Supplement to the Croonian lectures : Medical testimony and evidence in cases of lunacy.

  • Mayo, Thomas, 1790-1871.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Supplement to the Croonian lectures : Medical testimony and evidence in cases of lunacy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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

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    human life, more disposed to start at the sight of bloodshed, might have broken a valuable piece of furniture.* No evidence is given in this case which warrants the hypothesis that the power of will was suspended in her. Supposing my interpretation correct in kind, I cannot reconcile the act with any hypothesis that gives it irresponsibility. The condition, under which she performed it, normally appertains to our pre- sent state of civilisation, in which opulence, and therefore luxurious living, far exceed moral cul- tivation. In the better classes, however, there is sufficient nurture of the mind to prevent such deplorable results of the wayward tendencies connected with the hysterical condition. But it is not thus with the lower orders. In this case, and in a similar one described in my work itself, the delinquents were young servant-maids, to whom I will concede the supposition that they were as well educated for purposes of self- restraint as the majority of their class. Thus * A case of a nursery-maid, similar in kind and event to this, is adduced in my work on Medical Testi- mony, etc., page 59.