These are always difficult to define, Jan.  It appears that they did not have the diagnostic tests of today, certainly did not do autopsies with the rigors of medical forensics.  I suspect that they observed the persons behavior and from that made their best guess as to a cause.  He seems a little young to have had what we now call Alzheimer's, but it is still possible.  There were also a number of toxins (even some folk cures), that could cause dementia. Hopefully, this doesn't apply, but they used to use mercury and arsenic to treat syphilis up until about World War II.  One wonders how many people medicine killed instead of cured in the 1800s.         Lou ----- Original Message ----- From: Jan Moon <[email protected]> To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> Cc: Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2014 7:07 AM Subject: [LIN] Leicestershire Asylum My relative was admitted to this institution 14 Mar 1889, aged 43 - the records said he had Dementia, Cause unknown. He died 11 Ma 1915 aged 69, cause atrophy of the Brain. I’d like to know what went into a diagnosis of dementia in 1889, and what the term Atrophy of the Brain actually meant. Can anyone help? Regards Jan Sent from Windows Mail ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message