TENDENCY TO CRIME. 543 



circumstances under which he is placed. The greatest nura- The tendency 

 ber of crimes against persons and property is among the inhab- to crime in 

 itants of river-banks. The period of the maximum of crimes n 

 against persons coincides with that which is the minimum against prop- 

 erty, and is the summer season. As respects each individual, his tend- 

 ency to crime is at first against property, and this reaches its maximum 

 at about 25 years of age, whereas the tendency to crime against persons 

 commences later than that against property, and increases with the in- 

 crease of strength. In crime, man, as he grows older, substitutes strata- 

 gem for force. If brought up in a liberal profession, his tendency in 

 crime is against persons, but that of the workman is against property. 

 Elementary instruction, so far as reading and writing go, does not lead 

 to the diminution, but rather to the increase of crime : a very Pre j udicial efL 

 important conclusion, more particularly in the United States, feet of low ed- 

 in many portions of which this kind of education is chiefly 

 patronized by government, to the exclusion, to a certain extent, of that 

 which is of a higher grade, and which serves to correct this important 

 defect.. Moreover, superficial education makes the mind a ready recep- 

 tacle for every kind of imposture, and has been the cause of the rapid 

 spread of many modern delusions, such as spiritualism and homoeopathy. 

 As regards women, their tendency to crime, when compared with that 

 of men, is as 23 to 100 ; at least this is the case in France. _ 



Ine tendency 



Their tendency for the perpetration of crimes against persons to crime in 

 is less than that for crimes against property in the proper- ^ 

 tion of 16 to 26. It is interesting to observe that the physical force of 

 woman, as compared with that of man, is also as 16 to 26. From such 

 considerations, it may therefore, perhaps, be concluded that the morality 

 of women is about the same as that of men, their physical feebleness and 

 modesty being taken into account. In woman, the maximum tendency 

 for crime occurs at about 30 years, but then she relinquishes that dispo- 

 sition sooner than man. Her tendency to theft, however, begins early, 

 and lasts through life. When she desires to commit murder, she em- 

 ploys, by preference, poison. In this may be discerned the influence of 

 her constitutional element, physical feebleness. Timid at explosions and 

 at the sight of blood, if driven to the extremity of self-destruction, she 

 instinctively resorts to drowning. Women, like men, who are the res- 

 idents of towns, are much less moral than those who live in the country. 

 This may be inferred from such facts as that the annual percentage of 

 still-births occurring in the former is very near double of that occurring 

 in the latter case ; and though this may be, to a certain extent, connect- 

 ed with the fashionable restraints of clothing and social dissipations, it 

 is far more due to female depravity. The illegitimate births of towns 

 compared with those of the country are as 23 to 7. Among the still- 



