Madness and Unsoundness of Mind

1917 ◽  
Vol 63 (263) ◽  
pp. 488-494
Author(s):  
Charles A. Mercier
Keyword(s):  
Medical Journal ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
British Medical Journal ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
The Third ◽  
Single Exception ◽  
Psychological Medicine ◽  
The Subject ◽  
What Matters

It is considerably more than a quarter of a century since I first promulgated the doctrine that madness and unsoundness of mind are not the same thing; that madness includes more than unsoundness of mind, and that unsoundness of mind very often occurs in the sane, and is, indeed, one of the most frequent disorders of the sane. This doctrine has always seemed to me as manifestly true as the doctrine of natural selection, and, like the doctrine of natural selection, needs, it appears to me, only to be stated to secure the adhesion of every reasonable mind. In fact, I have found by experience that to the immense majority of my acquaintance it does only need to be stated to secure their adherence. Nearly everyone—everyone outside the membership of this Association—to whom I have stated it, without a single exception, has, in fact, accepted as self-evident that what matters in influencing our judgment of madness or sanity is not what a man thinks or feels, but what he says or does; not his mind, but his conduct. Even within this Association the doctrine has many adherents among the younger members, for I often receive letters from them, telling me how great an assistance it has been to them; so that things are moving, and I trust that before long we shall reach the stage that I predicted in a correspondence in the British Medical Journal, when not only will the doctrine be universally admitted to be true, but also we shall all declare that we never held any other, and that any claim of mine to have originated it will be strenuously denied. However, litera scripta manet. The minute-book of the Educational Committee will show that when I urged that conduct, as being the most important factor in madness, should be systematically studied, I could not secure even a seconder. When I subsequently brought the subject forward in this Association I had not one supporter. Nor had I when I brought it before the Royal Society of Medicine three years ago. In the third edition of Dr. Craig's book on Psychological Medicine, which has just appeared, the doctrine is not so much as even mentioned, and Dr. Craig says that insanity cannot be defined. This he says in face of the fact that at the Royal Society of Medicine I showed that there are several different concepts confused under the name of insanity, and I carefully defined every one of them; nor has any one of my definitions ever been impugned. I venture to assert that if these definitions had emanated from a German source they would have been welcomed with enthusiasm and received with reverence.

scholarly journals La Revista Colombiana de Obstetricia y Ginecología como valor para la Federación Colombiana de Obstetricia y Ginecología, FECOLSOG

2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 235
Author(s):  
Hernando Gaitán-Duarte ◽  
Jorge Andrés Rubio-Romero ◽  
Carlos Fernando Grillo-Ardila
Keyword(s):  
Medical Journal ◽  
British Medical Journal ◽  
Medical Association ◽  
Medical School ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Knowledge ◽  
Siglo Xix ◽  
De Medicina ◽  
Edinburgh Medical ◽  
Royal Society Of London

Las sociedades científicas tienen como uno de sus más nobles objetivos la promoción de la ciencia en los diferentes campos del conocimiento. La primera sociedad científica fue la Royal Society of London, fundada en 1660 en el Reino Unido, también conocida como la Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge. La sociedad fue creada como “un colegio para la promoción del aprendizaje físico-matemático experimental” que publicó, en el año de 1666, la primera revista científica, Philosophycal Transactions (1, 2) y fue la publicación científica más importante hasta el siglo XIX, cuando aparecieron las revistas científicas especializadas. En Philosophycal Transactions se publicaron inicialmente noticias, cartas y descripciones de informes experimentales sin un formato o estilo estandarizado (3). La primera entidad en publicar una revista médica fue el Edinburgh Medical School, que divulgó el Medical Essays and Observations en 1731, que se transformó dos años más tarde en el Edinburgh Medical Journal y contó con revisión por pares desde el año de 1733 (4). La primera revista médica en Estados Unidos fue la Medical Repository, que apareció en 1797 (5). En el Reino Unido aparecen The Lancet en 1823, para publicar el trabajo desarrollado en las escuelas médicas de Londres y el reporte de casos, y el British Medical Journal en 1853, como resultado de la creación de la British Medical Association (4). En el año 1887, Philosophycal Transactions se dividió en dos nuevas revistas: una dedicada a la publicación de temas de matemáticas y física, y la segunda a temas de biología. A partir de 1989 realizó una importante innovación: la revisión anónima de los contenidos por pares. Los hechos enunciados recuerdan que las revistas científicas médicas se han originado en las sociedades científicas y en las escuelas de medicina con el objetivo de presentar tanto la metodología como los resultados de las investigaciones realizadas, con la característica desde sus inicios de realizar un proceso anónimo y riguroso de revisión por pares.

