[From the American Journal or Insanity, for July, 1878.] 
TRUE m FALSE EXPERTS. 
By EUGENE GRISSOM, M. [)., LL.D., 
Superintendent Insane Asylum of North Carolina, Raleigh. 
TO "WHICH IS APPENDED 
A REJOINDER 
TO 
DR. HAMMOND’S “OPEN LETTER.” 
John Nichols, Printer, Raleigh, N. 0. True aiul K<),lsc Expert^* 
EUGENE GRISSOM, M. D., LL. D., 
Superintendent Insane Asylum for North Carolina, Raleigh. 
The full recognition of the harmony that should exist be- 
tween the claims of medical science and the demands of crim- 
inal law, is a social problem of the first magnitude. 
Notwithstanding the rich and varied literature, the manifold 
discussions, the numerous trials with their accompanying foren- 
sic display, that enter into the history of the struggle to secure 
substantial Justice for the insane, or to defeat the pretences of 
the wicked, the subject is yet of no less interest than import- 
ance. It is of interest as are all the questions that involve the 
study of mankind by man; it is of importance as upon the con- 
clusions hang the lives of so many fellow-beings. 
Although it has been so ably treated by mergers of this 
body, that their conclusions have modified the medical juris- 
prudence of more than one nation of the earth, the subject has 
yet a timely interest from the persistent efforts that have been 
made to turn back the hands upon the clock of time, and ,to 
return to ancient legal by-ways, long since abandoned for the 
open roads of scientific investigation established since the days 
of Coke and Blackstone. 
In modern times, insanity has been the subject of legal in- 
vestigation, when questions of capacity for the management of 
affairs, or the validity of wills, or of confinement to prevent 
injury to self or others were involved, but most frequently 
probably when offered as a bar to punishment by criminal 
prosecution. 
* Read before the Association of American Superintendents, Washington, 
I). C., May, 1878. It is the mutual relations of law and medicine in regard to 
the plea of irresponsibility in criminal offenses, and the con- 
nection of expert testimony therewith, that we venture to ex- 
amine at this time, under the conviction that whatever remains 
unsettled and doubtful in the law itself, whatever is injurious 
and misleading in the administration of justice, demands a 
speedy correction as soon as recognized by the enlightened 
sense of mankind. 
2 
It should be remembered that the physician must be the 
friend of the insane, and humanity demands that we consider 
and reconsider the fearful trust of the lives and reputations of 
the afflicted, until we shall be able in the fullness of time, to 
reach conclusions whose influence for practical good will sooner 
or later be acknowledged, and the jurisprudence of a coraimr 
generation adjust itself by an equity that shall have more of 
the divine element of Knowledge than the rude justice of the 
Past. 
Chief Justice Shaw, ii, the case of Rogers,* defined the prin- 
ciples of expert testimony with clearness in the following lan- 
guage: & 
n^lTnf°ffhLaW: °n,WhiGh thiS proof of the opinion of witnesses, who know 
testimony buUs °f f°Unded’ is not Pillar to medical 
-nc 
thnsp m general, but are quite within the observation and experience of 
those whose peenhar and profeBBion> have brought of 
seamm'h and habitually under their consideration. Shipmasters and 
seamen have peculiar means of acquiring knowledge and 
whatever relates to seamanship and nautical sklU Wheh fheSnS « ' “ 
by other Sim ‘ °^UBtlCe UP°n that and certain facts aS proved 
ter of The slCaSI6tr &Sked hls °plnion as to tpe charac- 
by themselves, or testified to by other witnesses. served 
**<-* * * * # 
It Is upon this ground that the opinions of witnesses who L™ i * k 
conversMt with Insanity In Its various formsMd whT, havn hai ih® 
and superintendence of insane persons, are received as competent evidence! 
Journal of Insanity, Vol I r> 270 Trial 
of T innAin wr a /A,r ’P* ria* °f Rogers for the murder 
01 .Lincoln. Worden (Mass.) Prison 1844 3 
ev in though they have not had opportunity to examine the particular 
patient, and observe the symptoms and indications of disease, at the time of 
its supposed existence. 
When such opinions come from persons of great experience, and in whose 
correctness and sobriety of judgment just confidence can be had, they are of 
great weight, and deserve the respectful consideration of a jury. One cau- 
tion, in regard to this point, it is proper to add, the professional witnesses 
are not to judge of the credit of other witnesses, or of the truth of the facts 
testified to by them. 
The attempt to follow the motives of a frightful deed of vio- 
lence into the recesses of the mental structure of the man who 
has committed the act, and is arraigned at peril of life to an- 
swer for the outrage, is one of the most solemn of human in- 
quiries. It is, indeed, a momentary search, as it were, for the 
gift of the Omniscient One, who alone reads the whole heart 
of man. It is a type of that day of judgment that Christian 
belief assigns as the most tragic scene in all the history of man. 
No living man can entirely project himself into the con- 
sciousness of another. Whatsoever deals with human con- 
duct must walk among mysteries. Some anomalies in human 
experience will forever wear the shroud of uncertainty. 
Whoso would Crack the labyrinth of the insane mind should 
have the light of experience for his feet, and the courage of a 
pure and honest heart. 
There -was a period in history, not so very remote, when 
the recognition of insanity as the result of physical disease had 
not dawned upon awakening humanity and civilization. What 
has been called the “modern refinement” of expert testimony 
was unknown, and the arbiters of science as well as law sat 
upon benches red with innocent blood. 
There are those as we shall see, who would fain restore the 
good old days. It was but a hundred and twenty years ago, 
when Christendom witnessed the tortures of Robert Francois 
Damiens, who in a maniacal paroxysm, wounded Louis XV* 
The merciful law burned his hand, tore his flesh with red-hot 
pincers, poured melted lead and sulphur into the wounds, and 
tore him apart with four horses, after many efforts, amid the 
jokes of the pitiful insane wretch.f 
*Joxjenai, of Insanity, Vol. 111, p. 185. 
t Fitzroy Helly, a counsellor of the English bar, has publicly declared in 
London, that the records of the Assizes show the execution of sixty persons 4 
We should not unduly censure the cruelty of an age in 
which the ignorance of the dependence of human conduct upon 
the physical condition of the brain was so dense and profound. 
Tribunals, after all, are without inspiration ; they can only 
pronounce a judgment based upon the general assent of the 
most intelligent members of society ; nothing more—and when 
that intelligence is vivified and immensely enlarged by the 
wonderful scientific advance which the world has witnessed, 
falsehoods hoary with time fall away, and truth after truth 
will assert its dominion at last. 
Sii Vicary Gibbs,* Attorney General of England, declared, 
“ I say this upon the authority of the first sages in this coun- 
try, and of the established law in all times, which law has 
never been questioned, that although a man be incapable of 
conducting his own affairs, he may still be answerable for his 
criminal acts, if he possess a mind capable of distinguishing 
right from wrong. 
T3i, Bell, in speaking of the case of Bellingham, reminds us 
that under this very rule, “ A man whom nobody now doubts 
to have been insane, committed his homicidal act on the 11th 
May, 1811, was tried, convicted, sentenced, executed, and his 
body placed on the dissecting table on the 18th ; all within 
one week !” 
Has America no addition to the sombre record ? What of 
the condemnation of Cornell, whose sentence was commuted, 
that his insanity might convince the world, at Auburn ; or 
Wilcox, also condemned and afterwards insane in Clinton 
Prison ? What of the deaths upon the gallows, of Cook, at 
Schenectady ; of Prescott, in New Hampshire ; of Baker, in 
Kentucky ; or of Maude, in New Jersey, a man who had actu- 
ally been confined as a patient in an asylum, and escaped 
therefrom ? 
It is no wonder that as medical science convinced mankind 
that insanity was the result of disease, the nobler minds in the 
legal profession should demand the light of medical informa- 
tion in the midst of issues of such vast importance, in the 
during the present century, who are conceded to have been lunatics in the 
eye of the medical science of to-day. 
*JOTTRNAI. OF INSANITY, Vol. IV, p. 32. 5 
effort to define such insanity as the law could admit, and to 
recognize its victims with the keen and trained faculties sharp- 
ened by constant scientific use. 
The successive dogmas adopted to limit and bound so intan- 
gible an effect as insanity are a twice told tale to the profes- 
sion, but it is noticeable that until within a recent period, there 
has been an earnest and continual endeavor to reconcile the 
claims of offended justice with those of an enlightened human- 
ity, step by step, as the light of science leads the way, approxi- 
mating justice and equity. 
As early as thirty-three years ago, some manly and almost 
prophetic declarations were made by the presiding judge, in 
the case of Klein,* for murder, New York Court of Oyer and 
Terminer, His Honor said : 
That it washy no means an easy matter to discover or define the lineofde- 
markation where sanity ended and insanity began, and it very frequently 
occurred that a condition of mental aberration shaded off from a sound state 
of mind, so gradually and imperceptibly, that it was difficult for those most 
“expert” in the disease to detect or explain its begining, extent or duration. 
And in this, as in othef diseases of the human system, there was an infinite 
variety, so great indeed, as almost to justify the remark that no two cases 
were ever precisely alike. 
The discoveries in the nature of the disease, and the improvements in the 
mode of its treatment, had been so great in modern times, that it had become 
almost a distinct department of medical science, to which some practitioners 
devoted themselves almost exclusively. The opinions of such persons, espe- 
cially when to their knowledge they added the experience of personal care 
of the insane, could never be safely disregarded by courts and juries. * * * 
What is meant by “an insane person,” is now, and long has been a matter 
of great difficulty. At one time it was held by the courts to be only such an 
overthrow of the intellect, that the afflicted person must “ know no more 
than the brutes,”t to be exempt from responsibility. As science progressed, 
the rule has been extended in modern times, until it begins to comprehend 
within its saving influences, most of those, who by the visitation of disease 
are deprived of the power of self-government. Yet the law in its slow and 
cautious progress still lags far behind the advance of true knowledge. * * 
If some controlling disease was in truth the acting power within him, 
which he could not resist, or if he had not a sufficient use of his reason to 
control the passions which prompted the act complained of, he is not re- 
sponsible, but we must be sure not to be misled by a mere impulse of passion, 
an idle, frantic humor, or unaccountable mode of action, but inquire whether 
it is an absolute dispossession of the free and natural agency of the human 
mind. 
In order then to constitute a crime, a man must have memory and intelli- 
gence to know that the act he is about to commit is wrong, to remember and 
*JotTRNAL of Insanity, Vol. 11, p. 262, Judge Edmonds, 
fjudge Tracy, 1723. 6 
understand that if he commits the act he will be subject to punishment, and 
reason and will to enable him to compare and choose between the supposed 
advantage or gratification to be obtained by the criminal act, and the immu- 
nity from punishment, which he will secure by abstaining from it. 
If, on the other hand, he have not intelligence and capacity enough to have 
a criminal Intent and purpose, and if his moral or intellectual powers are 
either so deficient that he has not sufficient will, conscience, or controlling 
mental power, or if through the overwhelming violence of mental disease, 
his intellectual power is for the time obliterated, he is not a responsible 
moral agent, and is not punishable for criminal acts. 
In proportion as the public sense accepted the fact that in- 
sanity was to be attributed to disease, and not to a psychical 
possession akin to the notion of witchcraft, that, alike from the 
general mind, was reflected also in the language of the law, in 
annals that are painful to dwell upon ; so did the conviction 
the more fully fasten upon the legal mind that the technical 
facts of insanity must be developed for the jury by a skilled 
understanding, and it became absolutely essential to call in 
the aid of medical experts. This process is still going on. 
The following is from a review,* in the American Journal 
of Insanity, on a valuable “ Report on the Medical Jurispru- 
dence of Insanity,” by Prof. Coventry : 
Reforms of every kind are indeed slow in progress, not in being assented 
to in theory, but in being accepted and carried out. * * * * The 
legal relations of insanity, and the responsibility for supposed crime are as 
uncertain and unsettled as in the time of Blacksione or Lord Coke. This is 
because so comparatively little of the great light shed upon the subject of 
mental disease, and its relations to human responsibility during the past 
century, has yet penetrated the popular understanding, and the dogmas and 
precedents of the courts. But though slow in their progress “reforms never 
go backwards.” 
