Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 71 — page 100: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

fa WISHFUL THINKING electrodes attached to the temples.” “I see.”’ The woman reached forward and fingered the elec- trodes. ““Does it hurt ?”’ “Not really. The shock is of short duration and stuns the higher centres of the brain.” John was careless of his terminology, knowing that she would accept anything he said. “If shock-treatment doesn’t work, then we have recourse to outright surgery. You have heard of lobotomy?” “Vaguely. Something to do with the brain, isn’t it?” “Yes. We insert a thin probe into the forepart of the brain and slash the tissues. The theory is that, if we can’t fix it, we can destroy it.” John caught himself at Ham- mond’s expression. ““The tech- nique has proved most helpful. in stubborn cases but, natur- ally, we try everything else first.” “Why?” Mrs. Cauldwell frowned. “If lobotomy is so successful, then why not just do it to all of them and save time ?”’ 99 “‘Theexpenseis prohibitive,” said Hammond smoothly, be- fore John could speak. “Lo- botomy is a delicate operation.” Heglancedaround the laboratory. ‘Where is Carl?” “Gone.” “Gone?” Hammond didn’t pursue the subject. Instead, he smiled at the woman as he led the way towards the screened corner. “I think this machine would interest you, Mrs. Cauldwell.” “What is it?” ‘“‘Anelectroencephalograph, a machine which measures the electrical emissions of the brain and records them in the form of a graph.” Hammond picked up a discarded record- ing. “See? Those jagged lines are such a recording. With this machine we can diagnose the presence of brain tumours with almost a hundred per cent. efficiency. We can also distinguish between normal and abnormal mentalities with a fair degree of success.” “Interesting,” said the woman. cComicbooks-com=.