Year: 1873

AUSTIN, MOWER COZ


"Then," said I, "the only thing
you can do is to submit to the restric.
tion Of an asylum till this feeling has
passed."


"It will not pass. eff I were to GO
to mad-louse I should sham sane.
Sooner or later their vigilance over me
would be relaxed. Then I should muir.
der my keeper, and 60 straight for that
innocent girl"


"Then leave the country"
swell, that would save her: but,
Doctor, one life is rs dear to its holder
as another. If I don't kill her, shall
kill some one else."


my dear fellow" replied, in as
light tone as could assume, "these
fancies are durable. Put yourself un-
der skilled medical treatment. You
are I'LL to bits, physically. Get sound
in body and you'll; get oil right in
your mind"


Con the contrary, am all to bits,
as you say, mentally, and my body suf-
fers through my mind. Medical treat
ment: have consulted every practi-
toner of note here and in Europe.
Some think I'm fooling them, some
look wise and talk as You do about
treatment All have failed. Doctors
are no use to me"


"Then may I ask you Why you have
come here y"


ITO ask your advice as a friend, "
he answered, drawing his chair nearer
to me; and lowering his voice, "to
ask you one question as friend and
q God-fearing man, and to which I
pray you to give me plain yes or no. "


600 on"


"Feeling as I feel, shall I be justi-
fed before God in taking my own life 2
Will it be deadly ain for me to do for
myself what would do to a mad dog2"


I repeat his words almost al he
spoke them. cannot give you the
faintest idea of the solemn deliberation
with which he put this awful question.
For some moments could not say a
word. Then I started up and told him
that I would not answer him yes or no
that it was not fair to ask me to take
such responsibility. Then he rose
too, and said that he must resolve it
for himself, and I saw plainly which
way it would 20. Give me until to-
morrow to think it out, I said, detain-
ing him.


"To-morrow may be too late" he
replied. "The fit may come upon me
to. night, for all know"


"Come home with me: I'm not
afraid. You won't hurt me-" said.


II would try very hard net to do SO,
but know myself. Icannot trust my
eelf. Don't you trust me-"


Il will trust you; but I'll do r.ore.
You are not armed, suppose


"No," he replied, with q shudder,
"not now."


"I'll take care that you shall not be,
and I'll carry my Derringer in my
pocket. On the first indication of the
homicidal mania give you my word
I'll shoot-and shoot straight" I
said this to satisfy the poor fellow. In
his weak state l could have laid him
out like child. It did satisfy him, and
we went home together. He'd him to
talk of oui eoldiering days, and gradu-
ally got him back to his first wound.
! made him describe the first sensa-
tions of pain in his head, and repeat all
that his different medical advisers had
said. I happened to have strong
preparation of hasheesh by me. I gave
him a dose, and whilst under its influ-
ence I carefully examined his head.
Now, the head, you know, does not fat
ten nor waste away in proportion to
other parts of the body. Still his head
had become mere skin and bone, and
this state, perhaps, gave me an advan-
tage over others who had made the
same examination. At last I felt, or
thought felt, a faint twitching-a sort
of abnormal pulsation-abuut two
inches above the left ear. It might be
merely nervous, but 1t might be caused
6y tie ball.


I then set my mind to work, and
thought the whole case over steadily.
In the first place, was that impulse to
take human life, of which nay poor
friend had spoken really uncon-
trollable Z For example, suppose that
one day he did take a pistol on fur-
posc,' and go to that 1ady's garden
would he shoot herr To suppose that
the insane mind never changed it's
purpose, or turns from the fell COM
pletion Of its purpose, is to say in
other words that the insane mind is;
stronger than the sane mind. If q man
with freshly broken leg were to tell
you he was going to, run foot race you
would: not believe him, because your
common sense revolts against the idea
of his running with leg disabled.
But if one with his brain disabled de-
clares that he is going to do something
dependent upon the action OF his mind,
common sense does not always argue
so well.


In the second place, did my poor
friend, with his impaired means of
Judgment, believe that the impulse
was -uncontrollable9 Because if he
did the end would be the same, 80 for
as he was concerned. He would sacri-
flee his own life to protect that of
Others, though they were in no actual
danger.


In the third place, might not this
story of the impulse be a mere pre-
tense to excuse the commission of sui
cide7 Now there are no forms of mad
ness more obscure in their origin, more
difficult to detect, more persistent and
more fatal than suicidal mania and
as there have been numerous cases in
which persons who have, destroyed
themselves have carefully prepared evi-
dence tending to show that their death
was accidental, why should there not
be one in which the fatal act was to be
$50 far as possible) justified.


In the fourth place, granting that
there was either real homicidal mania
or fancied homicidal mania tending to
suicidal, or simply the latter-was
there possibility of curea
| As the three first questions rested
for their solution on one set of facts,
and the deduction to be drawn there
from, I considered both together A
victim of suicidal mania rarely if ever
speaks of suicide. When o man says
he is going to drown himself you may
generally direct him to the cars which
will take him to the river side with the
fullest conviction that he will not
breakfast with the crabs. If, in an
exceptional case, suicide is mentioned.
it will either be treated lightly as an
act that is not crime, or the patient
will be very earnest in his assurances
that he would never commit it. Re.
membering my poor friends manner,
noticed that he spoke of taking his
own life with much more emotion than
he evinced when be told me of the i'm
pulse to shed the blood of others. His
words, Il must have human life-if I
had had pistol with me I sheuld