The problems of fatigue have recently, for well-known reasons, attracted unusual attention. They are, however, ancient problems around which a bewildering and contradictory mass of work and literature has accumulated. The author, who has for many years been working on the subject, here deals (in a Presidential Address to the American Psychological Association last year) with one limited aspect of these problems: the relativity of fatigue. He is more concerned with the scientific than with the practical aspects of the subject, for he considers that the extreme practical importance of fatigue has injured its proper scientific investigation. For this we must know what mental fatigue is, if it exists at all, and how it is conditioned.

The writer commences her article by enunciating the doctrine that the normal human being is asymmetrical. “In 1903,” she says, “I expressed the opinion that the normal man is asymmetrical. The principle of the bilateral symmetry of the organism, established until recently in biological sciences, is replaced to-day by the idea of asymmetry, which, far from being an abnormal or pathological phenomenon, is, on the contrary, the expression of the natural state. One of the halves of the body is more developed than the other from an anatomical and physiological point of view. In the case of the right-handed man, it is the right side which is favoured; in the case of the left-handed man, it is the left. Now, each half of the body being dependent on the hemisphere of the opposite side, one sees that in the case of the right-handed man it is the left brain which is most developed, whilst in the case of the left-handed man a greater development of the right brain is assumed.” This thesis is supported by references to the works of many observers.

Sadness, or rather melancholy in the common acceptation of the word (I hardly think the word depression quite conveys the writer's idea), tedium vitó, and impulse, appear to Prof. Del Greco to be the most important elements in the mentality of an individual about to commit suicide.

This study in psychological and forensic medicine is a model of systematic arrangement of facts. Narrative, family history, and biography occupy their proper positions in the perspective, and although one cannot altogether agree with the writer's conclusions, one is filled with admiration for the minute and careful analysis of the physical and mental personality of the criminal.

Attempts have been made to classify the numerous forms of paralysis resulting from wounds in battle. Some are due to direct lesions of peripheral nerves and their roots: others are hystero-traumatic in nature. Between these two extreme varieties there is a particular clinical type which must be isolated from others—paralysis of reflex origin.

Although not of direct psychiatrical interest, having regard to the fact that phthisis is of such common occurrence in asylums, and also to the importance of early diagnosis upon which a favourable result so often depends, this paper is of considerable interest from a clinical point of view, and not without practical value.

The Seventy-Sixth Annual Meeting of the Association was held in the rooms of the Medical Society of London, on Wednesday, July 25th, 1917, Lieut.-Colonel David G. Thomson, M.D., R.A.M.C., President, in the chair.

The Summer Meeting of the Division was held on Thursday, July 5th, 1917, at Ballinasloe Asylum by the kind invitation of Dr. John Mills (Medical Superintendent). On arrival of the early train from Dublin Dr. Mills met attending members and motored them to the Asylum. After inspecting the farms and wards of the Asylum the visitors were driven to see various places of interest in the neighbourhood, including the battlefield of Aughrim, returning to the Asylum for luncheon.

These Regulations are practically identical with those in force as regards candidates engaged in nursing the insane, with the exception of a few necessary verbal alterations. The same is the case with respect to the Syllabus for the Preliminary Examination, but in the case of the Final there are some alterations and additions. The first three sections on “Diseases and Disorders,” “The Nervous System,” and “The Mind,” are practically the same.

We regret that by an oversight our congratulations have not been offered before now to Dr. Percy Smith on his having been elected President of the Psychiatry Section of the Royal Society of Medicine for last year which office, by the suffrages of his colleagues, he still retains for a second year. And, in addition, he has been made President for the current year of the Neurological Section of the same body. It is gratifying to see such proofs of the esteem in which such a well known and valued member of the Association is held by a sister society. And if our congratulations to Dr. Smith are rather late in point of time, they are none the less cordial and sincere.

At a Special Meeting of the Council held on September 20th at 11, Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, London, W., Dr. James Chambers, The Priory, Roehampton, S.W., was elected Treasurer of the Association.

Dr. Collins encloses two cuttings from the Egyptian Mail, which are translations from the native papers, and will, no doubt, be read with interest.

Berks County.—Lillian E. Gray, Alfred Stickley, Ruth L. Plumb.

During the last two years the Scottish Division of the Association has suffered the loss of two of its honoured members in Sir Thomas Clouston and Dr. Turnbull. We have now to deplore the passing of Dr. Urquhart, of the Murray Royal Asylum, Perth. This occurred at Eastbourne on July 31st—the same date as that on which there also died his life-long friend, Dr. Hayes Newington, of Ticehurst. It is not too much to say that the Medico-Psychological Association was deprived on that day of two of its most representative and esteemed surviving members in England and in Scotland.

Dr. Arthur Edward Patterson, Senior Assistant Medical Officer, City of London Mental Hospital, passed away after a short illness on August 26th. He was the son of the late Major D. A. Patterson, and received his early education in Aberdeen, subsequently proceeding to Aberdeen University, where he qualified M.B., C.M. in 1885. He obtained the M.D. in 1896. After a short period of general practice, he entered upon what was to become his life work as Assistant Medical Officer to the Derby Borough Asylum. He was appointed Senior Assistant Medical Officer of the City of London Mental Hospital on January 1st, 1892. A conscientious, painstaking officer he proved himself to be, and his cheery manner and true kindness of heart ensured his popularity with the staff and endeared him to his patients, who were devoted to him.

We greatly regret to hear of the death of Lieut. A. N. Oakshott, only son of Dr. James Oakshott, Medical Superintendent of the Waterford Asylum, at the Front in France. Lieut. Oakshott's career in the Army was but short, but short as it was he had endeared himself by his winning ways to every man in his company and to his brother officers, from many of whom his father has received touching letters of regret and sympathy. His Major wrote: “He died very gallantly on the early morning of September 17th while leading his platoon in an attack on the German lines. Death must have been instantaneous, but before he met it he had shown an example of courage and determination which was most inspiring to his men. He was exceedingly popular in the battalion both among officers and men, and his death has been a great loss to us all.”