Education, personality & crime : a practical treatise built up on scientific details, dealing with difficult social problems

Preface

Science has till recently been regarded as the fad of a few, but, now that its commercial value is being appreciated, it is rising to a place of recognition. Biology and Psychology are, however, still regarded, especially by the legal profession, as essentially mythical.

There are many burning questions, as education, marriage and crime, which are in a chaotic condition, the subjects of party strife ; and yet there is only one way in which these difficulties can be met. That way is by bending to the laws of science, of biology, of physiology, and psychology.

The questions of life, growth, and heredity concern every one, and, with a proper understanding of their merits, we can foretell and avoid many individual and social calamities.

The subjects especially treated in this book are education, character formation, marriage, and crime. Personality is a large question and many cases of dual personality are recorded. They indicate a splitting up of the Ego or self or consciousness. Heredity, including our up-to-date knowledge of fertilization and germ plasm, will prove interesting to many ; while Responsibility appeals to all, and merits more attention from the lawyer. Is there such a thing as Free Will ?

Empire building is the theme of the book, not by dislocation of industries, nor by aggressive attacks on other nations, but by accumulating our intellectual forces so as to be equal to any effort or to resist any strain. Individuals must be dealt with. It is not the political orator alone who is the builder, but also those who, “ unhonoured and unsung,” toil deep down in the dark quagmire of poverty and immorality. There are appended to the accounts of those institutions where I had the opportunity of visiting, statistics of physique and cranial measurements (psychatrie), which will interest a few,

vii

V

Vlll

PREFACE and require close comparison and examination ; otherwise they may be ignored by the general reader.

The criminal is by no means neglected in this book. He is an important and fascinating member of society who has his merits, and whom I classify either as a pervert or invert.

I cannot help making many attacks on that unseen personality, the State.

None of these intricate problems can be explained without a clear, even though it be an elementary, knowledge of the laws of life and living matter. I therefore propose to deal with the subjects in the following order.

First : A section of biology, dealing with the simple cell,

its structure, growth, and evolution into higher forms. This leads on to fertilization, which prepares the understanding for the great problems of heredity, and how we are affected by them. Second : The physiology and structure of the

nervous system and brain. The third section naturally includes education, which should be contrasted with the present methods, that have proved such a failure.

Then naturally follows a discussion on the Ego and dual personalities, illustrating the composite character of our mental machinery. I will also discuss diseased or degenerated physical states, which opens the way for understanding mental and moral degeneracy as seen in our criminals. This will be illustrated with interesting accounts of some of the criminals I have known, and at once raises the question of responsibility. In a closing chapter, which I term Empire building, I give a resume of some of the conditions met with in our large cities, which if fully understood would soon be remedied.

The Appendix contains tables of measurements, which form a little study on craniology, and psychatrie, including several records of criminals.

ALBERT WILSON, M.D.

22, Langham Street,

London, W.

Contents

CHAP.

I

II ITT IV

V

VI

VIII

IX

X

XI

XII

XIII

XIV XV

Preface

Section I Biological

To the Thoughtful ....

Vegetable and Animal Forms Fertilization .....

Development — Influence of Environment Prepotency ......

page

vii

Section II Physiological

Reflex Action ......

The Brain .......

The Grey Matter of the Brain .

The Minute Structure of the Brain .

The Functions of the Cortex The Influence of Environment on the Brain . The Relation of Physiognomy to Brain Cells Physical Degeneracy, Seen and Unseen

IX

CONTENTS

OHAP. PAGE

Section III Sociological XVI

Education ......

. 134

XVII

. 148

XVIII

. 170

XIX

The Moral Invalid and Mental Cripple

. 181

XX

The Criminal .....

. 189

XXI

. 207

XXII

Responsibility .....

. 228

XXIII

Empire Building .....

. 237

Appendix and Tables ....

