relation of somnambulists to the criminal law. Something must be said with regard to their civil liability.

It is evident that the existence of somnambulism may be a good ground for avoiding contracts of service which have been entered into in ignorance of the existence of this tendency or propensity; in many cases it might utterly unsuit the individual for the duties he was engaged to perform; and it is equally certain that somnambulism or night terrors would not be a good ground for a divorce; under circumstances which it is possible to conceive, but which are very unlikely to arise in fact, somnambulism might become a ground which would warrant a wife separating herself from her husband, even although it had not gone to such an extent as to warrant medical men in signing certificates for his incarceration in a lunatic asylum. That it may pass into actual insanity is evidenced by the close connection which undoubtedly exists between cataleptic somnambulism or hysteria and epilepsy, which is, as it were, a sort of highway leading to mental disease.

The above propositions are true, whether the tendency to somnambulism existed previous to the entrance of the individual into the contract, or if it was developed in the individual subsequent to the formation of the contract. This will not be the case, however, where the somnambulism is so slight, or of such a nature as not in any way to interfere with the duties that the person was engaged to perform.

A somnambulist is of course liable in an action of trespass for any injury done to the property of others. This is equally true, both in law and in equity, of an insane person or an idiot as of a somnambulist. It must always be borne in mind, when looking at one side of a subject, that there is another side. And in this connection it may be remarked that laws were made for the sane as well as for the insane, and it would not be so if lunatics or somnambulists could commit trespass and do damage without making reparation.

CHAPTER XIV.

DRUNKENNESS AND ITS LEGAL RELATIONS.

DRUNKENNESS is the word in ordinary use for that state of body and mind which is produced by alcoholic liquors, and is used in ordinary every-day transactions as equivalent to poisoning by means of alcohol. Alcohol taken in large doses, and in a concentrated form, may cause death suddenly by shock; but the ordinary course of a case of poisoning by means of alcohol-and the same remark is true of ether and of chloroform-is marked by confusion of thought, delirious excitement, nausea, and vomiting, and ultimately induces a state of narcotism, and in fatal cases it produces a kind of apoplexy or causes death by paralysing the heart.

A more minute description than the above is, however, necessary of what is called drunkenness. If the quantity of alcoholic liquid consumed be very great, or if the strength of the liquid be considerable, the symptoms of poisoning may show themselves within two or three minutes after the dose has been taken. On the other hand, when the quantity or strength of the alcoholic liquid swallowed has been inconsiderable, the symptoms may not set in for more than an hour. The first effect is generally a diffused glow spreading from a central heat, accompanied by a comfortable feeling of self-satisfaction, which is reflected upon the world generally, and even to a sad man it begins to appear "not such a bad place after all." Thought is probably more rapid at this stage just as the pulse is; but rapidity of thought does not always conduce to clearness, and soon there is a slight confusion of thought; the hilarity continues; the spirit is buoyant; the individual is talkative.

"Fæcundi calicis quem non facere desertum."

But the words stumble. The speech from stammering becomes

indistinct; he feels giddiness; he sees double. There are abrupt, almost automatic, movements of the limbs. He makes up for the thickness of his speech by its loudness. He is sometimes ready to take offence at any act upon the part of a neighbour, and becomes quarrelsome. Some men, however, become still more friendly; many men become amorous. The "softer flame" spoken of by Burns seems to burn the brighter for alcohol. There is now a thorough want of concatenation of the impressions conveyed by different nerves. He sees his glass or bottle and he grasps at it; but he misses it, and possibly stumbles and falls. At length the patient loses the power of speech and the power of voluntary motion. Insensibility, a sort of hideous sleep, comes on. The countenance is bloated and suffused, the eye is injected, the pupil dilated and fixed, the lips livid, and the breathing stertorous. A man may sleep off his drunkenness, or he may reject, by vomiting, part of the poison before it is taken into his system. In cases where death ensues its approach is indicated by pallor of the face, cold perspiration, a quick and feeble pulse, and total muscular relaxation.

In this place, however, we have only to do with the immediate effects of poisoning by small doses of alcoholic liquids, and to consider in what way and to what degree the intellectual and moral nature of a man may be influenced by an abusive use of intoxicating drinks.

