MOYDAPORE LUNATIC ASYLUM.
73
short time extreme prostration set in. He continued in this state until the 23rd of December,
on which date he expired.
Post mortem examination was held 17 hours after death. Brain weighed 2lb 12oz.;
duramater very much thickened, and morbidly adhering to the brain; ventricles distended
with serum. The substance of the cerebrum appeared rather anæmic.
Right lung 3 12 in weight, containing a few miliary tubercles. Left lung lbj 3ijj;
its lower lobe in a state of consolidation, containing numerous small abscesses in different
parts of the solidified lobe.
Heart 6 oz. 3ij rather small and flabby. Liver lbij 3vj;pretty normal in size, but
quite yellow looking. Gall-bladder full.
Spleen 3v.
Stomach empty, containing a few round worms.
Small intestines empty.
Large intestines partially filled with-fœcal matter. Its mucous membrane very much
congested, and in some places very much thickened and indurated.
Types of insanity.
Table No. XII.—The different types of insanity were carefully re-diagnosed, and
the result shows that there were in the asylum during the year 36 cases of acute mania,
40 of chronic mania, 12 chronic dementia, and 9 were not insane.
There was a decided improvement in the number of recoveries from acute and chronic
manias, being in acute 10 against seven, and in chronic four against two in 1872. In
chronic dementia, however, there was only one recovery, against two last year.
The number of those who improved during the year was more than double of that of
last year, being nine against four.
The case that was transferred to the Delhi asylum has been included among the
improved.
Of the four deaths, two occurred among the chronic manias, and two among the chronic
dementias.
Of the nine returned as not insane, one was discharged and re-admitted in the same
month, and two were released by the court. Among these, one is a woman who murdered
her own child and was acquitted on the ground of insanity. She has been nearly two years
in this asylum without showing any indication of insanity, and has been more than once
reported by the visitors as fit for release, but no reply has been received to their recommend-
ation.
Causes of insanity.
Table No. XIII.—Of the total number treated, in nearly half is ganja assigned as
the cause of insanity, giving a percentage of 42.2 on that number and 48.6 on the
total of males. There is no doubt that about 50 per cent. of the cases of insanity that
occur in Bengal is caused by ganja. Of the nine cases of recoveries from ganja mad-
ness recorded during the year, one was seven years seven months and 17 days in the asylum,
the rest were all less than 12 months; the shortest period of detention being three months
and four days.
Grief comes next in the list of causes. Out of a total of 97 cases treated during the
year, 25 were induced by this cause. Of this number, 14 were admitted during the year and
11 remained from the previous year. The proportion of females to males is about the same
in the total number treated, but among those who were admitted during the year, the propor-
tion of females was almost double of the males.
It will be seen that the proportion per cent. of physical causes on the total was consi-
derably higher than that of moral causes, the one being 72.1 and the other 27.9, and that
the proportion of males in physical causes was 81.1, and of females 43.4.
Sickness
Sickness.—Table No. XIV—Is a return of the different diseases from which the inmates
of the asylum suffered during the year.
Of 34 cases treated, 19 were of intermittent fever, two of epilepsy, two dyspepsia,
and of the remaining diseases there was a case of each.
There were four deaths, of which a detail has been already narrated elsewhere.
Mechanical
restraint.
Table No. XV.—No kind of mechanical coercion is used in this asylum. When any one of
the inmates gets excited and violent, he is taken to his room; the charpoy is removed, and the
door, which has a wooden pannel below and iron bars above, is locked. In the generality of
cases they quiet down in an hour or two, when they are taken out, and after a good bath
sent to their work again.
Vaccination.
Table No. XVI.—Of the 27 male admissions, three had been previously vaccinated,
21 inoculated, two had small-pox, and one was unprotected.
Of the 14 females, 13 had been inoculated and one was unprotected.
The two cases that were unprotected were admitted towards the end of December, and
could not therefore be vaccinated within the year.
Industry.
Table No. XVII.—The daily average number of males during the year was 46.82,
of whom an average of 46.45 were employed; those only who were on the sick list, and
the new admissions for the first two or three days, were exempted from work. With regard
the females, from a daily average of 13.13 an average of 12.58 were employed in work.
K