Criminal Lunatics
PSYCHOLOGICAL ANNOTATIONS.
Two important trials have occurred lately in which the plea of insanity was raised. I allude to that of Madden, tried for threatening the life of the Queen, and acquitted on the ground of insanity ; and Mullens, found guilty of threatening the life of an officer connected with the Board of Trade. The nature of the two cases is precisely similar, but the result of the trials diametrically opposite. We have frequently urged that a jury are incompetent to form a correct opinion on the mental state of an individual. Many of the agitators on lunacy reform have stated that previous to the admission of any person into an asylum he should be examined by a jury of his fellow-country- men. This may appear feasible, but it is quite impracticable and absurd. Every case of alleged lunacy which comes within the province of a jury proves their inability to properly grasp the matter sub judice. Guilt or innocence may be determined by them, but not the line of demarcation existing between sanity and insanity. This is proved at every trial in which the plea of insanity is raised. Both the prisoners were certified lunatics, and under confinement in asylums. Madden ought not to have been arraigned in the first instance, having escaped from a lunatic asylum, to which he ought to have been sent back, and not detained as a criminal in a gaol. His mental state was well known, and there was no occasion to waste the time of the Court by deciding a question which was already admitted. In reference to the case of Mullens, we wish to draw especial attention to the rule of law as laid down by Mr. Justice Hawkins in summing up. In commenting, however, on his remarks, we do not want to show any disrespect to a ruling of a judge, but feel it is imperative that some remarks should be made on the subject. Mr. Justice Hawkins is reported to have said as follows :?” It is not sufficient excuse to justify you in acquit- ting a prisoner on the ground of insanity that he might be eccentric and violent, or that he might have illusions on parti- cular matters.” It may naturally be asked, What is Mr. Justice Hawkins’s idea of insanity ? If an ordinary certificate in lunacy, required by 8 and 9 Vict., c. 100, was signed, stating that an in- dividual was excitable, violent, eccentric, and laboured under definite illusions, the medical man giving it would be perfectly justified in so signing, and the Commissioners in Lunacy would accept these facts as evidence of the man’s mental condition. Dr Edgar Sheppard and Mr. Gibson both gave evidence of the prisoner’s insanity, but the question reserved for the jury was, whether at the time of writing the threatening letter he knew what he was doing, and the consequences of his contem- plated act. The jury found that this was so, and found him guilty. According to the rule of law laid down in our criminal code, a person is amenable to the law of the land if at the time of an illegal act he can discriminate between right and wrong. There is no more cruel or unjust clause in the whole of our legislation than this one. According to it, if a person is ever so insane and yet conscious of this distinction, lie must suffer the penalty of the law as it exists. Another point occurs to us in connection with the case. There was no doubt from the medical testimony that he was insane when placed on his trial; and, therefore, we maintain that he was unable to plead, as being non compos mentis. One of the last cases of importance in which the accused was not allowed to plead from affirmed mental incapacity was that of the Rev. Mr. Dodwell; and it is not out of place to ask the following questions in reference to this case as compared with the two under consideration: Why was Mr. Dodwell not allowed the services of Mr. Gibson, the surgeon of Newgate, at his trial ? This gentleman was in attendance in court, prepared to give his testimony as to his sanity; and this opinion was formed after many lengthy examinations. Mr. Gibson was called in both these cases. Why was Mr. Dodwell ? who proved that he knew what he was doing and the serious- ness and criminality of his act by the letters written shortly before he fired the pistol at the Master of the Rolls, proving judgment and premeditation?pronounced to be unable to plead in consequence of being considered insane ? If the doctrine between right and wrong is considered a test in one case, in the name of justice let it apply to all, On the one hand, a man commits a crime, the jury find that he did not know the serious- ness of what he was doing, and consequently, unable to plead, he is acquitted as of unsound mind. On the other hand, as in the case of Mr. Dodwell, an act is premeditated, he is perfectly conscious of what he is doing, he is considered of sound mind by the surgeon of the gaol, but, nevertheless, he is pronounced by the jury as unable to plead. We have heard a great deal lately on lunacy reform ; but what is really required is an alteration in our criminal code in reference to the trial of persons alleged to be insane.
BROCA’S THEORY.
Dr Foulis, of Glasgow, has published in the British Medical Journal for March 15, 1879, a case which entirely settles the question of the dependence of aphasia on disease of the posterior part of the third left convolution of the brain. The patient, when admitted into the Glasgow infirmary, was suffer- ing from cardiac dropsy, of which he died. There was no defect in his speech, and he could talk with perfect fluency and correctness. After deatli the third left frontal convolution was found to be almost destroyed, together with two-thirds of the island of Reil. Dr Foulis concludes bis summary of the case with the following pertinent remarks:?
