bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Some Remarks on Hitzig's Report upon the Projection and Association Fibres of the Brain [Einige Bemerkungen zu E. Hitzig's Rapport ueber die Projectionscentren und die Associationscentren des menschlichen Gehirns]. Flechsig. Leipzig, October, 1900
Authors: Ireland W. W.
Published: August 2008

Flechsig begins this paper with a complaint against Professor Hitzig, to whom he had lent some sketches to illustrate a report on the “Projection Centres and Association Centres of the Human Brain,” for the Neurological Congress at Paris. These sketches Hitzig published along with his own comments in Le Neuraxe, vol. i, fasc. iii. Dr. Flechsig is, however, neither satisfied with the publication of the drawings, which were unfinished, nor with the manner in which they were coloured and numbered, nor yet with the way his views were stated by his brother professor. Whatever the merits of this controversy are, we can certify that it is sometimes by no means easy to arrive at a clear idea of Flechsig's views, and he himself tells us that some of them have already become obsolete (veraltet).
A Grave Case of Morphia and Cocaine Habit [Considérations sur un cas grave de morphi-cocaïnomanie]. (Prog. Méd., May 12th, 1900.) Sollier, P
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The patient was a medical man, æt. 40; the morphia habit dated back ten years, the maximum daily dose being 3 grammes; the cocaine habit was more recent. When the case came under Sollier's treatment the intoxication was profound; the patient was emaciated; there was diffuse induration of the subcutaneous tissue, and there were numerous ulcers in the abdominal region where the patient injected the drugs; the urine contained albumen, and severe uræmic symptoms had appeared; the hæmoglobin was reduced to 4·5 per cent., and was shown by the spectroscope to be very imperfectly oxidised. The author specially indicates this blood-state, as he considers that the symptoms of collapse on the withdrawal of morphia are due to asphyxia.
Denmark
Authors: Friis A.
Published: August 2008

During the past year there has been a change in the directorship at three of the State Asylums. Dr. Helweg at Oringe died, and Dr. Pontoppidan at Aarhus was appointed to the University of Copen hagen as Professor of Medical Jurisprudence and Hygiene. At Aarhus, Dr. Pontoppidan was succeeded by Dr. Hallager, Director of the Viborg Asylum; and Dr. Helweg by Dr. Willerup, his former medical assistant.
Female Criminal Lunatics: a Sketch
Authors: Baker John
Published: August 2008

In the communication which I have the honour to submit to the members of the South-Western Division to-day, I intend to bring forward some facts and some figures, not hitherto recorded, relating to the female patients now and formerly resident at this asylum.
The Development of Memory in Children [Experimentelle Untersuchungen über die Gedachtnissentwickelung bei Schülkindern]. (Zeits. f. Psych., Bd. xxvii, H. 1 and 2, 1901.) Lobsien. Marx
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

These experiments were made on 238 boys and 224 girls, between the ages of 9 and 14, in the schools at Kiel. Eight different kinds of memory were investigated, involving in each group a test of the ability to remember in exact order nine sensory impressions (nine objects exhibited in succession, nine figures repeated, nine names of visual objects repeated, nine names of states of feeling, nine difficult unknown words, etc.). Among the boys the average order of excellence reached was as follows (in decreasing values): real things, figures, words referring to touch, visual words, words representing sounds, actual sounds, words referring to feelings, difficult words. In every group (except that of objects exhibited) there was a regular improvement with age. In regard to objects seen, sounds heard, and representations of feeling, there was a marked improvement in memory about the thirteenth year. The memory for figures, and for sound-words, touch-words, and feeling-words, showed most rapid development at an earlier age (ten to eleven years). There was no tendency to a simultaneous development in all the groups; mental energy seemed to be concentrated on one group at a time.
Cross-education. (Studies from the Yale Psych. Lab., 1900.) Davis, Walter G.
Authors: Ellis Havelock
Published: August 2008

In continuing his investigations into this subject, Davis has confirmed his earlier result as to the marked influence of exercise on one side or the body in increasing power on the unexercised side, while bringing out many new results in matters or detail. The experiments were made with the dynamometer and the ergograph. The influence of the factors of length of hand, length of fore-arm, previous muscular development, and temperament are taken into account, and the sexual differences also noted. As regards temperament, Davis finds it most convenient, from this point of view, to recognise three temperaments: the nervous, the motor, and the phlegmatic. The influence of this factor of type is found to be very important. Persons of the nervous type tend to be quick in muscular and mental reaction, short as regards height, and light in weight. Persons of the phlegmatic temperament are found to be slow in muscular and mental reaction, tall as regards height, and heavy in weight. Persons of the motor type are in all respects medium. There are, of course, many cases of mixed type. On the whole, however, they require different degrees of exercise to produce the full effects of cross-education, the phlegmatic, as a rule, considerably more than the motor. Exercise that is too slight, or too severe and fatiguing for the individual, will fail to produce proper development. “If the work is just right in intensity and amount the anabolism provoked is greater than the katabolism, and there is development of the part used. An almost endless variation of conditions would be necessary to make the adjustment of exercise suitable to all individuals. Exercise must be prescribed per order just as a dress must be fitted to the individual.’’ Davis emphasises the conclusion to which his experiments point: that the mental factor is of much more importance than the muscular factor. Cross-education is mainly a matter of nervous centres and nervous channels. These researches are of considerable interest, both theoretical and practical.
The Genital Sense studied in the same Patients during the Three Stages of General Paralysis [Du Sens génital étudié chez les mèmes Malades aux trois Périodes de la Paralysie générale]. (Arch. de Neurol. July, 1900, to July, 1901.) Marondon de Montyel
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

