bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Case of Insanity associated with Chorea in Advanced Life
Authors: MacFarlane N. M.
Published: August 2008

B. McD., domestic servant, æt. 64, was admitted into the Perth District Asylum on April 6th, 1888. Came from Perth Poorhouse, where she had been an inmate for two years. There was no family history to be got, and her personal history was meagre. Symptoms of insanity in the form of delusions of suspicion, hallucinations of sight, and irritability showed themselves two months before admission into the poorhouse. The choreic symptoms began to develop two weeks later.
3. Italian Retrospect
Authors: Gasquet J. R.
Published: August 2008

The chief feature in the psychological literature of Italy since my last report has been the multiplication of periodicals devoted to it. Thus we have received copies of the following new journals:—“The Annali di Freniatria,” of Turin; “Il Manicomio,” of Nocera Inferiore; “Il Pisani,” of Palermo; and “L'Anomalo,” a “Gazzettino,” published at Naples. On the other hand, I regret to say that no copies have been sent since 1888 of Lombroso's always interesting, if sometimes paradoxical, “Archivio di Psichiatria ed Antropologia Criminale.”To some extent these periodicals may be considered as equivalent to our Asylum Reports; and they doubtless show the great activity and zeal with which our specialty is studied in Italy. But from another point of view they seem to me no unmixed advantage. Each periodical is starved by the scattering of so much ability, which was formerly concentrated in fewer journals; and the space left vacant has been, to a great extent; occupied by matters of local, temporary, or secondary interest. When allowance is made for this, Italian psychological literature will be found quite equal to the high level it has attained in former years.
Glasgow Royal Infirmary: Case of Acute Dementia. Treatment by heat and cold to head, electricity, general massage, etc.: Recovery
Authors: Robertson Alex.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Robertson stated that the patient had been admitted under his care on the 10th of January last, when she had been ill for about seven weeks. She was a girl of 24 years of age, and her occupation was a linen-dresser. There was no known cause, and her family history was good, except that her father had been subject to some sort of “fits.” She had become gradually weaker, both in body and mind. At first there had been hallucinations both of sight and hearing, and she had complained of headache; but it appeared that these had passed away or been superseded by the advancing stupor. Menstruation had been quite regular, but on the last occasion her mental state had been worse while it continued. When admitted she had a vacant expression of countenance and seemed unable to understand any remark, however simple. She was of filthy habits and required to be fed by the nurse. She was quite passive in every respect. There was marked emaciation; the heart's action was very weak, the pulse was very feeble, and there was coldness and blueness of the extremities. The tongue was coated and brown, the lips were blackish, and there were sordes about them and the teeth. The bowels were constipated, but had been acted on by medicine before admission.
Mania and Melancholia
Authors: Macpherson John
Published: August 2008

The attention of those interested in mental diseases has lately been directed towards theories of the causes and origin of these diseases. In two recent works,∗ widely differing in scientific scope and aim, though respectively instructive and powerful, theories of the genesis of melancholia and mania based upon the latest psychological and physiological knowledge have been advanced. To my mind, these theories, though containing much statement that is incontrovertible, stop short of conclusive, satisfying argument. At the same time, I was much surprised to read the following remarkable passage in a review of Dr. Mercier's book in the pages of the last number of this Journal:—† “It is well to have a devout follower of Hughlings Jackson and Herbert Spencer, or, perhaps, one ought to have said a follower of Darwin and of evolution, giving his views upon mental order and disorder…. We ourselves are still inclined to believe in the unknowable.” Is the clinical and scientific work of the past few years, based upon the writings of, to put them in their proper order, Herbert Spencer, Darwin, and Hughlings Jackson, to be undone and disregarded, and are we to calmly fold our hands and wait with the reviewer for a new revelation? It will be strange, indeed, if any future theory of “mental order or disorder” can exist without having to reckon with the theories of Herbert Spencer and of evolution.
2. German Retrospect
Authors: Ireland Wm. W.
Published: August 2008

Carl Weigert (“Anat. Anz.,” 1890, No. 19, and “Neurologisches Centralblatt, No. 1, 1891) claims to have discovered a method by which a nerve fibre can be surely distinguished from a fibre of the neuroglia, even after the nerve fibres have become disconnected with the nerve cell.
Some Notes on the use of Sulphonal as a Sedative and Hypnotic
Authors: Johnstone J. Carlyle
Published: August 2008

The first fifty cases in which the writer made use of sulphonal have been selected for analysis. The drug has since been freely used by him in many other cases, which are here excluded from consideration; the results in these cases, it may, however, be stated, have been very similar to those afforded by the earlier ones.
Some Points connected with Criminals
Authors: Baker John
Published: August 2008

Of late years considerable attention has been directed to the science now commonly alluded to as criminal anthropology. The workers in this field have been mainly continental alienists, notably the Italians, of whom one of the most prominent is Professor Lombroso; and the writings of Mr. Havelock Ellis have brought the subject into prominence in this country.
Gall-Stones in the Insane
Authors: Beadles Cecil F.
Published: August 2008

