bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Case of Tumour of the Frontal Lobes of the Cerebrum in which Sleep was a Marked Symptom
Authors: Cowen Thomas Philip
Published: August 2008

This case, which was otherwise an ordinary one of tumour of the frontal lobes, presented as the most marked symptom persistent sleep.
Acute Delirious Mania and Uræmia [Délire aigu et Urémie]. (Arch, de Neurol, December, 1901.) Cullerre
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The author records two cases in support of his view that the syndrome of acute delirious mania is frequently an effect of renal disease, is, in fact, a hyperacute uræmic insanity.
Considerations on Infanticide [Quelques Considérations sur l’ Infanticide]. (Arch. d’ Arth. crim., January 18th, 1902.) Audiffrent.
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

In this paper Dr. Audiffrent deals with the mental conditions that commonly prevail in cases of infanticide, and with the influence which such conditions should exert on the social and legal attitude towards infanticide. With special reference to a case in which a young woman escaped from an asylum and killed herself and her child, the author considers the peculiar psychological conditions of pregnancy and the puerperal period, and suggests that there are biological reasons why a woman in whom, from whatever cause, abnormal mental conditions are set up, should be impelled to destroy her child. This impulse is not confined to the human female, but is found throughout nature, and leads, for instance, a bird whose young have been confined in a cage to enter the cage and kill them, while many animals, if interfered with after parturition, will kill or eat their young. The author considers that this tendency is recognised outside civilisation, and that it lies at the basis of the wide-spread belief that the mother is the mistress of the child she has carried in her womb, that it belongs to her like any other object that she produces, and that no one has any right to contest her rights over her infant's life.
2. Neurology
Authors: Wilcox A. W.
Published: August 2008

The first part of this article consists of an interesting history of many attempts made to localise the mind in the human body before and since that made by Gall in the first decade of the nineteenth century. After mentioning the work done by Bouillaud, Flourens, and others, the author states that no further advance was made for twenty years or more, until Broca, in 1861, localised the centre for articulate speech. He then describes the experiments in cerebral localisation made by Fritsch and Hitzig in 1870, closely followed by those of Ferrier, Horsley, Schafer, and many others, resulting in the determination of centres of control for nearly or quite all the groups of voluntary muscles, for general sensation, and for the more important special sensations of sight and hearing.
Contribution to the Semeiology of Dreams [Contribution à la séméiologie du réve]. (Gaz. des Hôp., May 23rd, 1901.) Vaschide et Piéron
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

A brief account is given of thirteen observations, carefully analysed, in which symptoms of illness followed upon characteristic dreams on an average forty-eight hours later, e.g. (1) a little girl, set. 3½ years, dreams that she is asleep in a closed copper bed, and that a carpenter who looks like her doctor fixes a vice by her bedside and squeezes her head in it. She shortly after developed a febrile illness which proved to be meningitis. (2) A lady, æt. 41 years, dreamt that her neighbour came to see her with a serpent coiled about her neck, which entered her (the lady's) mouth and tried to come out by the ear. In order to protect her own child, which she thought was lying by her side, she compressed her own ear to keep in the serpent. She was bitten by it, and could hear the hissing of the infuriated reptile. Three days later she had a purulent discharge from the ear.
Statistical Note on The Rôle Of Consanguinity in the ætiology of Epilepsy, Hysteria, Idiocy, and Imbecility [Note Statistique Sur Le Rôle De La Consanguinité Dans L'étiologie De L'épilepsie, De L'Hystérie, De L'Idiotie, Et De L'Imbécillité]. (Prog. Méd., May 4Th, 1901.) Bourneville
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

In 2784 defective children observed at the Bicetre and in the Fondation Vallée from 1879 to 1900, Bourneville has found only 91 cases (3.23 per cent.) in which the parents were of near kin—cousinsgerman in 49 cases, cousins farther removed in 36 cases, other or undefined relationships in 6 cases. In all the 91 cases some degree of neuropathic heredity could be traced. These figures thus confirm the view that parental consanguinity is, per se, insignificant as a cause of degeneracy in the offspring.
Mental Condition in Aphasia [état Mental Des Aphasiques]. (Rev. De Psychiat., Jan., 1902, No. 1.) Vigouroux
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

