There was a lucrative trade in handbooks for doctors of psychological medicine – guides published on how to comply with the latest laws on the certification and detention of alleged lunatics.

John Millar, superintendent of East London lunatic asylum Bethnal House, published his Hints on Insanity in 1861 (reprinted in 1877). It contained a chapter in which Millar reprinted as a warning the sorts of statements that would not pass muster with the Commissioners in Lunacy (who inspected all asylum admission documentation); and at the end of these, Millar presented “Good Facts”, which would be considered valid.