Royal Edinburgh Asylum.—Many passages of interest occur in Dr. Clouston's report. One refers to feeding in cases of maniacal exhaustion, and he insists on the value of milk. “The greater my experience becomes I tend more to substitute milk for stimulants. I don't undervalue the latter in suitable cases; but in the very acute cases, both of depression and maniacal exaltation, where the disordered working of the brain tends rapidly to exhaust the strength, I rely more and more on milk and eggs made into custards. One such case this year got eight pints of milk and sixteen eggs every day for three months, and under this treatment recovered. I question whether he would have done so under any other. He was almost dead on admission, acutely delirious, absolutely sleepless, and very nearly pulseless.” The following passage bears out Dr. Urquhart's paper in the present number of the Journal:—“I am a great believer in the good effects of bright colours on the mentally depressed in this dull Scotch climate of ours [we hope this does not apply to the month in which the Association is to meet in Glasgow], and look on the present high art craze for dull olive greens as being a simple device of the Evil One, who loves darkness rather than light.” Dr. Clouston has an interesting reference to the International Medical Congress, and thinks its influence on the treatment of the insane will do good. He repels the notion that Scotch lunatics are of a milder type than those of other countries, and hence any success obtained in calming the excited is attributed to the course pursued. The best proof of this is the contrast between the refractory wards at Morningside twenty years ago and now. Limited space prevents our making further extracts. Dr. Clouston's reports are always pleasant and instructive reading.

The following translation of a letter in the “Progrès Medical” of the 2nd July, 1881, seems to me of considerable interest as showing, among other things, the powerful effect of the force of imitation in that Protean disease hysteria, and also the result of bad moral treatment. A series of somewhat similar cases, illustrating what has been well called the contagion of nervous affections in these leading to undoubted insanity with distinct delusions, is well described, and typical cases noted, by Dr. M. de Montgel, of the Marseilles Public Asylum, in the January number of the “Annales-Medico-Psychologiques.” But in almost all the cases there cited hereditary taint was distinctly made out, the weak mind being crushed by continued contact with the insane one. This folie-à-deux deserves serious attention; it may, from a medico-legal point of view, assume considerable importance; for instance, a person accused of crime may be under the domination of another's delusions. Many of the ecstatic outbreaks of seeming religion exemplify this form of insanity, often observed although seldom treated according to their deserts.

We have received the first number of the “Neurologisches Centralblatt,” published in Berlin at the beginning of this year. It is edited by Dr. E. Mendel, whose book on General Paralysis is reviewed in the present number of our Journal. In the programme the editor expresses his design to endeavour to establish a closer connection between the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of the nervous system and the medical treatment of insanity. The bridges connecting these departments of knowledge are frail and narrow. Dr. Mendel hopes to widen and strengthen them.