x 882.] 
Analyses of Boohs . 605 
remembrance, to the President and Court of Examiners of the 
Royal College of Surgeons, London. A sort of key-note to the 
work is found in the Preface, to the effedfc that the animal mind, 
as we know it, is the produdb of organic matter, and that conse- 
quently insanity is a physical disease. These convictions have 
been reached not as the result of reading, but by dint of ob- 
servations, physiological, psychological, pathological, and clinical. 
The author distinguishes imbecility, the result of a teratological 
defedt, — or, as it would be popularly called, of monstrosity, — 
from insanity, the result of pathological defeCt, that is, of disease 
whether of an originally properly developed or of an abnormal 
brain. Imbecility he regards as an intermediate stage between 
idiocy and intellectuality. He recognises man as the “highest 
animal type,” but pronounces him “ the only self-conscious 
animal ” — a somewhat hazardous diCtum. We are here struck 
with a note from the “ Chicago Medical Review ” : — “ Dr. J. 
Kiernan called attention to the faCt that the importance of the 
frontal lobes has been much over-estimated. He claimed that 
in the occipital lobe were to be found the great association centres 
of the brain, and, as upon associating power depended man’s 
intelligence, the full development of the occipital lobe was 
necessary to constitute a well-balanced cerebral system. He 
cited as corrobatory evidence the fadt that the occipital lobes 
are last to make their appearance in the foetus. The occipital 
lobe was markedly deficient in reasoning maniacs.” 
Dr. Howard, whilst fully admitting degrees or stages in 
insanity, denies the existence of partial insanity. “ A man,” he 
writes, “ has but one mind, and that mind, a unit, either is or 
is not insane. We might as well say that a man had a partial 
typhoid fever as that he was partially insane.” He holds that 
insanity “ is due to a mechanical lesion or chemical change in 
the sensory nerves and organ of consciousness, which changes 
render the parts in question anaesthetic : consequently false intel- 
ligence, if any, is borne by the sensory nerves to the organ of 
consciousness, or that organ itself is incapable of receiving in- 
telligence because of its abnormal state. Under any of these 
circumstances consciousness is deranged or confused to a greater 
or less degree, intelligence is arrested or dethroned, reason has 
lost its pilot, reflex adtion to a great degree takes its place, and 
the result is insanity.” 
We are much gratified to find that Dr. Howard recognises the 
rationality of animals. Says he — “ The more we study their 
adtions the more we are convinced there are animals that reason 
as well as man.” We might almost regard this as a test- 
question to decide whether or no a man is capable of faithful 
observation. 
The following is exceedingly noteworthy “ I have constantly 
remarked that at different times there will be a rush into the 
asylum from some particular locality.” This fadt the author 
