bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Calcium Content of Serum in Mental Invalids
Authors: Armstrong Edward , Hood Williamina
Published: August 2008

In March, 1925, Clark and Collip (1) published a modification of Tisdall's method for the estimation of calcium. They had made extensive use of their method, and claimed that it gave an error of not more than 2%.
Tryparsamide Therapy in General Paralysis of the Insane
Authors: Davie T. M.
Published: August 2008

Tryparsamide, the sodium salt of N-phenylglycineanmid-p-arsonic acid, was first prepared by Jacobs and Heidelberger in 1915
in the laboratories of the Rockefeller Institute. Following on the excellent reports of its efficacy in the treatment of neuro-syphilis in America, it was distributed to various research centres in this country through the agency of the Medical Research Council prior to its liberation for general use.
The Hæmoclastic Crisis in Mental Defectives. (From the Laboratory of the Rampton State Institution)
Authors: Thomas W. Rees , Lascelles W. J.
Published: August 2008

The ingestion of a pint of milk by a normal fasting individual is followed by certain blood changes, the most important of which are an increase in the leucocyte count and a slight rise of blood pressure. In the condition known as anaphylaxis, or protein shock, the general symptoms are accompanied by a fall in the number of blood leucocytes, a reversal of the differential count, and a lowering of the blood-pressure.
An Investigation into the Fragility and Solubility of the Red Blood-cells in Mental Disease
Authors: Scoresby-Jackson Margaret
Published: August 2008

The objects of this investigation were to find out in what respect the resistance to hæmolysis of the red blood-corpuscles differs in mental disease from the normal, and to make a contribution towards the elucidation of pathological mental states and their relationship to pathological states of organs of the body other than the brain.
The Extensity of a Pallidal Lesion, or “Disseminated Pseudo-Sclerosis”: an Unusual Case
Authors: Goitein P. Lionel
Published: August 2008

This seems to be a remarkable case of psychic disturbance coincident with a progressing disease of the paleo-striate system, and complicated by involvement of the pyramidal tracts. He exhibits a universality of clinical manifestations that is probably unique in a single patient; but this only serves to emphasize the diffuseness of the pathological process that involves corpus striatum lesions in general, and the extent to which it is capable of progressing in a particular subject. But his case is sufficiently atypical to be classed apart from any known disease-grouping, leaving us the alternative of two or more independent diseases affecting the same patient, or a gradual and extensive march of a morbid process that few victims of the pallidiæ class live long enough to undergo. As we shall show, our case has points of comparison with the bilateral athetosis that Cecil Vogt described; with the progressive lenticular degeneration of Kinnier Wilson; with a lesion in the strio-rubral and strio-cerebellar paths and more markedly with the Westplial-Strümpell “pseudo-sclerosis” syndrome. Added to this are evidences of a bilateral internal capsule involve ment, and an extending lower motor neuron lesion in the cord, judging from the asymmetrical bilateral results noted clinically. As is usual with these neo-striate groups, the mental and emotional disturbances are significant (perhaps indicative of some thalamic involvement)—indeed, in this case largely preceding the onset of other signs. Further, the vegetative nervous system also shows its expected hyperactivity (as instanced by most of the reported cases), possibly from an irritation of the subthalamic centres for the sympathetic. A few anomalous trophic disturbances complete the collective picture, of which, from its rarity, a detailed description may not be out of place.
The Induction of a bortion in the Treatment and Prophylaxis of Mental Disorder
Authors: Lord J. R.
Published: August 2008

My attention was sharply drawn to this subject by the submission to me recently of a case for decision as to whether abortion should or should not be induced as a prophylactic measure in regard to the possible recurrence of mental disorder.
Endocrine Therapy
Authors: Minski Louis
Published: August 2008

In recent years a large amount of literature has been published dealing with the treatment of mental disorders by means of gland extracts, and I take this opportunity of bringing to your notice some of the results I have obtained while treating patients with these extracts. I shall confine my remarks mainly to the treatment of the psychoses with ovarian extract, as, according to some authorities, the results following the administration of this gland extract have been highly gratifying, and we have therefore made use of it to a great extent in suitable cases. It is a well recognized fact that there is normally a perfect balance between the various endocrine glands, and that any disturbance of this balance tends to produce a disturbance in the mental and physical states of the person so affected. Thus there is a functional harmony and compensatory interaction between the ovaries, thyroid and pituitary glands, the secretion of one gland helping the action of another. It is also found that if the secretion from one of these glands is deficient, one of the other glands in the same series attempts to take over its function by hypertrophying and pouring out an increased secretion into the blood-stream. Thus, after removal of the ovaries, the thyroid and the pituitary glandtend to increase in size in order to compensate for the loss of the ovarian secretion. It is also a recognized fact that the corpusluteum, placenta and mammary gland secretions tend to depress ovarian function, and, therefore, to diminish the ovarian secretion. This is seen during pregnancy, when the ovarian secretion must be held in abeyance; if this were not so there would be an influx of pituitrin into the blood-stream which would cause uterine contractions and the inevitable termination of the pregnancy.
The Time-Sense
Authors: Hall W. Winslow
Published: August 2008

