.23
18.98
4.76
...
21.05
...
19.94
Of the total admissions and re-admissions (males 70.99, females 68.49), 70.49 per cent.
were Hindoos; (males 26.27, females 20.54) 25.13 were Mahomedans; (males 1.02, females
9.58) 2.73 were Christians; and (males 1.70, females 1.36) 1.63 were other castes. The
corresponding proportions of the castes, in 1875, were 70.30, 25.11, 2.15, and 2.39
respectively; so that while there was a close agreement between these statistics for 1875 and
1876 as regards the Hindoos and Mahomedans, it will be remarked that there has been an
increase in the ratio of Christians and other castes. Of the total admissions, 80.05 per
cent. were males and 19.94 females. In the report for 1875 I noticed that there was a
large proportion of females in the admissions of the Dullunda and Patna Asylums.
The statistics of 1876 show a still larger proportion of females under this heading in the
Dullunda and Berhampore Asylums, and a slight decrease of them in the Patna institution.
Residences of the
insane patients.
24. Taken according to residence, it is shown in the same Table (No. III of the
Appendix) that the admissions and re-admissions into the Dullunda Asylum were mostly, in