Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1891-06-04
CRANiUM CULTURE.
AN EXTENSIVE FIELD FOR scIEN-
TlFlc EXPERIMENTS.

An Odd Surgtrai Operation Causes to
Arise the oHessIon. "Ts IdIocy CurabIe
BY Surgery "a Physicians Comment
on the suEBect-Future Research.
"How iaany ShaEespeares have We
lost by 7all pinching? How many
Platos have gone down to the grave as
non colnpos mentis2 Can idiocy BE-
wholly aBolished7r Thus asks d some
what Trtninent medical authority and
newspaper writer.
The world Of possibilities in the above
suggestion Is the outgroWth Of q recent
surgical operation performed in London
on the skull Of an idiot child for the pur-
pose Of releasing the brain from the con
hnenent Of a malformed bone case. The
experiment was entirely successful. The
subject Immediately began To develop
q Frightened intellect, while evil effects
upon the nervous system were practically
unno;iced.
The problem presented by this result
Is very wide and very complex one.
If the darkness Of idiocy in few cases
can be banished by lifting the brain
covering, thus permitting the brains C.
pansion to the limits which nature
doubtless intended, why may it not
prove effective in the great majority Of
cases Of young children now doomed TO
live out their lives in eternal gloom?
To those who delight to wander in The
realms Of the fanciful, and trace still
greater effects and results from similar
causes, it viii not appear unreasonable
to say that the conformation Of the skull
i, after all, the incident which deter
mines whether q human being i born
to be a Nero or q King Arthur, a Cleo
patra or q Florence Nightingale, Napo-
leon or a nobody
CULTURE OF TIE SKULL.
There was q case in q Philadelphia
hospital not many months ago which
was not dissimilar to the one in London.
An epileptic was relieved, perhaps re-
stored to perfect health, by an operation
which lifted the bone pressure upon cer-
tain nerve centers in the brain. Ger
tainly there are mental idiosyncrasies
inherited for generations where the brain
case varies most remarkably in form.
But when we find peculiar trait sud
denly bursting out in one Of our chill
dren, trait unlike parent or grandpar-
ent, are we quite sure that lis not ow-
ing to some modification Of the skull
case? Most assuredly, if it is finally de-
termined that the pressure Of bone on
the brain determines the mental ability,
shapes the character and molds the ten
denotes, we shall have to recast all our
theories Of heredity.
Here, then, ispresented a new problem.
Is not the question of brain culture
about to become to greater extent a
question Of Uranium culture2 If it can
be demonstrated that an idiot can he
made by pinching 4 skull, and unInade
by the knife and saw Of a surgeon, have
we not new and wonderful field Of ex-
pertinent before u: Dr. Brinton tells
US that experiments on the lower ami
mails prove that the skull Is easily mold
ed BY trifiing causes; that j., III the
earlier stages of growth. Darwin found
that he could produce long OF short OF
non-symmetrical skulls in rabbits BY
training
Ethnologists affirm that the skull il
modified even by the cradle and the pill
lows on which the infant sleeps DR..
Jaralld proves from his own observation
that the skull may be modified from the
head being held in an unnatural posi-
ton
POSSIBILITIES OF THE FUTURE.
If this new line Of investigation can
be pursued persistently and successfully
it will result in disproving the belief
that idiocy in children, outside Of cases
Of hereditary mental defect, Is vista
ton upon the children for the sins Of the
fathers, and showing that it i an I'M
natural but essentially curable physical
condition. The ability to cure idiocy
viii therefore depend entirely to what
extent the bony case has closed its sutures
and hardened itself TO the brain.
DR.. Maurice, the authority quoted at
the beginning Of this article, in discuss
ing this range Of subjects, a few Of
which are embraced in the above. closes
by saying;
The world has of late grown enor-
mously in its tendencies toward the pres
ervation and merciful care Of the NAL
formed ard helpless. Civilization has
badly overloaded itself by merciful ten
derness toward criminals and diseased.
Are we lit last To find relief by discover
ing that crime and disease and idiocy
are all curables And the next stage,
what will that bes Possibly the marked
decrease in human fertility and the in
crease iof our average life quite beyond
what now seems possible The removal
Of life's social terrors must precede the
largely prolonged and happily continued
existence.-Philadelphia Press.