3
recovered, 2 improved, and 4 died. For melancholia 60 cases were treated ;
2 of them recovered, 1 improved, and 2 died. Of acute dementia 58 cases
remained and 68 were admitted ; while of chronic 68 remained, and 28 were ad-
mitted. The recoveries were 20 from acute, and 4 from chronic dementia ; 7
of the acute and 4 of the chronic form improved ; and the deaths for each were
5 and 6, respectively. Twenty-four idiots remained, and 6 were admitted ; 8
imbeciles were treated. Of the other types treated, namely amentia, mania,
and dementia complicated with epilepsy, 14 remained and 6 were admitted.
Causes of Insanity.
11. Statements No. 7 show the alleged causes of insanity so far as
they can be ascertained. Amongst physical causes
ganja accounts for 147 cases, alcohol for 40, and
opium for 10. Fever is said to have been the exciting cause in 12 cases ; 23
are due to a previous mental attack ; 36 are hereditary and congenital; starva-
tion accounts for 18 ; epilepsy for 27 ; and disorders of parturition for 6 ;
9 are set down to injuries of the head ; and 10 to the effects of climate. Of
moral causes grief accounts for 52 cases ; 4 are attributed to fright, 4 to
study, and 10 to religious excitement. The total number ascertained to
be due to physical causes is 343, and to moral causes, 70—making a total, of
which the causes are known, of 413 as compared with a total unknown of 433.
Causes of Sickness.
12. Statements No. 8 show the causes of admission into the asylum
hospitals. As before, ague accounts for by far the
largest number of admissions. This is notoriously
the case with Colaba, where the total treated for ague during the past year has
reached the unusually large number of 317, or a percentage on the daily
average strength of 110.3 ; for the year before the respective figures were
195 and 74.7. A comparison with the other asylums will show forcibly the
great and increasing unhealthiness of Colaba, so far as malarious fevers are
concerned. For the year under report the admissions for ague in the Poona
Asylum were 6, a percentage to daily average strength of 9.8 ; the correspond-
ing figures for Ahmedabad are 14 and 13.3, and for Hyderabad 52 and 48.1.
At Dharwar there were no admissions. These figures speak for themselves.
There were 81 cases of dysentery and diarrhœa, of which 49 occurred at
Colaba. Contagious skin diseases, which were formerly so prevalent at the
latter asylum, have now almost disappeared from it. The total sick number-
ed 709, of whom 671 were new admissions, 38 remaining from the preceding
year. Five hundred and eighty were discharged cured, 36 died, and 93
remained on the 31st December 1876. The causes of death were :—malarious
fevers, 3 cases; general dropsy, 3; acute mania, 1; epilepsy, one; paralysis of the
insane, 2 ; pulmonary consumption, 2; erysipelas, 1 ; dysentery and diarrhœa,
9 ; debility, anœmia, and senile decay, 13. There was one case of suicide ; this
occurred at Colaba, where an insane, employed at cane-work, suddenly cut his
throat with the knife he was using.
Cash Accounts.
13. In Statements No. 9 are exhibited the cash accounts of the
asylums, the particulars for the whole being given
in the table below :—
[Statement.