bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Out-Patient System in Asylums
Authors: Bullen P. St. John
Published: August 2008

The object of the paper to be now read is to evoke discussion on certain questions connected with the above scheme. Inasmuch as the system has received but a limited trial in this country, but few facts concerning its actual working are to be expected as yet. It is, however, deserving of consideration in this its embryonic period. An out-patient clinique was started at the Wakefield Asylum in January, 1890, and also adopted at the other West Riding Asylums. I can only speak of the results in the first-named institution.
The Practice of Surgery in Connection with the Treatment of Lunacy.
Authors: Tyerman D. F.
Published: August 2008

Pursuing the consideration of those mechanical and surgical difficulties which beset the path of the practitioner in his treatment of insanity, I will again more particularly allude to those which result from the voracity, or unnatural appetites of classes of the insane, impelling them to swallow substances absolutely indigestible, or large portions of unmasticated food; and from paralysis of the nerves supplying the muscles of deglutition. A portion of this subject belongs equally to the sane world, as the remains of corroded knives, and other metallic substances in the museums of Guy's and other hospitals, and the works of authors on morbid appetite, sufficiently testify.
Current Opinion on Medico-Psychological Questions in Germany, as represented by Professor Ludwig Meyer, of Göttingen
Authors: Urquhart A. R.
Published: August 2008

It was my fortune to spend a week at Göttingen in the month of May of this year, and the following notes of conversations and extracts from the published writings of Professor Meyer† may be taken as representing the opinion of the best German school of psychiatry at the present time. Professor Meyer's career has been long and distinguished. Educated at Berlin, imbued with an enthusiasm that impelled him to teaching there as early as 1858, he was in due course appointed to the Hamburg Asylum, whence he was transferred to Göttingen more than a quarter of a century ago. His name is familiar as an authority on mental diseases, and his present position is indicated by his having been selected to report upon “Psychiatry,” in the volume descriptive of the German Universities prepared for the Chicago Exhibition.
The Insanity of the Climacteric Period
Authors: Goodall E. , Craig M.
Published: August 2008

Although much of a speculative kind appears to have been written upon the subject of climacteric insanity, more especially as regards the pathology of the disorder, the accumulation of actual facts, bearing upon its genesis, symptomatology, and terminations is comparatively small. Exception must be made for the highly practical paper lately read by Dr. Savage at the Medical Society. A further contribution dealing as far as possible with matters of observation may be serviceable. For the purpose of this paper, in addition to the cases coming under the direct observation of the writers, the records of Bethlem (10 years, 102 cases) and the West Riding Asylum, Wakefield (10 years, 120 cases) have been drawn upon. We are indebted to Dr. Salter, Clinical Assistant, Bethlem Hospital, for much assistance in collecting the cases, and Dr. Percy Smith for permission to use the records of Bethlem.
The Trials and Troubles and Grievances of a Private Asylum Superintendent
Authors: Weatherly Lionel A.
Published: August 2008

When our worthy Secretary asked me to read a paper, my difficulty in giving a direct affirmative answer was not so much the trouble and time the writing of such a paper would involve, but rather the choice of a subject. To give the outlines of some special case, to make a few remarks, and to hear the President, after thanking me, and waiting in solemn silence for the spirit to move some member to start a discussion, call upon the reader of the next paper, did not strike me as worth the trouble; besides, one cannot always have a “special case” on tap in a small private asylum.
The History of an Experiment in dealing with the Reported Cases of Insanity occurring in the Barony Parish of Glasgow
Authors: Carswell John
Published: August 2008

The Barony parish of Glasgow has a population of about 320,000. The care of the lunatics chargeable to the parish has engaged the attention of the Board ever since its formation in 1845. Various circumstances have contributed to make the experience of the Barony parish, in relation to lunacy, exceptionally valuable. Unlike most of the other parishes in Scotland the Barony Board has always provided asylum accommodation for its lunatics; it has never been dependent upon a District Board of Lunacy for that purpose. Although at one stage of their history pressed to hand over their asylum to the then existing Glasgow District Board of Lunacy, the Barony Board declined to do so, on the ground mainly that, on account of the largeness of the population and the rateable value of the parish, the Parochial Board was better suited to be entrusted with the management of the arrangements for the care and treatment of its pauper lunatics than a District Board of Lunacy, which had a wider area to provide for, and different interests to consult; and further the Barony Board held that the double management involved in having an asylum of their own along with their statutory obligation to provide for the due certification and maintenance of the pauper insane was a distinct advantage to a Parochial Board, inasmuch as it provided the material for a more complete view of the lunacy requirements of the parish, and gave the members of the Board a greater interest in questions connected with the care and treatment of the insane. In the early years of its management the Board provided for its pauper lunatics in asylum wards connected with the poorhouse at Barnhill. That arrangement was never considered satisfactory by the General Board of Lunacy; but the Parochial Board considered the arrangement quite satisfactory, and opposed the views of the Lunacy Commissioners. Ultimately, however, the Lunacy Commissioners got their views accepted by the Parochial Board, and they determined to build a new asylum at Woodilee, Lenzie. Probably the arguments of the Commissioners were less potent than the rapid increase of patients, caused by a great growth in the population of the parish, in bringing about the new departure. With the erection of the new asylum the Barony Board entered upon what may be called a new era in its relation to lunacy administration, for it soon became evident that it was performing the functions both of a Parochial Board and a District Board of Lunacy. That position ultimately received legislative sanction, and so the parish is now a lunacy district, and the Asylum Committee of the Board is practically, though not in name, a District Board of Lunacy.
Insanity of Persecution
Authors: Semelaigne Réné
Published: August 2008

