bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
On the Relation between Syphilis and General Paralysis. The difficulty of distinguishing General Paralysis from certain Syphilitic changes of the Brain
Authors: Foville Achille
Published: August 2008

In the article on General Paralysis in the “Nouveau Dictionnaire de Médicine et de Chirurgie Pratiques “(vol. xvi, p. 89., 1878), I thought I had settled the differential diagnosis of this affection when I said:—

“Multiple tumours of the brain, especially those of a syphilitic character, may be accompanied by motor and mental symptoms identical with those of general paralysis. More than once we have observed cases of this kind, and we believe that some do occur in which the differential diagnosis is impossible, except, perhaps, by means of the history. The autopsy alone discloses the error which has existed during the whole duration of the affection.”
Diffused Cerebral Sclerosis
Authors: McDowall T. W.
Published: August 2008

In the course of my asylum experience, this is the best example of the disease I ever met with, and I am therefore tempted to place it on record.
The Physiology of Mind. Being the first part of a Third Edition, revised, enlarged, and in great part rewritten of “The Physiology and Pathology of Mind.”
Authors: Maudsley Henry
Published: August 2008

In the April number we criticised the psychological side of Dr. Maudsley's work in this volume from the point of view of a merely idealist, or, as he would call it, “metaphysical” theory of knowledge.
On the Various Forms of Mental Disorder, (being the Substance of Lectures delivered at the York School of Medicine.)
Authors: Tuke Daniel H.
Published: August 2008

Passing from the consideration of the several so-called monomanias, or diseased manifestations of somewhat isolated propensities, we may next consider a more general affection, viz.
Remarks on the Results of the Collective Record of the Causation of Insanity
Authors: Major Herbert C.
Published: August 2008

It will be well known to all to whom these remarks are addressed, that Statistical Tables of the Causes of Insanity in the Admissions into Asylums began to be collected by the English Commissioners in Lunacy for the first time in 1876. In that year returns upon a definite system and plan were asked for and received from all asylums throughout England and Wales, the results being published in the Commissioners' Blue Book for that year. In the following year, 1877, the corresponding statistics were not collected, but in 1878 they were resumed in a slightly modified form as regards the list of causative agencies from that originally issued, and, on the amended plan, they have since year by year been continued.
Cure of Insanity by Removal of a Beard in a Woman
Authors: Savage Geo. H.
Published: August 2008

Mental disorder of a very simple kind may be often traced to the frequent repetition of some slight cause of irritation, the repetition having the most injurious effect. The effect of a constant or constantly recurring cause of disturbance may be seen to produce not only the simpler forms of mental disorder, but may also be recognised as a true cause of the gravest form of nervous disease. The mind may be upset, just as the temper may be ruined, by slight domestic worries; and this disturbance of mind may be followed by disease of the brain. In my experience, the brain is destroyed in general paralytics more frequently by constant causes of excitement or anxiety and worry, than by any sudden injury or shock.
Cases of Masturbation (Masturbatic Insanity)
Authors: Spitzka E. C.
Published: August 2008

The following case presents us with an interesting picture of alcoholic delirium, engrafted on a masturbatic neurosis. When the former was recovered from, certain features of insanity, due to masturbation, prevailed.
4. Therapeutic Retrospect
Authors: Sainsbury Harrington
Published: August 2008

Dr. Julius Donath, of Budapesth, brings before our notice on p. 335 of the above journal his own experience with this compound. Reviewing the action of bromides in epilepsy, Dr. Donath holds that it can scarcely be doubted from clinical evidence that the effective agent in the bromides is bromine. Thus the bromides of potassium, sodium, and ammonium act alike in this disease, and moreover the same is found to hold of the recently introduced Rubidium-ammonium bromide (Prof. Laufenauer). The prolonged use of the bromides of the alkalies, is, however, liable to be followed by a train of toxic symptoms: Mental torpor, slow speech, unsteady gait, tremor, ataxia, in some cases mental derangement (delirium, maniacal attacks), further anæmia, wasting, skin eruptions, intestinal and bronchial catarrh. Of these, with the exception of the skin eruption, the cause, according to Dr. Donath, is the prolonged use of the alkalies, for other salts of potassium, for instance, may bring about the same results. Accordingly, Dr. Donath sought for some compound of bromide with more harmless base, and he thought to find amongst the organic compounds one such whose base, being burnt up in the body, would liberate an exceptionally active bromine, since it would act in statu nascendi. Amylene bromide was first thought of, but discarded, because of the difficulty of preparing a chemically pure compound, i.e., free from isomeric varieties. Ethylene bromide, C3H4Br2, which is readily obtained in purity, was ultimately selected. The compound is a slightly brownish liquid, having the odour of chloroform, and a sweet burning taste. At 0° C. it becomes a white crystalline solid; at 131° C. it boils. In water, the heavy liquid, Sp. gr. 2163, is insoluble, and sinks to the bottom, but it mixes in all proportions with rectified spirits, and in fixed fatty oils, e.g., the oil of sweet almonds, it dissolves to form a clear solution.
Protection of Medical Men by the English Lunacy Law
Authors: Renton A. Wood
Published: August 2008

