bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Case of Microcephalic Imbecility, with Remarks
Authors: Shuttleworth G. E.
Published: August 2008

The following account of a case of microcephalic imbecility, for three years under observation in the Royal Albert Asylum, Lancaster, may be of interest, both on account of the family history and of certain abnormalities in the structure of the brain and heart observed at the autopsy.
A Few Notes on Lunacy in France, suggested by a Recent Visit to French Asylums
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

Having recently visited, and as regards some of them, revisited many of the French Asylums, I propose to bring under your notice to-day, as briefly as possible, three or four prominent subjects of interest, which more especially attracted my attention. I shall not now attempt to describe the asylums which I visited, but merely to bring into as strong relief as possible those matters in which there is a difference of practice between our own country and France, either generally or in regard to the practice of some celebrated French alienists.
On Nocturnal Epilepsy, and its Relations to Somnambulism
Authors: Echeverria M. G.
Published: August 2008

Few problems are we called upon to solve surpassing in importance that of demonstrating the insane nature of the evil propensities and criminal deeds, which are the outcome of nocturnal epilepsy. If, during the night, a man be periodically roused from his sleep in great bewilderment and mental agony, that quickly cease; or, if in the midst of apparent sanity, he were to be found, unexpectedly, in the morning, either maniacal, or sullenly disposed to unprovoked acts of extreme violence, we may, with confidence, diagnosticate that he is an epileptic, and irresponsible for what he has perpetrated.
4.—French Retrospect
Authors: Geoghegan Edward G.
Published: August 2008

In an article of 50 pages the authors adduce 56 cases to confirm their former observations, and render their conclusion more precise. Many of these cases relate to patients in the Salpétrière during the past year, and the rest are gathered from the literature of the same period.
On Forced Alimentation
Authors: Needham Frederick
Published: August 2008

No part of the treatment of certain conditions of insanity is more important than that which relates to the administration of food when from any cause there is inability to take it, or persistent refusal of it.
On the Influence of Age, Sex and Marriage on the Liability to Insanity: being an Analysis of some Statistical Tables in the Thirty-Second Report of the Commissioners in Lunacy (England)
Authors: Chapman T. Algernon
Published: August 2008

I have been disappointed rather than surprised that no one has given us a full and useful analysis of the Statistics of the Causes of Insanity and of the Occupations of the Patients admitted into Asylums during the year 1876, in the Thirty-First Report of the Commissioners in Lunacy; at present they are a mere rudis indigestaque moles, and I must say that the effort to extract much valuable meaning from them appears to be an arduous one. Thinking that the Tables given in continuation of the same series in the Thirty-Second Report may meet a similar fate of neglect, I somewhat rashly propose to endeavour, if not to extract their full meaning, at least to state what are the facts they most clearly enounce, and, if possible, to suggest a meaning for them. I do this the more readily that they are not an extensive series, and are, therefore, somewhat manageable, and may admit that they have a certain attraction for me, as the most remarkable novelty they demonstrate happens to be a circumstance that on a small scale I have been aware of for some years, and had frequently thought it desirable to have tested on larger numbers, and yet is one to which I do not recollect ever to have seen attention directed. This circumstance is the frequency with which, in comparison with other lunatics, the general paralytic is married.
Uses and Abuses of Chloral Hydrate
Authors: Savage Geo. H.
Published: August 2008

In a short paper like the present I cannot pretend to exhaust the chloral subject, but I hope very definitely to express my opinions, and also to give the grounds on which I have formed them.
Two Cases of Temporary Aphasia from Shock after a Series of Severe Epileptic Fits
Authors: Beach Fletcher
Published: August 2008

It will be impossible for me to discuss this evening the different theories that have been brought forward to account for the production of aphasia (including under this term all forms of affections of speech), and I limit myself therefore to a few remarks upon one of them.
Two Cases of Recovery from Insanity, after many years in an Asylum
Authors: Savage Geo. H.
Published: August 2008

The subjoined cases are of most interest from the duration of the symptoms which were finally recovered from.
Insanity associated with an Abscess connected with the Ear; cured by opening the Abscess
Authors: Williams W. Rhys
Published: August 2008

For the notes on this case I am indebted to my colleague, Dr. Savage.
Statistics and Causes of Suicide of India
Authors: M'Leod Surgeon-Major Kenneth
Published: August 2008

We have received a very interesting and able paper on the above subjects, read by the author (formerly a member of the Medico-Psychological Association) at a meeting of the Bengal Social Science Association, on the 13th of June last.
Statistics of Insanity in Australia
Authors: Manning Frederic Norton
Published: August 2008

The following letter, &c., in reply to recent inquiries, has been received from Dr. Manning, whose admirable “Report on Lunatic Asylums,” undertaken at the request of the New South Wales Government, in 1868, is well known in this country. The information conveyed in the statistics now given cannot fail to be of interest to the readers of this Journal:—
French Retrospect
Authors: McDowall J. G.
Published: August 2008

