A letter to the Right Honourable Lord Ashley relative to the case Nottidge versus Ripley / by T.T. Wingett.

Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A letter to the Right Honourable Lord Ashley relative to the case Nottidge versus Ripley / by T.T. Wingett. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    and well remembering what had caused the former to fail, could not on this second occasion be brought to say a syllable indicative of his mental delusion. Now, cases of this kind are quoted in medical books to show the difficulty of proving insanity : but they show something more. For when the difficulty of eliciting a proof of disordered mind is so great, when the disorder is so limited, and so seldom evinced, what possible right can any one have to interfere with, or to imprison, any man so afflicted ? Assuredly no more right than to imprison a man for being short-sighted, or a little lame of one leg. Unless the man mentioned by Lord Erskine was dis- posed, in consequence of his belief in the real presence of the Saviour, to inflict injury on any one or on him- self, or unless it led him to neglect his affairs and his family, those who confined him were justly indicted for the false imprisonment, and ought to have been punished.” Page 407*—“ A gentleman, of considerable posses- sions became unaccountably and invincibly possessed with the idea that the Queen of England (Queen Charlotte) was in love with him, and had given him to understand the favorable nature of her sentiments towards him. Although conducting himself very well in most of the affairs of life, the frequent recurrence and assertion of this preposterous notion were con- sidered such convincing proofs of his being a mad- man, that his family applied for a Commission of Lunacy, in order that his affairs might be placed in safer hands. The Lord Chancellor of that time dined with the gen- tleman in question, with a party of friends; and both during and after the dinner, the lunatic gentleman was so polite, agreeable, and amusing, as to contribute in a very remarkable degree to the enjoyment of the day. At last, when the conversation had been continued long enough to afford a fair trial of the state of the gentle- man’s mind, the Lord Chancellor was so agreeably affected by what had passed, that he could not help expressing to the host the great gratification he had derived from his introduction to him ; and added, how