came money! and it was looked upon as valuable, not in proportion to the one real pleasure which it could procure, but as equal to all the possible pleasures which it might procure, and hence to be regarded as indefinitely advantageous. It is in this way that the present idea of property has been formed, and in this way has the moral condition of man been raised-first, by the enlargement of his sphere of activity; second, by the belief in the security of the future. The enlargement of the sphere of activity is of the utmost importance to humanity. It is good genuine work, be it with hand or head, that best forms character; and in order that a man may work he must believe in a future for which the present labor is providing comparative comfort. It is this anticipation of a future which is most characteristic of humanity, which best distinguishes man from the lower animals. Is it not this anticipation that opens the gate of heaven to us-is it not the hopes and fears which come with this expectation which make night hideous?—

"And we fools of nature,

So horribly to shake our disposition

With thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls."

[124) Is it not this that makes man bend his knee to Him who formed the past and the present and the future—a world that is ours just now, and a world that may be ours hereafter?

181. Property and Law.-It is only the lower animals that live entirely in the present, and the present is always small. It is like a room, and humanity has made windows in its walls by which it surveys both the landscapes of eternity, while the brutes are content to live in the little close darkness of to-day. The present is great only because it can be made to contain glimpses of the past and of the future. Property, then, is possible only to those who have a future. It is something only in relation to time. But property must be respected by others than the proprietor, and in order that it may be respected it must be distinguishable. It must also be transferable, else property would be valuable only to a limited extent; and the transference of property must be safe, and ought in every country to be easy. And so from the rude

beginning which we have described we arrive in time at a stage where there is a necessity for law, or "a rule of civil conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a State, commanding what is right, and prohibiting what is wrong."

ן

? 182. Property and Theft. We might, if time permitted, trace the metaphysical relation of this idea of property, and show that all property was connected with the thought of the will of an individual being deposited in a thing, and that all transference of property consisted in the withdrawal of the will of the owner from the thing which is conveyed, and that consequently theft consisted of the violent substitution of one will for another, and that in that way, as it was a violation of the free will of another, it was a wrong. But it is unnecessary to go further into the question as to the formation of the idea of property, or of the means which have been taken to render the acquisition and the subsequent possession of property secure. Enough has been said above to enable us to explain the connection of the idea of property with certain diseased conditions which may be brought under the notice of the medical jurist.

183. Theft in relation to Disease. After property has been acquired, after the. municipal law has forbidden theft and prescribed penalties in case the established rights of property should be violated, many persons are still found to be stupid enough to attempt to deprive their neighbors of their goods by means of fraudulent taking. But there are others who, through the disordering effects of disease, fail to perceive the relation in which they stand to the property of another, who fail to perceive the real connection that exists between owner and goods, to the exclusion of other individuals, or, even while they do understand the whole gist of the idea of property and possession, are, from their inability to be 125influenced by ordinary motives, which are the points of humanity's compass, unable to refrain, from the mere pleasure which arises from the act of appropriation.

"Law" is defined as "anything laid down, s. c., as a rule of action-a rule imposed, fixed, or established, decreed or determined."-Richardson's Dic.; 1 Blackstone's Commentaries, p. 44.

184. Avarice and Hoarding.-Very early in history we find instances of stupid hoarding under the influence of disease, and soon we find theft as a symptom of insanity. That avarice which sits

"Upon a camell loaden all with gold:

Two iron coffers hong on either side,

With precious metal full as they might hold.
And in his lap a heap of coin he told;
For of his wicked pelf his god he made,
And unto hell himself for money sold;

Accursed usury was all his trade,

And right and wrong in equall ballaunce waide,"

is compatible with health, in the ordinary sense of the word, may be true; but that such men as John Elwes, who at night was heard in his chamber as if struggling with some one, and saying, “I will keep my money, I will! Nobody shall rob me of my property," and who lived in wretched poverty, although he died worth £800,000; as Thomas Cooke, who never did a generous act, except dying and leaving £127,205 Three per Cent. Consolidated Bank Annuities for some one else to use; or as Daniel Dancer, the history of whose life and littleness is as well known as the story of his great wealth,' are in perfect health, in the truer and deeper sense of the word, we would emphatically deny. But the question of hoarding, save in so far as it is connected with theft, does not properly fall under our notice in this place.

