Vol XVII, No 3 (1910)

It has long been known that the trigeminal nerve (n. trigeminus) contains motor and sensory fibers, running in separate or mixed branches. The significance of this nerve in the nutrition of the skin, muscles and bones of the face, as well as teeth, has been established not so much experimentally as by clinical observations on patients and is usually noted in large manuals on the physiology or pathology of the nervous system. Clinical studies and observations make it probable that there are separate fibers for each kind of sensation—pain, tactile, thermal. It is natural to assume that trophic impulses also have their own special paths, but how can this be proven? Obviously, too, a thorough examination of the respective patients.

The influence of revolutionary eras, major coup d'état, popular movements on the mental health of the population has long been of interest to doctors. The corresponding political epochs naturally served as the subject of study by psychiatrists in this direction. There are observations regarding the impact of the French revolutions on the mental health of the population; on the basis of these observations, a political psychosis was singled out in the middle of the last century - folie polytique (Bel'hommey), but there were also opposite views that denied any significant influence of revolutionary epochs on the mental health of those who experienced them (Legvand-du-Saulle)

The question of the possibility of a functional connection of various nerve fibers has long been of interest to scientists. Numerous studies undertaken for this purpose have proved that the connection of nerve fibers with different functions is a fact. It has been postulated that motor, sensory, sympathetic fibers have no specific difference and can be combined in various combinations. Works of later times, especially Langley's and Anderson's, found out that apparently not all fibers are able to connect with each other, and in some kinds of connections the term functional is not suitable.

The first All-Russian Congress on the fight against drunkenness, which took place in St. Petersburg from 28 December. 1909 to 6 Jan. 1910 must be regarded as a major event in the history of the Russian anti-alcohol movement.

Being the fruit and result of a long social movement, Sezd reflected in his inner life all the vicissitudes of this movement, while his external fate vividly demonstrated the historically developing relationship between two powerful factors of our time: the state and alcohol.

Two cases of Jackson's epilepsy; in both cases the seizures were preceded by a sensitive aura in the right arm. The operation in both cases was performed in two stages. At the 1st moment, a craniotomy was performed, at the 2nd moment, two weeks later, the affected areas of the medulla were removed. At the second moment of the operation, general anesthesia was applied only at the very beginning, when the meninges were cut, while the brain substance was stimulated by a faradic current, the patients were fully conscious.

A 67-year-old patient has suffered from tabes dorsalis for several years. After an attack, the exact nature of which remained unclear, he developed phenomena of verbal deafness; a few days later he was admitted to the hospital. A detailed study, carried out a year after admission, established the following: the patient pays attention to the various sounds that he perceives, but does not understand the meaning of the words and is completely unable to assess the nature and meaning of various sounds. He is not able to repeat the word said by another person. The ability of arbitrary speech is preserved, and only occasionally does the patient make paraphasic errors in pronunciation. He reads printed materials easily and freely, understands questions put to him in writing, and gives correct answers to them. Arbitrary writing does not present any disturbances.

Dr. Bushkovich's article clearly explains how necessary, along with brain changes, to investigate changes in other organs in order to get closer to the interpretation of the pathological processes that underlie mental deviations. The author collected significant pathological and anatomical material (500 autopsies) and arranged it into groups, where, parallel to the forms of psychoses, the changes found by him in different organs are indicated and their number is noted in numbers (for each form separately).

The author was able to observe three cases of the so-called progressive muscular dystrophy of Erb'a, both from the side of the course of the disease, and from the pathological and anatomical picture of dystrophic muscles. The anatomical picture, according to the author, is common with all types of muscular atrophy, and this raises doubts about the correctness of isolating this disease into an independent unit. Its clinical picture is stronger, although here, too, a certain amount of skepticism has already been introduced with the presence of transitional forms, ascertaining the reaction of degeneration and fibrillar twitching in myopathies.

In a short note, Prof. Shcherbak reports a case of lateral sclerosis, which ended in death six months after the onset of the disease. A patient under 50 years of age, who was not interested in either sports or physical labor, not long before the illness began to intensively engage in gymnastics and heavy physical labor. This circumstance could, according to the author, cause a systemic disease of the motor nerves.

We describe our own observation of Erbovsky's paralysis after surgery under chloroform anesthesia. The author sees the reason in the fact that in the usual position of the operated on the Trendelenburg table (raised pelvis and low head), during deep anesthesia, the arms sag and stretch out strongly; the predisposing moment in this case, the author considers exhaustion and neuropathic organization.

Under the name spondylose rhizomelique, stiffness, cyphose heredo-traumatique, Bechterew's disease, a disease is described with symptoms of stiffness, immobility, ankylosis of the spine and large joints, and mobility in the shoulder and pelvic girdle is rarely affected. The disease appears after a cold, acute febrile illness, malaria and is characterized by the appearance of gradually increasing pain. Then there is a feeling of stiffness, heaviness of the whole body and symptoms from the spine and joints. Bekhterev considers heredity, trauma and lues to be the etiological moment.

The author within 12 months noted the number of seizures in 10 epileptics; most of them did not receive large amounts of bromide preparations at this time, and only two were prescribed permanent bromine treatment. Based on his observations, the author draws the following conclusions: the composition of atmospheric air, its temperature, amount of light, cloudiness, air humidity and precipitation do not have any effect on the frequency of epileptic seizures. Rapidly occurring fluctuations in barometric pressure appear to be related to the occurrence and frequency of seizures in epileptics.

