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SANITARY WORK ON THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA.
1507 gecropsy
no
trace of such
a
lesion
was
found,
nor
did
a
mostand entertainments.
The offices of the
Congress
are
at
careful microscopical examination bring to light any lesion No. 717, Prinsengracht, Amsterdam. The visitors’ accomof the fibres of the pyramidal system in the pons, medulla, or modation committee will secure rooms for members if spinal cord which presented identical characters on the two application is made before August 15th to Dr. D. M. It
sides.
was
hemisphere
found, however, that the whole of the right van Londen at the above address. Applications for memberi of the Congress must be made not later than August lst. atrophic, especially so in the neigh-ship
was
bourhood of the fissure of Rolando. Specimens prepared from the ascending frontal convolution and stained by Nissl’s method and by Weigert’s neuroglia stain demonstrated the replacement of the cellular layers by neuroglia with the exception of the layers of giant pyramidal and large pyramidal cells which in number, arrangement, and structure were identical with those of the sound side. It is well known that these cells are the trophic cells from the pyramidal fibres and the absence of any pyramidal lesion From the examination of the was therefore explained. cortex cerebri it would therefore appear that the hemiplegia in this case owed its origin to a lesion of the sensori-motor path beyond the upper motor neuron. It is interesting in this connexion to recall the experiment of Mott and Sherrington who showed that after section of all the posterior roots entering into the formation of the brachial plexus in monkeys the arm was paralysed, although the pyramidal tract was intact and was excitable to subsequent stimulation. It would have been of interest to know whether in Dr. Spielmayer’s case the paralysed side was convulsed in fits occurring subsequently to the hemiplegia. The case is noteworthy, not only on account of its rarity but also because of the care with which it was worked out and the suggestive nature of the conclusions arrived at. ____
INTERNATIONAL
CONGRESS ON PSYCHIATRY, NEUROLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, AND THE CARE OF THE
As
p.
already
605,
an
INSANE.
mentioned in THE LANCET of March
International Congress
on
2nd, Psychiatry, Neurology,
and the Care of the Insane will be held in Amsterdam from Sept. 2nd to 7th. Membership of the Congress is open to all who may be interested in the above subjects. The official languages are English, French, and German. Members pay a subscription of 10 gulden or 16s. 8d., and ladies accompanying them a subscription of 5 gulden or 8s. 4d. A programme has now been issued giving full details of the arrangements. The work of the Congress will be conducted in three sections and there The first will be an exhibition of objects of interest. The section will deal with Psychiatry and Neurology. principal official subjects of discussion will be Theories of Hysteria, Psychoses Connected with Alcoholism, Diagnosis of Various Forms of Dementia, and the Cortical Localisation of Certain Functions. The second section will deal with Psychology and Psycho-physics. The principal subjects will be the Psychology of Puberty, the Difference Between Perception and Idea, and the Previous History of the Insane. The third section will deal with the Care of the Insane. The principal subjects will be the Management and Control of Asylums, Supervision of the Care of the Insane by the State, Instruction and Duties of the Attendants, Boarding-out, Alcoholism, and the Education of Backward Children. National committees are appointed in each of the countries represented at the Congress. The committee for Great Britain and Ireland consists of 17 members, Dr. Robert Jones of the London County Asylum, Claybury, Essex, being the president. The Congress will be opened on Sept. 2nd at 2 P.M. in the presence of Queen Wilhelmina, after which there will be a reception of the delegates and the first general meeting will be held. The sections will meet at 9 A.M. on Sept. 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. The proceedings will be diversified by various excursions
Psychology,
SANITARY WORK ON THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. DURING the last three years
some
remarkable
sanitary
work, remarkable alike in its conception and in its result, has been undertaken on the Isthmus of Panama. Dr. W. C. Gorgas, in the Medical Record of May 18th, gives a succinct account of this work. He points out that when the United States took possession of the canal zone three years ago there were all the conditions necessary for the breeding of stegomyia and anopheles mosquitoes, that malaria, dysentery, and small-pox were prevailing among the people, and that yellow fever was present at Panama and Colon. Organised sanitary endeavour has now caused the disappearance of yellow fever and malaria has been held in check, but for 15 miles the canal belt is low and swampy, and in the other portions rain-water barrels and cisterns are plentiful, so that all conditions for the breeding of mosquitoes are at their best in a climate that is never cold. The presence of yellow fever, apart from the stegomyia, is due to the coming of non-immune whites in large numbers who contract and propagate the disease. The health authorities have furnished pure water, sewage systems and methods for the proper disof night soil, and sufficient hospitals for the care of the sick. They keep up an inspection of those who are nonimmune, isolate cases of yellow fever in screened houses, and kill infected mosquitoes by fumigation. By ditching, draining, and oiling stagnant waters they have lessened the anopheles mosquitoes and the consequent malarial troubles. An efficient quarantine against infected localities is maintained at the ports of entry to keep out yellow fever and for 15 months there has not been a case of it in the canal belt. This is not a coincidence but a result of the sanitary measures taken. Dysentery has also been considerably controlled by, among other things, the provision of a good water-supply, so that we may congratulate all concerned in the sanitary administration in Panama upon great results.
