The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-07-29
POOR BRAINS.
BRAINS OF CRIMINALS AND OF THE
IDIOTIC AND IMBEClLE.
Some AnaIOgies Observed Which Are
Startling and Significant-The Incor-
rigib1e and Morally Insane-The
"Jukes,'' of New York
Lucinda B. Chandler in The currentl


1t is not, perhaps, as universally under
stood that poor brains burden society with
! imbecility and idiocy not only, but with
criminality as well. Enlightenment has
wonderfully modified the estimate of the
root of evil in humanity, and that the hui
man heart is by nature desperately
wicked" is, if not an absolete tenet, quite
frail article of belief, and well-nigh gone
| to pieces as a basis of ethical or religious
teaching. The study of poor brains is
! helping to advance general intelligence to-
ward the re-Ordering of society that will
eventually eliminate them. At the Ma
tional Conference of Charities. held at St
Louis last October, DR.. l. n. Kerlin, su-'
perintendent of the Institute for Idiotic
and Feeble Minded Children in Elwyn,
| Pa, read a most valuable paper upon
Provision for Idiotic and Feeble Minded
| Children. An interesting and highly
| suggestive point referred to is the simil-
aritY of brain in idiots and criminals.
To further establish a doubt as to our
present Interpretation of the nature and
origin of crime, he considers the researches
of pathOlogist, MOreZ Benedict, "signi
iiCant." In his published Anatomical
Study of the Brains of Criminals" are
described the convolutions of twenty-five
brains. He found in these a marked pecu-
liarity, tendency of the principal assures
to run into each other producing what he
terms continent assure type-nOt for
nation of new assures by the develop
ment OF new convolutions, but the cutting
up of a comparatively simple series of
convolutions by the formation of second
airy assures, or the prolongation of those
usually existing beyond the normal limits,
thus distinctiVely altering the normal for
nation of the surface (the active) part of
the brain.
Hardly an idiotic brain has been ex-
amined, says Dr. Kerlin, lin the train
ing SCHOOL,. (which does not show this
departure from what is regarded as the
normal type. and in many of them to a
marked degree. Corresponding obser-
vations, he continues, with the same
results, have been made by Dr. Mills, of
Philadelphia, and by foreign observers,
showing very decided analogies between
the brains of criminals and the brains of
idiotic and imbecile persons not under
criminal accusation.
Are the relation of poor brains to these
dangers, and the humane and effective
management of criminals, not problems
on which the most vital issues hinge? DR..
Thomas, of Chicago, recently testified
that society is not protected nor Grim
inals reformed under our penal system -
which statement needs no confirmation.
What can more surely accomplish the
protection of society than to prevent the
raising of criminals2
In Scotland a movement has been in
augurated toward life confinement of the
incorrigible, morally insane, and imbecile
classes. that their propagation shall
cease. "Of 5000 prisoners examined in
Scotland, by competent authority, 10 per
centum exhibited decided mental weak
ness, independent OF those who became
actually insane
DR.. Kerlin, in commenting upon the
notorious luke family, whose 7O9 de-
scendants burdened the state of New
York for six generations, says: Had it
not been too early in the history of Sc
ciety, it is fairly presumptive that the
twenty one grandchildren of Max and Ada
Juke the founders of this line of Grim
inals, paupers and prOstitutes) might
have been recognized as unfit members,
and very consistently with the public wei
fare and their own best interests have
been detained for the better part of their
lives in jails or sequestered in asylums
He counts "the general mental enfeeb!e- |
ment of the whole luke race such that |
only profound cases of idiocy could pro- ]
trude themselves into recognition above |
the low and sensuous level of this stock |
of half-Wits
To eliminate poor brains must be con- /
sidered vital and paramount service If !
the state may Sequester criminals for the |
safety of society, and sequester the insane.
imbecile and idiotic for their own protec- |
ton, the next step in order is to summon |
science and study to ascertain the avertible |
causes Of idiocy, insanity and crime.
Tie Princes Mechanical Bird.
IChicago Tribune.l
Those versed in the occult lore of the
soothsayer and the reader of portents
should be able to discover some strange
s~..1 - IL