bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mind in Plants
Authors: Lindsay W. Lauder
Published: August 2008

In studying, during the last five years, the phenomena ofMind in the Lower Animals, I have encountered as great difficulty in drawing any definite or definable Psychical Line of Demarcation betweenPlantsand the Lowest Animals as between the Higher Animals and Man. In other words, it appears to me thatcertain attributes of mind, as it occurs in Man, are common to Plants. The only alterative is the omission from our conceptions and definitions of Mind of certain phenomena common to plants with all classes of animals, including man—those, namely, that do not involve what we distinctively callconsciousness. But the difficulties of such an elimination seem to me insuperable.
The Importance of Uniformity in Microscopical Observations of Brain Structure
Authors: Newth A. H.
Published: August 2008

The importance of microscopical observation as an adjunct to the study of disease is so very obvious that few can possibly deny its value. The great advancement that has been made in pathology, by the aid of the microscope, during the last few years, has almost completely changed most of the ideas that were formerly held as to the nature, prognosis, diagnosis, and treatment of many diseases. Diseases which were formerly shrouded in obscurity as to their real nature, are now clearly defined; we are enabled to trace the fons et origo of the causes which have been at work insidiously undermining the constitution, destroying gradually and surely important organs. We are enabled to employ a more certain means of diagnosis by discriminating structures from one another, which, to the unaided eye, seem alike—thus forming a more sure prognosis. Pathology has, in fact, become a new science by the aid of the microscope. And as microscopical observation becomes more complete, as better means of differentiating structures are discovered, while microscopic objectives are made of more perfect definition, so will the study of histology, and consequently pathology, rank higher and higher, till at last its place may almost, if not entirely, be raised to that of one of the exact sciences. The microscopist does not deal in hypothetical abstractions, but in demonstrable facts; truths which it is impossible to dispute, except from errors of observation. These errors are, however, in some cases formidable, for so many circumstances arise tending to obscure observation. Hence, there is a great necessity for co-operation in the work of histology and pathology, in order that these errors may be seen and understood, then grappled with and overcome. Observers must be willing to work more in unison, to compare results, to submit their work to the severest criticism possible: until they do so the science of histology will only slowly progress towards exactitude. More labourers, too, are needed; the field is so vast, time is so short, that the few earnest ones at present at work are not sufficient.
Some Observations on General Paralysis
Authors: Ashe Isaac
Published: August 2008

Although we have, for some time past, begun to emancipate ourselves from the idea that insanity is a disease of the mind, and admit, in theory at least, that it is strictly a disease of the body, as much so as typhus, or any other disease involving perturbed mental phenomena, yet we have scarcely hitherto begun to investigate the pathology of insanity from this point of view. Even yet we classify the forms of the disease by the mental manifestations it presents, and speak of mania, melancholia, dementia, &c., when our aim ought to be to differentiate the physical or chemico-vital somatic conditions; we describe the insanity of fear, of pride, of exaltation, &c., much as if we should classify ulcers as those of the hand, the arm, the leg, and the trunk, instead of attending to the more important characters of ulcers in general with their true specific differences. For, I venture to think, that Professor Ferrier's researches point strongly to the view that the differences in direction, so to speak, taken by the mental phenomena depend to a great extent upon the differences in the portion of brain-tissue principally affected. The investigation of the physical causation and conditions of insanity will doubtless be laborious and tedious work, but there can be no doubt that the results to be obtained will more than repay the labour which must be expended in the investigation.
Bethlem Royal Hospital
Authors: Tuke Daniel Hack
Published: August 2008

The chief point of interest in the subject to which this paper has reference, centres in the questions where and what was the provision made for the insane in England in the earliest period in which we can discover traces of their custody? As this enquiry at once leads us to Bethlem Hospital, I thought when Dr. Williams, some weeks ago, asked me to contribute a paper to the next Quarterly Meeting of the Association, that it might fittingly occupy a portion of our time this evening.
Notes on the Reparative Power in Insanity
Authors: Campbell J. A.
Published: August 2008

The short notes which I am going to bring before you refer more directly to the power of repair of bony structures and soft tissues in fractures and wounds, occurring in cases of insanity; and I have the less hesitation in calling your attention to the subject, because I see by the last “Commissioners' Report” that during 1874 twenty-six fractures occurred in the Scotch Royal and District Asylums. I hope, therefore, to hear some useful remarks on the subject from the members present.
A Chapter in the History of Criminal Lunacy in England
Authors: Nicolson David
Published: August 2008

Criminal Lunacy is a many-sided subject: but I have no intention here of entering upon it from any special standpoint, whether social, legal, or medico-psychological. I merely wish to recount, briefly and without detail, such general matters of interest connected with successive methods of dealing with criminal lunatics as can be linked together in the form of a historical sketch, which does not pretend to be a criticism.
Pathology of a Case of Transient Alternating Hemiplegia
Authors: Brown Joseph J.
Published: August 2008

