term in a proper and fair sense. The imagination must
not be treated as if it were a perversion of truth, for it enters
into every normal complex act of thought, for the mind,
by rousing stored visual impressions, contributes a good deal
more than does the eye.

The architect designing a building resorts to his imagination,
or visual memories, until his elevation and details are com-
pleted. He has to imagine the size and position and decoration
of the rooms, and all the processes arise from the association



AUTOMATISM AND CONSCIOUSNESS 89

of fragmentary memories. According to his past education
so is his visual storehouse full or empty.

A man blind from birth has of course no direct visual con-
cepts, so his memories must be in other sensory areas, chiefly
those of touch and sound. How pathetic and equally scientific
is the account of the man blind from birth, who, when vision
was restored, described men as " like trees walking."

But though the sight may have been absent, yet I have
found these afflicted ones trjdng to form mental pictures,
as the result of descriptions from others.

Resume. Thought then arises from sensory stimuli which
may be external and actual, or internal and ima.ginary
from associated memories. Memory is the result of correct
observation, which implies attention or mental focussing, in
order that external impressions can be stamped efficiently
in the brain cortex.

I have gone to some trouble in examining people of all Infantile
classes, by way of testing their infantile memories. I can almost^
remember much of my life when three years old and one Absent in
or two incidents when two. The same is common amongst andUn-*^
the educated and well noin-ished, and so may be regarded as educated
normal. In the case of Mary Barnes, to be described later in
Chapters XVII and XVIII, one subpersonaHty, B7, remem-
bered events which happened before she was two years old.
It is important to state that there was no imposture, nor had
the events she described been mentioned in front of her.

When we take the poor and uneducated we find them
remarkably deficient in infantile memories. This is con-
spicuous among the criminals, juvenile offenders, and homeless
boys, whom I have examined, and fully reported on later.
I might here, however, illustrate with two cases I examined
casuaUy at Shadwell whilst being escorted one night to the
docks. (1) A slender undeveloped boy with refined gentle
features, who was fourteen years of age but looked only ten,
and could remember nothing before he was eight years of age.
His parents were Welsh, and he earned seven shiUings a week
at a tinsmith's, working twelve hours a day, which is a little
more than Id. an hour. His height was 4 ft. 8 in., and his
weight 4 stone 8 lbs. net, which is 2 stone below the average.



90 EDUCATION, PERSONALITY AND CRIME

(2) The other case was a hoohgan ; a degenerate in every
sense, extremely ugly and malproportioned, and with a nasty
temper, but evidently docile if treated kindly. He was
twenty-six years of age, but looked only seventeen, and
he could remember nothing before he was the age of ten.
His height was 5 ft. 2 in., and his net weight 9 stone,
which is 2 stone below the average.

Why are these memories so bad ? Is it mahiutrition in
infancy, and want of good milk ? Or is it the intense monotony
of their Hves, food one day, starvation the next, alternately ?
Probably it is a little of each, but chiefly the instabihty of the
brain cells from malnutrition. It is not so much under expo-
sure of the mental photograph, as that Nature has been cheated
in the quaUty and composition of the photo plates, if the
simile may be extended, to compare the occipital cortex
to such. It is rather non-development than want of educa-
tion, although the pressure of State education puts on the
finishing touches of mental obliteration. Their other finer
perceptions are also dull. They are not good judges of
shades of colour, and the natural delicacy of touch and fine
muscular movements are likewise absent. This has been
observed also in criminals.^

Complex Complex automatic movements are supposed by some
malic *^ ^® revived memories in the motor areas, rather than revivals
Acts in the sensory areas of sight, hearing, and even touch ; but
the latter view is probably correct, as it is the route traversed
during education, whilst the sensory cells stand as sentinels
guarding against error, and are roused when special mental
effort is made.

Automatic action is interesting because it acts independently
of attention, and sometimes of consciousness. It therefore
opens a wide field for discussion on consciousness, subcon-
sciousness, and even unconsciousness. Thus a skilled musician
can play the piano and carry on a conversation at the same
time. The automatic act of playing is subconscious ; and
the theory is, that brain cells on a lower plane are in action,
while the upper strata of brain cells are acting consciously

^ Lombroso, L^homme criminel, 1887, part iii. ch. ii. p. 290.



