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began muttering something in a confused way about 'certain parties,' and 'certain other parties'-argal, quoth the doctor, he was mad.

The jury, after deliberation, brought in this extraordinary verdict: Guilty of wilful murder, but we recommend him to mercy on account of his strong predisposition to insanity. More extraordinary still, Mr. Justice Wightman, after conferring some time with Mr. Justice Willes, is reported to have told the prisoner, that the jury had come to the conclusion that although he might. be insane on some points, yet that he knew right from wrong, and they recommended him to mercy. Under these circumstances, he should abstain from passing sentence, and merely order judgment of death to be recorded.' Now, with all possible respect for Mr. Justice Wightman, we cannot think this right. Surely, he ought to have taken the opportunity of repressing at once the notion that a mere predisposition to insanity' ought to excuse from punishment in a case where the act was not committed under the direct influence of any morbid delusion. And this he might have done in the usual way, by informing the jury that he would forward their recommendation to the proper quarter, at the same time holding out no hope that the recommendation would be attended to. We regret that this course was not pursued; for it is impossible not to apprehend the introduction of a new element of uncer tainty into the administration of our criminal law from the admission of a ground of mitigation so vague and unsatisfactory as a predisposition to insanity.'

If Westron was a dangerously insane person, steps should have been taken to protect the public from his acts of murderous violence. Dr. Semple has entered fully into this question in some able communications published, since the trial, in the Medical Times and Gazette. Ho forcibly points out the necessity not only of revising the law of Lunacy in relation to cases of alleged insane criminal irresponsibility, but of protecting the public against the acts of persons who are permitted to be at large in an obviously dangerous state of mental aberration. The law should be very stringent on this subject, and the relatives of insane persons ought to be considered, to some extent, as responsible, if they knowingly and recklessly jeopardised the public safety by allowing a dangerous lunatic to be at liberty.*

Since the publication of our last number, Mr. M. Noble Bower has been appointed resident medical superintendent of the Stafford County Lunatic Asylum, and Mr. John Forster, editor of the Examiner, and author of the "Life and Times of Oliver Goldsmith," the "Lives of Statesmen of the Commonwealth," and other works of a high literary reputation, has succeeded Mr. Lutwidge, as secretary to the Commissioners in Lunacy. We congratulate our readers upon this appointment. Mr. Forster will assuredly prove himself to be the "right man in the right place." His reputation as a scholar and a man of letters, as an enlightened politician and an original and bold thinker, is fully established; and we are much mistaken if his knowledge of practical matters of business will not be found fully equal to his position. He brings to his present office (which we hope is but a stepping-stone to one more in unison * Westron is to pass his life in penal servitude.

with his literary accomplishments, legal knowledge, and rare abilities) a manly, independent, and honest spirit. He may find a field for the exercise of these excellent qualities of head and heart in the position he now occupies.-We should be doing an act of injustice to a distinguished philanthropist and a well-known literary gentleman,* if we closed our retrospect without doing homage to the genius of Henry Mayhew, by referring to his praiseworthy attempt to call public attention to the sad condition of a section of our criminal population. The meeting that he recently convened of the "Ticket-of-leave men," was a significant, an important, and a deeply interesting sign of the times. We hope that this humane and Christian move in the right direction will meet with the encouragement and support it so richly deserves. The condition of the poor criminal after the expiration of his sentence and punishment is indeed a sad and melancholy one. He enters the world again with the mark of Cain upon his forehead. The fact of a man having once been a convict is tantamount to his social annihilation! Who will be bold enough to admit him as a servant into his house? who will tender to him the right hand of fellowship? who will dare to brave the censure of the world by employing a convict, or connecting himself in any way with a person (whatever may be his reformed character) who has just returned from penal servitude, or been discharged from the hulks? Why should not these men have an opportunity of regaining a social position, and of earning an honest livelihood? Why should they be spat upon and spurned like dogs from our doors, and be considered as objects of contamination and reproach? God knows that apparently the best and fairest of his creatures are often, in heart, the worst of criminals. It is no credit to a man clothed in purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day," and who comes from a good stock, to say that he is not a thief or a burglar. He is not driven by starvation to commit an offence against the laws; he has no wife or children crying piteously to him for food; he is fitted to resist temptation when exposed to it; his position, his early training, his social ties, his wealth, his education, all tend to keep him in the right path. Let us not permit ourselves to be scared or turned aside from the paths of mercy and active benevolence by the cuckoo cry of "maudlin sentiment for the criminal." It is too commonly the practice to throw this stereotyped phrase in the teeth of those who express any Christian and manly sympathies for an erring criminal brother. But good men and true of heart like Mr. Henry Mayhew, will not easily be frightened by such bugbears from carrying fully into effect his benevolent scheme. We wish him God speed in his noble work of practical philanthropy.