In the preceding part of this paper we considered what may be called the substantive provisions of section 330 of the Lunacy Act, 1890. We now pass on to the adjective part of the section. Suppose that a medical man, against whom an action for damages for the alleged false imprisonment of an alleged lunatic has been raised, is in a position to satisfy the Court or a Judge that “there is no reasonable ground” for imputing to him “want of good faith or reasonable care,” when and how shall he avail himself of his statutory privilege? Upon these important points section 330 displays the vagueness that is almost a characteristic of modern legislation. The only information that it gives us is that an application to stay proceedings may be made “summarily” (a term of which no definition is offered or even suggested) to “the High Court,” and that “the Court or a Judge” may grant or refuse the application “upon such terms as to costs or otherwise” as the said Court or Judge may think fit. Now, in the absence both of any clear light from the section itself and of any authoritative judicial interpretation of it, the maxim Omnis definitio in jure periculosa est applies with peculiar force, and consequently the following observations are offered with some hesitation.
The Relationship between General Paralysis of the Insane and Syphilis
Authors: Jacobson D. E.
Published: August 2008

I must confess that I approach the consideration of the relationship between general paralysis of the insane and syphilis with a certain degree of diffidence, seeing that here we have to deal with a question which is constantly being made the subject matter of discussion by modern alienists, and which in itself presents points of surpassing interest.
A Note on Cocainism
Authors: Norman Conolly
Published: August 2008

The dangers to be apprehended from the abuse of cocain are probably hardly yet quite realized, at least in this country. A great deal of harm has undoubtedly been done of recent years by the use of cocain as a help to break off the morphia habit. An exaggerated estimate of the assistance to be obtained from the former drug has been formed by such writers as Freund, and although Lewin and Erlenmeyer have warned us not to fly from Scylla to Charybdis, still it is to be feared that the notion lingers that cocain may be used advantageously and safely for this purpose. Nothing can be more mistaken. Cocain is more seductive than morphia; it fastens upon its victim more rapidly, and its hold is at least as tight. Cocain solutions are probably somewhat too freely prescribed in cases of disease of the nose and naso pharynx. Patients who use the drug in this way become very soon acquainted with its agreeable effects. Several cases have been recorded by American authors of cocain habit arising thus. That cocain has not been even more extensively misused is probably due to its being still a comparatively new drug, and also in part to its costliness. Up to the present time the largest number of its victims appear, unfortunately, to have been medical men.
Syphilitic General Paralysis
Authors: Nolan M. J.
Published: August 2008

At the present time, when our fin de siècle knowledge of “general paralysis” enables us to recognize under that generic term many types of the disorder, and when the relation between it and syphilis continues a rather vexed question, little apology is needed for introducing to notice the following cases. They illustrate unmistakably some of the instances in which syphilis is solely responsible for what. Is termed by Dr. Savage” A process of degeneration which ultimately produces the ruin we recognize as general paralysis.”∗ Whatever may be hereafter formulated from the present evolutionary crisis in the history of the disorder there can be but little doubt that syphilis will be one of its most intimate and important relations. The story of its methods is briefly sketched in the following two short life-histories—in one asserting itself in the offspring of its victims by right of impure heredity, in the other carrying death direct into the vital centres by the force of its malignant virus.
An account of a visit to the Asylum for the Insane, on the Isola di S. Servolo, Venice
Authors: Robertson C. Lockhart
Published: August 2008

Before proceeding to give a slight description of a most interesting visit which I paid last September to the Asylum for the Insane, on the Isola di S. Servolo, Venice, conducted by the Padri Ospitalieri di san Giovanni di Dio, I am tempted to extract, from Dickens' Pictures from Italy, an account of his arrival by night at Venice, as it so prettily tells the story of my first impressions there, as leaving the railway station I embarked on board one of the black gondolas,* just as the bright harvest moon rose in all its glory on the broad waters of the Grand Canal.
The Medical Treatment of Insanity
Authors: Ranney M. H.
Published: August 2008

A Report read before the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane at the Annual Meeting, 1857. From the American Journal of Insanity.
Ages and Death-rates of Lunatics in the District where “Accumulation” of Lunatics is most Advanced
Authors: Chapman T.Algernon
Published: August 2008

The statistics herewith presented as to an item or two of lunacy in Herefordshire have various interesting aspects. Perhaps the one that makes them of most value as elucidating an important side of lunacy statistics generally, and as bearing on the question of an increasing prevalence of lunacy, arises from their being those of the district that possesses the largest percentage of insane persons in England, and probably, therefore, in the world, and from their showing that the persons forming this larger percentage differ in some material respects from the lunacy of the country at large. In other words, the additional persons making the number larger are not more of the same sort, but are of a different class.
A Case of Mental Stupor: Recovery after Six Years' Duration
Authors: Hotchkis R. D.
Published: August 2008

P. M., belonging to the City Parish, was admitted into the Glasgow Royal Asylum on 19th January, 1888, aged 38, married, an iron grinder.
The Increase of General Paralysis in England and Wales: Its Carnation and Significance
Authors: Stewart R. S.
Published: August 2008

No Disproportionate Increase of Insanity.

