Jack: Suffering from a brain disease?

[RipperNoob]

Is it possible that Jack suffered from a brain disease? I do not mean this to mean mental illness such as schizophrenia, but instead, that perhaps Jack had a disease which had begun to effect his brain, which caused the murders. Perhaps, for example, advanced Syphilis, or Tuberculosis affecting the brain, or a brain tumor, or some other illness caused brain disease? It's possible he had underlying mental issues which were only amplified by this illness.

It could also explain why the killings seemed to suddenly stop with MJK. He either became too sickly physically to continue, or died. And it might explain the progressively worse nature of the crimes: As his illness got worse and worse and played with his mind more, the more severe the crimes became. Perhaps in some warped way, he thought killing these prostitutes might rid of him of his disease--If he had Syphilis, for example. And perhaps there was some religious undercurrent to his crimes, if that can be found--For example, in a documentary I saw about the cannibalistic serial killer Albert Fish, Fish was said to be devoutly religious and he connected what he did with the Bible: Offering up innocent children to God as Abraham was commanded to do with Isaac, and consuming their flesh, like Communion.

An uncle of mine had TB affecting the brain (which killed him at the age of 46) and towards the last days of his life he began to become very paranoid and in some instances acted scary--Nothing like his well loved and kind self. Just as a personal example.

[lynn cates]

theory

Hello RN. This was a fairly popular theory many years ago.

One way to check on it would be to investigate the deaths within a reasonable radius of the killings and during a reasonable time of the MJK killing to see what cause of death was.

Good luck should you choose to research this.

Cheers.
LC

[Errata]

It's certainly possible. It was the height of the industrialization of the country, and there were zero safety laws. Any number of Londoners could have been exposed to debilitating doses of chemicals, whether through handling them or through water contamination. And a good deal of industrial pollutants can cause severe neurological damage. Women were eating lead to improve their complexions, or tiny amounts of arsenic to control their appetites, so it's pretty safe to say that the society as a whole did not have a good grasp on responsible handling and disposal of harmful compounds.

The only problem with a majority of neurological conditions is that they take a very physical toll as well. By the time personalities start to change, a person has usually already developed a tremor, or loss of fine motor control, or extreme weakness and lethargy. Physical conditions that would preclude these kind of detail oriented murders. For these murders you would need a neurological condition that does not wreck the body first. A brain tumor would fit the bill, except they almost never grow fast enough to start affecting judgement and kill three months later. You might try looking for a Phineas Gage type. Traumatic frontal lobe injury causing personality changes, but the rest of the brain would be unaffected.

[Wickerman]

Quite possible this killer did suffer from syphilis.

The man who attacked Ada Wilson had a red (sunburnt) face.

"Aged about 30, height 5 ft. 6 in.; face sunburnt, with fair moustache; dressed in dark coat, light trousers, and wideawake hat."

A none-itchy rash can cover parts of the body during the second stage of Syphilis.

The rash can be so noticable that anyone suffering might use a white/light powder to lessen the effect, as was done in the 17th-19th century.

The suspect seen by Mrs Kennedy was described thus:
"...He was very white in the face, and made every endeavor to prevent them looking him straight in the face."

Sarah Lewis described him as:
"...He was a short, pale-faced man with a black moustache. "

Hutchinson noticed him as:
"......age about 34 or 35. height 5ft6 complexion pale,.."



One symptom of Syphilis is the loss of body hair, including in some cases, loss of eyelashes. This is called Madarosis.

The man seen with Stride in the Bricklayer's Arms, although his complexion is not given, was described as:
"...He had rather weak eyes. I mean he had sore eyes without any eyelashes."

In Millers Court, the Wednesday evening before Kelly's murder a strange man seen by Bowyer loitering in the Court:
"He was, perhaps, 27 or 28 and had a dark moustache and very peculiar eyes."

Regards, Jon S.

[Errata]

Isn't paleness a national trait of the British?

[Wickerman]

Isn't paleness a national trait of the British?

Why would a pale British person think it worthy to make special note of another pale British person?



Syphilis
This chronic infectious disorder also causes ulcerous Maculopapular rashes.


Maculopapular Rash is a kind of skin disease that is characterized by certain areas of the skin turning red. Small lumps arise over these lumps. Sufferers of this condition can have both papules and macules on their skin.

Maculopapular Rashes can arise on different parts of the body. You can find a Maculopapular Rash on trunk. One can see Maculopapular Rash on face.

http://www.primehealthchannel.com/maculopapular-rash-definition-pictures-causes-symptoms-and-treatment.html

Now, if Blotchy had been "well-dressed"..


Interestingly, Madarosis & Maculopapular Rash are both Secondary symptoms of Syphilis.

Regards, Jon S.

[Errata]

Why would a pale British person think it worthy to make special note of another pale British person?


Regards, Jon S.

Fair enough. Unless it was "pale" vs. "foreign".

[Robert]

It's the Transylvanians who are pale.

[TradeName]

Came across this summary of a 1900 paper about an 1879 case:

Medical Press and Circular, Volume 120, June 6, 1900, Page 586

The Cortical Centre of the Sexual Instinct.

