The State of the Eye During Sleep.—Dr. W. Sander (“Archiv,” ix. Band, 1 Heft), observes that with some care and practice the eye may be opened during sleep, and its condition examined. The view commonly given in the text books is that during sleep the eyeballs are turned inwards and upwards. This, I think, was first taught by Sir Charles Bell. According to Sander's experiments, the eyes are in a middle position, the axes parallel to one another, as when looking at a far object. In falling asleep, the eyeballs are converged and turned upwards, and the same thing takes place when the sleep is disturbed through raising of the lids. We then can see the eyes slowly moving upwards and inwards, as if to avoid the light, and seek protection from the covering eyelids. It is this condition which has been mistaken for the permanent one during disturbed sleep. Divergent positions of the eyes were seldom observed, and Dr. Sander is inclined to regard them as the result of disease, or deep stupor.

The thirty-fourth annual meeting will be held in the Royal College of Physicians, Pall Mall, London (by permission of the President and Fellows), under the Presidency of J. A. Lush, M.P., F.R.C.P.

Professor Verga has collected the statistics for all the asylums in continental Italy (excluding, therefore, Sardinia and Sicily), taken on the night of December 31, 1874. There were then 170·79 lunatics to every 100,000 inhabitants, a proportion somewhat higher than in England, Ireland, and France, but lower than in Scotland. In the province of Naples, where the ratio was lowest, it was 1 to 903; while in Lombardy, where it was highest, it was 1 to 435. In Umbria the proportion of insane persons had doubled in 15 years, and in Lombardy nearly tripled in 10 years.