The increase of the total living insane in England and Wales during the intercensal period 1881–91 was 15·24 per cent., while the corresponding increase of population was only 11·7.

I.—There is no evidence of increasing liability to insanity on the part of the English race.

II.—There is evidence of an increasing tendency to general paralysis.

III.—This is most pronounced among males, in whom the increase is nineteen times what it is in women.

IV.—Among males the increase in private patients is more than twice that in pauper patients; in the former it is steadily progressive, in the latter it is a diminishing increase. Among females the increase in paupers is slight. In private female patients there is a steadily maintained diminution.

V.—The age at which the increase of general paralysis attains its maximum is the decade 35 to 44; in other forms of insanity the increase occurs at ages over 45 and is greatest at ages over 55.

VI.—The increase is greatest among married men, being five times that which occurs in unmarried men, and sixty times that in married women.

VII.—The greatest increase is found in large urban centres, most so in sea-ports and in particular coal-exporting towns; the next greatest in coal-mining counties and manufacturing towns, while in agricultural counties there is a decrease. A close parallel, as regards geographical distribution, is to be traced between the increase of general paralysis and the occurrence of the offence of drunkenness.

VIII.—The etiological factors most responsible for the increase are alcoholic intemperance, sexual excess, and venereal disease. The causes connected with the reproductive life of women are diminishing as factors in the production of general paralysis. The increase finds its origin in causes related to the self-regarding, not the altruistic, instinct.

IX.—The increasing prevalence of general paralysis indicates a change in the type of insanity, a reversion to a lower form of brain disease, increasing moral and physical decadence, lessening power of resistance and diminishing vitality, and increasing tendency to premature and rapid racial decay.

X.—The affection being absolutely fatal, and the causes being to a very large extent controllable, the only direction in which the remedy is to be sought is in that of prevention.
Atypical and Unusual Brain-Forms, especially in Relation to Mental Status: a Study on Brain-Surface Morphology
Authors: Mickle W. Julius
Published: August 2008

Chapter IX.

A Standard of Aberrant Conformations of Gyres and Furrows framed as a Test, and constituting a stigma, of Hereditary Mental Degeneracy. A Standard of Deviation and Defect.

And, in Chapter XI.,

The results of the Application of the Standard of Deviation and Defect in Comparisons between the Gyres and Furrows in several forms of Mental Disease, and those in the Standard Group of Cases.

Introductory Remarks.∗

In the deviations from usual form or type already described—both the new and those adopted from other observers—the material is provided for tests or criteria of various forms of defective or aberrant brain development; and the standard about to be described has its material derived from those sources, and is directly drawn from certain brains.

∗ With little change, these preliminary remarks are taken from part of my Presidential Address, in July, 1895, in the Section of Psychology at the Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association in London. (British Medical Journal, Sept. 28, 1895.)
Recoveries from Mental Disease
Authors: Soutar J. G.
Published: August 2008

At these meetings we have an opportunity for resolving doubts by discussion, or it may be of only discovering that in confessing an ignorance which is not singular there is no great sacrifice of self-esteem. I am ready to accept either alternative as the result of our consideration of recoveries from mental disease.
Flechsig on the Localisation of Mental Processes in the Brain
Authors: Ireland W. W.
Published: August 2008

Two Treatises∗ recently published contain the views of Professor Flechsig, of Leipzig, upon the present state of our knowledge of brain function. The first is in the form of an oration delivered in 1894 in the University Church of Leipzig, of which a new edition appeared last year. The second is a shorter pamphlet, which contains an account of the most recent researches in the structure of the brain. In the oration the notes occupy three times the space of the text; in the other treatise the notes are not so long. In both these notes are important, and form in some passages the most interesting part of the work. He holds that the time has now come when the old introspective psychology must turn for guidance to anatomy and physiology. It is only within the last few years that such claims could be entertained. The localisation of mental operations in the brain was made by Hippocrates from observations of the loss of function caused by diseases or wounds of the head. Polybos, the son-in-law of the great Greek physician, held that the brain was the centre of the nerves and the central organ of the thinking soul; and Erasistratos, of Alexandria, first taught that the superior intelligence of man depended upon the greater size of the human brain, and the more complicated structure of the convolutions. A new era began with the experiments of Fritsch and Hitzig in our own day. Since then experimental physiology and clinical observations, going hand in hand together, have led to the accumulation of a large fund of knowledge about the several functions of the nervous centres. Another path of discovery was opened by Golgi through his new method of differentiating the finer structure of the grey masses of the brain by his silver colourings; and also by Kölliker, who, working with low powers, was able to demonstrate the course of the motor and sensory nerve paths and of the association system in the brain.
Analysis of the Causes of Insanity in One thousand Patients
Authors: Blachford J. V.
Published: August 2008