AUTOMATISM AND CONSCIOUSNESS 91

during tlie conversation. Undoubtedly many automatic
actions appear to be devoid of aU consciousness ; thus one
may lock a drawer or put away papers or books, and have
no memory or consciousness of the acts. It would indeed
seem as if there were different levels and different degrees
of consciousness from zero to fuU activity, and that when
any act can be performed without attention or consciousness
it falls to the lower plane, or there may be a subconsciousness
which controls daily necessary actions, leaving the higher
consciousness for emergencies.

By way of illustration, it resembles an army, the regiments
of which perform their routine without reference to or- super-
vision from the general and his staff, who are only referred
to in cases of emergency.

So many volumes have been written on mind that Punch
has felt it necessary to volunteer the opinion : " What is mind ?
No matter. What is matter ? Never mind."

The philosophers and theorists who are psychologists Theorists
but not physiologists write very freely, and somewhat dog- ^^ctive '
matically, on the " subjective " mind. Their works would Mind
be valuable if their premises were correct. They ignore
the subtle and at present unfathomable actions of the associa-
tion centres, which is excusable as they were so recently dis-
covered. With our present knowledge the subjective mind
requires to be measured by a different standard.

Physiologists are allowed to hold opinions on the objective
mind, which is represented on the cortex of the brain in the
sensori-motor districts.

The objective mind connects us with the outer world or
our surroundings by the five senses. According to Hudson ^
and others its highest function is reasoning, which is in-
ductive or analytical, discovering general principles from
observation of details.

The subjective mind is enveloped in mystery, for it is said
to be independent of the brain or any physical basis, perceiving
by intuition, and only able to act when the objective mind
is in abeyance. Thus the subjective mind is in evidence during
hypnosis, clairvoyance, and telepathy. It "is unqualifiedly
^ The Law of Psychic Phenomena, ch. ii.



92 EDUCATION, PERSONALITY AND CRIME

and constantly amenable to the power of suggestion " (Hud-
son, he. cit. Chap. II, p. 30).

It is supposed to be the seat of the emotions and of memory,
and accepts any statement as true, however absurd. Logically
it is deductive or syllogistic or synthetic, but has no power
to examine its premises.

It is the soul, but if it " usurps complete control the individual
goes insane." ^ It is also concerned in spiritism, but its know-
ledge is Hmited by that of the medium through whom it
communicates.

It is liable to phenomenal memory, and Sir WiUiam Hamilton
applied to it the term " latent memory."

The The unlimited complexity of the association centres and

tiorT"^" ^^^ limited knowledge of the brain must be accepted pro tern.
Centres as an excuse for dogmatism on this very interesting subject.
The soul as the medium between God and man is probably
something higher than mind, and the limitations placed
by the medium on the powers of spirits relegate them to a
so much lower position, as to eliminate them from present
consideration. Phenomenal memory is seen in some cases
of double personality, as in B7 of my case Mary Barnes,
to be described in Chapters XVII and XVIII, whereas
new light is shed on prodigies by the powers Mary
Barnes exhibited of drawing when blind, and yet unable
to draw in her normal condition. Hudson says that " music
belongs to the realm of the subjective," and thus explains the
marvels of some prodigies, quoting the instance of the negro
idiot, " Blind Tom " {loc. cit., Chap. VI), who having no
objective mind, and no education, could play any musical
piece, however complex, after hearing it once.

In studying mind one must remember that the simplest
processes of objective mentation must involve the action
of lower groups of association ceUs.

Intuition The subject of intuition merits present consideration as
it is usually ascribed to the subjective mind. When a man
claims to be guided intuitively in certain matters, if his judg-
ment be carefully analysed, it would be traced to a series of
^ Loc. cit., Hudson.



AUTOMATISM AND CONSCIOUSNESS 93

similar occurrences or experiences in the past. The difficulty-
is in actually tracing the forgotten past, so that some of the
past seems to be ancestral or in our parents rather than in
ourselves. These are often erroneously caUed ancestral
instincts. Ancestral instincts are, however, seen in lower
animals, such as the fear of man in wild fledglings, as in the
wild duck, in contrast to the absence of that fear in domestic
chickens or ducklings. But much that is termed " ancestral
instinct " in the lower " creation," I consider to be merely the
representation of an automatic, machine-like brain.