Gall-stones are stated to be most common in females of advanced years by all writers on the subject, but is the frequency of their occurrence in such cases fully recognized? There is a further question, one which more immediately affects the medical officers at asylums, and which it is possible to have answered. Do gall-stones occur more commonly in the insane than in others, and is it possible for insanity to have any influence on the formation of biliary concretions?
Hypnotism at Paris and Nancy. Notes of a Visit
Authors: Robertson George M.
Published: August 2008

The subject of hypnotism has attracted great attention of late amongst the medical profession and the public. The accounts of its phenomena have sometimes been so extraordinary, and have bordered so closely on the miraculous, that intense interest was excited in them. As these statements were attested by men of science and of reputation, and as it was said that hypnotism had such enormous therapeutic possibilities before it, it was essential that serious attention should be given to the study of this subject by those interested in scientific medicine. This study was, however, commenced in this country with feelings of great distrust and reluctance, as it was notorious that for years unprincipled persons had imposed on the public by pretending to all manner of occult powers as mesmerists. They had so offended by these means the feelings of right-minded people, and had produced such a disgust of these phenomena, that many felt it was impossible to investigate hypnotism without contamination. In addition to this, discredit was brought on the subject by the fact that there were two schools in the field with opposing theories, observations and practice, whose pupils carried on a bitter warfare in the press. The most contradictory statements on matters of observation had been made by distinguished physicians, and phenomena had also been recorded which, if true, seemed to overturn the established laws of Nature and all our fixed ideas of things. In spite of the antipathy produced by these facts, one instinctively felt that underlying this mass of contradiction, absurdity and imposture, there lay important truths, and so, impelled by a mixture of scientific and idle curiosity, I paid a visit to the principal teachers in Paris and Nancy, to see with my own eyes what hypnotism was, and what use was being made of it. In the accompanying notes of my visit I have not attempted to draw up a systematic account of hypnotism, as this may be found in books,† but I have merely given a plain description of the phenomena I myself witnessed.
Some Further Remarks on Expression in the Insane
Authors: Turner John
Published: August 2008

The following notes on expression are supplementary to a paper on the same subject published in this Journal twelve months ago.
Case of Endothelial Tumour of the Dura Mater (with Illustration)
Authors: Lishman F.
Published: August 2008

The specimen to be described was obtained at the post-mortem examination of a patient in the Northumberland County Asylum.
Hypertrophy of the Scalp in a Lunatic
Authors: Poggi
Published: August 2008

The subject who presented this anomaly of development of the scalp was M. B., aged 66, a peasant woman from the province of Comasca. Of medium height, regular conformation of body, dark complexion, irides dark chestnut, thick and black eyebrows, hair thick, strong, black, with only a few white ones, notwithstanding her advanced age. Her mother, a brother, and a sister have been insane. She suffered some years ago from puerperal mania, and was finally admitted to the asylum at Como labouring under simple lypemania, on 25th March, 1884. She died suddenly from syncope on the 27th of the same month. The autopsy revealed advanced fatty degeneration of the heart and liver.
3. German Retrospect.
Authors: Ireland W. W.
Published: August 2008

The following is taken from a resume of Dr. Bjeljakow in the “Wjestnik Psych.” (viii. Jahrgang, Heft 2), as given in the “Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychatrie” (xviii. Band, 1 Heft). Dr. Bjeljakow, who has studied the subject in a hospital of St. Petersburg, has confined his observations to cases where there was distinct inflammation of the middle ear. Out of 135 post-mortem examinations which he made during four years 17·12 per cent. suffered from internal otitis. Of these one of the patients had melancholia, one paranoia hallucinatoria acuta, eight paranoia hallucinatoria chronica, two secondary dementia, three epileptic insanity, four general paralysis, one acute delirium, one senile dementia, and three hebephrenia. The author, at the end of his paper, gives the following conclusions:—
The Amok of the Malays
Authors: Ellis W. Gilmore
Published: August 2008

We are all of us familiar with the expression “to run amuck,” but perhaps comparatively few of us are familiar with the significance of the term in the Eastern Archipelago. Amuck, or, as it is properly spelt Amok, is a Malay word, and means a furious assault, its derivatives, Mengamok and Pengamok respectively, meaning to commit a furious assault and the person who runs Amok.
On Forced Alimentation
Authors: Tuke Harrington
Published: August 2008

In the former part of this essay, I have dwelt at some length on the various causes that may induce a patient suffering under mental derangement to refuse food; and I imagine it is not difficult to gather, from what I have already said as to the treatment of such a case, that my opinion is strongly in favor of “Forced Alimentation.” As a general rule I consider that less harm can accrue from even too early mechanical interference, than must happen if the patient be left unaided till the vital powers have become enfeebled, and symptoms of dangerous exhaustion have set in. At the same time, I trust I have made it clear that I look upon the forcible administration of food to be the last resource, and only to be used when all persuasion has failed, and everything that experienced tact can suggest has been tried in vain.
Insane Colony of Gheel.
Authors: Stevens Henry
Published: August 2008

