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A Review of the Congress of Alienists and Neurologists of French-Speaking Countries Held at Tunis, April 1St to 7Th, 1912

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 February 2018

Extract

From April 1st to the 7th this year the Twenty-second Annual Congress of Alienists and Neurologists of France and of French-speaking countries, consisting of a membership of about 300 adherents, was held in Tunis, and the writer attended as a delegate of the Medico-Psychological Association of Great Britain and Ireland. More than thirty institutions for the care and treatment of mental cases were associated with the Congress, and numerous delegates representing learned societies as well as foreign countries attended. The President of this year's Congress was Dr. Mabille, Medical Superintendent of the La Fond Asylum at La Rochelle; Dr. Arnaud, Physician to the Mental Hospital of Vanves (Seine) was Vice-President; and the General Secretary was Dr. Porot, the very able and energetic Physician to the French Hospital in Tunis. An important paper announced for discussion was by Dr. Régis, Professor of Clinical Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bordeaux, who contributed a very full and exhaustive paper upon the “Care of the Insane in the French Colonies and Dependencies,” with a review of their treatment in the adjoining colonies such as those of England and of Holland. Dr. Régis was assisted in his paper by Dr. Reboul, of Annam. Another paper was by Dr. Chavigny, Major of the French Army Medical Service, upon the “Mental and Nervous Symptoms associated with Malaria”— obviously one of considerable importance in view of the expansion of French Colonial Government; and a third paper by Dr. Dupré, one of the teachers and a Fellow of the University of Paris, was upon mental states arising from, and connected with, perversions of the natural instincts. Although these were the three main subjects, other papers connected with neurology or psychiatry were presented to the Congress for discussion, among them being—one upon “Goitrous Insanity” by Drs. Fraikin and Grenier de Cardenal, one relating to “Insanity and Renal Disease” by Dr. Beriel, one by Dr. Gelma on “Delusions of Persecution.” Other papers were by Drs. Petit, Mignot, Adam and Levassort. A valuable report upon an experimental study relating to the association of ideas in the Insane was presented jointly by Dr. Auguste Ley, Professor in the University of Brussels, also physician to the Mental Sanatorium at Fort-Jaco, Uccle, near Brussels, and Dr. Paul Menzerath of the same hospital laboratory. Another paper was by Dr. Levassort upon “Degeneracy in its Relation to Perverted Instincts,” and two others bore upon the same subject, viz., one by Dr. Berillon, relating to the influence of suggestion upon normal as contrasted with abnormal instincts, and the other by Dr. Simonin who related his experience in the French Army in regard to mental enfeeblement, a clinical and medico-legal study. A paper by Dr. Haury upon “Hooligans in the Army and their Rational Treatment,” formed a suitable complement to the chief paper of the day by Dr. Dupré.

Type
Part III.—Epitome
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1912 

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