The relative extent of the causes of mental disease in ancient and modern society is a problem of profound interest. The study of it is one mode of approaching the consideration of the question of questions for medicopsychologists—whether among the peoples of the highly civilized portions of the globe at the present day more persons do or do not become insane than among the nations of antiquity. The inquiry involves the search after and the marshalling of some facts which are not in themselves medical or psychological, but facts, nevertheless, which lead up to the directly medical and psychological result indicated by the title of this article.