At a time when the provisions for the care and treatment of pauper lunatics are almost completed in compliance with the legislative enactments of 1845, cavillings are heard, not as to minor details or local discrepancies, but against the first lines, the root and trunk-growth of the scheme. County asylums have arisen in every shire, attended in many instances by their satellite borough institutions, and some men, not ignorant on these matters, have looked on, and pronounced the arrangements to be good, very good; some, perhaps prejudiced, or short-sighted, or inexperienced, have gone so far as to say, that in no country in the world could similarly well ordered provisions for the maintenance and recovery of the poor insane be found, as we see raised at distances of twenty or thirty miles apart, over the length and breadth of this favored land of ours. Each institution a ready recipient of every needy being, whose taint, or toil, or trouble, or perhaps vice, if this precedes insanity, has reduced him to knock at the friendly door. Once admitted—every one who has bowels that can be sympathetically affected by the miseries of others, to a sufficient degree to induce him to care for, and to look into the plans adopted for the amelioration of the afflicted, can satisfy himself of the real good offered, and the benefit likely to be conferred by admission into one of these havens of rest. He will find within a well-planned building, divided into separate compartments exactly suitable for almost every phase of the disease to be treated; every arrangement for ventilation, warmth, and cleanliness; means for the regular elaboration and punctual distribution of a carefully devised dietary, every thing ready to hand; every appliance that modern notions suggest for the medical and moral treatment of the insane, and for the individual and personal and separate watching, nursing, and complete and effectual treatment of each unfortunate inmate.
Alleged Increase of Insanity
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

I propose in the following article to state succinctly, and I trust fairly, the arguments and facts on the affirmative and negative sides of this question, confining myself to England and Wales, and endeavouring to determine on which side the greater weight of evidence lies.
The Asylum Chaplain “Ministering to the Mind Diseased.”
Authors: Syrée P. T.
Published: August 2008

The first and altogether indispensable qualification for the work of the minister of Religion is, and must ever be, that his heart and soul are absorbed in his work. All the learning of the schools would be of no avail, and yet all possible knowledge of both men and things could find ample scope in that interesting and all-embracing field of service, the very “labour of love!” But if the heart-service of any religious minister of the Gospel is so all-important a requisite for the due performance of the daily duties of the ordinary parish priest, yet more is it so in the case of him whose daily duty, nay, whose great privilege it is to “minister to the mind diseased,” and unless the heart be really and truly in his work he can be of little, if any, good service to the mentally afflicted. Such a sad condition would prove a most prolific source of unhappiness and unprofitableness all round. “Can the blind lead the blind?” It is an old-established truth that no two persons are totally and unmistakably alike! Even so is it a moral fact that no two characters agree in every particular; and yet more, this thought brings me to the most interesting consideration of the whole matter, viz., the psychical condition of the insane, which is as varied as the physical and moral states of ordinary mortals. Quot homines tot sententió. The asylum chaplain, whose heart and soul are really and truly in the work, will make it his daily study to fathom the psychical conditions of his afflicted flock, so as to find ways and means and opportunities for the soothing balm of comfort and consolation! Very deep and sincere has been the gratitude of many a poor man or woman thus lovingly dealt with, and great the chaplain's encouragement and reward! Nisi dominus frustra.
3. German Retrospect
Authors: Ireland W. W.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Vorster (“Allgemeine Zeitschrift für Psychiatrie,” L. Band, 3 and 4 Heft.) details his experiments on the quantity of hæmoglobin and the specific gravity of the blood of the insane. He refers to the previous experiments of Macphail, Smyth, and Winkler, with which his own results are in general agreement. He observes it has been found in ordinary medicine that the appearance of the patient affords no criterion as to the amount of hæmoglobin in the blood. Schmalz found that there was a parallel relation between the quantity of haemoglobin and the specific gravity of the blood, though not between the specific gravity and the number of the blood corpuscles. Dr. Vorster's experiments were made upon 128 patients, 104 of whom were males and 24 females. He considers the normal specific gravity of the blood to range from 1,055 to 1,062 for males, and from 1,051 to 1,058 for females. Anything under 90 per cent, of the hæmoglobin in males or 85 per cent, in females he holds to be pathological. Vorster's method of research allowed him to experiment on a small quantity of blood.
Criminal Responsibility of the Insane
Authors: Woods Oscar
Published: August 2008

Many of those now present will probably agree with me that the law of criminal responsibility, as at present laid prisoners is not the same in England, Ireland, and Scotland. The existing law is ruled by the answers of the judges to certain questions put to them by the House of Lords in reference to the case of the “Queen v. McNaghten,” tried in 1843.
Impressions of a Flying Visit to a Dutch Asylum
Authors: Macleod M. D.
Published: August 2008

The asylum of Meer-en-Berg is pleasantly situated on a sandy plain close to the village of Bloomendall, within three miles of Haarlem, on the immediate borders of the Great Sand Dunes of the east side of North Holland. This plain, which extends more or less to the North Sea, is supposed to be one of the ancient mouths of the Rhine, now filled up, and close beside it is the ruin of the large castle of Brederode, the seat of the once powerful Counts of that name.
Some Points in the Relation of Diabetes to Insanity
Authors: Bond C. Hubert
Published: August 2008

