bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
A Case of Homicidal and Suicidal Insanity
Authors: Elkins Frank Ashbt
Published: August 2008

William W., aged 33, a married man, who had lately been employed as a hall-porter, having made a homicidal attack upon a citizen of Edinburgh, was, by a warrant of the Sheriff, admitted from the Calton Jail to the Royal Edinburgh Asylum, on April 26th, 1890.
On Certain Defects of Articulation in Children, with Cases Illustrating the Results of Education on the Oral System
Authors: Hadden W. B.
Published: August 2008

Case I.—The patient was a boy, aged eleven, who came under my care in August, 1889. His father died in Colney Hatch Asylum ten years previously, but the form of insanity was doubtful. The mother was alive and healthy. There was only one other child, a girl, aged fifteen; she was healthy, intelligent, articulated perfectly, and was right-handed.
The Plea of Insanity
Authors: Savage Geo. H.
Published: August 2008

Gentlemen,—Having received a notice from our secretary that a paper was needed for this meeting, I felt in duty bound to comply with his request that I should supply one. It was easy to promise and not very difficult to decide on a subject, but since giving the promise I have found that there was very little new or worth my saying about the very important subject which is the theme of my paper.
Post-Mortem Appearances (some of which were difficult to explain) of certain parts of the Nervous System in a Case of Spastic Hemiplegia
Authors: Goodall Edwin
Published: August 2008

J. R., æt. 26. Diagnosis of mental state—idiocy. Degraded in habits, and of low degree of intelligence. He could appreciate simple orders, and express assent and dissent: speech possessed up to this amount only. The clinical notes of the physical state are unfortunately scanty. They are as follows:—Right arm generally smaller than its fellow, and wasting is more evident in certain places. The forearm forms an acute angle with the upper arm, the flexor muscles being rigid and prominent; passive extension possible only to the extent of a few inches. Muscles of upper arm evidently wasted, but those of the forearm and hand are notably so. The entire limb is held in close contact with the chest; passive abduction to a limited degree is possible. The forearm is held across the chest, with the hand flexed. The fingers, too, are bent upon the palm and thumb, arc compressed, and folded on each other, so that the hand forms a cone. Patient could not use the hand for any purpose, though he could offer some slight resistance to attempts to abduct the arm. When the limb was pricked he showed signs of pain.
Notes Descriptive of a New Hospital Villa recently erected in the Grounds of the York Retreat
Authors: Baker Robert
Published: August 2008

For many years past the Retreat Committee, whilst constantly improving the structural condition of their hospital, have entirely ceased from extending it by the former practice of adding wing to wing and corridor to corridor.
A Case of Pachymeningitis Hómorrhagica Interna following Sunstroke
Authors: Whitcombe Edmund B.
Published: August 2008

J.B.C., admitted November 25th, 1865. Aged 32. Single.—His mental derangement appears to date from a sunstroke which he had five months before in Florence, and he was in consequence detained at the Royal Asylum in that city. No mental defect had been noticed previous to this, nor was there any family history of insanity; he is said to have been steady in his habits.
Lunacy in Norway, 1891
Authors: Habgood William
Published: August 2008

The population of Norway in 1875 consisted of 891,000 males and 930,000 females. (The details of the last census, 1890, showing a population of two millions, have not yet been published). Of these were insane 2,186 males and 2,382 females, giving a ratio of 23 insane (20·4 males, 25·6 females) to every 10,000 of the population. The total number of admissions into asylums for the year 1889 was 756, a ratio of 4·15 per 10,000. These figures compare favourably with those given in the report of the Commissioners in Lunacy for England for the same year, viz, 29·2 insane (27·2 males, 31·2 females) to every 10,000 population, and a ratio of 5·18 per 10,000 on the admissions. Although Norway is a poor country, such extreme poverty and distress as is found in our large cities does not exist there, and this, probably, accounts for the considerably smaller ratio of insane to population. Of the 756 total admissions 32 per cent, were suffering from melancholia, 27 per cent, from mania, 24 per cent, from dementia, and from general paralysis and epilepsy, equally, 1·9 per cent. The marked preponderance of melancholia over mania is interesting, the opposite conditions obtaining in this country, where mania shows an excess of 24 per cent. The distribution of a small population over a large tract of country, the mountainous character of that country, the monotony of life, the lack of amusement, the phlegmatic character of the race, in contrast to the crowded condition of the people, the high tension of living, and the excitement of city life which prevails in this country probably explain the difference. The small number (1·9 per cent, of the admissions,—being 6·4 per cent, less than in England) of those suffering from general paralysis might be explained in the same manner.
4. Therapeutic Retrospect
Authors: Sainsbury Harrington
Published: August 2008