I have investigated as far as possible the causes of insanity in the last 1014 patients admitted to the Bristol Lunatic Asylum, 507 being males and a like number females. My purpose has been to ascertain in what proportion of insanity heredity was the prominent factor in causation, and what influence was exercised by alcohol, traumatism, and certain other agencies, where no taint of bad heredity could be found.
English Retrospect
Authors: Fleming
Published: August 2008

The Therapeutic Value of Spleen Extract. By A. Campbell Clark, M.D. (Edin. Med. Journ., February, 1898).—Dr. Clark gives the results of an investigation at Lanark County Asylum extending over a period of two years. The object aimed at was the cure or alleviation of mental disease, and was suggested by the frequency of splenic deficiency noted in asylum post-mortem records. Three classes of cases were submitted to treatment: 1. Those of an intractable character, e. g. chronic inertia. 2. Recent cases of insanity due to physical weakness, e. g. puerperal cases. 3. Selected cases suggested by treatment of the first two classes. He quotes the result of six out of thirty cases, and arrived at the following conclusions:—That splenic treatment (1) increases nutritive activity by aiding digestion and stimulating the glandular activity of the skin; (2) gives rise to striking mental changes, sometimes of an abnormal character—exhibition of temper in stuporose cases; elevation in shy and stupid cases, &c. Contrasted with thyroid treatment, spleen treatment was more phenomenal in its effects, more lasting and sure in its results, and exceedingly safe. He strongly recommended a preparatory course of spleen in any case where thyroid treatment was proposed.
A New Nissl Method.—Normal Cell Structure and the Cytological Changes Terminating in Fatty Degeneration. Some Remarks on Cell Physiology and its Relation to Insanity. A Note on the use of Picro-Formol Generally, and in Bevan Lewis's Fresh Method
Authors: Lord J. R.
Published: August 2008

I. General Remarks. — It has frequently appeared to me that a rapid and easy method of staining according to Nissl would be of great advantage. It has been my routine practice to cut a fresh section and to stain according to Bevan Lewis in every case of insanity in which an autopsy had been obtained, and from that to record a few microscopic notes. A fairly complete description of neuroglial changes could thus be recorded, but only in a minor degree the changes which had occurred in cell protoplasm, i. e. cytological changes and various degenerations. For this one has to stain according to the method of Nissl, a method which stands out supreme for this purpose. But even Nissl's method is by no means perfect, and there are many drawbacks and imperfections. Hardening in alcohol causes considerable shrinkage; in fact, the main part of the cell is occupied by the nucleus. Alcohol also largely dissolves out fat, and therefore fatty degeneration cannot be shown. Again, it is not every asylum laboratory that has equipment for Nissl's method, but every asylum has the means of making a Nissl preparation according to a way I am about to describe.
The Specific Gravity of the Insane Brain
Authors: Simpson Francis O.
Published: August 2008

This paper is only intended to be a preliminary note upon the specific gravity of the brain in the insane, and contains the results of experiments upon thirty cases conducted at the West Riding Asylum, Wakefield, during the early part of this year. Over 1400 investigations have been made upon these brains, and as the inclusion of data from different parts of the country might cause scientific inaccuracies, it has been thought advisable to publish the present results separately, prior to the initiation of a further series of experiments.
The Improvable Imbecile: His Training and Future
Authors: Douglas A. R.
Published: August 2008

The cause of the Imbecile has for some time past been a plea which has never failed to elicit the practical sympathy of the public; yet much remains to be done before we have fulfilled our obligation to those who are not lunatics, and are capable, under suitable conditions, of being made self-supporting members of the community. As in this paper I intend to deal chiefly with the future of the improvable imbecile, I think that in the first place the statement that such an individual after training is independently capable of earning his own livelihood is as absurd as it is impossible. I shall presently endeavour to show that without supervision little or nothing can be expected from an imbecile, however highly trained and educated he may be; his whole disposition and temperament away from control completely negatives the supposition, and actual cases have proved that, unless under sympathetic and intelligent guidance, the life of the imbecile as far as usefulness is concerned is not only a blank, but that the individual himself is a burden, and in some instances a nuisance to society and his friends. Secondly, there can be no doubt that much of the careful and patient instruction bestowed upon such cases at the educational establishments is wasted, for the simple reason that at the expiration of their term there many improved imbeciles gravitate to conditions totally unsuitable for them, and under which it is almost impossible to expect that the training which they have received will, so to speak, have a fair chance. On completion of their term of training it may be that in some cases the parents are dead, and there are no relations or guardians to look after them; for a large number there is nothing but the workhouse. Again, their imbecile temperament causes others, perhaps in a moment of pique, to abandon the work which has been obtained for them possibly only by a vast amount of trouble, and they thus become a burden to their relatives. A third section are, away from supervision, incurably vicious, and many in the course of their career become gaol-birds and convicts. The imbecile is one who is totally, or in part, bereft of the faculties necessary to enable him to take a successful part in the battle of life, and I think that it may be safely assumed that, in the whirl of this nineteenth century, with its attributes of high pressure and overcrowding in every direction, the imbecile can of himself secure no place. His appearance, his mental and often physical deficiencies, are all dead against him, and his unstable equilibrium, manifested in uncertainty of temper and morals, renders him in many cases quite unfit to be trusted away from proper care and supervision. In fact, it is unjust and unfair to forget this by exposing these individuals to risks by trusting them too far.
Notes on an Epidemic of Colitis at the Derby County Asylum
Authors: Legge R. F.
Published: August 2008