The question to be determined is how far organic aphasia, on account of the alteration of internal speech, determines mental enfeeblement tending more or less to dementia. Vigouroux reviews the various opinions that have been held, e. g. that of Trousseau, who thought that in aphasics there was intellectual impairment; that of Charcot and Ballet, who considered that this impairment varied with the type of mind affected, that is, according as the individual is visual, auditory, etc. The appreciation of the intellectual ability is often a difficulty; there are a number of observations, for instance, in which sensorial aphasia with paraphasia may simulate dementia. Charpentier believes that among old chronic patients in asylums with apparent incoherence are a certain number of cases of paraphasia not understanding what they say, but well knowing what they wish to say.
Hysterical Psychosis and Myoclonus [Psichosi isterica e mioclonia]. (Il Manicomio, anno xvii, No. 3, 1901.) Mondio
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The patient was a woman æt. 24, with alcoholic and neuropathic taint in ancestry; she suffered in childhood from general choreiform tremors, which gradually disappeared before puberty. Always odd in disposition, as she grew older she appeared more unstable and eccentric; she developed homosexual tendencies, and became addicted to drinking. At twenty-three years of age she came under treatment for persecutory delirium, with suicidal ideas and refusal of food. After a short period of improvement she was readmitted with the same mental symptoms, which were associated with ordinary hysterical stigmata. She now presented, in addition, anomalous muscular phenomena combining the characters of myoclonus, electrical chorea, convulsive tic (Charcot), and fibrillary chorea (Morvan). She remained huddled up in a state of general flexion; the upper limbs and right leg were agitated by constant, rapid, synchronous tremors; the shoulders were jerked up and down in movements of wider range; from time to time rapid fibrillar contractions ran along some of the larger muscles; occasionally one or more muscles passed into tetanoid spasm. The muscles of the face showed no clonic movements, they were occasionally contracted in a grin of pain. Emotion and effort increased the spasmodic symptoms; they ceased during sleep.
Case of Acute Delirious Mania [Sur un cas de délire aigu]. (Gaz. des Hôp., Jan. 14th, 1902.) Buvat
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

This is a case, apparently, of endogenous toxic origin, immediately arising after a violent emotion of sorrow, which caused sudden suppression of the menses. J. C—, was admitted into Villejuif Asylum, May 1st, with certificates stating that she was acutely maniacal and violent, and that she also presented signs of mental enfeeblement and alcoholism. She was restless, incoherent, violent, and slightly feverish. The onset of her illness dated from the beginning of her child's illness; she became sad, irritable, and ate but little. The child dying, her menstruation ceased after twenty-four hours' duration, and she began to have delusions. A few days later she became acutely maniacal. May 2nd, restless, incoherent, destructive, scarcely heeds questions; has to be fed with stomach-pump; temperature 37.8° C. Between May 3rd and May 12th temperature varied between 39.4° C. and 38.2° C., and the acutely maniacal condition persisted. No sign of typhoid, etc. Wasting rapidly. This went on, more or less, till June 6th, when the patient became quieter; her temperature fell to normal, and her tongue became cleaner. After June 14th, although there was no fever and the acute delirious condition did not recur, the patient remained maniacal until the end of August—restless, incoherent, sleeping badly, mistaking identities, etc.
Changes in the Cerebellar Neuroglia in Progressive Paralysis [Die Gliaveränderungen im Kleinhirn bei den progressiven Paralyse]. (Arch. f. Psychiat. u. Nervenkr., B. xxxiv, H. 2, p. 523.) Raecke, Dr
Authors: Dawson W. R.
Published: August 2008

Fifteen cases in which the changes in the cerebellar neuroglia were specially studied are given in some detail. The results correspond generally to those of Weigert. In the molecular layer, Bergman's fibres are increased in numbers, but unevenly. Most of the new fibres run vertically, but some obliquely or transversely, the last often forming bands at two levels, viz. along the outer margin of the cortex and at the boundary of the granular layer. In the latter position they form basketworks enclosing Purkinje's cells. The transverse fibres are mostly delicate, but a number of large spider-cells at the border of the granule layer give off coarse fibres, running to the surface. The largest collection of glia-nuclei is in the same situation. In the granule layer also the changes are of unequal degree. They consist in loss of granules, the place of which is taken by hypertrophied neuroglia fibre and nuclei. In the medulla the hypertrophy is rarely of great extent, and appears to prefer the immediate neighbourhood of the vessels, where large, coarse-fibred spider-cells are also found. Fibres and nests of glia-nuclei occur, however, between the nerve-bundles. Jn general, the rule is that in progressive paralysis the molecular layer is most involved, then the granule layer, more in spots, and last and least the medulla. Hence it is the dendrites of Purkinje's cells which appear to be chiefly affected in this disease, and their bodies also vanish in advanced cases. The morbid process thus seems to advance from without inwards. Little clinical value is claimed for these results, owing to the irregular distribution and frequently slight degree of the foci of disease; but it may be supposed that the changes contribute to the ataxy and incoordination. The paralytic seizures are more likely, from these cases, to be connected with diseased foci in the thalamus. No relation could be detected between the cerebellar changes and absence or increase of the reflexes.
Abnormalities of the Circle of Willis in Criminals, in relation with Alterations in the Brain and Heart [Anomalie delpoligono arterioso del Willis nei delinquenti in rapporto con alterazioni del cervello e del cuore]. (Arch, di Psychiat., vol. xxii, fasc. 1, 1902.) Parnisetti
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