” The various theories of the localisation of speech have been fully discussed by Mr. Dodds in the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology, vol. xii. Dr Dodds reduces them to three. Of these the narrowest is that of Broca, who places the centre of language ‘ always and only in the posterior part of the third left frontal convolution,’ and apropos of this, Dr. Dodds remarks that ‘ a single complete case of lesion of the posterior part of the third left frontal without aphasia would effectually overthrow Broca’s attempt at exclusive localisation.’ Several cases are on record, in which lesion of the third left frontal existed without aphasia, but to these there are certain minor objections. The case of Batty Tuke appeared at first to over- throw Broca’s views, but it was afterwards ascertained that in the course of that case there had been a period of distinct aphasia. This lends an additional importance to the case which I have detailed above; for in it there is no evidence of aphasia at any time, while the destruction of the third left frontal convolution was so complete as to abolish any function which it may have exercised. It cannot be believed that the thin hollow fragment at the junction of the third left frontal with the ascending frontal could have sufficed to maintain the function of the convolution. I hold, therefore, that the view of Broca is rendered untenable by this case.”
EPILEPSY OF GREAT EATERS.
Three cases of epilepsy supervening on excess in food in persons of sanguine temperament, have enabled M. Lepeire to demonstrate the advantages of blood-letting and spare diet. (Annales Medico-Psychologiques, Janvier 1879, p. 133.)
ACTION OF PICKOTOXIN IN CONVULSIVE DISEASES.
Dr Planat lias found Picrotoxin useful, and even curative, in idiopathic as well as sympathetic epilepsy, puerperal convul- sions, chorea, or diaphragmatic spasm.
Dr Planat conceives that his success has been such as to justify him in designating the drug an anti-convulsive. (,Journal de Therapeutique, publie par M. A. Grubler.)
SLEEPLESSNESS.
1. Sleep is caused by the diminished activity of the nervous cells when they have been exhausted by functional work; these physical conditions modify the vaso-motor innervation ; the afflux of blood is diminished, the activity of the brain is sus- pended, and the reparation of tissue proceeds.
2. The habitual cause of insomnia is the permanent exist- ence of excitement of the central nervous elements under the influence of some cause, whether external or internal; it may likewise depend upon an active congestion of the brain, which maintains the functional activity of the cells.
3. Insomnia may proceed likewise from nervous irritability coincident with general anemia, producing a modification of the modality of the nervous elements.
4. The treatment of insomnia must depend upon the dis- covery of its cause. Transitory sleeplessness will almost always be relieved by a return to rigid hygienic laws.
5. The source of pervigiliam when symptomatic of acute or chronic maladies can be, in the majority of cases, easily removed by recourse to hypnotics, of which the most trust- worthy are opium and its alkaloids.
6. Morphia is the most potent principle of opium ; narceine and codeine are less active, but are not followed by the malaise which accompanies the use of morphia. The preparations are chiefly indicated in order to allay pain, but are contra-indi- cated where cerebral congestion is present.
7. Bromide of potassium, which is even less powerful, is indicated where there is acceleration of the circulation, as where wakefulness depends upon nervous agitation, when opiates would be inefficacious. It is employed successfully in children. It is contra-indicated where ancemia is distinctly marked.
8. Sulphate of quinine, like bromide, seems to act in anta- gonism to congestion of the brain ; upon the same principle liquid chloroform is successful in nervous pervigilium. 9. Hydrate of chloral is a new hypnotic, distinguished by its rapidity of action. It is suitable in almost all cases of insomnia, except where dyspnoea,.cardiac affections, and great debility are present.
10. The sleeplessness of aged, feeble, anaemic patients will be better counteracted by tonics, bitters, medicaments, wine, and the water cure. (Archives Generates de Medicine.)
RHEUMATIC CHOREA.
There is no more connection between chorea and rheuma- tism than between it, scrofula, syphilis, or skin disease. It is simply chorea?that is to say, a particular state of the functions of the nervous system, under the influence of physical debility, following a malady of some kind and manifesting itself in a want of correspondence between what wills and what executes muscular movement. (Le Mouvement Medical.)
EXPOSURE OF SPIRITUALISM.
The tricks of the contemptible delusion termed Spiritualism were successfully exposed in the New Public Halls, Glasgow, on the evenings of the 25tli and 26th ult., by Mr. Bishop, a young American gentleman, who had just been entertaining and in- structing in a similar manner the modern Athenians. Mr. Bishop was invited to Glasgow by the University authorities, who mus- tered in great force on the occasion of both seances?if Mr. Bishop will pardon us the use of the word. The proceeds of both meetings were in aid of the funds of the “Western Infirmary. Mr. Bishop was ably assisted in his well-executed and interest- ing performances by the learned Professor of the University, Dr Gairdner. (.Medical Press and Circular, March 5, 1879.)
THE REV. MR. DODWELL.
