LUNATIC ASYLUMS OF BENGAL.
17
circumstances combined caused a loss in the year 1897. At Dacca the dairy-
showed a small profit of Rs. 37-6. The dairy at Berhampore worked with
better results in the year under report. The value of milk supplied to the
asylum was Rs. 310-5-3, and that allotted for sale outside, Rs. 122-3-6. The
profit amounted to Rs. 64-3-3. The Superintendent says that the registers
hitherto kept regarding the dairy were not satisfactory. He has adopted the
system observed in jails from the current year.
38. Sanitation.—At Dullunda the floor of the cowshed was in a bad
state, which rendered it difficult to keep clean. It was relaid with bricks at a
proper slope. The archway between the room for storing milk and hospital
clothing was blocked by a perforated zinc screen. This was removed, the
archway walled up, and a ventilation hole made in the outer wall of each of
these rooms. In the dispensary room the sheets of perforated zinc at the
windows and doors were replaced by wire-netting, thus admitting more light
and air.
The ventilation and lighting of the female bathing shed were
improved by making holes in the walls. The drain in the cook-house,
which hitherto passed through the female department, was connected directly
with the main sewer. The urine and washings from the latrine in the male
workshed were hitherto thrown into a surface drain. This arrangement was
changed, and a drain pipe was connected with the latrine and the main sewer.
The mud flooring of the male workshed was dug up and relaid over a
substratum of 2 feet of cinders, which has made it drier than formerly.
Several new portable iron receptacles were made in the asylum. Facilities are
being provided for the supply of drinking-water at night in the rooms of the
non-criminal lunatics. The Superintendent hopes to extend this arrangement
throughout the asylum. Steps are being taken to improve the water-supply of
the asylum which has been very unsatisfactory for some years past.
The Superintendent of the Dacca Asylum reports that there was no change
in the sanitary arrangements during the year under report. Iron drums
for storing drinking-water were provided in the place of wooden barrels.
The cooking range was improved, and the floor of the feeding shed was
cemented.
The Superintendent of the Patna Asylum reports that the latrine was
altered for the better and dry-earth system, was also thoroughly adopted in
the asylum. The tank inside the asylum, which would dry up in the hot
season, was deepened.
At Cuttack the sanitary arrangements remained the same as in the previous
year. The wards and cells were daily washed with disinfectants, and continued
attention was paid to the purity of the water-supply.
At Berhampore a moveable pump was purchased for flushing the drains
and cleansing the wards. The asylum wells, from which drinking water is
obtained, were cleaned and disinfected. The latrine in the female ward was
provided with wire-net doors.
39. Amusements.—This matter continued to receive due attention of the
Superintendents. As in last year, the lunatics were provided with books and
papers, musical instruments, cards, pet animals and birds, and were periodically
entertained with nautches, theatrical performances, sweetmeats and fruits on
festival days. In Calcutta selected patients were sent under proper escort to the
Zoological Gardens. At Dacca the best conducted lunatics were allowed to go to
the bazar and fields in charge of keepers. At Cuttack and Berhampore the
lunatics were given walking exercise regularly outside the asylum. At Patna,
however, the lunatics were not allowed to go outside the asylum, as the neigh-
bourhood is said to be crowded and insanitary.
40. Inspections.—I inspected Dullunda, Bhawanipur, Dacca, Patna and
Berhampore Lunatic Asylums during the year under report. I append copies
of my inspection reports (Appendix B), and I am glad to be able to state that
most of my suggestions for improvements have already been carried out, and
that steps are being taken to give effect to the rest. I have also recently
inspected the Cuttack Asylum, and the Sanitary Commissioner and I carefully
examined a proposed site for a Bengal Central Asylum at Chinsurah and
prepared a special report upon it. It was considered necessary to examine other
positions, as the one which had been selected was not altogether satisfactory,
D