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This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est fWmi au taux de rMuction indiqui ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X »% •J 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X Th« copy filmad h«r« has b««n ^aproducad thanka to tha ganaroaity of: Seminary of Quebec Library L'axamplaira film* fut raproduit grAca h la giniroaiti da: Siminaire de Quibec BibliothAque Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha baat quality poaaibia conaidaring tha condition and lagibility of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract apacificationa. Laa imagaa auivantaa ont 4t* raproduitaa avac la plua grand aoin. compta tanu da la condition at da la nattati da l'axamplaira film*, at ^n conformiti avac laa conditiona du contrat da filmaga. Original copiaa in printad papar covara ara filmad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraa- aion, or tha bacic covar whan appropriata. All othar original copiaa ara filmad baginning on tha firat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraa- aion. and anding on tha laat paga with a printad or illuatratad impraaaion. Laa axamplairaa originaux dont la couvartura 9n papiar aat imprim^a aont film*a an commandant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant soit par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'imprasaion ou d'illuatration, soit par la sacond plat, salon la cas. Toua las autrsa axamplairaa originaux sont filmte an commandant par la pramiAra paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraaaion ou d'illuatration at an tarminant par la darnlAra paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. Tha laat racordad frama on aach microfleha shall contain tha symbol — ^ (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha aymbol ▼ (moaning "END"), whichavar appliaa. Un daa symbolaa suivants apparaftra sur la darniAra imaga da chaqua microfleha. salon la caa: la symboia — *> signifia "A SUIVRE", la symboia ▼ signifia "FIN". Mapa, piataa, charta, ate, ma\ ba filmad at diffarant r^ri;«ction ratioa. Thoaa too larga to ba antl^aiy includad in ona axpoaura ara filmad baginning in tha uppar laft hand cornar. laft to right and top to bottom, aa many framaa aa raquirod. Tha following diagrama illuatrata tha mathod: Laa cartaa, planchas, tabiaaux. ate. pauvant dtra fllmia * daa taux da rMuction diff*rants. Lorsqua la documant aat trop grand pour dtra roproiidvit an un saui ciichA, it eat film* d partir da I'angla supAriaur gaucha. dn gaucha * droita. at da haut an baa, an pranant la nombra d'Imagas nicassaira. Laa diagrammas suivants iilustrant la m^thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 • 6 )^(> feip^^<^. '' " ' '■^ ■' ^ ■^ i*>i»o8e any delinition Tree from nhjections, whieh can comprise every form of mental disorder. Locke's celebrated dictum that " Madmen do not ajjpear to h"\(' lost the faculty of reasoning, " but having joined together some ideas very strongly, they mis- " take them for truths, and err as men do who argue from wrong " ])rinciples," has a very i)artial application, comprising only those cases in which the ])atient is the subject of a delusion, illusion or hallucination, and acts as he would proj)erly act werci the delusion a realitv. Locke's great name, and the authority- given to all that he wrote, gave rise a century since to the legal dictum, that to prove insanity in the eye of the law, delusion^ must be shown to exist. in law there are onh'two legiiTIorins of insanity ; idiocy or imbecility, and delusion leading to acts o\)- posed to law. Hut as the legal test of imbecility and of delusion is the knowledge of right and wrong, these two ibrms become practically one. This maxim has guided all legal decisions, and given origin to endless acts of injustice, committed in the name of the law, and by authority of the judges. It has been the source of all the conflicting opinions and statements of medical men, when under examination on evidence before the Courts. — It has been at the bottom of all judgments and enactments, and is the foundation of recent attempts to amend the law, and it is INSAXnV IN liKI.ATlON T(t I,.V>V. ?