On Trephining in Epilepsy due to Injury of the Skull. By Dr. M. G. Echeverria.
On the Separate Care and Special Medical Treatment of the Acute and Curable Cases in Asylums; with Proposals and Suggestions for a Detached Hospital, for special purposes, in Connection with every large Public Lunatic Asylum
Authors: Burman J. Wilkie
Published: August 2008

The principal arguments that may be brought forward against my proposal are—1st, that it is impracticable and inadvisable, as suggested by Dr. Conolly; and 2nd, that it would entail a considerable increase of expenditure.
Intemperance in Study
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

Having met from time to time with cases of brain-fag, and also actual insanity, arising from excessive mental work, I wish to direct attention to-day to this cause of disordered mind, not because it is so wide-spread a cause as many others, but because for this very reason it is in danger of being treated with indifference, whereas at the present moment I regard it as a serious evil, although comparatively restricted in its operation in consequence of the great mass of the people falling under opposite influences; still I fear that it is in schools and colleges as well as in the cottage of the labourer and manufacturer, among students as well as among those who delve and spin, that we must seek for the causes of mental disturbance if we wish to understand them thoroughly.
Myxædema and its Nervous Symptoms
Authors: Savage Geo. H.
Published: August 2008

In this short paper I have no idea of adding one to the already too numerous class-names of insanity, but I am anxious that asylum physicians should have their attention called to a clinical type of disease which may exhibit mental symptoms, and may thus add to the small store of useful knowledge of the subject.
Case of old Nodule in Left Hemisphere. Dr. P. Neelsen (“Arch, für Klinische Medicin,” Bd. xxiv., p. 483)
Authors: Geoghegan Edwaed G.
Published: August 2008

This case which is an interesting contribution to the study of the psycho-motor centres is an example of an old encapsuled nodule in the left hemisphere, resulting from a lesion in childhood, which destroyed the superior parietal convolution, and produced atrophy of the superior portion of the postcentral and para-central convolutions. The right leg was paralysed, but regained its function to a certain extent, while the right arm became completely useless. The paralysed extremities atrophied. There was atrophy of the right lateral and of the left anterior columns of the spinal cord. Descending degeneration of the pyramidal tracts.
The Epilepsy of Othello
Authors: Lawson Robert
Published: August 2008

I have often stated in conversation that Shakspere, in depicting the agitation into which Othello was thrown by the artifices of Iago, subjected the Moor to an epileptic seizure. Almost without exception, this statement has at first been contradicted; but a perusal and an analysis of Scene 1, Act iv. of the tragedy of “Othello” have, I think, convinced all enquirers that the dramatist's design in the matter was not open to doubt.
3. Retrospect of Mental Philosophy (Periodical Literature)
Authors: Costelloe B. F. C.
Published: August 2008

The first number for the year is not remarkable for any paper of striking value. Readers of the Journal will be chiefly attracted by the long and clearly written resumé of Dr. Hughlings Jackson's recent studies “On Affections of Speech from Disease of the Brain,” which is contributed by Mr. James Sully. He remarks on the great value of Dr. Jackson's attempts to classify the different forms of aphasia under the three main heads or stages of—(1) Defect of Speech, in which the patient has a full vocabulary, but confuses words; (2) Loss of Speech, in which the patient is practically speechless, and his pantomimic power is impaired as well; and (3) Loss of Language, in which, besides being speechless, he has altogether lost the power of pantomime, and even his faculty of emotional language is deeply involved in the wreck. All these states or stages again are, properly speaking, to be distinguished altogether from affections of speech in the way of loss of articulation (owing to paralysis of the tongue, &c.), or loss of vocalisation (owing to disease of the larynx); whereas the three degrees or stages of aphasia proper are due to a deep-seated and severe disorganisation of the brain. The main interest of the theory lies in the ingenious and carefully-argued analysis of the symptoms, by which Dr. Jackson arrives at the theory that as the process of destruction goes on, the superior “layers” or strata of speech fail first—those namely which involve the ordinary power of adapting sounds to the circumstances of the moment as they arise; after them fail the “more highly organized utterances” those, namely, which have in any way become automatic, such as “come on,” “wo! wo!” and even “yes” and “no,” which stand on the border-line between emotional and intellectual language; next fails the power of adapting other than vocal signs to convey an intended meaning, which is called, rather clumsily, “pantomimic propositionising;” and last of all dies out the power of uttering sounds or making signs expressive merely of emotion—a power which, of course, is not true speech at all.
Remarks and Notes upon the Branch Asylum at Newark, U.S., for Adult Imbecile Women
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

