76 THE TREND OF THE RACE 



as thieves. Many of the stigmata, like the third trochanter, poly- 

 dactylism, perforate head of the humerus, etc., occur only in a 

 small percentage of cases, but more frequently than in normal 

 persons. 



According to Lombroso most of the senses of criminals, except 

 sight, are dull. There is an insensitiveness to pain which in 

 certain cases is very striking. Criminals are commonly impulsive 

 and may at times act with much energ}^, but they are generally 

 lazy. Moral sense and natural sympathies are at a low ebb. 

 Remorse seldom afHicts the born criminal. Vindictiveness, cruelty 

 and excessive egotism and vanity are common traits. Intelli- 

 gence, generally subnormal, may be well developed in some 

 instances; as a rule criminals show a lack of prudence and fore- 

 thought which often serves the ends of justice through causing 

 failure adequately to conceal the evidences of crime. 



Lombroso regards the born criminal as an atavistic product. 

 Many of the stigmata are said to represent characteristics found 

 in the lower animals or among the savage races of mankind. The 

 born criminal is a brute or savage living among human beings 

 who have advanced beyond his stage of development. He repre- 

 sents a survival of a primitive type. 



Lombroso recognized, especially in his later writings, that 

 certain criminals are to be regarded as pathological products 

 rather than cases of atavism. An important role is attributed to 

 insanity and especially epilepsy in the causation of crime, and the 

 effort is made to establish a fundamental relationship between 

 epilepsy and the atavistic traits of the born criminal. ''Crimi- 

 nality," says Lombroso, "is an atavistic phenomenon which is 

 provoked by morbid causes of which the fundamental manifesta- 

 tion is epilepsy. It is true that criminality can be provoked by 

 other diseases . . . but it is epilepsy which gives to it, by its 

 gravity, the most extended basis." 



The experience of Lombroso and other investigators shows 

 that epilepsy is much more prevalent in criminals than among 

 normal individuals, although not so common as Lombroso's doc- 

 trine would lead one to expect. This fact he attempts to account 



