bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Two Cases of Idiocy with Diplegia [Diplégie et Idiotic chcz deux freres]. (.Prog; Méd., April 27th, 1901.) Bourneville and Crouton
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Bourneville has added to his numerous contributions to the pathology of idiocy a description of two brothers admitted to the Bicêtre in 1897. They were both helpless idiots, and were aged thirteen and ten respectively. The limbs had become rigid; neither of them could stand. The family history is given at some length, and shows nervous diseases among the collaterals, but the grandparents, father and mother, seemed to have been healthy. The eldest began to walk, when he had the measles at eighteen months, which is said to have had a backward effect upon him. The younger had never walked; he had some convulsions when eighteen months old. They could use the hands so far as to grasp objects and put them to their mouths. Both had strabismus, one convergent, the other divergent. The eldest died in December, 1899. Nothing seems to have been found in the brain to explain the idiocy. The cerebellum was found to be atrophied, all its parts were diminished in value, the pons Varolii was also less than usual.
Psychical Disorders in Malaria [Les troubles psychiques dans le paludisme]. (Le Prog. Méd., Sept. 28th, 1901.) Cardamatis
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

After reviewing the historical aspect of this question from the time of Hippocrates down to our days, the author gives the results of his clinical experience. He classifies clinically the intellectual disorders which are associated with, or due to, malaria into—(a) those which accompany the febrile attacks; (b) those which occur during the intervals, as well as during the attacks, of chronic malaria; (c) those which are observed in the course of intermittent fevers and pernicious attacks; (d) disorders which appear during the malarial cachexia. Great stress is laid upon the predisposing causes as compared with the immediate or exciting cause—the poison; the malarial parasite provokes simple hyperæmias; other pathological alterations beyond this are, according to the author, related to the predisposition of the organism. The close relation to alcoholic toxæmia is emphasised. Among the general conclusions are—(a) malaria lights up morbid predispositions (neurasthenia, hysteria, psychoses), or a general or local disorder present in a latent state; it may aggravate disorders already active; (b) the delusional state of malaria is provoked by hallucinations; (c) according to the degree of excitability of the individual, the condition of predisposition, and the activity of the malarial poison, four degrees of malarial toxæmia may be distinguished: (1) excitement, (2) anaesthesia, (3) coma, (4) paralysis; (d) acute forms of insanity occur but rarely in malaria; (e) beyond the melancholic type and the maniacal type there is a third type of insanity, often seen following upon a febrile attack—the mixed depressive and excited type; (f) psychical disorders in the course of chronic malaria are rare, while the occurrence of psychoses, which are said to appear some time after the disappearance of malaria, is doubtful.
Criminal Asylums and Sections for the Insane in Prisons [Manicomii criminali e sezioni per folli nelle case di pena]. (Riv. mens. di Psychiat, forense, Feb., 1902.) Penta
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

In Italy, as in most other countries where such institutions exist, the admissions to criminal lunatic asylums have increased enormously in recent years. Thus, in spite of the opening of two new asylums of the same class, the original criminal asylum of Aversa, which in 1876 contained nineteen patients, in 1898 contained 209. This increase Penta ascribes, in part, to a real increase in lunacy, but much more to wider knowledge of the nature of insanity, and more particularly of the close connection between mental disease and crime. In face of this condition of things, the future of the criminal lunatic asylum becomes an urgent problem. Penta's opinion is that a multiplication of these institutions is undesirable. He thinks that they should be reserved for incorrigible degenerates who, with or without co-existing insanity of thought, are insanely criminal in conduct. Curable or less dangerous cases he would send to ordinary asylums, or would treat them in special annexes to prisons. The creation of such annexes, after the model of the section for insane criminals in the Moabit Prison at Berlin, he regards as the most effectual way of dealing with the problem.
Contribution to the Medico-legal Study of Prostitution and Vagrancy in Imbeciles [Contribution à l'etude médico-légale des imbeciles prostituées et vagabondes]. (Gaz. des Hôp., July 30th, 1901). Gamier and Wahl
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The authors record three medico-legal observations of imbecile prostitutes. The subjects all presented numerous stigmata of degeneracy, and displayed extremely perverse instincts. Attention is drawn to the large proportion of congenitally weakminded persons to be found amongst prostitutes and vagrants, and measures of special restraint for individuals of that class are recommended.
Some Remarks on the Surgical Treatment of Insanity
Authors: Harrison Damer
Published: August 2008

Mr. President and Gentlemen,—While recognising the undoubted fact that what may be called ordinary insanity has no demonstrable lesion, the disorder being in the “subtle chemistry of the nerve-cells, and that no surgical procedure can correct aberration in tissue chemistry,” I still think there are a small number of cases, not only of traumatic but also of non-traumatic origin, in which surgical treatment may have beneficial results.
Progress of Psychiatry in 1902
Authors: Semelaigne René
Published: August 2008

