Providentia

Can Cognitive Reserve Explain Why Sports Concussion Cases Are Different?

A study published in The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences presented a preliminary examination on cognitive reserve (CR) as a modifier of symptom expression in subjects with autopsy-confirmed chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The sample included 25 former professional football players neuropathologically diagnosed with CTE stage III or IV. Next of kin interviews ascertained age at cognitive and behavioral/mood symptom onset and demographic/athletic characteristics. Years of education and occupational attainment defined CR. High occupational achievement predicted later age at cognitive (p = 0.02) and behavioral/mood (p = 0.02) onset. Education was not an individual predictor. These preliminary findings suggest that CR may forestall the clinical manifestation of CTE. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

Cow Vigilantes in India Claim New Victim

In India, they are known as "Gau Rashaks"  (cow protectors) and their vigilante actions against India's Muslim and Dalit communities is spreading.

Since many Hindus regard cows as sacred and laws banning the slaughter or import of cows for slaughter remain in place, vigilante activity aimed at anyone believed to be threatening cows has been on the rise in recent years.   While most of these Gau Rashaks are Hindu nationalists, their activities have also been used to justify increased anti-Muslim and anti-Dalit violence across different parts of the country.    In April of this year, dairy farmer Pehlu Khan  was beaten to death in Rajasthan, a killing that was recorded on mobile phone video.

While Human Rights Watch used this killing to warn authorities of the growing danger of Gau Rashak violence,  attacks on Muslims and Dalits accused of killing cows or buying them for the purpose of slaughter them remain common.   Responding to the attacks, India's  Prime Minister Narenda Modi said in July that, "Killing people in the name of ‘gau bhakti’ (love of cow) is not acceptable. This is not something Mahatma Gandhi would approve,"  though critics feel his words did not go far enough.

On November 10 of this year, the body of dairy farmer Umar Mohammad was found on a railway track in Rajasthan.   While police initially believed he had been killed by a train, it was later found that he had been shot to death and his body placed on the track to prevent his murderers from being identified.  According to village elders,  Umar Mohammad and a second man, Tahir Mohammad, had been transporting cattle to another village when a gang of gau rashaks confronted them and began beating them.   In the shooting that followed, Umar Mohammad was killed and Tahir Mohammad was seriously injured as well.  

For village elders and family members of the dead man, forcing police to acknowledge that a murder had taken place was a long and frustrating process despite the fact that the bullet wound was clearly visible.  It took a night-long vigil outside the building where Mohammad's body was being kept before police agreed that a murder had been committed.   As for Tahir Mohammad, he remainsin hospital and family members fear for his life.  While the surviving man has identified at least one of the gang members, no arrests have been made and some villagers suggest that police had been involved in the shooting.  

Though rumours of widespread smuggling of cows to other parts of India have helped drive the violence in Rajasthan, observers suggest that the 2015 election of right-wing candidate Narendra Modi as India's Prime Minister is largely responsible for the surge in Hindu nationalist violence in recent years.   Not only are gau rashaks becoming increasingly organized, but they also have a national federation  Bhartiya Gau Raksha Dal (Indian Cow Protection Organization).

As for the Muslims, Dalits, and other minority groups in India, fear of escalating violence has made their lives much more uncertain.   Though civil rights organizations are working on their behalf, only time will tell whether this will have an effect.

The Boy and the Murder Trial

Can a six-year-old boy be convicted of manslaughter?   Though there have been countless cases of accidental deaths caused by children, whether through improper storage of a firearm or because of some other cause, the idea that a child under the age of ten could stand trial as an adult for a deliberate killing seems unthinkable today. 

But things were very different in 1929 Paintsville, Kentucky.  When six-year-old Carl Newton Mahan got into an argument with eight-year-old Cecil Van Hoose on May 18, 1929, nobody expected t to explode into murder.   By all accounts, the argument began when Cecil took a piece of scrap iron away from the younger boy who had first found it.   While the beginning of the Depression was only a few months away, the local economy was already in decline and the money that could have been made from selling the scrap metal to a junk dealer was certainly worth fighting over.  At least, that's what the two boys believed.

