A treatise on medical jurisprudence / by Francis Wharton and Moreton Stillé ; the medical part revised and corrected, with numerous additions by Alfred Stillé.

  • Francis Wharton
Date:
1860
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A treatise on medical jurisprudence / by Francis Wharton and Moreton Stillé ; the medical part revised and corrected, with numerous additions by Alfred Stillé. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    § 100] WHEN AND HOW TO BE MADE. [BOOK I. was he laboring under mental disease, and if so, what), is not only false hi theory, but pernicious in result. § 97. The second period of time becomes of particular interest in our Ameri- can Jurisprudence, from the fact that when a party alleged to be insane is put on his trial, if insanity be pleaded, the jury are specially sworn to determine the preliminary issue whether the defendant be insane at the time of trial. If the fact be found in his favor, he is confined under special sanctions. If other- wise, the trial proceeds on the main issue. § 98. The third period of time, at which the state of a culprit's mind is open to medical investigation, is after the close of the trial, and before the execution of the sentence. A man of unsound mind is incapable of under- standing the justice of his sentence, or of recognizing a punishment in the evil inflicted upon him. In many cases also the evil will aggravate his dis- ease. For all these reasons it is necessary to be certain that a convict is so far in the possession of all his faculties, that the object of the law in subjecting him to punishment will be answered. The interrogations to be submitted to the physician are to be framed upon this simple principle ; and it is self-evident that only such derangements will here come in question as are clearly mani- fest, and as clearly exclude the possibility of the prisoner's understanding the reason of his punishment. § 99. It would be a proper regulation to cause every convict, before under- going his punishment, to be examined in body and mind by the physician, for the purpose of ascertaining his capacity for the ordeal. Even where the general fitness of the subject is undoubted, there are frequently personal defects which require attention in the treatment of the prisoner during confinement. In several of the German States this precaution is observed—where a convict is found to be insane, he must be subjected to the proper treatment. If a cure is effected, the question whether he is now able to sustain the punishment without danger of relapse or other injury, is to be decided by the forensic physician, upon a careful investigation of all the symptoms and attendant circumstances. 3d. By what Tests. (1.) Physiognomy.(v) § 100. The general questions in relation to feigned insanity are noticed under a subsequent head.(uu) Close attention, says Schurmayer,(to) should be first directed to the entire exterior of the subject, his posture, his motions, his gestures, his eye, (r) The features of the face, says Falret, change at each instant or constantly pre- serve the same expression ; the lips, the cheeks, the nostrils, the eyebrows, the eyelids, frequently show convulsive movement; it is the same with regard to the muscles of the eye, and under the influence of these convulsions, the look is troubled, bewildered and unsteady. Lecons Cliniques sur l'Alienation Mentale, M. Falret, huitieme lecon, p. 219. Paris, 1854 ; see also Orflla, Med. Leg. i. p. 371). Paris, 1S4S. (w) Post, § 127. (w) Gerichtliche Medicin, § 529.
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