While it will be acknowledged that some progress has been 
made since that period, and in a few States of the Union admi- 
rable changes effected in the modes of administration of the 
criminal law, the great truth yet remains of the lamentable 
need, over the country at large, for yet farther revision and 
readjustment of modes of proceeding with persons pleading- 
insanity in bar of punishment for offenses. In a free and in- 
telligent land, statutes will be enacted as an expression of de- 
liberate public opinion. How important, therefore, that public 
opinion should be impressed by those whose lives are given to 
of Insanity, Vol. XV, p. 420. 7 
the practical study of insanity. Unpleasant as some aspects 
of the struggle may be, the physicians of the insane cannot do 
their whole duty if they permit the noisy charlatan to fill the 
public ear with sensational falsehoods to please a mob athirst 
for something strange to feed upon ; or even if they surrender 
this field to the theories of legal gentlemen, who, with admira- 
ble motives, have, by their very education and mental habits, 
become unfitted for the reception of truths discoverable in so 
experimental a science as medicine. 
What the status of the expert in insanity in courts of law, 
and before that court of last resort, public opinion, has been, 
is now, and should be, though often discussed, may still claim 
our careful consideration, inasmuch as its final settlement in- 
volves so ranch to the profession directly, and more to human- 
ity at large. 
We may fairly assume, that in cases of criminal accusation, 
what men desire is substantial justice. The legal effect of an 
act, should, in absolute equity, depend upon its moral quality. 
But the moral quality can only be approximately judged, and 
that by our knowledge of the natural history, so to speak, of 
the act. Knowledge must necessarily be supplemental in part 
by opinion. And the least possible room is left for a doubtful 
quantity, wrhen every avenue of knowledge has been explored 
with a competent guide. 
The medical expert is in part a guide, as Dr. Reynolds has 
happily said, “he is one who knows what to look for, and why 
to search for it, as well as what to see.” 
T need not remind you that the most enlightened nations of 
the Continent*have given large powers to medical experts. 
Thus, to avoid detail, we know that in France a preliminary 
step in the trial of the alleged insane is to submit him to the 
examination of a board of experts; and in Germany, medical 
experts are called upon to conduct an examination, in the pre- 
sence of a judge, and their opinion must be rendered with a 
written statement of the whole investigation. 
It is a familiar fact that the usual course of introduction of 
expert testimony in the courts, so far as insanity is concerned, 
is for the purpose of sustaining the position of counsel for the 
prosecution or the defense, as the case may be, with the strange 8 
anomaly of a witness announcing the conclusions of a most re- 
condite science, and straightway being cross-examined concern- 
ing the same, as though to demonstrate his ignorance or un- 
truth, by a layman, presumed to be a stranger to the very 
science, of which the expert is supposed to have special knowl- 
edge. Nor is it altogether unknown, for the judge himself, 
aftei questions tending to intimate the unreality of medical 
knowledge to conclude with a charge to the jury, to stand by 
decisions whatever the consequences. And yet there was a 
period when the scientific world was as thoroughly convinced 
as to-day, that witchcraft was a monstrous delusion and still 
stare decisis from the lips of the great and good Sir Matthew 
Hale was the death knell of at least twTo poor women for sor- 
cery. 
We cannot censure the upright judge who knew not his own 
wrong, but what can we say of a school of latter day philoso- 
phers who look back reverently to his dicta upon insanity of 
which he -was equally ignorant, and who would persuade civil- 
ization and humanity to retrace their footsteps to the darkness 
of the past, amid the spectres of the innocent condemned? 
And yet such men live not only among the mistaken devo- 
tees of legal precedent, but as we shall see, men who hide the 
Mephistopheles behind the cloak of the philosopher, and dif- 
fusing a subtle moral poison even through the fountains of the 
great daily press, would drug a Christian people into moral 
insensibility and practical atheism. 
The early history of the services of experts in insanity before 
American courts, is an honorable page in the literature of our 
profession. I need not remind you of the estimate humanity 
must accord to the labors of such men as Drs. Woodward, 
Bell,* Brigham, and others, who did so much to modify the 
expression of judicial opinion in regard to the proofs demanded 
to demonstrate the existence of insanity. I need not point you 
to the subsequent history of persons accused, especially in the 
trials as fully reported, occurring in the Eastern States, who 
were remanded to Insane Hospitals for care and treatment 
upon the evidence of these experts. 
* Memoir of Dr. Bell, Journal of Insanity, Vol. XI, p. 111. And yet with so much of kuna an experience recorded in the 
annals of the law, in regard to the value of medical testimony, 
Lord Campbell, from his lofty judicial seat, could say to three 
'learned and respected physicians, u You may go home to your 
'patients and be more usefully employed there than you have 
'been here,11 This, it will be remembered, was in the Bainbridge 
Will Case, 
And it is another of the legal anomalies remaining that in a 
number of States of this Union, to the present day, the testi- 
mony of non-expertsf as to the mental condition of a prisoner 
is duly taken, if based upon personal observation. It is not 
matter of surprise that extraordinary results sometimes follow. 
The United States Courts permit the same. 
Let us note, that here at least, the rule should be modified, 
by which only the declaration of such acknowledged and noto- 
rious phenomena of insanity as are accepted without question, 
with duly corroborating circumstances, should be received 
from such witnesses. Should not the force of such testimony 
be greatly restricted where there is appearance of doubt iu the 
case, apd should not its recognition by experts be demanded in 
such instances ? 
In the comments on the case of Davenport,]; for the murder 
■of Wilson, Bennington, Yt,- 1863, it is stated that the Court 
ruled “that medical witnesses can only be asked what certain 
facts admitted or supposed, tend to prove in respect to the 
mental condition of an accused party,” But as the writer 
well says ; 
Neither substantial facts nor logical definitions can always describe a case 
•of mental disease. As the opinion of an artist upon the genuineness of a 
picture, and that of a ship-builder upon the sea-worthiness of a ship are law- 
fully taken because no scientific test is- possible, so the judgment of an ex- 
pert in mental diseases should be freely admitted. 
It was by slow degrees that the position of the medical expert 
came to be accurately apprehended, and development in this 
direction as we shall observe, is yet demanded by the justice 
that shall approach nearest the sublime equity of our Maker. 
fDewitt vs. Baily and Schoonmaker(3 Smith, 340.) 
JJournax, of Insanity, Yol. XX, p. 413. The London Medical Gazette (November 28y 1851,) relates' 
that : 
An application was made to the Lord’Chancellor, last week, for the pay- 
ment out of a lunatic's estate of a fee of fifty guineas to Dr. F. Winslow, for 
his examination and report on the condition of a lunatic. In refusing the- 
application, the Lord Chancellor remarked—that in the present instance, as- 
was likewise almost the invariable practice, the medical man had reported 
in favor of the views of those parties which had employed him.. 
In regard to the basis of evidence properly receivable as- 
such from the expert, we find in Keck’s Medical Jurisprudence,, 
that the medical witness is cautioned ; 
First. That his opinion must be based on the medical facts of the case. 
“It is not the province of the expert to draw inferences of fact from the evi- 
dence, but to give his opinion on a known or hypothetical state of facts.” 
Second. Physicians are not allowed to give their opinions on the case as 
submitted to the jury. 
Third. Medical men arenot usually allowed to quote the books of authority 
in their profession to fortify the opinions they have given in the case. 
The principle assigned by the bar to explain this exclusion 
of medical literature is, that nothing is evidence which is not 
sworn to. But it has been well remarked that much enters 
into a case that is not sworn to. Lawyers do not scruple to 
refer to medical works, and seek to entangle the expert amid 
seeming contradictions by questions intended to develop an- 
tagonistic views on the part of the expert, to one or other 
leading authority upon insanity in regard to the nomenclature 
and the scientific appointment of language to define the various 
grades of mental alienation. Judges themselves not infre- 
quently quote medical writers from the bench in the charge to 
the jury, in opposition it may be to the views of the expert, 
while denying him the advantage of the precision of language 
employed by authors, to represent fairly his own views, to say 
nothing of the charm of the printed word and the ponderous 
volume upon the mind of the average juryman. 
In the case of the Queen vs. Frances, in London, 1849, 
Baron Alderson refused to allow a medical gentleman present 
in court, who had heard all the evidence, to testify to his opin- 
ion of the soundness of mind of the accused. He said : “ The 
proper mode is to ask what are the symptoms of insanity, or to 
take particular facts and assuming them to be true, to ask 11 
whether they indicate insanity on the part of the prisoner/' 
Otherwise, it is really, he said, to substitute the witness for the 
jury- 
Sixteen years later we find the following opinion from the 
bench, in the charge of Judge Mellor,f in the case of Regina 
vs. Southey for the killing of his wife and child, 1865, The 
-defense being insanity, and many facts having been sworn to, 
the Judge charged : 
That every man was presumed to be sane until the contrary 
was shown, that the jury must not give themselves up to the 
medical testimony, but must exercise their common sense and 
judgment upon it. Some medical men had theories upon in- 
sanity, which if applied generally, would be fatal to society. 
The opinion of persons who had observed a man for months, 
was worth far more than that of those who went to see him 
once, for the very purpose of giving evidence that he was in- 
sane. It was not enough that some amount of insanity was 
shown. It must appear that the prisoner did not know that he 
was doing wrong. 
The natural conclusion perhaps followed this charge. The 
Judge succeeded as an advocate, and the accused was sen* 
tenced to death. 
So also, as the writer to whom we have just referred reports, 
in Regina vs. Leigh, before Chief Justice Earle for the mur 
o o' 
der of Harriet Harton, February, 1866, the Judge charged ; 
The question was, whether he was or was not responsible when he com* 
mitted the act—not whether he was not guilty, on the ground of insanity, 
that was an issue far too vague. * * * * The law, how- 
ever, did not say that when any degree of insanity existed, the party was 
not responsible, but that when he was in a state of mind to know the dis- 
tinction between right and wrong, and the nature of the act he committed, 
he was responsible. 
Ip striking contrast to these expressions, hear the voice of 
the lamented Griesinger, speaking of what some call partial in- 
sanity, “At what limits must it be said that a man is blind ? 
Is it only when he can no longer perceive a ray of light ?” 
The unfortunate disposition to regard medical men as gov- 
erned by false sentiment, or imaginative fancies, at war with 
fJouENAt, of Insanity, Vol. XXIII, p. 594. Che best interests of society, may often be observed. So far 
has this feeling been manifested as to lead to the most falla- 
cious reasoning,, to the discredit of the bench. Thus, before- 
the Judicial Society,, we find Baron Branwell declaring (De- 
cember, 1857r) that r 
The question to he discussed' was not the relative amount of pity which we- 
should feel for the sane or the insane, but ifow is the law to deal with the- 
commission of anjftct which it prohibits ? To solve this question, it is neces- 
sary to go back to the true theory of punishment,, which is, that pain being 
in itself an evil, society has no right to inflict it upon an individual ex- 
cept for the* purpose of preventing crime, by the fern of it on the individual 
punished, and by therspeetaeie of it on the rest of the community. The cer- 
tainty, therefore, with which punishment follows crime is of the last import- 
ance in teaching men to respect the la w, and to abstain from breaking it 
for since the law threatens all mankind, it would be a mere brutumfulmen, 
if it did not also punish those who violate it. The madman, amongst others, 
is threatened by theiaw, why then should he escape if he infringes the law;: 
and why destroy that certainty of punishment following crime which is the- 
Very essence of its preventive power? For his part, he could conceive an 
argument being maintained to show that even idiots should he punished’ 
when they break the lawi; but in such an opinion, if held by any one, he did 
not share. If you do not punish the madman,, you hold out a premium to 
the commission of crime; for every man would calculate that he would be- 
fortunate enough to escape by some one proving that he was mad, on the 
same principle as that on which people lead a forlorn hope, or put into a 
lottery, not calculating the chances against them, hut trusting that they will 
be the fortunate ones to survive, or to win the prize. 
Of such tenets held by the learned Judge, it was well re- 
marked : 
That the legal profession generally, and especially the judges, have so little 
practical acquaintance with insanity, that their minds are absolutely un- 
able to comprehend vast truths which are familiar enough to medical men. 
Examinations in courts of justice are peculiarly unfavorable to the diffusion 
of just ideas on these matters, and the medical witness consequently gives 
his testimony amidst an amount of prejudice, arising from ignorance, which 
Is too often fatal to the best interests of humanity and justice. 
The natural responsibility of the position of a medical ex- 
pert is heightened by the imperfect systems existing, whereby 
the physician is often hurriedly called to give an opinion based 
upon miscellaneous facts, gathered by laymen, with slight op- 
portunity for observation of the accused, with the forlorn hope 
that he may confirm or refute a plea, offered at the last mo- 
ment, or during the very progress of the trial for the first 
time. Surely this procedure is unworthy of that degree of 
civilization which our country has reached. If, as we know, 
one or two States have sought out a better way, it is time that 13 
the efforts of physicians, who have the especial charge of the 
insane, shook! arouse public sentiment to the urgent need of 
progress throughout our entire country. 
