, 1875-01-03

residue OF the income to be invested by Trustee
II the daughter should survive the husban
then. after his decease, she WAS to have IL
whole income; and, after her death. the pro-
erty to go to her children.
These provisions virtually deprived Rohinsc
! and his wife of tho Use of the property duriu
their lives. and they
OPPOSED THE PRoBAr1so OF THE WILL
In the trial which ensued, it Vas shown tn.
Mrs. Greane, the testatrix, was believer j
Spiritual communicative that sho had receive
such communications from the spirit Of her dt
ceased husband and that some OF these were
! relation to tho disposition sha, should make Q
her property, advising her OF the fact ths
Robinson, tho daughters husband, mas not
| good man, snd was controlled by evil influences
that the property would not be safe in his hands
t etc. In making the will, Mrs. Greene foilowe
some Of these d.recti7ns, aud others sue did NOT
It was conceded that, in MI other respects, OK
cept in that OF this Spiritual " delusion," sue va
! sane and sound Of mind.
| The question Was Bquare]y presented to th,
| jury as to whether this belief Of the testatri,
was an " insane delusion," which rendered he
| Incapable OF making will valid in law, and tn.
! jury decided that
THE WILL WAS GOOD.
| Upon an spreaf to The Supreme Judicia
Court, this finding Of the jury WAS reviewed
and in an able and exhaustive opinion by judge
Kent i7dorsed By the whole court, tho verde
was Sustained. Upon this decision Judge Fed
field comments atter the following manner:
The question is, How far will which is the direc
and obvious offspring Of assumed Spiritual communi.
caons and influences, and is unjust to the hss ant
next Of KIM eau be sustained in the courts.
When the will is unjust and unreasonable to tho ]as
degree and is the direct offspring Of bshe9 which
has existence in fact fur ~ Ill human teauop,
gtes, it be maintained:
Aud he proceeds to argue that
The opinions entertained by the tn.tatxix and upon
clearly deukions according to alt hIntau testimony,
as any which the inmates Of Dodla1n entertain.
He then demonstrates the fact that thcss are
insane delusions, by the statement
That the opinions ener1ained by tho tcstatr1 were
the in kind those entertained by luna1jcs WHO
conceive themselves 10 be the Creatur Of the world or
tho final Judge of ali men, and such delrsions arc
common.
All opinions which are Incredible in themselves h.
Cause contrary to tho general COURSE ct human ex-
perience, and which, navettheiesa are entertained md
sced upon by any one in matters Of importance and
in mEnner which tie Law will not eo1us.nance when
there Is no evidence Of their correcneaB and no
meut will dispossess such per7ons OF theza must bo
regarded as toEane delu4onb-
Upon this postulate the Judges entire s7gu-
ment against the validity OF tho will IL basod.
The question now is,
Is IT TRUE?
II this assertion had fallen from tho lips or
pen OF AL InqulstoriaI officer Of the Church Of
Rome IN the fourteenth century, when tho
shadows OF ignorance blocked up the paths of
knowledge aud cove, ed the latent civilization OF
the race ss with tue pail Of death, it would not
have been remarkable; bur, coming, as it docs
frotn the able Judge and profound lawyer who
Processes to have received al educatioa gather
ed from the advanced civilization OF the ptesent
century, it IS the most astounding doctrine
ever committed to the press or published to the
world.
Sir John Hersche1l somewhere sayg: "That
you must keep your eyes open to those things
which, in the ordinary course OF events, ourbt
not to happen for they arc the clews which
lead to new discoveries Commencing this I'd
vice to the learned gentleman in question, I pro
coed.
Tested By the rule Iaia down by the Judge.
what becomes Of the scientific progress Of the
human race Sir Isaac Newton an nouuced the
theory OF gravitation. "Tbia Was incredible ia
itself, because contrary to the general courBe Of
human experience" The Law did not couute-
nance it; there was no evidence Of its correct
ness; and no argument could dispoasess tho
celebrated philosopher OF tho idea thaS his
theory Eas true. Ergo, it must hava bean
AN INSANE DELus1oS,
And, as to the general world, it was an insauo
delusion. There were plenty Of distinguished
men IN that day, men OF good ability aud pro-
[ound learning. who pronounced Newton fool
md his theory fraud. The opposition Was so
3AE%0A
hat he believed it Was better to lot the world re-
na.u in Ignorance than to announce now prin-
'lple aud then spend years OF his life in defepd-
ng It from the attacks Of prejudice and bigotry.
For nearly fourteen centuries after the birth
II Christ. the whole world believed The eartn to
y fat plain, stationary in the hesyeus M IL tbat
he sun revolved about it; and that tile srars
we're s8t in the skY to give light to the earth.
copernicus came and solved ths profound prob
en- OF al tho ages. He announced the theory
II the revolution Of the earth about the sun, and
no nature OF tho planets and the stars This |
heozy mas demonstrated By Galileo by raeans OF
he telescope. This WAS
THE MOST srUPEEDoUs FRAUD
'Fer perpetIated On the cfedulty Of tho human
ace. It was Incredible in itself, because 'cou-
rAry TO tue general oou1se OF human expert |
nce." There WAS no evidence OF its correct |
ess, and no arguments which could be brought /
Q bear by the learned and intelligent Judges Of !
hat period could dispoasess These fanatics of |
heir lnssne delusions What the earth round
nd in motion !-when everybody could see that
un.-When it Was plainly to be seen that the
IN vent down behind one hill every night, and
ose from behind another every morning. What
oily and nonsense! 1t ia vell-known fact in
istoty that Calico could not be accused Of this
elusloo unit! summoned before that gen.le ju-
aquisitlon, and By it mildly reminsd that, il be
i'd not retract bis falsehoods, he would BE- SUBJ
'cted to pezsuaalous Of the court. Under these
rcums.ancas he is said to have Abandoned hia
solish notions, and to have
STOPPED THE MOTION or THE xARTB
There Was another man, whose pa1ne in forx
atten on account OF the insienificance Of the
rent, who Ii sad to have invented q mschipa
: which the thoughts aud writings Of men
'uld be I'M pressed upon paper and duplicated
unlimited Numbers. Tue Wise men OF the day
agreed that such thing a. this machine was
credible, "because contrary to human exueri-
ce n; that it could not be proven in court.
i'd because the inventor could not be- dispos.
ssed OF ths idea that he had such mschipe. !
MS charged with hsing in ha0us viii H. /