bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Note on Psychiatric Terminology and Classification
Authors: Drapes Thomas
Published: August 2008

In any department of knowledge worthy of the name of science I think it will be admitted that one of the most important elements is terminology. The accurate (and adequate) expression of facts by appropriate words is a prime essential in the advancement of knowledge; the absence or imperfection of such is one of the greatest hindrances to progress. And perhaps no more forcible example of this can be adduced than the case of psychiatry, that sphere of knowledge in which all who are members of this Association are supposed to be more or less expert students. I doubt if any branch of science has suffered more than our own from the disability of an imperfect terminology, a point which it is hardly necessary to argue. I may, however, by way of illustration remind you of the numerous schemes of classification of insanity which have from time to time appeared, a matter with respect to which every writer on the subject seems to have done that which was right in his own eyes. But what would be thought of any science—say botany, chemistry, or zoology—if a new system of classification, and even new terms for genera and species, were to be brought out with the same frequency, or anything like the same frequency, as in the case of insanity? Can anything be more bewildering to anyone commencing the study of insanity than to take up book after book and find each writer adopting a different classification, and grouping cases under one heading or category which the next authority he takes up places under another and quite different one? Surely there ought to be, in the first place, agreement amongst authorities as to the meanings of terms, and in the next place at least some permanent basis of classification which all can accept, capable, no doubt, of expansion and modification with the advance of knowledge, but not liable to continual changes, not to say upheavals, in its fundamental structure.
Notes upon the Incidence of Tuberculosis in Asylums
Authors: Greene George
Published: August 2008

It is the prevalent opinion that phthisis is the scourge of our English lunatic asylums, and that these institutions are, literally speaking, hotbeds for the growth and distribution of the tubercle bacillus. In the Irish asylums, where the death-rate from phthisis alone amounts to nearly 30 per cent. of all causes of death, there seems to be just grounds for this belief. In the English asylums, however, the mortality is much lower, and is but little, if any, greater than that amongst the general population. This can be verified by examination of the Registrar-General's Report, from which it appears that phthisis accounts approximately for one in twelve of all deaths. These figures probably represent less than the true proportion of deaths from phthisis, since post-mortem examinations in the majority of cases are not made, and thus, doubtless, many cases of pulmonary tuberculosis are overlooked.
On Cysticerci in the Brain [Ueber-Gehirncysticerkose] (Cbl f. Nerven-heilkunde, Mar. 15th, 1906.) Henneberg
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Henneberg showed to the Berlin Psychiatric Society, numerous preparations illustrating the pathology of cysticercus in the brain. In the Clinique for Nervous and Brain Diseases at the Charity, there was at least one case revealed by dissection every year. Out of ten thousand post-mortem examinations there were in this hospital about sixteen in stances in which cysticerci were found in the brain. It is generally difficult to distinguish the presence of these parasites in the brain from a tumour. A patient ót.57 had epileptic seizures of the left side which lasted for five days till his death in the status hemiepilepticus. A cysticercus about the size of a walnut was found at the foot of the first frontal gyrus.
The Morbid Fear of being looked at [La Phobie du Regard], (Archives de Neurologic, July, 1905.) Bechterew
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

Bechterew, who has studied this question in other articles, records in the present paper with full details three new cases of the “phobie du regard,” or morbid inability to bear being looked at. In these, as in the earlier observations, the salient facts are that the symptom is constantly related to an insane or neurotic heredity, that it frequently develops as an immediate sequence of sexual exhaustion, particularly when brought about by masturbation, and that it is often associated with other phenomena of morbid inhibition, such as the phobia of blushing or the inability to micturate before witnesses. With regard to treatment, the author says that he has got good results from hypnotism combined with hydropathy and with the use of cardiac tonics and codeia
A Contribution to the Study of Dementia Paralytica in Brazil
Authors: Moreira Juliano , Penafiel Antonio
Published: August 2008

Brazil, with its vast area, comprising a fifth of the western continent, its various climates, and its population of 2 1,000,000, formed of several ethnical groups, offers an admirable field for the study of the comparative racial pathology of the insanities.
Recidivism regarded from the Environmental and Psychopatological Standpoints
Authors: Sutherland J. F.
Published: August 2008

With the view of testing to what extent an interchange took place between the perpetrators of the four major crimes I have prepared a return of 370 convicts and long-term prisoners in Scotland, convicted of (i) homicides, assaults, etc.; (2) crimes against property with violence; and (3) vjitliout violence; and (4) crimes against chastity. The result, an interesting one, finds expression in the following figures.
Notes on a Case where a large number of Foreign Bodies were removed from the Vagina of a Chronic Insane Indian patient
Authors: Pringle A. D.
Published: August 2008