. 261

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE

Blood Cells 7

Cell Division in Growth . . . . . . .12

Section of Ovary ........ 13

The Germinal Chain . . . . . . . .13

Fusion of Ovum and Spermatozoon . . . . .15

Group of Underfed Boys, with Measurements .... 24

A Purkinje Cell ......... 61

The Reflex of Salivation ....... 62

The Spinal Reflex ........ 62

Nerve Terminals in Skin and Muscle ..... 63

Motor Cell, Normal ........ 64

Spinal Ganglion Cell in Fatigue ...... 65

The Skull 70

The Brain Areas ......... 70

The Embryo Brain ..... . .72

A Normal Brain Pattern . . . . . . .72

Brain Pattern of Ungulates (a Pig) ..... 74

,* „ ,, Carnivora (a Civet) ..... 74

». „ „ a Human Foetus ..... 75

Photo of the Smallest Human Brain . . . . .70

Photo of an Imbecile Brain . . . . . . .77

„ „ Ourang’s Brain . . . . . .77

The Brain Cortex Mapped out . . . .79

A Dement’s Brain for Comparison. ..... 79

Sensory and Psychic Areas in Diagram ..... 80

The Mechanism of Thought ....... 83

Brain Celle in Health and Disease ..... 95

Diagram of Nerve Fibrils ....... 96

Sketch of Cells and Fibres ....... 97

Dr. Watson’s Diagram of Relative Development of the Cortex . 99

Nerve Fibres ........ 100

Insulation of Fibres in Foetus ...... 100 xi

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Xll

Embryo to show Neuroblasts Neuritis .....

Flechsig’s Association Areas Wasted Lunatic Brain for Comparison Microscopic Appearance of Visuo-psychic and Slummer’s Brain

„ ,, Cortex (microscopical)

The Drunkard’s Brain Cortex, a Drawing Large Motor Cells and Fibres Neuroblasts in the degenerate Versus Pyramidal Cells in the Normal Writings of Mary Barnes as B 10 )> ,» >> B 3

Drawing

Writing

B

B

B

Sensory Areas

Diagram of Nerve Supply to Arteries Diagrams of Arterial Supply to the Brain „ ,, the Sympathetic Nerve System

The ex -Laziest Man in London The Cortex in the Normal and the Insane Normal and Diseased Brain Cells A Group of City Lads ....

The Author and Brigadier with your Unfortunate Brothers The ex-King of Burglar’s .....

The Brains of the Insane and the Degenerate (a Murderer)

The Brain Layers of the Alcoholic, Insane, and Criminal Sketch of Normal and Degenerate Brain Cells The Murderer’s Brain . . ....

„ ,, ,, Frontal View, Layers and Cells

,, ,, ,, Occipital View, Layers and Cells

Drawing of Infant, Normal, and Degenerate Cortex .

The Murderer’s Cortex versus that of a Mangaby Normal Brain Cells ......

Normal and Imbecile Cortex Compared .

Working Lads in Group .....

Mr. Wheatley’s Lads ......

190,

192,

PAGE

220 221 222

Chapter I To The Thoughtful

The sum of twenty-five years’ busy life — The social canker affects all. ~ THE CHANGES OF TIME : Formerly we were plethoric — Now asthenic — The key to prosperity — Comparison of extremes SOCIAL PRO- BLEMS INVOLVED : Double ' consciousness — Abnormal humanity —

We are all potential criminals — THE LAWS OF BIOLOGY RULE US : Nature allows no privileged class THE BREAKING POINT : Over-

strain : the danger zone — The criminal drawn from every class — Society lowers the moral code — SIN VERSUS CRIME : The neglect of the State — All depends on individual effort — The community — Effect of luxury — The neglect of the poor.

After twenty-five years of very busy life in a varied medical practice, it may not be out of place to sum up for the use of the thoughtful the pith of my labours. All through a medical man’s career, if he take fife seriously, he meets mental suffering, in addition to, and often entwined with, physical disease. Nor can a doctor separate himself from the social side of fife, for he sits daily in the confessional. While it is his delight to join in the joys of the few, his sympathies are constantly invoked for the mass of humanity groaning in sorrow and travail. The social canker does not afflict the poor alone, it chooses its victims equally among the rich ; the babe that is born to the wealthy or to the good, may bring sorrow instead of joy. In some cases this is unavoidable, but usually it is preventable.

It is therefore my earnest object to address myself to all mothers and fathers, to all young men and maidens, on whose health and integrity the next generation is cast. The mission of the physician is not to correct outward disease alone, but also to observe brain and nerve defects, which too often are the basis of disease and unhappiness, present or yet to come.

