293
I base my opinion on the opinion of the Civil
Surgeon of Cachar and on my own observation
of the case.
14. Padai Ram.—This case also appears to be
one of toxic insanity. I cannot at present give
reasons for this view.
111. Evidence of SURGEON-MAJOR J. B. GIBBONS, Superintendent of the Campbell
Medical School and Police Surgeon, Calcutta.
Oral evidence.
I have been twelve years in India, all in the
Bengal Presidency. I have been ten years in
Calcutta attached to the Medical College. I have
been acting Police Surgeon for the last eleven
months. I have not had any special training or
experience in insanity; but I have come across
very many cases of insanity. I meet with insanes
in the Campbell Hospital (where I have been Su-
perintendent since May last). I am Superintend-
ent of the hospital and have not to do with the
treatment of cases directly as a rule. These in-
sanes come into the hospital as brought in by
the police, a man being picked up in the streets
with a wound on him or sick, or a man is brought
by the police who has been found wandering about
the streets insane. In the hospital the man (if
ill) is kept till he is cured, and I write and inform
the police that he is cured and (a) that he is
harmless and may be safely made over to his
friends, and they so dispose of him; or (b) if he
is violent, I certify this and he is removed to the
asylum by the police. I fill in the Form No. 2
"certificate of medical officer in the Form A in
the Schedule to Act No. XXXVI of 1858." I
merely certify to the fact of insanity and to the
facts (a) observed by me or (b) communicated by
others, on which my opinion as to this fact of
insanity is based. I do not certify to cause in
that certificate nor anywhere else. With these
cases the police bring a descriptive roll which they
have filled in. When the man is cured I write
across the corner of this descriptive roll, "Please
remove A B that he may be made over to his
friends" or otherwise, as the case may be (vide
supra). We do not keep these descriptive rolls.
I make no entry under any heading in the de-
scriptive roll. I have nothing to do with it. It
is a police document. This descriptive roll is
precisely the same as that supplied to me in the
second class of cases with which I now proceed
to deal, viz., the cases of criminal lunatics who
are sent to me as Police Surgeon. The criminal
lunatic is sent to me with a request from the
Magistrate in letter form "to examine the accus-
ed A B as to the state of his mind and appear
before the Magistrate" on a fixed date, to give
"evidence as to the result of such examination."
I am also directed in this letter to "produce his
'Medical History' Sheet," if I am of opinion
that he is of unsound mind.
The man is as a rule put in the Presidency Jail
and I visit him there. Rarely he is released on
surety. I first go to the police and ask for the de-
scriptive roll. They send me Form No. 4. It is
of assistance, or ought to be of assistance, to me
in examining the man. When I have examined
the man and made up my mind about him, I fill
in the "Medical History" Sheet.
I produce, as an example, the descriptive roll of
a lunatic—not a selected case, but the last that I
have disposed of. The important point to notice
in it is the large number of entries filled in as
"unknown." I think that as a rule the police
fill in too many entries. Satisfactory information
must be very difficult to get.
In filling in my medical history I have of course
also frequently to use this word "unknown."
The only three questions that I deal with are
"(4) Physical state," "(6) Type of insanity"
and "(12) Is he capable of taking care of him-
self ?" For all the rest I depend on the "de-
scriptive roll." I make no inquiries myself. I
only examine the patient as to the state of his
mind. But I make no enquiries as to the entries
in the descriptive roll. The only persons I could
inquire from are the police, and they have entered
all they can. I could not inquire from friends as
a rule; for these people very rarely have friends.
I have an exceptional case before me now of a man
in a prominent position whose friends are afford-
ing me information. He is at large on security.
But in almost every case I never see friends. I
do inquire from the lunatic himself and talk to
him, and things may come out. But I would not
enter his statements in the history sheet if he
were a lunatic; for I would not trust what he
said.
In my "Medical History" I never enter cause.
I have not sufficient information. I never even
enter it if the police give it. I do not believe in
their entries. If I came across a case where I
could satisfy myself that their entry was correct,
I should make the entry. But I have never come
across such a case. I discredit the police entry.
From the mere fact that they so frequently put
down ganja as the cause, I discredit them; for
I have seen a good number of cases of ganja
poisoning. Ganja is the commonest cause they
put down. I do not accept ganja as an ascer-
tained cause of lunacy. I am not here speaking
of a mere intoxication lasting a few days. And
because I am responsible for the entries in the
"Medical History," I do not make such an entry.
I know of no facts that establish the view that
lunacy is caused by ganja. Therefore I do not
accept it. If I had particulars from the police
of sudden loss of money or of friends, and that
there was sudden loss of mind in consequence, I
should enter that cause. I should be able
to corroborate it from the form of the lunatic's
delusions and otherwise.
So also if I had
evidence of frequent fits of epilepsy I should
accept that as a cause of dementia; that is, I
should accept as the cause in any case any well-
ascertained cause of insanity. But I do not
accept a drug as the cause because I have no
knowledge of well-ascertained facts making the
drug an established cause of insanity. As a fact,
then, my procedure as a rule is to leave cause
blank; and I do this because of my distrust of
the information I receive.
I have heard the statement which Assistant
Surgeon, Devendranath Ray, made before the
Commission. His statement regarding procedure
is correct. We do not enter cause in the cases
he refers to.