posal
EPIDEMIC CEREBRO-SPINAL FEVER. DURING the last seven or eight days there has been some diminution in the notifications of epidemic cerebro-spinal fever. In Scotland during the week ended May 25th there were 19 deaths from this cause registered in Glasgow, 5 in Leith, and 2 in Dundee. In Glasgow the weekly report issued on May 24th showed that there were at that time 116 In Belfast during the week ended cases under treatment. May 25th there were 20 deaths from this cause registered. In London during the month of April one death of a patient belonging to Poplar was registered. As regards Hong-Kong, a telegram from the Acting Governor received at the Colonial Office on May 27th states that for the week ending May 25th there were 10 cases of plague and 10 deaths from the disease. As to the Cape Colony, the medical officer of health of the Colony states that for the week ending May 4th no further case of plague in man was discovered in King William’s Town, but that on the 5th a European girl, aged 11 years, was found to be suffering from bubonic plague. The Department of Public Health of Queensland in a bulletin dated April 20th states that for the week ending on that date no case of plague occurred either in Brisbane or at Port Douglas.
no
trace of such
a
lesion
was
found,
nor
did
a
mostand entertainments.
The offices of the
Congress
are
at
careful microscopical examination bring to light any lesion No. 717, Prinsengracht, Amsterdam. The visitors’ accomof the fibres of the pyramidal system in the pons, medulla, or modation committee will secure rooms for members if spinal cord which presented identical characters on the two application is made before August 15th to Dr. D. M. It
sides.
was
hemisphere
found, however, that the whole of the right van Londen at the above address. Applications for memberi of the Congress must be made not later than August lst. atrophic, especially so in the neigh-ship
was
bourhood of the fissure of Rolando. Specimens prepared from the ascending frontal convolution and stained by Nissl’s method and by Weigert’s neuroglia stain demonstrated the replacement of the cellular layers by neuroglia with the exception of the layers of giant pyramidal and large pyramidal cells which in number, arrangement, and structure were identical with those of the sound side. It is well known that these cells are the trophic cells from the pyramidal fibres and the absence of any pyramidal lesion From the examination of the was therefore explained. cortex cerebri it would therefore appear that the hemiplegia in this case owed its origin to a lesion of the sensori-motor path beyond the upper motor neuron. It is interesting in this connexion to recall the experiment of Mott and Sherrington who showed that after section of all the posterior roots entering into the formation of the brachial plexus in monkeys the arm was paralysed, although the pyramidal tract was intact and was excitable to subsequent stimulation. It would have been of interest to know whether in Dr. Spielmayer’s case the paralysed side was convulsed in fits occurring subsequently to the hemiplegia. The case is noteworthy, not only on account of its rarity but also because of the care with which it was worked out and the suggestive nature of the conclusions arrived at. ____
INTERNATIONAL
CONGRESS ON PSYCHIATRY, NEUROLOGY, PSYCHOLOGY, AND THE CARE OF THE
As
p.
already
605,
an
INSANE.
