Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1898 — BRITISH LUNACY STATISTICS. [ARTICLE]

BRITISH LUNACY STATISTICS.

Number of Insane Persons Who Recover Is Increasing;. Two things appear to be established prlma facie from the annual report of the commissioners in lunacy, and these are: 1. That the proportion of insane people relatively to sane people Is every year getting greater, and 2. That the number of deaths from Insanity Is getting less and the number of recoveries Is Increasing. But both deductions may be answered by the statement that the numbers have risen chiefly through the fact that more control is now being exercised over insane patients than formerly. The commissioners themselves do not draw any Inference one way or the other, merely giving the available statistics, and commenting only where comments are thought necessary to explain the figures. One of the main tables shows that last New Year’s day the total number of lunatics in England and Wales was 99,305, as compared with 96,446 on the corresponding day of 1896, being an increase of 2,919.

Of course, the population Is always steadily Increasing, and insane people, other-things being equal, may be expected to Increase with It. But even taking this into consideration, the number of persons reported as insane are steadily becoming greater. In 1859 one person in every 536 of the population was under treatment; In 1869, one i» every 418; in 1879, one in every 363; and every year the state of affairs has been getting worse, till in 1895 there was one in every 323, in 1896 one in every 318, and in 1897 313. The death rate has not gone up with the numbe rof patients, for it is reckoned for 1896 at 9.05 of the total number of patients, a decrease of 0.96 as compared with the previous year, and 0.65 under the average for the ten years ended 1896. The number of recoveries is not quite so satisfactory. In 1896 it stood at 38.53 per cent, of the total admissions, or 0.35 above the preceding year, but 0.48 below the average annual rate for ten years. It is in the merry month of May that most of us go mad. April, however,runs May close, and July makes a pretty fair third. April is the month for mania, and June, just as the holidays are beginning, for melancholy. In February most forms of the disease seem to be at their ebb. The five months, March, April, May, June and July, are usually responsible for many more cases of insanity that the rest of the year. The married man seems to have a greater tendency to go mad than the single man, and, what is worse, he seems to go madder. During the five years from 1891 to 1895 inclusive 962 married men with suicidal propensities were yearly under treatment, 738 bachelors and 171 widowers. The married women numbered 1,222, the spinsters 939 and the widow 353—London MaiL