With such defects in the provisions of the law, it is no wonder that the community is occasionally shocked with outrageous, even fatal acts by insane persons, who through neglect have been permitted to go at large. Indeed, in some cases there has been no apprehension of danger up to the time of the commission of such acts; and yet if these cases had been submitted to the examination of those who have knowledge and skill on the subject of insanity, the danger would, generally, at least, have been foreseen, and the acts would therefore have been prevented. To secure such an examination a standing commission of lunacy should be appointed, composed of physicians who are properly qualified to decide the important questions which would come before them. Every case of suspected insanity should be subjected to their examination, and it should be their duty to prescribe what measures shall be adopted in regard to each case. Such a commission would not only prevent the peace and safety of the community in many cases from being violated, and save many valuable lives, but it would also secure a recovery in many cases of insanity in which now neglect renders such a result impossible. Many other points in regard to the legal relations of insanity might be noticed with profit and interest to the general reader, but this chapter is already sufficiently long. In conclusion I cannot but express the hope that our lawyers and judges will give more attention to this part of medical jurisprudence; and that the abuses which exist may be speedily removed, so that the pretender to insanity may be sure to be detected and punished, and the truly insane may as surely be secured in their rights. FOOTNOTES: [40] Annual Report of the McLean Asylum, 1843. [41] A Discourse on the Influence of Diseases on the Intellectual and Moral Powers, by Joseph M. Smith, M. D., Professor of the Theory and Practice of Physic, and Clinical Medicine. [42] The following very interesting account of this experiment is taken from an article on the treatment of lunatics, in the London Quarterly.