RESPONSIBILITY IN MENTAL DISEASE. 87 



simulated. There are latent or concealed delusions which start 

 into view when the appropriate spring is touched. There is the 

 order in disorder of dissolution which can not be imitated. There 

 are types of delusions and hallucinations which are easily recog- 

 nized. And, above all, there are physical signs of disorder of the 

 brain and nervous system which correspond with certain stages 

 in the degradation of will-power. 



To the expert witness in cases of insanity and crime these 

 questions should, it seems to me, be put : Was the prisoner insane 

 at the time when he committed the act of which he is accused ? 

 Was his insanity of such a nature and degree as to deprive him 

 of control over his conduct ? What are the grounds upon which 

 you have formed these opinions ? It would then remain for the 

 jury, aided by the judge, and with the assistance of other experts 

 if necessary, to decide on the validity of the grounds stated and 

 on the weight to be attached to the opinions expressed. 



Expert testimony, to be of the highest value, ought of course 

 to be founded on an examination, or, better still, on repeated ex- 

 aminations, of the accused, made as soon as possible after the per- 

 petration of the crime. But insanity is a chronic disease ; and 

 even when the expert has not seen the alleged lunatic until some 

 time after his crime, he may still be able to say whether in the 

 course of a disease still existing, or of the recent existence of 

 which there are traces, such a criminal act was likely to crop up 

 as part and parcel of the disease; and whether it is consistent 

 with his experience and with the history of the act that the ac- 

 cused could not help it. When the crime was committed during 

 a temporary paroxysm of madness or during an attack from which 

 recovery has taken place before the examination has been ordered, 

 it may still be possible for an expert to say whether the symptoms 

 described to him form a true picture of mental disease or are only 

 a spurious copy, and whether any wreckage still marks the course 

 of a nerve-storm. Sometimes it will be impossible for an expert 

 to make up his mind either one way or the other, and then it is 

 his duty plainly to say so. 



And now I have a practical suggestion to offer which would, 

 if adopted, I venture to believe, do more to reconcile the great 

 professions of law and medicine on the questions at issue between 

 them respecting insanity and crime than any prolongation of 

 those elaborate and sometimes highly spiced logomachies in which 

 they have both indulged in the past. 



What is wanted is a series of skilled and sustained observa- 

 tions on homicides who have escaped punishment on the plea of 

 insanity, made by competent and unbiased authorities, couched in 

 language understanded of the people, and published from time to 

 time. And, in order that such a series of observations may be 