During the year from May, 1898, to May, 1899, 26 male and 28 female patients in the Derby County Asylum were attacked with the disease variously known as dysentery, dysenteric diarrhoea, or colitis, and characterised clinically by bloody stools and rise of temperature, and in advanced cases showing in post-mortem examination extensive thickening and ulceration of the lower end of the large intestine, with numerous microscopic hæmorrhages into the submucous layer. Of the 54 attacked, 23 died, in 13 the colitis being apparently the direct cause of death, in 10 a contributory cause. Some brief notes of our attempt to ascertain the cause of the outbreak may be of interest, though the results obtained were mostly negative or inconclusive.
The Evolution of Asylum Architecture, and the Principles which ought to control Modern Construction
Authors: Steen R. H.
Published: August 2008

“The recovery of the curable, the improvement of the incurable, the comfort and happiness of all the patients, should steadily be kept in view by the architect from the moment in which he commences his plan.”—Conolly, Construction and Government of Lunatic Asylums, p. 1.

IN the present day the great increase in the number of certified lunatics has raised the question of asylum architecture to one of primary importance. New asylums are being built and planned in all parts of the country, and the managing authorities are keen to provide the best possible accommodation for the suffering ones under their care.
Systematic Case-taking
Authors: Newth A. H.
Published: August 2008

The analysis and arrangement in a statistical form of the various entries made in the case-books of the different asylums would form a valuable synopsis of clinical, therapeutical, and pathological significance. But the labour involved would be something enormous, and might dishearten the most enthusiastic statistician; even the work of arranging and tabulating the entries in the case-books of one of the large asylums would be very great.
The Presidential Address delivered at the Fifty-ninth Annual Meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association, held in London on the 26th July, 1900
Authors: Beach Fletcher
Published: August 2008

First let me thank you very heartily for the high honour you have done me by electing me to the Presidential chair. When one looks over the names that have preceded me, from the time of Conolly downwards, one finds that it has been occupied by men of high talent, well known as workers in psychiatry, not only in this country, but abroad. To emulate them will be my endeavour, and I shall certainly do everything in my power to uphold the dignity and welfare of this Association.
Insanity of Twins; Twins suffering from Acute Melancholia
Authors: Wilcox Arthur W.
Published: August 2008

Some few cases on this interesting subject of the insanity of twins have been published in the English medical journals, the last one, I believe, being that by McDowall(1) in this Journal, just seventeen years ago.
Uterine Hæmorrhage Cured by Simple Drainage and followed by a Psychosis [Hæmorrhagies post-partum guéries par simple drainage et survies d'une psychose]. (Prog. Méd., May 3, 1900.) Zalackas
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

Alice C—, æt. 24 years, suffered from severe hæmorrhage after a three months' abortion accompanied by irritability of disposition, depression, enfeeblement of memory, predominance of hypochondriacal ideas. After repeated packing of the uterus with gauze steeped in iodoform and glycerine, the hæmorrhage ceased, and in twelve days the patient was quite well. In this connection, the author discusses the question of the causation of so-called post-operative psychosis, especially as regards the influence of gynecological interference.
On the Amount of Water and Phosphorus contained in the Cerebral Hemispheres, and Spinal Cord in General Paralysis of the Insane, and in other Conditions. (Arch. of Lond. Co. Asylums, 1899). Wakelin Barratt, J. O
Authors: Stracey Bernard
Published: August 2008

In this investigation the left cerebral hemisphere alone was used in each case, the basal ganglia having been previously removed.
Phthisis and Insanity: a Study based mainly on the Statistical Returns of Comparative Mortality in Ireland
Authors: Drapes Thomas
Published: August 2008

Is there any special connection or affinity between insanity and phthisis? In other words, is there a greater proclivity in the insane because of their insanity to develop pulmonary consumption than in the sane? That such is the case is, I think, an opinion which at least up till recently has been rather widely if somewhat vaguely held, and believed to be well grounded. The ablest contribution on this subject has, I need hardly say, come from the pen of Dr. Crookshank (Journal of Mental Science, October, 1899), and the facts and arguments adduced by him should go far to dispel this idea. In this paper no attempt will be made to treat the question fully, which, after all that has been written by others, would be quite superfluous, but I shall endeavour, mainly by an appeal to some statistics of Irish asylums, to see if from them corroboration is to be found for Dr. Crookshank's conclusion on this particular point. My paper is therefore to be regarded as in a small way supplementary to his.
The Bodily and Mental Individuality of the Woman and her Insanities [L'Individualità somato-psichica della Donna e le sue Frenopathie]. (Il Manicomio, Anno xvii, Nos. 1, 2.) Del Greco
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