After Cecil took the iron that Carl believed was his (and slapped him in the face as well), Carl had no choice but to run away from the larger boy.  Unfortunately, Carl's father had a twelve-gauge shotgun which he kept above the door in his home.   Though Carl wasn't tall enough to reach the gun on his own, he managed to get it by climbing a chair that he had pushed in place.  With the gun being already loaded, and with no adults to stop him, Carl was then free to confront his archenemy.   As he would later testify in court, he ran back to Cecil, pointed the gun at him, and shouted, "I'm going to shoot you!"   Which he promptly did, shooting Cecil in the head.  He died hours later.

Though nobody was quite sure how a six-year old boy could even hold the heavy shotgun, let alone aim and fire it, there was no disputing that it was a deliberate killing.  Police wasted no time charging Carl Mahan with murder despite his age.   While English common law has long assumed that children under the age of seven was incapable of committing a crime, many U.S. states, including Kentucky, have no minimum age of criminal responsibility.  Though legal experts had misgivings about the case, it still went to court just days later and newspapers around the country carried the story.  Reporters covering the trial described the spectacle of a six-year-old boy laughing and joking with the friends who sat with him in court, apparently unaware of the seriousness of his offense.

The case also bitterly divided the families of the defendant and the dead boy.   Not only did Carl's father hire an attorney to defend his son, but the Van Hoose family hired their own legal counsel to work with the prosecutor.  As for Carl himself, his version of events basically came down to his getting back at Cecil for stealing something from him because he happened to be bigger and stronger.   While the judge and prosecutor likely hoped that the case would be quickly settled, Carl's defense attorney, John Wheeler, apparently hoping to keep the boy out of a state reformatory, demanded a jury trial.    

Not that it was much of a jury trial.   The prosecutor called in  numerous witnesses to bolster their case against Carl (who largely spent his time lying down on the defense counsel's table sleeping).    As for the defense attorney, he focused on his client's age and whether he had any real understanding of what he had done.   The case only lasted one day and the jury quickly found Carl guilty of manslaughter (having bumped him down from the original charge of murder) after only thirty minutes of deliberation.  The presiding judge, John W. Butcher, then sentenced him to 15 years in a state youth reformatory.   Almost immediately, Carl's defense attorney appealed the sentence.   He also secured a writ of approbation blocking the reformatory move on the grounds that the trial had been "irregular and illegal" since Carl had been charged with "willful murder" rather than delinquency.   

In the meantime, Carl was sent home to live with his parents who had managed to raise the $500 bail that had been set for him.   Once home, the parents found themselves besieged by curiosity seekers who all wanted to catch a glimpse at the young killer and Carl became a virtual recluse as a result.   As well, newspapers around the country continued to follow the legal battle over whether or not Carl would be sent to the reformatory.   Eminent legal authorities weighed in with their own opinions about how the case had been handled.   

The great defense attorney Clarence Darrow was particularly outraged over the verdict and said that "anyone with intelligence would recognize the utter irresponsibility of someone that age."  He even suggested that the case represented a "throwback to the Dark Ages."   Somewhat miffed by Darrow's words, one judge involved in the case responded publicly suggesting that "the statements of such men" were responsible for Chicago's many murders.  But the public debate wasn't all one-sided.   Many felt that Carl's sentence hadn't been severe enough and that he should have been given a full prison sentence.  

Ultimately, the resolution of the case was left up to Kentucky's attorney general, James W. Cammack, who eventually did, well nothing, really.   Though he spent weeks reviewing the case, he ultimately took no action and allowed Carl to stay with his parents.  Though I  wonder about what his life was like after his release, there is surprisingly little information available on what happened to him next.   All that available records show was that he eventually moved to nearby Jefferson county where he died in 1958 at the age of 35.  

While Carl Newton Mahan continues to be the youngest murder defendant in Kentucky's history (or just about anywhere else), it seems unlikely that anyone will ever beat that particular record.  There have  been occasional cases of children ten or younger standing trial for violent crimes, courts have often been left floundering trying to decide what to do with them.  Even with older children, the results often remain controversial as with the trial and execution of fourteen-year-old George Stinney only a few years after Carl Mahan's trial.   While modern courts have more options, including special youth courts to address complex cases such as Carl Mahan's, there are no easy solutions.

