6. _Insanity with Lucid Intervals._--Haslam, Ray, and others appear to deny the possibility of lucid intervals; but M. Esquirol, on the other hand, fully recognises the existence of this form of insanity. In a legal sense, a temporary cessation of the insanity constitutes a lucid interval, but the cessation must be complete, and not merely a remission of the symptoms. The interval must be of some duration; and when continuous insanity has been proved, the onus of proving a lucid interval in civil cases rests with the party trying to support the validity of a deed executed during the alleged interval. “If you can establish,” says Sir W. Wynne, “that the party afflicted habitually by a malady of the mind has intermissions, and if there was an intermission of the disorder at the time of the act, that being proved is sufficient, and the general habitual insanity will not affect it, but the effect of it is this--it inverts the order of proof and presumption; for, until proof of habitual insanity, the presumption is that the party agent, like all human creatures, was rational; but when an habitual insanity in the mind of the person who does the act is established, then the party who would take advantage of the fact of an interval of reason must prove it.” In civil cases the law recognises the validity of wills made during lucid intervals, and has even taken the reasonableness of a will as a proof of a lucid interval. 7. Have measures been taken by the culprit to escape punishment? The classification of insanity adopted here is that given by Ray, and is sufficient for all practical purposes: