; while Y seems to have been launched upon his litigious career by
his dismissal from the Navy. It is therefore but fair to assume that in
both instances the disease has existed for a great number of years.
Nevertheless, it was only when these individuals faced the bar as
defendants in criminal suits that the disease was recognized in either
case. One may readily see, therefore, how easily mental disease may
remain undetected, especially if one neglects to take an inventory of
the individual's past life. I have already alluded to the difficulty
frequently experienced in having evidence of this nature accepted in a
court of law, and here, it seems to me, is room for a good deal of
reform in procedure. Thus far society's side of this problem has been
chiefly emphasized; but what about these unfortunate derelicts, X----
and Y? Both of them are at present confined in the criminal department
of the Government Hospital for the Insane with criminal charges pending
against them. Assuming that our contentions with respect to their mental
status are correct, what possible justification is there to hold them
responsible before the law for their acts? Nevertheless, the same sort
of procedure is constantly taking place; individuals are being sent
daily to hospitals for the insane, presumably for the purpose of giving
them the best possible chance for recovery, the best modes of treatment,
while at the same time the law persists in carrying them as individuals
charged with crime, thus throwing many obstacles in the way of proper
care and treatment. With many of these individuals the mere fact that
there is still a criminal charge pending against them seems to act in a
deleterious manner upon their mentality, while in the great majority of
instances, owing to the fact that they must be carried as criminals,
unusual precautions have to be resorted to both in their confinement
and in the matter of various privileges, thereby vitiating in a great
measure all attempts at treatment.

These are some of the problems which present themselves from a study of
life histories such as are here reported, a better mutual understanding
concerning which between the lawyer and the physician would
unquestionably tend to a more enlightened administration of the law.

REFERENCES

[1] MAUDSLEY: "Responsibility in Mental Disease."

[2] KRAEPELIN, E.: "Psychiatrie." Achte Auflage. Leipzig, 1910. Bd. 1.

[3] TANZI: "Mental Disease."

[4] BISCHOFF: "Le