112 THE CONTROL OF LIFE 



all sorts of stigmata, but his conception was an exaggera- 

 tion of one side of the truth. Human beings are some- 

 times born in a very imperfectly finished state of develop- 

 ment — ^for infants, that is ; others are singularly deficient 

 in generous impulse, imagination, power of attention, 

 and power of control — defects which spell weak will 

 when added up ; it looks as if others were born with a 

 double dose of sex. It is quite easy to understand how 

 a constitutional disharmony in the supra-renal bodies 

 might predispose an individual to crimes of violence, 

 just as a constitutional disharmony in the thyroid gland 

 might predispose a child to idiocy. 



It is of great practical importance to realise that 

 predispositions to certain crimes, like predispositions 

 to certain diseases, may form part of the individual 

 inheritance ; and that, while they cannot be got rid of, 

 their development in the individual may be greatly 

 affected by ' nurture.* A roving disposition in the inheri- 

 tance may easily afford the starting-point for a criminal 

 career, especially if the first or second * roving' is 

 branded as a crime. On the other hand, a well-thought- 

 out system of nurture may use the roving disposition 

 to the positive advantage of society. Many so-called 

 criminals are only anachronisms. It is not proposed 

 that they should be exempted from social selection ; 

 what is desired is that our treatment of them should be 

 intelUgent. 



At this point it is useful to refer to the story of the 

 Jukes, as told by Mr. Dugdale in 1877 and brought up 

 to date in 1918 by Dr. Estabrook. "Into an 



