Is belief in spiritualism ever evidence of insanity per se? / by Matthew D. Field.

  • Field, Matthew D.
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Is belief in spiritualism ever evidence of insanity per se? / by Matthew D. Field. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    Ropriiitod from The Jouunal of Nekvous and Mental Disease, August, 1888. IS BELIEF IN SPIRITUALISM EVER EVIDENCE OF INSANITY PER SE \W MATTHEW D. FIELD, M.D. Read at the June Meeting of the Medico-Legal Society. Much interest has been recently shown by the public in this question. The developments that resulted in placing certain persons in the Tombs, and their indictment, have led people to ask what is the mental con- dition of one of their prominent believers, who had given a large amount of property to place the “ Science ” on a sure foundation. Is this gentleman capable of filling a position of trust, requiring skill and judgment ? Was his firm belief in the reality of the manifestations that he saw evidence, in itself, of mental degeneration, of defective judgment suffi- cient to indicate insanity ? A will contest is now going on in an adjoining State, where it is claimed that the testator was influenced by spirits, and acted in accordance with information that he received from the unseen world. Last year I was a witness in a case where the the testa- mentary capacity of a gentleman, who died leaving a large fortune, was attacked before the Supreme Court in this State. Besides other el/idences of insanity, it was shown, during the course of the trial, that this gentleman had for some years previous to the execution of the will been in the habit of receiving communications from the dead, and from the living whom he knew to be many miles distant at the time ; that he conferred and advised with these spirits upon matters of business ; and also that his actions were gov- erned, in certain instances, by these spirit communica- tions. It was also shown that this gentleman’s second wife was a spiritualist, and had written quite extensively upon that subject. The lawyers for the defence attempted to