on Drs. Gall and Spurxheim's Physiognomonical System. 13o 



[We havr to ipo'oLiize for tlic omission of the prccerline Lecture in its pro- 

 1)( r p!a e, from its liavinu been niislair] ] 



Leilvrf 16. The terminn.tion of education is in civil and 

 crimiha) leajislation. Those who form institutions should know 

 man. oMierwise they cannot be permanent. Have then physio- 

 gnomi'.M! inquiries a tendency to influence legislation ? What is 

 legi'^'.atioii ? Subordination of the faculties ; one must be sub- 

 initte;i to the otliers. Very few act morally or do good merely 

 by love, hut great niunbers" do by law. Legislation if defective 

 cannot be universal, and there can be no contradiction between 

 divine and civil legislation ; the happiness of this world is not 

 contrarv to that ot the next. All faculties proper to man are 

 the foundation of legislation ; it must be just, charitable and 

 firm ; if only charitable, the aim is not fulfilled ; if severe, we alao 

 fail. What is the aim of criminal legislation ? Certainly not re- 

 venge ; but, 1st, to prevent crimes; 2d, reform criniinals ; and, 

 3d, secure society against incorrigible malefactors. How are 

 crimes prevented ? We punish, but it does not prevent them ; 

 preventing crimes in adults is the continuation of education. 

 Cert tin punishments are not feared, and are therefore useless ; 

 education is more powerful than punishment ; idleness, l^iziness, 

 and sometimes the laws create crimes, as some laws are not 

 agaiii'-t crimes, but are onlv peculiar perceptions of some minds. 

 Educate and keep down the animal, and confine incorrigible 

 criminals ; but how ? The houses of correction in their actual 

 state are houses of perversion. If children be taught or treated 

 as animals are, they must also be perverse. Suspected persons 

 and children now often live in prisons with the greatest criminals, 

 where, being idle and ignorant, they learn nothing but how to 

 commit crimes. If men are designed to be honest, treat them 

 so ; educate and enable them to earn a living rather than to grow 

 worse. Many charital)le institutions are positive rewards for 

 crimes ; criminals should be corrected, but not rewarded ; such 

 arrangements are unnatural, and must be temporary. Bentham's 

 ideas of criminal legislation are very good, so also are the insti- 

 tutions in Philadelphia. Correction is the end and aim ; and 

 until criminals are corrected, they should not be allowed to b« 

 at large in society. It is very unjust to punish all crimes with 

 the same punishment; death does not prevent crimes ; legisla- 

 tion should think of other means. It is difficult, indeed, but 

 should i)e studied. Some criminals are incorrigil)le and guilty, 

 others incorrigible and innocent ; the former must be punished, 

 the latter l)eing idiots must be confined. Idiots may have some 

 parts of mind, but not a will, and are consequently not to be 

 punished ; there are idiots in propensities and in sentiments, as 



1 4 V''*-'!! 



