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which contains a great percentage of salt. Dr. Lindemannof Heligoland approved Dr. Furst’s proposition, and remarkedthat his method would be useful also for patients suffering fromchronic laryngitis. The meeting finally discussed the hygieniccondition of the health resorts. A committee was elected,which made the following propositions. The municipalauthorities of the health resorts should be asked to provide-(1) an efficient supply of good drinking water by aid of water-works ; (2) arrangements for artificial ice ; (3) hospitals forinfectious diseases; (4) establishments for the disinfectionof goods &c.; and (5) public mortuaries. Dr. Ibell (Ems) pro-posed that every health resort should appoint a hygieniccouncil of which at least one resident medical man should bea member. The propositions were unanimously adopted andthe meeting then closed.

Curiovs Evidenee of a MedloaZ Officer.A man who was brought before a jury of Berlin had

promised a woman in the latest stage of tuberculosis to cureher within three months. He had ordered her a medicinefor which he charged twelve marks, the real worth being onlytwenty pfennigs. A fortnight afterwards the patient died,and her family indicted the quack for fraud. At thetrial Dr. Long, medical officer at the Berlin law courts,was asked by the defendant’s counsel if it was not

possible to cure consumption." Dr. Long answered thatit would be as easy to fetch a star from the skyas to find a universal remedy for this illness. Thedefendant’s counsel asserted that his client was as persuadedof the curative effect of his remedy as Professor Koch was oftuberculin, and could, therefore, not be made responsiblebecause it was a failure. Dr. Long answered that in hisopinion they were, both Dr. Koch and the defendant, guiltyof the same crime, and he did not understand the publicattorney only prosecuting the little and not also the greatthieves. This allusion caused the utmost sensation in thecourt. The judge said he was sorry he must blame Dr. Longfor comparing a scientific authority like Professor Koch witha quack. The defendant was condemned to three months’imprisonment.March 18th.

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ROME.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Cases of Homicidal Mania.HOMICIDAL mania has been assuming epidemic proportions

in our hospitals, particularly in our lunatic asylums. In theSanto Spirito a nun of exemplary character and high pro-fessional worth was assassinated by a patient who owed hera quite imaginary grudge, and just the other day one of themost prominent of our citizens-a man respected and belovedthroughout Italy, the Marchese Berardi - was brutallymurdered in open day in the villa annexed to the Manicomio.As one of those officially interested in the asylum theMarchese was on duty, superintending a group of labourersemployed in removing earth from the airing grounds, andhe was just in the act of suggesting to a subordinate thepropriety of laying a small binario (pair of rails) tofacilitate the carting away of rubbish when he was sud-denly assailed from behind by one of the labourersaforesaid. This man, who as a non-violent patient hadbeen allowed to work in the open, dealt him with upliftedspade a murderous blow on the occiput, felling him to theground. Bleeding profusely and absolutely unconscious, the

, Marchese, after the first hasty attentions of the residentphysicians, was taken to one of the houses of which the villais composed and was soon afterwards examined by ProfessorPaolo Postemski, who holds one of the chairs of Surgery inthe Roman school. Trephining was at once performed,and in half an hour, during which he was assistedby Professors Bertini and Scalzi, Professor Postemski wasable to give the following account of the injury: " Depressionof the right parieto-occipital region, with fracture externalto the depression. Fracture of the internal surface and dis-integration of the cerebral substance. Subdural hæmor-rhage. Probable fracture of the base of the skull.Prognosis very grave." His Excellency Dr. Baccelliarrived just as Professor Postemski was penning thelast words of the bulletin, and, having heard the par-ticulars. approved of the operation and also confirmed the verynchopsful prognosis. The Marchese never recovered con-