Patient P–, Indian female, about 46, admitted April sth, 1899, stated to have been insane eighteen months previous to her admission.
Medico-Psychological Association of Great Britain and Ireland. Presidential Address, Delivered July 25th, 1907
Authors: MacDonald P. W.
Published: August 2008

The honourable position, which, through your kindness, I am privileged to occupy to-day, associates the occupant of this chair with a long roll of distinguished predecessors, and unites him as it were to a confraternity of honour which oversteps time and unites generations. But whether the initial duty of having to deliver an inaugural address is a wise one, I will not venture to say; yet I do know that the consciousness of this time-honoured custom neither tends to produce peaceful repose, nor happy thoughts during the year of probation. My immediate predecessor, Dr. Robert Jones, having so diligently covered the field of evolution, from the time of King Saul to the latest conceptions of the London County Council, I have experienced no little difficulty in finding a resting-place in any of the ordinary fields of inquiry. Assuming that the members of this Association would not expect anything new in what I might say, I have speculated whether, perhaps in directions which are not new, I might say anything which would suggest useful thought to those interested in the aims and work of our Association. On the very threshold of my task I was, as if by chance, suddenly pulled up, and found written across my path these words: “I look into my glass.” Such is the title of the short address with which I purpose troubling you this afternoon. Would that this glass were the simple artificial mirror from off the reverse side of which you and I could re move the silver coating and look into the fathomless abyss beyond; but no, the glass is the human mental mirror of which all are possessed, some more, others less. If I propose to you to look with me into this glass at the question of the social aspect of insanity in a purely rural district, “far from the madding crowd,” and which has remained untouched from the influence of large communities, it is not as a mere theoretical exercise in race evolution, but because it contains within, a further inquiry, which even in this the early part of the twentieth century may be turned to profitable account in an Association like this.
Observations on the Treatment of General Paralysis and Tabes Dorsalis by Vaccines and Anti-sera
Authors: Robertson W. Ford
Published: August 2008

The investigations that have led us to employ specific vaccines and antisera in the treatment of general paralysis and tabes dorsalis have been the subject of several previous papers, the last of which formed the basis of a discussion at a meeting of this Association on May 16th. It is necessary, however, to state here in a few words the more immediate reasons which seemed to us some eighteen months ago to justify the undertaking of these experimental observations of therapeutic aim. Prior to their initiation we had definitely ascertained that a threading diphtheroid bacillus, isolated from the brain and the bronchus of a rapidly progressing case of general paralysis, was capable of producing a subacute disease in rats, in which the symptoms were distinctly comparable to those of general paralysis, that on postmortem examination of the animals the brain showed the characteristic changes of general paralysis, and that there was also the characteristic invasion by the thread form of the bacillus. It was thus evident that among the various species of diphtheroid organisms that can be isolated from a general paralytic there is at least one capable of producing the disease general paralysis. We had also ascertained numerous facts which harmonised with this view. We had obtained cultures of a diphtheroid bacillus from the brain of the general paralytic in ten out of twenty-four cases; and whilst attempts to cultivate the organism from the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of the living patient had, as in the experience of most other observers, been in most instances entirely negative, we had succeeded in obtaining pure growths from the blood in four cases and from the cerebro-spinal fluid in two. We had also ascertained that diphtheroid bacilli, in a more or less advanced state of disintegration, are frequently recognisable in these fluids, even when a culture cannot be obtained, and that such altered bacilli are almost constantly present in the walls of the inflamed vessels of the brain in cases dying in a congestive attack. We had also evidence of the occurrence of a diphtheroid cystitis in all of several cases of tabes dorsalis examined, and of the existence of a high intracorpuscular bacteriolytic index to certain diphtheroid bacilli on the part of such patients and of general paralytics, which we interpret as denoting that they were defending themselves against the attack of an organism of this kind.
A Case of Narcolepsy
Authors: Brown R. Dods
Published: August 2008

Narcolepsy is so rare that I deem the following case worthy of record. It is one occurring in a young man suffering from hallucinatory and delusional insanity, who was admitted into the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, in April, 1902, with the following history.
Amentia and Dementia: a Clinico-Pathological Study
Authors: Bolton Joseph Shaw
Published: August 2008

The present group contains 20 cases of “Dementia following Epilepsy,” of which 12 are of the male and 8 are of the female sex.
The Mental Recreations of the Mental Nurse
Authors: Jones Rober
Published: August 2008

Our distinguished President, Sir William Collins, in his admirable oration delivered to us last year, expressed appreciative sympathy with the main objects of the Asylum Workers' Association. These are, firstly, to raise in the public esteem the calling we have chosen, and secondly, to succour those members of our body who have suffered in the service.
Leucocytosis: Its Relation to, and Significance in, Acute Mental Disorders
Authors: McDowall Colin F. F.
Published: August 2008