The third man: Charles Drummond Ellis, 1895-1980

1995 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-293 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Nuclear Physics ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Cavendish Laboratory ◽  
Electron Model ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Principal Source ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Subject

The Fellows of the Royal Society have a tradition of writing expositions of their work which rapidly attain the status of classics. Newton’s Principia, Darwin’s Origin of Species , Maxwell’s Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, Rutherford’s Radioactive Transformations , and Dirac’s Quantum Mechanics all served to define a field which their authors had played a major role in establishing, and as a source of knowledge and inspiration for succeeding generations. Rutherford’s book went through two metamorphoses before reaching its final form as Radiations from Radioactive Substances by Rutherford, Chadwick and Ellis (hereafter referred to as RCE). During the early 1930s, it was the principal source for all aspiring nuclear physicists, including Fermi's group in Rome and a whole generation in America. It thus, inadvertently, contributed to the erosion of the overwhelming dominance of the Cavendish Laboratory in the subject. It was often referred to as the ‘Bible’ of nuclear physics, but at least from 1932, ‘Old Testament’ might have been more appropriate. It is firmly based on the proton-electron model of the nucleus and the ‘new mechanics’ makes only a tentative appearance. Nevertheless it is a true masterpiece, clearly and elegantly written, full of incisive summaries and insights, and giving a remarkably faithful and complete picture, from an experimental viewpoint, of nuclear physics as it was around 1930.

scholarly journals Reading about … medical audit

1991 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 209-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Oscar E. Daly
Keyword(s):  
Medical Journal ◽  
Quality Assurance ◽  
British Medical Journal ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Medical Audit ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
The Many

The volume of literature on medical audit and the broader field of quality assurance is expanding rapidly. Medical audit is now a requirement for all medical practitioners; therefore, to perform it, they need to know something about it. There is a multitude of articles written in the journals, especially the British Medical Journal and the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. However, in this paper I intend concentrating on some of the many books pertaining to this field which have been published recently.

scholarly journals XCV. An account of lacerta (crocodilus) ventre marsupio donato, faucibus merganseris rostrum æmulantibus

1755 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 639-642 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Subject

Three of these crocodile were ago to the late Dr. Mead, physician in ordinary to the Kings; two of which he preserved in his own collection, and presented the third to the late curious Mrs. Kennon; and since the decease of these eminently worthy persons, they are all become the property of Mr. James Leman, of London, who has obliged me with the use of one of them to produce, together with this account, to the inspection of the Royal Society; which is the subject here laid before you; and of which I present the Society with a figure, just of the size and form it appeared in, when taken out of the spirits (Tab. xxix).

The Rôle of Infection in the Treatment of General Paralysis

1924 ◽  
Vol 70 (288) ◽  
pp. 76-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. McAlister
Keyword(s):  
Medical Journal ◽  
British Medical Journal ◽  
Subsequent Treatment ◽  
Directed Attention ◽  
Royal Hospital ◽  
Treatment Need ◽  
General Paralysis ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Active Investigation

Ever since Wagner von Jauregg directed attention to the results of the treatment of general paralysis by various infective agencies, this matter has been the subject of active investigation in several centres. From a perusal of the literature it seems clear that the best results have been obtained from infection with benign tertian malaria. Moreover, this mode of treatment appears preferable to many others suggested, in view of the fact that it involves a minimum of risk in its application. Once a suitable malarial patient has been found, it is easy to inoculate many more from him, and the type of malaria which results can be controlled with great facility by means of quinine. An experiment of this sort has been in progress in the Royal Hospital at Morningside under the direction of Prof. George M. Robertson since March, 1922, and the results which have so far accrued are shown in the accompanying table. The method of inoculating the general paralytic and the details of the subsequent treatment need not be recapitulated here, as they are fully dealt with in the issue of the British Medical Journal dated October 20, 1923.

scholarly journals Dorothy Mary Moyle Needham. 22 September 1896 – 22 December 1987

2003 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 351-365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikuláš Teich
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The Third ◽  
Biographical Memoir ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

In July 1994 I was approached by The Royal Society asking whether I would be willing to help in putting together a biographical memoir for Dr Dorothy Moyle Needham, who died in December 1987. For a variety of reasons, the Fellow of The Royal Society who originally undertook to write the memoir had been unable to deliver it before his death. After responding that I would be happy to assist, I was informed that I would, no doubt, be contacted by the writer who undertook to complete the task. As it turned out, I heard nothing more and, while occasionally wondering at the unusual delay in the publication of the memoir, I left it at that. That is, until in the spring of 2000 when I noticed that there was still no memoir on ‘Dophi’, as she was known to friends and colleagues. I found this very strange in view of the fact that almost 111/2 years had elapsed since her death and that she was among the first 10 elected female Fellows of The Royal Society. After some hesitation, I wrote on 7 May 2000 to The Lord Lewis of Newnham FRS (then Warden of Robinson College, Cambridge), alerting him to the situation. He was more than surprised and, following his enquiries, in July 2000 I became the third author invited to prepare Dr D.M. Needhams biographical memoir. As in private duty bound, I accepted the invitation, although not without anxiety over predicaments perceived beforehand. For one thing, though I had been collaborating with Dorothy Needham since 1972, the subject was history of biochemistry. Usually a biographical memoir is prepared by a person acquainted at first hand with the experimental/theoretical features of the work of the deceased Fellow. For another thing, I realized that I would be able to work on the memoir only intermittently because of other commitments, including prolonged stays abroad. All this has something to do with the delay in preparing this memoir, including the format.

