THE STUDY OF CRIME.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5302, 20 July 1928, Page 1

THE STUDY OF CRIME.

• MEDICAL CENTRE RESEARCH. APES TO BE TESTED. The creation of a poison squad of chimpanzees and other apes, either in Florida or Cuba, in, the course of researches to test the effects of tobacco, liquor, and various drugs and bacterial infections on the human brain and op the coming generation, was announced by the Joint Administrative Board of the Medical Centre, says a New York paper. This is part of the £400,000 crime wave study announced by the Neurological Institute, which is connected with the Medical Centre. One aim is to investigate the part that drugs and diseases may play pren,atally in producing; children with brains deviating from the normal in the direction, of criminality. The ordinary laboratory animals will be used extensively in the research, but higher .anthropoids are required for a study of the more subtle psychological effects of poisons, and hence the more tropical ape farm. A statement sent out by the Joint Administrative Board quoted Dr. Frederick Tilney, a neurologist, as follows:

“It is our - belief that the most frequent .and devastating of human ills is maladjustment of life. This is due

to many causes, but the results are always the same—failures and misfits. Many of those who suffer from mal.adjustipent do so through no fault of their own. They do so because the brain is blighted in its making. The resultng effect may be much or little. The consequence is inevitable. The path of life of'these. poor unfortunates leads to distress, often to

despair, and often to destruction. Their, delinquencies may take extreme

form, .as in the case of a Hickman, a Leopold, or a Doeib. But all lessei

degrees of delinquencies are included as well. No walk of life is free of them. ’These delinquencies do not al-

ways appear in the gar,b of the outright criminal. We are familiar with many others, such as the family black sheep, incorrigible and vagrant, the weakling waster, and ne’er-do-well.” One of the most important results of the research wil be eto determine definitely the standard of behaviour for a normal infant—just what its

levelopments. ought to be at. birth, at

two days, two weeks, two months, and so forth. According to Dr. Tilney the foundation has .already been laid' for this work by a research into the normal behaviour development of certain animals from birth, day by day, to maturity. By means of graphic charts Dr. Tillney can tell just how many days or hours a normal kifteii or rabbit takes to open its eyes, sit up. to run, to play, and to hunt for its o.wn foocl. “The most important part of our research,” said Dr. Tilney, “will be to obtain definite standards both for normal and abnormal human behavior—to know exactly how a normal infant should behave at a certain date after birth. We shall be able to determine departures from the normal standard' i.n the child whose mother has suffered from some poisoning prior to childbirth. Such poisoning may be due to alcohol, tobacco,, bromides, or veronal.- Such next step will be to determine, whether this deviation is sufficient to retard the mental development of the child.”

Tobacco is a. factor which will be tested.in this fashion. It is expected that tlie completed research intot hese factors which cause prenatal brain blight w'll reveal just what drugs and 1 toxins are likely to cause certain vicious tendencies which render a person either incapable of a happy adjustment to life or. actually produce criminal tendencies.

Listed among the drugs to be tried out for their possible ill effect are bromides, veronal, .alcohol; nicotine, morphine, lead, arsenic, mercury, and iodides. The prenatal effect of every infectious disease from t’onsilitis to pneumonia will be determined.