The author has studied the condition of the genital sense in 108 general paralytics in relation to age, form of mental disorder, etc., and draws certain interesting conclusions. He finds that, for example, the self-satisfaction of general paralytics and their delusions of great physical strength are not due to genital over-activity. That disorders of the genital sense are not related to alterations of touch sensation or of sensation to pain, as has been held by some observers. In seven cases, especially where delusions concerning the genital organs were prominent and spontaneously related (notes given), it appears clear after reading the account given that the genital delusions have no physical basis, and do not seem to be related in any way with the state of the genital organs. Dr. de Montyel finds no relation either between the condition of the genital sense and the subjective sensations felt in the skin by certain general paralytics. Alcohol, of all causes, apparently is most frequently responsible for alterations in the genital sense, more especially in the direction of increase.
A Case of Prolonged Dream, Toxi-infectious in Origin [Un Cas de Rève prolongé, d Origine toxi-infectieuse]. (Rev. de Psychiat., No. 6, 1900.) Klippel and Trenaunay
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

The case simulates a form of alcoholism. Nightmare, dreaming prolonged into the waking state, general mental confusion superadded—these represent the degrees of infection acting on the brain, and well illustrated in the notes of this observation.
8. Sociology
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The patient, æt. 34, a lawyer by profession, married, with neuropathic heredity, and having himself presented all his life symptoms of the degenerate temperament—obsessions, labile emotional tone, tremors, etc.,—was accused of immoral acts with boys under his care. It was proved that for many years he had shown a morbid passion for flogging boys about the age of puberty on the bare nates, frequently offering them bribes to get their consent to the operation. He also stroked and pinched the buttocks, but did not at any time touch the genitals, nor did he himself on these occasions show any signs of sexual excitement.
Three Cases of Polydactylism [Tre Cast di Polidactilia]. (Arch, di Psichiat vol. xxii, fasc. 6.) Portigliotti
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The three cases of this anomaly reported by the author, were met with in a population of about 2700 persons. In two of the cases, both hands and feet presented six digits; in the third case the condition existed in the feet only. An exhaustive examination of the family history of the cases through three generations failed to disclose any hereditary tendency to polydactylism or any degenerative taint. In only one of the cases were the parents of kin second cousins. One of the subjects was above the average in intelligence, the other two were somewhat weak-minded.
The Alcohol Question as a Cultural and Race Problem. (Quarterly Journal of Inebriety, October, 1901.) Forel
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

This paper is an English version of an address read at the Vienna Congress against Alcohol.
The Influence of Alcohol and Tobacco on Work [L'Influence de l'Alcool et du Tabac sur le Travail]. (Arch, de Neurol., November and December, 1901.) Féré
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

In this very interesting paper Fété reports a further series of experiments supporting his theory of the nature of the stimulant action of alcohol and tobacco.
Sleep in Relation to Narcotics in the Treatment of Mental Disease
Authors: Rayner Henry
Published: August 2008

Sleep, the state in which man spends a third of his existence, is so intimately related to bodily and especially to mental health, that it must ever be a subject of the greatest interest to alienist physicians. No apology therefore is needed for once again bringing under discussion a subject so familiar.
Symptomatic Value of Dreams as regards the Mental State in a Patient suffering from Circular Insanity [Valeur symptomatique du rêve au point de vue de l'état mental de la veille chez une circulaire]. (Gaz. des Hôp., August 20th, 1901.) Vaschide and Piôron
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

