MR. PATRICK O'BRIENOn behalf of Mr. CORBET, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether his attention has been called to a case in which a family named Cunningham, in county Roscommon, consisting of six persons, father, four sons, and a daughter, in a sudden paroxysm of maniacal excitement, killed one of the number; whether the Inspectors of Lunatics in Ireland take any cognizance of such cases; and whether he will direct a special investigation to be held with a view to ascertaining whether the insanity is the outcome of hereditary transmission, it having been stated in the Press that the inhabitants of the place are all related to each other?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURMy attention has been, drawn to the circumstances attending the homicide of a member of the Cunningham family in county Roscommon. The Inspectors of Lunatics could not take cognizance of such a case unless the person alleged to be insane had been admitted to the district asylum; but I may state that the mental condition of the accused 1161 persons in this case has received my special attention, and that I had already arranged for an examination of the accused, confined in Tullamore Prison, by Dr. Woodhouse, the medical member of the Prisons Board. Three of the prisoners, in the opinion of Dr. Woodhouse, are clearly not, for the time being, insane; and the fourth, though in a very prostrate condition and suffering from nervous exhaustion, cannot be certified to be insane at present. Their mental condition at the time of the occurrence will be one of the subject matters for investigation on their trial, and it would not be proper that I should express an opinion on it whilst the case is still sub judice; and, for the same reason, it would be premature at present for the Inspectors of Lunatics to hold any investigation with the view of ascertaining whether the insanity is the outcome of hereditary transmission. The condition of the prisoners will continue to be carefully watched.