Justice is not satisfied by the statement recently made in the House of Commons, that medical men have visited Mr. Dodwell and reported that the safety of the public still requires that he should be detained at Broadmoor as a dangerous lunatic. It would not settle the question to say that fifty or a hundred doctors had visited him, if the facts on which they formed their opinion are not published. What is demanded is, that the case should be tried on its own merits.
We will now briefly repeat the facts on wliicli we founded our judgment of his sanity :?
1. That he gave a clear and correct account of the grievances which induced him to commit a misdemeanour, having failed in every other attempt to get a hearing in courts of justice. 2. That he did not fire a blank cartridge at the Judge from an insane impulse, but had been premeditating the act for six months, and was so determined to avoid any possible injury to his Lordship that he stood at a safe distance from him before discharging the pistol.
3. All the medical men who saw him, about six weeks before his being sent to Broadmoor, found him perfectly coherent in conversation, and they could not discover the least trace of a delusion.
4. From all he said it was evident that he was a highly honourable, truthful, and religious man, with strong reasoning powers and a highly cultivated intellect; possessing also great determination of will, and feelings keenly sensitive to insult or injury.
5. It has been assumed that Mr. Dodwell has a morbid sense of his ill-treatment by the Brighton guardians. Can a man be said to have a morbid sense of an injury which has reduced him and his family to beggary ?
In conclusion, we would again ask, Why was medical evidence taken in the case of Madden, and not of Mr. Dodwell, at the time of trial ? and that if the knowledge of right and wrong be considered a legal test of insanity, why was it not adopted by the judge and jury in passing sentence on the latter gentleman ? Since the above was written, Mrs. Dodwell has presented a petition to the Queen. We subjoin her letter, and the answer which she received from the Home Office:?
” To the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty,?I have taken the great liberty of writing to your Majesty to make an appeal on behalf of my husband, the Rev. Henry John Dodwell, who is detained during your Majesty’s pleasure at Broadmoor Lunatic Asylum. I humbly submit to the general opinion that he deserved some punishment for his unwise act, but after the long and happy married life we have lived, his uniform kindness to our children and myself, his calmness and perseverance for five years under the irritating difficulties experienced in endeavour- ing to obtain redress for the wrongs that had been done to him, is not to me consistent with his being branded as a lunatic. And as the eminent medical men who have examined him are divided in opinion, I humbly and earnestly pray that your Majest}7 will give liim the benefit of the doubt and liberate him, so that he may return to protect our four children and release me from the helpless position I am in, and save me from my only resource, the workhouse.?I beg to remain your Majesty’s most humble and obedient subject, Eliza Don well, wife of H. J. Dodwell, 77 Great College Street, London, N.W., 6th March, 1879. To Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Windsor Castle.”?”Home Office, Whitehall, 15th March 1879.? Madam,?In reply to your application to her Majesty, praying the release of the Rev. Henry John Dodwell from Broadmoor Asylum, I am directed by Mr. Secretary Cross to acquaint you that the same has been laid before the Queen, who was not pleased to give any instructions thereon.?I am, madam, your obedient servant (signed), A. F. 0. Liddell. Mrs. Dodwell, 77 Great College Street, N.W.”
The reply of the Home Secretary is far from satisfactory, and does not meet the exigencies of the case. The public have again and again requested to be precisely informed what are the grounds, both legal and psychological, for Mr. Dodwell’s indefinitely prolonged incarceration. The only, answer that has been given is, that the medical men who were ordered by Mr. Secretary Cross to visit Mr. Dodwell, reported him to be insane, but the public have never been informed of the data on which they form their opinion. Two medical men, Dr Forbes Winslow and Dr Winn, who have repeatedly visited him, and who must be considered entirely independent witnesses, as they have refused any fees for their professional services, have laid before the public a full and explicit statement of their reasons for his sanity.
The Euenincj Standard for March 24,1879, in commenting on Mrs. Dodweil’s petition, observes:?” The plea of the poor lady amounts to this: Her husband did a wrong thing, for which he deserved to be punished ; but as to his madness, the best of the experts differ.” * * * “As regards the par- ticular case of Mr. Dodwell, we desire to express no opinion, except that the word insane is sadly in want of a definition, and that, in the absence of a definition, it is only reasonable that men who draw attention to their supposed wrongs by firing pistols at her Majesty’s judges are best under lock and key.” The writer of this x’emark forgets to state that the pistol fired by Mr. Dodwell was a leadless one, and that his wrongs were real, not imaginary. If he is to be pronounced insane from the mere circumstance of his having committed a mis- demeanour, it follows that every criminal who commits an assault must be considered mad.
Disclaimer
The historical material in this project falls into one of three categories for clearances and permissions:
Material currently under copyright, made available with a Creative Commons license chosen by the publisher.
Material that is in the public domain
Material identified by the Welcome Trust as an Orphan Work, made available with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
While we are in the process of adding metadata to the articles, please check the article at its original source for specific copyrights.