Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-11-30

one of fact to be determined by the jury upon
evidence."2
Other nations have not bound themselves by
| so narrow and ill-founded a criterion OF re-
| sponsibiiity in insanity: they have RETAINED
from the attempt to define exactly the condi-
lions OF responsibility. In France the article of
the penal code is: There can be no crime nor
offense fthe accused was in state of madness
| at the time of the act" And the revised stat
| utes of the state of New York enact that no
act done by person in q state of insanity can
| be punished as an offense" These general en-
actments, while wisely leaving each case to be
decided on its merits. may clearly be construed.
If they were not intended. to exempt from
| punishment the individual who. being
partially insane. nevertheless commits a crime
which is no way connected with his insanity:
who, in fact, SO far as can be judged, does it in
| the same way and from exactly the same mo-
| tive as sane person. For an insane person lis
not exempt from the ordinary evil passions of
human nature; he may do an act ont of ieal-
| ousy, ayarice. or revenge: it is right. then.
when, so far as appears. the passion is not con-
nected with his diseased ideas or feelings and
ne acts with criminal intent. that he should
escape punishment for what he has done?
This is really the important question which
must continue To puzzle courts of Justice when
a particular criterion of Responsibility is no
! longer laid down; for If it be admitted that an
insane person who apparently does a criminal
| act sanely ought not to escape punish
ment the difficulty of deciding whether his dis
ease did or did not affect the act will remain
| There Will always be room enough for doubts
| and differences Of opinion
The section of the latest German penal code
! is: "An act is not punishable when the person
| at the time of doing it was i'm state of uncon-
| sclOusness or of disease of mind by which a
free determination of the will was excluded"
| Not every disorder of mind is exempt: only
| such actual disease as excludes free determi-
nation of the will. The problem, then is, to
determine. first. what conditions of derange-
ment of the mental faculties are TO be
considered as the result of dis
ease: and. secondly whether and how far free will
| is excluded by them. In the case of partially
insane person acting to all appearance from an
ordinary criminal motive. the act must be
weighed IN relation to these two questions and.
If they are answered in the negative, he would
clearly be amenable to punishment.
| 1t is abundantly evident from this short re-
| view of the codes of other countries that moth
| ing can be said in justification of the super
stitlous reverence with which English lawyers
cling to their criterion of responsibility. 1t is
| hard to see why they should suffer a greater
| pang in giving up this formula than they did
| in giving up other formulas, which, having had
their day and done much evil work. were
abandoned. The ''wild-beast theory" once SO
sacred. has been relegrted TO the record of hui
man mistakes: the theory of a knowledge of
right and wrong i'm the abstract which followed
| IL was. in like manner. repudiated as men be-
! came better acquainted with the phenomena of
mental arrangement; surely. then. the meta
| physical theory of a knowledge Of right and
wrong in relation to the particular Ofrense
which finds little or no favor out of England
and which is condemned unanimously by all per-
| sons, in all countries, who have made insanity
| their study. may be suffered to join its pre-
decessOrs, without danger of injury to what all
| those who approve and those who disapprove it
desre-the strict administration of Justice.
Physicians have no right to interfere in the adj
| ministratiOn of the law. which is the Judges
function nor is it their duty to decide upon
| hof 10 10 In xx-alfa Of r. .,e&
that being the legislators work; their concern is
with the individual. not with the citizen. But
they plainly have the right to declare that the
nature of crime involves two elements: first,
| the knowledge of its being an act contrary to
law; and, secondly. the will to do or to forbear
| doing it, and to point out that there are some
| insane persons who. having the former, are de-
prived by their disease of the latter; who may
know an act to be unlawful but may be inn
| PEELED to do it by a conviction or an impulse
| which they have not the will or the power to
! resist. Recognizing the obvious difference be-
tween him who triI not and him who cannot
| fulfill the claims of the law, it is their func-
ton to point out the conditions of disease
which constitute incapacity, and. when they
find a false fact solemnly enunciated as rule
of law. to bring fOrwardinto all the prominence
| they can the contradictory instances which
their observation makes known to them. ''That
| cannot be fact in law which is not fact i'm
science; that cannot be health i'm law which is
disease in fact. And it is unfortunate that
courts should maintain a contest with science
and the laws of Nature upon question of fact
which is within the province of science and out
side the domain Of law
l. Judge Doe, State V. Pike.
z Boardnan " Woodman.
necessary that the law should entertain single medical
a a concerning single disease it is not necessary
clans of former generation. "-(P. Iaoo
Window Flowers i'm Winter.
From the Country Gentleman.
When the days are shortening, and 90 the year
trembles with decay, like an old man who leans
upon his staff" all lovers of flowers should have
made preparations for them in the windows..of
their apartments where every one can enjoy the
luxury of raising at least few plants to sweeten
and refine the home life, and to feed upon the
carbonic acid gas Of the air. There is nothing
more attractive to the passer-by than plants and
flowers in the easements; and when the gardens
are covered with snow and frost. and the earth
is held in the stern letters of winter there is no
occupation for the housewife more cheering
than that Of window gardening.
Some one has said that mans dignity is no
more lowered 10y caring for flowers than it is
by manifestng piety, for flowers are the
fayOrites OF the Creator Of the world, and We
offer acceptable worship to Him in caring for
them. One of the oldest Of religious customs
was the beautiful practice of adjoining the
| shrines of the temples with flowers; and it is
a hopeful national sign to find the culture Of
flowers so widely extended, and to see them
so generally used in Ornamenting the churches
in winter, as well as in summer, all over the
United States.
Warmth, moisture, fresh air and sunlight. are
the chief essentials for plant growth with fresh
soil; no one can hope to make plants bud and
| flower in perfection unless the soil is replen-
ished every autumn. Ii the pots or boxes are
large. the earth can be carefully removed about
the sides and taken out without greatly disturb
ing the fibrous roots. Then fresh soil can be
added. and il it can be easily obtained from
neighboring florist it is much better to pur-
chase than to prepare it. Rut the woods offer
an excellent compost to all who will seek it.
Under the pine trees cast-off needles you viii
find a dark rich soil. which is most desirable for
reporting roses, fnchsias, geraniums, begonias,
bouvardias, carnations. heliotrOpes and other
plants. If it is little sandy, so much the bet
ter, but one-quarter part Of thoroughly decayed
stable manure will increase its fertilZing powers
largely.
If the pots are small. run knire around the
edges; turn the balls out into the left hand and
tear Off the matted roots and clinging soil. Fill
up a pot one size larger with the fresh earth
and transplant, pressing the soil very closely
around the roots. Put at least an inch more Of