CRIMINAL INSTINCTS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3742, 15 January 1907, Page 2

CRIMINAL INSTINCTS.

Writing to a representative of London Truth a friend tells the following story as an illustration of the pli3 , sical origin of criminal instincts. He gives it on the authority ot one of the most eminent surgeons of the day, who narrated the experience in his presence. Some years ago a man who had received some injury to his head in a mining accident came under the charge of this surgeon, who was not so well-known then as he is now. After he appeared practically cured, the patient developed into a dissolute ruffian of the most depraved type, having previously been a man ot irreproachable life. He came back to the doctor complaining of strange sensations' in his head, which the doctor was unable to account for. One day, in the course of conversation, the man mentioned that since the -accident he found himselt unable to read, though he could still recognise the letters of the alphabet. The surgeon thought he saw a glue, and offered to perform an operation on the man’s brain, which was carried out, with the result that a small abscess was discovered and removed. The man quickly recovered, not only his health, but his former moral character. Many authentic cases parallel to this can be found in medical works. The problem which they suggest is a wide one, and goes far beyond that of the moral responsibility of the mere criminal. Probably one of these days, when science and surgical skill have made a little more progress, we shall be able to influence a man’s moral character in any direction desired by means ot a surgical operation.