On the nature, and proximate cause, of insanity / by James George Davey.

  • Davey, James George, 1813-1895.
Date:
1853
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On the nature, and proximate cause, of insanity / by James George Davey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    IG the 100 cases examined, in which the various parts of the cerebral mass and its coverings, including the calvarium, were severally affected, i. e., presented indications of disease, or alterations from the normal standard. Confining my attention to the head, it is proper I should remark here that the appear- ances, post-mortem, of the several structures enu- merated in this Table, were those which belong, for the most part, to either past or present inflamma- tory action; but this fact the succeeding Table (No. 3) is well calculated to prove, and for this especial purpose it has been prepared. To the Table No. 4, I would invite particular attention; it is intended to demonstrate the entire want of cor- respondence heretofore insisted on between the several disorders known as varieties of insanity, and individual post-mortem appearances. In of the 100 cases reported, it is seen there were no morbid appearances found on dis- section. A critical analysis of the recorded facts must convince us—1st. That Bayle must have egre- giously erred in attributing the exclusive importance he did to the “ meninges' of the brain, seeing that, however frequently these are found diseased in cases of mania and general paralysis, nevertheless are ex- ceptions, neither few nor far between—exceptions, moreover, in which the membranes are not only in all