Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1914-05-15

for q feature and the serial with its
dramatic story told by 1.-The Master
Pen" was the result.
CRIMINALS TESTED BY SCIENCE
Apparatus That May Do Away With
"Third Degree"
Exit the third degree. Enter the
latest invention Of psychology.
A young English scientist, formerly
associated with Liverpool university
and recently appointed psychologist
to the London schools, has invented an
apparatus which he believes will make
it possible to solve the most perplexing
criminal problems quickly, says the
New York Sun. If his expectations are
realized IN criminal trials Of the fu-
ture, there will be no need of expensive
attorneys, scores Of witnesses and the
costly array of legal machinery. The
accused person will be put on the wit
ness stand, the "psychogalvanic reflec"
apparatus will be put into play, and in
few moments the truth will be
known and verdict will be possible.
The apparatus consists merely Of
two bowls Of water and galvanome-
ter capable Of measuring even so fee
BILE a current as one-nlillionth Of an
ampere. and this current will be gen.
Grated by the accused as soon as he
deviates in the slightest degree from
the truth.
According to Prof. Cyril Burt who
has just laid this device before the
British Association, psychologists have
been barking up the wrong tree all the
time in their effort to arrive at the in
vention Of such an apparatus. They
have been working on the theory that
the intellectual factors alone are to be
considered in the investigation Of
crime in the examination of criminals
whereas it is the emotional factors
alone which should be considered. It
is not what the criminal knows, but
what he feels, that should be made the
basis Of his cross examination, and it
was on this basis that Professor Burt
worked.
The tests to which the apparatus
has been put are interesting. num-
ber Of Kings college students were
chosen and an imaginary crime was
planned. A boy Is supposed to have
been killed in cold blood and his body
is bundled into a sack, which the
murderer tries to hide. The details Of
this murder are kept from all the stu
dents but one, the guilty" man, who
is permitted to see the crime" in
execution.
Then the trial commences. All the
students are put on the witness stand
and are asked questions in regard to
the crime. Before they are permitted
to answer the simple apparatus Is
brought into play. The hands Of the
witness are put into the bowls Of wa
ter to which the galvanometer Is at
closely observed while they are testi-
flying.
The secret Of the system is. that
when a man tries to repress deeI emo
ton, his hands tend to perspire. They
then become better conductors Of
electricity than the dry, normal hand,
and this sets the galvanometer work.
ing. In this way it infallibly betrays
the guilty person.
In the tests conducted by Professor
Burt the 'innocent' witnesses proved
they had no connection with the crime
when the galvanometer failed to reg
lister any emotion on their part. When
the guilty" man testified, however,
the man who had been permitted to
see the crime, his hands perspired as
a result Of the emotions the memory Of
the crime aroused and the apparatus
registered this accurately.
1t is argued that, in the case Of a
real criminal, the emotion will be even
greater and the result will be even less
doubtful This experiment was made
twelve times, and in every case the
examiner was able to find the guilty"
person, though he was not previously
informed of his identity.
To make the circumstances even
more difficult, in addition to allowing
one of the students to see the crime,
three or four Of them were given am
pie details of the circumstances under
which it was supposed to have taken
place. The examiner did not know the
guilty" persons This was done in the
hope of confusing the examiner, but
the apparatus proved infallible again.
There was marked difference in
the degree to which it responded to
the guilty" student and to those who
only had the information Of the crime
at second hand. Though the latter had
a knowledge of the crime, it stirred no
feelings in them because they had not
seen it with their own eyes; but the
student who had been an eyewitness
was moved when the picture OF the
murder was brought back to his mind
by the leading questions Of the exam
iner
Professor Burt has foreseen the OBJ
lection of some critics that criminal
may be so hardened that he will re-
main unmoved in spite Of all efforts on
the part of the examiner, and he has
provided a variation of the test in
such cases. This method is based on
the theory of associate reaction time
The witness will not be asked to give
an account of his knowledge Of the
crime. He will merely be confronted
with a single word and will be asked
to tell what other word this brings to
mind
Thus, if the witness in murder
case such as the one supposed is be-
lieved to have seen a body put into
sack, the cross examinainer will sug-
gest the word sack" At the same
time he will press button, setting at
work a chronometer capable of record
inc a fraction of a second.
When the examiner suggests the
word sack" the Obvious word for the
witness to say, in case he has really
coon tho murder iS "bOdy" At any