In regard to suggestion acting on the subjective mind, as
is especially evinced in hypnotism, there is little difficulty in
explanation. In hypnotism, as in the first stage of chloro-
form or natural sleep, there is paralysis of control, and some
loss of outward attention. The sensori-motor and lower
associations are receptive, but the individual being deprived
of wiU and judgment is necessarily " under control." The
same semi-hypnotic effect is obtained in some reHgious
services by monotonous or continuous music. The preacher
is then in fuU control, and the effect he produces depends
on the particular condition of the hearer. In emotional people
like the Welsh, the influence of numbers heightens the effect.

But between man and man there is always an unseen in-
fluence, the stronger over the weaker. If the stronger is wicked
the result is disaster and vice versa. The older writers term
the two hving but unseen forces Example and Precept ; we
caU them Imitation and Suggestion.



CHAPTER XI

THE MINUTE STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN

No apology required for pressing this subject on the layman. The key of

social problems. MAN IS THE EVOLUTION OF COUNTLESS AGES :

The lower forms of brain represented in man — The cortex in man and

lower animals. THE MYSTERY OF THE CORTEX: Microscopic

appearance — Cells and fibres — Each cell or neuron a unit — Its processes
or fibres — Dendrons — Axons — Fibrillar network — Shapes — Tigroid bodies.

THE LAYERS OF THE CORTEX : Bolton's five layers— Watson's

law of cortical architecture in mammals — The granular layer^The infra-
granular or polymorph layer. THE MYSTERY OF INSTINCT : The

supragranular layer — Psychic or mental. RESUME : Bolton's classifica-
tion — Watson's classification — Comparison of human polymorph layer
with the same in other mammals — The supragranular layer in man and

animals. THE PYRAMIDAL LAYER — in aments and dements : The

best developed cells are the oldest — Undeveloped cells in cortex — The

brain before birth — The brain at birth — Prefrontal undeveloped.

THE KEY OF THE SOCIAL PROBLEM : The slummer's brain— The
criminal's brain — Cause of prison failure — The Salvation Army — Punish-
ment on wrong basis— Law— Politics. DEVELOPMENT OF BRAIN :

Cell — Embryonic nuclei — Their use to adult — Condition in aments — Insula-
tion of fibres — Their chemical composition : aids in staining processes.

FLECHSIG'S DISCOVERIES : Sensory fibres are insulated before motor
— Association fibres last — A sense of position.

If any lay reader be interested in the previous chapter he will
naturally inquire into the more delicate or microscopic structure
of the brain. It requires no apology for introducing this
material, for it is essential in order to understand the evolution
of the child's mind and the mental phenomena of the weak-
minded and of the criminal. It is just this absense of technical
detail which prevents the politicians, philanthropists and
lawyers from joining with the medical faculty in placing crimin-
ology on its true basis. They talk of liberty, free will, and
responsibility, as if they had the same value amongst this
class as amongst others.

The physical basis, therefore, must be recognized, and it
is the only firm structure on which we can build a healthy
social system or commonwealth.



Two normal pyramidal cells.




Two diseased cells the result or cause of neuritis. Note that the tigroid pattern has
become diffuse or powdery ; and one nucleus is being pushed out.



To face page 95.



Kindly lent by Dr. John Turner.



THE MINUTE STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN 95

We must realize that man was not a sudden afterthought Man is
or accident in the creation, but that he became the capping ju^on'^of
stone, after ages of evolution through lower stages. This is Countless
exemplified during the foetal condition, where his development ^^*
in utero reflects at different stages the lower forms of life from
which he is evolved. We need only concern ourselves with
the brain, without pursuing the details of primitive types.
Suffice it to recapitulate that the optic lobes and other ganglia
in the brains of fish and birds are represented at the base of
the human brain. In the mammals an improved superstructure
is added, which has been suggested in birds. This superstruc-
ture we call the Cortex or grey matter, and it contains' rows
of cells and fibres which form the basis of thought or mentation.
This cortex forms a thin layer on the surface of the convolu-
tions of the brain to a depth of J to f of an inch. In order to
examine the ceUs carefully, very thin sections are cut at right
angles to the surface, and after certain staining processes, can
be examined with the microscope, whereby we can fix a normal
standard and detect deficiencies, either in quahty or quantity,
size or shape. There are, at a rough guess, 50 to 80 rows of
cells, but the number is very variable according to the area
and development.