Some say the world seems off its hinges, but the doubt is if it ever were on, for we are in process of evolution. Times

The

Changes of Time

Social

Problems

Involved also change very much. Fifty or a hundred years ago we were plethoric and sthenic, or, in simple language, fullblooded and strong. Instead of thinking slowly, we now work and live at high pressure ; we fly across England in six or seven hours, whereas our forefathers spent two days in coaching, or a week in riding. This healthy open-air life, with plenty of plain food and home-brewed ale, engendered the race which built up England’s power. But after years of easy travelling, telegraph and telephone, cheaper and richer food, and warmer clothing, we have become an asthenic people. The full hard pulse has become soft and compressible, the type of disease has changed, the nervous system once strong is now vulnerable at many points ; we have improved intellectually but have lost ground physically and in endurance.

Mens sana in cor pore sano is the key to happiness and prosperity. As it concerns all and must interest many, no further apology is required for compiling this treatise.

In dealing with such an extensive and complex subject, it makes more impression to compare and contrast the extremes of intelligence, character, and morality. Thus we have to choose sanity and insanity, describing the physical condition of the brain in each ; how to retain the one and avoid the other.

Similarly we have to contrast the highest morale with the lowest, which we style criminality ; as to material or organic basis in each there is much to be said. Nor can we leave out heredity, with its subtle influence. Finally external mundane conditions may oppose Nature’s efforts ; this imports many social questions, which it is the duty of the physician as a citizen to emphasize.

There is a very curious condition of mental instability called double consciousness, in which the same individual leads two lives. It is a mystery not yet solved, and one to which I was specially attracted, having had the opportunity of watching a case which led ten separate lives.

As every composer has a thread round which he weaves his effective music, so I am compelled to weave my theme around abnormal humanity. The criminal will appear so often in these leaves that it may look as if he were the subject. It is not so ; but he is a type of what any one may slide down

TO THE THOUGHTFUL 3

to, unless bolstered up by favoured surroundings, and guided by healthy mental powers.

It is necessary for me at once to press home the solemn fact that we are all potential criminals, but saved by our heredity, education, and environment. Change any one of these factors and we are at once on the edge of a precipice. We need not therefore be proud of our virtues, but thankful that we are permitted to have them.

We have yet to learn that the laws of Biology,1 which govern lower forms of life, apply to ourselves. Nature has no favourites, nor does she allow a privileged class. By comprehending these matters we can deal with the pressing social problems of the day, and, where we cannot benefit a class, we can at all events help individuals. We are a motley crowd, one halt, another blind, and a third dumb. The blind can carry the halt, and the halt may guide the blind. In this way only we get along, carrying one another’s burdens.

There is a breaking point to every human mind, as there is to solid objects in the organic world. But this breaking point varies in individuals, and seems to rest with the personality or ego. A large number of folk live constantly under overstrain, and in proximity to the danger zone. What the result of the catastrophe will be, depends on many previous conditions. What in one is a nervous breakdown, in another is insanity, and in a third is crime. Every rope will yield to a certain pressure, but the poorer the quality of rope, the less weight is required to break it. Nowadays, with competition, stress, and the wrong form of civilization, instruction instead of education, class against mass, we are surrounded by sad accidents. Lunacy is rapidly increasing ; poverty does not lessen ; while degeneracy and crime have got entirely beyond control.

If the criminal were drawn from the poor, we who are in a better position might selfishly leave him alone ; but the criminal, as much as the insane, comes from every class, so that no family can afford to neglect this inquiry.

The

Laws of Biology Rule us

The

Breaking

Point

Sin

versus

Crime

In dealing with the higher mental evolution we have to regard morality and rectitude as the duty demanded of normal man. Society in its evolution has not attained to this ; on the plea that might is right, it lowers the code of morality and duty to one’s neighbour, and substitutes convenience for conscience.

Hence we find that sin and crime run on quite different lines. What is a small sin like poaching, becomes one of the most flagrant of crimes ; whilst he who ruins a girl in the poorer ranks sins under the protection of the law, and does not lose his place in society.1 When our rusty old law machine finally tumbles to pieces, crime and morality should be arranged in inverse proportion. Then, and not till then, will Law and Justice be co-related. The State is at present unmindful of the sufferings of her children ; she performs little in the way of sympathy or goodness, leaving all charity and assistance for the needy to the efforts of private individuals.

