Evening star., 1938-11-17
Of Stors, Men
And Atoms
Notebook Of Science Progress
In Field, Laboratory
And Study
BIZ Thomas r. Henri.

By Thomas r. Henry.
The autonomogram, . human voltage
meter by which q hitherto unexplored
aspect Of mans personality may be meas
ured, Is being devised by University OF
Illinois psychiatrists.
Low psychic voltage, or life force,
according to a hypothesis presented by
DR.. H. Douglas Singer Of the university
staff, is probably basic factor in many
mental breakdowns, and may be the
determining element in such forms Of
insanity as dementia praecox. Persons
have normal intelligence, which might
be compared to the wattage of elec-
tricity, but lack the push from below to
make use Of 1t.
The ultimate source Of this voltage,
DR.. Singer says, is as mysterious as the
force Of life itself, but in any individual
Its immediate source is the autonomic
nervous system, long known as the seat
Of the emotions, of which 1t seems to
be as much a characteristic as Is INTEL
ligence Of the brain. Various devices,
such Is written, verbal and mechanical
tests, have been invented to measure
] the intelligence, but this cannot func-
ton without the voltage behind 1t.
The autonomogram, by which 1t is
hoped to measure this push. is being
worked out by DR.. Chester Darrow Of
the university's Institute for Juvenile
Research. 1t is an amplification Of
lAv,{o 1nv,r Lpn <o Hn1n u{cfc on1
used to measure the so-called psyche
galvanic reflex. This, In turn. is little
more than a measurement Of the invis-
ible sweating Of the hands in an emo
tional reaction. The sweat glands are
under the control of the sympathetic
nerve centers, a part of the autonomic
system. When this sweating increases
electric currents taken of the skin in
crease. The sweating increases with
anything which stimulates the sympa-
thetic system. especially an emotion such
as fear or rage.
The increase in skin electricity is ac-
companied by rise in blood pressure.
This, however, may be due either to the
increased activity of the sympathetic
nervous centers or to the decreased
activity Of the parasympathetic system,
the other half Of the autonomic nerve
system. Its function Is to inhibit nearly
everything which the sympathetic sys-
tenn stimulates. thus bringing about a
nervous balance.
The autonomogram Is a combination
of the two measurements. If the blood
pressure jumps and the skin electricity
does not, it is 4 sign that the whole
autonomic system is not functioning nor
mally. When the two are plotted against
each other an energy quotient can be
obtained an E. @. corresponding to the
I. Q. Of intelligence measurements.
In the past the psychogalvanic reflex
has been used chiefly to measure changes
during states Of emotion. The auto
monogram does not necessarily call for
any emotional stimulus. One of the
tests made with it was during the learn
ing of nonsense syllables, used by psy-
biologists to study the mechanism of
memory. supposedly purely function
OF the intelligence. A subject is asked
to memorize long string Of syllables
which have no meaning and consequent
ly cannot arouse any emotion. 1t has
been found in such tests that the first
and last syllables of series usually are
learned frst. The tests show, DR.. Dar-
row said, that the psychogalvanic reflex
is greatest when these first and last
syllables are being memorized and de-
clines with the difficulty Of memorizing.
This indicates close tie-up between
the workings Of the intelligence and the
autonomic push. in the complete absence
Of anything that would be recognized as
an emotional state. Bright children,
DR.. Darrow said, usually show higher
galvanic reflex than dull ones. indicating
that high voltage and high intelligence
usually 60 together. This, however, is
not necessarily the case.
In explaining his low voltage hypothe-
sis Of insanity to the Society for Re-
search in Child Development of the
National Research Council, DR.. Singer
said that all the drugs recently intro
duced in the treatment Of dementia
praecox, such As insulin and metrazol,
with hitherto generally incurable NAL
ady, are stimulators of the autonomic
nervous system. The clue came to him,
he said from the large number of cases
passing through the universitys psychia-
trio clinic, the one common feature of
which was an apparent lack of energy
combined with normal intelligence. The
victims have been utterly colorless and
usually completely inoffensive. They
have been sound sleepers, usually with
out any bad habits.
When they get into = complicated
situation they may have intelligence
enough to get out Of 1t, but they lack
the voltage to put this intelligence to
work. Consequently the situation gets
worse and worse until 1t is unendurable
and escape is sought in some sort of
psychosis.