Evening Star Newspaper, November 30, 1881, Page 3

THE POTOMAC RIVER. Outlines of its Physical vs With Notices of its Geology. The following interesting paper on the Poto- mac river was recently read before a meeting of the Maryiand Academy of Science, and appears in the Baltimore Sun: This historic and celebrated stream is at once the grandest and most remarkable of the sar- face features of Maryland. It is in Many re- spects both a river and abay. Two great divi- sions, marked by peculiar individualities, distinguish it intothe Upper and Lower Poto- mac. The latter forms the estuary or bay por- tion of the river, or that in which the tides ebb and flow. It extends from Georze- town to Chesapeake bay, a distance of 125 miles. Below Alexan dria it expands to a width of rly two miles, and all along its winding course es the waters of wide, picturesque creeks, which increase its breadth’ and produce far- reaching estuaries at the lower levels. Some of these expanses of water are from three to five miles wide, while the river measures at its t miles, between Point Look- Along the upper hington, the ffs, which | Tie to a he t. but as it pro- | ceeds the high border lands graduaily slope lower, and fi ly fade out in points and bars. this division it has left the re- and afterwards p passes only thro Surase! But that part of it to be more particularly noticed here is the river proper, usually called the “Upper Potomac.” It is at present entirely beyond the reach of the tides, and perhaps has always been so. Swift and powerful, it rushes in imperturbable grandeur through a channel of its own construction, cut out of ail the series of Tocks and throuzh the bodies of the most massive and elevated mountains in the state. In form- ing the entire southwestern boundary of Mary land it forms a water border of uncommon diversity, and shapes with great diversity the lower outlines of five large counties. Away up ain summits, where West Virginia touches the great Backbone or Alle- ghany range, marked by the Fairfax stone, this Youngest of ‘our great’ rivers bursts forth from hales and limestones of the car- ta. The region is one of marked | interest from the variety of striking objects which it presents to view. Hill tops and knobs of Mountain helht. loftier than the Bine Ridse, | shaped and trimmed by the tremendous floods | of the later geolosical stand in close prox- y between the crests of the hizher ridges. A | Yast sea of rocky wav l forest-clad billows swallow up the landscape in all directions. Broad belts of hemlock, spruce and the north- ern pines bound the highest horizon and form a dark background for the oaks, chestnuts, ma- ples, birches and poplars of the less elevated po- | sitions. A most picturesque scene stretches out before the eye as it takes im the winding | valley. with its silvery thread of water, here rrested by a ledxe of dark rocks, | jing the sunlight from the torrent or rapid, or leaping in foam-stirrinz cascade to the basin scoped in the rocks below. In the deep solitude of the wilderness, where broken | masses of rock lie spread around in endless confusion, where the forests are choked with the trunks and branches of the fallen trees, and the moistened slopes are covered with the mat- ted foilaze of the vines and creepers; there, too, where the flowering shrubs and sweet scented ferns weave chaplets and plumes of the tender- est green over the crowns of the weather worn boulders, this brisht streak of water pursues its onward course, ever forward and downward, | with a ceaseless impulse towards the sea. It is the great outlet for the waters which reach the surface in a territory nearly 200 miles in length, while its tributaries on the north side cross Nearly or quite the entire width of the state. Its great south branch in Virginia, with the Shen- andoah and a dozen smaller rivers and creeks drain an area fully twice as great. Indeed, THE SOUTH BRANCH is the principal member of the upper river, and to it is largely due the wide expanse of water which it discloses before passing beyond the high mountains. Soon after leaving the head- waters it has worn a deep trough into the firm Yocks, torn away huge pieces from the hard ledges and resistlessly rasped and dug its way downward along the flank of the great Back- bone mountain until the foot of the great coal basin has been reached. Its course has hitherto | been northeast, it has spread out into a broad creek. with shallow but limpid water ranning over a stony pebbly bed: now it makes a broad curve around to the west; then, resum- ing the former course and bending north evives the waters of a fine bri the Fiver; anotl i creek adds its narrow stream to the quickened | flood, which rushes on with new energy. Itisnow | vigorous and strong creek, able to contend | with the obstructions that press in its way. Two | miles above the former it had t direction. x¢ in a general south i rsued for a distance of a miles, during which it is tearing its | the end n's mountain, and then flows on to | The slope ofthe country no rors | another change of direction, and’ aceordin: the river rushes away northeast through it shallower treuch, interrupted by frequent Tapids between the ridges of Dan's and Knobby mountains, @ distance of twenty miles, wien it bends abruptly around the spur of the latter mountain and touches the city of Cumberland. Wills creek now adds its quota of water, and the river p: down on the east side of Kuobby mountain. Here it is charzed with islands near the Virginia shore, and soon bends into the form of the letter S to pass | throazh the gorze in Evitt’s mountain. It is | now in the very heart of hich, abri : whose barriers must be crossed at richt angles. Ranning in astraizhter line towards the south: | east, it rushes throuzh the gorges of Martin's, | Warrior and Town Hill mountains, surrounded | by most romantic scenery, decorated in all di- tions by a boundless stretch of verdue-clad dale. In the interval it has been joined by the great South Branch, and the two have united their waters to dash on with re- newed enerzy in rending the hills and distrib- nourishment into the vaileys furtler away. Having passed Town Hill, it flows in long, irregular loops towards the northeast. Cutting its way through the dense body of Sideling Hill and gliding in perfect silence over the wreck of mighty ledges of rock now lying as seattered boulders over its bed. it bends once more and runs} down the valley of the Tonoloway to where the | little town of Hancock stands, out upon