Questions involving the capacity or incapacity of inebriates can never be determined by any metaphysical theory of mind or morals.
One of the very obscure questions which have recently come into legal prominence has been called the alcoholic trance state. The frequent statement of prisoners in court, that they did not remember anything about the crime they are accused of, appears from scientific study to be a psychological fact.
It is well known to students of mental science that in certain unknown brain states memory is palsied, and fails to note the events of life and surroundings. Like the somnambulist, the person may seem to realize his surroundings and be conscious of his acts, and later be unable to recall anything which has happened. These blanks of memory occur in many disordered states of the brain and body, but are usually of such short duration as not to attract attention. Sometimes events that occur in this state may be recalled afterward, but usually they are total blanks. The most marked blanks of memory have been noticed in cases of epilepsy and inebriety. When they occur in the latter they are called alcoholic trances, and are always associated with excessive use of spirits. Such cases are noted in persons who use spirits continuously, and who go about acting and talking sanely although giving some evidence of brain failure, yet seem to realize their condition and surroundings. Some time after, they wake up and deny all recollection of acts or events for a certain period in the past. This period to them begins at a certain point and ends hours or days after, the interval of which is a total blank, like that of unconscious sleep. Memory and certain brain functions are suspended at this time, while the other brain activities go on as usual.
Probably the largest number of criminal inebriates who claim loss of memory as a defense for their acts are the alcoholic dements. These are chronic inebriates who have used spirits to excess for years. This, with bad training in early life, bad surroundings, and bad nutrition, have made them of necessity unsound, suffering from many and complex brain defects. Such persons are always more or less without consciousness or realization of their acts. They act automatically, only governed by the lowest and most transient impulses. Crimes of all kinds are generally accidents growing out of the surroundings, without premeditation or plan. They are incapable of sane reasoning or appreciation of the results of their conduct. The crime is unreasoning, and general indifference marks all their acts afterward. The crime is along lines of previous conduct, and seldom strange or unusual. The claim of no memory in such cases has always a reasonable basis of truth in the physical conditions of the person.
