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AN INQUIRY INTO THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF CRIMINALS TO ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES.
211 AN
or fine days ; the number of days occurring under the first three conditions, however, is so small as to be valueless. The average number of offences occurring on overcast, rainy, or fine days is practically the same and if a narrower distinction be made between fine days and days which embracing the other outlooks cannot be considered fine the daily average may be considered the same. Hence the criminal does not appear to be affected by the outlook. In Table II. the average of daily offences tends to show that the direction of the wind has possibly some slight effect on the criminal, but the winds having the highest average of offences are the least frequent, and probably larger numbers would show the wind to have no action ; the difference between the extremes also is very small considering that 700 men are under observation.
rainy,
INQUIRY INTO
THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF CRIMINALS TO ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES. NORWOOD EAST, M.D. LOND., M.R C.S. ENG.,
BY W.
L.R.C.P. DEPUTY MEDICAL
(With
OFFICER,
the permission
LOND.,
H.M. CONVICT
PRISON,
PORTLAND.
of the Directors of Convict Prisons.)
THAT atmospheric changes have a marked influence on most individuals must be admitted by all. Not a few must have in themselves or their companions observed sunshine produce exaltation. I have known a man to start on a country walk irritable and unsociable, the day being dull and
but the
later has
TABLE II.-Winds.
his
cloudy, appearing gloom replaced by light-heartedness, the change being too rapid to be due to altered atmospheric pressure, neither could it have been due to altered.temperature as he preferred cold to heat. I take it that everyone has experienced the depressing effects of rain and fog. In some people wind is a source of annoyance, producing an irritable mental state apart from any pain, neuralgia, and the like it may set up. Indeed, sun
there is evidence to show that
a
certain wind may act
antagonistically to a particular individual. A medical friend informs me that a special wind always makes him irritable and the day’s work irksome, and this is, I believe, no uncommon experience. Temperature has an important action, some people feeling in better health in cold, others in hot
weather. When it is considered that an average-sized man Table III., neglecting as unreliable on account of inis subjected to a pressure of about 15 tons with a barometric sufficient numbers the readings 281/10"-285/10", 301/10", and 302/10", inches and that rise or fall of of of a the 30 height mercury the remaining barometric variations, although half an inch produces an increase or decrease of about a shows that in sufficiently large numbers for a conclusion to be arrived a ton it can be underof quarter pressure upon him, easily have no effect. stood that, excluding humidity, barometric pressure has some at, effect on the sense of well-being of the individual. These TABLE III.-Barometric Height. facts may be summarised as follows : sunshine (in England) is pleasant to almost everyone ; dully, foggy, or rainy weather is unpleasant ; wind, and sometimes a particular wind, is unpleasant to many; cold may be pleasant or unpleasant, similarly heat ; barometric pressure probably has some influence on individuals; and that in this connexion pleasant signifies good, and unpleasant indifferent, functional action. This inquiry was undertaken to ascertain if atmospheric changes influenced the criminal and although the result shows that this class of the community is, on the whole, insusceptible, it has seemed worthy of recording briefly as sustaining the assertion that the criminal is deficient in reactivity to external influences. The period of three years In Table excluding the single day having a tempera(from April lst, 1898, to March 31st, 1901) was considered, ture of 75°IV., F., the lower the temperature the more is the the direction of the wind, the outlook (fine, wet, snow, &c.), of the criminal influenced, and although the the temperature in the shade, and the barometric height disposition with a temperature range of from 310 to 400 is taken daily at 8 A. M. at the prison during this period were daily average in excess of that of from 610 to 70°, the slightly only analysed, and to estimate the possible effects on the criminal gradation is uninterrupted and tends to show that low the number of breaches of prison discipline occurring during are possibly slightly antagonistic to healthy temperatures the same period was compared. That prison offences are a functional action in these men. criterion of the disposition of a prisoner at the time is undoubted. A longer period was not taken, as it can readily TABLE IV.-Temperatures. be understood that the administrative conditions must be as as the are small, nearly possible exact ; consequently figures but I consider a fair estimate may be formed from them. Table I. shows that on foggy, snowy, or stormy days a slightly higher number of offences occur than on overcast, TABLE I.- Outlooks,
In conclusion, it may be considered that, with a possible exception in the case of temperature variations, the criminal is unaffected by atmospheric changes. It will readily be conceded that the normal individual is affected, often
considerably. In a previous paper1 the criminal was shown to be insensible to external impressions. The above facts. appear to support this view. Portland.
