THE ABSENCE OF REASONABLE MOTIVE IN THE SO-CALLED "CRIMINAL ACTS" OF THE CONFIRMED INEBRIATE.Read before the Section of Medical Jurisprudence and Neurology, at the Forty-second Annual Meeting of the American Medical Association, Washington, D. C., May 6, 1891.

Abstract

Motive may be defined as that which actuates or influences, that which determines choice. It implies the presence of an uuimpaired will power, at least one that is not so seriously impaired as to be incapable of volition, and actuated either by right or wrong desires. Impulseis the sudden application of some powerful motive, that causes the will to act hastily without usual deliberation, or that exercise of the reasoning faculties that occurs when a purpose is deliberately formed. The genesis of impulse may be a good or evil motive. In both instances either when the act results from the motive operating upon the mind through a deliberate and logical course of reasoning, or impulsively, as when the motive acts independently of, orsupercedes and dethrones reason, if it attempts to assert itself in either instance, there is oneconditionthat is common to both, and that always is present,