the | it eight | across hilis. Th@ beautifol dam which feeds the CI peake and Ohio canal has been passed, the ars rocks and the cement beds of the Round Top have been left behind, and the beau- ul, clear river, as smooth and placid as a take, glistens in the sunshine and reftects the images | af the grand old trees that line its banks. Still | oroad ar planed edges of the sandstones, slates and lime- | stones that lie across its path, it makes a long sweep towards the east by a little south, until the spurs of the North Mountains are reached. At this point it has broken through a deep gorge in the midst of a wild, rugged and most mantic country, to beeome involved in diffi- zuities which it could only surmount by passing suddenly around the unyielding recks and form- ng along, narrow loop. After bending twice more it strikes the heavy slates at Williamsport, admits the copiouscurrent of the Conucocheague river, is unable to penetrate further in the same direction, and is obliged to turn west nearly three miles of the distance previously gained. A great struggle for mastery Rew goes on between the river and the lime- stone beds, with their layers of chert and dense jat Thus the river is compelied to run diag- onally in a veneral southeast direction and to bend back upon itself six times before its con- flict with these hard rocks is over. Through an expanse of country more than 25 miles in length ithas gained and lost, and at best has bec obliged to follow the course of the great valley, and to submit to its conditions. But now, after Harper's Ferry is reached, thegreat rapid stream 4s favored by the tremendoas down-slide which split the South mountain from summit to base, and an avenue is open into the region on the east. Objects of fresh interest now appear on every band. On the north side the majestic pile of castellated rocks, chimney peaks, the profile or the giant face and the great arching strata of Maryland heights “rise in over- ring ur overhead. On the Opposite shore the town of Harper's Ferry is seen straggling up as if to reach the summit of the mountain binffs, on the side of which the celebrated Jefferson's rock is Across the Shenandoah, more than ® quarter of a mile distant, the spur called Short Ridge stants precipitously to the brink of the rapids, covered to thé very top with close- trees, between which huge piles of the mountain sandstone lie in indpscribable dis order. phe oe toa opie pase Fection, spurs, es peaks: together fn close proximity, hiding all but the two gz mous but. unimproved water-power now ap- pears in view, the Potomac beconies fully one- of a mile wide, and a heavy flood passes over a sloping but nearly fat channel. THE PROSPECT DOWN THE RIVER 4s now indeacribably beautiful. The South | the hallow, pursuing its course over the | mountain stands in rock and tree-clad silent majesty in the foreground; the Point of Rocks rises as a rocky bluff upon which to rest the eyes; the opposite shores wave away in vast, rounded swells of upland; the Tiver rolls in_sitvery brightness, losing i in the mist- softened verdue of the far-off lan¢ while all the features of hill, valley, wood! and plain blend into the tender blue of the scarce unded distance. Still gradually widening as it runs, and — @ southeast direction, the river receives the Monocacy at the outlet of the delightful Frederick valley. A wide open tract enlarges the view of a luxuriant ard pic- turesque region. The splendid viaduct for the canal over the Monocacy, the highly cultivated hills on the berders of Montgomery county, and | the triple-crown sculptured in the white sandstone of the jugar-loaf mountain stand out as monumental objects in |the midst of the soft-toned landseape. The river now makes a wide bend in passing the hard slate rocks, and then enters | the brown hills of the new red sandstone forma- | tion. From this point the slopes gradually in- | crease in steepness, and for a distance of eight- een miles rise and fall in long serpentine waves. About four miles from the beginning of this | sandste its extreme altitude is reached in | rocks which rise abruptly to an altitude of more than one hundred feet above the river. A new surprise now bursts upon the senses. The suin- mits of the ridge are made of uplifted crags and | chimney rocks reaching far above the tops of the | tallest trees, resting upon long lines of natural brownstone’ masonry, and decorated at every turn by tufts, plumes, and festoons of lovely plants, ferns, and creepers. Long, wal-like Tidges of this picturesque rock, set in a back- ground of far-reaching foliage, appear at fre- | quent intervals along both shores of the river. | And here its waters are interrupted at three or four stages by islands which have settled in its path. After passing the new red sandstone aregion in strong contrast with the former is reached. The uniform, wall-like structure | of the hills give place to the bent, twisted, a blackish rock. Tremendous forces have been at work here on a grand scale. Fora distance of two miles the whole bed and surface of the country have been pressed together with such violent force that the former body of a huge mountain has been shattered into jointed frag- | ments, in part carried away, and only its broken base left in the trough of the river. Through- out this distance rapids succeed cach other in such quick succession that the bed of the stream is gradually lowered to a depth of eighty feet. THE GREAT FALLS OF THE POTOMAC now appear at the lower end of this scene of Tuin. A fall, thirty-five feet in height, now pre- cipitates an enormous yolume of water; this is divided into three principal cascades of un- common grandeur, -which, after boiling and chafing amidst the terrible rocks of the deep basin below, dash with uncontrollabie violence through canyons of their own digging and sweep out in a broad torrent through the chan- nel below. On either shore of this great scene of desolation piles of shining rock thrown on end project high into the sky and send off craggy ledges from the base of every tower- = peak. The jointed rock fills the whole resi as far as the eye can reach, and the prospect is rendered still more wild and impressive by the thinly spread out forests which straggle over the broken ledges. Nowhere else in the state, if indeed anywhere on the eastern side of the continent, can a more sublime and awe-inspiring spectacle be seen. It is of such an unusual type in this part of the United Stated and so remarkable that the mind is directed first