sciousness, but lingered on till a little past midnight, when.he expired. Meanwhile his assassin, who had been put-under arrest, was examined and the following instructive.history was elicited. He is a young man, Bruni by name, some.twenty-seven years of age, and a Sabine by birth. He is ofmiddle height, blonde of complexion, and with a prepossess--ing type of countenance. Of unknown parentage, he was.brought up to an uncertain mode of life, working at odd jobs,.till the age of nineteen,.,when he was’sentenced to seven months’"imprisonment for cutting and wounding, after which he under-went another term of incarceration for theft. In August 061888 he entered as a conscript the 15th Regiment of Infantry,and about the close of bis period of service he insulted andattacked his superior officer. Put on his trial he was foundto be insane and shut up in the lunatic asylum. From this.he was unaccountably set at liberty-unaccountably, I say,for the report of the resident physicians, dated 1892, was to.this effect : "Alienazione cessata ; persistente semi-imbecil-lità" (alienation ceased; persistent semi-imbecility). Thelatter condition ought certainly to have caused some kind of-surveillance to be kept over him ; but no. Set at liberty, asI have said, he soon gave symptoms of a recrudescence ofhis malady, so that for violent conduct in the Piazza delPopolo he was taken into custody by the Carabinieri;and his mental alienation having been once more dulycertified he was again shut up in the lunatic asylum.Here he developed the so-called "persecution mania,"and at first had to be safeguarded among those classed a&

"agitati" (violent). But in October last, having till thenmaintained a persistent calm, he was relegated to the classof " paranoici tranquilli " (peaceable lunatics) and employed,as we have seen, in rural labour. Interrogated by thedirector of the asylum, Professor Bonfigli, and the Qnasstor,,Signor Sironi, as to what induced him to attack the MarcheserBerardi, he replied : "I had condemned the Marchese todeath because once he had complained of my work.",Successive interrogations elicited little more than this,that he was constantly being persecuted by "pezz5grossi "-personages in authority-among whom he classed"Cabinet Ministers, colonels, majors, and presidents,"and added that he struck down the Marchese Berardi.as one of those persecutors. And so he stuck to histext, till Professor Bonfigli and Signor Sironi made up theirminds as to his case and relegated him to the class ofthe "agitati," taking the precaution (his menacing looke.and language considered) to put him in a "camicia diforza" (strait-waistcoat). I need pursue the matter no.

further, except to add that about the same time another deedof violence was committed in the same asylum by one of the.patients (an epileptic) dealing another of the same class amurderous kick on the abdomen, the result of which was.death some hours afterwards.

The Management of the Manicomio.A few comments will be in place as to the circum

stances under which the Roman Manicomio has had to.

register such tragedies and the system under whichthese become possible. In some respects it has a record.as honourable as any in Europe. It was one of thefirst on the Continent to adopt the non-restraint systeminaugurated by Tuke. Thanks to its enlightened patron, thelate Pope Pio Nono, the "bath of surprise," the shackles,the strait-waistcoat, and such like were either wholly doneaway with or had recourse to only under rare and specialcircumstances. The "out-door employment" system wasfreely introduced, and under such excellent superintendentsas Dr. Viale Prelà and, more recently, Dr. Fiordispini thebeautiful villas on the Janiculan were laid out for the recep-tion of non-violent cases whose time (if paying patients)could be occupied in such intellectual or artistic pursuitp,as were congenial to them, or (if of the poorer or pauperclass) by labour, agricultural or other. Repeated visits tothis really delightful retreat convinced me of the thorough-ness with which the non-restraint system had beencarried out, and, on the whole, the success whichhad crowned it. But one defect always struck me,and not me only, but others who were admitted on the.

visiting list. That was, according to our British idea@, theinsufficiency of attendants. Those who were on duty seemedin the highest degree capable ; but they were inadequatelysupported. Now, if there is a conditio sine qui non which,more than another, must be enforced in the treatmentof lunatics it is this, that the sense of being con-

trolled" should never be absent from them. An overawing,

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’demonstration of surveillance is not absolutely necessary. Itwill be enough if the patient feels that, even in non-officialgarb, there are attendants who have their eye on him, and whoare ready (reinforced at once, if need be, by others) to checkany outbreak on his part. Just as on the high seas theman-of-war least often suffers shipwreck from its greater.supply of hands, so in the lunatic asylum casualties are

