Case CLXXIL

Amongst the theological students in the University of Leipsio, was one named Rau, who became deeply interested in the study of the Apocalypse of St. John. The perusal of these revelations so inflamed his mind that he entertained the idea of reproducing these celestial visions. He soon believed himself inspired, and thought he had communications with God. His duties were neglected; he became passionate and morose. He considered himself superior to the rest of mankind. Full of this idea, he took to preaching, and expressed himself in the following terms: "He who does not believe in sorcerers, does not believe in the devil; he who does not believe in the devil, does not believe in God; he who does not believe in God, shall be damned."

On the 4th of August, 1799, his neighbors hearing a noise, broke into his apartment, where they found his father in a pool of blood, pierced with fifteen wounds, and with a large gash in his throat. Rau was striding up and down the room, now accusing himself of having committed this horrible crime, and then pretending that his father was an old Jew, who had been killed by a Turk.

During his trial, he said he had never been baptized; that the man whom he had killed was not his father, since he did not resemble him. His conduct was unseemly and rude, and he evinced the greatest contempt for all mankind. During a violent storm he was heard to exclaim: " Here comes the savage prince ! I know him well, for I have often heard him."

Here is a case, in which the hallucinated person commits a murder under the influence of an illusion, two phenomena which are often found in combination.*

Resolutions and actions into which individuals are drawn by hallucinations, are sometimes produced suddenly. Darkness, night, and particularly sleep, have frequently appeared to favor these instantaneous paroxysms. In some circumstances, the crime has been committed without any previous delirium.

Case CLXXIIL

On the 1st of January, 1848, a young man requested a night's lodging in an inn, at Bully, near Lyons, kept by a man of the name of Blanc. Having supped, and drank a glass of wine, offered to him free of charge by his host, he was ushered to the room which had been prepared for him. There was nothing in the manner of the individual to attract particular attention, or in his conduct to betray a sinister preoccupation.

Two hours afterwards, about ten at night, the landlord heard a noise which proceeded from the stranger's room. He took a light in order to ascertain the cause. Scarcely had he entered the room, than the traveller, without speaking a word, sprang on him and struck him with the blade of a pair of tailors' shears. The cries of the innkeeper brought assistance, and the murderer was seized and disarmed. At length, the gendarmes arrived, and secured the desperate fellow. Happily, the weapon which he used had only made slight wounds.

On being interrogated as to the motives of his crime, he replied: "I found that a plot had been laid in the house for my assassination, and I took measures to sell my life dearly.*'

The name of the man was Alphonse Terry, a journeyman tailor, who was on his way to Bois d'Oingt (Rhone) in search of work; his age was twenty-eight.

Transferred to the prison of the Palais de Justice in Lyons, he was entered on the jailer's books, and impeached for cutting and slaying. During his journey and his subsequent detention in prison, he was perfectly calm; nor did he betray, in his conversation with his jailer and companions, the least symptom of dementia; on the contrary, he exhibited great clearness of intellect. On the 5th of January, he was brought before a magistrate. We think it right to give his different replies to the interrogatories: -

* Magazin Psychologique, vol. viii., communicated by Professor Gruner, of the University of Jena.

D. "Why did you ill-treat the master of the inn at Bully?"

R. "Whilst I was at supper, the innkeeper took a large knife and passed into an alcove belonging to the tavern. On coming out, he said: 'There is one disposed of!' Another man entered a second alcove at the foot of the staircase, whom he followed, and also killed, saying the same words. He then offered me a glass of red wine, which I accepted. There were women present whom he induced to drink white wine. I then went to bed. From my room, which was over the tavern, I heard a plot made to assassinate me. I then resolved 'to sell my life dearly. I placed myself near to the door, with my scissors in my hand, and when he entered my room I defended myself."

D. " In what manner and by what words did you comprehend that you were to be assassinated?"

R. " They knew that I had seen them murder the two other travellers, and I heard them consult together; the one said: 'He saw us kill them.' The other replied: ' He saw nothing; let us leave him alone.' The first continued: 'I tell you that he did see it, and we must assassinate him; we shall be safer.' The first then said: 'Go up.' The other replied: 'No; go you up.

On the day following, two physicians, Messrs. Ghapeau and Tavernier, were commissioned by the magistrate to report as to the mental condition of the criminal.

In all the interrogatories to which he was subjected, this man evinced good sense and judgment. He again narrated all he had seen, heard, and felt in the inn at Bully. His recital was that of a man fully convinced and free from passion, and who congratulated himself on having escaped a great danger.

The experienced physicians to whom the examination of Alphonso Terry was confided, gave in their report, which was forwarded to the authorities. Whatever may have been the result and issue of the trial, we cannot but shudder at the frightful position of the accused, and of the impossibility of legally justifying him, had he by chance had any cause of dislike to the in keeper, any dispute with him relative to the price of his repast, or, finally, had it been possible to believe in any intention of his to commit robbery.

The curious account which Brillat Savarin has given, in his Physiologie du Gout, incontestably proves that nocturnal hallucination may be the occasion of a crime. The assassination of the woman Schon, which we have elsewhere related, is a fresh proof of it.

It is, then, with much reason that Marc speaks of the state of sleeping as demanding especial attention in the medico-legal examination of insanity. In fact, in the greater number of maniacs, sleep is disturbed and agitated by visions, great panic, groanings, and vociferations. Even with those monomaniacs who are governed by gay and exciting ideas, sleep is restless and difficult to obtain, because they are a prey to hallucinations, which in general are more distinct and frequent in the night than during the day, and because, in the darkness and silence of night, their fantastic imaginations yield more readily to those conceptions to which their delirium gives birth.

The suddenness of hallucinations is sufficiently established by the fact which we have just related; the annals of science contain many other examples. When they give rise only to extravagant actions, they attract but little attention; they pass unnoticed, or are concealed in private asylums. But when a crime is the consequence, it behoves us not to decide hastily; every particular, which can throw light on the subject, should be carefully collected. This species of hallucinations resembles homicidal monomania, which appears suddenly, without being announced by any prior derangement of mind. A knowledge of antecedents can often point out the track of madness. When extravagances, whimsicalities, and eccentricities have already intimated a defective intellect, suspicion becomes more conclusive, if, at some former period, a strange or unaccountable action is discovered to have taken place. An inquiry as to inherited disease is, under such circumstances, very useful. The motives for actions, and the replies of the individual accused, should undergo severe scrutiny. When he answers that he obeyed a voice, was irritated by insults, or desired to be revenged for persecutions heaped upon him; when it is ascertained if his victim were unknown to, or on good terms with him, or that no sort of connection can be discovered between them, the presumptions are still more important. Nor must written correspondence be neglected, which often throws great light on an action apparently incomprehensible.

A single hallucination, which has appeared suddenly, exhibits symptoms evident to the experienced observer. There is something in the words, gestures, and actions - brief, abrupt, and unusual, which proves that the individual is not in a normal condition. There will be a derangement of almost all the functions. These collective facts evince the difficulty of feigning hallucinations.

If any doubt, however, should exist, solitary confinement must be practised, the result of which, most usually, is that evident symptoms of insanity exhibiting themselves sooner or later, all uncertainty is dispelled.

Hallucinations not only induce suicide and murder, but they may also lead to theft and incendiarism.