It was only when special attention was paid to the training of idiots, that an idea began to be formed of their actual number, and it is only within a few years back that in the census of civilized nations idiots were distinguished from lunatics, or as it is generally put, born insanity was distinguished from acquired insanity. Even yet to some people it will be startling to hear that in most countries there are as many idiots and imbeciles as there are lunatics, and that in some countries there are more. According to Koch, there are for every hundred lunatics in Prussia 158 idiots; in Bavaria, 154; in Saxony, 162; in Wurtemberg, 97; in Austria, 53; in Hungary, 140; in the Canton of Berne, 117; in France, 66; in Denmark, 58; in Sweden, 22; in Norway, 65; in England and Wales, 74; in Scotland, 68; in Ireland, 69, and in America, 79. Large as this proportion is, there are many reasons for believing that it is considerably understated, both in our own country and in America. In France I have already pointed out that, although in the census of 1872, there were only 35,133 idiots given, it was found by a special commission to inquire into the diffusion of cretinism, that there were about the same time in the country 122,000 cretins and idiots, that is, 230 idiots for every 100 lunatics. Moreover, from the known unwillingness of parents first to believe and then to admit that their children are imbecile, we may fairly assume that there must be a large number of idiots under five years of age, who are never returned as such in any census, and of whom a large proportion die in early years. Koch found that in Wurtemberg only 43 idiots were returned under 5, while between the ages of 6 and 10 years there were 294 returned.
Gouty Melancholia. Report of a Consultation on a Case
Authors: Clark Andrew
Published: August 2008

“Well, doctor, what do you think is the matter with my patient?”
Marriage and Hereditariness of Epileptics
Authors: Echeverria M. G.
Published: August 2008

Arethæus asserts that several physicians, and among them the famous Asclepiades, observed that venery cures epilepsy developed at the age of puberty. The same opinion was professed by Scribonius Largus, and, with these authors, the corruption of retained semen originated the spasmodic malady in such cases, Alfarins à Cruce, commenting on these primitive ideas, contends that, in similar instances, the change of age effects the cure improperly attributed to venery. His pupil Sinibaldi, declares venery powerless against fits, exploding after the age of fifteen, especially in adults, or individuals of an advanced or old age. But in epilepsy à putrescent, upon seminal retention, venery may prove of such great moment as to occasion altogether its cure.
On the best Mode of tabulating Recoveries from Insanity in Asylum Reports
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

Much attention has been directed of late, more especially in America, by Dr. Pliny Earle, to the ordinary mode of calculating recoveries from insanity. Having examined with some care into the different results of several modes of making these calculations, I propose to state in this paper the conclusions to which I have been led, and to suggest an improved form of tabulating cures in the Reports of our asylums.
Alcoholic Epilepsy
Authors: Echeverria M. G.
Published: August 2008

Alcoholic excess is associated with epilepsy in two different ways, as cause or as an effect of it. In the first instance, intemperance may appear as a hurtful habit of the individual favouring the development of the spasmodic neurosis, or again, as a constitutional tendency entailed by parent on offspring with similar dreadful consequences. In the second instance, the moral perversion ordinarily wrought by their disease on the character and conduct of several epileptics, drives them to vicious indulgence in drinking, which aggravates and changes the original character of their fits. The majority of writers have not distinguished in estimating the relationship of intemperance to epilepsy, or insanity, the number of cases immediately ascribable to vice from those in which the uncontrollable passion, or craving for drink, is, as it also happens with masturbation, merely the sign of the outbreak of an inherited predisposition to insanity, or epilepsy, or of the early stages in the evolution of either of these maladies as consequence of accidental causes. Nor has the influence which traumatic injuries to the head, syphilis, or other derangements possibly coincident with the abuse of alcoholics, by themselves exert, been taken into proper account in calculating the part of the latter in the spread, on a wide and increasing scale, of mental and nervous affections. Although this discrimination is by no means always practicable, we may yet arrive at it by diligent inquiry and with a material change in the results, as evinced by the cases we pass on to analyse.
Hypnosis Redivivus
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

The renewed interest felt at the present time in hypnotism, or Braidism, induces me to return to a consideration of the subject to which I drew the attention of the readers of this Journal in 1866, in an article on “Artificial Insanity.”
Cerebral Localisation. Illustrated by a Case of Brain-Injury
Authors: Mickle William Julius
Published: August 2008

In the human subject, strictly limited traumatic brain-lesions are among the pathological conditions which bear most clearly upon the problems of cerebral localisation. Necessarily these accidental experiments upon the human brain are sometimes as sharply localised as are the experiments of the physiologist upon the brains of lower animals. For the purposes of the physician, indeed, they are more instructive than the latter.
Complaints by Insane Patients
Authors: Campbell J. A.
Published: August 2008

Most of us are in the active discharge of the duties of medical attendance on the insane, many of us are at the head of large public institutions. We are by the public expected both to be learned, ready and exact. Serious calls are daily made on our knowledge of medicine and surgery, but by many of us I am certain these are much more readily responded to than the calls on our powers of administration and on our judicial functions as guardians and care-takers, as well as the physician and friend of our patient. Now to my mind no one portion of duty is more unpleasant than having to listen to complaints of illtreatment, or even negligence and carelessness made by patients, to investigate them, to weigh, balance and decide on the best course of action.
The Philosophy of Restraint in the Management and Treatment of the Insane
Authors: Cameron Robert W. D.
Published: August 2008

Only since advancing science has demonstrated the true connection between mind and body, and dispelled the illusory fancies of metaphysicians, has a rational philosophy sprang up regarding the nature of mental processes. The study ot psychology having at length been placed on a proper basis and freed from the spiritualistic haze with which it has so long been shrouded, there is now great reason to hope that much may be accomplished in elucidating the various phenomena of mental disease. No study of insanity that is not founded on a physical basis can be of any real value in throwing light on the many phases of mental disorder, or in assisting to a knowledge of the proper method of treatment and management of the insane.
Relative Cost of Large and Small Asylums
Authors: Rayner Henry
Published: August 2008

In support of the position that small asylums are, even from an economic point of view, better than very large ones, Dr. Hack Tuke, in his recent work on the “History of the Insane,” cites the opinions of the Lunacy Commissioners, as given in their Report for 1857. He also gives in the appendix some figures which the Commissioners prepared in regard to the weekly cost of patients in large and small asylums, and which were adduced by them to support the same view. He found, however, that on taking an average of the six largest and six smallest asylums in the list, the weekly expenses per head in the latter appeared to be really greater than in the former—a result different from that for which he had cited them from the Blue-book.
Marriage in Neurotic Subjects
Authors: Savage Geo. H.
Published: August 2008

I trust that my subject will be definite enough, and of sufficient interest to create a good discussion. It is one of such vital importance to society that we should endeavour to form very well defined opinions on it.
Case of Feigned Insanity
Authors: Robertson Alex.
Published: August 2008

In the “Journal” for October, 1881, I recorded a case of feigned insanity in a prisoner who was charged with the crime of murder. The form of mental disorder assumed in that case was acute mania; and the pourtrayment was so good that even the experienced prison officials, who are accustomed with attempts at imposture in all its varieties, were deceived by his histrionic skill. The following case differs in many of its aspects from that one, but it resembles it in respect that the prisoner ultimately confessed his imposition; though, as in the former case, not till after the distinct expression of medical opinion that he was malingering.
On Large and Small Asylums
Authors: Shaw T. Claye
Published: August 2008

It seems to be generally assumed that asylums were built large, either on the idea that they could be more cheaply constructed or that they could be maintained at less average weekly cost than small ones, but I doubt if such is the true reason of the growth of large asylums, or of the development into large of small ones. Convenience would appear more to have determined the size than any other consideration, a thing not to be wondered at if such large counties as Yorkshire, Surrey, and Middlesex are regarded, where the visiting committees of magistrates are largely taxed as to their time in attending institutions placed often at long distances from each other. But all these considerations of convenience ought to, and no doubt would, disappear if it were abundantly manifest that the outcry raised against large asylums as causing a higher death-rate, lower recovery rate, and heavier weekly charge could be substantiated.
A Case of Melancholy, with Stupor and Catalepsy
Authors: Adam James
Published: August 2008

The following case, which has been under my own observation from the period of the invasion of its more acute symptoms, appears to me so typical, and as so well illustrating the peculiar features of this disease, that I am induced to send a short outline of its more prominent symptoms, especially as I have been able also to obtain a very accurate history of the earlier symptoms from those well capable of intelligently observing and noting them.
Report of Her Majesty's Commissioners appointed to enquire into the State of Lunatic Asylums in Scotland, and the existing Law in reference to Lunatics and Lunatic Asylums in that part of the United Kingdom. 1857
Authors: J. C. B.
Published: August 2008

On few occasions has the great heart of the public been more deeply moved than by the recent revelations of the Scotch Lunacy Report. The report itself is a document remarkable not only for the information it contains, but for the soundness of opinions which it expresses, and for its general good sense, moderation, and justice. It is excellent, both in matter and manner, and is highly creditable not only to the whole of the Commissioners, whose industry in their vocation it illustrates, and whose opinions it enunciates, but it is so in the highest degree to the particular Commissioner to whom was entrusted the task of drawing it up, and whose enlightened views and wide knowledge on the subject of insanity, our associates will have no difficulty in recognising.
Precautions against Fire in Lunatic Asylums
Authors: Howden James C.
Published: August 2008

The importance of the subject which I propose for discussion is such that I need make no apology for bringing it under your notice. Fire, always a dreaded calamity, becomes complicated with many additional horrors when it breaks out in an asylum for the insane. The crowding under one roof of a mass of human beings, most of whom are incapable of acting for themselves, the locked doors, the secured windows, the often insufficient means of egress, are conditions which render a conflagration an exceptionally appalling calamity.
The Data of Alienism
Authors: Mercier Charles
Published: August 2008