At the “Congrès des Médecins Aliénistes et Neurologistes” Dr. Ernest Dupré, of Paris, gave a lecture on the self-accusing insane, studied from a medico-legal point of view. He made first an ætiological and clinical study of the idea of self-accusation; and second, a medico-legal study of the conditions created by these patients, and the duties of magistrates and of the physicians commissioned to report upon their mental condition.
Progress of Psychiatry in 1902
Authors: Bresler J.
Published: August 2008

At the annual meeting of the Association of German Alienists (held at Munich on April 14th and 15th, 1902), one of the first items of business was the appointment, at the instance of Professor Hoche, of Friburg, in Baden, of a statistical committee to collect information on all occurrences regarding the insane, especially suicides and crimes committed by insane persons, judicial condemnations of the insane and the weak-minded, the admission of sane persons to asylums; in short, all the incidents which go to show the defects of the lunacy law and the need for its reform. In this way it is hoped that they will be in a position to give material help to the State in the framing of new lunacy legislation.
On the So-called Polyneuritic Psychosis [Sulla cosidetta psichosi polinevritica]. (Il Manicomio, anno xviii, No. 2, 1902.) Esposito
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

In this paper, the author reports two personal observations which presented a combination of mental disturbance with symptoms of peripheral paralysis, and in connection therewith enters at some length into a critical examination of Korsakow's disease.
Clinical Treatment of Inebriety. (Quarterly Journ. of Inebriety, vol. xxiv, No. 2, April, 1902.) Crothers
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

In this paper the author has put together some general observations suggested by his exceptional experience in the treatment of the inebriate. It is noteworthy that, on the whole, his attitude is distinctly optimistic. In the first place he pleads for more discrimination of cases. He distinguishes three classes of inebriates: (1) paroxysmal cases, where there are often premonitory symptoms in change of character, morbid impulses, etc., treatment of which may abort the attack; (2) delusional inebriates with mental exaltation, which may be prodromal to general paralysis; for such cases rest and change with eliminative and subsequently tonic treatment are indicated; and (3) senile and demented cases.
Criminal Suggestion in a Paretic Alcoholic [Suggestione criminate in alcoolista paresico]. (Arch, di Psichiatvol. xxiii, fasc. 4, 5, 1902.) Lombroso
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

This is the report of a case of great medico-legal interest.
On the Action of the Rolandic Cortex in Relation to Jacksonian Epilepsy and Volition
Authors: Kingsford A. B.
Published: August 2008

The feature of Jacksonian epilepsy to which I wish to call attention is the periodicity of the discharge. Whether we regard the lesion as “irritative” or “discharging,” it is, at all events, chronic; and whether we regard the discharges as going direct from the cortex to the efferent nerve-cells, or as causing convulsions in a more roundabout way through subcortical systems, they are, at all events periodic. How, then, do chronic lesions cause periodic discharges ? The answer which I wish to put forward is suggested by certain passages in Mercier's Psychology, Normal and Morbid, p. 283, which run as follows: —Speaking of how organic bodies may contain a store of motion which can be liberated by the impress of motion from without, and after likening this property to that of animals and their power of movement, the author continues, “But animal organisms have a further property which most inorganic bodies have not. They are continually adding to their stores of motion, and by these continual additions their store at length becomes surcharged. The tension of the contained motion reaches such a pitch that the containing resistance is no longer sufficient to keep it in bond, and it breaks out, possibly without the provocation of added motion, certainly with minimal provocation.’’ Later on, when discussing “Will and Desire,” the same author writes of nervous mechanisms, “There are many machines used in the arts, which depend for their actuation on the gradual filling of a vessel with water. The vessel is of such a shape and so supported that, as it fills, the centre of gravity shifts, until, at a certain degree of fulness, the vertical at the centre of gravity falls without the base; the vessel then capsizes, empties its contents, regains its previous distribution of weights, rights itself, and begins to fill once more.”
Some Remarks on Suicides in Public Asylums
Authors: Benham Harry A.
Published: August 2008

Gentlemen,—It is now some eight years since I had the pleasure of receiving the South-Western Branch at this Institution, and I take this opportunity of expressing the pleasure it gives me to see you here to-day.
Notes on Hallucinations. III
Authors: Norman Conolly
Published: August 2008

The theories by which it has been endeavoured to explain the existence of hallucinations are manifold. In this field, as in so many others where we watch the play of mental phenomena, our point of view varies from time to time, so that the explanations which were once deemed more or less satisfactory become unmeaning when the problem to be solved has itself shifted ground.
Paraldehyde as a Hypnotic. (Monats, f. Psych, u. Neur., Dec., 1902.) Bumke.
Authors: Sainsbury Harrington
Published: August 2008

