Psychological Ebteospect
“Since the issue of our last number nothing o? very great interest or importance has occurred relating to Psychology.
Another Session, Ave regret to say, has passed away without any attempt having been made to legislate for the care and treatment of Dipsomaniacs. The House of Commons has chiefly been occupied with the discussion and consideration of unimportant matters, and notwith- standing the deputation which waited on the Home Secretary, and introduced by Lord Shaftesbury, nothing has as yet been done in this most important matter. Dipsomania is rapidly on the increase, and some immediate steps should be taken to protect this unhappy class of society. We give the following extract from the Lancet relative to the increase of dipsomania in Eome:?
The abuse of alcoholic liquors is deplorably on the increase among the Latin races in general, and the Italian in particular. The Roman physicians have had their attention rather pointedly drawn to the fact in the Eternal City, where, in addition to the usual crimes of violence, the increasing dip- somania has enhanced the periodical returns of disease and death from ma- ladies of the nervous system. Take, for example, Dr Fiordispini’s last report on the cases and causes of insanity in the Manicomio. Chronic alco- holism, with its foster-child, general paralytic dementia, figures largely in his pages. And no wonder. Few climates are so little tolerant of alcohol, even when moderately indulged in, as that of Rome. Its temperature, almost invariably warm and humid, relaxes the muscular and nervous ener- gies, and favours somnolency?a condition which, by “slowing” the circu- lation, conduces to hyperemia (cerebral, abdominal, and hemorrhoidal), and causes fatty degeneration through deficient oxidation of the albuminates. The histological modifications thereby induced are soonest and most deter- minate^ operative on the brain, with the obvious results. Dr Fiordispini ?appeals to the guardians of public hygiene in Home to diminish the number of liquor-shops, already more than sufficient, and to co-operate with the medical profession in combating a vicious propensity so insidious in ita -advances and so disastrous in its results.
The following petition has been presented to the Medical Examining Boards, praying that three months’ clinical instruction in the wards of a lunatic asylum may be substituted for a like time of study in the “Wards of a hospital:?
1. That your petitioners are lecturers on insanity or psychological1 medicine in the schools of medicine to which their names are attached, as below.
2. That their courses of lectures are not (by the regulations of any qua- lifying hoard) imperative on students of medicine as a part of their curri- culum of professional study.
3. That your petitioners are aware of the grave objections to adding to the already large number of subjects which students of medicine have to master during their period of study; but they venture respectfully to suggest, that the entire absence of any provision for the clinical study of so im- portant a branch of medicine as insanity and its kindred diseases cannot but be prejudicial to the interests of a large majority of students in their future careers. 4. That insanity is not (like diseases of the eye, teeth, etc.) to be met with in the wards of a general hospital, and that consequently students have no opportunity for observing it without attending at a lunatic asylum. 5. That, of the great number of asylums and hospitals for the insane which there are in the country, there is at least one contiguous to every medical school in the kingdom. G. That your petitioners not only lecture on insanity, but also have the means of affording clinical instruction in asylums for the insane of easy access to the students, and that their lectures and cliniques include both insanity, and many other important nervous diseases of a class which are not usually seen in general hospitals?such as epilepsy, paralysis, softening and. tumours of the brain, chorea, hysteria, hypochondriasis, and others. 7. That there are, on the narrowest computation, four hundred medical men now engaged in the speciality of mental disease, either as officers, or as medical attendants at the asylums or other receptacles for the insane in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland?this number having greatly increased of late years, and there being an increasing difficulty in procuring qualified assistants for asylums; and that it is of the highest importance that those entering this department in future should have some practical and scientific knowledge of this most difficult branch of medicine, not only for their own comfort and satisfaction, but also in order to the proper treat- ment of the insane and the advancement of science.
8. That the University of London has the following regulation and note thereon: ” Attendance during three months in the wards of a lunatic asylum recognised by the University, with clinical instruction, may be substituted for a like period of attendance on medical hospital practice.” “The senate regard it as highly desirable that candidates for the degree of M.B. should practically acquaint themselves with the different forms of insanity by attendance in a lunatic asylum.”