At a time when Insanity is commonly looked on as a bodily disease; when the only aspect of it that receives systematic study is that of disturbed bodily function; when a leading neurologist speaks of the mind as “a force evolved from the brain; when the main difficulty in the exposition of the facts of insanity lies in procuring an acknowledgment that there is anything besides the bodily health to be studied; little insistence need be laid on the importance of a systematic and methodical examination of the condition of the bodily functions in cases of Insanity.
On Insanity alternating with Spasmodic Asthma
Authors: Norman Conolly
Published: August 2008

At the general meeting of the British Medical Association, held at Belfast last autumn, I read a paper in the Psychological Section “On Insanity connected with Spasmodic Asthma.” In that paper I described some cases as appearing “to point to an occasional connection between Insanity and Spasmodic Asthma, the nature of which seems to be—if the term may be allowed —metastatic, or alternating.” I also stated that though I was aware Dr. Savage had had some cases of a similar nature, yet up to that date the subject had excited little attention, and no mention of it was to be found in English medical literature.
Presidential Address, delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association, held at Queen's College, Cork, August 4, 1885
Authors: Eames J. A.
Published: August 2008

Gentlemen,—Allow me in the first place, on my own part and that of my confrères, to thank you for the very great compliment you have paid the members of the Medico-Psychological Association who are in the Irish asylum service, through me, by doing me the honour to select me as your President for the ensuing year. For myself personally, I regret your choice has not fallen on one better able to fill such a high position; and I feel I have no claim whatever beyond your kindness in wishing to extend your friendship to your fellow-workers in this country. In their name, therefore, I bid you a hearty welcome to the fair city of the South, and trust that your visit may not only be attended with present pleasure, but that you may carry with you pleasing reminiscences of your stay amongst us.
On the Alleged Fragility of the Bones of General Paralytics
Authors: Christian T.
Published: August 2008

The title of the paper which I am about to have the honour of reading before you indicates of itself my non-belief in the existence of a change in the osseous system which is the result simply of the fact of general paralysis, this change exemplifying itself in a greater tendency of the bones to fracture.† This opinion coming in opposition to that now prevailing, I propose to make you the arbiters of the question, and will lay before you the arguments which have convinced me.
Some Points in Irish Lunacy Law
Authors: Norman Conolly
Published: August 2008

At a period like the present, when lunacy legislation is attracting much attention, it is interesting to note the various peculiarities of the law as it now exists in various countries. I have no doubt that most of those who listen to me have seen the Blue Book which the Government caused to be published giving some account of the laws dealing with lunatics in several lands, but many who have not practised in Ireland are unacquainted with the very remarkable features which the lunacy law of that part of Her Majesty's dominions presents. It is true that geographical proximity, or even membership of the same kingdom, does not always connote similarity in social conditions; and the social conditions of any country are as important an element in legislation for the insane as for the sane. Nevertheless even from Ireland instruction may sometimes be obtained, though perhaps some will say that that land more often affords examples for avoidance than for imitation.
1. American Retrospect
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

Written at the request, in the first instance, of the American Association of Medical Superintendents of Hospitals for the Insane, the Address of Dr. Curwen has been considerably enlarged by interesting biographies of the physicians who founded the Association. These notices, of which we shall give a brief abstract, are accompanied by well executed likenesses. Altogether the book is one of much interest, more especially doubtless to American alienists, but also to those in our own country, with whom the majority of the names referred to are familiar, and are held in just esteem. These names are Drs. Samuel B. Woodward, Samuel White, Isaac Ray, Luther V. Bell, Charles H. Stedman, John S. Butler, Amariah Brigham, Pliny Earle, Thomas S. Kirkbride, William M. Awl, Francis T. Stribling, John M. Galt, Nehemiah Cutler. Of these two survive, Dr. Butler and Dr. Earle, both of them having now retired from asylum service, but retaining a lively interest in the work to which they have devoted their lives, and upon which they have left their mark.
2. Psychological Retrospect
Authors: Myers A. T.
Published: August 2008

In the last September number of the “Archives de Neurologie,” M. Jules Voisin, of the Hôpital Bicêtre, has published an interesting account of “A case of hysteria major in a man with Double Personality.” The patient had before that attracted some notice in France for the same symptoms, and M. Camuset (of the Bonneval Asylum) has published a description of his very unusual state in 1880 and 1881 (Annales Médico-Psych., 1882, p. 75). Some important additions to our knowledge have been made by MM. Bourru and Burot (of Rochefort), of which the chief have been published in the “Revue Philosophique,” Oct., 1885, and “Arch, de Neurol.” Nov., 1885, and we may expect to see more in the “Annales Médico-Psychologiques.” They have very kindly allowed us to use some recent observations which they have privately sent us, and it has seemed a good opportunity for a brief retrospect of the whole case.
On the Right of Reclamation of the Insane before the Civil Courts
Authors: Foville Achille
Published: August 2008

