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might gratify his filthy passion. For a considerable time hewas successful; but some five or six years ago he had again totax his imaginative powers for some new method, and the ideastruck him that the introduction of the point of a pen knifeinto the scrotum, and afterwards some blunt instrument totitilate the testicles, (pour chatoullier les testicules,) mightanswer the purpose for a considerable period. This method,repeated at stated intervals, succeeded; but lately larger in.vasions were required to effect that which, lesser ones had aocom-plished before. Early in the morning of his admission, he wasip4uced to make a larger incision than usual; and this led tothe .condition I first saw him in. He also stated, that thewound was made while in a standing position, a circumstancehe appeared much to regret, as on former occasions he had in-flicted others almost as large when in bed, and which a day ortwo’s nursing had been sufficient to heal. " C’etait pour mespetits plaisirs, was his first answer to the expressions of horrorand disgust applied to him, after the narration of his beastlypropensities.

.

Emile C- is this patient’s name. He is thirty - fouryears old, and is gardener by trade. In conversation he ex-

presses himself quite as well as persons in his sphere of life,and much better than many.

I have omitted to mention, that the entire scrotum is com-pletely filled with scars of different lengths.

Reviews and Notices of Books.Statistics of Insanity; being a Decennial Report of Bethlehem

Hospital from 1846 to 1855 iuclusive. By W. C. HooD,M.D., Resident Physician, &c. pp. 121. Ordered by the Governors to be printed and circulated. i

.STATISTICAL investigations being now an established order ofthe day, and one of the best means not only for diffusingauthentic information, .but likewise for enabling students toextend their knowledge, while drawing important practicaldeductions, we hailed the appearance of the above work withno ordinary satisfaction. Its special object being to detail thechief features which characterized the movements of patientsat Bethlehem Hospital during a period of ten years ending the31st of December, 1855, many valuable data are thus broughtbefore the profession. The facts now reported well deservecareful study, and although readers may not always agree inevery deduction drawn by the author, the information suppliedbecomes not the less useful for psychological investigators, andthose engaged in the treatment of insane patients. Being whollybased upon the extensive series of tables regularly kept atBethlehem Hospital since 1843, we think Dr. Hood ought tohave mentioned that the documents quoted were, in the firstInstance, arranged, and actually filled up during two years, byone of the governors of that royal establishment-namely, Dr.Webster; especially since the fact was so stated by the LunacyCommissioners in their Report presented to Parliament in 1852,who said, " These valuable tables were originally prepared byDr. John Webster, and appear to be drawn up with great careand attention." This omission should not have occurred, andhence the above quotation is now made to supply an existingvacuum.

When discussing the varied questions based upon, or suppliedfrom the registers of Bethlehem Hospital, Dr. Hood divides hisinquiry into sixteen different heads, in reference to each ofwhich some very interesting disquisitions are appended. Intoall the points the author has mooted, our limited space prevents us fully entering, notwithstanding all amply deserve con-sideration. According to Table 1., 2729 curable insane patientswere admitted during the ten years already specified. Ofthese 1663 were female lunatics, thereby showing mental dis-eases prevailed more commonly amongst women than men, orgiving a ratio of nearly 60 per cent. increase; the proportion ofcures ranging upwards of 54 per cent., and the deaths 6 ’37 perhundred admissions. By Table II. it appears the most nume-ons entries took place in cases from 25 to 40. years old, espe-

cially amongst females; while more patients were cured from20 to 22 than at any other period; but the largest number ofdeaths recorded were in cases from 35 to 40 years of age.Some instructive statements respecting the domestic con-

dition of the lunatics admitted during the period already quotedare contained in Table V. According to the figures giventherein, exactly half the total patients received were married,amounting to 1364 out of the aggregate 2729 inmates undertreatment, the majority of whom, or 819, were femsles.Whereas the parties reported single supplied only 1194 ex-amples, which fact therefore indicates insanity as proving ofmore frequent occurrence during married life than otherwise,particularly when it is recollected that the actual number ofunmarried individuals exceeds the number of the marriedthroughout every grade of society.

Regarding the social position of the insane patients enume-rated in Dr. Hood’s recent statistical production, schoolmasterand tutors amongst the males, with governesses and dress-makers amongst the ’females, seem to have been more nume-rous, comparatively speaking, than any other class embracedby the tables now published. But that result cannot seem

extraordinary, should an otherwise delicately-nurtured lady pass.from unhappiness to misery, and from misery to insanity, whileshe occupies a situation in the family which is too often not so-desirable as even that of many domestic servants. Again, in-reference to dressmakers, including milliners and sempstresses,it also does not appear at all astonishing if they are frequentlydriven mad through penury, trouble, and perhaps even remorsefrom misconduct, which may have been the case occasionally..