It has been well said by Dr, Chipley,* in speaking of the 
medical witness : 
It is an embarrassing position, not willingly assumed by intelligent medi- 
■cal men. In fact, it is a matter of notoriety that physicians avoid a summons 
in such cases by every means in their power; when they would not shrink 
from the discharge of their duty, if allowed an opportunity to analyze the 
case as they are daily doing in regard to other diseases. 
They are required to pronounce an opinion which may involve the life of 
the prisoner on the one hand, or interfere with the just administration of the 
law on the other, on data, which in ordinary practice, would not authorizea 
•diagnosis in any case of disease, or justify the administration of the simplest 
remedies. ' 
But whatever may be the difficulties that surround us, it is 
unhesitatingly our,duty to apply such powers as we possess to 
the solution of the question presented. We dare not turn our 
backs to this appeal, because the dearest interests of the in- 
sane are involved on the one hand, and the sacred bulwarks 
that encircle society lie exposed to outrage on the other. How 
shall we gird our loins for the task ? 
First, since, when the true mental attitude of the expert is 
understood, he will be really recognized as upon the one issue, 
a virtual judge, we should cultivate a cairn and impartial frame 
of mind, in addressing ourselves to the inquiry befere us. This 
is a duty, the importance and solemnity of which it is impos- 
sible to exaggerate. The expert should follow neither in the 
train of the prosecution or the defense. Too long has science, 
bearing the rich fruits of experience and skill, been dragged as 
a slavish trophy behind the conqueror’s chariot in the legal 
struggle. 
We should demand the enactment of statutes remanding 
to a commission of experts the examination of the accused, 
that the plea of lunacy may be disposed of, when presented, 
before issue is joined or trial begun. Compensation for this 
service should be made by the State only. And it may well 
be claimed that the observation of the commission should ex- 
tend through such a period of residence in an insane hospital, 
*JOTTKNAL OF INSANITY, Vo], XVII, p. 302. 14 
as will supply ample data for exact conclusions. To this might 
be wisely added, the visits and observations of a physician espe- 
cially sent by the defense to co-operate with the commission. 
But while.we are waiting to secure the passage of laws re- 
taining the valuable features of the statutes of New York or 
of Maine, the medical expert can at least frankly assure the 
counsel, in the case of hurried consultations- that he must tes- 
tify from a knowledge of all the facts attainable, and that if 
important facts are developed, previously withheld from him, 
that his views must be readjusted to the whole truth. Indeed, 
we should labor to place the expert in the position of amicus 
curia?* 
I need not remind you with what care we should seek the 
history of the accused, what has been his parentage, education, 
and physical habits, whether there has been recognized any 
great physical or moral change in the man; and if so, whether 
sudden or gradual, what is his organic condition, and whether 
trophic degeneration of any character is discoverable, whether 
hereditary influences indicate hysteria, chorea, epilepsy, syphi- 
litic diathesis, or other profound disturbance of the nerve cen- 
ters; what inconsistencies of opinion are in sharp contrast with 
his usual course of belief, whether there is inordinate grandeur 
attributed to his personal abilities or interests, whether the 
bodily functions are performed with regularity, and he enjoys 
natural sleep, and whether there is that due accord of mental 
and physical manifestations which long experience has shown 
to be in appropriate relation to each other in the several forms 
by which insanity has been recognized, and by which there 
have been efforts at its classification. We are to avoid the 
substitution of names for realities. ■“ Test every case by its 
symptoms,” is the very axiom to be dwelt upon by the medical 
mind. This is abhorrent to the legal profession who can not 
understand the belief of the physician, that within certain 
limits every case is a law unto itself. 
One of the primary demands, therefore, on the witness-stand, 
is a classification from the expert, of the forms of insanity, 
and nosological distinctions once obtained, the forensic strug- 
gle is made to show that the expert has failed when drawing 
his lines, “to divide a hair twixt south and south-west side,” or 15 
to triumphantly show that the accused may not belong to the 
special division, in which with some reservations, the expert 
may have unwarily assigned him. 
It would not be profitable here to enter into the long stand- 
ing questions concerning the forms of insanity, nor can it be 
conceived that it is the special province of the expert to enter 
into such dissertations before a jury, any more, than if a sur- 
geon were asked concerning the existence of disease of the 
heart of a certain character or of locomotor ataxy, it would be 
proper to enter into obscure theories of causation. It is enough 
that he can affirm the existence of a prolonged departure from 
ordinary human conduct, whether it appear to his mind to be 
primarily due to intellectual aberration, or to the deprivation 
of natural affections and emotions, or to inability to use the 
will in accordance with the dictates of the intellect and the 
control of the moral sentiments, or to impairment of the mutual 
counter-play of all these powers of the mind. 
Is it not true that we are to fix our minds upon results, to 
look narrowly for physical symptoms of physical changes, 
whether those changes proceed from what may be commonly 
termed moral causes, or otherwise? The existence of the in- 
sane condition is the fact in question, and not what authors, or 
physicians, or lawyers, may have fancied to constitute ideal in- 
sanity, but the insanity of the individual under investigation— 
that exceptional condition which marks him as an unfit person 
upon whom to inflict the penalties designed for actions involv- 
ing the conscious and willful violation of the rights of others. 
Whether, indeed, we may believe with Dr. Gray and many 
other distinguished alienists, that no case’of moral imbecility 
exists without some deprivation of intellect and reason, whether 
immediately observable or not; whether we are ready to accept 
the conclusion of our honored President, Dr. Nichols, whose 
eminent services to the insane were rendered for a quarter of a 
century in this Capital of our country, when he says: “It is 
evident to ray mind that cases of insanity have run on for years, 
under the observation of competent men, without the discovery 
of any intellectual lesion whatever;” whether we may agree 
with the late lamented Dr. Landor, in more extensive views, 
when he says: Daily experience shows abundantly that a man or woman may be imbecile* 
morally, from cerebral disorder or disease, and yet have great intellectual or 
even high logical powers. There are many who being thus diseased mental- 
ly, drink to drunkenness, are lascivious, lie, steal, are obscene, homicidal 
and malicious, in spite of a knowledge of right and wrong, and even with 
reasoning powers little or at all affected, and whatever the law may decide, 
the inexorable logic of facts will hold its own,” 
Or whether again we accept the views of Dr. Walker, who 
declares that, “ when the will is overborne, the intellect is dis- 
turbed. You may oall.it ‘impairment,’ ‘disturbance,’ ‘excite- 
ment,’ or what not. when the will is gone, the individual is 
gone;” we say, that whether our belief coincides with any of 
these, is, after all, not of such transcendent importance in a 
practical point of view, not at least to the extent that such 
divergences of belief are pictured in the psychology of the 
gentlemen of the bar. 
It will surely be conceded that the typical examples alleged, 
of emotional insanity, leave at least a strong suspicion of latent 
weakness in primary or purely intellectual cerebration, often 
confirmed by the later history of absolute delusion with mania 
and resultant dementia. On the contrary, it will hardly be dis- 
puted, that in general paresis there may be a prolonged early 
stage, in which, while the emotions and feelings that elevate 
man above the brute, seem palsied and destroyed; yet bodily 
vigor is great and the reason apparently acute. And still 
again, it may not be easy to show, a priori, that the mental 
dynamic force which we denominate the will, may not be irre- 
sistibly set in action by the consentaneous work of passions, with 
or without the cognition of the dictates of reason. 
So that to wander at all into psychology is, for the expert, 
an abandonment of the safe middle-ground, from which he 
pronounces an individual sane or insane, from the judgment 
derived by his experience, from physical indications, and well 
ascertained history, and yet again from a recognition, which 
long familiarity with the insane may give, but which can no 
more be formulated in identifying dicta, for cross-examination, 
than we can explain the recognition of an animal or any article 
of daily use among many similar thereto, without a possibility 
of defining that which makes it different to us, by accurate 
description. Prof. Meyer,* of Gottingen, has well said, in connection 
with the identification of insanity, that: 
To judge this affection, the physician is satisfied with a series of symp- 
toms, which his experience has taught him to consider characteristic of in- 
sanity, in their mutual relation, in their connection, without his being able 
to give a sharp definition of the number and meaning of symptoms. 
The law takes insanity, or the irresponsibility dependent upon it, as being 
proved only when the result or the manner of thinking is entirely abnormal; 
when lively Illusions are indicated, and the condition is one of complete con- 
fusion. The accused therefore will suffer the penalty of the law, if his thoughts 
■do not differ from the common run, if he talks with tolerable coherence, if he 
knows his way of action to be criminal and deserving of punishment. Yet 
it is a fact to be proved, even by laymen, that many of the inmates of our 
asylums, when subjected to t&e same ordeal, would be perfectly responsible 
persons within the meaning of the law. 
He points out with clearness, that often in the first onset of 
of mania, the intellect still powerful, struggles with the morbid 
influence, and thus the mental conflict ensues, which to the 
world seems the height of madness, but in its onward progress, 
and with the intellect breaking down in anticipation of ap- 
proaching dementia, and under such remedies as may serve to 
calm physical agitation, an appearance of coherence is again 
restored, and there is a simulation of action of a truly intellect- 
ual character. But this, he affirms is unreal—the fact is that 
these actions are more or less automatic of previous manifesta* 
tations, and are not the outgrowth of original thought or of 
determination guided by a will influenced normally by the in- 
tellect. There is no power of originating. He says: 
The whole doctrine of morals and ethics, the tenets of the Christian cate- 
chism may be found with the insane in their accustomed connection, like 
the stamp of an ancient coinage, but their ideas are not theproduct of think- 
ing; their actions not the effect of free will; they are mixed at times with 
delusions, but reproductions from their former mental lives. 
Whether we assent entirely to these propositions, they con- 
tain matter of reflection. 
If we may be pardoned for digression to a subject too vast 
for consideration in a paper like this, may we not fairly suggest 
in leaving this topic, that less stress upon names and divisions, 
less warmth of adherence to favorite authorities, and a more 
thoroughly catholic disposition of mind, and courteous accept- 
* Journal of Insanity, Vol. XXVII, p. 419. mce of non-essentials, by medical experts, who may equally 
recognize the presence of insanity, but by different lines of 
belief, may tend to good, by its impression upon the bar, the 
bench and public opinion; that, after all, the facts are too- 
solemn, and demand too much sincerity and earnestness of 
mind, to allow room for speculations upon the particular chan- 
nel by which they occur. 
Yet the medical expert cannot be guiltless if he fail to ac- 
quaint himself with the revelations of the most advanced 
thinkers and laborers of the profession. Would any toxicolo- 
gist of the present day be justified in appealing to the rude 
tests of a hundred, nay, of fifty years ago, in regard to the 
detection of poisons ? Have we not seen what will become of 
such mistakes? Chemical science grows and its growth is 
formally accepted and acted upon by the courts. Why not 
medical science too, and that most exquisite branch which 
weighs in imponderable scales the capacity of a fellow creature 
to fulfill the demands of society/ 
One of the singular anomalies of criminal procedure, is the 
denial of the right of the expert to express an opinion in the 
hearing of the jury upon the facts as proved before the court. 
But the counsel upon either side may frame hypothetical 
questions, containing as many half-truths as possible, only 
with phases reversed, omitting what they please, and perhaps, 
joining inference and implication to actual evidence, and may 
demand a categorical answer, which may require Ices and No 
to be said of the same individual, with a cross-examination to 
follow, the whole to be concluded by an appeal to the jury to 
perform the mental acrobatic feat with safety, of resting theii 
conclusions upon whatever they may gather from each side 
that bears the semblance of certainty. 
It is to be regarded as fortunate that there is now a disposi- 
tion on the part of some judges to permit the expert to declare 
his opinion, from the entire burden of the testimony. It is at 
least an advance, when facts and not fiction form the basis of 
opinion. 
It must be remembered that the opinion of an expert who 
is truly such, is more than a dictum—it approaches the dig- 
nity of a judgment, so far as the particular plea of insanity is 19 
concerned. True, there should be great caution that the wit- 
ness is truly qualified. That he be a physician is not enough, 
for not all physicians are experts in every branch of medicine. 
That he has had opportunities for observing insanity is not 
•sufficient, for such opportunities may not have been improved. 
In Page vs. Parler, N. H. Reports, 59,* the Court well said 
that it must be shown :£ at least that they have superior actual 
skill or scientific knowledge, in relation to the question, before 
their opinions can be competent.” 
