considerable hæmorrhage followed. After his recovery, his whole moral character was found to have undergone a complete metamorphosis. From being a well-conditioned boy, kind and affectionate to his parents, steady in his habits, sober, of unimpeachable veracity, he became a drunkard, liar, and thief, and was lost to all sense of decency and decorum! He was clever, intelligent, sharpwitted, but his every action was perfectly brutal. This boy, prior to his illness, was known to hang with endearing affection round the neck of his mother; but after this sad change, I have seen him attack her with brutal and savage ferocity. This patient was for some years in close confinement. He was subsequently sent abroad; but during a voyage to the East Indies he mysteriously disappeared one evening from the quarter-deck of the ship, and is supposed to have committed suicide by throwing himself into the sea. We occasionally meet another type of unrecognised mental disorder. I refer to cases in which there appears to be a paralysis of the moral Such cases are not inappropriately termed moral

sense.

idiots.*

Grave exceptions have been taken to the term "moral idiotcy," by writers who have entirely misconceived the medico-psychological import of the phrase, as well as by others who have never had an opportunity of becoming practically acquainted with this singular type of congenitally defective intelligence. A modern author thus refers to the popular prejudices on this subject: "To some minds, the idea of a moral idiot involves painful notions of the Creator. I may be permitted to remark, that they rest on the false philosophy of the Eudaimonist. So long as we consider happiness as the great end of life, and virtue only its instrument, so long shall we find difficulties to solve in the mischiefs wrought by beings whom ignorance or fatuity renders irresponsible. To the Eudaimonist such mischief appears a final evil; and, as he is forbidden to attribute it to the irresponsible agent, he is driven to attribute it to God. But the difficulty ceases when we perceive that the end of creation is the perfecting of souls, and the production of happiness is altogether secondary thereto. Sin is now seen to be evil, not for the external mischief it produces, but for its own sake, as the most evil of all things. The outward act, be it ever so mischievous, is not sin-the Will constitutes the sin. Thus, when offences are committed by an irresponsible agent, God does not become the author of any sin; for sin is nothing but the conscious, wilful

A young gentleman, who had been greatly indulged and petted at home, exhibited, shortly after going to, school, a morose, cruel, and revengeful disposition. He quarrelled with the other boys, committed several petty acts of robbery, accusing others of being the culprits. He pursued his studies with intelligence, and was generally at the head of his class. His conduct became so systematically brutal, savage, and untruthful, that his father was requested peremptorily to remove him from the school. The gentleman under whose care the youth was placed, was induced, by the earnest persuasions of the father, to alter his determination and retain the boy. For several days he was noticed to be unusually morose and taciturn. He was perceived to be busily occupied one morning in writing. Being called suddenly out of the room, his letter was examined, and it was found to contain the details of a plan he had carefully concocted for the murder of one of the other boys, towards whom he entertained feelings of rancorous animosity. letter was written to a boy who had left the school for misconduct, and who appeared to be in his confidence. He had procured a long, sharp-pointed bodkin, which he intended, whilst his victim was asleep, driving into his heart, by means of a hammer with which he had armed himself! In the letter, giving a minute description of the

His

delinquency of a free creature, and there is no sin without it, any more than in the ravages of the storm and flood. The mischief done takes its place along with the suffering which is necessary to the end of creation; and, when the Great Drama is further advanced, we shall understand the reason of what seems unaccountable in the one short scene we now behold. To ask further, why moral idiots should have been created, is equivalent to asking why there should be intellectual idiots, children dying in infancy, &c. We must deem their existence on earth motived by reasons which (while ignorant of all life beyond us) we may not guess. The children at a school marvel why a parent withdraws his son soon after entrance, or does not suffer him to learn with them; but it is all understood at home."- Essay on Intuitive Morals, being an attempt to popularize Ethical Science." Part I. Theory of

Morals. 1855. P. 113.

contemplated murder, he says, "to-night I will do for the little devil." This boy was immediately placed under the care of his father, and on the advice of an eminent provincial physician, he was, without loss of time, subjected to close restraint. I am informed that there is now no doubt of his insanity. I did not see this case myself, but I obtained these particulars from the father of the young gentleman who had so providential an escape of his life. If this youth had committed murder, what would have been the plea urged in his defence, and the verdict of the jury?

