Round about thirty-five years ago, when I was first introduced to the affairs of our Association by two of my chiefs, A. W. Daniel, who was secretary of our Education Committee, and John R. Lord, who officially or unofficially filled almost every other available office—at this time I became aware that there were two categories of President; those elected because of their professional eminence, and those who were rewarded for their services to the Association—and of course there were many who qualified under both headings. Now, in spite of Dr. MacNiven's generous words, I feel that my own election has come about entirely through the kindness and indulgence of our members. It is recorded in divers places in our annals that a warm welcome is traditionally extended to newly-joined members, and I can testify that I have throughout experienced this kindness at your hands irrespective of the rank I happened to occupy or of my success or lack of success in the promotion race. For this experience, of which today marks the culmination, I am truly grateful; and I can confidently claim that in loyalty and affection towards the Association, though in no other respect, I can stand comparison with the greatest of my predecessors.

The present paper is based on the study of the drinking habits of British seamen interviewed during a recent journey.

The history of medicine reveals man's search for drugs to ease his diseases and possibly cure them. Advances have been made pharmacologically in the treatment and prevention of many infectious diseases. While psychiatry has benefited from these discoveries in the treatment of certain infections of the central nervous system, in general, the treatment of psychiatric diseases remains largely empirical. The psychopharmacologic treatment of psychiatric diseases continues to be based on the presenting symptom-complex of the patient; this is because the aetiology is still unknown, for in reality our explanations do not explain. The phrenotropic drugs currently used in psychiatry are important for their pharmacodynamic effect since they change the cellular environment in which mental processes are maintained. Pharmacodynamic research in psychiatry has revealed possible neuroanatomical sites and many biochemical effects of these drugs. The specific correlation of these findings with clinical effects is lacking. When this is accomplished, it is probable that better drugs will be developed.

These studies of association between types of moustache and personality features were made during World War II in two officer-selection Boards (U.K., Male). The Boards contained Senior Officers (who interviewed each candidate), “Military Testing Officers” (who graded on practical tests given over three days residence), and a psychiatrist. A “Psychological Testing Team” conducted written tests. Board results were expressed as “pass” or “fail” or “referred back”. The ratings upwards of “pass” were DD, D, C, B and A. Men considered too unadaptable for officer grade (and so “failing”), but likely to become or to remain good N.C.O.s, were (for the information of the Board) specially noted as “fail: N.C.O.”. The “referred back” men were rated NY (“Not Yet”—chance of further maturity). In this paper “pass” and “fail” are placed in inverted commas to emphasize that ratings had reference to selection for one role only—that of Commissioned Officer.

Weckowicz, Sommer and Hall (14) in a paper on the size and distance perception of schizophrenic patients relate their results to a theory of the normal perception of size and distance. This paper analyses more fully some aspects of their results, since they provide evidence against the theory of perception which Weckowicz et al. accept.

As far as published records show, Europeans used proverbs for evaluating mental processes some years before they were similarly used in America. In 1906, Finckh (20) published his research concerning the use of proverbs in intelligence testing, which is still cited most frequently in Germany and considered the foundational research in this field. In 1907, Bühler (13) published his extended article dealing with the problems of studying the thinking process. He pointed out the value of proverbs because they were interesting while at the same time demanding all the psychic energy of the subject. In 1920, Achilles (1) used familiar and not so familiar proverbs in memory studies, testing children, adults and “insane patients”. In 1923, Piaget (39) referred to the use of proverbs for the study of thinking. Also in 1923, Ziehen (53) described the use of proverbs for testing the mentally gifted; both normal and clinical cases. In 1927, Bronner (11) reported a proverbs test being used in the United States. Thurstone's test consisted of two sets of 20 proverbs each.

Admission of patients with neurotic or personality disorders to psychiatric hospitals is fraught with a number of difficulties. These arise partly from the fact that the majority of psychiatric hospitals are designed primarily for the needs of psychotic patients. Other difficulties come from the character of the patients themselves and from the complexities of the treatment they require.

The change in time perception produced by the administration of drugs has received a fair amount of attention. Frankenhaeuser (6) has reviewed the work on the effects of hashish and mescaline intoxication on the estimation of time. She concludes that “there seems to be some agreement in that time seems longer than usual in passing but shorter when regarded in retrospect”. But this work dealt with introspective reports regarding the passage of time rather than with quantitative changes and will not be discussed further here.

Since the preliminary studies in imipramine (Tofranil) (1, 2, 3, 4) demonstrated the potent anti-depressant activity of this substance, attempts have been made to pin-point the differential effects of the drug on psychodynamic structure. These were reported in two previous studies (5, 6). The purpose of the present communication is to elaborate on the information gained in the latter experiments, and their consequent application to the psychotherapy of depressions and other mental syndromes.

Brandström (1957) in Sweden, has recently resolved certain problems in the synthesis of barbiturates with a neopentyl group as one of the ring substituents and the resulting compound 5-allyl-5-neopentyl-barbituric acid∗ has been subjected to experimental studies which show it to be less hypnotic and anaesthetic than amylobarbitone or pentobarbitone sodium and yet protective to rats subjected to a stress situation after the technique of Jacobsen and Sonné (1955). The drug is rapidly absorbed after oral administration, and has a duration of action between that of amylobarbitone and phenobarbitone.

In the early phenothiazine literature the ataractic properties of Thorazine in the control of disturbed, hyperactive schizophrenics were described (Kurland, 1955; Hall and Dunlap, 1955; Lehmann, 1955). Kurland (1955) gives an excellent description of the powerful activity of Thorazine in this sphere, namely the control of hyperkinesis and hostile, aggressive behaviour; however, he found that there was little basic change in delusional thought disorder other than to divorce the abnormal thinking from its affective attachment. It was noted that the clinical improvement was most dramatic when the affective component of the illness was most marked. Hall and Dunlap (1955) felt that there was significant reduction in delusional ideation but noted that the schizophrenic process was not affected by Thorazine medication.

