Archives of Neurology

'WE have before us the latest published reports of tlle three largest charitable institutions in England for idiots, iinbeciles, andl the feeble-minded-that is to say, enumerating them in the order of their seniority-tlhe Earlswood Asylum, the Royal Eastern Coulnties Institution, Colchester, and the Royal Albert Institution, Lan-. caster. The last-nallmed has lnow the largest number of patielnts resident, namiely, 704 (on June .30th last), against, 486 at Earlswood and 363 at Colchester (on January lst, 1911). InI each institution male preponderate over female patienits in the proportion of about 2 to 1, contrasting with the sex distribution. in lunatic asylums, where women ouLtnumber miien. The average n-umber resident at the thlree institutions durinig the twelve months under review wasat Earlswood 466, at Colchester 348, and at the Royal Albert 679; anid their respective death-rates, calculated on tlhis average, were 3.43, 3.73, and 3.97 per cent., tubercullous disease accounting for abouLt 45 per cent. of the aggregate mortality. The followinga special notes may be initerestina with regard to the individuial institutions: