LATE MARRIAGES. 261 



take from Mr. Havelock Ellis's excellent work " The 

 Criminal," * will show how far the inquiries of Dr. 

 Marro go to support the views expressed above. 



This plate shows the ages of the fathers at the 

 period of conception of criminals as compared with 

 ordinary persons and with the insane. Marro divided 

 the fathers into three groups, viz. : (i) the immature, 

 to which he considered all under 25 years of age to 

 belong ; (2) those of the period of maturity, which he 

 put down as from 26 to 40 ; and (3) those in the period 

 of decadence, which included all fathers over 40 years 

 of age at the time the child was conceived. In the 

 plate the first column in each group represents the 

 proportion of the children of immature parents, the 

 central column those of mature fathers, and the last 

 the proportion of those of decrepit fathers. 



The first thing impressed upon us by this plate, is 

 the fact that " Criminals in general " are midway 

 between ordinary persons and the insane as regards 

 healthy .parentage. The percentage of persons of 

 mature parentage among normal persons is 66.1, this 

 is reduced in the criminal class to 56.7, and again 

 in the insane to 4/.O ; each of these decreases 

 being accompanied by a corresponding increase of 

 those of immature or senile ancestry, or both. 



In the next place, we notice that the children of 



immature fathers are but poorly represented among 



murderers, sexual offenders, and sharpers, which goes 



to corroborate my assertion that they are wanting in 



* " The Contemporary Science Series." Walter Scott. 



