A Special Committee, apppointed by the Charity Organization Society, have had under their consideration for a considerable time the subject of placing Institutions for Idiots, Imbeciles, and Harmless Lunatics on the most comprehensive and satisfactory footing. The investigations of this Committee, and the report to be made by them to the Parent Society, will be likely to have much influence on the determination of many questions in which our Association has a deep interest. The Committee have evinced laudable anxiety to obtain advice and information, and to consider their subject cautiously, thoughtfully, and impartially. I think they have, in consequence, the strongest claims on the confidence and thankfulness of our Association. From a communication made by the Committee to the Social and Statistical Society of Ireland, and from being furnished, through the kindness of Dr. Hack Tuke, with copies of its agenda up to this, I happen to have become acquainted with the views of the Committee, and I propose to avail myself of the opportunity thus afforded, by making some remarks on a few of the conclusions they have arrived at. I shall, however, try to do so in a way that will not, by any means, hamper the proceedings of the Committee, or the full and free expression of their opinions; but which may conduce to a community of opinion, and a co-operation in action, or, at least, to a friendly and harmonious rivalry between the Charity Organization Society and our Association, calculated to produce most desirable results.

The two following cases, which were tried at the Glasgow Circuit Court, in May, 1876, seem of sufficient importance to deserve record and comment in the “Journal of Mental Science.” In both the facts were undisputed, and the interest centred in the mental condition of the prisoner.

In thinking over a subject on which to write a short paper for this meeting, it seemed to me that it would be better to select one connected with my own specialty, as more likely to possess elements of interest and novelty to the members, than if I chose one out of the ordinary domain of Medicine or Surgery, in which they have a much wider field of observation than I can have.

Having had the opportunity of attending the International Medical Congress at Philadelphia in the capacity of a delegate, by the kind invitation of the Committee of the Congress, it has occurred to me that a short account of the proceedings in the Mental Diseases Section may perhaps be interesting to members of this Association.

Few countries, if any, afford better opportunities for the study of insanity, as exhibited among different races, than British Guiana. Here, gathered together in one asylum, are West Indians, Coolies from India, Chinese, Portuguese, and Africans; and, although the types of insanity are very similar in all, yet there are some distinctive features, worthy, I think, of being noted. Many difficulties arise in investigating the subject, owing, principally, to an inability to converse personally with some of the patients, more especially with Chinese. Consequently, a refinement in classification is unattainable; the strongly-marked features of the case alone giving an index to the form of mental disorder.

Although we have, for some time past, begun to emancipate ourselves from the idea that insanity is a disease of the mind, and admit, in theory at least, that it is strictly a disease of the body, as much so as typhus, or any other disease involving perturbed mental phenomena, yet we have scarcely hitherto begun to investigate the pathology of insanity from this point of view. Even yet we classify the forms of the disease by the mental manifestations it presents, and speak of mania, melancholia, dementia, &c., when our aim ought to be to differentiate the physical or chemico-vital somatic conditions; we describe the insanity of fear, of pride, of exaltation, &c., much as if we should classify ulcers as those of the hand, the arm, the leg, and the trunk, instead of attending to the more important characters of ulcers in general with their true specific differences. For, I venture to think, that Professor Ferrier's researches point strongly to the view that the differences in direction, so to speak, taken by the mental phenomena depend to a great extent upon the differences in the portion of brain-tissue principally affected. The investigation of the physical causation and conditions of insanity will doubtless be laborious and tedious work, but there can be no doubt that the results to be obtained will more than repay the labour which must be expended in the investigation.