After a careful study of the human organism, we shall understand more clearly the various social problems, where the defects He, and how to remedy them.

It is quite evident that individual effort is necessary for national progress. Nations and individuals run on parallel lines ; what is right for the one is good for the other.

A community is made up of personal units, while each of us is made up of several communities of complex living cells ; each group of cells, with its special duties, is co-operating for one object, setting before us a plan of what a normal and perfect nation should be. There are factors which threaten us at the present epoch ; luxury and over-indulgence, which ruin the human organism, canker and penetrate to the heart of the nation, producing lethargy and inefficiency.2 The second cause of our national decay is the neglect of the poor and helpless, who should be a source of constitutional wealth and

1 I recall one of the brightest little fellows in the Working Boys Home, who is the son of a domestic servant. The father was a gentleman,” as his son’s face and manners show. The lad barely escaped being absorbed into the criminal ranks. If he had been so absorbed, how is the matter of responsibility to be divided up amongst the three parties concerned, father, mother and State ?

1 Read Arnold White's work on Efficiency and Empire.

TO THE THOUGHTFUL growth. The disaster which this brings is not a curse from God, but a logical sequence of the infringement of the laws of biology and sociology.

We are very near a precipice, requiring only a “ heave over ” to go to pieces, and our only salvation lies in a return to healthy and normal conditions.

Relation

of

Animal

to

Vegetable

Life

Chapter II Vegetable And Animal Forms

RELATION OF ANIMAL TO VEGETABLE LIFE: Some natural laws— Man is only an animal— Plus will-power— Man a machine— Represented in the lower creation — Animal kingdom built up in progressive series — The amoeba and leucocyte — Teach children the truth, or they resent it later. EVOLUTION : Lamarck’s theory, Adaptation to Environ-

ment, Wrong ; Darwin, “ Survival of the fittest,” or “ natural selection ” — Prof. W. Bateson on “ Discontinuous variation ” — Shirley poppies— Examples of discontinuous variation — De Vries’ experiments with

oenothera. THEIR APPLICATION TO MANKIND : Promiscuous

marriage — Continuous variation, or minor individual differences — Our duty toward “ the unfit ” — Malthus’ warning.

The animal world is very closely interwoven with the vegetable kingdom. The same general laws and principles govern both alike, so that no study of the human race would be successful or complete, without a full understanding of plant life. Man is an ordinary animal, with its instincts, feelings, and impulses ; but he has something in addition, a mind, and perhaps a soul. He is therefore not subject to his impulses and instincts, but is provided with a force or will power to direct and control his desires. It has taken many hundred millions of years to build him up ; structure has been added to structure, until he is a most elaborate physico-chemical machine. When his various parts are taken to pieces, and examined, often with the aid of a microscope, sometimes with the test tube, we find that they are all represented in what we call the lower creation. We see the crab is made up of twenty-four segments, the worm is also divided, so is the butterfly. Man likewise is made in spinal and other segments, and resembles the lower forms of life in that each segment is provided with its own nervous mass and mechanism.

We observe also nerve masses, or ganglia, in insects and snails, that have their counterpart in the human species, controlling the organs of digestion and circulation. The animal kingdom then has been built up from very simple

A. Leucocytes, or colourless blood cells. They are round cells with nuclei.

Nature’s policemen.

B. Similar cells, scavengers, 2 destroying tubercle bacilli from a human lung ;

the other full of dust particles from the breath.

C. A double nucleated phagocyte, or scavenger cell, from a case of advanced

neuritis, removing dead particles, which stain black. (Drawn from the microscope, oil immersion, by Miss B. Wilson.)

VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FORMS 7

forms, by little additions to each progressive series. Perhaps the simplest form of animal life is represented in the ponds by the amoeba. This is a transparent piece of protoplasm, which looks under the microscope like a bit of jelly, having the power of movement, and altering its shape so as to include smaller particles which it digests as food. The same kind of animal exists in our blood as colourless corpuscles, on which we depend as scavengers and policemen. If we get a fever, local inflammation or poisoned wound they muster in thousands and millions, devouring the poisonous germs which have attacked us. Though they are a necessary part of our system yet they can live outside our bodies, as, for example, in a test tube which contains a weak solution of salt.