There is no lack of evidence that a subconscious measurement of the lapse of time takes place. For example, domesticated animals are often strikingly punctual; some idiots manifest an accurate faculty for time measurement; many men can judge the hour correctly without looking at a clock; others can wake at a predetermined minute; and, as a rule, post-hypnotic suggestions take effect with startling and cryptic punctuality. Investigators are agreed that time-gauging is much more accurate during sleep and trance than in the waking state—in other words, is now more a subliminal than a supra-liminal faculty.
The Mental Aspects of Epidemic Encephalitis
Authors: Marshall Robert Macnab
Published: August 2008

My view of the nature of this disease coincides with that of Dr. Mackenzie; The disease encephalitis lethargica may be defined as an infection the toxic products of which have an affinity for the grey matter of the central nervous system, and so give rise to any of the syndromes of disease of that tissue or to any combination of such syndromes, and which runs a fickle course that may end in recovery, death, or the production of characteristic sequeæ.
Spirochætes in the Brain in General Paralysis
Authors: Grant A. R. , Kirkland H. T.
Published: August 2008

Following on the momentous discovery of the causative organism of syphilis by Schaudinn and Hoffmann, some eight years later Noguchi, working under the great difficulties of his own method, demonstrated the presence of spirochætes in the brain of a general paralytic.
Hallucinations and Sanity
Authors: Nolan M. J.
Published: August 2008

When the patient, F. E—, handed me the MSS. entitled “Hallucinations and Sanity,” I recalled a paper read to this Association some ten years ago by the late Dr. Hunter Steen—a paper which Sir George Savage at the time styled as “mosetncyclopædic” (vide Journ. Ment. Sci., 1917, pp. 328 and 437). In the course of a most instructive discussion following on it, some points were raised which are especially noteworthy.
Dementia PræCox and Vitamins
Authors: Thomas W. Rees
Published: August 2008

The progress made in recent years in the study of vitamins has been phenomenal in that many disorders previously regarded as of infective origin have been shown to arise from deficiency of some particular item of the diet, which quantitatively is infinitesimal in relation to the total bulk of food taken. Although some five vitamins have been identified and their value established, as yet only one has been isolated in pure form and has acquired the distinction of a chemical formula. This vitamin—fat-soluble D—has a powerful influence in the prevention and cure of rickets; and its relation to dentition and caries of the teeth has been established by careful and prolonged experiment. So far as we know at present vitamin D can be obtained by the body from three different sources. The effects on health of sunlight and ultra-violet rays on the skin have been shown to arise from the capacity of the cells of the sebaceous glands of the skin to manufacture under these influences, from the various sterols they contain, a substance—vitamin D—which is then picked up by the blood-stream and distributed throughout the body. The second source is the fat taken in the diet, butter and cream being particularly rich in this respect. It has also been proved that food exposed to ultra-violet radiation acquires in an added degree the capacity to ward off the ill-effects of vitamin D deficiency. The third and, from the point of view of accurate laboratory control, the most important source is that in the form of ergosterol, a compound related to cholesterol, produced by extraction from yeast and other substances. Ergosterol can be obtained in more or less pure form, and after being subjected for a definite time to irradiation by ultra-violet rays becomes converted into a substance which has all the effects of vitamin D.
The Aims and Objects of a Mental Deficiency Institution
Authors: Turner F. Douglas
Published: August 2008

The aims and objects of mental deficiency institutions in England have altered fundamentally more than once since they were first started. These alterations have, in many respects, been quite as substantial as the changes in outlook of the mental hospitals.
The Value of Psychical Research to the Physician
Authors: Telling W. H. Maxwell
Published: August 2008

I should not have ventured to read this paper before such a distinguished audience had I not been specially urged to do so by your President. If, therefore, at its conclusion you have any or, it may be, much criticism, you must at least divide it between him and myself. I accept full responsibility for an inadequate and imperfect presentation of my thesis, but for the attempt itself he must take all the blame.
The Bacteriological Examination of Fæces for the Isolation and Identification of the Dysentery and Typhoid Group of Organisms
Authors: Howden A. L.
Published: August 2008

Fæces sent to the Laboratory for search for dysentery or typhoid organisms are plated direct on to three previously dried “Rebipel” agar plates by means of a stout platinum wire bent at right angles. The inoculated plates are incubated at 37.5° C. for 18–24 hours and are then examined for suspicious colonies.
Routine Treatment of Epilepsy
Authors: Steel John P.
Published: August 2008

In this hospital we have a routine differential diagnosis which is applied in all cases of suspected epilepsy and which is as follows:

(a)

High blood-pressure.

