2. _Absence of a motive for the committal of the deed._--The absence of an _apparent_ motive is no proof of an unsound mind; the moving principle may be _“the conscious impulse to the illegal gratification of a selfish desire_.” 3. _The presence or absence of a well-concerted plan of action is a diagnostic sign of little value._--Casper remarks that “only in one case can the examination of the systematic planning of the deed afford any information, and that is when these plans and preparations themselves evince the stamp of a confused intellect, and betray the hazy consciousness, the mental darkness, in which the culprit was involved.” 4. _A dominant delusion may be so concealed as to be for a time undiscoverable._--The case of the man who gave no indication of his madness till he was asked to sign the order for his release, when he signed _Christ_, is an example how carefully a delusion may be concealed even during a most careful examination. Questions directed to this point showed that he laboured under all the errors which such a delusion might suggest. 5. It may “easily be conceived that insane persons, whose unreason affects only one train of thought more or less restricted, yet labour in other respects under disorders of feeling which influence their conduct and their actions and behaviour without materially affecting their judgment: and that many of such deranged persons, who often conduct themselves tolerably well in a lunatic asylum, and while living among strangers with whom they have no relations, and against whom they have no prejudices or imaginary reason of complaint; subjected, besides, to the rules of the house and to an authority that nobody attempts to dispute; would, nevertheless, if restored to liberty and residing in the midst of their families, become insupportable, irritable at the slightest contradiction, abusive, impatient of the least remark on their conduct, and liable to be provoked by trifles to the most dangerous acts of violence. If, under such circumstances, a lunatic should commit any act of injury or serious damage to another, would it be just to punish him; because it cannot be made apparent that the action has any reference to, or connection with, the principal delusion which is known to cloud his judgment, it being apparent that his moral faculties have undergone a total morbid perversion?”