Ideas of persecution may be met with in nearly all forms of mental disease, but I intend at present to deal only with the cases in which these ideas predominate and constitute the very essence of the morbid condition.
On the Alleged Increase of Insanity in Ireland
Authors: Drapes Thos.
Published: August 2008

The question of the increase of insanity in Ireland is, of course, but a part of the much larger question, the increase of insanity generally, all the world over. But there is one peculiarity about Ireland which has been repeatedly noticed, of which, as yet, no adequate explanation has been forthcoming, namely, that while in other countries insanity has increased along with, and in a higher ratio than an increasing population, Ireland alone of all civilized countries, so far as I am aware, possesses the unique and unenviable distinction of a continuously increasing amount of insanity with a continuously decreasing population; and, what would appear to be an almost necessary consequence, the proportional rate of increase in Ireland is far beyond what exists elsewhere. The aim of this discussion then, it seems to me, should be directed not so much towards explaining such increase in insanity as Ireland shares in common with other countries, as to an endeavour, if possible, to account for the preponderance, or the assumed preponderance, of insanity in Ireland over that of other countries.
Observations upon the Pathology of Othæmatoma
Authors: Goodall Edwin
Published: August 2008

About the close of 1892 I examined bacteriologically some cases of othæmatoma, with a view of ascertaining if there was any basis for the idea which occurred to me, and which I mooted in an article in the “Journal of Mental Science” for April, 1893, that that condition was the result of bacterial activity. In none of the cases examined was there a history of injury. In the first two (an adult imbecile and a chronic maniac) cover-slip preparations of the extravasated blood—taken with full precautions as regards cleanliness—showed staphylococci, singly, in twos, in fours, and in small groups. In size the cocci resembled closely S. pyogenes aureus or albus. An attempt to cultivate the organism on gelatine and broth failed; unfortunately no agar was at hand. In the light of subsequent experience, I believe that this failure may, with much probability, be attributed to the fact that the amount of material transferred to the culture-tubes was too small. Several drops of the sero-sanguinolent extravasate should be taken for each tube. In the third case (that of a dement) what appeared to be the same organism was found in the cover-slip preparations and grown upon broth and altogether like that of a cultivation of S. pyogenes aureus. In other tubes, however, the growth remained white throughout, so that S. pyogenes albus was present as well.
On the Typical Microscopic Lesions found in the Brain in Insanity: A Demonstration
Authors: Clouston T. S. , Middleman James , Robertson W. F.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Clouston explained that he was the spokesman of Drs. Middlemass and Robertson, who had made almost all the sections and had supervised the micro-photography. He explained that as yet micro-photography had many disadvantages owing to the very delicate structure of the brain and the high powers that had to be used, as well as the difficulty in photographing many of the aniline stains. In the case of some of the sections more than six slides had been made before a satisfactory photograph was got.
Lunacy Administration in Berlin and in Scotland, with Special Reference to the Care of the Insane in Private Dwellings
Authors: Sibbald John
Published: August 2008

The Supervision and Management of the Patients in Private Dwellings.

The way in which the boarding-out system is administered at Berlin is the result of experience. Its present form differs in some respects from the arrangements made at the commencement of the experiment. It is unnecessary to describe the gradual evolution of the system, the way in which cumbrous regulations were eliminated, and in which greater efficiency was given to the arrangements; but it is proper to recognize the great capacity as an administrator which has been shown by Dr. Sander, to whom, as director of the asylum, the development of the system has been chiefly due.
Current Opinion on Medico-Psychological Questions in Germany, as represented by Professor Ludwig Meyer, of Göttingen
Authors: Urquhart A. R.
Published: August 2008

Passing to the treatment of special classes of patients, Professor Meyer expresses decided opinions, which seem to be somewhat in advance of the general consensus. For instance, at Alt Scherbitz, or in the remoter asylum of Bayreuth, one finds a considerable amount of restraint and special arrangements for the destructive and violent. It is, therefore, necessary to accept certain statements under the following heads as being more personal than representative.
Cases of Sporadic Cretinism treated by Thyroid Extract
Authors: Telford-Smith Telford
Published: August 2008

