The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1892-06-02
MENTAL ~MALFORMATION.
An Interesting Discussion by Emil
nent Neurologists.
Many Criminals Arc Morally Irresponsi-
BILE, But Society Must Protect IT.
self by killing Them If
Necessary.
l~coPYR1GHr, 1891

i6JSl
The atrocious murders and the long
criminal career of the moral monstros-
ity, Deeming, have attracted the atten-
ton Of escientific world quiteas much
as they have Mortified the general public.
The men who study nervous diseases
and trace the connection between them
and abnormal conduct are making the
subject of moral insanity one Of the
most important questions of the time.
Some Of them-Dr. Henry Maudsley, for
instance-insist hat there is such q
thing as the criminal neurosis-that Is,
such o diseased, impaired or detective
condition of the nervous tissue as re-
suits inevitably In crime, just as Ger
tain conditions of the rvo tissue re-
suit in insanity and others In epilepsy.
The New York academy Of medicine
lately passed resolutions against capital
punishment on the ground that it is i'm
possible to determine the moral respon-
sibility of criminals during the brief
time of Il judicial trial.
Dr., Allan McLane Hamilton, who is
one of the foremost authorities in the
United States on nervous diseases and
m~edico-legal subjects, was asked these
questions, with reference TO Deeming
and his career: e.
Can science prove the existence of
the criminal neurosis? and, if so, to
what extent is the criminal afflicted
with such a diseased nervous organiza-
ton responsible for his crime?'
'There is, certainly" replied DR..
Hamilton, ga strongly marked criminal
type, recognizable by physical peculiari-
ties, in which moral responsibility is
greatly lessened, and in extreme cases
disappears as entirely as it does In ex-
IRENE cases of lunacy. l do not think,
however, that criminal neurosis' is
quite the proper term TO apply TO such
cases, although it has been used by
some writer's on the subject It cannot
be said positively hat such moral de-
genGracy is the result of functional dis
turbance in the nerve element. The
subject Is a very broad one, of the
greatest Importance TO society, and is
receiving the attention of some of the
foremost Investigators of er0ozl dis
eases and in their social relatious-such
as Lambrosn, in Italyi Hapelock. Ellis
and others ,
1.-THE criminal type is marked by pc
c~uliarties In the shape Of the hEad,
which Is apt TO be narrow and angulsri
by large and prominent ears, an ex-
preston of low cunning and the asyn-
metrical head and face. There are among
such people all degrees of moral respon-
sibility. I do not believe myself In
r,N1,1 fr-r-sAr cha L. ~
by some degree of mental disease or
defect True, there have been great
criminals who have possessed keen In
t~ellects, but their mental qualities hive
always been more OF less peculiar and
developed mainly In the line of cunning
and scheming- the development that
would naturally result from the con-
slant use of their faculties In criminal
ways
Persons marked by this moral de-
generacy are apt to be the result of In
~termarriage among criminals and
drunkards, which, continued through
generations, is simply a cultivation of
the criminal type The record of the
Jukes family shows Whist it leads to,
But moral insanity, when 1t breaks out
in a family not previously marked by
criminal tendencies, may be the result
OF some injury to the brain, caused by
disease, a blow ON the head on a severe
mental shock
81 have not made a close study Of
Deeming's case, but judging from the
newspaper reports, he seems to belong
to the extreme criminal type. Just
what Is his degree Of moral responsible
ity could % be determined without
more accurate knowledge of the man
and his history. His crimes do not
'eem to be the result Of morbid sexual
impulses, which are often the cause of