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judge and he only decided the point after the bill was found,while it was not at all necessary that all the evidence for

the prosecution, some of it inconsistent perhaps with other

portions, should have been before the grand jury at all.

That body, as soon as it is satisfied that there is a primd faciecase on evidence that’ has been laid before it, may find a billwithout waiting to listen to any more.

THE BRAINS OF TWO DISTINGUISHEDPHYSICIANS.

THE study of the brains of distinguished men is alwaysfraught with interest because of the possibility of correlatingexceptional endowments with special conditions of cerebralorganisation and development. Up to the present day butfew brains of really eminent men have been studied anddescribed, the few including those of Chauncey Wright,Grote, Gauss, Gambetta, Helmholtz, and a few others. In

the Philadelphia Medical Journal of April 6th Dr. E. A.Spitzka gives a description of the brains of two distinguishedphysicians-father and son. The elder, Dr. Edouard Seguin,was born in France in 1812 of a family which had dis-tinguished itself for generations in medicine and thefine arts. Seguin became a physician and associatedhimself with Esquirol in the great work of thehumane treatment of lunatics which the latter was

then carrying on, devoting himself specially to the careand treatment of idiocy and imbecility. For over 40 yearshe was physician at the Hospice de Bicetre and publishedworks which immediately assumed a classical importance inregard to the subject of the education and treatment of thefeeble-minded and the imbecile. He died in October, 1880.His son, Professor Edward Constant Seguin, was born in1843, and after pursuing his medical studies in New Yorkwas appointed lecturer on diseases of the nervous system andinsanity at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, NewYork, in 1871. He made valuable and original contributionsto the pathology and therapeutics of nervous disorders andwas one of the pioneers of American neurology. He

died in February, 1898. The brain of the elder Seguin,says Dr. Spitzka, was normal in appearance and textureand weighed 1257 grammes, the weight being slightlybelow the average, a condition which Dr. Spitzkathinks may have been due to " some wasting of the

brain-tissue from disease or age, or both." Its charac-teristic features are summed up as follows: (1) markeddevelopment with great breadth and fulness of the frontallobes; (2) a great width and ample development of the

parietal and temporal lobes ; (3) relative smallness of thecuneus on both sides, especially the left ; (4) generaltortuosity of the fissures and gyri ; (5) an exceptionally fulldevelopment of the insula, and especially of its anterior part,so that on one side (the left) this part of the insula wasact covered by the operculum but remained exposed; and (6)the frontal gyri were the most complex of the entire brain,being particularly rich in their windings. The speech-centreof Broca was also very well developed. "There is that inthe physiognomy’ of the brain, as in the son’s," saysDr. Spitzka, " which it would be impossible to describeotherwise ...... than to say that it portrays the culture,refinement, and intellectual capacity of its erstwhileowner when living." The brain of the younger Seguinweighed 1502 grammes, the right hemisphere being 642grammes and the left 653. As in the father’s brain therewas a slight but unquestionable exposure of the anteriorpart of the left insula. There was ample developmentof the frontal lobes and relatively small developmentof the occipital lobes. Hitherto an uncovered insulahas only been found in the brains of imbeciles and

mentally defective persons and in negroes, this con-

dition being associated with insufficient development

of the opercula. In the case of the Seguins, how-ever, the explanation is different. The opercular regionsare by no means defective in development, but are well

developed. The insula, however, has been the seat of

exceptionally marked development so that it has" virtuallythrust apart the opercula and made itself visible." Thisview of the relative hypertrophy of the insula is supportedby an elaborate series of measurements made of the fissuresin and around it. Dr. Spitzka wishes to correlate this withthe exceptional linguistic capacity of the Seguins, bothfather and son being fluent speakers and writers of threelanguages-English, French, and German.

SIMULATION OF BERI-BERI.

A CORRESPONDENT informs us that in the Malay Archi-pelago there exists a practice of malingering by shammingberi-beri which it is almost impossible to diagnose from thereal case. It occurs mostly in the prisons amongst thelong-sentence men who are liberated upon showingsymptoms of beri-beri and are sent to their native

home to die there. No sooner have they arrived there,however, than they are cured. (Edema is producedin a very simple manner. A fine hole is drilled intothe leg and a small hair is inserted. After the skin has

grown over the aperture thus made swelling sets in whichpits exactly like the oedema in the real cases. Great lassi-tude and feebleness follow. The Government is only tooglad to save the patient’s keep and he is sent off homewhere he soon recovers after he has removed the hair fromhis leg. Medical officers belonging to the services mightfind it useful to keep this in mind when visiting thesecountries for the first time.

