630 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



dispel the delusion, are so paralyzed or diseased that they can not be 

 exercised. A few years ago, during the trial of an insane man in 

 Chicago, it was asked whether there could be, strictly speaking, such 

 a condition as partial insanity that is, whether a man could be per- 

 fectly sane and responsible as regards all subjects except one or two. 

 A very celebrated physician endeavored to maintain that it was im- 

 possible, because, he said, if one part of the brain was diseased, the 

 whole organ, being in sympathy with that part, would be diseased 

 also. It seems to me that, practically, this physician was mistaken. 

 If the brain is the organ of the mind, there seems no reason why, 

 notwithstanding one portion of that organ may be in an abnormal 

 state, the other parts may not perform their functions well enough. 

 I have certainly seen insane men whose opinions in reference to cer- 

 tain subjects it would be safer to trust than those of some men that 

 have never been suspected of insanity. The question of responsibility 

 is, of course, what gives insanity, from a legal view-point, its chief 

 interest. It is certainly a mistaken idea that no insane person is 

 responsible. It does not obtain in the asylums, at any rate ; for dis- 

 cipline is very often maintained there by a system of rewards and 

 punishments. If a patient misbehaves, he is informed that a repeti- 

 tion of his offense will put him back in some ward where his sur- 

 roundings will not be so pleasant. This threat is seldom without 

 avail, especially if the patient has once already had an experience of 

 the penalty. This would seem to show that he knows good from evil, 

 and has self-control enough to restrain himself from wrong-doing. 

 There are some insane patients, though, of course, that have passed 

 beyond the possibility of all self-control. It is plainly impossible to 

 furnish any general rule by which to decide when a man is responsi- 

 ble and when not. 



Insanity does not change a person's character so much as is usually 

 believed. A distinguished English physician has said that, if there be 

 anything in this world that is immutable, it is character. We meet 

 with illustrations of the truth of this assertion almost every day. 

 " Conversion " is believed, by many excellent church-people, to work 

 a complete change for the better in a man's moral nature. But has 

 any one ever seen a mean, close-fisted, narrow-minded man become, 

 in consequence of conversion, liberal and generous ? I trow not ; and 

 so even insanity seldom alters a man's nature much. For instance, 

 the insane man may imagine people are plotting to kill him ; he fan- 

 cies he hears threats, and thinks he sees motions to carry them into 

 execution. Now, if he be naturally a timid man, and a non-combat- 

 ant, he will run, and try to escape ; but if he is courageous by nature, 

 and inclined to fight, he will act just as he would were all the circum- 

 stances really just as his disordered imagination pictures them. Com- 

 pare the number of murders committed by insane men with those 

 committed by men under the influence of alcohol, and the latter, in 



