Perhaps the strangest case investigated by the Egyptian public prosecution this month is the case of 'the madwoman's suicide.' The story, in brief, is that a beautiful young woman was afflicted, before her marriage, with a slight disturbance of her mental faculties; her family placed her in the asylum for the insane for treatment, and when she was cured, her cousin, who was madly in love with her, came forward to ask for her hand. The marriage took place, and the married life continued for three years, troubled only by nervous fits that came over the beautiful wife from time to time; but these fits went no further than screaming, or going out naked into the road, and when the fit was over, things returned to their normal state!
On the night of the incident, after supper, the couple went to sleep in a normal state. But at midnight the husband felt violent
pains in his eyes and woke in terror, to find that his wife had set about thrusting the fingers of one of her hands into his eyes, by the light of a lamp she had placed at his side... and in her other hand was a drawn knife. He sprang from his bed screaming and went out to call the neighbors for help; then he came back to cast a glance at the room, still screaming, and found that his wife had put out her tongue to its full length and had begun cutting it with the knife to its very end; then she flung the severed tongue into a corner of the room!
The neighbors had crowded at
the door of the room, but no one dared go near her, for she was in a state of violent frenzy. The people's screams rose when they saw her sit down in the middle of the room, then take her head in her hand and saw at her neck with the knife, with insistence and obstinacy; and when the knife reached the middle of her neck she lost consciousness, and then died! Doubt entered the mind of the deputy public prosecutor as to whether a human being could possibly inflict all these injuries upon herself before losing consciousness.
The forensic physician, however, ruled that this is possible 'if the person is insane, disordered in mind and nerves; for what causes loss of consciousness is the sensation of pain, which is the center of stimulus in the nervous system. If that system is disordered, consciousness may remain until the spirit passes away.'
The Lebanese and Syrian governments have kindly agreed that every facility shall very shortly be afforded to a goodwill mission for the establishment of close commercial relations between the two countries and Great Britain. The mission, composed of leading experts and specialists in commercial and financial affairs, is expected to arrive in Damascus, coming from Baghdad, on the first day of May. Its aim is not merely to encourage trade, but to express the desire of the men of British industry to meet the needs of the two countries.
The Right Honorable Viscount Davidson, who heads the mission, is counted among the prominent figures of Parliament and of commercial and financial affairs in London circles.
Brigadier General Sir Godfrey Dean Rhodes, former general manager of the ports and railways of Uganda and Kenya, is a specialist in railways, ports, and questions of transport.
Colonel Alastair Gibb, of the firm of Sir Alexander Gibb & Co., consulting engineers and official civil engineers, is an expert in engineering questions, including questions of irrigation.
Mr. John Berry is director and general superintendent of the Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Company; Mr. Sydney Castle Smith is a director of the textile and artificial-silk company of Courtaulds; and Mr. George Wilkinson is a representative delegated by the Trades Union Congress. The mission has a secretary, Mr. Nicholson, who is accompanied by two assistants.
The mission will spend about six days in each of the two countries before returning to Britain by way of Cyprus. The necessary measures have been taken so that, during this short period, the members may form a clear picture of the principal industries and the requirements of the two countries, by means of meetings with government men and commercial representatives and visits to the important districts. When the details of the program have been settled, a further communiqué will be issued.
Dr. MacColl has won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for the book he wrote on the life of Wilson Steer, the most celebrated painter. Dr. MacColl, who is 86 years old, is a well-known art critic, and was one of the founders of the national literary collections fund in Britain.
The prize consists of two annual awards of £250 each, granted for the best book of biography or of fiction. The judge is the professor of English at the University of Edinburgh, and the most recent winners of the fiction prize were Robert Graves, Forrest Reid, Macdonell, and Mary Lavin.