At the outset it should be stated that, if the term diabetes is to necessarily include the three cardinal symptoms—permanent glycosuria, polyuria, and thirst—the term glycosuria should be added to the title of this paper. For several of the cases upon which it is based, and which, at the request of Dr. Claye Shaw, I am about to communicate to the Association, exhibit little beyond more or less permanent glycosuria. But, inasmuch as there is no abrupt line of demarcation between classical cases of diabetes and those where one or more of the symptoms are absent, and inasmuch as it has already been pointed out by other writers that the presence of mental symptoms is apt to mask the bodily ones, and, further, since allusion will be made to a few possible cases of diabetes insipidus, it has been deemed best to adhere to the original title which appeared in the list of subjects suggested for discussion at this meeting.

∗ Read at the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association, held in London, August, 1895.
Physiological Psychology
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

The neurologist and alienist are constantly concerned with pain, yet the psychology of pain still remains very obscure. What precise pathological or physiological process do we think of when we admit the presence of pain? What is pain?
On Mental Fatigue and Recovery
Authors: Rivers W. H. R.
Published: August 2008

I propose, in this paper, to give a brief account of an investigation carried out in Professor Kraepelin's laboratory at Heidelberg, and undertaken with the view of gaining some first-hand knowledge of the methods I brought before the notice of the Association last July.
Atypical and Unusual Brain-Forms, especially in Relation to Mental Status: a Study on Brain-Surface Morphology
Authors: Mickle W. Julius
Published: August 2008

There is convenience in dealing with the anterior and posterior central, or middle, or transverse, gyres (ascending frontal and parietal), in companionship with the central fissure, and without prejudice to this fissure as a boundary line between frontal and parietal lobes; although one might say much for a distinct “central” or, better, transverse lobe; of which the Insula may be taken as an annex.
Further Points in the Relation of Diabetes, including Glycosuria, to Insanity
Authors: Bond C. Hubert
Published: August 2008

My paper to-day—entitled the Relation of Diabetes to Insanity—is practically a continuation of one which I had the privilege of reading before the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association last year, and which subsequently appeared in the Journal of Mental Science last January.
Hysterical Hemiplegia and Aphonia with Mental Symptoms
Authors: Montgomery S. H. R.
Published: August 2008

S. U., married, aged 42, has led a hard life, was a heavy drinker and a noted boxer. He had always been healthy.
Therapeutic Retrospect
Authors: Sainsbury Harrington
Published: August 2008

Naturally the animal extracts are at the present moment very prominent in the domain of therapeutics, and as naturally the thyroid extract, the powers of which have been so amply demonstrated in myxódema and cretinism, comes in for special consideration. To the readers of this Journal the subject must have considerable interest, not only because the affections just mentioned have an interesting psychological aspect, but also because the thyroid extract has been employed in various mental affections, with, it is claimed, encouraging results.
Tuberculosis in the Insane; its Prophylaxis
Authors: France Eric
Published: August 2008

In venturing to read before you a paper on “Tuberculosis in the Insane; its Prophylaxis,” I am deeply conscious of the responsibility of my position. The very mention of tuberculosis seems to reopen long vistas of investigation and research, which stretch far away into the distance of the earliest medical times. Since the days of Galen and Mangetus the learned in medical science have with unwearying persistence investigated and studied the pathology and treatment of this disease. To the work of these I fear I have little to add, but I submit that neither the presentment of old truths in a new light, nor the adaptation of past experiences to present needs, is without its value. It is from this point of view, then, that I have ventured to approach so vast a subject.
An Exact Method of Recording Deformities of the Hard Palate
Authors: Goodall Edwin
Published: August 2008

Being engaged, in the course of anthropometrical observations, upon an examination of the hard palate amongst the inmates of an asylum, I have endeavoured to make out a suitable method for the purpose. The proper basis of all such study, I believe, must be cast-taking. Seeing that the procedure to which I am about to refer is only rendered possible by the preparation of a cast of the hard palate, any value which may attach thereto is secondary in importance to the cast-taking. Dr. Eugene S. Talbot, the distinguished American writer upon deformities of the skull and jaws, has devised instruments for measuring the palate, either in the living subject or in casts. For the following method no special instruments are needed; and this may be accounted an advantage. Dr. John R. Lord, clinical assistant at the Joint Counties Asylum, Carmarthen, has been associated with me in working out the details of this method, and I am indebted to him for valuable assistance in cast-taking.
Abstract of a Demonstration on the uses of Formol in the Neurological Laboratory
Authors: Campbell A. W.
Published: August 2008

Dr. A. W. Campbell, by way of illustrating the uses of formol, gave a microscopic demonstration of a series of specimens, normal and pathological, taken from various parts of the nervous system, and therewith proved that in formolhardened portions of nervous tissue it was possible to satisfactorily stain all the constituent elements of those tissues and likewise to clearly demonstrate almost all the pathological changes in them which are to be revealed by other previously discovered methods.
Atypical and unusual Brain-Forms, especially in relation to Mental Status: a Study on Brain-Surface Morphology
Authors: Mickle W. Julius
Published: August 2008

Chapter XIII.