2185. Theft not necessarily connected with Insanity.— Notwithstanding what some extreme thinkers say, we are compelled to believe that larceny, which is "a wrongful removal" (taking and carrying away) of the property of another, whether it be effected without consent or by consent obtained by intimidation or fraud, so as the owner consent not in the latter case to part with his entire right of property, but with the temporary possession only,2 is not necessarily connected with insanity. But, at the same time, we must admit that theft may become a symptom of, and often is indulged in, in consequence of, morbid mental conditions.

See Henry Wilson's "Wonderful Characters," vol. ii., p. 88.

Cr. L. Com. 4th Rep. p. 50.

186. Where Theft is associated with Mental Disease. No difficulty occurs where kleptomania, or the propensity to [126] steal, (using the word propensity in the meaning we have attached to it by our explanation of impulse and tendency,) is only a symptom of well-marked mental disease. That it is very often associated with general mental aberration will be believed by all who have had even a limited experience of insanity. We have ourselves seen this propensity manifested in several cases of mental disease under treatment in asylums, and been able to distinguish the thefts of these insane persons, who were at the same time insane in relation to theft from the larcenies of those insane persons who stole criminally or were influenced by exactly analogous motives to those which actuate the common thief. In many instances, epileptics are found to be addicted to theft. Dr. Erhardt mentions several cases in which persons laboring under this disease have been possessed with an irresistible desire to appropriate to themselves whatever they could secretly lay their hands on, and that without regard to the value. Such thefts not unfrequently arise in connection with general paralysis of the insane. In a late number of the Journal of Mental Science, there is a record of no fewer than six cases of general paralysis, admitted during four years into the West Riding Asylum, in which it appeared that the commission of the crime of larceny, with which each had been charged, was a manifestation of the earlier mental symptoms of this disease. This association of theft and disease is not difficult to explain, when it is remembered that the general paralytic has exalted ideas of wealth, unbounded ideas of possession, and that together with these ideas there is a well-marked tendency to acquire. We ourselves once saw a man convicted at Quarter Sessions for stealing two fowls, and when he was asked if he had anything to say, he began to talk with thick utterance of 50,000 houses at Wigan and money in the bank. He was accordingly sentenced, and some months afterwards it was found necessary to remove him from the gaol to the asylum. He was both at the date

of his conviction and his transference laboring under general paralysis. We quote the notes of three of the cases referred

to.

? 187. Theft arising from General Paralysis: Cases of.-A. B, admitted April 24th, 1872, with well-marked physical symptoms of general paralysis, and exalted ideas: such as that he was the greatest and tallest man in the world, and had begotten 16,000 children, etc. History.About five months before admission, patient was committed to gaol for larceny--stealing several gallons of oil-and he remained in gaol up to the time of his removal to the West Riding Asylum. Whilst in prison, he was wet and dirty in his habits. The first symptoms of insanity appear to have come on about a month before he committed the larceny. He had always been respectable and honest before, and not addicted to intemperance. He is getting rapidly worse and is now in the last stage. C. D-, admitted April 2d, 1870, with well-marked physical symptoms of general paralysis, being also very much demented, and having a voracious appetite. Fifteen months before admission, he stole a piece of cloth from the Railway Station, and being convicted of the theft, was imprisoned in the House of Correction for three months. On and after leaving the prison, he led the life of a vagabond, and went about the streets picking up rubbish, until at last his conduct became so strange that he was taken up and certified. There is no history of intemperance or previous crime. Three years previous to admission, he fell from a building and injured his head, and after that became unable to work. He is now in the last stage, and cannot live long. E. F, admitted March 12th, 1869, with well-marked physical signs of general paralysis and exalted ideas: such as that he had £8000 in the bank, etc., having, not long before admission, been sent to prison for stealing nuts. There is no history of intemperance or previous crime. He has progressed slowly since admission; but has recently had several epileptiform attacks, and is now getting rapidly worse, so that it does not appear that he will long survive.1

Journal of Mental Science, Jan. 1873.

BR. INS.-20