This case, of Mrs. B—, æt. 42 years, was under observation for over three years. She early showed a curious disposition to be influenced by meteorological variations. She was sent to the asylum at the age of thirty-two years, where she remained for over eight years. Suffering with circular insanity, at first her lucid periods were much in excess of the periods of excitement, but the former became shorter, and the latter proportionately longer, as time went on. One feature of the patient's disposition was her keen observation of her dreams, which she was fond of interpreting. The authors, as the result of many experiments, were satisfied that her interpretation was often correct, and of useful import in prognosis. The nature of the indicating dreams varied according as they announced a period of excitement, one of depression, or a period of calm. (1) With dreams announcing a period of excitement, this condition usually came on suddenly not less than thirty-six hours after it had been foretold. The dream was usually in character like a nightmare with feelings of being choked, strangled, violently handled. (2) In the case of dreams announcing a period of depression, the patient thought she did not exist, that she was a child, that her senses were restricted, that she was unable to move, etc. Her awakening was slow, and followed by some hours (eighteen to thirty-two) of indecision, when the period of depression began. (3) As regards dreams foretelling a period of calm, a correct result was less frequent, in six only out of fourteen of observations; the dreams were less characteristic. In a fourth set of observations the patient exhibited dreams foretelling a continuance of her then present mental condition—the particular period in her circular insanity being prolonged beyond its usual duration.
The Mental State of the Subjects of Tics [L'état mental des tiqueurs]. (Prog. Méd., Sept. 7th, 1901.) Meige and Feindel
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The fact that tics only occur in individuals of the degenerate class has been recognised by most writers on these affections. The aim of the present paper is to describe more fully the special mental state which accompanies the tic. The authors find the most constant features of that state in a weakness and instability of the will and the emotions, recalling conditions which are normal in childhood. This state of psychic infantilism is expressed in an inconstancy and variability of ideas, to which corresponds a similar variability of tic movements. Tics localised to particular muscles or groups of muscles similarly have their counterpart in such psychic abnormalities as fixed ideas, obsessions, etc. A tic may thus arise from an obsession if the besetting idea provokes a motor reaction; or, inversely, a tic may engender an obsession. The mental basis is similar in the two cases, and it is not rare to see obsessions and tics alternate or coincide in the same individual. The different varieties of phobia, the dilire du toucher, hypochondriacal doubts, etc., are mentioned as forms of obsession, common in the subjects of tic. The authors urge that it is important to distinguish the tics which belong to the fundamental state of psychic infantilism from those which are related to these secondary mental disorders. In the latter, which are harder to eradicate, it is necessary to direct treatment specially to the mental condition.
The Topography of Degeneration in the Cortex of Paralytics in relation to Flechsig's Association Centres [Die Topographie der paralytischen Rinden Degeneration und deren Verhältniss zu Flechsigs Associations-Centrern]. (Neur. Cbl., No. 2, 1902.) Schaffer, Karl
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

Dr. Karl Schaffer, of Budapest, gives the results of his examination of the brains of three general paralytics. His paper is illustrated with five lithographs, showing sections of brain stained by Weigerts-Wolter's method. The degenerated parts take on the stain poorly. Schaffer finds the most degenerated parts in general paralysis to be the anterior and basal portions of the frontal lobes, the whole parietal lobes, the posterior median convolutions, the insula, and the temporal gyri, and the occipital lobes and the upper surface of the cerebellum. Less affected were the anterior median gyrus, the margins of the calcarine fissure, and the inferior occipito-gyri. This showed that degenerative process most affected the association centres of Flechsig, his sensory spheres being very much less touched. Schaffer holds that the degeneration of the cortex in general paralysis is not haphazard but selective. He upholds Flechsig's views, and considers that they have been confirmed by the recent researches of Ramon y Cajal, who has made an original study of the nerve-tissues in the foetus and in the newly-born child. The latter describes a specific plexus of centripetal nerve-fibres, which terminate in the motor area of the cortex, in the sphere of bodily sensibility, and in the visual area. It is significant that this plexus does not pass into Flechsig's association centres, confirming Schaffer's observation of the posterior median convolution being, in general paralysis, much more degenerated than the anterior. These considerations induce Schaffer to think that the posterior median gyrus belongs rather to the association centres than to the sensory areas.
6. Treatment of Insanity
Authors: Sainsbury Harrington
Published: August 2008

Very briefly Dr. Ceni describes certain experiments on epileptics, in which the serum of the epileptic subject was injected, repeatedly and in rising doses (rdg) into another subject of the disease; (2dg) into the patient himself (auto-injection). The material consisted of ten cases of the severer forms of epilepsy, in which, besides the motor manifestations, there existed more or less grave symptoms, psychic and psycho-sensory. In eight of the ten cases marked benefit ensued, but in the other two the effects were toxic and epileptogenic. Of the eight cases of therapeutic success, five received their serum from other cases of the disease, whilst three were injected with their own serum. Of the two cases of toxic effect, one derived the serum from another case, the other supplied his own serum. The beneficial effects noted comprised a very marked improvement in the general nutrition, in addition to a diminution in the morbid symptoms. Increase in weight to the extent of one to two stone occurred on an average. The two instances of toxic results were cases of congenital hereditary epilepsy. The observations covered a period of two years.
3. ætiology of Insanity
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

These five cases are interesting on account of the important question of the aetiology of general paralysis.
Biography of a Fixed Idea [Biographie d'une idée fixe] Observation of Casper. (Arch, de Neurol., No. 76, April, 1902.) Casper
Authors: Macevoy H. J.
Published: August 2008

