Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-07-17
CHEMICAL
CRIMINALS
Bv Frederic 7. H0Skin

~ HICAGO, Ill, July 13.-There
may soon come q time when
" criminals will be treated and
cured as sick persons, accord
ing to DR.. Madeleine A. Hallowell,
tendent of the New Jersey State In
stitution for Feeble Minded. Her
talk on defective delinquents was
one of the most interesting features
of the four days convention recent
~ held here by the National Con
ant, Backward, Dependent and De-
linquent Children and the American
Association of Public Officials of
Charity and Correction.
This convention was called for the
purpose of organizing a national
jurisdiction over the various reform
organizations throughout the coun-
try. Like most reform conventions,
they meet with the idea of organic
more, but, unlike most, they We're
neither sentimental nor indignant
over it's deplorable shortcomings.
They simply turned the cold, clear
light of science upon them. They
| were a group of psychiatrists, physi-
clans criminologists, and practical
educators, so earnest and so advanc-
ed in their work that one almost
felt tempted to be a criminal for the
sake of their scientific and improving
care.
But, according to DR.. Hallowell,
you are not likely to be criminal
| If your ductless glands are all right.
| This is hard to understand, as the
average person is hardly aware that
he has ductless glands living their
of him, and even doctors have not
arrived at more than a vague under
| standing of them. Nevertheless,
criminologists and physicians are
working more and more on the the
| ory that morals have a closer rela-
tionship to physiology than most Of
us realize.
Hold Glands Responsible
cit is like this" said DR.. Halo
| well. Zone person who flies into a
rage will not even think of murder
| ing the one who has provoked him.
Another person will think of murder
| but will have enough self-control to
| has been angered will lose all sense
/ of contro! and commit murder Later
he will be unable to understand what
| has happened to him to make him
do such a thing. The different ways
in which these people are affected by
anger are simply due to quantita-
tive difference in their chemical re-
actions to the emotion of anger" ,
When people feel anger or fear
or some other strong emotion the
chemical composition of the blood
is always changed. Among certain
criminals and feeble-minded this
| chemical reaction, Or change in the
| degree of alkalinity of the blood, is
different from that of normal hu-
man beings. The alkah in the blood
comes from the secretions of certain
! ductless glands, particularly the
o. EXCESSIVE
of which often causes goiter, and the
suprarenal gland above the kidneys.
| 1t is believed that these people can
, be brought back to normal by CIV
ing extracts of the deeo dried glands IN
DR.. Hallowell says that SO far they
| have not been successful in their
! attempts to reform the erring by
treating their hayward ductless
glands, but that they have every ex-
pectation of obtaining results in
| time. The experiment is still in it's
infancy. For long time, of course,
! they have treated feeble-minded pa
| tients by the same methods with
very marked results.
Three Types
From the pathological stand
point" says Dr. h Ia Gtaided fee ,Dto
three categories: The formative or
organic type in which the structure
of the brain cells has developed alb
normally due to some inherited con-
| dition; the traumattc type in which
! the structure Of the brain cellsl has
i been injured due to some shock or
| lesion before or after birth; and the
! functional type in which the struc-
| ture of the brain cellsl is complete,
| but they do not react normally to
apparent sensations; That is, the
perfect structurally, but are prevent
| ed from proper functionation by
| some extraneous cause.
| THE first two types must be re-
garded as hopeless because it is inn
| knowledge to supply brain tissue or
to restore that which has been per-
manently injured. The feeble-mind-
edness of the functional type, how
ever, is due largely to the chemical
condition of the body. When this
condition is treated by giving ex-
tracts of the deficient glands the pa
! tient is often very much improved
! Since it has been learned that many
! criminals have an abnormal chemi-
cal 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 improved by being treated
! in the same way"
"A State Duty
THE protection OF the mora! IN
| tegrity and the conservation of the
mental virility of it's citizens are
primary and inherent functions Of
| government" says DR.. Hallowen
1.-THE state is socially responsible for
| the ills that menace society, an
| their final elimination must be I'M
dertaken as public duty. Feeble
mindedness has always been recog-
nized as a social plague, but not until
modern science revealed the extent
to which it threatens the welfare of
the state were we, as a people, will
ing to face it as a great social prob
veloped a philosophy Of public &C
ton towards the socially unfit that
is based not alone on sentiment but
least, a scientific method of ap-
| proach to the problem of mental de-
ficiency that fully warrants our es-
! tablishing a comprehensive program
I for the adequate provision for and
| nrotection against mental defec-