tothe region of the Rocky moun- tains to find its counterpart in structure and sublimity. The remainder of this division of the river keeps on for fourteen miles, which take it to Georgetown. In this part of its course it has steadily forced its way through the granite rocks, spread out into a deep channel nearly three-quarters of a mile wide, until, after gath- ering into a series of cascades at its lower falls, and gliding along over bolders and broken stones, it finally becomes lost in the waters of the alluvial basin at the head of tide-water. THE MOST CHARACTERISTIC EXPRESSIONS OF THIS 3 RIVER are in the freshness, vigor and variety which it everywhere displays. It crosses the Appalathian region in a direction which brings it in direct contact with every geological formation that belongs to the eastern slope of the continent. It winds its way through them all, or only yields where harmony is indispensable, in conformity with unalterable physical conditions. As a continental force its career seems but of yester- day. The ages had been steadily preparing for its advent. Cool morn, of a long geolozical day succeeded by the glowing heat of an equally protracted noontide, had been fol- lowed by the long evening twilight of arboniferous era. Hoary mists and long periods of rainfall had saturated the low hills and set rivulets running in the ravines and bot- toms. But now the michty mountains are up- folded, an separating the basins of the east trom those of the west is built high into the ai and cracks have opened in its flanks to let loo: the im med waters of the subterranean cay- ities. m the end of one of these the young giant arose and burst forth with all the énergy which rested around, and forcing apart the bits of rock that stocd in the way, it soon worked a deep path out and alang the dark mountain side. Plunging, — but- ting and leaping against the ridges standing in its path, a narrow trough was cut away up in the midst of the highest uplands, and then, etadually working. forced its way down to the lower levels, until the sea was reached beyond the lower hills. As the ages have rolled on it has pursued its onward course in nearly the same direction, ever deepening its channel and spreading so wide that it has been at one time @ roaring flood of more than two miles in breadth. From the time of Washington to the present, ithas been recognized as the great avenue leading to the west, and its great usefulness in the future will depend upon the skill and judg- ment with which it is employed to facilitate commercial relations between the two sides of a continent. ———— Do Robins Take a Nip? From the Chicago Herald. A New York sporting paper a short time since stated that the robin during his hiberna- tion in the south “cuts up” somewhat after the manner of the 9th Massachusetts during the late visit to Richmond; that this favorite north- ern songster—the robin, we mean—does not show himself mach in southern latitudes until the berry of the china tree is ripe, and then partakes of it liberally, becomes intoxicated from the alcoholic quality in the berry and often falls to the ground in an unconscious state. The Atlanta Constitwion defends the bird against this slander as follows: “Observation has convinced us that the antics of the robins are the result of suffocation and not intoxica— tion. The conformation of the bird’s neck is such that food must pass directly across the windpipe to reach its destination, and, inthe case of a china berry, this Journey is rather troublesome to tl bird. The berry lodges | against the windpipe and the attempts to swal- | law it result in suffocation. It is then the bird falls from the tree and his efforts to swallow the berry have the appearance of drunkenness. Generally the bird recovers, but sometimes it is choked to death. Upon several occasions the writer hereof bas relieved the suffocated birds by merely pressing the berry past the windpipe and their recovery was almost instant. We al- lude to this grave matter here because a num- ber of our exchanges have reproduced the original slander, and it distressea us to see the character and good name of an innocent bird bandied about in the columns of an irresponsi- ble press. ” ——___-e._______ Net a Row at All. From a Salt Lake Tribune Law Revort. a Counsel—Well, what did you see in the south rift? Expert—I saw a disturbance. posing counsel—We object to what he saw. If there was a row, let the participants testity. Besides, this is not the proper time for it to be brought out. Counsel—This is new to us, but, if there was a Tow in the drift we consider it material and re- | levant. We have no idea what the row was about, but we are willing that the facts should come out. We've no skeletons to conceal. Opposing counsel—I Tepel any of my brother’s skeleton insinuations. I simply that we be put to no disadvantage and Iwant nothing brought out on the cross-examination that we did not bring out on the re-direct, The Court—The witness can answer the question. Opposing counsel—We except and ask that our exception be noted. Witness—It was caused by-a breaking in. Opposing counsel—Hold on now. we object to anything relating to the time the buik- head was broken down. We decidedly object, for the reason that it is highly irrelevant as well as decidedly immaterial. ourt—Objection overruled. This bulk- In wall hanging 3 upturned ridges of silvery gray or | of a new life. Pushing aside the deep soil | LAW AND INSANITY. BY HENRY MAUDSLEY, M. D. Seg esti ashen “re ‘8 paper on Rog ass bility in Mental Diseases,” by Henry Maudsley, * the celebrated English lecturer and writer on medical Jurisprudence matters. and psychological J Looking back at the strange and erroneous notions which were formerly entertained of the nature and causes of insanity, and considering what little observation was made of its mani- fold varieties, we cannot wonder that its juris- prudence was in a very defective state. At first two kinds of insanity only seem to have been recognized by English law—idiocy and lunacy: the idiot who, from his nativity, by a perpetual infirmity is non compos, and the lunatic, who hath sometimes his understanding,and sometimes not, aliquando gaudet lucidis intervallis, and therefore is non compos mentis, so long as he hath not understanding. But as time went on a partial insanity was recognized as distinct from total insanity, although this partial insan- ity was declared not to absolve a person from responsibility for his criminal acts. ‘There is,” says Lord