Ultimately, cases of extreme violence committed by young children represent a crucial test of how society handles the often thorny challenge of dispensing justice fairly and humanely.  And, perhaps it always will be.

 

Dancing Until You Drop

As early as the year 1374, strange episodes of dancing mania were reported across Europe.  No obvious pattern or triggers to the outbreaks, just large gatherings of men and women of all ages, forming circles and dancing for hours at a time, often until they collapsed with exhaustion.  According to Justus Hecker, a 19th-century German physician who studied the dancing mania:

While dancing, they neither saw nor heard, being insensible to external impressions through the senses but were haunted by visions, their fancies conjuring up spirits whose names they shrieked out; and some of them afterwards asserted that they felt as if they had been immersed in a stream of blood, which obliged them to leap so high.  Others, during the paroxysm, saw the heavens open and the Saviour enthroned with the Virgin Mary, according as the religious notions of the age were strangely and variously reflected in their imaginations.

Priests, town councils, and local rulers were all alarmed by the dancing mania.  The Church blamed the dancing mania on demonic possession and fought it with all the tools at their disposal.   Along with frequent sermons directed at the dancers, churches conducted long religious festivals designed to stop the dancers.  Although a few priests even resorted to exorcisms, nothing seemed to keep the dancers down for long.  While the priests did what they could, local governments resorted to more direct approaches including having the dancers beaten with sticks and even banning the wearing of round-toed shoes in some places (which made dancing harder). 

Although the dancers often burned themselves out after a few months, the relative calm afterward rarely lasted long.  As the dancing stopped in one part of Europe, new outbreaks would happen in other parts.  What alarmed local governments and the Church most was the extreme social disruption that often occurred with the dancers.  Not only did serfs and free workers stop working fields, but housewives often deserted their domestic duties as well.  The dancers were primarily found in the poorest classes of society but authorities worried that the mania would eventually spread to the nobility and the priests in time.

By the 15th century, the dancing mania became known as "St. Vitus' Dance" based on the legend that Saint Vitus had been formally entrusted by God to protect his followers from being affected.  Although there was no evidence of this legend existing before the 15th century,  the previously neglected saint suddenly had shrines dedicated to him across Europe.   Medical doctors preferred not to treat the dancing mania themselves (the Church regarded it as their mandate exclusively and the doctors weren't inclined to fight them on the issue) and relatives of mania victims often had no choice but to turn to the Church for help.  The first medical doctor with the courage to question Church doctrine about the demonic nature of the dancing mania was likely Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, a.k.a Paracelsus.  Having made a name for himself as a bold medical reformer,  Paracelsus embraced the motto "Let no man belong to another that can belong to himself" and scandalized church authorities by rejecting magical explanations for diseases,  He even dared to argue that diseases could be cured by learning about the body and the toxic effects of the environment.  Of course, being an astrologer and an alchemist as well made him very much a man of his time. 

In studying St. Vitus' Dance, Parcelsus suggested that there were different types of dancing mania which he termed Chorea imaginativa (dancing mania caused by imagination), Chorea lasciva (resulting from "sensual desires"), and Chorea naturalis (dancing mania resulting from bodily imbalances, i.e., disruptions of the various chemical elements of the body).   He also suggested that dancing mania could be passed on through sympathic arousal of the animal passions.   For treating dancing mania resulting from imagination, he suggested having the affected patient create a wax image and then "projecting all [the patient's] blasphemies and sins on it".  Burning the image would then relieve the patient of the need to dance.   For the other type of dancing manias, especially involving women leaving home to dance, he recommended forcible restraint and harsh treatment to "bring them to their senses".  This included depriving the dancer of food and immersion in cold water as needed.