In subsequent paragraphs the author discusses at considerablelength the apparent and assigned causes, as also the duratioand form of mental disease affecting the patients placed undertreatment, respecting each of which questions various interest-ing remarks are made. Upon none, however, has the authorentered more minutely than in reference to the different causes-usually assigned by relatives to have occasioned the patient’smalady. The seventeen pages comprising Dr. Hood’s ninthchapter will, therefore, amply repay perusal. Besides advert-

ing to the number of attacks reported to have occurred prior toadmission, with the state of bodily health manifested by in-mates when placed under surveillance, the author next makesseveral sensible practical observations regarding the remedieswhich should be employed towards promoting recovery. Re-

specting bloodletting, he observes, there can be no doubt thatexperience has decided against general bleeding in insanity,Such condemnation, however, does not apply to local abstrac-tions of blood, although even these moderate depleting mea-sures are not often necessary. Shaving the head, and applying.pounded ice afterwards to the scalp by means of a bladder, ismuch recommended; but the author thinks the douche, orshower bath, is very liable to be followed by reaction ancl,rP,,-newed excitement. Purgatives prove powerful means of de-pressing the system, and the employment of antimony in casesof insanity is spoken of as a practice both general and effectual.Opium constitutes a most important agent, and one which be--comes continually required, although hyoscyamus may be indi-cated in certain idiosyncracies; nevertheless, in Dr. Hood’sopinion, morphia or opium, alone, or in combination with anti-mony, and with various stimulants, remedial or dietetic, willanswer every requirement.While acknowledging, without any special reservation, the

intrinsic value of the volume now cursorily placed under i"e-view, and the useful yet varied data collected by the author,and which must have cost considerable labour to arrange, -pre-vious to laying before the profession, still, we would assureDr. Hood that he has not turned the important materials his individual command to the best and fullest account. With.all respect be it spoken, there ought to have been more of thecompiler, and his own deductions derived from the figures thussupplied, with fewer observations respecting Esquirol, Prichard,and Thurnam. Having such an ample repertory of facts a.

90

the archives of Bethlehem Hospital indubitably supply, itwould have been an easy task for a physician possessed of theauthor’s experience and knowledge to have augmented consi-derably the remarks contained in the present publication, moreespecially as the various observations and valuable inferencesdeduced by the writer indicate how well he was qualified for-any similar undertaking, and which we hope to see more com-pletely realized by Dr. Hood on some future occasion.

Rain and Rivers; or, Hutton and Playfair against Lyell andall comers. By Colonel GEORGE GREENWOOD. pp. 195.London: Longman and Co.WE do not feel ourselves competent to deliver a dogmatic

opinion upon an abstruse point in geology ; but we shall not bebackward in offering one as to the style in which such a sub-ject is discussed in Colonel Greenwood’s tractate. Our judg-ment upon this is, that it is a decidedly bad one, and neitherbefitting the author nor the dignity of science. We regret thisthe more, believing that Colonel Greenwood is well acquaintedwith the argument he here so " dashingly " manages.

The Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology.Edited by FORBES WINSLOw, M.D., D.C.L. New Series.No. vii., July, 1857. London: Churchill.

THE present number touches upon some very importanttopics, not the least interesting amongst which is the questionof the actual increase of insanity in modern times,-a subjectalluded to in several of the articles. The first" communication"is from the Editor, on Neglected Brain Disease and Suicide;and this is followed by one on the Demon of Socrates. The

review of Mr. Herbert Spencer’s Psychology opens the field tothose fond of metaphysics. We can most safely recommendthe present portion of this well-known journal to our readers.

Foreign Department.EMPYEMA IN A CHILD, TWENTY-SEVEN MONTHS OLD; PARACEN-

TESIS REPEATED THREE TIMES; IODINE INJECTION; RECO-

VERY.

M. MAURICE, of Versailles, lately read an account of thiscase before the Medical Society of the Hospitals of Paris. M.Maurice was called to the child on the 31st of January last, andfound all the signs of effusion on the left side of the chest. OnFeb. 2nd, a quart of creamy inodorous pus was removed by thetrocar and canula; on the 7th, a new operation was judged ne-cessary, and performed by means of a lancet covered with gold-beater’s skin, the latter being glued to the skin with collo-dion. Thirteen ounces of pus were evacuated, and on thenext day, the previously compressed lung was found in contactwith the ribs. On the llth, four days after the second opera-tion, a third was performed. Ten ounces of pus were removedwith Reybard’s trocar and canula, which latter was left forty-eight hours in the wound. On removing the canula, a simpletent of lint was introduced, and a little air was noticed to enterthe chest by the wound. The fistulous opening persisted, andgave, on forced expiration, issue to bubbles of air; the woundin the meanwhile inflamed, the child became feverish, anddiarrhcea supervened. On the 20th, an injection of tincture ofiodine was resorted to, and on the 23rd, a tube was introducedto allow of the escape of serum and pus. The child now rapidlyrecovered, and seemed well on the 28th. On the 4th of March,however, tympanitic resonance was observed under the leftclavicle, and an amphoric murmur, with bronchophony over thecicatrices; whilst vesicular breathing was everywhere audible.A few days afterwards, M. Maurice found, with surprise, signsof the existence of air and fluid towards the external side ofthe left half of the thorax, especially when the child cried.The latter was shown to the Society, to give the members anopportunity of observing the above-named signs for themselves.