This is a serious study of the claims advanced in favour of paraldehyde as a hypnotic since its introduction into medicine in 1882. The ideal soporific which shall with certainty and without delay secure an untroubled refreshing sleep, approaching natural sleep as nearly as possible; the soporific which shall neither lose its efficacy nor accumulate its effects, and which shall, moreover, be easily dispensed and agreeable to take;—such a drug, like the philosopher's stone, has yet to be discovered. Among soporifics, however, as things are, paraldehyde can claim many virtues, and further experience and better knowledge have only strengthened its position. In the Freiburg Asylum, Dr. Bumke says that paraldehyde has more than held its ground against sulphonal, trional, and hedonal, and that it and scopolamin are now alone employed.
Juvenile Murderers and Homicides
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

This paper is one of the most notable contributions of recent years to the anthropological and psychological study of the juvenile criminal. It is based on careful observation of a series of twenty-two youthful assassins who were under the author's care for considerable periods of time in the Plötzensee Prison at Berlin. Full notes are given of each case, comprising a history of the crime, the personal and family antecedents of the criminal, his physical and mental condition, with anthropometric details, and, in most of the observations, with good photographs of the individual at different ages. The main facts brought out by the inquiry are then summarised, and their bearing on various problems of criminology is discussed with that union of thoroughness of method and breadth of view which invariably distinguishes Dr. Baer's work A paper of this scope and character cannot, of course, be adequately treated within the limits of a short notice, and the present résumé does not aim at more than indicating a few of its salient points.
The Teaching of Psychology in Universities of the United States
Authors: Myers Charles S.
Published: August 2008

A seven weeks' visit to seven principal universities in the eastern States of America is a sorry qualification for talking to you upon this subject. Nor, indeed, is it easy during the brief time at my disposal to give you a satisfactory account of the impressions which I formed during my visit. I can only hope that the shortcomings and inaccuracies of this paper do not exceed what may be called their normal number under such circumstances, and that you may be induced some day to repeat for yourselves experiences which I have been the first to enjoy with such pleasure, interest, and profit. Nowhere will your colleagues extend a warmer welcome to you, nowhere will they take greater trouble in displaying and explaining to you their institutions.
On the Need for Family Care of Persons of Unsound Mind in Ireland
Authors: Norman Conolly
Published: August 2008

The question of the adoption in Ireland of family care as a method of dealing with mental unsoundness is at once highly academic and highly practical: academic because this mode of treatment has never been hitherto attempted in that country; and practical, because it may be said, with a slight modification of a familiar line, that no nation wants it so much. Perhaps all this is only another way of saying that the question stands exactly in that position in which any earnest and vigorous reformer likes to take a subject up. The crop is ripe, but no sickle has yet swept over the field.
Statistics in Insanity: A Universal Scheme
Authors: Easterbrook C. C.
Published: August 2008

The following paper is an attempt to deal with statistics in insanity according to a scheme which observes the fundamental canon of statistical accuracy, which interprets the true spirit of lunacy legislation, and which serves the essential purpose of medical utility. I may divide the paper into three parts:
Statistical Observations on General Paralysis
Authors: Baird Harvey
Published: August 2008

There is a fairly general opinion amongst those engaged in asylum work that the classical type of general paralysis is less frequently met with relatively than formerly. This may be due partly to an increased number of so-called atypical cases, and possibly also to cases now being diagnosed as general paralysis, either ante or post mortem, which were not formerly looked upon as such. With a view to finding out the frequency of the chief phenomena of the disease as it is now met with in asylum practice, the following data, both pathological and clinical, have been compiled. The cases examined were (1) all the male cases admitted to the West Riding Asylum, Wakefield, from January 1st, 1896, to December 31st, 1902; (2) all the male cases admitted to the London County Asylum, Horton, Epsom, from its opening in the early part of 1902 to March 31st, 1905; and (3) all the female deaths at Horton.
Dementia Præcox
Authors: Johnstone Thomas
Published: August 2008

Perhaps no other condition or disease is more frequently referred to than Dementia Præcox in the Journal of Mental Science for April, 1905. It might almost be thought that it holds the same position in psychiatry that the Fiscal Question does in modern politics. and though I may not be able to throw any new light on the subject, let me try to harmonise or conciliate some apparently discordant views.
Industry and Alcoholism
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

