Ruskin’s torment

SIR – In his otherwise admirable essay, Simon Heffer rushes to judgment in calling John Ruskin “certifiably insane” in his last years (Hinterland, September 2).

Allowing for the difficulty in relying only on the historical record, recent medical research has made a plausible diagnosis of relapsing encephalopathy, which would also explain his extreme variations in mood earlier in life.

Surely any sufferer from mental illness, then or now, should not be crudely labelled mad or insane. Prof Stephen Wildman

Director, Ruskin Library Lancaster University