REPORT ON THE TEZPUR LUNATIC ASYLUM, 1879,
No. 31S., dated Shillong, the 5th March, 1880.
From—A. C. C. DERENZY, ESQ., Deputy-Surgeon-General, Assam Circle,
To—The Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Assam.
I HAVE the honour to submit the Annual Report on the Tezpur Lunatic Asylum
Ifor the year 1879, prepared by the Superintendent, Surgeon Gr. A. Warburton.
2. The Report is so clear and satisfactory in all respects that it calls for very
few comments from me. It shows that the watchful and intelligent care over all the
details of the management of the Asylum exercised by its founder, Surgeon-Major Garden,
has been continued by Surgeon Warburton, the present Superintendent.
3. The health of the Asylum was very good. Where such a small number of
persons is concerned, too much importance should not be attached to bare statistical
statements referring to only a short period of time. The death-rates of small bodies
are subject to great fluctuations from merely accidental circumstances. The death-
rate this year is somewhat higher than that of the previous year, viz., 6'56 against 4*94
percent, of average strength, respectively; considering the mental infirmity of the popula-
tion, these, rates are very satisfactorily low. The small number of cases of dysentery
and diarrhoea is a very satisfactory feature: there were only three of the former and
four of the latter. Remembering how fatal these diseases were in the first two years
of the existence of the Asylum, I consider the decrease in the amount of their prevalence
very gratifying. The decrease is no doubt due to a variety of causes, such as improved
[ drainage, unremitting watchfulness in the matter of diet, attention to the purity of the
1 water-supply, to the personal cleanliness of the lunatics, &c.
4. The buildings in which the lunatics are housed are, as stated in last year's report,
of the flimsiest and least costly style,—mere bamboo sheds. The fact that the lunatics
have been kept in such good health in such buildings appears to me to convey a lesson
that might be applied with advantage in the housing of lunatics and convicts in all
parts of India. The lesson is that, in a mild climate like that of India, huts of a very
simple inexpensive construction are all that is necessary for the healthy housing of
these classes of the population. I am glad to say that this lesson has not been lost
sight of in the case of the new jails now under construction in this Province.
5. Dr. Warburton's remark that opium and ganja-eaters did not seem in any
one case to suffer in health from being suddenly deprived of these drugs deserves
attention. In some jails in the Province opium is largely issued to opium-eaters, under
the impression that the victims of this vice would suffer in health if they did
not get their accustomed narcotic. I feel quite satisfied, as the result of long experience
as a Jail Superintendent, that this is a mistake. In a few very aggravated cases of
opium-eaters the convicts would have to be kept under the medical officer's immediate eye
lor a few days after admission into jail ; but the vast majority of convict opium-caters
would do just as well without this drug as Dr. Warburton finds to be the case with the
lunatic opium-eaters.
6. I. am glad to see that Dr. Warburton recognises the value of the system of
careful monthly weighing of the lunatics introduced by Dr. Garden. 1 look upon
this system, properly carried out, as of the highest value in keeping the Medical
Officer of a Jail or Lunatic Asylum well informed of the state of health of the inmates
() 1 these institutions. There is no so good and sure a means of knowing that the
diet of the institution is suitable, and that its inmates really get the food Government
intend for them.
7. As there is every likelihood that the Asylum will shortly be removed to a
portion of the building now used as a jail, it would be useless to make any costly altera"
'ions in it. But if the present site were likely to be occupied for any length of time, I
^'ould suggest that bamboo plantations should be made in the ground in the vicinity, so