A very considerable portion of the large and increasing expenditure for the poor in Scotland, which has lately attracted so much public attention, has been incurred on account of pauper lunatics. Thus, while the entire cost of this class to the country in 1858 was &pond;80,652, in 1867 it amounted to &pond;117,186, having reached this point by a constant though irregular growth each intervening year. Possibly, after all the asylums which have been recently erected are in full operation, the annual addition may not be so great in future years; but in the meantime there is no indication of a reduction in the rate of increase. For the report of the General Lunacy Board for 1868 shows that the sum expended by parochial boards on account of the insane, in 1867, was &pond;6,382 more than in 1866; and it appears from the last report of the Board of Supervision for the relief of the poor, that during the year ending 30th June, 1869, the additional cost was &pond;11,136. The explanation of this constant growth of expenditure is not difficult to find, but it would be foreign to my subject to enter into the question. I shall, therefore, at once proceed to consider the measure of relief provided in the Lunacy Act for 1862, by which parochial authorities are empowered to lodge the insane in private houses. In doing so I shall confine myself almost entirely to a simple record of my experience. The propriety of the scheme has already been sufficiently discussed on theoretical considerations; the final appeal must be to facts.