its legal relations, it was the author's first thought to make a translation, either of Hoffbaucr's or (Joorget's work, but considering that the numerous notes which would be required in order to bring it up to the present state of the si-ience, and adapt it to our own laws, would prove inconvenient and embarrassing to the reader, besides not fully accomplishing the object, he was induced to abandon this project, and, as the only means of fairly developing the subject, to prepare an original work,—original strictly in plan and in many of its general views only, for the materials have been necessarily drawn, in a great degree, from other sources than the author's own experience. The main object which he proposed to himself, was to establish the legal relations of the insane in conformity to the present state of our knowledge respecting their disease. In furtherance of this object, he has given a succinct description of the different species of insanity, and the characters by which they are distinguished from one another, so that the professional student may have some means of recognising them in practice, and thence deducing, in regard to each, such legal consequences as seem warranted by a humane and enlightened consideration of all the facts. He is well aware that he has presented some views that will not, at first sight, meet with the cordial assent of all his readers. He can only say in justification, that they have appeared to him to be founded on well-observed, wellauthenticated facts, and that as such, it was an imperative duty required by the claims of humanity and truth, to present them in the strongest possible aspect. Before being condemned for substituting visionary and speculative fancies, in the place of those maxims and practices whicli have come down to us on the authority of our ancestors, and been sanctioned by the approval of all succeeding times, he hopes that the ground on which those alleged fancies have been built, will be carefully, candidly, and dispassionately examined. Of the manifold imperfections of his work, no one can be more sensible than the author himself; but if it succeed in directing attention to the subject, and putting others on the track of inquiry, it will, at the very least, have been followed by one beneficial result. Eastport, Me., March 20th, 1838. CONTENTS. Page. Sec. I. General Moral Mania 170 Sec. II. Partial Moral Mania 186 Legal consequences of Mania 235 Sec. I. Legal consequences of Intellectual Mania . 236 Sec. II. Legal consequences of Moral Mania . . 258 Legal consequences of Dementia .... 289 Legal consequences of Delirium .... 303 |