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such supposed person, and that he meant to injure him, knowing the act he was doing to be malicious and injurious; and that, in short, he had full knowledge of all the principles of good and evil-yet would it be possible to convict such a person of murder, if, from the influence of his disease, he was ignorant of the relation he stood in to the man he had destroyed, and was utterly unconscious that he had struck at the life of a human being? I only put this case, and many others might be brought as examples, to illustrate that the knowledge of good and evil is too general a description.'*

In the same speech, however, Lord Erskine has ventured to define the true character of insanity, and founded upon it a conclusion which we think will scarcely hold good.

"Delusion, therefore, where there is no phrenzy or raving madness, is the true character of insanity; and where it cannot be predicated of a man standing for life or death for a crime, he ought not, in my opinion, to be acquitted.'

Suppose a woman imagines that her husband is unfaithful to her, and that she, labouring, quoad hoc, under no delusion, becomes mad and murders him-is she a subject for the cell or the gallows? Without pretending to decide this question legally, it is certain that madness is not always accompanied by delusion, and that it is not necessary to prove insane belief to make out insanity. On this subject, Dr. Gooch has the following pertinent observations.

'I attended a deranged lady, whose predominant belief was that her husband was unfaithful to her. The notion, so far from being unreasonable, was, I believe, true; and she had known it for many years without any unnatural disquietude, but now it engrossed all her thoughts. She neglected her ordinary pursuits, took a dislike to her friends, felt no interest about her children, and sat silent and motionless from morning till night. After continuing deranged for many months, she recovered, although she still retained the same opinion. In what, then, consisted her insanity? Not in the groundlessness and unreasonableness of the predominant belief, but in its withdrawing her attention from all other thoughts and pursuits, in its overwhelming influence over her feelings and conduct.

'Dr. Johnson, who seldom touched any subject without lighting on the truth, perceived this principle. "Madness," says he, "frequently discovers itself merely by unnecessary deviation from the usual modes of the world. My poor friend Smart shewed the disturbance of his mind by falling upon his knees, and saying his prayers in the street, or in any other unusual place. Now although, rationally speaking, it is greater madness not to pray at all than to pray as Smart did, I am afraid that there are so many who do not pray, that their understanding is not called in question.""

*Speech for James Hatfield, p. 24.

We shall cite another case from Haslam,* in which the murderer seems to have had a keen sense of right and wrong (the opening sentence proves it), and certainly laboured under no delusion when he committed the crime, and yet he was mad. The narration was made by the maniac to the doctor.

The man whom I stabbed richly deserved it: he behaved to me with great violence and cruelty; he degraded my nature as a human being; he tied me down, handcuffed me, and confined my hands much higher than my head with a leathern thong; he stretched me on a bed of torture. After some days, he released me. I gave him warning, for I told his wife I would have justice of him: on her communicating this to him, he came to me in a furious passion, threw me down, dragged me through the court-yard, thumped me on the breast, and confined me in a dark and damp cell. Not liking this situation, I was induced to play the hypocrite. I pretended extreme sorrow for having threatened him, and, by an affectation of repentance, prevailed on him to release me. For several days I paid him great attention, and lent him every assistance: he seemed much pleased with the flattery, and became very friendly in his behaviour towards me. Going one day into the kitchen where his wife was busied, I saw a knife-(this was too great a temptation to be resisted)-I concealed it, and carried it about me. For some time afterwards, the same friendly intercourse was maintained between us; but, as he was one day unlocking his garden door, I seized the opportunity, and plunged the knife up to the hilt in his back.'

In cases of this class, the shades of madness run into the excesses of reasonable and accountable creatures, with so slight a variation of tint, that the utmost caution is required to distinguish between them, and with the utmost caution it is often scarcely possible to do so. It is in this class of cases that counsel either deceive themselves, or the jury, by resorting to one or other of the following modes of defence. They attempt to prove a madman not mad, by taking some mode of thinking in sane people similar to that in the maniac, only less in degree, and then arguing that, as the one is not madness, the other cannot be. Here the very excess should excite suspicion sufficient to cause the strictest investigation to be made touching the general habits of the supposed lunatic, his health, and whether there is madness in his family. It is only on a long and patient scrutiny that many mono-maniacs (or persons mad on a single point) are to be detected.

A second mode of defence, equally sophistical, is resorted to by asserting that the madman is only an eccentric man. The observations on this head as to the rise and characteristics of eccentricity, as distinguished from insanity, already quoted from Dr. Gooch, will assist materially those who wish to determine the question of

* On Madness, p. 160, apud Beck, Med. Juris.

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lunacy honestly. The whole of the author's remarks on this part of his subject are admirable; many a case turns on the distinction between eccentricity and insanity; and definite notions on this head are of the highest value.

