Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 10.djvu/184

 172 FEDERAL REPORTER. �once, that there is no insanity here ; that his reason h as drawn a conclusion from evidence. �The same man, on further investigation of the phenomena that staggered him, discovers that it is all an imposture and eurrenders his belief, �Another man, whom you know to be an aiiectionate father, insista that the Almighty bas appeared tohim and commanded him to sac- rifice his child. No reasoning has convinced him of his duty to do it, but the command is as real to him as my voice is now to you. No reasoning or remonstrance can shake his conviction or deter him from his purpose. This is an insane delusion, the coinage of a dis- eased brain, as seems to be generally supposed, which defies reason and ridicule, which palsies the reason, blindfolds the conscience, and throws into disorder all the springs of human action. �Eefore asking you to apply these considerations to the facts of thia case let me premise one or two things. �The question for you to determine is, what was the condition of the prisoner's mind at the time when this tragedy was enacted ? If he was sufSciently sane then to be responsible, it matters not what may have been his condition before or after. Still, evidence is properly admitted as to his previous and subsequent conditions, beeause it throws light, prospectively and retrospectively, upon his condition at the time. Inasmuch as these disorders are of graduai growth and indefinite continuance, if he is shown insane shortly before or after the commission of the crime, it is natural to conjecture, at least, that ' he was so at the time. But all the evidence must centeraround the time when the deed was donc. �You have heard a good deal of evidence respecting the peculiari- ties of the prisoner through a long period of time before thig occur- rence, and it is claimed that he was, during all that time, subject to delusions calculated to disturb his reason and throw it from its bal- ance. I only desire to say here that the only materiality of that evidence is in the probability it may afford of the defendant's liability to such disorder of the mind, and the corroboration it may yield to other evidence which may tend directly to show such disorder at the time of the commission of the crime. �A few words may assist you in applying to the evidence what I have thus stated. �You are to determine whether, at the time when the homicide was committed, the defendant was laboring under any insane delusion prompting and impelling him to the deed. ��� �