The wages of sin: the problem of alcoholism and general paralysis in nineteenth-century Edinburgh

2018 ◽  
pp. 316-340
Author(s):  
Margaret S. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
General Paralysis

‘Shrouded in a dark fog’: comparison of the diagnosis of pellagra in Venice and general paralysis of the insane in the United Kingdom, 1840–1900

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 166-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Egidio Priani
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
General Paralysis ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Uk

The debate on the causes and the nature of pellagra in Italy during the nineteenth century resembles and evokes the similar debate on General Paralysis of the Insane (GPI) that was growing at the same time in the United Kingdom. Pellagra and GPI had a massive and virulent impact on the populations of Italy and the UK, respectively, and contributed to a great extent to the increase and overcrowding of the asylum populations in these countries. This article compares the two illnesses by examining the features of their nosographic positioning, aetiology and pathogenesis. It also documents how doctors arrived at the diagnoses of the two diseases and how this affected their treatment.

Nietzsche and Music

1994 ◽  
Vol 37 ◽  
pp. 213-227
Author(s):  
Anthony Storr
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Mentally Ill ◽  
Brain Disease ◽  
General Paresis ◽  
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche ◽  
General Paralysis ◽  
The Brain

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was born on 5 October 1844 and died on 25 August, 1900. From 1889 until his death eleven years later he was physically and mentally ill and incapable of work. It is almost certain that he died of the brain disease known as G.P.I., General Paralysis of the Insane, or general paresis. In the nineteenth century and well into our own era, this was a not uncommon tertiary manifestation of a syphilitic infection which might originally have been contracted many years before. Because the initial stages of syphilis can now be treated with antibiotics, general paresis is rarely seen today.

Glimpses of Gilles de la Tourette’s Personality

2018 ◽  
pp. 81-88
Author(s):  
Olivier Walusinski
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The State ◽  
Hospital Administrators ◽  
General Paralysis ◽  
Cognitive Difficulties ◽  
Hospital Physicians ◽  
The Press ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
Over Time

Using unpublished letters as well as press excerpts, the author examines Gilles de la Tourette’s relationships with hospital administrators and journalists, which provide insight into his personality. Responding to an unfortunate case sensationalized by the press, Gilles de la Tourette aggressively defended his reputation while also revealing cognitive difficulties that would worsen over time. Starting in 1893, Gilles de la Tourette’s behavior gradually changed, a sign of syphilitic general paralysis. The chapter presents previously unpublished letters that he sent to the administrators of his hospital, where he was in charge of a department and describes his reaction to a slanderous press campaign. In addition to Gilles de la Tourette’s condition, the new documents elucidate the state of Parisian hospitals and the challenges of hospital physicians at the end of the nineteenth century.

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