The accuracy of the description of the present legislative provisions for the insane as the Lunacy Act has often been questioned, and there, indeed, seem many well-founded reasons for believing that they would have been more correctly described as the Lunatic Act.

The following case is one of chronic Graves' disease suddenly taking on an acute form with mania and resulting in death in fourteen days, with pyrexia during the last week, there being no pulmonary or other complications.

The life assurance of the insane was recently dealt with by Dr. Poore in his Presidential Address to the Life Assurance Medical Officers' Association, and in the discussion Dr. Savage suggested the possibility of the formation of an association for the assurance of the insane.

The public from time to time is sadly distressed by the occurrence of crimes committed by lunatics whose lunacy has in many cases been known and recognised prior to the criminal acts. Unless, however, the lunatic has previously inhabited an asylum, the occurrence is accepted as in the natural course of things, and in no way regarded as an avoidable event.

The statistical tables of this report have been subjected to very severe adverse criticism, which certainly has a basis of justification.

The contribution on the above subject by the Secretary of the Scotch Board of Lunacy, at the recent Belgian Congress, is a valuable description of this mode of treatment as at present carried out in Scotland.

The report of a special committee to the Glasgow Parish Lunacy Board shows that in the year ending May 15th, 1902, no less than 259 cases of mental disorder of alcoholic origin had been admitted to the two asylums and the observation wards, one third (33 per cent.) of the whole admissions of the year being directly due to alcoholic excess.