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21 Medico-Legal J. 1 (1903-1904)

handle is hein.journals/medlejo21 and id is 1 raw text is: GERMAN VIEWS ON INSANITY FROM THE JUDICIAL STANDPOINT. BY DR. HERM-AN KORNFELD, OF GLEIWITZ, SILESIA, Judicial Medical Officer and Honorary Member Medico-Legal Society-- In Germany, Jurists and Psychiatrists view the in- sane from widely different standpoints, as stated in the recent- ly (19Ol) published Manual of Judicial Psychiatry, by Prof. Hoche, in collaboration with Professors Aschaffenburg and Hollenberg, and Dr. Schulte. Psychiatrists hold that diseases of the mind are to be con- sidered as affections of the brain, (page 33); while Juris- prudence, considering only the psychical side of the individ- ual, inquires into his responsibility, ability to conduct his af- fairs, his personal behavior, etc. When a disease of the brain is proved, then it cannot be denied that the expert is the physician, and not the psychologist or the lawyer. But as it is generally acknowledged that up to the present time path- ological anatomy has contributed nothing, or but little, to- wards an explanation of the symptoms of insanity in many psychical diseases; the proper expert in these cases, is not the physician, but a specialist, who combines medical with psy- chological knowledge. At this time the psychic symptoms of a disease of the mind' are not yet quite completely distinguishable from those oc-- curring in a disease of the brain or any other organ. Aschaf-- fenburg declares: (p. 69) The delirium of fever is undoubted- ly a disease of the mind. This is exactly what I believe. But then I might ask: Is there no fundamental difference- between insanity in fever, and for instance, paranoia, super- vening quite unforeseen, not accompanied by any bodily symptom, and not showing in post mortem any change in the brain, accountable for the insane thoughts? There certainly Read before the Medico-Legal Society, December i7, 1902.