The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1882-01-21

CONCERNING BABER's BRAIN-A FEW NOTED
HISTORICAL CRANKs MENTIONED.
IL may not be known TO the general
reader, yet II IL none the less true, that
case OF greater scientific interest than that
Of Thadeus Baber, who was executed on
! Friday last, has never been tried in Mis-
souri,. The State had to meet remarkable
defence, backed by a learned and for
mIdable roster OF physicians and en-
perts, not only on the question OF
I insanity, but on the incest OF all
/ departments Of surgery-that embfa-
cling cranial injuries and their effect
/ on the mind. II was reserved for the post
I m0rtem to set all doubts at rest rs to the
condition Of the skull. Ii was a surprise
I to the physicians who figured in the case,
\ but IL was a confirmation OF the accuracy
( OF the views for which Colonel j. {. Nor
7 mile contended in his prosecution. Appre-
ciating the interest OF this question, Gto6e-
/ Democrat reporter yesterday called on Mr..
: NormiIe. the late circuit attorney, and, ind
ing him in his Office, requested his views.
/ "Are YOU aware. Colonel, that post
norton has been held on Baber!" the re-
porter asked.
"Oh, yes, / know it," was the lawyers
answer.
81 presume you know bow surprising
were its results?"
at doubtless was a surprise TO my
learned friends the physicians, but not TO
me. Nobody holds their integrity of pur-
pose in more esteem than myself, but hay-
I ing been an humble pilgrim for years in
/ the path OF their very uncertain science. or,
! rs the great Buckle says, their art, ] cX-
cluded from their findings the element OF
/ infallbilty in this case, and concluded that
they were mistaken; from the weight and
combined variety OF probabilities and cir
/ cumstanceS,
TIE ONLY PROOF
IN ouch eases, | became satisfied at the
trial that they were deceived and mis-
taken"
GLOW did you reach that conclusion in
ADVANCED
"Cicero says that the advocate should
possess variety OF knowledge, to which
honor, however, lay no claim. Forensic
medicine Is, however, subject with which
a prosecuting officer OF a large city should
be acquainted, and without altogether con-
curing with Gil Bias that every man is
either fool or physician at the age OF
thirty. may safely state that the contests
OF the forum in well-conductcd State trials
strip medical science of the gay plumage
of its assumptions. Had the inner table
of the skull been fractured, - aS to press
upon or llcerate the plastic maSs-thc
brain-I maintained that epileptc fits were
certain TO follow. But for twenty-five years
ne was never known to have had a tit OF
any kind, and therefore the cranial injury
could not involve the brain. insisted
that there was no evidence OF any value
that the skull ever was trephlned, or that it
was internally fractured at all, leaving only
the simple question whether his conduct
was characteristic of the insane. II was in
sisted by the physicians at the trial that it
was manifest that he had been trcphined,
and one of them brought his auger and a
skull into court TO perform the operation
in the presence OF the jury. Yesterday
his skull appeared perfect in the inner
table, as well Is the brain, and so vindi-
Gated myself rs well as the justice Of Mis-
souri,. BE good enough 10 state that the
very able DR.. Louis Bauer and the very
able and very modest DR.. La Grand Atwood
eventually were called by me, and came TO
my rescue
"What is your opinion OF what is called
expert testimony in defence OF insanity"
Il respect it as long as it treadS the soil
Of science. All sciences have their frOn-
tiers. Mathematics, for instance, the most
accurate and exalted, has its dark abyss
IT'S JUMPING-OFF PLACE
at It's highest calculus. and when it comes to
the domain OF the mind, diseased or heal
thy, why, we are simply sailing, as the
sailor says, by dead reckoning-we have
not vet seen the sun, and cannot know
I'll loo. 1ottt ftr1a
guess, that is all, but that I'LL is not science
much Of il j. nonsense. We cannot lift
the veil that hides the inner sanctuary OF
the mind; we only know that this un-
known force acts through the machinery
of the brain as steam through the piston,
and electric fluid through the carbon
points. and if these be impaired or injured,
il Is illogical and unScentilic to say that ii
is the mind, the steam and the electricity
that are injured, when it is merely the ma
chnery through which their power became
manifest We must not coniOund, rs most
experts do, the former with the latter. The
physician can tell whether an organ he
inspects is diseased, but until death he can
not tell whether the brain, in many cases,
is healthy OF otherwise. Many confined
lunaticS have had brains that show no
disease. In the great majority OF cases
that come before courts the expert has TO
decide whether man is sane or not by an
imaginary standard set up by himself, and
which, when reduced TO its first principle.
amounts TO the declaration that /, the eX-
port, would not have so acted, and hence
the man i insane We have Il standard /
or measure. OF most things, but not OF /
mental health
SOME HISTORIC CRANKS.
"Then you hold that there is left little /
except coniecturei"
"Precisely SO. 4 man OF limited read |
inS WILL learn little amount OF the diver |
sity OF human sanity merely by cutting up |
brain or poking his nose through the /
grated window of an asylum. He may not /
know that Socrates INDUCED the delusion |
that demon walked like shadow at his |
side; that Brutus saw the figure OF dis |
aster at Iii, tent door announcing the |
subsequent defeat at Phillip; nobody /
SuppOSeS that BrutuS was either timid !
or superStitious. Martin Luther tells 7.
Us himself that he had an ami /
mated theological discussion with the |
devil, terminating in n rOugh-and-tum bic /
fight, in which the reformer threw his ink |
stand at the head Of his satanic majesty. !
lie tells us in addition that the devil had /
the habit of getting into ms bed and there !
tormcnting him. Every student is familiar I.
with the remarkable delusions of his great |
opponent, L0yOla; of Puschal. of Tasso, of /
Rousseau, OF Malbranchc, OF Decartes. Con- |
slider the case OF George Fox, the founder |
OF the Quakers. lie clothed himself in .
leather. living for years in the hollow OF an /
old tree, and having visions and revelations. /