Since the introduction of the electrically induced convulsion by Cerletti and Bini the history of this procedure has become too well known to record again; but certain clinical data have come to light that are worth noting, of which the most important is the now recognized fact that this treatment is of more value in the affective psychoses than in schizophrenia, for which it was early introduced. Most writers, e.g., Elfield, Metcalfe and Paul, are agreed upon this, and it would therefore seem worth while to examine the results of this therapy in one hundred such cases. Depressions are so much commoner than manias that it would take a long time to collect a sufficient number of the latter for reliable conclusions to be drawn. These remarks are thus confined to the depressive states.

The Takata reaction has hitherto been mainly applied as a serum protein test and has been claimed useful in the diagnosis of liver disease.

It has been modified and applied to the cerebrospinal fluid (Takata-Ara (1)). Preliminary investigators found positive results in syphilis of the central nervous system, and it was thought to be a characteristic of this condition. Subsequent workers, however, found that organic conditions other than neuro-syphilis produced similar positive reactions, with the result that the test fell somewhat into disrepute. Now, however, it seems to be established that the test is indicative of a change in the albumin-globulin (euglobulin) ratios in the cerebrospinal fluid. This condition is mainly found in syphilis of the central nervous system, but occurs, of course, in other conditions affecting the central nervous system, especially where degenerative processes are involved.