Homepage
Login
Profile
BookClubs
dmBox
Read Ebook: A Letter to the Right Honorable the Lord Chancellor on the Nature and Interpretation of Unsoundness of Mind and Imbecility of Intellect by Haslam John
Font size:
Background color:
Text color:
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page
Ebook has 44 lines and 8498 words, and 1 pages
A LETTER
LETTER
THE RIGHT HONORABLE
THE
LORD CHANCELLOR,
ON THE
NATURE AND INTERPRETATION
UNSOUNDNESS OF MIND,
AND
JOHN HASLAM, M.D.
LATE OF PEMBROKE HALL, CAMBRIDGE.
PUBLISHED BY R. HUNTER,
ST. PAUL'S CHURCH YARD.
PRINTED BY G. HAYDEN,
Little College Street, Westminster.
A LETTER.
MY LORD,
THE present address originates in an anxious wish for the advancement of medical knowledge, where it is connected with those maladies of the human mind, that are referable to the court, wherein your Lordship has so long administered impartial justice. The disorders which affect the body are, in general, the exclusive province of the medical practitioner; but, by a wise provision, that has descended to us from the enlightened nations of antiquity, the law has considered those persons, whose intellectual derangement rendered them inadequate to the governance of themselves in society, or incapable of managing their affairs, entitled to its special protection. If your Lordship should feel surprized at this communication, or deem my conduct presumptuous, the thirst of information on an important subject is my only apology; and I have sought to allay it in the pure stream that issues from the fountain-head, rather than from subordinate channels or distant distributions. Although personally a stranger to your Lordship, nearly thirty years of my life have been devoted to the investigation and treatment of insanity: of which more than twenty have been professionally passed in the largest receptacle for lunatics;--and the press has diffused, in several publications, my opinions and experience concerning the human mind, both in its sound state and morbid condition.
The medical profession, of which I am an humble member, entertains very different notions concerning the nature of UNSOUNDNESS of mind, and IMBECILITY of intellect;--and this difference of opinion has been displayed on many solemn occasions, where medical testimony has been deposed.
Although we may apply the word unsoundness, in a figurative or metaphorical sense, to the human mind, yet we cannot detect in it any of the marks or indications that characterize the unsoundness of substances acknowledged to be in that state: it is, therefore, under this conviction, and with the view of increasing our knowledge of the human intellect, that, on the behalf of the members of the medical profession, I venture to solicit your Lordship, on the first opportunity that may occur, to elucidate the nature of this UNSOUNDNESS OF MIND, so that physicians may be enabled thoroughly to ascertain its existence, and conscientiously depose to that effect, and also that it may be recognized by the jury, when they "proceed to make their inference," in order that, by their return, your Lordship may appoint the proper committees of the person and property.
Respecting the human intellect, two very opposite opinions prevail among physiologists and metaphysicians. One party strenuously contends that the phenomena of mind result from the peculiar organization of the brain, although they confess themselves to be as "entirely ignorant how the parts of the brain accomplish these purposes, as how the liver secretes bile, how the muscles contract, or how any other living purpose is effected."--The other maintains that we become intelligent beings through the medium of a purer emanation, which they denominate SPIRIT, diffused over, or united with, this corporeal structure. The former of these suppositions is held by many grave and pious persons to be incompatible with the doctrines of the Christian Religion; and if I am not mistaken, your Lordship, on a late occasion, after having perused a work attempting to establish such principles, did incline, by "rational doubts," to suspect that these opinions were "directed against the truth of Scripture."
It is particularly fortunate that the arguments concerning the nature of unsoundness of mind and imbecility do not involve either of these presumptions:--if the most decided victory over their opponents were to be conceded to the fautors of organization, no advantage could be derived from their philosophy by lawyer or physician, whose object is to ascertain the existing state of an individual's mind, and not to detect the morbid alterations of the cerebral structure by the scrutiny of dissection: nor is it necessary, for the elucidation of the present subject, to contend for the pre-eminence of the spiritual doctrine, as it would be extremely difficult, and perhaps irreverent, to suppose, that this immaterial property, this divine essence, that confers perception, reverts into memory, and elaborates thought, can be susceptible of unsoundness. These high attributes, proudly distinguished from perishable matter;--this sanctuary, which "neither moth nor rust doth corrupt," cannot undergo such subordinate changes, without an obvious degradation.
Notwithstanding it must be admitted that
"There are more things in heaven and earth Than are dreamt of in our philosophy;"
yet, in the present times, our faith in the influence of the lunar aspects has considerably abated, and we employ the term lunatic as a familiar expression, to denote a person of insane mind, without any reference to its derivation, or supposed ascendency of the moon, which my own observations have tended to disprove:--but as the phrase lucid interval is, in its legal sense, connected with lunatic, some investigation of its meaning becomes absolutely necessary.
The term INTERVAL, by which the duration of rational discourse and conduct is to be estimated, although of sufficiently precise meaning, is yet susceptible of the most extended signification; and we speak with equal correctness when we say the interval of a moment and of a thousand years. The time necessary to comprise a LUCID interval has not, to the best of my belief, been limited by medical writers or legal authorities; it must however comprehend a portion sufficient to satisfy the inquirer, that the individual, whose intellect had been disordered, does not any longer retain any of the symptoms that constituted his malady; and this presumes on the part of the examiner an intimate knowledge of the unfounded prejudices, delusions, or incapacities with which the mind of the party had been affected, and also deliberate and repeated investigations to ascertain that they are wholly effaced.
IMBECILITY.
"Nil agit exemplum litem quod lite resolvit."
With the citation of this memorable sentence,--unadulterated by any comment, I shall conclude this address to your Lordship, submitting at the same time my own impressions on the subject:--that, to search for its correct exposition is reverential to the law: to crave its elucidation from its exalted minister is an act of respectful deference:--this solicitude is increased from the consideration that the written opinion of the medical practitioner is deposed on oath, and that he is examined by the commissioners and jury under the same awful responsibility:--therefore, when the solemnity of that obligation is contemplated, the anxiety for accurate information will scarcely require an apology.
I am, my Lord, with the utmost respect, your Lordship's very obedient servant, JOHN HASLAM.
OBSERVATIONS on MADNESS and MELANCHOLY.
On the MORAL MANAGEMENT of the INSANE.
MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE, as it relates to INSANITY.
A LETTER to the GOVERNORS of BETHLEM HOSPITAL.
SOUND MIND, or the Physiology of Intelligent Beings.
A new edition of the OBSERVATIONS on MADNESS and MELANCHOLY, with considerable additions, will shortly appear.
Printed by G. Hayden, Little College Street, Westminster.
FOOTNOTES:
The following citation was introduced, with some comments, in my work on MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE, as it relates to INSANITY, according to the Law of England, 1817, which is now out of print.
Lord Portsmouth's Commission.
Add to tbrJar First Page Next Page