scholarly journals The new biological test for blood in relation to zoological classification

1902 ◽  
Vol 69 (451-458) ◽  
pp. 150-153 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Journal ◽  
British Medical Journal ◽  
Human Blood ◽  
Biological Test ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Zoological Classification

In recent publications which have appeared in the ‘British Medical Journal’ and in the ‘Journal of Hygiene’ I have described the technical methods whereby the so-called specific anti-sera may be produced, and in the article in the latter journal, the reader will find the literature on the subject exhaustively treated. The anti-sera are produced briefly as follows: Assuming that we wish to obtain an anti-serum for human blood, we inject human blood intra-peritoneally into rabbits. After about five injections, given at intervals of three or more days, the rabbit is bled to death, and its bloodserum collected.

scholarly journals XIV. On the arrangement of the muscular fibres in the ventricles of the vertebrate heart, with physiological remarks

1864 ◽  
Vol 154 ◽  
pp. 445-500 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Principal Part ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Royal Society Of London

The principal part of the following communication was presented to the Royal Society of London, in November 1859, and formed the subject of the Croonian Lecture for 1860. An abstract of it was published in the ‘Proceedings’ of the Society for April of that year. It was subsequently withdrawn for extension and revision, and I have to express rny regret that the time occupied in this work has, from various unforeseen causes, been much longer than I anticipated. The paper, as now presented, consists of four parts or sections,—the first section being devoted to the anatomy of the ventricle of the fish; the second to the anatomy of the ventricle of the reptile; the third and fourth treating of the ventricles of the bird and mammal. I have adopted this arrangement, because the structure of the ventricle in the fish and reptile is to a certain extent rudimentary, and a knowledge of it forms an appropriate introduction to the more intricate structure met with in the ventricles of the bird and mammal.

scholarly journals XXV. A new method of investigating the sums of infinite series. By the Rev. S. Vince, A.M. of Cambridge, in a letter to Henry Maty, A.M. Secretary

1782 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 389-416
Keyword(s):  
Infinite Series ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
New Method ◽  
General Will ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Subject ◽  
General Method

Sir, Having lately discovered some very easy methods of investigating the sums of certain infinite series, I have taken the liberty of requesting the favour of you to present them to the Royal Society. I have divided the subject into three parts: the first contains a new and general method of finding the sum of those series which De Moivre has found in one or two particular cases; but whose method, although it be in appearance general, will, upon trial, be found to be absolutely impracticable. The second contains the summation of certain series, the last differences of whose numerators become equal to nothing. The third contains observations on a correction which is necessary in investigating the sums of certain series by collecting two terms into one, with its application to a variety of cases.

An interesting but forgotten publication of Frederick Gowland Hopkins, F. R. S

1952 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 348-352
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Medical Journal ◽  
British Medical Journal ◽  
Daily Mail ◽  
Daily Press ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Brown Bread ◽  
Wholemeal Bread

I have recently come across some printed work of the late Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins which is not included in any of the lists of his published papers. Since it is both interesting and characteristic, some persons have felt that it should find a place among the Notes and Records of the Society . It has accordingly been decided to re-publish it, accompanied by a few notes to help to place it in its correct perspective. In 1909 the Bread and Food Reform League issued a pamphlet setting out the case for a ‘ standard ’ bread, and persuaded a number of physicians to sign it. (1) * This report was not very clearly worded, but its object was to encourage the consumption of a bread with some germ and bran in it, and it was really rather a clever modernization of the campaign for wholemeal bread which the League had been carrying on for a great many years. The term ‘ Standard ’ bread was not new and had been applied to a similar bread intermediate between ‘ white ’ and ‘ wholemeal ’ during the eighteenth century. (2) The Daily Mail took up the matter and in 1910 and early 1911 there was widespread discussion of the pros and cons of ‘ standard ’ bread. The daily press was full of it, and articles appeared on the subject in The Lancet (3) and the British Medical Journal . (4) Questions were asked about it in Parliament. (5) It was, of course, opposed by the millers, who pronounced the milling of the standard flour suggested by the Reform League as unworkable and impossible. (6) The Daily Mail was publishing the views of eminent persons on the matter and sent reporters to Cambridge to interview Hopkins. He made a statement which was published in full on 28 February 1911. To appreciate the quality of this, it is necessary to have some idea of the state of knowledge at that time. Fourteen years before, Eijkman had published his experimental observations on beriberi, (7) and in 1907 Holst and Frolich had reproduced scurvy in guinea-pigs and compared the effects of white and brown bread on pigeons. (8)

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