ASTEREOGNOSIS.

DR. CHARLES W. BuRR, neurologist to the PhiladelphiaHospital, reports in the March number of the AmericanJ01t’l’nal of the Medical Sciences a number of cases whichthrow light on -the interesting clinical condition known asstereognosis to which reference had previously been made inthese columns.1 Stereognosis is the capacity of recognisingthe nature of objects by handling them with the fingers ; itis thus a complex perception dependent on the propercooperation of cutaneous sensations (tactile and pressuresensations) and of the kinassthotio sense (sense of spatialdisposition of the fingers), and to a less extent of tempera-ture and pain sense. According to Dr. Joseph Sailer thecerebral centre concerned in the function of stereognosis issituated in the parietal lobe of the brain. The cases reportedby Dr. Burr are as follows. Case l.-A young man whowhen a boy sustained a fracture of the right parietal bonesuffered from temporary hemiplegia and hemianassthesia ofthe left side. On recovery he found that he could not re-

cognise objects with his left hand. 11 own examination yearsafter the injury it was found that though there was no palsyand no anxsthesia, save the inability to localise sensations,he could not recognise any object in the left hand....... Theexplanation was that being unable to localise sensations, hecould not distinguish form." Case 2.-A man, aged 37 years,had suffered for some weeks from 11 thickness " of speechand a little weakness and stiffness of the left side

of the face. He then had an attack of illness of an

obscure kind attended with unconsciousness, after whichhe exhibited a slight left-sided hemiplegia. Movementsof the left arm were weakened. There was a slight impair-ment of tactile sensibility in the left thumb and index

finger, and he localised light touch incorrectly but pressurecorrectly. In the left hand there was complete astereognosis.

1 THE LANCET, April 15th, 1899, p. 1044.2 THE LANCET, 1899, loc. cit.

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At his death, a few months later, a tumour was found inthe right centrum semi-ovale above the lateral ventricle.Cases 3 and 4 occurred in a man and a woman respectively,the diagnosis in the latter being difficult owing to compli-cations of the nature of hysteria. The man, aged 52 years,had astereognosis, and after death a tumour was dis-covered in the parietal lobe on the left side of the brain.It pressed against, but did not invade, the ascendingparietal convolution, partially destroyed the angular gyrus,and involved almost the entire posterior parietal lobule.The subcortical white matter was destroyed by it. Its

growth was marked by successive stages of clinical symptomsof a most interesting character, commencing with slighthemiplegia, slight tactile anaesthesia, and astereognosis.This showed that it involved the parietal lobe. Later, asthe tumour increased, there followed symptoms of word-blindness (involvement of the angular gyrus) and of amnesicaphasia in varying degrees. The final stages were mentaldulness and death. The lesion in this case was adequate toexplain both the astereognosis and the word-blindness whichwere present and to prove the close proximity to each otherof the cerebral centres which subserved these functions.

"LEGISLATION ON PENNY ICES; A GOODEXAMPLE."

WITH reference to an annotation under this title which

appeared in THE LANCET of May 18th, p. 1417, a corre-spondent tells us that the clause in the Brighton Corpora-tion Bill relating to ice-cream did not pass through theParliamentary Committee in the form in which it was

originally drafted. The Bill contained two clauses, the firstinflicting a maximum penalty of 40s. on any person causingice-cream or similar commodities to be manufactured, sold,or stored in any improper place, or exposing such commodityto infection or contamination, or failing to notify any out-break of infectious disease amongst the persons employed inthe business. The second clause followed on the lines ofSection 6 of the Order of 1885 relating to Dairies and Milk-shops, requiring, as in the case of milk, the registration ofeach person carrying on the trade of dealer in ice-cream andinflicting a penalty on any person selling such commoditywithin the borough while unregistered. Objection was takento the latter clause in the preliminary stages of the Bill andthe corporation were advised to withdraw it, and they did so.This, we think, is unfortunate, as the first clause withoutthe second will only be partially operative, the main

difficulty in connexion with the business of street-vendingof ice-cream being to find the home address and to keepunder frequent observation the condition of the house inwhich the ice-cream is manufactured.

