14
LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.
12. Deputy Surgeon-General Cockburn made frequent visits to the asylum
as one of the visitors, and on all occasions found everything in good order.
DACCA ASYLUM.
Superintendence.
Dacca—This asylum was under the superintendence of Surgeon
J. C. Fullerton, M.B., from 1st January to 20th February; of Surgeon-Major
J. Jones, M.D., from 21st February to 26th March; of Surgeon J. C. Fullerton,
M.B., from 24th March to 2nd April; and of Surgeon A. Crombie, M.D., from
3rd April to 31st December.
Statistics.
2. The annexed table shows the chief statistical results of the past year, and
contrasts them with the average of the six years previous, or from 1871 to 1876:—
YEARS.
1871-76 ...
1877 ...
Daily
average
strength.
231
204.96
Admitted.
102
57
DISCHARGED.
Cured.
28.5
16
Improved.
12.5
23
Otherwise.
13.3
5
Deaths.
40
9
Deaths per
cent. of mean
strength.
17.31
4.39
Ratio per cent.
of cures calcu-
lated on mean
strength.
12.33
7.8
Ratio per cent.
of cures cal-
culated on
admissions.
27.94
28.07
Remained, admit-
ted, &c.
3. On the 1st January there were 202 patients, or 168 males and 34
females; and during the year 45 males and five females were admitted, while six
males and one female were re-admitted. The admissions were fewer than in any
previous year, and this is attributed partly to the opening of the Tezpore
Asylum, but chiefly to the more rigid exclusion of applicants for admission
under orders from the Government of Bengal.
Cured.
Cured.—Fourteen males and two females are returned as discharged cured,
which compares favourably with a total' of six in 1876 and 14 in 1875. In an
asylum like Dacca there are always a considerable number of criminal lunatics
who, though cured, cannot be discharged.
Transferred to
friends.
There were transferred to friends 20 males and 3 females. In 1876 there
were 24 such transfers, though in previous years the numbers were much
smaller. Dr. Crombie anticipates that during the current year a still larger
number will be made over to the care of their relations, as he has carefully gone
over " the whole of the non-criminal population with this in view, and arrange-
ments are being made with the various Magistrates by whose order they were
admitted for making them over to their friends." Of the five discharged other-
wise, one was boarded out, and four (one of whom was a criminal) escaped.
One non-criminal lunatic only of the four who escaped has been found; but he
was not brought back, as he had been recommended previously for release, and
but for his escape would have been returned discharged cured.
Mortality.
4. Mortality.—There were nine deaths in the year—eight males and one
female, or, calculated on the population, 3.65 for males and 2.5 for the females,
and 15.78 as calculated on the total admissions. This is a very much lower
rate than has yet been attained, as will be seen from the table given below for
both sexes:—
YEARS.
1872 ... ... ... ... ... ...
1873
...
...
...
...
... ...
1874
...
...
...
...
...
1875
...
...
...
...
...
....
1876
...
...
...
...
...
...
1877
...
...
...
...
...
...
PERCENTAGE OF DEATHS TO
Total population.
12.15
13.05
12.00
11.04
8.94
3.47
Daily average
strength.
18.34
19.25
17.63
15.62
13.05
4.39
Admissions.
32.00
37.00
33.83
46.42
41.53
15.78
Criminal lunatics.
5. Criminals.—Of 75 lunatics of this class, there remained on the 1st
January 1877 64 males and 11 females, against 56 males and 12 females in
1876. There were 22 male admissions and 2 re-admissions, one of each sex;
so that of all the admissions into the asylum 42.1 per cent. were criminals.
From 1867 to 1871 the average annual number of criminal lunatics admitted
was 15.8; from 1872 to 1877 the average number of criminals admitted
annually has been 25.8. As must be the case in every asylum where criminal
lunatics are confined, this class of patients must increase from year to year.
In the Dacca Asylum there were 52 in 1867 and 99 in 1877.
Discharged,
transferred, &c.
The number of criminal lunatics discharged, transferred, &c., was 11 (10
males and one female), as against 13 in 1876, and was in the ratio of 45.8 per cent.