|
 |
 |
|
|
|
** This is an archived, static copy of the Casebook messages boards dating from 1998 to 2003. These threads cannot be replied to here. If you want to participate in our current forums please go to https://forum.casebook.org **
Psychopathia Sexualis
Casebook Message Boards: Ripper Media: General Discussion:
Psychopathia Sexualis
Author: Karoline
Sunday, 03 October 1999 - 08:23 am |        | I expect most of you know all about Krafft-Ebing's 'Psychopathia Sexualis',(a Victorian study of sexual perversion), but for those few who do not, there is an extract from the book dealing with 'lust murder' at: http://cwis.uta.edu/english/danahay/ebing.html
you definitely need a strong stomach, but the case histories of other 19th century 'ripper' murderers, including their own explanations for their conduct, make enlightening comparison with what is known about JTR. |
Author: R.J. Palmer
Saturday, 13 May 2000 - 06:28 pm | | While digging through an old copy of "Eclectic Magazine" (February 1889) I found an abstract apparently from an article by Krafft-Ebing in the British Medical Journal. It is titled "The Whitechapel Murders", and as I need typing practice, I'll reproduce it below, as it is fairly short and may give some insight into the Victorian view of such crimes:
THE WHITECHAPEL MURDERS
An eminent surgeon writes to us: The crimes which have lately been committed in Whitechapel have given rise to many theories and speculations, prompted rather by a desire to account for them--that is to say, to find some motive for them--than by any knowledge of the subject. Most of those who have written to medical or daily papers have treated these occurences as though they were unprecedented in the annals of crime. Therefore, however revolting the subject, it seems desirable to point out that such is by no means the case; but that a certain horrible perversion of the sexual instinct is the one motive and cause of such apparently aimless acts, and that the criminal is neither insane nor prompted by pseudo-religious rancor against an unfortunate class of women. The most exhaustive and judicial treatise on this subject divides this form of neurosis into three divisions: local, spinal, and cerebral; but the individual may be affected simultaneously by more than one of these forms. The cerebral neuroses fall naturally into four sub-classes: 1. Paradoxia, that is, untimely desire (in regard to age). 2. Anaesthesia, absence. 3. Hyperaesthesia, excess. 4. Paraesthesia, pervesion of desire; among these last are cruelty and murder. He says (omitting certain parts): "These cerebral anomalies lie in the province of psycho-pathology. They occur, as a rule, in persons mentally sound, in a variety of combinations, and in them originate many sexual misdemeanors. They are worthy of study by the medical jurist, because they so frequently produce perverse and even criminal acts." Krafft-Ebing then goes on to give, in sufficient detail, accounts of five trials with conviction for the murder of women (sometimes of children) and mutilation of their bodies, and he refers to three other such convictions, naming the authorities. Of these criminals, one Verzenteli, condemned in January, 1872, had murdered and mutilated three women, and had attacked five others with murderous intent. The escape of his last victim led to his detection. One of Lombroso's cases is a certain Gruyo, who thus slew and mutilated five women, and was discovered on the murder of a sixth after ten years of imunity. Several of the condemned persons confessed the disgusting motive of the crime, and not one of them was found to be insane. These acts are not committed by women (save in one exceptional case), nor is it likely that any woman would have the nerve, bodily stength, and audacity to carry out two murders, at an interval of only a few minutes, as was done in October.--British Medical Journal. |
Author: David M. Radka
Saturday, 13 May 2000 - 10:51 pm | | R.J.,
THANKS FOR THE INTERESTING QUOTE. MUCH APPRECIATED.
DAVID |
Author: Christopher T. George
Sunday, 14 May 2000 - 07:55 am | | Hi, all:
Richard Freiherr von Krafft-Ebing did deal directly with the Whitechapel murders in a short section in later editions of his classic work. Although the original edition of Krafft-Ebing's study appeared in German in 1886, before the Whitechapel murders, Stephen P. Ryder in his admirable collection of reprints, "The First Fifty Years of Jack the Ripper," Vol. II (Ripperological Preservation Society), republishes an extract from the 1906 edition dealing with the Ripper murders. Here Krafft-Ebing suggests that for the Ripper, "the murderous act and subsequent mutilation of the corpse were equivalents for the sexual act." The section on the Whitechapel murders appears as "Case 17" among case studies under the sub-heading "Sexual Indication Toward the Opposite Sex." Note also that the author includes all murders classed as "Whitechapel murders" though we now believe Jack the Ripper committed less than the eleven or so murders originally attributed to him, at least popularly by the press if not by the police. A number of the dates given for murders also appear to be inaccurate or unattributable to any murder:
"Jack the Ripper.--On December 1, 1887, July 7, August 8, September 30, one day in the month of October and on the 9th of November, 1888; on the 1st of June, the 17th of July and the 10th of September, 1889, the bodies of women were found in various lonely quarters of London ripped open and mutilated in a peculiar fashion. The murderer has never been found. It is probable that he first cut the throats of his victims, then ripped open the abdomen and groped among the intestines. In some instances he cut off the genitals and carried them away; in others he only tore them to pieces and left them behind. He does not seem to have had sexual intercourse with his victims, but very likely the murderous act and subsequent mutilation of the corpse were equivalents for the sexual act. (McDonald, le criminal type, 2 edit., Lyon, 1884;--Spitzka, The Journal of Mental and Nervous Diseases, 1888, December;--Kierman, The Medical Standard, 1888, Nov. and Dec.)"
The references mentioned at the end of the quote might bear some examination as well.
Chris George |
Author: R.J. Palmer
Tuesday, 16 May 2000 - 05:12 pm | | In looking further into the "Eclectic" article, it became clear that the names 'Verzenteli' and 'Gruyo' were misprints. 'Verzenteli' is Vincenz Verzeni (Krafft-Ebing's Case #21), an Italian that is evidently a great favorite among the Neo-Vampire crowds, his name showing up on a number of their web sites. 'Gruyo' must be Cruyo, Krafft-Ebing's Case #22. His brutality is strikingly similar to JtR's, as is that of 'Vacher the Ripper' (Case #18) who roamed the French countryside in the 1890s. It might be noted that Vacher's victims not only ranged widely in age, but also included both sexes.
But this is gruesome stuff. I think I'll go have toast and cocoa and think of something pleasant.
Cheers,
RP |
|
|
|
|