Though the mystery of the cortex remains unravelled, The
and is a deep impenetrable study to the physiologist, yet it ^^the^
is possible to give a clear general idea to the layman. Cortex

Under the microscope {see Fig. p. 108) one sees rows of cells
and fibres. It is computed by some that there are 4000
miUions of cells, a point at any time difficult to estimate.
Each nerve cell, however, is a unit in itself, which we call
a neuron.

There is first a round central nucleus which in early evolution
builds up the cell body (cytoplasm) around it. Each cell has
two kinds of processes. At the apex there are so many deHcate
branches that they look like the root of a tree (Fig. p. 60),
hence the Greek name, dendrons, is appUed.

These dendrons are " receptors," or receivers, carrying
impressions to the cell.

At the base of the cell is a single outgoing fibre called the
axon, which carries the special impulse or form of nerve motion



96 EDUCATION, PERSONALITY AND CRIME

of which that particular cell is capable. The various staining
methods have demonstrated a network of fibrils {see Fig. opp.)
in the body of the cell, hence it is believed that there is an
infinitesimal network carrying impressions right through
the dendrons, and the cell into the axon.

The cells vary much in shape. Conspicuous are triangular
cells, some of which loom out largely and are big motor cells
(Betz). They contain, in their body substance, stainable
platelets, called tigroid bodies, which give the appearance of a
leopard's skin (Fig. p. 95). It is not yet clearly understood
what their use is, but in acute disease they disintegrate and
disappear.

As each nervous system has been planted above the last
during evolution, so the lower earlier structures remain as
ganglia or "way stations," en route from below to the cortex.
The whole plan and structure might have suggested our
modern telephone system.

The Upon the number of the layers of the cortex the views of

oMh" many experts differ. Some make out twelve layers, some six,
Cortex and so on. Light was shed by two pathologists who, working
separately, and from different points arrived at similar conclu-
sions.

Dr. Joseph Shaw Bolton in the Phil. Trans, of the Royal
Society in 1900 described five layers in the cortex, and this
view has been adopted by most leading physiologists, including
Dr. Mott in his classical Bowman lecture on the visual area
(1905).

Dr. G. A. Watson, working at the comparative anatomy of
the brains among mammals, formulated the principles or laws
of cerebral cortical architecture.

He showed that the essential part of the lower mammalian
cortex consisted only of two layers.

(1) A layer of round cells, called granules, and generally
termed the sensory layer. It is not, however, strictly a sensory
layer, being the receptor of sensory impressions from other
areas.

(2) The second layer, the infragranular layer, also called the
polymorph layer, because the cells vary so much in shape,
lies beneath this ; being ovoid, triangular, and angular, some




A diagramatic sketch of a nerve cell to illustrate the arrangement of fibrils,
which arise in the dendrons or branches, and pass to the nucleus, conveying
different impressions: and thence to the exit or axon at the base. The tigroid
platelets or Nissl bodies are formed of a chemically unknown substance lying
between the fibrils. They disappear with fatigue or disease, and are therefore a

sign of a normal cell in health.
Facing page 96.



A diagramatic sketch of cells and fibres in the Cortex.




The top layer, the tangential (i), contains delicate fibrils of association

and is the first to decay when mind fails. The 2nd or supra radial

layer disappears next. The finer fibres decay before the coarser ones.

This gives an idea of the interlacing of processes and of axons (a)

descending ; each system forms a neuron.

Drawn by Miss B. Wilson.

Facing page 97.



THE MINUTE STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN 97

small and some large. This layer associates many of the sensory
impressions received. It is, therefore, truly an instinctive
layer ; in fact when Watson first demonstrated this to me some
years ago I said he had solved the mystery of instinct versus
intelligence.



Moreover Watson found this layer as thick in the lower The
animals as in man, because they Hve by instinct. Bolton Mystery
also observed in the decay of the mind, when the instincts instinct
or desires of nature had disappeared then the instinctive layer
had likewise disintegrated. It was a great step forward in
psychology, to be able to locate nature's cells and functions,
and separate them from the mind proper.