This paper has for its object the placing on record of a considerable number of observations made during the past eighteen months upon the blood of the insane. It was after the perusal of Dr. Lewis Bruce's work upon the clinical aspect of mental diseases that this special subject suggested itself to me as one deserving minute and extended study. Whereas Bruce deals somewhat minutely with the various constituents of theblood, I have confined my observations to the changes that occur in the number and variety of the white blood-cells, and the relationship these alterations have to the acute mental diseases in which they are found. These researches, though still in their infancy, hold out great encouragement to the belief that in such directions we may yet succeed in arriving at a true knowledge of the pathology of mental diseases, and at the same time advance at least one step in what has hitherto baffled all research-the conditions governing the mutual relations of mind and matter.
The Atropine Treatment of Morphinomania and Inebriety
Authors: Strangman Mary S. P.
Published: August 2008

I feel highly honoured in being invited to read a paper before you this afternoon on my experience in the treatment of morphia habit by the method published by Dr. McBride in April, 1904.
The Bacteriology of the Cerebro-Spinal Fluid in General Paralysis of the Insane
Authors: Robertson W. Ford , Brown R. Dods
Published: August 2008

In recent years very numerous observers have endeavoured to ascertain if, in cases of general paralysis, micro-organisms can be demonstrated in the cerebro-spinal fluid withdrawn by means of lumbar puncture during life. All, with one or two exceptions, have obtained negative results, both from direct examination of the centrifuge deposit and from cultures, and the very general conclusion has consequently been formed that no micro-organisms are present.
The Cerebro-spinal Fluid in General Paralysis and the Nervous Lues
Authors: Williamson Geo. Scott
Published: August 2008

I wish to lay before you the results of an examination of the cerebro-spinal fluid in general paralysis and the nervous lues compared with insanities of almost every type, with a few cases of organic disease other than brain disease, and with ten normal fluids. The most serious difficulty met with in obtaining fluid by lumbar puncture with a view to chemical analysis is the admixture of blood. I may mention that in no instance have I seen any ill-effects on a patient from the withdrawal of the fluid; nor have I noticed any abatement in the acute conditions of general paralysis. The investigation has included the detection of albumose, nucleo-protein, and cholin; the reactions, according to Wasserman, Noguchi, Porges-Meier, associated with syphilis; and an estimation of the cell content, specific gravity, and the reduction of Fehling solution.
Alcoholism, Crime and Insanity
Authors: Fuller L. O.
Published: August 2008

In confining the following remarks more particularly to a personal experience, I trust I shall not appear unconscious of the more able treatment the subjects of this paper have received at the hands of more experienced observers.
An Autograph Account of a Case of Sane Hallucinations due to Alcohol and Atropin
Authors: Dawson W. R.
Published: August 2008

The subject of the experiences about to be described is a literary man of great ability and a recognised authority in a certain department of learning, who had unfortunately been addicted to the abuse of alcohol for many years and had decided to try the effects of a course of atropin treatment. He was perfectly sane. Previous to his admission he had been practically living on milk and whisky for a considerable time, taking five or six glasses of the latter in the day. The whisky was at once greatly reduced, though not altogether stopped; and combined injections of atropin and strychnine were begun on the day of his admission (November 22nd), with dietetic and other treatment, but no sleeping draught was given either that night or the next. This was the first case which I had treated by the atropin method, and I should not now commence the injections so soon after admission. No other case, of a good many since treated, has suffered from hallucinations, but they have often been met with by others.
Observations on the Morbid Anatomy of Mental Disease
Authors: Watson George A.
Published: August 2008

The following observations are founded upon the records of 301 autopsies performed by myself at Rainhill Asylum. They are concerned principally with certain abnormal and morbid manifestations which occur within the crania of the insane. Of these the chief are, on the one hand, indications of subevolution, as shown by macroscopic structural defects of the cerebral hemispheres, such as deficiency of weight or of convolutional complexity, and on the other, evidence of dissolution as exhibited by wasting of the cerebral hemispheres. The relationship existing between these abnormal and morbid manifestations and certain other intracranial appearances is also discussed. No attempt, however, has been made—for reasons which will afterwards be given—at any close correlation between these abnormal and morbid manifestations and the mental states recorded during life. The observations, therefore, are of a pathological rather than a clinical nature.
The Psychology of Freud and his School
Authors: Hart Bernard
Published: August 2008

The present paper endeavours to describe, in a short and summary form, the principal tenets of the school of psychology founded by Professor Freud, of Vienna.
Communicated Insanity
Authors: Wilcox Arthur W.
Published: August 2008

But why the term communicated? Is insanity catching? Such was the question asked by this Journal some five years ago referring to a case of so-called communicated insanity mentioned in a county asylum report. In this article I shall endeavour to bring evidence to show that in some few cases apparently it may be so.
Treatment of Mental Excitement in Asylums
Authors: Robertson George M.
Published: August 2008

