The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1920-07-01

ness; but at the same time It does not
equally affect the nerve cells of the
respiratory and circulatory centers
thus permitting those centers to re.
spond to incoming impulses and allow.
ing the person to live.
Blood Disturbance Factor.
$50 we see that a chemical disturb
ance in the blood may affect the func-
tional activity of one or more centers
OF the brain. making them either more
unstable, or stable. This brings us to
consideration of the effect of such
disturbances upon our actions.
perceptions and conceptions, form
ed In the intellectual side of the brain.
send Impulses to the emotional side.
II these impulses pass the threshold
of functional activity in the emotional
centers. wave of feeling, or emotion,
results. If, through a chemical dis
turbance of the blood, the threshold of
functional activity of the cell groups
of the emotional centers has been Sc
lectively lowered, the wave of feeling
may be so strong as to wipe out en-
hrely all restraining influences coming
from the intellectual side of the brain.
and make the emotional the motivat-
ing impulse in the persons mental
makeup.
I'm persons OF normal emotional
makeup unreasonable reactions may
be prevented through inhibitions COM
ing from the. intellectual side of the
brain. In persons of unstable emo
tional makeup, intellectual inhibitions
may be felt, but if the wave of feeling
Is strong enough the person may not
even be conscious of the inhibition.
The wave of feeling simply wipes out
the mental attributes of judgment, of
right, and of thought of consequences
and precipitates the impulsively in
spired action.
ut is apparent that, if through tests
we can find a chemical disturbance in
the blood of persons of obvious I'M
stable emotional makeup we can lay
hands on the seat of the disturbance
in most cases and help them. In many
OF the cases examined at the Post
Graduate hospital chemical disturb
ance was found, and in more than halt
of these cases the cause was traced
directly to certain of the internal Sc
cretory glands.
NJ ;ch nd
through only a few blood tests which
have been evolved. New tests are be-
ing worked on constantly, and the hope
ise to narrow the field until we can
lay a finger on the seat of all emo
tional disturbances.
"The large number of cases exam
ined have given sufficient data to show
a connection between emotional types
and disturbing of definite glands,
and the attempt now is to establish
definite cause for each criminal type.
Necessarily the treatment varies in
every case. 1t consists In most cases
in raising the threshold Of functional
activity by chemical substances which
prevent excessive stimulation of the
internal secretory glands and by neu-
tralizing the effects Of certain excess
sive secretiOns by introducing counter
balancing substances.
Key Has Been Found.
1.-THE principles of the counterba1-
ancing substance are found in animal
glands, but these for the most part
also remain to be determined with any
degree of precision.
"Where the disturbance is of thy
roid origin, methods have been fairly
well worked out, and there has been
some success with suprarenal unbal-
ances, but the pituitary and other
glands have not yet revealed their
secrets.
"Based on the rapid strides made
since this particular study was begun
in 1912, there seems to be no limit to
the possibilities which the research
of the next few years may open. The
key may be safely said to have been
found and the lock turned; it remains
to discover what lies beyond in def.
mite methods of diagnosis and treat
ment