The occurrence of transient hemiplegia is so unfrequent in nervous affections, and the pathological conditions causing the symptoms are so obscure and uncertain, that any additional information regarding the nature of the lesions in such cases is of importance, and so I venture to bring before the Society the following case:—

A. M., æt. 73. Widow. From Edinburgh. Was admited into the Royal Edinburgh Asylum on October 10th, 1873.
English Psychological Retrospect
Authors: Mickle W. Julius
Published: August 2008

The following is a short abstract of this series of papers, and consists mainly of quotations from the original text on the points of greater interest, omitting, for the sake of space, the various references to the literature of the subject. The large number of insane soldiers under his care has afforded Dr. Mickle a rich field for the study of syphilitic affections of the nervous system, and of the question of the causation of insanity by syphilis:—
Spurious Hydrophobia in Man
Authors: Lindsay W. Lauder
Published: August 2008

There is probably no disease to which human flesh is heir that attracts, every now and again, such a degree of public attention—that begets such a keenness of personal dread—that so frequently forms the subject of sensational narrative or comment in the public press—that causes to be exhibited so disgraceful an amount and kind of ignorance, superstition, credulity, and cruelty—as hydrophobia. Even cholera is not so formidable a disorder in the public esteem. Its cramps are not always present; and when they are, they are not comparable with the convulsions of hydrophobia. Nor is there any terrifying mental disorder in the case of cholera; whereas, in hydrophobia the morbid mental phenomena are more prominent, serious, and impressive than the motor ones. Moreover, cholera is not popularly believed to be necessarily and in all cases fatal; whereas it is currently supposed that there is no chance of escape from hydrophobia.
The Measure of Individual and Social Responsibility in Criminal Cases
Authors: Nicolson Dav.
Published: August 2008

At noon, on Tuesday, the 15th of January last, Mr. Eugéne Hamburger met, in the busy Metropolitan thoroughfare, “Holborn Viaduct,” a jewel dealer, named Jackson, with whom he had some slight business acquaintance. With the view of exhibiting his wares, Hamburger consented to accompany the dealer into an as yet unoccupied office of the latter on the Viaduct. Upon entering the room, Hamburger was about to take a parcel of pearls from his bag, when Jackson fired a pistol at him, wounding him in the head, and afterwards continued the assault by drawing a dagger and stabbing him. In the struggle that ensued, Hamburger succeeded in overpowering and disarming his assailant, who escaped from the room and disappeared. The wounded man thereafter proceeded home in a cab, and recovered from his injuries.
The Physiology of some Phases of the Poetic Mind
Authors: Treves Frederick
Published: August 2008

As the knowledge and appreciation of light are rendered more distinctive by the near presence of a shade, and as the idea of absolute smoothness is presented to the mind with a keener readiness when viewed in relation to an inequality of surface; so in mental science such phenomena as are normal, and therefore in a sense unvaried, are better known when studied in connection with others that are abnormal, and in consequence more clearly to be individualised.
The Electro-Neural Pathology of Insanity
Authors: Newth A. H.
Published: August 2008

The macroscopical and the microscopical researches on the pathology of the brain, in insanity and other neuroses, though hitherto carried on with zest to an almost unlimited extent, have yet been devoid of any very definite trustworthy results. Nor is this to be wondered at when we consider that infinitesimal particles, acting on the nervous system, are capable of producing very decided effects. Thus, a distinct sensation of smell is produced by so small a quantity of odorous particles as to be practically immeasurable. Therefore, the wonder is, as Dr. Maudsley observes, that any morbid appearances should have been expected to be found in many cases of insanity.
Observations on some Points in Cerebral Pathology, and on Percussion of the Skull
Authors: Robertson Alexander
Published: August 2008

The question how far disease of the surface of the brain may reveal itself by symptoms which point to the exact position of the morbid process, is one of considerable interest, not only in a physiological point of view, in relation to the functions of the convolutions, or from a diagnostic standpoint, as indicating the seat of the diseased action, but also in a therapeutic aspect, in showing where local treatment may probably be most beneficially carried out. In order, however, to be able to decide whether certain symptoms indicate disease in an organ, it is clearly of great consequence that we should know what are the functions of that organ in health. Regarded in this light recent experimental researches into the nature of the cerebral functions, and especially those located in the hemispherical ganglia, are of no small value to the physician. True, very many of the results obtained by such observers as Hitzig and Ferrier, are still problematical; but though this be granted in reference to their more detailed observations, there are certain of their broad general conclusions—those, particularly, that have been corroborated by pathology—which may now be considered as well nigh established on a firm basis of fact; and I make this remark, notwithstanding the vigorous and hostile criticism of Dr. Brown-Séquard. Amongst these conclusions the one with which we are here most concerned, is, that the convolutions bounding the fissure of Rolando are charged with motor function, especially in the upper and lower extremities.
Homicide by a Somnambulist
Authors: Yellowlees D.
Published: August 2008

