Uf^HERE is one question related to the etiological problems -L involved in the study of insanity, regarding^ which the information furnished in the hand-books is meagre and vague, and yet which from an anthropological, if not from other, points of view, is an extremely interesting one. ■ •, Several years ago, while engaged in a series of investiga¬ tions on the somatic etiology of insanity, I drew this question within the range of my studies; and as the New York City Asylum for the Insane, at

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... ich, without holding any official position, I was, through the kindness of a friend, collecting, some materia] for clinical and pathological investigation, offered an excellent field for the study of the relations of race to insanity, I set about utilizing this opportunity. Dr. Kiernan, at that time an interne at the institution named, at a great sacrifice of time and with a readiness that I must gratefully acknowledge, set ou foot an enumeration in¬ tended to show the relation, first, of races to insanity in general, and then of each race to each particular form of insanity. The, Doctor was the better able to furnish me with a reliable and exhaustive summary, as the statistical labors of the .institution were at that time, aud had been for 8pme.years, mainly., if not exclusively, in his hands, and his knowledge of the languages enabled him to track out what would' in other hands .have probably proved very problematical nativities. I need, not add that an analysis of hundreds of cases, from a clinical point of view, carried on single handed, was alone an itrnnense labor. , At the time when I had proposed to utilize the statistics" these were not in such shape or sufficiently perfect to permit me to draw any conclusions from them. Several factors had 44