No. 983, JUDICIAL, 8TH JUNE 1896.
The numbers of the insanes admitted who belonged to the several religious com-
munities remained almost the same as in 1894 as did the proportion between the two
sexes. Madras city (32) and the district of Yizagapatam (18) provided the largest
number of admissions. This fact appears to indicate that in districts in which there
are lunatic asylums admissions are ordered more freely than is really necessary.
There were similarly no less than 52 admissions from the two West Coast districts for
which the Calicut asylum is conveniently near. The attention of the District
Magistrates concerned will be drawn to the matter. The entries for the Madras
asylum in column 1 of Statement No. 3, which is headed " Districts," are made in a
very unsystematic way. Figures for Wynaad, Tellicherry, Cannauore and Calicut
all of which are in Malabar district, are given, and in another place figures for the
rest of the district. Similarly, separate entries are made under Birmingham, Cheshire
London and England. Lunatics admitted from this Presidency should be shown
under the several districts only and those from elsewhere should be classified according
to the country, administration, or Native State from which they come. Turning to
the previous occupations of those admitted, it is seen that, as usual, a large proportion
of them were cultivators, cooly carriers, labourers, beggars and servants. In 1894
fifteen agricultural labourers and one unskilled labourer were returned as admitted.
In 1895 the entries under these heads are respectively one and twelve. Apparently
the system of classification under these items is not uniform. Mania was the type of
insanity from which most of the patients were suffering. Melancholia and dementia
come next. The causes of insanity were believed to have been discovered in 87 per
cent, of the cases admitted and in 73 per cent, of all those under treatment, but His
Excellency in Council entertains considerable doubt as to the accuracy of these
diagnoses. It is observed that of the new admissions the largest numbers are declared
to be suffering from insanity due to ganja-smoking, hereditary taint and starvation.
In the face of the discovery made by the Hemp Drugs Conmiission of the extreme
inaccuracy with which ganja-smoking was assigned as a cause of lunacy and of the
rarity of genuine cases of the kind, and in view of the small consumption in this
Presidency of preparations of hemp, Government finds itself unable to credit the state-
ment that ganja-smoking was the cause of more cases of lunacy in 1895 than anything
else. Again, the large number of cases said to be due to starvation suggests the
inference that an effect of insanity may frequently have been mistaken for its cause,
and that the starvation brought upon an insane by his inability to earn his living or to
obtain or to eat sufficient suitable food may have been entered as the reason for his
insanity. It seems highly probable that insufficient care is devoted by medical officers
to the diagnosis of the causes of insanity when drawing up medical history sheets of
lunatics to be admitted to asylums, and the Surgeon-General will be requested to
issue the necessary instructions upon this matter to the officers of his department upon
whom this duty falls.
The accommodation in all three asylums was sufficient throughout the year.
3. Health.—The statement following compares the health of the inmates of the
three asylums in the last two years:—
Year.
Daily
average
strength.
Daily
average sick,
Deaths.
Madras—
1894
1895
Vizagapatam—
1894
1895
Caliout—
1894
1895
rp . , I 1894
lotal | lg!)6
474'
410-19
49-20
60-39
98-07
103-36
621-27
602 94
82-
89-
7-82
11-49
15-07
2267
104-89
123-06
Percentage
of deaths to
daily average
strength.
66
94
2
a
6
14
64
110
11-81
21-36
406
3-37
6-12
13-64
1030
18-25