-fewest where attendants, en evidence or in the background,are most in readiness. Now in the Roman Manicomiothis chronic defect had been aggravated by recent adminis-tration. According to its most able and efficient super-intendent, Professor Bonfigli, it is a fact that no fewer thanthirty among the "sorveglianti " and infermieri " (keepers.and male attendants) had, for a temporary cause, been dis-missed-some of them had been on the staff of the Manicomio-for over twenty years-and that, at the time of the recentmurderous outbreaks among the patients, the personnel wasdangerously undermanned. It is said that the author of thisproceeding was no other than the Marchese Berardi himself.If so, that estimable man has expiated by nothing lessthan his life an error in administration which, in hot-blooded populations generally, and particularly in their lunaticasylums, can never be committed with impunity.

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March 16th. _______________

Obituary.LOUIS FLORENTIN CALMEIL, M.D.

OUR Paris correspondent writes :-, The survival up tothe llth inst. of the famous alienist will come as a sur-

prise to the majority of those of your readers who are Iinterested in mental medicine. This surprise will be fully ’’

justified when on turning to the chapter on general paralysisof the insane in physiological works we read such sen-

tences as the following:--’ This interesting but hopelessform of disease may be said to have been unknown untilit was fully described in the admirable mérnoire publishedby Calmeil in 1826....... In his later work, "Traite desMaladies Inflammatoires du Cerveau, " 1859, he designates thedisease "Periencephalitis chronica diSusa."’ Again, ’In 1826M. Calmeil gave a most complete account of it, and to himfrequently is ascribed the merit of having been the discoverer.’ Louis Florentin Calmeil, the doyen of French alienists, wasborn on Aug. 9th, 1798 ; he was, consequently, at his deathin his ninety-seventh year. His father, a retired barrister,renounced practice early in his career and took up his resi-lience at his country house at d’Yversay in Poitou. Here wasborn his third son, who was destined to become so famousas a ’mad doctor.’ At the age of nine years he and anelder brother were placed in a house at Poitiers underthe care of a trusted servant in order to pursue their classical.education. He soon evinced a passionate liking for naturalscience. One day he informed his professor that be intendedbeing a botanist, which infantile resolution did not preventhis being entered later as a student in the Eoole Pr6paratoirede M6decine de Poitiers. While there he daily repaired tothe hospital, where he soon became an assiduous attendantin the post-mortem room. Every spare moment he devoted tothe study of plants and insects. The inevitable removal toParis came in due time. In this new sphere his untiringindustry quickly procured him the place of externe des

hôpitaux, In this quality he was a frequenter of Dupuytren’swards. One day, carried away by a too close attention tothe illustrious surgeon’s utterances, he accidentally touchedthe bed of a patient who had just been operated on.Dnpuytren thereupon seized him by the arm and shook himso violently that, terrified at such treatment, he procured hismutation to the Salpetriere, where he worked under Rostan.This good-natured physician took a great fancy to youngCalmeil and engaged him to take numerous notes of cases oipartial softening of the brain. Appointed interne, he wassent to Charenton under Royer-Collard. He was thertwenty-four years old, and he never left that hospital unti.fifty more years had elapsed. There he passed all his life-a life of devotion to his poor patients and to his researchefinto the nature of their diseases. The death of his lovecmaster, Royer-Collard, deprived him of an influential friendbut he found in his successor, Esquirol, an equally ardensupporter. Calmeil became his right-hand man. Knowing that his protégé had during his sojourn at thl

