LATE MARRIAGES. 263 



courage, ferocity, animal vigour, and mental power 

 generally. On the other hand, they are largely re- 

 presented among thieves, whose occupation demands 

 the possession of neither courage, energy, nor 

 brains. 



Of those begojbten by fathers in the period of 

 maturity we note that sexual offenders are the only 

 class which at all approach the normal persons in 

 respect of mature parentage. We also notice that 

 amongst murderers, those of mature parentage are 

 actually fewer than among the insane themselves. 



Of those of senile parentage the most notable fact 

 is the remarkable number of murderers which belong 

 to this class. Of all the murderers whose ancestry 

 was inquired into by Dr. Marro, 52.9 per cent, 

 actually turned out to be the children of fathers who 

 had passed their prime. This fact corroborates my 

 estimate of this degenerate class, and fully justifies 

 the assertion that low cunning, moral perversion, and 

 heartless cruelty are almost constant characters in the 

 children of aged parents. This class is also liberally 

 represented among sharpers and sexual offenders, 

 where their perverted moral feeling, aided on the one 

 hand by their cunning, and on the other by their cruelty, 

 would lead them ; but among thieves, where the off- 

 spring of the immature is so numerous, they are 

 found only in small numbers, their percentage being 

 less than 3 greater than among normal persons. The 

 cowardice and imbecility of the children of the imma- 

 ture make them thieves and idiots ; the cunning and 