As a preface to the remarks which I propose to submit for your consideration to-day, I wish to recall to your memory the substance of a paper which I had the honour to read before this Association some two years ago(1). In that paper I endeavoured to establish a distinction between two opposed types of drinking, which, having regard to the chief factor in each form, I referred to as convivial drinking and industrial drinking; and I pointed out that these two modes of drinking differed widely in their relations to drunkenness and to chronic alcoholism, convivial excess producing drunkenness but rarely tending to cause chronic intoxication, while industrial drinking, on the other hand, though not an immediate cause of drunkenness, led rapidly and fatally to chronic poisoning. And, as an illustration and proof of the reality of this distinction, I drew your attention to the remarkable differences in regional distribution which are apparent when drunkenness is compared with alcoholic mortality, with attempted suicide, or with the several varieties of crime that are known to be most intimately connected with chronic alcoholism. The accompanying diagram, which I have published elsewhere, will epitomise this statistical evidence. It shows the rate per 100,000 of the population in the agricultural districts, the manufacturing towns, the seaports, and the mining districts of arrests for drunkenness, homicidal crime, and assaults taken together, homicidal crime alone, and attempts to commit suicide calculated on the annual average during the years 1891–1900. The figures below the columns are the comparative mortality figures for a number of the occupational groups which are more or less representative of the industrial conditions in each of the composite areas, viz. for the agricultural districts the agriculturists, for the manufacturing towns the textile and iron workers, for the seaports the dockers, and for the mining districts the coal-miners. The fact which I wish to bring out by means of this table is, of course, that drunkenness and chronic alcoholism are largely independent of one another, and that the more serious evils due to alcohol are connected with the chronic intoxication and not with simple drunkenness. This is most clearly seen in the mining districts, where there is more drunkenness than in any other part of the country, but where, at the same time, there is little chronic alcoholism and, therefore, relatively low rates of alcoholic suicide (as measured by suicidal attempts) and of alcoholic crime. And the explanation which I desire to suggest is, as I have already indicated, that the chronic intoxication is, in the main, a result of industrial drinking and has nothing to do with the convivial excess which produces drunkenness.
Medico-Psychological Association of Great Britain and Ireland: Presidential Address on the Evolution of Insanity, delivered July 26th, 1906
Authors: Jones Robert
Published: August 2008

Gentlemen,–The coveted position of President of this Association, which is to-day celebrating its sixty-fifth anniversary, is one to which many may aspire but few may reach, and I recognise to the full that the honour of being selected by you as worthy of this office–the highest compliment in your power to bestow–is not due to any distinction or merit in me, but arises from the fact that as your Secretary–holding an office which at least requires assiduity and patience–I have been closely associated for a longer period than has fallen to the lot of any of my predecessors with the interests and objects for which our Association has existed, viz., the promotion and cultivation of science in relation to mental disorder and improvement in the treatment of the insane.
The Neuron Theory-Fatigue, Rest, and Sleep
Authors: Bevan-Lewis W.
Published: August 2008

The subject of fatigue, rest, and sleep cannot be approached without reference to the theory which has revolutionised our ideas of cerebral activity-the neuron theory of Waldeyer and Ramon y Cajal. This theory is certainly “in the air,” and despite the adverse views of notable histologists such as Apathy, Bethe, Dogiel, Donnagio, and Hill as regards its universal applicability, it has, I think, come to stay with us, as have the cycle, motor, submarine, and probably we may shortly say the aeroplane. Arguments, pro and con., are scarcely called for here, but there are a few points which I cannot omit reference to.
Alcohol and Insanity.-The Effects of Alcohol on the Body and Mind as shown by Asylum and Hospital Experience in the Wards and Post-mortem Room
Authors: Mott F. W.
Published: August 2008

So much has been written on this subject, that I trust it will not be considered disrespectful to previous observers if I refer more particularly to my own experience and observations. As out-patient physician to Charing Cross Hospital, and latterly physician in charge of wards, I have had a considerable experience in seeing the effects of alcohol in the production of bodily diseases; but as Pathologist to the London County Asylums I have had a much larger experience in seeing the effects of alcohol in the production of mental diseases. I can safely say that in quite one fourth of the male cases which come under my observation at Charing Cross Hospital, and in a considerable proportion of the female cases, alcohol has been an efficient cause in the disease, or a very important coefficient. In conjunction with venereal disease, especially syphilis, it is responsible for many degenerative processes, which will be alluded to. My house-physician, Mr. Reade has kindly made a tabulated statement referring to the influence of alcohol in the medical cases admitted during the year 1905, which is appended.
On the Psychology of the Crusades
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

Although the world will never again see anything like the great crusades of the middle ages, these events may be traced to causes which, though now of less force, still influence the human mind, appealing to the simplest and deepest cravings of our common nature.
The Pathological Anatomy and Pathology of Epilepsy
Authors: Turner John
Published: August 2008

The following pages contain an account of the microscopical examination of the central nervous systems of forty-one cases of idiopathic epilepsy, which form the data on which I base my thesis that epilepsy is a disease occurring in persons with a defect of the nervous system either congenital or involutional, and in whom also there is an abnormal state of the blood, characterised by a special tendency to intravascular clotting, and that the fits, whether of the nature of grand mal or petitmal,owe their exciting cause to sudden stasis of the blood stream in some (generally limited) portion of the cortex, resulting from the blocking of cerebral cortical vessels by these aforementioned intravascular clots. I have already in a paper read at the pathological meeting of the Neurological Society in December, 1905, and published in the British Medical Journal March 3rd, 1906, given a short account of my views, but it was impossible in the limit of time at my disposal when reading the paper to deal in any but a very cursory way with many interesting aspects of the question, nor could I then give sufficient details of the microscopical examination of the individual cases.
On the Localisation of Cerebral Function: A Reply to Dr. Joseph Shaw Bolton
Authors: Campbell Alfred W.
Published: August 2008