The salt employed in these investigations was obtained from Merck. The authors’ statements are based upon a two years’ administration of the drug at the Vaucluse Asylum. They first touch lightly upon the physiological action of the drug, laying special stress, however, upon the general paresis, most marked in the lower limbs, which follows a full dose of the salt. This general muscular relaxation includes, of course, the intraocular muscular relaxation, but it may also include a complete relaxation of the vocal cords, which is attended by more or less complete aphonia.
On Psychoses after Influenza
Authors: Althaus Julius
Published: August 2008

The discussion which I have been invited to open is on a subject which is new to all of us, and which may, therefore, simply on this account, claim a share of our attention. Indeed, on searching the works of Clouston, Blandford, Savage, and others, as well as the extensive periodical literature which is at our disposal in the “Journal of Mental Science,” the “West Riding Asylum Reports,” and similar publications in France and Germany, the subject of mental affections occurring subsequently to influenza has hardly been mentioned with a single word previous to the epidemics of that distemper which we have recently passed through. Nor is there anything to be found on this subject in the numerous books and papers descriptive of influenza which have appeared before 1890. All that has been written on mental disorders in connection with influenza previous to that date refers to the febrile or initial delirium which may occur at any time during the progress of the feverish attack, and may, indeed, precede all other symptoms, setting in sometimes before there is any rise of temperature. This initial delirium has been described as long ago as 1510 by Sauvages, and later on by Huxham, Ash, Haygarth, Gray, Smyth, Rush; more recently by Lombard, Bonnet, and Pétrequin, and during the last epidemics by Ewald,1 Joffroy,2 Gwynne,3 Creagh,4 Nicholson,5 Van Deventer,6 Mairet,7 and others. In the German Collective Investigation Report, edited by Leyden and Guttmann,8 no less than 276 such cases have been collated. It is, however, not this initial delirium which we have met here to consider to-day, but those better defined psychoses which are prone to occur after the feverish attack is over, during, or some time subsequently to convalescence.
The Formation of Subdural Membranes, or Pachymeningitis Hæmorrhagica
Authors: Robertson George M.
Published: August 2008

A discussion on the origin and nature of pachymeningitis hæmorrhagica at the present time is very desirable on account of the remarkable difference of opinion of those who have studied it. Two theories regarding its formation exist, and the best pathologists and neurologists have ranged themselves almost equally on either side. This fact of itself betokens that each view probably has some elements of truth in it, and that neither contains the whole truth. What, then, is greatly to be desired under these circumstances is a new theory that will combine the elements of truth contained in each of the old theories, and supply the deficiencies of both.
3. Therapeutic Retrospect.
Authors: Sainsbury Harrington
Published: August 2008

At a recent medical meeting in Budapesth, Oct. 22, 1892, Dr. Schreiber combats the view that electrotherapy is suggestion-therapy, though he is obliged to admit the latter to be a potent factor in the use of electricity. Amongst other differences, he states that electricity is able to remove inflammatory products, to cause their absorption, whilst suggestion is unable to effect the same. We should be inclined to doubt the possibility of stating so definitely what suggestion cannot do, but at the same time we should be more than prepared to allow that electricity is able to do something, for good or for evil, on its own account. To deny this would be to affirm that an agent with very definite physical powers, to which motor structures and sensory nerves respond very readily, is without effect upon the organism as a whole. Surely electricity is something more than the hospital mistura flava; at least, we must hope so.—” Therap. Monatsh.,” Jan., 1893, p. 32.
2. American Retrospect
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

Dr. Eugene Riggs, of St. Paul, Minn., U.S.A., the Chairman of the Committee on the History of the Treatment of the Insane, appointed by the National Conference of Corrections and Charities, read the report at its twentieth annual meeting, held June 12-18, 1893, at Chicago. The article is evidently drawn up by himself, and endorsed by the Committee. It constitutes an interesting and valuable review of the progress made in the care of the insane, the first era being that of neglect, the second that of detention more or less severe in character, and the third that in which we live, including the last twenty years. Dr. Riggs commences with the dawn of intelligence in the care of the insane in England in 1792, when the Retreat at York was founded. The period between this date and 1815 is recognized as one coincident in France with the beneficent work of Pinel, reinforced a little later by that of Esquirol. “Since that time both there and here (America) the battle for the increasingly intelligent application of that principle has been going on.”
On Epilepsy
Authors: Manley John
Published: August 2008

The object of the present paper is to illustrate some of the forms of Epilepsy met with in Asylums, and to point out their characteristics.
Description of the New House at the Devon County Lunatic Asylum, with Remarks upon the Sea Side Residence for the Insane, which was for a time established at Exmouth.
Authors: J. C. B.
Published: August 2008

In the thirteenth number of this Journal, May, 1855, we published an article on the accumulation of chronic lunatics in asylums, in which we recommended that further accommodation should be provided when needful, not by enlarging the existing buildings, but by the erection of distinct houses built on a simple plan, retaining as much as possible the ordinary arrangements of English homes. We recommended this arrangement on the experience derived from the occupation by patients of two small houses originally built for offices; these small houses or cottages, as they are called, are cheerful and homelike, and patients much prefer residing in them to the wards; their efficiency for the accommodation of tranquil patients and the simplicity of their construction, led us to advise on the score of economy, that further accommodation for chronic patients should be provided by establishing lunatic colonies, the cost of which we calculated “at the rate of 48 for each patient, or from one-fourth to one-seventh part of the relative cost per head, at which county asylums have been erected.”∗
Macbeth: A Psychological Study.
Authors: J. C. B.
Published: August 2008

