keeps me short of money, and is not a drunkard. He is a fruit-hawker, and has always enjoyed good health until three weeks ago, when he had a fit." On pressure, however, she admitted that, though not a drunkard, he was in the habit of coming home most nights muddled and confused; that for the last six months he had not been himself; he had spoken of the sums of money he had made each day by the sale of his fruit-sometimes as much as £5-when she knew he could not possibly have made more than 5s. His memory had become defective; he had seemed indifferent to what was going on at home, and had talked largely about his prospects. Gradually this state of things became more marked, until the occurrence of the convulsion. Now observe the inaccuracies which have been imported and tabulated here. The cause of the disease is registered as a fit; the fit was a symptom, a complication, and not the cause, which was clearly intemperance, of that quiet but continuous and systematic kind which amounts to perpetual alcoholism and befoozlement. Again, the disease was manifestly of six months', and not of two weeks' duration.

So far for the illustration of inaccuracy. And now with regard to the difficulty of early treatment.

Supposing I had seen this man four or five months earlier ; it is probable that I should have detected the first symptom of general paralysis, and recommended an altered mode of life, which in itself would have been treatment. But how is such a man to alter

his life? And where is he to find that quiet and repose which, when initiated, might have arrested the incipient disease? To have spoken openly of insanity would have been to arouse the indignation of his friends; to have advised his giving up his occupation would have been to counsel that which could not have been carried out; to have advised his giving up drink would have been to assume the existence of a vice which he would have denied ;in fact, meet the man and his malady how you may, it is clear that you must here find yourself in a minority of one.

The same difficulty confronts you with equal force in the middle and upper circles of society. We, with our experienced professional eyes, can see the danger coming, when it is even but a little cloud, no bigger than a man's hand, and give the note of warning. But friends cannot and will not see it. How should they? It is not to be wondered at, knowing what we do of human nature. And so you get no credit the rather discredit-for your advice; for, though it involves the immediate surrender of the exciting cause of the disease, it is at the same time a surrender of the means of livelihood and pleasure. "You take my life when you do take the means whereby I live." Thus, you see, early treatment in cases of this kind is absolutely impossible, because you cannot make manifest to the patient himself and to his friends that there is any occasion for treatment at all, much less for treat

ment of the kind proposed-demanding self-sacrifice, and freedom from the busy turmoil which has become second nature. When the disease, however, which you have correctly but uselessly diagnosed, culminates in a fit, or in some overt act, or in utterly uncontrollable excitement and extravagance, the friends are alarmed; they retrace their steps, and recall the things which you have previously spoken of as evidences of insanity; at last they put two and two together, and find that it makes four! But the time for all active treatment is now gone by; you may palliate and assuage, but you cannot The disease stands before you, as it were, triumphantly and defiantly, and seems to say, "I came, I saw, I conquered!"

cure.

I do not know that I can better conclude this introductory lecture than by assuring you that the insane members of the community are, as a class, the best cared for and best protected in the country. In spite of what you may sometimes hear to the contrary; in spite of the occasional cases of ill-treatment (generally greatly exaggerated for sensational purposes by the press) you may accept this as a verity. For half a century and more we have been moving in one direction, to humanize everything that has relation to those who from disease are no longer responsible agents. It is wise and right that it should be so. The gathering together of the loose and scattered madness of the country has been a great achievement. Unfortunately there is now a

growing belief that this has been overdone, and that it is better to treat persons at their own homes, where, amongst friends, there can be no exercise of proper discipline, but, on the contrary, a most injurious amount of feeble and indiscreet kindness! But something is due a great deal is due to the sane members of the community, and we have no more right to allow them to be afflicted with the obtrusive presence of insanity when once recognised, than we have to expose them to the influence of a contagious disease.

In my next lecture I shall make some remarks on the physiology of the nervous system; on the pathological changes observed after death in those who die insane; propound to you a simple classification; and proceed with the consideration of some of the special forms of insanity.

LECTURE II.

It cannot be necessary for me to say much to you, I am sure, about the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system, for you are fresh from the class of my distinguished colleague, Professor Rutherford. You have learned from him the general structure of nervous tissue, its division into grey and white matter, vesicular and tubular neurine. He has told you of afferent and efferent nerves; of nerves of motion and nerves of sensation; of the telegraphic system by which the behests of the will are initiated and executed; of the important fact that in the convolutions of the brain, consisting of grey or cineritious matter, lies the intellectual power by which man is distinguished from other animals; that the optic thalami and corpora striata-also groupings of grey matter are the central points, "subservient to the conversion of sensational impressions and volitions into combined movements adapted to the preservation and welfare of the individual, without the intervention of judgment or the proper functions of mind."