QTJETELET ON THE SCIENCE OF MAN. 



51 



easts aside the revenge-theory of criminal law, assimilating the treat- 

 ment of criminals to the operation of a surgeon healing a diseased 

 part of the body, if possible, or, if not, rendering it harmless or re- 

 moving it. 



The wealthy and educated classes, whose lives seem to them- 

 selves as free from moral blame as they are from legal punishment, 

 may at first hear with no pleas- 

 ant surprise a theory which in- 

 culpates them as sharers in the 

 crimes necessarily resulting from 

 the state of society which they 

 are influential in shaping. Yet 

 this consideration is by no means 

 one of mere hopeless regret, for 

 coupled with it is the knowledge 

 that it is in their power, by adopt- 

 ing certain educational and reformatory measures, so to alter the pres- 

 ent moral status of society as to reduce the annual budget of crime to 

 a fraction of its present amount. Thus the doctrine that .the nation 

 participates in and is responsible for the acts of its individual members 

 is one which widens the range of duty to the utmost. The labors of 

 M. Quetelet, in reducing to absolute calculation this doctrine of the 

 solidarity of human society, entitle him to a place among those great 

 thinkers whose efforts perceptibly raise that society to a higher intel- 

 lectual and moral level. Here, as everywhere, the larger comprehen- 

 sion of the laws of Nature works for good and not for evil in the his- 

 tory of the world. 



Some slight account has now to be given of M. Quetelet's doc- 

 trine of typical forms, as displayed in the "homme moyen," or 

 "mean man," of a particular nation or race. This is no new theo- 

 ry; but, since the publication of the "Physique Sociale " in 1835, 

 the author has been at work extending and systematizing it, his 

 last results being shown in the present works. First, it must be 

 pointed out that the term " homme moyen " is not intended to indicate 

 what would be popularly meant by an " average man." An average 

 or arithmetical mean of a number of objects may be a mere imaginary 

 entity, having no real representative. Thus, an average chessman, 

 computed as to height from the different pieces on the board, might 

 not correspond to any one of the actual pieces. But the " homme 

 moyen " or central type of a population really exists ; more than this, 

 the class he belongs to exceeds in number any other class, and the less 

 nearly any other class approaches to his standard the less numerous 

 that class is, the decrease in the number of individuals as they depart 

 from the central type conforming to a calculable numerical law. The 

 " mean man " (the term may probably be adopted in future research 

 es, and when technically used its popular meaning will cease to inter* 



