3
A new quarantine ward with separate accommodation for four has,
however, just been completed and opened, and is of great service both for the
segregation of the new arrivals and in lessening the strain on the scanty
separate accommodation (for 20) hitherto provided; it had been long needed.
A very desirable addition to the asylum would be a room for mud-eaters (which
habit is also spreading among the women) on an upper storey to prevent earth
being given to them by others and provided with paved floors and cemented
walls. No other means have been found of any use in checking this habit,
which, if persisted in, always leads to the death of the patient, and the remedy
suggested has among the men proved very effectual.
Type of cases.
The type of cases seen here continues the same as in former years; speak-
ing technically the diseases most com-
mon in Europe—idiopathic mania and
meloncholia (the German Manic Depressive)—are here very rare, and their
place is taken in this country by mania due to excessive use of hemp (in the
form of bhang, ganja or charas and the exhaustion, psychosis following
privation, prolonged malaria or other acute illness). Hemp drug insanity is
especially common. and as the plant grows wild all over the province it is
futile to suggest any means of regulating its sale or consumption. After these
come dementia præcox which in every form is very common, especially
Katalonia, and finally epilepsy is as frequent as in Europe, while general
paralysis is never seen and paranoia but rarely. As regards the characteristics
of these several diseases, the most salient are their violence and dangerous
tendencies, a fact very easily explicable, as all quiet, harmless insanes are wil-
lingly retained at home including even those likely to commit suicide, and only
those so dangerous, noisy or obnoxious as to be a nuisance to their relatives are
allowed to come here, so that the proportion always present of such people is
very large and the amount of noise, violence, abuse and aggression shown by
many is unequalled in any European asylum.
Attendant staff.
The great difficulty in the management of the asylum has always been
in the obtaining of suitable attendants.
There is a great objection among Indians
to taking service here, the work being regarded as dirty, objectionable and
dangerous, it often is so, and the only men obtainable with a very few excep-
tions are worthless, incapable individuals who cannot find service elsewhere.
These are all utterly wanting in any kind feeling or sympathy with the poor
patients entrusted to their care ; they require the most constant and rigid super-
vision, are always ready to leave on the first opportunity, and are one and all
wanting in any interest in their works; and are usually a marked contrast in
bearing, dress and manner to many of the patients they control.
It is difficult to see what remedy can be suggested. Their pay is good,
their work is not really onerous, they are provided with good and sufficient
uniform, and have many small privileges, yet a better class cannot be obtained,
and it is doubtful whether still further raising their pay would enable us to do
so. They have, however, one legitimate grievance which ought to be removed,
and this might aid in inducing many to remain, and that is in the insufficiency of
quarters. These never were ample, and the number of attendants increases with
the population of the asylum, so that there is now a total of 66 attendants
permanent and 28 temporary and 19 sweepers, while there are only separate
quarters for 49 married men and " lines " for 24 single. Now the men who enlist
here at all are all married, and only take service in order to support their families
or relatives dependent on them who have to live with them, and it is only
natural that they should each demand a house to live in (none can be rented in
the vicinity). I am strongly of opinion that at least 25 additional quarters
should be provided for this purpose, and am convinced that this would remove a
great deal of the present discontent and immeasurably increase the comfort
of the attendant staff.
Employment--manufactures.
As a matter of experience it is found that insanes are kept much more
contented and are much more easily
controlled when employed. With many
of course a peculiarity of their disease is their absolute refusal to do anything,
while with others this is prevented by their feebleness or stupidity; but
with the remainder, who make up the majority, it is found possible and
advantageous to employ them constantly on one or other of the various
manufactures carried on in the asylum, and so to combine their distraction
and a considerable saving to Government. In this way the major portion of
the blanketing and all the clothing is woven and made up here by the patients
themselves and proves an excellent occupation, as in its various stages it