Macbeth, the most awful creation of the poetic mind, is a study every way worthy of those to whom the storms of passion present the frequent cause of mental disease. The historian studies the temper of the mind in its most ardent heats, that he may gain a clue to the causation of human events; the statesman, that he may obtain foreknowledge of tendencies to human action; and the psychologist, for the more beneficent purpose of acquiring that knowledge as the means of alleviating the most terrible of calamities, and of doing that which the terrified physician in this tragedy dared not attempt, of “ministering to the mind diseased.” The philosopher studies the laws of storms, that he may teach the mariner to avoid the destructive circle of their influence; and the physician, whose noble object of study is the human mind, seizes every opportunity of making himself acquainted with the direction and events of its hurricane movements, that he may perchance lead some into a port of safety, or at least that he may assist in the restoration of the torn and shattered bark. But to stand on one side and calmly contemplate the phenomena of human passion, like the chorus in the old Greek drama, is the lot of few. When the elements of human passion are in fierce strife, there is no near standing-place for the foot of science, like the deck of the great steamer which allowed Scoresby to measure the force and speed of the wild Atlantic wave. The vortex of passion tends to draw in all who float near; and tranquil observation of its turmoil can only be made from a standing point more or less remote. On all actual occasions, indeed, it behoves the man whose object of study and of care is the human mind, to observe accurately its phenomena, and to test its springs and sources of action; but it behoves him to accept the testimony of those who have weathered the storm, and also gratefully to appreciate any assistance he may obtain from others who contemplate the same phenomena from different points of view to his own: and there is no one from whom he will derive help of such inestimable value, as from him whose high faculties enables him to contemplate human nature, as it were, from within. The Poet or maker, the same intrinsically with the Seer or gifted observer, is the best guide and helpmate with whom the psychologist can ally himself. He is like the native of a country to whom mountain and stream and every living thing are known, acting as instructor and guide to the naturalist, whose systems and classifications he may hold in slight esteem, but with whom he has a common love and a more personal knowledge for all their objects. Compared with the assistance which the psychologist derives from the true poet, that which he obtains from the metaphysician is as sketchy and indistinct as the theoretical description of a new country might be, given by one who had never been therein, as the description of Australia might be, drawn from the parallel of its climate and latitude with South America or China.
Hemp Drugs and Insanity
Authors: Walsh Surgeon-Captain J. H. Tull
Published: August 2008

After reading the somewhat meagre discussion which followed the reading of Dr. Thomas Ireland's very interesting paper before the Section of Psychology at the 61st Annual Meeting of the British Medical Association,∗ it occurred to me that your readers might take some interest in a paper on the connection between hemp drugs and insanity in Bengal. The Hemp Drugs Commission is now sitting, and my paper will consist mainly of the evidence already given to me, in the shape of a report, to that Committee. To avoid unnecessary prolixity, I will first of all refer your readers to an excellent report by Surgeon-Captain David Prain, I.M.S.,† which was published a short time ago by the Bengal Government. This report deals fully with the botanical and economic side of the question, and gives also a good resumé of the chemistry of cannabis sativa.
A Contribution to the Morbid Anatomy and Pathology of the Neuro-Muscular Changes in General Paralysis of the Insane
Authors: Campbell Alfred W.
Published: August 2008

It is only within the last two or three years that alienists have learnt to recognize the importance of the existence in cases of progressive paralysis of the insane of certain extremely interesting neuro-muscular anatomical alterations. Too long was the teaching of Lockhart Clarke,1 Tigges,2 Westphal,3 Magnan,4 Voisin,5 Mendel,6 etc., that the cerebrospinal changes represented the sole anatomical substratum of the clinical features in this disease, regarded as infallible, and it is pleasing to think that our erroneous conceptions have been removed by the energetic researches and discoveries of another generation, including among their number Déjerine,7 Lubimoff,8 Mierzejewski,9 Bianchi,10 Fürst-
3. Pathological Retrospect
Authors: Goodall Edwin
Published: August 2008