Somnambulism and the conditions allied to it have always attracted peculiar interest, probably because most men have felt that common sleep, although so familiar, is yet a wondrous and solemn thing, and full of mysterious possibilities for each of us. Cases of somnambulism have naturally lost nothing when reported, the observer and the recorder being alike liable to enhance rather than lessen the mystery. The wholesome scepticism which now prevails as to the truly involuntary character of many nervous disorders was formerly less common. We know that some patients will subject themselves to constant suffering and discomfort, or will practise the most patient and painful imposture, for no conceivable object save to be exceptional or to attract attention; and there is no want of charity in suspecting that in some cases the somnambulism was but hysterical simulation or morbid malingering.
Metalloscopy and Expectant Attention
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

Having availed myself, when recently in Paris, of the opportunity afforded of visiting the Salpêtrière, I have made a few notes of what I witnessed in the service of M. Charcot, although, from the shortness of my visit, I was not in a position to do justice to the subject which has recently attracted so much attention—the influence of metals in anæsthesia, hystero-epilepsy, &c. I can do little more than record facts, and suspend my judgment as to their nature and the explanation which further investigation will give of them.
The History of the Hereditary Neurosis of the Royal Family of Spain
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

In enquiries upon the influence of heredity in the causation of insanity we rarely get back beyond the third generation. Few men either know, or care much about their great-grandfathers or great-grandmothers, and fewer are willing to keep in remembrance the existence of an ancestral taint. Nevertheless, in studying these subjects we ought to go back as far as we can, and the few pedigrees which have been traced of the genesis of insanity in families bring out deductions of the highest interest. In studying the fortunes of those ruling houses, whose lives are recorded by history, we occasionally trace the rise and extinction of a family through insanity, or we behold the wane and final extinction of the hereditary disease. There is no deficiency in the materials. Mental disease is very common in royal and noble families, and great disasters to nations have sometimes signalised the madness of their rulers.
A Detached Left Occipital Lobe and other Abnormalities, in the Brain of a Hydrocephalic Imbecile
Authors: Clark A. Campbell
Published: August 2008

John R., admitted into the Melrose Asylum on the 29th May, 1875, æt. 38.
Spanish Asylums
Authors: Fraser Donald
Published: August 2008

In the spring of 1878, while travelling in Spain in company with two friends, I took the opportunity of visiting several asylums. Having entered Spain by the north, I made known my desire to see some Spanish asylums, to an influential citizen of San Sebastian, who gave me to understand that I would find them in much the same condition that English ones were in about 40 or 50 years ago.* He furnished me with letters of introduction to friends in Madrid, through whom I became acquainted with an accomplished and enthusiastic alienist, Dr. J. M. Esquerdo, Lecturer on General Pathology in the General Hospital of Madrid, and director and proprietor of a private asylum in the neighbourhood of that city.
”After Care.”
Authors: Hawkins Rev. H.
Published: August 2008

The “After-Care,” that is, of poor and friendless female convalescents on leaving asylums for the insane. That out of about 59,000 pauper patients estimated to be inmates of lunatic asylums and other institutions,* there should be many, both male and female, who, on attaining convalescence, require further assistance to enable them to resume life's duties, with fair prospect of success, would reasonably be expected.
Three Australian Asylums
Authors: Urquhart A. R.
Published: August 2008

In following up Dr. Manning's paper in the July number of this journal with these fugitive notes of a series of very pleasant and instructive visits, I would premise that the changes of three years have taken place since it was my fortune to spend a season in Australia—that most hospitable of countries. Victoria has lost Dr. Robertson, and Queensland Dr. Jaap—gaps not readily filled up in a remote and little-known service. Administrative changes in the progressive spirit of the Australian commonwealth have swept away faulty arrangements, but the struggle for improvement remains in able hands and with stout hearts.
Syphilis and Mental Alienation; further Cases illustrative of their Relationships
Authors: Mickle W. Julius
Published: August 2008

Case IV.—History of Syphilis: namely, venereal sore; sore throat; and subsequent general “rheumatic” pain. Later on, melancholia and suicidal propensity. Severe and prolonged cranial, and mainly nocturnal pain, with local tenderness, relieved by specific treatment. Hepatic disease; incipient pulmonary phthisis. Recovery.
2. Italian Psychological Literature
Authors: Gasquet J. M.
Published: August 2008

In the Archivio Dr. Porporati communicates two papers on insanity in women connected with the physiological changes of the sexual organs. The most novel part of these are his observations on insanity beginning during pregnancy. In most of his cases this was characterised by hatred of the husband, against whom groundless accusations of cruelty were made. The patient sometimes recovered after delivery, but this was more frequently followed by no benefit.
The Comparative Mortality of Different Classes of Patients in Asylums
Authors: Chapman T. A.
Published: August 2008

