RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INSANE. 553 



"there be such a disease as insanity, then Guiteau is and was insane, and has been 

 for years, and the assassination of the President was not needed to make the 

 diagnosis sure." He recites a number of cases which have come under his per- 

 sonal treatment to show parallel instances of undoubted insanity. The fact of 

 Guiteau's moral irresponsibility being established in Dr. Beard's mind, he denies 

 that society will be benefited by his hanging. He writes: "Thirty days we 

 mourned for Garfield; we should mourn for years were we to hang his assassin, 

 after having proof of his irresponsibility. We are more likely, as a nation, to 

 give up our homes and live in wigwams than to judicially and uniformly shoot or 

 hang the irresponsibly insane." He claims that the punishment of such persons 

 by hanging would not deter other insane individuals from crime, but would in- 

 vite and urge them to commit it. He supports his theory at length by illustra- 

 tions of the effect of terrible examples on weak and deranged minds. "The 

 sight or tidings of horrid crime or of horrid punishment, so acts on natures organ- 

 ized for insanity and tilted on its edge as to throw them completely over,. and 

 cause them to repeat the crime at the risk of punishment. Milder and less im- 

 posing procedures, that act less violently on the emotions — such as flogging or 

 confinement in jail or asylum — have the deterring, without the attractive, force of 

 punishment." We have not the time or space here to give to Dr. Beard's argu- 

 ment the attention it deserves, but its drift can be seen at once, and anything 

 coming from his scientific and studious mind commands respect. He has noth- 

 ing to urge against Guiteau's confinement for life. 



Dr. Seguin enters at length upon the discussion of the different kinds of in- 

 sanity. He is opposed to capital punishment on general principles, but otherwise 

 is scarcely less severe in his strictures upon the release of criminals on the plea of 

 insanity than Dr. Elwell. He believes "that the criminal insane should be held 

 jjust as responsible to human punishment — i. e.: preventative and educating pun- 

 ishment — as sane criminals. Society must protect itself against crime more intel- 

 ligently, yet more rigidly, than it now does." Dr. Jewell says that, while a 

 knowledge of right and wrong may be accepted as the general standard by which 

 to judge of the responsibility of the insane, there are occasions where irresistible 

 impulse acts against that knowledge. He would therefore give the alleged in- 

 "Sane person a Uttle better opportunity for escape than the other authorities. He 

 Kiwells upon the difficulty of determining doubtful cases, and suggests comparing 

 the act committed with the probable conduct of sane persons under like tempta- 

 tions or motives. He also recommends the adoption of methods to raise the ju- 

 risprudence of insanity from its low conditions. He thinks this might be accom- 

 plished by associating competent medical men with the judge and jury in such 

 cases. 



Dr. Folsom discourses mainly upon the growth of mental disease and incon- 

 trollable impulses. The best he can do to help us out of the difficulty is to claim 

 that there must be other evidences of insanity than the crime, that the whole 

 group of symptoms must correspond to a definite disease ; that crime must be a 

 part of the natural history of the disease, and that a reasonable degree of self-con- 



