Case 154. A rich man of twenty-six had lived for a year with a girl with whom he was very much in love. He cohabited infrequently, and was never perverse.
Twice during the year, after excessive indulgence in alcohol, he had had epileptic attacks. One evening after dinner, where he had taken much wine, he hurried to the house of his mistress, and into her sleeping-apartment, although the servant told him she was not at home. From there he hastened into a room where a boy of fourteen was sleeping, and began to violate him. At the cry of the child, whose prepuce and hand he had injured, the servant hurried to them. He left the boy and attacked the maid; after that he went to bed and slept twelve hours. When he awoke, he had an indistinct remembrance of intoxication and coitus. Thereafter there were repeated epileptic attacks. (Tarnowsky, op. cit., p. 52.)
Case 155. X., of high social position, led a dissolute life for some time, and had epileptic attacks. He became engaged. On his wedding-day, shortly before the ceremony, he appeared, on his brother’s arm, before the assembled guests. When he came before his bride, he exposed his genitals and began to masturbate. He was at once taken to an expert in mental disease. On the way he constantly masturbated, and for some days was actuated by this impulse, which gradually decreased in intensity. After this paroxysm the patient had only a confused memory of the events, and could give no explanation of his acts. (Tarnowsky, op. cit., p. 53.)
Case 156. Z., aged 27; very bad heredity; epileptic. He violated a girl of eleven, and then killed her. He lied about the deed. Absence of memory, i.e., mental confusion at the time of the crime, was not proved. (Pugliese, Arch. di Psich., viii, p. 622.)
Case 157. V., aged 60, physician, violated children. Sentenced to imprisonment for two years. Dr. Marandon later proved the existence of epileptoid attacks of apprehensiveness, dementia, erotic and hypochondriacal delusions, and occasional attacks of fear. (Lacassagne, Lyon. méd., 1887, No. 51.)
Case 158. On August 4, 1878, H., aged 15, was picking gooseberries with several little girls and boys as her companions. Suddenly she threw L., aged 10, to the ground and exposed her, and ordered A., aged 8, and O., aged 5, to bring about conjunctio membrorum with the girl; and they obeyed.
H. had a good character. For five years she had been subject to irritability, headache, vertigo, and epileptic attacks. Her mental and physical development had been arrested. She had not menstruated, but she manifested menstrual molimena. Her mother is suspected to be epileptic. For three months H., after seizures, had frequently done strange things, and afterward had no memory of them.
H. seems to have been deflowered. Mental defect is not apparent. She said she had no memory of the act of which she was accused. According to her mother’s testimony, she had an epileptic attack on the morning of August 4th, and she had been, on that account, told by her mother not to leave the house. (Pürkauer, Friedreich’s Blätter f. ger. Med., 1879.)
Case 159. Immoral Acts of an Epileptic in States of Abnormal Unconsciousness.—T., revenue-collector; aged 52; married. He is accused of having practiced immorality with boys for about seventeen years, by practicing masturbation on them, and by inducing them to carry out the act on himself. The accused, a respected officer, is overcome by the terrible crime attributed to him, and declares that he knows nothing of the deeds of which he is accused. His mental integrity is questionable. His family physician, who has known him twenty years, emphasizes his peculiar, retiring disposition and his mercurial moods. His wife asserts that T. once tried to throw her in the water, and that he sometimes had outbreaks in which he tore off his clothing, and tried to throw himself out of windows. T. knew nothing of these attacks. Other witnesses testified to strange changes of mood and peculiarities of character. A physician reports the observation of occasional attacks of vertigo and convulsions in him.
T.’s grandmother was insane; his father was affected with chronic alcoholism, and of late years had had epileptiform attacks. The father’s brother was insane, and had killed a relative while in a delirious state. Another uncle of T. had killed himself. Of T.’s three children, one was weak-minded, another cross-eyed, and the third was subject to convulsions. The accused asserted that he had occasional attacks in which consciousness was so reduced that he did not know what he was about. These attacks were ushered in by an aura-like pain in the back of his neck. He was then impelled to go out in the air. He did not know where he went. His wife had perfectly satisfied him sexually. For eighteen years he had had chronic eczema (actual) of the scrotum, which had often caused him to have extraordinary sexual excitement. The opinions of the six experts were contradictory (sane,—attacks of larvated epilepsy); the jury disagreed, so that he was dismissed. Dr. Legrand du Saulle, who was called as an expert witness, found that, until his twenty-second year, T. had urinated in bed from ten to eighteen times a year. After that time the enuresis nocturna had ceased; but, from that time, states of mental confusion, lasting from an hour to a day, had occurred occasionally, and they left the patient without any memory of them. Soon again T. was arrested for public immorality, and sentenced to imprisonment for fifteen months. In prison he grew sick, and apparently much weaker mentally. For this reason he was pardoned, but the mental weakness increased. T. was noticed to have repeated epileptoid convulsions (tonic convulsion with tremor and loss of consciousness). (Auzouy, Annal. méd. psychol., 1874, Nov.; Legrand du Saulle, “Étude méd. légale,” etc., p. 99.)