9. That your petitioners are of opinion that, if the regulations laid down by the University of London were adopted by all examining boards, a great boon would be conferred on many students, who might then, without sacri- fice of time, which they can hardly afford, avail themselves of the oppor- tunities for studying a class of diseases with which at present they have little or no practical acquaintance, but which are of all others liable to entail on medical practitioners heavy losses both of prestige and of fortune. Indeed, so undoubtedly is this the case, that it is within the knowledge of your petitioners that many medical men of skill and repute have declined to give an opinion and certify in cases of insanity, in consequence of the disas- trous results into which a faulty certificate may lead them?thereby, in the opinion of your petitioners, shirking responsibilities which, as fully-trained medical men, they are bound to accept.
Wherefore your petitioners humbly pray that you will be pleased to- tals into favourable consideration their petition, that it shall be permitted to students of medicine who wish to qualify to appear before you for exa- mination, to substitute, if they so desire, a three months’ course of clinical instruction in the wards of a lunatic asylum for the same period of attend- ance in the medical wards of a general hospital.
The following gentlemen attach their signatures :?
(x. Fielding Blandford, M.D., F.R.C.P.L., St. Georges Hospital, London; Orichton Browne, M.D., F.lt.S.E., Leeds Medical School; T. b. Ulouston, M.U., F.R.C.P.E., Royal Edinburgh Asylum ; W.J. Hunt, M.D., F.K.C.P.K, (Jharing Cross Hospital, London; Robert Jamieson, M.D., University of Aberdeen; T. Laycock, M.D., F.R.C.P.E., University of Edinburgh; Henry Rayner, M.D., Middlesex Hospital, London; Alexander Robertson, M.D., F.F.P.S.G., Town’s Hospital and Asylum, Glasgow; W. II. O. Sankey, M.D., F.R.C.P.L., University College, London ; George H. Savage, M.D.Lond., Guy’s Hospital, London; T. Claye Shaw, M.D., M.R.C.P.L., St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, London; Edgar Sheppard, M.D., D.C.L., King’s College, London; H. -Sutherland, M.D., M.R.C.P.L., Westminster Hospital, London; John Ratty Tuke, M.D., F.R.C.P.E., F.R.S.E., Extra Academical School, Edin- burgh ; R. H. B. Wickham, F.R.C.S.E., University of Durham; W. Rhys Williams, M.D., St. Thomas’s Hospital, London; andD. Yellowlees, M.D., F.F.P.S.G., Royal Glasgow Asylum.”
The result of this petition to the Royal College of Physicans was the following important resolution : ” That the Registrar prepare and submit to the College, 1 That students who wish to qualify for the examination for the membership or licence of the College may substi- tute, if they so desire, a three months’ course of clinical instruction in the wards of a lunatic asylum for the same period of attendance in the medical wards of a general hospital.’ “
The thanks of the profession are due to the College of Physicians, for so promptly responding to the petition. It would be wise to make this compulsory for the membership of the College, especially as an ?examination m Psychological Medicine is here required.
All General Hospitals should have a Lecturer on Insanity attached, but we regret to say this is at present not the case; we should also like to see a professorial chair at the Universities in Psychology the highest branch of our profession.
MURDERS BY MADMEN.
The mediaeval aspect of our streets may have been somewhat im- paired by the removal of the palsied and ulcerated limbs, the scars and stumps showing how ” fields were won “?which constituted constant appeals to the philanthropic and patriotic?to their legitimate homes, the hospital and the workhouse ; but we conceive that decency, decorum, and genuine humanity have gained by the process. In like manner, it may be romantic, as it certainly is economical, to domesticate the insane in cottages and homesteads throughout the land, and to permit them to range unfettered and unguarded through our lanes and lawns, but the persona] safety and moral health of many members of the general community, as well as the happiness and interests of the suf- ferers themselves, would be infinitely better secured were they consigned to asylums or workhouses. This conviction has recently been pressed upon us?first, by the continued advocacy of the disposal of lunatics in private dwellings by a public board in the North; secondly, by the frequent reports of frightful tragedies committed by individuals, pre- viously supposed to be sane or only partially insane, but whose irre- sponsibility was subsequently established by their self-destruction, or when tried as criminals; and, thirdly, by the following startling recital, contained in the Report of the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum for 1874 : ” Of the 20 cases of homicide admitted in 1874, 9 were men and 11 women. Of the 9 men who had taken life, 1 had killed a fellow- patient in a county asylum, and 7 had killed persons nearly related to them; the relationship being in 3 cases that of child, in 2 cases that of wife, in 1 that of mother, and in 1 that of sister-in-law. In the remaining case the patient had, whilst stationed in India, taken the lives of 3 of his native servants, whom he suspected of attempting^ to poison him. With respect to the 11 women, the victims were in 10 cases their own children; and in 7 of those cases the mothers were, at the time of committing the act, suffering from insanity connected with the puer- peral state.”