But when fairly acknowledged and respected as an expert 
in insanity, what, after all, is the opinion of the alienist, so 
•objected to ? It is a declaration of what he esteems a central 
fact, appealing to his consciousness for an existence, because 
of the union of analogies from many minor facts. These can 
be taken as a whole, and weighed at once by the educated 
mental grasp of the expert, but can not be apprehended by a 
mind unfitted to gather and associate the many elements of 
one truth. 
What is the universally accepted fact of the law of gravity 
but an expression of acquiescence in the scientific opinion of 
Newton, that only in that manner could the many motions of 
natural objects be susceptible of explanation ? 
A shipbuilder may declare that a bolt of a certain size is 
weak, that a beam of a certain character is unsound, that con- 
struction upon such and such lines is faulty, but it is from his 
knowledge intimate and accurate of the bearing of all such 
facts, taken together to constitute another and the central one, 
that he boldly affirms the unseaworthiness of a vessel. 
If it be asserted that another builder is of a different opinion, 
it becomes a question of the weight of their several testimo- 
nies, and preponderating experience must govern ; but surely, 
not the crude views of a jury, composed perhaps of men, who 
may have no knowledge whatever concerning the architecture 
of a ship. 
But if we have justly portrayed the strength and the pro- 
found moral dignity accompanying the careful declaration of 
an expert, after cautious investigation, where human life and 
*Quoted in Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, July 1877, p. 478. high honorable repute hang in the balance, what language cans 
characterize the rash intruder who plays with such fearful 
issues without knowledge, or the trafficker in human misery 
who sells his opinions for gold ? 
In olden time only the vestals robed in perpetual purity 
could keep alive the sacred fires, and profanation of their vows; 
was punished by burial alive- What burial of public contempt 
could be too deep for the man who should prostitute science 
in the market, and smother her pure light under his greed for 
pelf. Such a man would be the Benedict Arnold of his pro- 
fession—such a man, we say it reverently, would be a Judas 
Iscariot to humanity, selling the blood of her children for 
thirty pieces of silver. 
Is it true that the former honorable record of testimony has 
been recently darkened by the conduct of men more wicked 
than the victims whom they judged, bringing umerited dis- 
grace upon real alienists, and holding up the just claims of medi- 
cal skill to the scorn of mankind ? Difficult as it is to credit 
such depth of ignominy, we are told by the Managers of the 
New York State Lunatic Asylum, in a report not many years ago: 
It may not be amiss to observe that this matter of the testimony ofexpeits, 
especially in cases of alleged insanity, has gone to such an extravagance that 
it has really become of late years a profitable profession to be an expert wit- 
ness, at the command of any party, and ready for any party for a sufficient 
and often an exhorbitant fee; thus destroying the real value of the testi- 
mony of unbiased experts. Vaunted and venal expertness is usually worth- 
less evidence; and yet such testimony is getting to be in great demand. 
We denominate him a criminal who counterfeits the coin 
of his country, or who adulterates the food of the people. 
What shall be said of the poisoner of the fountains of justice ? 
The world hangs upon eloquent lips like those of a Curran or 
a Grattan that denounce the baseness of an informer who 
testifies against the guilty comrade to save his own unworthy 
life. But what language can fitly fasten that man in the 
pillory of universal execration, who'll as bartered innocent blood 
over which the law gave him fearful power, at the bidding of 
jealous envies, and the lust of gold ? buch a man, if he exist, 
must have denied his God in impious atheism, else .there were 
no refuge from remorse save'in madness, that dread sanctuary 
which he has denied his wretched victims ! 21 
The case of David Montgomery* who killed his wife, while 
suffering from epileptic mania, is alas, yet fresh in your minds, 
and the admirable review of the expert testimony by Dr. 
Echeverria, than whom no man stands higher as an authority 
upon epilepsy in this country. 
On that trial a physician called to enlighten and instruct as 
an expert, asserted that, “ it by no means follows that an indi- 
vidual suffering from epilepsy is not as fully responsible for 
his actions as healthy persons.” And again on being questioned 
he declared “ that not many cases of epilepsy are accompanied 
with insanity or obvious mental deterioration,” Yet again he 
answers that, “ according to his experience, fifty per cent, 
develop mental deterioration.” Little importance, he said, 
should be attached to the views of asylum physicians, on the 
subject of the.responsibility of epileptics, because the epileptics 
in lunatic asylums are at the same time insane. 
He makes the surprising assertion that insanity with epilepsy, 
is a very different thing from the insanity which results from 
epilepsy. Whereas every one knows that epilepsy precedes 
the insanity, it being exceedingly rarely noted, if ever, that 
epilepsy is developed after or from the insanity. 
This very person gave the evidence upon which Reynolds 
was executed, although the poor wretch had an epileptic par- 
oxysm on the day of the homicide. Too late was the. world 
horrified at the direct physical evidence of brain degeneration 
in this cruel case. Yet the supposed expert has handed the 
helpless accused over to the hangman, at the demand of the 
populace thirsting for blood. 
To stamp with additional infamy, the whole transaction, 
there was another so-called expert, who agreed and consented 
unto the death of Reynolds upon the gallows as a guilty man, 
yet who, on being asked when McFarland was tried for the 
killing of Richardson, to describe a case in which insanity could 
exist without delusion, replied to the district attorney: “Take 
the case of Reynolds.f There was no delusion there; the man 
acted as a mere machine having no consciousness of his act, 
* Journal of Insanity, Vol. XXIX, p. 347. 
t Journal of Insanity, Vol. XXIV, p. 274. 22 
and when he comes to himself he has no recollection of what 
he may have done.” Why did not the recollection that he had 
declared the insane epileptic a free agent and delivered him to 
the hangman, rise within his soul, and drive him from the court- 
room with shame ? But no, alike with his partner in such 
science, they are now there at the command of the opposite 
side, and have changed their views of insanity. 
But to return to the man who has done so much to debauch 
the course of justice, the records of the court in the case of 
Montgomery show contradictions most violent in answering 
the prosecution, and again the cross-examination by the defense 
—separated by a single night and an interview with the inter- 
ested counsel. 
He delivered the following dicta, as expressions of scientific 
truth, the falsity of which has been shown by Echeverria, be- 
yond possibility of contradiction. 
That patients committing acts of violence during epileptic mania, have 
apparently no motive unless it is a false one. 
That he has never known a case of an epileptic fit or seizure, where during 
the continuation of it, the party will be spoken to, will answer, and then re- 
lapse into the same condition, and being spoken to again, will answer and 
relapse again. 
That deliberation takes away the idea of an insane act. 
In temporary insanity from cerebral disturbance there is no disposition to 
resist the impulse, the person yields to it and strikes. 
When an epileptic has suffered from an attack, the mental disturbance 
continues frequently several days. 
This medley of contradictions prevailed to convict Mont- 
gomery. Although evidence was abundantly exhibited that 
Montgomery had paroxysms of epilepsy throughout the week 
before the homicide, and according to this expert himself, his 
delusions were the result of epilepsy, yet the opinion declared 
was, “ the circumstances of the affair are irreconcilable with 
the theory that the homicide was perpetrated during a par- 
oxysm or an accession of epileptic mania.” 
“Deliberation takes away the idea of an insane act.” This 
silly and ignorant pomposity, which any alienist would receive 
with a quiet smile of contempt, was a declaration sealing Mont- 
gomery’s conviction—for had he not confessed that he stood 
five minutes over his sleeping wife before he struck’her, and 
then stooped to kiss her. 23 
What then shall be said, when this very expert, with heart 
of iron and forehead of brass, affirmed when testifying for the 
defense in the McFarland trial, and on the cross-examination, 
by the district attorney, that “the insane are very persistent in 
their revenge. I have known insane men occupied with the 
idea of killing their keeper for years, and finally do it.” It 
will be remembered that the point of the application of this 
view, was that two witnesses had testified that McFarland had 
waited ten minutes in the Tribune office, behind the partition, 
looking for Richardson to appear, upon which he fired. 
The distinguished author from whom we have quoted, well 
says: 
If such assertions are to prevail, if insanity, whether it be of an epileptic, 
or any other nature, must preclude every attempt at design or premedita- 
tion, we may as well reject every other principle equally confirmed by every 
day’s observation of the insane, and by the numerous examples cited in the 
annals of insanity and medical jurisprudence in this country and abroad. 
Again, in order to convict Montgomery, this false expert 
declares, “when an epileptic has suffered from an attack, the 
mental disturbance continues, frequently several days.” 
But that Reynolds might not escape, he had affirmed on that 
trial the opposite opinion. “The disease (epileptic mania) is 
of remarkably short duration. There is not a case on record 
where it has lasted fifteen minutes.” So that on the strength 
of one opinion the latter was actually executed, and upon its 
opposite, the former was condemned, but by the merciful inter- 
position of the governor his life was spared. I need not re- 
mind you that he was placed in an asylum for the insane, and 
his life has demonstrated the correctness of such competent 
alienists as Drs. Gray, Cleveland, Ordronaux and others, when 
they pronounced him insane. 
It must be that a man so lost to conscience and honor, as to 
inflict almost irreparable damage upon the science of medical 
observation, must have speedily fallen into obscurity—-power- 
less for farther evil. On the contrary, he publishes books, 
which are accepted in the medical world by a large and admir- 
ing clientage; books in which he walks among cases of rare 
affections as numerous as the soldiery of an army, and yet diag- 
noses with unerring certainty as with the magical wand of a 
Heller or a Wyman. He is the honored member of numerous 24 
medical societies, the Magnus Apollo of such as the Neuro- 
logical Society of the metropolis of this country, and a Profes- 
sor of Diseases of the Mind, in a most respectable university. He 
has the great dailies of the country under his command, and 
has waxed great, until he now appears as the philosopher who 
is to inaugurate social improvements, the medicolegal jurist, 
who will readjust criminal law, and relegate insanity from the 
list of misfortunes to appear in the catalogue of crimes. The 
alienists who are superintendents of the insane standing in the 
way of this giant, to whom Christianity itself, with all the pesti- 
lent theories of humanity is but a myth, are to be reformed 
out of existence, and the institutions administered under the 
new lights of such modern philosophy. 
What indeed are the restraints upon moral action, which to 
other men are sacred, to him who declares that, “ whenever 
there is grey nervous tissue in action, there is mind also,” and 
that, “ of the mental faculties, perception and volition are seat- 
ed in the spinal cord as well as in the cerebral ganglia;”* who 
asserts that there are two forces resulting from vitality—mind 
and animal electricity—who affirms that the brain secretes 
mind as the liver does bile.f 
Dr, Parsons has happily replied that the whole question 
turns upon what is mind. True, indeed, if the motions of a 
decapitated frog prove the existence of mind in his backbone, 
why not allow its possession to all animated nature, to the 
amoeba that feeds itself, to the endosmotic action in the life of 
plants? Why stop with the grey matter only,.in man? Why 
draw lines between mind and matter at all? 
How shallow is such latter day philosophy after all, when 
confronted with the facts of consciousness and the great phe- 
nomena of the world’s history. 
Strange that a man who contemptuously rejects the fact of 
any miraculous occurrence in the history of religion, and to 
whom, therefore, the Scriptures are a fable; who says that 
“ science is truth,” “ religion ” but faith in the truth, and, there- 
fore, beneath the eternal verity of science, and who arrogantly 
* “ The Brain not the Sole Organ of the Mind.” Hammond in Journal of 
Mental Diseases, January, ’76, p. 10. 
f Spiritualism and Allied Cases, &c., of Nervous Derangement, Hammond. denominates the belief which would give to the mind an exist- 
ence independent of the nervous system, a “ mere metaphysical 
and theological dogma;” strange, we say, that of all men, he 
has the presumption to teach reforms in the reconstruction of 
the criminal law, to secure safety to the morals of society, 
which his own doctrines would reduce to theological dreams. 
For if mind and bile are congeners, and man’s spirituality is a 
fiction, what is morality after all? 
Yet this man has a code, so rigid, that scarcely may it be 
said that he would suffer a maniac to live. In his u Insanity 
in its Relation to Crime,” he compares the insane man who has 
committed homicide to the wild beast, and the mad dog. The 
idea of justice in human law, is utterly ignored. He says; 
“ What society requires is protection, and it has no more busi- 
ness as such with abstract justice, than it has with any other 
bit of philosophy.” 
