ALCOHOLIC TRANCE. 191 



ent, the influence of the surroundings can not be estimated. The 

 last division, that of criminal itnpulse growing out of this trance 

 state, illustrates the subject of our paper more closely. The fol- 

 lowing cases bring out the facts better than any description : An 

 inebriate was repeatedly arrested for horse-stealing, and often pun- 

 ished. The crime was committed under similar circumstances, and 

 no attempt was made to conceal the property ; on two occasions he 

 assisted the owner to hunt up the horses. When it was apparent that 

 he was guilty, great was his astonishment, and he denied all recol- 

 lection of any circumstances or events. This was confirmed by all the 

 circumstances of his life, by his inebriety and blanks of memory, and 

 absence of motive and object in the crime. He was fond of horses, 

 and seemed at this time to be governed by an impulse to drive and 

 ride behind a good horse. A farmer of quiet, good disposition suffered 

 from blanks of memory after drinking to excess. One day, in what 

 seemed full consciousness of the surroundings, he attacked a stranger 

 and injured him so that he died. He had no recollection of the time, 

 purpose, or any circumstances of the tragedy. A periodical drinker, 

 of wealth, fired his buildings, and awaking when they had burned down, 

 offered a large reward for the incendiary. To his great astonishment, 

 the fire was readily traced to him ; the circumstances and motive were 

 all a perfect blank. A man of much talent and eminence, who drinks oc- 

 casionally to excess, has on many occasions offered violence to his wife, 

 whom he loves very dearly. On these occasions he is apparently sober, 

 gives reasons for his conduct, and afterward has not the slightest recol- 

 lection of it. In a murder-trial recently, it appeared that a drinking 

 man drank early in the morning, then killed his wife, and went about his 

 work in the vicinity, as if nothing had happened, all unconscious until 

 arrested. He was sentenced for life, but has a firm conviction that he 

 did not commit the crime, because he can not conceive of a motive, 

 and has no recollection of it. A clergyman committed a rape under the 

 most extraordinary circumstances, and denied all recollection of it ; his 

 drinking habits and all the incidents of the case sustained his state- 

 ment. A lawyer of reputation planned the abduction of a lady he was 

 going to marry. A man of a large family and happy domestic rela- 

 tions married a notorious woman. A physician stole a large sum of 

 money from a patient. A college graduate enlisted in the army. In 

 each of these cases there was a history of drinking to excess, and each 

 had no memory of the event, and all the circumstances were so unusual 

 and at variance with previous conduct that undoubtedly a trance state 

 was present. These cases might be multiplied almost indefinitely from 

 the records of criminal courts everywhere. Every day the papers re- 

 cord cases of crime, without motive or purpose, by inebriates who, 

 in defense, claim to have no recollection of it ; but, as they were not 

 wildly delirious or stupid at the time of committing the act, they are 

 punished as fully responsible. When the crime is of magnitude, and 