The following translation recounts a series of horrible events, which,, although taking place in another country, belong to the same category :? ” There are in many French villages individuals who are altogether irresponsible for their acts. They wander from place to place, exciting- sympathy, but more frequently terror. They are disregarded, or they are the objects of mirth, do not call forth the interference of the legal authorities, and, when danger is threatened, objections and obstacles are presented against their seclusion. Energetic measures are never resorted to until the last extremity. Thus, perhaps, the frightful tragedies at St. Maurice may have the effect of directing more care and supervision over this numerous class of the insane.
” J. M , long an inhabitant of the village of St. Maurice,. Avergnon, served in the Marines, afterwards returned and settled in Breuil, where he married. His wife died, leaving one child ; and he afterwards married again, having a family of two children. After the lapse of about seven years M. suffered from indisposition. With physical powers rather above than below the ordinary standard, he was of feeble intellect. His undeveloped faculties and wavering judgment easily lost their equilibrium under the slightest agitation. This con- dition was manifested under painful circumstances. Awakened by the light of a fire in an adjoining farm, he imagined his own cottage was involved in the conflagration, this impression eventuating, after a few days, in an attack of epilepsy. During several paroxysms of violent ex- citement following attacks of epilepsy, M. was regarded as a dangerous person. A quarrel with his wife induced one of these attacks, when, in his fury, he seized her by the hair, and struck her head repeatedly and violently upon the pavement. Alarmed by her cries, the neighbours removed the assailant, secured his hands with a leather belt, and shut “him up, placing his injured victim in bed in an adjoining house. In- furiated by the escape of his wife, M., in his solitude, gnawed through the bonds by which he was secured, liberated himself, and armed with a billhook rushed forth in pursuit, and like a wild beast leaped through the window of the house where she had taken shelter. The terrified inmates fled leaving the poor woman at the mercy or the madman, who, tranquilly commanding her to rise and dress, killed her with one blow of the weapon he carried. After this murderous assault, roused to a state of furibund rage he destroyed a cat which was the first living thing he encountered, then hurrying onward to another village, he assaulted and killed by a blow on the head the widow S. who was at work in a field. On his way to another hamlet he met the clergyman of St. Maurice, on his way to see a sick person and, at the moment, enquiring the way from Mr. D., who was accom- panied by his child. The latter perceiving and wishing to avoid M., who he remarked was in a state of excitement, the unfortunate priest said, 1 Take no notice of him, and he will take no notice of us.’ M. passed, but forthwith returned and clove the head of the Abbe in two. Mr. D. seized his child and fled, at first followed by the mur- derer, who, however, stopped suddenly and rushed or rather flew taking leaps of four or five yards, with implacable rage towards the corpse of his last victim, whose head he again struck, and whose features Avere so mutilated by his blows that they could not have been recognised. This crime perpetrated, he then entered the house of an aged pair (coopers), and, without offering a word or a menace, struck off the head of the husband ; assailing the wife she parried off the blow with her arm, but the stroke cut off her hand, and she afterwards died of the wound. The infuriated being sought for other victims. A petty farmer and his Avife shut themselves up on the approach of the destroyer, but, of their tAvo children Avho Avere engaged in hex-ding the poultry, he immolated one about nine years old by a single bloAv, and the other Avas only saved by concealing herself in a Avood. Imme- diately afterAvards he entered the stable of T., Avho Avas at the time asleep, there seized an iron fork, and at once prostrated the half-aAvakened sleeper in death. This AA’as the seventh murder. Although pursued and almost caught by the inhabitants of the commune, after receiving the discharge of a foAvling-piece, he Avas able to reach another vil- lage Avhere he Avas ultimately arrested. Noav, armed Avith the fork only, he attempted to assail the child of B., Avho, seeing the danger, seized a bar of iron and interposed between them. M., either cowed or cunning, exclaimed, 1 You are my comrade, I do not seek you; give me your hand.’ B. replied, ‘ Good; but people do not shake hands Avith such Aveapons as your fork?throAv it doAvn.’ The madman com- plied ; B. took his hand, and after a terrible struggle, in Avhich he Avas assisted by the bystanders, he succeeded in throwing doAvn and choking his formidable antagonist and in preventing him from doing further injury. The struggling and vociferating captive Avas transported to Orleans, Avhere calm succeeded to extreme excitement, and Avhere he assured those around that he regretted the injuries inflicted, and that he Avas unconscious of Avhat he Avas doing. He is restrained by a strait-Avaistcoat.”
