The evening times., 1899-12-07

own lives or the lives of others. Respec-
table citizens do most outrageous viola
tion to both the divine and human law;
and. when. in criminals cell, they Pro-
test their Innocence of intention. their
horror at the knowledge that they have
shocked the community by some fiend-
ish performance. they are credited with
being bloodthirsty hypocrites. seeking to
escape the heavy penalty for their dis
tressing deeds.
While the law must be upheld with iron
to prevent the artful and deliberate male
factor from finding a convenient loop
hole Of escape, it is feared that oftentimes
there have been grievous wrongs commit
ted in the name Of justice, urwittingly,
to be sure. but wrongs. nevertheless.
There are some who believe that this
frantic age of ours has a tendency. with
Its countless trials and worries and its
restless. spasmodic spirit, to seriously
disturb the mental equilibrium. This is
an abnormally ambitious era, and the So
ciologist who has an investigating dispo-
sition frequently detects the penalties Of
growing determination to overstep the
limits of human endeavor
When the body is taxed beyond its power
of endurance, there is collapse; when the
nerves are wrought to the swapping point,
Mysteries follow, the sufferer forfeiting his
self-control. Thus nature protests
against the transgression Of her laws. But
neither physical collapse nor the rebellion
Of the nervous system Is necessarily per-
manent, although the manifestations are
alarming. II the overwrought physical
structure and the unduly taxed nervous
organism, then. exhibit these transient but
violent protests against ill-treatment it is
not surprising that the delicate seat of the
mind. which is coming more and more to
bear the burdens of a hurrying and impa-
tient civilization, should falter in its func-
tions and temporarily go awry, causing the
man himself to unknowingly do unusual
and absurd, il not horrible. things.
Temporary insanity may have been
abused as plea for the rascal who sought
to escape his Just dues in working on the
human sympathies Of jury, but this is no
reason for turning aside question of acute
Importance as unworthy of earnest atten-
tion and examination. II men are sudden
ly seized with a paroxysm OF the brain
which plunges them into astounding in
fractions Of the law that appal their friends
and bring them down to bitter disgrace, it
Is a problem to be looked into and not a
matter to be carelessly tossed aside with
an air of suspicion and superior disdain.
Insanity in all its forms is a most pitia-
Bile afdiction, especially because medical
science is SO helpless when 1t manfests it
self. And yet, while victims Of dementia
are objects for sympathy. the safety OF the
public demands their isolation and confine-
ment. for it is well known that the mildest
man in his right mind often proves to be
the most dangerous OF lunatics when his
reasoning powers are undermined.
Medical science can achieve no greater
triumph than the solution of the perpiex-.
ing phases of the insanity problem and
there is every reason to hope in this re-
markably active age OF endeavor along all
scientific lines that there will be some
surprising progress in the direction indi-
cated