The safety of society is the only thing, he argues, to be con- 
sidered in the formation of the law, or in the punishment of 
the offender. He demands the punishment of the insane homi- 
cide, and cites as parallel cases the operation of the law of at- 
tainder, and the penalties inflicted for ignorant violation of law, 
seemingly unaware that the first is regarded as a hateful relic 
of the dark ages now obsolete, and the ignorant man might 
have informed himself, but that the insane is bound in patho- 
logical fetters, and is the helpless prisoner of misfortune. Such 
is his language: 
Looking at the matter therefore, from a similar point of view, no valid 
argument can be adduced against the punishment of the insane, even though 
they be morally irresponsible for their acts, by reason of delirium, dementia, 
morbid impulse, emotional insanity, or any other form of mental aberra- 
tion. 
To such wild assumptions, may we answer in the clear, cold, 
but just and logical expression of Balfour Browne, of the Eng- 
lish bar: 
The doctrine of all true educational or reformatory punishment is to pun- 
ish as long as the Individual and class to which he belongs, and on whom 
the example will operate most powerfully as a deterrant, have capacity suf- 
ficient directly to concatenate the suffering with the offense, and to under- 
stand how they may avoid the commission of a like crime. Any infliction 
of punishment under circumstances other than those just alluded to, is not 
only inefficacious, but tends to diminish the aggregate happiness of man- 
-4 26 
kind, and is to that extent a breach of the trust reposed in the government 
of the country. 
But the pretended expert and philosopher says: 
The individual who has sufficient intelligence to know that pointing a 
loaded pistol at a human being, cocking it and pulling the trigger, are acts 
which will cause the death of the person, against whom they are directed, 
should be subjected to the same punishment for a homicide as would be 
awarded for a like offense committed by a sane person. 
Indeed! Does lie think so as a philosopher pure and simple, 
so that like justice it is too abstract to be applied to the law, 
or does he think so, practically as an expert ? Then what mo- 
tive could have annihilated such opinion and even stimulated 
his zeal to bring opthalmoscopes and dynamographs like Chinese 
artillery to bear upon the jury that McFarland might be set 
free, even though he could “cock a pistol,” and what induce- 
ment could have made him alike forswear his cherished opin- 
ion, to break the bonds of Genl. Cole, although he too, “ could 
pull a trigger,” both “with a full knowledge of the conse- 
quences of the act,” 
It may be that an apology is due to my brethren for asking 
their, consideration of a Bornbastes 'Furioso of false experts. 
But in truth, he is the type of a reckless class of men who are 
attempting to control the medical and even the secular press of 
the country, and to poison the public mind until they shall have 
worked upon popular ignorance and passion, as they hope, to 
the destruction of the present system of providing for the in- 
sane in the United States. As individuals they are insignifi- 
cant, but wild and unreasoning waves of feeling sometimes 
arise in this country, and sweep with the velocity of our own 
prairie fires. How have we seen juries first acquitting, then 
convicting all supposed criminals under such daily goadings 
from the press. In fact, the natural conversatism of widely 
differing and separated masses of men throughout a great ter- 
ritory like ours, as an important factor in the social problem, 
has almost disappeared under the rapid spread of consentaneous 
sentiment, by modern modes of publication, aided by the tele- 
graph. 
These modern Spartans who would sacrifice the weaker mem- 
bers of society, and consign the insane to the fate of the wild 
beasts, just as the deformed child was flung from Laconian 27 
cliffs, are not without the cunning so admired as a virtue by 
their ancient prototypes. First would they destroy, in order 
to rebuild. If such delusions can be made to possess medical 
men, in the center of intelligence and refinement, what may 
not a Titus Oates accomplish as he fills the credulous ear of the 
mob with his imaginations and inventions? 
Has he not entered the Capital, whence he was once driven 
with the brand of ignominy after having occupied the highest 
medical seat of honor in the gift of the country, but occupied, 
as his superior declared, only to listen to base music rather 
than the groans and dying plaints of his thousands of country- 
men in the agonies of mortal strife ? Has he not cajoled even 
Congress to strive to wipe away that stain, when a nev gene- 
ration has forgotten the wrongs of the old ? Does not this 
great moral reformer, without a belief in a Divine Master and 
a system of Christian morals, this judge of men’s actions, to 
whom their conduct after all has no more of guiding spiritual 
motive, than the contortions of a frog, hold a magic ring, where- 
by the great magician of the New York Herald becomes his 
obedient henchman ? Not the least extraordinary indeed of 
the powers of this Cardiff Giant is his ability to hoax a great 
metropolitan educative power like the Herald. What sub- 
limity of audacity to dictate an editorial like that of the 23d 
March last: 
Thus within a short period a measure of personal restraint has been Intro- 
duced which equals in horror anything used in asylums before Pinel and 
Conolly undertook their reformation, and in which a wild beast could not 
be humanely confined. This is a crib, made after the pattern of a child’s 
crib, but with a barred lid to it. 
We have farther a harrowing description of this newly in- 
vented engine of torture, with a declaration that restraint is 
not allowed in Great Britain at all, and that there the asylum 
superintendent who should put one of his patients into a crib 
would lose his position in twenty-four hours, if he did not incur 
more severe punishment, and closing with the exclamation : 
Let the asylums be investigated. If they are in good condition and well 
managed, so much the better for those who control them. If they are as bad 
as they are said to be the sooner the public knows the fact, the sooner the 
proper remedy can be applied. 28 
Will it be believed that so complete has been this hoax upon 
the Herald, that it is seemingly unaware that the crib-bed or 
protection-bed was really introduced thirty-three years ago by 
the humane. Aubanel of Marseilles, and that at this day its 
great value in certain cases is recognized by its use, even in the 
most extreme non-restraint asylums in Scotland ! How does it 
happen that the Cagliostro of to-day, even with his wondrous 
armory of drugs and stage properties, has so lulled the hundred 
eyes of the metropolitan Argus to .unconscious slumber? 
' But there is a side of this question of the existence of false 
experts, who impose upon the courts and the public mind, their 
presumption for learning, and their ignorance for discovery, 
which is too solemn for ridicule, too momentous for trifling or 
jest. It is not that as we remember the victims already buried, 
that we see Draco reappear, with swift condemnation upon his 
lips, it is not that the scales of justice drip with blood from 
bands already dyed in gore, but that behind the black robe of 
the semi-judicial expert, may be heard a sound, more fearful 
than the groans of suffering humanity, more ominous than the 
click of loaded arms, a sound that chills the marrow as with 
the breathing of a fabled vampire—it is the clink of money 
under the gikdle. Now at last we shudder as we recognize 
that the false expert is no man at all, but a moral monster, 
whose baleful eyes glare with delusive light ; whose bowels 
are but bags of gold, to feed which, spider-like, he casts his 
loathsome arms about a helpless prey. 
It can scarcely be needful to say, that the more investigation, 
and the more information for the people, the better will be the 
final result to the institutions for the insane. Let there be 
light freely radiated. Dr. Kirkbride has well urged that the 
study of insanity by physicians be encouraged, and its more 
thorough exposition in our medical colleges. But it is at least 
absurd that a captain who has sailed his vessel over many 
stormy seas, should know less of navigation than the junk- 
dealer who cuts up the hulk in port. It is not outside the ranks 
of those who have given their lives to the practical care and 
cure of insane men, that science will find her guides, and the 
law, that does not exclude equity from justice, her most honest 
and faithful co-laborer. 29 
The declaration of the committee of able men,* appointed 
by the legislature of Massachusetts to examine into the condi- 
tion of the insane, in 1863, is only verified by length of expe- 
rience : 
The interior management of hospitals, and the treatment of the insane can 
not be regulated by law. It would be as absurd and futile to attempt by 
statntg, to regulate and control the minute and subtle details of mental hy- 
giene and therapeutics in our hospitals, as it would be to legislate how physi- 
cians should treat fever, or how or when a surgeon should amputate in a case 
of gangrene; or even to place on the statute book laws, with penalties, for 
guiding the practice of a shipmaster when in peril of shipwreck, with hund- 
reds of alarmed passengers dependent for safety on his free will, cool head, 
and skillful hand. The entire management and treatment of the insane 
mu§t be confided to the humanity and skill of the superintendent. 
The profession of medicine can not prostrate itself to the 
procrustean bed of ancient legal prejudice, and as fast as truth 
is developed and acknowledged, so shotdd the people be taught, 
until the statutes shall reflect the humanity and justice alike 
of a Christian nation. 
of Insanity, Vol. XXI, p. 263. APPENDIX. 
To the Medical Profession : 
The foregoing paper was read at the late meeting of the 
Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institu- 
tions for the Insane, held at Washington, D. C., May, IS'7B. 
Its preparation was conceived purely in the of 
science, and the yet stronger claims of justice and humanity. 
The reader has the pages before him, in which an effort has 
been made to present a truthful and dispassionate review of 
the position assigned to medical experts testifying in relation 
to the mental condition of the alleged insane, in the past his- 
tory of our courts. Some suggestions of changes in the man- 
ner of receiving expert evidence, and the collection of the 
same, with considerations of the weight that should attach to 
the unbiased declarations of a truly scientific physician of the 
insane, serving as amicus curiae, have been respectfully offered, 
to the end that the purposes of justice may be more effectively 
subserved than is possible under the present modes of legal 
investigation. It is, in fact, an appeal for a better and more 
direct approach to the truth, in so solemn an inquiry as an in- 
quisition appointed by the law involving the fortune, the repu- 
tation, or the life of a fellow-being. 
No one can deprecate the entrance of unseemly strile within 
the peaceful walks of medical philosophy more than the writer. 
But a deep sense of duty to the unfortunates who have been 
wronged, and to the honor of the medical profession, made it 
imperative to lay the whole subject before the body of pro- 
fessional alienists in America, and my biethien of the medical 
art. 
It was impossible to claim greater dignity for skilled medical 
testimony, to ask more freedom for expression of opinion by 
the expert who truly represents the conclusions of science, and to demand that an independent standpoint he accorded to him, 
rather than a continuance of the present practice of calling him 
to the assistance of counsel on either side ; it was impossible, 
we say, to urge this change in the interests of justice, without 
painfully acknowledging the reproach cast on medical witnesses 
under the present system, by ignorant pretenders and mer- 
cenary charlatans under the garb of scientific experts. 
The records of the courts show that a class of men exist, 
whose reckless and opposing opinions before uninformed Ju- 
lies of laymen, in accordance with the interests of the side 
which paid their fees, could have been inspired only by the 
Inst of gain. The immediate duty, therefore, was to scourge 
the cheat from the shrine which his voice profaned, as in the 
language of the preceding pages : 
32 
“But if we have justly portrayed the strength and the profound moial 
dignity accompanying the careful declaration of an expert, after cautious 
in vestigation, where human life and high and honorable repute hang in the 
balance, what language can characterize the rash intruder who plays with 
such fearful issues without knowledge, or the trafficker in human misery, 
who sells his opinions for gold. In olden time, only the vestals robed in per- 
petual purity could keep alive the sacred fires, and profanation of their vows 
was punished by burial alive. What burial of public contempt could be too 
deep for the man who should prostitute science in the market and smother 
her pure light under his greed for pelf?” 
That such infamy absolutely existed among us, in this day 
of Christian civilization, it was needful to show, for as it was 
hard for the Roman law-giver to conceive the existence and 
provide for the punishment of a parricide, so is it not the less 
difficult for the true physician to realize that persons exist, 
and even rejoice in high places, who would sell science, hu- 
manity, their country, justice, nay, even pity, too, for jingling 
silver in their sordid palms. Therefore, from logical necessity, 
came the demonstration of this fact by the illustration pre- 
sented in the history of a conspicuous man, who has been 
primus inter pares in this venal trade. Naturally be who has 
been the chief offender, and whose ill-gotten gains and stiong 
personal influence enable him to debauch the public press and 
gild his wickedness before the world, is the proper person upon 
whom to invite the stern retribution of betrayed justice. It 
must be admitted that the task is repulsive, and no motive 
short of absolute duty could have inspired the writer to its 33 
performance. So far as the fate of the particular man is con- 
cerned, who serves as the illustration of the sad truth, it is a 
matter of indifference. 
He might have been Smith, or Jones, or Brown ; he might 
have been John Doe or Richard Roe so far as the subject 
matter is concerned. Personally, he was, and is, nothing. 
The writer never had the misfortune to meet him, nor have 
circumstances in the remotest manner brought about any per- 
sonal antagonism whatever. It is the principle, not the indi- 
vidual, that is at stake. His history was known by reason 
of the notoriety that follows such names, and his existence 
was a fact that established the issue in question ; namely, 
that the dangerous witnesses which we have denominated 
False Experts did infest the courts. Nor have I conceived 
it needful to use tender language in describing any witness 
whose ready opinions condemned the innocent for money’s 
sake, as a Titus Oates, or in denominating the charlatan on a 
colossal scale, as another Cagliostro. 