This is a method to which considerable importance has been and is attached in Germany. Nissl's original description appeared in 1885, and in this magenta is recommended as the staining agent. In 1890 he described a modification which has superseded the older process. In this country but little seems to be known of the method, of which the following is a brief description:—Have ready (1) a 0·5 % aq. sol. methylene blue (methylenblau patent B, from C. Buchner and Sohn, Fabrik pharmaceut. chem. Producte, Munich); (2) a mixture of anilin oil 20, alcohol 96 % 200 parts (this must not be too old); (3) origanum oil; (4) benzine; (5) a balsam made by dissolving colophonium in benzine, and of the consistence of ordinary chloroform-balsam. Portions of tissue as fresh as possible, in size 1-2 ccm., are placed for fixation and hardening in alcohol 96-98 %, for 24 hours. Remove, fix on cork by gum (caused to set by placing the whole in methylated spirit), and cut sections by the sliding microtome into spirit. The sections are placed, from pure alcohol or distilled water, in the methylene-blue solution, and this is heated until bubbles form—“until the crackle of bursting bubbles is heard.” After cooling, transfer the sections to the anilin-alcohol, and agitate them about until no more clouds of colour are given off. An appreciable differentiation takes place. Transfer a section to a slide, dry it well with filter-paper by pressure, apply a few drops of origanum oil (which is quickly allowed to run off), dry again with filter-paper. Run some benzine over the section to drive off the remains of the origanum, and place a drop of the colophonium solution on the section. The slide is now drawn through the flame of a spirit-lamp and the benzine set alight. When it has all been burnt off adjust the cover-slip. Warm the under surface of the slide, pressing down the cover gently; the colophonium is rendered fluid. Allow to cool.
On the Separate Treatment of Recent and Curable Cases of Insanity in Special Detached Hospitals, with Plan and Description of Buildings about to be erected for this purpose at the Lancaster County Asylum, Whittingham
Authors: Wallis John A.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Clouston opened a discussion on this subject at one of the meetings of the Psychological Section of the British Medical Association at Newcastle, and I attended purposely to take part in the discussion and show the plans which I propose to describe in this paper.
Trephining for Epilepsy: A Clinical Case
Authors: Greenlees T. Duncan
Published: August 2008

The following case is of interest on account of the successful localization of a cerebral disease, as well as from the fact that this is the first recorded case, so far as I am aware, where, in a South African Asylum, the aid of surgery has been invoked to alleviate a cerebral disease giving rise to mental aberration.
Regina v. Sherrard
Authors: Savage Geo. H.
Published: August 2008

It is thought best that the annotation on this subject should rather take the form of a personal communication than an editorial, and therefore I purpose setting before the readers of the Journal the chief points in the case which need special consideration.
Increase of Insanity in Ireland
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

I have endeavoured to prepare tables on Irish Lunacy corresponding to those which I have given in my paper∗ on the “Alleged Increase of Insanity in England and Wales.”
Trephining in Meningitis, with Notes of a Case
Authors: Keay John
Published: August 2008

The patient was admitted into Mavisbank Asylum on the 5th of October, 1891, suffering from monomania of suspicion of probably about a year's duration. He was a well-nourished man, 50 years of age, 66 inches in height, weighing 1601bs.
Two Cases of Insanity with Goitre treated with Thyroid Extract
Authors: McClaughry Thomas Samuel
Published: August 2008

I desire to call attention to a mode of treatment which has not yet been generally adopted in cases of goitre, and to submit two cases in which thyroid gland was administered. The preparation used was five grains of the extract in tabloid form. The result in both cases was highly encouraging, though one was much more so than the other from a mental point of view.
Insanity among the Natives of South Africa
Authors: Greenlees T. Duncan
Published: August 2008

Perhaps one of the most difficult investigations possible is the study of the mental characteristics of savage and semi-savage races, and, before formulating any theories regarding their psychic history, it is necessary that a careful study should be made of their mode of life, their normal mental state, and such folk lore as is accessible to us.
Current Opinion on Medico-Psychological Questions in Germany, as represented by Professor Ludwig Meyer, of Göttingen
Authors: Urquhart A. R.
Published: August 2008

II. Criminal lunatics.—A brief note as to this class of patients will be of interest. Professor Meyer has very decided opinions as to their care and treatment. He fears that the practical outcome of advanced theories would be to change asylums into prisons—a change that would by no means possess the charm of novelty. According to some authorities the term “criminal lunatic” should be limited to such persons as were criminal before they became insane; others would include all insane persons who have committed an offence against the penal laws; some have even stretched the phrase to include all those whose mental condition would lead one to expect impulsive misdeeds, moral insanity, etc. The Academy of Medicine of Belgium gave an authoritative opinion on this subject in 1889. In answer to the inquiries of the Minister of Justice regarding criminal lunatics and criminal asylums, they resolved that these classes should be regarded as criminal, and should be relegated to a special institution— 1. Any insane person who has committed a criminal act. 2. Any criminal who has become insane after sentence. 3. Any insane person confined in an asylum who has committed or attempted a criminal act. In the special asylum, accommodation would be provided for all those insane persons presenting on examination homicidal irresistible and violent impulses, or similar evil habits.
The Spastic and Tabetic Types of General Paralysis
Authors: Stewart R. S.
Published: August 2008

(Illustrated.)

