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ether" the odour pervading the former is more commonly Ithat due to various brands of tobacco. ICHARING CROSS HOSPITAL: THE CHERE REINE

LODGE OF FREEMASONS.

ALL Charing Cross Hospital men who are Freemasonswill be pleased to hear that a warrant has been grantedby Grand Lodge to found a lodge in connexion with CharingCross Hospital. This lodge, the Chere Reine, No. 2853,will be. consecrated on June 7th at the Hotel Cecil.Brethren who would like tickets for the ceremony or whodesire to become joining members of the lodge are requestedto communicate at once with Bro. Carter Braine, 67,Wimpole-street, W. -

SUGGESTION AND HYPNOTISM IN THEIRRELATION TO JURISPRUDENCE.

DR. BARON VON SCHRENCK-NoTZING of Munich contributesto the March number of the Medico-Legal Journal a valuablepaper on the above subject based largely upon his ownunrivalled experience in this field of psychological medicine.Criminal acts may be committed by hypnotised subjectswhile in the hypnotic stage, or by subjects in the stateof wakefulness who had been previously hypnotised andinfluenced by suggestion to criminal acts. Moreover, the

hypnotised subject may be abused or criminally wronged bythe hypnotiser. Among criminal acts belonging to the lastcategory attempts upon decency and morality occupy the firstplace. Such cases have been reported by Bellanger, Laurent,Ladame, Brouardel, Krafft-Ebing, and Schrenck-Notzinghimself. "In all these cases there was always proved theundoubted existence of hypnotic sleep ...... for in order tocarry out these crimes recourse had to be taken to the most

profound hypnotisation, whereby the subject was deprivedof the faculty of resistance or had become an automaton ofthe hypnotiser, and very often we had to deal with a con-dition of hysterical sleep or lethargy." Natural modestyand good bringing-up offer an undoubted resistance to

sexual attempts and cannot be overcome by the help of afew opposite suggestions, whereas sensual temperamentsare more easily seduced. There are all shades of difference Ibetween such resistance to criminal suggestion and absoluteobedience. Two instances of sexual crimes committedunder hypnotic suggestion came recently under notice

and in a third instance also observed by Schrenck-Notzinga theft was committed under the influence of hypnoticaction. Sexual attempts and theft t constitute the

majority of cases, but instances of abortion and ofsubstitution of infants with the aid of hypnosis are notunknown. The suggestion of sickness to escape from

military service is rare. Injury to health, especiallymentally and morally, may be the result of hypnosis bylaymen, professional magnetisers, and public performerswho claim to work cures in this way. The dangers arisingfrom taking part in magnetic séarwes and exhibitions of a

semi-public character are not insignificant. After re-

affirming the difficulty of inducing normal individuals of

good morale and training to participate in criminal acts,even when induced thereto by hypnosis, Schrenck-Notzingrefers to the greater importance of hypnotic suggestion inthe condition of wakefulness. He quotes the case of thewoman Sauter who was tried before the Court of Assizes atMunich in 1899. She was charged with the attempt tomurder and with instigating several persons to murder. Shewas an ignorant woman under the influence of soothsayersand absolutely acquiesced in and attempted to carry out theirsuggestions. A full report of the case by Schrenck-Notzingwas laid before the court and the woman was acquitted. Itis pointed out that criminal suggestions in the waking statemay have dangerous influence upon certain classes of

persons-e.g., infants, hysterical persons, and persons withan easily excited imagination. A case is reported of a nursewho suffered from a mania of destructiveness but who was

unscrupulous enough to suggest to her charge, a little girl agedseven years, that the latter should confess to the misdeeds.

During nine months the little girl voluntarily made herselfthe scapegoat, confessed to being the wrongdoer, and volun-tarily bore every punishment without ever betraying hernurse. Persons who commit crimes suggested to them arerarely of perfectly sane mind. But the more a person iswithout energy or strength of will or is the subject of con-genital moral defect the more potent does suggestion become.Certain nervous ailments, such as hysteria, neurasthenia,epilepsy, and certain critical epochs of life, as puberty, andthe menopause, render individuals more prone to suggestionfor good or evil. -

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON: THE STANDING COM-

MITTEE OF THE FACULTY OF MEDICINE.

A MEETING of the members of Convocation of the

University of London was held at the University’s newbuilding at South Kensington on Tuesday, May 14th, at5 P.M. Sir E. H. Bask had been duly nominated for theappointment of chairman and Mr. H. E. Allen as clerk.

Several alterations in the standing orders were proposed.The members of the standing committees were also elected.There were nine vacancies in the Faculty of Medicine andthe little interest taken by the medical graduates in theproceedings of convocation under the new statutes is shownby the fact that four of the nine persons who have beenduly nominated are connected with one medical school-viz., the London School of Medicine for Women.

A GENERAL meeting of the Medico-Psychological Associa-tion of Great Britain and Ireland will be held at 11,Chandos-street, Cavendish-square, W., on Thursday,May 23rd, at 3 P.M., under the presidency of Dr. FletcherBeach, when Dr. Charles Mercier will read a paper on

"Punishment," and Dr. R. P. Smith will deal with "ACase of Epileptic Homicide." Dr. D. G. Thomson willtake for his subject " Senile Insanity." At two o’clock anumber of slides showing the condition of nerve-cells andassociation fibres in cases of idiocy and juvenile generalparalysis will be shown, and in the evening the membersof the association will dine together at the Cafe Royal,Regent-street, W. -

THE annual dinner of the British Balneological and

Climatological Society will be held at Limmer’s Hotel on

Friday, May 31st, at 6.30 P.M., under the presidency of Dr.Frederic Bagshawe. Communications should be addressedto one of the honorary secretaries, Dr. S. Sunderland, 11,Cavendish-place, W., or Mr. Shirley Jones, Droitwich. After

the dinner the annual conversazione will be held at 20-,Hanover-square, when Dr. I. Burney Yeo will give an addresson Hepatic Inadequacy.

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THE annual meeting of the Association of Asylum Workerswill be held at the Medical Society’s House, 11, Chandos-street, Cavendish-square, W., on Friday, May 24th, at

4 P.M., Sir James Crichton-Browne, M.D. Edin., LL.D.F.R.S. (President of the association), in the chair. Allinterested in asylum work and workers are cordially invitedto attend.

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AMONGST the Australian Commonwealth honours recentlybestowed at Melbourne by H.R.H. the Duke of Cornwall we

I are glad to notice the name of the medical Mayor of Sydney., We congratulate Sir James Graham, M.A., M.D. (gold