The relative extent of the causes of mental disease in ancient and modern society is a problem of profound interest. The study of it is one mode of approaching the consideration of the question of questions for medicopsychologists—whether among the peoples of the highly civilized portions of the globe at the present day more persons do or do not become insane than among the nations of antiquity. The inquiry involves the search after and the marshalling of some facts which are not in themselves medical or psychological, but facts, nevertheless, which lead up to the directly medical and psychological result indicated by the title of this article.

There were in Great Britain in the beginning of 1875 about 72,000 insane persons registered and under control. For the care and treatment of these there are at least 6000 paid officials, whose sole duty it is to act as their attendants and nurses. This is reckoning them as one to twelve patients over all, the usual proportion in County Asylums; the numbers less than this in Poorhouses being made up for by the extra number employed in the care of the wealthier classes.

There is no error in opinion or judgment, no widespread prejudice, so difficult to eradicate or overcome as one that is founded on sentiment, and when the sentiment is a generous one, seeking to make some atonement for supposed injustice done in the past, in thought or in deed, the prejudice will be apt to cling the more tenaciously. “Peace to Torquato's injured shade,” exclaims Byron in his heart-stirring lines—but was this a just apostrophe? Nobly gifted, deeply afflicted and unfortunate though he was, was Tasso indeed injured, as implied, by his fellow man? Most sad and suffering as his life became, we may be committing a deep injustice in asserting it to have been brought upon him by cruelty or even unkindness; and a fair impartial review of his whole life and circumstances would seem to reveal a far different history. This has been most forcibly impressed by reading the pages of one who from the outset seems to have believed in the grievous wrong done to Tasso by Alfonso d'Este, and to have viewed every event by the light of a preconceived opinion; while to one coming without opinion formed to the perusal of these pages, ignorant until then of the course of events, they would seem, we think, strikingly to set forth the very opposite view; the very facts the author brings forward in evidence of his assertions seeming to furnish the strongest indications of a contrary explanation. To any one coming with even a moderate knowledge of mental disease to the study of this sad life, it will surely seem one in which the tendency to, and at length declaration of, this malady can be most clearly traced out from the very early days of Tasso down to the very last hour of his life. This is not to disturb the shade of Tasso, rather to yield it the desired rest; for who would not rather think of him as bowed beneath the weight of a sad inscrutable affliction sent by no mortal hand, than as the victim of cruelty and injustice, which would indeed have been scarcely human in their refinement, but of which we must consider Alfonso d'Este may have been most unjustly accused?

The particulars of the following case may be sufficiently interesting to place on record, as bearing on the morbid anatomy of aphasia, and, further, as illustrating the negative results which follow localised destruction of convolutions posterior to the “Fissure of Rolando.” The patient, an elderly imbecile female, had been an inmate of the Cork District Lunatic Asylum for the last forty-five years. She was invariably quiet and docile, clean in her habits and person, and sufficiently rational to answer ordinary questions addressed to her quite correctly. She spoke slowly, and with emphasis, but always used the right words to express her meaning; and there was never any noticeable defect in her speech, so far as her powers of conversation went. She had a peculiarly long and pointed tongue, which she took a pride in exhibiting, and which she was able to protrude to an enormous extent. There was no loss or deficiency of motor power whatever, and up to some little time before her death her general health was excellent. On December 29th, 1875, she suffered from a severe attack of erysipelas of the face and scalp, which was, however, subdued in a few days by inunctions of mercurial ointment and liberal support. During this time she became extremely dull and apathetic, being with difficulty roused; but on being pressed could still answer questions rationally. As the erysipelas passed away she returned to her former condition, being quite as well and as intelligent as before.

A Special Committee, apppointed by the Charity Organization Society, have had under their consideration for a considerable time the subject of placing Institutions for Idiots, Imbeciles, and Harmless Lunatics on the most comprehensive and satisfactory footing. The investigations of this Committee, and the report to be made by them to the Parent Society, will be likely to have much influence on the determination of many questions in which our Association has a deep interest. The Committee have evinced laudable anxiety to obtain advice and information, and to consider their subject cautiously, thoughtfully, and impartially. I think they have, in consequence, the strongest claims on the confidence and thankfulness of our Association. From a communication made by the Committee to the Social and Statistical Society of Ireland, and from being furnished, through the kindness of Dr. Hack Tuke, with copies of its agenda up to this, I happen to have become acquainted with the views of the Committee, and I propose to avail myself of the opportunity thus afforded, by making some remarks on a few of the conclusions they have arrived at. I shall, however, try to do so in a way that will not, by any means, hamper the proceedings of the Committee, or the full and free expression of their opinions; but which may conduce to a community of opinion, and a co-operation in action, or, at least, to a friendly and harmonious rivalry between the Charity Organization Society and our Association, calculated to produce most desirable results.