As a rule general paralysis is characterized by well-defined spinal symptoms and pathological changes, and, looked at from this point of view, the cases which pursue what may be called a normal course group themselves broadly into two fairly-defined but unequal divisions, presenting more or less distinctive features as regards onset, course, duration, and pathology. The type which is associated with locomotor ataxia is a well-recognized one, and it appears to me that in all the other cases the features which predominate during the progress of the affection indicate a correspondingly close relationship, clinically and pathologically, with that variety of spinal disease termed primary spastic paraplegia. In a small proportion the features are indicative of a combination of these two types, but it will be found that primarily such cases belong to one or other group, the combination of symptoms being of relatively late occurrence.
The Effect upon Mental Disorders of Intercurrent Bodily Disease
Authors: Goodall E. , Bullen P. St. J.
Published: August 2008

We propose in this paper to deal with the subject of the effects produced upon mental disorders by intercurrent bodily disease. The theme is an old one, but we feel justified in calling attention to it afresh, partly because it is at present prominently before the minds of many alienists, partly since those who have concerned themselves with it—in this country, at any rate—have principally been content with the mere indication of the facts observed. The pathology of the subject, the domain of experimental research and scientific speculation, remains comparatively unexplored. Our literary survey leads us to conclude that but little has been written upon this subject of late years.
The Breaking Strain of the Ribs of the Insane. An analysis of a series of fifty-eight cases tested with an instrument specially devised by Dr. C. H. Mercier
Authors: Campbell Alfred W.
Published: August 2008

In the spring of 1893 we received from Dr. Mercier an instrument specially devised by that gentleman for the purpose of automatically registering the breaking strain of the human rib. It was accompanied by a letter, in which we were requested to experiment with the instrument on as many cases as possible and furnish him with the result. By that letter we were at the same time informed that he had sent similar instruments round to other asylums with a like supplication, and that he looked for the co-operation of a number of colleagues in enabling him to collect a number of cases sufficient to constitute a foundation for an accurate statistical record—a record which would, among other things, settle once and for all in which varieties of mental disorder it is that we are to look for ribs possessing a low breaking strain.
Notes on a Case of Cerebral Hemiatrophy
Authors: Cowan John J.
Published: August 2008

The subjoined notes are those of a case mentioned at the Association's meeting at Worcester, in connection with Dr. Bond's paper.
Collective Investigation in Mental Disease
Authors: Mercier Charles
Published: August 2008

The last time that I had the honour of reading a paper before this Association, I was told with some asperity by one of the subsequent speakers that the subject was not new, and that he himself had dealt with it some years before. It is better, therefore, that I should at once proclaim that the subject that I propose to deal with in the present paper is by no means new. It has been dealt with years ago by a sister Society, and it is dealt with every year by our own Association in our statistical tables. I venture to submit, however, that there is no necessary obligation upon any member of this or of any other learned body to confine his attention to matters that have never been dealt with before. It is not competent, I submit, to any member to draw a line round any department of knowledge, and to cry to all comers “Hands off! This is my preserve, and trespassers will be prosecuted.” Surely if we think, however presumptuously and erroneously, that we can see a way to advance knowledge in any particular direction or by any particular method, we need not be deterred from doing our best by the knowledge that the field we propose to till is not wholly unreclaimed ground, but has already been under cultivation to some extent.
Mental Symptoms Occurring in Bodily Diseases
Authors: Reynolds Ernest Septimus
Published: August 2008

That it would be impossible for anyone in a single paper to adequately treat of the mental symptoms occurring in bodily diseases is self-evident. For it must be remembered, as Maudsley says, “that it is impossible to be out of sorts physically without being out of sorts mentally,” so that the subject includes not only the slight emotional changes found in various diseases, but also the actual insanities produced by or accompanying them. All that I propose to do in this communication is to give a short account of the mental changes which I have noticed during a four years' residence in the Manchester Royal Infirmary, and during a longer experience as visiting physician to the Manchester Workhouse Infirmary, where I have charge of over 800 medical beds.
German Retrospect
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

Finding that there is a difficulty in describing abnormal forms of the ear, Prof. Schwalbe, of Strasbourg (“Archiv. für Psychiatrie,” xxvii. Band, 3 Heft), has arranged an exact method by which variations in the external ear may be tabulated. His articles are illustrated by 19 woodcuts of ear forms. Dr. Schwalbe cites a number of papers from German, French, and Italian sources, which show the extraordinary diligence with which the outward form of this organ has been studied. He remarks that Gredenigo has enumerated 23 categories of ears, and examined 25,000 men and women in Turin, 800 lunatics, and 467 criminals. This observer found very little difference in the form of the ears in these three classes, while Vali found the Darwinian tubercle thrice as common in insane persons and idiots. Schwalbe thinks this difference of result must be due to race, as he finds a difference on this point between the inhabitants of Lower Alsace and those of Lorraine, Upper Alsace, the Palatinate and Baden. Schaffer found that 55 per cent. of Englishmen had the Darwinian tubercle. This shows that when the form of the ear in lunatics and criminals is compared with sane people, they should all belong to the same race. Schwalbe does not state any conclusion, but observes at the end of his paper that many so-called abnormalities in the ear, which are treated as proofs of degeneration, fall within the bounds of normal variations, and many of them are marks of imperfect development of the organ or have analogies with the animals nearest in structure to man.
Medico-Legal Cases
Authors: Mercier
Published: August 2008