CLIMATES FREE FROM PHTHISIS.

M. BOUDIN, chief surgeon of the Roule Hospital (Military)at Paris, has just published a compendious work on medical

geography and statistics, including endemic diseases. In thisvery remarkable book we find the following data on phthisis :" There are countries were phthisis is unknown, as, for in.stance, Iceland, as stated by Dr. Schleisner; no phthisicalpatients are ever seen in Finmark; and the Swedish physiciansaffirm that consumption becomes less common as we proceednorthward; there is, in fact, such a thing as a preventingaction of the polar regions. In England, statistics show thatin the army the maximum number of deaths by phthisis is tobe observed amongst the troops quartered in the United King.dom; that this number diminishes in warm countries, and islowest in cold climates. As to the civil population of GreatBritain, it is found that in London the deaths from phthisis are18 per cent.; in Edinburgh, 11’9; Leith, 10’3; and Aber-deen, 6.2. The English soldier is more often the prey tothe disease in his own country than in any other. The mor.tality from phthisis amongst the military is lower anywhereelse than in England, not only in the south, but more parti-cularly towards northern climes. There are two or three timesless cases of phthisis amongst the troops stationed in Canadathan amongst those who stay at home. The preventive actionof warm climates varies with the longitude; in the torrid zone,for example, the maximum corresponds to the West Indiaislands, and the minimum to Madras. The sea acts as a pre.ventive of phthisis, and the deaths from this disease are morenumerous in the army than the navy. The infantry of the lineloses annually by phthisis in the United Kingdom 8 ’9 men perthousand; the guards, 12’5; and the mortality from the samedisease becomes lower in the colonies. At Malta it is below5 per thousand; in Gibraltar, 4; at the Mauritius and Ceylon,4; at the Cape, 3; and in the Madras presidency, 1." "

ARTIFICIAL ANUS IN THE RIGHT FLANK.

M. JOBERT (de Lamballe) made, in the usual manner, in thebeginning of April last, an artificial anus in the right lumbarregion, upon a patient of M. Trousseau, for intestinal obstruc-tion. The man died the next day, and the autopsy showedthat the opening had been made in the lower part of the ilium,and that the knuckle of bowel was already adherent to thelips of the wound. The cause of the obstruction was, as issupposed by the gentlemen who conducted the post-mortemexamination, an unusual distension by flatus of the sigmoidflexure of the colon, by which the bowel had turned uponitself, and formed a fold which presented an obstacle to thecourse of the fascal matter.

___

CYSTICERCUS IN THE CRYSTALLINE LENS.

M. LIEBREICH mentions in the Archiv für Ophthalmologie thecase of a youug man, aged twenty-three, affected with con-verging strabismus. With the ophthalmoscope an opacity wasseen in the pupil of the left eye; and behind the opacity wasa little bluish foreign body attached to a dark and circularvesicle which moved with the eye. By using reversed images,the author ascertained that the anterior part was the head,and the oval and dark portion the vesicle, of a cysticercus. Athird membrane, which surrounded the animal, reached to theback part of the eye. M. Liebreich could perceive movementsin the anterior parts of the parasite. The patient had passedfragments of taenia. De Graefe has observed five cases of cysti.cercus in the retina, one of which he published very lately.Out of three women thus affected, two were pregnant.

FRESH ATTACKS ON THE EXCLUSIVE GLUCOGENIC PROPERTIESOF THE LIVER.

EXPERIMENTALISTS seem to have made it their task to put tothe test most of the tenets lately put forward by ProfessorClaude Bernard, the successor of Magendie. M. Colin, attachedto the Veterinary School of Alfort, near Paris, had experi-mentally proved that the chyle obtained from the larger rumi-nants, fed exclusively upon animal substances, contains alreadysome sugar, and that the latter is therefore not p2-imarilyformed in the liver. M. Berard, professor of physiology at theFaculty of Paris, has repeated the experiment upon a bull, andhas found M. Colin’s assertions perfectly correct; from whichcircumstance he draws the conclusion that sugar is not formedexclusively in the liver. Facts like these show very forciblythat experimental physiology should be conducted with theutmost care; that all the sources of fallacy should be takeninto account; and that no conclusions should be looked uponas physiological laws until they have repeatedly stood thetest of counter experiments.