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whether the manners of a class with which they were unfamiliar were well or ill represented, and it is owing to this circumstance that the terrible stories of the "London Journal" and "Reynolds' Miscellany," which set forth in lurid lights the lives of the English aristocracy, are read with undoubting confidence by the lower classes of society. But there is no general experience of mania, and medical men, when they with their experience are brought to judge of the genuineness of a certain apparent disease, must rely to a great extent upon the inaccurate and garbled statements of those who are about the patient, which in nine cases out of ten tend rather to obscure and darken the whole matter than to elucidate and throw light upon it. But the fact is that there must be difficulty in many cases in saying whether a man is really insane or only assuming a disease under which he does not labor. Only a few weeks ago we had a conversation with the medical superintendent of a large asylum, who, speaking of a criminal lunatic who was under his care and who had been removed to the County Asylum from Broadmore some three months before, said: "I suspect that he is as sane as I am, but I cannot prove it yet." This man had, according to his belief, feigned insanity sufficiently well to be acquitted of the crime of which he was charged, to deceive the authorities at the criminal asylum, and even to defy his own ingenuity, although armed with suspicion for three months. But a very large number of cases might be referred to in which insanity has been successfully simulated, and Dr. Bucknil himself gives a very interesting case, in the work from which we have quoted, which shows that it is sometimes most difficult to say whether a man is simulating or is really affected by disease. "John Jakes was convicted at the Devon Easter Sessions, 1855, of pocket-picking. Previous convictions having been proved, he was sentenced to four years' penal servitude. On hearing the sentence, he fell down in the dock as if in a fit of apoplexy. When removed to the jail, he was found to be hemiplegic and apparently mindless. He, however, did some things which did not belong to dementia following apoplexy; for instance, he was designedly filthy, and even ate his own excrements. His insanity was certified by the surgeon of the jail and by a second medical man, and he was removed.

to the asylum. Notwithstanding the medical certificates of his insanity, the convicting magistrates, who knew his character as a burglar and a criminal of great ability, thought that he was feigning. Warned by their caution, I examined the man carefully. He had all the symptoms of hemiplegia: the toe dragged in walking, the uncertain grasp of the hand, a slight drawing of the features, the tongue thrust to the paralyzed side-all these symptoms were present in a manner so true to nature, that if they were feigned, the representation was a consummate piece of acting founded upon accurate observation. In the asylum, the patient was not dirty: he was tranquil, and apparently demented: he had to be fed, to be dressed and to be undressed, to be led from place to place: he could not be made to speak: he slept well. On the night of the 17th of August, 1856, he effected his escape from the asylum in a manner which convinced the magistrates that their opinion of his simulation was just, and that he had succeeded in deceiving some four or five medical men. He converted the handle of a tin cup into a false key, wherewith he unlocked the window guard; through the window, he escaped by night into the garden; from thence he clambered over a door eight feet high, and afterwards over a wall of the same height. He got clear away, probably joined his old associates, and has never been heard of since. It is hard to say which is the least improbable, a representation of hemiplegia and dementia so perfect as to deceive several men forewarned against deception, or the escape of a really paralytic patient by the means described."

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401. Feigned Insanity compatible with Real Insanity. It is well to remember that the greatest difficulty in the decision of the question as to whether an individual is feigning insanity or not, arises in consequence of the fact that many insane persons will, under similar circumstances, resort to precisely the same expedients as those who are sane. If a person who really is under the influence of an insane delusion sees that it is for his advantage that he

Bucknill on the Diagnosis of Insanity. Some interesting particulars of successful simulation of insanity, which had deceived even medieal men, came to light in the case of Reg. v. Ball, which was tried at the Lewes Winter Assize in Dec. 1856.

should be thought insane; if he is aware that the belief in his insanity will exempt him from the consequence of some foredone act, the mere existence of an insane delusion does not preclude the possibility of his feigning an insanity under which he does not labor. This fact seems to have been overlooked by almost all writers on the medical jurisprudence of insanity. That this circumstance complicates the question is evident. Many of the tests which are in ordinary circumstances applied to decide the question-as the inquiry respecting the beginning of the insanity, (the early symptoms of the disease being those in which feigners usually fail), the questions as to hereditary tendencies, as to previous attacks, and the like-are, to a great extent, rendered useless. That the delusious of many persons are modified by motives, much less powerful than the above-mentioned, as, for example, by the questions and laughter of a little knot of listeners, we have often observed, and have found, that even to enjoy the pleasure of being laughed at, the pleasure of attracting notice, persons with many extravagant delusions would upon occasion exaggerate and vary the statement of their unhealthy impressions. In most cases, however, in which a healthy mind, or one which looked at in reference to the ordinary minds of mankind, may be looked upon as healthy, undertakes the task of feigning insanity, the difficulty of detection is not great. Two things are necessary to ensure a correct conclusion-care and time. Time fights for truth!

