Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1907-01-02

Most frequent among the danger sisnaln
are insomnia and constipation. In fact.
so common are these symptoms that the
experienced observer anticipates their
presence and expects an affirmative an
swer 70 his queries respecting them.
/ It must be borne IN mind. too. IN deter
mining insanity that patient generally
makes unreliable, misleading Statements
Regarding him OF her self. even though IN
other respects he or she may be perfectly
truthful Not long ago pronounced a.
certain prisoner insane and another pris-
oner sane. Several newspaper men. inter
viewing both OF them, reported to me that
the former declared himself perfectly sane
and the latter convinced them Of her in.
sanity. Insane persons declare themselves
sane almost as a rule. the truth or falsity
lof certain statemdnts made by the insane
being only deternl ined by evidence from
Iotner sources. OIipahe other hand, many
hallucinations expressed by the insane are
50 manifestly irrational as to need no fur
ther corroboraton; as, for instance when
a man declares he is a king or the Saviour.
or that his legs are made Of glass and ne
refuses to walk for fear OF breaking them:
or woman that she Is the Virgin Mary.
or queen or an angel.
All sorts of absurd arguments are ad-
vanced by defendant counsel occasionally
to prove their clients insane. Recently a
well known lawyer argued his client-a
nr0m0ma
tories did not correspond In size and also
because the prisoner was bowlegged I took
pains to observe the ears OF that jury and
found that seven members OF II had the.
ear defects mentioned. On the other hand
when this point was introduced / venturea
that a majority Of human beings were.
guilty OF Just such ear defects and that the.
lawyer himself was observedly mora bow
legged than his client. Retiring TO the Jury,
room, those dozen men studied one an
others ears and promptly returned a YER
dict OF guilty.
Just now the public Is slnguiarly az sea.
as to the exact status Of insanity as a de-
fence for homicide. The revised Code Of
Criminal Procedure provides that person
is not excused from criminal liability ass
an idiot, imbecile, lunatc or insane person.
except on proof that at the time OF COM
y hitting the alleged criminal act he was
y laboring under defect OF reason as either
At !. Not TO know the nature and quality Of.
10 the act he was doing or
Ell 2 Not to know that the act was wrong
sr Insanity at the time OF the act NAV be,
s. decided solely by the jury. Insanity at the,
Of time Of the trial is never passed upon by,
ie the jury. Technically considered, the de-.
L fence OF temporary insanity il tho only.
n legal attitude a defendant can take toward
re his mental condition which will, II II pre-
n walls, enable him TO go free. Among our
s. criminal insane a large portion are para
~ noiacs, or, In other words, victims OF delu--
& mental arrangement, contrary to popular.
ID belief, but as every experienced alienisr
ID knows. possess a perfectly clear knowledas.
Of right and wrong in the abstract and!
D. also comprehend abstractly the nature ana
IS legal consequences OF acts similar to those
I'D which they have committed. Your para
IS noiac Is prone 10 premise falsely and TO,
a. morbidly misinterpret the conduct, attl-
u tude and motives OF those about him. ana
~ while he often reasons logically he reasons
ly from wrong premises, as a sane person
n would not do
n To set up legal test or standard Of IN
r. sanity which IS not in harmony with the
"a teachings Of medical science. and at the
pi- same time so narrow I'm scope as 20 ex-
a clude from its benefits the victims OF para
ed noia. who represent such a large portion
in of the dangerous insane, simply because
ie- they possess a knowledge OF right and
re- wrong, is a disgrace to Jurisprudence and
"a A travesty OF Justice. The real question OF
So fact for jury to determine in cases Of
he alleged insanity in criminal trials would
vel seem to be the following
~ MA the defendant at the time % the
aiieeea crime have sufficient mental ca
"a -, Az appreciate nationally the nature
- - - ,seo,lences Of the act. and, II 80.
81 - he suficient power Of Will 70 enable
- n n,u ~ choose between doing or not doina
DIS, a.? -, che mower OF choosing
~ :. II ns.~ence to the particular act was
OF WIN re due to disease. and not TO heat OF
- VIZ intoxication or other sei-lnouce0
s@porsry mental sl d sslslon Of these
PLAINLY siying human life and liberty, Is
to lions. IN ,ital importance. and inasmuch
ell OF mos Late directly 10 disease the faet'
ny as tne syoperiy be interpreted FOR the JURY
the only hy e,ta ssroe tests should be a D
. IN Subs criminal cases as are now re
-, piled II ~ law for the commitment Of al
me me quired ~ 10 a hospital for the insane
H DGIsis compulsory sza ,eassd &c Of tn
lis mental conois-on ,., the nhoro-,s,,s .
- sic pms III this were done It is safe Z
us ms jn m. mat much Of the discrepancy an
ia prdlics. ~ opinion IN our courts and at tn
~ co ~ rrioiic opinion respectirg the CUES
AZ bal o. responsibility inl criminal case
are w - insanity - alleged would vanish.