2
(c) Previous occupation.
Statement No. IV.
Except with regard to the absolute numbers admitted, the statistics contained
in Statement No. IV do not differ materially from those
of the previous year. As usual, the largest numbers of
insanes were cultivators and tea-garden coolies. Only 6
were reported to have had no previous occupation, while in 9 cases the occupation
could not be ascertained. The table, of course, deals only with actuals, and gives no
information as to the ratio of insanes to the number following each occupation. As to
age (vide Statement No. V), the largest numbers admitted were, as usual, between 20
and 40 years of age.
(d) Cause of insanity.
Statements Nos. VI and VII.
As in previous years, mania was the chief form of insanity. Of the total admis-
sions, 103 or 70.07 per cent. were so classed, while
melancholia, the next most frequent type, accounted for
26 or 17.69 per cent. Again, out of the total of 572
treated, the type of insanity in 66.08 per cent. was mania and in 23.08 melancholia.
The medical history sheets were in many cases prepared carelessly or contained
insufficient information (a complaint made constantly in former years also), and this
explains why among 147 cases the causes of insanity could be determined only in 61
or 41.49 per cent., against 51 or 48.57 per cent. in 1905. The cause of insanity in
16 cases was ganja smoking, in 2 spirit drinking, in 5 epilepsy, and in 2 fever. In 1
the insanity was congenial and in 10 there was hereditary predisposition. The
remaining 25 of the 61 were due to moral causes.
VITAL.
Sickness and mortality.
4. Of the 572 lunatics treated during the year, 28 or 5 per cent. died. The
number of admissions to hospital was 193. In the
province and in each of the asylums the daily average
number of sick, as well as the percentages of deaths to daily average strength and
to admissions, was lower than in the preceding year. The chief causes of death
were tubercle of the lungs (11), dysentery and diarrhœa (6), anæmia (2), and
exhaustion of mania (3). The Superintendent of the Dacca Asylum believes
much of the prevalence of, and the mortality from, tubercle and other lung
affections, from which the insane are so prone to suffer, to be due to exposure
and want before admission to the asylum, though over-crowding and the want hitherto
of the means of segregation in the asylum are also important factors. At Dacca there
were two cases of injury, fracture of the ulna and wound of the neck, inflicted by
lunatics, and two cases of fracture (femur and radius) from accidental falls. None of
the injuries proved fatal.
The ratios of death per 100 of average strength among the lunatics in the different
provinces of India in 1906 were as follows:—
Eastern Bengal and Assam ... ... ... ...
Bombay ... ... ... ... ...
Burma ...
...
...
...
...
...
Punjab ... ... ... ... ... ...
Bengal
...
...
...
...
...
...
Central Provinces
...
...
...
...
...
United Provinces ...
...
... ... ...
Madras
...
...
...
...
... ...
6.16
6.60
6.74
9.43
10.27
10.39
10.69
11.87
FINANCIAL.
Expenditure and cost per inmate.
Statements Nos. VIII, IX, and
X.
5. The total expenditure, less the amount received from paying patients, was
Rs. 48,772-8-4, against Rs. 42,157-4-7 in 1905. The
average cost per lunatic works out to Rs. 105-4-11 for
Dacca and Rs. 110-4-7 for Tezpur, against Rs. 97-5-10 and
Rs. 99-1-2, respectively, in the previous year. The
increase was mainly due to the dearness of food-grains ; but, at Tezpur, also to
increased establishment, clothing and bedding, and contingencies.
The cost of diet per patient was Rs. 56-11-5 at Dacca and Rs. 57-14-4 at Tezpur.
In both asylums the profit on manufactures shows an increase in comparison with
last year.