DUAL PARENTAGE. 139 



i 



poetic, highly original but, impractical. The 

 mother was well organized and of about the same 

 organic quality, but had a directly opposite cast 

 of mind; extremely practical, keen of perception, 

 intensely critical, and exceedingly nervous. Both 



parents were strongly magnetic, the father pro- 

 nounced in his masculinity and the mother in her 

 femininity. The boy was a strong combination 

 of the two. He had the dreamy, original, inquir- 

 ing turn of the father plus the practical traits of 

 the mother, which made him a genius. He was 

 not only unlike, but highly superior to either 

 parent. 



Many vicious children are the product of un- 

 fortunate combinations. A single case will serve 



to illustrate the law. I was recently called by a 



, Bad Combina- 

 prosecuting attorney to the court room to study tiong> 



a young man on trial for manslaughter. The boy 

 was said to be of an excellent family, yet his brain 

 form, irregular skull, facial expression and gen- 

 eral physiognomy indicated hereditary criminal 

 tendencies. The attorney assured me that a care- 

 ful study of the family history failed to reveal any 

 cause for his criminal psychology. The vicious The Formation 

 tendencies being so strongly marked in the young of a Criminal. 

 man and yet absent from the family history led me 

 to look for a bad combination or vicious maternal 

 impressions. In studying the parents I found the 

 father to be a strong, courageous, firm, positive, 

 relentless character ; a pillar in the church, a strict- 

 ly partisan politician, a strong friend, but a bitter, 

 unforgiving enemy. The mother had a sanguine 

 temperament, was highly emotional, quick tem- 

 pered, a bundle of extremes with very little self- 



