( 7 )
during the greater part of the year, so that they might be under more imme-
diate observation and receive special care and treatment.
26. Prophylactics.—No prophylactics were issued at the Nagpur Asylum.
In the Jubbulpore Asylum, the following preparation was given daily to the
lunatics from May to November :—
Cinchonidine ... ... ... ... ...
Ferri Sulph. ... ... ... ...
Acid Sulph. Dil. ... ... ... ... ...
Aqua ... ... ... ... ... ...
gr.
gr.
m.
oz.
ii.
i.
v.
i.
27. Injuries, Nagpur Asylum.—There were four admissions into hospital,
all of a trivial nature. Three of these (two cases of scalp wounds and one case of
wound of the finger) were caused by the lunatics quarrelling amongst themselves,
and one (a wound of the foot) was caused by juari stubble, whilst the patient was
working on the farm.
Jubbulpore Asylum.—From this institution two cases are reported. In one,
a criminal lunatic was killed on the 2nd September by another criminal lunatic
with a small wooden club used for pounding dry earth. The particulars of the
case are fully set forth in the following report submitted at the time by the
Superintendent of the Asylum to the Deputy Commissioner :—
" I have the honour to inform you that this morning, at 7 A.M., a criminal
" lunatic, named Abdulla, killed another criminal lunatic, named Thakur Din.
"Both were sitting in the enclosure, waiting for the distribution of work,
" when Abdulla, who had concealed under his blanket a wooden club used for
" pounding earth, quietly walked up to Thakur Din and gave him five or six blows
" on the head. There was a simple depressed fracture of the right side of the
''frontal bone and a large compound fracture of the posterior part of both
" parietals, the brain substance escaping through the wound. Death occurred
" in a few minutes. Thakur Din was sitting at a distance of about 12 yards from
" Abdulla. There was no recent quarrel between the two ; but it appears that
" about 7 or 8 months ago, Abdulla and Thakur Din had a dispute in the garden,
" when the latter struck Abdulla on the leg. Abdulla had been quiet and in-
" offensive for a long time and showed no symptoms of being dangerous to
" others ; even now, there is no trace of excitement.
" There is a heap of dry earth outside the barred window of the ward in
" which Abdulla was confined last night, and in the sifted earth there is a depres-
" sion where the block of wood was probably concealed. Abdulla must then have
" put out his hand and taken it in through the bars in the morning, hiding it
" under his blanket.
" He was admitted into the Asylum on the 13th May 1897, suffering from
" melancholia. He committed an offence under section 302, I. P. C, he having
" strangled a child with his fingers during a fit of melancholia. The history in
" the case-book shows that he improved very much, mentally and physically,
" and there was nothing to indicate that he was dangerous to others. Dry-earth
" pounding and aloe pounding were carried on here when I took charge of the
" Asylum, in March last, and the Deputy Superintendent tells me that these
" forms of employment have been going on inside the Asylum for upwards of
"18 years without an accident. As they seem to me dangerous forms of labour,
" I have stopped them until the next meeting of the Official Visitors, when the
" matter will be put before them."
A magisterial enquiry was held by the Deputy Commissioner and a full
report of the case submitted to the Chief Commissioner. The matter was also
enquired into by the Official Visitors, who came to the conclusion, that all
dangerous lunatics should be separately enlisted and separately confined at night;
that special precautions for searching them should be taken, and that they should
be separately employed in the day under stronger supervision.
In the second case, a lunatic, whilst working in the cook-house, playfully put
some live-coal on the back of his hand. The injury was slight and he was treated
as an out-patient.