Hale, “a partial insanity and a total insanity. The former is either in respect to things, quoad hoc vel illud insanire. Some per- sons that have a competent use of reason in re- spect of some subjects are yet under a particu- lar dementia in respect of some particular dis- courses, subjects or applications; or else it is partial in respect of degrees; and this is the condition of very many, especially melancholy persons, who for the most part discover their defect in excessive fears and griefs, and yet are not wholly destitute of the use of Treason; and this partial insanity seems not to excuse them in the committing of any offense for its matter hed for, doubtless, most per- sons that are f¢ are under a degree of partial insanity when they commit these offenses. It is very difficult to define the invisible line that divides perfect and partial insanity; but it must rest upon cir- cumstances duly to be weighed by judge and jury, lest, on the one side, there be a Kind of in— humanity towa-d the defects of human nature; or, on the other side, too great an indulgence given to great crimes.” The irvisible line which it was so difficult to define was not, let it be noted, between sanity and insanity, but between perfect and partial insanity. It was thought no inhumanity toward the defects of human nature to punish as a fully responsible agent a person who was suffering from partial insanity, what- ever influence the disease might have had upon his unlawful act. The principle thus laid down by Lord Hale was subsequently acted upon in English courts. Thus, in the trialof Arnold, an undoubted lunatic, for shooting at Lord Onslow, in 1723, Mr. Justice Tracy said: “It is not every kind of frantic humor, or something unaccount- ble in a man’s actions, that points him out to be such a madman as is ex- empted from punishment: it must bea man that is totaly deprived of his understanding and memory, and doth nct_know what he is doing, no more than an infant. than a brute or a wild beast; such a one is never the object of punish- ment.” In this respect a wide distinction was maintained between civil and criminal cases; for while the law would not allow exemption from punishment for criminal acts unless the reason was entirely gone, it invalidated a per- son’s civil acts, and deprived him of the man- agement of himself and his affairs, when his in- sanity was only partial, and when the act voided had no discoverable relation to it. A man’s in- tellect might not be sufficient to enable him to conduct his affairs, and to dispose of his prop- erty, though quite sufficient to make him re- sponsible for a criminal act: it was right to hang for murder one who was not though fit to take care of himself and his affairs. It was at the trialof Hadfield, in 1800, for shooting at the kingin Drury Lane Theater, that Lord Hale’s doctrine was first discredited, and a step forward made for the time. The at- torney general, who prosecuted, had appealed to this doctrine, and told the jury, in accord- ance with it, that to exempt a person from pun- ighment on the ground of insanity there must be a total deprivation of memory and under- standing, Mr. Erskine, who was counsel for the defence, argued forcibly in reply that if such words were taken in their literal sense “no such madness. ever existed in the world;” that in all the cases that had filled Westminster Hall with complicated considerations “the insane persons had not only had the most perfect knowledge and ___recol- lection of all the relations they stood in toward others, and of the acts and circumstances of their lives, but had in general been remarkable for subtlety and acuteness; and that delusion, of which the criminal act in question was the ediate unqualitied offspring, was ‘the kind sanity which should rightly exempt from punishment. Delusion, theretore, where there js no frenzy or raving madness, is the true character of insanity. There was no doubt that Hadfield knew right from wrong, and that he was conscious of the nature of the act before he committed it; he manifested design in planning and cunning in executing it; he ex- pected also that it would subject him to punish- ment, for this was his motive in committing it; still it was plain to everybody that he was mad, and that the act was the product of his mad- ness. The result was that he was acquitted, the acquittal not having taken place in consequence of @ judicial adoption of delusion in place of the oid criterion of responsibility, as it has sometimes been said, but having been rather a triumph of Erskine’s eloquence, and of com- mon-sense over legal dogma, In the next remarkable case, that of Belling- ham, who was tried for the murder of Mr. Spencer Perceval, in 1812, a conviction took place, and the prisoner was executed, although it was perfectly clear that he had acted under the influence of insane delusions; the attorney general, who prosecuted, declaring, and Chief Justice Manstield, who tried the case, concurring, “upon the authority of the first sages in the country, and upon the authority of the established law in all times, which has never been questioned, that although a man mizht be incapable of conduct- ing his own affairs, he may still be answerable for his criminal acts, if he possesses a mind pable of distinguishing right from wron, Note here, then, that a modification had now been made in the test of responsibility; in place of its being required that the sufferer, in order to be exempt from punishment, should be to- tally deprived of understanding and memory, and know not what he was doing, no more than abrute or a wild beast—in place, that is, of what might be called the ‘‘wild-beast” form of knowledge-test, the power of distinguishing right from wrong was insisted on as the test of responsibility. The law had changed consider- ably without ever acknowledging that it had changed. Let it be observed, however, that it was the power of distinguishing right from wrong, not in relation to the particular act, but generally, which was made the eriterion of re- sponsibility in this case; for Lord Mansfield, speaking of the kind of insanity in which the patient has the delusion of being injured, and revenges himself by some hostile act, said that, “if sucha person were capable, in ollier respects, of distinguishing right rats ‘wrong; there was no excuse Zor any act of atrocity which he might. commit under this sod ae of derangement. It must be proved beyond all doubt that, at the time he committed the atrocious actone did not consider