The four cases of sporadic cretinism the treatment of which by thyroid extract I shall briefly describe, are all inmates of the Royal Albert Asylum, Lancaster.
3. German Retrospect. Percussion of the Cranium
Authors: Ireland W. W.
Published: August 2008

(“Neurologischer Centralblatt,” No. 14.) Professor W. v. Bechterew treats of the conduction of sound and percussion of the bones of the skull and vertebral column. Dr. W. O. Kunew (“Wratch,” 1893, Nos. 48 and 49) has already indicated a method of examination for suppurative inflammation of the mastoid process in disease of the middle ear. He employed a common india-rubber tube, such as is used for otoscopic examination. The earpiece is inserted into the auditory meatus, and the funnel laid upon the mastoid process. If a tuning fork be now made to vibrate on the vertex of the head, the tone is always more distinct on the sound mastoid process than on the diseased one. He holds that examination of the conduction of sound is indispensable in deciding the question whether the mastoid process should be trephined or not. Diminution of the intensity and muffling of the sound of the tuning fork if conducted through the bone is an infallible symptom of deep disease, suppuration, caries of the bone, or new formation. This new method of diagnosis enables the surgeon to trephine early.
Sanity or Insanity? A brief account of the Legal and Medical Views of Insanity, and some practical difficulties
Authors: Robertson George M.
Published: August 2008

The term “insanity” conveys to the minds of lawyers and physicians two different meanings, based on two divergent methods of testing its presence, and a clear recognition of this fact would go far to prevent many misunderstandings which arise solely from the logical error of equivocation. The term insanity as used by each should of course be accurately defined, and the difference of meaning thereby made plain; but this has not been done, for to prepare an accurate and satisfactory definition of insanity appears to surpass the wit of man. Even had it been done in a theoretically perfect manner it would probably be of little or no value, for, like Mr. Herbert Spencer's definition of life, it would of necessity be so abstract as to give no assistance in practice. For my purpose here it will be sufficient if I indicate the lines on which the legal and medical definitions of this term would run.
On the Clinical and Pathological Relations of General Paralysis of the Insane
Authors: Farrar Reginald
Published: August 2008

General paralysis of the insane seems to have been first recognized and described by Willis, in 1672. It was fully described and established as a definite disease by Bayle, in 1822. It received its present title from Calmeil, in 1826.
Rest and Exercise in the Treatment of Nervous and Mental Diseases
Authors: Clouston T. S. , Tuke J. Batty
Published: August 2008

I believe it is an absolute matter of fact that at the present time different physicians, both in private practice and in asylum practice, use different methods in regard to their newly-admitted patients, as far as in their treatment rest and exercise are concerned. I do not recollect that we have discussed this important question, nor do I recollect any definite paper on the subject by any competent authority. It therefore seems clear that the subject is one which demands our consideration.
Medico-Legal Cases
Authors: Mercier
Published: August 2008

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

Reg. v. Coombes.—“The Plaistow Murder.”

Robert Allen Coombes, 13, was indicted for the wilful murder of his mother. The facts, which were not disputed, were of a very revolting character. The prisoner and his younger brother, Nathaniel, æt. 12, had for some days discussed the murder of their mother, who appears to have treated the boys not unkindly. On July 4th prisoner purchased a knife and concealed it. Early on the moraine of the 8th he stabbed his mother twice with it while she was in bed. He had slept with his mother, and said that she had punched him during the night. He took money from his mother's purse, and accounted for his possession of it and for her disappearance by a series of ingenious and elaborate lies. He wrote a letter to the cashier of the company in whose employment his father was, asking for money on the ground of his mother's illness, and backed up the application with an old medical certificate, from which he tore the date. He wrote another letter to his father, in which he accounted for his mother not writing by saying she had hurt her hand. He also wrote an advertisement for an evening paper, asking for a loan of £30. The two boys agreed that the elder should stab their mother when the younger gave a signal by coughing twice. On the morning of the murder and after the crime they went together to Lord's Cricket Ground.
Mental Changes in Graves' Disease
Authors: Maude A.
Published: August 2008

I have nothing to say on changes of mental state due to loss of thyroid activity; the psychosis of cretinism [is well defined and widely known. But I venture to think that the mental changes of exophthalmic goitre are equally defined and not perhaps as widely realized. If this be so, if there are such distinct types of mental aberration, in marked antithesis to each other, which accompany two pathological states of the thyroid, perhaps also in antithesis, this is sufficient to give the subject a place in our discussion.
Note on a Case of General Paralysis with Marked Sensory Symptoms
Authors: Sullivan William C.
Published: August 2008

P. T., aged 36 years, army pensioner. History of syphilis, contracted ten years ago, while serving in India; also of sexual excess. Married, has two children, both healthy. Symptoms date back two years, when patient began to suffer from convulsions, treated as idiopathic epilepsy. Admitted to the Richmond Asylum in February, 1892.
The Significance of Weismann's Doctrines in Insanity
Authors: Wilson George R.
Published: August 2008