This thoughtful paper treats of the different characters of nervous diseases manifested in women from those in man. It groups the mental alienations of women into six classes, distinguished by temperament, and profound alterations of constitution brought about by disease. In the mental derangements of the female, observes the professor, there is a more pervading change in the whole temperament, not only mental perversions, but a multiplicity of organic sensations which act upon the entire personality, inducing states of exaltation and depression, emotions of joy and grief, of fear and anger. These complex changes sometimes culminate in the reeling of altered personality. The structural differences between the male and female render the latter less able to react upon external nature. Her frame is adapted to maternity, conception, gestation, labour, lactation; then the renewal of the periods induces profound changes in her organism. These functions affect even the disposition of the bones and ligaments, the increase and diminution of the unstriped muscular fibres, the activity of the sympathetic ganglia, the vascularisation of organs, and the augmented cellular secretion and enlargement of the glands. The totality of changes, so diverse and profound, subject the feminine constitution to grave fluctuations, which alter its relations to the outer world and affect the psychical manifestations.
Polyclonus in General Paralysis [Policlonie nella demenza Paralitica]. (Riv. di Parol., Nerv. e Ment., fasc. 6, 1901.) Lambranzi, R.
Authors: Gilmour J. R.
Published: August 2008

The author describes two cases, the first, a man, æt. 31, who died after fourteen months' illness, with well-marked symptoms of general paralysis. Ten days before death various groups of muscles of the right side of the body (those supplied by lower branch of facial nerve, those of right side of tongue, external abdominal oblique, serratus magnus, biceps cruris, flexors of forearm) were affected by clonus, irregular, with short but distinct intervals; the clonus ceased with sleep, and had no effect on the movement of the muscles. It continued till his death. In the second case, a man, æt. 39, the muscles of face were first affected, and, after a short interval, the right side of body. The movements were arythmic, irregular, and rapid, diminished by movement, increased by an emotion; they ceased in sleep. The pectorals, the abdominal oblique (120 contractions per min.), the extensors of the forearm, and the adductors of the thigh (150 per min.) were all affected. Athetosis, affecting right hand, on one occasion supervened. The clonus later spread to left side of body. During the later stages of the illness they reappeared for a third time. The author points out the relative infrequency of the condition associated with the psychoses. He compares at considerable length the clonus with the allied muscular tremors in chorea in its various forms, and with the group of misclonus associated with epilepsy with a view to establishing the seat of the lesion. This is concluded to be in all these cases probably cortical.
On Reform of the Lunacy Law [Juristische Briefe; VI. Zur Reform der Irrengesetzgebung]. (Allgem. österreich. Gerichts-Zeitung, 1901.) Benedikt
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The author considers that the present time is favourable for bringing the provisions of the criminal and civil law into better accord with modern views of insanity. He touches on most of the aspects of lunacy legislation, and suggests various reforms in principle and procedure. He particularly emphasises the need of fuller recognition by the law of the pathological element in the criminal nature; the practical corollary of this admission should be the establishment of asylums for criminal lunatics, and of other special institutions intermediate between the prison and the asylum for degenerates and weak-minded criminals.
An International Swindler [La Truffatrice intronazionale]. (Riv. Mens. di Psich. Forense, Anno 1, 1899.) Bianchi, L.
Authors: Gilmour J. R.
Published: August 2008

This is a medico-legal report on the condition of a lady arrested for repeated acts of fraud and theft. Her history is of interest. During the past twenty years she has been under treatment in Camberwell and Banstead Asylums in this country, in three asylums in America, and in many on the Continent. She was of good family (with a marked predisposition to phthisis and nervous disease) and highly educated. She was the authoress of two novels of the decadent type, which caused some talk when they were published in 1892. The chief difficulty in deciding the question of her responsibility arose from the largely negative results of her examination. The reports sent from the different institutions were vague and unsatisfactory, and no definite diagnosis had evidently been possible. Morphinism, hallucinations of hearing, and tendency to suicide were facts, however, stated in different reports. From the history and the great variety of the symptoms of her different illnesses, Professor Bianchi came to the conclusion that her condition had an hysterical basis, and that she was not responsible. This finding was accepted by the Tribunal. Subsequent symptoms also confirmed this diagnosis.
Case of Unilateral Hallucinations of Hearing, chiefly Musical; with Remarks on the Formation of Psychocerebral Images
Authors: Robertson Alex.
Published: August 2008

