Photo by Clinedinst, Washington, D. C.
James Clark McReynolds, of Tennessee,
Attorney-General.
Some time ago we made a note regarding the cure of criminal tendencies in an individual by surgery, in Dannemora (New York) prison. Some time ago the prisoner was paroled because he was thought to be cured of his criminal tendencies. The surgical operation seemed to bring about a great change. But the first week in January, of the present year, the paroled prisoner was found guilty of a series of burglaries, showing that the improvement was only temporary, or that the operation and his subsequent good conduct were steps in a scheme to secure his release from prison. The Journal of the American Medical Association says, “There is no trustworthy evidence to show that changes in moral character, independent of mental deterioration, result from pressure on the brain. Sensational announcements of improvement in such cases after surgical intervention, like those that used to be made after various surgical procedures in epilepsy, need to be controlled by the subsequent history of the case. Immediate improvement in such cases is usually mental rather than physical, and successes reported before many years have tested their permanence, are liable to produce false impressions.” Which brings us again to the great thought that there is only one sure way to cure unmoral tendencies, or to change the heart of men, and that is through the regenerative power of Jesus Christ.