In the Journal of “Mental Science” for April, 1877, I published a note on this subject, and had to regret that the conclusions deduced were drawn from comparatively so small a number of cases, that some further statistics on the subject would be. necessary to show how far the figures then given could be depended upon.
The Physiological Action of Alcohol in its Relationship to Animal Heat, and its influence upon the vaso-motor Nervous System
Authors: Lewis W. Bevan
Published: August 2008

The physiological action of Alcohol upon thermogenesis has been the subject of much dispute, and its effects upon tissue metamorphosis is still a moot point with many authorities in Therapeutics.
On Syphilitic Epilepsy
Authors: Echeverria M. G.
Published: August 2008

Syphilis has always been regarded as one of the accidental causes of Epilepsy, and ranks, indeed, among those which exert the most decided influence on its development. The epileptic malady, when so originated, throws almost into the shade the other constitutional accidents, or sequels of the syphilitic infection, if they are not—as it often happens—in suspension or latency. The first point, therefore, to be considered before we proceed to the description of its characters, is—at what stage of syphilis does the neurosis commonly occur, or rather, is there a secondary and a tertiary epilepsy, distinct from each other, as is held by Fournier, who judges it difficult to connect the former, principally exhibited by females, like a transient specific neurosis, with any lesion of the nervous centres; whereas the latter should be, on the contrary, manifestly consecutive to encephalic lesions, thus constituting one of the manifold expressions of that complex organic state known as cerebral syphilis.
Insanity from Lead. Poisoning
Authors: Rayner  , Robertson  , Savage  , Atkins
Published: August 2008

Although my attention has been directed for some years past to the consideration of this subject, the number of cases of lead poisoning coming under my observation is inconsiderable, and I put forward the following with the hope of inducing others to place on record their experiences rather than with the idea of formulating definite conclusions.
A Public Asylum, Designed for 414 Beds, capable of Extension to 600
Authors: Greene Richard
Published: August 2008

Preliminary.—The greater part of the letterpress and accompanying plans were sent into the competition lately requested by the Borough Magistrates of Hull, and were awarded the third premium. The elevations and architectural details were designed with much care and success by Mr. B. S. Jacobs, of Hull; the sanitary and sewage works were prepared by Mr. George Bohn, C.E.; while the writer is responsible for the ground and first floor plans, and for the internal arrangements generally.
Teachings of the Sphygmograph in General Paralysis of the Insane
Authors: Lewis W. Bevan
Published: August 2008

The pulse-tracing in general paralysis has never been thoroughly investigated, and although the tracing said to be characteristic of this affection has been figured and described in several works, I have looked in vain for those records of the amount of arterial tension as estimated by the pressure gauge, without which a mere pulse-tracing is of little reliance and value. I have therefore endeavoured to supply in part this want by a detailed account of the sphygmograms taken in about forty cases of general paralysis, with records of tension measurement and occlusion pressure, the latter taken by Dr. Handfield Jones' sphygmometer, which registers a pressure of 20 up to 600 grammes. The tracings have been all taken, by means of a very perfect sphygmograph, upon smoked enamelled paper, and every source of fallacy which could possibly be eliminated was very carefully excluded.
Gudden's Method in the Investigation of the Anatomy of the Central Nervous System
Authors: Hyslop James
Published: August 2008

Perhaps there is no system which in recent times has received more attention, from an anatomical as well as from a physiological point of view, than the central nervous system. The brain being built up of cells and fibres of a soft and friable material, imbedded in a still softer substance, and arranged so as to form a complicated network of fibres suspended between and connecting different systems of nuclei, it is not to be wondered at that its minute anatomy, previous to the employment of the various hardening methods now in use, was very imperfectly known. Even now, notwithstanding our present means of hardening nerve tissue, and improved appliances for preparing sections for microscopical examination, we often experience considerable difficulty in its investigation, not the smallest of which is encountered when we endeavour to follow the different nerve fibres and associate them with their proper nuclei. Sometimes this difficulty arises from several bundles of fibres connected with different nuclei running together, or occupying almost the same position and at other times from several nuclei connected with different groups of fibres being placed very close to each other, so that we may have in close proximity nuclei, or the fibres connected with nuclei, which differ greatly in function.
Hallucinations in General Paralysis of the Insane; Especially in Relation to the Localization of Cerebral Functions
Authors: Mickle Wm. Julius
Published: August 2008

After a brief reference to the frequency of hallucinations in general paralysis they will, in the second place, be considered in relation to the question of cerebral localization.
On the Character and Hallucinations of Joan of Arc
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

Joan's glory reached its highest point when she led the Dauphin to be crowned at Rheims. Up to this time every thing had gone on as she desired, and as she had predicted. The caution of experienced generals had again and again been overruled by her impetuous call for action. One blow after another had been struck, and every blow told. Fortifications, apparently too strong for the force brought against them, had been stormed; seven cities had been taken; and at Patay an English army had been scattered and slaughtered like a herd of deer. The newly-crowned King was urged unwillingly to St. Denis, and a furious assault made upon Paris from noon to sunset.
On the Mental Condition in Hypnotism
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