A FRENCH SURGEON-MAJOR’S EXPERIENCE OFBRITISH HOSPITAL SHIPS.

SOME notes from an official report by Surgeon-MajorRopert, of the French frigate Melpomène, have recently beenpublished with reference to British sick-transport from theCape of Good Hope. His ship having put in at Las

Palmas Surgeon-Major Ropert had an opportunity of

inspecting the Orotava, which was conveying invalidsto England. He expected to find "complex installa-

tions," but on the contrary everything was " verygood but very simple." All the first-class cabins

having been dismantled, large, well-ventilated, and suffi-

ciently lighted wards were obtained, affording ample cubicspace for the soldier-patients who occupied frame bedsmade of canvas which were suspended from the ceiling.These cots were all on the same plane, and the spacebetween them was more than wide enough for the attendants.The Orotava was used for sick-transport only, but the

Lisntore Castle, which was also inspected, had been convertedinto a hospital ship. Having been sent out to Durban as atransport, her captain received orders at that port to fit his

vessel out for the accommodation of sick and wounded men,and six days afterwards he was able to embark the patients.During upwards of four months the vessel had served

admirably as a floating hospital, and she was now en routefor England with every berth occupied. The installation,"as simple as practical," is briefly described by Dr. Cassien,who was one of Surgeon-Major Ropert’s subalterns. It was

apparently quite perfect, comprising luxurious quarters for162 incapacitated soldiers, sick, wounded, and convalescent,besides a number of beds for non-commissioned officersin the side cabins, and for officers in the smoking-saloon and elsewhere on the upper deck. In close

proximity to every ward there were baths, water-closets, andice-chambers. The operating-room on deck was constructedof planking lined with tarred canvas and covered by adouble roof. It contained a receptacle for instruments,another for dressing material, a large washing-stand with anelectrically heated boiler, and several moveable incandescentlamps. "This simple little room, small and so easily dis-infected, seemed to us," says Dr. Cassien, "to fulfil all theconditions requisite for the successful issue of the operationswhich, to the number of eight per week, had to be per-formed during the voyage." The solitary blot mentionedby Dr. Cassien is in connexion with the x ray installa-tion. The radiographs produced were of little practicalutility, although doubtless, he adds, " their moraleffect on some of the wounded may have been advan-

ta.geous." The professional service on the Lismore Castlewas performed by five surgeons who had been engagedfor the voyage, as well as by the medical officer of

the ship. Five nurses "belonging to honourable Capefamilies are described as volunteers, although they receivedpay at the rate of .E100 a year with an additional allowanceof one and a half francs to cover their daily expenses; 30male attendants and two compounders completed the medicalestablishment. The lifts provided at each of the hatchways,which were capable of raising or lowering a patient whilelying at full length in his cot, excited the admiration of Dr.Cassien, who was also favourably impressed by the way thegradient of the companion ladders had been adjusted to meetthe requirements of the invalids. "A monte-charge (lift),"he says in conclusion, "is an installation which seems to meto be worthy of retention. It is not a fixture and can be

readily installed when required."

THE EFFECT OF INTERCURRENT DISEASES ONEPILEPSY.

DR. JuLES VOISIN of the Salpêtrière, Paris, contributes tothe Semaine Medicale of March 20th a va,luable article basedon a large number of observations as regards the effects ofintercurrent diseases on the course and prognosis of epilepsy.The following are the chief conclusions obtained as regardsthe epileptic attacks. 1. The epileptic seizures are lessenedin frequency or restrained by an intercurrent attack of

erysipelas during the acute stage of the latter, but the fits

return during the stage of convalescence. This was noticedin several cases. 2. In one case of anthrax the epileptic fitswere absent during the suppurative stage, but the patientdied from acute septicaemia. 3. In epileptic patients who-have contracted phthisis the fits subside when the tuber-culous process is most acute and reappear whenthe phthisis is ameliorated. This was noted in manycases. 4. In a few cases of diphtheria supervening inthe course of epilepsy the fits were absent during the illnessbut returned during. convalescence. 5. In small-pox and inrheumatic fever epileptic fits are diminished during theacute stage only. 6. Epileptic attacks are rendered worse