( 11 )
be traced. No notable increase was specially traced to scarcity or want amongst
the admissions, and there were no admissions from two at least of the districts in
which scarcity had been very noticeable, viz., Balaghat and Bhandara.
Ages of admissions.
STATEMENT No. V.
The ages of the majority of those admitted were
found, as in all previous years, to be between 20 and
40 years.
Types of Insanity.
STATEMENT No. VI.
In the subjoined tabular statement the various types of
insanity found to exist amongst the new admissions is
summarised:—
Mania ... ... ...
Melancholia ... ... ...
Dementia ... ... ...
Idiocy ... ... ...
Epileptic insanity ... ...
25 (22 males and 3 females).
1 (female).
1 (male).
1 (female).
2 (males).
30
STATEMENT No. VII.
Enquiring further into the so-called causes of insanity, we find that in the case
of three admissions, the alleged cause of the insane condition is said to have been
ganja-smoking to excess. These cases are Vishwanath from Raipur, and Santhalin-
gam and Dhondoo from Nagpur. In the case of Santhalingam, notwithstand-
ing the fact that the patient, a youth of about 22, admitted that he had frequented
the company of Sadhus or religious mendicants, and occasionally had taken
bhang and smoked ganja in their company, still I am of opinion that religious ex-
citement had as much to do with the upset of his mental balance as ganja ; the
latter completing the mental wreck initiated by the former ; no clear history of
heredity was obtainable.
In the case of Vishwanath, who was sent from the Central Jail, Raipur, the
Magisterial statement sent with the case states that the supposed cause is " intoxi-
cation—ganja, bhang, wine," &c. ; but there is not the slightest tittle of evidence
on record to support this allegation. The case on admission appeared to be one
of mania with depression. The lunatic would not speak at all, would not wear
clothes, and took little or no food voluntarily. He is now, after 9 months, very
much better mentally, takes a little food and can be induced to talk a
little about himself. He says that he has been in the habit, for years, of
taking ganja, bhang and wine, &c. ; but it is very difficult still to keep
him to the point and very uncertain how much reliance, if any, can be
placed on his statements as to the various intoxicants which he states that he
has taken; at times he appears quite demented.
With regard to the third case, Dhondoo, the friends gave me a fragmentary
history of his having used bhang and ganja to excess for some months previous to
his admission to the Asylum. His case was also one of mania with depression.
He would not wear clothes, refused food, and had to be fed forcibly ; he was ex-
tremely emaciated and feeble on admission, and was admitted to the hospital
almost immediately. He gradually sank and died from progressive asthenia.
In one of the cases the alleged cause was " fever." In two cases the cause
alleged is recurring epilepsy. In one solitary case heredity is said to exist and to
have been the cause. In the single case in which a moral cause is alleged to have
been the starting point of the insane condition, the history states that the man be-
came insane after his wife left him, the direct cause being excessive grief. In the
large majority of cases no directly exciting and definite cause of the insanity could
be ascertained, either from the friends or relatives. In many cases no relatives
could be traced of the lunatics admitted to the Asylum who could give any inform-
ation, and nothing trustworthy could be ascertained from the patients themselves.