This is the interesting account of a case, mostly the autobiography of the patient, relating the development of an idea of morbid blushing in a boy, which persisted for years, and finally apparently led to suicide, after the victim had at one time seriously contemplated blinding himself on account of his ereuthophobia.
7. Sociology
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

In this lecture, delivered before the University of Lausanne, the author defines the issues between the old classic school of penology and the modern scientific spirit.
The Relation of Alcoholism to Tuberculosis. (Quarterly Journal of Inebriety, vol. xxiv, No. 2, April, 1902.) Kelynack
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The author shortly reviews the opinions which have been held regarding the relationship of alcoholism to tubercular disease. There are three possible views, and each has had its advocates: (1) that alcoholism is antagonistic to tuberculosis; (2) that alcoholism has no special relationship to tuberculosis; (3) that alcoholism definitely predisposes to tuberculosis. The last view is that which at present tends to prevail, and the most reliable sort of evidence—that afforded by the pathological study of a large mass of cases—is strongly in its favour. For instance, in ten fatal cases of alcoholic polyneuritis the author found pulmonary tuberculosis in eight. And examination of the records of the Manchester Royal Infirmary showed evidence of tubercular disease in 23 per cent of the fatal cases of common hepatic cirrhosis.
The Treatment of Phthisis in Asylums by Urea and its Salts
Authors: Baskin J. Lougheed
Published: August 2008

There has been a considerable amount of attention called to the subject of phthisis in asylums lately, and since the publication of the report of the Tuberculosis Committee the subject has appeared in a broader light. Although much is being and has been done for the prevention of phthisis by means of the Sanatorium movement, and the varieties of the technique of hygiene which are included in that treatment, yet there are still many aspects of the disease (both in the sane and insane) which require precise investigation, such as the variations in the composition of the secretions and excretions when the body is in the state of phthisical toxæmia; the relationship of the tuberculous toxæmia to other toxæmias, such as the influenzal (27), gouty, etc.; the accumulation of toxins, and its relations to recurrent forms of disease. The number of deaths from tubercle here during the past year we find to be ten; in 1900 it was nine, and 1899 it was fifteen, so that from a percentage of 1.3 in 1899 it has dropped to 0'85 in 1901. On examining the position of this asylum in the tables drawn up by the Tuberculosis Committee (1) we find it tenth in the asylums in England and Wales which are classified under Division i, which asylums have a tubercular death-rate of from 0.5 to 2.2, the county asylum at Exminster having a percentage of 1.3. This compares favourably with other asylums, some in the Division 2 having a tubercular death-rate of 5.1 and 8 per cent. respectively.
Insanity from Hasheesh
Authors: Warnock John
Published: August 2008

Before describing this disease as it occurs in Egypt at the present day, let me give a few historical notes of the use of Cannabis Indica, of which hasheesh is the local preparation. For this, and much other information contained in this paper, I am indebted to the report of the Indian Hemp Drugs Commission of 1893. This valuable report was drawn up by a committee appointed by the Government of India, and in its pages a very full account of the use of hemp drugs in India is to be found. Unfortunately it appears that no lunacy expert sat on the Commission, and in my opinion its findings as to the relations between hemp drugs and insanity are not conclusive.
Progress of Psychiatry in 1902
Authors: Morel Jules
Published: August 2008

The year 1902 was distinguished in Belgium by the meeting of the International Congress for the Care of the Insane—a meeting remarkable not alone for the importance of the subjects that were dealt with, but also for the number of distinguished foreign alienists who attended from all parts of Europe. Dr. Peeters, Physician and Director of the Colony of Gheel, served as President of the meeting, and conducted the proceedings with the greatest kindness and tact, displaying at the same time his thorough familiarity with all questions connected with the care of the insane on the most advanced lines. The Congress concluded by the adoption of certain resolutions which will entitle the proceedings of this assembly at Antwerp to rank among the most important works that have been done in connection with the organisation of asylums and of colonies for the insane.
Clinical and Experimental Observations on Katatonia
Authors: Bruce Lewis C. , Peebles A. M. S.
Published: August 2008

The following observations were made by my assistant (Dr. Peebles) and myself with the object of observing the physical symptoms of katatonia and hebephrenia. As the result of these observations we were led to make some experiments in the way of treatment, and we combined with this work some experimental observations on rabbits.
Notes on Two Cases illustrating the Difference between Katatonia and Melancholia Attonita
Authors: Dawson W. R.
Published: August 2008

One of the most interesting points connected with the concept katatonia is its relation to the morbid phenomena included under the older term melancholia attonita. Many modern exponents of the former, especially in Germany, would deny the existence of stuporose melancholia altogether. Yet it seems to me that cases occur conforming to the descriptions of the latter which cannot be included in the category of katatonia without the merest straining of terms. In this connection I think the following two cases are instructive:
2. Neurology
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

