REPORT ON THE RANGOON LUNATIC ASYLUM FOR THE YEAR 1894.
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65. The type of insanity which preponderates in the asylum is mania, and
several striking examples of this disease have been admitted during the past year.
The abbreviated notes of the case of Nga Oung Dun, a delirious maniac, may be
of interest.
" The lunatic's wife, Ma Yit, stated she had been married to him for 10 years,
and that he had never shown any symptoms of insanity until a day or two ago,
when, after an absence from his house of a few hours' duration, he came back a
maniac."
On admission to the Bassein Jail on the 15th November he was in an
acutely maniacal state, " violent, incoherent, extremely excited, and filthy in his
habits." On the 27th December he was transferred to the Lunatic Asylum. When
seen the following day he was delirious in a high degree, roaring, shouting, gesti-
culating, lying naked on the ground; his entire muscular system was in incessant
motion. In this condition he remained, restless by day, sleepless by night,
constantly muttering, never quiet for a single moment; he became weaker and
weaker, more and more emaciated, until, reduced almost to a skeleton and mentally
exhausted, he passed on the 4th March into a condition of profound depression,
which ended four days later, ten weeks in all from the date of his admission, in
death. Warm-baths, sedative drugs, hypnotics and forcible feeding were all
resorted to in vain.
66. Two cases of mania and two of toxic insanity, due entirely or in a large
measure to the abuse of ganja, were received into the asylum during the year.
One of the patients, after he had recovered his sanity, stated he had smoked
ganja and drunk whisky for about a year. Five days before admission he was
compelled to forego the whisky for want of funds wherewith to purchase it, so he
increased his consumption of ganja. He bought one and a half tickels a day,
costing 3 annas. The leaves were moistened with water, bruised and made
into a paste, which he smoked from a "chillum " until he ceased to retain con"
sciousness. About three and a half years ago he had an attack of insanity, last-
ing for six weeks, the result of eating dhatura surreptitiously administered to
him in his food by a rival fakir. He was a fakir himself in those days.
He had also undergone a term of imprisonment in the Aden jail for embez-
zlement, and during an emeute, in which it seems he took an active part, his
right hand was amputated by a blow from a tulwar.
67. In a case of toxic insanity attributed wholly to the abuse of ganja, the
patient stated he had smoked ganja from the time he was a lad ; " he had a pipe
" in the morning, one in the evening, and, if he did not smoke in the middle of
" the day, he would die."
68. Another lunatic, the onset of whose insanity was attributed to the
conjoint action of drink and ganja, asserted, after his recovery, that he always
spent one or two annas daily on ganja; he used to get half a tickel for 2
annas. Of late he had taken liquor only very exceptionally, but formerly, when
in Calcutta about nine months ago, he drank brandy or gin every day. On the
day of his admission into the asylum he had not had any spirit, but he had smoked
ganja very freely. He mixed his ganja, having first washed it and squeezed
out the excess water through a rag, with tobacco and smoked it thus.
69. Of an interesting class are those lunatics who are subject to relapses
of insanity. Two criminals, one of whom had been sane for three years, and the
other for one year, relapsed into insanity during the year of report. The cause
of relapse in the first case was the loss of a companion, also a criminal who had
recovered his sanity, who escaped from the asylum.
In the second case no obvious cause for the relapse was apparent.
The body weight of the first of the two men referred to was in June, before
he relapsed, 165 lbs.; in July, during his relapse, 142 lbs., and in December, when
he had recovered, 167 lbs.
70. Statement VII, showing the alleged causes of insanity, &c.—Although
the histories sent with patients committed to the asylum showed in many cases
that considerable care had been bestowed on their preparation, in others a certain
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