HYPOTHETICAL QUESTION PROPOUNDED BY THE DEFENSE Assuming the following circumstances to have been established by the evidence in this case:-- That the defendant was on the 5th of December, 1897, born in the City of New York; that his father was Charles A. Gianini, who also was born in said city, and the paternal grandfather of the defendant was born in the said city and the paternal great-grandfather of the defendant was born on the south slope of the Alps in the republic of Switzerland. The defendant's mother was born in the City of New York, her maiden name being Sara Cecelia McVey. That the defendant's mother was married to his father when she was about twenty years of age; that prior or previous to the said marriage she was bright, vivacious, stylish, and accomplished in music; that shortly after her marriage she began to become untidy in her appearance, morose, depressed, and indifferent. At the time of the birth of the first child (Charles), to-wit, on the 13th day of November, 1891, about eleven months after her marriage, she was suffering from melancholia as the evidence in this case discloses. Assuming that the child, Charles, lived to be but seven years of age and during his lifetime did not learn to speak, but merely made guttural sounds; that he did not walk, but moved about when seated on the floor, pushing himself sidewise, and finally shortly before his death tottered about. His death occurred when he was about seven years old. That he ate gluttonously and his death was due to asphyxiation, choking due to taking in trachea foreign matter while vomiting contents of an overloaded stomach. Assuming that after the birth of Charles his mother's melancholia continued, she became indifferent to her child, took no care of him, and said that while she wanted to die, she was going to live forever; that she also said she thought that her face was black and that she was a negress, that she would not go into the street because she was black. Assuming, too, that she became addicted to the use of liquor, first lager beer and subsequently whisky and brandy; that she made pledges, administered by priests, only to be broken. That at times she would brighten up, and during one of these periods, namely, July 12, 1894, a second child, called Catherine, was born, which child still lives.