After the epileptic fit, several functions of the organism are found to be more or less modified; this has been noted, for instance, in respect of the mental state, the body-weight, the temperature, the blood, the urine. From a consideration of these facts the author was led to the inquiries recorded in this paper. He investigated the effect of the fit as regards three points: (1) resistance to the passage of the galvanic current; (2) the minimum current that will produce a muscular contraction; and (3) the character of the contraction recorded graphically. The experiments, which were made on sixteen epileptics, were carried out with minute precautions to secure that the conditions should be as far as possible identical; and note was taken in each case of the atmospheric state as regards moisture, pressure, and temperature. Verdin's myograph was employed, and the biceps of the left arm was selected for stimulation. Notes of each case are given, and the results are summarised in tabular form.
King Leur: A Psychological Study
Authors: J. C. B.
Published: August 2008

Aye, every inch a King, in all his pompous vanity, his reckless passion, his unstable judgment, a thorough king, whom even madness could not dethrone from the royal habits of authority, of strenuous will, and of proud predominance. As the highest mountain summit becomes the fearful beacon of volcanic flame, testifying in lurid characters to the world's deep heart-throes, so this kingliest of minds—he who in his little world has been the summit and the cope of things—becomes, in the creative hand of the poet, the visible outlet of those forces which devastate the soul. We stand by in reverential awe, despairing, with our small gauge of criticism, to estimate the forces of this human Etna. Oppressed by the power and magnitude of the passions, as depicted in this most sublime and awful of poetic creations, it is only after the senses have become accustomed to the roar and turmoil that we throw off the stupor, and dare to look down upon the throes of the Titan, and begin to recognize the distinctive features of the fierce commotion. Even then we must stand afar off; for not in Lear, as in others of the poet's great characters, can one for a single moment perform the act of mental transmutation. In Hamlet, for instance, the most complex of all, many a man may see reflected the depths of his own soul. But Lear is more and less than human in its isolated grandeur, in the force and depths of its passions, in its abstraction from accidental qualities. In the breadth of his strength and weakness he is painted like one of those old gods, older and greater than the heathen representatives of small virtues and vices—the usurping vulgarities of polytheism. The true divinities of Lear were old, like himself very old and kingly—Saturn and Rhea, the autochthones of the heavens; even as his qualities are laid upon the dark and far off, yet solid and deep foundations of moral personality. Well might this King of sorrows exclaim, in the words of the World-spirit, to those who attempt to tear his passions to tatters before the footlights; yea, even to the more reverent efforts of critics—

“Du gleichst dem Geist den du begreifst, Nicht mir!”
On Residences for the Insane
Authors: Conolly John
Published: August 2008

It seems to have been long, before the assistance afforded in other forms of human infirmity was extended to persons bereft of reason. Their actions and appearance being usually repulsive or alarming, they were avoided, and suffered to wander about uncared for until this freedom became inconvenient or dangerous, and were then tied up, and beaten and starved, kept out of sight, and forgotten. Remnants of this system were to be recognised long after asylums were built for lunatics, and even to a period within the remembrance of persons now living. It is, indeed, only within the last thirty years that the exertions of the Society of Friends, which commenced at York about forty years sooner, became really successful in awakening general attention to the treatment required to restore health of body and of mind in those affected with the dreadful malady of insanity.
The “Psychology” of Jane Cakebread
Authors: Jones Robert
Published: August 2008

The subject of this paper might almost be said to have achieved immortality, and it may be doubted whether any other woman—in London at any rate—ever attracted the attention of the public to such a degree, or was the cause of so many newspaper paragraphs, during the closing years of the reign of the late Queen Victoria, as the demented inebriate whose morbid character we shall attempt to analyse.
The Trypanosoma of Sleeping Sickness
Authors: Jones Robert
Published: August 2008

By the courtesy of Sir Patrick Manson, K.C.M.G., I am permitted to show you specimens of (1) the trypanosoma from the human subject, an European, which is the first instance of such a discovery; (2) in monkey got by injecting human trypanosomes, the specimen being one, I believe, of Dr. Castellani's own preparation; and (3) the Tryp. Lewisi from the sewer rat. I make no apology for drawing attention to the possible cause of a disease—sleeping sickness—which is so nearly allied in its clinical symptoms to the condition of katatonia or hebephrenia, two of the varieties of dementia præcox which, in increasing numbers, many of us are called upon to treat. Recently my colleagues and myself have made an unsuccessful attempt at lumbar puncture in order to have examined the cerebro-spinal fluid of a case of katatonia. Let us briefly contrast the trypanosoma with the malaria parasite.
Description of an Addition to the Hospital at Cheadle
Authors: Sutcliffe John
Published: August 2008

There has lately been added to the resources of the Manchester Royal Lunatic Hospital at Cheadle an additional building, a description of which may be interesting to many connected with asylums and hospitals.
Mental Depression and Melancholia considered in regard to Auto-intoxication, with special Reference to the presence of Indoxyl in the Urine and its Clinical Significance; Essay for which was awarded the Bronze Medal of the Medico-Psychological Association, 1904
Authors: Townsend Arthur A. D.
Published: August 2008