In a series of eighty-seven post-mortem examinations of criminals, the author found that the circle of Willis presented abnormalities of origin, development, or direction in 65.5 per cent. of the cases, the majority (32.18 per cent.) occurring on the left side. In 73.56 per cent. of the cases the weight of the brain was below the average, and the inferiority of weight coincided in 51.72 per cent. of the subjects with the existence of such vascular anomalies. Morbid changes in the vessels, membranes, and brain-substance were unusually abundant The weight of the heart was below the average in 75.86 per cent. of the criminals examined, and in 49.42 per cent. this condition was associated with abnormalities of the circle of Willis. Among the cases with these latter abnormalities heart lesions were particularly frequent.
The Presidential Address, delivered at the Sixty-first Annual Meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association, held at Liverpool on July 24th, 1902
Authors: Wiglesworth J.
Published: August 2008

The honourable position which your courtesy rather than any merit on my part has placed me in, carries with it the privilege of addressing you, and in offering you a few remarks on some of the problems of heredity, more especially with reference to their bearing upon insanity and allied conditions, I am fully conscious how inadequate my knowledge is to treat with satisfaction so important a theme. I venture to hope, however, that a few facts and theories bearing on this subject may not be devoid of interest, and may possibly serve as a stimulus to additional inquiries in this direction.
A Case of Cysticercus Cellulosó of the Brain
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

D. R—, æt. 27, butler, of Italian nationality, resident in England for past eight months, married, two children, the younger aged six weeks; in prison for petty larceny.
Progress of Psychiatry in 1902
Authors: Kovalevsky P. T.
Published: August 2008

The following is a brief notice of the Russian Literature of Nervous and Mental Diseases:
Progress of Psychiatry in 1902
Authors: Carolen W.
Published: August 2008

The State Secretary for the Department of Instruction has to some extent been an agent in the progress of mental science by rendering compulsory for students of forensic medicine a course of lunacy in an asylum extending over two months. By an unfortunate imitation of the Italian system, which in a single chain unites subjects of so diverse a character as toxicology, legal medicine, and mental diseases, the best method of freniatric teaching is not obtained. In Spain, a physician at the end of his career knows nothing at all of mental infirmities and affections. The action of the State Secretary is the more surprising when one remembers his order founding and establishing separate and compulsory chairs, both clinical and theoretical, of dermatology, otology, and ophthalmology. Alienists in Spain are disappointed, and regret that so incomplete a step should have been taken in so important a matter, for physicians at present look either dumb or foolish at court when cases of criminal responsibility, civil incapacity, etc., are being tried.
Contribution to the Psychology of the Genesis of Psycho-motor Hallucinations [Contribution à la psychologie de la genèse des hallucinations psycho-motrices]. (Arch, de Neur., No. 78, June, 1902.) Vaschide and Vurpas
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

The object of this paper is to show the important part played by introspection in the mechanism of certain delusions, and especially in the genesis of psycho-motor hallucinations. The complete notes of a case carefully observed in this connection are given—that of a woman aged forty-three years. Tormented by the thought of wrong-doing, by ideas of doubt and fear, the patient was especially anxious to analyse and explain her mental condition. She at first is satisfied that her ideas take birth within her mind, then believes that she is selfhypnotised; a stage further she suspects the domination of some indefinite power which directs her thoughts, experiments upon her, hypnotises her, and speaks within her. If she thinks evil of certain persons she hears them “inside “herself replying, insulting her. At times she moves her lips when speaking her own ideas, and is conscious of a conversation, an asking and a replying, going on in her head. Ideas of guilt are generally associated with these phenomena, and she asks forgiveness for these ideas, which spring up without the intervention of her will. The explanation which satisfies her best is that she is hypnotised and made to think, and the measure of her guilt is the consent which she gives to certain of these ideas—this consent being withheld in the case of others. The thesis which the authors endeavour to prove is that the interior language is the principal source of a considerable number, if not of most, psycho-motor hallucinations. They urge the importance of a careful study of the mental life of patients, and the fallacy of restricting observations to somatic examination alone.
On the Investigation of Heredity and the Degeneration of the Spanish Hapsburgs [Ueber die Untersuchung von Vererbungsfragen und die Degeneration der spanischen Habsburger] (Arch. f. Psychiat., Band xxxv, Heft 3.) Von Stradonitz
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Stradonitz, in a long paper, recommends historical research in connection with hereditary disease, and prescribes some methods of inquiry which are sufficiently obvious. Every one has two parents and four grandparents, and in this ratio his ancestors might go on doubling at each generation, till three hundred years back the ascendant roll might have 1024 persons. Actually this never takes place through the marriage of cousins in the first, second, and farther degrees.
Imbecility and Asextialistn [Imbecillità ed asessualismo]. (Il Manicomio, Anno xviii, No. 2, 1902.) Angiolella
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