that murder was a crime agMnst the laws of God and Nature.”1 Thus far it is evident that principle waschang- ingand practice was uncertain. After the old ‘wild-beast” form of the knowledge-test had been quietly abandoned, when the enunciation of it caused too violent a shock to the moral sense of mankind, we find two theories acted upon in practice: in the case of Hadfield the ex- istence of delusion instigating the criminal act was the reason of his acquittal; in eas ree case, an absence of knowledge of right and wrong generally, not in respect of the particular act, was deemed n to ex- empt the individual from punishment; the lat ter theory bein; rely inconsistent with the former, and neither of them being consistently acted upon in subsequent trials. Most often a 1 Dr. Ray thus comments upon this doctrine: ‘That the insane mind is not entirely deprived of this power of ral discernment, but on, suany subjects js pert i lons of themselves and others | ‘Sica i was no settled principle, no actual uniformity of practice, no certainty of result. In this uncertain way matters went on until 4 great sensation was made by the murder, in 1818, of Mr. Drummond by McNaughten, who shot him under the influence of a delusion — that he was one of a number of persons whom he believed to be following him everywhere, blasting his charac- ter and making hislife wretched. lcNaughten had tran: business a short time before the deed, and had shown no obvious symptoms of insanity in his ordinary discourse and conduct. He was, however, acquitted on the ground of insanity. Thereupon the Heuse of Lords, par- ticipating™ in the public alarm and indignation which were occasioned by the acauittal, pro- pounded to the judges certain questions with Tegard to the law on the gubject of insanity when it was alleged as a defense in criminal actions; the object being to obtain from them an authoritative exposition of the law for the future guidance of courts, The answers of the judges to the Beet! thus put to them constitute the law of England as it has been ap- ies since to the defence of insanity in criminal Tials. It is not necessary to quote the questions and answers at length; the latter are somewhat con- fused, and the substance of them may be cor- rectly given in fewer words. ‘To establish a defence on the ground of insanity, it must be | Clearly proved that at the time of committing | the act the party accused was laboring under such a defect of reason from @isease of the mind | as not to know-the nature and quality of the act | he was doing, or, if he did know it, that he did | not know he was doing what was wrong.” It will not escape attention that the question of right and wrong in the abstract was here } abandoned, being allowed quietly to go the way of the wild-beast form of the knowledge-test; the question of right and wrong was to be put in reference to the par- ticular act with which the accused was charged. Moreover, it was to be put in reference to th helene act at the time of committing it. Did e at the time know the nature and quay. of the act he was doing? Thesetwo points have been overlooked sometimes by hostile critics, who have condemned the rule enunciated, as though it referred toa knowledge of right ‘and wrong generally. One may object tothe rule asa bad one, and because it is calculated to mislead a jury, who are very likely to be misled by the ex- istence ofa general knowledge of right and wrong in the accused person to judge wrong! concerning his knowledge of the particular a at the time; but it must beallowed at the same time that it will, if strictly applied, cover and excuse many acts of insane violence. Of few insane persons whio do violence can it be truly said that they have a full knowledge of the na- ture and quality of their acts at the time they are doing them. Can it be truly said of any person who acts under the influence of great passion that he has such a knowledge at the time?” The rule thus laid down, differing so much from that which was enunciated and mercilessly acted upon in Bellinghat’s sad case, was, how ever, limited in its application by a formidable exception. In reply to the question—“If a per- son, under an insane delusion as to existing facts, commits an offense in consequence there- of,is he thereby excused?”—the judges de- clared that “on the assumption that he labors under partial delusion only (whatever that may mean), and is not in other respects insane, he must be considered in the game situation as to responsibility as ifthe facts with respect to which the delusion exists were real. For ex- ample, if, under the influence of delusion, he supposes another man to be in the act of at- tempting to take his life, and he kills that man, as he supposes, in self-defence, he would be ex- empt from punishment. If his delusion was that the deceased had inflicted a serious injury to his character and fortune, and he killed him in revenge for such supposed injury, he would be liable to punishment.” Here is an unhesitating assumption that aman, having an insane de- lusion, has the power to think and act in regard to it reasonably; that, at the time of the offense, he ought to have and to exercise the knowledge and self-control which a sane man would have and exercise, were the facts with respect to which the delusion exists real; that he is, in fact, bound to be reasonable in his unreason, sane in his insanity. The judges thus actually bar the application of the right-and-wrong cri- terion of responsibility to a particular case, by authoritatively prejudging it; instead of leaving the question to the jury, they determine it be- forehand by assuming the possession of the re- quisite knowledge by the aceused person. One of them, however, Mr. Justice Maule, so far dis- sented as to maintain that the general test ot capacity to know right from: wrong in the ab- stract ought to be applied to this case as to other cages. But this is not all the uncertainty which ap- pears in these answers. In another part of them, it is in reference to the same sup- posed case, that “notwithstanding the party accused did the act complained of with a view, under the influence of insane delusion, of re- dressing or revenging some supposed grievance or injury, or of producing some public benefit, he is nevertheless punishable, if he knew at the time of committing such crime that he was act- ing contrary to the law, by which is meant the law of the land.” This answer really conflicts with a former answer; it is obvious that the knowledge of