Smyrna times., 1891-06-10
/ CRANIUM CULTURE.
AN EXTENSIVE FIELD FOR SCJEN-
TIFlC EXPERIMENTS.

An Odd Surgical Operation Causes to
Arise the Question, "Is IdiOcy Curable
by SurgerJ"''-A Physicians Comment
on the Subject-Future Research.
How many Shakespeares have we
lost by -uH pinching? How many
Platos have gone down to the grave as
non compos mentis? Can idiocv be
wholly aDohshedl" Thus asks a some
what prominent medical authority and
newspaper writer.
Ih" world Of possibilities in the above
suggestion is the outgrowth of a recent
surgical operation performed in London
on the skull Of an idiot child for the pur-
pose OF releasing the brain from the con-
tinement Of malfOrmed bone case. The
experiment was entirely successful. The
subject Immediately began to develop
a frightened intellect, while evil effects
uponiHn nervous system were practically
muoIccd.
Vho problem presented by this result
is very wide and a very complex one.
II the darkness of idiocy in few cases
can be banished by lifting the brain
covering, thus permitting the brains ex-
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 ths
realms Of the fauciful, and trace still
greater effects and results from similar
causes, it viii not appear unreasonable
to say that the conformation Of the skull
is after all, the incident which deter
mines whether Il human being is born
to be Nero or King Arthur, a Cleo
patra or Florence Nightingale, Napo-
leon or a nobody
CULTURE OF TIE SKULL.
There was % case in a PHILADELPHIA
hospital not many months ago which
was not disajlnilar to the one in London.
An epileptic was relieved, perhaps re-
stored to peri. ct health, by an operation
which lifted tho bone pressure upon Ger
tam nerve ceatcr3 in the brain. Ger
itaiElE there arc mental idiosyncrasies
inheutedfor generations where the brain
case varies most remarkably in form.
Hut when we find q peculiar trait sud
denly bursting out in one of our chill
drcn, trait unlike parent or grandpar-
| ent, are We quite sure that it is not ow-
ing to some modification of the skull
case? Most aasuredlv, if it is finally de-
terniued that the pressure Of bone on
the brain determines the mental ability,
shapes the character and molds the ten
! deucies, We shall have to recast all our
theories Of heredity.
Here, then, sprescnted a new problem.
Is not the question Of brain culture
about to become to a greater extent
question Of Uranium culture? If it can
lbe demonstrated that an idiot can he
made by pinching a skull, and unmade
! by the knife and saw OF q surgeon, have
I'VE not a new and wonderful field of ex-
pertinent before us? DR.. Brinton tells
hus that experiments on the lower ami
mails prove that the skull is easily mold
ed by triling causes; that is, in the
! earlier stages of growth Darwin found
that he could produce long or short or
,non-symmetrical skulls in rabbits by
training.
Ethnologists affirm that the skull is
| 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 a vista
| ton upon the children for the sins of the
fathers, and showing that it is an un-
natural but essentially durable physical
/ condition. The ability to cure idiocy
/ will 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 III its tendencies toward the pres
ervation and merciful care of the NAL.
/ formed and helpless. Civilization hap
badly overloaded itself by merciful ten
deTness toward criminals and diseased,
Are we at last to find relief by discover
ing that crime and disease and idiocy
are all durable? And the next ctage,
what will that be? Possibly the marked
decrease i'll human fertility and the in
crease of our average life quite beyond
what now seems possible. The removal
of life'8 social terrors must precede the
largely prolonged and happily continued
existence. ce.-Philadelph Press