American telegraph. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1851-1851, 1851-10-15
AMERICAN TELEGRAPH
Insanity and Crime.

II has been questioned whether insanity is not
always the concomitant of suicide. We are in
clined to think that it is. 1t is true that great
self possession and GOODNESS are sometimes man
Tested by persons who have made up their
minds to shuttle off this mortal coil !" but
who does not know that the minds of monoma-
MACS are in some cases as calm, as unimpas-
stoned, as phlegmatic as the most unclounded,
undiseased intellects? The recent report OF
tho State Lunatic Asylum at Utica embodies
some information in relation TO the sulclaal
propensity, which confirms the opinion that
suicide is always the result of mental disease.
The desire for self-destruction, it seems, pre-
walls to a greater extent than would be supposed
For instance of eight hundred and sixteen pa
tients in the New York Asylum during the past
year, sixty-six were subjects of this form of
lunacy. 1t would appear, in addition, that the
propensity RACES more among females than
males. OF the above sixty-six, forty four were
women. A further fact is made manifest by
the report 1t is, that the propensity frequently
assumes an epidemical character. In the month
of July, there were admitted into the institution
no less than nineteen persons laboring under
this description of insanity and, during the
same month"; fourteen suicidal attempts were
made by patients already in the Asylum. 1t
would seem that the knowledge of others having
destroyed themselves exercises considerable
tient having made successful attempt at sui
eide, and two others happening to learn it, they.
were overheard, soon after, devising a similar
mode of death.--N. !. Star.
There are equally good grounds for believing
that murder is always the result of insanity.
II we err not in our estimate, the juries of this
country have decided larger percentage of
the homicides than the above to have been pre-
coded by diseased minds; and that the rest had
their origin in the same cause is altogether
probable. In fact, in our opinion all crime
proceeds from this cause the Judgment must
first lose its balance, and the passions must
yield obedience to delusiye infatuaton The
man who forsakes the even tenor of a useful life
Tor the deceptive pursuits of gamblers call
ing; the man who wrongs vrtuous wife, and
turns his affections towards one who is false
and dishonest; the man who, by slow degrees.
creates an appetite for the draught that must
destroy him; the man who cherishes enmty
and revenge until his whole nature is absorbed
IN 1T, and he becomes the witless victim of its
frenzy;-all these are insane, and impelled to
the commission of deeds from which health
fui mind would recoil. But are they, there
fore, to be exempted from punishment for the
violation of the laws Of their country? By no
means. Their insanity is crime-the insanity
OF all persons, excepting the few whose moral
conformation, like the physical organization of
others, has been congenital, or the result of
unfortunate accident. Insanity must precede
the commission of serious crime-such crime as
IS calculated TO destroy or impair our happiness.
But the slow, deliberate, and wicked process of
the mind that has first undermined the intel
lect, deranged the moral sentiments, and in
famed the passions, merits severe and salutary
punishment, firstly, for the protection Of the
community; and secondly, for its sanitive eff.
fects upon the unhappy wrongdoer: and these
are the only purposes to be accomplished
The insane asylum and the penitentiary,
therefore, arc not so far apart and the criminal
Judge, the medical practicien, and the Chris
tian counsellor and teacher, should have Joint
Jurisdiction over both these institutions. In
their administration the iron-barred cell, low
regimen, stern restraints, application to labor,
humility and obedience, arc all necessary, but
not more so than the words of kind encourage
ment from one who seeks only that salutary
change within, the production of which should
never for a moment be lost to view.
The lash, the whipping post, the pillory, the
rack, the torture, the gallows, and the public
spectacle, can have no argument but that of
vengeance to support them; and wherever the
desire of vengeance exists in the human breast
there is one who merits and needs the restrain
ing influence Of the penitentiary-the house Z
penitence and reformation.
Crime IS The result Of Insanity, but ms min i.
~ general, doH dis use and crime!
THE STATE OF PEYYsYLy, S1A.-We are very
sorry to say that this .<ood old Commonwealth