Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 June 1874 — Insanity Under the Microscope. [ARTICLE]

Insanity Under the Microscope.

Db. Kiaa*-ESA,pf the Oshkosh (Wig.) Insane Asylum, Has been examining the brains of insaS& persons under the microscope and taking photo-micrographs of cerebral sceowy. To make his inquest »thorough and conscientious as possible he learned -photography, so that he conducts tfea whole investigation, from t“ e _ examination to the »^MprWgninlx ; tnn interesting question W»in or any portion of our bodies wows a trace of the faotof insanim iiallisnil miscall perhaps a mental disease. Hr. Keatpater has never found in medical works but a single case reported of hrs ttti*igation of this character. He«Mfatfce past six years made microscppie examinations of the brains %f° e lunatics and he discovers (ioclaml differences between sane and inl between different classes i mania presenting quite ■Bect from dementia and iriptiona of lunacy. What which he discovered stall In the precise and agPOf science. Itisimwermlpe whether these p > 0 be this—first, >y vgreatgnef, the affont the facts stand Us what

they will. Indeed, -we call attention to liis work not so much for what it amounts to in itself, hut as an encouraging example of patient, laborious and conscientious investigation. Moreover, it is not merely a fancy question in science. Like so many of these investigations which seem purely speculative, it will probably prove to have its practical value. If the law could be laid down With precision that the remains of a person will indicate sanity or insanity, it would have an important hearing upon many life insurance trials and will cases. The “ insanitydodge” injnurdqr trials seems to be as yet safe from exposure from this source, since the brain of a living person cannot be submitted to the microscope without a personal inconvenience not less embarrassing than hanging itself. — Springfield (Mass.) Republican.