( 2 )
" amongst the criminals." Can the preponderance of deaths on the civil side be
a measure of the extent to which insanity is feigned on the criminal ? Calculated
on the daily average population from 1873 to 1884, civil and criminal separately,
the death-rate of the former exceeds the latter by about 27 per thousand. The
same feature is observable in the returns for Bengal and Bombay as may be seen
in the subjoined table prepared from the figures for the 11 years 1873 to 1883.
For easy comparison Burma's ratios obtained from figures extending over the
same period are appended :—
Bengal civil mortality equals ...
Bombay
ditto
ditto ...
Burma
ditto
ditto ...
115; criminals ...
99.5;
ditto ...
100;
ditto ...
77.7 per mille.
77.9
ditto.
72.9
ditto.
In the following table are compared the mean percentages of recoveries and deaths
calculated on the daily average strength of and the admissions to the asylums in
Bengal, Bombay, and this province for the 11 years 1873 to 1883, with in addi-
tion for Burma the figures for 1884:—
For
Bengal
Bombay
Burma
1873—83
Burma for 1884 ...
DAILY AVERAGE STRENGTH.
a.
Cured.
M.
13.56
16.38
12.16
13.20
F.
13.67
10.92
11.05
20.69
Total.
13.60
14.94
12.18
13.80
b.
Died.
M.
10.60
10.43
8.77
13.80
F.
9.89
9.52
12.92
...
Total.
10.44
9.85
9.20
12.70
ADMISSIONS.
c.
Cured.
M.
43.88
45.42
42.40
40.
F.
52.10
37.44
39.05
60.
Total.
45.18
42.92
41.08
41.67
d.
Died.
M.
36.78
26.55
31.31
41.82
F.
39.88
33.53
28.53
...
Total.
37.17
28.07
31.75
38.33
Considering the diversity of circumstances which must obtain in these provinces
the averages calculated on a series of years show wonderful uniformity. Except
in the matter of cures, the percentages in the foregoing table for the year under
review are less favourable than ordinary.
5. Of the 60 admissions during the year 35 were Burmese ; no fewer than
21 Hindus ; the balance was made up by two Mahomedans and two East Indians.
Of these, 35 came from the cooly or cultivator classes, five were bazaar-sellers,
three clerks, two sepoys, the occupation of five was unknown, and a trader, car-
penter, silversmith, &c., make up the remaining 10. In STATEMENT No. V the
ages of these persons are dealt with.
6. STATEMENTS Nos. VI AND VII treat of the types of insanity and its alleged
causes; the latter the Superintendent considers unreliable. The causes are divided
pretty evenly between physical, moral, and unknown, 60 each of the first two and
62 of the last. In the Bengal and Bombay asylums, in 1883 at all events, the
physical causes largely predominate over the moral, and in both the unknown
predominate over or are about equal to the known, from which it would appear
that the efforts in this province to get at the antecedents of insanes are at least
quite equal to those put forth elsewhere.
7. STATEMENT No. VIII deals with sick insanes regarding whom observations
at some length have already been made. I may here add that general debility,
from which, the Superintendent points out, numbers were suffering on admission to
the asylum, accounts for nine fatal issues, intermittent fever three, diarrhœa three,
dysentery two, and paralysis, epilepsy, erysipelas of scalp, carbuncle, smallpox, and
ulceration of the œsophagus one each.