In his paper on “Amentia and Dementia “Dr. Bolton has intercalated such a vigorous dissent from some of my speculations on the localisation of cerebral function, and a complaint so bitter of my criticism of some of his earlier researches, that I am forced to offer a defensive response.
The Clinical Measurement of Fatigue. Part i.-The Measurement of Mental Fatigue
Authors: Specht Wilhelm
Published: August 2008

We have already pointed to the great practical importance of the measurement of fatigue in traumatic neuroses. It is particularly important for our purpose because, as we have already observed, exaggerated fatigue is always present in this disease, and so it gives the best opportunity of testing the general applicability of our method to the clinical measurement of fatigue.
The Liability of the Insane to Tubercular Infection as demonstrated by an Examination of the Tuberculo-opsonic Index
Authors: Shaw C. J.
Published: August 2008

Death-Rate statistics of persons dying in large institutions are often inexact, as their accuracy depends to a very large extent on the personal factor of their compiler. Unfortunately, the statistics of the death-rate from tubercular disease, particularly phthisis, occurring in asylums leave no room for doubt that the insane, as a class, are particularly liable to contract tubercular disease. The English Lunacy Commissioners in their report for 1902 say: “The proclivity of the insane, whether confined in asylums or not, to tubercular disease, especially pulmonary, has long been recognised.” In all asylums, according to Clouston, who was amongst the first to draw attention to the fact, consumption is between three and four times more common than in the general population at the same ages.
Further Bacteriological and Experimental Investigations into the Pathology of General Paralysis and Tabes Dorsalis
Authors: Robertson W. Ford , McRae Douglas
Published: August 2008

In previous papers (i) we have recorded observations on the ground of which we have contended that a diphtheroid bacillus, having cultural and morphological characters resembling those of the Klebs-Löffler bacillus, plays the chief part in the production of the toxaemia of general paralysis. We have at the same time insisted upon the importance of weakening of the local and general defences against bacteria, and have attri buted the chief part in the production of this impairment to syphilis, chronic alcoholic intoxication and the excessive use of nitrogenous foods. A little more than a year ago we thus summarised the case in support of the diphtheroid hypothesis.
The Coagulation Rate of the Blood in Epileptics
Authors: Turner John
Published: August 2008

THE following is an account of a systematic examination of the coagulation rate of the blood of nine female epileptics and seven healthy women.
Some Further Observations Bearing on the Supposed Thrombotic Origin of Epileptic Fits
Authors: Turner John
Published: August 2008

I have again ventured to trespass on your time and attention with some remarks on the pathology of epilepsy, partly in order to refer to some criticisms on my views and partly to amend them, because my most recent observations on the coagulation-rate of the blood in this disease seem to indicate that they require some modification.
Dementia Præcox
Authors: Urquhart A. R.
Published: August 2008

Francisque Sarcey says that originality consists, not in thinking new things, but in thinking for yourself things that thousands of generations have thought before you, and that your idea will appear new because you will strongly impress upon it the turn of your mind and tinge it with the colour of your imagination. Something of this kind has occurred in the presentation of dementia præcox. Kraepelin does not even claim the term as his own invention, but refers to it as the original proposal of Pick. We have duly recognised the distinguished position attained by them both, and appreciated Kraepelin's work, especially in investigation and teaching, and his achievements in elucidating morbid mental phenomena. If one is led to differ with him in the light of observations already made in this country and years of personal experience, that difference must be expressed in terms of esteem and respect.
Observations on the Blood-Pressure and Vascular Disease in the Female Insane
Authors: Turner John
Published: August 2008

The mere accumulation of facts is useless unless some attempt is made to interpret their significance; therefore in this paper I propose to examine my observations on blood-pressure with the design of seeing whether its routine estimation in the insane is worth while; whether from it any fairly trustworthy conclusions can be drawn as to the condition of the circulatory apparatus during life, or as to the prognosis, not only with reference to the mental disorder, but as to the prospects of the duration of life, or whether the time spent in this direction might not more profitably be otherwise employed; and further, to ascertain whether the results obtained tally with those of previous workers.
Remarks on Hospital (i.e., Asylum) Treatment of the Acutely Insane
Authors: Archdale Mervyn A.
Published: August 2008