402. Feigned Idiocy.-Idiocy is a form of mental unsoundness very rarely assumed, in consequence of the facility with which its genuineness can be ascertained. The history of the individual, which can in these days be more easily traced than in times gone by, will, in all cases, show whether it is feigned or real. The form of the head is a symptom which cannot be feigned. No man by taking thought can take away that deformity any more than he can add a cubit to his stature. There are often other deformities (277) associated with idiocy, and for those who have to decide a question as to real or feigned insanity, it is most useful to remember that those symptoms only which are quite beyond the power of the individual are, as it were, the rock on which to

build their theory-for, after all, the answer to that question is a theory and nothing more-while the other facts, which must be had recourse to, are like the sand, and winds of doctrine may lay it in ruins!

2403. Feigned Imbecility and its Detection. But there may be great mental weakness, and the form of the head may not be indicative of the defect. In such cases the imbecility is not congenital, but acquired. The history in such cases is of the greatest importance, and the supposed cause of the enfeeblement should be very carefully sought for. In such a case the impostor would probably prove too much, by assuring us that he had been in his present condition since his birth. The cause assigned, and the nature of the malady, will in most cases of imposture discover the trick by the inadequacy of the one to the other. It is to be borne in mind that it is in reference to the "outside" facts of the disease that errors will ordinarily be found. All the acts which get out of the dominion of will, and become automatic, will differ in the case of an impostor and in the case of a real imbecile. The history of the case, as showing his opportunities for becoming acquainted with the symptoms of the disease, should be carefully studied; and yet due weight should in each case be given to the force which unconscious imitation is known to exercise over a weak mind.

404. The physiognomical diagnosis of expression is a very important point in all cases in which simulation of insanity is suspected; and skill in this department of the work of the medical jurist is only to be acquired by a long and careful experience-to be best learned, it seems to us, in the wards of our hospitals for the insane. The description of a "look" is difficult. To say that the imbecile has a dull, stupid, vacant look is true; that his manner is uneasy, that his temper is variable, and that sometimes the dead level of his mill-pond existence is broken by a little eruption of passion is likewise true. But the description would do for many other persons besides imbeciles. By careful watching, gleams of the smothered intelligence will be seen to shine through, or flash out of the impostor's face, and it seems to

us that an experiment by means of the introduction of some object likely to excite curiosity or wonder into the presence of the individual suspected of imposture, would often serve to [278 uncover the ambush intelligence.'

405. Shrewdness often Co-exists with Imbecility.In many forms of imbecility there is a mixture of folly and acuteness. Many of the stories told in Scotland of their vil lage fools, or "naturals," proves this; and the ordinary test that while the real imbecile is shrewd or foolish irrespectively of prospective interest, the impostor is shrewd in all matters connected with his scheme and its success, and shows his folly and stupidity only in connection with matters of indifference, is, it appears to us, unsatisfactory.

2406. Imbecility rarely Simulated.-One thing seems somewhat certain, and that is, that this form of insanity is not often assumed, first on account of the fact that this amount of imbecility, even when really present, is not necessarily incompatible with responsibility; and, secondly, on account of the difficulty of impressing individuals with the idea of insanity and its existence in one who manifests many signs of intellectual activity. When this amount of unsoundness does occur, it is not unfrequently accompanied by sufficient self-control to enable the individual at certain times (when it suits himself) to appear perfectly sane. And when such an amount of self-government exists, the individual, whether laboring under mental defects or not, seems to be properly punished on account of a proved transgression.

2407. Feigned Dementia and its Detection.-Dementia may be, and sometimes is, simulated by aged persons. In most cases, however, it is not a sufficiently demonstrative form of insanity to find favor with impostors; and it is so imperfectly understood, and so commonly confounded with simple dotage, that its adoption is rare. The characteristic of senile dementia is a deficiency of mental excitement; there is a torpor of all the faculties; in it the mind is like an engine

1 Dr. Laurent (Ann. d'Hyg. 1862, 2, 460,) has some important observations upon the subject of physiognomy in relation to feigned insanity.

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