[289] In 1873 the number was greater, viz. 664.
[290] The inspectors make a total of 13,051.
[291] Journal of Mental Science, January, 1882.
CHAPTER XI.
PROGRESS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE DURING THE LAST FORTY YEARS: 1841-1881.[292]
If, gentlemen, History be correctly defined as Philosophy teaching by examples, I do not know that I could take any subject for my Address more profitable or fitting than the Progress of Psychological Medicine during the forty years which, expiring to-day, mark the life of the Association over which, thanks to your suffrages, I have the honour to preside this year—an honour greatly enhanced by the special circumstances under which we assemble, arising out of the meeting in this metropolis of the International Medical Congress. To it I would accord a hearty welcome, speaking on behalf of this Association, which numbers amongst its honorary members so many distinguished alienists, American and European. Bounded by the limits of our four seas, we are in danger of overlooking the merits of those who live and work beyond them. I recall the observation of Arnold of Rugby, that if we were not a very active people, our disunion from the Continent would make us nearly as bad as the Chinese. "Foreigners say," he goes on to remark, "that our insular situation cramps and narrows our minds. And this is not mere nonsense either. What is wanted is a deep knowledge of, and sympathy with, the European character and institutions, and then there would be a hope that we might each impart to the other that in which we are superior."
Do we not owe to France the classic works of Pinel and of Esquirol—justly styled the Hippocrates of Psychological Medicine—works whose value time can never destroy; and have not these masters in Medical Psychology been followed by an array of brilliant names familiar to us as household words, Georget, Bayle, Ferrus, Foville, Leuret, Falret, Voisin, Trélat, Parchappe, Morel, Marcé, who have passed away,[293] and by those now living who, either inheriting their name or worthy of their fame, will be inscribed on the long roll of celebrated psychologists of which that country can boast.
If Haslam may seem to have stumbled upon General Paralysis, we may well accord to French alienists the merit of having really discovered the disorder which, in our department, is the most fascinating, as it has formed the most prominent object of research, during the last forty years.
To mention Austria and Germany, is to recall Langermann, Feuchtersleben, Reil, Friedreich, Jacobi, Zeller, Griesinger, Roller, and Flemming, who, full of years and honours, has now passed away.
Has not Belgium her Guislain, Holland her Schroeder van der Kolk, and Italy her Chiaruggi?