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710 jB12.—Widow, aged 56, of L.R.C.P., L.R.C.S. Irel. Unprovided for at husband’s recent death, and hopes to support herself by receiving boarders. Children only able to give very slight help. Voted .810.— Daughter, aged 51, of L.R.C.P.Irel. Has always been in feeble health. and is now incapacitated by a chronic complaint for which she has been promised admission to a hospital. Voted JS5 now and 25 on leaving the hospital.—Daughter, aged 67, of late M.D. Edin. Used to have a small income, but was obliged to mortgage the property from which it was derived, and now receiving nothing owing to foreclosure by the mortgagee. Voted .812.—Daughter, aged 65, of late M.R.C.S. Was comfortably provided for by her father, but lost everything through the dishonesty of her trustee, and is now dependent on a small pension from another society. Itelieved twice, .E36. Voted JE12.— Daughter, aged 62, of late M.R.C.S. Has had a school for several years, but now owing to competition finds it very difficult to meet her expenses and is obliged to maintain two mentally afflicted sisters. Relieved once, .810. Voted .812.—Deserted wife, aged 46. Since husband’s disappearance a few years ago has supported herself in different ways, but is now in difficulties which she quite hopes will be temporary. Relieved once, .810. Voted .810.—Widow, aged 70, of M.R.C.S. Since husband’s death 30 years ago has kept a lodging house, but now owing to failing sight and chronic rheumatism finds it very difficult to do the necessary work. Only income a few shillings a week from savings which have been invested. Relieved once, B12. Voted ,5 and to be advised to apply for an Old Age Pension.-Daughters, aged 60 and 55, of late M.R.C.S. Entirely dependent on letting lodgings and both in feeble health. Relieved eight times, .E96. Vot’:d jB12.—Daughter, aged 66, of late M.R.C.S. Was fairly provided for at father’s death but made most unfortunate investments which now yield only about 5s. a week. Relieved twice, .836. Voted .812.— Daughter, aged 44, of late F.R.C.S. No income and health so indifferent that it is impossible to keep any post even when obtained. Relieved 14 times..8117. Voted JE12.—Widow, aged 63, of M.R.C.S. Quite unprovided for at husband’s death several years ago and owing to a deformity has never been able to obtain regular work. Slight help from children. Relieved nine times, .8106. Voted B12.—Daughter, aged 61, of late M.R.C.S. Has suffered for many years from a chronic complaint and been obliged to spend her capital both for treatment and maintenance. Relieved twice, .E24. Voted £ I2.- Daughter, aged 56, of late M.R.C.S. Health too feeble for anything but light work and has to help support two sisters who are unfitted for any occupation. Relieved four times, 272. Voted .818.—Widow, aged 64, of M.D. Lond. After husband’s death, about ten years ago, started a boarding-house at a seaside place, but lost all her capital, and is now unable to obtain suitable employment. Relieved twice, .824. Voted .812.—Widow, aged 57, of L.R.C.P. Edin. Slight help from children and lets lodgings. Relieved three times, JE32. Voted .E2, and case to be reconsidered.—Widow, aged 44, of M.B., C.M. Glass. Quite un- provided for at husband’s death a year ago, after a long illness, and obliged to endeavour to keep a home together because of her three youngest children, aged 10 to 4; slight help from elder children. Relieved once, .E12. Voted .820.—Daughter, aged 35, of L.S.A. Has been offered a situation abroad, but requires a little help for un- avoidable expenses. Relieved once, .E1O. Voted .85. MEDICO-PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. THE quarterly meeting of this association was held at the Darenth Industrial Colony, Dartford, on Feb. 20th, under the presidency of Dr. J. G. SOUTAR. Presidential Remarks: the -1"Jfental Deficiency Bill. During the morning members inspected the various centres of activity in the colony, including the female and male workshops and wards for adult imbeciles, for the feeble- minded section, and for imbeciles under 16 years of age, three separate classifications of cases. At the luncheon which followed the PRESIDENT thanked, on behalf of the asso- ciation, Mr. E. H. Helby, the chairman of the council committee, and Dr. A. Rotherham, medical superinten- dent, for the cordial welcome which had been extended and the interesting manifestations of good training which were so abundant in the institution. What was to be seen at Darenth was an eye-opener to many, even of those who knew something of such work. He thought that if Dr. Rotherham could only see his way to admit, for the remainder of their short recess, the members of the Cabinet and others in the House, to the institution, that House would rapidly pass, through all its stages, the Mental De- ficiency Bill, for they would see that it would confer upon thousands of neglected persons the boons received by the inmates of Darenth Colony. He regarded it as one of the centres of education in the country, and much of that done here might well be copied by the public schools of the country, for here the limitations and potentialities of the pupil were ascertained, and the education directed accordingly. What tears, difficulties, and miseries would thus be saved I-Dr. ROTHERHAM briefly replied to the President’s remarks, praising highly the capacity and efforts of the insbructional staff, who were all skilled in their work before they took up the posts.