Some of the members now present were in this room a few weeks ago when Carl Hansen, a noted hypnotist from Denmark, induced in several persons a more or less marked degree of that condition known as hypnotism or Braidism, and we had the opportunity of making some experiments upon the subjects while in this state. Although the hypnotic phenomena were by no means so striking as is often the case, there were some interesting points elicited which, taken along with other experiments of a similar nature which I have witnessed before and since, will, I hope, form sufficient material for some considerations on the nature of the condition which is thus induced psychologically and physiologically, though I bring forward these remarks expecting to be enlightened myself in a delicate and difficult problem rather than hoping to enlighten those whom I have the honour to address to-night.
Cases of Self-Mutilation by the Insane
Authors: Adam James
Published: August 2008

Injuries to self, or rather attempts at their infliction, are events of such frequent occurrence that in certain forms of mental disease their probability is indicated by the symptoms, and due precautions are usually adopted in asylums for their prevention, although no previous overt act may have given practical warning of the tendency.
Is Legal Responsibility Acquired by Educated Imbeciles?
Authors: Shuttleworth G. E.
Published: August 2008

The question of the legal responsibility of the insane has been frequently under discussion both by legal and medical writers; and its conditions and limits must, I fear, still be regarded as far from settled; divergent views being held, perhaps naturally, according to the standpoint respectively taken up by the lawyer and the physician. “A lawyer, when speaking of insanity,” says Sir J. F. Stephen, “means conduct of a certain character; a physician means a certain disease, one of the effects of which is to produce such conduct.” It is somewhat remarkable that the legal responsibility of the idiot, and of his milder congener, the imbecile, has hitherto hardly been deemed worthy of discussion; but a recent law case, in which several patients under my care were concerned, has led me to think that a few remarks on the subject may not be altogether uninteresting or unprofitable.
A Case of General Paralysis in a Woman
Authors: Cowan F. M.
Published: August 2008

In the Asylum Report of last year I published the case of a woman suffering from general paralysis. The post-mortem was somewhat different from that generally met with in this disease. After reading the article of Dr. B. Mendel I venture to publish this ease, as I arrived at nearly the same conclusions as this able alienist physician.
The Case of Cole, and the Legal Procedure in ascertaining the Mental Condition of Prisoners
Authors: D. H. T.
Published: August 2008

It would be difficult indeed to conceive any circumstances more calculated to bring English Criminal Law into contempt than the results of the trials of Gouldstone and Cole for wilful murder. Our only consolation is that such pitiful exhibitions of the working of our present judicial machinery, in cases in which the plea of insanity is set up, may lead to some practical reform therein. Had any commentary been desired on the necessity of carrying out the Resolution∗ passed at the recent Annual Meeting of our Association, under the presidency of Dr. Orange, and again at the October meeting of the Metropolitan Branch of the British Medical Association, such commentary, written in letters of blood, has indeed been supplied by the occurrence of these two trials in rapid succession.
1. Italian Psychological Literature
Authors: Gasquet J. R.
Published: August 2008

The accumulated numbers of the Archivio contain several very interesting papers, read before the “Società Freniatrica,” of which Society that journal is the official organ. The following are those most likely to interest our readers.
Presidential Address, delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association, held at the Royal College of Physicians, London, July 23rd, 1884
Authors: Rayner H.
Published: August 2008

Gentlemen,—I cannot commence my address without reminding the Association of the regrettable circumstance which has resulted in my having had conferred upon me the honour of occupying this position to-day.
Moral or Emotional Insanity
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

Most of you are aware that not many months ago the Editors of the “Journal of Mental Science” invited communications from members of the Association of which it is the organ on a subject which never loses its interest, simply because events are frequently occurring which force medical psychologists to direct their attention to it. I refer to what usually passes under the name of Moral or Emotional Insanity. The very fact that it is thus forced upon our notice proves it to be a practical, not a merely speculative question. I offer no apology, therefore, for making it the theme of my paper to-day, especially as I have not joined in the discussion which has taken place in the Journal, and which now has terminated. I say “discussion,” but one of the most marked features of these communications is their essential unanimity.
The Narrative of Mr. H., the Portrait-painter, Analysed and Critically Examined
Authors: Guy W. A.
Published: August 2008

In my work on “The Factors of the Unsound Mind” I gave a condensed account of the case of Mr. H. as forwarded to Charles Dickens, editor of “All the Year Round,” now nearly a quarter of a century ago, and published by him in No. 128 of that Journal, October 5th, 1861. It is headed “Mr. H.'s Own Narrative,” and it was forwarded to the editor, much to his surprise, in correction of the first of “Four Stories” published in an earlier number. That it is a genuine narrative, and no fiction, I have every reason to believe.
A Contribution to the Study of Diseases of the Circulatory System in the Insane. (The Essay to which the £10 10s. prize of the Association was awarded)
Authors: Greenlees T. Duncan
Published: August 2008