This is a report with full anthropometric details, and illustrated by two photographs, of a somewhat uncommon case of sexual abnormality with arrest of mental development.
Traumatic Astasia-abasia in an Epileptic Child [Astasia-abasia traumatica in bambina epilettica]. (Riv. di pat. nerv. e ment, February, 1902.) Gabbi, V.
Authors: Gilmour J. R.
Published: August 2008

The patient was a child of 7 years, of good family history, both direct and collateral. No other members of the family suffered from epilepsy, and there was no evidence of syphilis. Somewhat slow in development, she began to walk and speak in her fourth year. About this time she would fall down with loss of consciousness lasting from five to six minutes. Bromide diminished these attacks, but afterwards marked convulsions developed, without aura or cry, with frothing at the mouth, incontinence of urine, marked prostration, and headache. Further symptoms supervened. On examination the patient was found to be well developed and nourished. Each three or four months she suffers from the convulsive attacks previously described. Percussion of the head causes the following phenomena:—A light blow on the scalp or face without warning to the child causes either an immediate fall or sudden and very marked trembling, and movements in the upper limbs are noticed. These bear no relation to the strength of the blow, and any hurt to the body produces no effect. Methodical percussion over the motor areas does not produce any isolated contraction. There is no difference on the two sides of the cranium. Excitement increases the effects. Anæsthesia of a skin area by chloride of ethyl produces no alteration. Electrical stimulation does not influence the condition. After the fall the child arose crying and agitated, the walk was uncertain and hesitating, the arms being used to balance, and she walked zigzag, as if the power of directing herself were lost—almost like a cerebellar gait.
The Light Reflex studied in the same Patients during the Three Stages of General Paralysis [Du réflexe lumineux étudié chez les memes malades aux trois périodes de la paralysie générate], (Gaz. des Hôp., No. 30, March 13th, 1902.) Marandon de Montyel
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

The author observed 104 general paralytics, but only 30 of these passed through the three stages, the others dying either in the first or second stage; 750 successful observations were made altogether, from which the following important conclusions among others are made by the author. The light reflex is more often abnormal than normal, and the alteration is almost invariably in the sense of diminution. Diminution and abolition were about equally frequent, and mostly the same in the two eyes. Abnormality was found in about one fourth of the admissions. Certain differences in the frequency of abnormalities were found according to the form of general paralysis, and according to the apparent aetiology. In the first two stages of the disease the light reflex was more altered in cases exhibiting motor affection. No clear relation seems to have been observed between alterations of the light reflex and sensory affections, except that diminution of tactile sensation was associated generally with some abnormality of the light reflex or its abolition. While examination of the light reflex, by revealing frequent and early alterations, is useful in the diagnosis of doubtful cases of general paralysis, it is of no assistance in prognosis.
Notes of a Case of Hystero-Epilepsy with Distinct Crises, Spontaneous Ecchymosesy and Attacks of Hysterical Fever [Note sur un Cas d'Hystéro-Epilepsie à Crises distinctes avec Ecchymoses spontanées et Accès de Fièvre hystérique]. (Arch, de Neurol., No. 77, May, 1902.) Multever
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

The case is that of a girl æt. 18 years, who was admitted into the Mulhouse Hospital on January 11th, 1899. She was illegitimate, and her family history was unknown. From the age of eight she had frequent convulsive attacks, occasionally preceded by an aura (visual), during which there was loss of consciousness, frequent biting of the tongue and lips, and injury to the head, and occasional involuntary micturition (no doubt epileptic). At the onset of menstruation she had some nervous disturbance. After admission two small bluish spots were noticed on the right knee; similar ones had apparently been present before, and others were observed on several occasions during her stay in hospital. They were painless, and usually disappeared in a few days. During her stay in the hospital she had several apparently typical epileptic attacks. She was treated with bromide of potassium.
On Agrammatism following Inflammation of the Brain [Ueber Agrammatismus als Folge von Herderkrankung] (Zeits. f Heilkunde, Heft 2, 1902.) Pick
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

In a reprint from this journal Professor Pick describes the case of a woman æt. 41 years, who after confinement showed symptoms of mental derangement. She was much excited and tore her clothes; speech was much disordered. When admitted to the clinique at Prague she was found to speak indistinctly, slurring over some consonants. The same deficiency was found in her writing, which scarcely recalled the words she was supposed to signify. She could understand reading, and what was said to her, though her intelligence was notably impaired. After a short stay in the hospital she was discharged, but was brought back eight months after in a much worse condition. In her writing, both to dictation and spontaneously, she only reproduced a few letters, though she copied correctly. There was paresis of the right side. The mental power went on diminishing, and the speech getting more unintelligible, till she died of pneumonia ten months after admission.
On the State of the Cerebro-spinal Fluids in General Paralysis [Ueber das Verhalten der Cerebro-spinal Flüssigkeit bei Dementia Paralytica, etc.]. (Allgem. Zeits. für Psychiat., Bd. lix, H. 1.)
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