^ y the cause of all the ditliculties that now impede the aUuiinistra- tioii of justice. Until tht; hiw shall recoguise a iiiKj-e compre- hensive ilisoi'clcr than it ini'lutles uniler the head of delusion, and ailmit of a better test than a knowledge of right and wrong, no improvement can he elfejtod. Any estimate of insanity ought to make the mind of the individmil alleged.to be insane, not that of thepliysician.the standard to determine his insanity. This is the text from which I pieach. Therefore, tlie happiest dctinition yet proi)Ounded, though by no means perfect, is that ftf Dr. Coml-K', who says, " Insanity is a morbid action in one, " in several, or in the whole of the cerebral organs, and as its " necessary consequence functional derangement in one, in sov- " ral, or in the whole of the mental faculties those organs sub- " servo." If the principle on wliidi this definition is founded is the right one, and that it is e.s.sential to institute a Li.jrough examination of the individual's ])ast and present condition, before determining his state of mind, then Ihe definition and ])roceedings of lawyers are in complete antagonism to this and to truth. There can be no antagonism between principles more complete. ^ledicine declares that insanity is a physical and corporeal disca.sc. Law that it is not. Medicine says that im- becility and insanity are different conditions. Law that they are identical. ^Medicine asserts that a theoretical study of men- tal diseases and defects is necessary to a proper understanding of .Mich diseases and defects. Law denies this, and savs that insanity is a fact t(j be determined by any dozen of ordinary men i}» consultation (tn the case, selected at random from any class of the jjopuktion. Medicine says tliat a man may be insane an.l irresponsible, and yet know right from wrong. I^aw says that a knowledge of right and wrong is the test both of .soundness of mind and of responsibility to the law. ^Fedicine savs restrain and cure the insane and imbecile sufferer. The object of the action of the law is punishment, and if its severity is mitigated it is not by the law, but by the suspension of the law, by authority above the law. The law is thus entirely an- tagonistic to medicine r)n all those ([uestions of mental science INSANITY l\ r;i;i,ATH)X TO I.A^V which involve tho i'rewlom niul mcU l)oiii<> of the iml)ocilo and the insane, and which often deterniin'' whether they sliall l«i ])nt to nn ignominious death or not, whetlier they shall he (h^- prived of their property or sufTered to retain it. This antagon- ism is therefore a most serious matter to the insane, their friends and families, not less serious to Judges and Ixjgislators, and of the deepest interest to both medical and legal i)rofessions. — For with such opiniojis inculcated hy the law, existing igno- rances are more deeply rooted in the public mind, so tliat tli(^ difficulty m treating the insrne by medical men, and in giving testimony in Courts is greatl} increased : especially when great Judges remark (influenced m doubt by tlic degrading exhibi- tion of opposing bitternesses jf medical men in Courts), " tliut " the introduction of medicr i opinions and theories on this sub- " ject has proceeded from the vicious principle of considering " insanity a disease, whereas it i:' a fact to be ascertained b\' " evidence, in like manner as any other fact, and no more is " necessary than to try the question by proof of the habits, tlu! " demeanor, conversation and acts of the alleged lunatic." Xow we decidedly adopt this principle denounced as vicious, and we cannot study insanity in any other way, and we point with pride to tlie ^•ast amelioration in the treatment and con- dition of the insane produced solely by tlie persistent develop- ment of this great truth, thnt in.sanity is a disease, nnd no! ',\ subject of moral enquiiT. ■ Tiiis a great lawyer calls an evil habit, and vicious, Ijccausc of its results in havinj;; induced Judges to assume that thev arc bound to accept medical testimony in i-eference to insanity, and are thus forced to accept .speculative views instead of their own moral conclusions as to whether a ])erson wliose civil rights and responsibilities are involved, is insnno or not; wliereby ju.sticc between mnn and man. or between man and society, is hmdereih Tiierefore, lie adds, it is absurd to suppose that medical science has special lousiness with the detection of insanity in legal cases. Is it indispensable that medical men should be called r 8 iNSANITY IN RELATION T(t 1-\W. i to discover whether a man is a lunatic ? (These are the expres- sions of Lord Chelmsford.) There is some excuse for tliis con- temptuous opinion of medical testimony in cases of insanity, afforded by the bearing; of medical witnesses in many difficult and celebrated cases. There are many cases of insanity which no man could mistake for sanity. On the other hand, as mc well know, there are obscure, and subtle, and insidious forms of disease, that try the acumen and patience of the l»est and wisest among tlie most experienced physicians. There is an article in Xo. 71 of tlie .Journal of Mental Science on the examination of insane in Courts of Justice. It appears by that article that the vicious principle of testing insan- ity by a knowledge of right and wrong, is even yet conmion in the Courts of England, Fmnce and America, and when an un- fortunate lunatic escapes punishment it is never due to the law, but to the knowledge and energy of some physician who exerts himself to hinder injustice allowed by the law. The remarkable statement of the surgeon to