“Clearer conceptions of these matters would be reached if, instead of thinking in abstract terms, the physiological processes concerned were brought into the foreground.” Prom this counsel which Mr. Spencer gave—counsel which disputants have been slow to follow—towards the end of the unsatisfactory controversy which succeeded the translation into English of Weismann's essays, we shall depart as slightly as possible. Yet at the outset we must deal with “abstract terms,” in attempting to define the real issue which Weismann has raised; even if, in so dealing with them, I do but demonstrate how much wiser it would be to avoid them.
The Significance of Palatal Deformities in Idiots
Authors: Channing Walter
Published: August 2008

The present is the day when we are searching for any deviation from the normal type, that we may put it down as a sign of degeneracy, a word that is having a more and more extended meaning, and is already serving an evil purpose as signifying more than is actually warranted. Formerly a degenerate was an individual so different physically and mentally from the average, that he could be set off into a class by himself. We knew him when we saw him, because he was distinct from the average. Now it needs only some slight imperfection of development in an organ, or tissue, or some slight irregularity of action in the brain as shown in speech, or action, to brand an individual as presenting indications of degeneration.
William Gursiave Marshall
Authors: H. H.
Published: August 2008

By a somewhat remarkable coincidence, two former Medical Superintendents of this asylum—colleagues during twenty years—surviving fifteen years more—died within one week of each other. Mr. William Gurslave Marshall, F.R.C.P., F.R.C.S., succeeded Dr. Davey, the first Superintendent of the Female Department, in 1852. The building (of which the foundation-stone was laid by Prince Albert in 1851) had been opened about a year. Mr. Marshall had previously been Resident Medical Officer of the Northampton Borough Asylum.
The Osseous System in the Insane
Authors: Briscoe J. F.
Published: August 2008

It would appear, by reference to the Blue-book of the English Commissioners for 1896, that, out of 7182 deaths in the asylums of England and Wales, thirteen resulted from diseases of joints and bones, and eleven from fractures or dislocations. In 1897, out of 6783 deaths, fifteen resulted from diseases of joints and bones, and thirteen from dislocations and fractures.
The Presidential Address delivered at the Fifty-Seventh Annual Meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association, Held at the Royal College of Physicians, Edinburgh, on the 21st July, 1898
Authors: Urquhart A. R.
Published: August 2008

Before addressing you, I have formally, however imperfectly, to express my full appreciation of the high honour conferred upon me at your hands in thus placing me in the Presidential Chair of your beneficent Association. I say beneficent advisedly, for when men have banded themselves together for the cultivation of science and the improvement of the condition of the insane, they associate to fulfil these functions as practical philanthropists. These good intentions have been realised in fruitful performance in words and deeds, and we hold our Annual Meeting to-day with a desire, an ability for good work that cannot fail to mark the year as one of humane progress.
Clinical Cases
Authors: Crookshank F. Graham
Published: August 2008

A man, E. C—, aged twenty-eight, is at present a patient in the Northampton County Asylum. This man has since childhood suffered from epilepsy, and although at one time the fits were for several years in abeyance, just now they are frequent and often severe. The attendants, who have known him for many years, state that while the severe fits are of the usual type, the lesser ones are often followed by “antics” and “playing the fool.” In one of these less severe attacks, which I witnessed recently, the convulsions had all the characters of a genuine epilepsy, and were followed by the usual stage of stertorous passivity. But this stage was of short duration only, the patient suddenly springing up and adopting the “segment of a circle” position, the occiput and heels alone touching the ground. Suddenly relaxing, he then raised his trunk from the ground and bent forwards towards his feet five or six times in succession. Then, falling on his back, the knees were flexed and the thighs drawn up on the abdomen, and then as rapidly stretched out. This he repeated several times. Drawing up the thighs again, he placed his hands on his buttocks and rocked backwards and forwards, shouting loudly a stave or two of “We won't go home till morning.” Finally he burst into a loud laugh, gesticulated extravagantly, got up from the ground, picked up his hat, and sat down complacently on a bench. These last movements were performed quite automatically, and without the least evidence of conscious appreciation. In fact, he continued for some hours in a dreamy state, and not till the next day was he fully and clearly conscious. I have no doubt at all that the convulsion was a genuine epilepsy, and it is quite obvious that the subsequent performance corresponded in detail to the series of movements demonstrated by Richer in hysteria major.
The Workmen's Compensation Act and the Fatal Accidents Inquiry (Scotland) Act in Relation to Asylums
Authors: Havelock J. G.
Published: August 2008

