Abstract
The case of Kleim, summarized in the second volume of the American Journal ofInsanity, highlights America’s early struggles to understand the relationship between psychopathology and firesetting. In this case the psychiatric experts offered their opinions that Kleim suffered from “monomania” or “dementia” or both, and that his acts were the result of insanity. The jury, after only a few hours of deliberation, found Kleim “not guilty owing to insanity.” While 150 years later the language has changed-both psychiatric and legal terminology having evolved-the dilemma is little changed. What is pathological firesetting? How are we to understand the relationships between firesetting and medical, neurologic, or psychiatric disorders that may influence the behavior?
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