In supplement to my paper on one-sided hallucinations in the Journal of Mental Science for April, 1901, the following case of a similar kind, but presenting special features, is, I think, of sufficient interest to be recorded. The patient is an inmate of the Glasgow Old Men and Women's Home, and is a man of some literary ability, as is shown by his still continuing to contribute articles from time to time to journals published in London. The Home, it need scarcely be said, is for people of sound mind, though many manifest indications of the ordinary mental decay incident to old age. The patient referred to is, however, acute and intelligent, and free from all suspicion of mental weakness or disorder. The account of his experiences, which he submits, may therefore be regarded as very reliable. It seems preferable to give it in his own language, only pruning it a little from unnecessary detail. The form in which it appears is due to his great deafness, on account of which the desired information could only be obtained from him as replies to written questions.
Nervous Diseases and Pregnancy [Nervenerkrankungen und Schwangerschaft]. (Allgem. Zeitschr. f. Psychiat., B. xxxviii, H. 5.) Mongeri
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

He observes that the character of women is altered during pregnancy, and often in a pathological direction. He is of opinion that it has a favourable influence in hysteria when it is not complicated with some other affection of the nervous system. Marriage not only satisfies the sexual instinct, but it gives them some one on whom they can expend their tender feelings, and gains for them some one who will care for them and protect them. “I have known,” he says, “and treated several very hysterical young girls who are now married, and show no trace of nervous disease. Some of them have no longer the desire to satisfy the sexual feeling, and are averse to such intercourse, although they love their husbands and live happily with them. The physician need not hesitate to recommend hysterical women to marry if the other party have a healthy constitution, and is free from predisposition to nervous disease. On the other hand, he should never advise a woman to marry who has come through a severe attack of insanity, not only on account of the danger to the children, but because of the danger of relapse, often in an aggravated form.”
Note on the Pathogenesis of Diabetic Insanity
Authors: Dawson W. R.
Published: August 2008

True diabetic insanity is a rarity, and when it occurs does not always take the same form. But it is by no means uncommon to meet with certain lesser mental abnormalities in diabetes which are very constant in character; and what is usually regarded as the typical variety of diabetic insanity is simply an intensification of these abnormalities probably due to inherited or acquired cortical instability. Hence this psychosis derives its interest from the definiteness of its aetiology and the constancy of its symptoms.
Progress of Psychiatry in 1902
Authors: Ferrari G. Cesare
Published: August 2008

The Italian scientific production in the domain of psychiatry has been, in 1902, rich, important, and varied; and although our young alienists spread themselves over the whole field, yet they neglect somewhat the practical side—the application of the theoretical views and conclusions to great questions, such as the hospital treatment of the insane, the overcrowding of the asylums, family care, etc. These have not yet been settled, but the younger section of alienists will finally, by their enthusiasm, find a solution.
A Case of Septicœmic General Paralysis [Un cas de paralysie générale septicémique] (Bull. de la Soc. de Méd. Ment. de Belgique, Feb., 1903.) Crocq
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

B. F—, female, æt. 33, admitted January 18th, 1903. Married in 1896; in January, 1900, miscarried at the third month and developed severe streptococcic infection with fever and delirium, which lasted fourteen days and nearly proved fatal. During her convalescence, one month after the miscarriage, she had a convulsive seizure with temporary paralysis of the tongue and right arm (for a few hours). These attacks recurred at intervals of three days to fourteen days, and were followed by various transitory paralyses. Her speech became difficult, her ideas confused. Later she had auditory hallucinations and delusions of persecution, and was sent to St. Jean Asylum on January 19th, 1902. On October 12th she returned home improved, but weak intellectually. Five days later she lost consciousness, and on the following day became maniacal and incoherent, and dirty in her habits; her legs were contracted; reflexes exaggerated; light reflex feeble. No history and no evidence of syphilis could be obtained on careful inquiry and examination.
The Prodromata of the Psychoses aud Their Meaning
Authors: Clouston T. S.
Published: August 2008

It is a fact in Psychiatry which has by no means been sufficiently recognised, that attacks of mental disease have early symptoms that are often not mental in character; and it is equally true that in Neurology the fact has not attracted sufficient attention, that all sorts of sensory, vasomotor and motor symptoms may be the mere preludes to an attack of insanity and not of themselves the real disease. Such prodromata of so serious an event as an attack of insanity are exceedingly well worthy of careful study for many reasons, most notably because the recognition of their true character and their explanation might enable us in many cases to anticipate and possibly to ward off the mental attack. The neurologist who is called in to see a woman suffering from an unusual form of headache, with anorexia, insomnia, and obscure paræsthetic sensations, often misses the real point of the case because he does not realise that such symptoms are, in this particular patient, higher-cortical in origin, and may mean an attack of acute mania in a week if nothing can be done to arrest their course. The psychiatrist often considers a mental attack as being sudden in origin, and puts it down as an unled-up-to mental explosion, when in reality there had been sensory and motor symptoms, sleeplessness, and other indications which would have pointed to the existence of previous auto-intoxication, nerve exhaustion, or other disturbance.
Hallucinations Artificially Induced [Künstlich Hervorgerufene Halluzinationen] (Cbl. f. Nervenheilkunde, March 15th, 1906). Moravesik
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

