Possibly, if these individuals
had lived a little longer, they might have passed the border-line which
separates mental soundness from mental unsoundness; but certainly, up to
the period of their deaths, both would have been pronounced sane by all
competent laymen and alienists with whom they might have been brought
into contact; and the contest of their wills, by any heirs-at-law, would
assuredly have been a fruitless undertaking.
They chose to have certain ends in view, and to provide the means for
the accomplishment of those ends. There were no delusions, no emotional
disturbance, no hallucinations or illusions, and the will was normally
exercised to the extent necessary to secure the objects of their lives.
At any time they had it in their power to alter their purposes, and in
that fact we have an essential point of difference between eccentricity
and insanity. We may regard their conduct as singular, because they made
an unusual disposition of their property; but it was no more irrational
than if the one had left his estate to the "Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals," and the other had devoted his to sending
missionaries to Central Africa.
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