( 2 )
Percentage
of average
daily
strength.
England ...
France ...
Austria ...
Belgium ...
Madras ...
Bombay ...
Panjab ...
N.-W. Provinces ...
10.1
15.
12.
8.8
18.22
15.18
19.50
9.08
This satisfactory result is partly due to the class of cases treated, there having
been an unusual number of recoveries from toxic insanity, but it is chiefly owing
to the success that attended the praiseworthy efforts of the Superintendent in
finding out the friends of harmless lunatics and in inducing them to take charge
of them. Thirty-six were in this manner made over to the custody of their
friends, as against twelve so disposed of in 1892.
5. Out of the 445 criminal lunatics remaining under confinement at the
close of the year, 176 belonged to the first, 242 to the second, and 27 to the
third of the three classes enumerated in paragraph 7 of the report, against 179,
241 and 29 respectively in the year before. The daily average number, as
well as the number remaining in confinement at the end of the year, has decreased
steadily, though slowly, from 1891 onwards.
6. The extension of the Asylum at Berhampore to provide for 64 addi-
tional male lunatics was completed during the year under review. The five native
asylums now provide accommodation for 1,133 patients, calculated at 50 super-
ficial feet for each patient. There was no overcrowding except in the female
wards at Dacca. It is reported that no inconvenience or injury to health
resulted from this overcrowding, but as it is likely to continue, the Inspector-
General of Civil Hospitals suggests that the accommodation may be increased.
Separate orders will be passed on this recommendation.
7. In 55 cases out of a total of 205 admissions and re-admissions during
the year, the cause of insanity is alleged to have been the consumption of
ganja. It seems that whenever a lunatic is reported by the police to be a
ganja-smoker, it is too easily assumed that that drug is the cause of insanity,
and the Lieutenant-Governor agrees with Dr. Harvey in thinking that in past
years many cases have been attributed to ganja on most insufficient grounds.
The whole question of the effect of the consumption of this drug upon the
social and moral condition of the people is now under the consideration of the
Hemp Drugs Commission, and their report will doubtless show to what extent
the use of hemp drugs is the cause of lunacy.
8. The health of the inmates of the asylums during the year under
review shows an improvement; the average daily number in hospital being
49.25, against 54.06 in 1892, and the percentage of chronic invalids to average
strength being 5.28 against 5.62. There was a small increase, however, in the
number of admissions into hospital owing, it is said, to the treatment of a
larger number of trifling cases in the hospitals. At Dullanda, Dacca, and Patna
there were more admissions into hospital than in 1892, while Berhampore shows
a decrease. The increase at Dullanda was due to the prevalence of fever and
dysentery to a greater extent than in the year before, while that at Dacca is
attributed to influenza, of which 87 cases occurred during the year, against none
in 1892. The increase at Patna was due chiefly to an increase of fever. Cases
of sporadic cholera occurred at Dullanda, Dacca and Berhampore, but there
was no general outbreak. There were 77 deaths during the year, against
84 in 1892, and the percentage of deaths to average
strength was 8.26 against 8.74. There were no
great variations in the hospitals, the minimum rate
being 7.04 and the highest 9.8. This rate compares
favourably with the figures given by Dr. Harvey
for European asylums as well as for asylums in the
other provinces of India, and the Lieutenant-
Governor concurs in his opinion that the results
afford good evidence of the excellent hygienic condition under which the
lunatics live and of the care which is taken of them.
9. There were ten cases of injuries and accidents, against eleven in 1892
and 16 in 1891. Of these ten, six occurred at Dallanda, of which three were
due to accidents and three to assaults by lunatics on lunatics; in Dacca there
was one case of injury by an accident, and one in which a patient struck by
a jamadar and two keepers sustained a fracture of the rib. In Patna one
lunatic broke his arm in a fight, and at Cuttack there was one accident.
The officials through whose misconduct or neglect these injuries and accidents
occurred appear to have been suitably punished in each case.
10. There were, as in 1892, two escapes—one from Dacca and one from
Berhampore. Both the lunatics were recaptured, and the keepers, through whose
negligence the escapes occurred, were adequately punished.