We are sorry to state that a number of crimes in England have recently been committed by lunatics, both at large and in asylums. Religious insanity is on the increase, and has been the cause of many of the homicides committed by lunatics. “We give one, as taken from the Times:?
Parricide.?Thomas Johnson, aged 35, murdered his father and mother at Fordham, a village about seven miles from Colchester. The names of the victims are Solomon Johnson, aged 80, labourer, and Susannah, his wife, aged over 70. The scene of the crime is a treble-tenement cottage on an off-hand farm held by Mr. Knight, and situated in a lonely spot some 400 yards from the highroad, and a considerable distance from any neighbours. The centre tenement was occupied by the Johnsons; the wings by a woman named Mills, and by four orphan children whose mother lay dead in the house. This description will help to explain the particulars of the murder, as they have been stated by the police. Thomas Johnson for many years behaved exceedingly well as a son, but recently suffered from a religious mania and a suspected love affair, so that he was in the local union some weeks under treatment. Having got better, he was allowed to go out and to go back to his parents’ house, whence a few days after he came to Colchester for a change. His conduct was observed to be very strange, and he suddenly left the house of his sister and went roaming about the town; among other acts going to consult a lawyer about his lady- love, whom he described as having been seen by him in ” a glorified state.” The demented man left Colchester, and slept at his parents’ house at Fordham. Next morning, at 7 o’clock, Mrs. Mills’s attention was called to some cries of ” Murder! ” and she saw the accused, poker in hand, chasing his father and mother in the garden. The old man, after receiving some blows, fell into an ashpit, and was then despatched by his maddened son. The poor man had his head shattered in a fearful manner. Johnson next attacked his aged mother, and beat her so that he left her for dead. Meanwhile, Mrs. Mills, who was much frightened, locked up the four orphan children, of whom she had kindly taken charge, and ran for assistance. The man must have seen her, for he threatened to kill her, and pursued her a short distance. It was a fortunate circumstance that the children had been locked in, for the man broke the window in an attempt to get at them, and he exclaimed to them, ‘* I’ll kill you!” Mrs. Mills went to the parish constable (there being no policeman in the village), who sent forward Mr. Sparkes and Mr. Partridge. These found the murderer making his way to the village, and after some manoeuvring they closed upon him; one of them, however, receiving a severe blow with the poker, which the madman still carried in his hand. However he was overpowered, and ultimately lodged under lock-and-key in the union workhouse at St an way. The neighbours attended Mrs. Johnson, who was alive and sensible, but she died before medical aid could reach her. The prisoner, while under the charge of the porter at the union-house, coolly admitted having murdered his parents; and said that something struck his mind all of a sudden, and he believed he was the Almighty, and had to do it. The policeman stationed at Stanway (Richardson) received the man into his custody, and said to him, ” I under- stand that you have committed murder this morning?” The accused replied, ” Yes, I have killed two?my father and mother.” Johnson, who is a short thickset man of unprepossessing appearance, was conveyed to Colchester, and taken before the county magistrates then in session, with Mr. P. O. Papillon, chairman. In reply to questions, he stated the names of his parents; and after some formal evidence had been given, he declined to ask any questions, but said, ” No, I am fully decided about it.” The prisoner was committed for trial, and was confined during the interim in the Springfield County Gaol; whilst there he became very violent and excited, and had to be removed as a raving maniac, in chains, by order of the Secretary of State, to Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.