The author recalls that since Quinke, in 1891, directed the attention of the Wiesbaden Congress to the use of lumbar puncture, numerous publications have appeared on the subject. He observes that the high expectations of the therapeutic value of this operation have not been realised, any improvement following being seldom lasting. It has been used with most effect in acute, serous, and sero-purulent meningitis, and less so in simple hydrocephalus, brain tumour, and tubercular meningitis. Lumbar puncture has, however, been an important addition to our means of diagnosis. Through it we are able to ascertain whether there is abnormal increase in the spinal fluid. This gives an important indication in cases of brain tumours and of serous meningitis with obscure symptoms. In doubtful cases of tubercular meningitis the detection of tubercle bacilli in the spinal fluid determines the diagnosis of the disease.
6. Treatment of Insanity
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The author criticises adversely the experiments and theories of Dr. Ceni published in a paper analysed by Dr. Sainsbury in this Journal (vide page 782), and records a series of observations which he has made with a view to testing Ceni's results.
The Bed Treatment of Chronic Insane Patients [Ueber die Bettbe-handlung bei chronischen Psychosen] (Allgem. Zeits. für Psychiat., Band lix, Heft 1.) Würth, A.
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

The author observes that the treatment of acute cases of insanity by confinement to bed has made good progress, in spite of criticism, during the last ten years.
Superfluous Autopsies [Ueber überflüssige Sectionin]. (Arch, für Kriminalanthropologie, Bd. viii.) Kornfeld
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

This paper has, at least, the quality of the unusual. It is a protest from a criminologist of repute against the holding of post-mortem examinations in cases where the cause of death can be inferred with reasonable probability from other evidence. The author is particularly opposed to the provision of the Prussian law which requires autopsies for legal purposes to be performed by two doctors in the presence of a magistrate. The grounds of objection appear to be partly sentimental and partly economical. If such a thing were conceivable about a German professor, one might suspect a ponderous jeu d'esprit.
Nomenclature of Mental Diseases
Authors: Urquhart A. R.
Published: August 2008

I have ventured to suggest that we should now consider what we are going to do about the classification of mental disorders. Lately, the Royal College of Physicians of London decided to revise the Nomenclature of Diseases, and publish another edition. The President of this College is on the Committee; as is also Dr. Savage, our colleague in London, who has taken much interest in this question. I was somewhat surprised the other day when I asked for a copy of the Nomenclature of Diseases in the Royal Medical Society of London, to find that they did not have a copy in their library—a book which is supposed to guide the profession in the statistical registration of diseases. In 1896, for the third edition, an attempt was made to reform the nomenclature of mental diseases, under the direction of Dr. Hack Tuke and Dr. Savage. In its present state it is still unsatisfactory. The classification with which we have to deal is as follows:—First, there is “idiocy (cretinism), and then mania (acute or chronic), delirious, hysterical, puerperal, epileptic, traumatic, syphilitic, gouty, from either acute or chronic disease, alcoholic, plumbic, or other poisons.” Acute is an absurd word, because we specially want to mark the duration. Acute should be rendered Recent. Then there is “melancholia (acute or chronic), delirious, hypochondriac, climacteric, puerperal, epileptic, syphilitic, acute, other diseases.” Then there is “dementia (primary or secondary), senile, climacteric, puerperal, epileptic, traumatic, syphilitic, acute, other diseases.” Then there is “mental stupor, anergic, delusional.” Then there is “general paralysis.” That is not a mental disease. Lastly, there is “delusional insanity.”
5. Sociology
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

Nearly the whole of this number of the Archives is occupied with an elaborate report on Vidal, the result of observations carried on in the prison at Lyons during six months. So careful and scientific a report must lead every English reader to view with regret the casual and summary methods, carried on with mediæval secrecy, which alone are permitted in our own country.
The Changes in the Nervous System in a Case of Porencephaly
Authors: Barratt J. O. Wakelin
Published: August 2008

Although much has been written upon porencephaly, yet detailed descriptions of the resulting alterations in the constituent neurons of the cerebro-spinal axis are few in number. As a further contribution in this direction the present case has been studied, and the changes found have been recorded as far as possible graphically. No attempt has been made to collect together the literature, largely clinical, of porencephaly, as it has been felt that this cannot be profitably done until the minute anatomy of the central nervous system has been placed on record in a much larger number of cases than is at present available
2. Physiological Psychology
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

In various cases, the author has noted at the moment of death a cænæsthesic sensation—doubtless associated with arrest of motor, respiratory, and circulatory functions—which is not without interest. The cases here described were mostly tuberculous, and included individuals of both sexes, and of atheistic as well as religious beliefs. In all the cases, the last sensation to which expression was given was one of flying, of moving upwards. In some cases death was peaceful, in others painful. In one case a girl died clasping the iron bars of the bed, in horror of being borne upwards.
The Psychology of the Dying [Contribution à la Psychologie des Mourants]. (Rev. Phil., Dec., 1902.) Piéron, H.
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