For whatever reason, episodes of St. Vitus' Dance began declining throughout the 16th century.  While mild outbreaks still occurred, the most severe cases became relatively unknown.  Still, pilgrimages still continued each year to the various shrines dedicated to St. Vitus until well into the 17th century across many European countries.  By then however, southern Italy had become the centre of the dancing mania epidemic even after the St. Vitus' Dance episodes faded into memory elsewhere.  While not entirely identical to St. Vitus' Dance, the strange disorder known locally as "tarantism" had been recorded in southern Italy for centuries (primarily in the Apulia region).  The disease received its name from the belief that symptoms were caused by tarantula bites and that dancing was essential to prevent death.   Historians still dispute which spiders native to Apulia were considered responsible for the disease.  The most likely candidate was the common wolf-spider (Lycos tarantula) or  poisonous lizards may have been blamed as well (according to Hecker, the Italian words for tarantula and lizard, terrantola, were very similar).  The actual evidence that spider or lizard bites were involved in the disease seems limited at best and most of the tarantism episodes were almost certainly caused by mass hysteria alone. 

According to Niccolo Perotti, symptoms of tarantism included deep melancholy (depression), sensitivity to certain colours (such as red or green), and a strange catatonic state.  While some tarantism victims were extremely sensitive to music and would often dance to the point of exhaustion, other victims simply wasted away and refused to respond to any attempts to make them eat or care for themselves.  As the epidemic spread out of Apulia, musicians were often hired to perform for tarantism victims and make them dance as much as possible.  The prevailing medical opinion at the time was that forcing the victims to dance caused the tarantula venom to be spread throughout the body and given them relief.   Since the hot summer months often provoked a relapse, many tarantism sufferers had to go through the same dancing cure each year and the number of  dancers grew to enormous numbers.  Native Italians weren't the only ones affected and many immigrant groups living in the region were struck by dancing mania.  Eyewitness accounts described musicians being forced to play non-stop until the dancers dropped from exhaustion.  If the music paused for even a moment, the dancers sank to the ground and only got up again if the music started playing.   Although folk dancing was popular in Italy long before the first cases of tarantism were reported, one particular folk dance became known as the tarantella because of the association with tarantula bites. 

Cases of tarantism gradually faded over the 17th century although individual cases continued to be reported into the 1800s.  While the original link to spider bites has been throroughly debunked, the actual cause of dancing mania, whether in Italy or other places, remains a matter of dispute.   Since no known physical cause has ever been identified, the various dancing manias are likely to be a classic example of mass psychogenic illness spread by word of mouth descriptions of episodes in different parts of Europe.  The dancing mania epidemic strongly resembles later episodes of mass hysteria most likely to affect relatively powerless members of society otherwise expected to live by strong social conventions preventing any form of free expression (including women and peasant).   Cases of mass psychogenic illness are still reported today but it continues to be a poorly understood condition and diagnosis is still controversial.  

As for the dancing manias of Europe, the most lasting legacy seems to be the lively tarantellas that are still popular in Italy and Argentina.   Visitors watching the folk dancers perform should spare a thought to the strange epidemic that gave the dance its name.

And keep an eye out for spiders.

What Does Marijuana Legalization Mean for Adolescents?

 Should cannabis be made legal?  And what impact would it have on the drug use of adolescents and young adults?

Since the 1920s with the passage of  the first laws banning the sale or possession of cannabis, similar laws have been passed in most countries around the world.  Though there have been prominent exceptions, possession of even small amounts of marijuana or hashish could mean harsh penalties depending on where the arrest occurred.   Often enough, these harsh sentences were often justified with the familiar argument that marijuana was a "gateway drug" which needed to be banned to keep it from corrupting "impressionable" young people.

But the backlash is already setting in.   Not only have medical marijuana programs and  clinics been established in numerous countries (and 29 U.S. states to date), but some jurisdictions have gone even further.   In 2013, Uruguay became the first country to legalize the sale, cultivation, and distribution of marijuana and many other countries, including Canada, are expected to follow suit in the near future.   Recreational marijuana use has also been made legal  in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, and the District of Columbia with advocates in other states calling for the same.

