Among the most miserable asylums for the insane, the asylums for boroughs were until lately conspicuous. Inconvenient buildings, unfavorably situated, and regarded as only inferior appendages to hospitals for the sick, were assigned to the insane poor both of boroughs and some of our largest towns, and presented examples of every evil that could be accumulated on mental affliction. In some instances, as at Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester, new asylums have now been erected, better situated, superintended by medical men devoting their whole time to them, and ranking among the most improved asylums in the country. A few of the old examples, however, yet remain.