2
7. At the close of the year, there were 43 criminal lunatics, 39 males and
4 females, in the Lahore Asylum. At Delhi there were 14 of this class, 13
males and 1 female. The total number treated at both asylums was 70,64
males and 6 females. At Lahore 11 males and 3 females were admitted—total 14.
At Delhi 4 males only—total 4. These figures, compared with those of this class
in 1887, show that the admissions to both asylums, 18, were the same, and that
the total number treated last year was 70 to 72 in 1887.
8. The health of the Lahore Asylum is still unsatisfactory. The Super-
intendent, writing of the health of the asylum in 1887, states it was a particu-
larly unhealthy year, and that malarious fever weakened the health and increased
the mortality of the lunatics. I find that the admissions to hospital in this
asylum last year were exactly the same as in 1887, while the daily average
strength of lunatics was 257 last year, against 266 in 1887. Consequently, the
admissions per 1,000 of strength were last year 1,583 against 1,530 in 1887.
The chief causes of sickness were alike in both years, malarial fevers,
chest and bowel complaints, skin disease and diseases of the brain. The mortali-
ty, however, was happily much less last year, being 13 against 37 the previous
year, or a difference of more than 60 per cent. The daily average number of
sick last year was reduced to 19.89 from 36.85 the previous year. These figures
denote that the sickness of last year, though not numerically less than it was in
1887, was of a much milder type, requiring a shorter detention in hospital, and the
mortality from it small in comparison with that in 1887. In connection with
this matter, I think it would be advantageous for the Superintendents to state in
their reports the average period each lunatic was sick in hospital.
The causes of death in this asylum were, fever 3, phthisis 2, apoplexy
1, meningitis 1, pneumonia 2, pleurisy 1, diarrhœa 1, ascites 1, sinus 1—total
13. The Superintendent draws attention to the number of contusions treated,
16, and explains these were due to epileptic lunatics or violent insanes injuring
themselves. The number is in excess of similar cases last year. There are no
admissions from this cause in the Delhi Asylum, I think the daily average per
cent, of sick to strength in this asylum, which was 7.5 per cent. last year, is high,
and though the number of deaths has been reduced, the mortality for last year,
which is 50 per 1,000, is still high.
The health of the Delhi Asylum compares in some respects favorably
with that of Lahore ; the admissions to hospital are at the rate of 1,053 to 1,000
of mean average strength, and the daily average sick is 4.9 per cent. of the daily
average strength. The types of sickness are much the same as in the Lahore
Asylum, except that pneumonia was more prevalent and fatal at Delhi than at
Lahore. The general sickness shows a decline from that of 1887, when the
admissions were 118 or 1,180 per 1,000 of average strength,and the daily average
sick-rate 7 per cent. of the daily average strength. The mortality has again been
very high in this asylum reaching the large figure of 14, on a daily average popula-
tion of 93, or 15 per cent. of the strength. Pneumonia, debility and bowel com-
plaints have caused 10 out of 14 deaths, and pneumonia is alone responsible for .5.
This high mortality, in the absence of any epidemic sickness, and in a comparatively
healthy year, can only be ascribed to the exceptional severity, or bad constitu-
tion of, individual cases. The causes of death in this asylum were—erysipelas
1, epilepsy 1, chronic mania 1, pneumonia 5, dysentery 2, diarrhœa 1, debility
2, and dropsy 1—total 14. Though the health in both asylums has improved
from what it was in 1887, it cannot yet be regarded as satisfactory.
9. The expenditure in both Asylums for the years 1887 and 1888 is a
follows:—
Lahore
...
...
...
Delhi
...
...
...
1887.
Rs.
29,205
9,636
A.
0
1
P.
0
8
1888.
Rs.
31,394
11,282
A.
3
2
P.
11
5