Still, the issues surrounding marijuana legalization continue to be hotly debated, both at the federal level and in most states with stringent drug laws.  Not surprisingly, politicians and activists opposing legalization are using recent statistics showing that marijuana use is on the rise among adolescents to push for a universal ban.   On the other hand, surveys also show that this rising trend is due to changing attitudes and greater acceptance of marijuana use among adults.  Given that research has consistently shown that marijuana use in adolescents can lead to cognitive problems since adolescent brains are still forming, it is likely more important than ever to understand how legalization of marijuana in adults can affect adolescent use.

To read more, check out my new Psychology Today blog post.

 

Is There Really An Internet Gaming Disorder Epidemic?

A new study in the journal Addictive Behaviors presents a review of the literature regarding the prevalence of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in any population, organized in a linear manner spanning the emergence of the earliest publications regarding gaming addiction in the 1990s, through the end of 2016. The most striking finding of this review of IGD prevalence over time was how little the measured prevalence has changed, despite 15 years of technological advancement, increased internet penetration around the world, and ever more sophisticated games available. It might be presumed that increases in Internet access would allow for progressively greater exposure to internet gaming, yet disordered gaming does not appear to have increased as exponentially as has exposure. Conclusions were limited by the variable measurements and quality of the studies which met inclusion criteria. The majority of the studies were also drawn from school populations as this phenomenon is being studied more closely in adolescents; however, this limits generalizability to the wider population which would be needed in a study specifically examining prevalence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)

For the abstract

Private Exorcisms on the Rise in France

The soaring demand for exorcisms in France has created a new industry of private exorcists, most of whom have no real qualifications and charge exorbitant prices for the ritual.   

While the Catholic Church offers exorcisms for applicants deemed to be in need, they have stringent criteria aimed at weeding out people deemed to suffer from mental illness.   As a result, thousands of applicants are rejected each year and an increasing number of people requesting exorcisms are turning to private exorcists instead.  A recent article in the Mail Online presented interviews with some of these private exorcists to try to determine what services they are offering and who their clients are.   

One of these private exorcists, a 57-year old self-proclaimed ordained priest named Jean Clement, says that he advertises his services online and charges about 270 UK pounds for each ritual.   According to him,  many of his clients come to him due to emotional problems or relationship issues which they feel have a supernatural cause.   Due to rising demand, he now performs up to four exorcisms a week where it was only only one or two a month.  Of the people who come to him for help, he stated that  he has only ever turned away one person requesting an exorcism.  Since many people find no relief for their symptoms following the exorcism, they often ask for additional sessions and some have reportedly paid thousands of dollars for the private exorcisms.   

In that same article, Father Georges Berson, one of only two priests in Paris authorized to carry out exorcisms, states that false exorcists like Clement are preying on desperate people who would be better off seeking mental health counseling.  Though legitimate exorcists don't charge a fee, the prospect of a quick cure for whatever concerns them means more potential customers than ever.   Part of the problem stems from the recent influx of movies and televisions shows surrounding exorcism and the supposed supernatural forces at work.

But this soaring demand for exorcisms is hardly limited to France.   In the United States, numerous evangelists and "demonologists" offer their services online and, given the lack of real regulation, these self-proclaimed exorcists are free to make grandiose claims about successful cases with little real risk of exposure.   As for the Catholic Church in the United States, the number of priests trained to conduct exorcisms has risen from 12 to 50 and are still unable to keep up with demand.  

The Mail Online article also interviews Father Vincent Lambert of the Archdiocese  of Indianapolis who blames the influx of new cases on "wavering faith" and the rise of drugs and pornography.  The problem isn’t that the devil has upped his game," he said, "but more people are willing to play it."   In the meantime, the Catholic Church and other formal religions that offer exorcisms continue to turn away people requesting exorcism.   We will likely be hearing a lot more about private exorcists in future.

The "Sex Gum" Panic

How do rumours get started?  

 Often appearing out of nowhere (or so it seems at times), rumours have a way of spreading rapidly.   Whether spread by word-of-mouth or, more often these days, by social media, the most popular rumours have a tendency to confirm the basic beliefs people have about other people and the world around them.   And thus, these rumours are believed because people often want them to be true.   Still, by the time these rumours run their course, the damage left behind in the form of ruined reputations and mistrust can often take years to heal.   If it ever does.

