On Larceny, as committed by Patients in the earlier stages of General Paralysis

1873 ◽  
Vol 18 (84) ◽  
pp. 536-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Wilkie Burman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Condition ◽  
Kind Permission ◽  
The West ◽  
General Paralysis ◽  
Mental Symptoms

Having recently admitted into the West Riding Asylum no less than three general paralytics, who either came from prison, or had undergone imprisonment not long previous to admission, on account of the commission of larceny; and being of opinion, considering the stage at which, in each case, the disease had arrived on admission, that its commencement must have dated prior to the commission of the crime;—I have been led to make further enquiry as to these and other similar cases which have occurred within the experience and recollection of the present medical officers of the West Riding Asylum. The result is, that I am now enabled, by the kind permission of Dr. Crichton Browne, to record short details of six cases of general paralysis, all males, and admitted during the last four years, in which it appears to me the commission of the crime was a manifestation of the earlier mental symptoms of the disease. Such being the case, the patients ought not to have been held responsible for their actions. I feel it, therefore, a duty, to call the attention of medical officers of prisons, and “all whom it may concern,” to these facts, and to urge upon them the necessity of instituting a more searching enquiry into the mental condition of such cases, and also of cultivating a more extended acquaintance with the symptoms—especially the earlier ones—both mental and physical, of that very common and peculiar disease usually termed “general paralysis of the insane;” and this I would do in no dictatorial spirit, for I am well assured that those to whom my remarks are addressed are susceptible to the influence of that humane sentiment which leads us to shrink from inflicting punishment for crime committed by persons who are of unsound mind and consequently not legally responsible for their actions.

On Larceny, as committed by Patients in the earlier stages of General Paralysis

1873 ◽  
Vol 18 (84) ◽  
pp. 536-543
Author(s):  
J. Wilkie Burman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Condition ◽  
Kind Permission ◽  
The West ◽  
General Paralysis ◽  
Mental Symptoms

Having recently admitted into the West Riding Asylum no less than three general paralytics, who either came from prison, or had undergone imprisonment not long previous to admission, on account of the commission of larceny; and being of opinion, considering the stage at which, in each case, the disease had arrived on admission, that its commencement must have dated prior to the commission of the crime;—I have been led to make further enquiry as to these and other similar cases which have occurred within the experience and recollection of the present medical officers of the West Riding Asylum. The result is, that I am now enabled, by the kind permission of Dr. Crichton Browne, to record short details of six cases of general paralysis, all males, and admitted during the last four years, in which it appears to me the commission of the crime was a manifestation of the earlier mental symptoms of the disease. Such being the case, the patients ought not to have been held responsible for their actions. I feel it, therefore, a duty, to call the attention of medical officers of prisons, and “all whom it may concern,” to these facts, and to urge upon them the necessity of instituting a more searching enquiry into the mental condition of such cases, and also of cultivating a more extended acquaintance with the symptoms—especially the earlier ones—both mental and physical, of that very common and peculiar disease usually termed “general paralysis of the insane;” and this I would do in no dictatorial spirit, for I am well assured that those to whom my remarks are addressed are susceptible to the influence of that humane sentiment which leads us to shrink from inflicting punishment for crime committed by persons who are of unsound mind and consequently not legally responsible for their actions.

An Account of Two Cases of Locomotor Ataxia, with Mental Symptoms simulating those of General Paralysis

1878 ◽  
Vol 24 (106) ◽  
pp. 274-278
Author(s):  
J. W. Plaxton ◽  
W. Bevan Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Features ◽  
The West ◽  
General Paralysis ◽  
Condensed Form ◽  
Mental Symptoms

Two cases illustrative of the above interesting combination of symptoms have recently come to their close in the West Riding Asylum. The mental ailment in both cases was characterised by exaltation of idea, and in both also the course of the disease was marked by closely similar phases leading up to the somewhat rapidly fatal termination. The following, in a condensed form, are the leading facts as regards the history and clinical features of the cases as recorded more at length in the Asylum Case Book:—

Clinical Notes on Haemorrhages in General Paralysis

1886 ◽  
Vol 31 (136) ◽  
pp. 504-507
Author(s):  
Geo. H. Savage
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Nervous Disease ◽  
General Paralysis ◽  
Clinical Notes ◽  
System A ◽  
General Pathology ◽  
Mental Symptoms ◽  
The One ◽  
Nutritional Changes

In so-called nervous disorders it is common to find changes occur in other of the bodily systems than the nervous. The pathology of nervous disease should be looked upon as a general pathology, and it is certain that we cannot look to the one system alone for causes of all the nervous disorders without greatly misunderstanding the whole subject. The more exact we become in limiting the causes, the more liable are we to error. We are all prepared to consider general paralysis of the insane as essentially a disease of the nervous system, a disease in which nearly every part of the nervous system may suffer sooner or later. But beside the essentially nervous symptoms which occur in the disease, we are constantly struck by the regular series of nutritional changes which occur in general paralysis, and this is so much the case that we are quite prepared to recognise as general paralysis a disorder in which any mental symptoms have been present, but have after a brief period of acuteness been followed by a state of fatness and weak-mindedness which again has been followed by a period of wasting and further mental weakness. We have here nervous symptoms related very directly with nutritional changes.

Traité de la Paralysis Générale des Aliénés. Par M. Voisin

1880 ◽  
Vol 25 (112) ◽  
pp. 547-556
Keyword(s):  
General Paralysis ◽  
Mental Symptoms

The last class includes the so-called “general paralysis without mental symptoms.”

Some Doubtful Cases of So-Called General Paralysis of the Insane

1914 ◽  
Vol 60 (249) ◽  
pp. 291-295
Author(s):  
W. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disease ◽  
General Paralysis ◽  
Mental Symptoms ◽  
Wassermann Reaction

Cases of mental disease which give definite mental symptoms and physical signs of the condition recognised and at present called general paralysis of the insane, and which, moreover give a Wassermann reaction, seem to be invariably due to syphilis, and to contain in many cases spirochætes in the cerebral substance. Out of seven such cases of well-marked general paralysis, which on death were examined for spirochætes by Dr. McIntosh, six cases showed the presence of spirochætes. The seventh case was regarded as doubtful.

Mental Disease (not General Paralysis) associated with Tabes Dorsalis

1897 ◽  
Vol 43 (180) ◽  
pp. 63-67
Author(s):  
P. W. Macdonald ◽  
A. Davidson
Keyword(s):  
Mental Disease ◽  
General Paralysis ◽  
Tabes Dorsalis ◽  
Mental Symptoms ◽  
Nerve Tracts

The object of this paper is not so much to relate anything that is new as to show that mental symptoms are not always easy of classification when associated with organic changes in nerve tracts outside the cerebral cavity.

Grime's Graves: Floors 47 to 59

1920 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 290-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. G. O. Kendall
Keyword(s):  
Outer Part ◽  
Poor Quality ◽  
Kind Permission ◽  
The West ◽  
The North

By the very kind permission of the owners, I was enabled to carry out the excavation of some “floors” at Grime's Graves, in June and July, 1919, with some friends.At the same time Mr. D. Richardson was clearing the remarkable site which he discovered in the North Field.The centre of Floor 52 was fifty paces N.E. of the corner of the West Field, and fourteen from the edge of the cart track north of the wood. Twenty yards N.W. of the said centre was Floor 47, nearer to the cart track coming up out of the valley, and with comparatively small flakes and cores, of poor quality. The facets are short, deep, and wide, like those on an implement of the Chelles Period. The shapes of the cores differ from the true Grime's Graves type. At Floor 51 Mr. W. G. Clarke rightly pointed out that these traits were, in part, due to the fact that wall-stone was used. Only in part, however, for floor-stone was also used, as examination showed. The chipped flints in the outer part of Floor 47 lay in the lower part of the humus, 9 ins. below the surface.

