of the disciples as to the actual causes of mania no more affects the credibility of the narrative than their ignorance of the causes of paralysis or leprosy. It is also evident from the statements of the Gospels, that there were a considerable number of persons who practised exorcisms of various kinds, and who fully believed that the persons on whom they operated were possessed by demons. It seems also probable from the allusions made to them, that these exorcisms were occasionally successful in effecting a cure; and it may be, more frequently, in mitigating the symptoms. This, however, was not always the case; for the Evangelists describe the disciples as entirely unsuccessful in the case of the child, out of whom they invoked the demon to depart in the name of Jesus. It is worthy of observation, that in this instance, the father of the demoniac describes his son’s case as a combination of lunacy and possession, “He is lunatic and sore vexed.” Their failure is directly attributed to want of faith, _i.e._ that there was something wanting in their mental state which prevented them from exerting the requisite influence over the lunatic youth. The want of success with which exorcists were not unfrequently attended is strikingly set before us in the account given in the Acts of the Apostles, of the attempt made by certain Jewish exorcists to cure the demoniac at Ephesus. In this case it not only ended in a complete failure, but in an aggravation of the malady. Now when we consider the various forms which mania assumes, it is quite credible that exorcisms may have exerted a favourable influence on it, altogether apart from any supernatural power possessed by the operator. It is clear that the supposed maniacs imagined themselves under the influence of demoniacal possession. When we consider the powerful influence that one mind is capable of exerting over another under these circumstances we can see that the presence of superior mental power was an influence exactly suited to produce a favourable result. In our modern treatment of mania (whatever may be the opinions as to its physical origin) it is now universally admitted that moral means are the most efficacious. Some obvious physical causes can be dealt with and removed, while others cannot. But the most successful operator on these forms of lunacy is he who applies to them the most effective moral treatment, under which in many cases its symptoms have gradually disappeared. One of these modes of treatment is never to cross the patient on the subject of his delusions. Nothing is more remarkable than the influence which the efficient practitioner can exert over persons suffering from these forms of madness, by the mere energy of his will; a display of mental power analogous to that of strong faith. This will often produce a calm among maniacs which persons of inferior endowments utterly fail to excite. It is an unquestionable fact that high mental and moral power is capable of