4
LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.
number of male lunatics; the number of female criminal lunatics remaining very nearly the
same. The admissions in 1873 were fewer by 27 than in 1872, and the discharges and deaths
more numerous by two.
Increase of criminal
lunatics.
6. The remarkable increase which has taken place in this class of the asylum population
is clearly shown in table No. IX of the appendix, which exhibits the statistics of the 10 years
1863-72. From an average strength in 1863 of 86, they have increased to a strength of 212 in
1873. The percentage of the asylum population which these criminal lunatics constitute, has also
increased somewhat; the proportion which they bore to the whole asylum population in 1873
being 21.4 per cent., against 21.6, 209, 20.5, 22.4, 18.1, 17.9, 18.4, and 19, in the eight
preceding years, reading backwards.
Cause.
7. The cause of this increase of criminal lunatics in asylums consists mainly in the
difficulty which besets their release, owing to the peculiar relation which they hold to the law
and executive Government; for, whereas other lunatics may be discharged by the visitors
either on recovery or on the application and undertaking of their friends, criminal lunatics
can only be set loose by permission and sanction of Government; and this, more particularly
when the crime which they have committed has been a serious one, is not accorded without
very strong evidence of complete and sustained recovery.
The question of
separate asylum
accommodation for
criminal lunatics.
8. The increase of criminal lunatics, who differ in many important respects from other
lunatics—in the conditions under which they are admitted, the nature and cause of their
insanity, and in the discipline and treatment requisite for its control and cure—has forced
upon Government the question whether they should not, as in other countries, be provided
with separate asylum accommodation. This question has during the last three years under-
gone careful consideration, and in my reports for the years 1871 (paragraph 6) and 1872
(paragraphs 7 and 8), I have epitomised the correspondence which has taken place on the
subject. His Honor the late Lieutenant-Governor arrived at the conclusion that the want
was not so much an asylum for criminal lunatics as for dangerous lunatics or those difficult
to manage under the rules and principles according to which asylums are now-a-days
conducted (Government Resolution, dated 25th August 1873). A return of such lunatics
was called for and rendered. It was finally decided (Bengal Government letter No. 4533,
dated 12th November 1873) that " demands on account of the present scarcity make it
undesirable to take up the question of a new lunatic asylum at present." The rapid increase
in the number of lunatics of all classes, and of criminal lunatics in particular, and the grow-
ing overcrowding of existing asylums, are facts which every succeeding year brings into
stronger relief; and I trust that when the present financial pressure lightens, His Honor will
again take up the question of providing additional asylum accommodation for the province.
I am still of opinion, for the reasons fully set forth in the correspondence which has taken
place on the subject, that a separate asylum should be provided for criminal lunatics under
the rules and conditions set forth in paragraph 9 of my report for 1872.
Discharge and
death-rates of
criminal lunatics.
9. The statistics of criminal lunatics for 1873, as shown in the statement on the margin
regarding the lower admission and discharge-rates
of criminal lunatics, the markedly lower death-rate
and smaller proportion of females. The figures
of 1873 are exceptional, however, in showing a
lower rate of increase than among non-criminal
lunatics. The lower death-rate of criminal lunatics
is well brought out in the appendix. Whereas
in the 10 years 1863—72 the death-rate per cent.
of total treated was among all lunatics 23.69,
it was 23.3 among criminal lunatics; and the
average annual rates of mortality per cent. of mean strength is shown by these figures to be
15.3 and 11.2 respectively.
These figures also prove very instructively the fallacy of reckoning mortality on total
population as a basis; for the greater numbers of non-criminal lunatics passing through
asylums with a shorter residence give a more favorable ratio of mortality than when the
mean population—the correct basis—is taken as a factor.
I now proceed to analyze the statistics of the lunatic asylums of Bengal for the year
1873, taking all classes of lunatics into consideration. The inclusion of criminal lunatics in
these somewhat vitiates the inferences drawn; for, as shown above, they present some very
marked statistical peculiarities: but the error is an inconsiderable one, and, were I to
exclude criminal lunatics, the figures of 1873 would not bear comparison with those of
previous years, in which they have been invariably included.
RATIOS.
Admission-rate ...
Discharge-rate ...
Rate of increase ...
Death-rate ...
Proportion of females
in population ...
Non-criminal
lunatics.
56.6
40.6
16
12.9
24.3
Criminal
lunatics.
33.9
22.1
11.8
8.5
11.4
Asylum population
increasing.
10. Population.—The population of 1873 exhibits an excess over that of 1872, whether a
comparison is made between the number living in asylums on the 1st of January, the total popu-
lation, or the daily average strength; the increment in each instance being 145, 134, and 88.2,
or 17.5, 9.9, and 9.7 per cent. In statement No. 2 the figures of 1873 are compared with
those of the preceding five years, and in table No. II of the appendix the population of the
preceding 10 years is shown. It will be observed that the increase of population has been