The insanity of George Victor Townley / by C. Black.

  • Black, Cornelius, 1822-1887.
Date:
1865
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The insanity of George Victor Townley / by C. Black. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    cannot be just to insanity until it recognises that form of it which is not characterised by delusion, but by the peculiarities above named. If now we apply these facts to the case of Townley, it will be easy to show that the great probability is that, at the time he in- flicted the fatal wound, he was suffering from insane impulse. This probability is at least supported by evidence quite as strong as that which was adduced for the sanity of the man. By nature he was predisposed to insanity, which only required an exciting cause to render that which was already dormant in his mind palpable in the commission of some overt act. A man of his mental con- stitution would feel more deeply than an ordinary mind, and his impressions would, from their intensity, be calculated to overpower an intellect endowed with such peculiar susceptibilities. Hence we see his intense love for Miss Goodwin, and his exces- sive grief on the night of the 15th of August, after receiving a letter putting an end to their engagement. The continued distress of mind which he suffered from this date until the 21st of August —the sleepless nights which he passed in this interval of time, the loss of food, the taking of morphia and of spirits, which would in- duce a condition of brain favourable to the accession of insanity, the interview with Miss Goodwin, and the learning from her own lips that another had supplanted him in her affections—were ex- citing causes, which at length, suddenly and at once, developed the insane impulse which impelled him to the fatal attack. At that moment his intelligence, his will, and his moral sen- sibility were in as complete abeyance as ever were those of the most confirmed maniac. That he went to Wig well without the intention of murdering Miss Goodwin is admitted by the counsel for the prosecution in the following remarks :— “ He (Mr. Boden) never suggested that the prisoner went to Wigwell with the intention -of committing the murder. He was, on the contrary, bound to say that there was no evidence of any such intention, and he had no doubt the
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