Strange to say, the witness referred to is not content to re- 
mained unheralded under the merciful silence which forbore to 
give his name to the public, although his history and character 
had long been appreciated by many of the most eminent physi- 
cians of the Union. Letters and telegrams and personal congra- 
tulations from many sections of the Union have assured the 
writer that this effort to cast off an opprobrium from the pro- 
fession wras understood and sympathized with by many of the 
noblest members of the profession, whose special practice and 
research lie in other departments of medical science, rather 
than in those of the alienist. 
Under the name of William A. Hammond, M. D., of New 
York, he has addressed the writer an “ Open Letter,” which is 
a fit and appropriate production to emanate from such an au- 
thor. Self-respect forbids that a man, capable of such a vitu- 
perative production, and whose personal and professional his- 
tory are such as his is known to be, should be addressed by a 
gentleman, even in terms of hostile defiance. The shower, 
therefore, of personal abuse with which he wishes to con- 
ceal his own acts cannot receive the dignity of personal no- 
tice, nor shall the true status of the question at issue be thus 
artfully hidden. 34 
The writer’s words are for the honorable fraternity of medi- 
cine, regardless of the assaults of one whose misdeeds concern 
us directly only so far as they point a moral. What concerns 
the medical profession and all intelligent and honorable men 
are the following questions : 
Is it true that there are men who have debauched the course 
of criminal justice, by offering mercenary statements for im- 
partial and scientific testimony, so that the regulations for the 
admission of expert evidence need modification? 
Is Dr, Wm. A. Hammond, whose name was not called by me, 
such a man as has been described, and as the facts adverted to, 
in the several cases mentioned in the foregoing paper, indicate. 
He has been solemnly impeached, before the bar of public 
opinion. The impeachment is sustained by reference to the 
records of his shame. 
Has he denied the record ? Does he disprove the fearful 
facts ? Does he even argue the possibility of his innocence ? 
Nay, instead of addressing himself to the reason of an intel- 
ligent public, and appealing by argument against the justice 
of the impending sentence, which shall drive him from the pale 
of respectable association, he turns with ribald but impotent 
fury upon the writer, and insults decency, by threats and ex- 
ecrations and virtuperative abuse, just as some poor cur of the 
kennel spits venom at the hand which has whipped him back 
to his own place, lest he hurt again the unwary and innocent 
passer-by. 
There is an intimation couched in vulgar terms, in the course 
of Dr. Hammond’s pamphlet, that had he been present on the 
occasion of the delivery of the address upon “True and False 
Experts ” that he would have resorted to personal and degrading 
violence. Could anything add to the immeasurable scorn with 
which any gentleman, and I am sure ray esteemed readers, 
view this token of his underlying character, it would be, that 
he confines himself to a printed threat, at a distance of five 
hundred miles. I confess my inability to find language, and 
my distaste if such be found, to reply after such fashion, to one 
who so signally demonstrates his fitness for the title of Bom- 
bastes. For the rest, let him venture nearer with his threats, 
if he dare. 35 
Personal controversy is, however, not of interest to the pub- 
-11 ic. The duty of the hour is to place facts before such mem- 
bers of the medical profession as may not be acquainted with 
the character of the individual referred to. This is needful, 
simply to establish the correctness of the position, that such 
persons are to be found as False Experts. 
So far as the connection of this witness is concerned with the 
cases of Cole, McFarland, Montgomery and Reynolds, as re- 
ferred to in the preceding pages, the facts speak for themselves, 
inasmuch as they exhibit him in the attitude of making gene- 
ral declarations of scientific dicta, of an exactly opposite char- 
acter, in accordance with the interests of the side upon which 
he testifies as a paid expert. 
With the text of the paper upon expert testimony before the 
reader, and the explicit statements that convict Dr. Hammond 
of so high an offence against justice and humanity, as the offer- 
ing of contradictory evidence, it would naturally be supposed 
that the “Open Letter” would at least present some sort of a 
refutation, if it were possible,iof the fearful fasts alleged, and 
would meet the issue with something at least of the courage 
that sometimes remains, when other virtues have departed. 
But no, indeed, readers of the “ Open Letter” are gravely told 
that the sole cause of his offence was the expression of his 
views, “ without the slightest personality, on the subject of 
mechanical restraint in Insane Asylums.” That such a declara- 
tion is absurd need not be dwelt upon; it is as if the burglar 
when arraigned, should defend himself upon the imaginary 
charge of a solecism in good manners, or as if a forger should 
complain that his political opinions had been questioned by the 
prosecution. The professional alienists feel no concern at any 
attacks upon the present mode of treating the insane, and espe- 
cially as to whether the restraint, which is the merciful privi- 
lege of the unfortunate maniac who has lost Nature’s own pow- 
ers of restraint, should be in any particular case best exercised 
by manual, mechanical or moral means. If better modes can 
be suggested for the comfort and restoration of patients than 
any now employed, they will be glad to avail themselves there- 
of. If, however, the suggestions are merely artful devices to 
awaken popular distrust and clamor for sinister ends, they are 36 
competent to meet the issue. It is but trifling with a grave 
question of the infliction of deep wounds upon society, to ac- 
count for this arraignment, by the supposition that a difference 
in opinion upon a scientific question, or indeed that of any other 
question whatever, personal to the individual,, inspired the con- 
demnation of offences, conceived in wrong motive, performed 
with disastrous results, and so injurious to the medical profes- 
sion as imperatively to demand exposure and reprobation. 
It is sufficient perhaps to dwell here, unless there should be 
denial of these facts. Sufficient evidence can be produced, not 
only in these, but in other cases, to demonstrate their truth. 
But there is a case, not adverted in “True and False Experts” 
which it may serve the cause of truth to recall. 
Dr. Hammond says that he respects the State (meaning North 
Carolina), whose record has been such that all her sons when 
they call it to mind, can hold up their heads in honest pride. 
Tie will not forget perhaps that a part of the records of her 
Supreme Court is the Johnston Will Case, Wood v. Sawyer, 
251 Phillips’ N. C. Reports (Law), The case is the appeal of 
the caveators of the will of James C. Johnston, Esq., of Chowan 
County, N, C., who died in March, 1865, having made his will 
in April, 1863, by which he placed the disposition of his large 
estate, in four counties, in the hands of the persons whom he 
deemed best fitted to manage such estate in the interest of the 
benevolent objects he had nearest to heart. Mr. Johnston was 
a gentleman of advanced years, and unmarried. The caveators 
sought to break the will, on the plea of insanity, and Dr. Wm. 
A. Hammond was summoned as an expert. Through the kind- 
ness of eminent legal gentlemen, the original notes of his tes 
timony are before me. He declared that Mr. Johnston was 
insane, He had no personal knowledge of the case, nor did 
he hear a single witness in behalf of the propounders of the 
will, but announced his decision as an expert upon the exparte 
hearing of the other side (the caveators), although he was op- 
posed in such opinion by most, if not all, the local physicians 
who testified on this point, and who were personally acquainted 
with the testator, and had been for years, including his family 
physician. 
He next affirmed that in mania there was no such thing as a 37 
lucid interval, in order to make it doubly sure, that the will 
was the product of an insane mind. But pressed hard upon 
his doctrine of the impossibility of lucid intervals in mania, he 
retracts and agrees that there might be lucid intervals in 
mania, but never in monomania, of which he had declared Mr, 
Johnston a victim ! 
In other words, when disorganization of the brain prevents 
the normal use of all the mental faculties, the condition is not 
irremediable or constant, for reason may be reseated perma- 
nently or temporarily, but when only one faculty is affected 
the case is continued and hopeless. What a psychologist ! 
What a professor of mental diseases and expert in insanity ! 
The estimation in which his testimony was held by the dis- 
tinguished Jurists of the Supreme Court of North Carolina 
(June, 1867,) in the review of this case will be seen by reference 
to their opinion. Their language while expressed with the 
calm precision of the bench, is eloquent of contempt. 
“It is well settled that the opinion of an expert is competent evidence in 
questions touching the science or art which he professes. And when an ex- 
pert has given his opinion,it is also competent for him to give the reasons 
upon which his opinion is founded, in orderthat it may be seen whether his 
opinion is entitled to more or less weight. And, in this way, and in this 
way only, can it be determined whose opinion is entitled to most considera- 
tion, where experts differ. 
Here the caveators took the opinion of an expert as to the sanity of a 
tor, and then attempted to elicit facts to support the opinion. And if the 
facts sought to be elicited were relevant, then it was error to exclude them. 
What then were the facts sought to be elicited ? Not anything that he had 
learned in relation to the testator, or anything which he knew or had learn- 
ed from science or from scientific men, but facts which he had heard an in- 
sane man relate as to the history of his disease, and facts which he had heard 
an unprofessional nurse relate of the history of the patient, facts to which 
lie had applied no test of truth, and to which none could be applied. Surely 
the exclusion of such testimony from the consideration of the jury was most 
proper, and so far from injuring, must have henefitted the caveators; for if 
the expert had sustained his opinion upon such considerations as these, his 
conclusion would have been as worthless as his reasons were frivolous. 
They could not possibly have added any weight to the most hesitating, and 
they would certainly have detracted from the most confident opinion. 
Courts charged with the investigation of truth are greatly indebted to men 
of science who contribute the aid of their opinions. But marvellous narra- 
tions and careless stories disparage science, mislead rather than instruct, 
and ought not to be allowed consideration.”—Phil. Law, page 251. 
The Will was -sustained, the sanity of the testator having 
been confirmed. 
But what was the reason for his deep interest in establish- 38 
ing the insanity of the testator? It appeared that for his tes- 
timony he should not only receive SSOO, but that should he 
make it sufficiently strong to break the Will, he expected to re- 
ceive a contingent fee of $2,500. What superb and audacious 
mockery of justice this spectacle of an impartial witness testi- 
fying to SSOO worth of truth, cash in hand, and a thousand or 
two more on credit, provided he could discover enough of 
such truth! 
Will any man esteem his life, or reputation or even his pal- 
tiy puise, safe in the hands of a man who could make such 
bargain of his conscience? Who is secure where the “False 
Expert ” can win belief to his mercenary tale? 
Is it unprofessional to vindicate the medical profession from 
such reproach ? The writer has the honor, most gratefully 
esteemed, of a seat in the Judicial Council of the American 
Medical Association, and far be from his thoughts a conscious 
departure from the rules of medical ethics, but the task of un- 
masking conduct like this, however destructive the result may 
be to the reputation of the witness referred to, is but obedience 
to that lofty principle in both medical and moral ethics, which 
demands truth and justice of us for the safety of society. 
Dr. Hammond left before the conclusion of the trial, and, 
it is said, gave up his contingent share of the spoils, because 
it was believed that the law forbade the reception of the testi- 
mony of any party interested in a suit. Such was not the actual 
state of the law at the time, but the statute allowing parties 
with interests contingent in a suit, to testify had been lately 
passed, and was not generally known to the people at large. And 
be was taken aback on the stand when confronted with his de- 
claration to one of the medical witnesses that he came as “ medi- 
cal counsel,” forgetful that paid advocates in cases are not sup- 
posed to be impartial scientific experts in North Carolina. 
If the facts as the writer has related them are denied, the 
statements are within his reach of the learned and justly cel- 
ebiated counsel in the case, from whom his information is 
derived. 
In order that the allusion to the dismissal of Dr. Hammond 
from his position as Surgeon-General of the United States Army 
may be the better understood by those members of the medical 39 
profession in the section of the country where he has widely 
distributed his abusive letter, it is necessary to quote the 
charges and specifications of which he was found guilty by a 
General Court Martial convened at Washington, D. C., Janu- 
ary 19th, 1864: 
GENERAL COURT MARTIAL ORDERS, No. 25L 
WAR DEPARTMENT, 
Adjutant General’s Office, 
Washington, August 20, 180-1. 
I. Before a General Court Martial, which assembled in the city of Wash- 
ington, D. C., on the 19th day of January, 1861, pursuant to Special Orders, 
No. 24, dated War Department, Adjutant General’s Office, Washington, Janu- 
ary 16, 1864, and whereof Major General R. J. Oglesby, IT. S. Volunteers, is 
President, was arraigned and tried— 
Brigadier General William A. Hammond, Surgeon General, U. S, Army. 
CHARGE I.—“ Disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and 
military discipline.” 
