( 19 )
writing and drawing materials, games, &c., were sanctioned, as well as tools and
other material for male and female industry. It was arranged that, so far as
European-born lunatics were concerned, the asylum was to be a temporary re-
sidence merely. If after six months they showed no signs of amendment they
were to be transferred to Europe, and 12 months was to be the maximum limit
of their stay in the asylum.
1
1
1
3
1
1
1
3
15
1
3
1
3
3
3
1
1
2
3
1
3
5
6
2
4
5
1
1
3
1
80
Subordinate officers.
Matron at ... ...
Apothecary and Steward ... ...
Overseer ... ...
Overseers at Rs. 50 each ... ...
Servants.
Writer ... ...
Compounder ... ...
Head-keeper ... ...
Assistant keepers at Rs. 7 each ...
Keepers at Rs. 6 each ... ...
Butler ... ...
Table servants at Rs. 6 each ...
Sculling man ... ...
Cooks at Rs. 6 each ... ...
Bearers at Rs. 6 each ... ...
Tailors at Rs. 6 each ... ...
Barber ... ...
Head-gardener
...
...
Assistant gardeners at Rs. 5 each ...
Garden coolies at Rs. 4 each ... ...
Carpenter
...
...
Coolies, 2 at Rs. 5 and 1 at Rs. 4 ...
Water-carriers at Rs. 5 each ... ...
Sweepers at Rs. 5 each ... ...
Head-female keepers at Rs. 7 each ...
Female keepers at Rs.6 each ...
Ditto sweepers at Rs. 6 each ...
Corner sweeper ... ...
Head door-keeper ... ...
Assistant door-keepers at Rs. 6 each ...
Washerman ... ...
Grand total ...
Rs.
100
200
70
150
25
10
16
21
90
9
18
4
18
18
18
6
6
10
12
10
14
25
30
14
24
30
2
7
18
50
1,025
The Superintendent drew a staff salary of Rs. 1,000 (for Bhowanipore
and Dullunda) in addition to the pay of
his rank. The subordinate establishment
was as noted in the margin, the first six
being Europeans, the rest natives.
The system of treatment was that of
non-restraint, but during the early part
of 1856, in consequence of the full esta-
blishment not being available, mechanical
restraint could not be entirely avoided. It
was, however, confined to gloves and
strait waistcoats and reserved for cases of
extreme violence. "Coercion chairs," "ma-
nacles," and such instruments of torture
transferred with the asylum were consign-
ed to the lumber room, and as the estab-
lishment was completed and the overseers
and keepers became accustomed to manage
the lunatics, coercion was gradually abo-
lished as far as possible. The need of the
comparatively large number of European
overseers is insisted on because of the
irritating effect on European patients of
attempting to control them by native
agency.
Attempts were made to employ the patients, but without much success.
Dr. Cantor remarks "the climate during the greater portion of the year ren-
ders farming, gardening, occupation in the kitchen, laundry, or bake-house
impracticable, if not absolutely injurious to Europeans. Mechanical skill is
exceptional among gentlemen, and intellectual occupation is contraindicted by
the state of morbid excitement of the brain. To European soldiers and sailors
menial work is distasteful; with regard to country-born patients, Dr. J. Mac-
pherson has observed the habitual disdain in which, when well, they hold all
mechanical employment, except the congenial one of copying and writing."
The female patients were employed to some extent with needle work, but it was
found " no easy task to humour East Indian females, who generally consider
sewing to be the business of a tailor, and therefore derogatory to the dignity
of a lady."
1854
1855
1856
1857
Cost.
Rs.
47,438
55,488
43,630
39,210
Number of
patients.
79
94
132
95
Number sent
to Europe.
8
12
22
23
No detailed accounts are given in Dr. Cantor's report, nor is the average
strength of the inmates given, so that it becomes impossible to compare the
expenditure in those days with that of recent years. The result of taking over
the asylum by Government led, however, to a considerable saving. The cost
under the old system had gradually risen from Rs. 37,000 in 1846 to Rs. 55,000
in 1855, but the number of patients treated is not given except for 1854-55.
The table in the margin shows the general
financial results of the two years pre-
ceding and the two years immediately
following the transfer to Government.
With an increase of patients treated—
nothing is said of average strength—there is a gain to Government of over
Rs. 16,000 in the two years. Dr. Cantor is unable to account for the
saving, but speaks elsewhere of "a system of economy equally removed
from parsimony and from waste." The cost of diet is not given, but the
asylum records show that in 1857 it was upwards of Rs. 13,000. Food
was supplied by the Commissariat Department for the first 16 months after
the transfer, but it was then found more economical to employ a private
contractor. Dr. Cantor remarks that " complaints of the table are unknown,"