It has long been recognised that a sympathetic connection exists between the body and the mind; irritability of temper from a sluggish action of the liver, and the hopeful view phthisical patients frequently take of their ultimate recovery (the “spes phthisica” of some authors), are familiar examples of the influence of abnormal conditions of the body upon the mind.
Two Cases of Melancholia
Authors: Patton Alex
Published: August 2008

I desire to place on record two cases of melancholia, in which the exciting cause of the disease under which each laboured being the same, the progress and termination differed very widely.
Insanity and Crime
Authors: North S. W.
Published: August 2008

In every civilised community, however imperfectly the wish may be fulfilled, the desire is to do equal justice to all; to up hold the law as a terror to evil-doers, and the protector of the innocent.
1. French Retrospect
Authors: McDowall T. W.
Published: August 2008

This paper goes over the same topics that are quite familiar to those at all acquainted with the interminable discussions connected with the nomenclature and classification of mental disease. There are brief notes of some fresh cases. The concluding paragraphs are as follows:
2. American Retrospect
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

Among the papers read at this Conference eight are by experts in the Psychological Department of Medicine, and occupy more than 60 pages. Dr. Chapin, the Superintendent of the Penn. Hospital, Philadelphia, presents a report of the Committee on the Provision for the insane, in which it is stated that of the 92,000 insane persons in the United States 43,000 are not in asylums. Of Boards of State Charities it is held that their powers in respect to asylums should be limited to the examination and report of their condition and the investigation of abuses. The policy of committing the responsibility of administration to such Boards is not wise. It is observed that whatever may be the objections to Local Boards entrusted with State Institutions, there are other largely compensating advantages in their favour. It is added that “Boards of State Charities” may exercise a wholesome oversight and supervision, observe the best methods, and urge their general adoption. Great satisfaction is expressed at the wide departures that have been made from former plans of asylum construction, as at Willard; Middletown; the open wards of the Government Asylum, Washington; the asylum at Kankakee; the Bancroft wards at the Concord Asylum; the “Cottage by the Sea,” under the direction of the Friends' Asylum, Philadelphia; and the Mountain House connected with the Vermont Asylum. Such asylums as Kankakee have succeeded in showing that the cost of construction and the maintenance of patients may be considerably reduced, thus removing a great obstacle to the extension of State provision for the insane; while there has been an increase of personal liberty and a greater opportunity for the various occupations in which a community engages. Dr. Chapin makes this honourable acknowledgment:—“Candour compels us to acknowledge some of the results have been aided by fair and wholesome criticism, which has furnished moral support to bring about changes as well as incentment to devise ways for improvement. It is an unfortunate error to cultivate an opinion that any human work is perfect or cannot be improved.” He advocates for the accommodation of bed-ridden patients, feeble dements, and epileptics, large associated dormitories (like our Caterham and Leavesden), with an efficient staff of night attendants, or a total separate building one storey in height, comprising a day-room or ward, and a dormitory with a few adjoining single rooms. Of the patients at Willard, 10 per cent. were of the class suited for this arrangement.
On the Treatment of the Insane sixty years ago as illustrated by the Earlier Records of the Dundee Royal Asylum
Authors: Rorie James
Published: August 2008

Having been invited by our indefatigable Secretary to give a contribution to the present meeting, and having been recently engaged in looking over the earlier records of the Old Asylum of Dundee, it occurred to me that a few remarks on the early history of this institution and the means then in use in the treatment of the patients might not prove uninteresting, as the Asylum was erected at a very important period in the history of psychological medicine, namely, that period when it had dawned on the public mind that harshness and chains were not the proper remedies for the insane, but that much might be done in the treatment of this affliction by kindness, gentleness, and especially by healthy occupation.
On Catalepsy, with Cases. Treatment by High Temperature and Galvanism to Head
Authors: Robertson Alex.
Published: August 2008

Catalepsy is one of the most striking of the great group of functional disorders of the nervous system. In this country it is a rare disease, except in lunatic asylums, where, at least in a modified form, it is by no means uncommon. Among the recorded cases a considerable proportion occurred in women of a hysterical disposition. It has, however, been observed in many other conditions. Thus in some individuals it has been associated with gross organic lesions of the brain, such as tumours and softening; but these may be regarded as accidental coincidences, and not as essential to the disease. Malaria would seem to have been the agent in its production in a number of instances, this opinion being supported by the fact that the patients recovered under the use of quinine and other remedies with similar properties. A curious case is recorded by Vogt of an Alpine village near Würzburg, in which half of the population, both males and females, suffered from this disease. He states that the inhabitants had been much given to intermarriage, and that generally they are, or at least were—for his account was published in 1863—a small and deformed race. The seizures were of short duration, not generally lasting longer than five minutes. They were preceded by a chill, which was soon followed by a strange sensation in the arms and legs. Then the sufferers became deadly pale, while their limbs got stiff, and continued in the position they were in when the attack commenced.
Presidential Address, delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Medico-Psychological Association, held at the London Medical Society's Rooms, Chandos Street, W., July 27, 1887
Authors: Needham Frederick
Published: August 2008