right and wrong is different from the knowledge of an act being contrary to the law of the land; and it is certain that an insane person may do an act which he knows to be con- trary to law, because, by reason of his insanity, he believes it to be right, because. under the in- fluence of insane delusion, he is a law unto him- self, and deems ft a duty to do it, perhaps “‘with a view of producing some public benefit.” The uprightness of English judges has happily been seldom called in question, but it may well be doubted whether the result of their solemn deliberations, as embodied In their answers to the questions put to them by the House of Lords, will commend their wisdom to the ap- probation of foreign nations and future ages. If it be true, as is sometimes said, that the ver- dict of foreign nations is an anticipation of the verdict of posterity, there are already suffi- ciently strong indications that their conclu- sions will be no honors to them in times to come. That they are unanimously con- demned by all physicians who have a practical knowledge of the insane, may not affect the confidence of those who accept them, seeing that judges and physicians take sant different standpoints; but when the judges of other countries condemn them with equal earnest- ness, it is impossible for the most confident to help feeling some hesitation. In the case of State vs. Jones, triedin the court of New Hamp- shire, America, Judge Ladd, after passing in review the answers of the English judges, thus speaks of the doctrine embodied in them: “The doctrine thus promulgated as law has found its way into the received as the text-booke, and has doubtless been I since that day. student of the iaw ever ‘Or being shocked by its Seas Taben auny It brat iy ‘man, confessed sane, accountable for the exercise of the same reason, Ju trolling mental power, tal health Ip in eltece anion jous ie without nt and con- fect men- ‘some the condition: when it is certainl the rule ie = a escapes, while the more insane is sometimes ; one man lavering under @ particular form of derangement 1s acquitted at one trial, while another having an exactly similar form of derange- ment is convicted at another trial. No one will be found to uphold this state of things | as satisfactory, although there is creat difference | of opinion as to the cause of the uncertaint. the lawyers asserting that it is owing to the fancifal theories of medical men who never fail to find insanity where they earnestly look for it, the latter protesting that it is owing to the unjust and absurd criterion of responsibility which is sanctioned by the law. Meanwhile, it is plain that, under the present system, the judge does actually withdraw from the con- sideration of the jury some of the essential facts, by laying down ‘authoritatively a rule of law which prejudges them; the medical men testify to facts of their observation in a matter in which they alone have adequate opportunities of ob- servation; the judge, instead of submittin facts to the jury for them to come to a verdict upon, repudiates them by the authority of a so- called rule of law, which is not rightly law, but is really false inference founded on insufficient observation. In America it would seem that matters have been little better than they are in this country. the practice of the courts, like that of the | British courts, haying been diverse and fluctuating. In many instances juries have been instructed, in accordance with English legal authorities, that, if the prisoner, at the | time of committing the act, knew the nature and quality of it, and that in doing it he was doing wrong, he must be held responsible, not- withstanding that on some subjects he m: have been insane; that, in order to exempt a person from punishment, irisanity must be so great in extent or degree as to destroy his | capaeity of distinguishing between right and wrong in regard to the particular act. But in | other instances the instructions of the jud have been different. In the case of Statey. Wier Grafton, 60, 1864, Chief Justice Bell charged the jury thus: “The evidence must © party at est satisfy the jury that the time ‘of committing ‘the ‘act was insane, and that the disease sof such sey that the person is incapable of distinguishing eon rizht an in that articular case, or of controlling the sudden impulse of is own disordered min. as the ame rule has been Jsid down by au eminent judge, a person, in order to be punishable by law, must have sufficient memor intellizence, reason and will to enable him to disti guish between right and wrong in regard to the partie Tact about to be done, to kuow and understand that it will be wrong, and that he will deserve punishment by | committing it; to which I add susficient mental power fo control the’ sudden jmpuisers ay his own disordered | mind: * ** “Thave’ iccustomied to rurard as the | distinguishing test of insanity the inability to control the actions af a man's mind. * * °*" "The power of the control of the thonchts beime lowt, will over the conduct may be equally under the influence of disease acts not aaa ra being, but under the blind influence of evil thouzlits Which he ean neither regulate nor control. It Wi haps, not without reason that in ancient’ times Insane were apoken of a8 po of an evil spirit, or possesred with the devil, so foreign are the impulses of that evil spirit to all the hatural promptings of the sane heart and mind, ‘the report of State v. Jones, pp. 376, 377. In the case of Stevens v. The State of Indiana, the instruction to the jury, that, if they believed the defendant knew the difference between right and wrong in respect to the act in question, if he was conscious that such act was one which he ought not to do, he was responsible— was held to be erroneous. It would appear, then, that the American courts, which, having inherited the common law of England, at first followed dociley in the wake of the English courts, are now exhibitin @ disposition to emancipate themselves from an authority which they perceive to be founded on defective and erroneous views of insanit and a desire to bring the law more into accor ance with the results of scientific observation The decisions of the court of New Hampshire in Boardman y. Woodman, State y. Jones, and State v. Dike, are especially worthy of attention for theirsearching discussion of the relations of insanity to jurisprudence, and for the de e abandonment of the right-and-wrong test of re- sponsibility. In the case of Slate y. Pike, Chief Justice