I have been asked by the President to open a discussion on the “Treatment of Mental Excitement in Asylums.” The subject is a very important and practical one, and goes to the root of many of the most difficult problems connected with the management of the insane. Of cases of mental excitement in asylums it may be said, “they are always with us,” and the manner in which they are treated and the success attending their treatment may be taken as tests of the good management of an asylum. The difference between the state of the madhouses of the past and of the mental hospitals of the present day is largely the result of better methods of dealing with it.
Case of Melanotic Alveolar Sarcoma of Liver, Characterised by Rapidity of Growth and Abnormal Weight
Authors: O'Neill Edward D.
Published: August 2008

M. D—, æt. 30, servant, was admitted to the Limerick Asylum on April 28th, 1910, from the Limerick Prison, suffering from recurrent mania with delusions. This woman was tried at the Connaught Winter Assizes, held in Limerick in December, 1909, for the manslaughter of her illegitimate infant by throwing it into the fire, and was sentenced to nine calendar months' imprisonment with hard labour.
Pituitary and Supra-renal Growths in a Case of Insanity
Authors: White E. Barton , Scholberg H. A.
Published: August 2008

We have ventured to bring forward the following case for various reasons. The first is the unusual distribution of the lesions found post-mortem, namely, in the supra-renal capsules and the pituitary body. The second is that during life the clinical features of the case were not sufficiently pronounced unmistakably to suggest any affection of the parts shown to be diseased at the necropsy. The third and most important consideration is that a narration of the facts raises the question of the significance of pathological changes in the ductless glands in the insane.
The Diploma in Psychiatry
Authors: Clouston T. S.
Published: August 2008

The institution of the new Diploma in Psychiatry by the Universities of Edinburgh, Durham, and Manchester, with the coincidence in my case of entering on my fiftieth year of membership of the Medico-Psychological Association—I find, alas! there are now only four names above those of Dr. Yellowlees and myself—has made a strong impression on my mind. The diploma seems the beginning of another stage of progress of our branch of science. We have in the half-century advanced all along the line, in our original research work—the core of the matter after all—in our literature, in our teaching, in our professional status, in our nursing, and in our salaries and pensions. The rate and amount of progress have been steady and considerable. Many of our younger men, I find, take that progress for granted. They scarcely realise the conservatism of the powers that be, medical and otherwise, in Great Britain, nor the former deep-rooted neglect of the public and of our profession towards anything connected with “Lunacy.” It is not, I am convinced, our administrative work nor our public usefulness alone that have helped us. It is the glamour which our science has lately cast on the public mind. Its inherent interest and its mystery have, almost more than anything else, aided our cause. I never yet had an audience of students in the class-room, or of ordinary citizens in the lecture-hall, or of the élite round a dinner-table whom I could not interest in the marvels of the human brain and the disturbances of its mental functions from the scientific point of view. The subject in its social relations is in the air at present. The man among us who fails to use this leverage for the ends of progress does not know his power. I have always cultivated an optimism in regard to the future of brain knowledge that has been unchanging and incurable. It seems to me that a retrospect and review of our position may be of interest to some of our workers. The new diploma gives me a chance of such a review.
The Continuous Administration of Sulphonal; its Dangers and the Precautions to be Adopted
Authors: Robertson George M.
Published: August 2008

For some time after the introduction of sulphonal, so highly appreciated was this new drug as a sedative, that every meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association resolved itself into a choir for singing its praises. It then seemed as if the qualities it possessed were ideal for calming the motor excitement of the insane. It was believed to be without danger, as very large doses had been taken suicidally or by misadventure without any more harm than unconsciousness lasting a day or two. As it was insoluble in ordinary media, it was tasteless, and it could be thus given to resistive patients without their knowledge. This property also made its action less evanescent than that of the other sedatives in use, and this was an advantage in the treatment of chronic excitement. Finally, by skilful dosage, one was able to exercise almost any degree of sedative effect, from the production of slight lethargy to almost complete paralysis. It was possible to tone down the restlessness of the simple maniac so mildly as to make life endurable to others living in the same apartment with him without any discomfort to himself. On the other hand, it was possible to paralyse voluntary movement so completely that the most excited patient became motionless and lay in a semi-stuporose state in bed, with little more than power to breathe and to swallow. If opium be entitled to the name of “the gift of God” in the eyes of orientals, from its power over pain and sensory disorder, eighteen years ago it seemed as just to apply this designation to sulphonal, by virtue of its action on motor excitement.
Metabolism in the Insane
Authors: Wallis R. L. Mackenzie
Published: August 2008