Gentlemen,—In occupying the position to which you have done me the honour to elect me, I beg to thank you sincerely for having conferred that honour upon me, and to assure you that it has my warmest appreciation.
2. French Retrospect.
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

We resume the analysis of the work on Hypnotism, by M. Beaunis, which we noticed in the April number of the Journal (p. 147).∗
Ætiology, Pathology, and Treatment of Puerperal Insanity
Authors: Clark A. Campbell
Published: August 2008

Considerable diversity of treatment has hitherto obtained, especially with regard to sedatives. No systematic experiments are recorded, and no very conclusive data have been published. The following quotations from some of the best authorities, placed side by side, will summarise our present knowledge of the subject.
Some Remarks on Boarding-out as a Mode of Provision for Pauper Insane
Authors: Turnbull A. R.
Published: August 2008

The subject of boarding-out is not in any way a new one. In 1864 Dr. (now Sir Arthur) Mitchell described very fully the condition of the insane in private dwellings in Scotland, and while exposing the many abuses that then existed, showed also that, under proper regulation, domestic care for a certain class of lunatics possesses many advantages, and urged that in it there could be found one very suitable method of providing against the accumulation of chronic insane in asylums. Since that time the subject has always been more or less prominently receiving attention from those who are concerned in providing for the insane. Therefore I cannot hope now to lay before you any fresh facts in reference to it. My object is rather, in the short time at my command, to draw attention to some of the outstanding features of the system, in the hope of raising a discussion and eliciting the opinions of members regarding it, especially the opinions of our friends from the other side of the border and from Ireland, where the conditions influencing the provision made for the insane are somewhat different from ours, and where boarding-out has so far not been practised to the same extent as in Scotland.
Boarding-out of Pauper Lunatics in Scotland
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

Those who were present at the Glasgow meeting of the British Medical Association will remember that our Scotch members, especially Dr. Turnbull, endeavoured to get up an excursion to Kennoway. It was hoped that at least twenty would avail themselves of the opportunity, but the hope was not fulfilled; then ten, but this also failed; lastly five, but I am sorry to say there were not even five righteous men found in the Psychology Section of the British Medical Association. The excursion was therefore abandoned.
Insanity following Surgical Operations
Authors: Dent C. T.
Published: August 2008

So far as my researches extend little attention has been paid to the subject of this paper. Yet I think it would be rash to assume that what is unrecorded is necessarily rare, even in days when so much more is put into print than any of us can either read or mark, much less digest, and when the number of writers seems in danger of exceeding the number of readers. Insanity, in some degree, as a sequela of surgical operation, though certainly rare, is, I believe, less uncommon than usually supposed, and it is chiefly in the hope of eliciting additional information from others that I venture to record my own small experience. On two subjects medical science has still an infinite deal to learn: first, the influence of disease on the mind; secondly, the influence of mind on disease. In attempting to contribute a little to the first-mentioned subject, I can really deal only with a subdivision of it, viz., the effects that may be produced on the mind by surgical measures undertaken for the relief of disease.
Muscular Movements in Man, and their Evolution in the Infant: a Study of Movement in Man, and its Evolution, together with Inferences as to the Properties of Nerve-Centres and their Modes of Action in expressing Thought
Authors: Warner Francis
Published: August 2008

(1) Movement in mau has long been a subject of profitable study. Visible movement in the body is produced by muscular contraction following upon stimulation of the muscles by efferent currents passing from the central nerve-system. Modern physiological experiments have demonstrated that when a special brain-area discharges nerve-currents, these are followed by certain visible movements or contraction of certain muscles corresponding. So exact are such reactions, as obtained by experiment upon the brain-areas, that movements similar to those produced by experimental excitation of a certain brain-area may be taken as evidence of action in that area, or as commencing in discharge from that area (see Reinforcement of Movements, 35; Compound Series of Movements, 34).
Case of Folie à Deux
Authors: Nolan M. J.
Published: August 2008

The case of the brothers John and Richard C. is of interest, inasmuch as it presents a comparatively rare picture of psychical and physical identity.
On the Provision for the Insane Poor in the Future
Authors: Tuke D. Hack
Published: August 2008

Should the future provision for the insane poor in Yorkshire, and not in this county only, but in other counties of England, be conducted on the same lines as the past provision has been?

