28
LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.
them, introduced a new and important method of recording the accounts of the asylum, and
involve several changes of some consequence in the management of the institution, I place the
correspondence as an appendix to the report. The new system came into force on the 1st of
September of the year under report. The accounts of the asylum will now exhibit the whole
cost of the institution, which no previous financial statements have done; while the power of
the superintendent in disposing of industrial profits for the good of the patients, or developing
or modifying the industrial system has not, on account of the large discretion left to him,
been materially limited. The question of applying these rules to the other asylums of the
province is now under the consideration of Government.
Accounts.
43. The accounts of the asylum are clearly shown in Tables Nos. 18, 19, 20, and 21
appended to the report. As the new system only came into force on the 1st of September, I
refrain from commenting on them. I would remark, however, that, owing to the system of
purchasing food and clothing for the patients in the form of raw material, the cash receipts and
actual profits must fall short of the amount expended on raw materials. The asylum, how-
ever, effects a very material economy in thus supplying itself.
Water-supply.
44. The water-supply of the asylum is a difficult question. There are no means of
bathing for the patients in the hot weather within the asylum grounds. They have, there-
fore, to be taken to a tank situated in the centre of the maidan—a very objectionable practice.
Two methods of overcoming this difficulty are now under discussion, and the most efficient
and economical of these will be at an early date recommended for the sanction of Govern-
ment.
Scurvy.
45. The observations made during the year on a condition of the gums of lunatics, which
gave rise to the impression that they were suffering from scurvy, are important. It is satis-
factory to find that, while it is very doubtful whether the peculiar appearances noticed betoken
scurvy at all, it is quite certain that scurvy does not develope within the institution.
Subordinates.
46. The superintendent bears well-merited testimony to the efficient service rendered
by Mr. Bancroft, the overseer, and Mrs. Monteiro, the matron of the asylum.
Inspection.
47. Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals, G. Saunders, made a careful and systematic
inspection of the asylum on the 2nd of July 1872. The sanitary state of the asylum was
satisfactory, and the inmates in good health.
Superintendent.
STATEMENT NO. XIV.
YEARS.
1867 ...
1868 ...
1869 ...
1870 ...
1871 ...
Average ...
1872 ...
Daily average
number.
210
200
232
222
213
215.4
218
PER CENT. OF AVERAGE STRENGTH.
Admitted.
36.6
56.
42.6
34.7
37.5
41.5
57.3
DISCHARGED
Cured.
16.2
20.5
12.5
15.3
13.6
15.6
17.4
Im-
proved
3.3
7.
2.5
4.5
5.1
4.5
6 4
Other-
wise.
3.8
.4
3.01
5.
1.9
3.5
1.8
Deaths.
16.6
22.5
17.6
18.5
19.7
18.9
18.4
Total dis-
charges and
deaths.
39.9
54.
35.6
43.3
40.3
42 6
44.
48. Dacca.—Surgeon J. Wise, M.D., has held the charge of this asylum throughout the
year. His report is most
complete and instructive, and
evidences the great interest
which the superintendent
takes in the institution, and
the labor and intelligence
with which he studies the
various interesting questions
connected with his charge.
Overcrowding.
Admissions.
49. The asylum has
been overcrowded towards
the close of the year. The
average for the year does not represent the state of the asylum in this respect very accurately ;
for, during the last three months of the year, the number of residents rose to 246, 245, and 240.
The admissions were more numerous than in any of the preceding ten years, and bore a higher