3
The Superintendent remarks thus on the climate :—
" During the first nine months there was no serious sickness and only 2 deaths, but
during the last quarter the weather was continuously cold, the weak and sickly were
a good deal attacked, and 7 succumbed to bowel complaints, debility or
pneumonia."
12. The causes which led to insanity, where these can be traced, are
principally the use of drugs (ganja). The total treated at Nagpur being 25,
all males; and at Jubbulpore as many as 43, one of the number only being a
female. Thus, to the preparation of Indian hemp may be attributed the major-
ity of cases treated in the asylums of the Central Provinces. The smoking of
opium (mudduk), however injurious it is to the constitution, leading to emacia-
tion and loss of physical energy, does not seem to irritate the mental powers.
The moral causes, such as grief, anger, fear, religious impressions, are
also very productive of insanity.
The Superintendent of the Asylum, Nagpur, considers these causes are opera-
tive, but the Superintendent of the Jubbulpore Asylum is sceptical on the
point.
He writes: —
" Two males and two females were said to have become insane from "grief;" to me
they looked as if destitution and want of sufficient food and clothing had more
to do with exciting the disease."
The Superintendent of the Nagpur Asylum writes :—
" I believe the causes now assigned to be very fairly accurate : the three cases entered
under "grief" are a female seduced and deserted, and two men deserted by their
wives."
13. The occupations of the insanes in the two asylums are widely different.
At Nagpur the able bodied lead for the most part an agricultural life, the asy-
lum being favourably situated for so employing the patients. At Jubbulpore
the employments are intra-mural, with the exception of those who work in the
garden. Both systems have their advantages, and are suited to the climate
of the two places,—Jubbulpore being less tropical than Nagpur.
In the Jubbulpore Asylum 43 patients (36 males, 7 females) were employed
in the manufactory or on works connected with it. They work fitfully, "now
" working with great vigour, and again throwing it up and refusing to do any-
" thing for hours and days." The Superintendent is of opinion that " the occu-
" pation tends to keep them from relapses."
The varied work done by the Nagpur insanes is very creditable. The
Superintendent thus writes :—
" The clothing supplied during the year under review was obtained entirely from the
Asylum. The cotton seeds were sown on Asylum grounds, the crop tended and
gathered, ginned, spun, woven and made up into garments by the lunatics them-
selves."
14. The classes from which insanes are chiefly derived, are, according to
Brigade Surgeon Brake's expression last year, beggars, cultivators, labourers,
and servants, and in this, Surgeon-Major Rice holds the same views.
The last mentioned Officer believes in regard to beggars, that it is not their
unsettled life that leads to insanity so much as the fact that they elect the
wandering life of a beggar from a taint of madness existing in them, which
prevents them adopting a settled mode of life !
15. The Establishment of the two asylums is very much the same, at
Nagpur consisting of Superintendent, Deputy Superintendent, clerk and com-
pounder, daffadar, warders, male and female keepers and gardeners. The total
cost is Rs. 449.