Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image
Article image

ARE WE GROWING MORALLY WORSE?

A MEDICAL MAX'S INDICTMENT OF SOCIETY. Dr. Robert Jones has just addressed some words to those who are studying to become mental specialists, -and ih'ey are of such .social importance that we do not hesitate to .quote-them. lie started out by quoting the view of the Lunacy Commissioners, that. the inexperience of medical men as to the requirements of the lunacy certificate is responsible for much danger to the community. He next, urged that many students still divided the diagnosis of-men-tal diseases into raving or frenzied persons and drivelling idiots, but modern science enabled lis to obtain much broader and better ideas of clinical .types of insanity. Moreover, lie said, it. is now recognised that the study of psychology must be a, necessary preliminary to the study of men.j.l disease, but, timately, it is a difficult _ and subtle* subject, which does not i'aacinate the average student, especially in Kr.,-?and.

i " The study of psychology,'' lie con- ■ tinned, "and especially of the period of ! - .sildhood, is therefore superlatively neces- • • t ' 4l to discover changes in the personality, ; ro interpret- the meaning of undjiie shyness j or seclusiveness, to mark changes in the '•normal instincts, the growth of anti-social | tendencies, of abstraction, of fondness for j The mythksd and the weird, or of modificai lions in the faculty of attention, for all of I these mav eventually be revealed in some j unexpected psychosis. We meet manv examples of these in the cranks, eingularfI'ts, eccentric and anomalous persons whicn constitute society; we know of agitators, I dreamers, street orators, and so-called conj scientiou.s objectors. Soihe of these are > only ill-babnced individuals, often intel- ! lectually bright, but with a lack of, emoj tional stability, showing either exhilarate! excitement or nervous despondency and api parently without sufficient- cause. " Others among them are moody and I variable, with uncontrolled will power, unj .stable in purjjose, easily persuaded and i liable to undue suggestibility, To this I class belong the ' n'er-do- wells,' the moral ■ delinquents, ami many of ,the so-culled J ' unemployable*. No tter description of j these can be given than to term them conI stitutional neuropaths and psychopaths, j They are asymmetrical persons with an ex- | cess or a diminution of some or all of the mental powers. They are known at petty j sessions as habitual law-breakers, " hooliI gans,' street-loafers of both sexes, inebriates, and recidivists; to the Poor-law authorities as pauper casuals or vagrants ; ! and they constitute <; large number of the i asylum ])opulation. | " There is among them all a loss of ; moral control and proper mental balance, j they are obsessed with a keen desire for I immediate gratification at the expense of future benefit, and they are characterised by a complete lack of those altruistic virtues upon which depends the welfare of the State as well as of individuals and families. Last year there were over 200,000 cases of drunkenness dealt with in the various police courts, arid there appears to be a steady rise in juvenile delicjuency ! The proportion of indictable offences was lower 15 years ago, and of noil-indictable 50 years' ago than to-day! " The armv of vagrants numbers from 70,000 to 80.000. There are always two millions of paupers in the United' Kingdom, averaging 20 per 1000, and this not including lunatics in asylums (of which i there are over 130,000 in England and ! Wales), casual paupers and vagrants. The ! cost of this burden is a bar to national progress. The total cost of maintaining our insane population is over 3£ millions, ' and this not including the cost of the inspecting officials with their staff. The cost of paupers is over 17 millions a year.. In 1856-57 the cost of pauperism in Poorlaw institutions was £16 per head. In 1906-07 it has risen to £29 per head— increase of 76 per cent. 0 "Excluding the cost of the paid justiciary, we pay a million a year tor our inebriate reformatories, our local and convict j prisons, truant and industrial schools. Add to this the annual cost of our criminal population, including the net cost of the police, which is over 5| millions, and we have a total of 65 millions, annually spent upon our law-breakers, many of whom, as stated, aro mental defectives. Surely a case ie wade out for investigating psychologically and sociologically the causes of mental disorder, which are correctly defined as tho 'bankruptcy of reason," being the most melancholy and grievous of human afflictions, and also a blot upon our civilisation."

This article text was automatically generated and may include errors. View the full page to see article in its original form.
Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19101231.2.121.14

Bibliographic details

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14566, 31 December 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

Word Count
752

ARE WE GROWING MORALLY WORSE? New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14566, 31 December 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

ARE WE GROWING MORALLY WORSE? New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14566, 31 December 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)