The persons (he says elsewhere) who have passed for eccentric, and whom I have had opportunities of observing, I would divide into three classes; 1st, Those who differ from the rest of mankind chiefly in their objects and pursuits, instead of desiring and aiming at the common objects of human wishes,-namely, rising in life, the attainment of a competence, the acquisition of wealth and power;-they are contented in these respects to remain stationary, and they dedicate the whole of their lives and talents to the cultivation of their minds, and the acquisition of knowledge. This peculiarity of pursuit, unless counteracted by much intercourse with polished society, generates various peculiarities in their appearance, habits, manners, and modes of expression: they are careless, often slovenly in their dress, awkward in their manners, singular, and often pedantic in the topics and language of their conversation. Such persons are called eccentric, but their eccentricity consists only in their pursuits and manners; it is the simplest and most unquestionable form of eccentricity, and is compatible with the healthiest, happiest, and most vigorous state of mind. The second class consists of persons who differ from the rest of mankind in the singularity of their opinions-with the same materials they draw inferences widely different from those of sensible and competent judges: they are persons of great confidence in their own judgment, defective either in knowledge or comprehensiveness of mind, and by separating those facts which are favourable to their opinions, by frequent meditation on them, and by keeping out of sight the opposite facts, they attain the firmest conviction of their peculiar notions. This process will sometimes carry a man a great way. There is at this time in America, a Captain Symes, who is convinced that the earth is perforated from pole to pole-that the sea flows through it, that the perforation is navigable;—and he is said to be planning a voyage to explore it. This form of eccentricity, in a minor degree, is very common. The persons subject to it are often clever and zealous; but they never possess very superior minds; they have the zeal for knowledge without corresponding sagacity: still they are eccentric, not mad, for they arrive at their conclusions through an intellectual process, though a crooked one. It is a law of the human understanding, that a little evidence perpetually presented to the mind will produce as much conviction as a greater quantity presented rarely.

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There is still another class, who are called eccentric. whom I have had an opportunity of observing closely have been remarkable for a high opinion of themselves, quite disproportionate to their apparent powers or actual achievements, and for rashness of conduct never corrected by experience; some of them have had singularly calm and sweet dispositions, others have been of stormy tem

pers,

pers, subject to violent gusts from trifling provocations: they have had singular opinions without any intelligible reasons for them, and have most of them had a peculiarly formal and solemn manner. After continuing many years in this state, and passing among their friends for eccentric characters, they have ultimately become deranged. I need not say that this peculiarity of mind, although constantly mistaken for eccentricity, is, in truth, slumbering undeveloped madness. The signs which ought to create suspicion of this state are these: insanity being more or less prevalent in the family; a singularity of opinions, manners, and actions, inexplicable by the peculiar pursuits of the individual; enormous self-esteem; mischievous schemes obstinately persisted in, and uncorrected by experience.'

A third mode of defence, in cases of monomaniacs, is to assert the impossibility of the mind being mad on one subject. The mind is one and indivisible, and cannot, therefore, be partially mad.' This is metaphysics against fact, and the direct answer is to quote one example, where it would be easy to quote thousands. But, to meet the argument as it is proposed, we have the analogy of other diseases to show that a general malady shows itself in a part only. Thus scrofula is a constitutional or general malady, and yet it will show itself only in the swelling of a single gland, while every function of the body shall, to all appearance, be performed in the healthiest manner. If the brain be the instrument of thought, where is the difficulty of supposing that one key may jar, while all the rest yield the usual tones to the same touch?

Such are a few of the thoughts suggested to us by the perusal of these two admirable essays. The extracts which we have made will satisfy the general reader that the opinions to which we have alluded have been moulded in the mind of one, who has seen well, thinks deeply, and explains his thoughts with that simplicity of language which always accompanies power. To the professional reader we have nothing to say; for, if he have attended at all to the progress of medicine, he will see at a glance that there is not a single one of the ten essays contained in Dr. Gooch's work, which does not prove an important practical point, thus adding to the stores of human knowledge, and to the means of alleviating human suffering. No such work has appeared, on the branch of medicine professed by our author, since the time of that admirable scholar and profound physician, Dr. William Hunter.

ART.

ART. VII.—1. Essai Statistique sur le Royaume de Portugal et d'Algarve, comparé aux autres Etats de l'Europe, et suivi d'un Coup-d'œil sur l'Etat actuel des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-arts parmi les Portugais des deux hémisphères. Par Adrien Balbi, Ancien Professeur de Géographie, de Physique et de Mathématique, Membre Correspondant de l'Athenée de Trevise, &c. &c. 2 vols. 8vo. Paris. 1822.

2. Sketches of Portuguese Life, Manners, Costume, and Character; illustrated by twenty coloured Plates. By A. P. D. G. 8vo. London. 1826.

3. Portugal Illustrated; in a Series of Letters. By the Rev. W. M. Kinsey, B. D., Fellow of Trinity College, Oxford; and Chaplain to the Right Hon. Lord Auckland. Embellished with a Map, Plates of Coins, Vignettes, Modinhas; and various Engravings of Costume, Landscape Scenery, &c. Second Edition. Royal 8vo. London. 1829.

4. An Historical View of the Revolutions of Portugal, since the close of the Peninsular War; exhibiting a full Account of the events which have led to the present State of the Country. By an Eye-Witness. 8vo. London. 1827.

5. Injusta Acclamaçam do Serenissimo Infante D. Miguel ;_ou Analyse e Refutaçam Juridica do Assento dos chamados Tres Estados do Reino de Portugal de 11 de Julho de 1828. Pelo Desembargador Antonio de Silva Lopes Rocha, Advogado da Casa da Suplicaçam de Lisboa. London. 1828.

6. Examen Rapide de l'Acte fait par les Prétendus Etats du Royaume de Portugal. Assemblés à Lisbonne le 23 Juin, 1828. Par Jm. A. de Magalhaens, Docteur en Droit, Député aux Cortès de 1826 et 1827; Secrétaire de la Junta Governativa du Porto au Département des Affaires Etrangères. London. 1828.

7. Correio Braziliense. 29 vols. From 1808 to 1822.

THE

S. Investigador Portuguez. 23 vols. From 1811 to 1818. THE first book in this list is a useful and laborious work, in which the author has aimed at more than it was possible for him to accomplish, but has accomplished much, giving abundant proof of industrious ability, and of a disposition to see everything in the most hopeful and favourable light. The Sketches of Portugueze Life' come from a person much more intimately acquainted with the people concerning whom he writes; he describes himself as having entered the Portugueze civil service at the age of twenty,

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