NEW QUESTIONS IN MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE. 461 



sion is evident that no testimony, statement, or confession of a 

 person under the influence of spirits concerning his acts, conduct, 

 or motives has any value or can be trusted unless sustained by 

 collateral and other evidence. 



A third question along this line of inquiry has also become 

 prominent during the year : How far shall an inebriate, or man 

 under the influence of spirits, be held liable for any acts or con- 

 tracts, such as wills, marriages, or bargains ? 



The questions the medical man is asked are these : How far is 

 the person in this state capable of appreciating the nature and 

 consequences of his acts ? Was his mind in any way impaired to 

 that extent as to be unable to clearly realize his duty and obli- 

 gations to himself and others ? Was the act sane in its execution 

 and reasonable consequences ? These questions came up for an 

 answer in the following cases : An inebriate who had drank at 

 intervals for twenty years had made a will disposing of a large 

 property, and had repeatedly mentioned its terms with pleasure 

 and satisfaction. At his death it was found that he had made 

 another will giving most of his property to the Freedman's Bureau 

 for the education of colored children. He had been a very miser- 

 ly man all his life, and this was an unusual act. The will was 

 made after a drink period, and he seemed to the lawyer and wit- 

 nesses sober and fully conscious of what he was doing. The med- 

 ical men held that the use of spirits had not weakened his mind 

 or rendered him incompetent to dispose of his property. 



In a second case, a man who drank to excess at intervals 

 bought a large interest in a traveling circus while under the 

 influence of spirits. He seemed perfectly sane at the time, yet 

 the act was unusual, and he sought to annul the contract, claim- 

 ing that he was subject to undue influence. 



The testimony of medical men as to the probable state of the 

 mind when these acts were performed is the central evidence 

 upon which the issue of each case must turn. The necessity of 

 thorough scientific study of the mental condition of men who use 

 spirits at intervals or continuously, and the application of all 

 the facts that enter into the history of the cases in question, is 

 imperative. 



The question of premeditation in the drink paroxysms is a 

 subject of much confusion in many cases. 



The frequent instances where inebriates, in apparent posses- 

 sion of good judgment, go away and drink to great excess, dis- 

 playing a degree of forethought and premeditation fully charac- 

 teristic of all the ordinary events of life, are often very confusing 

 to the ordinary observer. When the drink paroxysm comes all 

 unexpectedly upon the victim, in some unforeseen state and cir- 

 cumstance, and he falls, it is apparent that he is suffering from 