the General Prison of Scotland, and also of the Physician of tlie Rouen Prison, of the number of insane among prisoners, is only more evidence of the necessity of informing the legal profession on this most vital point. It appears that one in every nine pri- soners is more or less insane, and one in one hundred and forty altogether irresponsible. When it is (Considered that the crimi- nal population of London are a population l)y themselves, inter- marrying and breeding amongst themselves, and propagating their tendency to crime, their vices and their diseases, we may almost conclude that law is helpless to amend, and that medical science must be appealed to, to nccomplish the reformiition of criminals. .. Krom the tenor of the rejdy of Moiis. Urierre de J>oismont to the Committee of the Knglish Association, it seems that the legal profession in France have no conviction that insanity is a disease of sti'ucturv^, and not a mere moral evil. k INSANITY IN HKLATION TO LAW. 1) 111 the discussion at the meetings of the English Association on the paper of Dr. Richardson on " Mental Strain," there seems too great a stress laid on the moral phenomena, and too little on the cerebral complications. Drs. Bucknell and Tuke still classify the forms of insanity according to their moral manifes- tations. But I look forward to the time when the pathological conditions shall afford us a classification founded on structural alterations, and I hope the time is fast approaching, when every insane manifestation will be recognized as the symptom of some alteration of cerebral structure or function, produced l)y some other bodily disorder. Tiiat insanity is a disease of the brain is a doctrine of higli antiquity ; it is contained in the oldest (}reek Classics on Medi- cine and I'hilosophy. It is true that in ancient times epileptic and hysterically delirious girls were believed to be inspired, and were used as the discoverers of the unknown, much as clair- voyants of the present day. They were submitted for cure to professional exorcists, who, for a consideration, undertook to dispossess the demon by mysterious processes, as spiritualists cure disease in this age. But this was not the medical view then more than now. Hippocrates, in his essay on the " Sacred Diseases," controverts and ridicules these popular superstitions, and these strange and awful doings of the sick, in the estima- tion of the ignorant, are shown to bo due to tlie disordered functions of the brain. This was the current view amongst the educated professional men and intelligent laymen. Since that period this idea has never been lost, so that it may be truly said that educated members of society lia^'e regarded insanity as a corporeal disease for at least 2300 year.:. The somatic or cor- poreal doctrine tliat cerebral disorder is associated with every manifestation or form of mental disorder or defect, gains ground in every generation. Now it necessarily follows tliat if this doctrine is true, of the inseparable association of cerebral and mental activity in morbid conditions, it is equally tnie iii the healthv states of the mind. Hence it is laid down in recent 10 INSANITY IN IlKL.VTKtN To LAW. works, that no change "whatuver in the consciousness, whether it be ordinary sensation, perception, or idealization, or volition, takes place without coincident and necessarily coincndent changes in the cerehruni. iSEodern inetapljysicians do not withhold tlieir consent to this doctrine. Now it would be gratifying to find in the speeches and decisions of great lawyers any traces of a dispassionate inquiry into the truth of this ancient and established doctrine, and into the number and validity of the facts upon which it is founded. IJut no sucji traces can be found, so that we are inevital)ly driven to the conclusion that they are either ignorant of it, or have condemned it, or else have legislated without such a dispassionate inquiry as is alike due to the people and profession. Our regret is all the greater since nothing is so open to proofs by any man of ordinary intelligence who will discard all speculative preconceived opinions, and examine as a pure ques- tion of facts. It is open to every man to ascertain what changes occur in his own mental activity, imder the influence of certain bodily conditions, or of. fJgents modifying those con- ditions. For example, when engaging in abstruse calculations, such as the calculation of Asylum statistics by algebraic for- mulae presented to the Association a year ago, demanding exer- cise of clear intellect, let him drink a few glasses of whiskey, or smoke a little opiated tobacco, and he will soon find himself incapacitated for completing his calculations. Or let him breathe a few whiffs of nitrous oxyde and liis reason will be gone, and he will be ridiculously insane ; or take cldoroform until unconsciousness is complete. Or if he watches these things