In celebrating the Centenary of the York Retreat, the first question which arises in everybody's mind is, why was it established, and why at one time rather than at another? Further, it is natural to inquire what were its objects, and what influence has it exerted?

Griesinger says: “The onset of psychosis after influenza follows in all cases after the disappearance of bodily symptoms, and when the increased temperature has passed off. The character of the psychosis varies from slight to profound depression, hallucination, typical maniacal disorder, and the like.”

Of late years considerable attention has been directed to the science now commonly alluded to as criminal anthropology. The workers in this field have been mainly continental alienists, notably the Italians, of whom one of the most prominent is Professor Lombroso; and the writings of Mr. Havelock Ellis have brought the subject into prominence in this country.

I touched on this subject in a paper that I published in our Journal in 1883, and mentioned several changes which I had introduced into the diet scale of the asylum I have charge of. I suggested that an expression of opinion of various asylum physicians would be useful, and might with advantage appear in the columns of this Journal. Dr. Rayner, in the Presidential Address to our Society for 1884, made remarks somewhat resembling those I refer to, and called attention to the difficulties that exist in comparing diet scales, owing to their inaccurate and faulty construction, and instanced the diet scale of the asylum in which he acted as an illustration in point. In offering some remarks on asylum dietaries, I at once state that I do not consider my mode of dealing with the subject as at all complete or exhaustive—access not only to facts which I cannot possess myself of, but also an extended series of observations would be required to enable one really to deal with the subject as its importance merits. A paper such as I present is merely suggestive.

In view of the interest which the subject is at present arousing, a critical analysis of the historical development of the law of insanity in its relation to divorce may be neither inopportune nor uninstructive.

Gall-stones are stated to be most common in females of advanced years by all writers on the subject, but is the frequency of their occurrence in such cases fully recognized? There is a further question, one which more immediately affects the medical officers at asylums, and which it is possible to have answered. Do gall-stones occur more commonly in the insane than in others, and is it possible for insanity to have any influence on the formation of biliary concretions?

The following facts appear noteworthy as bearing upon the morbid condition going by the names “hæmatoma of the dura mater” and “pachymeningitis hæmorrhagica interna.” In the course of recent experiments I have had occasion to incise the dura mater of (anæsthetized) rabbits and apply Sp. Vin. Gallic. or diluted cantharidin to the cerebral cortex through the aperture so made. On killing one of the animals after the lapse of 48 hours and opening the skull almost the whole of the right hemisphere (that operated upon) was seen to be covered with dark-red clot. This term is justified by the appearance of the exudate, whatever its origin may have been. On incising and reflecting the dura mater it was found that the clot lined the inner surface of that membrane, and had no connection with the subjacent structures. The vessels of the dura were unduly prominent and numerous, but there was no swelling of the membrane, and, apart from the clot, its inner surface was free from exudate. The clot was raised without difficulty, and washed gently in water; the colouring matter came gradually out, and left a delicate, greyish-pink, translucent, continuous pseudo-membrane of sufficient consistence to permit of manipulation. This was divided into two portions, which were stained with hæmatoxylin and safranin respectively. Microscopically the pseudo-membrane was found to consist of red and white corpuscles (the former in considerable majority), a meshwork of fibres (fibrin, apparently), and an amorphous substance, uniformly stained.