In the last few years a number of new pharmacological agents have been introduced into psychiatry and reserpine has been one of the most controversial of these. Reports have varied from the over-enthusiastic (Noce, Williams and Rapaport, 1954), to the cautiously optimistic (Moore, 1956) and even the frankly sceptical (Cutler, Monroe and Anderson, 1957). It would be true to say, however, that all mental hospitals use reserpine now to some extent and nearly all psychiatrists are agreed that some remarkable recoveries have occurred. However, many questions remain to be answered—What kind of case improves?—What is the nature of the improvement qualitatively?—How lasting is the effect? Time alone gives the answer to some of these questions which are constantly recurring phenomena in therapeutics.