in others, lie will have the testimony of his own senses to the lacts. IJeyond this no testimony is needed, except that afforded by tlie study of diseased conditions. Physiologists justly look upon man as an animal, high above his fellows, but still an animal, differing not so much in kind as in degree. — Hence they experiment on their own nature in the animal world below, and find everywhere proofs of the physical doctrine of INSANITY IN lEKhATION TO LAAV, 11 mental manifestations, and diseases, and defects, which makes it difficult to resist the conviction of its truth. Cats, dogs, foxes, rogue elephants, and nearly all other animals, are subject to insanity, which no Tlieologian, however wedded to liis systems, would call in tlieni a moral disease ; and no physiologist can point out any difference between them and man, as regards the nature of the disease, or its seat. , .,> , Jesse, ]\raudsley, and many other observers «>f the habits of animals, state, " they i>osf(ess those combinations of mental en- " dowments and acquirements known in and by man as wisdom, " .■sagacity, intelligence, intellects, sense, thought, judgment, pru- " dence, discrimination, sln'owdness, knowledge, learning, shame " and i)ride, illustrations wliereof are to be found in the dog, " horse, elephant, ant and bee, and numerous other animals. — " There is no mental attribute, not even language, if by language " is meant uttered sounds which convey ideas to others of their " kind, peculiarly or charadteristically human. There is, there- " tore, no essential mental distinction between man and animals/' — AV, Lauder Lindsay, M. I). Here is a mere nieta])hysical argument tending to the sanie end. Every man lias within liis own consciousness the strong- est proof of the tloctrine, for since every change in that con- sciousness corresponds to vital changes, without which it can- not occur, tliese conscious ciiauges are conclusive proof of the vital changes, and indeed tlie only proof of existence itself, — Hence the Cartesian pi'oi)usition, "("ogito ergo sum," But as no man is ever conscioiis till lie lives, and as life precedes thought, we can reverse llic ])r<»])().'>:ition, and say with greater trutli, "Sum ergo cogito." llotli coiK-lusions rest alike on tlie testimony of consciousness — wliicli is \isvM' nothing more than our experience of the vital changes api)r()])riate to consciousness. AVhen a man is writhing we infer that lie sull'ers pain; when lie tells us lie is perf)lexed, as in these metaphysical arguments he may well be, we have no doubt of the truth of his statement. 12 INSANITY IN UELATION TO LAW. In eitlier case we infer that those vital changes, whatever they may be, are occurring in his brain, which coincide with the feeling of pain or perplexity. .'I . > 1 1 ' [It is meant as a reproach, when it is stated that views like these are materialistic, and that the man holding tliem is an atheist. This is, however, a confusion of ideas, for I consider that any man may hold the opinion that mental and moral phenomena, that wliot arc termed will, ana conscious- ness, and mind, and all our tliouglits, are, as Huxley states, tlie expression of molecular changes in that matter of life which is the soiu'ce of our other vital phenomena. That life is tlie property of protophisni, and that protoplasm owes Hs projjcr- ties to the nature and disposition of its molecules. Therefore, all properties of organized beings are due to the physical pro- perties of i)roioplasm. "We may not be able to explain all the processes by v. i '"h the motions, the groupings, and electrical discharges (if such there be) of these molecules, pass into their corresponding states of thought and feeling, or how these phy- sical processes are connected with the fact of consciousness, but neither can we explain, so as to follow all the processes, how physical conditions are renewed in the material animal, for instance, how worn out material is replaced by *iew. We con- tent ourselves by stating that the useless is absorbed, and the new deposited, and we know this to be a fact that cannot be disputed. It is therefore no reproacli to our knowledge, not yet complete, that we cannot explain all the processes of the connection between mind and matter. In both these cases they are the result of the fiat of the (Jreat Creator, and a man is not an atheist because he lielieves that the jdieuoiuena of mind are due to the laws (lod has im])ressed on niiitter. It seems to me that he is so termed l»ecause he selects one of the two most i)robable views of the mode by which the Creator rules His works As some i)liilosopher has said, — God may be considered as ruling Creation 1 y an interposing or by a INSANITY IN HELATION TO LAW. 13 iver they with the lat views [iig tliein deas, for eiital and onscious- itates, the ! which is ifc is the ;s pi*oi»ei- rheretbre, 'sical pro- liii all the electrical into their hcse phy- isness, but esses, how limal, for Wc con- d, and the cannot l»c •ledge, not ises of the .