Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/402

 388 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

of " Murder ! " and "Assassin ! " he threw away his knife, ran from his pursuers, fell an instant before an obstacle, rose, entered the town, went to his home, and there in the greatest confusion undressed and went to bed.

Being awakened from a deep sleep he replied with strong protestations and violent despair.

Henry was not arrested until the next day. He manifested the greatest astonishment and complete forgetfulness of all that had transpired since he left the last alehouse.

He was condemned to ten years of solitary confinement.

In all these observations we notice the presence of somnam- bulistic elements: unconsciousness, amnesia — activity relatively complex joined to a normal appearance. If we closely examine the observations, we find the indication of certain anomalies of conduct and character having existed during the somnambulistic state. Doubtless the subject would reveal disorders more marked still if he could be examined closely by a competent person. Simple somnambulism itself resembles very imperfectly an individual awake and of sound mind ; what characterizes it especially is immobility of countenance, fixed look, haggard and dim eyes. Similar peculiarities are found among hypnotized somnambulists and probably in all forms of somnambulism. Those who have had occasion to observe subjects in a state of hypnotic somnambulism must have been struck by the transfor- mation which the countenance undergoes, the general surprise, at the moment of passing from the hypnotic state to a waking con- dition.

It is not less true that the appearance of the somnambulist is that of a man awake and conscious. But in legal medicine, the expert not being present at the moment of the crime, we must be satisfied with the deposition of witnesses usually not at all familiar with such delicate observations. It is neces- sary to be certain ; for these normal appearances by no means exclude unconsciousness, forgetfulness, and consequent irre- sponsibility. A man who acts reasonably does not necessarily act rationally or consciously : he may be in a state of somnam- bulism.