In various cases, the author has noted at the moment of death a cænæsthesic sensation—doubtless associated with arrest of motor, respiratory, and circulatory functions—which is not without interest. The cases here described were mostly tuberculous, and included individuals of both sexes, and of atheistic as well as religious beliefs. In all the cases, the last sensation to which expression was given was one of flying, of moving upwards. In some cases death was peaceful, in others painful. In one case a girl died clasping the iron bars of the bed, in horror of being borne upwards.
Right-handedness and Left-handedness. (Journ. Anth. Inst., July—Dec., 1902.) Cunningham, D. J.
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

This subject was chosen by Professor Cunningham for the third Huxley Memorial Lecture of the Anthropological Institute. He deals with it in a thorough manner and with wide knowledge of the extensive literature. He regards right-handedness as an organic acquirement of early man, due to natural selection. There is no good reason to show that monkeys are right-handed, and evidence obtained from Dr. Taylor, at the Darenth Asylum, showed that microcephalic idiots tend to be ambidextrous (five right-handed, four ambidextrous, one left-handed) The functional pre-eminence of the brain is the cause, and not the result, of right-handedness. Left-handedness may be regarded as due “probably to a transposition of the two cerebral hemispheres in the same way that transposition, either partial or complete, of the thoracic and abdominal viscera occurs.” It is noteworthy that there is a large proportion of left-handedness in those showing transposition of the viscera.
The Mental Examination of Accused Persons [L'examen mental des prévenus]. (Bull. de la Soc. de Méd. Ment. de Belgique, Feb., 1903.) De Moor
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

Dr. de Moor, in his presidential address to the Belgian Society, in view of the well-known fact that insanity is often overlooked in the law courts, urges the importance of judges being able to acquire, as at Heidelberg University, some knowledge of the mental condition of criminals, and of diseases of the mind generally. Moreover, he would reserve the mental examination of accused persons or prisoners to medical men with special diplomas. The selection of a lunacy expert should always be granted to the defence in a trial. In important cases he is in favour of two experts giving evidence, one of whom should be chosen by the defence; in case of their disagreement, the magistrate, with the consent of the defence, could select a third expert, whose decision would be practically final. In some cases, it is highly desirable that the accused should be placed under observation in an asylum for a limited period (the German law fixes this limit to six weeks). Such a sojourn by a special enactment could be made without prejudice to the accused. In addition to giving correct information concerning the mental condition of the accused (detection of simulation, etc.), such a period of observation in an asylum would turn out to be of real benefit as regards the treatment of the really insane. In exceptional cases the six weeks of observation granted by German law might be extended by permission of the magistrate upon request of the defence. Dr. de Moor in this address does not pretend to deal fully with this question, but merely makes a few suggestions well worth consideration.
On the Care and Training of Young Idiots and Imbeciles [Zur Pflege und Erziehung jugendlicher Idioten und Schwachsinnigen]. (Neurol. Wochenschr., Nos. 44, 45, and 46.) Krayatsch
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

In three numbers of this weekly, Dr. Krayatsch, Director of the Asylum at Mauer-Oehling in Lower Austria, shows what has been already done, and what is farther proposed to be done, in Lower Austria for young idiots and imbeciles. By the census of 1890 there were returned, in a population of 2,800,000, 3000 idiots and cretins, of whom 400 were considered to be of a school-attending age. But Professor von Wagner, in his investigations on cretinism in Styria, has shown that in the year 1899 there were as many as 284 boys and 184 girls in institutions for the care and training of weak-minded children in Lower Austria.
That Epilepsy cannot be caused by Toxæmic Conditions
Authors: Hall W. Hamilton
Published: August 2008

From time to time one meets with the opinion, or with expressions and general phrases indicating the unavowed opinion, that “idiopathic” epilepsy results from a toxæmic state,—that is to say, that epilepsy the disease is caused by poisons circulating in the blood; or less positively that epilepsy the paroxysm is determined, the attack precipitated, by the transient presence in the blood of such poisons; and in both cases the unexpressed idea seems to be that these poisons get there, in the manner of other auto-intoxicants, by reason of the inefficient performance of the digestive function in some respect.
On Warm and Cold Baths in the Treatment of Insanity
Authors: Tuke Harrington
Published: August 2008

