Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-07-16
Chemical Criminals
By Frederic J. Hsskin

medical director and superintendent Of
the New Jersey State Institution for
Feeble Minded. Her talk on defective
dclinquents was one of the mot interest
ing features Of the four days convention
recently held here by the National Con-
ference on the Education Of the Truant
Backward. Dependent and Delinquent
Children and the American Association
Of Public officials Of Charity and Correc-
| tion.
This CONVENTION was called for the pur-
pose OF organizing national council
OF public welfare to have jurisdiction over
out the country. Like most reform con-
ventione they met with the idea Of or
ganizing the patient human race little
more, but, unlike most. they were neither
sentimental nor indignant over its de-
plorable shortcomings. They simply turned
the cold, clear light Of science upon them.
They were group OF phychiastrlsts,
physicians, criminologists, and prac-
tical educators, 30 earnest and 80 advanc-
cd in their work that one almost felt
tempted to be criminal for the sake Of
their scientific and improving care.
But, according to DR.. Hallowcll, you
are not likely to be . criminal if your
ductless glands are all right. This Is
hard TO understand. AZ the average per
son is hardly aware that he has ductless
glands living their mysterious and sin
lister lives inside OF him, and even doctors
have not arrived at more than a vagne
understanding of them
Nevertheless criminologists and ply
sicians are working more and more on the
theory that morals have a closer reia-
tionship TO physiology than most OF us
realize.
HOLD GLANDS RESPONSIBLE.
"It Is like this" said DIR. Hall
"One person who flies into a rage will
not even think of numbering the one who
has provoked him. Another pcrson will
self-control TO re frain from it. A third
person who has been angered will lose
all sense of control and commit murder.
Later be will be unable to understand
what has happened to him to make him
do such q thing The different ways in
which people are affected by anger arc
simply due to quantitative difference
in their chemical reactions TO the emo
tion OF anger"
When people feel anger or fear or some
other strong emotion the chemical com
position OF the blood is always changed.
Among certain criminals and feeble-mind-
ed this chemical reaction, or change in the
degree Of alkalinity Of the blood, is differ
ent from that OF normal human beings.
The alkali in the blood comes from tn e
secretions of certain ductless lands, par
ticularly the thyroid gland, the exces-
sive growth OF which often causes goitre,
and the suprarenal gland above the
kidneys. 1t is believed that these people
can be brought back to normal by being
gwen extracts Of the dried glands in
which they are deficient
DIR. Hallowell says that so far they have
not been successful in their attempts TO
reform the erring by treating their way
ward ductless glands, but that they have
every expectation of obtaining results in
time. The experiment is still in its in
fancy. For long time, Of course, they
have treated feeble-minded patients by
the same methods with very marked
results.
THREE TYpEs-
From the pathological standpoint"
says DR.. Hallowell, feeble mIndedness
can be divided into three categories:
The formative or organic type in which
the structure of the brain cells has devel-
oped abnormally due to some inherited
condition; the Traumatic type in which
the structure of the brain cells has been
injured due to some shock or lesion before
or alters birth; and the Functional
type In which the structure of the brain
cells is complete but they do not react
normally TO apparent sensations. That Is,
the nervous system and the brain are
perfect structurally, but are prevented
from proper functionation by some ex-
traneous cause.
The first two types pust be regarded
as hopeless because 1t IS impossible with our
present limited knowledge 10 supply brain
tissue or TO restore that which has been
permanently injured. The feebleminded-
ness of the functional type, however, is
due largely TO the chemical condition of
the body. When this condition is treated
by giving extracts of the deficient glands
the patient IS often very much improved.
Since 1T has been learned that many
criminals have an abnormal chemical
condition of the blood caused by the same
glands whose deficient functioning causes
certain kinds of idiocy it seems only
logical that they might be improbed by
being treated IN the same way.
''All this is enough to make the average
harmless citizen feel an uneasy interest
IN his glands. Imagine being suddenly
moved, after years of patient suffering,
TO rise up and slay the person who sits
next to you at concert and rattles his
program You may have thought Of doing
this often but nothing short OF ductless
gland could cause you to be so impulsive.
Who knows when a duetless gland might
get out of repair? According to learned
book by DR.. w. A. White, superintendent
of the St. Elizabeth Hospital for the In
sane In Washington, these glands are very
numerous and OF furtive nature. They
have no apparent outlets or secretions
but they have marked effect upon the
growth, physique and mentality by their
hidden secretions which enter the blood
IN some unknown manner, Among these
glands Is tn pituitary a small pea-shaped
gland at the base of the brain, an abnor-
mality OF which causes exaggerated growth
We owe the giants of our circus side shows
to changes in the pituitary gland. When
the thyroid and thymus glands at the
base of the neck are deficient in their
secretions cretinism results, that is, the
type of idiocy connected with dwarfed !
stature, short neck, thick lips and clumsy |
gait. Some wonderful cures of cretinisrn 4
have been accomplished by giving ex-
tracts of the thyroid gland. Diseases of /
the sexual glands cause numerous forms /
of insanity. Certain cases OF Sadism, that /
little mentioned form of alteration which |
IS responsible for SO many violent crimes, /
have been shown to be accompanied by I
disease OF the joints, and there is an un-
explained connection between them. Syph- /