Specification 1st—■“ In this; that he, Brigadier General William A. Hammond., 
Surgeon General, United States Army, wrongfully and unlawfully 
contracted for. and ordered Christopher C. Cox as Acting Purveyor in 
Baltimore, to receive blankets-of one William A, Stephens, of New 
York. This done at Washington city, on the 17th day of July, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.” 
Specification 2d—“ In this; that he, Brigadier General William A. Hammond, 
Surgeon General as aforesaid, did, on the first day of May, in the year 
of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, at Washing- 
ton city, wrongfully and unlawfully, and with intent to favor private 
persons resident in Philadelphia, prohibit Christopher C. Cox, as 
Medical Purveyor for the United States in Baltimore, from purchas- 
ing drugs for the army in said city of Baltimore.” 
Specification 3d—“In this; that he, the said Brigadier General William A. 
Hammond, Surgeon General, United States Army, did unlawfully or- 
der and cause one George E. Cooper, then Medical Purveyor for the 
United States in the city of Philadelphia, to buy of one William A. 
Stephens blankets for the use of the government service of inferior 
quality, he the said Brigadier General William A. Hammond, then 
well knowing that the blankets so ordered by him to be purchased as 
aforesaid were inferior in quality, and that said Purveyor Cooper had 
refused to buy the same of said Stephens. This done at Philadelphia, 
in the State of Pennsylvania, on the twrenty-eighth day of May, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.” 
Specification4th—'“ In this; that he, the said Brigadier General William A. 
Hammond, Surgeon General as aforesaid, on the fourteenth day of 
June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight, hundred and sixty- 
two, at the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia, unlawfully 
and with intent to aid one William A. Stephens to defraud the gov- 
ernment of the United States, did, in writing, instruct George E. 40 
Cooper, their Medical Purveyor at Philadelphia, in substance as 
follows: 
‘Sir: You will purchase of Mr. W. A. Stephens eight thousand pair 
of blankets, of which the enclosed card is a sample. Mr. Stephens’ ad- 
dress is box 2,500, New York. The blankets are five dollars per pair.’ 
and which blankets so ordered were unfit for hospital use.”' 
Specificationsth—“ In this; that he, the said Brigadier General William A. 
Hammond, Surgeon General, United States Array, on the sixteenth 
day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and 
sixty-two, at the city of Washington, did corruptly, and with intent 
to aid- one William A. Stephens to defraud the government of the Uni- 
ted States, give to the said William A. Stephens an order, in writing, 
in substance as follows: ‘ Turn over to George E. Cooper, Medical 
Purveyor at Philadelphia, eight thousand pair of blankets,’ by means 
whereof the said Stephens induced said Cooper, on government 
account and at an exhorbitant price, to receive of said blankets, 
. which he had before refused to buy, seventy-six hundred and seventy- 
seven pair, and for which the said Stephens received payment at 
Washington in the sum of about thirty-five thousand three hundred 
and fourteen dollars and twenty cents.” 
Specification 6th—111 In this; that he, the said Brigadier General William A. 
Hammond, Surgeon General, United States Army, on the thirty-first 
day of July, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-two, 
at the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, well knowing 
that John Wyeth & Brother had before that furnished medical sup- 
plies to the Medical Purveyor at Philadelphia which were inferior in 
quality, deficient in quantity, and excessive in price, did corruptly, 
unlawfully, and with intent to aid the said John Wyeth & Brother to 
furnish additional large supplies to the government of the United 
States, and thereby fraudulently to realize large gains thereon, then 
and there give to George E. Cooper, then Medical Purveyor at Phila,- 
dqlphia, an order in writing, in substance as follows: ‘You will at 
once fill up your store-houses so as to have constantly on hand hos- 
pital supplies of all kinds for two hundred thousand men for six 
months. This supply I desire that you Avill not use without orders 
from me.’ And then and there directed said Purveyor to purchase a 
large amount thereof, to the value of about one hundred and seventy- 
three thousand dollars, of said John Wyeth & Brother.” 
Specification 7th—‘‘ln this; that he, the said Brigadier General William A, 
Hammond, Surgeon General, United States Army, about the eighth 
day of October, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty- 
two, at Washington city, in contempt of and contrary to the provis- 
ions of the act entitled ‘An act to reorganize and increase the effi- 
ciency of the Medical Department of the Army/ approved April 16 
1862, did corruptly and unlawfully direct Wyeth & Brother, of Phila- 
delphia, to send forty thousand cans of their ‘Extract of Beef’ to 
various places, towft: Cincinnati, St. Louis, Cairo, New York, and 
Baltimore, and send the account to the Surgeon General’s Office for 
payment, and which Extract of Beef so ordered was of inferior quality, 
unfit for hospital use, unsuitable and unwholesome for the sick and 
wounded in hospitals, and not demanded by the exigencies of the 
public service.” 41 
Specification Bth—“ In this; that he, the said Brigadier General William A, 
Hammond, Surgeon General, United States Army, about the first day 
of March, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-three, 
at Washington city, in disregard of his duty, of the interests of the 
public service, and of the requirements of the act entitled ‘ An act to 
reorganize and increase the efficiency of the Medical Department of 
the Army,’ approved April 16,1862, did order and direct that the Med- 
ical Inspectors should report the result of their inspections direct to 
the Surgeon General.” 
Charge ll.—“Conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman.” 
Specification—1“ In this; that he, Brigadier General William A. .Hammond, 
Surgeon General, United States Army, on the thirteenth day of Octo- 
ber, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-two, at1 Wash- 
ington city, in a letter by him then and there addressed to Dr. George 
B. Cooper, declared in substance that the said Cooper had been re- 
lieved as Medical Purveyor in Philadelphia because, among other 
reasons, ‘Halleck,’ meaning Maj. Gen. Henry W. Halleck, General-in- 
Chief, requested as a particular favor that Murry might be ordered to 
Philadelphia, ■which declaration so made by him, the said Brigadier 
General William A. Hammond, Surgeon General as aforesaid, was 
false.” 
Charge lll.—“Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military disci- 
pline.” 
Specification Ist—1“In this; that he, the said Brigadier General William A. 
Hammond, Surgeon General, United States Army, on the eighth day 
of November, A. D., 1862, at Washington city, did unlawfully and cor- 
ruptly order and cause Henry Johnson, then Medical Storekeeper 
and acting Purveyor at Washington city, to purchase three thousand 
blankets of one J. P. Fisher, at the price of $5.90 per pair, and to be 
delivered to Surgeon G. E. Cooper, United States Army, Medical Pur- 
veyor at Philadelphia.” 
Specification 2d—“ln this; that he, the said Brigadier General William A. 
Hammond, about the third day of December, A. D. 1862, at Washington 
city, unlawfully and corruptly purchased and caused to be purchased 
of J. C. McGuire & Co., large quantities of blankets and bedsteads, and 
which were not needed for the service,” 
Plea. 
To all which charges and specifications the accused pleaded “ Not Guilty.” 
Finding, 
The Court, after due and mature deliberation upon the evidence adduced, 
does find the accused, Brigadier General William A. Hammond, Surgeon Gen- 
eral, United States Army, as follows: 
Charge I. 
Of the Ist Specification “Guilty.” 
Of the 2d Specification, “Guilty, and that the offense therein charged was 
committed on the 30th day of May, A. D. 1863, except as to the words ‘and 
with indent to aid private persons resident in Philadelphia,’ and as to which 
words so excepted, ‘Not Guilty.’ ” 42 
O'f the 3d Specification, “Guilty,” 
Of the 4th Specification, “Guilty, except as to thewords ‘and which blankets 
so ordered wei’e unfit for hospital use,’ and as to which words so excepted, 
’Not Guilty.’ ” 
Of the sth Specification, “Guilty.” 
Of the 6th Specification, “Guilty.” 
Of the 7th Specification, “Guilty, except as to thewords ‘corruptly and/ 
’and which Extract of Beef so ordered was of inferior quality, unfit for hos- 
pital use, unsuitable and unwholesome for the sick and wounded in hospi- 
tals, and not demanded by the exigencies of the public service,’ and of the 
words so excepted, ‘Not Guilty.’ ” 
Of the Bth Specification, “Not Guilty.’ ” 
Ofthe Ist Charge, “Guilty.” 
Charge 11, 
Of the Specification, “Guilty.” 
Of the 2d Charge, “Guilty.” 
Charge 111. 
Of the Ist Specification, “Guilty, except as to the words ‘and corruptly,’ ‘and 
Cause,’ and as to which words so excepted, ‘Not Guilty/ ” 
Of the 2d Specification, “Not Guilty.’ 
Of the 3d Charge, “Guilty.” 
Sentence, 
And the Court does therefore sentence him, Brigadier General William A. 
Hammond, SUrgeon General, United States Army, “ That he shall be dismissed 
the service, and be forever disqualified from holding any office of honor, profit or 
trust under the government of the United States." 
II In compliance with the 65th of the Rules and Articles of War, the whole 
proceedings of the General Court Martial in the foregoing case have been 
transmitted to the Secretary of War, and by him laid before the President 
of the United States. 
The record, proceedings, findings, and sentence ofthe Court in the forego- 
ing case are approved ; and it is ordered that Brigadier General William A. 
Hammond, Surgeon General of the United States Army, be dismissed the 
service, and be forever disqualified from holding any office of honor, profit, 
or trust under the government of the United States. 
The following are the orders of the President of the United States: 
A. LINCOLN. 
August 18, 1864. 
11l The General Court Martial of which Major General R. J. Oglesby, 
United States Volunteers, is President, is dissolved. 
order of the Secretary of War: 
E. D. TOWNSEND, 
Official : 
Assistant Adjutant General. 
Assistant Adjutant General. 43 
That this dagrading and dishonoring sentence should have 
been agreed to by a Court of Officers of high rank, upon their 
solemn oaths, and the evidence received and the sentence con- 
firmed by the President of the United States, is a crushing fact 
that no explanation can remove. After many years, and sev- 
eral changes in the presidential chair, and after many of the 
Officers familiar with his offences have passed away, and Gen- 
eral Halleck, whom he libeled is also dead, he has succeeded in 
having the case re-opened, in the hope to wash away the ancient 
stain. Vain expectation ! No declaration of a committee of 
two or three officers, able as they may be, would, after the 
lapse of so many years, outweigh the deliberate finding of a 
large Court of disinterested Officers, held at the very seat of 
his power, long and patiently employed in his trial, until twenty- 
four hundred pages of evidence had been accumulated, and 
therefore familiar with all the details of the wrong-doing. 
Abraham Lincoln was not the man he has been pictured to 
the American people, by both Northern and Southern writers, 
if he sanctioned the dismissal in disgrace of the first medical 
officer of the Army, upon anything less than the necessity of 
such punishment, swift and condign. Such a reflection is to 
impute to him a want of common sense, and the wanton sur- 
render of a useful servant such as his direst enemies never 
accused him of. 
It is needless to enter into the numerous apparently unprofes- 
sional acts that have characterized his career in private practice. 
Put one instance is so flagrant that it appeals to the common 
sense of the reader, as laughably absurd, as if it were indeed 
(Jagliostro displaying his arts again. 
i have authentic information that a distinguished and en- 
tirely reliable gentleman in North Carolina, once had occasion 
to consult Dr. Hammond, on account of apprehended conges-: 
tion of the brain, or some trouble incident to the great amount 
of mental labor which he had undergone. Dr. Hammond re- 
ceived him, heard his statement of symptoms, and gravely 
brought forth one of the many instruments, which are well 
calculated to dazzle the eyes of the laity. Instructing him to 
fix his gaze upon the needle, he solemnly informed him that he 
was endeavoring to ascertain the seat of the temporary con- 44 
gestion from which, he said, the gentleman was suffering; and 
that if the trouble were in the front of the brain, the needle 
would be found to point in a certain direction, but if at the 
base of the brain, then the reverse movement would take place. 
The writer is aware that some of these revelations will shock 
a portion of his professional brethren almost into incredulity, 
but let Dr. Hammond deny this statement, and he shall be 
confronted with the testimony of the gentleman whom he 
could not deceive. So far as allusion is made to the atheist- 
ical opinions of Dr. Hammond, the reader will observe that 
reference to the same, is only made upon the score that it ill 
becomes one who assumes the role of a reformer in social 
ethics, and advocates the execution of actual maniacs who have 
broken the laws, when for him morality can scarcely have an 
existence,—and religion must be a superstitious dream. Nor is 
he content to express his disbelief in events sacred to all Christ- 
endom in any moderation of language, but speaks, for exam- 
ple, of the great work done by the sincere and devout Wesley 
for the reformation and blessing of mankind, in a tone that 
vividly tells of a whole mental and moral constitution at war 
with the noblest emotions and deepest sympathies of Christian 
life. In reference to a long extract from Wesley’s journal 
descriptive of what are termed “revivals,” he uses the follow- 
ing language ; “ This is not all, there is a great deal more to 
the same effect, and were it not that there is such a condition 
as hysteria, we should be disposed to take the other alterna- 
tive of demoniacal possession as an explanation of the frightful 
orgies which under the blasphemous designation of the “ out 
pouring of the spirit of God” excelled in hideousness the 
frenzies of the deraonolators of the East.” (See Hammond 
on Spiritualism and Nervous Derangement, page 239.) 
