LUNATIC ASYLUMS OF BENGAL.
5
10. Statement III, showing the religion, sex, and residence of the patients
admitted, presents no unusual features calling for comment. It will be noticed
that a considerable proportion of the lunatics admitted into the Dacca Asylum
comes from Cachar and Sylhet, and the number of these seems to be gradually
increasing; for while only 16 were admitted from these districts in 1884, the
number has risen to 32 in 1890: —
Cachar ...
Sylhet
...
Total ...
1884.
9
7
16
1885.
10
6
16
1886.
4
5
9
1887.
9
13
22
1888.
8
11
19
1889.
15
12
27
1890.
14
18
32
11. Statement IV shows the occupation of the lunatics previous to admission,
but it is impossible to gather any useful information from it. Perhaps when the
returns of the recently taken census are available, it may be possible to ascer-
tain in what proportion the members of the different trades and occupations
are affected by lunacy, but in its present form the return is of very little use.
12. Statement V, giving the ages of the patients admitted, differs very little
from that of previous years.
13. Statement VI, showing the types of insanity, has undergone some
alterations during the past year by order of the Government of India, whereby
it is hoped that greater accuracy and uniformity will be obtained in classifying
the different types of insanity from which the patients suffer, and this result
has to some extent been secured; but as the diagnosis depends very much on
the views held by the individual Superintendents, it is to be feared that
absolute accuracy or uniformity will never be attained. Nor is it to be
wondered at, because the same difficulty exists in English asylums, where the
means of forming a correct diagnosis are much better than in this country.
It will be noticed that some cases are entered under the heading " Not insane,"
and it is probable that some of these may not have been diagnosed, while some,
although regarded as sane, are kept in confinement as a precautionary measure
which their previous history makes it advisable to adopt. But it would seem
that while at Dacca and Dullunda there were 24 and 17 respectively entered as
being "not insane" at the end of the year, there were none coming under this
category at Patna, an anomaly which I cannot explain, and regarding which
enquiries will be made.
14. Statement VII: Causes of insanity.—One of the chief features in this
return is the evidence it affords of the potency of ganja smoking in the
production of mental disease; next to it comes spirit drinking, while opium
eating and opium smoking seem to cause comparatively little insanity.
15. Statement VIII deals with the sickness and mortality. Formerly it
was the custom in some of the asylums to treat as out-patients a number of the
inmates suffering from minor complaints, while only those with complaints of a
serious nature were admitted into hospital—a system which gave rise to much
confusion, rendering a comparison of the sickness in the different asylums very
difficult or almost impossible; but for the last two years every case of sickness,
however trivial, has been admitted into hospital and the disease entered in the
books. Consequently the comparative sickness in each asylum can be ascer-
tained with greater accuracy. It may be said that, judging from the returns
of mortality furnished by the Sanitary Commissioner, the health of the general
population in those towns in which the asylums are situated was much on a par
with what it was in 1889, as shown by the following table :—
Table showing Mortality among the general Population.
Names of
LOCALITIES.
Calcutta
...
...
Dacca
...
...
Patna
...
...
Cuttack
...
...
Berhampore ...
Popula-
tion.
433,219
80,161
160,237
43,239
23,605
Fever.
1889.
3,314
531
916
171
249
1890.
4,154
634
875
222
179
Bowel-complaints.
1889.
1,331
237
504
76
61
1890
1,311
268
296
48
55
Cholera.
1889.
1,0719
208
323
195
109
1890.
963
213
671
64
67
Total deaths from
all causes.
1889.
11,682
1,745
2,562
866
578
1890.
12,382
1,836
2,617
739
578
Ratio per 1,000 of
population.
1889.
26.96
21.76
15.98
20.02
24.48
1890
27.93
22.90
16.33
17.09
24.48