Continuing the recapitulation, begun in the last chapter (which dealt thus with the more general morphological states), we next resume in brief the several Chapters, III to VIII, on
Italian Retrospect
Authors: Robertson W. Ford
Published: August 2008

The Advisability and Efficacy of Chirurgico-Gynócological Treatment in Hysteria and Insanity.—G. Angelucci and A. Pierraccini (Rivista Sperimentale di Freniatria, 1897, p. 290) have reported “the results of an international enquiry” into this question. The observation of some cases, in which removal of the uterus and appendages for hysteria had been followed by violent insanity, and the want of agreement which they found among the authorities who had written about the subject, led the authors to undertake their task. They appealed to alienists, surgeons and gynæcologists throughout Europe and America for exact accounts of their experiences, and received in reply a large number of valuable contributions, for which they desire publicly to express their thanks. They enquired of each person, to whom their circular was sent, if during the last ten years he had had any cases in which ablation of the uterus and its appendages had been practised, with a view to curing hysterical neuroses; whether in the event of this having been so, the uterus and appendages had been found healthy or diseased; if they had performed this operation in any case of insanity without manifestations of hysteria; and, lastly, they asked for a personal opinion as to the advisability and efficacy of such surgical interference in hysteria.
Recent Medicolegal Cases
Authors: Mercier
Published: August 2008

[The Editors request that members will oblige by sending full newspaper reports of all cases of interest as published by the local press at the time of the assizes.]

Reg. v. Marriotini.

Prisoner stabbed his wife in twenty-five places, and about two hours after wards threw himself into the Thames. While in the water he discharged a revolver four times. He was rescued, and then said, “I have killed my wife by stabbing her with a large knife. She worried me so much that I told her she would make me murder ber.” Subsequently he said, “I had a quarrel with my wife. I have been unhappy for twenty years. I have had a miserable life.” It was proved that three years before there had been an explosion at the café kept by the prisoner, and that he received such injuries that he was in hospital for five months. When he returned home be was greatly changed, became very irritable, and complained of pains in the head. For ten days before the murder he suffered very much from sleeplessness, and used to wander about the house at night talking to himself.
Lavage in Refusal of Food by the Insane
Authors: Greenwood H. Harold
Published: August 2008

The refusal of food by an insane patient is a troublesome and frequently a serious matter, partly because, from the absence of symptoms in most cases, it is difficult to arrive at a diagnosis of its cause. In many instances it may reasonably be supposed that subjective feelings of pain or discomfort in the stomach, leading to the refusal of food, arise from organic disease or functional disorder of that organ. That there is a centre in the brain, disorder of which causes a distaste for food, has been suggested, but is scarcely worthy of serious consideration. The cause is more likely to be some local affection, such as malignant disease, gastric ulcer, or simple gastritis, giving rise to pain on the ingestion of food; the refusal of food is then the translation of a protest from a stomach in an unfit state to receive any but the lightest food.
Notes of a Case Introducing a Discussion on the Making of Wills by Certified Patients, and the Duties of Medical Men in regard to this
Authors: Morton W. B.
Published: August 2008

The subject of these notes was a gentleman who was admitted under the care of Dr. Deas, at Wonford House, in June, 1895, and remained there until his death in July, 1896.
Note on the Memory of Fishes
Authors: McIntosh W. C.
Published: August 2008

Those who have watched a larval cod about 4 mm. in length nimbly avoiding the forceps following it for capture are in a fair way to estimate the brain-functions of an adult measuring three feet. Still more is this appreciation of such functions strengthened by the behaviour of a large grey skate in its endeavour to escape over a trawl-beam more than fifty feet long which had been arrested in its rise—just above the surface of the sea—by a temporary block in the machinery. The dexterity with which it skimmed to and fro along the beam to find where it dipped sufficiently during the movements of the ship to enable it to glide over was a study, and relief was felt when at last its intelligent perseverance was rewarded. The observation of a group of salmon on a spawning-bed, and the acquired skill of young trout in passing up a model of a salmon-ladder, are corroborative of both intelligence and memory. Moreover, if those who have given a green cod of six or eight inches a particular kind of “scale-back” (a kind of worm), and noticed, firstly, how eagerly it seized it, then tested it in its pharyngeal region, and soon ejected it, never again taking that species into its mouth, would be slow to deny that fishes, and even very young fishes, have a memory. It is well known that fishes prefer certain kinds of bait to others, probably because they retain the pleasant sensations of former occasions. Thus it is that anemones are a fatal bait for cod, lob-worms and certain Nereids for plaice, the toothsome mussel for most marine fishes, and the stripe of silvery skin (like a young rockling or mackerel-midge) so eagerly sought by the mackerel. Muddy water, again, obscures the nature of bait, and misleads both observation and memory, so that a lure which would not so readily capture in clear water is now effective, because no suspicions are roused. On the other hand, the presence of phosphorescent organisms on a mackerel- or herring-net is said to prevent a successful haul.
The Collecting and Recording of Descriptive and Anthropometric Data of the Ear in the Neurotic, Insane, and Criminal—a New Method
Authors: Lord John R.
Published: August 2008