[The Editors request that Members will oblige by sending full newspaper reports of all cases of interest as published by the local press at the time of the Assizes.]
Statistics dealing with Hereditary Insanity, based on upwards of a Thousand Gases occurring in the Essex County Asylum
Authors: Turner John
Published: August 2008

Fifty years ago Baillarger† showed from a study of 453 cases that insanity is one third more frequently transmitted from the mothers to the children than from the fathers, and that in the case of sons the transmission is as frequently from one parent as from the other, and in the case of daughters the disposition to insanity is inherited twice as frequently from the mother as from the father. Leubuscher† apparently referring to some later statistics of Baillarger's dealing with 600 cases, found that:—

Direct inheritance.—(a) Taking all classes of insanity, acquired and congenital, we find that whilst the insane father transmits his mental instability to a greater number of offspring than the insane mother, it is on the daughters that it mostly falls, and where the mother is insane the influence is still more marked in the direction of the daughters; so that whichever parent is insane, more daughters ultimately become insane than sons.

(β) The number of insane mothers is very considerably greater than insane fathers.

Reversional and collateral inheritance.—(a) In both sexes the stronger hereditary influence comes through the maternal branch of the family.

(β) The males have the larger number of brothers insane, the females the larger number of sisters.

Bearing in mind the suggestions previously advanced as to the greater amount of stress that the female is physiologically exposed to, I am inclined to think that the results arrived at in Table III. give us a correct idea concerning the transmission of mental instability.

In this series extraneous circumstances have been excluded to a large extent, and the results are in harmony with Darwin's Law of Heredity. But larger numbers will have to be dealt with before any positive conclusion can be arrived at. Where we deal with all classes, as in Table I., these results are liable to be masked to a certain extent by other causes already mentioned. If such be the case the discrepancy between the two tables will serve to give us an idea of the marked influence that extraneous circumstances have in determining actual insanity in those predisposed to it.
Certain Conditions of the Circulatory System in the Insane
Authors: Edgerley Samuel
Published: August 2008

I propose to-day to discuss certain conditions of the circulatory system of the insane which are of interest clinically, and which have been illustrated by cases seen by me recently.
A Case of Tumour of the Brain
Authors: Beach Fletcher
Published: August 2008

A. T., aged six years, was admitted into Darenth Asylum, October 26th, 1882, with the following history:—The patient was born at full time, but his mother had a difficult labour and instruments were required. At birth, the head was misshapen, and about a month afterwards a lump the size of a walnut formed, which was tapped twice and a small quantity of fluid withdrawn. When two years old he was run over, and afterwards the lump increased in size; it was tapped several times, clear fluid being drawn off. After the accident he was insensible for six hours, and on consciousness being restored, he was found to have lost the use of his right arm, the use of which has never returned. Afterwards he had fits, which have continued ever since. When five years old he would stand on his head and laugh and dance. Lately he has been strange in his manner, sometimes being noisy and boisterous, at others morose and depressed. The mental deficiency for which he was admitted is supposed to be due to the use of instruments at his birth, and to his being run over.
Memorandum on Criminal Responsibility.∗
Authors: Orange W.
Published: August 2008

In the case of a person who is charged with an indictable offence, and who is alleged to be insane, the first question that presents itself for consideration is whether such accused person is, or is not, in a fit mental condition to be called upon to plead to the indictment, and to take his trial; for, according to the common law of England, as stated by Blackstone, in his Commentaries (Book 4, Chap. II): “If a man in his sound memory commits a capital offence, and before arraignment for it, he becomes mad, he ought not to be arraigned for it; because he is not able to plead to it with that advice and caution that he ought.” and this general principle of the common law was set out more fully in a statute passed in the year 1800 (39 and 40 Geo. III., cap. 94), by which it was enacted that “If any person indicted for any offence shall be insane, and shall, upon arraignment, be found so to be by a jury lawfully impanelled for that purpose, so that such person cannot be tried upon such indictment,” … “it shall be lawful for the Court before whom any such person shall be brought to be arraigned, or tried as aforesaid, to direct such finding to be recorded, and thereupon to order such person to be kept in strict custody until His Majesty's pleasure shall be known.”
Torquato Tasso and his Biographers
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