The investigation of the problems of metabolism has now become almost exclusively the domain of the chemical physiologist. Much valuable information regarding the method of utilisation of the food-stuffs which enter the body has been ascertained by a study of the excretions. The physiological chemist has, however, passed beyond the boundaries connecting the income and output of these substances. He now seeks to trace the different transformations and combinations which take place in the body, and to connect up all the links of the chain. These changes are intimately bound up with the individual cells, and their metabolism. Unfortunately our knowledge of the cell is at present very limited, but it will be seen how important even this scanty information is to the subject under discussion. It becomes more and more evident every day that pathological changes in the tissues and cells of the body must be considered not only from a morphological point of view, but also from the purely metabolic standpoint. A disturbance in the metabolism of the cell may in time make itself evident, but it is quite conceivable that such changes are taking place without any definite anatomical signs. On the other hand, a morphological change may produce only a very slight derangement of cell metabolism, so slight as to escape recognition. The study, therefore, of pathology with physiological chemistry for its foundation, offers a wide field for further investigation. The object of the present communication is twofold, namely, to correlate the known facts with regard to metabolism in the insane, and to emphasise the importance of studying cellular metabolism in its relation to pathological disturbances.
Witchcraft, Demoniacal Possession, and Insanity
Authors: Norman Hubert J.
Published: August 2008

The study of history, too often confined to the acquisition of bare records of facts and the mere recapitulation of actions, has more and more tended to widen its scope and to include in its purview the analysis of motives as an integral factor. It is true that the bald statement of events has an interest, and for some an overwhelming interest, whereto they confine themselves either by reason of intellectual inertia, or because compelled to restrict their wandering thoughts by reason of the powerful voice of authority; for others more intellectually alive or not subject to the same restrictions the conclusions do not suffice—the why and the wherefore must, if possible, be deduced. The keenly deductive type has been admirably delineated by Conan Doyle, and “Sherlock Holmes” may well stand as an example of those minds which urge their possessors inevitably to progress, so far as is humanly possible, to the unravelling of ultimate causes.
A Report upon the Bacteriological Investigation of the Blood in Fifty Cases of Insanity
Authors: Sewell W. T. , McDowall Colin
Published: August 2008

With the ever-increasing number of processes proved to be due to the action of micro-organisms, bacterial and protozoal, it is natural that a similar line of research should be suggested in the study of the psychoses. It has long been realised that the classification and differentiation of the various conditions by mental signs alone is confusing and unscientific. Gradually more importance has come to be placed on general clinical observations as indicating broadly the primary disturbances in the economy of the body, secondary consideration being given to mental symptoms as showing the change effected in the individual nervous system by the general disturbance.
The Development of Psychiatric Science as a Branch of Public Health
Authors: Rows R. G.
Published: August 2008

One of the most striking developments of recent years, a development which may be seen in most countries of the civilised world, is that of the recognition of the necessity for preventive measures against disease. This necessity is not only felt in medical and scientific circles, but is, in many instances, quite as keenly appreciated by members of the general public. Few people are now indifferent to an outbreak of a serious infectious disease even in a distant land; and, in case of an outbreak in our own land, we no longer patiently watch it run its course far and wide without making strenuous efforts to check it, but by investigation we try to ascertain its cause, and by segregation and fumigation we keep it somewhat under control. The report of the spread of the “plague” in Eastern Asia at once led to an inquiry as to our preparedness to prevent its being introduced into this country, and to combat it if it gained an entrance. We have now an army of inspectors whose duty it is to watch our food-stuffs, and the way they are handled, to investigate the conditions under which our working classes are asked to labour, to inquire into the surroundings in which the people live, and to prevent pollution of the air and water. We have a service in many parts of the country to instruct mothers how to feed and attend to their children, and the children, when they go to school, are examined to discover whether they are suffering from any disability which would hinder their making use of their opportunities, or which, if not corrected, would tend to become aggravated.
Further Investigation on the Cerebro-Spinal Fluid in Insanities
Authors: Williamson G. Scott , Phillips J. R. P.
Published: August 2008

The investigations recorded in the following paper were undertaken to determine the reason for the discrepancy in the results when applying the Wassermann reaction to the cerebro-spinal fluid and blood-serum of general paralytics. The experiments have yielded results significant in other directions which are of some interest.
A Case of Double Personality
Authors: Hart Bernard
Published: August 2008

Double personality is a fascinating subject, and has always possessed a peculiar attraction both for the professional psychologist and the layman—owing, no doubt, to the strange and often dramatic character of its manifestations.
An Investigation as to the Therapeutic Value of Thyroid Feeding in Mental Diseases
Authors: Eager Richard
Published: August 2008