The writings of Morel, Wildermuth, Binder, Gradengo, Vali, Frigerio, Eyle, Schwalbe, have familiarised us with several types of ear; and this, together with Bertillon's work, perhaps forms the bulk of our knowledge on the subject. Recently, in America, good summaries have been published by Meyer and Peterson.
Penal Servitude and Insanity
Authors: Douglas A. R.
Published: August 2008

In this paper I propose to consider the questions which this subject involves, chiefly from observations I have made upon convicts in this prison.
Reminiscences of “After-care” Association, 1879—1898
Authors: Hawkins H.
Published: August 2008

As far back as 1871 a paper named “A Plea for Convalescent Homes in connection with Asylums for the Insane Poor” was admitted by the Editors, Drs. Maudsley and Sibbald, into the Journal of Mental Science. In 1879 an article called “After-care,” by the Rev. H. Hawkins, Chaplain of the Colney Hatch Asylum, was allowed a place in the same Journal. The then Editors were Drs. Clouston, Hack Tuke, and Savage. On the 5th June of the same year a meeting was held at the house of Dr. Bucknill, 39, Wimpole Street, to consider the subject of the “After-care of Poor and Friendless Female Convalescents on leaving Asylums for the Insane.” There were present Dr. and Mrs. Bucknill, Miss Cons, Dr. D. Hack Tuke, Mr. W. G. Marshall, Dr. Harrington Tuke, and others. A paper on the above-named subject was read. It was moved by Dr. C. Lockhart Robertson, and seconded by Dr. Hack Tuke—“That this meeting do form itself into an Association.” The names of Dr. S. Duckworth-Williams and of Dr. Savage were added to those already given. It was moved by Dr. Robertson, and seconded by Mr. W. Gr. Marshall—“That Dr. Bucknill be invited to take the office of President.” Also moved by Dr. Harrington Tuke, and seconded by Dr. Bucknill—“That the Rev. H. Hawkins take the office of Secretary.” These resolutions were unanimously carried. Later in the summer a meeting of ladies to consider the same subject was held at 84, Portland Place. Miss Cons consented to accept temporarily the office of Ladies' Secretary. Later in the same year another meeting was held at Dr. Bucknill's.
Observations on the Normal and Pathological Histology of the Choroid Plexuses of the Lateral Ventricles of the Brain
Authors: Findlay John Wainman
Published: August 2008

I have lately been engaged on a research into the normal and morbid histology of the choroid plexuses of the lateral ventricles.
Anæsthesia in the Insane
Authors: Stoddart W. H. B.
Published: August 2008

The subject of the present paper has occupied my attention for more than two and a half years, and during the whole of that time I have felt deeply indebted to my colleagues both at Bethlem Royal Hospital and at the Lancashire County Asylum at Prestwich for the generous way in which they have afforded me every opportunity of studying the subject. Some of these gentlemen have not only permitted me to examine their cases, but—knowing my interest in the subject—have, at inconvenience to themselves, drawn my attention to cases which would otherwise have escaped notice, and have further assisted and encouraged me by confirming my own observations. I therefore take this opportunity of most heartily thanking all these gentlemen for their valuable help and kindness.
Insanity and Marriage
Authors: Mould G. E.
Published: August 2008

In giving advice concerning the marriage of a person who has had an attack of insanity or who belongs to a family with a hereditary predisposition to insanity, on what considerations should our opinions be based? Firstly, on the welfare of the individuals who are about to marry and of their families present and prospective. Secondly, on the welfare of society. Our advice might have far-reaching consequences if we were only agreed on common principles.
A Note on Sulphonal, with a Case of Toxic Peripheral Neuritis following on its use
Authors: Sutcliffe John
Published: August 2008

Sulphonal has been extensively used in the Royal Manchester Hospital during the last two years. We have found the drug prepared by Bayer to be constant and trustworthy in action, converting noisy and turbulent patients into comparatively quiet and manageable cases.
Concerning Irresponsibility in Criminals
Authors: Whiteway A. R.
Published: August 2008

The spiritualist was and still is the orthodox criminal jurisprudent. He believes in original sin, and when he sees a crime attributes its commission to the inherent wickedness of its author. The médecin-légiste looks first, not at the crime, but at its author, and brings an open mind to bear upon his inquiry into the reason for so strange thing having been committed. The former, therefore, starts with the assumption that each offender is responsible, and excuses him only upon pressure, as in the clear case of the lunatic, the child, and the idiot, when the evidence of irresponsibility is overwhelming, even to his prejudiced eye. On the other hand, the horizon of the man of science is less bounded and grows wider year by year. He knows the moral disabilities of the general paralytic in the first stage, of the epileptic and of the true degenerate, and he is usually able to recognise their respective disorders. Magnan and Serieux tell us that between 1885 and 1890, seventy-six general paralytics were transferred from prison to the Asylum of St. Anne within a very short time of their condemnation by criminal courts. Monod (Conseil Supérieur de l'Assistance Publique, fascicule 47) says that within the same period about 700 persons were sent to prison in France who were subsequently received into French asylums, and who were, in his opinion, undoubtedly irresponsible at the time of the commission of the offence for which they were severally condemned.
Concerning Irresponsibility in Criminals
Authors: Mercier Charles
Published: August 2008

