( 3 )
people vary greatly in each district. The Committee support the views of the
Superintendents, and the Lieutenant-Governor will not press for the adoption
of any uniform scale.
7. The Committee have gone very fully into the question of diet in
connection with Dullunda. They report as follows:—
The following table shows the component parts of the full diet which has been in use
at different times since 1856. Various minor changes have been made from time to time:—
ARTICLES.
Wheat
flour
...
...
...
Bice
...
...
...
Pulses
...
...
...
Meat
...
...
...
Fish ... ... ...
Oil
...
...
...
Ghee
...
...
...
Salt
...
...
...
Onions
...
...
...
Spices
...
...
...
Vegetables
...
...
...
Firewood
...
...
...
Coal or coke
...
...
...
Butter
...
...
...
Tobacco
...
...
...
Betel and pân
...
...
...
In 1856.
1
9
2
4
2
chittack ...
chittacks ...
„ ...
„ ...
„ ...
Nil ...
Nil ...
½ chittack ...
Nil ...
⅛
4
chittack ...
chittacks ...
Not stated ...
......
¼
¼
ounce ...
„
...
From 1866 to
31st August
1869.
Nil ...
10 chittacks ...
2
„
2
„
* ...
2 „ ...
¼ chittack ...
Nil
¼ kutcha ...
Nil ...
¼ kutcha
2 chittacks
1 seer
Nil ...
„ ...
„ ...
From August
1869 to August
1872.
Nil ...`
10 chittacks ...
1 chittack ...
2 chittacks
Nil
*
...
¼ chittack ...
½ „ ...
¼ kutcha ...
Nil ...
¼ kutcha ...
2 chittacks ...
1 seer per pati-
eut.
Nil ...
„ ...
„ ...
From 1st Sept.
1872 to 14th
March 1879.
5 chittacks ...
4 „ ...
1 chittack ...
2 chittacks ...
Nil ...
½ chittack ...
½ „
† ...
⅛ „ ...
½ „ ...
⅛ „ ...
2 chittacks ...
1 md. & 5 srs. ...
1 md. & 15 srs ...
Nil ...
¼ ounce ...
Present scale.
5 chittacks.
4
„
2 „
Nil.
Nil.
½ chittack.
Nil.
¾ kutcha.
½ chittack.
¼ kutcha.
2 chittacks.
1 md. & 5 srs.
1 md. & 15 srs.
Nil.
¼ ounce.
* On alternate days.
† Discontinued in 1875.
The quality of the articles has invariably been excellent, the principle laid down by
Government in the Asylum Rules being that all articles must be equal " to the best kind in
use among the corresponding classes of persons in the neighbourhood." In 1857,
Dr. Cantor writes : " They are far superior to those which the patients are accustomed to in
health." Successive Deputy Surgeons-General testify to this, and to the excellence of the
cooking and arrangements for feeding. The present dining-room and kitchens are perfect.
Pilfering is all but impossible, and every patient gets abundance of good, well-cooked food,
free from flies or dirt. In the long search for the causes of ill-health, the dietaries were
altered and re-cast in every possible way. Extras have been freely given when required,
and in 1869 the diet-scale was re-modelled, and a daily issue of ghee and meat sanctioned,
because the then Deputy Surgeon-General declared the lunatics to be scorbutic—a conclusion
which was not admitted by the Superintendent, and was subsequently shown to be erroneous.
The great importance of feeding insane persons liberally has long been recognized, but the
experience of Dullunda shows that, since 1856, there has been no connection between the
diet and the death-rates, and the annual reports amply show that the latter were chiefly
affected by other factors. The most liberal and varied diet ever given was that in
force in 1856, and Dr. Cantor's evidence as to its quality has already been quoted.
Yet the death-rate was higher than it has ever been since, and the low death-rate of the last
three years has been coincident with a diet-scale smaller in quantity and less varied in
character than had ever before been tried. On assuming charge in 1860, Dr. Payne could
" at all times find a man with a pile of untouched food by his side. The waste was
enormous." He abolished the meat ration, substituted an allowance of oil for the butter,
and reduced the vegetable ration by half. The diet-scale thus altered remained in force till
1866, the death-rate varying from 16 per cent. in 1863 to 33 per cent. in 1866. In 1866
meat was substituted for fish twice a week. but the diet otherwise remained the same. In
the next seven years the death-rate steadily declined, coincident with various improvements
in conservancy and other general arrangements, but mainly in consequence of a change in
the class of patients admitted. In 1869 a controversy arose as to the sufficiency of the diet,
which is of great interest, not only with regard to the health of the lunatics, but with
reference also to the question of the cost of diet in the Calcutta Hospitals. Dr. Saunders
declared the diet-scale to be " thoroughly inadequate," and found that " more than a fourth
(of the patients) have clear indications of scurvy—not what Dr. Payne alludes to as blueness of
the gums, but a swollen suppurating state of the gums with recession from the teeth, the
latter having in many cases fallen out." Dr. Payne did not consider this to be due to
scurvy, and " did not consider the dietary defective," but on Dr. Saunders' recommendation,
a daily ration of four ounces of meat was substituted for the fish ration, the allowance of
rice being slightly diminished and an ounce of ghee added. Of this diet Dr. Payne
writes that " it is more ample and more complete than in any other institution, and contains
everything that can be thought useful." He also remarks—"Several of the lunatics are
unable to consume the rations allowed them." These changes added materially to the cost
of the diet. The death-rate continued to diminish, but the fall was attributed by Dr.
Payne to other causes than the altered diet-scales, although he admitted that " the healthier
men had gained in flesh and general appearance." In 1869 Dr. Saunders writes: " It is
a significant fact that the simplest sores at Dullunda heal with difficulty." In 1870