The history of the use of thyroid extract in insanity dates back to the year 1893, when McPherson (1), of Larbert Asylum, reported a case of myxódematous insanity which recovered from both the myxódema and the mental disorder under its use. Its use in cretinism has also met with much success. My investigations, however, are confined to its use in mental conditions not associated with myxódema or cretinism. In 1894 McClaughey (2), of the District Asylum, Maryborough, reported two cases as improved, and in 1894–5 McPhail and Brace's results (3) and observations of treatment were published in detail. The publication of their results and their belief that “in thyroid feeding we possess a valuable addition to our armamentarium in the treatment of certain cases of insanity” incited many other alienists to test its efficacy. Besides Clarke, Brush and Burges in America must be mentioned Mabon and Babcock (4), who give a review of the results obtained in 1032 collected cases of insanity from twenty-four different observers, and who show that 23·9 per cent. recovered and 29·4 per cent. were improved. They also report on a further use of thyroid on sixty-one cases at the St. Lawrence State Hospital.
The Presidential Address, delivered at the Seventy-first Annual Meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association, held at Gloucester on July 11th and 12th, 1912
Authors: Soutar James Greig
Published: August 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen,—By your choice I find myself in an honourable position to which in no flight of imagination had I ever aspired. A cautious habit of limiting aspiration by what seems to be the attainable has no doubt saved me from many a disappointment; now it affords me a surprise in a form which to all men is ever the most gratifying—an expression of good-will from those whose opinion is valued most highly, one's comrades and colleagues.
The Mental Deficiency Bill, 1912
Authors: Hyslop Theo B.
Published: August 2008

The proposals for legislation as contained in the Mental Deficiency Bill are here dealt with under the following heads, viz.
The Presidential Address, delivered at the Opening Meeting of the Section of Psychiatry of the Royal Society of Medicine, on October 22nd, 1912
Authors: Savage George H.
Published: August 2008

Gentlemen,—I welcome you to this the first meeting of the first new Section of the Royal Society of Medicine. I have consented to give an inaugural address, somewhat against my feelings, for I believe that as this Section is one starting with the full intention of work for the advance of medical science, time might have been better occupied in learning definite results of original work than in hearing generalities. I have to admit that I have had very long and perhaps exceptional opportunities of observing mental disorders, and it may be of service to record some of my impressions and hopes. I will shortly outline the past, survey the present, and prospect the future.
The Care of the Defective in America
Authors: Muirhead Winifred
Published: August 2008

In the United States of America each state has self-government and different laws, and the latter differ to an even greater extent than is the case between the laws of Scotland and England; consequently some states have progressed infinitely further than others in the laws and the application of these laws for the social welfare of the people.
A Brief Account of Darenth and its System of Industrial Training
Authors: Spensley F. O.
Published: August 2008

Forty years ago at Hampstead Asylum under the Metropolitan Asylums Board, an attempt was made to give the patients under sixteen some instruction in music and singing and also in simple work in school—an idea borrowed from Earlswood Asylum. This was apparently so successful that the Board suggested the building of a schoolroom and shoemaker's and tailor's shops.
Germany
Authors: Bresler J.
Published: August 2008

F. Siemens (Lauenburg in Pomerania), at the annual meeting of the German Society for Psychiatry at Kiel, in May, 1912, made the proposition, which received unanimous support, that the Empire might be called on to establish a biological institution for the investigation of the physical basis of mental diseases. He said that the building of expensive establishments and the discovery of new methods of accommodation cannot in the long run satisfy either physician or people. Neither was it of any value to continue the diligent grouping of mental symptoms into types according to the fancy of the alienist. There were only two kinds of symptoms in mental disease: (a) The elementary, caused by physical disease such as anxiety, hallucinations, emotionalism, stupor, catatonia, and delirium; (b) symptoms of a purely mental kind, arising out of the misinterpretation of those elementary derangements by the psyche. The study of the action of the internal secretion of glands encouraged the hope that in the investigation of mental diseases much also will be gained by this means. The individual provincial asylums were not in a position to accomplish the task of so comprehensive an inquiry, nor were the individual clinics at the universities, but the Empire must establish an institution on a large scale for this purpose.
Traumatic Neurasthenia
Authors: Thomson H. Campbell
Published: August 2008

In spite of attempts at classification, most observers will agree that the disease known as neurasthenia has no definite boundary line. However strict an attempt is made to define its limitations, everyone who has to do with these cases must admit that the symptoms frequently merge into those associated with other conditions, such as those known as psychasthenia, melancholia, hypochondriasis, anxiety neuroses, obsessions and others. Even hysteria in its less pronounced forms is not always easy to separate from neurasthenia, and in not a few instances some of the salient features of both diseases may be present at the same time, and that this close association is recognised is shown by arguments that have occasionally been put forward for placing the disease known as traumatic neurasthenia into the category of traumatic hysteria. All classification is artificial and provisional, but useful and necessary as it is for studying the general group aspects of disease, there is the danger of over-estimating its importance, and of being tempted to feel the necessity of labelling a disease and then treating it according to such rules as are applicable to the label which has been placed upon it.
The Jamaica Lunatic Asylum
Authors: J. T. A.
Published: August 2008

