The medical profession, through its leading journals, has paid respectful tributes to the memory of Sir Thomas Clouston—tributes which indicate, among other things, that he was regarded as more than a mere specialist, and as deserving of a place among those whom the profession considers worthy of honour. This distinction is eminently fitting, for his life's work was devoted to the purpose of identifying his specialty with the general scope of medical science and practice.

Nearly twenty years have elapsed since Mr. Shand published in Mind an article entitled “Character and Emotions”; in this he formulated the hypothesis that the sentiments are complex derivatives of the primitive emotions. Thus, in the analysis of love and hatred he showed that “the same four emotional dispositions of fear, anger, joy, and sorrow, which are essential to the system of love, are present also in the system of hate.” Many eminent psychologists have adopted, or partially adopted, his views, among whom may be mentioned Professors Stout, McDougall, Westermarck, Sully, Caldecott, and Boyce Gibson. A great feature of this interesting work is its literary merit, and the infinite care and skill displayed by the author in his study of the emotions and tempers by an analysis of the characters portrayed by the great dramatists, poets, and novelists. Mr. Shand recognises the fact that the success of the dramatist and novelist depends upon the study of individual characters, and he gives numerous examples which we shall refer to later, but we will first call attention to two quotations which appear opposite the title page. “And this subject of the different characters of dispositions is one of those things wherein the common discourse of man is wiser than books, a thing which seldom happens. Wherefore, out of these materials (which are surely rich and abundant) let a full and careful treatise be constructed, so that an artificial and accurate dissection may be made of men's minds and natures, and the secret disposition of each particular man laid open, that from a knowledge of the whole the precepts concerning the cures of the mind may be more rightly formed. and not only the characters of dispositions impressed by nature should be received into this treatise, but age, country, state of health, make of body, etc. And, again, those which proceed from fortune, as in princes, nobles, common people, the rich, the poor, magistrates, the ignorant, the happy, the miserable,” etc. —Francis Bacon, De Augmentis Scientiarum, B. vii, Ch. iii.

Although modern research has placed the treatment of syphilis on a scientific basis, the Treponema pallidum continues to exact a heavy toll among all classes of society. The seriousness of the disease is largely due to the ever-present risk of a return of symptoms, perhaps many years after the acquirement of infection, and to the frequency with which the central nervous system is attacked.

1. (1) Brief reference is made to some of the earliest writings on the subject of anger, and comparison is made with more recent views.

2. (2) Anger, as traced throughout the scale of evolution of the animal kingdom, has served as a stimulus to aggression for the procuring of food, as an aid to survival, and as a necessity for the acquirement and maintenance of supremacy.

3. (3) Anger, occurring in mankind is (phylogenetically) an expression of an atavistic reversion or retrogression, and (ontogenetically) also an indication of familial or individual devolution.

4. (4) Anger, clinically considered, ranges in varying degrees of severity, from mere temporary defective inhibition to conditions of suicidal and homicidal impulse of medico-legal and even national importance, as individuals, families or communities, become affected.

5. (5) Reference is made to some of the causes, symptoms, and methods of treatment of anger as coming within the experience of the medico-psychologist.

That there is a history of hereditary defect attached to the great majority of cases of dementia præcox.

In opening this subject, I wish to give first a few preliminary words of explanation. The object of this paper is to raise the points germane to the organisation of research. Organisation, to my mind, is the most important point in research, and the only foundation upon which successful investigation can rest. Anything which follows will be clearly understood to be merely an opinion expressed in order to open discussion and invite free criticism. The illustrations given of the difficulties attending investigation in our subject are nothing more than examples: they are not meant to be regarded as definite lines along which research should be conducted, but rather to be read in the sense of evidence brought forward in favour of a serious and co-ordinated effort on the part of those who would attempt to discover the pathogenesis of morbid psychology and neurology.

Charcot was the first to notice the occurrence of amnesia in some of his patients suffering from alcohol-neuritis. Korsakow studied this peculiar kind of amnesia more elaborately. He regarded this condition as a disease sui generis, which could arise also from other causes besides abuse of alcohol, and used the name “polyneuritic psychosis.” It was later recognised that the same mental picture could exist without accompanying neuritis. Jolly proposed the name “amnestic” or “Korsakow's” syndrome, regarding it as a modus of reaction of the nervous system to various harmful agents, viz., head-trauma, senium, infections, poisons—alcohol being the most frequent cause of this reaction. Most later writers agree with this view. I shall deal in this paper with the cases of thirty patients, who, at some time during their illness, presented this syndrome; I have not included any cases in which alcohol could not be regarded as the principal factor.

There are some pathological conditions which, though of considerable interest to the student of morbid anatomy, appear to have very little importance from the point of view of clinical study. The reason for this, sometimes at least, lies in the fact that it is difficult, if not impossible, to diagnose the onset and follow the progress of the morbid process during the life of the patient. Pachymeningitis interna hemorrhagica is essentially a condition of this kind. It is a morbid state which has been named and described for years, and yet it is a condition the diagnosis of which during life is extremely difficult. As a rule, when it is demonstrated at the post mortem, the clinical records of the case furnish us with no definite information suggestive of its presence. Often when symptoms point to the likelihood of its presence no lesion is found, while it occurs in cases which during life showed nothing special to indicate the possibility of such a condition.

D. C. G—, admitted to Hampstead on April 28th, 1914, æt. 43. Married, first attack.

The birth of living children to female general paralytics, in whom the symptoms have so far advanced as to bring them under asylum treatment, is of a somewhat rare occurrence.

1914 has also passed without any possibility of organising the XVth Congress of the Italian “Società Freniatrica.” This congress, which should have taken place at Palermo on October 10th last, has been postponed by the Council of Management to an indefinite date, owing to the results of the European conflagration. The general topics which await development remain the same as those we reported on in the epitome of last year.