4
STATEMENT VI.
Types of insanity.
14. Mania, as usual, holds the first place. Next to it comes dementia,
the termination of most cases of mental disease that
pursue a downward course, ending finally in complete
abolition of mind. Although roughly one-fourth of the total population during
the triennium were females, in regard to the different types of insanity the
proportion of females varies from 50 per cent. under the head idiocy to 10 per
cent. in the case of melancholia.
STATEMENT VII.
Alleged causes of insanity.
15. In regard to more than half the total number of inmates during the
triennium the cause of insanity is reported to be
unknown. On the face of it, this would seem to indicate
imperfect enquiry. The admissions for 1902 show improvement in this respect, the
unknown causes being roughly one-fourth of the total. When the cause
was known, the insanity is ascribed in some 60 per cent. of the cases to physical
and in 40 per cent. to moral causes. Of the physical causes, the most numerous
are heredity, epilepsy, and ganja-smoking. Amongst the inmates of the Jubbul-
pore Asylum, ganja-smoking appears to be a more frequent cause of insanity
than in the case of Nagpur. In the Jubbulpore Asylum also moral causes of
insanity are in marked excess as compared with the Nagpur Asylum. The
Superintendent of the Nagpur Asylum writes as follows : —
" I regret to say that but little improvement has taken place in the preparation of the
medical history-sheets. Most of the questions are unanswered, or the information given
is valueless; hence the large number of cases the cause of which is said to be unknown.
If intelligent enquiries were instituted in the villages from which the patients come, I
have no doubt some information of value as to the history of their illness could be
obtained.''
The Superintendent of the Jubbulpore Asylum remarks :—
"Of the 13 unknown causes in 1900 and 1901, 6 have been found, leaving 7
for those two years and 6 for this year. As I said before, we get more information from
a lunatic during a lucid interval than from friends, but it takes time."
I am inclined to think that valuable information might be obtained from friends if they
were closely questioned by Civil Surgeons ; accurate information cannot be expected from
a police enquiry in cases of this nature.
STATEMENT VIII.
Finances.
16. The amounts received from paying-patients in the Nagpur Asylum
include the sums of Rs. 2,250, Rs 1,950 and Rs. 1,800
adjusted by the Comptroller, Central Provinces, for the
maintenance of 30, 26 and 24 Berar lunatics during the years 1900, 1901 and
1902, respectively, at Rs. 75 per head per annum. In the Nagpur Asylum,
the stores referred to in column 4 were chiefly articles of diet and fodder
supplied from the asylum farm, while in Jubbulpore they consisted mainly of
articles of food and clothing supplied from the factory and garden. A satisfactory
decrease is noticeable in the expenditure on diet (column 10 of the statement).
In the year 1900, the price of food-grains rose considerably in consequence of the
famine. Since then, however, there has been a gradual fall. The annual cost of
diet per head in 1902 was Rs. 32-15-8 in Nagpur and Rs 29-0-11 in Jubbulpore.
Wheat is the staple food grain in Jubbulpore, while in Nagpur juar, wheat and
rice form the diet. The amount spent on clothing and bedding in both asylums
in 1902 appears small ; in Nagpur this was due to the inter-departmental receipt
for clothing having been received from the Jail too late for incorporation in
the accounts; in Jubbulpore it was found unnecessary to add much to the stock of
blankets. A slight increase has occurred under establishment charges, due to
the promotion of the Hospital Assistants (or Deputy Superintendents) in both
asylums to the senior grade with effect from the 1st September 1901 and to the
entertainment of a compounder on Rs. 10 per mensem in the Nagpur Asylum
from the 1st April 1902. The comparative excess under contingent and miscel-
laneous charges in the Nagpur Asylum is due to the dairy-farm. The Jubbulpore
Asylum does not keep up a dairy. Paragraph 4 explains the difference in the
building charges in the two asylums.
Incidence of expenditure.
17. Nagpur Asylum.—In 1900 this amounted to Rs. 98-1-1. In 1901
it fell to Rs. 90-15-4 and in 1902 to Rs. 82-5-4. Jub-
bulpore Asylum.—In 1900, the figure was Rs. 68-11-1 ;