(b)

Trauma of vessels and angiospasm.

(c)

Nephritis, subacute and chronic.

(d)

Diabetes.

(e)

Tabes dorsalis, tabo-paresis, neuro-syphilis and general paralysis.

(f)

Hysteria.

(g)

Epilepsy.
The Clinical Investigation of the Autonomic Nervous System in Fifty Cases of Schizophrenia
Authors: Northcote Muriel L. M.
Published: August 2008

The scope of this work is to show the variations in blood-pressure and pulse, together with the secretory and vaso-motor changes, resulting from injections of adrenaline and pilocarpine. The response of certain reflexes is also recorded.
On the Examination of the Fæces in the Diagnosis of Phthisis Pulmonalis
Authors: Gallagher Charles E.
Published: August 2008

Many methods have been devised as adjuncts to clinical observation in the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. Leaving aside the use of the Röntgen rays and the method of cyto-diagnosis which at one time had vogue in France, the procedures may be divided into two groups: (1) those which depend on the observation of the effects of various extracts of the tubercle bacillus upon the patient; and (2) those which depend on laboratory observations upon various materials (sputum, blood, fæces, etc.). Among those in the former group are the tuberculin test, the Von Pirquet, Moro's cutaneous and Calmette's ophthalmic reactions. Their uses are limited. It is the methods in the latter group that lend themselves more readily to general use.
The Presidential Address at the Eighty-Eighth Annual Meeting of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association Held at the Westminster City Hall, London, W.C. 2
Authors: Raw Nathan
Published: August 2008

The subject of my address is one of immense importance to the community, and of particular concern to a very large number of individuals.
The Human Brain
Authors: Smith G. Elliot
Published: August 2008

Man is distinguished from all other living creatures by the quality and range of his intellect, and on the physical side by the nature of the brain which confers upon him this mental pre-eminence. Moreover, as its exceptional powers were acquired by a process of evolution, the true significance of the human attributes can only be appreciated by examining the history of their development.
The Brain-Liver Weight Ratio in Insanity
Authors: Fleming G. W. T. H.
Published: August 2008

The recent publication of two papers by Patterson and Weingrow (1, 2) on the brain-liver weight ratio in epilepsy suggested to the writer that an investigation of this ratio in non-epileptic psychoses as well as in epilepsy might prove interesting.
The Boltz (Acetic-Anhydride) Test in Cerebro-Spinal Fluid
Authors: Thomas C.
Published: August 2008

The acetic anhydride test was introduced in 1923 by Boltz, who regarded a positive result as diagnostic of syphilis of the central nervous system. The technique of the test is simplicity itself, and is as follows: Place 1 c.c. of spinal fluid in a small test-tube. Add 0.3 c.c. of acetic anhydride drop by drop; shake. Add 0.8 c.c. concentrated sulphuric acid drop by drop; shake. After five minutes examine the colour of the fluid against a white background. A lilac or blue-pink coloration is positive.
A Method of Continuous Colon Irrigation
Authors: Graves T. C. , Turner D. E.
Published: August 2008

Many requests have been received for information concerning the table, and also as to the method for continuous colon irrigation used at this hospital. In the hope that such information may be of general service the following communication is made:

In 1927 Dr. Henry A. Cotton kindly supplied us with a photograph of the table for this purpose which he had installed at the New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton.
“After-Care” and Other Aspects of Social Service as an Adjunct to Mental Treatment
Authors: Lord J. R.
Published: August 2008

Although the subject of my short address is named on the agenda “After Care,” I am privileged by your chairman to touch upon the activities of social workers generally in regard to the welfare of the mentally afflicted.
Alzheimer's Disease
Authors: Henderson D. K. , Maclachlan Sarah H.
Published: August 2008

In 1906 Alzheimer reported the case of a woman, æt. 51, who, in addition to the expression of ideas of suspicion and jealousy, failed mentally to such an extent that she was unable to find her way about her own home. During her hospital residence she was perplexed, disoriented for time and place, and had difficulty in understanding and in expressing her thoughts. There were delirious phases, during which she was hallucinated. Her power of retention was greatly impaired. She showed paraphasia and perseveration. The illness persisted for a period of four and a half years, and at the time of her death she suffered from contractures. Thepost-mortemexamination showed a striking alteration of the neurofibrils: “In an otherwise normal cell there appear at first one or more fibrils, which on account of increased thickness and increased stainability stand out prominently. In the further course of the alteration many neighbouring fibrils are similarly affected. These then form thick bundles, which gradually come to the surface of the cell. Finally the nucleus and cell disintegrate, and only a tangled bundle of fibrils remains to indicate the site of a former ganglion cell.” In addition, throughout the entire cortex, especially in the outer layers, there were many miliary foci or plaques.
The Therapeutic Effect of Assisted Respiration in Established Cases of Dementia Præcox
Authors: Peters Gordon Frank
Published: August 2008