The necessity of a cognizance of those Acts of Parliament affecting asylums in their capacity as large employers of labour has become more obvious of late by the operation of an Act which came into force in July last—“The Workmen's Compensation Act”—where, for the first time in British law, a responsibility has been cast upon an employer to pay damages or compensation for personal injuries which are not the result of any negligence or other unlawful act, either of himself or his servants for whose conduct he is legally responsible.
Further Research on the Formation of Axial Fibres in the Brain, by Dr. Paul Flechsig, Dr. Döllken, and Dr. Nissl. A Digest
Authors: Ireland W. W.
Published: August 2008

In a reprint from the Neurologisches Centralblatt, No. 21, 1898, Dr. Paul Flechsig gives us some further investigations on the development of the fibres in the human brain. In his examinations he has used forty-eight hemispheres belonging to twenty-eight brains of all periods of early life, from the fótus of seven months to the child of fifteen months. He thus sums up the results to which he has arrived.
A Brief Note on Beri-beri in Asylums
Authors: Norman Conolly
Published: August 2008

Elsewhere I have dwelt on the occurrence of beri-beri in temperate climates(1) and on the clinical features of that affection as I have seen it.(2) At an early date I hope to be able to publish in detail the clinical records of a number of interesting cases. It is not my intention on the present occasion to dwell, save incidentally, on the symptomatology of the disease, nor to indulge in any speculations upon its origin or essential nature, for these latter points are, unfortunately, still in the region of speculation, and the light which I can throw upon them is scanty and indirect.
The Relation of Alcoholism to Suicide in England, with Special Reference to Recent Statistics
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

In the following paper it is proposed to study the influence which alcoholism exerts upon suicide in this country, so far as that influence can be traced in recent statistics of the movement of these social phenomena. Our discussion will aim more particularly at determining the rôle which alcoholism may have played in the late increase of suicide in England, and at establishing the distinctive characters which constitute the type of alcoholic suicide.
The Plans of a New Asylum for East Sussex
Authors: Newington H. Hayes
Published: August 2008

When East Sussex determined a year or two back to build an asylum for its sole use, a Visiting Committee, appointed for the purpose, was fortunate enough to find in the centre of the county a suitable estate which the County Council purchased. It is situated at Hellingly, a village about nine miles north of Eastbourne. The area is four hundred acres, compact, as you will see on the plan, having within 400 yards of its western boundary a railway station which we propose to connect with the main asylum by a full gauge tramway. It slopes gently upwards from the south towards the north, where it attains its highest level of about 130 feet above the sea. The subsoil is most favourable, being, with the exception of two patches of clay, of a sandy or gravelly nature. The water supply is adequate, and the general contour lends itself readily to an efficient system of drainage, which will be bacterial. The views are excellent, extending to the sea and the south downs. It would be difficult to find a more suitable site for an asylum. A sub-committee was authorised to travel about the country to inspect other asylums, I being appointed its chairman. We visited the Hartwood, Lenzie, Gartloch, Hawkhead, Cheddleton, Burntwood, Glamorgan, Dorchester, Isle of Wight, and Chichester Asylums.
Lantern Demonstration on Changes in the Cortical Nerve-cells in General Paralysis
Authors: Watson George A.
Published: August 2008

The slides were taken from sections of the cortex of several cases of juvenile general paralysis, mostly stained by Nissl's method or one of its modifications. The work was done at the London County Asylums Laboratory at Claybury.
Decrease of General Paralysis of the Insane in England and Wales
Authors: Stewart R. S.
Published: August 2008

To anyone watching carefully the figures given in the last five annual reports of the Commissioners in Lunacy for England it is quite apparent that one very distinct and unmistakable change has during each of the five years ending 1897 been taking place in the character of the admissions into asylums. There is no indication that lunacy is diminishing, rather the reverse, for the proportion of the average annual admissions in which the attack is stated to be the first, i.e., occurring insanity, which in the quinquenniad 1888–92 was 3·7 per 10,000 of population, rose to 4 in the five years ending 1897. The change of type in the admissions to which we refer is the diminution in the proportion of general paralytics. Not only is this characteristic of the quinquenniad as a whole, but it applies to each of the individual years, the percentage proportion for each five-year period ending with that for 1893–7 being 8·7, 8·5, 8·4, 82, 7·8. The change is all the more striking inasmuch as each of the three quinquenniads preceding this one was characterised by a steady increase in the occurrence of the disease, so striking, indeed, that one might have supposed that the Commissioners would have been justified in making a much more affirmative pronouncement than the one they do in their Fifty-third Report, viz. that “it would not appear that general paralysis is increasing in the general population.” Not only is it not increasing, it is diminishing, and that, too, progressively, during the past five years.
Legislation for Inebriates in England, with special reference to the Act of 1898
Authors: Cotton William
Published: August 2008

In view of the fact that a considerable amount of confusion exists in the mind of the profession as regards recent legislation for inebriates, I have ventured to bring this somewhat dry-as-dust subject before the readers of the Journal of Mental Science.
Case of Murder, the Result of Pure Homicidal Impulse
Authors: Wiglesworth J.
Published: August 2008