There are some persons at the present day who deny the existence of Religious Insanity. Religious excitement frequently gives rise to religious eccentricity, and this is followed by religious insanity and its consequences, either homicide or suicide, if steps are not taken to protect the patient.
The Cambridge Poisoning Case.?At the Cambridge Assizes George Lanham, aged 33, was arraigned before Mr. Justice Grove, on the charge of having murdered his son George, aged 3J years, on the 2nd of December last. The prisoner lived in Coronation Street, New Town, Cambridge; and during the absence of bis wife, who is a college bed-maker, he took means to poison himself and four of his children. In order to effect this, he sent the servant-maid with a note to a distant part of the borough, directing her (she being a stranger) to take a certain roundabout route. On her return the house was fastened up, and upon an entrance being effected the prisoner and his children were discovered in a profound sleep, lying on the bed upstairs, two of the little ones being held in the father’s embrace. Prom the efforts which were made by Dr Paget and others all of the sufferers recovered, excepting the little boy George, who succumbed to the effects of the poison within 26 hours. Prisoner afterwards said he was not sony for what he had done, and expected he should be hanged for it. He was not sorry for his children, as it would take them out of this world of sin. The defence set up was that the prisoner was subject to melancholia, and was irresponsible for his actions. In support of this theory considerable evidence was given. The Jury, after a brief deliberation, acquitted the prisoner on the ground of insanity, and he was ordered to be detained until Her Majesty’s pleasure be known.
We congratulate the jury here upon their verdict, for at the present ?day, when the popular idea is prevalent, that a man is to be held respon- sible for his actions if he is cognisant of the severity of his crime, and knows the difference between right and wrong, it is a rare thing to get a sensible jury to think otherwise. In this case he evidently knew of the atrocity of his act as well as the consequences.
Many cases of suicide by lunatics have been reported from Vienna, and there appears to have been a sort of ” suicidal epidemic.”
An Extraordinary Affair.?About ten ‘o’clock at night Mr. Hare, of Daswick Farm, near Stafford, having gone to bed, was aroused by a knocking at the door. It was found that the person knocking was a man, who was apparently greatly alarmed, and said that two men were following to shoot him. Mr. Hare and his men-servants searched the farm-yard, but could not see any one. They returned to the house, and asked the stranger into the kitchen, when he immediately seized a table-knife and stabbed two of the men-servants. Mr. Hare then came to their assistance, and, loading a gun, fired over the man’s head to frighten him. This not having the desired effect, he fired two shots at bis legs, and the man was overpowered. The police and surgeons were sent for, and cibout twelve o’clock the man died. He is supposed to be John Linner, of Walsall, and he is believed to have been suffering from delirium tremens.?Scotsman, September 14, 1875.
IDIOT TRAINING.
Discussion has lately taken place respecting the responsibility of lunatics in asylums; we, however, defer, in consequence of want of space, from entering at present into the subject.
Sir Charles Trevelyan, on behalf of the Charity Organisation Society, has moved the following resolution in Council relative to the training of idiots :?
1. That, as by the census returns of 1871, there were in England and Wales 29,452 idiots or imbeciles, which number is admitted to be 25 per- cent. below the mark, showing a total of 36,835, or 1 in every G21 of the population ; and as the condition of many youthful idiots can be altogether- altered and improved by adapted training, while a large proportion of the remainder are quite untit to mix with ordinary members of society?and union-houses and lunatic asylums are, for many reasons, unsuitable recep- tacles for idiots?training-schools should be provided for improvable, and permanent asylums for unimprovable idiots.
2. That, in order to elicit the sympathy and active co-operation and support of the wealthy and charitable, the training-schools should, as far as. possible, be conducted upon the voluntary principle, and that with this object the managers of existing asylums depending upon public subscrip- tions for their support be invited to modify their rules, so as to make their institutions available as part of a national system.
3. That, besides the general objections to the canvassing and voting system as a means of admission to charitable institutions, it is in an especial manner inapplicable to making provision for idiots, inasmuch as their suc- cessful treatment depends upon their being selected at the proper age to be- placed either in a training-school or permanent asylum, according to the nature of their respective cases.