The researches of Golla and his co-workers, Armstrong, Mann, Marsh, Scott and others on the bio-chemistry of dementia præcox suggested that it might be profitable to explore a line of treatment based upon their results.
The Source of Excitation in Late Rigidity, The Manic-Depressive Syndrome and the Epilepsies, and the Mechanism of Recurrency
Authors: Robertson G. Dunlop
Published: August 2008

The writers of text-books do not give us much aid in gaining a true idea of the cause of “late” rigidity—rather the reverse, for they seem to think it necessary, always, to drag in “decerebrate” rigidity as an essential preliminary towards understanding the factors in the case.
Hunger and Appetite: A Suggested Correlation Between Physiological and Psychological Processes
Authors: Weber Hilda
Published: August 2008

It is a well-known axiom that to know one subject thoroughly entails more than a passing acquaintance with many others. This is especially true of the field of medicine, where neglect of any one related subject may lead to an incomplete, or even to an erroneous solution of a particular problem.
The Protein Partition of the Serum in General Paralysis of the Insane, with Special Reference to Treatment
Authors: Ogden W.
Published: August 2008

It is generally known that the normal ratio between serum albumen and serum globulin is altered in general paralysis.
The Yesterdays and To-Days of An Alienist
Authors: Weatherly Lionel A.
Published: August 2008

Richard Jeffreys, in one of his fascinating books, tells us he has often met with those who spend half their lives wishing for to-morrow and the other half wishing for yesterday. I thank God I do not come under this category. I love to look back at many of my “Yesterdays,” although, as with most of us, some of these have been overshadowed by dark clouds, but, by an inherited determination and an inborn optimism, I have, I am thankful to say, been able “to push dem clouds away” and once more the sun has shone brightly. As to my “To-days,” I do my best to get every ounce of happiness out of them, and as I believe in the philosophic teaching that happiness is infective, so my life is made the brighter by the hope that, being cheerful myself, I may be able to brighten the lives of some I have to associate with or work for. As to my “Tomorrows,” I am afraid I have never given much thought to these, being content to leave them in the hands of what I hope is a kind Providence, and I trust I have little to fear.
The Prevalence of Sonne Dysentery in English Mental Hospitals
Authors: McGrath M. J.
Published: August 2008

The question of the prevalence of the Sonne bacillus as the causative organism in outbreaks of diarrhóa in mental hospitals in this country was referred to the Infectious Diseases Sub-Committee by the Research and Clinical Committee of the Royal Medico-Psychological Association. At a meeting of the Sub-Committee the subject was discussed, and it was decided to send out a form, asking for information, to those mental hospitals which are engaged in active bacteriological work. Each hospital was asked to state whether any case of diarrhoea due to the Sonne bacillus had occurred during the past five years.
A Further Note On the Possible Structures Mediating Mind
Authors: Burridge W.
Published: August 2008

The object of the present paper is to point out that two different working parts of muscle have hitherto been generally confounded together, whereas their analogues in the psychic mechanism have always been deemed separable. Scientific explanations of the phenomena of mind, however, seem ultimately to wait on knowledge of what happens in excitable tissues, such as muscle, so that the result of finding two working parts in the psychic mechanism, where it was believed there was only one analogue muscle, has been the introduction into physiological psychology of a number of what I have to suggest are superfluous terms. In addition, the present paper deals with the possible nature of the connection between cerebral excitation processes and the psychic response.
Some Reflections on the Progress of Psychiatry
Authors: Leeper Richard R.
Published: August 2008

Ladies and Gentlemen,—I rise, as your President, with a feeling of what the older physicians called præcordial anxiety, chiefly because I am not a teacher of psychiatry, but merely a clinical physician, and therefore possibly may have no real mandate from the gods to address you, except that which I owe to the kindly hearts of my fellow members of our great Association. Whatever work I have done in Ireland in helping to keep alive our interests in psychiatry you have bounteously rewarded, and I heartily thank you, on my own behalf, and also on behalf of the Irish Division, for the great honour you have conferred upon me. The old Shakespearian tag says: “Some are born great, and some achieve greatness,” but I assuredly have had this “greatness thrust upon me.” It is difficult, all must admit, to leave “footprints in the sands of Time,” and, to one who succeeds such men as Conolly Norman, Dawson and Nolan—all Irish Presidents—the task is not easy. The older members will easily remember Sir Thomas Clouston, Dr. Urquhart, of Perth, Sir George Savage, and many others who have kept alive the knowledge of psychiatry and amply added to it, and we, who speak to you in, possibly, “childhood's treble tones,” and look at you through the oncoming “silvery fringes of the ‘arcus senilis,’” can only feel that the good work of clinical psychiatry will be carried on, in the curative interests of God's mentally afflicted, as it has been done in the past; and it will, I feel sure, be effectually perfected in the future by the younger members of to-day, graced with the present-day knowledge of biochemistry and the more modern methods of psycho-therapy.
The Mechanism of Personality
Authors: Burridge W.
Published: August 2008