■ases they man is not mind are ielects one which tlie jaid, — God ng or by fi predisposing volition. The first is tiie method held by tbose who consider their views are so correct that they are entitled to anatliematise those who prefer to hold tlie other. As if it were more dignified to consider tlie ])eity interposing in every petty transaction throughout Creation, (as it were, picking up straws here and laying them down there,) rather tlian to A'iew Him as l)redisposing and leaving to the operation of grand and unerring laws, the whole coiu'se of Creation and its creatures, their developments, and their actions, and their thoughts, from the period of the initiation of all things to their final consummation. Under this view it is right to consider that matter and intel- lect have co-ordinately dcvelojied during the ages that have \iassel, and are still in the process of development. Moreover, this view by no means interferes witii any view of future life, or spiritual association with matter, that any may please to entertain ; nor does it i)revent any responsibility for good or evil actions. It rather thro\\ s on those who look on mind or soul (for in speaking of these they couple them invariably) as an interloping spiritual function attached to man, but not of him, the onus of proving how it can be that man alone is iavored with the offer of future life, and responsibility for the use of his morals or his intellect, when many other animals to whom this favor of soul and futurity is denied, possess thought, memory, regret, love, hatred, revenge and forgiveness, can steal or abstain, do ill or well, and can connnunicate their ideas and wishes to their fellows and to man, differ, in short, not in kind but only in degree from man. It is for those who maintain the different nature ot mental manifestations in man and animals to account for these things, and it is not sufticient to attribute to man a spiritual possession, of which we have no evidence, and which is not necessary for futiire life so long as the resur- rection of the body remains a truthful and essential article oi' Christian belief. Without it, it is in the power of the Creator to add future life to him, if He is so disposed, and 1 believe it will be so. 14 INSANITY JN KKLA'i IX TO LAW. Tlie following argument is used against the cerebral origin of mind : " That it is absurd to suppose that, as every atom in " the human frame is being constantly clianged, each molecule " leaves the mental impression it receives, as a legacy to the " succeeding molecule." ]»ut why is it absurd ? Is it more so, tliat each molecule' wliich replaces the departing molecule of a scar inllicted by a chisel in childhood, perpetuates the impres- sion of that scar, instead of replacing it by a sound molecule of new sultstance corresponding to the neighboring flesh ? If the one molecule perpetuates its inijiression, why not the other ? Docs not this per) >etua( ion corresjtiind with jother known fact.s ? Why are hereditary habits and diseases dormant for yrars, if it be not tliat successive molecules retain their impressions from con- ception lo the maturity of the disease or habit ? Can hereditary insanity be explained by the spiritual theory of mind ? That, on rational theory the produce of diseased brain must be dis- easd mind, seems clear enough. But how diseased brain can give rise to diseased spirit or soid is ])ast comprehension. Yet on the accessory spiritual theory it must. Even the moral sense is the result of education and hered- itary transmission, and its monitions arc altogether dependent on its training. Australian savages liave a moral sense in many ]ioints the direct reverse of ours. They believe it right to take life for life, and their sense of rectitude is outraged if they do not. When I lived in Western Australia for some years, and acted as a magistrate, the nati\'e who \\'as tlie original and right- ful proprietoi- of my farm, lost (tiu' of his wives from disease. He came to me and told me he was going tu a distant tribe to spear a woman, to satisfy his sense ot duty to his wife. I told liim that if he did I would send him to prison for life. lie remained about the farm for stjme mctntlis, but got exceedingly thin, and complained that lie could not rest or eat, that his wife's spirit was liaunting him beciuisi' he had not taken a life for Iiers. I was inexorable, and assured him that nothing should save him if he di '( " If it l)e true Christianity to dive with passionate cliarity " into the darkest recesses of misery and vice, to irrigate every " ([uarter of the earth witli the fertilizing stream of an almost " l>oundle8S benevolence, and to include all the sections of " humanity in the circle of an intense and efficacious sympathy : " if it l)e true Cliristianity to destroy