I wish it were possible to state, that all the French physicians are as judicious and humane in their prescription of the douche bath, as M. Leuret appears to be, but they certainly order it too frequently as a means of compelling their patients to work, or with the hope and intention of producing a moral effect, which forcibly remind us of the attempt to wash the black man white, of our early fables. In England the douche would not be recognised as a part of ‘moral treatment.’ We are at the present day agreed in thinking that intimidation and coercion may make or modify the symptoms of insanity, but can seldom produce permanently good effects; and I think the douche bath is rightly considered to be legitimately employed only for its physical effect as a revulsive, a refrigerant, or a stimulant. There is one other effect of the douche bath, the ‘shock’ for which it is still sometimes ordered; but I think it a remedy of very questionable utility. I have never tried its efficacy, or seen its effects, but a very well known and esteemed physician states decidedly, that the “physical shock” has been known to produce a good moral impression; and although it is doubtful whether he intends by the expression “physical shock,” the meaning that his words may be taken to convey, they lead us to the consideration of the direct effect of the “shock” upon the nervous system, and the probability of its curative power in cases of its derangement. Dr. Copland in his marvellous work, just completed, the “Medical Dictionary,” thus describes the effect of a sudden douche: “When the stream is considerable, and falls from any height upon the head, its action on the nervous system is often very remarkable, and approaches more nearly than any phenomenon with which I am acquainted, to electro-motive or galvanic agency.
The Mental and Moral Effects of the South African War, 1899—1902, on the British People
Authors: Stewart R. S.
Published: August 2008

How wide-spread and how varied the impression was that was created by the late war between the British Empire and the Boers of South Africa, is a matter of common knowledge. There is no means of arriving at an exact idea of the influence it exerted upon one of the belligerent parties, but, so far as the people of the British Isles are concerned, there is abundant evidence to show that it produced an immediate and very profound, though unlasting, modification of national character and conduct.
Miss Hickman
Authors: C. M.
Published: August 2008

The case of Miss Hickman appears a very mysterious one in the light of the facts which have become known. An able, sane, sensible, athletic young woman, in the prime of life, and with no known antecedents of mental disorder, a qualified medical practitioner, holding a temporary hospital appointment, leaves the hospital one summer morning without notice, and is never seen or heard of again until her decomposed body is found, two months afterwards, hidden away in a thicket in Richmond Park. The evidence of suicide was conclusive, and at once an hypothesis is mooted that the responsibility of her position weighed so heavily upon her as to unhinge her mind. On this hypothesis is founded a further thesis concerning the unfitness of women to hold positions of responsibility, and especially their unfitness for the profession of medicine. Whether women are unfit to practise medicine need not be discussed here, but it is as well to point out the fatuity of the hypothesis on which the thesis is grounded. Apart from such instances as those of Queen Victoria and Catherine II, which go to show that certain women, at any rate, are capable of holding positions of responsibility even greater than that of house surgeon to a hospital, there is no evidence that Miss Hickman felt her responsibility unduly. As has often been pointed out in another part of this Journal, we are far too apt to speak of crimes as “motiveless” when all we are justified in saying is that we cannot discern an adequate motive for them. We have no surety that we know all the facts, and if all the facts were as well known to us as to the actors in these dramas, the probability is that the number of “motiveless” acts would be sensibly diminished. Every one of us has an outer life, known to all our associates, and an inner life, the whole of which is known to ourselves alone, though glimpses of it may be imparted to intimate confidential friends. To those who know our outer life only, many of our acts may, nay must, appear “motiveless,” although they may have been done after mature deliberation and consultation with our confidants; and if the whole of the inner life were known, it is probable that the residuum of “motiveless” acts would be very small.
Gossip about Gheel
Authors: Norman Conolly
Published: August 2008

Gheel is a well-worn theme on which it is hard to say anything that is very fresh. But circumstances of various kinds have of late contributed to renew general interest in this ancient settlement. The condition of lunacy affairs in our own country is somewhat fluid just now, and the insertion of any foreign object may help to bring about solidification. Finally, I had occasion to revisit Gheel during the past summer. On the whole, when I was asked for a paper for to-day it seemed not unsuitable that I should fall back upon this time-honoured topic.
The Execution and Post-mortem Examinations of the Three Van Warmer Brothers, (Daily Medical Journal, Feb. 8th, 1904.) Spitzka, E.A.
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

The simultaneous examination of the brains of three brothers must be a unique event, and this investigation, which was conducted by Dr. Spitzka in conjunction with Drs. Ransom and Carlos MacDonald (and only a brief preliminary report of which is here given), has therefore an interest beyond its criminological significance. The three brothers murdered their uncle, and were executed by electricity in New York last year. They entered the death-chamber without any fear or trembling, “making less fuss than many people do before the photographer's camera,” and the successive executions of the three men and all the necessary arrangements were completed in a quarter of an hour, consciousness being in all cases abolished instantaneously. The chief physiological effects of the electric current noted were the high postmortem temperature, the fluid condition of the blood, the tetanised state of the ventricular portion of heart, the almost bloodless condition of the lungs, and the contraction of the colon.
A Statistical Note on the Social Causes of Alcoholism
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The object of this paper is to draw attention to the nature of the social conditions that lead respectively to drunkenness and to chronic alcoholism, and to point out that these two phenomena are in great measure related to two distinct types of drinking, differing in origin, differing enormously in social gravity, and corresponding to quite different statistical measures.
The Presidential Address, on Paranoia, delivered at the Sixty-third Annual Meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association, held in London on July 21st and 22nd, 1904
Authors: Smith R. Percy
Published: August 2008

