“He came, he went, like the simoon, That harbinger of fate and gloom, Beneath whose widely-wasting breath, The very cypress droops to death.’'—Byron.

The frequent occurrence of Cholera, in different parts of the United Kingdom, of late years, and its prevalence at present, secms to point out the necessity of our being prepared for its appearance, particularly in public institutions, and amongst others, Lunatic Asylums, which in some instances have suffered severely from this disease. In the West Riding of York Asylum, containing 633 patients, 98 are reported to have died from cholera in the autumn of 1849. The private asylums for pauper lunatics generally about London and in some other places, suffered more or less from the same epidemic; whether from cholera or some other cause, the mortality in the Lancaster Asylum was unusually high, 48 per cent in 1833, according to “a table of patients admitted, &c,” in the annual reports of that institution.

The last number of the Psychological Journal contains an article on the Asylum Journal, dictated by so much liberality of spirit and such entire absence of the petty rivalries which too often influence journalists, that we cannot satisfy our conscience without tendering our thanks to the learned Editor, and assuring him of our appreciation of that generosity which sees a fellow-laborer in the great field of mental science where a less unselfish person would only have recognised an antagonist He says, with perfect truth, that the Association, of which this Journal is the organ, disclaimed from the first any intention of establishing a periodical in rivalry or opposition to his own, and we can assure him that the desire to avoid the appearance of such opposition has even actuated our choice of the form and mode of publication. The establishment of this Journal is but the development of one of the original objects of the Association, expressed in its earliest regulations, namely, the publication of papers written by the members on subjects connected with insanity. The execution of this primary object of the Association was commenced in the year 1843, but was soon discontinued! probably for want of some one to take a lead in its developement.

A recent decision of Mr. Justice Coleridge, respecting the invalidity of a medical certificate of insanity, because the name of the street, and the number of the house wherein the examination took place, were not therein stated, has profoundly affected the serenity of the persons most interested in the strict observance of the statutes on lunacy. This decision, the legal correctness of which has not been disputed, invalidates a large number, perhaps the majority, of the documents under which, lunatics placed in confinement since the passing of the late Acts are detained. The case upon which Mr. Justice Coleridge's decision occurred was that of Mr. Greenwood, an aged gentleman of large property resident at Todmorden, He was unmarried but had several natural children, to one of whom, a daughter, he was much attached. It is stated that he had expressed a desire to bequeath some of his property to this daughter; whereupon his brothers caused him to be admitted into a private lunatic ! asylum named the Billingdon Retreat. He was confined in this asylum a day and a night without certificates. The day afterwards he was removed to a public house in a neighbouring town, at which he was seen by two medical men who examined him, and certified to his insanity; but they omitted in their certificates to state the name of the street, and the number of the house in which their examination took place. Through the intervention of personal friends, Mr. Greenwood was brought to London under authority of a writ of habeas corpus granted by Mr. Justice Coleridge. Here he was examined by various medical men expert and non-expert Among the former were Dr. A. Sutherland whose affidavit testified to his insanity, and Dr. Forbes Winslow and Sir Alexander Morrison, whose opnions and affidavits were quite the other way. When the case came on for discussion on Saturday the 10th of February last, Mr. Serjeant Wilkins on behalf of the alleged lunatic raised the question of the validity of the two medical certificates in which, as we have before stated, the name of the street, and the number of the house in which the examination took place, were omitted to be mentioned. Mr. Justice Coleridge reserved his judgment on this point of law, and on the 19th of February be gave his decision that the certificates were invalid in consequence of these omissions, and he ordered Mr. Greenwood to be discharged accordingly. Such is a brief outline of the train of circumstances which has sprung the mine upon the archives of admission papers treasured with such care in asylums and, hospitals for the insane; and copies of which are guarded with jealous solitude in the muniment rooms of Whitehall Place. The Circular of the Commissioners [Feb. 14, 1855] on Lunacy truly states, “This decision, although immediately applicable only to the particular case, has a wider and general bearing, and enunciates the principle upon which the superior Courts of Law will, it is presumed, judge all analogous questions of form.” It enunciates in fact the very simple and reasonable principle, that the validity of documents upon which an Englishman is to be deprived of personal liberty on the ground of insanity, must be in strict and not in loose accordance with the statutary enactments of the legislature. If these enactments have been made too intricate and complicated for use, the difficulty has not arisen with the persons whose I duty it is to interpret them, but with those by whom they were made. It has been stated, that Mr. Justice Coleridge evaded the onerous and disagreeable duty of deciding between conflicting opinions as to the sanity or insanity of Mr. Greenwood, by this decision on the point of law. That be shirked his straight forward duty by taking a side path. But it must be remembered that the point of law was not mooted by the Judge, but by the counsel for the alleged lunatic, and the Judge was compelled to decide upon it one way or another. If the opinion of Mr. Justice Coleridge is unsound in law it can be reversed. If his interpretation of the enactment is correct, but notwithstanding this has a tendency to consequences which will be of serious inconvenience to the public welfare, the only remedy lies in legislative interference and the amendment of the statute.