Perley instructed the jury that they should return'a verdict of not guilty “if t killing was the offspring of mental di: the defendant; that neither delusion nor knowl- edge of right or wi nor design or cunning in planning and executing the killin. and in escaping or avoiding detection, nor :b lity to recognize acquaintance, or to labor or transact e affairs, is, as a matter of law, a test of mental disease; but that all sym toms and all tests of mental disease are purely matters of fact to be determined by the jury.” “+4 striking and conspicuous want of success,” said Judie Doe in the same mi rd the power of the lost, and the party mal * It wes fora long ti insane, if they knew an act to be wrong, c from doing it. But whether that suspici or not is a pure question of f: in other words, a medical suppoxition—in other words, a medi: Whether it originated in the medical or any ot m, or in the xeneral notions of mankind, is imm ter ‘It is as mediczl in its nature as the opposite theory. ‘The knowledze-test in all its forms, and the delusion-test, are medical theories introduced in imum: ture staces of ecience, in the dim Light of earlier times, and subsequ upon more extensive observations and more critical e: , repudiated b medical profession. tribunals have claimed these tests as imu if Jaw, and have fancied they were abunda: dicated by denunciation of medical theories—unconscious_ that this sygressive defence wag an irresietible assault on their own coseons * * * In this manner, opinions, medica: and pathological in their character, re- entirely to questions of fact, and full of errors, as al experts now testify, passed into books of Jaw, and acquired the force of judicial decisions. De- fective medical th mi cf purely hating. med cori ence. by _adheri: ical mistals orrected. "The jexal | principle, however much it may formerly have been gbscuzed’ by pathological darkness and confusion, 18 that a product of mental disease is not a contract, will fticult to in whether an individual hag a mental d , and whether an act was the product of that disease; but these difficulties arise from the nature of the facts to be investizated, and not from the law; they are practical difficulties to be solv bo the jury, and not lecal difficulties for the court.” ‘These American decisions are certainly an ad. vance on any judgment concerning insanity which has been given in this country: they put in a proper light the relations of medical obser- vation and law in questions of mental disease; and it cannot be doubted that future progress will be along the path which they have marked out. The question which will probably be sub- mitted to the jury will be substantially, Was the act the oftspring or product of mental disease ? —and it will be seen that to lay down any so- called test ot responsibility, founded on a sup- posed knowledye of right’ and wrong, is, as | Judge Ladd remarked in State y. Jones, **an in- terference with the province of the jury, and the enunciation of a proposition which, in its essence, is not law, and which could not in any view safely be given to the jury as arule for their guidence, because, foraught we can know, it may be false in fact.” Seeing, then, that, the unanimous testimony of medical men of countries who have been practically acquainted with insanity, it is declared positively that such @ proposition is false in fact, it is clear that the law, in enunclating it, is not only overstepping its rightful function, but actually perpetrating an injustice. It is simply doing in regard to insanity what it did formerly in regard to witchcraft —giving errone- ous opinions on matters of fact to the jury under the name of law, and with all the weight of judicial authority. In one of the latest trials for witchcraft in this country, Lord Hale, whose crude dicta concerning insanity were so long acted upon in our courts of justice, instructed the jury: “That there are such creatures as witches he made no doubt at all. For, first, the Scriptures had affirmed so much. Secondly, the wisdom of all nations had provided laws inst: such persons, which is an nt of their confidence of such a crime.” jury accord- ingly found a verdict of guilty; the judze, satis- fled with it, condemned the priscaers to death, and they were executed. It is one of the last executions for witchcraft in this country, for it occurred at a time—and this should never be forgotten—when the belief in witchcraft was condemned by the enlightened opinion of the country. As it was then with witchcraft, so it is now with insanity; the 2 jadge instruc at once ifwe suppose & of a case of mental te ails a can be no ¢rime nor ifthe accused was in a state of madness at the time of the act.” act done by @ person in a state of insanity can be punished as an offense.” These general en- actments, while wisely leaving each case to be decided on its merits, may clearly be construed, if they were not intended, to exempt from punishment the individual who, being partially insane, nevertheless commits a crime which is no way connected with his insanity: who, in fact, so far as can be judged, does it in t xactly the same mo- t ‘or an insane person is not exempt from the ordinary evil passions of human nature; he may do an act out of jeal- ousy, avarice, or revenge: it is right, then, when, so far as appears, the passion is not con- nected with his diseased ideas or feelin, and | he acts with crim intent, that he should eseape punishment for what he has done? This is really the important question which must contmue to puzzle courts of justice when a particular criterion of respopsibility is no | longer laid down; for if it be admitted ‘that an insane person who apparently does a criminal act sanely ought not to eseape punish- ment, the difficulty of deciding whether his dis- ease did or did not affect the act will remain. There will al and di n. The section of the latest German penal code is: “An act is not punishable when the pe at the time of doing it was ina state of uncon- sciousness or of disease of mind, by which a free determination of the will was excl Not eve: rder of mind is exempt; only | “ase as exclude: nation of the will. T ment of the mental faculties are be considered as the result of — dis- ease; and,secondly.whether and how far free-will is excluded by them. In the case of a partially insane person acting to all appearance from an ordinary criminal motive, the act must be weighed in relation to these two questions; and, are answered in the negative, he would arly be