40
REPORT ON THE
this year. Both were inspired to proclaim a new religion, which was to embrace all races and
creeds in one social brotherhood, while it left each individual to worship God according to his
conscience.
One was an inmate of the asylum. On finding Hindoos, Mahomedans, and Christians
eating the same food on the same spot, he confessed that he had been anticipated, and that
there was no further need for him to enlighten the world.
Acute dementia.
Acute dementia is exceedingly rare among natives. In the records of the asylum are
the cases of two boys who became suddenly affected with dementia from fear; one in
1857, who was so terrified at the sound of the guns the day the sepoys mutinied at Dacca,
that he became incurably insane. The second was aged about 10; he fancied he saw a bhoot or
goblin one night and immediately became insane.
The case returned under this head was a domestic who had smoked ganjah to such excess
that reason disappeared and left him a mere animal in his habits. He, however, made a rapid
and satisfactory recovery.
Paralysis of the in-
sane.
Idiotcy.
Paralysis of the insane is also very rare. This, one of the most frequent causes of death
in European asylums, adds little to the mortality of Indian lunatics. Two deaths from
partial softening of the brain occurred during 1871, but in neither case were the symptoms
those present in paralysis. Of the four cases returned as idiotcy, one is a criminal; he is not
an idiot however, but a deaf and dumb boy. He is dying of consumption. The second is
nearly 35 years of age. The unintelligible sounds which he makes to express his wants are
eagerly listened for by friends, as it is believed by the Mahomedans that they are divine or
inspired utterances.
The third is a good natured boy, aged 19, who makes himself generally useful, and who
has acquired considerable amount of intelligence since he wandered into the asylum.
Causation of in-
sanity.
* Vide General Statement No. 10.
Table No. 13* shows the supposed causes of insanity among
the total treated.
Proportion of phy-
sical and moral
causes.
Madness is much more frequently owing to physical than to moral causes. In 1871, of
290 cases treated, 152, or 52.4 per cent., had their insanity referred to physical, and only
28, or 9.64, to moral causes. As many as 110, or 37.9 per cent., had no cause assigned. These
figures do not represent the exact proportion, but they approach correctness.
Ganjah smoking.
Under the head of ganjah the largest number are as usual included. The ratio this
year is less than formerly. An endeavour has been made to distinguish between the occa-
sional consumer and the habitual smoker. The former cannot properly be classified in the
same list with the latter, yet in this asylum it has been the pratice to do so. The ganjah
smoker who really appreciates its value, never becomes a spirit drinker. Spirituous liquors
do not produce the sensual intoxication he desires, and the after effects are not pleasurable.
Opium smoking; a
Mahomedan vice.
Opium smoking, introduced into this district by the Chinese about 40 years ago, has
many votaries in Dacca. The vice is peculiarly a Mahomedan one, and I have never seen a
Hindoo practising it. Habitual intemperance from opium is rarely followed by insanity.
The intellect becomes deadened and blunted. The intoxication is more lasting than that
following ganjah smoking, and the cost is much greater. There were only three inmates of
the asylum during 1871 whose madness had been traced to this cause. Two came from
Assam, and the third was a fakeer from Dacca.
Suppression
of
opium smoking
suggested.
If the sale of " chundoo," i.e. opium prepared for smoking, could be prohibited by
Government, much misery and poverty would be extirpated from Mahomedan cities. The
vice is still young, and there are no Chinese in Eastern Bengal, as in Calcutta, to encourage its
public sale and consumption.
Epilepsy.
Epilepsy is said to have been the exciting cause of insanity in five cases, all males. This
number, or one in 58, is below the average of former years. The total number of epileptic
patients in the asylum during the year was 11, namely, 7 males and 4 females.