In taking up the office of President of the Association, I wish first of all to convey my thanks to the members for having appointed me to this honourable position, which is at the same time so full of onerous duties, and to assure them that during my tenure of it no effort will be wanting on my part to maintain the honour and interests of the Association. The first onerous duty which is put upon the shoulders of the President is that of giving a presidential address, a duty which I can assure those who have not yet passed the chair involves no small amount of anxious thought and work throughout the year of probation allowed to the President before taking up his office.
The Statistical Tables
Authors: Mercier Charles A.
Published: August 2008

The criticism that, at the Annual Meeting, I applied to Tables IV and VI, was purely destructive, and while it was, as I think, efficacious, it is open to the retort that the criticised tables must stand, unless I can suggest something better. The object of this present communication is to suggest tables which shall not be open to the objections which I have urged against those proposed by the Statistical Committee.
Stress Again
Authors: Mercier Charles A.
Published: August 2008

Dr. R. S. Stewart's statement, in his paper on “Wages, Lunacy, and Crime,” that he used the term “stress” in the ordinary sense of the term did not escape my attention, and naturally led me to suppose, until I read the subsequent part of his paper, that he meant to use the term in the sense in which it was introduced into psychiatry; and it was his departure from this “ordinary” sense which led me to make my expostulation. I desire to deprecate any notion in the mind of Dr. Stewart, or of anyone else, that I am pursuing this subject from any motive except that of clarifying our terminology from ambiguity and uncertainty. For one of my books I have chosen, as a motto, Huxley's confession: “The whole of my life has been spent in trying to give my proper attention to things, and to be accurate, and I have not succeeded as well as I could wish”; and it is in the continued pursuit of these objects that I venture to resume the subject. No alienist of candid mind will deny that our branch of medical knowledge and art still lags behind other branches; and, while much of this retardation is due to the greater inherent difficulty of the subject, and to other causes, some of it is unquestionably due to looseness of terminology and to that inaccuracy of thought which is indicated by inaccuracy of expression. It is the appreciation of this lack of precision which has prompted me to suggest the abandonment of the terms “mania” and “melancholia,” which no rigour of definition can ever now restrict within useful bounds; and with the same motive I return to the topic of “stress” as a text for the exhortation, not of Dr. Stewart alone, but of all of us, to consider with care what meaning the terms we use will convey to our hearers and readers.
A classification of the literature of insanity with relative index, on Dewey's decimal system
Authors: Urquhart A. R.
Published: August 2008

While the Association is engaged in considering the proposals of the Statistical Committee, it may be helpful to note what has been written about insanity from the point of view of a librarian. The following extended classification has been found adequate for the arrangement of some 1,500 books and pamphlets relating to this subject. An authors catalogue is easily prepared upon the usual dictionary plan, but it assumes a wide knowledge of literature, not only as a matter of history, but also as an incessant and overmastering growth. A subjects catalogue, on the other hand, is the method of importance to workers who, with the least possible delay, want to ascertain what has been written on all or any of the various aspects of the main subject engaging attention.
Amentia and Dementia: A Clinico-Pathological Study
Authors: Bolton Joseph Shaw
Published: August 2008

The present division of this paper consists of a clinical description of those types of mental disease which are classed by the writer under the heading Amentia. Under this term he includes, from the standpoint of morbid anatomy, all cases of subnormal cerebral development, and from that of clinical symptomatology, all cases of subnormal, and hence frequently abnormal, mental manifestation. He thus uses the term amentia to connote in the widest sense the mental condition of patients suffering from deficient neuronic development.
Some Points in the Early Treatment of Mental and Nervous Cases (with Special Reference to the Poor)
Authors: Boyle A. Helen
Published: August 2008

The object of the paper is to urge the establishment throughout the country of institutions for the treatment of nervous cases and of early uncertifiable insanity. The fact of certification leads to an erroneous view of insanity, for it does not make a person insane, nor does the absence of it prove sanity. The boundary line of certification is a purely arbitrary one, and, from the nature of the illness and our present ignorance of it, this is bound to be so. Certification does not necessarily mean that at such a moment a person became mentally upset, but rather that at such a time, after observation showing them not to be responsible for their actions, it became advisable, in the interests of themselves or others, to control them, if required, by force.
Some Notes on the Study of Insanity
Authors: Crookshank F. Graham
Published: August 2008

“The evidence … so strong that the relations of mind and nervous structure are such that the cessation of the one accompanies dissolution of the other, while … with death there lapses both the consciousness of existence and the consciousness of having existed.”