CRIMINALITY IN ANIMALS. 255 



With men, certain crimes tend to diminish or disappear under the 

 influence of civilization. It is the same with animals. The more the 

 domestication of a race is perfected, the less violent do its passions 

 become, and, consequently, such crimes as we have discussed grow 

 more rare. Not being troubled about their food, which is put before 

 them in abundance and good order every day, they are not subject to 

 the struggle for existence, and their character is mollified. Further- 

 more, by virtue of the law of organic balance, the development of the 

 digestive apparatus, consequent on plentiful and regular feeding, takes 

 place at the expense of the nervous system, whence less violence, less 

 irritability, and less sexual passion. Malice is extremely rare among 

 thorough-bred domestic animals, as, for instance, among the Durham 

 cattle. 



A man subject to relapses this is his forty-fourth sentence a 

 man of quite solid education, yet who seems to pursue persistently 

 the most absurd of evil schemes, wrote to me a little while ago : "I 

 committed the first offense in my life, then repaired it. Repulsed 

 everywhere and by every one, I pretended to steal, so that I could be 

 arrested and condemned. All my condemnations have been for va- 

 grancy or breaking my parole. I have always behaved well when I 

 have had enough to eat. Misery makes a man wicked. With a piece 

 of bread one may, perhaps, prevent a wretch from committing theft or 

 murder." The criminal, says Hobbes, is a robust child ; and Georges 

 Leroy adds : " If we suppose a man to have strong desires, and to be 

 without experience, like a child, it is hard to conceive of anything that 

 will restrain him in the course he is pursuing. Our passions bring us 

 back to childhood by vividly presenting to us a single object with the 

 degree of intensity that eclipses everything else." 



We believe that we have shown in this study that, if the acts, the 

 thoughts, and the feelings of animals are similar to ours, the same is 

 the case with their offenses and their crimes, so far as the same are 

 related to their interests and their passions. As in our own species, 

 the criminal animal is generally a type appearing sporadically, with 

 passions, desires, and instincts that are not those of its race. These 

 faults are transmissible and hereditary. Domestication and system- 

 atic feeding diminish, destroy, or transform these mischievous dispo- 

 sitions. We were right in saying, when we began, that the morals of 

 wolves may throw light upon those of men. Revue Scientijique. 