While at Belriguardo Tasso wrote a letter to the Cardinal, who directed the Inquisition at Rome complaining that the Inquisitor at Bologna had made too little of his confessions, and that he had granted him absolution rather as to a lunatic than to a heretic. He actually proposed to come to Home to be accused in serious form. and not only did Torquato suspect his friends of denouncing him to the Inquisition, but he also accused them of heretical opinions, perhaps founded on some expressions they had used in familiar conversation. The Duke of Ferrara had, indeed, reason not only to be annoyed, but even to be seriously alarmed, for, though the Inquisitor at Bologna took a sensible view of Tasso's revelations, it was by no means certain that the Inquisition at Borne should look upon the matter in the same light. To a shrewd man who took Tasso's whole conduct into consideration he might seem deranged; but the poet possessed a wonderful power of vivid letter writing, and could make his fancies wear plausible shapes. Then the Duke's own mother was known to have been a favourer of the doctrines of Calvin, and some of the taint of heresy might be supposed to cling to Alfonso himself. He had enemies at Rome, and nothing is more credulous of evil reports than hatred. Perhaps they might favour the accusations in the hope of dispossessing him of his principality and causing it to revert to the Papal States, as was actually done after his death. About the same time Torquato wrote to his friend Gonzaga, “Either I am not only of a melancholy humour, but as it were mad, or I am too cruelly persecuted.” After ten days' stay at Belriguardo Alfonso sent Tasso back to Ferrara to be treated by his own physician. According to the pathology of the times melancholy was owing to humours rising to the brain. To expel these purgatives were the proper remedy. The poet was far from being submissive to treatment, and if the doctors did him no good they could always defend themselves by saying that their patient did not carry out their prescriptions. Tasso was kindly received at the convent of the Franciscans at Ferrara, which he repaid by accusations founded upon his ever-brooding suspicions. At another time he avowed his intention of becoming a brother of the Order.
American
Authors: Beach Fletcher
Published: August 2008

American Journal of Insanity, April and July, 1895; Alienist and Neurologist, July, 1895; The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, June, 1895.

Dr. Clara Barrus writes in the American Journal of Insanity an article on “Gynæcological Disorders and their relation to Insanity.” She tabulates one hundred cases in which examinations were made whether the patient presented symptoms calling for uterine examination or not, and is of opinion that a thorough physical examination is necessary in all female cases, since the manifestations which would lead to examination were only noted in three patients. Very often the pain and discomfort felt by insane patients is misconstrued, and so, while we get no expression of pain itself, we may find the patient suffering from delusions that she is pregnant, that she has been violated during the night, and so on. A synopsis of the table is given, and shows the age of the patient, whether married or not, the presence or absence of menses, lencorrhóa or masturbation, of anomalies and new growths, the condition of the uterus and external genitalia, and the kind of mental disease which is presented. The gynæcologist who learns that it is the exception rather than the rule to find an insane woman with normal pelvic organs must be careful not to assign these abnormal conditions as a cause of insanity, but to keep an open mind, suspending his conclusions until further data can be examined. No doubt the causes of insanity in women are as varied and many of them are identical with the causes of insanity in men, but women have an additional physical and mental strain resulting from the crises which they have to undergo, such as the establishment of puberty, the monthly period, pregnancy, the puerperal state, and the climacteric. None of these by itself is sufficient to produce insanity, and when any of these experiences are said to be the cause of mental disease, we must acknowledge that though these may be the exciting cause, yet the predisposing one is an unstable organisation, causing the patient to be disturbed by occurrences which would only temporarily upset a healthy organism. As regards the table itself, one must guard against the erroneous opinion that the lesions which present themselves are associated more frequently with certain forms of insanity than with others, for although there were thirty-six cases of melancholia and twenty-one of dementia, and only nineteen of mania, ten of paranoia, and twenty-four of miscellaneous mental disorders, we must remember that cases of melancholia and dementia are more tractable and more easily examined, while those of acute mania, paranoia and sexual perversion are examined with difficulty. The author concludes that each case on admission should be examined, and if there is any abnormality present it should be removed if possible; by this means the degree of nerve irritation will be lessened and one of the “stumbling blocks” in the way of the patient's recovery will be removed.
General
Authors: Pietersen J. F. G.
Published: August 2008

