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Southland Times, Issue 1338, 22 November 1870, Page 2

Increase op Lukacy in England. — The rapid increase in the number of lunatics in England and Wales during the last ten years is sufficiently alarming to merit attention, for, on the Ist of January, 1859, the number of persona who were afflicted with mental disease, of whom there was official knowledge, was 36,762 ; but on the Ist of January, 1869, these figures had swelled to the enormous total of 53,177. "We have, thus, an increase of over 16,000 in ten years ; but even this is not the whole truth, since, in the same period, the lunatics detained in poorhouses had increased from 7963 to 11,181. These are startling facts. Notwithstanding the more humane system of treatment inaugurated within the last twenty years, the proportion of recoveries has. not been increased, and psychologists try in vain to overcome a disease which seems to spread with the rise of civilisation. "Whatever the cause, whether it be induced by the high pressure of the time, or by physical means, the subject is one that cannot fail to. engage the attention of all who are interested in the welfare of humanity. i