amenable to punishment. It is abundantly evident from this short re- view of the codes of other countries that noth— i can be said in justification of the super ious reverence with which English lawyers cling to their criterion of responsibility. it is hard to see why they should suffer a greater pang in giving up this formula than they did in giving up other formulas.which, having had their day and done much evil work, were abandoned. The “wild-beast theory,” once so sacred, has been relezited to the record of hu- to roses, notice, M' man mistakes; the theory of a knowledge of | Win right and wrong in the abstract which followed it was, in like manner, repudiated as men be- came better acquainted with the phenomena of al derangement; surely, then, the meta- : of right and ion to the particular offense, little or no favor out of England, and which is;condemned unanimously by all per- sons, in all countries, who have made insanity their stud decessors, those who apj des ministration of the law, which is the judge's function, nor is it their duty to decide upon what is necessary to the welfare of the state, that being the legislator's work; their concern is with the individual, not with the citizen. But they plainly have the right to declare that the nature of a crime involyes two elements: first, the knowledge of its being an act contrary to law; and, secondly, the will to do or to forbear doi it, and to point out that there are some insane Berend who, having the former, are de- prived by their disease of the latter; who may know an act to be unlawful but may be i pelled to do it by a conviction or an impulse which they have not the will or the power to resist. Recognizing the obvious difference be- tween him who eill not and him who cannot fulfill the claims of the la’ is their func- tion to point out the conditions of disease which constitute incapacity, and, when they find a false fact solemnl: nunciated as a rule of law, to bring forwardinto all the promineace they can the contradictory instances which their obzervation makes known to them. “That “annot be a fact in law which is not a fact science; that cannot be health in law which is disease in fact. And it is unfortunat. courts should maintain a contest with scienc and the laws of Nature upon a question of fact whi hin the proyince of science and out- * 2, Boardman ndice opini Thing & sinsle diseare, it is not thet that opinion should be a theory of ciaus of a former generali 50.) Window Flowers in Winte: From the Country Gentleman. When the days are shortening, and “the year trembles with decay, like an old man who leans upon his staff,” all lovers of flowers should have made preparations for them in the windowsfof their apartinents, where every one can enjoy the luxury of raising at least a few plants to sweeten and refine the home life, and to feed upon the carbonic acid gas of the air. There is nothing more attractive to the passer-by than plants and flowers in the casements; and when the gardens are covered with snow and frost, and the earth is held in the stern fetters of winter, there is no | occupation for the housewife more cheering than that of window gardening, ‘Some one has said that a man’s dignity is no more lowered by caring for flowers than it is by manifesting piety, for flowers are the favorites of the Creator of the world, and we offer acceptable worship to Him in caring for them. Oue of the oldest of religious customs was the beautiful practice of adorning the shrines of the temples with ilowers; and it is a hopeful national sign to find the cuiture of flowers so widely extended, and to see them so generally used in ornamenting the churches in winter, as well as in summer, all over the United ites. Warmth, moisture, fresh air and sunlight, are the chief essentials for ee ede fresh soil; no one can hope to make plants bud and flower in perfection unless the soil is replen- ished every autumn. If the pots or boxes are large, the earth can be carefully removed about the sides and taken out without greatly disturb- ing the fibrous roots. Then fresh soil can be added, and if it can be easily obtained from a neighboring florist, it is much better to pur- chase than to prepare it. Rut the woods offer an excellent compost to all who will seek it. Under the pine trees’ cast-off needles you will find a dark rich soil, which is most desirabie for re-potting roses, fuchsias, geranium, begonias, bouvardias, carnations, heliotropes and other nts. If it is a little sandy, so much the bet- but one-quarter part of thoroughly decayed stable manure will increase its fertilizing powers largely. If the pots are small, run aknite around the edges; turn the balls out into the left hand and tear off the matted roots and clinging soil. Fill up a pot one size larger with the fresh earth and lant, pressing the soil eed closely around the roots. Put at least an more of compost upon the top of the pot. Water it so that the lower roots will not be dry, piace out of the sun for two or three days, and soon the plant will show the benefit it has received from a change of pots and soil. ed and pinched no both. ‘The o12 bouvardias, begonias, vioiets, fuchsias. ter-flowering varieties— callas, caleeolarias, erarias, and cactuses, mingled with ivies and running vines of y ME. VON BRANDIS, MOD Pennsylvania ave.,over } Formerly with Lord '& Evening Dresses: | Closks, Dolmans asd Saits 2, perfect work, superior 1 suaranteed. be ADL ‘The largest and best assortment in the city. FUR TRIMMINGS in different widths, 7 Cite Trevise, Paris. 1107 F STREET, BETWEEN Uru AND 12rm, ‘Most respectfully snnounces to the Lailies that she haa FRENCH BONNETS, ogg Sttbcrep Pensoxarty Werte 1x Ecnore, ee a, rR, ai Tu STREFT Nonraweet, mn of BONNETS aud ROUND er 1K. old 4m ME. WASHING M FASH DRESSMARING AND 'T STORE, Suits, Cont « thade in supe. Bor style at ebort notion, Tremnen cu and basted, and a pertect fit cuaranteed. apa Ail kinds of COOK! FURNISHINGS of the RADIANT HOME HEAT! Ploseo call and examine our stort D® ir where it is location for the window garden is southeastern or eastern exposure, as the ing sun has always the most life-civing power, and will develop the most healthful Vegetation. mens, orange, he cin- lemon trees, carnations, tea salvias, geraniums of all kinds, heliot: t vy Eve * GOODS. wr, Ni Ik CO, St. Bridal ana, all mate at hoe morte tom Gm CLOAKS, DOLMANS, PALETOTS, JACKETS AND SUITS. CHILDREN'S AND MISSES CLOAKS. M. WILLIAN, 907 PENN J. P. 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