In no department of medical science have methods of treatment changed more within recent years than in that of insanity. Enlightened views on the subject now prevail among the educated classes of society; and the old notion that a maniac can be restored to mental health by treating him like a criminal, or by administering a few shocks to his already excited nerves, is fortunately a thing of the past. At least it no longer holds sway in our lunatic asylums. In the minds of the ignorant and credulous, however, the old leaven still works. Lady Wilde, in her "Ancient Cures, Charms, and Usages of Ireland," alludes to a method of treatment in fashion till lately among the peasantry there. When anyone showed signs of insanity 'a witch-doctor' was called in. This potent individual sprinkled holy water about the room and over the patient; and after uttering certain incantations--understood by the by-standers to be 'Latin prayers'--proceeded to beat him with a stout cudgel. In the end the ravings of the lunatic ceased, or as it was put, "the devil was driven out of him." In Cornwall, at St. Nun's Well, the expulsive power of a new terror used to be tried. According to Carew, the modus operandi was as follows:--"The water running from St. Nun's Well fell into a square and enclosed walled plat, which might be filled at what depth they listed. Upon this wall was the frantic person put to stand, his back towards the pool, and from thence, with a sudden blow in the breast, tumbled headlong into the pond; where a strong fellow, provided for the nonce, took him and tossed him up and down, alongst and athwart the water, till the patient, by foregoing his strength, had somewhat forgot his fury. Then was he conveyed to the church, and certain masses said over him, upon which handling, if his right wits returned, St. Nun had the thanks; but if there appeared small amendment, he was bowsened again and again, while there remained in him any hope of life or recovery." North of the Tweed the treatment was hardly less soothing. When a lunatic was being rowed over to Innis Maree to drink the water of St. Maelrubha's Well there, he was jerked out of the boat by the friends who accompanied him. A rope had previously been tied round his waist, and by this he was pulled back into the boat; but before he could gather together his all-too-scattered wits, he was in the water again. As a rule this was done, not once or twice, but repeatedly, and in the case of both sexes. Such was the method up to a comparatively recent date. Pennant thus describes what was done in 1772:--"The patient is brought into the sacred island; is made to kneel before the altar, viz., the stump of a tree--where his attendants leave an offering in money; he is then brought to the well and sips some of the holy water; a second offering is made; that done, he is thrice dipped in the lake; and the same operation is repeated every day for some weeks." This towing