Cases of murder committed in response to a pure homicidal impulse by a person otherwise rational, and free from hallucinations and delusions, are not of very frequent occurrence, and I have thought, therefore, that a narration of the following case, which I have been unfortunate enough to have had under my immediate personal observation, might present some elements of scientific interest.
Researches into the Physiology, Anatomy, and Pathological Anatomy of the Optic Thalamus [Physiologische, anatomische, und pathologischanatomische Untersuchungen des Schhügels]. (Arch. f. Psychiat. u. Nervenkr., B. xxxiii, H. 3, 1900.) Probst, M
Authors: Dawson W. R.
Published: August 2008

The great diversity of the results obtained by different observers, clinical and experimental, in lesions of the optic thalami being attributable to want of uniformity in their methods, and to insufficient anatomical examination of the lesions present, a large number of experiments were made on cats and dogs in the same manner, viz., by the introduction through the longitudinal fissure and corpus callosum, directly into the thalamus, of a fine cannula, from which a hook could then be protruded and a cut thus made. The animal being allowed to live long enough for degenerative changes to become established, the thalamus and surrounding parts were stained by Marchi's method and examined in uninterrupted serial sections. These experiments, which gave concordant results throughout, were supplemented by others in which certain parts outside the thalamus were divided.
Report of the Committee on Heredity. (Society for the Study of Inebriety, April, 1901.)
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

This is a report by a committee of the Society for the Study of Inebriety on the relation of heredity to intemperance. Besides the main report there are lengthy comments by several of the members, and a separate report by one member.
Report of the Provincial Asylum of Alt-Scherbitz [Verwaltungs bericht der Provinzial-Irren-Anstalt zu Rittergut Alt-Scherbitz. für die Jahre 1898–1899 und 1899–1900]
Authors: Ireland W. W.
Published: August 2008

In this report the superintendent, Dr. Paetz, proclaims that after two years the number of medical men who have visited Alt-Scherbitz is as great as ever—about 215 strong. Whole commissions have also come for instruction from Edinburgh, Liverpool, Bremen, and other places in Germany.
Recent Lunacy Legislation: Retrogression or Progress?
Authors: Graham William
Published: August 2008

Literary apologies, it has been said, are either superfluous or impertinent—superfluous if the matter apologised for is of itself worthy of public regard, impertinent if it can lay claim to no such merit. Therefore it does not seem necessary on the present occasion for me to introduce the subject of asylum management with any deprecatory language. It will suffice simply to recall the fact that in this city the question has come up in an acute and even controversial form, and is deeply interesting the community in whose midst we are assembled. We may well hope that the impulse given by this discussion will leave a permanent impression throughout the length and breadth of Ireland. One thing, at any rate, we may expect—the abolition of the standing scandal that has so long permitted the insane poor to be huddled together in workhouses without the benefit of scarcely one of those ameliorative agencies elaborated by modern science wedded to a genuinely philanthropic spirit. It is an oft-told tale, and need not be repeated here. The Poor Law guardian who takes for his axiom “keep down the rates” must shut his eyes to the uncleanliness, the untidiness, the lack of discipline, the absence of proper scientific supervision, the utter discomfort which reigns everywhere—characteristics that have made the name of workhouse a byword and a reproach even among the most degraded. If at any time he is visited with a qualm of conscience, he reflects, perhaps, that the unfortunates in his charge owe their sad destiny to God, or Fate, or Nature, and that anything done for them robs the ratepayer of that which, not enriching them, leaves him poor indeed. These institutions are cheap, but if there is any warning writ more largely than another for the behoof of all future lunacy reform in Ireland, it is surely that supplied by our workhouses against a parsimonious and pettifogging spirit in our provisions for the insane.
Lantern Demonstration of Gross Lesions of the Cerebrum
Authors: Bolton Joseph Shaw
Published: August 2008

