112 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



and do the most insane acts, then resume a degree of sanity that cor- 

 responds with then- previous character. Thus, a prominent clergyman 

 of wealth and high standing in the community, who w r as a wine-drinker, 

 suddenly began a series of Wall Street speculations of the most uncer- 

 tain, fraudulent nature. He implicated himself and a large number of 

 friends, and finally was disgraced. A judge, occupying a most envi- 

 able position of character and reputation, who had used spirits and 

 opium for years at night for various reasons, suddenly gave up his 

 place and became a low office-seeker — was elected to the Legislature, 

 and became prominent as an unscrupulous politician. A New England 

 clergyman, after thirty years of most earnest, devoted work, renounced 

 the church and became an infidel of the most aggressive type. Later 

 it was found that he had used chloroform and spirits in secret for years. 

 A man of forty years, of tested honesty and trustworthiness, proved to 

 be a defaulter. It was ascertained that he used choral and opium in 

 secret. 



Hardly a year passes that bank defaulters, forgers, and swindlers 

 do not appear among men whose previous character has given no 

 intimation of such a career. When their secret history is ascer- 

 tained, the use of alcohol, opium, and other drugs is found to be 

 common. 



Another class of previously reputable, sane men suddenly commit 

 crimes against good morals. The unusual boldness of their acts points 

 to insanity, and it is then found that they are secret or open drink- 

 ers, using alcohol or compounds of opium. Such men come into 

 politics with a most insane ambition for office and childish delirium 

 to appear in public as great men. They often become enthusiastic 

 church and temperance men, acting along very unusual lines of con- 

 duct, and doing unusual things. Signs of mental failure are clearly 

 traced in the childish credulity, or extraordinary skepticism, or ex- 

 treme secretiveness, which are all foreign to the history of their past. 

 Then, at last, such men leave strange wills, with strange bequests. 

 They are contested ; the expert is called in ; and, while he is certain 

 of insanity and irresponsibility of the testator from the history, he can 

 not make it appear clearly to the court. These cases are more or less 

 familiar to every one, yet the history of drinking or using narcotics 

 is concealed. In an instance of recent date, the will of a very rich 

 man contained a large bequest to the Freedman's Bureau. This was 

 a very strange and unusual act ; but the heirs, rather than expose 

 the secret drinking of the testator, let the will stand. To history this 

 was a very generous deed, but in reality it was the mere freak of a 

 maniac. 



These persons appear to all general observation sane and fully con- 

 scious of the nature and character of their acts ; yet they are in a state 

 of intellectual delirium and instability, which comes out prominently 

 in the strange, unusual conduct. The co-ordinating brain-centers are 



