4
ANNUAL REPORT ON LUNATIC ASYLUMS.
4. SANITATION—(a) Conservancy.—The dry-earth system was carried out in
the Vizagapatam Asylum. Both the dry-earth system and flushing were used in
Calicut according to requirements; all the latrines in the Calicut Asylum require
their flooring raised and asphalted, and for each latrine a pucka shed for storing
dry earth is desirable; I have directed the Superintendent to submit the necessary
requisitions. The plan and estimate submitted for a much needed separate latrine
for the hospital were returned for modification and are still under preparation
by the Public Works Department. As regards the conservancy of the Madras
Asylum, the Superintendent remarks:—"I consider this very inadequate and a
serious defect in our asylum administration. The reduction of our fixed strength
of toties to patients from 1 to 16 to 1 to 20 is dangerous, as it leaves us under-
manned in this most important detail, and renders an efficient degree of cleanliness
only attainable with great difficulty. There is no inducement to our toties to
remain with us as their wages are not higher than elsewhere, and the work cer-
tainly not lighter. Lines for them have been recommended but if they are built
I believe it will only partially remove our difficulties from sudden absences and
their general irregularities." This subject is now under the consideration of
Government.
(b) General hygiene of the insane:—All necessary precautions were taken
to ensure good general hygienic conditions, but in the Madras Asylum many
insanes are reported to have been admitted in bad health, and the Superintendent
points out that the great feature of insanes is their extreme delicacy and suscep-
tibility to slight ailments which, from their peculiar mental state, are difficult to
recognize at the beginning. In this, they resemble infants rather than adults.
The health inspection of them in sections is conducted weekly and cases found in a
weakly state receive special attention as to medicine and diet.
(c) Drainage.—The Vizagapatam Asylum being on high sloping ground,
the surface drainage is good. In Calicut V-shaped masonry drains run all round
the main buildings except the sheds for 'refractory' insanes and the hospital;
the Superintendent suggests with a view to further sanitary improvement to have
drains for these buildings also; I have directed him to submit a requisition to have
this done. The drainage of the Madras Asylum is very imperfect; the Govern-
ment ordered the Consulting Architect, the Sanitary Commissioner, and the
Superintendent of the Asylum (G.O., No. 454, dated 22nd February 1894) to form
themselves into a Committee and to report on what improvements could be made
in the drainage of the asylum. Their final recommendations were sent to Gov-
ernment by the Sanitary Commissioner at the end of 1894 and embraced a com-
plete system of drainage and disposal of liquid sewage; these proposals have been
returned to the Committee for a further report which has not yet been received.
(d) Water-supply.—The water-supply in the Calicut Asylum was, as usual,
insufficient for all purposes owing to three of the six wells not having been used
on account of the dangerous state of their platforms. Water had to be obtained
from a tank adjacent to the asylum for bathing, washing and gardening purposes.
In Vizagapatam water is obtained from a well, 68 feet deep, within the
asylum garden; it is sufficient for all purposes and of good quality and is used
without being filtered.
In the Madras Asylum the water-supply is ample. It is laid on in pipes
from the Red Hills from which it is received unfiltered; chatty filters were in use
but were found impracticable owing to the peculiar character of the patients and
they were therefore abandoned. The Superintendent states that "seeing that
filtration of the water is necessary, and that to do it by half measures is inade-
quate, remembering also that the experience of the patients' characteristics shows
that they cannot be in the least trusted not to drink the most unwholesome water
surreptitiously at a moment's notice if it can be got at anywhere," he recommends
some plan that will insure that all the water drunk in the asylum shall have
come through a filter previous to its exit from the tap. This question is inti-
mately connected with the question of the filtration of the 'Red Hills' water for
the general population of Madras and has been considered by Government. I
do not believe there is any special necessity for filtering the water for the asylum
inmates that does not affect the population generally. Well water is raised in the
criminal enclosure and in the asylum grounds for gardening purposes—not for