[The subject discussed in this article, and the facts stated in regard to the actual practice of the French Courts in reference to the claims of the insane under restraint, with a view to recover their liberty, are of such vital importance at the present time in our own country, that we have thought it well to reproduce Dr. Foville's paper, which was read before the Congress of Psychiatry and Neuro-pathology held at Antwerp, September 7, 1885. The deliberate opinion of so great an authority cannot fail to be of much practical value, in view of the changes in Lunacy Law which seem imminent.—Eds.]
On Irish Asylum Dietary
Authors: Courtenay E. Maziere
Published: August 2008

In bringing before you the subject of the dietary in use in public asylums in this country, I have, in the first instance, to apologise for my inability to treat so great a subject in a manner in any way commensurate with its importance. I omit altogether touching on those fields for research as to the nature, quality, and quantity of food best suited in the treatment of acute insanity for the support of bodily strength, allaying excitement and producing sleep, as to the arguments for and against artificial alimentation, and as to the use and abuse of stimulants.
Drunkenness in Relation to Criminal Responsibility
Authors: Savage Geo. H.
Published: August 2008

Till recently we believed that, however much, the members of the legal and medical professions might differ in regard to the definition of insanity, and to its relations to responsibility, they agreed in the main as to the question of drunkenness and its responsibilities.
The Psychological Bearings of the recent Matriculation Examination of the London University
Authors: Triboletes
Published: August 2008

The questions set at the recent Matriculation Examination of the London University afford food for the student of mental science. The whole system of competitive examinations, as understood by our universities, is so much at variance with the true principles of mental development that it is somewhat difficult to judge the papers by the standard of the metaphysician. When the present system is tending to make of education an art rather than a science, when the test of a man's capabilities is rather to see how many pages of carefully prepared “Guides to University Students” he can assimilate rather than how much he has had called into play his powers of personal observation, and how much experience he has really mastered; when, in short, an undue importance is given to book knowledge to the detriment of mental wisdom, it is not to be wondered that we find the questions of the Matriculation Examination of the London University falling below the standard that we should like to see our universities set before them. If there is to be any reform in our educational systems (and it is sorely needed) one would naturally look to our universities for its genesis; but for the most part we look in vain. Perhaps the temptation to extol mere book learning, and to lose sight of the aims of education, beyond those merely of acquiring knowledge, is more likely to be experienced by the examiners of the London University than by any others. For in a university where residence for a certain academic course is not a sine qua non of becoming a graduate, and where elaborate crams and “examination papers worked out in full” are ready a few days after the conclusion of the examination, it may be a difficult matter for an examiner to avoid falling into the errors to which we have referred. On the other hand, no body of people in the whole country-have more opportunities for good or more facilities for raising the intellectual status of our teachers, and so of our educational systems, than have those gentlemen who draw up the questions of the London University Examinations. And let us say, at the outset, that we are fairly well pleased, on the whole, with the result of their efforts in the January matriculation questions. We shall have to point out errors and failings, but many of the questions strike us as a decided improvement on the general run of such questions, and may assist in opposing the vicious system of cramming that is decimating the ranks of the teaching profession of its best—because most independent and original—men.
On the Admission of Idiotic and Imbecile Children into Lunatic Asylums
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

The separate grouping of divers diseases in hospitals for their better treatment is a constant accompaniment of progress in medicine. Medical complaints have been separated from surgical ones; contagious diseases have been isolated from non-contagious diseases, and from one another; acute cases have been separated from chronic ones; those under medical treatment from those simply convalescent. But of late years, in the domain of mental science, so far from the separation of different groups becoming more and more definite, it might be held with some plausibility that for years back the tendency has been the other way. The asylum is becoming more and more an infirmary, a place for stowing away all the wreckage of our social system, all the flotsam and jetsam of disease and misfortune—a place where is thrown together everything in human nature troublesome and unsightly. Eccentric and dotard old people, deserted children whose feeble mental faculties made unusual demands upon the care of the poor-house matron, helpless paralytics, and many of the miscellaneous cases where bodily disease has brought with it mental feebleness, are all shoved into the District Asylum, to be kept till death walks them off.
St. John Ambulance Classes for Asylum Attendants
Authors: Shuttleworth G. E.
Published: August 2008

