I have often stated in conversation that Shakspere, in depicting the agitation into which Othello was thrown by the artifices of Iago, subjected the Moor to an epileptic seizure. Almost without exception, this statement has at first been contradicted; but a perusal and an analysis of Scene 1, Act iv. of the tragedy of “Othello” have, I think, convinced all enquirers that the dramatist's design in the matter was not open to doubt.

In the Journal of “Mental Science” for April, 1877, I published a note on this subject, and had to regret that the conclusions deduced were drawn from comparatively so small a number of cases, that some further statistics on the subject would be. necessary to show how far the figures then given could be depended upon.

The physiological action of Alcohol upon thermogenesis has been the subject of much dispute, and its effects upon tissue metamorphosis is still a moot point with many authorities in Therapeutics.

To judge from the sparse literature of the subject, cerebrine has not often been chemically studied. The first work of any importance was done by W. Müller. Müller obtained the body, which he called “Cerebrine,” free from phosphorus by digesting the brain with baryta-water. He also analysed it, and proposed the formula, C34 H33 NO6.

Out of 946 cases admitted into the Bristol Asylum since January, 1870, symptoms of General Paralysis of the Insane have existed in 116; of which 83 occurred in males, and 33 in females, the admissions being respectively 440 males and 506 females.

The number of the “American Journal of Insanity” Vol. xxxiv. No. 3, contains the address on “Mental Hygiene,” delivered by Dr. Gray, the Editor, at the International Medical Congress, at Philadelphia. To cite all the passages which convey the principal truths which Dr. Gray wishes to enunciate in his terse and striking language would occupy a large part of the space at our disposal. The term is certainly employed in a very comprehensive sense. It “covers all the broad field of human energy, embracing all the professions and every branch of industrial life. It looks after man's moral as well as his intellectual nature, for the two cannot be separated. It enters into his domestic and social conditions, and follows him in his duties as a citizen.” The problem is no less than to discover the best scheme for the development of human nature and the control of his passions.

Fife and Kinross District Asylum.— Judging from the excellence of this Report, the interests of the Institution would seem to he in no danger of suffering from the change of Superintendents. Dr. Brown evidently considers that the saying, “What is worth doing is worth doing well,” refers to the preparation of Asylum Reports.

The first number for the year is not remarkable for any paper of striking value. Readers of the Journal will be chiefly attracted by the long and clearly written resumé of Dr. Hughlings Jackson's recent studies “On Affections of Speech from Disease of the Brain,” which is contributed by Mr. James Sully. He remarks on the great value of Dr. Jackson's attempts to classify the different forms of aphasia under the three main heads or stages of—(1) Defect of Speech, in which the patient has a full vocabulary, but confuses words; (2) Loss of Speech, in which the patient is practically speechless, and his pantomimic power is impaired as well; and (3) Loss of Language, in which, besides being speechless, he has altogether lost the power of pantomime, and even his faculty of emotional language is deeply involved in the wreck. All these states or stages again are, properly speaking, to be distinguished altogether from affections of speech in the way of loss of articulation (owing to paralysis of the tongue, &c.), or loss of vocalisation (owing to disease of the larynx); whereas the three degrees or stages of aphasia proper are due to a deep-seated and severe disorganisation of the brain. The main interest of the theory lies in the ingenious and carefully-argued analysis of the symptoms, by which Dr. Jackson arrives at the theory that as the process of destruction goes on, the superior “layers” or strata of speech fail first—those namely which involve the ordinary power of adapting sounds to the circumstances of the moment as they arise; after them fail the “more highly organized utterances” those, namely, which have in any way become automatic, such as “come on,” “wo! wo!” and even “yes” and “no,” which stand on the border-line between emotional and intellectual language; next fails the power of adapting other than vocal signs to convey an intended meaning, which is called, rather clumsily, “pantomimic propositionising;” and last of all dies out the power of uttering sounds or making signs expressive merely of emotion—a power which, of course, is not true speech at all.