mentioned in THE LANCET of March
International Congress
on
2nd, Psychiatry, Neurology,
and the Care of the Insane will be held in Amsterdam from Sept. 2nd to 7th. Membership of the Congress is open to all who may be interested in the above subjects. The official languages are English, French, and German. Members pay a subscription of 10 gulden or 16s. 8d., and ladies accompanying them a subscription of 5 gulden or 8s. 4d. A programme has now been issued giving full details of the arrangements. The work of the Congress will be conducted in three sections and there The first will be an exhibition of objects of interest. The section will deal with Psychiatry and Neurology. principal official subjects of discussion will be Theories of Hysteria, Psychoses Connected with Alcoholism, Diagnosis of Various Forms of Dementia, and the Cortical Localisation of Certain Functions. The second section will deal with Psychology and Psycho-physics. The principal subjects will be the Psychology of Puberty, the Difference Between Perception and Idea, and the Previous History of the Insane. The third section will deal with the Care of the Insane. The principal subjects will be the Management and Control of Asylums, Supervision of the Care of the Insane by the State, Instruction and Duties of the Attendants, Boarding-out, Alcoholism, and the Education of Backward Children. National committees are appointed in each of the countries represented at the Congress. The committee for Great Britain and Ireland consists of 17 members, Dr. Robert Jones of the London County Asylum, Claybury, Essex, being the president. The Congress will be opened on Sept. 2nd at 2 P.M. in the presence of Queen Wilhelmina, after which there will be a reception of the delegates and the first general meeting will be held. The sections will meet at 9 A.M. on Sept. 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. The proceedings will be diversified by various excursions
Psychology,
SANITARY WORK ON THE ISTHMUS OF PANAMA. DURING the last three years
some
remarkable
sanitary
work, remarkable alike in its conception and in its result, has been undertaken on the Isthmus of Panama. Dr. W. C. Gorgas, in the Medical Record of May 18th, gives a succinct account of this work. He points out that when the United States took possession of the canal zone three years ago there were all the conditions necessary for the breeding of stegomyia and anopheles mosquitoes, that malaria, dysentery, and small-pox were prevailing among the people, and that yellow fever was present at Panama and Colon. Organised sanitary endeavour has now caused the disappearance of yellow fever and malaria has been held in check, but for 15 miles the canal belt is low and swampy, and in the other portions rain-water barrels and cisterns are plentiful, so that all conditions for the breeding of mosquitoes are at their best in a climate that is never cold. The presence of yellow fever, apart from the stegomyia, is due to the coming of non-immune whites in large numbers who contract and propagate the disease. The health authorities have furnished pure water, sewage systems and methods for the proper disof night soil, and sufficient hospitals for the care of the sick. They keep up an inspection of those who are nonimmune, isolate cases of yellow fever in screened houses, and kill infected mosquitoes by fumigation. By ditching, draining, and oiling stagnant waters they have lessened the anopheles mosquitoes and the consequent malarial troubles. An efficient quarantine against infected localities is maintained at the ports of entry to keep out yellow fever and for 15 months there has not been a case of it in the canal belt. This is not a coincidence but a result of the sanitary measures taken. Dysentery has also been considerably controlled by, among other things, the provision of a good water-supply, so that we may congratulate all concerned in the sanitary administration in Panama upon great results.
posal
EPIDEMIC CEREBRO-SPINAL FEVER. DURING the last seven or eight days there has been some diminution in the notifications of epidemic cerebro-spinal fever. In Scotland during the week ended May 25th there were 19 deaths from this cause registered in Glasgow, 5 in Leith, and 2 in Dundee. In Glasgow the weekly report issued on May 24th showed that there were at that time 116 In Belfast during the week ended cases under treatment. May 25th there were 20 deaths from this cause registered. In London during the month of April one death of a patient belonging to Poplar was registered. As regards Hong-Kong, a telegram from the Acting Governor received at the Colonial Office on May 27th states that for the week ending May 25th there were 10 cases of plague and 10 deaths from the disease. As to the Cape Colony, the medical officer of health of the Colony states that for the week ending May 4th no further case of plague in man was discovered in King William’s Town, but that on the 5th a European girl, aged 11 years, was found to be suffering from bubonic plague. The Department of Public Health of Queensland in a bulletin dated April 20th states that for the week ending on that date no case of plague occurred either in Brisbane or at Port Douglas.