The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-10-09


by throwing a side-light upon things, to de-
tect relations before undiscovered. Some
of our most distinguished ref0rmers. from
the narrOwneSs and intensity of their con-
victiOns, have been looked upon as mono
maniacS; and many of our most important
reforms Of thought and action have been
started by persons sprung from insane
families-who, not unfreQuently. have
themselves been deemed insane-a fact ap-
parently justified by the pretty general
opinion that the visions and revelations of
Mohammed, the founder of Islam. were the
direct results of an epileptic seizure. The
peculiar method of looking at things which
characterize the great leaders in the regions
OF thought-art, science, literature, etc.
are directly indicative of this insane tenn
perament, or nervous eXcitability-as in the
intuitive insight of poets and metaphysi-
cianS-which has the effect of inspiration.
The oft-quoted lines
Great wits are sure to madness near allied
And thin partitions do their bounds divide.'
contain a great physiological truth but little
suspected by the writer of them.
Ii Psychologists of experience find it diff
cult to draw the line of demarcatiOn be.
tween these insane temperaments which are
occasionally beneficial to the human race,
and that dementia which is harmful to the
patient or to others, it is not strange that
our judges, whO as rule. know nothing
of physiology, should arrive at such varied
and frequently irreconcilable conclusions
respecting responsibility in mental disease.
The principle which but too frequently per-
vades the minds of both judge and juries in
our criminal trials is that, unless the mans
reason is positively proved to have utterly
gone, he was not exempt from punishment
for his breaches of the law. During the
last fifty years. however. this iron-clad
axiom has been somewhat modified in both
the English and American courts of law;
it is occasionally admitted, in theory at
least. that an accused person is exempt
from punishment ''if, at the time of COM
mitting the crime he labored under such
defect of reason from cerebral disorder as
not to know the nature and quality of the
act he was doing; or, if he knew that, not
to know that he was doing that which was
wrong"
Some American judges and jurists have
gone step still further in advance in their
decisions. which have tended on the whole
to conform to the laws laid down by leading
physiologsts. that IAN insane person may
do an act which he knows to be contrary to
law; because, under the influence of an in
sane deluSOn, he is law unto himself, and
deems it duty to perform the act. perhaps
Will d HOIlOH VI pIOuuClIS SOIllo puUlIC UoU-
eft" In such cases, vindctive public
opinion or private prejudice should not be
permitted to dOminate-an indefinite term
of Imprisonment at lunatic asylum being
amply sufficient to secure public safety.
The tendency to suicide OH the part of
persons whose minds are in all other re
spects healthy and we'll balanced. is spe-
cially interesting form of mental alienation.
1t is beyond the possibility of doubt that
the suicidal propensity is inherited in the
same way as the tricks of bodily movement
-epileptic seizures st. Vitus' dance, etc.
run in families. 1t may remain dormant
while the individual is healthy and pros
perity and comfort surrounds him; but. if
his nervous energy is exhausted. his will
power Frustrated. and the tone of his sys-
tenn is depressed. it springs into activity,
and may display itself in a convulsive
energy. From pathological point of view.
Maudsley explains the suicidal impulse as
follows: 'As the will cannot restrain con
vulsive movements of the body, of which
the patient may all the time be conscious;
so the will cannot always restrain. however
much it may strive to do so. morbid idea
which has reached cOnvulsive activity;
although there may be all the while clear
consciousness of it's morbid nature.''
Charlestown Prison, Mass. F. j. G.
He Meant Bonanza.
~A@I H.