Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-10-28
COLOR OF SIN PINK.
Dr. Elmer Gates's Experiments upset
Tradition.
Phila1elphia PressJ

,,noro the most interesting OF the
scientific men who have made fhllauei-
mia their home IS Or. Elmer nates,
who is 10 lecture before the Educht'onai
cub at the Normal School. DOCTOR
CO urae formerly connected with the
Bureau OF Ethnology or the Si'l'h'o'' .a
institution. Washington. ana upon tne
failura of Congress TO appropriate sum
Gent money 10 maintain his laboratories
D.. came f. Philadelphia. and has Deen
nursuiug his original Investigations III
his private laboratory here. HIS re-
searches have been Of such mover char-
actcr and their results have been 80
startling that in fey years Doctor
Gates has sprung To The iiDht rains
u original inYes gators, beihB raHheu
by the officials OF the Smithsonian lnst-
tuition as among the greatest scientists
Of the age. During the fall ana winter
he will e,ve a series OF lectures at the
pann.ylyauia Museum and School OF In
dustrial Art. where Philadeipnans VIII
have an opportunity to hear OF his works
from his own lips.
Not the least startling OF Or. Gates
conclusions Is that one reachei through
experiment 10 demonstrate that scarlet
is not the distinctive color OF sin, ana
that the Bible expression, though your
sins be as scarlet" Is simply a rhetofi-
cal exaggeration.
THE COLOR OF SIN.
DR.. Gates has found in his study OF the
brain that each definite emotion pro-
duces chemical products In the secretions
and excretiOns which are characteristic
of those emotions. The evil emotions
produce. for example, poisonous pro-
duct. while happy emotions produce NE
promoting compounds. In otner words
every emotional experience creates bTah
.tructure. the refunctioning of which re-
produces its characteristic good and bad
chemical products. Tho perspiration, Ior
EXAMPLE. he found TO contain diHereht
volative organic compounds under the
influence OF different emotions. lhese
products may be detected by cheIHica'
analysis in the perspiration Of an indl-
vidual. Dr. Gates has discovered more
than forty Of the bad and as many OF
,hc good.
Dr. Gates's theory that bad or I'M
pleasant emotions produce their own pc
c,,liar poison. which has an effect upon
the individual physically. IS not with
ont its familiar Illustrations. IL Is
well known that great RELIEF generates
an Injurious chemical product so IN
iense IN character as 10 sicken the IN
fant who draws its nourishments from
tna mother. y more obvious ana Ia
rniliar illustration H. that when one Is
depressed one cannot work. Bad IDEAS
md memories. Or. Gates holds, XII en-
argv. They affect the physical being
Immediately. on the other hand, happy
feelings create energy and make one
feel like exerting himself.
or the chemical products which Dr'
Gates has found that Of guiIt IS the
worst. If a small quantity OF the peis
piration Of a person suffering from con
scious Guilt be placed IN glass TUBE aho
exposed TO contact with selenic acid IL
will turn pink No other poison. similarly
generated. exhibits the same phenomenon
Accordingly. pink is apparently the cha
racteristic color Of sin, not scarlet.
INGENIOUS EXPERIMENTS.
Dr Gates's investigations have been
principally In the direction OF physloiosl-
cal psychology. lie is not NINisectlohist
and. in order 10 avoid the cruel ana bar
barous practices which the viFlsectlohist
is obliged to employ, ne adopted ne"
r,etbod Of research H placed animals
rnder varying conditions and under spe-
ei,I training. ard In that way developed
o.r,ain brain areas, which were examined
,fter the animal suffered a painless death.
Ua found that animals deprived OF light
from birth by having been kept In dark
encd room have an almost entire absence
- hrain-cells in the seeing areas OF the
occinitaI cortex: animals leading usual
mode of life have quite NUMBER OF
cbsrocterlstic cells IN those areas; while
animals that have received sp- cldl
nind-art training in the seeing OF coiors
have several times the NUMBER OF cels
T,,nd in the usual uneducated ANIMAL
and moreover. the cells are much more
nighlv complex in anatomical and chernl-
al structure. and more complex in Their
irterconnections with other cells. AMI
- M, were caused to associate colors
,rt,h sounds were found to have greater
.cvaionrnent OF the fibre tract connecting
.na seeing areas with The hearing areas.
and so on. He found, by making careini
stimate that dog specifically uasheo
,ar Merchandising in the seeing areas o.
the brain had at 10" estimate iV'V0V,'o
,,,ore cell and fIbre structures in a square
'nch area of the cortex than any usuai
100 He found that he could build sueh
strmctures In any. part OF the brain ana
cive an animal Tor a child more pra!hs'
ana consequently. more mind
ART OF MAKING BRAINS.
As the result; of these and other ex.
,er,uents. DIR. Gates believes that II
Il nossible, 10 make more and better
,rains In individuals. This can be cone
bc saws. by a proper system OF educa-
~, orr educational systems. he says,
a,n auch as 10 overdevelop some part OF
a given brain function and to omit many
functions. and otherwise produce non-