The chief point of interest in the subject to which this paper has reference, centres in the questions where and what was the provision made for the insane in England in the earliest period in which we can discover traces of their custody? As this enquiry at once leads us to Bethlem Hospital, I thought when Dr. Williams, some weeks ago, asked me to contribute a paper to the next Quarterly Meeting of the Association, that it might fittingly occupy a portion of our time this evening.