The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-08-08
MEDICAL SOCIETY
Interesting Address from PrOtes-
SOr Brewer.
INSANITY and CRIMIk0LO OCY
Local Treatment of Insane Hightly Praised
Major Wood on Water Filtration in
the Cuban War.


the Medical Society last evening there
were present Professor Brewer of Chi
'cago, Major Wood of Buena Vista hos
pital, Drs. Moore and Williams of Hi
10, DR.. Rhodes Of Eva, DR.. Camp, a
visiting physician, DR.. Yule, assistant
physician at Buena Vista, DR.. Buffan,
Ia Chicago oculist of note who is tour
ing the Islands, and Drs. Hoffman,
Alvarez c.. B. Wood, Myers,
Humphris, Sloggett, Garvin, Howard,
Cleveland and Cooper of the local
medical fraternity.
DR.. G. B. Cooper occupied the chair
and DR.. Garvin was secretary
In calling the meeting to order DR..
Cooper stated that it had been intend
ed to have a discussion on bubOnic
plague, but unfortunately DR.. Wood,
who was to have read a paper thereon,
had been away and DR.. Day, who was
to have also assisted in the discussion
had been too busy to prepare his data.
Under these circumstances the discus
sion would have to be postponed until
the next meeting. He regretted also
to announce the unavoidable absence
of DR.. Sem. DR.. Brewer, however, a
specialist on nervous diseases and in
sanity, was present and would make a
few remarks which he was sure would
profit.
Nv, prO 10 f1scf Of hi iSit tn
the local insane asylum in company
with DR.. Humphris, and said it was the
best institution of the kind he had
ever visited. He was greatly pleased
with the outdoor system of treatment,
the keeping of patients in the fresh
air all day and the marked absence of
all personal restraint. This system he
was sure possessed a very marked ad-
vantage over that of most Eastern cit
les, where close confinement for a
part of the year at least is necessary.
He also spoke very highly of the ply
sicians and others in charge of the
asylum and the excellent work being
carried on for the benefit of the in
sane.
Dr. Brewer then took up the ques-
ton of insanity in it's various forms
and spoke particularly of insanity
among the Hawaiians. He had no
ticed that while in all countries the
same causes produced insanity, among
the natives of these Islands it mani
tested itself differently; there were not
the same violent types, or effects,
which he attributed to the quiet, easy
and docile nature of the race.
The great specialist then branched
off to another subject:
cl,o for nf
some kind said he, something to
which he can devote his spare mo-
ments and as relaxation from the
cares incidental to the profession.
Now, my own personal fad is criminol-
ogy, and 1 have long made a study of
the criminal viewed from a medical
standpoint. With this fad in view l
of course visited Oahu prison and
studied it's inmates. A perusal of the
reports of your Attorney General tells
me that crime is on the increase here
as it is in the United States. Now,
there must be a way devised to stop
this increase, this continual increase
of crime, and believe the only way is
to view it from the purely medical
standpoint. Mind you, do not for
one moment decry the work either Of
the Church or the State, but / am
firmly convinced that the medical men
will have to solve the difficulty in the
end Physicians should study this
question and by so doing they will be
able to throw more light on it as time
goes by. The habitua1 criminal, dis
from the occasional, is an
abnormal man, and from this grade
comes the principal class of law-break-
ers. l studied the photographs ,of
criminals in Oahu prison and found
the same general characteristics as
There is a marked resem-
blance between the physiognomy OF
habitual criminals and the insane In
general. I may term it the same stig-
mata of degeneracy. While a criminal
is not necessarily insane he is very
close to it. Criminals are the prod
uct OF depraved heredity, alcoholism
and poor nutrition. Some of our GRIM
inal laws are most absurd, to my view
of thinking, especially those which
fix the penalty for the crime according
to the value of the thing stolen. Just
as if a man who steals a So bill from