Mr. Whiteway's paper on this subject in the last number but one of the Journal is very interesting to medical men as an indication of the view taken by an enlightened legal mind, and it is especially interesting to us as proving that all legal minds are not so steeped in mediæval notions of responsibility as some medical men are apt to suppose. It contains, however, statements that must not be allowed to go unchallenged, and it pushes the doctrine of irresponsibility further than I, for one, should be prepared to follow.
Continuity of Work under Altered Conditions
Authors: Hawkins H.
Published: August 2008

The time at last comes when, sooner or later, the old work has to be given up—work of various kinds in different cases. But the special sphere of occupation referred to is that in which the Journal of Mental Science is chiefly interested.
Psycho-physical Perception
Authors: Edridge-Green F. W.
Published: August 2008

In the perception of a sensation there are the following factors to be taken into consideration:

1.

The physical stimulus.

2.

The sense-organ receiving this stimulus.

3.

The nerves conveying the effects of the stimulus.

4.

The centre of memory receiving the whole impression.

5.

The perceptive centres conveying to the mind information concerning individual portions of the impression.
Friedrich Nietzsche: a Study in Mental Pathology
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

Friedrich Nietzsche was descended from a noble Polish family which sought refuge in Germany from religious persecution. His ancestors on both sides are reported to have been healthy and long-lived. His father was a Lutheran clergyman, his mother the daughter of a clergyman. He was born on the 15th of October, 1844, in the parsonage of Röcken, in Prussian Saxony. His father laboured under a cerebral affection for eleven months, and died when Friedrich was five years of age. His sister, Frau Förster Nietzsche, tells us that this was the consequence of a fall on the head; but Friedrich stated his belief that his own nervous disorders were inherited from his father.
The Psychology of Alcohol (Amer. Journ. Psych., vol. xi, No. 3, April, 1900.) Partridge, G. E.
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

This is a study not merely of the effects of alcohol, whether as manifested in inebriety or when taken for experimental purposes, but of the intoxication impulse generally. The author believes there is a danger of regarding natural phenomena too readily as abnormal. He considers that the methods used by many who have been inspired by Lombroso illustrate this, and remarks that the conclusion of Nordau that all society is pathological is the logical result of an indiscriminate search for abnormalities. Thus we must beware of too hastily regarding the intoxication impulse as abnormal. It has played a part of the first importance both among uncivilised and civilised peoples. “Indeed, it is hard to imagine what the religious or social consciousness of primitive man would have been without them [intoxicants].” The first part of the paper is devoted to an account of the part played by this impulse in the religious and social life of early civilisations. This is followed by an analysis of the state of intoxication, accounts of experiments with intoxicating doses of alcohol, and observations on a series of inebriates. The authors experiments show that in intoxication, unless well advanced, the rapidity of simple mental processes is not decreased. The rapidity of tapping was most affected. Ability to control a reflex wink was greatly increased. There is increased activity of the associations, emotions, and sensations which make up the self. The increase of self-confidence and the diminution of suspicion are important points in their social bearing. “The intimate relation of intoxication to the social impulse undoubtedly accounts—in part at least—for the widespread and persistent use of intoxicants. Doubtless it made possible wider social relations than could otherwise have been maintained.”
On the Mental Disturbances of Epileptics [Beitrag zur Kenntniss der Seelenstorungen der Epileptiker]. (Allgem. Zeits. f. Psychiat., B. lvi, H. 5, 1899.) Deiters
Authors: Ireland W. W.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Deiters commences his article by stating that, since Samt's investigations on the forms of epileptic insanity, it has generally been recognised that the mental symptoms are very characteristic; indeed, some hold that the presence of epilepsy may sometimes be inferred from the psychical manifestations alone. Sometimes, however, insanity combined with epileptic seizures takes a different character, approaching the forms of other vesaniæ. He gives at some length the description of a patient fifty-five years old, who had epilepsy combined with delusions of a paranoic nature. He had led a vagabond life, had been in prison for stealing, and had been passed on to a workhouse as incapable of earning a livelihood. When admitted to the asylum at Andernach, he was found to be lazy and indifferent, to have religious delusions, and suspicions of being poisoned. He said that at night people put “oprigus” under his nose, and that he was going to be made pope. Finally, he imagined that he was actually crowned as pope, and that Christ had appeared to him and held a chalice over his head, etc. Other cases of hallucination and systematised delusions have been described by Gnauck, Pohl, Buchholz, and others. Magnan thought that several psychoses might exist together. Deiters observes that the forms of insanity which he specifies are technical divisions rather than specific diseases, but that fairly distinct forms may supervene the one upon the other. He thinks that the mind never remains intact after repeated epileptic seizures. Epilepsy prepares the ground for insane ideas, but the character and sequence of these ideas may now and then take an unusual course.
Hungry Evil in Epileptics. (Alien. and Neur., Jan., 1900.) Féré, Ch.
Authors: Welsh G. A.
Published: August 2008

