18
DACCA ASYLUM.
When the minimum monthly mean temperature fell to 66°, as it did in November, the
death-rate ran up to 4 per cent. of the daily average strength of the month. The new wards
which have been erected are so thoroughly perflated by the air, that they are very cold at night.
I think that stoves with flues so carefully protected that the lunatics could not reach them,
should be introduced and used for heating the air of the wards at night during the months of
November, December, and January. The stoves and flues might be tried as an experiment,
in the first instance, in the new ward, where they could be put up without much difficulty or
expense.
The overcrowding of the asylum has throughout the year been excessive. As is
explained in the table, the lunatics have been made to sleep in the verandahs as well as in the
wards. We had jhamps and screens put up in the verandahs, but we could by no means
afford proper accommodation for the large number of lunatics in the asylum. I expected a
much higher death-rate than we have had, and I trust that the medical department will
strongly impress upon the Government that lunatics are more likely than even prisoners in
jails to suffer from overcrowding; and that whereas the wards of the Dacca Jail afford to
each prisoner at the present time a superficial area of 40 feet, the wards of the lunatic
asylum can give to each of its unfortunate inmates no more than 28.92 square feet of
superficial area and 451.93 cubic feet of space.
The new female ward was commenced to be built in January last; by the end of the
year the building was almost completed. In this incomplete state it has been left; the
workmen have been taken off, and I can only regret that the Department of Public Works
extended over twelve months building operations which I cannot but think might, so far as the
work of building is concerned, have easily been completed in six or eight months. New wards
are very urgently required for the asylum, and I trust that orders may be issued not only for
their erection, but for their completion without unnecessary delay.
VIII. Table No. 9 shows the annual expenditure of the asylum. The average yearly
expense of dieting each lunatic has fallen from Rs. 48-3-11.3 of 1868 to Rs. 47-6-11.8,
showing a diminution of annas 13-0.4 per lunatic in favor of 1869. This decrease is
attributable to the cheaper rates at which provisions have been purchased.
IX. Table No. 11 shows the estimated value of lunatic labor for which no cash pay-
ment is actually received, but which is quoted either at one-half or one-third of the rates
allowed by the Department of Public Works and of the bazaar.
X. Table No. 12 is the annual return of sick. The daily average number of sick per
cent. to strength for the twelve months was 9.61.
XI. Table No. 13 shows the amount of profit derived from manufactures. The amount
realized was Rs. 1,368-12-10, which, as compared with Rs. 586-6-11 of last year, shows an
increase of Rs. 782-5-11 in the profits from manufactures during 1869. In Government
resolution dated Fort William, the 6th July 1869, it was remarked that the outturn from
manufactures of this asylum is not so good as it ought to be ; and the superintendent was
directed to place himself in communication with Dr. Payne, and see if some useful hints
could not be derived from Dullunda in this respect. I took charge of the asylum on the
23rd February 1869, and found that Dr. Wise had devoted the time and labor of his
lunatics chiefly to the endeavour to clear the new ground which had recently been enclosed
and dismantled of the house which had covered it. Foundations of the walls of houses had
to be dug up, no less than 103 wells to be filled in, and a tank extending over about 5,372
square feet of superficial area, and reaching to a depth of 38 feet, had to be filled up.
With the time and attention both of the establishment and of the lunatics thus devoted
to the very desirable object of clearing and levelling the ground and preparing it for cultivation,