A statistical contribution to the pathology of insanity / by T. Duncan Greenlees.

  • Greenlees, T. Duncan.
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A statistical contribution to the pathology of insanity / by T. Duncan Greenlees. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Reprinted from the ‘ Journal of Mental Sciencef October, 1902. A STATISTICAL CONTRIBUTION TO THE PATHOLOGY OF INSANITY. By T. DUNCAN GREENLEES, M.D.Edin., F.R.S.E., Medical Superintendent, Grahamstown Asylum, South Africa, An inquiry into the condition of the various organs of those dying insane cannot fail to be of interest to those who believe that mental disease and physical disorders are, in the majority of cases, closely associated. Every organ of the body, if its functions are perverted, in¬ fluences the mind to a greater or lesser degree ; in some cases the mental affection is only temporary and slight, while in other cases the mind becomes permanently affected, at least so long as the physical condition giving rise to the mental morbid state exists. The following observations are an attempt, on a small scale, to sift the information obtained from 232 examina¬ tions held in Grahamstown Asylum during the past eleven and a half years. A comparison between the organs of the insane and those of the sane should throw some light on the pathology of insanity. Whether we are going to arrive at the ultimate cause of mental disease by this method may be open to doubt, for latterly scientists have been studying the chemistry rather than the pathology of the tissues in insanity, and their results, more suggestive than conclusive so far, are such as to awaken the keenest interest of all scientific alienists.