This is a dissertation on one of the rarer visceral symptoms found in epileptics. The opening paragraphs concern themselves with a description of the history of the symptoms, how it was first observed in horses. Passing from this, the author discusses analogues in the fermented stomach cravings found in man and the lower animals. He puts on record several cases to show that hunger may be manifested in epileptics as “faim-valle” is in horses, and is of opinion that, when it is better understood, it will be oftener met with.
Alterations of the Personality under the Influence of Morphine [Altérations de la personnalité sous l'influence du morphinisme]. (Rev. d'Hyp., April, 1900.) Bérillon
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

The case is described of a young woman who presented an absolutely different personality according to whether or no she was in a state of morphinomania. At the age of twenty-three, while on board a ship, she first became addicted to morphia, and for the next few years she was alternately well and morphinomaniac, presenting with each phase a characteristic and markedly different personality. While taking morphia she was sedentary, calculating, most careful of her affairs, endowed with a wonderful memory, logically minded, and she showed an absence of affection. When cured of her morphia habit, on the contrary, she ceased to care about her affairs, was liberal, extravagant, heedless of the future; her affective side was in evidence. It would almost seem as if in this case morphia produced an inhibition of the affective centres, permitting of a preponderating action on the part of the intellectual faculties.
Cortical Hyperæsthesia in Acute Alcoholism [Hyperesthésie corticale dans l'alcoolisme aigu]. (Arch. de Neur., May, 1900.) Cololian and Rodiet
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

Various authors have drawn attention to the fact, that alcoholic patients suffering from hallucinations behold their false perceptions increase in intensity under the influence of peripheral stimuli. This is especially the point studied by Cololian and Rodiet. Hallucinations of the various senses were thus induced: olfactory by alternate compression and relaxation of the nostrils; gustatory by lightly rubbing the upper surface of the tongue; auditory by lightly tapping the external auditory meatus; visual by compression of the eyeballs, etc. This hyperesthesia, which they believe is localised in the cortex of the brain, in the sensecentres, is, however, not limited to the brain, as we know that the peripheral nerves, the nerve-endings, are also affected; but the nature of the lesion is probably not the same, for in the latter case we know that there is evidence of peripheral neuritis, and the brain may not present any definite lesion. These phenomena are only present in a limited number of cases, and only in recent alcoholic cases, before the toxin is eliminated. In order to guard against error, they exclude all cases deeply intoxicated, with much agitation, with delirium tremens, fever, etc. Complete notes of eight cases presenting these induced hallucinations are given.
Hysterical Polyuria and Pollakiuria [Polyurie et pollakiurie hystérique]. (Arch. de Neur., March, 1900.) Abadie, J.
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

A case is described of a man, æt. 43 years, cured by indirect suggestion, without any apparent lesion of his urinary apparatus except some urethral spasm, the chemical composition of the urine being normal; he micturated twenty to thirty times in the twenty-four hours, and passed large quantities of urine. Born of a hysterical mother, he was himself hysterical, with such stigmata as zones of cutaneous and mucous hyperesthesia, loss of taste and smell, concentric narrowing of the visual fields, and almost complete absence of pharyngeal reflex. The pollakiuria presented by this patient was more obstinate and more obvious than is usual in these cases; not only was there frequency of micturition (simple pollakiuria, or pollakiuria proper), but also an imperious desire to satisfy the act. The cure by indirect suggestion consisted in the daily administration of pills of methylene blue. In another case mentioned—a hysterical woman—the symptoms of polyuria, simple pollakiuria, and imperious pollakiuria, with identical characteristics to the above, were induced by hypnotic suggestion.
Mitral and Tricuspid Incompetence
Authors: Penfold W. J.
Published: August 2008

The imperfect way in which the pathologist has been accustomed to test the competence of the mitral and tricuspid valves seems to be at variance with the careful and systematic observation given to other parts.
Recent Medico-Legal Cases
Authors: Mercier
Published: August 2008

[The editors request that members will oblige by sending full newspaper reports of all cases of interest as published by the local press at the time of the assizes.]
Case of Double Sacculated Intra-cranial Aneurysm
Authors: Shaw B. Henry
Published: August 2008

Authorities are very much at variance as to the most frequent variety of intra-cranial aneurysm; Erichsen states that they “are almost always formed by the uniform dilatation of a limited portion of the artery—the sacculated variety being rarely met with.” Treves is impartial, while in Osier's series of twelve cases, eleven were sacculated. They are rarely met with in the asylum post-mortem room, the mental symptoms commonly produced being simple irritability, restlessness, or depression of spirits, very rarely definite insanity as in the following case.