tion in which perfect narcotism is produced is, in reference to the present question, of considerable importance; for, if the power of resistance is then lost, so also is the consciousness of a real motive for it. To be more explicit, if an outrage be perpetrated upon a woman lying wholly helpless and unconscious, she cannot be aware of the liberties which are being taken with her person, and will not, therefore, make any opposition to them. She cannot, moreover, afterwards describe, with elaborate detail, the manner and particulars of the assault, and yet have been incapable of withdrawing from or repelling it. If her muscles and voice have been paralyzed, so also has her outward consciousness.

The recollection of what has passed during this stage of etherization is wholly confined to the inward mental perceptions, to dreams which have all vividness of real occurrences. In the language of Dr. Forbes, "the old story of the magician in the Arabian tales seems more than realized; the ether being like the tub of water, one moment's dip of the head into it produced a life-long vision in the dreamer's mind." It is possible that these dreams may be so vividly impressed upon the mind that they may have afterwards to the patient all the force of real occurrences, and that he may refuse to believe that they have been merely the disordered perceptions of his own brain. In general, these dreams being of a trivial or of a pleasing character, it is not surprising that the patient should acquiesce in the belief of their unreal nature, but the case is very readily conceivable in which the hallucination may have been so distinct, and, at the same time, of so repulsive a character, as to leave an indelible impression upon the mind, and a conviction of its reality. Authentic published evidence of this fact is indeed wanting, and we purposely forbear, for reasons which cannot fail to be apparent to our readers, to refer to that which was said to have been offered in the recent trial, as well as to that which we possess from private sources.

The following cautious remarks of M. Bayard are not without significance; "If," he says, "in some cases, individuals have rendered an exact report of what has passed around them, or of the liberties which have been taken with them while under the influence of ether and chloroform, it must not be forgotten that very frequently they have dreams, hallucinations, and illusions which they relate with a conviction of their actual reality. Experts should therefore receive with extreme circumspection declarations made before them under these circumstances, and both in their written reports and verbal depositions, should endeavor to enlighten magistrates and jury upon

the relative value and credibility of such revelations."58 It appears to us, from what has now been stated, that the following positions may be assumed as correct:

1st. That the consciousness or perception of external objects and impressions is impaired in the early, and lost in the final, stage of etherization.

2d. That during the time the mind remains susceptible to external impressions at all, these reach it in a feeble or perverted manner.

3d. That the emotions, and especially those of an erotic character, are excited by the inhalation of ether.

4th. That voluntary muscular movement is not paralyzed until the state of perfect narcotism is produced, at which time, however, all outward consciousness is extinct.

5th. That the memory of what has passed during the state of etherization is either of events wholly unreal, or of real occurrences perverted from their actual nature.

6th. That there is reason to believe that the impressions left by the dreams occasioned by ether may remain permanently fixed in the memory, with all the vividness of real events.59

A case closely resembling that of Dr. B., occurred at Montreal in 1858.60 A dentist was indicted for attempting to commit a rape upon one of his patients, under the influence of chloroform. At the trial, a witness testified that his wife was under the strongest impression that she had been violated by the prisoner while under the influence of chloroform; yet her husband was present during the whole time she was unconscious. The verdict of the jury was "guilty of an attempt to commit a rape, with a recommendation to mercy.

9961

Appréciation Médico-légale de l'Action de l'Ether et du Chloroforme. Ann. d'Hygiène, XIII., 201.

59 There has been much evidence published, given at meetings of the dentists in New York and Baltimore, which fully confirms what has been now stated, and places the whole of the positions assumed by us beyond the possibility of a doubt as to their accuracy. We have only to add that the dentist, Dr. B., was found guilty by the jury, and sentenced by the judge to four years and six months imprisonment. We sincerely believe that a great wrong may here have been inflicted upon an innocent man, which can only be compensated by the probability that the fallible nature of the evidence upon which he was

convicted will hereafter render it difficult to sustain an accusation upon similar proof. To complete this history, it may be added that Dr. B. subsequently received a pardon from the Executive of the state, in consequence of the large mass of testimony presented by physicians and dentists, going to prove the entire possibility that the whole accusation grew out of a hallucination such as ether is competent to produce.

60 Boston Med. and Surg. Journ., Nov. 1858, p. 287.

The views expressed in previous editions with reference to the very dangerous character of the precedent established by the decision in this case have been generally indorsed by the medical profession, and we

195. During hypnotic sleep. The possibility of rape during hypnotic sleep is granted by Brouardel,62 Ladame,63 and Vibert.64 Brouardel cites an instance of rape by a dentist who had repeatedly hypnotized a girl of twenty years.

65

196. During normal sleep.- The question as to whether rape is possible during normal sleep has received considerable discussion. That it is possible in a virgin can be conceived of only in some very exceptional circumstance. Two cases illustrating this point are related by Montgomery, the one borrowed from Gooch and the other communicated by Mr. Cusack. In both the cases the females were unmarried, and regarded as virtuous, and both declared solemnly that they had no knowledge of the cause of their pregnancy. In each case the father of the child born confessed that he had had connection with the female while she was plunged in a deep sleep produced by excessive fatigue. Nor should such a statement be deemed incredible when we remember the instances quoted elsewhere, of children born without the mother's consciousness. If the woman be married, and the act be perpetrated under the cover of darkness, upon a womar who has fallen asleep while awaiting her husband or lover, a greater degree of belief must be given to such an explanation. Yet, while allowing all due weight to these exceptional cases, their occurrence should not lightly be assumed, the presumption being certainly against it.

