1870.] 



On Insanity. 



177 



Year. 



Population. 



Total Number 

 of Lunatics, 

 January 1. 



Proportion to 

 Population. 



1859 



1860 



1861 



1862 



1863 



1864 



1865 



1866 



1867 



1S68 



1869 



19,686,701 

 19,902,713 

 20,119,314 

 20,336,467 

 20,554,137 

 20,772,308 

 20,990,946 

 21,210,020 

 21,429,508 

 21,049,377 

 21,869,607 



36,762 

 38,058 

 39,647 

 41,129 

 43,118 

 44,795 

 45,950 

 47,648 

 49,086 

 51,000 

 53,177 



1 to 536 

 1 „ 523 

 1 „ 507 

 1 „ 494 

 1 „ 477 

 1 „ 464 

 1 „ 457 

 1 „ 445 

 1 „ 437 

 1 „ 424 

 1 „ 411 



The gradual and progressive increase is, according to this Table, 

 most evident ; and if the Table of the increase of private and pauper 

 patients in asylums already noticed is examined, the same remarkable 

 support to " popular fallacy " is given. The increase of the number 

 of admissions is evident. Unless there is an increase in the lunacy 

 of the general population, and especially in the pauper class, these 

 statistics must be misguiding and erroneous. It may be asked when 

 did the inaccuracy of the returns culminate, and when did the 

 operations of certain Acts of Parliament particularly influence the 

 singularly and equably progressive percentage noticed above. 

 The operations of the Act of 1843 may have suddenly swollen the 

 returns up to 1859, but it certainly did not do so afterwards. The 

 Act of 1861, writes Dr. L. Kobertson, " rendering pauper lunatics 

 chargeable upon the common fund of the Union, instead of on their 

 parish, led to a further increase in the number of lunatics and idiots 

 sent to the county asylums." But, on comparing the proportion of 

 the lunatics to the general population in the years 1862, 1863, and 

 1864, when this increase of admissions to asylums would have taken 

 place, there is no proof of any great access to the number of known 

 lunatics, and simply because they were all allowed for in the returns 

 of the Commissioners before the passing of the Act. 



Since 1862, the statistics of the insane published by the Com- 

 missioners have not been subject to any disturbing causes ; they 

 are not calculated to mislead in the manner suggested, and we are 

 bound to accept the fact that there is a steady increase in the 

 lunacy of the population of England, Wales, and Ireland, especially 

 amongst the pauper class, and to admit that for once popular fallacy 

 is supported by recent statistics. 



The bearing of statistics upon the ultimate causes of insanity 

 is evident. It warrants the plain statement of Dr. Eichardson, — 

 " Our uneducated cloddish populations are, in short, as I venture 

 to assume, the breeders of our abstract insanity ; while our educated, 



