108 THE MENDEL JOURNAL 



kill our friend and then to eat him, but are only 

 deterred from doing so by the conditions of society ? 

 I think Dr. Cobbett may rest assured that it would 

 " matter very much, if, in England, he and others 

 had an inherent impulse to eat human flesh." For, 

 in spite of civilisation, he would find means of satis- 

 fying that innate hunger, much as the congenital 

 drunkard gratifies his irresistible craving in opposition 

 to those external influences which operate against 

 his deeds. 



We cannot look the ordinary facts of life in the 

 face and feel that there is any comfort in Dr. Cobbett's 

 contention. The popular memory is proverbially 

 short, and those who plead popular causes 

 are apt to be forgetful of facts which are ugly and 

 immovable. Let us therefore recall one. It is, 

 T suppose, only some fifteen years ago, when civilisa- 

 tion was horrified by a series of revolting murders 

 characterised by unspeakable mutilations in the 

 East End of London. The mutilations were all 

 marked by certain features in common, which 

 pointed to the conclusion that they were the work 

 of one criminal. The conditions which attended the 

 murders suggested there could be no particular 

 or personal motive inspiring their perpetration. 

 The facts indeed led people to suppose they 

 were done by some man who was impelled by a 

 ghoulish delight in such gruesome work. The mutila- 

 tions were performed with almost anatomical precision,, 

 and must have been carried out with perfect calmness 

 and collection of thought and action, and yet with 