-Mr. HELBY admitted that during the last nine years he had found great delight in doing what he could for the special class of case under care and training in this colony, and in the interests of the ratepayers of London. That it had been successful was due to the continuous and harmonious efforts of the medical and instruction staff. A few weeks ago he was a member of a deputation which attended before the Home Secretary. It was received by Mr. Ellis Griffiths, and he told that gentleman that if only a committee of the House of Commons would spend three hours at Darenth Colony it would do more good than three or four weeks’talking by people who, for the most part, had no real practical know- ledge of the subject. He concluded by reading the following extract from the last report of the Commis- sioners in Lunacy, issued a few weeks ago : "We cannot conclude without expressing our pleasure and satisfac. tion with all we saw and learned during our visit of inspection, and we desire to record our impression that the work of the institution is being carried out on well- planned lines and with much skill and thoughtfulness in organisation, and that the object in view-namely, the adequate training and occupation of the imbecile class- is being attained in a most satisfactory and gratifying manner. " The meeting passed the following resolution on the subject of the detention of criminal lunatics in county and borough asylums :- That the Parliamentary Committee consider it is most undesirable that criminal lunatics be sent to county and borough asylums, and recommend to the council that the Association be asked to express this opinion to the Home Secretarv. A number of members were appointed to form a deputation on the subject. The PRESIDENT alluded, in fitting terms, to the decease of Dr E. M. Courtenay (many years inspector of lunatics for Ireland), Mr. Joseph Bayley (48 years superintendent of St. Andrew’s Hospital, Northampton), and Mr. S. G. Longworth (Distrct Asylum, Melton, Suffolk), and the meeting authorised messages of condolence to the respective relatives. Treponema Pallidum in the Brain in General Paralysis. A very important communication by Dr. GEORGE M. ROBERTSON, of Edinburgh, on a demonstration by Noguchi of the Treponema Pallidum in the Brain in cases of General Paralysis, was communicated to the meeting by Dr. WINIFRED MUIRHEAD. It showed that Noguchi found the spirochaste of syphilis in the brains of 12 out of 70 cases of general paralysis of the insane. The discovery was held to lay at rest much that had long been debateable. A section of the cortex, sent from Dr. Noguchi at Johns Hopkins Hos- pital, Baltimore, was on view under Dr. Muirhead’s care. In all the cases the organisms seemed to have wandered into the nerve tissues ; they were not found in the vessel sheaths. Assistant Medical Offlears in Asylums. Dr. J. BEVERIDGE SPENCE read a paper entitled "Assistant Medical Officers in Asylums." He said that he had been for some time of the opinion that something should be done to improve the position of these officers ; therefore he had been in full accord with the work of a committee of the Association on the matter, which had issued an interim report advocating a more advanced education for applicants for these posts. On the question of the facilities to continue study of psychological science at some centre-leave being granted for that purpose- the money factor had to be considered. It would perhaps be really necessary to increase the rate of remunera- tion in order to attract to the specialty the right kind of man, especially now that in other branches of the profession young men were advertised for at salaries of ,B400 and f’.500, with greater individual liberties than those known to assistant medical officers of asylums. In order to collect information on the subject he had sent out forms to the superintendents of 94 asylums, and he gratefully acknowledged the courteous response of 92 of those gentlemen. Of these, 17 asylums had only one assistant medical officer. The average minimum salary of the senior assistant medical officer was .E224, and the average maximum .6309, exclusive of emoluments; the ’
