Evening star., 1934-01-20
FAVORS STUDYING
ALL BRAIN TYPES
Psychiatfist Would Probe Or
gans of Senators and
WreStIers.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
BALTIMORE, January Pot Is "a
crime against civilization that We fail
to let any brain pass unexarnined when
it has done its life work" sad DR.. Adolf
Meyer, psychiatrist in chief Of the
Johns Hopkins Hospital and interna-
tiOnally known authority on brain re-
search, yesterday.
DIR, Meyer recently dtssected and
studied the brain of Giuseppe Zangara,
the man who shot at President Roose-
welt and fatally wounded Mayor Anton
Cermak of Chicago. The reluctance Of
many Americans to allow their own
brains 10 undergo a similar post-mor-
tenn study is, said DR.. Meyer, such a
foolish idea"
I'VE have q great deal 10 learn about
the brain and We can learn 1t only
through the study Of brains in connec-
ton with what we known about the
life and the condition of the person at
the time Of death" he said.
All Types Needed.
All types are needed, he asserted--
bishops. wrestlers, Senators, criminals,
everybody.
Occasionally one gets the brain Of
criminal for study; but 1t takes an
Arthur Mcdonald TO ask that the brain
and the whole persons of our respon-
slble Senators and Congressman become
an object OF study
DR. Meyer was asked what science
expects to learn from the laboratory
examination OF the brain and what 1t
already has learned
The public may first expect from
science that 1t will strive to know con-
sistent differences between the bril-
liant man and the dullard. the scholar
and the professional wrestler" he an
sWered. 1T will strive to know whether
born; and how much the brain We are
born with can be expected to develop bv
use as well as suffer from misuse and
disease.
We must learn what We may dars
to do in brain surgery We must know
more about changes under drugs and
complexities Of function. more about
the nutritional support the brain de-
pends upon 10 do its best. We must
know more about the brain, as ths
body, TO control the work of the physi-
clan.
Problems Diver Sified
The greatest gain in these directions
lies in the diversity Of the problems the
student is led TO attack. Not merely
corrections on what one already knows
or has reason 70 assume. but especially
questions Of the best use and nutrition
that favor sound growth and main
tenance and that guide one in creative
experimentation"
Asked what the criminal BRAIN shows,
DR. Meyer replied:
There is no structure or center OF
crime Crime belongs to the story Of
the life and its events; so do the var1e-
ties and motives of behavior And yet
We feel sure that the brain Is the
necessary organ and that even subtle
changes will change it's disposition. re-
ceptiveness and responsiveness and lts
responsibility.
I'VE should today decline the idea
Of a criminal brain There Is no di-
rect visible conditions that would make
crime inevitable. There are some con-
ditions that predispose, such as elco-
holism and epilepsy. However. many
men are kinder drunk than sober-but
never wiser.
Most Of the facts Of crime have 10 be
understood in the life history, as does
most Of What We see in the brain. II
we want to reach it. It is not BY opera
ton. but by regulation Of fuaction.
The idea of pressure on the brain. or
on a nerve, or a little hemorrhage' is
greatly overworked in the mind Of the
public. And vet We are sure that
progress will be made that will give
us control over many aspects of dis
position and change Of. structure that
play their role"