Much attention having recently been given (in the pages of this Journal and elsewhere) to the subject of the systematic training of asylum attendants, it occurred to me last autumn that some advantage might be gained in this direction by the instruction of the staff of this institution in “first aid to the injured,” as prescribed in the scheme of the St. John Ambulance Association. I accordingly announced my willingness to give the necessary course of five lectures and demonstrations, and having obtained the moral and pecuniary support of my Committee, who granted £5 in aid of the project, two classes were speedily formed, the one consisting of 28 men and the other of 39 women (the rules of the Association forbidding mixed classes). The fees were fixed at 2s. for the men and 1s. 6d for the women (including an anatomical diagram), and each pupil was advised also to purchase Shepherd's Manual of “First Aid,” price 1s., and an illustrated triangular bandage, price 6d. The staff of attendants and nurses were so eager to enter the classes that the only difficulty I had was to exclude a sufficient number for the necessary service of the patients on lecture evenings, which were Thursdays, at 8 p.m. Each lecture occupied about an hour, and another half hour or so was subsequently devoted to practical work, in which I had the aid of the assistant medical officer, Dr. Taylor. The subjects embraced in the course included a general outline of the structure and functions of the body, with special reference to the formation of the skeleton, the course of the circulation, and the functions of respiration and the nervous system. The practical instruction was in the application of bandages, chiefly triangular, the various extemporary means of arresting hæmorrhages, and of protecting and securing fractured bones, and what to do in certain emergencies, such as suffocation, drowning, burns, scalds, &c.; also in the removal of the injured on ambulance stretchers and otherwise, and (for women) a cursory account of the principles of nursing. The classes were from time to time questioned on the subjects of the lectures, the matron undertaking the supervision of the practical work of the women. By these various means I think I may say that the pupils were well taught, and at the examination by Surgeon-Major Hutton, one of the Association examiners, out of 15 men and 19 women presenting themselves, 15 men and 18 women passed with credit. The examination was of a fair and specially practical character, the women having, in addition to vivâ-voce questioning, a paper of six questions to answer in writing, and the men being subjected to an extended examination in ambulance drill.
Case of Ovariotomy in an Insane Patient
Authors: Smith R. Percy
Published: August 2008

Annie S. R., aged 33, single, engaged in domestic duties at home, was admitted into Bethlem Hospital on September 8th last.
Illustrations of normal and defective development of the multipolar cells of the cerebral cortex; of their degeneration in senile insanity, and of certain albuminous or protoplasmic exudations commonly found in the neighbourhood of the junction of the white and grey matter of the convolutions in cases of general paralysis and ordinary mania, in which the symptoms have been more or less acute. (With plates.)
Authors: Palmer Edward
Published: August 2008

The brain-tissue from which the sections used for these illustrations were made was hardened by Hamilton's process, which, when carefully carried out, secures firmness of substance without brittleness, and a minimum amount of shrinking.
Remarks on Evolution and Dissolution of the Nervous System
Authors: Jackson J. Hughlings
Published: August 2008

(1) The Universal Symptomatology of an Epileptic Fit owing to discharge beginning in some part of the highest cerebral centres.—There is but little doubt that in a severe epileptic paroxysm (“genuine epilepsy”) there are effects, although very crude ones, produced in, or referred to, all parts of the body, animal and organic. Speaking figuratively, there is an endeavour to develop activity of all parts of the body excessively, and of all of them at once, and as rapidly as possible.
Concerning a new form of Mental Disturbance, having well-defined characters both clinically and pathogenetically
Authors: Meschede
Published: August 2008

In the classification of the different forms of insanity, it has been agreed to distinguish two chief groups—the first including those recent and curable psychoses, to which the term diseased process is of a truth applicable—the second including those incurable cases which have run their course, and which, indeed, scarcely merit the term diseased process, representing rather, as they do, permanent vices, the results of past disease. Since, in the first group, the psychoses affect principally the emotional and psycho-motor elements of the nervous system, the diseases belonging to this category have been described as of the character or temper (in its older sense) as against diseases of the intellect, which constitute the second category—these latter being marked chiefly by failure of the intellectual powers.
American Problems in Psychiatry, Illustrated by a Study of Cook County Insanity Statistics
Authors: Kiernan Jas. G.
Published: August 2008

The problems which present themselves to any community in regard to insanity at the present day, are much more complex than that presented to primeval society—which was simply self-protection. Primeval society canonized or exterminated the insane as they were given to ecstatic visions or violence. Even in Anglo-Saxon lands at the present day, while one portion of the community starves and freezes the insane and calls out for their blood, another portion makes them its religious leaders.
Folie du Doute
Authors: Kovalewsky P. J.
Published: August 2008

Every “psychiater” knows that “psychoses” are divided into two great groups: primary “psychosis” and hereditary “psychosis.” These two groups differ very much in their manifestations, in their course, and in their final issue. Such a classification can therefore be considered as rational, logical, and satisfactory.
Cocaine in the Treatment of Mental Disorders
Authors: Heimann C.
Published: August 2008

Certain therapeutic effects upon the human organism ascribed to cocaine,∗ occasioned me to make use of the drug in suitable cases of psychosis and psycho-neurosis. Stimulant action and exhilaration (Euphoria) on the one hand, and on the other depression of undue sensitiveness, these were the effects I looked for from the alkaloid. Unfortunately, I am able to record scarcely a single case of certain and permanent cure following the use of the drug.
1. Scandinavian Retrospect.
Authors: White Ellen F.
Published: August 2008

