2
6. A homeless, dumb and idiotic boy, aged about 10 years, whose name
is unknown and who has no relatives, was admitted into the Berhampore
Lunatic Asylum by the order of the Additional Magistrate, 24-Parganas. As
a lunatic asylum is not a fit place for a juvenile, the question as to what should
be done with him caused some anxiety to the asylum authorities ; eventually
he was made over to the Calcutta Orphanage which agreed to take him for
a monthly sum of Rs. 3.
7. A Voluntary Boarder—female—was admitted into the Berhampore
Lunatic Asylum last year. This is the first case admitted under the proviso to
section 4(1) of the new Lunacy Act. In this connection the Superintendent
remarks :—" We receive usually many enquiries from well-to-do people
regarding the rules relating to admission of patients, but beyond the enquiry
little else results. I do not know what the reason is. Many of the letters
describe a pitiful state of affairs regarding the unfortunate patient and his
friends, and one often wonders what treatment the unfortunate individual
receives at home and what steps are adopted to prevent him from injuring
either himself or others. The publicity of obtaining the Magisterial or Commis-
sioner of Police's order, especially in the case of women, may be a deterrent,
and I think if less publicity could be given to the proceedings 'and more
importance attached to the medical man's opinion as to whether a person is
insane or not, and less to that of a layman, many unfortunates might be sent
to the asylum where there might be some chance of doing them good."
" In the case of many cases sent in by the Police delay is very great and
the patient, besides being, as he must in many cases be, a nuisance to the jail
authorities, is deprived of early treatment to his detriment."
8. I think the above is a correct view of affairs. But as the law now
stands, there is, I fear, no help in the matter.
9. Only five out of the 13 lunatics re-admitted had been discharged
cured and the period for which they enjoyed sanity, as far as can be judged
from the interval between their discharge and readmission, varied from 2 to
11 years ; in one case only it was 1 year and 4 months.
10. Observation cases.—Persons suspected of insanity who are sent to
lunatic asylums for observation have not hitherto been accounted for in the
asylum returns. Government having ordered last year that such cases
should be included with the annual statistics, they have for the first time
figured in certain of these returns. The Berhampore Lunatic Asylum
received 6 cases for observation during the past year, but as they did not
stay till the end of the year, the Superintendent has left them out. I am not
sure whether this procedure is correct or not, but I have allowed it to be
followed in the Dacca Asylum, and only 3 cases which stayed till the 31st
December 1915 have been shown in its returns as observation cases, out of a
total of 34 admitted for observation. Bhawanipur has included only 1 such
case.
11. Paying Lunatics.—Ten paying lunatics were admitted during the
year, viz., five in the Bhawanipur and an equal number in the Berhampore
Lunatic Asylum. The total number of such patients in the three asylums was
39, as compared with 41 in 1914. They paid Rs. 15,520 in all as fees.
12. Discharges.—The number discharged was 98 against 99 in 1914.
Seventy-nine of them were discharged in a cured state, which is 7.2 per cent.
of the average population of the lunatic asylums.
13. The Superintendent of the Dacca Asylum says that the system of
discharging criminal lunatics after recovery, which was approved by Govern-
ment in 1888, practically remains inoperative owing to the stringency of the
rules.
14. Sickness and Mortality.—The health of the inmates was on the
whole satisfactory. There was no outbreak of epidemic diseases in any
asylum. Taking the three asylums as a whole, the daily average sick was
less, being 84.38, as compared with 107.10 of the preceding year, and the
percentage of constantly sick to daily average strength was 7.75 against
10.02. That of admissions into hospital to daily average strength was
however a little higher, viz., 36.76 against 33.21. This is due to the occur-
rence of a few more cases of fever, pneumonia and general tuberculosis. The
death-rate was lower, being 7.81 per cent. of daily average strength, as