4
The second was a man who while suffering from melancholia set fire to his
own house, for which he was tried and acquitted on the ground of insanity.
He was reported to have been well two months before he was admitted into
the asylum on 5th April, and up to the time of his release on 16th August had
shown no sign since coming under my observation.
8. Three criminals were discharged from the asylum as cured and
capable of making their defence, and were sent back to their several districts for
trial.
The first, was a man received from Chanda in May 1877, accused of murder-
ing his wife. The second, a woman admitted in January from Bhandara, accused
of infanticide. And the third, a man received from Raipur in April, not insane.
9. Of the non-criminals discharged cured one was a constable from Wardha
who had become maniacal from ganja smoking ; the other a Railway laborer
from Bhandara, who had probably suffered from fever, affecting the brain.
10. Of those discharged " improved" one was a Native Christian woman
in a state of melancholy following puerperal mania, who was made over to the
care of a married daughter in fair circumstances. The second was the son of
respectable parents in Nagpur with his intellect weakened by habitual ganja
smoking, made over to the care of his father. The third a wandering religious
mendicant, made over to the care of his wife.
11. Of those discharged " not improved " one was a woman received in an
advanced stage of consumption, made over to her husband ; and the second an
epileptic imbecile, made over to his friends, who are well able to keep him, as not
a fit person to be retained as a pauper in the asylum.
12. Statement III. gives the religion and sex of those admitted as well as
the districts from which they were received. Of the male non-criminals 4 are
natives of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (a constable, laborer, saees
and chaprassi), one is a beggar from Baroda, one a beggar from Berar, and one
a trooper from Bellary in Madras.
As usual the Hindus greatly out-number the Muhammadans,—the Muham-
madan community being comparatively small in all the districts whence patients
are received at Nagpur. The three Muhammadans are all foreigners, two from
Madras and one from Oudh.
13. Statements IV. and V. call for little remark. Two of the three beggars
were wanderers from other Provinces. Nearly all admitted were in the prime of
life, the youth under 20 being the harmless idiot made over to his friends ; and
those above 40 years of age, two criminals, one a man from Bhandara released,
the other the man Umroo readmitted from Chanda.
14. Statement VI. gives the classification under the various primary types of
insanity. I have not altered the numbers given as remaining from last year, and
those since received have been classed after careful study of the symptoms as given
by the several Medical officers who first saw them, and more particularly from
the observations made by myself.
Of those classed under the headings acute mania, melancholia and insipien-
tia there can be no question ; the one set down as suffering from chronic mania is
the murderer Umroo ; those under acute dementia, without being necessarily
violent or maniacal, as the word is popularly understood, have lost more or less
mental control over their actions and thoughts.
The man returned as " not insane" is the criminal sent back to Raipur for
trial, not having shown any symptoms of unsoundness of mind during a long
detention in the asylum.