Medical men and the non-professional members of the community interested in the welfare of the insane of this country, have, after many years' labor in the cause, succeeded in bringing about a comparatively satisfactory condition of the public and private asylums, and they may be forgiven the exhibition of a certain spirit of repose and self-gratulation. The mass of abuses has been hurled aside and the reformers of British lunatic asylums have only minor peccadilloes to seize upon, and the only prospect of more exciting work for them is to be found in an exploration of the condition of patients not in asylums. A Lunacy Commission armed with considerable and very elastic powers is likewise in full operation, which, although too small for all the functions rightly devolving upon it, can at least so supervise public asylums and licensed houses that irregularities of any magnitude can have but a short-lived existence.
Psychical Diseases of Early Life
Authors: Browne J. Crichton
Published: August 2008

In all ages of the world, from the earliest dawning of society down to our own enlightened day—theologians, philosophers, and legislators, those called upon to govern and to guide mankind, have agreed as to the importance to be attached to the physical, mental, and moral training of infancy and childhood. States and societies, and the Church too, have admitted the truth of their theories, and have practically applied them to the affairs of life, to the prevention of crime, and to the advancement of the human race in many social and moral respects. For it is well known to these that it is during infancy and childhood that the being, with a mind plastic and educable, may be taught that discipline and self-control, the application of those principles of responsibility, of justice, and of truth, which are afterwards to fit him to fight the battle of life, and to become a useful member of society.
On General Paralysis
Authors: Tuke Harrington
Published: August 2008

Among the symptoms of apoplexy, says one of the most distinguished of our recent writers on medicine, that are more especially of evil omen, are those which can be traced to the involvement of the automatic functions of the cerebro-spinal axis; nineteen out of twenty patients will die, in whom the phenomena appear which indicate derangement of this portion of the nervous system. I fear that in cases of the special disease we are now considering, the loss of power over the “sphincters” is almost of equally fatal import, but still it very naturally differs from the same symptom in ordinary apoplexy, inasmuch, as it may exist for many months, before the fatal issue of the complaint. Apparent want of power over the sphincters may arise in general paralysis from various other causes besides absolute lesion of the cerebro-spinal axis, such as the presence of delusions, or the supervention of sudden spasm in the patient, and still more frequently from a want of attention on the part of the attendants, and these last are of course essentially distinct in their nature, and require a special treatment; but even in cases in which the loss of power has been sudden, even those in which paraplegia has appeared, and the patient, comatose and insensible, seems on the point of death, if they have before been suffering from general paralysis, they may, and often do rally; in fact, the prognosis is less gloomy when there has been long-continued disease of the brain of this kind, than in patients in whom the symptoms have supervened upon perfect health.
Vaccine Treatment in Asylums
Authors: Robertson W. Ford
Published: August 2008

The treatment of bacterial diseases by means of specific vaccines is a branch of therapeutics that has been steadily growing in importance in recent years. It is now being applied to every bacterial infective malady, from acne to acute septicæmia. Nevertheless, it is admittedly only at an early stage in its development. Every worker at the subject is still endeavouring by observation and experiment to improve its methods, to understand better its mode of operation, and to determine the extent of its useful application. It has already had brilliant triumphs, although, in common with other forms of medical treatment, it has to admit many failures. While it is now being extensively employed both in general and in hospital practice, it has not yet been utilised in our asylums as it deserves to be. The chief purpose of this paper is to endeavour to show some of the useful applications vaccine therapy may have in such institutions, and to encourage its employment.
The Villa or Colony System for the Care and Treatment of Cases of Mental Disease
Authors: Stansfield T. E. Knowles
Published: August 2008

When, towards the end of August, your Secretary wrote and asked me to give you a paper to-day on villa asylums, I was just arranging to start on my holidays, and I hesitated at first to accept his invitation, as I saw little or no prospect of being able to give the time necessary for the preparation of a paper worthy of the occasion. But, on the other hand, feeling more or less the responsibilities of a parent, seeing that this institution was in a great measure the outcome of my advocacy of the villa system, I felt compelled to make a special effort and try and give you something which would at any rate form a basis for what I hope may form a useful and interesting discussion.
The Albumen in the Cerebro-Spinal Fluid in Cases of Mental Disease
Authors: MacPhail H. D.
Published: August 2008

The following short paper is based upon observations made during the examination of the cerebro-spinal fluid from a series of cases of various forms of mental disorder. A good deal of attention has recently been paid to the examination of this fluid in conditions of disease; there have been numerous observers, and several important tests have been devised. In this series of cases a routine examination was followed in every case, which embraced the tests described by Noguchi, and by Ross and Jones, an examination of the cells present, and an estimation of the amount of albumen in the fluid. It is to the last of these methods of examination only that attention is directed in this paper.
The Importance of Disturbances of the Personality in Mental Disorders
Authors: Rows R. G.
Published: August 2008

