36
DACCA ASYLUM.
with the customs and habits of the people from whom our lunatics are derived, assures me
that what I stated was correct. With a view to afford what information I can on this point,
I have had table No. 10 prepared. It is a nominal return of lunatics whose lunacy has been
attributed either to gunja or spirit.
The right-hand column has been filled up by the
overseer from the information which in course of confidential conversation the lunatics have
given him. In table No. 4 the classification has been made with reference to that which
seemed in each case to be the major exciting cause.
5. The castes and sexes of patients admitted during the year are shown in table
No. 5; 62.33 per cent. of the patients were Hindoos, and 37.66 were Mahomedans. Of all
admitted, 77.91 per cent. were males, and 22.07 were females.
6. The trades and occupations of the patients admitted during the year are shown in table
No. 6; 33.77 per cent. were from the agricultural classes, 51.95 per cent. were servants, and
14.28 per cent. were professional beggars.
7. The ages of the patients are shown in table No. 7. Between 20 and 30, and between
30 and 40 years of age, there was an equal number of patients, each decennial period contri-
buting 35.06 per cent. to the total number of admissions. From 40 to 50 years of age, the
number of patients amounted to 19.48 per cent. of all admissions.
8. The causes of mortality are shown in table No. 10. Table No. 11 has been prepared
to show the total number of deaths from cholera and from other causes, and the ratio per cent.
of deaths calculated both in proportion to the total population (as has hitherto been the
custom in this asylum), and also to the daily average strength, which is the more usual and
correct method. The ratio per cent. of deaths to daily average strength was, during the year
1870, 18.46, or .72 more than the death-rate of 1869, and 4.10 less than that of 1868,
in which year, however, 7.5 per cent. of the deaths were caused by cholera, which disease in
1869 destroyed only 2.38 per cent., and in 1870, 2.24 per cent. of all who died. But in
1869 one accidental death (from injury) occurred, and in 1870 two accidental deaths
(suicides) occurred. Excluding these accidental deaths as well as the deaths from
cholera, the death-rate from other diseases has been, for 1868, 15; for 1869, 14.68; and
for 1870, 15.78 per cent. to daily average strength. In table No. 12 are exhibited
the causes of death, ratio per cent. of deaths in each month, the temperature, and the
accommodation afforded. Of the 41 deaths, it appears that 8, or 19.51 per cent., are returned
as cases of "meningitis." They were cases in which well-marked and extensive morbid
changes were observable in the pia mater and arachnoid. Most of those cases seemed to
sink from exhaustion. But I have classified all cases as much as possible in accordance
with the chief pathological lesions observed on actual dissection of the body. In the
three cases of dementia with debility, the arachnoid and pia mater were not in such states
as would be at all described by the word " inflamed," and the causes of death in these
cases have been referred to debility. The same remarks apply to those cases entered as
epilepsy with debility. 14.85 deaths, or 24.41 per cent., resulted from diseases referable
to the brain and its membranes. Five deaths, or 2.24 of the total number of deaths,
resulted from cholera. The total number of cases of cholera treated in the asylum during
the year was 13. The ratio per cent. of deaths to cases treated was therefore 38.46. No
case of cholera occurred in the asylum after the month of May. Indeed, it is very remarkable
that no case of cholera is known to have occurred in Dacca from August to the end of the
year. The absence of the disease from the asylum during these months is therefore not
attributable to any specialities connected with the institution and its inmates, but is merely
in harmony with a very exceptional absence of the disease from the town. Why cholera did
not appear in Dacca, as it almost always does soon after the rains have ceased, I am unable
to explain. Another exceptional peculiarity of the year was the prolonged and high inun-
dation of the country; but whether there may have been any possible connection between