Evening star., 1916-09-27
leans over the table and pats the
swollen hand.

You oushtn't to get fresh with a cop.
kid" she says sympathetically. but with
out making
Mrs. Hickson's Methods too much Of
Reach After Facts. ms.n,"e ov.r
them. which would embarrass him. be-
cause he could not understand.
Now. tell me. on the level. when did
you quit school? You know I'm your
friend. and I want to know
II stopped wild de third grade" says
the boy. shamefacedly.
Whether he lied to the judge from
shame or out OF that suspicion which
makes the outlaw lie to authority with
rate, he Is telling the truth now and will
do his best on the tests.
The tests used are the Binet-Simon
scale and similar ones, which are based
average children OF different ages and
thus standardized. II test is passed by
most nine-year- and failed by most
ght-year-olds. its passing is taken as
one indication of a mental development
equal to a normal age of at least nine
years.
OF course, il feeble minded subject
OF thirty scales only nine years old on
the tests. 1t does not indicate that he Is
absolutely only the equivalent Of a nine
year-old child. He may have acquired
some worldly wisdom and sharpness.
some knowledge of trick and subter-
fuge beaten in by life on the streets.
But fundamentally his brain is the brain
OF a nine-year-
The tests go deep; they strike at funda-
mentals. Utterly uneducated negroes
from the cotton fields. who had led the
simplest and least stimulating Of lives.
have passed the Binet scale with flying
colors, simply because the tests are di-
rected at finding out If the normal brain
Is there or not
Tests such as those of Binet deter
mine only whether the subject is feeble
minded or not. In case of the presence
OF some form of mental trouble DIR.
Hickson determines the fact by means OF
other and more technical methods In
fact. he finds that pure feeble -mindedness
is only one of the less frequent brain
troubles that are associated with crime
A form of unbalanced mentality
named "dementia praecox" by Kraepe-
lin, the Ger
Dementia Praecox man scien-
Is Common Complaint. was the
first to recognise it, is even commoner.
and this malady, grated on feeble
mindedness. is 30 common in criminals
who have come under DR.. Hicksons
observation that he calls 1t the "crim-
inal psychosis par excellence" 1t is
characterized by loss of affectivity
that is. the subject Is untouched and
unmoved by sensations and emotions
that move the normal man: by a split
ting of Thought processes-he thinks
disjontedly and illogically--and by sud
den character changes.
Hitherto this malady has not been
recognized in its earlier stages, but 1t
Is easy to see the acts which an indi-
vidual who suffers from II may commit,
especially when his brain Is subnormal
in addition.
To describe adequately the work OF
the .psychopathic laboratory, or even a
day Of it, would take a volume. The
cases come and come, dipped from the
inexhaustible stream that flows end
lessly into the criminal courts. and ev-
cry one is different. every one is a life
and a tragedy. and stands for other
lives on the outside shadowed and sad
dened.
The laboratory scales and tests: the
results are noted on card. initiated
and filed. The presiding judge Is no
more element to be considered. one
more factor to make decision and SEN
tence more difficult. Some day the card
may be dragged from the file and DR..
Hickson called to the stand to testify
and interpret as expert witness In
major criminal case, where the unfor-
tunate whose shortcomings are record.
ed on that bit of paper has followed out
his destiny.
The time may come. however, when
preventive means will have been de-
yised to save this man from himself rs
soon as the laboratory of the law has
analysed his case.