Having had my attention drawn by special circumstances to the Swedish gymnastics in England, I was induced to seek admittance to the Royal Central Institute at Stockholm in order to become thoroughly acquainted with the system, and as this system is beginning to attract much attention now in England, it may be of interest to have a short account of the Institution and of the course of instruction pursued in it.
2. Scandinavian Retrospect
Authors: White Ellen F.
Published: August 2008

The term “Medical Gymnastics” is used to express the treatment of disease by movements. Ling, an officer in the Swedish Army, and the originator of this system, received his first inspiration on the subject by finding that fencing cured the lameness in his own arm. From this simple fact he was drawn on to think, why should not other affections be also cured by means of movements. So he went through a complete course of anatomy, physiology, and pathology, and gradually evolved the whole of his system, which embraces, not only medical, but also military and hygienic or educational gymnastics. The object of hygienic gymnastics is to preserve the balance of power in the body; that of medical gymnastics is to restore the balance when it has been disturbed by loss of proportion between the parts. The blood is the carrier of life and of disease. If the stream to any part be above or below the normal supply, disease is the result. Can the flow and the actual quality of the blood be regulated by gymnastics ? The experienced gymnast at once answers “Yes.” The very fact that the hands and feet become warm through exercise shows that the sluggish circulation has been quickened, and that more and fresh blood has been brought to them from some other part which has in consequence become poorer, perhaps to its own benefit. Ling, by his marvellously clear insight into anatomy and physiology, was able to think out and arrange movements for all parts of the body, by means of which the supply might be decreased or increased, or the nutritive quality improved, all according to the exigencies of the case. Nor is the control of the circulation the only weapon in the hand of the gymnast. By constant pressure the form and direction of the parts may be changed, and swellings caused by accumulation of matter may be reduced and absorbed.
Address in Psychological Medicine, delivered at the Intercolonial Medical Congress in Melbourne on January 11, 1888
Authors: Manning F. N.
Published: August 2008

In taking this chair I have first to acknowledge the courtesy and consideration which induced the Council of the Congress to select as the President of this section the senior officer of the Lunacy Department of the mother colony, and next—it being my good fortune to occupy this position—to express my personal gratification at presiding over the first session of the important section of psychological medicine.
On the Cure of the Morphia and Alcoholic Habit
Authors: Playfair W. S.
Published: August 2008

The January number of the Journal contains a most interesting paper, entitled “The Confessions of a Young Lady Laudanum Drinker,” which relates what the writer went through during the endeavour to break off the pernicious habit she had acquired. In this instance after the daily dose of laudanum had been spontaneously lessened from four ounces to one quarter of an ounce, the supply was suddenly stopped. It does not appear that any means were taken to lessen the physical and moral tortures which followed, and which the writer so vividly describes as to give one a better idea of the condition of such patients than I have elsewhere seen. Fortunately the desired end was gained, but my experience in dealing with such difficult and unhappy cases convinces me at the cost of much more suffering than need have been, had another method been followed.
Myxódema and its Insanity
Authors: Mackenzie J. Gumming
Published: August 2008

From the obscurity of this but recently described, although probably not at all uncommon, disease, it may be allowable to enter somewhat fully into the history and description of this case, for it is impossible to say where one, perhaps unconsciously, may be unearthing a fact or trimming a torch that in the hands of others may give light.
3. Dutch Retrospect
Authors: Pietersen J.
Published: August 2008

In the “Nederlandsche Tÿdschrift voor Geneeskunde” for February, 1888, there is to be found an article under the above heading (“A Contribution to the Study of the Treatment of Epilepsy”) which is worthy of some consideration, for it discusses a subject which has received but scant notice at the hands of medical men, viz., the influence of electricity on the epileptic state. The success achieved by Dr. Niermeÿer in the treatment of the cases he cites would be a sufficient inducement for attempting by the method he advocates, if not the permanent cure, at least the amelioration of the condition of such patients in private and hospital practice, and before the consequent psychical change had introduced a new element in to the affection; but it would also be opening up a new field of study if a careful trial could be given, and the results published, of the effect of Niermeÿer's process on a series of favourable epileptic cases resident in asylums, the affection in such being independent of organic brain lesion. The practical importance of the subject justifies a quotation of Niermeÿer's contribution in extenso:—
Remarks on the Urine and Temperature in General Paralysis of the Insane
Authors: Turner John
Published: August 2008

The following pages contain the account of some analyses of the urine in general paralysis, together with observations on the temperature in this disease in relation to the nitrogenous excretion.
Notes on Some Asylum Specialities
Authors: Bakes Robert
Published: August 2008

During the past twenty years I have visited many asylums in Great Britain and the Continent, in Canada and the United States. I believe I have never visited any asylum without learning something, though in a very few cases I may, perhaps, have only learned what to avoid.