Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/552

 536 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

The averages for the reform-school girls more nearly approxi- mated those of the students ; those of the courtesans were farthest removed.

The reasons for this greater insensibility may be found in the nature of the occupation, nutrition, care of the body, habits tending to render the sensibilities less acute. Important also was their defective concentration. The greatest care had to be used to secure constant attention. Poor concentration tends to render the results inaccurate. Whether age is a factor I am unable to determine. Often the muscles were soft and the skin flabby, and a much greater pressure was required in order to secure a definite sensation.

The tests for taste and smell were next given. For taste solutions of salt, bitter, sweet, and sour were used, one drop of each being placed upon the end and sides of the tongue with a small brush. For smell four solutions each of camphor, bay rum, and cloves were given ; each solution was of a different strength. The differences between delinquents and students were more marked in these than in any other tests. Instead of proving one of the current theories, that the criminal is allied to the savage, and is more dependent upon physical senses than upon his intellect, and thus has these more acutely developed, I found them to disprove it. In taste the delinquents were only about two-thirds as accurate as the students, in smell only about one-half.

The following reasons suggested themselves :

The eating of snuff, excessive use of alcohol and tobacco, destroy a fine sensibility to taste. The prostitutes use these to a greater extent than do the criminals, and their sensibility is much more obtuse. The coarse, strong foods used must tend to render fine discriminations impossible. Bad sanitary conditions and unsavory odors in the districts from which most of them come must affect the sense of smell, as do also such diseases, as catarrh, which are often allowed to exist unheeded. In the test for smell the power of association has a marked influence. Camphor, cloves, and bay rum were more familiar to the student. Sometimes the criminal would designate camphor as good for a