The more modern and advanced opinion of the present day, not of necessity the most correct, regards toxic action as the most important factor in the pathogenesis of insanity. According to this view insanity is not regarded as primary disease of the brain, but secondary, and due to toxins derived from elsewhere acting upon the cortical nerve-cells, disordering their metabolism, and thus affecting their functional activity, damaging, or destroying them. The older psychologists are evidently disinclined to accept the toxic theories of the younger school, and cling with pertinacity to their opinion that mental disease is as a rule primary, and that the physical manifestations of ill-health result from a disordered central nervous system, and undoubtedly many of the facts they produce in support of their argument are difficult to refute; on the other hand, it is necessary for those who advance the theory of toxaemia as the essential factor in the production of insanity to marshal facts supporting their contention. By the term “auto-intoxication” we indicate toxins evoked within the body as a result of disordered metabolism, first, such as takes place in chronic Bright's disease, myxcedema, diabetes, etc.; and secondly, in the contents of the gastro-intestinal tract. Within the limits of this paper I propose only to deal with the second division, viz, auto-intoxication from the gastro-intestinal canal, for the cases coming under this group are by far the more numerous and important. For a long time I have strongly held the opinion, as a result of my own observations, that a very large proportion of cases suffering from melancholia are due to auto-intoxication resulting from the absorption of toxins from the alimentary tract, for in depressed states generally there are various symptoms referable to disordered metabolic processes in some part of the gastro-intestinal tract. The symptoms in question that I consider as evidence of a state of toxaemia are as follow: foul breath, coated tongue, indifference to and often refusal of food, marked constipation, foul stools, anaemia (varying in degree), a sallow dirty skin, profuse perspirations and of offensive odour, skin irritations, eruptions, disorders of sensation, often leading to flesh-picking, and headache. Of course we do not in any one case find all these symptoms, but there are several common to all cases of acute melancholia. It may be suggested that the signs and symptoms that I have mentioned as those of toxaemia are but those of lowered general health, and do not in themselves afford any direct evidence of the absorption of toxins, but I have observed that the signs and symptoms that I refer to as constituting toxaemia so commonly present in states of mental depression are constantly associated with the presence in the urine of indoxyl, in greater or lesser excess.
Amentia and Dementia: A Clinico-Pathological Study
Authors: Bolton Joseph Shaw
Published: August 2008

This group includes recurrent cases of insanity or cases subject to relapses from an apparently normal mental condition to one of mental alienation. The patients differ from those of the previous group in that during their lucid intervals they pass as normal sane individuals. They are, however, liable to become so far out of accord with an environment which would have little or no influence on normal individuals, that attacks of temporary mental alienation develop at regular or irregular intervals. In other words, the mental equilibrium of these patients is so unstable that it becomes upset by the various influences which constitute the normal “stress” to which the several members of a civilised community are necessarily subject. Though the cases in this group grade insensibly into and, during their attacks, exhibit a mental symptomatology similar to that of those included in Group II, classes (a) and (b), the fact that they are sane during a greater or a lesser portion of their lives affords a sufficient reason for placing them in a separate group as one of the types of high-grade amentia.
The Employment of Female Nurses in the Care of Insane Men in Asylums
Authors: Robertson George M.
Published: August 2008

This system of care rests on the solid foundation of a principle of human nature—the mothering instinct in women. This is not restricted in its operation to a woman's own offspring, but extends in a certain degree to all children as well, and often manifests itself in the most striking manner in those women who have no children of their own. Nor is it reserved for the helplessness of childhood alone, but it includes within the scope of its action the weakness of the sick person and the infirmity of the aged. As a consequence of this, a liking exists on the part of most women for sick-nursing, which in some amounts to an instinctive craving which must be gratified, and almost all for the same reason possess a natural aptitude in picking up the practical details of nursing and care which amounts in not a few to a species of genius. If we exclude the care of insane men from our view, it can be said that wherever we have weakness and suffering and the need of personal care, there women find an opportunity for the exercise of what is a natural vocation, there we find them acting as “ministering angels.”
On Some Relations between Aphasia and Mental Disease
Authors: Cole Sydney J.
Published: August 2008

The hope that a study of aphasia might show a way to a better understanding of the nature of insanity is not new. Even at a time when far less was known about aphasia than is known to-day such a hope was not without easily conceivable grounds. It will now hardly be maintained that the perverted speech of a lunatic is always to be regarded as a just presentation of perverted thought. Not only is the thought disordered, but often also the speech itself. The symptom of perseveration, for instance, does not always represent morbid prevalence of an idea; it may express a disorder which lies rather within the sphere of speech. This is well illustrated in a case of eclamptic insanity reported by Heilbronner. Of pictures representing birds of various kinds, the patient designated many in succession as “swan,” even when identification was correct; she called a stork a swan, and at the same time alluded to the stork fable. In this instance it is not the idea that clings, but the word, as in the recurring utterances of an aphasic. In many forms of mental disease we meet with symptoms of amnesic aphasia, loss of nouns, inability to name objects seen. In certain forms of incoherence we can recognise an element of paraphasia. Thus we can often obtain a clearer conception of the speech disorder of a lunatic by regarding it from the aphasic standpoint.
Some Clinical Notes upon Urine-Testing and Results
Authors: Jones Robert
Published: August 2008