Our conceptions of how the organs of the body work are primarily derived from experiments done on muscle, the organ from which experimenters have been accustomed over many decades to ascertain the fundamental properties of living tissues; the principles there learnt have then been directly applied to the problems presented by other organs. Such having been, and still being, scientific practice, it follows that, if we find out about the working of muscle something fundamentally different from that hitherto suspected, we not only obtain therefrom new ideas of the working of muscle, but also new principles to apply to our ideas of the working of other organs. It could happen, however, that new knowledge concerning the fundamental working of the organs of the body should actually come from some other organ than muscle. In that case the newly discovered phenomena would not be directly explicable in terms of the fundamental principles derived from muscle. Two courses would then be possible. The discoverer could re-consider his fundamental principles, and thereby be led to reexamine the workings of muscle in the light of the information supplied by the other organ, or he could frame an ad hoc hypothesis concerning the supposed peculiar behaviour of the other organ. The latter has been the usual course followed, though it would not appear that the framing of such hypotheses has been made with full awareness that they really resolve conflict between principles derived from muscle and principles derived from the other organ.
The Pathogenesis of Anaërobic Microbic Infections in the Major and Minor Psychoses, with Control Cases
Authors: Ford-Robertson W. M.
Published: August 2008

The subject of this thesis is the outcome of what might be termed a hereditary interest in the complex problem of the relationship of chronic infections to the psychoses and allied mental disorders. Circumstances enabled me, while still a student, to undertake very humbly the continuation of my father's researches in the Scottish Asylums' Laboratory at a point where his illness and death might have proved the closing of a long and arduous chapter. That this would have been so is, as far as I know, borne out by the fact that up to the present no work directly bearing on his later bacteriological studies has been published. The researches I have undertaken during the past six years have been an attempt to elucidate more clearly what exactly are the bacteriological factors at work, and, further, in what manner they attack the economy generally, and with what result. In my endeavour to verify and extend Ford-Robertson's views I have been singularly fortunate.
James Greig Soutar, M.B., C.M.Edin
Authors: Dawson W. R.
Published: August 2008

James Greig Soutar was a man whose value to his day and generation and real eminence in his profession can in no way be estimated from his conspicuousness outside the area where his work lay and the circle of those who were fortunate enough to know him well. He passed away as quietly as he lived, having characteristically continued in harness as long as it was humanly possible.
1. Sinusitis and Mental Disorder: Clinical Manifestations
Authors: Graves T. C.
Published: August 2008

The object of this contribution is to draw attention to a hitherto imperfectly recognized type of septic infection, which has provided new fields of research, and has shown the way to a fuller appreciation of the ütiological relationship of sepsis and mental disorder.
A Psycho-Analytic Approach to the Classification of Mental Disorders
Authors: Glover Edward
Published: August 2008

During a symposium on the psychotherapy of the psychoses held under the auspices of this Section,† I took occasion to point out that, owing to the nature of their case material, many psychoanalysts had been forced to undertake this branch of treatment, whether they liked it or not. In the case of psychiatric classification the position is somewhat different. However much the psychoanalyst may choose to procrastinate, he cannot postpone indefinitely the task of correlating psychiatric data with his own systematic formulations on mental development. The more precise and dogmatic these formulations become, the more incumbent it is on the psycho-analyst to test them in the psychiatric field. Already some ventures have been made in this direction, notably in the work of Rickman,† Schilder,§ Stärcke‖ and others. The main justification for a renewal of these attempts lies in the fact that during the past four or five years, appreciable advances have been made in the psycho-analytic understanding of early stages of ego development. A great deal has been achieved by the analysis of small children, largely under the inspired stimulus of Melanie Klein, and already this work has produced reverberations in other directions. I am constrained to make this preliminary explanation in the hope of mitigating an impression which I fear still prevails in some quarters, namely, that in its relations to psychiatry, psycho-analysis displays the dogmatic over-compensation of an ignorant and none-too-welcome parvenu. Indeed, I should like to take this opportunity of stating that psycho-analysis, if even on the barest grounds of economy of effort, looks forward to an increasingly close alliance with pure psychiatry. And I hope to be able to indicate in this paper some problems on which the co-operating energies of the two sciences might well be concentrated.
A Tour of Some Mental Hospitals of Western Germany
Authors: Evans A. E.
Published: August 2008

On the evening of Monday, April 25, 1932, the members of the fourth Study-tour of Mental Hospitals met at Cleves, seven miles east of the Dutch-German frontier. Two of our party used a private car and the others a motor coach, into which we had detrained at Nymwegen. We were joined there by Dr. Kraus of Santpoort and Herr Rou, an able and zealous guide, whom the Hamburg-Amerika Linie had sent to ease our way, and facilitate our intercourse with the German colleagues receiving us.
The Sero-Diagnosis of Syphilis in Mental Hospital Practice
Authors: Nicole J. Ernest , Fitzgerald E. J.
Published: August 2008

