Case No. 19.-Mrs. S., white, female, age forty-eight. Diagnosis Spinal neuritis. She applied for treatment March 15th, complaining of pain and weakness in left She also complained of thorax, arm, hand and leg. "great heart weakness" (I use the patient's own words). She is always afraid that she will drop articles when she attempts to pick them up. This condition of affairs has persisted for months. After about two week's treatment with the brush discharge there was no improvement. March 27th she was given the wave-current for 20 minutes, a metal spinal electrode being used. Then she was given sparks over effected area, with complete relief. She is still under treatment and improving daily. I could tire you with the history of such cases and the favorable results obtained from treatment with the static modalities, but I will refrain from doing so, and will only present to your notice a few cases of other congestive conditions which have been favorably influenced. Case No. 3.-Enlarged and painful prostatic glands, gonorrheal in origin, of one year's standing. This patient applied for treatment February 8th. I began the use of the wave-current, using a metal, rectal electrode with a three to four-inch spark-gap for 20 minutes. This treatment was given daily until the 12th. He was then much improved, prostate reduced very much in size and no pain. I lost sight of him until the 16th. He stated that he had been away, but was doing nicely. Treatment was again instituted and continued every other day to this date, April 10th. Patient is still under treatment, but he is on the highroad to recovery, and prostate is about normal and he has no pain. Case No. 11.-Same condition. The treatment began March 6th. The prostate very much enlarged and very painful. He was treated daily until April 10th. Exami nation revealed the fact that the glands were about normal, and that they were not in the least tender. He will be discharged in a few days. Case No. 7.-This patient had gonorrhea about two years ago. Examination showed prostate to be very much enlarged and intensely sensitive. He was given the same treatment as the preceding cases, and he steadily improved. Treatment began February 16th, and continued daily to February 26th, when he was discharged, the prostatic enlargement having disappeared, as well as all sensitive ness. In the treatment of sprains and fractures the brush discharge will relieve congestion, pain, etc., and reduce swelling. It can be applied after the injured part has been attended by the surgeon, as the following case will illustrate: Mr. C. sustained a fracture of both bones of the left leg just above ankle joint. After wearing a plaster cast for six weeks the part was very much swollen, and there was pain at the seat of the fracture. Two applications of the brush discharge over cast relieved the pain and reduced swelling to marked degree. In treatment of sprains the result from the brush discharge is extremely good. The pain and swelling will be much diminished at the time of administration, and cases of not more than thirty hours' standing will be cured in from five to ten days, during which time the patient should be permitted to use the part with care. In sprains of long standing the length of time required will vary with each case, but improvement in most cases will be marked from the first. The treatment should be instituted as soon as the swelling appears, and should be continued until the parts are no longer sensitive. The frequency of treatment should be regulated to each individual case. In the treatment of hemorrhoids, the metal electrode with the wave-current gives speedy and permanent results. I have treated quite a number of so-called "internal and bleeding piles" in this manner and in no case did the patient fail to get the longed-for relief. REFERENCES. Wm. B. Snow, New York City. DEMENTIA PRECOX. BY J. W. MOBLEY, M.D., MILLEDGEVILLE. In presuming to address you upon that phase of psychiatry which is yet in the balance, and under active discussion by the leading alienists of to-day, I hope, first, to command your attention and consideration, and, secondly, to profit by your discussion of the paper which I present. The old and familiar phraseology "precocious child," if followed to its fundamental analysis, conveys to the medical mind, and especially the alienist, a significance of pathological import. Precocious children are considered abnormal in so far as the natural role of a child's life is concerned. Especially is this true where the child is irritable, the imagination brilliant, and the development of the body does not progress pari passu with the intellect. This precociousness or early sign of abnormal mental development not being in accord with the physical forces, these children, in some instances, soon degenerate; their minds come to a standstill, they acquire nothing more, and the hopes of this premature mental activity are lost in the awful picture of a sudden intellectual decay. This, from an etymological standpoint, gives you the simplest and earliest type of that phase of insanity we now wish to study, namely, dementia precox. HISTORY. In the days of Esquirol many of this class of dementia and mental incompetency were considered as acquired or accidental idiots and imbeciles. The assigned causes were generally regarded as providential or fortuitous; being provoked by some form of intemperance, accident or environment, and not looked upon as the early expression of a distinct disease entity. Later on such men as Magnan (1), Morel and Falret, together with the pupils of their school, opposed this theory, and contended that the dementia of early life was an evidence of degeneracy and heredity in origin. It was not until 1863 that any definite effort was made to give this peculiar mental affection any positive classification. Kahlbaum described at that time a positive psychosis, occurring at the age of puberty, which exhibited an early symptomatology towards dementia. To this he gave the name of hebephrenia. His work, however, created very little comment, and it was not until 1871, when Hecker attempted to set forth a true and detailed clinical picture of hebephrenia. His observations led him to pronounce the symptom complex as a distinct alienation, and he proclaimed at that time that hebephrenia "was a mental affection occurring at the age of puberty, manifesting itself by alternate fits of mania and melancholia, and progressing rapidly towards dementia." ETIOLOGY. Both Kahlbaum and Hecker regarded the time of the development of hebephrenia, that is, puberty-extending through the adolescent state, as of great differential and diagnostic importance. Indeed, its occurrence at this epoch in life was considered highly peculiar to the affection, and puberty was regarded as its principal causative agent. This marked stress placed upon the time of the onset of the disease as a diagnostic and etiologic factor soon met active opposition from more advanced thinkers. The contention was made that it was possible for many |