4. That the Government be memorialised to allow the capitation-grant of 4s. a week to be paid for poor idiots admitted into training-schools or permanent asylums, in the same way as it is now allowed for pauper idiots placed in county lunatic asylums, and also a further capitation-grant to training-schools, to be paid out of the Parliamentary Grant for Education, provided such schools comply with the conditions which may from time to. time be prescribed by the education department, and are open to inspection by the officers of that department; and that further payments be made by friends who are able to do so, or by boards of guardians.
5. That exertions should be made to establish the necessary additional number of training-schools on this principle throughout the country; and that permanent asylums for unimprovable cases needing supervision, shelter, and kind care, should be established upon the grounds of the county lunatic- asylums or elsewhere, either singly or for two counties combined ; the ex- pense of building and maintenance being defrayed out of the county rates, aided by the Government capitation-grants, and by the contributions, of the boards of guardians and the friends of the idiots.
G. That, in order to facilitate the establishment of training-schools and permanent asylums, the Government be asked to introduce a Bill especially for the regulation of idiot asylums, releasing such asylums from the strin- gent regulations of the Lunacy Act, 8 & 9 Vict., cap. 100, which was passed before any idiot asylum existed, such release being in accordance with the recommendations of the Lunacy Commissioners in their repo rts to- the Lord Chancellor for the years 18G5 and 18G8.
PSYCHOLOGY AT THE BRITISH MEDICAL ASSOCIATION..
At the recent meeting of the British Medical Association several interesting matters connected with Insanity were discussed. Dr Lowe, the President of the Psychological Section, delivered an address before the Society. He informed the members that Dr. Browne of Dumfries, formerly Commissioner in Lunacy for Scotland, had by his brilliant skill and energy in the study of Insanity, caused the study of psychological medicine to advance in the country, and Ave most heartily and earnestly endorse this opinion. No man, whether in Scotland or any other country, has worked harder in the science of Psychology, with his whole heart engaged in a task, which to him was. a labour of love, than our most esteemed friend Dr Browne, and to. him is due the great progress made in psychological medicine in Scot- land. Dr Lowe informed the Society that asylums throughout the country were at the present day a credit to our humanity and civilisa- tion; and, instead of being dens or mere receptacles for the insane,, each might be regarded as a school of psychology, and Dr Lowe thinks that before many years have passed away a Professor of Psycho- logical Medicine Avill be appointed in the University of Edinburgh. After making some remarks upon the importance of this subject, and the progress made by the ” Psychological infant” during the last thirty years, the President passed on to the general business of the association.
Dr Alexander Eobertson, of Glasgow, read a paper on ” Observa- tions on the Unilateral Phenomena of Mental and Nervous Disorders.” He stated that unilateral mental phenomena consisted of halluci- nations and illusions, and perhaps of the peculiarities supposed to be due to the separate and independent action of the hemispheres. Special allusion was made by Dr Robertson to the French writers, and as- illustrations of his paper, cases of one-sided hallucinations of hearing were cited from Gall, Schroeder van der Kolk, and Greisinger. Prac- tical experience of the examination of 250 cases of insanity referring to sensorial disturbance were then quoted. In thirty-four patients who- entertained well-defined hallucinations of one or more of the senses,, five of these auricular delusions were heard only in the left ear; in five others sounds were apparent more in the left ear than in the right, and in one they were audible only in the right ear. After briefly alluding to the disorders occurring in the other senses, particulars, relating to cases of unilateral auditory hallucinations were given. The phenomena, we are told, were most liable to occur in sub-acute cases- of insanity, but more especially in those due to mental aberration caused by alcoholic liquors. The hallucinations were most striking in the left ear, and the pathology of the phenomena was discussed at. length. The following conclusions were then stated : 1st.?Convul- sive movements may begin in different parts of the body in the same case, even though there is no reason to think there is any appreciable’ change in the cerebral lesion. 2ndly.?In unilateral convulsions the so-called bilateral muscles are often implicated, but the twin muscles, of the otherwise sound side in most cases do not contract so firmly as- those 011 the side first convulsed. The physician may, therefore, often -ascertain for himself, in a case of general convulsions, the side on ?which the convulsive movements first began (and, consequently, the hemisphere affected), by simply grasping the limbs of the two sides, and comparing the degree of firmness of their respective muscles. 3rdly.?There may be alternate conjugate deviation of the eyes during the same convulsive seizure. 4tlily.?As a general rule, the higher up the lesion is situated, the more apt the convulsions are to become bilateral. 5thly.?When convulsions begin on one side, there is frequently a distinct and sometimes a prolonged interval before con- sciousness is involved, and it is occasionally retained throughout the whole seizure. Gthly.?There is a decided increase of temperature in the convulsed members.
