The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-11-06
Thief and a Drunkard Is Made
Good BY an Operation.
SCIENCE TRIUMPHS IN CASE
Moral Degenerate IS Transformed In
to an Honest and Ind ustrious Cit.
lien BY This instrument.

LII. derOerC IL. NOrCnrOp, dean Ol
Hahnemann college.
By simple operation on the head
removing pressure on the brain caused
by an injury, DIR. -Northop changed a
! man from drnnkard and thief to
an honest, industrious man, respected
by his employers.
to drink and steal has disappeared. Fol
| twenty-five months he has lived an up
| right life, and during that time has
been promoted twice by the company
| employing him. Previous to the opera
ton he drank a quart of whisky a
day, stole money from his employers
and was unable to keep work because
of his degenerate habits.
! The case has just been made public
by DR.. Northrop. The operation was
performed twenty-five months ago. II
| was not announced to the medical
world earlier, because DIR. Northror
wanted to be sure that the operation
was successful. He wished to be sure
that it was not merely temporary
in it's effect.
Operation Attracts Attention.
The operation has attracted wide
attention among medical men and is
regarded by them as a triumph for
surgery in criminology. Here is
what DR.. Northrop said of the case
in an address before members of the
New York and Pennsylvania Homeo.
pathic association in Scranton:
"The miracles wrought by scientific
administration of drugs, the victories
over, accident and disease achieved by
surgical operation, epoch making though
they, be in Importance and value of
results obtained, pale and grow dim
before the. science which will convert
the, sinner, cure the kleptomaniac and
purge mans character. of vice and de,
bauchery. ,ag-u,
AE"Do not accuse me of offering you
a. picture too rosy-hued. The fact re.
mains that some moral degenerates can
be morally bettered, or even cured
by. ia properly and intelligently applied
surgical procedure.
) This has been made possible by a
more or less accurate practical knowl-
edge OF, the location of mans mental
functions, a part of the system of
phrenology, whose fundamental princi-
Piles widely accepted today, unite the
anatomy. and physiology of the cere-
Drum and cerebellum intimately and
harmoniously.
Fright here we should recognize the
credit which belongs to pathology in
determining and locating so many
hitherto obscure cerebral functions and
nervous phenomena.
Injuries of the head whose exact
location and extent were discovered
by operation, or oftener by post-mor-
tenn, have piled up a wealth of neu-
biological data and thrown much light
on both the anatomy and physiology
of the whole nervous system.
"The main facts set forth in the
history of case / wish to report
are as follows:
GA man fortyeight years old, had
been a man of good habits. He was
devoted to his wife and children and
occupied a position of trust. He earned
a good salary and was well thought
of by his company. He never drank
alcohol in any form.
SIN May, 1891, timber struck him
on the head, causing a confusion of
the scalp and a hematoma in the up
per frontal region, close to the middle
line on the right side. He was UNI
conscious for about sixty seconds, and
was then driven home in a cab.
'Besidesi the hematoma and contu-
sion on the head, his right eye was
made black and his lip and right foot
were cut. His head injury did not
bother him at all, his mind was per-
fectly clear and he felt WELL But the
foot injury detained him in the house
about three weeks.
Was an Embezzler.
"He then returned to his position
and remained there for twelve years,
when he was discharged for drunken
ness and misuse of the company's
funds. For several years of this
twelve-year period these bad habits
were developing, until he reached the
stage where he got drunk frequently
and stayed away from home for many
days at a time.
Remember, he never drank before
his accident. Now he disposed of at
least a quart of whisky daily, never
less than quart, he said, and some
times three pints. And yet he never
got really drunk.
SAT the same time he began to
spend money lavishly and helped him
self abundantly to the company's
funds. His accounts were frequently
audited and always found correct,
but his trick was to have enough
worthless or bogus checks in the drawer
to cover the amount which he had
withdrawn and spent, on several &C.
casions amounting to $4,000 or $4,000.
"On Jan. Is, 1907, I mapped out
the fissure of Rolando upon the right
side and exposed the lower and middle
thirds of the ascending frontal and adj
! iacent frontal conyoutiocs by means