The Loeb-Leopold case - The Clarence Darrow Collection

The Loeb-Leopold Case
I wish to read an extract here from " The Recog-
nition of Insanity " by Eugen Bleuler, director of
the psychiatric clinic at Vienna:
One must never conclude that if there is no affective
disturbance, that therefore it is not a case of schizo-
phrenia. Indeed, under certain circumstances, even in a
pronounced psychosis or mental disease, one can tempo-
rarily find nothing morbid. A negative finding without
prolonged observation, therefore, never proves that the
patient is normal. It only indicates an absence of proof
of the disease.
Now, your Honor, when the defendants were ex-
amined by the defense alienists could the boys have
been malingering? Doctors Singer and Krohn,
State witnesses, in their book, " Insanity and the
Law," say:
Since simulation is not a disease, it cannot be said
that there are any characteristic symptoms. The most
practical way to deal with the problem, therefore, seems
to be to consider the points that may be of assistance
in distinguishing each of the major types of reaction.
It may be pointed out in general that though insanity is
evidenced chiefly by subjective signs, that is to say, by
signs that are within the individual's control, the simula-
tion of insanity requires a knowledge of the various
types of insanity, and also a capacity for self-control
that is possessed by very few. The effort must be continued
day and night under all conditions. Unexpected
and unforeseen circumstances must continually arise that
will distract the attention from the purpose of deception,
and will betray to the attentive observer the fact that
the complaints are not genuine. Few laymen and indeed
few physicians possess sufficient knowledge of the symp-
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