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The Green Bag.

animals, and birds were selected for his opera tions. "The very sight of blood, as we have seen, had a strange effect on this man, and worked a won derful transformation. His countenance assumed a pallid hue, he became nervous and restless and, unless he was where he could be watched, he, so he stated, lost control of himself, and indulged in the proclivities for which he was notorious. "If so situated that he could not indulge his evil propensities, he was a quiet and useful man, but he could never be trusted. He had a fair education, and enjoyed reading newspapers, let ters, etc., sent to him. "It is very doubtful if he entertained much affection for anyone. He seemed to like his stepmother better than anyone else, but even she, who had been a mother to him since early boyhood, he, ac cording to his own con fession, planned to out rage." A summary of the American decisions on the subject of this preceding paper may be of use to our DR. JOHN readers. The dicta of the English judges in Reg. î'. Macnaghten were at first followed in some of the States, notably Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Michigan, Alabama and Ohio. They were, however, soon repudiated in the following cases: State z>. Pike, per ChiefJustice Doe, 49 N. H. 399, 50 N. H. 369; Kried v. Com., 5 Bush (Ky.), 362; Smith î'. Com., i Duv. (Ky. ) 224; Oljarnette v. Com., 75 Va. 576; Cunningham v. State, 56 Miss. 269; State r. Johnson, 40 Conn. 136; State v. McWhorter, 46 Iowa, 88; Hopp z People, 31 Ill. 385; Bradley v. State, 31 Ind. 492; Harris v. State, 18

Texas Ct. of App. 87; Coyle v. Com., 100 Pa. 573; Roberts v. State, 3 Ga. 310; Com. i1. Rogers, 7 Mctc. (Mass.) 500; People v. Daly, 7 Med. Leg. Jour.; and above all, Parsons r. The State, per Somerville, J. (Ala.), (ib.). Moral insanity, as recognized by the American courts, appears to mean disease of the brain affecting the moral faculties, and so impairing the vo lition as to prevent an intelligent dis crimination between right and wrong. Compare Com. r. Moster, 4 Pa. St. 266, per Gibson, C. J; Forman's will, 54 Bar, 274; Boswell i1. Ala bama State, 63 Ala. 307; St. Louis, etc., Insurance Co. v. Graus, 6 Bush, 268; Anderson z State, 43 Conn. 5 15. CRIMINAL LUNATICS We shall in this paper complete our account of the rela tions of lunacy to the CONOLLY. English criminal law by a sketch of the provision made in England for the custody of criminal lunatics, and of some of the most notorious specimens of this class. It should be observed at the outset that the term "criminal lunatic" is used to in clude classes of persons very different from one another. It is now defined in the Crimi nal Lunatics Act, 1884, as including ( i) any person for whose safe custody during Her Majesty's pleasure, Her Majesty or the Admiralty is authorized to give order, and (2) any prisoner whom a secretary of state or the Admiralty has, in pursuance of any