^∗ Paper read at the Psychology Section of the B. M. A., held at Newcastle, July, 1893.

^† There are statistical reasons why, as regards England and Wales, the inquiry should not extend further back than 1870.

^∗ September 2nd and 9th, 1893.

^† Dr. Rayner, in a paper on “The Alleged Increase of Insanity,” contributed to the “British Medical Journal,” since the reading of this paper at Newcastle, has endorsed the opinion that the increase of insanity is only an apparent one. “Personal experience and the Annual Reports of the Asylum Superintendents confirm the opinion that the undoubted increase of senile admissions is due rather to the increased certifications of dotards ana paralyzed persons not previously classed as insane than to increase of disease. It may be added that his ultimate conclusion is “that the evidence at present available admits of the interpretation that there is no real excess in the amount of occurring insanity, but is ever compatible with the possibility of an absolute diminution.”