During recent years, a good deal of attention has been drawn to the therapeutic and toxic effects of the new thymoleptics. Although most of these preparations have had a reasonable clinical trial before being released for general use, it is a fact that hitherto unsuspected toxic effects continue to come to light. Among the more recently discovered side-effects of Tofranil (imipramine) are the occurrence of jaundice and a tendency in certain patients to epileptic fits. Experimentally it has been shown that Tofranil increases the excitability of the brain of rabbits and may evoke convulsant spikes (1), and in a recent article by Leyberg and Denmark (2) it is recorded that in four cases of a relatively small series the dose of the drug had to be reduced on account of epileptic fits.

When discussing some of the problems associated with chlorpromazine (Largactil) therapy, Denber and Travis (2) point out that it is desirable that the drug be given as infrequently as is compatible with therapeutic efficacy. They found this to be twice a day. Haden (5) and Tibbits (10) report that satisfactory results can be obtained with single daily doses. While studying the single daily dose administration of drugs in a psychiatric hospital, Lara and Wells (7) found that phenothiazine compounds could reasonably be given in this way. In order to explore these reports the medication of 17 chronic, well stabilized, male schizophrenic patients was changed by giving their chlorpromazine once instead of three times a day. These patients had been on an average dosage of 200 mg. of chlorpromazine t.d.s. The dosage was altered by giving the total daily dose at one time, limiting the maximum dose to 600 mg. In some cases this resulted in a small reduction in the total dosage. The main side-effects complained of before the change were photo-sensitivity from 8 patients and drowsiness during the day from 9 patients. Because of this latter complaint the single dose was given at 9 p.m. Three weeks after the change to the single dose no alteration in symptoms or behaviour had been noted except that there were now no complaints of drowsiness during the day. Two patients complained that they disliked taking 6 large tablets at one time.

Sernyl, 1 aryl-cyclo-hexylamine, is a synthetic drug first used by the anaesthetists because, when given intravenously, it produces analgesia. However, the occurrence of psychological disturbances post-operatively led to the investigation of this drug by psychiatrists. It was found that Sernyl produces many interesting psychological disturbances, some of which resemble the primary symptoms of schizophrenia (Davies and Beech, 1960). In a previous paper (Davies, 1960) Sernyl was given intravenously to five patients with long-standing psychoneurotic illnesses. It proved to be an effective abreactive agent and produced some interesting results in three of the patients who had obsessional symptoms. Sernyl, in the doses used, is not an hallucinogen, though it produces other effects similar to lysergic acid diethylamide, which has been used extensively as a therapeutic agent, particularly in obsessional states (Sandison et al., 1954). The preliminary report suggested that Sernyl might have some practical advantages over LSD—in particular, it produced a less severe disturbance and its effects were over more quickly. Further investigations were clearly indicated and this present paper reports on the use of oral Sernyl in five patients with obsessional illnesses.

A clinical evaluation of the effects of a recently introduced monoamine oxidase inhibitor, N - isonicotinoyl - N1—(β - N - benzylcarboxamido - ethyl) hydrazine (Niamid, Pfizer, Ltd.) on certain types of mentally subnormal patients has been carried out over the past year.

Having written a review of Soviet psychiatric literature some years ago without being able to see things for myself, I was eager to avail myself of my first opportunity to visit the Soviet Union, which came in the summer of 1959. Though the visit was not undertaken in any official capacity, preliminary correspondence secured a number of cordial invitations to visit a series of leading Soviet institutions, and soon after our arrival in Moscow permission was received from the Ministry of Health to pursue our visit on a “business” basis, which meant a reduced rate without benefit of personal guide services. My wife and I were thus for the greater part of our sojourn in the U.S.S.R. free to move about the cities of our choice and to seek out and visit hospitals, research institutions and child care facilities that interested us. My conversational Russian, though elementary, was sufficient for this purpose and in most institutions there were staff members who could speak English, French or German. With the single exception of Odessa, where the local health officer did not permit me to visit a chronic psychiatric colony some distance from the city, I was extended every possible courtesy and plenty of opportunity to see what I wanted. During the summer months unfortunately many of the leading research workers were away on vacation, schools and Pioneer Palaces were closed and almost all child care facilities moved out to the country, so that I was unable to get much first-hand information on the care and education of handicapped children, and missed some important people I would have liked to meet. On the other hand, several heads of institutions returned from their summer retreats to meet me in the cities and sometimes urged me to stay on or return again to see more things. Official autos were sent to pick us up and return us to hotels, staff members sometimes awaited us on our arrival in new cities and several festive tea parties culminated our institutional visits, with gracious and cordial exchange of toasts; we were constantly presented with books and gifts, and huge bouquets were given to my wife. Russian hospitality is typically warm and heart-felt, and was at this time especially motivated by the wish to form friendly ties with America and the West. Like most visitors, we could not fail to be impressed by all of this, and did what we could to respond in kind.

In view of the drastic changes which have occurred in psychiatric treatment during the past five years and in the attitude towards it we have assessed our results, in order to compare them with those recently published by other writers. (Parnell (3)).

In approaching a survey such as this, one is immediately faced not only by the obvious difficulties in a study of a broad cross-section of the population with many divergencies and categories in the hands of so many different physicians and observers, but also, as Gibbs and Stamps (1958) point out, by the fact that “new information has developed so rapidly in the last few years that no time has been allowed for dead opinions to be given a decent burial”.

Dr. Scott has outlined the varieties of treatment which have been suggested for psychopaths and some of the varieties which may be suitable for certain methods.