It is with reluctance that I attempt any definition of the disease that we have agreed to call the “general paralysis of the insane;” definitions are always difficult, and moreover they very frequently involve a petitio principii, that renders them practically useless. I have ventured, however, to group together some symptoms that may be taken as signalizing this dread disease, premising that some of my postulates may be questioned, and that I only pretend to offer my views upon the subject, as those of an individual observer, who, holding strong opinions, is willing to submit them to the objections or criticisms of his professional brethren. My object is to draw truly, but in strong relief, the various shapes assumed by the malady, and to sketch vividly its diverse symptoms, even if wrong, in some of my conclusions, or apparently too dogmatical in my propositions. I am satisfied if I can at all assist in fixing the attention of the medical profession outside the pale of my own special department to a form of disease that is so familiar to us, and that they, in the interests of suffering humanity, will do well to study.