or weaken tlie barriers " which have separated class from class, and nation from nation: " if it lie true Cliristianity to cultivate a love of truth for its " own sake, a spirit of candor and tolerance, then never since " the Apostles has Christianity been so vigorous as at present, " nor practised more earnestly than by those called rationalists, " and the decline of dogmatic systems and of clerical influence " has been the cause of its advance." And their destruction will be the era of its peifectioii.] '■ ' ■ ; < . - * - '\ • ' ' • , - > ' ■ . I - .' Xow these and many others are the proof of the accuracy of the medical doctrine of the somatic nature of mental dis- eases and defects, But a late Lord Chancellor of England (Lord Chelmsford), great lawyer as he is, observed that if there were any process by which the skull of a lunatic could be cut into, and the changes here asserted to take place could be ob- served, there might be something in the medical notion of insanity, but medical notions had not attained that pitch of development, and medical men imagined external things to be the indices of things unseen. They therefore made issues hardly less important than life and death, depend on mere uncertainty. Now, nothing can Ite more inconclusive than this argument. — The fact is that a dyspepsia is determined by the same kind of evidence and reasoning ns insanity. All morbid changes in the INSAXITV IN IJKLATION Hi LAW 17 •arated Dill 5 over ml sin, I iniiso charity 2 everv almost ions of ipathy : naiTiers nation : for its '!• since jresent, >nalists, ifluence vnction ccuracy tal (lis- Ingland if there be cut be ob- ftion of pitch of CIS to be ? hardly irtainty. nient. — kind of I in tlio I body considered as nltimatf phenomena are unseen, so that if we ascertain tlie structure of ;l\e minutest I'ibril and hiy it l)aru in the living man in all its detiJls, we must still accept external things as the indices of things unseen. The subtle forces act- ing in the brain are onlv determined ultimatelv as thev iutlu- ence the (ionsciousness in ourselves, or as they cause those changes in th(^ hotly or its movements which are tlu^ indices of changes in the consciousiuiss of others. AVe might as well look for the electric iluid which carries the expression of our thoughts along the uire. Xo other evidence is possible, even iuthe most ordinary cases of this kind. If the police find a man uj)- roarious, reeling about and smelling of whiskey, they comdude he has been drinking ; and if policemen reason at all, they will conclude that the drink went down his numth, into his stomach, and from his stomach into liis lungs and brain, where it is doing its j)oi.sonous work, and making him temporarily insane. Thus the police will conclude that external thing.s, that is thc^ drunk- ennes.s, are tlie indices of things unseen, that is tlie whiskey. — The Cliancellor added tbat lii» Avas about to attempt to legislate so as to discover \\here tlie abuses and caiises of eiTor lav, which made such cases as Windham's generally odious, and the exam- ination by mad doctors little better tliiiii a farce. Windham's case is well known. He was ;i young man who succeeded to a large ]H'0]ierty, whicJi lie dissipated ii^ all kinds of am'cc in a f(>w years, and his nt^xl relative tried to have him inade a wai-il in ( "laincery, and ]uit on an all(»wance for life, in order to save tlu' rt^innant of the jiroperty. Tlie usual htird swearing concerning his sanity took [dace in court, and one doctor was ])itted against another, until more than the usual amount of disagreement was elicited, and fiir more than the usual amount of disgrace and contempt fell upon the ]vofession. And all this because the man was tried on a false issue. It ouyht to have been no t|uestion whether the acts of the man were consistent or uot with perfect sanity, a^* judged l)y his know- IS INSANirV l\ IJKLATFON To LAW. ledge of right or \vronf|;, or by his pf»\vfir to do certain sums in urithmetic, or whether he knew the amount of liis income, und the power of his property to bear his extravagiinnes. Instead of limiting the inquiry to the time during which he had been vicious und dissipated, the inquiry ouglit to have extended into a comparison of his mind with itself during his past life. J»ut this was deliberately rejected by the Judge, who would not allow the evidence of tlie witness who deposed that he liad known Windham since he was four years old, and that he was (!ongen- itally deficient ; the Judge said it was not suflicient in law to prove idiocy or imbecility, he must l)e proved to be mentally unsound when he committed certain actions, or he must be ac- quitted. (Jlearly in such a case the point to be proved should be the incapacity, not whether he was unsound in the legal jense as to delusion, etc., but whether he was co igenitally or subsequently deficient, so as to incapacitate him for