Let me first explain or define the terms used in the title of this paper. By “hospital treatment” I mean treatment in any institution where patients have to be treated in numbers together, and where it is possible to have efficient nursing. My remarks, however, will have special reference to county and borough asylums as they exist at present. By the “acutely insane” I mean those patients who are suffering from insanity which has begun at a recent date, and which we may hope to relieve.
The Causes of Insanity, with Especial Reference to the Correlation of Assigned Factors: A Study of the Returns for 1907
Authors: Coupland Sidney
Published: August 2008

The revised scheme of registration put forth by the Medico-Psychological Association three years ago and officially adopted by the Commissioners in Lunacy is a noteworthy attempt to impart greater accuracy and precision to the record of facts relating to the insane. An important feature of this revision was a full and carefully designed schedule, compiled by a special committee, intended to replace the long-established list of the “causes of insanity,” which, whilst doubtless reflecting the knowledge of the middle of last century, lacked scientific precision and had become obsolete. The new schedule aimed at greater definiteness, and being framed on the teachings of experience by those most competent to the task, may well be considered to fairly embrace the whole field of ætiological inquiry. It is with the object of showing what may be learnt from its use that I have ventured to lay before the Association the results of a study of the records of the institutions for the insane in England and Wales during 1907—the first year of the adoption of the revised system—in so far as these refer to patients suffering from their first attack of insanity.
Alcoholic Insanity (Korsakow's Polyneuritic Psychosis): Its Symptomatology and Pathology
Authors: Turner John
Published: August 2008

There are certain persons who, having taken alcohol to excess, develop a form of insanity characterised by distinctive features, clinical and pathological. [This is the form which I mean by “alcoholic insanity.”]
The Systematic Estimation of the Leucocytosis in Certain Cases of Insanity: with Special Reference to the Toxæmic Theory
Authors: Howard S. Carlisle
Published: August 2008

Surveying insanity as a whole, one recognises as a fundamental fact that insane persons belong to a class who start life with a “deficient grade of organisation” of the nervous system called “hereditary predisposition.” Some authorities hold that this is the sine quâ non of insanity, but such a view, I consider, is not strictly accurate. It is certainly not borne out by statistics. All observers, using even indifferent discrimination, must have noticed cases in which no hereditary factor could be traced, but in which much self-abuse had occurred—either in the form of alcoholic, sexual, and other excesses—or where syphilis or other powerful toxæmic conditions had been contracted. Such conditions, I argue, may themselves break down the most hardy constitution and leave it a prey to secondary infections or intoxications, which may manifest themselves as insanity. Assuming that the insane, prior to their attack of mental disease, suffer from either some hereditary weakness, or some acquired constitutional degeneration, it is most probable that such defects act a dual part, weakening not only the nervous system, so that it is more susceptible to the actions of toxins and environments, but also weakening the natural defences of the body. The nervous system of these people is thus laid open to more severe and frequent attacks from poisonous substances, whether of bacterial, metabolic, or other sources, than is the nervous system of a more normally organised individual. In support of this statement I would mention that Dr. L. C. Bruce has pointed out that over 60 per cent. of maniacal patients were deficient in the normal protective agglutinin to certain strains of Staphylococcus aureus. This agglutinin is always present in healthy sera. Further, Dr. C. J. Shaw has ably demonstrated that the reason tubercular diseases account for so large a proportion of the deaths in asylums lies, not in any faulty hygienic precautions, but in the fact that the resistive power of the insane to tubercular infection is below par. Assuming that this hypothesis is true, we can more readily understand why the various insanities so frequently resist our efforts to cure them.
Auto-suggestion and Delusional Insanity
Authors: Thomson David
Published: August 2008

The presence of delusions, whether arising primarily or following other mental states, is significant of a faulty cerebral action, yet the co-existence of normal ideas suggests that the morbid process is limited to certain groups of nerve-cells. It is thus reasonable to suppose that many of the nerve-cells associated with ideation are in such cases working normally. There would appear to be “wrong thought centres” or “wrong series of associations” giving rise to delusions.
Germany
Authors: Bresler J.
Published: August 2008