During the last nine months of 1931 a series of 175 cases were tested for syphilis by means of several reactions, and the results were reported in this journal in January, 1932. During the next nine months the work was continued and considerably extended, and we shall here give the further results thus obtained, together with a statistical expression of the findings of both periods combined.
The Blood-Urea in Psychotics
Authors: Parfitt D. N.
Published: August 2008

Although the blood-urea level is not uniformly distinctive of any type of psychosis or phase of a psychosis, yet its estimation in general psychiatric practice is probably as useful as any other test or reaction in use to-day.
The Factor of Hypoglycemia in the ætiology of Idiopathic Epilepsy
Authors: Minchin R. L. Haviland
Published: August 2008

In the whole realm of medicine there are few more easily recognizable clinical syndromes than those which have been grouped together under the generic term of “epilepsy” or “epileptiform convulsions”; nevertheless, in spite of a vast amount of research work, the causation of these conditions is still imperfectly understood.
On the Practical use of Mental Science
Authors: Bushnan J. Stevenson
Published: August 2008

Mental Science, in the forms under which it usually exhibits itself, is a subject of extreme generality. It deals with the phenomena of consciousness, as these are common to the whole human race. It hardly takes into account those peculiarities of the mind, from which individual character is formed; nevertheless, in the practical application of mental science, it is with individual character that we are for the most part engaged. Shall we, then, conclude that the prevailing systems of mental science afford no insight into the practical uses of that science ? Certainly not—and for this very sufficient reason, that the peculiarities of individual minds bear but a very small proportion to the operations which arise in obedience to laws affecting all the sound-minded members of our race. Hence, in the study of the practical uses of mental science, while it is incumbent upon us to fix a strict attention on the general laws of thought, means must at the same time be sought to bring to light the limits of the range, within which these laws, in particular minds, suffer modification.
Kleptomania
Authors: J. C. B.
Published: August 2008

The injudicious defence of two lady thieves on the plea that they were subject to that form of mental unsoundness to which Mathey and Marc have given the sounding title of kleptomania, has attracted public attention to this form of mental disease, and has given rise to a considerable amount of written and spoken nonsense upon the subject. Even “our facetious contemporary” has had his jests and his caricatures thereupon, and in the slang of the day a burglar has become a kleptomaniac, and a prison a kleptomaniac hospital. Alienist physicians have of course received their full share of sarcastic remarks, as theorisers not over-wise nor over-useful to society, who would willingly provide for every crime a decent veil, by referring it to some strange form of mental disease. Now there is such a tiling as theft which is the result of mental disease; and also, let us boldly avow our conviction, though we write within the precincts of a madhouse, that there is such a thing as theft which is simply a crime, an attack made by the selfishness of one individual upon the rights of another. Let us even take the broader ground, and avow our profound conviction that insanity and crime are distinct and separate entities, wide as the poles asunder in all instances where their distinctive characters are well marked; although undoubtedly there are instances which are divided by partitions as thin as those which Dryden places between wit and madness, or rather instances in which the qualities of crime and insanity are so intimately combined that the task of analysing the nature of the act becomes no easy one either to jurist or physician.
Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London
Authors: Munk William
Published: August 2008

These two handsome and ably written volumes are, as the learned author says, an attempt to supply a complete series of the fellows, licentiates, and extra-licentiates of the college from its foundation, in the tenth year of Henry the Eighth, to the passing of the Medical Act, in the twenty-second year of the reign of Victoria. Of course the series contains the names of many worthy and useful men in their day, the mute and inglorious record of whose existence now is only marked by a date; but of more eminent men Dr. Munk gives a brief biographical sketch, in which the leading incidents of life and traits of character are drawn with scholarly skill, and gentlemanly feeling, qualifications which were, indeed, essential to an author who should be able to draw up a record of our professional predecessors, in which their frequent and not very dignified quarrels could be presented in a manner devoid of all offence to the present standard of good taste.
Statistics of Insanity, embracing a Report of Bethlem Hospital, from 1846 to 1860, inclusive
Authors: Hood W. Charles
Published: August 2008

Dr. Hood has a second time enriched our knowledge of mental disease, as it is founded upon numbers and the reflections they suggest. His present valuable contribution to the statistics of the insane is one of a series which we hope to see emanating from the officers of our large institutions, and we entirely echo Dr. Hood's earnestly expressed hope, that the Commissioners in Lunacy will recommend an uniform plan of statistical inquiry to be adopted in our county asylums, by which the present vague and unsatisfactory information contained in their reports may be compressed into form, so as eventually to become the basis of certain knowledge upon which the diagnosis and prognosis and treatment of the insane, may be conducted with some greater degree of confidence than we at present possess.
Lilliputian and Brobdingnagian Hallucinations Occurring Simultaneously in a Senile Patient
Authors: Thomas C. J. , Fleming G. W. T. H.
Published: August 2008

