NOVEMBEE 30, 1900.] 



SCIENCE. 



847 



sents an article entitled ' A Century of Hospital 

 Building for the Insane,' whicli is worthy of 

 much attention. He favors the erection of 

 buildings which will permit classification into 

 separated groups, not less than sixteen and 

 twenty are preferable. The common diniug-hall 

 and the common kitchen are commended on 

 the score of economj'. Details follow in regard 

 to methods and materials of construction, light- 

 ing, ventilation, etc. 



Special provision should be made for certain 

 classes of the insane, such as farm colonies for 

 a working class, separate buildings for tuber- 

 cular patients and infirmary buildings for the 

 harmless and helpless. 



Dr. C. A. Good, of Michigan, gives a ' Review 

 of Chronic Progressive Chorea (Huntington's), 

 with Report of a Case.' In the case reported 

 excellent lithographs are given of microscopic 

 sections which demonstrate degenerative 

 changes in the muscles ; pigment granules 

 within the cells of the posterior root ganglion ; 

 and cysts and cell degeneration in the cerebral 

 cortex. 



Dr, H. J. Berkley, of Baltimore, reports a 

 fatal case of dementia paralytica from a mul- 

 tiple thrombosis of bacterial origin. The 

 theory is advanced that the thrombosis of the 

 cerebral vessels was due to changes in the 

 blood induced by toxic products, as well as from 

 the presence of bacteria in such numbers as to 

 form a nidus for a blood coagulation. 



Dr. C. W. Pilgrim, of Poughkeepsie, in a 

 paper entitled ' The Study of a Year's Statistics ' 

 gives interesting conclusions respecting patients 

 under treatment at the Hudson River State 

 Hospital. Of the patients admitted during the 

 year, 41.5 per cent, presented symptoms of mel- 

 ancholia; 32.6 per cent, presented symptoms 

 of mania ; 20 per cent, were cases of dementia 

 and 6 per cent, had dementia paralytica. 

 Among those admitted 30 per cent, recovered 

 during the year or had prospects of recovery ; 

 12 per cent, were improved ; 11 per cent, died 

 and 47 per cent, were chronic cases when they 

 came to the hospital and probably will die un- 

 cured. Some interesting statistics are given 

 concerning the months during which deaths 

 were most frequent : 61 per cent, of deaths 

 occurred between October and April and 39 



per cent, only between April and October. 

 The ' hour of death ' showed that 26 per cent, 

 died between midnight and 6 A. M. ; 19 per cent, 

 between 6 A. m. and noon ; 31 per cent, between 

 noon and 6 P. m. , and 24 per cent, between 6 

 p. M. and midnight. 



Dr. A. H. Harrington, of Danvers, Massa- 

 chusetts, believes that 15 per cent, of all deaths 

 in hospitals for the insane in the United States 

 are due to tuberculosis, and declares it to be 

 "the duty of the State to provide its hospitals 

 with the means of taking care of its tuberculous 

 insane in such a manner as shall prevent the 

 infection of the non-tubercular, and also give 

 the necessary care to those suffering from the 

 disease." 



Dr. C. P. Bancroft, of Concord, New Hamp- 

 shire, discusses the trial and conviction of 

 Bradford P. Knight, of Augusta, Maine, who 

 committed an atrocious murder while evidently 

 insane, and who, although declared guilty of 

 murder in the first degree, was prior to sentence 

 transferred to a hospital for the insane. The 

 jury returned the only possible verdict under the 

 explicit charge of the presiding judge, which 

 was based upon the erroneous idea that legal 

 insanity differs in some mysterious manner 

 from medical insanity ; in other words, that the 

 presence of insanity does not necessarily pre- 

 clude responsibility for actions. 



Dr. P. M. "Wise, of New York, traces the steps 

 which have been taken in the creation and de- 

 velopment of the Pathological Institute of the 

 New York State hospitals, and mentions the 

 difficulties which have been encountered in the 

 prosecution of the work. 



' Suicide and its Increase ' is the title of a 

 paper by G. Styles, of Michigan, which presents 

 the following suggestive statistics : 



Forty years ago it was shown that while only 

 4 in every 10,000 persons rated as paupers died 

 by their own hands, nearly 7 coachmen or other 

 servants, 5 bankers or professional men, 7.8 

 dragoons, 7.43 tailors, shoemakers and bakers, 

 while the trades making the best showing (1.33) 

 were carpenters, butchers and masons. Of the 

 countries concerned, Sweden has the lowest 

 average, only 1 to 92,000 ; Russia, 1 to 35,000 ; 

 the United States, 1 to 15,000; Saxony, 1 to 

 8,446 ; while in the cities of St. Petersburg 