In a preface and postscript to a second edition of the “Open 
Letter” addressed to the writer by Dr. Hammond, appear sev- 
eral accusations, one of which is, that I did not advertise the 
fact, that in the Association of American Superintendents of 
the Insane, representing the British Provinces, and every sec- 
tion and most of the States of this Union, he had three sym- 
pathizers. It ought to be satisfactory to him to know that I had 
had no opportunity of doing so, notwithstanding his untruth- 45 
ful charge that I had published my speech in the newspapers. 
If, however, the extent of his merit is to be judged by the num- 
ber of his sympathizers, he ought not to complain of the omis- 
sion. 
Another charge he has the temerity to attempt to sustain by 
the authortiy of the Chief Justice of North Carolina, in this 
language; 
“I have ascertained that the Chief Justice of North Carolina has decided 
that you are not entitled to hold the office you occupy, but that thus far, by 
a legal stratagem, you have succeeded in defeating the true intent of the law.” 
In reference to this absurd untruth, the writer appends the 
certificate of the Clerk of the Supreme Court, for the past nine 
or ten years, that there has not even been litigation in regard 
to the office which I have the honor to hold, at the hands of 
the good people of North Carolina. I further add the state- 
ment of the President of the Board of Directors, than whom 
no physician of this State is more widely known and honored 
by the medical profession. Since the war our State constitu- 
tion has been altered several times, and there have been 
changes as to the manner of appointment to office and of terms 
of office. And as is usual party yjolitics has had its influence, 
and there has been litigation in several cases. As for instance 
whether the Governor or the Legislature should appoint or 
whether a term expired at one time or another. There has 
been no litigation as to my term of office, but the question was 
at one time canvassed in the papers with the usual political 
severity—some holding that my terra expired at one time and 
som<4 at another. The question was settled by the Board of 
Directors as stated by its President, Dr. E. Burke Haywood. 
Since my connection with the Insane Asylum, as is well known, 
I have taken no active part in politics ; and my management 
of the Institution and ray professional qualifications being 
satisfactory, whatever there might otherwise have been of po- 
litical animosity, gave way. During the newspaper discussion 
there was some bitterness displayed, especially by those who 
wanted the place for themselves or their friends. 
If any unfriendly communications have been made to Dr. 
Hammond by physicians and gentlemen from North Carolina 
as he boasts, the public can understand their character and Motive, With the exceptions above mentioned, the intelligent 
public of North Carolina have been personally and profession- 
ally kind to me, and I do them the justice to say, that I do not 
believe that they have lent themselves, as Dr. Hammond says 
vhey have, to aid his attacks upon me. But there are a few 
Hammonds everywhere. 
Another accusation is implied in various artful expressions' 
to catch the popular ear, of cruelty to the patients under my 
charge, as for example, in the expression “ mechanical restraint 
not less galling than that which you are in the habit of in- 
flicting on the poor wretches under your supervision in the In- 
sane Asylum at Raleigh.” 
It is scarcely necessary to remind any North Carolinian, that 
if this wicked charge of cruelty to those whose misfortunes- 
set them apart from their fellow-men,, and so challenge the 
holiest emotions of sympathy and profound pity, had the least 
foundation save in the base imaginings of its author, it would 
carry condemnation to many of the noblest and most eminent 
men of the State, For ten years have Committees of Investi- 
gation been appointed by our Legislatures, and they have given 
the most continual and ample examination of all the details of 
the general administration and interior management of the 
institution, and their full and ample reports are parts of the 
proud history of the Asylum deeply prized by its officers. 
North Carolinians, too, are familiar with the fact that the 
Asylum while under my charge, has been under the immediate 
supervision and control as Directors, of such gentlemen as Dr, 
Charles E. Johnson, for many years President of the Bpard, 
and Dr. E, Burke Haywood, who now fills that honored posi- 
tion ; of the late Governor Thomas Bragg, and the- Hon. A. S, 
Merrirnon, present XL S. Senator from this State, and the Hon. 
KerapP. Battle, the distinguished President of the University 
of North Carolina ; of Dr. J. J. Summered, a physician of 
forty years experience and extensive reputation, and Rev. B, 
Craven, D. D., LL. D., the President of Trinity College. Such 
Directors too, as the Hon. Joseph J. Davis, the present repre- 
sentative in Congress from the Metropolitan district, and such 
gentlemen of the elite of the State, as Dr, Pride Jones ; Charles 
Dewey, the eminent banker ; Maj. C, Dowd, the law partner 47 
and friend of Gov. Vance; the Hon. W. N, H. Smith, now 
Chief Justice of North Carolina ; Dr. J, G. Ramsey of Rowan 
County ; Hon. R. C. Badger, of Raleigh ; Col. W. R. Myers, 
•of Charlotte, so well known throughout the State ; Maj. F. H. 
Cameron, the President of the North Carolina State Life Insur- 
ance Company, and Col. T. G, Walton, a leading citizen of 
Western North Carolina. 
He is a bold man who will have the hardihood to assert that 
this long line of eminent North Carolinians, with others who 
might be named, taken from all divisions of the political field, 
and with the most varied talents and accomplishments, could 
not discover and bring to light anything wrong or unjust in 
the management of this institution, or such being the case, 
would not have had the firmness and independence to apply 
the instant remedy. On the contrary, nothing is betterknown 
to the people to whom this Institution and its charities are a 
charge inexpressibly sacred, than the generous and the unfal- 
tering support which these distinguished citizens always gave 
to ray administration, and to all the interests of the Asylum. 
Nor can I say less of the able and devoted members of the 
present Board of Directors appointed by His Excellency Gov- 
ernor Z. B. Vance, and to whom I am proud to acknowledge 
the same obligation of kind appreciation as from their prede- 
cessors, and whose humane care and deep interest in the work 
committed to their charge lias never been exceeded by any 
however gifted and patriotic in devotion to duty. 
Rev. Dr. B. Craven, Dr. E. Burke Haywood and Maj. C. 
Dowd are again in their old labor of philanthropy, with the 
efficient aid of Col. J. S Amis, esteemed and beloved in so 
wide a circle of friends, of Dr. J. T. Leach, whose name is a 
terror to evil doers, of Col. A. M. McPheeters, foremost in 
many good and charitable works, and of Dr. S. G. Ward, Julius 
Lewis, Esq., and Col. Jas. G. Burr, among the most respected 
and esteemed citizens of the State. 
It is not, I say, in such a body of men, that any toleration 
can be found for any system of treatment that shall be want- 
ing in whatever humanity and the most approved systems of 
treatment can devise, for the comfort and restoration of the 
victims of so dread a calamity. 48 
What feelings must sway the heart of one who could outrage 
the official honor of such men, by wanton slurs upon an institu- 
tion under their control; nay, who could harrow up the fears 
and apprehensions of the friends of these sad unfortunates 
whose consolation is our daily study. Thus would he forge a 
weapon from their anxieties and sorrows, to pierce one whose 
calm statements of fact he cannot meet. Is this the conduct 
of a true physician ? 
As a final answer to this charge of cruelty to the patients 
who are under the fostering care of the State, in this institu- 
tion, I herewith append a letter from the Executive Commit- 
tee, who, in the absence of the Board of Directors, have imme- 
diate charge and supervision of the affairs of the Asylum, both 
internal and external, and whose ceaseless vigilance and devo- 
tion it is unnecessary for me to commend to their fellow-citi- 
zens. 
He but repeats, however, his own history in these charges. 
It will not be forgotten that a court of high rank has convicted 
him of deliberate falsehood. 
If it be possible that any man has played the part of jackal, 
or scavenger for such a person as this “False Expei’t,” let his 
name be given, that he may be properly branded and scorned. 
If any “prominent physician” or “gentleman” in North 
Carolina wrote him as he claims, let him give his name. And 
if not, let him at least advise him that it would be more 
manly in a “prominent physician” or a “gentleman” to 
assume the responsibility of any criticism that he may have 
to make either of my address or of myself, than to hide behind 
a mountebank or a charlatan, to shoot his arrows. 
EUGENE GRISSOM. STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA, 
Supreme Court, 
Raleigh, July Oth, 1878. 
Dr, Eugene Grissom, Raleigh, N. G.: 
My Dear Sir: In response to your request of this date, I reply 
that I have been Clerk of this Court, continuously, since January, 
1869, and that there has beenno suit or matter pending in said court, 
or before either of the Chief Justices, who have occupied the bench 
during that time, in which your right or title was involved to the 
superintendency of the Asylum for the Insane of this State. 
Very truly yours, 
WM. H. BAGLEY. 
RALEIGH, N. C., July Bth, 1878. 
Eugene Grissom, M. D., Superintendent of the 
Asylum for the Insane of North, Carolina: 
Dear Sir: I have just received your note, calling my attention to 
the following extract from the postscript to an “Open Letter.” ad- 
dressed to you by William A. Hammond, M. D., of New York. “I 
have ascertained that the Chief Justice of North Carolina has decided 
that you are not entitled to hold the office you occupy, but thus far 
by a legal stratagem, you have succeeded in defeating the true intent 
of the law.” For several years I have been a member, and part of that 
time, President of the Board of Directors for the Asylum for the In- 
sane of North Carolina. During that time there has not been any 
litigation or judicial decision in relation to your tenure of office At 
a called meeting held March 6th, 1878, the present Board of Direc- 
tors resolved unanimously to regard and sustain you as Superinten- 
dent for four years from January Ist, 1878. 
Yours, very respectfully, 
E. BURKE HAYWOOD, M. D., 
President of the Board of the Directors of the 
Asylum for the Insane of North Carolina. 
RALEIGH, N. C., July 19th, 1878. 
Dr. Eugene Grissom, Superintendent 
Insane Asylum of North Carolina : 
Dear Sir: Yours of this date to hand, in which you call our atten- 
tion to the fact that in a recently published “ Open Letter,” addressed 
to you by Dr. Hammond, of New York, he, by implication, charges 
you with cruelty to the patients in our Asylum. 
As the local members of the Executive Committee of the Board of 
Directors, we have, at all times, free access to the Asylum, and fre- 
quently visit it, and are brought in contact with the patients, attend- 
ants and officers, and all others connected with the Institution, and 
we have never heard from any one even an intimation of unkindness, 
much less cruelty, on your part, or any other officer, but on the con- 
trary we have every reason to believe that in your intercourse with 
and treatment of the unfortunate ones under your care, you are uni- 
formally kind and considerate, doing every thing in your power for 
their relief and comfort. 
Yours truly, &c., 
” A. M. McPHEETERS, ) Ex. 
JULIUS LEWIS, 1 Com. THE 
American Journal of Insanity. 
The American Journal of Insanity is published quar- 
terly, at the State Lunatic Asylum, Utica, N. Y. The first 
number of each volume is issued in July, 
Editor, 
JOHN P. GRAY, M. D., LL. D., Medical Superintendent. 
Associate Editors, 
JUDSON B. ANDREWS, M. D 
WILLIS E. FORD, M. D., / . 7 . . 
V Assistant Physicians. 
ALFRED T. LIVINGSTON, M. D., I J 
T. F. KENRICK, M. D., 
THEODORE DEECKE, Special Pathologist. 
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION, 
Five Dollars per Annum, in Advance. 
Exchanges, Books for Review, and Business Communications 
may be sent to the Editor, directed as follows; “Journal of 
Insanity, State Lunatic Asylum, Utica, N. Y.” 
The Journal now begins its thirty-fifth year. It was established 
by the late Dr. Brigham, the first Superintendent of the New York 
State Lunatic Asylum, and after his death edited by Dr. T. Romeyn 
Beck, author of “Beck’s Medical Jurisprudence;” and since 1854, 
by Dr. John P. Gray, and the Medical Staff of the Asylum. It is 
the oldest journal devoted especially to Insanity, its Treatment, Juris- 
prudence, &c., and is particularly valuable to the medical and legal 
professions, and to all interested in the subject of Insanity and Psy- 
chological Science.