N. B, ætat. sixteen, of singularly unruly and intractable character, selfish, wayward, violent, and without ground or motive, was liable, when under paroxysms of his moodiness, to do personal mischief to others. He was not, however, of a physically bold character. He was of fair understanding, and exhibited considerable acuteness in sophistical apologies for his wayward conduct. He made little or no progress in any kind of study. His fancy was vivid, supplying him profusely with sarcastic imagery. He was subjected at different times to a firmly mild and to a rigid discipline. Solitary confinement was tried, but to this he was impassive. He was sent to school, where he drew a knife upon one of the officers of the establishment, and produced a deep feeling of aversion in the minds of his companions by the undisguised pleasure which he showed at some bloodshed which took place in the town during a political disturbance. He manifested no sensual disposition, and was careful of property. His conduct became worse, and more savagely violent to his relatives. It is recorded that, at the early age of thirteen, he stripped himself naked, and exposed his person to his sisters. Dr. Mayo cites this interesting illustration as a type of what I term moral idiotcy or congenital depravity. When referring to this painfully

anomalous class of affections, the late Dr. Woodward, Physician to the State Lunatic Asylum of Massachusetts, observes,―

"Besides a disease of the intellectual powers there seems to me to be cases of moral idiotcy, or such an imbecile state of the affective faculties from birth as to make the individual irresponsible for his actions. The persons to whom I refer have rarely much vigour of mind, although they are by no means idiots in understanding."

A boy under Dr. Haslam's care, only thirteen years of age, appeared to possess no one of the moral faculties, and yet he was conscious of his lamentable state. He often asked, "why God had not made him like other Has not Shakspeare placed in Edgar's mouth When deline

men.'

a faithful portrait of this class of case?
ating his own character, Edgar exclaims,—

"I was a serving man, proud in heart and mind,
That served the lust of my mistress's heart,

And did the act of darkness with her;

Swore as many oaths as I spake words;

Wine I loved deeply, dice dearly:

I was false of heart, light of ears, and bloody of hand;
Hog in filth, fox in stealth, wolf in greediness,

Dog in madness, lion in prey.”

A boy, in early life, was struck violently upon the head when at school by a brutal fellow employed as an usher in the institution. He was partially stunned, but recovered from the effects of the injury. When of sufficiently advanced age, he joined his father in business. He became subject to attacks of headache, particularly if exposed to much anxiety. For some months he continued sullen, was often absent from the counting-house, became the associate of the lowest class of society, and was detected in abstracting several large sums of money from his father's private desk. In this condition he remained for seven or eight months, no one suspecting a morbid state of the intellect. One morning whilst

sitting in the counting-house, he suddenly seized one of the clerks by the throat, and attempted to throttle him. A severe scuffle ensued. Upon separating the combatants, it was discovered that the gentleman's mind was obviously affected. He became suddenly, as it were, demoniacally possessed. He poured forth a volley of filthy oaths, and an amount of obscenity terrifically appalling to those who witnessed his paroxysm of maniacal furor. There appeared no impairment of the reasoning powers, the memory, or reflective faculties. He suddenly lost all perception of truth, and all notion of decency and propriety. I saw this poor fellow in several of his attacks, and, must confess, if I were disposed to believe in the possibility of demoniacal possession I should cite this case as one conclusively demonstrating the phenomenon. I have previously referred to instances of unrecognised monomania floating upon the surface of society. I am acquainted with two cases of this form of mental disorder where disease of the mind is not suspected. These latent and masked attacks of monomania frequently lead to overt acts of violence, crime, brutality, and suicide, and very often to alienation of property, no departure from health of mind being suspected.

A few years back, I received a summons from a London police magistrate to examine a case of alleged insanity. It appeared that a labouring man had committed several serious assaults, and was consequently arrested by the police. This man was examined by a medical gentleman, who said he had no doubt as to his insanity, without, however, being able to assign sufficient reasons for such an opinion. The magistrate had, on more than one occasion, himself investigated the case, and had taken the evidence of the surgeon referred to, but could detect no insanity in the prisoner's appearance or