LUNATIC ASYLUMS IN BENGAL.                                    9

Proportion of
females.

19. Females constituted 18.9 per cent. of the admissions in 1872 against 21.50 in 1871,
and 23.6 in 1870. Mahomedan females are again fewer in relation to males than Hindoo.
The figures under Christians and " other classes" are too few to warrant any remark.

Liability to in-
sanity at different
periods of life.

20. Ages of those admitted.—Statement No. 5 shows the number remaining, admitted,
and treated according to decades of age, the proportion admitted in each decade, and the
number and ratio of patients who recovered or died in each decade. The greatest number
of admissions took place in the decade 20 to 30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50, 10 to 20, 50 to 60, and
60 to 70 following. This result corresponds with those of previous years, but it is observable
that the preponderance of the first period is not so marked. More females were admitted in
the fourth decade of life than in the third. This is an anomaly which I am unable to
explain. It will also be observed that the proportion of females in the older decades is larger.
This was the case last year. These figures, as I have remarked in previous reports, are
however subject to great doubt, and can only be accepted as distant approximations. Most
cures took place in the decade 20 to 30, and most deaths in the decade 40 to 50. I have
excluded the 7th decade on account of its small numbers.

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