( 4 )
16. The Superintendent of the Lahore Asylum again brings to notice the
desirability of having a good water-supply obtained from the municipal water-
works, the entire cost of which is estimated at Rs. 11,600.
17. A ward for European lunatics and a workshed for the criminal ward
have been sanctioned, but the works have been held in abeyance owing to
paucity of funds. The urgent need for additional solitary cells is also noticed
by Dr. Gray, whose observations on this point I fully endorse.
18. This officer gives some very interesting details regarding the class of
idiots commonly known in this Province as " Shah Dowla's mice." As far
as I have been able to gather from enquiries made at Gujrat and elsewhere,
the statement that their heads have been forcibly moulded or compressed
is quite devoid of foundation. Such cases are not peculiar to the Punjab,
and I recollect myself having seen idiots belonging to the Lower Provinces
with heads of precisely similar formation.
19. The subordinate establishment at Lahore is well reported on, but at
Delhi the Superintendent is much dissatisfied with Mr. Cousins, the Deputy
Superintendent. This officer had recently to stand his trial before the
civil authorities for criminal misappropriation. It, however, resulted in his
acquittal, and he has therefore been reinstated.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE LAHORE LUNATIC ASYLUM FOR 1883, BY R. GRAY, SU
M.D., SUPERINTENDENT.
Population.
ON the 1st January 1883 the number of lunatics in the asylum was 271; during the
year 80 were admitted, making a total of 351. There were
discharged cured 31 ; improved 6 ; made over to their
friends (not improved) 7 ; 1 escaped and has not been recaptured ; and 23 died ; and at the
close of the year there remained 283.
The daily average strength was 284; in 1882 it was 262.
As compared with the previous year, there were 18 fewer admissions ; while 9 more were
discharged cured.
There was exactly the same number of deaths (23). During the whole of the year the
number in the asylum was but little under the maximum (290) which it can accommodate
without overcrowding.
Criminal Lunatics, statement II.
2. At the commencement of the year there were 32 criminal lunatics ; 7 were admitted,
5 were discharged and transferred to the non-criminal
class, and 1 died, leaving 33 on the 31st December.
Statements III , IV and V.
3. Call for no remark.
Types of Insanity. Statement VI.
4. As usual , the admissions have chiefly consisted of cases of mania, acute and chronic,
and it is in those types of insanity, especially the former, that most cures are effected. In
cases of chronic insanity of long standing there is but little
hope of recovery, and when such lunatics, after being kept
under observation for a sufficient length of time evince no tendency to injure themselves or others,
they are made over to their friends under Section 10 of Act XXXVI, of 1858, provided they
will receive them, and the Deputy Commissioner considers that they are fit persons to have
charge of them. The same course is pursued with regard to imbeciles, idiots and some cases
of chronic lementia.
There are 24 lunatics whom I have endeavoured to discharge from the asylum in this
way; but in most cases I have failed, because no friends or relatives can be found, or if found,
they are not willing to undertake the charge of them.
It will be seen that there has been one admission during the year under the head of
"idiotcy." This is a female idiot who belongs to a class of idiots whose head-quarters are at a
shrine in the Gujrát district, and who are known all over the Province as " Shah Doulá's
mice." As attention has lately been directed to this subject by Government with the view
of collecting information regarding this class of idiots, it will perhaps not be considered
uninteresting or out of place if I here give a short account of the "chui" who has been
lately admitted into the Lunatic Asylum.