Of all the attributes of man which have been considered sufficiently distinctive to separate him from the lower animals, that of speech has been regarded as of the first importance. It has been looked upon as so essentially dependent upon human intelligence as in itself to constitute a sufficient line of separation between man and all living creatures below him. By none has this position been more strongly upheld than by Max Müller, who maintains that speech is a faculty of man which distinguishes him from all other creatures. This, of course, is true in a general sense; but as every attribute of man is at the present time undergoing a more complete analysis than has ever before been attempted, the dictum may be found not to be so absolutely correct, as at first sight appears; for it may be remembered that the subject of language has hitherto been treated by scholars and men of letters, who have discussed its various forms in relation to a given basis, whereas, at the present time, an endeavour is being made to proceed a step further towards the origin of language by its investigation from a physiological or scientific standpoint. If this be done, and we study the nature of language, as observed in the savage or the infant, we may perhaps discover that it is not altogether so different from what we may call the language of the lower animals. There is so much in man which is common to the creatures below him, that it is impossible to discuss rightly many of his propensities, affections and passions, without considering the form or character which these take in similar organisations. It is not surprising, therefore, that the subject of language should have been made a debating ground for the discussion of the points of difference between man and animals.

Mary Ann C., æt. 23; single; was admitted into the West Riding Asylum on the 26th February, 1864. The patient had been previously an inmate of a Workhouse, but had to be removed from thence in consequence of her violent tendencies. It was stated that she was imbecile, and suffered from epileptic fits. No definite history or facts as to parentage and condition at birth were ascertained.

The following letter, &c., in reply to recent inquiries, has been received from Dr. Manning, whose admirable “Report on Lunatic Asylums,” undertaken at the request of the New South Wales Government, in 1868, is well known in this country. The information conveyed in the statistics now given cannot fail to be of interest to the readers of this Journal:—

This being a paper read for the purpose of eliciting the experience of others, does not purport to be anything more than an account of my experiences of the drug, and my opinions as to its uses.

In enquiries upon the influence of heredity in the causation of insanity we rarely get back beyond the third generation. Few men either know, or care much about their great-grandfathers or great-grandmothers, and fewer are willing to keep in remembrance the existence of an ancestral taint. Nevertheless, in studying these subjects we ought to go back as far as we can, and the few pedigrees which have been traced of the genesis of insanity in families bring out deductions of the highest interest. In studying the fortunes of those ruling houses, whose lives are recorded by history, we occasionally trace the rise and extinction of a family through insanity, or we behold the wane and final extinction of the hereditary disease. There is no deficiency in the materials. Mental disease is very common in royal and noble families, and great disasters to nations have sometimes signalised the madness of their rulers.

I.—Notes of a Case of Paralysis of the Insane discharged from the Yarmouth Naval Asylum, in which amendment commenced during an attack of Erysipelas of the face.

In the report of the International Congress of Mental Medicine, which appeared in this Journal in October, 1878, I referred briefly to the discussion which took place upon the provision made, or proposed to be made, in France for criminal lunatics and lunatic criminals. I was not, however, able to give at that time the conclusions arrived at in the debate, nor did space allow of my giving an account of the Quarter at Gaillon for insane convicts. I am now able to supply both omissions, and believe that the information conveyed as to what is being done across the Channel will be of interest to those in Great Britain and Ireland who are concerned directly or indirectly with the important subject of criminal lunacy.

Various bills affecting the treatment of lunacy having been introduced in the present Session of Parliament, a brief abstract of each will probably be of interest to those members of the Association who may not have obtained them.