5-23    •

■•     S-24

5.21     .,

■■     S-37

5-55     •

..     5.71

MORBID    PSYCHIC    PHENOMENA.  393


1S8S

1889

1 890

In  the  United  States  of  America  and  in  the  English  colonies
(as  in  foreign  countries  generally)  there  is  an  excess  of  male
lunatics.  The  statistics  for  the  United  States  are  still  very
imperfect,  but  in  Pennsylvania,  where  they  receive  most  atten-
tion, the  excess  is  very  clear;  thus,  during  1889,  an  average
year,  there  were  1017  admissions  of  men  to  836  of  women.  In
New  South  Wales  the  number  of  insane  persons  on  the  official
registers  at  the  end  of  the  year  1890  was  1906  men  and  1196
women.  At  the  Cape,  at  the  same  time,  the  European  and
coloured  inmates  of  the  asylums  numbered  335  men  and  240
women,  the  excess  of  men  being  nearly  as  well  marked  among
the  white  as  among  the  black  population.
The  sexual  variations  in  the  age  at  which  insanity
first  appears  have  been  studied  by  Marro  at  the  Turin
Asylum  during  the  years  1886-95.1  He  was  care-
ful to  include  only  those  cases  in  which  the  age  at
the  first  appearance  of  insanity  was  definitely  known.
(His  results  are  presented  in  a  graphic  form  on
p.  394.)  Before  the  appearance  of  puberty  there  is
little  insanity,  and  it  is  then  usually  due  to  some
arrest  of  development  (idiocy,  imbecility,  cretinism,
moral  insanity,  etc.).  There  is  a  rapid  rise  at
puberty,  taking  place  earlier  in  girls  and  subsiding
later.  During  mature  life  men  are  more  liable  to
insanity,  but  at  the  period  of  the  change  of  life  in
women  they  again  become  more  liable  to  insanity,
while  in  old  age  there  is  little  sexual  difference.