"In order to spend on the one side," says Goethe, “nature is forced to economise on the other side." This is certainly one of the most universal laws which has been promulgated. We find it in the physical world, and where we want motion, as in the steam engine, we have to give up heat; where we desire galvanism we have to sacrifice the chemical potentiality of certain agents, but we find the same law in animal economy. We use the day for labour and sacrifice the night to sleep. To some minds it is sad to think that an extra exertion requires extra food, but it is true. The law is the same in time as in space. If by means of stimulants we have increased activity just now, nature economises our strength by increased prostration afterwards. Some philosophers have regarded all pleasure as due to increased activity, and all pain as due to diminution of activity. So when we spend our pleasure to-night, when we have increased satisfaction and more intense vitality just now, we must expect to be compelled by nature to economise our pleasure or suffer pain to-morrow. What we know as depression, headache,

thirst, and the other symptoms of a return to sobriety, are the coins of pain we must pay for our pleasure. We cannot both spend and have. If we enjoy the dissipation of a fortune to-day, we must be content to suffer poverty to-morrow. There would, however, be very little harm if we could always make up for the backslidings of nature in us. If by more sleep we could pay off the account of more than ordinary tiredness, a balance of accounts would always be easy; but it is not so. The pain which follows the indulgence of physical pleasure is pain, and men have a desire to be free from pain. Sometimes this desire is so strong that they will be free at any hazard. The wise man knows when it is well to suffer. The man who is nothing of an ascetic is a fool. Experience teaches fools, however, as well as wise men; and men who have suffered the pain of the uphill clamber towards sobriety have discovered that the poison which gave the pleasure overnight can give it again to-day. So the account increases. But there is more-there is the tear and wear of increased activity. Drunkenness which has become habitual is accompanied by a loss of tone in character, which is the bloom of virtue; there is a blunting of the moral perceptions; there is a decreased sympathy with what is good and excellent; an increased selfish craving for what is unworthy and debasing. Not only are moral perceptions blunted, but the power of intellectual discrimination is much impaired. Objectless activity, such as is produced by physical stimulation, is worthless; and what is worthless in the human economy soon becomes a positive evil. The force which causes intellectual activity should be a mental, not a physical one; and under this influence the impairment of the faculties is almost certain. The habitual drunkard's ideas become more spontaneous, less under the power of control, and more fancifully arranged by the associative principle of human thought. Any exertion which requires continuous mental effort soon becomes impossible to the inebriate, and the real healthy power of concentration is utterly lost.

One knows how we make habits in clay and how they turn to iron; how, if we are not careful of each individual present, the past will be a great power in our life, compelling us to do evil, even against our will. Habitual drunkenness leads almost directly to delirium tremens or mania a potu. It may result from a single excess or from a series of excesses; and it may occur in those who have not, as well as in those who have acquired habits of intemper

ance. It often occurs after an abstinence in those who have been in the habit of indulging largely in the use of spirituous liquors. An exhausting disease or a surgical injury after a long course of intemperance has been known to lead immediately to an attack of delirium tremens.

There is not much difficulty in distinguishing the delirium of drunkards from ordinary delirium. The previous history of the case is generally sufficient of itself to enable a medical man to decide the question; but there are many characteristic symptoms which would facilitate a decision even if the past history was unknown.

An individual suffering from delirium tremens is sleepless, restless, timid, suspicious, and cunning. He is subject to illusions of the senses, and those in most cases are productive of fear. Most of his illusions are painful, hideous, or disgusting. The individual not unfrequently believes himself the subject of persecution. If he hears voices they are threatening, if he sees visions they are loathsome. In its inception the disease is marked by slight tremor of the hands, and in so far as these organs are concerned, by an uncertainty of muscular action. The appetite is almost always impaired; the skin is pale, cold, and clammy; the tongue moist, white, and tremulous, and the pulse small and weak; the delirium which supervenes is not constant. It is frequently found to come on at night. After a time, however, there are no remissions in the delirium, which may last for three or four days. Recovery, when it takes place, comes after sleep, which is at first uneasy, and only enjoyed in snatches, but at length becomes quiet and refreshing. When ordinary sleep does not come a sounder sleep falls upon the sufferer; there is no more troubling, the weary one is at rest.

It has been remarked that the delirium of this disease bears a strong resemblance to dreaming. It is as if the patient's dreams had acquired a persistent existence independently of sleep. Every one is familiar with those dreams which are quests,-dreams in which the sleeper is seeking for something that is lost,-always seeking, seeking, and yet unable to say what it is that is sought; or dreams in which there is some duty to be performed,-some act which is absolutely incumbent to be done. Those are tormenting dreams; they harass the spirit just as a waking memory of some other lost memory does. In delirium tremens many of the impressions are of a nature analogous to these dreams. The patient is anxious.