* Author of "London Labour and London Poor."

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We were prepared to enter at length into an analysis of the important judgment of Sir John Dodson, in which that learned judge pronounced against the will of Mr. Dyce Sombre on the ground of insanity; but we consider it but fair to all parties to defer the publication of our remarks on the matter pending the hearing of the Appeal from the Prerogative Court to the Privy Council. In the mean time, as a matter of interest and curiosity we publish a list of the medical witnesses who gave their opinions pro and con. in this case. We confine ourselves to those gentlemen whose evidence was taken by the Court, and referred to by the Judge.

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There must be something seriously rotten in the condition of judicial psychology, when men of great experience and high position in this department of science come to such opposite conclusions from a consideration of the same facts. In connexion with the conflicting medical opinions expressed as to Mr. Dyce Sombre's testamentary capacity, the public will be disposed to exclaim,—

"Who can decide when doctors disagree,

And learned casuists doubt like you and me?"

23, Cavendish Square,

April, 1856.

THE JOURNAL

OF

PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE

AND

MENTAL PATHOLOGY.

APRIL 1, 1856.

Part First.

Original Communications.

ART. I.-MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE OF INSANITY.

BY FORBES WINSLOW, M.D., D. C.L.

PART I.-ON LUCID INTERVALS.

IN the vast field of research connected with Judicial Psychology, there is no question of more importance in a metaphysical as well as in a medico-legal point of view than that which forms the subject of the present inquiry. Human life is often contingent upon a satisfactory solution of this subtle point, and the transmission of property to a great amount occasionally depends upon the answer given by the medical jurist to the questionWas there not associated with certain admitted conditions of mental disorder, lucid intervals,-a clear and distinct freedom of the mind from all delusions; such a repose and clearing up of the intellect as to enable the person to discriminate accurately between right and wrong, thus constituting him morally and legally responsible for his conduct, or rendering him competent to the exercise of a sound and rational judgment in the disposition of his property? In criminal as well as civil cases, the medical witness is often called upon to aid in the administration of justice by elucidating these abstruse points, and it therefore behoves him to be well acquainted, before entering the witnessbox, with certain elementary or first principles, legal as well as psychological, in connexion with this subject, in order to be prepared to reply satisfactorily to interrogatories that may be addressed by counsel in the course of any judicial proceedings in

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which he may be professionally engaged, involving in their issue the existence or non-existence of lucid intervals.

It will be necessary for me, in the course of this exposition, to quote at length from some of the principal legal text-books and established medical authorities, and to cite the particulars of a few of the prominent and important cases in which this question has arisen in our courts of law. I propose, with a view to full analysis of the literature of the subject, to consider

I. LUNAR INFLUENCE.

II. ON THE ALLEGED EFFECT OF THE MOON ON THE BODY AND MIND.

III. ON THE INFLUENCE OF LIGHT ON VITAL PHENOMENA. IV. THE ORIGIN OF THE TERM LUNATIC AND LUCID IN

TERVAL.

V. THE MEDICAL ACCEPTATION OF THESE TERMS. VI. THE LEGAL SIGNIFICATION OF THESE PHRASES. VII. AN EXAMINATION OF SOME OF THE PRINCIPAL CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CASES INVOLVING IN THEIR ISSUE THE EXISTENCE OF LUCID INTERVALS.

I.-LUNAR INFLUENCE.

As the term luna-tic and lucid intervals are commonly supposed to be based on the hypothesis that the moon exercises a decided influence on the insane as well as upon various morbid phases of the intellect not amounting to derangement, it will be well primarily to discuss the much-vexed but interesting question, what is the effect of lunar light, not only upon the mind in health and disease, but upon the vital manifestations, vegetable as well as animal?

Let me, in the first place, refer briefly to the ancient opinions respecting the influence of the moon. From the earliest periods of antiquity, the idea generally prevailed, not only that the moon exercised a specific effect in the production and modification of disease, mental and bodily, but played a prominent and important part in the development of the character of nations, and in determining the destinies of the human race. Amongst the ancients, the moon was viewed as an object of superstitious regard. They held her in great religious and superstitious veneration, considering her influence superior even to that of the sun; in fact, they worshipped her as a deity. The new moons, or the first days of the month, were kept with great pomp and ceremony as national festivals. The people were obliged to rest on those days. The feast of new moons was a miniature of the feasts of the prophets. Eclipses, whether of the sun or moon, were looked

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