This demonstration was a further report on the subject laid before the Association at the meeting at Claybury in February last, viz., the morbid changes occurring in the brain and other intra-cranial contents in amentia and dementia. In a paper read before the Royal Society in the spring of 1900, and subsequently published in the Philosophical Transactions, it was stated, as the result of a systematic micrometric examination of the visuo-sensory (primary visual) and visuo-psychic (lower associational) regions of the cerebral cortex, that the depth of the pyramidal layer of nerve-cells varies with the amentia or dementia existing in the patient. At the meeting of the Association referred to it was further shown, from an analysis, clinical and pathological, of 121 cases of insanity which appeared consecutively in the post-mortem room at Claybury, that the morbid conditions inside the skull-cap in insanity, viz., abnormalities in the dura mater, the pia arachnoid, the ependyma and intra-cranial fluid, etc., are the accompaniments of and vary in degree with dementia alone, and are independent of the duration of the mental disease. Since that date the pre-frontal (higher associational) region has been systematically examined in nineteen cases, viz., normal persons and normal aments (infants), and cases of amentia, of chronic and recurrent insanity without appreciable dementia, and of dementia, and the results obtained form the subject of the present demonstration. A paper on the whole subject will shortly be published in the Archives of the Claybury Laboratory.
On the Structure of the Brain in which the Corpus Callosum is wanting, and on Microgyry and Heterotopy of the Grey Matter [Ueber den Bau des vollständig balkenlosen Grosshirnes sowie über Mikrogyrie und Heterotopie der grauen Substanz von Dr. Moriz Probst]. (Bd. xxxiv, H. 3.) Probst, M.
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Probst begins by remarking that he can only find two cases before that described by Rokitansky, in 1858, in which the corpus callosum was deficient, one by Reil in 1812, and one by Ward in 1846. He apparently has overlooked the case mentioned in Solly's book on the brain in 1827, and another by Paget in 1846. If Dr. Probst had lighted upon the excellent paper by Dr. Alexander Bruce, recorded in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. xv, pp. 320—341, he would have been able greatly to add to the sixteen cases which he has mentioned. I have myself seen an instance of complete deficiency of the corpus callosum in the brain of a deaf woman who died in the Stirling District Asylum. There are at least six cases (Probst only knows of two) in which, without any mental deficiency or loss of sensory or motor power being observed during life, the corpus callosum was found to be entirely wanting.
The Development of Voluntary Control. (Psychol. Rev., Sept., 1901.) Bair, J. H.
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

How it is that we obtain voluntary muscular control is a problem of great interest and importance, for it helps to explain the origin and nature of the will. Bair has investigated the conditions and processes by which such control is gained in the case of a particular muscle. He selected the retrahens aurem because of its complete isolation from other muscles, the inability of most people to contract it, the comparative ease with which control can be learnt, and the definite movements attending contraction; moreover, this muscle is adequately supplied with motor and sensory nerves, and there is every reason to suppose that control over it is acquired in the same way as over any other muscle. Of the fourteen subjects on whom the experiments were made only two could move their ears at the beginning of the investigation, and then only by vigorously raising the brows.
The Ætiology of Progressive Paralysis in the German Tirol. (Allgem. Zeits. f. Psych., Bd. lviii, H. 2 and 3, 1901.) Eisath, G.
Authors: Carter R.
Published: August 2008

From the beginning of the year 1889 to the end of 1899, 128 cases of progressive paralysis came under observation in the German Tirol; out of this number there were 104 men and 24 women. The amount of insane patients during these eleven years came to 5·4 per cent.; out-patients as well as in-patients were included in this calculation. The age at which the disease made its appearance varied between thirty and sixty-four.
On Spiritualism and Insanity [Ueber Spiritismus und Geistesstörung]. (Arch. f. Psych., Bd. xxxiv, H. 3.) Henneberg, R.
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Henneberg has read deeply in the extensive literature of spiritualism and occultism. He treats of table turning and spirit rapping, and what he calls psychographs, in which the subject, believed to be in a trance, writes to the dictation of the spirits of the dead. He mentions cases in which the mental derangement resulted from being hypnotised. Persons who practise these so-called communings with spirits have fallen into hysterical conditions. Some of these were previously disposed to neurosis, so that the tendency was merely aggravated. In other instances hysteria appeared as the result of these practices in persons previously healthy. Dr. Henneberg gives in detail the description of eight cases in which insanity was the result of concentration on spiritualistic experiments. He observes that it is the duty of the physician to warn persons disposed to nervous diseases against any dealings with mediums, magnetisers, and faith healers, who work on the imagination.
Insanity of Adolescence [Folie de l'Adolescence]. (Arch. de Neurol., Aug., 1900.) Bourneville and Bellin
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

The notes of an interesting case are given—fully and carefully recorded as Bourneville's cases generally are. A. G—, a girl æt. 14 years was admitted into the Fondation Vallée, March 4th, 1899. Her family history was very bad—father, alcoholic and violent; mother, hysterical, then insane; grandparents, neurotic, as well as several uncles and aunts. The patient was possibly conceived when her father was drunk, her mother being at the time liable to attacks of hysteria. She had once convulsions limited to the face; up to the age of twelve years she had nocturnal incontinence, and after this had attacks of depression, of alternating crying and laughter. When her mother was placed under care, the girl was placed in an orphan school at Les Andelys, where, no doubt, under the influence of the separation from her mother and religious practices she developed mystical delusions—she thought she was Joan of Arc and had blessed visions, etc. A few days later she came under Bourneville's care. The mystical delusions persisted for a few days, and after a short remission (March 9th—23rd) were followed by a period of maniacal excitement—crying, singing, incoherent purposeless movements, extravagance, dirty habits, and insomnia. The attack lasted a week, and was followed by a remission (March 30th—April 21st) after which she was somewhat melancholic for a while, although free from hallucinations and mystical delusions. On May 1st she was practically well. About a year later, menstruation appeared, without any mental disturbance. The treatment consisted in baths and douches, with the administration of chloral and bromides to combat the insomnia and excitement; general exercises, occupation, etc., afterwards.
Psycho-motor Epilepsy of Syphilitic Origin, with Consciousness of the Epileptic Attacks, and associated with Criminal Tendencies [Epilessia psichomotoria con coscienza degli accessi e manifestazioni criminose e di origine sifilitica]. (Arch. di Psich., vol. xxii, fasc. 4, 5, 1901.) Lombroso, Gina
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