On top of the external cellular layer, there appeared in
lower mammals a thin layer of pyramidal cells — the supragranu-
lar layer. This slowly increases in depth and complexity
as we rise in the scale. Cats and dogs are fairly well equipped,
while lower carnivora Hke the ferret are poorly developed.
That of the ourang and chimpanzee almost equals that of
the human.

The function of this layer is mental or psychic.

We have then three distinct layers superimposed. The Resume
middle is granular and a receptor layer and serves as a land-
mark. The deeper or infragranular has the function of in-
stinct ; while the superior, external, or supragranular is usually
styled the pyramidal layer, and is concerned in the intelli-
gence.

Externally — Bolton's

First

(1) The tangential layer, Classifi-
made of delicate association fibres. ^pt-i^

(2) The pyramidal layer, ^J^'^^
of cells whose function is psychic or mental. 1900.)

(3) The granular layer, consisting of
sensory cells, receptive in function.

(4) The layer of BaiUarger, a fibre layer called after the French
physiologist. It contains a few ceUs, especially the large
motor ceUs of Betz.

H



98 EDUCATION, PERSONALITY AND CRIME

(5) The polyrnorph layer of ceUs now regarded by Watson and
myself as purely instinctive and shown by Bolton in the
human to be concerned in Nature's duties.
Thus Bolton made out three cell layers and two fibre layers.
This classification is the most accurate yet described.

The later classification adopted by Watson is a purely
ceUular arrangement.

(1) Supragranular or pyramidal layer, psychic in function.

(2) Granular or sensory in function, a receptor layer.

(3) Polymorphic layer, the layer of instincts.

I shall for simphcity foUow this description, ignoring the
fibril layers as not essential to my purpose, for I wish to empha-
size Watson's discovery ^ that the polymorph layer is almost
as thick in the mole as in the child, in spite of the immense
difference in the sizes of the two brains. There is indeed very
little difference in thickness between that of the adult human
and of the rabbit ; whereas the supragranular or intellectual
layer is in the rabbit only ^ of the depth attained in the human
brain. Even before birth the pyramidal layer in the human
is three times the depth of the same layer in the mole or the
rabbit. It was also Dr. Watson's opinion that those animals
which had to five by their wits had the best shaped pyramidal
cells.

The Pyra- The pyramidal layer will always be associated with Bolton's
Layer great work in the way of measuring its depth in dements and
aments (imbeciles). In these he found a thinning or wasting
in proportion to the loss of mental power. In the case of
imbeciles and idiots the thinness of the layer was due to non-
development. The relationship between intellect or intelligence
and this pyramidal layer helps us with the problem of the
criminal. The pyramidal layer has larger and better formed
cells at the bottom, while more superficially the cells are
smaller and not so well shaped. The deeper cells are necessarily
older in time, so their depth is probably due to the evolution
of Ages. This is confirmed by the presence of round cells or
nuclei on the outer surface of the layer. In the unborn child

^ See Archives of Neurology, vol. iii, 1907 for Dr. Watson's discourse
on the Mammalian cerebral cortex, p. 109, and Proceedings Roy. Soc,
B., vol. Ixxvii, 1905.






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Facing page 99.



THE MINUTE STRUCTURE OF THE BRAIN 99

these unripened cells are more mimerous ^ than in the adult,
as if they were nuclei "waiting for orders." This illustrates
the effect of education. I here use education in its true sense,
not in any way connected with what is called education
at Whitehall.

Dr. Shaw Bolton has also worked out the development of
the brain before birth.

The infragranular layer first appears four months before
birth and is then | of its normal depth.

About the same time the granular layer appears, only half
its ultimate depth. A little later the pyramidal layer may
be seen J of its normal thickness. Here then, we have a brain
about equal to a rabbit's.

At birth, this pjrramidal layer is of nearly normal thickness
in the motor and sensory regions ; less in the psychic or associ-
ation areas ; while in the prefrontal cortex, the seat of will
and control, it attains only half its destined development.

This knowledge gives us the only lever by which we can arrest The Key
our present rapid national deterioration. Consider the " slum- °* ^^
mer's " brain, how it is arrested in infancy by starvation, Problem
hereditary taint and alcohol. Its sensori-motor part is nearly
normal, as we find in criminals ; yet not quite, for criminals are