ii6 THE JUKES. 



ated, is quite consistent with his acquired epilepsy. In the upper 

 posterior portion of the head, on the right side, is a depression of 

 the skull from the bullet wound, in which the first joint of the finger 

 may be laid to one-third its thickness. What this man needs is to 

 be withdrawn from the temptation of drink and placed where he 

 will not be excited. There is hardly a doubt that he will commit 

 murder some day ; not because he is of a vicious or malignant 

 temper, for his disposition is mild and apathetic, but because his 

 epilepsy may at any moment be developed into a homicidal impulse 

 which he cannot control. This man will probably be returned 

 again and again to prison on short sentences for acts which are the 

 direct result of disease, which will never be checked on account of 

 the deterrent effect of imprisonment, and will cost the State heavily 

 for continual arrests and trials. Will presiding justice in our courts 

 of law ever put her finger into that wound and learn what is the 

 matter with this man ? Yes, most undoubtedly, when he has mur- 

 dered some poor victim in some shocking way^ then she will say that 

 he must not be hanged because he is irresponsible. When justice 

 does put her hand upon that wound she will have to call a physi- 

 cian to guide it to the spot ; for is not justice blindfold ? And it 

 will not be justice either which decides whether the man is respon- 

 sible for his violence or not, but it will be the doctor's dictum. 

 Why should justice neglect to keep the doctor by, to help her to a 

 wise judgment of his case when he is summoned at her bar for 

 assault and battery, and make a fitting disposition that will forestall 

 his braining a human creature ? This is no improbable case : it has 

 frequently occurred. Three years ago an epileptic was committed 

 to Sing Sing. Shortly after, he was transferred to the insane asylum 

 and discharged from thence when his term expired. Within the 

 last eight months he has again passed through the courts, been re- 

 committed to Sing Sing, and one month ago was seized with an 

 epileptic fit during which time he killed a fellow-convict, after 

 which he was again committed to the insane asylum, this time 

 probably for life. Justice being blind, why should she neglect to 

 make a medical inquest whenever an attempt on life has been com- 

 mitted, and, where the evidence shows such dangerous brain dis- 



