festly absurd, and believes in occurrences that never did and never could take place, or his sentiments, affections and emotions are so perverted, that whatever excites their activity is viewed through a distorting medium, or, which is the most common fact, both these conditions may exist together, in which case their relative share in the disease may differ in such a degree that one or the other may scarcely be perceived: Id.; Bouv. L. D., Mania; Guy & F. on Forensic Med. (5th ed.) 197, 198; Beck's Med. Jur. (10th ed.) 705 et seq. § 24. Intellectual mania. General intellectual mania is said to consist in many cases in a violent disturbance of all the intellectual faculties, brought about by the overexcitement of some one leading emotion or passion. Mr. Guy illustrates this kind of mania as follows: "A patient of ours, who, after indulging for years in a series of strange and indecent acts, had an attack of general mania, followed by brain softening, in which state he claimed to know all about the human body, as having made it, to be the Christ, King of Eng land, and heir apparent, to have written a universal history in a curiously short space of time, and to be in possession of untold wealth: " Guy & F. on Forensic Med. (5th ed.) 200. § 25. Partial mania, or monomania. The simplest form of this disorder is where the subject takes up some one notion opposed to common sense and universal experience. "He is secretary to the moon, the Crystal Palace, a grain of wheat, a goose pie, a pitcher of oil, a wolf, a dog, or a cat. In many cases this single delusion relates to or is caused by some sensation or disease, which the monomaniac, like the dreamer, associates with imaginary accompaniments. Thus Equirol tells us of a woman who, having hydatids in the womb, insisted that she was pregnant with the devil; of another, who, having adhesion of the intestines after chronic peritonitis, imagined that a regiment of soldiers lay struggling and fighting in her belly; of a third, who, suffering in the same way, believed that the Apostles and Evangelists had taken up their abode in her bowels, and were occasionally visited by the Pope and the Patriarchs of the Old Testament:" Guy & F. on For. Med. (5th ed.) 201. This kind of mania embraces all delusions and hallucinations, which we will proceed to consider. § 26. Delusions and hallucinations in general. These are common manifestations of partial mania. By delusions is meant a firm belief in something impossible, either in the nature of things or in the circumstances of the case, or, if possible, highly improbable, and associated in the mind of the patient with consequences that have to it only a fanciful relation. By hallucination is meant an impression supposed by the patient, contrary to all proof of possibility, to have been received through one of the senses. For instance, the belief that one is the Pope of Rome is a delusion; the belief that one hears voices speaking from the walls of a room, or sees armies contending in the clouds, is hallucination. The latter implies some morbid activity of the perceptive powers; the former is a mistake of the intellect exclusively: See Bouv. L. D., Mania, and authorities cited. We shall notice hereafter the legal consequences of partial mania: 6 Field's Lawyers' Briefs, § 423. § 27. Moral and effective mania; morbid impulses. Moral and effective mania is distinguished by Guy and Ferrer into two classes general and partial. In criminal cases a test of irresponsibility for acts is mental delusion. But moral mania, it seems, may exist without this, as in case of irresistible tendencies or impulses to do some wrongful act. Partial moral mania "consists in the intense activity of some one passion or propensity, and its predominance or complete mastery over every other. The persons thus affected are usually perfectly conscious of their condition, and either evince the utmost horror at the conduct to which their ruling passion would impel them, and with difficulty restrain themselves, or they give way, as if in desperation, to the impulse. There is no strong impulse of our nature that may not be thus placed, by morbid excitement, beyond the restraint of reason and conscience" Guy & F. on For. Med. (5th ed.) 204. The following forms of partial moral mania have been recognized: homicidal mania, kleptomania, or a propensity to theft; pyromania, or a propensity to incendiarism; dipsomania, or an excessive craving for intoxicating liquors; suicidal monomania, and puerperal mania: Id. § 28. Homicidal mania, or the propensity to kill. In case of a plea to an indictment of insanity as a defense, and the proof is clear that the defendant at the time was in the condition of absolute amentia, dementia, or general mania, the court generally directs an acquittal; and perhaps the same practice should prevail where mental unsoundness in respect to the particular act is clearly shown to have existed at the time the criminal act charged was committed: See Collison on Lunacy, 573; 4 Bl. Com. 24; Rex v. Oxford, 9 Car. & P. (Eng.) 525; State v. Spencer, 21 N. J. L. 196; McAlister v. State, 17 Ala. 434. - Homicidal monomania is recognized by medical authors as a mental disorder. It consists of a propensity to kill to take the life of another-impelled by an inward, irresistible force or necessity, without motive or provocation. The victim may be a devoted wife, or an affectionate child, to whom the unfortunate father or mother has been most tenderly attached. |