Every child ought to be taught the truth, and ought to know that man was not suddenly created, but evolved gradually from the lower creation. Nothing is to be gained by practising deception on the young, and much may be lost, as it leads later to a general scepticism and “ criticisms.” 1 2 3

There has always been great speculation as to how this evolution of different species came about. Early investigators thought that the gaps existing between species were brought about very gradually. Lamarck who wrote on this subject in 1801 and 1809, 2 originated the theory of “adaptation to environment ” as the cause of variation. Thus the giraffe, which has no more bones in its neck than has a rabbit or man, was supposed to acquire its long neck during many generations of stretching upwards to eat the palmleaves.

Similarly the flamingo was supposed to have developed its long legs and neck through its habit of wading and reaching out among bulrushes. Likewise snakes were supposed to have lost their legs from their habit of crawling into narrow crevices. All this we know to be wrong.

Darwin in 1859 3 introduced the theory of the “survival of the fittest ” and “ natural selection.” Darwin, the pioneer,

1 Many “ learned ” and “ higher ” criticisms are valueless for want of accurate scientific data. These clever men have been brought up on dogma and tradition instead of solid fact.

2 Philosophic Zoologique.

3 The Origin of Species.

Evolu-

tion however, could not in a lifetime complete his work. He attributed too much importance to minor differences, thinking the gaps between species were gradually formed, and handed on from one generation to another, until a new type or species was formed. We now know that this is not so. Nature can and does take jumps. Professor W. Bateson,1 of Cambridge, applies the term “ discontinuous variation ” to this process. Thus he points out that a tulip, which normally has three petals, may have offspring with four perfect petals which is a new and total variation from the parent : not three proper petals and one small imperfect petal, for such would be considered a malformation, or, more correctly, a “ continuous variation.”

Then we have the case of the Shirley poppies. The Rev. W. Wilks, vicar of Shirley, near Croydon, observed white rimmed poppies growing among a mass of wild poppies (Palaver rhoea). He kept the seed of this sudden or discontinuous variety, and with skilful horticulture started the new species called after his parish.

There are abundant records of several new species, or as Bateson terms them, “ discontinuous variations.” As common examples we have the long haired cats and guinea-pigs. Pug dogs, and bull dogs, are variations depending on arrested growth of the upper jaw. The same happens among carp and pike, so that the lower jaw protrudes. A few cases are on record of ordinary mice with no fur, naked mice, whose offspring also is naked.

One of the most applicable instances is recorded by the Dutch botanist, De Vries.2 He found in a potato field several varieties and species of Oenothera Lamarkii growing wild. It is an American plant, and he attributed their variations to the difference in climate and soil. However, he cultivated from seed and seedlings 50,000 plants and observed among them 800 abnormal forms, or as they are termed mutations ( mutare , to change). These 800 mutations showed 15 varieties or new species, which, in some cases, would flower and seed true to their new types, thus making distinct species, and receiving fresh Latin names ; in other cases the new species or seedlings

1 Materials for the Study of Variation, p. 15.

2 Nature, 1901, vol. lxiv, p. 208.

VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FORMS 9

were very delicate, and either died before reaching maturity, or were only reared with the greatest care. Thus some of the varieties formed new and stable species, and some were unstable.

This instructive experiment applies forcibly to the lower vegetable and animal forms, and also to our own human and social organizations. As the result of promiscuous marriage we see a motley group of offspring, some good, some medium, others weak and sickly, and a few bad. This leads us on further in the inquiry as to the unseen causes and forces at work.

In every human family we observe individual differences or peculiarities amongst the children. These are minor variations, or individual traits, and are termed “ continuous variations,” because they cannot be perpetuated into new forms. If we however can fathom the why and wherefore of the more definite and abnormal variations, we will have a clearer perception of the continuous examples. It will carry us on to the question of marriage and inheritance, and also of our higher duty towards the unfit. Are we to look on unconcerned ? In 1798 1 Malthus gave a warning to the world when he pointed out, that the human population increases in geometrical ratio, therefore the less gifted must suffer in time from the stress of poverty, due to more competition and less land to occupy. Infant mortality from the weakened race must therefore increase. We now realize the truth of his prophecy, but what about the future ?