The proof of unconscious sexual connection is usually derived from the occurrence of pregnancy without a knowledge of its origin. We subjoin a few examples. Klein66 reports a case where a stepfather violated and impregnated his daughter of the age of eighteen, during her sleep. Zittman67 relates the case of a girl who was impregnated during her sleep, and was only conscious of having had an oppressive

piring.

62 Brouardel, Ann. d'Hyg. Pub., 1879, p. 39.

6,

35,

63 Ladame, Ann. d'Hyg. Pub., 1882, No.

P

518.

Vibert, Ann. d'Hyg. Pub., 1881, No. p. 399.

hardly think a similar result would the brain present, while hardly ever is be again reached. The gravest defect the dream similar to the real acts transin the chain of evidence presented by the prosecution was the absence of any examination to prove recent defloration of the plaintiff. The fact, also, that the plaintiff thought she had opened her eyes while in the anesthetic state, and immediately closed them, goes very far to prove that the whole occurrence was a delusion, as opening and closing the eyes requires a voluntary effort, of which an etherized person would be incapable; and it is abundantly shown in the preceding remarks (§ 194) how common it is for patients under the influence of an anesthetic to have vivid activity of VOL. III. Med. Jur.-11.

362.

Montgomery, Signs of Pregnancy, p.

Klein, Kopp's Jahrbuch der St. Arzneikunde, 10 Jahrg.

21.

67

Zittman, Med. Forens. Cent., v. Cas.

dream. Alberties mentions the fact of a girl having been violated and rendered pregnant while in a state of stupor from a potion prepared from the seeds of datura stramonium (Jamestown weed). Osiandere relates that a young girl, only fifteen years of age, having fainted with terror at the sight of some drunken soldiers, was shamefully misused by them, and left bleeding and in an almost dying condition; she, however recovered, but had got the venereal disease, and became pregnant. Klose7° met with the case of a clergyman, who, while watching by the corpse of a young girl, gratified his lust upon her. Her death, however, was but a temporary suspension of animation, for she awoke and was pregnant. It should, of course, be remembered that the truth of the statement relative to the commencement of pregnancy is open to examination.

197. Unjust charges of rape.- Unjust charges of rape may be brought against a man not merely in the cases where the plaintiff has mistaken the offender, or where she is laboring under some mental delusion or hallucination, but by feigning rape for some malintent. The disproof of rape in such instances may be even more difficult than the proof of rape in some of the well authenticated cases; for we have seen that carnal intercourse may take place and leave no trace on the person of a married woman, and possibly, also, not even on a virgin.71

The following singular case occurred in France: Marie Vaged twenty-eight years, was seen to fall down, apparently in a faint, near the house of her uncle, the district schoolmaster, at the entrance of a field adjoining the public road. Her hands were found fastened by a cord, her handkerchief was tied over her mouth, her hood (capote) was drawn over the upper part of her face, and fastened by pins in front of the eyes, leaving, however, a sufficient interval for the use of sight; her clothes were soiled with mud at the lower part only, and her camisole was laced. She did not apparently regain consciousness for several hours; she then related, with circumstantial detail, that she had been assaulted by four young men who had endeavored, though unsuccessfully, to violate her person. A medical examination being ordered, a vast number of superficial linear incisions were found, made apparently with the point of a knife or scissors; there were no contusions or marks of recent violence on the

Alberti, Syst. Jurisprud. Med., Vol.

II., p. 200.

Osiander, Handbuch der Geburtshilfe, Art. 286.

70 Klose, System der gericht. Physik, Art. 286.

" See 175, supra.

genital organs or their vicinity. Her clothes were not torn or crushed, and in her pocket a penknife and scissors were found, on the points of which there were slight traces of blood. The girl at last, after much hesitation, confessed that she had not been the victim of any assault, but that in a paroxysm of hysteria, without any reason to account for the strange idea which took possession of her mind, she had herself inflicted these wounds with scissors on the parts of her body which she had been able to reach. The legal proceedings were consequently stopped.72

The following instance, where a child was made the plaintiff in an unfounded charge of rape, is also instructive. It is taken from a paper by Mr. Wilde73 on the history of an epidemic of infantile leucorrhea, with an account of five cases of alleged felonious assault, tried in Dublin. "The first one of these cases was that of Margaret Walsh, a child aged nine and a half years, in whom the disease presented a very virulent form when it was discoverd by her stepmother, who, however, acknowledged that she had remarked her walking lame for several weeks before. There was considerable swelling and inflammation of the parts, and a most profuse purulent discharge. Upon the discovery of the disease by the stepmother, she at once accused the child of impropriety, and demanded the name of the person who had diseased her. Upon the child's denying all knowledge of such, she was forthwith 'soundly flogged,' and repetitions of the punishment promised until she confessed. It came out at the investigation that the mother took down the cross from the mantel-piece, and threatened her therewith-a very impressive mode of adjuration among the lower order of Irish. The neighboring women interfered, and by threats and promises endeavored to extort an acknowledgment, but without effect. Names of different persons were then suggested, but still the child said she could not remember any of them having offended her. Finally, an elder sister, who was present during one of these scenes of torture, reminded the child of an old pensioner named Barber (who resided in a distant part of the city, but who was formerly a neighbor of hers) having given her a bit of sugar some months before, when they lived in his neighborhood. This she acknowledged, and then arose the accusation." The man was arrested, committed for trial and sent to prison. The child stated that the prisoner took her into the open hall of a house adjoining his own,

"London and Edin. Month. Journ.

"Wilde, Medical Times and Gazette, Dec., 1853, p. 550. From Gaz. des Hôp. September, 1853. Oct. 30.