A Finger in Lincoln's Brain

[Thomas Thorne]

(03-25-2015 08:29 AM)LincolnMan Wrote:  I own it but sure haven't had time to read it! Tom: any thing you can share about the author's conclusions?

Dear Bill

As I just lent the book to a friend, I'm going to have to wing it a bit. The idea that Booth had VD suffers from the obvious problem of our lack of lab findings to confirm it. The author's argument that VD caused personality problems which induced JWB's homicidal behavior has its own difficulties. Even if he had VD, how can we prove it caused Booth to behave the way he did? This is a wonderful example of the adage that correlation should not be confused with causality.

Dr Abel says a characteristic of VD is memory problems and cites an example of Booth asking what year it was. But all us I am sure have engaged in rhetorical questions such as this to other people. Nothing I have read indicates Booth had significant cognitive problems .

John Barrymore was an Edwin Booth type genius whose drinking destroyed his ability to form new memories. He was such a great actor that many people did not know he had to use cue cards when saying his dialogue in his later work. He had obvious cognitive issues.

The Civil War era was populated by legions of men whose violent activities were applauded or detested depending on the political point of view of the observer. I have never seen social disease considered to be a factor in the violence which led to the war or the battles these men fought. Some of them must have VD but so what?
Tom