This is a very complete clinical report of a case of some interest. The patient, a man, æt. 68, with nothing special in his family history, had contracted syphilis at the age of 21; twenty years later, after a period of intense brain work, he had a sudden attack of localised frontal headache with paresis of the right side. The paralytic symptoms cleared up rapidly, but the patient remained subject to headache and vertiginous attacks, and also to periodic fits of morbid anger with impulsive violence to things and persons about him. Latterly, these symptoms increased, and the patient's mental power declined.
Modern Advances in the Treatment of the Insane. (Scot. Med. Surg. Journ., Aug., 1901.) Havelock, T. G.
Authors: Sainsbury Harrington
Published: August 2008

The advances referred to are, first, the erection of detached hospitals at asylums and the allocation of cases on admission to the various parts of the asylum where they can be best dealt with. Not least among the advantages of this system is the result that the less interesting cases “are not lost sight of, as they are apt to be in a block full of recent admissions.”
The Treatment of Incipient Mental Disorder and its Clinical Teaching in the Wards of General Hospitals
Authors: Sibbald John
Published: August 2008

I have to thank the Council of the Society for their kindness in appointing a day for the discussion of the question which is the subject of the following paper. The paper has been written at the suggestion of my friends Dr. Clouston and Dr. John Macpherson; but it is right to say, as they have left me a free hand in dealing with the subject, that they are not to be held responsible for the opinions it contains.
Concerning the Frequency and Significance of Transverse Ridging of the Nails in the Normal, the Criminal, and the Insane [Intorno alla Frequenza ed al Significato della Striatura ungueale trasversa nei Normally nei Criminali, e negli Alienati]. (Arch, di Psichiat., vol. xxii, fasc. 6.) Treves.
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

In a previous communication to the Turin Academy of Medicine, the author called attention to the frequency of transverse ridging of the nails in the insane, and suggested that the phenomenon was a sign of oscillations in histogenetic activity dependent on unstable conditions of metabolism in mental disease. The present paper is a further discussion of the subject.
Primitive Offenders and Offences. [Delinquent e Delitti primitivi]. (Riv, Mensile di Psichiat., Nos. 8–9, 1901.) Penta
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

Professor Penta has for many years been occupied in studying criminals in the prisons of Naples, one of the most favourable regions in Europe for such studies. In the present paper he sets down some of the latest of his general conclusions on the subject of the nature of criminality. These conclusions differ widely in many respects from those of Lombroso. He notices in the first place that he finds a very great difference between those prisoners who are confined in establishments reserved for minor offenders and those, convicted of more serious offences, who are confined in the convict prisons; the first are a much more dangerous class than the second, much more incorrigible, and much more often lacking in moral sense. He finds also that while the first group—the more dangerous persons who only commit slight offences,—come mainly from the cities, the others come from the country. The individuals of the first group also belong in much larger proportion to the class considered by Lombroso to be merely insane. So that the offence and its punishment, taken by themselves, furnish a very fallacious criterion for diagnosis and treatment.
Toxæmia in the Etiology of Mental Disease. a Discussion opened
Authors: Clouston T. S.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Clouston said that when he suggested toxæmia to the secretary as a suitable subject for a discussion at this meeting he had not intended to be the first speaker, because his object was to bring out more fully the views of the younger members who had recently committed themselves so strongly to the toxæmic and bacterial etiology of insanity, and so to get light thrown on some of the difficulties which he and others had felt in applying this theory to many of their cases in practice. It was not that he did not believe in the toxic theory as explaining the onset of many cases, or that he under-rated its importance, but that he could not see how it applied so universally or generally as some of the modern pathological school were now inclined to insist on. He knew that it was difficult for those of the older psychological and clinical school to approach the subject with that full knowledge of recent bacteriological and pathological doctrine which the younger men possessed, or to breathe that all-pervading pathological atmosphere which they seemed to inhale. He desired to conduct this discussion in an absolutely non-controversial and purely scientific spirit. To do so he thought it best to put his facts, objections, and difficulties in a series of propositions which could be answered and explained by the other side. He thought it important to define toxæmia, but should be willing to accept Dr. Ford Robertson's definition of toxines, viz., “Substances which are taken up by the (cortical nerve) cell and then disorder its metabolism.” He took the following extracts from his address at the Cheltenham meeting of the British Association (1) as representing Dr. Ford Robertson's views and the general trend of much investigation and hypothesis on the Continent.