At the annual meeting of the German Association for Psychiatry, held on March 23rd and 24th, at Cologne and Bonn, the principal subject for discussion was the question of the connection between syphilis and general paralysis. The speakers were Plaut (Munich) and Fischer (Prague). Dr. Plaut came to the following conclusions: (1) Without syphilis no paralysis. (2) It is not improbable that during paralysis active virus still exists in the body, and spirochætæ are present. (3) There are not sufficient reasons for presuming there is a syphilis à virus nerveux. (4) The fact that, in those who afterwards became paralytics, the early symptoms of syphilis were singularly mild, suggests an abnormal predisposition. (5) The attempts to establish a connection between heredity, degeneration and temperament, or constitution and general paralysis, have had no definite results, and it would appear doubtful if there are sufficient grounds for accepting a peculiar predisposition of brain. (6) The exogenous influences (alcoholism, trauma, cerebral fatigue) have probably no essential effect, but act only as associated factors, diminishing the somatic and psychic resistance. (7) The variability of the syphilitic changes in the different stages of the disease does not appear to be caused by differences in the character of the spirochæte, but by a gradual change in the way the patient reacts, because this change of reaction leads to tertiary manifestations in only a small percentage of syphilitics, and a further change may lead to paralysis; it is not astonishing that only a small number of syphilitics become paralytics. (8) A number of considerations makes it probable that paralysis is preceded by preparatory syphilitic processes of a chronic kind; it is impossible to say if these are localised in the central nervous system or in any other part. The elapse of a long period of time between syphilitic infection and the onset of paralysis is perhaps explained by this circumstance. (9) The uselessness of mercury in paralysis does not disprove a connection between syphilis and paralysis, because of our ignorance of the pharmacology of mercury. (10) The decision whether the histological changes in paralysis are of a syphilitic character must be, and is, left to the anatomist. (11) The result of serum diagnosis points to a very close connection between syphilis and paralysis. Regarding this we have no clear idea as to the biological position of the reacting substances at present, but some day a definite answer will be forthcoming.
The Treatment of Melancholia by the Lactic Acid Bacillus
Authors: Phillips J. George Porter
Published: August 2008

Melancholia, with its attendant constipation and faulty alimentation, lends itself at once to a dietetic form of treatment.

Whether the constipation is dependent on defective innervation and is a direct symptom of melancholia or is the initial cause of this mental disturbance, it matters not so far as our endeavours in treatment are concerned.
On Insanity and Marriage
Authors: Savage G. H.
Published: August 2008

The subject of marriage and insanity is one which is at present beyond practical legislation in this country, but is of immense importance for the social stability and for individual welfare. Though we cannot legislate we have to advise, and our advice is sometimes taken. The lay public as a whole, and the majority of medical men, would at once reply to the question as to the insane ever being allowed to marry in the negative, but I shall contend that a dogmatic statement of this kind is unscientific and unpractical. Such a declaration is taking it for granted that all insanity is alike and is to be treated as of equal value. I shall begin, then, by saying that in my belief certain persons who have suffered from a degree of mental disorder which may be classed as insanity may yet recover and marry with no real increase of risk to their partner or to their children. If I say this, you will next expect me to give examples of the forms of insanity which I should consider as not being of vital importance.
The Production of Indigo in the Human Organism
Authors: Stanford R. V.
Published: August 2008

It has long been known that in certain circumstances the dye-stuff indigo, or substances very nearly related to it, may appear as products of animal metabolism, and this fact has not failed to attract attention from physiologists, chemists and medical men. Indigo, in fact, possesses a “fatal gift of beauty,” which has always made it a focus of interest. Of no substance is the history easier to trace. In the earliest times it was obtained from the plant Isatis tinctoria, and served as dye and pigment under the name of woad, being no doubt a striking feature at meetings of the wild Silures in this locality some 2,000 years ago. More recently, during the past half century, the problem of the production of synthetic indigo has absorbed enormous sums of money and the energies of an army of chemists, and the successful competition which it now wages with the vegetable product forms one of the best instances of the return eventually obtained by those who cast their bread upon the waters, financing research in the hope of a return which they cannot definitely foresee.
Sterilisation from the Eugenic Standpoint, with Heredity Statistics from the Long-Grove Asylum Clinical Records
Authors: Clarke Geoffrey
Published: August 2008

The study of eugenics is attracting an increasing amount of attention and interest from scientific men, legislators, and society in general.
Dementia Præcox in Relation to Apraxia
Authors: Jones Robert
Published: August 2008

The above was the subject or text of the Presidential Address delivered by Dr. Mabille, the Medical Director of the Asylum at La Rochelle, in France, on the occasion of a Congress of the French-speaking alienists at Tunis in April, 1912.
A Case of Methæmoglobinuria followed by Multiple Neuritis
Authors: Simpson E. S.
Published: August 2008

On the evening of May 28th last, whilst making the visit for my colleague at the time of the evening meal, I had my attention drawn to a patient's urine by the deputy charge nurse of the male infirmary. He said it was very high coloured. I looked at the urine, and instead of finding, as I expected, a concentrated urine loaded with urates, I had presented for my inspection a urine of a distinctly reddish-brown colour, very suggestive of the presence of some blood derivative.
Emanuel Swedenborg: A Study in Morbid Psychology
Authors: Norman Hubert J.
Published: August 2008

