The Portland daily press., 1875-04-30
THE PRESS.
FRIDAY MORNING, APRIL 80, 1878
What is an Insane DeIusion?

Liz Cdoe, IlouiHsOu VS.. AudulS, Ill tHo ldSb
volume of Maine Reports, just published, is a
very interesting commentary on the question
whether belief in what is popularity called
Sprritualism, is in its legal aspect an insane
delusion. The case was brought before the
court by an appeal from the Probate Court
of Sagadahoc county, admitting to probate
the will and codicil of Mrs. G.. Mrs. G., was a
widow and lived in Topsham at the
time of her death. Her only surviv-
ing child was the appellant in this
case, daughter, who married Mr..
R., young lawyer just beginning practice
in Bloomington, Illinois, where they have ev-
er since resided. Mrs. G. was woman of
property, the estate being worth nearly thirty
thousand dollars, and was determined not to
squander her possessions on her son.in-law
and his family; indeed, from her visits to the
home of Mr.. r. and from all her relations
with his household, she conceived that ami
mostly and bitterness Of feeling which is sup
posed to pervade the typical mother-in-law; !;
she called him brutal and abusive, with how
much reason it is OF course impossible to say;
she limited to her circle OF friends that he was
no better than he ought to be, that be mar
ried into the family to estrange the affections
of his wife from her mother, and that he was
after his mother-in-law's money. After she
became spiritualist she received the strong
conviction that he was under the influence
Of peculiarly malignant evil spirit by whose
aid he was able to obtain complete spiritual
dominion over his wife's heart, so that he
could, while standing in the garden or in
some remote vacant lot "weave his web
about Mary AIMS mind" even when the
said Mary Ann was in conversation with her
mother, and that he thus estranged her Who'll
ly from her filial affection. Mrs. R. said that
she received communications from her dead
husband, 'like advice or letters from friend
in some foreign port" and that such commu-
nications were unfavorable to her son-in-law.
With this state of feeling she made her
will in 1856, in accordance with the advice,
as she said, of her dead husband. The terms
of the will and subsequent codicil were long
and complicated, but the intent and result of
it were to carry out the instincts OF the moth
er-in-!aw, and exclude her son-in-law from
''the control of dollar Of her property. She
tied her estate up in trusteeship and gave on
ly small annuities to her daughter. Mrs. R.,
her daughter, contested this will as being OBJ
tanned by undue influence, and on the
ground that the testatrix was not 'a person
of sound mind' when she made the will.
This brought up the issue among other ques-
tions, whether or not the belief of the tes-
tatrix in spiritual communications was an
insane delusion if it Influenced her in making
her will. This question was very ably and
fully discussed by A. P. Gould Esq, for Mrs.
r., the appellant, and A. Libby, W. Gilbert
and Francis Adams Esqs., for appellees. The
case came up on exceptions to the rulings of
the Judge at the trial of the cause to the
Jury. The opinion in the case is drawn by
Judge Kent and is full and learned applica-
ton of sound principles of law and COM
mon sense to the facts in the case.
Probably no case in the Reports fringes
more upon the metaphysical and theological
than this, although strictly only the legal
bearing of the facts is in discussion. The
case occupies forty-five pages of the 62nd
volume of Maine Reports. The counsel for
the appellant held in his argument,-which
was a most elaborate and admirable one.-
that the testatrix was laboring under such
delusons when she made her will as to con-
stituts partial insanity; that she "believes
something to exist which not only did not
exist but of which she had no evidence
sufficient to satisfy healthy mind" that
the Judge ought to have instructed the
jury that belief in Spiritualism is such an
insane deluson as TO invalidate will made
under its influence, and to have assumed
that spiritualism is nothing but ''mischievous
nonsense" which, if believed in, constitutes
partial insanity.
But the Judge left it to the Jury to say
whether or not the beliefs which the testa-
trix entertained constituted an insane delu-
sion, instructng them on this point as fol-
lows: eff she believed that spirits did COM
municate with human beings through me-
diums was that fact alone an insane delusion
If so, gentlemen, undoubtedly there would
be very large number of people in the coun-
try incapable ofmaking wills. A great many
people believe it is a reality. Then comes up
the difficulty of our being able to say that
because we think thing absurd, therefore it
is delusion. Before you say thing is de-
lusion you must have evidence that it, does
not exist" The full court held substantially
that this instruction was correct, and refused
to set aside the verdict. The court held also
that it was not incorrect to instruct the jury
that they might follow the same rule with re-
lation to so called spiritual communications
as to advice from an ordinary source; that is,
that the testatrix might think she received
advice from dead friends and yet not yield her
wishes and opinions to such advice, and SO
not be unduly influenced.
The court did not meddle with any theologi-
cal discussion of Spiritualism, nor by any
means decide that Spiritualism is not delu-
sion, but simply said that it was question Of
fact what effect such belief had over given
person at a given time. The belief might pro-
duce monomania in one mind and not dis
whole whatever may be our individual
opinions about the theological aspects OF
Spiritualism, we can fairly enough agree that
the findings of the court were logical and
proper. If courts undertook to decide as a
matter of law what beliefs are in themselves
insane delusions they would soon get into
difficulty; and our law libraries would con-
tain more contradictions, if possible, than
they do now.
Sometimes the delusion of to-day is the
wisdom of tomorrow. Five hundred years
ago the courts of the old world might have
pronounced everybody conspicuous mono
maniacs who said that the world was turning
round and there were people on the Other
side of it. If courts of New England had
been called upon to pronounce upon witch
craft one hundred years ago they might have
given it ajudicial standing in court, as they
did give it an actual recognition by furnishing
those supposed to be under its domain. And