self-guid- unce. The point on which he was tried was both false and loolish, false as a matter of science, and foolish as u matter vi' common sense. What could happen butwliatdid liappcu ? tlie mad doctors were stigmatized, and the whole inquiry was wrong, and a grievous injury to the individual, and to liis rela- tives, and all because the law makes no difierenoe Iwtweeu men- tal diseases and mental defects. There is the case of Tyler, in the January X<». of the Jonr- ni»l of Insanity, whicli is another (;iise in ]>oint, and fortiiies my position. Here also tlie evil arose from trying the case on an erroneous principle. Th(» old man was brought before a jury to determine the unsouiulness of his mind, but neither the medical experts nor the judge defined whfit they meant by the temi. — It is to be inferred, by the direction to tlie jury, th«t the usual legal dictum was considered unsoundness. The witnesses had this definition in their mind, thougii Dr. ( Jray wisely and tri\v says, that "every individual should be judged from his own Utand-point," in other words the very doctrine I am advo- iNsAxnv IN i;i;r-.\Tiox to law, 10 cntiuy. It is uuwt likely that the result in this cu.se would have been the same, hut the unseemly exhibition of antagonistic ex- perts wouhl have been avoided, if the jury hail been directed to determine whether Tyler was ('om[)etent to take ca. \5 of his own property, not whether he was unsound in mind. It cannot be held that every one who has a crotchet in his head is incompe- tent to mana'^e his affairs, thoujjh it mi"ht be nuiintained that he was not altoj,'ether sound in mind. Still less can it be held that a man like Tyler, mIio has incomi>rehensiblc notions about the r>ook of Iicvclations must be deprived of the control of hia property ; lor if that is to be the test of soundness, more than half the (ilcrgy of this and everv other Protestant country arc unfit to manage their glebes, and are as mad as Kin^^ Tycar. The connnents of the writer of the article are in the main true, and they help to demonstrate the necessity of aitefing the law, Ko that Judges may put the right issues before juries, if juries are f'()mj)et;ovcd, the i)lea of irresponsibility to society is admitted, and society becomes responsible to him and for him, and kee])s jiim out of harms ■way. In like nnmncr the cas( s of (motional, imj)ulsive. ami vicious imbeciles should be treated, tlu' ir.capability of .self- control being the practical (|uestion to be tried, and not the amount of knowledge. Tn the insaiio the like principle ought to guide, and it is to be .solved jointly by common sense and medical experience. If found incapable he lias appointed guar- dians or curatove, an was. done by the old lloman law, until he INHANITY IN ni'.I.ATIOK To LAW, 21 is restored "ad saiio iiioros," • Tlie siinic ]»rinci)»lc' a]»itlics lo oriiuijiul iiM to vicious iiiiUei'ile.s, which con.stitiitc the (;hict' ])arL ol' the incorri^'iltle ol' the popuUitioii. 'I'hey arc held in huv to he entitk'd Id inutoiitrolled freedom, when not convicted ol" oll'ences a^'iiinst the; law, und thus they hecome mischievous to society. Practically under the inihience of tlie system ol" rontrol, detention and cure woul ' he still the fate of tlie crimi- . il, but mercy and cure, not terror and rc]ircssi()u, wmdd he \h*' aim and the residt of its ojieration. 'roaccomjilish this, tlicre must he alteration (tf the law, f.o nr; lo permit other is;>ues to he trictl llum delusion or hallucination, or knowled;;c of rij^hl and wronj:. 'i'iie a)>j)ointmenl ot a com)ietent physician lor statics or districts, to assist the dudgcs in all cases of disordered mind, would ])v desirahlc. .Vll the scandalous scenes of opi)Osiji;.i doctors would he ii\oided hy tli(! a])p'ointnumt of a compeienl man to help the .ludj,'e to decide these cases. The principle I hat a nmn is in.sane or not, as comparexl with his ))ast state, not according to the fancies of twelve ij^norant jurymen, would then have its due weight. The standard, as I have said, is the comparison of the nnnd with itself at different periods of life. The law as it now stands violates well known physiological ])riiiciples, and sliould he amended, not in the spirit of Lord ('helmsford, hy setting those principles at deliaiice, hut in obe- dience to them, if it seeks to merit a reputation for truth and eiiuity, Law has been said to be the embodiment in a. code, of truth and justice. The sooner it merits this definition the bet- ter for its fame, hir its condition now is intolerably disgraceful to the present state of knowledge. It ought not to be endured that the (.'ouits of Law and the Schools of ]Medicine should be at issue on the fundamental question, whether insanity be a disease or not. As medieine is on tins imwt far in advance of hiu', and to it is due thu whcaw of tlie insane from that state of 22 INSANITY IX I;ELATI()N TO LAW.