In the various cases of ereuthophobia (or morbid blushing) recorded, it appears to be clear that the emotional element is preponderant; but one point has been neglected, that is, the investigation of vaso-motor reflexes. The study of the case here recorded throws some light on this aspect of the question, especially as the patient, being intelligent, ably seconded the authors in the determination of certain points of their experiments.

The notes of a case—an epileptic female suffering from complicated delusional insanity—are given to show the preponderating influence of dreams upon the mental life. E. V—, now æt. 45 years, was brought up as a child under unsatisfactory conditions (family quarrels, unkind mother, etc.). She was married at the age of twenty-six, and took to gambling. She had her first epileptic fit when thirty-one, after a violent emotional shock (witnessing the paternal house on fire); it was followed by disordered mind for forty-eight hours. Subsequently fits recurred for a time every six months, always followed by short periods of mental disorder; then they became more frequent. When thirty-seven, after an attack, she developed hypochondriacal ideas and delusions of persecution with auditory and sensory hallucinations, on account of which she was sent to an asylum.

Dr. Weygandt, in an article entitled “Psychology and Cerebral Anatomy in Special Relation to Modern Phrenology,” which appeared in Die Deutsche Medizinische Wochenschrift, made the statement that the only true basis for the study of psychiatry is the acceptance of the doctrine of psycho-physical parallelism, and quotes Wundt's definition of this parallelism in support. Dr. Juliusburger feels it his duty to pen a somewhat indignant and scornful reply, and points out, in the first place, that whereas in 1863 Wundt, in his lectures, treated human and animal psychology from a monistic point of view, it is only in later years (1892) that he took up his dualistic standpoint of a psycho-physical parallelism, according to which, although with every psychical act there is a co-existent physical phenomenon, nevertheless these two manifestations are entirely independent of each other and have no causal relationship. Dr. Weygandt agrees with Ebbinghaus that mind and brain are not separable entities—the one a product of the other—but they are an actual combination, varying only according to the point of view from which we regard their manifestations; when viewed from within, these phenomena are psychical, when from without, physical.

The author is interested in determining in what direction the spread of our knowledge of psychology tends; what results seem desirable and probable in the struggle going on in the various fields of energy which are thrashing out its problems. For centuries introspection was practically the only means of study employed by philosophers; then came the experimental method. In this connection Toulouse emphasises the importance in our measurements of having physically and chemically defined standards. It is not only necessary to have a number to express our toil measurement, it must be a number determined by precise conditions. The difficulties under which various workers labour are pointed out, especially that of obtaining average subjects for experiments.

Previous investigations have shown—in harmony, indeed, with daily experience—that alcohol renders more difficult the perception of sensory impressions and the associated mental activity, while, on the other hand, it makes voluntary operations easier. At the same time, in apparent apposition with the latter result, alcohol has little or no influence in increasing work done with the dynamometer or ergograph. In order to follow out the workings of alcohol in a field where its finer influence could be precisely traced and measured, Mayer has investigated its effects on handwriting in accordance with the exact methods of Diehl. In one series of experiments the dose of absolute alcohol taken was 30 grammes, in another series 60 grammes. The results are recorded in full detail in this paper. It was found that alcohol has a slowing influence on writing movements; in small doses the pauses are shortened and the pressure increased; in large doses the pauses tend more to be increased, while the pressure is decreased; there is no recognisable influence on the way of writing. These results are recorded in detail with the precision that the instrumental study of handwriting now renders possible. Incidentally, Mayer introduces an interesting discussion of the resemblance of alcoholic intoxication to mania, which has often been pointed out. In both there is diminished attention, a flood of ideas with tendency to sound associations, an inclination to arrogance, and increased facility in obeying impulses. As soon, however, as we begin to inquire into the details of psychomotor activity (as may be done by reference to Gross's study of the precise characteristics of the handwriting in mania) profound differences may be traced. Common to both states is the shortening of the pauses, the release of movement becoming easier. In mania, however, there is greater excitability, the shortening becoming more marked in the course of writing, while in intoxication the pauses soon tend to be increased. Movement itself is in both conditions slowed, but in mania with very great rapidity. In mania, also, the writing is from the first large, and tends to become larger as writing is continued, while in intoxication there is no change in this respect. Pressure, again, is much more increased in mania, and rises as writing is continued. The finer variations do not disappear as they do in intoxication, hut are still more marked than normally, and changes in pressure occur with undue swiftness. On the whole the phenomena of intoxication, as evidenced by the handwriting, present a picture of increased excitability succeeded by paralysis, while in mania no symptoms of paralysis appear at any stage in the writing process, but, instead, an increasing excitability overcoming a preliminary tendency to inhibition of movement.

