London County Epileptic Colony, Ewell (Report for the year ending March 31st 1904). - The colony was formally opened under happy auspices on July 1st, 1903 [an account of the opening appeared in The Lancet of July 11th, 1903, p. 110], when on the occasion of the visit of H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife, and in the presence of the chairman of the London County Council and a large assembly of visitors, the opening ceremony was performed by the Duke of Fife. A handsome brass tablet has been placed in the entrance hall to mark the occasion. This therefore is the first report. The colony owes its origin to the fact that the asylums committee of the London County Council was impressed with the knowledge that among the epileptics housed in its asylums there were some 300 patients whose disease was mild in character and who seemed suitable to enjoy the benefits of colony or farm life. Accordingly an estate of 112 acres was purchased near Ewell, Epsom, on which a system of villas and buildings of a suitable character were erected. All the villas are of a one-storeyed one-storeyed character and provide accommodation each for 38 patients. The warming and ventilation are on the latest approved pattern and the buildings are lighted throughout by electricity. Roads have been made and gardens planted, the gardens of the villas being separated by earth banks or belts of planted trees and shrubs, so that ingress and egress are found only by the paths. The total number of patients admitted during the year was 315, comprising 250 males and 65 females. During the year the death-rate was low, there being only 17 deaths (14 males and three females). The medical superintendent, Dr. C. H. Bond, states in his report that private cases are admitted but that as the number of such cases received has been small “there still remains one villa not yet in occupation.” The necessity of vigilance in regard to the class of patients is emphasised. Thus of the 315 cases sent to the colony 80, or 25 per cent., had at one time or another in their history been regarded as suicidal. The table of admissions shows a faulty (neurotic or insane) heredity in nearly 50 per cent. of cases, distributed as follows: 18 per cent. of cases of insane heredity, 17 per cent. of epileptic heredity, and 10 per cent. of alcoholic heredity. ”A well-defined history of trauma, in the form of either injuries to the head or severe falls productive of shock, was found in as large a proportion as 14 per cent.” Arteriosclerosis was present in 14 per cent. of the admissions. Farm and garden work is systematically and daily taken part in by the patients, while the grounds are freely open for all to stroll about in during the intervals. ”In a few instances the character of the men's labour is really that of skilled workmen, in about a third it is of fair value, but in the case of the majority it is crude and that of men entirely unaccustomed to agricultural pursuits.” The patients are under regular medicinal treatment which includes bromide of strontium and a specially regulated diet. Cricket and other games are provided. The Commissioners in Lunacy state that the colony consists of able-bodied working epileptics, that the buildings are well constructed and suitable to their purpose, that the colonists were neatly clad and looked in good health, and that satisfactory progress has been made in the colony during the first year of its existence.