THE LABORATORY DIAGNOSIS OF GENERAL PARESIS

During the past year an investigation has been made in the laboratory of the Binghamton State Hospital for the Insane, of the cerebrospinal fluid from fifty-seven patients with general paresis, for the purpose of determining the relative value of the various laboratory methods of diagnosis which are now in quite general use. The results are shown in Table 1. As a control the same tests were applied to the spinal fluid from twenty-nine patients unquestionably suffering from psychoses other than general paresis. The fluids were obtained by lumbar puncture, about 10 c.c. being removed as a rule. The patients were kept in bed for twenty-four hours after the operation and no dangerous results occurred. Headache, dizziness, backache, and sometimes nausea followed, but no more severe symptoms were noted. The spinal fluid in general paresis is clear in appearance in the great majority of cases and when not, the cloudiness