Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-11-23
THE INSANE NEURosIs.

cut aehnltlons TO nj subject which It
Is impossible to treat in that way, and the
result has been the escape from punish
nent OF many of the worst murderers of
The time. Nor can it be said that
the study of ahenism has been
pursued by the generality of even med
zeal men as it deserves to have been.
Indeed, the world is only on the threshold
of inquiry in this connection. But it is
obvious that henceforth it will be necessary
for the law to be modified by science, and
that the endeavor to determine purely
scientific questions by arbitrary legal
standards must be abandoned. The name
of the subjects of the insane neurosis
ia Legion. They are found everywhere,
and they manifest their cerebral defcien-
cies in the most various ways. Everyone
numbers among his acquaintance some per-
son who has always been accounted rather
"queer," and who is alternately regarded
az merely eccentric and "half- crazy" ac-
cording as the standpoint of the observer is
friendly or otherwise. In large proper
ton of cases these "queer" people inherit
their mental unsoundness. The children
of fathers who have been hard drinkers,
and of mothers of Emphatic and sluggish
vitality, very commonly bear this burden.
The children of habitual criminals, of
excessively lewd and generally depraved
and profigate parents, are also often VIC
TINS of the insane neurosis. They want
mental balance. They are not to be
relied upon at any time. They are always
liable to do things without such reasons as
would satisfy sane minds. They are also
liable to break down into confirmed epilep-
tics, or to collapse into general paralysis of
the insane. They are the people who,
being predisposed to madness, yet not
being positively mad, may at any time be
thrown off their always precarious balance
by unforeseen or exceptional occurrences.
But the victims OF the insane neurosis may
neverthelesssand as a fact do, in thousands
of instances, go through life without doing
anything that is beyond eccentricity. The
recklessness with which bad marriages
are made, the constant defiance of natural
laws in the ordering of life, the strain of
the modern struggle for existence, the
dangerous predominance of nervous en-
ergy in modern social phenomena, all
tend to maintain and to extend this evil,
and to multiply the number of those who
are doomed to carry with them the germs
of insanity. Nature in this way visits
the sins of the fathers upon the children
with her usual indifference to human no.
tions of justice. Indeed if the conditions
which paternal and maternal selfshness and
recklessness impose upon millions Of chill
dren could be clearly apprehended at one
view, it would appear very doubtful
whether the current theory Of parental
affection did not need radical revision.
The victim of the insane temperament is
sent into the world incapacitated for any of
the higher developments of his or her facul.
ties. He is handicapped fearfully and
hopelessly in the race of life. But for all
this he possesses enough force of mind to
render him a free agent, and he acts volun.
tarily even when he is yielding to the most
imperative demands of the diseased side of
his mind. Guiteau and the class he repre-.
sents are doubtless urged to do things which
do not occur to better balanced brains, but
they are capable of resisting such tempta-
ton, and there are plenty of instances in
which they have done this successfully.
Epileptics are often homicidally inclined
while the fit is on, but as rule they have
warning when the fit is approaching, and
they know that they ought to be restrained
during their state of Inconsistencies. Just
SO is it with the Guiteau class. They can
them in check. Andi is not be supposed
that because they have the insane TEN.
permanent, therefore they cannot distinguish
between right and wrong. Even chronic
maniacs are able to draw this distinction,
and in fact it is only during the very
access of delirious frenzy that the capacity
SO to distinguish is lost to them.
The subject of the insane neurosis is in
all respects able to perceive the difference
between right and wrong. He knows that
heoughtnot to yield to the promptings of his
lawless imagination. He knows, too, that
he can resist if he chooses to do SO. In
regard to ability to reason rightly on such
topics, there is no appreciable difference
between him and the perfectly sane man,
in short, and therefore the law should
make no difference in their treatment.
The legal theory of responsibility is based
upon radical misconceptions of the effects
of insanity. A mailman will often reason
correctly on all but one subject, and even
on that he may realize that he is wrong,
though he refuses to abandon his favorite
delusion. The large class to which Gui-
teau belongs is, for all legal purposes, zane.
It knows what it is doing, and can refrain
from evil if it wishes. That is the only
possible safe test of responsibility. To
this conclusion it will be necessary to come
sooner or later, moreover. The law must
be reformed in regard to the treatment of
the plea of insanity, and the consequences
and proofs of responsibility. To say that
criminal is insane must not hereafter be
tantamount to saying that he cannot be
punished. Whoever knows what is right
and does what is wrong. must come under
the scope of the criminal Law.
TIE TALK CT eLADsroHE's RETIRE
MEaT.
The recent talk of Glsdstone's retire.
ment proves, as might have been expected,
TO be without foundation in fact Indeed
there is no probability that he will retire at
all so long as his party is in power, and
should his Government fall it is not likely
that he would long survive it, for with
man of his habits inaction would be far