This paper is a further contribution to the experimental study of the action of alcohol on mental function, which has already been the object of several valuable researches by the Heidelberg school.

In this paper the author records the results of a series of elaborate experiments showing the condition of mental function during prolonged abstinence from food. The experiments were made on six individuals; the period of fasting generally ranged between 12 and 36 hours; in one instance it was extended to 48, and in another to 72 hours. In some of the experiments water was withheld as well as food. The psycho-physical tests employed were those current in Kraepelin's laboratory, a few modifications of detail being introduced in some of them. One new method—Griesbach's examination of the range of tactile sensibility—was also tried, but was found very unsatisfactory.

In a series of eighty-seven post-mortem examinations of criminals, the author found that the circle of Willis presented abnormalities of origin, development, or direction in 65.5 per cent. of the cases, the majority (32.18 per cent.) occurring on the left side. In 73.56 per cent. of the cases the weight of the brain was below the average, and the inferiority of weight coincided in 51.72 per cent. of the subjects with the existence of such vascular anomalies. Morbid changes in the vessels, membranes, and brain-substance were unusually abundant The weight of the heart was below the average in 75.86 per cent. of the criminals examined, and in 49.42 per cent. this condition was associated with abnormalities of the circle of Willis. Among the cases with these latter abnormalities heart lesions were particularly frequent.

This address was delivered at the conference of the Philological Club at Naples, in 1899. The author points out that the neuroses are as old as man. He passes in review the different phases of these neuroses through which races have come as knowledge advanced. In the early ages as the result of a belief in a vindictive God, the neuroses assumed a melancholic form with religious ideas. The neuroses of the Greeks and Romans were coloured by the realism of the period. There followed an era in which all power was given to Satan, and in consequence an ascetic mysticism resulted, with the foundation of many religious orders, which spread all over Europe. Epidemics of hysterical and demoniacal possession were common. A new era dawned with greater liberty of thought and action. The author then gave statistics pointing to the great advances made in language and education, in our knowledge of the human body, and the laws governing it. From these have followed the neuroses of the present time—the weariness of life, the diffidence, the excitability, the unrest that needs always new and more powerful stimuli, the intolerance of restriction and of discipline that denotes a great hypertrophy of egoism which, in its most marked development, gives us the anarchist epidemic.

Heredity is the most important factor in the causation of recurrent insanity, and Dr. Pilcz quotes many distinguished authors in support of this view. Kraepelin puts the proportion of cases of recurrent insanity with hereditary taint at 80 per cent., while Morel regarded folie circulaire as a manifestation of hereditary taint.

The authors record three medico-legal observations of imbecile prostitutes. The subjects all presented numerous stigmata of degeneracy, and displayed extremely perverse instincts. Attention is drawn to the large proportion of congenitally weakminded persons to be found amongst prostitutes and vagrants, and measures of special restraint for individuals of that class are recommended.

The author, studying the ætiology in 102 cases (78 males and 24 females) of general paralysis admitted under his care to the Brescia asylum between 1894 and 1900, found 16 cases (13 males and 3 females) in which alcoholism appeared to him to be the sole cause of the disease. He gives in this paper a very brief résumé of the clinical history of these cases, and of the macroscopic brain lesions noted in ten of them. He finds that alcohol is capable of generating a true general paralysis, and that cases of alcoholic origin do not differ in any respect from cases of other causation. In six of his cases the disease was of the exalted type, in one of the hypochondriacal, and in nine of the simple demented type. The cases ran a progressive course without remission, terminating fatally in from two to three years. The distinctive characters which some authors assign to alcoholic general paralysis or pseudo-general paralysis—generalised tremor, slightness of speech trouble, frequency of remission, etc.—were not noted. Hallucinations and the delirium of conjugal infidelity, also said to be specially common in such cases, were only found in one instance.