We condense, from the July number of the American Journal of Insanity, the following account of the above meeting. In the American journal, although the discussions are reported very briefly and the papers read are only named, the account of the business of the meeting occupies twenty pages.

Most of the well-authenticated instances of long-continued fasting on record are such as have arisen from physical incapacity to take food into the stomach, or to retain it for the support of the system when taken, —from a peculiar condition of the mind, which induces in the individual a disregard or disinclination for food,—or, lastly, from accidental circumstances, as shipwreck, burial in mines, and such like. Those cases which have their origin in either of the two former causes, or in a combination of them, are important to the medical attendant on the insane, inasmuch as they not unfrequently occur in persons under treatment in lunatic asylums, are sources to him of great trouble and anxiety, and are fraught with considerable danger to the life of the patient under his care.

This institution is at length open for the reception of patients under the superintendence of Dr. Hewson, late of Salisbury. Mr. Wilkes, the Superintendent of the neighbouring County Asylum, to whose public spirit and indefatigable exertions the undertaking owes its origin and successful completion, having in the most noble and disinterested manner declined the honor of its management.

I am sorry to find that my remarks on the use of restraints in the Kent Asylum were displeasing to Dr. Huxley; and can only say that my desire was to confine myself to the actual statements in his own Report I was careful to mention his anxiety to hare it understood with what strict limitation he employed any mechanical restraint at all. Dr. Huxley may be assured, that nothing was farther from my wish than to do him injustice or to give him uneasiness.

Towards the close of the late Parliamentary Session Lord Dudley Stuart piqued the curiosity of all persons interested in asylum matters by enquiring of the Secretary for the Home Department, whether he could afford information respecting an evasion of justice by the admission of a criminal into the Norwich Lunatic Asylum. Lord Palmerston replied that the fullest investigation should be made. We have hitherto refrained from referring to the circumstances thus alluded to, because only partial information has until recently been attainable, and even that has been obscured by the expression of much personal feeling. A long and earnest discussion at the Norwich City Sessions on the 24th ult., puts us in possession of all the details, and of the minutes of the Visiting Justices, before whom a full and careful investigation took place. Reduced to their briefest expression, the circumstances appear to be as follow.

We are delighted to learn that, since the issue of our last number, the Visiting Justices of the Bedfordshire County Asylum have reconsidered the conditions of this appointment. They advertized for candidates, offering the paltry salary of £100 per annum. They have elected a gentleman at a salary of £800 per annum, with board, etc., for himself and his family. They have, moreover, elected the medical officer of an institution containing one thousand patients, and wherein. “no hand or foot has been bound, by night or by day,” for the last fifteen years. The election of Mr. Denne is honorable to the Visiting Justices, as a proof of the readiness with which they can retrace their steps when they discover they are not in the right path.

Among the most miserable asylums for the insane, the asylums for boroughs were until lately conspicuous. Inconvenient buildings, unfavorably situated, and regarded as only inferior appendages to hospitals for the sick, were assigned to the insane poor both of boroughs and some of our largest towns, and presented examples of every evil that could be accumulated on mental affliction. In some instances, as at Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester, new asylums have now been erected, better situated, superintended by medical men devoting their whole time to them, and ranking among the most improved asylums in the country. A few of the old examples, however, yet remain.