1 The Principle of Population, 1798.

Their Application to Mankind

The

Simplest Unit in Biology

Chapter III

THE SIMPLEST UNIT IN BIOLOGY : Definition of a cell — Protoplasm —

Nuclei : Illustration — Variety of cells — Mono-cellular structure.

REPRODUCTION : By simple division — Diagrammatic representation

of cell division — Condition of each daughter cell. BY TWO PARENT-

AL ELEMENTS : Studies in lower forms of life — Observations in worms

and starfish. DEVELOPMENT OF GERMINAL CELLS. Four stages.

THE OVUM : Its structure — Chemical composition — The storehouse

— The nucleus — Chromatin — Polar bodies — The fertilized ovum a perfect

cell— -How disease and alcohol affect the ovum — Stunted children.

THE SPERMATOZOON : Chromosome and centrosome — Fusion of

sperm and ovum — Function of each. THE SEX QUALITIES : Re-

versal of sexes — Mental hermaphrodism — The fusion of, or third, sex. THE CHANGES IN FERTILIZATION IN THE SEA-URCHIN : Entrance of sperm — Sperm divides — Nucleus in ovum divides — The two pronuclei fuse and rods of chromatin form — Unequal division of ovum suggested where disease misses a generation. TWO KINDS OF GER-

MINAL CELLS : Reproductive and body cells — Reproductive cells not from the parent — Observations to prove that reproductive cells continued from germinal cells — Professor Balbiani’s observations on the reproductive cells of a fly — Beard’s observation on the skate- — First division of cells, asexual, the Phorozoon — Then embryo appears and reproductive cells remain — Resemble the runner of a plant. MOST IMPORTANT BEAR-

ING ON HEREDITY IN THE HUMAN RACE : The old teaching incorrect— Haeckel’s view' — Darwin and Huxley — No inheritance of acquired characters — Weissmann’s theory of Germ Plasm — Beard thinks embryo owes nothing to parent except shelter — The case of the hen and the egg — Mammalian ova — The higher the organization the greater the risk — Practical application of our knowledge — Causes of variation, latent characters — Delage regards environment as cause of variation.

The cell is the simplest unit in life. Every animal and vegetable tissue is composed of masses of cells, which are specialized in form and function in the different parts. A living animal cell consists of a body of protoplasm,1 usually enclosed in a wall or membrane, with a nucleus in the centre. This is a workable definition, considering the hundreds of different sorts of cells. Protoplasm is an exceedingly complex and unstable compound of an albuminoid character, and forms the physical basis of animal life. Its composition varies according to the kind of cell in which it occurs. The nucleus is the vital part

1 It is doubtful if the nerve cell has any membrane.

FERTILIZATION H

of every cell and contains a different complex substance, called nuclein. The nucleus is superior in structure and function to the other contents of the cell. Thus in the brain of the human embryo, the nuclei of the cells are all laid down at an early stage ; as growth proceeds each nucleus builds up its own cell-body, out of a special neuro-protoplasm.

In plants we find starch cells ; pith cells ; those of woody fibre in which lignin is deposited, giving the characteristic hardness ; while green chlorophyll cells in the leaves carry nutrition for purposes of growth. In the animal there are blood cells of five or six different kinds, each with special life-protecting functions (some non-nucleated) ; also muscle cells with the power of contractility ; in the skin horny cells which protect the body externally ; and bone cells which contain lime, in order to give a substantial framework. In the electric eel, there are electric cells, a unique and marvellous formation, for the purpose of paralyzing by shock the fish on which they feed. The highest are the nerve cells, which generate different forms of energy, from growth to muscular movements and finally to complex thought.

These are examples of composite cell masses, but there are simple cells each with a separate existence, such as spores, and the germs of disease, amoebae, yeast cells, and various microscopic infusoria, which are so abundant in pond fife.

Reproduction, in its simplest form among the unicellular organisms, consists of simple division. Here the cell divides into two, the daughter cells growing to the size of the mother cell, and in their turn each dividing again. This process, which continues with great rapidity, furnishes millions of organisms in every few hours. The processes of fermentation and putrefaction are results of the cell multiplication of yeast cells and bacteria. Somewhat similar conditions occur in infectious diseases.