This fragmentary paper is to suggest rather than to inform. It is a bedside analysis of the urine in 969 female patients consecutively admitted into Claybury Asylum, and the notes cover a period of several years. Although the facts are many, the deductions are few, and although possibly nothing new is related, yet these notes involve an extensive collection of common details, and there has been some labour undertaken to present them. The summary may, I venture to hope, serve as an incentive to others to contribute more detailed statistics upon an aspect of mental diseases which is at present much talked of and much written about, viz., the relation of insanity to auto-intoxication and its dependence upon changed metabolism, particularly in an alteration through this changed metabolism of the normal functions of the kidneys, and I propose to run somewhat rapidly through the following headings. And first as to—
The Prognosis in Dementia Paralytica
Authors: Greene George
Published: August 2008

The difficulty of informing the relatives of patients suffering from dementia paralytica on the probable duration of the disease led the writer to inquire into those symptoms and signs which appeared to be of value in prognosis.
On the Restoration of Function in Diseases of the Brain [Ueber den Wiederersatz der Funktion bei Erkrankungen des Gehirns]. (Monats.f. Psychiat., January, 1906.) Anton, G.
Authors: Ireland William W.
Published: August 2008

In this paper, Dr. Anton principally treats of the vicarious action between the cerebrum and the cerebellum. His observations support the experiments of Luciani, who found that after extirpation of the cere bellum, the compensation came from the sensory-motor spheres of the cerebrum. Dr. Anton observes from the experiments of Goltz up to the present day there has been evidence collected to show that after the extirpation of the hemispheres the basal ganglia can take up the lost functions in a surprising measure. This especially holds good with animals of a lower order; Goltz's celebrated dog lived eighteen months after the removal of the cerebrum. Even in man there is a vicarious renewal of function. From the classical experiments of Gudden and from numerous pathological observations, it has been proved that if symmetrical portions of the brain are destroyed there is often increased growth in the opposite hemisphere. Gudden found that by permanently closing up one nostril in a dog, there resulted an increase of the olfactory lobe of the other side. This compensatory power is stronger in the young. Dr. Anton studied the case of a child who could at least stand, and walk with help. The cerebellum had almost disappeared, the cerebrum seemed unimpaired, though it weighed no more than that of a child of three and a half years. There was hypertrophy of the strands of the fillet and of the pyramids in connection with the sensory-motor zone of the hemispheres. These tracts were as large as in a grown man, a proof of the vicarious activity of the motor apparatus of the cerebrum.
Insanity in the Army and the Institution of Field Asylums [Le Psicosi nell'esercito e la Instituzione di Manicomi da Campo], (Il Manicomio, anno xxi, No. 2, 1905.) Tomasini.
Authors: Sullivan W. C.
Published: August 2008

The author takes as his text the recent experiences of the Russo- Japanese war, in which, according to the testimony of numerous witnesses, outbreaks of acute insanity were extremely common in the battlefield, and occasionally assumed an epidemic character, and in which, moreover, many “regrettable incidents” were due to mental disorders in commanding officers. Dealing first with the statistics of suicide and of insanity in the army in time of peace, he points out that the former phenomenon is very much more frequent amongst soldiers than amongst the general population in the chief European countries. In Italy in 1901, while the suicide-rate for the whole country was about.061 per mille, in the army it amounted to “33 per mille. And it appears to be tending to increase; thus the figures for the years 1895 to 1901 show that, while sanitary improvements have reduced the general mortality in the army by nearly a half, the ratio of suicide has slightly risen. On examining the figures in detail it is seen that the suicide rate is very high during the first year of service, that it falls off some what in the second year, to rise again when the period of service is prolonged over two years. With regard to insanity, the official statistics would suggest that it is less frequent amongst soldiers than in the population at large, but the author contends that this result is misleading, inasmuch as the army represents a picked population which by reason of its age, constitution, and the exclusion from its ranks of the congenitally defective, is, or ought to be, specially free from insane tendency. In any case the rate of insanity in the Italian army is increasing notably of recent years. With regard to officers, there is a consensus of opinion in all countries that the incidence of insanity amongst them is peculiarly high, and this applies more particularly to general paralysis, which is estimated to account for 50 per cent, of mental disease in German officers, for 54 per cent, in French, and for 55 per cent, in Italian.
Insanity and Indicanuria (Indoxyluria): A Note of Criticism
Authors: Easterbrook C. C.
Published: August 2008