The study of miniature hallucinations has been, in the main, the work of French psychiatrists, notably M. Leroy, who gave them the name “Lilliputian Hallucinations” (1), (2), (3), (4). A communication from M. Leroy on this subject was read at the Spring Meeting of the S.E. Division of the Medico-Psychological Association in 1922, and a report on this was published in the Journal of Mental Science (5).
A Note on the Palmar Chin Reflex of Marinesco
Authors: Golla F. , Antonovitch S.
Published: August 2008

In 1920 Marinesco and Radovici (1) described a reflex contraction of the homolateral chin muscles in response to stimulation—pricking or pinching—of the thenar surface of the hand. They record a case of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis where such a stimulus evoked a slow contraction involving the triangularis and quadratus menti of the same side. In this particular case the reflex could be elicited not only from the palmar region, but also from the skin of the arms, thorax and abdomen, also by stimulation of the perinæum, effected by passing a urethral sound. The lowest threshold of reflex excitability was, however, obtained on the palm.
Blood Bromine in the Psychoses
Authors: Hennelly T. J. , Yates E. D.
Published: August 2008

Early investigators differed widely in their estimations of the bromine content of normal blood (1, 2), and it was not until the development of a refined technique by Bernhardt and Ucko (3) that it was generally recognized that blood bromine varied around 1 mgrm. %. These authors gave a range of 1.0 to 1.6 mgrm. %. Their studies, however, were not extensive. During 1931–3 Zondek and Bier (4, 5, 6) published the results of a series of investigations into the bromine content of the blood of normal and psychotic patients. From a study of 150 mentally normal patients they considered that blood bromine usually varied between 0.8 and 1.0 mgrm. %, a range later extended to 0.731.10 mgrm. % as a result of further study. In a large number of psychotics examined by them, values lying within these limits were found with the notable exception that 85%-90% of 60 cases of endogenous manic-depressive psychoses gave figures 40% to 60% below their normal levels (Zondek, 1933) (6). These low figures appeared only to be associated with this psychosis, although of the 16 cases of schizophrenia examined by them, 5 gave figures lower than the normal. They stated that in these 5 cases the mental picture was characterized by more or less marked depression, and they considered the possibility of their ultimately turning out to be manic-depressive in character. In a later paper, three examples are cited of low blood bromine associated with organic brain disease, and thought to be due to interference with a bromine-regulating centre in the brain. The low values found in manic-depressive psychoses were shown to be independent of the phase, and it was stated that values in general were not subject to seasonal variations, to menstrual fluctuations, or to alterations due to variable salt intake.
The Mental Regulation of Intestinal Activity
Authors: Edwards J. M.
Published: August 2008

The control of the colonic motor function, and especially of the series of events which lead to defecation, is generally recognized as being a subject of the greatest importance in medicine; and, more particularly, the possibilities of varying that control. There are a large number of diseases that may, in special instances or in general, be due to constipation and inefficient elimination of waste products. Constipation has been claimed as the first step towards the different catastrophes ranging from Menière's disease and otosclerosis, gout, hyperpiesia and certain of the rheumatisms, to cases of hernia and abnormal presentation. It is my endeavour to look upon it as being even more prominently a secondary manifestation, a symptom of an even more widespread condition—mental misapplication and disorders of mental forces. With this in mind and dealing with an argument that is already proved to some degree in its most marked details, it is hoped to present, not masses of data and deduction so much as an illustration of the value, and even a hint at the frequent therapeutic necessity of orientating the various causation circles in this direction. As a cause, and especially of these mental difficulties themselves, constipation is well enough stressed; constipation as a result has not yet been sufficiently realized, nor attacked rationally from its base. The words “habit formation” cover most of the therapeutic efforts from the mental side, and that is conceived very much as a time-conditional reflex of purely physical determination. A more definite idea, then, of the mental aspect of intestinal motor function may be helpful, and especially so when so many of the habitual purgative class of drug are being authoritatively questioned as being disorganizing to this proper function. The treatment of constipation is hardly yet on a successful or rational basis.
Variations in Blood Sugar in a Case of Depression with Diabetes Mellitus
Authors: Anderson E. W.
Published: August 2008

Some apology may at first sight appear to be needed for burdening yet further the literature on blood sugar in the psychoses. The following observations, however, require recording, in that they illustrate certain aspects of the relation of the behaviour of the blood sugar level to changes in mental state which are as yet obscure.
The Resemblance of Twins with Regard to Perseveration
Authors: Yule Ella Pratt
Published: August 2008