The Mental Symptoms in Cases of Exophthalmic Goitre and Their Treatment

1909 ◽  
Vol 55 (231) ◽  
pp. 668-683
Author(s):  
John R. Gilmour
Keyword(s):  
Everyday Life ◽  
Mental Condition ◽  
Ocular Symptoms ◽  
Constant Change ◽  
Mental Symptoms

Changes in the mental condition of the patient are frequently to be recognised as one of the earliest symptoms of exophthalmic goitre. These mental changes may be present before the cardiac or ocular symptoms have been established and before the changes in the thyroid have been observed. The most common feature is an intense and indefinable agitation leading to a more or less marked motor and mental restlessness, which causes the patient to look for constant change in her surroundings and work. There is an inability to settle long to any one occupation or recreation. Work begun with a feeling of relief at the change involved soon becomes irksome, is then done only with an effort, and with the cumulative feeling of effort and concentration required soon causes distress and the work is laid aside. Any sudden noise, any unexpected news, any of the ordinary disturbing elements of everyday life may be followed by an attack of palpitation lasting some hours, and yet, in spite of this, there is an imperative desire to keep moving; to go where such incidents may be experienced. Dr. Geo. Murray, in the Bradshaw Lecture of 1905, states that he has not noticed this craving for entertainment. It seems to be entirely a question of degree. If the stimulus is moderate there may be pleasure in its fulfilment; if more marked it may pass into an apprehensive dread with inhibition of this desire.

The Varieties of General Paralysis of the Insane

1878 ◽  
Vol 24 (105) ◽  
pp. 25-49
Author(s):  
W. Julius Mickle
Keyword(s):  
Chronic Inflammation ◽  
Serous Effusion ◽  
Chronic Hydrocephalus ◽  
Pathological Anatomy ◽  
Chronic Meningitis ◽  
General Paralysis ◽  
Large Group ◽  
The Third ◽  
Mental Symptoms ◽  
Organic Lesions

In any large group of cases of general paralysis, there are such differences in the mental symptoms, the paretic signs, the mode of onset, the course, intercurrent affections, duration, variability and mobility of symptoms, and pathological anatomy of the several cases, that one must feel that there are varieties of the disease. This has led to subdivisions of the affection, or grouping of its cases, scarcely any of which have had a pathological basis. True it is that Bayle, who was the first to differentiate general paralysis, and who attributed its striking phenomena each to a special morbid change, was led to place his cases in five series, in the first of which were simply the lesions of chronic meningitis, and in the second abundant serous effusion was added to these; in the third consecutive inflammation of the grey cortex; in the fourth arachnoid false membranes (cysts); and in the fifth various cerebral affections, complicated the chronic inflammation of the soft membranes. Yet many of his explanations are obviously incorrect, although his work marks a marvellous advance in science. Again, Baillarger, Requin, Prus, Duhamel, Duchenne, Sandras and others, held that general paralysis occurred either with or without insanity, and the first-named of these denied that the insanity is anything more than secondary and accessory in general paralysis of the insane.∗ Further, he speaks, and in this is followed by Lunier, of the symptoms of general paralysis as being produced by (1) chronic meningo-encephalitis, and by (2) chronic hydrocephalus (Dance, Moulin), or serous effusion following apoplexy (Rochoux, Moulin), or symptomatic of organic lesions. But they do not in any way distinguish between the cases arising from the two kinds of lesion, further than that Lunier asserts an absence of trembling of the limbs in those from lesions of the second kind.

Crime and Insanity in India

1931 ◽  
Vol 77 (317) ◽  
pp. 365-374
Author(s):  
G. R. Parasuram
Keyword(s):  
Mental Condition ◽  
The West ◽  
Life And Death

Medical men are often called upon to give evidence as to the mental condition of an individual, charged with crime, at the time of committing the crime. They are also expected to give an opinion as to whether by reason of insanity the accused was incapable of knowing the nature and consequences of his act, or did not know that what he was doing was either wrong or contrary to law. The question is frequently one of life and death for the accused, and therefore it is very necessary that medical men should understand the inner working of a criminal's mind before they venture an opinion regarding his mental condition. In India we have hitherto depended for our guidance on books written by learned authors who base their conclusions on conditions prevailing in their own countries, and cannot be expected to know the conditions of Indian life. I feel the time has come when we should begin to collect first-hand information regarding our criminals from our own observations. I am afraid very little work has been done in this field in India, and it is time that we compare our results with those obtained in the West. It is with this object that I venture to submit this paper, so that it may stimulate others in India also to work on these lines.

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