“Let us examine,” says Swift, in his “Digression concerning Madness” in a Tale of a Tub, “the great introducers of new schemes in philosophy, and search till we can find from what faculty of the soul the disposition arises in mortal man of taking it into his head to advance new systems, with such an eager zeal, in things agreed on all hands impossible to be known; from what seeds this disposition springs, and to what quality of human nature these grand innovators have been indebted for their number of disciples; because it is plain that several of the chief among them, both antient and modern, were usually mistaken by their adversaries, and indeed by all except their own followers, to have been persons crazed or out of their wits; having generally proceeded in the common course of their words and actions by a method very different from the vulgar dictates of unrefined reason; agreeing, for the most part, in their several models, with their present undoubted successors in the Academy of modern Bedlam … Of this kind were Epicurus, Diogenes, Apollonius, Lucretius, Paracelsus, Des Cartes, and others; who, if they were now in the world, tied fast, and separate from their followers, would, in this undistinguishing age, incur manifest danger of phlebotomy, and whips, and chains, and dark chambers, and straw.” So wrote the greatest satirist in his pungent and acrid way; and there can be little doubt but that, had he lived to become acquainted with some of Swedenborg's later writings, he would have classified him among that miscellaneous group of “others.” It may seem to some a work of supererogation once more to state the facts which lead to this conclusion; but it is hoped that they will realise that in this recapitulation the object is not to asperse the reputation of a great man, but, by setting forth the story of his life, to show why it was that so great a change was wrought in him, and why he turned from the scientific pursuits of his earlier years to the visionary speculations of his later days. By undertaking such a work a writer is certain to incur the odium of those who rigidly maintain their unshaken belief in the sanity of their prophet; that is regrettable, but regrets will not alter facts.
Some Suggestions respecting the Care of the Feeble-minded under the Mental Deficiency Bill, 1913
Authors: Douglas A. R.
Published: August 2008

In dealing with any subject in connection with the burning question of the care and control of the feeble-minded, some reference will be expected to the second Mental Deficiency Bill recently introduced into the House of Commons by the Home Secretary. For the purposes of this paper it is unnecessary to do more than quote the Clause, which defines the classes of persons who are mentally defective and deemed to be defectives within the meaning of the Act. Taken all round, it is a much better Bill than its predecessor of last year, but it should be noted that in the present measure no allusion is made to the undesirability of procreation of children by defectives, or to any intention to penalise persons wittingly bringing about a marriage between defectives. These proposals, which were likely to arouse uncompromising disapproval, may be the less regretted, as their inclusion might doubtless have been instrumental in the blocking of the Bill as a whole. Their effacement, it is hoped, may do away with the opposition which is at present invariably evoked by any attempt to infringe upon the so-called liberty of the subject, and may also give opportunity for educating public opinon, so that in time it may be clear to all that the prevention of amentia can only be attained by life segregation on the one hand, and by the prohibition of marriage on the other. The promoters of the Bill have gone as far as they possibly could in the face of uneducated public opinion, and those of us who were present at the discussion of last year's measure in Standing Committee cannot but admire the courage and resourcefulness of Mr. McKenna in presenting the new Bill after the repeated discouragement which he had to face in connection with his first effort last year.
The Influence of Physical Illness on the Mental State in Insanity
Authors: Peachell G. E.
Published: August 2008

The object of this short paper is to direct attention to certain clinical cases illustrating the effect of physical illness on the mental state in insanity, and to discuss some points in connection therewith.
Salvarsan in General Paralysis of the Insane and Tabes
Authors: Fitzmaurice-Kelly M.
Published: August 2008

When I was invited, during my last summer holiday, to read a paper on this subject, I agreed with a light heart; but on more mature reflection the glow of satisfaction at being so honoured has paled before the spectre of responsibility in addressing a body of experts on a subject peculiarly their own and remote from the paths of my usual work. I can only ask your indulgence, and—negative though most of the conclusions are—hope that they may suggest certain points in the treatment, and especially in the pathology of these conditions.
Some Considerations regarding the Family History of Insanity in the Highlands
Authors: Mackenzie T. C.
Published: August 2008

The Inverness Lunacy District, which was formed after the passing of the Lunacy Act of 1857, comprises the four counties of Nairn, Inverness, Ross, and Sutherland, and is of very large extent. Its area is, roughly, one-third of the total area of Scotland, and includes the greater part of the Highlands. Its population, on the other hand, is extremely sparse, and has been steadily decreasing during the last fifty years. It is a district in which there has been much intermarriage of relatives, and which is less open and accessible than most of the rest of Scotland to the factors that have brought about such great changes in the general life of the country during the last fifty years. In recent years, however, the extension of railways, and the wide use of motor cars, have done much to diminish this degree of isolation and remoteness.
France
Authors: Semelaigne René
Published: August 2008

During the last year, scientific activity seemed to be suspended by the war; the societies devoted to the study of mental diseases could not meet for want of members, and the publication of specialist journals was temporarily postponed. It is not yet the proper time for examining the psychiatrical consequences of the present events, and such a study will be more pertinently carried on subsequently to the conclusion of hostilities. So an epitome of French psychiatry only covers a period of seven months, from the beginning of January to the end of July.