Two papers have recently appeared in the Journal indicating a causal relationship between indoxyluria, alimentary toxæmia, and melancholia. One paper, published by Arthur A. D. Townsend in January, 1905 (Journal of Mental Science, 1905, p. 51), is entitled “Mental Depression and Melancholia, considered in regard to Auto-intoxication, with Special Reference to the Presence of Indoxyl in the Urine and its Clinical Significance”; the other paper, published by Lewis C. Bruce in July, 1906 (Journal of Mental Science, 1906, p. 501), bears the title “The Clinical Significance of Indoxyl in the Urine.”
The Sanatorium Treatment of Active Insanity by Rest in Bed in the Open Air
Authors: Easterbrook C. C.
Published: August 2008

During the past year I have systematically employed rest in bed in the open air as a special method in the treatment of all patients newly admitted to the Ayr District Asylum; and during the past six months I have carried out the same method in the treatment of all resident patients exhibiting relapses or phases of active insanity, the latter including the most difficult and most dangerous cases in the institution. At present, there-fore, all patients in Ayr Asylum who manifest their insanity in such active forms as marked morbid excitement, exaltation or depression, distinct delirium, confusion or stupor, vivid hallucination and delusion, active homicidal or suicidal tendency, impulsiveness and the like, are being treated by the method of rest in bed in the open air, a method which may be conveniently termed the sanatorium or open-air rest treatment of active insanity. Although it is yet too soon to speak as to the ultimate therapeutic value of this system, and several years must necessarily elapse before its effect on the recovery rate in insanity can be definitely ascertained, even a short experience has sufficed to demonstrate the immediate benefits and strong points of the system, and to show that it is a more satisfactory method of treating those who are actively insane than either the outdoor exercise or indoor rest procedures hitherto in vogue, and that, indeed, it secures the advantages without the disadvantages of the exercise and rest systems combined. The particular combination of rest in the recumbent position and in the fresh air of the open would indeed seem to be Nature's specific for at least the alleviation if not the cure of an attack of insanity; and the method is not only based on sound physiology and correct pathology, but it is so easily carried out in practice, it so obviously benefits the health of the patients–not to mention also that of their nurses–and withal it is so pleasant a remedy both in the receiving and the giving, that even a comparatively short experience of its employment has convinced me that the systematic open-air rest treatment of active insanity has come to stay, and that at no distant date it will secure a wide sphere of application in asylum practice, and in the treatment of the psychoses and neuroses outside of asylums. Before describing the sanatorium treatment of active insanity I wish to put before you the stages in its development, and to show how, after an apprenticeship in the exercise system of treating active insanity, I came to adopt the rest method, and by allying the latter with the open-air cure, as suggested by the modern treatment of pulmonary tubercle, I arrived at the combined method of rest in bed in the open air, which has been in vogue at Ayr Asylum during the past year.
Observations on the Opsonic Index to Various Organisms in Control and
Insane Cases
Authors: Shaw C. J.
Published: August 2008

IN Wright's earliest researches on the opsonic body in human blood serum
he used various strains of staphylococci. He found in various forms of
staphylococcal invasion, such as acne, furunculosis, and sycosis, that the
index of the patient so infected was lower than that of an ordinary healthy
individual to the particular organism causing the disease. By his method of
inoculation of a vaccine made from the infecting organisms he was able to
greatly improve the condition and even cure most intractable cases. Bullock
has obtained like results, and cases have been recorded where pneumococcal
and other infective diseases have been cured by similar treatment.
Some Points in the Histology of Lymphogenous and Hæmatogenous Toxic Lesions of the Spinal Cord
Authors: Orr David , Rows R. G.
Published: August 2008

At a quarterly meeting of this Association held last year at Nottingham, we showed the results of our experiments with toxins upon the spinal cord and brain of rabbits. Our main conclusion was, that the central nervous system could be infected by toxins passing up along the lymph channels of the perineural sheath. The method we employed in our experiments consisted in placing a celloidin capsule filled with a broth culture of an organism under the sciatic nerve or under the skin of the cheek; and we invariably found a resulting degeneration in the spinal cord or brain, according to the situation of the capsule. These lesions we found to be identical in morphological type and anatomical distribution with those found in the cord of early tabes dorsalis and in the brain and cord of general paralysis of the insane. The conclusion suggested by our work was that these two diseases, if toxic, were most probably infections of lymphogenous origin.
Maniacal-Depressive Insanity amongst the Male Admissions to the Richmond District Asylum in the year 1907
Authors: Redington J. M. , Dwyer P. J.
Published: August 2008

In examining the male cases admitted to the Richmond Asylum during the year 1907, special attention was paid to the mixed variety of maniacal-depressive insanity as described by Kraepelin. The result, I must say, was disappointing, for out of 292 admissions only one case came under this head. It is only right to state that fifty-five of these cases were drafted to the Portrane Auxiliary Asylum, where I was unable to follow their history. Of these 292 cases 42 were suffering from acute mania and 59 from acute melancholia, and neglecting the cases sent to Portrane, none of these, with the one exception, departed from the ordinary course of these diseases.