1 Physical
and Moral
Insensibility
Mental Science, October, 1901.
in the
Criminal, Journal of
,
or fine days ; the number of days occurring under the first three conditions, however, is so small as to be valueless. The average number of offences occurring on overcast, rainy, or fine days is practically the same and if a narrower distinction be made between fine days and days which embracing the other outlooks cannot be considered fine the daily average may be considered the same. Hence the criminal does not appear to be affected by the outlook. In Table II. the average of daily offences tends to show that the direction of the wind has possibly some slight effect on the criminal, but the winds having the highest average of offences are the least frequent, and probably larger numbers would show the wind to have no action ; the difference between the extremes also is very small considering that 700 men are under observation.
rainy,
INQUIRY INTO
THE SUSCEPTIBILITY OF CRIMINALS TO ATMOSPHERIC CHANGES. NORWOOD EAST, M.D. LOND., M.R C.S. ENG.,
BY W.
L.R.C.P. DEPUTY MEDICAL
(With
OFFICER,
the permission
LOND.,
H.M. CONVICT
PRISON,
PORTLAND.
of the Directors of Convict Prisons.)
THAT atmospheric changes have a marked influence on most individuals must be admitted by all. Not a few must have in themselves or their companions observed sunshine produce exaltation. I have known a man to start on a country walk irritable and unsociable, the day being dull and
but the
later has
TABLE II.-Winds.
his
cloudy, appearing gloom replaced by light-heartedness, the change being too rapid to be due to altered atmospheric pressure, neither could it have been due to altered.temperature as he preferred cold to heat. I take it that everyone has experienced the depressing effects of rain and fog. In some people wind is a source of annoyance, producing an irritable mental state apart from any pain, neuralgia, and the like it may set up. Indeed, sun
there is evidence to show that
a
certain wind may act
antagonistically to a particular individual. A medical friend informs me that a special wind always makes him irritable and the day’s work irksome, and this is, I believe, no uncommon experience. Temperature has an important action, some people feeling in better health in cold, others in hot
weather. When it is considered that an average-sized man Table III., neglecting as unreliable on account of inis subjected to a pressure of about 15 tons with a barometric sufficient numbers the readings 281/10"-285/10", 301/10", and 302/10", inches and that rise or fall of of of a the 30 height mercury the remaining barometric variations, although half an inch produces an increase or decrease of about a shows that in sufficiently large numbers for a conclusion to be arrived a ton it can be underof quarter pressure upon him, easily have no effect. stood that, excluding humidity, barometric pressure has some at, effect on the sense of well-being of the individual. These TABLE III.-Barometric Height. facts may be summarised as follows : sunshine (in England) is pleasant to almost everyone ; dully, foggy, or rainy weather is unpleasant ; wind, and sometimes a particular wind, is unpleasant to many; cold may be pleasant or unpleasant, similarly heat ; barometric pressure probably has some influence on individuals; and that in this connexion pleasant signifies good, and unpleasant indifferent, functional action. This inquiry was undertaken to ascertain if atmospheric changes influenced the criminal and although the result shows that this class of the community is, on the whole, insusceptible, it has seemed worthy of recording briefly as sustaining the assertion that the criminal is deficient in reactivity to external influences. The period of three years In Table excluding the single day having a tempera(from April lst, 1898, to March 31st, 1901) was considered, ture of 75°IV., F., the lower the temperature the more is the the direction of the wind, the outlook (fine, wet, snow, &c.), of the criminal influenced, and although the the temperature in the shade, and the barometric height disposition with a temperature range of from 310 to 400 is taken daily at 8 A. M. at the prison during this period were daily average in excess of that of from 610 to 70°, the slightly only analysed, and to estimate the possible effects on the criminal gradation is uninterrupted and tends to show that low the number of breaches of prison discipline occurring during are possibly slightly antagonistic to healthy temperatures the same period was compared. That prison offences are a functional action in these men. criterion of the disposition of a prisoner at the time is undoubted. A longer period was not taken, as it can readily TABLE IV.-Temperatures. be understood that the administrative conditions must be as as the are small, nearly possible exact ; consequently figures but I consider a fair estimate may be formed from them. Table I. shows that on foggy, snowy, or stormy days a slightly higher number of offences occur than on overcast, TABLE I.- Outlooks,
In conclusion, it may be considered that, with a possible exception in the case of temperature variations, the criminal is unaffected by atmospheric changes. It will readily be conceded that the normal individual is affected, often
considerably. In a previous paper1 the criminal was shown to be insensible to external impressions. The above facts. appear to support this view. Portland.
1 Physical
and Moral
Insensibility
Mental Science, October, 1901.
in the
Criminal, Journal of
,