And so it proved in 1996 in the Egyptian city of Mansoura.   Located in northern Egypt about 120 kilometers north of Cairo, Mansoura didn't seem to be a likely target for a strange Israeli scheme involving HIV-infected women and hormone-laced gum, but the panic generated by a series of stories published in a popular opposition weekly would soon change that.    As a forum for the Arab Democratic Nasserist Party, the weekly newspaper Al-Arabi had a reputation for publishing lurid stories about Israel and their continuing struggle to destabilize Egyptian society.    Still, despite the sensational nature of their stories, they certainly knew their audience.

Beginning in July, 1996, Al-Arabi began publishing a series of stories with titles such as "Israel Launches Sex War" and "Pharmacists Sell Sex Bombs."   All of the stories had the same basic theme:  that Israel was engaged in a covert campaign to corrupt Egypt's young people (particularly its young women).   Since none of the HIV-positive women supposedly planted by Israel actually materialized, Al-Arabi's coverage quickly shifted to the "sex gum" that had supposedly surfaced in cities like Mansoura.

Said to be laced with "sexual stimulants", the tainted gum (sold under brand names like "Aroma" and "Splay") reportedly inflamed the sexual passions of the young women who chewed it.   Spurred on by the newspaper stories, rumours quickly spread about the bizarre sexual antics of formerly demure college students under the influence of the gum.  Along with stories about female students chasing after their male classmates, female students interviewed on campus described how fearful they were that they might become affected as well.   Not only were women warned not to accept gum from males they didn't know, but fathers in Mansoura began keeping their daughters at home rather than let them attend university classes. 

Though western journalists largely dismissed the story as propaganda, members of Egypt's parliament openly denounced Israel and its presumed plot to poison Egypt's youth.  One member of parliament, Fathy Mansour, insisted that fifteen female students had been sexually assaulted by males who had chewed the gum. Local mosques began using loudspeakers to warn the community about the tainted gum and about the orgies believed to be occurring at the local university campus.   

While chemists at the Ministry of Health tested different brands of  gum and found no suspicious additives, Egyptian police started investigating Mansour's claims.   No actual victims came forward but police still closed down many of the shops where gum could be purchased.  Some store owners were even arrested though they were soon released after police failed to find any incriminating evidence.  Soon enough, the rumours died down as people moved on to other stories though "sex gum" stories occasionally appeared in some newspapers.

Until the following year when a new tainted gum scare sprang up, this time in the Gaza Strip and along the West Bank.   Said to be strawberry-flavoured and sold under brand names such as "Thunder in Paradise" and "The Legend of
Pocahontas", this new gum was supposedly laced with sex hormones that would render women sterile, but only after turning them into sex fiends with uncontrollable urges.  Much like in the previous tainted gum scare, extremist politicians jumped on the story and demanded that authorities confiscate the gum before it was too late.  As some western journalists reporting on the story pointed out, the tainted gum rumour was becoming more fantastic as it continued to spread.   Along with claims that hundreds of tons of tainted gum had been seized, some health officials suggested that Israel was planting the gum to turn Palestinian women into prostitutes who could be recruited by Israeli intelligence. 

Of course, given that Israel was being blamed for the entire mess, other Palestinian officials insisted that the tainted gum was part of yet another plot to destroy the Palestinian people and Islam.   Abdel Aziz Shaheen, the Palestinian Authorities' supply minister, the man who was in charge of importing food and supplies into the Palestinian territories, there was no question that Israel was putting sex hormones into the gum.   And the effect of these sex hormones were pretty versatile.  Along with corrupting and sterilizing women, the gum was also capable of "completely destroying the genetic system of young boys."   As proof of this plot,  samples of the gum were sent to a laboratory in Egypt which reportedly found traces of progesterone (a female sex hormone).   Meanwhile, the Washington Post decided to check these findings by arranging for independent tests on gum samples they obtained from Palestinian authorities.   In testing carried out by Dan Gibson at Hebrew University found no traces of any sex hormones in the gum.    

