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constructed for only 20. The ventilation of the ward is free, the cubic space for each individual
is liberal, and the tiled floor is clean and dry. As the cold weather advanced, however, it was
observed that cholera was much more frequent in this ward than in any other dormitory. The
only explanation of this peculiarity was that the inmates suffered from the cold night air blowing
upon them from beneath the eaves of the building. As soon as this opening was closed on
the northern side, sickness ceased, and the women became as healthy as the other inmates.
Tubercular diseases of the lungs, as a cause of death, were more frequent than usual. Of the
10 deaths from this cause, six were males, four females; one had been 7 days, two, 2½
months; one 10 months, three 4 years; one 6 years, and two 15 years in the Asylum.
The average age of the males was 38 years, of the females 43. Ten of the casualties are
referred to cachexia. At the post-mortem examinations sub-arachnoid serous effusion was
found in eight cases; decolorised fibrinous clots in the right side of heart in six; old pleuritic
disease in two; tubercular deposit in lungs in three; gangrene of lung in one; " Nutmeg" liver in
two; and congestion and ulceration of the large intestines in six. The three casualties returned
as chronic meningitis might have been classed under the head cachexia; but the symptoms during
life, and the pathological changes in the membranes of the brain observed after death, all
indicated that the disease of which they died was a low inflammation of the meninges.
The man who died of general paralysis was a most instructive case. He arrived from
Kamroop on the 29th July, and he died with all the advanced symptoms of the disease on the
7th October. He was 40 years of age, an oilman by trade, and his insanity was referred to
the desertion of his wife. He had several epileptic fits while in the Asylum. The right
hemisphere was found after death softened and anœmic, and the grey matter of a deep brown
colour.
Although general paralysis is one of the most common complications of insanity in Europe,
it is rarely met with in Indian Asylums between 1841 and 1868. There have been 2,688 lunatics,
male and female, admitted into this Asylum. Of these 970 have died. On searching through
the registers only four cases of general paralysis, inclusive of the one mentioned above, are
noted. This gives one case in 672 admissions, a proportion quite insignificant. In some of
the French Asylums it has been calculated that one in four of the inmates die of general paralysis.
Cholera.
The Asylum was entirely free while the severe epidemic of cholera was traversing
the city of Dacca in January. The first case that occurred was on
the 25th February. The patient made a rapid recovery. The next
person attacked was a female lunatic on the 31st March; she also recovered. On the same
day a man was taken ill, and died in 27 hours in collapse. During April seven cases
occurred and six deaths. The disease was of a very fatal type; collapse came on rapidly, and
from a state of perfect health, the patient became livid and pulseless within two hours. Re-
action was very imperfect, and the majority died within seven hours of being attacked. In
May only two cases occurred, one on the 6th, the other on the 19th; one terminated fatally;
the other in recovery.
On the 26th October, a strong healthy lunatic was attacked with cholera and died in
20 hours in collapse. On the 30th a female was attacked and died in 14 hours. In these
two cases no attempt at reaction was perceptible. During November three cases were ad-
mitted ; one died of congestion of the lungs on the sixth day, the second recovered, and the third
died of urœmia. Six cases occurred in December between the 1st and 9th, and three termi-
nated fatally. During the year there were 23 seizures and 15 deaths. Of the females 12
were admitted and six died; of the males 11 were admitted and nine died. Cholera was in the
Asylum during seven months of the year. In the city of Dacca it was more general and