which may not have the brilliant appearance of those effected by the method of M. Leuret, but which will at least have the advantage of not wounding the sensibilities of the patient.

In our previous examination we have divided the hallucinations into several classes. It is evident that the treatment we have now pointed out will require to be modified in accordance with the circumstances under which the hallucinations are developed, and the special diseases with which they are associated. Lastly, there are many cases which will require a different plan to be pursued.

CHAPTER XIV.

HALLUCINATIONS IN RELATION TO MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE.

A FATAL destiny seems to pursue the hallucinated; if he escapes the asylums for the insane, he is thrown into prison. Such is the nature of his disease, that he is looked upon either as a criminal or a lunatic.

How often have we known men accused of vagrancy, of theft, of unnatural crimes, of murder, who were unfortunate persons who had yielded to the suggestions of a hallucination and of insanity.*

Only a short time back the Gazette des Tribunaux gave the following account of the misfortunes of an unhappy lunatic detained by the police as a vagrant:

"In the course of the last week, a man about forty years of age, whose name is Auguste Victor Chevillard, was brought before the police court, charged with vagrancy. The incoherence of his replies, his melancholy appearance, and his vacant look, induced the court to believe that he was not in his right mind, and Dr. Brierre de Boismont was directed by the president to ascertain the state of his mind, and report upon it to the court.

"At the sitting of to-day, Dr. Brierre de Boismont made the following report: I visited Chevillard in prison, and had a long conversation with him. I asked him what was the cause of his

We protest against a too extended application of the word monomania. There can be no doubt it has often protected true criminals with the shield of insanity.

misfortunes and of his vagrant condition. At this question his eyes became animated, and his voice trembled, his demeanor was abrupt and excited, and he said, 'My enemies pursue me everywhere; they have ruined me, and they have now thrown me into prison.' 'Who are those enemies of whom you speak?' 'I do not see them, but I hear them; they speak to me, they whisper in my ears, they want to deprive me of what I have still left; they shall not have it, even when I die, for I will swallow it with my last breath. Although I am as you see me, I am richer than the Emperor of China or the King of Mogador; I possess the clue to inexhaustible treasures; I can enrich whom I please without being any the poorer for it." "

"I pretended," says M. de Boismont, "to believe the hallucinations of the unhappy man, and asked him where these treasures were." "They are in Prussia," he confidently replied: "but I have never been there; I have been much further-as far as Calcutta, but never in Prussia. I wanted 2000 francs to make the journey, and the necessary diggings, but my enemies have hindered me from getting them." " Do you think your enemies can penetrate even into your prison? If it is so, I will inform the governor, and he will take measures to prevent them from disturbing you." "It would be useless-they would pass through the walls."

"On leaving the prison," continues M. de Boismont, "I went to the Bicêtre, and found that Chevillard had been confined there several times between 1830 and 1843. At one time his insanity was attended with great excitement, at another with melancholy, and once he was placed there for attempting his life. I visited him again yesterday, and he still continues under the same delusions. After a long course of treatment, he may perhaps become quieter; but he can never be left to his own guidance; the best thing that can be done is to send him to the Bicêtre."

"At these words Chevillard, wh pretended not to have heard

a single word during the doctor's statement, said, 'I will not go to the Bicêtre; it is an inquisition, it is a secret tribunal; they all say I am mad. Well! there, then, for the incredulous.' Saying which, he handed a piece of paper to the clerk of the court, written on both sides. On one side were these words:

"9th November, 1844.-Whatever opinion may be entertained of me, I promise the person who can place at my disposal from 4000 to 5000 francs, to procure him a happy position in life-a pleasant and agreeable existence, by securing him an income of 100 to 200 francs a day.'

"On the other side:

"The person who can only dispose of from 2000 to 3000 francs could easily, and without any risk, have an income of from 800 to 1000 francs a month.

"Whoever sees this, let him believe it!!!

"CHEVILLARD.

"Rue Saint-Jacques la Boucherie No. 14.

"'à Paris (Affranchir).'

"The court acquitted Chevillard on the prosecution, and desired him to be placed at the disposal of the administrative authorities."*

How could it be otherwise? This man, who is convinced that he is surrounded by enemies whom he perceives before him, and hears threatening him, will endeavor to injure them, to pursue them, to strike them, and to kill them; and should he, through an illusion, convert the persons of the assistants into those of his pretended enemies, the most disastrous results might ensue from this error.

These waking dreams may cause the most frightful calamities. Example 136. Madame X., a Frenchwoman, aged thirtytwo, married, with a pretty little girl eighteen months old, resided at Brussels.

* Gazette des Tribunaux. Decembre, 1844.

The husband was a teacher in a school at Tirlemont. The wife, whose religious opinions had for some time been very exalted, and were at times converted into hallucinations, was attacked during the night with a fit of homicidal monomania. She imagined she saw angels, who commanded her to kill her child that it might become theirs; her husband also appeared to her with a wreath of white roses on his head; he was wounded, and held the murderous weapons in his hand. He informed his wife that he had killed himself in order to enter paradise, and invited her to kill her infant and herself that they might join him in his happy abode. The miserable woman soon carried out the suggestions of her disordered intellect. She suffocated her infant with her own hands; she then endeavored to stab herself under the left breast with a small pocket-knife; but the pain it caused her, and the instinct of self-preservation opposing themselves to the monomania, she abandoned the attempt She then laid herself down by the body of her child, trusting that God would speedily take her to Him, and that she should be reünited to her child. In the morning, she was found in this miserable condition, and conveyed to the hospital of Saint-Jean.

These examples, selected from many others, will serve to introduce us to the study of hallucinations in relation to medical jurisprudence and our civil institutions.

The importance of this inquiry might already have been inferred from the history which has been given of particular cases. We are beginning, in the present day, to be aware that there are certain extravagant actions, hitherto inscribed amongst the annals of crime, which ought to be referred to insanity, and especially to hallucinations. Some of the insane destroy themselves in order to escape the vision which pursues them; others rob because a voice tells them that the thing they steal is their own. Some set fire to places; a great many will insult, provoke, strike, or even kill people.