In this communication, Dr. Moravesik observes that it can scarcely be held that all hallucinations have a peripheral origin, since there are cases of hallucinations affecting the senses in which the normal function has ceased. Here we may observe that at the meeting of psychiatric physicians at Jena (Monatsschrift fur Psychiatrie, February, 1906) Dr. Berger reported a case of hallucinations of sight after total atrophy of the optic nerves; he also cited one of hallucinations of smell, although there was atrophy of both the olfactory bulbs. Döllkenhad noted vivid hallucinations of light after atrophy of the optic nerves of four years' duration.
The Influence of Military Training on the Mental Concept of the Soldier [Der Einfluss der militärischen Ausbildung suf das geistige In-ventar des Soldaten] (Monats. f. Psychiat., Jan. and Feb. 1906.) Rodenwaldt
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Ernst Rodenwaldt, a military surgeon, four years ago published an estimate of the mental concepts of persons in health as a standard in comparison with their condition in disease. In 1902, he had occasion to examine 144 recruits, Silesian cuirassiers; i io of these were of German origin and 34 were Poles. The report of the examination is given at great length, the whole paper filling forty-six pages, thirty-five of which are occupied with the questions put to the men, their answers, and the comments thereon. Some of these answers make us misdoubt the intelligence and information of the young men of Silesia, though perhaps an equal number of the same class in Britain would not come off any better. One man thought the Rhine ran into the Dead Sea, another into the Red Sea. To the question: “Who was Luther?” one man replied that he was the head of the Mahomedan Church, another that he was the King of the Jews, another the first preacher of Jesus Christ. Twenty-one had never heard of Schiller, forty had never heard of Goethe. The question “What are mammalia?” (Säugetiere, lit. sucking animals) gave rise to some etymological guessing; one man suggested leaches, another animals who live upon the sap of plants. Bees, fishes, worms, hawks, animals of the female gender, were all given as examples of this order. As might have been expected, the young men were found to have gained little in knowledge beyond the scope of their military duty; but they were readier to lay hands upon their knowledge, to apprehend questions, to answer them quickly, and to choose the shortest way to do so, qualities which, once secured, are better than acquired information, as they are the tools of the intellect, while knowledge is only the material. In my own experience the service in India seemed, with the private soldiers, to induce an utter helplessness to anything save their military duties. Taken to a foreign country amongst a people speaking a different language which they rarely took the trouble to learn, lodge, fed, cared for marching about, sent to parade and to church, brought to the hospital when ill, they degenerated into mere military machines. With the German army the period under the colours is no longer than three years, after which they return to civil employments. The general effect of this universal mili tary training upon the physical, moral, and mental condition of the people must be very considerable.
Menstruation in the Insane
Authors: Mackenzie T. C.
Published: August 2008

The following notes are the outcome of observations made during a recent
period of six months upon ninety-two patients in the Royal Aberdeen
Asylum.
Receiving Houses
Authors: Jones W. Ernest
Published: August 2008

The use of Receiving Houses, that is to say, houses established specially for the observation of doubtful cases of mental disorder, is almost entirely of Australian origin, although something analogous exists, and has existed for many years in England and Scotland, in the Lunacy Wards attached to the Workhouses, Infirmaries, and Poor Houses. The latter, however, do not fulfil all the uses that the Receiving House can be put to; neither are they independent institutions, nor do the terms for which patients can be received correspond.
Some Suggestions as Regards the Origin of Modern Psychiatric Ideas, together with a Note of some Cases of Mania apparently due to Microbic Infection
Authors: Leeper R. R.
Published: August 2008

To a gathering of physicians, each of whom is actively engaged in the treatment of insanity, it would be both impertinent and needless for me to enlarge upon the present-day position of our knowledge of clinical psychiatry. As you are aware, each new discovery in the laboratory of medical science has been seized upon, elaborated, and applied to the treatment of mental diseases or considered in connection with it. Unfortunately the laboratory workers exercise only too fully the ancient prerogative of doctors to differ, and their observations and the results of their researches are thus vitiated, and further research rendered all the more difficult and needful. If the dawn and full daylight of bacteriological science have impressed us with the all-importance to mankind of the infinitely little, may I be pardoned for stating that at the present time the importance of securing more unanimity of opinion amongst its competent research workers is infinitely great.
The Blood-pressure in Mental Disorders
Authors: Clarke Sidney
Published: August 2008

The interesting paper by Dr. Turner published in this Journal upon the blood-pressure in the insane has led me to make these few remarks, which I have based upon a large number of observations obtained by Martin's modified Riva-Rocci sphygmomanometer. I attempted besides taking the systolic pressure to estimate the diastolic also, but my results in the latter case were not satisfactory, for so many likely errors were always present.