A paper was then read by Mr. Howell, of Clapton, upon ” Emo- tional Aphasia.”
The distinction here drawn between this variety of aphasia and what is generally understood by us to indicate the disease was that the former is of temperate duration, and not the result of organic disease. As an illustration, a lad of sixteen years of age, Avith an interval of first six and then eight weeks, lost all power of speaking, but not of thinking or writing. These symptoms were apparent on the first occasion for twenty-four hours, on the next for forty-eight, and on the third occasion for one hundred and twenty. After each attack the patient recovered perfectly.
In the first instance, the attack was brought on from prolonged effort of talking combined with excitement and anxiety.” As an explanation of the pathology of this complaint, it was assumed that the vaso-motor nerves were the seat of this disorder. The case appears to us to be a peculiar one, and we shall be glad to receive any further history or development of symptoms which may ?occur.
Dr Sibbald then read a paper on ” Statistics of Lunacy in Town and Country.”
He showed in his paper that the number of pauper lunatics in Scotland persistently chargeable to country parishes was greatly in excess of the number chargeable to towns; the number of the former being 206 per 100,000, and 177 per 100,000 for the towns. Arguments were propounded, to show that the enormous increase of lunacy in Scotland was only apparent and not real. The opinions here expressed we unhesitatingly endorse, after careful inspection of the Lunacy Report for Scotland, and we agree with Dr Sibbald, that there is no statistical jiroof that there is a larger amount of real insanity ?now than there was thirty years ago.
Dr Boyd read a most interesting paper, ” On the Effects of Various Diseases on the Weight of the Several Parts of the Encephalon in 2,050 Sane and Insane Adults of Both Sexes.
Dr Boyd founded his statement on the results of thirty years’ careful and practical experience. He found that by comparing the weight of the male and female encephalons, the difference in the male ?over that of the female was from four to five ounces. Most careful ?tables of the respective weights of various portions of the nervous system in the respective sexes, both in health and in disease, were then given.
The conclusions here arrived at were, that the difference between the weight of the encephalon of the insane, as compared with that- existing where no insanity was present, might be estimated at the rate of ? of an ounce in the male, and 1^ ounce in the female, heavier than in a sound mental condition. The average weight of the brain in various diseases was then discussed, and it was found that in diseases- of the nervous system the increase in the weight of the brain was chiefly apparent. The paper of Dr Boyd was a most interesting and instruc- tive one, and we trust that he will be persuaded to publish it in extenso.
A paper was then read by Dr McDiarmid, of Murthly, upon the ” Hypodermic Injection of Morphia in Insanity.” Special reference was- given to its use in melancholia, acute mania, and general paralysis. The experiments as to its action in the various diseases are very interesting, and we think that it is one of the most valuable remedies we have in treating a certain class of mental maladies, and the cases- here cited appear certainly to have improved under its administration. Dr Ferrier gave the results of some interesting experiments on the brains of monkeys, with special reference to the localisation of sensory centres in the convolutions.
Dr Ferrier will no doubt publish this interesting paper. During the meeting of the British Medical Association at Edin- burgh, two papers were read, by Dr Peddie and Dr Bodington, on the ” Advisability of Controlling and Eestraining Habitual Drunkards.
We have learned nothing new from these gentlemen, and the opinion expressed by them, that legislation is necessary in dealing with dipsomaniacs, and the arguments brought to bear upon the subject, were fully discussed in the last number of the Journal, and we do not intend at present to allude to the subject.
We must congratulate the British Medical Association on the success achieved in their Psychological Section, and the thanks of the Association are due to those gentlemen who so kindly assisted in the further advancement of Psychology.
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