6l2 
Analyses of Books, 
[O&ober, 
classes — and the general use of ice. In this last point we cannot 
agree with him ; the habitual use of ice and iced water in 
America, in the hot weather, is recognised as a fruitful cause of 
congestion of the brain. 
In connection with sun-stroke the author mentions that 5 per 
cent of the cases of insanity in Australia are due to this affection. 
He states that a thermometer graduated up to 234 0 F., and ex- 
posed to the sun with its bulb wrapped in black cotton-wool has 
been known to burst. Hence he justly denounces the “ black 
stove-pipe hat,” to which Englishmen and their colonial 
descendants cling with a pitiable fanaticism. 
He fully admits the hereditary transmission and multiplication 
of insanity, and hopes that in a more enlightened future when 
the whims of the individual are subordinated to the good of the 
community “it will be found expedient in the interest of future 
generations to insist on prolonged isolation or operative inter- 
ference in the case of all persons who have been afflicfted with 
mental disease.” Joining Dr. Manning in the wish, we cannot 
help fearing that we are drifting in the very opposite direction. 
On the influence of consanguineous marriages in occasioning 
degeneracy, and in particular insanity, the author speaks with 
some reserve. He remarks, however: “In the few cases in 
which two imbecile children in one family have come under my 
observation, the parents have always been nearly related, and in 
the only instance in which I have known three children in one 
family idiotic, I obtained evidence that they were the offspring of 
the incestuous union of brother and sister.” He also quotes 
Dr. Mitchell, one of the Commissioners of Lunacy for Scotland, 
who ascribes 10 per cent of the idiocy of Scotland to con- 
sanguineous marriages. 
The author’s opinions on the worry, haste, and competition of 
modern civilisation as fadtors in racial decay, and especially in 
the spread of insanity, we most cordially endorse. He denounces 
“ our present system of stuffing our youth and making all boy- 
hood and girlhood one long period of cramming for examinations. 
.... The whole system tends to confuse and distradt the 
mind, to unfit it for the work of the world, to stunt originality, 
and to induce what has not inaptly been termed ‘ brain-fog.’ 
Where there is no breakdown at the time — and instances of this 
are much more frequent than is commonly supposed — seeds are 
planted for the growth of mental disorder later in life. I know 
no stronger evidence as to the evil done by overwork in schools 
and competitive examinations than that of Dr. Andrew Clarke, 
who states that he has discovered temporary albuminuria in 
10 per cent of the candidates sent him for examination as to 
physical health after passing the Civil Service examination for 
India.” 
Who that has sufficient medical knowledge to comprehend 
this one fadt will not execrate the “ Playfair scheme ? ” 