Much like before, the rumours surrounding tainted gum died down and things more or less returned to normal.   Perhaps not surprisingly, Yasser Arafat himself remained silent on the whole matter though he did nothing to rein in the rumours either.   In much the same way, then-President Hosni Mubarak refused to comment on the sex gum rumours that were still a popular subject in Egypt's press.   Political commentators weighing in on the tainted gum panic pointed out that anti-Israeli rumours tended to be especially popular whenever Israeli-Palestinian relations were particularly strained.    During the 1970s, rumours that Israeli agents were poisoning Arab water supplies were especially popular and several cases of mass hysteria involving female students being affected by tainted water were also reported.

While never particularly destructive as panics go, the sex gum epidemics that occurred in Mansoura and the Palestinian territories are graphic examples of the way that rumours can be used to serve a particular agenda, whether political or otherwise.   In an era where Internet panics are becoming more prevalent, it also helps highlight the need to check the facts rather than relying on something spread by word-of-mouth. 

So don't be afraid to chew that stick of gum,  but be sure to keep your hormones under control just in case.

The Man Who Made Insects

When Mary Shelley published her now-classic novel Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus in 1818, she did more than invent the modern science fiction genre.  By creating the characters of Victor Frankenstein and his monster, she also established a new archetype:  the arrogant scientist who dared to make life and tamper with God's plan for creation.  The Frankenstein label has haunted scientists ever since.

In writing her novel,  Mary Shelley drew from numerous sources (including her own husband Percy Bysshe Shelley and his friend Lord Byron who were both rabid science fans).   The late 18th century and early 19th century was a turbulent era for scientists as new developments in electricity and the nature of life made even the most fantastic speculations seem possible.   The idea that electricity might provide the "spark of life" was reinforced by the work of Luigi Galvani who described experiments using electric current to stimulate the legs of dead frogs.  Rightly  or wrongly, Galvani concluded in his 1792 work, In De Viribus Electricitatis in Motu Musculari ("On Electrical Powers in the Movement of Muscles") that electricity was the life force, or animating spirit.  Suddenly the flood gates seemed open for scientists experimenting with life itself and England was at the forefront with the  pioneering electricity experiments of Michael Faraday.   Despite being largely self-educated (aside from his work as a bookbinder and an assistant to Humphrey Davy), Faraday's success inspired numerous fans to carry out their own experiments in private laboratories across the country.  

The Squire of Fyne Court

One of Faraday's admirers, whose own experiments on the nature of life would make him the focus of one of the most bizarre episodes in the history of science, was Andrew Crosse, the squire of Fyne Court in Broomfield.    Born in 1784, Crosse's life as the eldest son of a respectable family began to change when he developed a passionate interest in the natural sciences as an adolescent.    After attending a series of lectures on electricity, he began his own experiments by constructing a Leyden jar and repeating many of the experiments discussed during the lectures.   Despite his fascination with science, he followed the conventional path and became a law student at Brazen Nose College in Oxford.   With the death of both of his parents by the time he was twenty-one however, Crosse returned home to take care of the family estates at Fyne Court.    Along with continuing his friendships with some of the most prominent writers and scientists of his time, Crosse also set up his own laboratory where he could continue his life-long interest in electricity and mineralogy.   Since his estate was not particularly prosperous, Crosse relied on hand-made apparatus that he used to electrocrystallize various minerals.   Over the years, he carried out numerous experiments and made a series of original discoveries, some of which were published by his friend, George Singer, as part of his own work on electrochemistry. 

"The Perfect Insect"

In 1836, Crosee carried out what would be his most controversial experiment.   After soaking a porous stone in a mixture of potassium silicate and hydrochloric acid, Crosse ran an electrical current through the combined chemicals so that he could form silicate crystals.   On the 26th day of the experiment, Crosse reported seeing what he described as "the perfect insect, standing erect on a few bristles which formed its tail".   The insects then crawled away with hundreds more appearing in the following weeks.   After identifying the insects as belonging to the Acaridae family, Crosse declared that the insects belonged to an entire new species of mites,  acarus electricus (later changed to acarus crossii) although he carefully denied saying that he created them using electricity.    As he would write afterward:

