This discussion, which stood adjourned at the Quarterly Meeting held on November 23, 1928, was resumed at the Quarterly Meeting, February 14, 1929, under the Presidency of Prof. J. Shaw Bolton, D.Sc., M.D., F.R.C.P. (vide p. 1).

Cohen (1958) has shown that obese children have increased 17-ketogenic steroid excretion and Norval and King (1950) showed that urinary corticosteroids in normal children were closely related to their weight. Lugg and Bowness (1957) found a positive correlation between weight and 17-ketosteroid excretion in adults. Dutton (1958) found that mongol boys were about 15 per cent. over weight for their height although their height and weight were depressed for their life age.

The object which I propose to myself in this paper is twofold. The first is to lay before you briefly the general statistical results of five years, in regard to those who have been sent for treatment from the districts of Cheshire, to which the asylum is allotted; and the second is to give the results of some further experience, as bearing on the question of “Local Differences in the Distribution of Insanity,” of which I adduced some illustrations in my Annual Report for 1873, and which were subsequently published in a separate form in the “Journal of Mental Science” for April, 1875.

Death due to barbiturate overdosage has been an increasing problem, rising steadily in England and Wales from a death rate of 2 per million population in 1949 to 5 per million in 1958 (1). Of 2,044 consecutive fatal poisonings studied in Denmark between 1953 and 1959, over a quarter were due to barbiturates (2). 300 tons of barbiturate are consumed in the U.S.A. every year and acute poisoning with it in that country accounts for 1,500 deaths per year (3).

The Symptom-Sign Inventory was administered to 57 long-stay psychiatric in-patients with the object of selecting a group of questions which would stimulate the production of delusional or other psychotic material. The scoring of the responses as positive was made on verbal affirmative and other specific behaviours which were thought to indicate emotional impact. It was found that the ten questions selected compared favourably with longer questionnaires in discriminating schizophrenic from normal subjects and from those with organic brain disease. It is suggested that these questions might be included in brief assessment interviews on which day-to-day management decisions are made.

The Council met at the Royal College of Physicians at 10.30 a.m. Dr. Harrington Tuke, President-Elect, in the Chair.

A case of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome (TS) is described, in which a state of akinesia developed during an attempt to withdraw lorazepam by diazepam substitution. This was followed by sustained amelioration of the TS symptoms.

Joan's glory reached its highest point when she led the Dauphin to be crowned at Rheims. Up to this time every thing had gone on as she desired, and as she had predicted. The caution of experienced generals had again and again been overruled by her impetuous call for action. One blow after another had been struck, and every blow told. Fortifications, apparently too strong for the force brought against them, had been stormed; seven cities had been taken; and at Patay an English army had been scattered and slaughtered like a herd of deer. The newly-crowned King was urged unwillingly to St. Denis, and a furious assault made upon Paris from noon to sunset.

Dependency refers to an individual's attachment to and reliance on others. There are at least two different kinds of dependent behaviour. Person-oriented dependency includes close physical proximity, affectionate contact and verbal interchanges. Task-oriented dependency is concerned with help given for personal activities such as dressing and assistance with jobs around the house (Maccoby and Masters, 1970).