Elmore bulletin. [volume] (Rocky Bar, Idaho) 1889-1906, 1892-01-09
Uranium CULTURE
AN EXTENSIVE FIELD FOR scigN-
TlFlc EXPERIMENTS.

TlFlc EXPERIMENTS.
An odd surgscal Operation Causes 90
Arise the onession. els tdiocy Durable
b, sarxsry7'-A PhysleIAa's Comment
on the subIsct--Fnture Research
How many Shakespeares have we
lost by skull pincinngf How many
Platos have gone down 10 the grave as
non compos mentis2 Can idiocy be
wholly abolishedr Thus asks a some
what prominent 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 nm idiot child for the pur-
pose of releasing the brain from the con
1 finement Of malformed bone casa. The
experiment was entirely successful The
subject Immediately began to develop
"A frightened intellect, while evil effects
/ upon the nervous system were practically
unnoticed
\ The problem presented by this result
Is very wide and very complex one.
4 If 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 1t not
prove effective in the great majority Of
eases of young children now doomed TO
live out their lives in eternal gloom3
To those who delight TO wander in the
realms Of the fanciful, and trace still
greater effects and results from similar
causes. it will not appear unreasonable
to say that the conformation OF the skull
is, after all. the incident which deter
mines whether "A human being is born
to be Nero or King Arthur a Cleo
patra or Florence Nightingale. a Napo-
leon or a nobody
CULTURE OF THE SKULL
There was case in 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 Ger
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 barsting ont in one Of our chill
dren. a trait unlike parent or grandpar-
emit are we quite sure that II is 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. is presented a new problem.
Is not the question Of brain culture
about To become 10 a greater extent a
question of Uranium cultureg II il can
) be demonstrated that AN idiot can he
made by pinching skull. and unmade
by the knife and saw OF a surgeon. have
q we not a new and wonderful field of ex.
. pertinent before us? DIR Brinton tell.
7 ms that experiments ON the lower ami
Q mails prove that the skull is easily mold
3 ed by trifling causes, that is, in this
. earlier stages of growth Darwin found
4 that he conld produce long or short o.
e non-symmetrical skulls in rabbits b,
Q training
n Ethnologisto affirm that the skull 4
modified even by the cradle and the pill
t lows ON which the infant sleeps DIR
!, Jaralld proves from his own observation
;, that the skull may be modified from TIN
head being held In an unnatural posi-
I ton
L POSSIBILITIES OF THE FUTURE
e II this new line of investigation cal
k be pursued pegsistently and successful,
t.4sn In, IA
t that idiocy in children. outside of case
Il of hereditary mental defect. is vista
- ton upon the children for the sins Of TIA
fathers, and showing that it is an IN
natural but essentially durable physica
condition The ability TO cure idioc
y will therefore depend entirely to wha
n extent the bony case has closed its suture
q and hardened itself to the brain
8 DIR Maurice, the authority quoted a
5, the beginning OF this article. in discus.
a; ing this range OF subjects, a few c
10 which are embraced in the above, close
IS by saying;
!; The world has OF late grown enoi
Is mously in its tendencies toward the pre-.
?, eryation and merciful care Of the ma
It formed and helpless Civilization ha
le badly overloaded itself by tnerciful ten
"a derness toward criminals and diseased
s Are we at last to find relief by discover
ing that crime and disease and idioc
d are all curableg Aud the next stage
p what will that be- Possibly the marke
y decrease Tn human fertility and the In
y crease Of our average life quite beyon
n what now seems possible The remova
le Of hfes social terrors must precede IN
he largely prolonged and happily continue