Reference to Flechsig's Bromo-opiate Treatment of Epilepsy was made in the last number of this Journal. Though the results chronicled have so far been few in number, the adoption of this form of treatment in severe or obstinate cases of epilepsy, especially when associated with pronounced mental disturbance, appears worthy of consideration. In the Zeitschrift f. Psychiatrie, Bd. lii., two communications have appeared, each of which gives most favourable results. Linke has administered opium and bromides in succession to seven epileptics, six males and one female, in all of whom marked psychical aberration existed. In rapidly increasing doses he exhibited opium first for six weeks, suddenly changing the medicament to large doses (7·5 grms.) of bromide, which being continued for another period of six weeks was then reduced to a daily dose of 5 grms. This is the method advocated by Flechsig, though other therapeutists have lengthened the periods of administration of each drug. Linke found that during the opium course the epileptic seizures increased greatly in number, and that the body weight in some cases showed a marked diminution. As soon as the bromides were substituted for the opium the fits immediately diminished in frequency, and the body weight in the affected cases increased again. The ultimate result of the treatment was that in one patient the seizures had not recurred from the commencement of the bromide course until the date of his paper; in another, one fit occurred on the third day after beginning the bromides, and then after an interval of freedom for nine weeks two seizures ensued; a third patient had a fit on the first morning of the bromide treatment, after which an interval of sixty-five days without fits elapsed, when the bromide had to be discontinued owing to bromism; five days after its withdrawal the patient had another fit. With reference to the mental condition two patients showed a comparative improvement, they became more cheerful and patient of control; one of these, who had been subject to accessions of intense furor, subsequently remained quite free from them. Two of his seven patients died during treatment, one apparently by reason of deleterious action of opium on an affected cardiac muscle, the other owing to exhaustion due to the epileptic status. In nearly all a moderate degree of constipation was induced when the daily doses of opium reached ·60 grms., easily overcome, however, by simple aperients. When the maximum dose of opium was reached serious symptoms supervened, which rendered careful observation of each case needful. As only two and a half months had elapsed between the commencement of the bromide course and the publication of his paper, Linke discreetly draws attention only to the remarkable effects of this mode of treatment in cases hitherto wholly uninfluenced by therapeutic measures; he certainly makes no claim for the method as a specific curative.
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 V.

Temporal Lobe.

This chapter concerns the temporal, and the next the parietal, lobe; but it is desirable to preface the main subjects of these two chapters by some remarks on a large area partly pertaining to both the lobes mentioned, and partly to the occipital.
Latah. a Mental Madady of the Malays
Authors: Ellis W. Gilmore
Published: August 2008

The only papers dealing with latah, with which I am acquainted, are a brochure by Mr. H. O. O'Brien, of the Straits Settlements Civil Service, published some years ago in the Asiatic Journal, and a short notice by Dr. A. M. Browne, of Sydney, published in the Provincial Medical Journal, 1887; though the Miryachit of the Siberians and Lapps, the jumping disease of America, and the Bah-tschi of the Siamese, diseases allied to, if not identical with, that which forms the subject of this essay, have been all fully described. Quite recently, and since I had begun to put these notes together, Dr. Van Brero has written a paper on the subject; and Mr. F. A. Swettenham, the British Resident of Perak, has published a book called “Malay Sketches” in which there is a chapter on latah, dwelling principally on the humorous side of the question as it appears to bystanders. Mr. Swettenham likens latah to cases of hypnotism shown him in one of the Paris hospitals.
Some Appearances Indicating Phagocytosis observed in the Brains of the Insane: Essay for which was awarded the Bronze Medal of the Medico-Psychological Association, 1896
Authors: Turner John
Published: August 2008

Dr. Bevan Lewis ascribes to the Deiters cells of the brain a phagocyte function; as the scavengers of the brain they absorb and remove effete material, and also according to his view attach themselves to degenerated nerve-cells, whereby these structures are gradually through their agency absorbed and removed.
The Asylum Trained and Certificated Nurses of the Medico-Psychological Association
Authors: Wood T. Outterson
Published: August 2008

The fact that the Medico-Psychological Association has now upon its register upwards of 2,400 nurses, including both sexes, who hold the certificate of the Association “for proficiency in nursing,” renders it unnecessary to offer any apology to this meeting for bringing before it the question of considering the position in which we now stand with regard to our nurses and to the public.
Craniectomy for Idiocy, with Notes of a Case
Authors: Telford-Smith T.
Published: August 2008

The boy R. H., of whose case I here give some brief notes, has recently (17th March, 1897) been admitted to the Royal Albert Asylum, and so has not yet received any special or systematic training; but, as it is now approaching two years since he underwent surgical treatment in the form of linear craniectomy for his mental defect, it seems worth while to record any changes in his mental and physical condition which have taken place since the operation, as we can thus, to some extent, arrive at an estimate of the degree of improvement more or less directly due to the surgical procedure. The boy has, however, both before and since the operation, had attentive care and ordinary home training under his parents' supervision. I may here mention that the fact of the boy's being operated on came about through the parents having read a tale in The Strand Magazine called “Creating a Mind”∗—a tale which I fear has given rise to exaggerated hopes in the minds of the parents of many idiot children.
Some Mental Aspects of Music
Authors: Newington H. Hayes
Published: August 2008

Music, as a term, suffers much from diffusiveness. When we reflect that, in one sense or another, it denominates anything between the idle notes of the plough boy and the finished performance of an opera singer, between the productions of a Jew's harp and of a cathedral organ, between the playing of two or three foreign tramps and of a Philharmonic Orchestra; when we reflect that man's attitude to music is at one time active and at another passive, and when we also reflect that the acceptance of sound as music by man is largely dependent on his individual views and tastes, we must see how impossible it is to invent a definition of music that will serve as a universal standard, to which we can refer psychological observations without lengthy qualifications and limitations. I put forward this self-evident proposition in order to show how easily we may fall into error in particular considerations, if the term is used generally and without specialisation.