In the historical-critical essay that makes up the first half of the article, the author lists the stages that Kraepelin's teaching on manic-depressive psychosis has consistently passed in its development and immediately analyzes the objections to it. In the concept of manic-depressive psychosis, Dr. Gutman combines mania, melancholia, their periodic forms and circular psychosis, following the Kraepelin school in this, but disagrees with her on the issue of the speed of the flow of ideas in a manic state. The Kraepelin school, on the basis of Aschaffenburg's experimental studies, argues that associations here are slowed down and only motor excitation simulates a rapid change and a variety of ideas. To test this new teaching in psychiatry, the author set up a series of psychological experiments using the same method of Aschaffenburg, but did not limit himself to the first answer regarding the word of the stimulus, but allowed the patient to freely associate further for one minute.

In his views on the essence of paranoia, the author agrees with that group of psychiatrists who consider paranoia to be a secondary disease and see the cause of paranoid delirium in defects in the central nervous system that are not currently recognized. In the period when there are already defects in the nervous system, these essentially sick people can commit crimes, which are an expression of their latent illness, but the absence of delirium does not allow recognizing the disease, and such patients go to prison and hard labor. The author observed paranoid convicts on about. Sakhalin.

The author describes a rare case of great hysteria with pathological phenomena of imitation. During seizures, the patient automatically reproduced with extreme accuracy all kinds of sounds and even whole phrases in languages unknown to her, which reached her hearing, and repeated all the movements of people who at that time were before her eyes. This state sometimes lasted for hours. Easy suggestibility and unusual impressionability, together with pathological imitation, bring this case closer to hysterics and the so-called. meryachenie, often found among foreigners in Eastern Siberia.

3 cases of dementiae praec are described in detail. An autopsy revealed arteriosclerosis; there were no symptoms of progressive paralysis. The author considers progressive paralysis to be incompatible with premature dementia.

Cyclothymia, says Dr. Sukhanov, is the result of a congenital anomaly in the structure of the central nervous system. It is revealed by the change of periods of oppression of mental activity by periods of its acceleration and better mood. Finding sometimes in childhood, cyclothymia goes and proceeds in a fatal way; it makes itself felt throughout the life of the individual. If the periods of inhibition and acceleration of mental activity do not go beyond certain limits in their manifestations, then they speak of neurasthenia or consider such a person healthy, and sharper manifestations of the cyclothymic constitution are usually diagnosed as mania or melancholia. The author considers cyclothymia to be a mild form of manic-depressive psychosis.

After complete thyroidectomy in dogs, the author observed muscle rigidity, trembling; simple and more complex monotonous movements, salivation, lowering of temperature; further, a passive attitude to everything around, lethargy and some. other phenomena. The urine and serum of such animals are more poisonous than those of normal ones; oxidative functions of the blood are lowered. A milk diet and bowel cleansing temporarily improves the condition of animals deprived of the thyroid gland, but all of them soon die from convulsive seizures with symptoms of intoxication and mental depression.

Heilbronner's method is as follows: the researcher is asked to consider a schematic drawing of Ph.D. a well-known object and then say what this drawing depicts. In the following figures, the details are gradually introduced. By the accuracy and speed with which the meaning of the drawing is explained and new details noticed, one can judge the ability to perceive the essential features of a given object (Merkfähigkeit Wernicke) Dr. Petersen examined the susceptibility of the mentally ill according to the Heilbronner method and finds that this method has advantage over the Bernstein method and its modifications, since in addition to the accuracy of the results, it gives a clear picture of the associative activity in b-x and indicates the state of dementia.

Proceeding from the generally accepted position, according to which muscle tone depends on irritations coming from the surface of the skin and from the muscles, the speakers suggest, in cases where there is an increase in tone, to resort to transection of the posterior roots. At a meeting of the New York Neurological Society, they demonstrated a boy of 10 years old, who, at the age of 11 months, after undergoing scarlet fever at that time, developed diplegia spastica; Tylor performed an operation that consisted of transection of the last thoracic and 4 lumbar sensory roots on the left side. After the operation, the spastic phenomena in the left leg noticeably weakened, and the gait improved significantly; the right leg remained unchanged.

Based on his experimental work on various animals, H. Wyss came to the conclusion that the phenomena of bromism are due not to intoxication of the body with bromine, but to a lack of chloride compounds in the blood. Based on these data, the author, in cases of bromism in epileptics who have taken large amounts of bromine for a long time and adhered to a regimen containing a small amount of table salt, gave small doses of the latter (2.0 pro die); the phenomena of bromism disappeared after a few days. In cases of persistent acne of bromide origin, the author successfully prescribed compresses from a 10% solution of sodium chloride.

We are asked to print that from September in St. Petersburg, in the premises of the Biological Laboratory of PF Lesgaft, a new higher educational institution is opening - St. Petersburg. Higher Courses with faculties of general education and special education. The main task of this institution is to eliminate one of the very significant shortcomings of modern higher education, which provides only specialized knowledge, without general higher education, resulting in an unfilled gap between secondary and higher education. Recognizing the extremely important importance of general education in higher education, not only for development, but also as a means of facilitating a more correct choice by students of their specialty, the founders of the Higher Courses named after P.F. Lesgaft introduced into the curriculum.

Присутствовали: предсѣдатель профф. Л. О. Даркшевичъ, Н. А. Миславскій, В. П. Осиповъ, В. Ф. Орловскій, Ф. Я. Чистовичъ, д-ра: А. В. Ѳаворскій. И. И. Троицкій, В. Н. Осипова, Трубина, Долговъ, Веселитскій, Павленко, Хомяковъ, Богатыревъ, Чалусовъ, Эмдинъ, Глушковъ, Болбергъ, Ворошиловъ, Глушковъ, Шоломовичъ и до 100 гостей преимущественно студентовъ медиковъ.

Сообщеніе дѣйствительнаго члена В. К. Ворошилова: Meningo-myelitis syphilitica (съ демонстраціей больного).