It is interesting at the present time to notice that disorders of the mind are being considered from a broader point of view. No longer is it reckoned sufficient to enumerate the psychic symptoms and to label the case accordingly. In the scientific journals it is not unusual to find the statement that a certain case does not fit into any division of our present-day classification. It is recognised that to describe a case as an atypical example of a disease is equivalent to saying that some factor has escaped our notice, or is one we cannot explain; that ætiology, from the psychogenic as well as the pathogenic point of view, must be considered, and that bodily and nervous symptoms may be as much a part of the illness as are the psychic; in fact, these last are often merely a symbol expressing some change in the function of an organ outside the brain.
The Clinical Significance of Katatonic Symptoms
Authors: Devine Henry
Published: August 2008

Under the heading of “katatonia” are included certain peculiar states of stupor and excitement, which tend to alternate irregularly with one another. Thestuporose phase is characterised by increased muscular tension, or in some instances catalepsy, together with negativism, mutism, refusal of food, contrary acts, or not infrequently an increased suggestibility, as shown by echolalia or echopraxia. The prominent features of katatonic excitement are increased psycho-motor activity, attitudinizing, stereotyped movements and phrases, verbigeration, and senseless impulses. Various forms of convulsive attacks are motor phenomena which frequently occur during the course of the psychosis.
Some Observations on Early Nervous and Mental Cases, with Suggestions as to Possible Improvement in our Methods of dealing with them
Authors: Boyle A. Helen
Published: August 2008

It is quite likely with regard to the title of this paper that critics may say—

“Why cannot the writer say clearly what she is going to talk about? The words ‘early nervous and mental,’ cover so enormous an area,” or again “Why in any case should we of the Medico-Psychological Association be troubled with the word ‘nervous’ ; surely that pertains exclusively to the Neurological Society? Why should nerves—inferior spinal things—be mentioned in the august presence of those con cerned with the brain?” and yet there is no nerve of interest in the healthy human being which is not interdependent upon, or in close association with a brain. It is inconceivable that any nerve should suffer and leave the brain unaffected, if not from impressions sent up and down, then from absence of impres sions, and it is upon this vital essential oneness of the whole nervous system that I wish to lay stress to-day.
Pigment occurring in the Dentate Nuclei of the Cerebellum in a Chronic Case of Graves Disease associated with Scleroderma and Insanity
Authors: Perdrau J. R.
Published: August 2008

F—, single, æt. 61, admitted in December, 1912, and died in April, 1913. History very defective. Mental symptoms had been present for some years. She was very thin and haggard, with marked exophthalmos. The hair was so scanty that she was nearly bald. A fairly large firm and elastic goitre present. One insane ear. Reflexes exaggerated generally, but equal. Muscular system normal. Complete absence of subcutaneous fat. The skin over the front of the abdomen and, to a less extent, that of the rest of the trunk and of the upper parts of all four limbs, was covered with raised, discrete, warty-looking masses. The skin could be picked up from the underlying tissues except in one place on the back of the left thigh, where the skin was atrophied, pigmented, shiny and adherent to the deep tissues, and had been subjected to a good deal of scratching. The skin of the face and hands was quite normal. She was very restless and difficult to examine. She suffered from chronic bronchitis, and had a mild tachycardia as well as a mitral systolic bruit. She suffered from very vivid hallucinations of sight and hearing, and was very excited in consequence at times. She became gradually thinner during her stay here, and passed into a marasmic condition in which she died.
Progress of Psychiatry during 1913
Authors: Ferrari G. C. , Zuccari G.
Published: August 2008

The activity of Italian alienists during the year 1913 has not been very extensive in range, but it is nevertheless considerable, especially in view of the complexity of the subjects which have been selected, and of the antecedent fitness which the different authors showed they possessed for their thorough treatment.
The Wet Pack in the Treatment of Insomnia and Mental Disorders
Authors: Rayner H.
Published: August 2008

The wet pack was first systematically used by Lucas, an English physician, in 1850. His description of its use is on record prior to that of Freisnitz, the German hydrotherapist, to whom the credit attaching to its introduction has been generally ascribed.
Remarks on the Interpretation of Dreams, according to Sigmund Freud and others
Authors: Bullen F. StJohn
Published: August 2008

For a long time attempts have been made to discover definite relations between external and internal stimuli occurring during sleep and coincident dreams, as also between dreams and the more or less momentous happenings preceding them during waking hours. Such attempts as have been made to prove obvious connections have mostly failed, and for reasons which for the first time are set forth by Freud. At the same time, he has demonstrated the subtile evasions and tortuous routes which pertain to the operations of stimuli on the way to dream-consciousness, whether they be sensory or purely physical, as well as the indefinite period of time over which reminiscences, which are concerned in the evolution of the dream, may extend.