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Salpêtrière made a special study of hysteria and epilepsy,Esquirol requested him to write a memoire embodying hisobservations. The task accomplished, Esquirol entered themémoire for a prize he himself had founded. Félix Voisinand Calmeil were bracketed equal and shared the prize.Esquirol had frequently urged his master Pinel to found aprivate paying asylum, but the latter, pleading the infirmitiesof old age, persuaded his pupil to put the idea into practice.Calmeil entered with enthusiasm into the organisation ofthis new scheme; but when, later, Esqairol wished him tobecome his partner in the venture, he firmly declined inthese words : Non, je n’accepte pas, car non-seulement jem’y ruinerais, mais, ce qui eat pire, j’aurais rnine mes co-associ6s. J’ai mon plan tout trac6 et bien arrete; je neveux que le travail avec 1’independance.’ This disinterestedprogramme he followed to the letter. His duties over, hewould retire to a modest pavilion he called his hut, whenafter a few hours’ sleep he would, winter and summer,wake before sunrise to write the works which haveplaced his name on the roll of honour as a psycho-logist. Appointed Inspector of Charenton, then AssistantPhysician, he obtained the unsolicited distinction ofthe Cross of the Legion of Honour. At the death ofEsquirol he was deemed by his confrères the best fitted tosucceed him as Medecin-en-chef. But royal favour procuredthe post for another, and Calmeil continued his studies until1848, when, terrified by the Revolution, his chief fled, and avacancy was once more declared. This time Calmeil wasmore fortunate. being annointed to the femltle ward,;. whip.the men were placed under the care of Archambault. Soonafter, his coadjutor having to retire, he was appointedMedecin-en-chef, a post he held for twenty-two years. In theaccomplishment of his responsible duties he was ever gentleand dignified towards his pupils and subordinates, and mostpatient with his poor charges. It was during his tenure of thePhysicianship-in-chief that he crowned his work by the publi.cation of his treatise ’Maladies Inflammatoires du Cervean.’This procured him promotion (to office) in the Legion of Honour,In 1872 Calmeil asked to be allowed to retire. He choseFontenay-sous-Bois, in the Charenton district, as the placewherein to pass the evening of his life. Here in a pretty villabuilt specially for him, and which his friends and admirerschristened ’ La Maison dn Sage,’ he gave himself up to hisfavourite botanical studies and to his book and the notes hehad accumulated during his sojourn at Charenton. Nothingdelighted him more than a visit from some old pupil, becomesince famous perhaps. For some years past, senile weakness,while sparing his intellect, had deprived him of the strengthnecessary to enable him to take his favourite walks in theVincennes woods, or in his garden. I append a list of hisprincipal works, some of which are undoubtedly standardproductions :—’ De 1’Épilepsie étudiée sous le rapport deson Siege et de son Influence sur la Production d’Aliéna-èétion Mentale’ (These, 17 juin, 1824); ’ De la Paralysieconsideree chez les Aliénés’ (Paris, 1826, 8vo); ’DesMaladies de la Moelle Epiniere’ (Paris, 1839, 8vo) ; ’Dela Folie considérée sous le point de vue pathologique,philosophique, historique, et judiciaire, depuis la Renaissancedes Sciences en Europe jusqu’au XIXe Siècle, (descriptionsdes grandes epidemics de delire simple ou compliqueqniontatteint la population d’autrefois et reene dans les monasteres;expos6 des condamna,tions auxquelles la folie méconnue asouvent donn6 lieu; Paris, 1845, 2 vols. 8vo); ’ Traite desMaladies inflammatoires du Cerveau’ (ou histoire anatomo’pathologique des congestions encépbaliques, du ddlireaign, dela paralysie generale ou péri-encéphalite diffuse, à l’étatsimpleou complique, du ramollissement c6rebral local aiga et

chronique, de 1’hcmorrhagie c6r6brale localisee recente onnon r6cente ; Paris, 1859, 2 vols. 8vo) ; ’ Du Ramollisse.ment partiel du Cerveau (par Rostan; Obs. par Calmeil).’ One

, of the first to utilise the microscope in the study of mentalderangements, he always betrayed satisfaction at theimprovement effected in an instrument which he pro-

, phesied ;would render great service in this particnlar; branch of medicine. Ever a most conscientious student,

he would often allow years to elapse before he would publish communications of the correctness- of which he was not absolutely sure. He thoroughly9 believed that every neurosis or form of lunacy corresponded. to a definite lesion which it behoved the student to discover.; His name will for ever remain associated with the diseasetgeneral paralysis of the insane, which he succeeded in

- establishing as a clinical and pathological entity. AlthoughB a member of the Société Médico-Psychologique, he rarely