( 4 )
source of mental aberration appears to be " grief," under which head may be
grouped the emotions arising from the loss of property, disappointment in love,
domestic trouble, poverty, &c.
Statement VIII.—The hospital returns show an increased number of patients
treated : diarrhœa, debility, dysentery, and intermittent fever being the chief
forms of disease. There was not a single case of cholera or small-pox. One of
the deaths was due to a fall from a height, and another was the result of
violence received at the hands of a fellow lunatic. Two who died had been inmates
for upwards of 20 years, 3 had been upwards of seven years, while the remainder
had been in the asylum for periods varying from four years downwards.
As pointed out before 9 of the deaths were of individuals received during
the year under review. The Superintendent assures me that the greatest
care was taken to bring patients under suitable treatment on the very
earliest indications of failing health, and that loss of appetite, weight, &c., at
once suggested the need for special care, but a glance at the casualty roll
would, in the absence of any explanation, tend to create a different impression in
some cases. That a man should die of general debility within seven days of his
admission into hospital is a circumstance that cannot fail to attract attention;
and when it is found that he had been admitted into the asylum in bad health not
more than two months previously, the conclusions naturally forced on one are
either that his case did not receive sufficient attention, or that the fact of his
being medically treated was not formally recorded by an entry in the hospital
register, but the case No. 13 is not the only one. The case of acute dysentery,
where a man dies within three days from the date of his admission into hospital
(No. 14), is remarkable. In the "remarks" column it is said that he was in
hospital at the time he was taken ill with dysentery, but if this was so, the
information given in column 5 is misleading. Nos. 19 and 26 are also cases in
point; but perhaps the most remarkable case is that of the girl Mi Thin (No.
16), who dies of remittent fever the day after her admission into hospital. This
unfortunate was one of the individuals referred to later on as having been raped
in the asylum 22 days previously.
In some cases the causes of death seem deserving of more explanation than
is given in the column of remarks. For instance No. 7, Nga Yan Beu, is said to
have died of general debility, but the post-mortem examination showed that the
lungs were tuberculous. The cause of death in the case of No. 12, Behari Nundi,
is shown as prolapsus ani, which in itself is never fatal; it is more than prob-
able that death was due to cystic growths which were found in the brain on
post-mortem examination.
During the year five civil and one criminal insane escaped. The latter was
recaptured on the date of escape. The durwan was sentenced to three months'
rigorous imprisonment, but on appeal was released. Of the five civil insanes one
delivered himself up the following day, three were brought back by asylum
peons, and one remains unaccounted for. Three out of the six escapes were
effected during the day and three during the night.
In three instances the keepers responsible for the escape were prosecuted,
but two of the cases were dismissed and a fine of Rs. 20 inflicted in the other.
Two cases were disposed of by the Superintendent. These frequent escapes point
to a state of considerable laxity on the part of the asylum staff, and so long as
evidence for prosecution of defaulting keepers continues to be collected in a
manner that renders trial before a Magistrate little better than a farce, neglect
of duty will cease to be associated in the minds of the subordinates with the
prospect of certain punishment.
The demoralised condition of the staff is very clearly disclosed by the
circumstances connected with an outrage to which two of the female patients
were subjected towards the latter part of the year. The details are as follows:
At about 10-30 on the night of the 22nd September Soolaman, the hospital
night watchman, and Ramswamy, the watchman on duty over the cottages,
effected an entry into female cottage No. 13 by unlocking the door connected
with the latrine at the back and outraged a girl named Ma Thin, aged 16, and a
young married woman Me To Ma Ree. The Superintendent states that the