“In fact, I assure you most sacredly that I have never dreamed of any theory sufficient to account for their appearance. I confess that I was not a little surprised, and am so still, and quite as much as I was when the acari first made their appearance. Again, I have never claimed any merit as attaching to these experiments. It was a matter of chance. I was looking for silicious formations, and acari appeared instead…

Whatever the reason for the appearance of the mites, Crosse's proud discovery staggered his friends and family.   He then sent his results to be published by the London Electrical Society and a local newspaper picked up on the story.   While Francesco Redi's research had already disproven that spontaneous generation of life could actually happen, the belief  was still common enough at the time.   As well, electricity was new and mysterious enough for Crosse's claim to at least seem plausible.   Still, the idea that a country squire could "create life" offended the religious sensibilities of just about everyone Crosse knew.  His oldest friend, poet Robert Southey was shocked on hearing about what Crosse had been up to in his laboratory.   He reportedly said, "It's the very Devil, Andrew".   And that was relatively mild compared to what happened when his neighbours heard about it.  

"Virulence and Abuse,  Calumny and Misrepresentation"

Andrew Crosse already had a fairly sinister reputation in the area thanks to his public demonstrations of electricity on the grounds of Fyne Court using yards of iron wire strung together.   Many of his peaceful neighbours called him the "thunder and lightning man" and declared him to be a "disturber of the peace of families" due to the noise of his scientific activities.   Rumours that devils surrounded by lightning haunted Fyne Court and danced on the wires strung across the estate made them shun the area at night.   That he was apparently playing God as well was too much for the local people to bear.  Crosse found himself being denounced as an atheist and a blasphemer across all of England.   According to Cornelia Crosse, in a biography of her husband that she wrote in later years,  Andrew Crosse was deeply hurt over being targeted with "so much virulence and abuse, so much calumny and misrepresentation".    Not only did he receive numerous angry letters denouncing him and his experiments but he was also the target of physical attacks.   Local men, apparently drunk, attempted to smash down his fences, set fire to his crops, and kill his livestock.  Others threw stones at Crosse as he went on his usual solitary walks.   He was even accused of being responsible for a local potato blight (presumably caused by the insects he created).

If things weren't bad enough, a local clergyman carried out a public exorcism on the border of Crosse's estate.  Holding up a bible, the clergyman shouted, "Reviler of our holy religion! Disturbance of our Christian peace!  We came to ask Heaven's protection from you and your foulness!".   No word on whether this ended the potato blight but Crosse was likely not amused.   Upset over his treatment, Crosse became increasingly secluded with only his science and his young wife, Cornelia, for company.    Although his extensive research continued, Andrew Crosse would write no more on the subject and most of the information about his original experiments have been lost.  After his death in 1855, his wife wrote an extensive biography titled, "Memorials, scientific and literary of Andrew Crosse, electrician" which is the main source of available information on Crosse's acarus experiment and his later work. 

So did Andrew Crosse create life?

Well, probably not.  Still, the exact reason that the insects appeared during his experiments is an open question.  While later scientists claimed to replicate his experiments (and even Faraday weighed in on the subject),  Crosse's discovery eventually faded into obscurity.  The most likely explanation for what he observed is that the insect eggs were already present in the porous stone that he used and that the electricity had somehow induced them to hatch.  Given the later discovery of French biologist Stephane Leduc, that osmotic crystallization can produce crystalline structures that can mimic life in remarkable ways, it is also possible that Crosse and his imitators may have simply been mistaken about the "insects" that they were producing in their laboratories.  Since Andrew Crosse was no biologist, he was unable to verify whether his apparatus had been contaminated in any way and the information contained in his wife's biography doesn't really shed any light on the controversy. 

Whatever he really accomplished with his research, the very public condemnation that Andrew Crosse faced after announcing his discovery has a depressingly modern ring to it.   Accusations of "playing God" and tampering with nature are still heard today and many researchers often face verbal abuse, death threats, and even violence by outraged opponents seeking to stop scientific progress.   That Crosse could stoicly endure and carry on his research despite the various attacks on him and his family may well be a quiet inspiration for other researchers facing attack.