The position of the Cortical Centre of the Sexual Instinct is the subject of an article by Dr. R. J. [sic] Styll in an American contemporary. The author concludes that it is located in the angular gyrus of the frontal lobe of the cerebrum, and his grounds for it are as follows :—On the evening of November 22nd, 1879, a mulatto girl was murdered at Fortress Monroe by a German. The murderer was a healthy, well-developed man, five feet eight inches in height, and of more than average intelligence. The body of the victim was discovered lying on a bed perfectly naked, with an incised wound five or six inches long in the right groin, through which the intestines, ovaries, and Fallopian tubes had been extracted. The intestines had been partially torn up and scattered about the room, some in a bucket, some on a trunk, and other portions about the room in various places. The ovaries and tubes were not found, and it is presumed they were carried away by the murderer, who committed suicide while in prison. On a post-mortem examination, made by Dr. Christian, there was found a small cyst, half-an-inch in diameter, with distinct walls and containing fluid. It was situated on the right hemisphere, in the anterior part of the angular convolution. This, Dr. Styll considers, was a case of paresthesia sexualis with anthropophagous practices in a man who could not by any stretch of sympathy be pronounced insane. And he adds:—"The cyst was just at the point best situated to interfere with and misdirect any impression and stimuli on their way to the central reflex centres in the spinal cord from the cerebral cortex of the angular gyrus and neighbouring convolutions; and the fact that the man was perfectly healthy, and all his mental and somatic functions, except those dependent on the sexual nervous mechanism, were normally performed, goes far to point to the angular gyrus as the cortical centre for the sexual instinct. This suggestion is further strengthened by the fact that the angular and supra-marginal gyri are the parts usually involved in cases of prosopia."


Transactions of the Medical Society of Virginia, Volume 37, Part 1906, Page cxxxii

Register of Fellows

STYLL, RICHARD THOMAS, Newport News, Warwick Co., Va. Res. HON. FEL.

Born Henrico Co., Va.. Dec. 18, 1853. Acad. educ. Strothers and Norwood's Acad.. Richmond, Va. Ph. G. Med. Col. Va. Grad. M. D. Med. Col. Va. 1877. Elec. Fel. 1878. Attended Sess. every one since 1878.. Treas. 1883-1903. Elec. Res. Hon. Fel. 1903. Res. Phys. Richmond City Almshouse Hosp. 1877-78; Phys. in charge Richmond Smallpox and Fever Hosp. 1881; Phys. in charge Pinel Hosp., Richmond, 1885-1886; Res. Phys. 1887-1896 Hollins Institute, Va.; 1st Asst. Phys. Central State Hosp. 18961899. Attended Asso. Med. Schools, London, Eng., and Royal Infirm., Edinburg, Scotland, 1903. Papers: Reflex Effects of Psychic Stimuli, a Cause of Peripheral Disease, Va. Med. Semi-Mo., Jan. 13, 1899; Case of Paresthesia Sexualis, with Anthropophagous Practices, Showing Lesion Pointing to the Angular Gyrus as the Probable Cortical Centre of the Sexual Instinct, ditto. March 9, 1900 Effects of Excessive Use of Alcohol on Formation of Character, Newport News Med. Soc.; Amer. Methods of Educating the Female a Menace to the Race, ditto; Antiseptic (General and Systemic) Treatment of Typhoid Fever, ditto; Gastro-Enteritis in Children, ditto, Migraine, Seaboard Med. Soc., 1903.

[Wickerman]

Thankyou for that, TradeName.

[Errata]

Okay. First of all, the guy writing that paper did not even remotely need to use as dense language as he did. But I assume he felt better about himself after doing so. Secondly, since when is a half inch cyst in the brain small? That actually kind of big. Though that may be the hindsight talking, since any number of cysts may have been overlooked before reliable brain imaging.

But more to the point, the paper is utter bollocks. At least the summary is. We'll just breeze past that there is in fact no Cortical Centre for Sexual Instinct.
Guy has a cyst in his brain. He is perfectly sane. Evidently suffers from tingling of numbness of his genitals. Kills a woman, pulls bits out, then eats part of her. When they crack him open, they find a cyst on his brain which this author concludes is located right on his sex center, and as added proof, the same area of the brain is malfunctioning when people have prosopia, which is the inability to recognize faces.

What?

If the guy had Prosopia I would totally be sold. But as it stands, I think the guy is just a killer who had a cyst on his brain.

[Ben123]

As other have said, it may be possible, as brain disease can lead to violence. For instance, Charles Whitman, a spree killer in Texas, was subsequently found to have a brain tumour in an area of the brain governing emotions. It cannot be said that it is what made him commit his crimes, but is of some interest.

I wonder too, as Errata suggested, whether if he did have some brain illness would his ability to commit crimes involving more violence have been possible? Physical illness may follow from a diseased brain? This works on a presumption of the canonical five, or at least an increasing level of violence.

I do prefer evidence leading to a hypothesis, but it's worth pondering about such things.

[lynn cates]

welcome

Hello Ben. Welcome to the boards.

"I do prefer evidence leading to a hypothesis"

Indeed. This is the "hypothetico-deductive" method used in science. It may be the best of a bad lot of procedures.

"This works on a presumption of the canonical five, or at least an increasing level of violence."

Right again. But most of the investigation presupposes those.

Hope you have fun here.

Cheers.
LC

[DJA]

Is it possible that Jack suffered from a brain disease?

Suspect he was an Aspie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome#Motor_and_sensory_perception

Doubt his manual dexterity was impaired. Possibly just the opposite.

[Errata]

Suspect he was an Aspie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperger_syndrome#Motor_and_sensory_perception

Doubt his manual dexterity was impaired. Possibly just the opposite.

Comorbid with schizoaffective disorder?

I have a hard time wrapping my brain around this possibility, and it's because my cousin has AS and I've learned a lot about it through him. But mostly I've learned how little the description of the diagnosis actually applies to them. It's a real crap shoot as to what positives and negatives it gives them.

Trying to look at it dispassionately, I would think the sensory quirks would prevent someone from engaging in bloody murder. Texture and feel are big issues, and cutting into a body when you are hypersensitive to texture seems like folly. So I have a hard time picturing someone with AS digging into a body, especially for the first time. Also loud sudden sounds tend to be a problem, and there was the potential for screaming.

Certainly nothing about AS makes someone prone to being a killer.