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Fanatics. Eighteen disciples of Major Divine, Negro religious cultist whom disciples call "God," could not cease their ecstasy after his New York City "Garden of Eating" sessions. Yelping "It's wonderful," they hippety-hopped out of doors where police arrested them. When Psychiatrists Lauretta Bender & Zuleika Yarrel examined the prisoners, they found that 16 were mad. Considered possibly sane was a woman who refused to accept a widow's pension because "God will provide."
Madmen Virtuous. "The relative scarcity of wholehearted rascals and hearty sinners" among the insane impressed Dr. John Clare Whitehorn of Waverley, Mass.
Mothers of Drunkards may often be to blame for their sons' habits, Dr. James Hardin Wall of White Plains, N. Y. concluded after finding that a goodly number of drunks in his charge had been pampered, spoiled, overprotected in childhood. As adults "they loved to talk, were fond of singing and were inveterate users of tobacco, indicating rather strong oral cravings and demands for satisfaction." They enjoyed male drinking companions. They were only 18 years on the average when they started drinking, drank up to a quart a day. They had "a craving for the blissful state of infantile omnipotence which drinking induced." Treatment: physical rest, increased nutrition, occupational therapy to engage the patient's interest, pleasant social life, discovery of the cause of emotional instability.
Less Brain, Better Sense. A Louisville woman, aged 35, had a tumor cut out of that part of her brain with which she did her thinking. To the astonishment of Louisville's Dr. Roy Glenwood Spurting who operated and Dr. S. Spafford Ackerly who managed the case thereafter, the woman exhibited better sense after the operation than ever before—her intelligence tests prove her an average U. S. adult. Her memory for recent events is excellent, for remote events remarkable. She now does more work, with less fatigue, worries less, has a better temper. She no longer fidgets. She makes decisions with no hesitation, walks directly to a destination without window-shopping or other procrastination. She is pious, attends church regularly. Her husband says she has developed "feelings of superiority."
Explanations: The uninjured parts of her brain have assumed the work of the excised part; remaining bits of the thinking part of her brain, now unencumbered by the tumor, serve her adequately; her unusual ability to concentrate may be due to a lack of mental side channels characteristic of whole-brained individuals.
Brain Squeeze. When they suddenly sit up, stand up, drop into a chair, fall into bed or tumble, some people get dizzy, may even develop headaches. Immediate cause: sudden shifting of blood and other fluids within the brain, skull and spinal column. These squeeze the brain unduly. Usual underlying cause: hardening of the arteries and failure of the subtle body mechanism which should instantaneously regulate blood pressure and circulation.