The social behaviour which is the material of psychological observation at any given time is the product of a certain genetic constitution on the one hand, and of a complex process of social, educational, familial and, to some extent, uterine environment on the other. The social behaviour of human beings cannot be subjected to direct methods of genetic analysis. The genetic psychologist may be compared to the astronomer, in so far as he has to rely on Nature to perform the experiments which he himself is unable to undertake. To the category of such experiments belongs the phenomenon of twin production. In the production of monozygotic twins Nature provides us with individuals of the same genetic constitution. Such differences as they exhibit arise uniquely from the operation of differences in the environment in which they are placed. In ordinary circumstances they share many more features of environment than any other two individuals selected at random from the population. When reared together, the extent of their dissimilarity can only throw light on such differences of nurture as may operate on members of the same family unit and of the same age. If they are reared apart, the measure of resemblance exhibited by monozygotic twins may throw light on the influence of social environment in a less restricted sense. With a sufficiently large sample of twins reared apart, a satisfactory standard of comparison for assessing the extent of resemblance due to genetic constitution, plus the effects of a common uterine environment, would be provided by the degree of resemblance existing between their foster sibs in families into which they have been adopted. Such data cannot be collected easily. As yet they do not exist in sufficient quantity to yield satisfactory conclusions.
Experimental Studies on the Connection of Schizophrenia and Tuberculosis
Authors: Beck A. , Ogden W. , Whelen M.
Published: August 2008

Kraepelin and Morel were the first to emphasize the fact that tuberculosis is more common in schizophrenics than in other psychotics. Later on, Ganter, Zalla and Bonasera confirmed this statement with the support of a wide statistical inquiry. Thus Ganter found the mortality from tuberculosis in schizophrenics to be from 46 to 67%, whilst the general mortality-rate in tuberculosis in the Prussian asylums was only 16.6%; Bonasera found the tubercular mortality-rate to be 61.7%, and Zalla 67.5% in their autopsies on schizophrenics.
Serum Calcium and Sodium in Some Psychotic Disorders
Authors: Tingey A. H. , Hardwick S. W.
Published: August 2008

The influence of slight variations in the inorganic constituents of the tissue fluids on the function of the nervous system has long been the subject of physiological investigation. Thus a disturbance of the ratio Ca/Na is known to be related to the irritability of muscular tissue (1). Ca and K are antagonistic in their action on the vegetative nervous system: Ca increases the excitability of the sympathetic system, whilst K excites the parasympathetic system (2). The influence of Ca on the excitability of the central nervous system finds a clinical illustration in tetany; and, from a pathological point of view, diminution of the serum Ca is well established in certain types of this disorder.
The Body-Length-Leg Ratio in the General Population and in Mental Hospital Patients and its Possible Significance in Suicide
Authors: Strecker H. Pullar
Published: August 2008

Psychiatrists will welcome Piney's recent preliminary communication (1) on the possible significance of certain physical characters. A series of measurements of about 500 bodies revealed that a very high number of suicides among the general population occurred in persons showing a body-length-leg ratio of over 50, i. e., the leg-length being more than 50% of the total body-length. Piney believes that persons of this type, among other abnormalities, have such mental characters as may lead to suicide. He raises the question whether body-length-leg ratios of over 50 are commoner among the inmates of mental hospitals than in the general population.
The Effect of Sodium Evipan on the Cerebro-Spinal Fluid Pressure
Authors: Butler E. N.
Published: August 2008

In view of the increasing use of intravenous sodium evipan as an anaesthetic, any contribution to the knowledge of its pharmacology would seem to be of value. It is known from experimental work and from clinical reports that injection of this drug causes a depression of both respiration and blood-pressure, and that jactitations or twitchings are often present during induction. The report of the Anaesthetics Committee of the Medical Research Council (1) states that there is generally a decrease in the rate of respiration, and that there is a transient fall in systolic blood-pressure of 20–30 mm. Hg. Weese (2) observed a decrease in rate and amplitude of respiration, and a fall of blood-pressure of not more than 20 mm. Hg. Jarman (3) found a fall of 20 mm. or more.
Some Observations on Renal Function in Mental Disorder
Authors: Shaw B. H.
Published: August 2008

Renal dysfunction is so commonly present in cases of mental breakdown that it is of interest to know whether it is especially associated with any definite clinical type or types of mental disorder. In an endeavour to ascertain this, cases have been selected from recent admissions in which the form of disorder from a clinical point of view appeared to be sufficiently marked to warrant placing them in a definite category. Many cases present such a mixture of cycloid, schizoid, confusional or paranoid indications that in an investigation of this nature the selection of sufficiently clear-cut types from a clinical standpoint is not altogether an easy matter. To determine the degree of concentration and polyuria, Rosenberg's modification of the Volhard test has been adopted. It involves little discomfort to the patient and is as follows:—
The Superficial Abdominal Reflexes
Authors: Skinner E. Fretson
Published: August 2008

The contractile response of the anterior abdominal wall to the stimulus of a scratch or stroke has become an observation of great value in the routine examination of the nervous system.