2 PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION. 



lest I should unconsciously fall into the error of being dominated by fore- 

 gone conclusions. I have therefore merely recorded in the order of their 

 occurrence all the authenticated facts of each life brought to my notice, 

 giving the age at which they took place, so that the sequence of phe- 

 nomena could be distinctly traced and the nature of the accompanying 

 environment be noted, to enable us to compare generation with generation 

 and measure the relative importance of heredity and environment in the 

 shaping of individual careers. Difficulties, most of them surmountable, 

 prevented my including many topographical, political, social, economic, 

 hygienic and other factors which belong to the inquiry, and this defective- 

 ness in the range of facts presented precludes my offering any conclusions 

 authoritatively ; but the accumulated testimony illustrates the application 

 and justification of the treatment of the subject discussed. 



The second paper is the result of an examination of felon convicts on 

 a very ample schedule, covering their physical, ment^jl, moral and ances- 

 tral traits to test the accuracy of what purports to be the public records of 

 crime in this State ; to establish the value of expert work in making a 

 minute census of the prison population, including the trustworthiness of 

 convict testimony, and to lay the basis for a wider and more thorough ap- 

 plication of the method of research pursued in the study of the " Jukes." 

 The effort to trace back the genealogy in these cases was sufficiently 

 extended to fulfil some of the conditions of the present investigation, but 

 no exhaustive prosecution of the subject was pushed, as no adequate 

 means were at hand to that end. Thus, even the limited number of sched- 

 ules (233) of criminals gathered remain in hand, till adequate authority 

 and means shall warrant the further prosecution of the research to positive 

 conclusions. 



I am informed that $28,000 was raised in two days to purchase a rare 

 collection of antique jewelry and bronzes recently discovered in classic 

 ground, forty feet below the debris. I do not hear of as many pence being 

 offered to fathom the dibris of our civilization, however rich the yield. I 

 do not complain that men of wealth expend their means as they prefer, but 

 it seems not captious that I should wish crime and pauperism were as 

 rare as the exhumed treasures, that they might arouse equal zeal for deep 

 research. There is, perhaps, yet hope, for these subjects have a claim to 

 far greater antiquity inasmuch as they reach back to time immemorial, 

 which assuredly antedates the bronzes. 



R. L. D. 

 New York, May, i8yy. 



