The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-08
THE LONDON MURDERS
Scientifically Discussed
by a New York
Professor.
TELEGRArHIC NEWS F~OM ALL
POINTS.
wre rlasho, and Gable Brevities.

NEW YORK. October 7.-Mr John Or
dronaux, professor Of medical iurispru-
dence at the Columbia College Law
SChOO. and author OF standard works on
the legal bearings Of insanity, talked yes
ttrday TO a Sun reporter al his home IN
Roslvn, Long Island, about the supposed
insane woman slayer of London. The
professor was for nine years State Com
missioner 0f Lunacy, and is we'll
known insanity expert He said
"iIe is ldnalic, OF course. There can
be no doubt Of that. His very cleyerness
IN eluding the police might be proof Of
il. The devilish cunning and resource OF
some maniacs is marvellous. The ques-
ton is, what frightful nightmare of mad
ness is this that possesses him? When he
is caught he will speak out; he won't
hesitate to give reasons as far as he Is
able.
Meanwhile, We can only guess. But
cases of the kind have not been so rare
that we need guess at random. The
vampires Of the middle ages that haunted
the cemelries and dug up the bodies Of
women to tear their flesh from the bones
were doubtless madmen of his calibre
They were very real terror to their
time, not at all creatures Of an excited
fancy. AT times their peculiar madness
became fairly epidemic on the continent
OF Europe The reason why the psyche
logy Of the middle ages presents many
more such cases than our day is that
then they ran about unhindered, while
nowadays such lunstics would be very
soon arrested but we have cases in point
Of much more recent date
The professor took down from its
shelf q treatise on insanity by Morel, a
celebrated French authority, and pointed
out the case of Sergeant Bertrand, who.
in 1S47, was arrested as ghoul and con.
victed of digging UP the corpses OF
women in Partisan cemeteries. Refer
ence was made by the autho. TO parallel
cases in which the horror of cannibalism
was added, the preference being always
for the bowels of the victim. Other
authorities defined the term d9mono
mania.
"ecience may ridicule the idea of de
monical possession resumed the pro
fessOr; those who deny that there is
anythng but matter will see no proof 20
the contrary. Proof expires with tie
conditions OF matter you are examining,
and when you drop the subject as a men
tai and take 10 Up as moral question,
YOU tread on uncertain ground in a
sense II is true that you cannot ind a
demon with microscope or figure it
out by tables of lOgarithms; and yet it is
not irrational TO suppose that a
distinct evil agency does dominate
the human mind under circum-
stances when it is overthrown to
the last degree and has lost its per
sonal and subjective identity. When
insanity, originating in a perversion Of
the sexual instinct, passes beyond bounds
within which it can be explained on con
diliOns OF physical deterioration, it Is
permissible TO recognize a superhuman
cause as the controlling power in the
domination Of human conduct. This IS
dcm0niacsl possession. Granted that the
only foundation for belief in il is the nj
terly inhuman aud illogical conduct Of
the victim, vet if he alone o. ten thou
sand lunalics similarly affected goes this
length we shall have 10 assume either
that he is being differently formed,
which we cannot d., or that some new
agency is discovered in his case as In
that Of this London murderer Here is
where possession of an evil spirit steps
in to supply the explanation 1t seems
TO me as admissible in this last ener-
gency as the law Of grayitation. No
body sees it, yet nobody doubts it. We
all see It's results"