The subject of this paper is but a small part of a very much greater question—the responsibility of the insane. The query embodied in its title is one which, at the present day, it would seem necessary to propound with bated breath. To the minds of many very eminent persons, no doubt, the very fact of such a question being raised at all would indicate a want of sanity on the part of the querist who was rash enough to propose it for discussion. And yet the diversity of view, which is only too evident when the subject of the “responsibility of the insane” is brought before any assembly of alienists, shows that opinion on this matter is still very unsettled, and we seem to be as far from finality as ever. In proof of this I need only refer to the discussion on Dr. Reginald Noott's paper at the general meeting of the Association in London in October last, reported in the January number of the Journal of Mental Science.