This paper aims at being something more than historical, and faces the practical questions which naturally arise from the survey which I have just made.
Case of Walter Taynton, Charged with Killing his Sister
Authors: Savage Geo. H.
Published: August 2008

From time to time it is worth while recording trials in which persons have been tried for crimes which might have been committed while the criminal was of unsound mind, and it seems to me that the case of Walter Taynton is one of such cases, for though there was some conflict in medical evidence, it was of small moment when compared with the ruling of the judge and the verdict of the jury. In this case a boy of 15 was charged with killing his little sister, aged 10, without sufficient, if any, cause, and the real question was whether he was to be considered insane and detained at her Majesty's pleasure, or if he should be treated as having committed murder or manslaughter and punished accordingly.
Case of Chronic Meningitis
Authors: Plaxton J. W.
Published: August 2008

Around pachymeningitis curiosity and interest have long circled: the pages of the “Journal of Mental Science” bear witness. Men felt that the current explanation of its development was inadequate, and, if they did not deny its truth, they received it with suspended contradiction rather than acquiescence.
On the Treatment of Insanity by Hypnotism
Authors: Smith R. Percy , Myers A. T.
Published: August 2008

Hypnotism has been found by some of its students, especially on the Continent, to have so many possibilities in its connection with medicine, and so much undoubted influence in connection with the mind, that it has naturally fallen to its lot to be employed for trial, at any rate, in the therapeutics of some of the mental maladies. The dominance of one human being over another, which is, for the moment at least, gained by its influence, seems in some ways more appropriate to the guidance and help of the insane by the sane, than of the sane by their equals. But its possibilities and uses are not questions that can be determined by any a priori reasoning as to whether such guidance may be for the advantage of those who are led in certain circumstances of difficulty, such as insanity, but rather by the facts and results of its application.
The Morbid Histology of a Case of Syphilitic Epileptic Idiocy
Authors: Bullen P. St. John
Published: August 2008

Dr. Judson S. Bury has narrated several interesting cases illustrative of the influence of syphilis upon the production of idiocy, with important comments (“Brain,” April, 1883), and to his quoted instances I venture to append another.
Cerebral Tumour involving the Frontal Lobes
Authors: Griffith A. Hill , Sheldon T. Steele
Published: August 2008

She was a tall, well-developed, handsome girl, with brown hair and irides, and of clear pale complexion. Several members of her family had died of phthisis, and the father was rheumatic, but the patient herself showed no symptoms of tubercle and had not suffered either from rheumatism or from scarlet fever; there was no history and little probability of the acquisition of syphilis, and no injury to the head had been sustained. Menstruation had always been scanty.
Does Mania include two distinct varieties of Insanity, and should it be Sub-divided?
Authors: Robertson George M.
Published: August 2008

The first difficulty one meets with in deciding these points is in knowing exactly what is meant by mania. Pinel's definition of mania was insanity, marked “by a strong nervous excitement” of the mind and body, “accompanied by lesions of one or more of the functions of the understanding.” Melancholia was distinguished from it, by there being “no propensity to acts of violence,” and by the insanity being “exclusively upon one subject.”
An Inquiry into the Blood and Urine of the Insane
Authors: Smyth W. Johnson
Published: August 2008

The brain is, in man, the material substratum of mind. Professor Huxley teaches that mind is as much a function of matter as motion is. However this may be, certain it is that mental processes can be altered or even arrested by artificially altering the physical condition of the brain.
On Present Physiological Theories of Epilepsy, à propos of the doctrines of Dr. Hughlings Jackson
Authors: Christian Jules
Published: August 2008

There are questions upon which the sagacity and ingenuity of observers have been vainly exercised since the beginning of time. They remain for examination, waiting a definite solution, which may never be discovered. Such is the question of the nature of epilepsy.
The Circulation of the Blood and Lymph in the Cranium during Sleep and Sleeplessness, with Observations on Hypnotics (Prize Essay)
Authors: Mackenzie John Cumming
Published: August 2008

Sir Henry Holland, in his chapter on Sleep, considers its investigation should include causes which prevent as well as those which favour or produce it. In the investigation of sleeplessness we assume the converse of this as true, and advert briefly to what experimental physiologists regard as causes and accompaniments of sleep before engaging on its pathological condition, for the therapeutics of sleeplessness imply a knowledge of both. Disturbances of sleep are so constantly the heralds and associates of mental disease as to make insomnia, more than any other condition, common to all, or pathognomonic. The object of sleep, says Sir Henry Holland, is reparation, and sleep itself repose of sensibility and volition, whose cause is a change of condition of the nervous substance closely related to these functions, probably never to be ascertained by investigation, “yet,” he continues, “not the less real as a change on that account.”
Defects in the Working of the Lunacy Act, 1890
Authors: Smith R. Percy
Published: August 2008

I feel greatly honoured by being allowed to open a discussion on the working of this Act; but as Bethlem admits more private cases in the year than any other institution in the kingdom, and as the chief alterations in the law concern the admission of private patients, it is perhaps appropriate that the discussion should be opened by someone resident at Bethlem. I feel I cannot do this better than by bringing before your notice facts which have occurred, and if in doing this I weary you, it will be merely a small reflection of the weariness we have experienced in the last six months from this new law.