August 9, 1895.] 



SCIENCE. 



165 



He gives first a series of authropometrical 

 measurements of the skull aud of the brain, 

 and then describes what he calls the patho- 

 logical anatomy of the criminal. In other 

 words, those anomalies which would coine 

 under the head of pathology, rather than 

 some variation in simple normal measure- 

 ments. 



Professor Lombroso admits that there is 

 very little to be learned from anthropometry 

 in connection with the present study. It is 

 only by comparison of a very large number 

 of very carefully taken measurements that 

 differences between normal and abnormal 

 women can be discovered. It is in the line 

 of the pathological anomalies that he finds 

 the most to attract his attention. Gener- 

 ally speaking, he finds that the anomalies 

 in the female oifender are less than in the 

 males of the corresponding class. So far as 

 the skulls are concerned, he states that the 

 skull of criminal woman approximates 

 somewhat to the male skull, especiallj' in 

 the heaviness of the lower jaw-bone, in the 

 exaggeration of the supra-ciliary ridges, and 

 in peculiarities of the occipital region. As 

 regards the brain of female offenders, the 

 anomalies in structure and size are few. 

 There are, however, very often pathological 

 conditions which are of a striking character. 

 Thus in one-third of thirty-three female 

 criminals, there were found gross lesions of 

 the central nervous sj'stem. 



In making a summarj^ of the chapters on 

 anthropometry of female criminals, Lom- 

 broso confesses that the cumulative figures 

 do not amount to much, and he affirms 

 again that the stabilitj' of type is much 

 greater in woman than in man. Still he 

 asserts that in female criminals, the height, 

 the stretch of arms and limbs, are less than 

 normal, while in proportion to the height 

 the average weight of certain classes of 

 criminal women is greater than in moral 

 women. Lombroso asserts that grayness is 

 rarer in the normal women than in criminal 



women, while baldness is less common in 

 this latter class. 



The author's chapter on facial and head 

 anomalies of female criminals seems to us 

 to be full of industriously collected figures, 

 which have, at present, a verj' slight value. 

 He asserts, however, as a conclusion from 

 a study of them, that these anomalies of 

 the face and body are much more frequent 

 in the female criminal than in the moral 

 classes. The asymmetrical face, strabismus, 

 virile and Mongolian types of physiognomy, 

 out-standing ears, crooked nose, hairiness, 

 prehensile feet, large jaws and cheek bones 

 and anomalous teeth, are among the stig- 

 mata that are mentioned. He endeavors 

 to show that certain kinds of criminals have 

 more of these stigmata than others, but no 

 generalization is attempted. 



A number of chapters follow upon the 

 physiognomy of female criminals, on tattoo- 

 ing of the offender and on the acuteness of 

 their various special senses, and the book 

 concludes with studies upon the psychology 

 of the born criminal, the occasional crimi- 

 nal and discussions upon hysterical crimi- 

 nals and crimes of passion. 



The book as a whole leaves the impres- 

 sion that the author has not made very much 

 headway in establishing a criminal type 

 which can be determined bj^ physical char- 

 acteristics alone. Still, he has accumiilated a 

 large number of facts, and when this is still 

 more increased, particularly by observa- 

 tions on normal women and upon women 

 of different races, some deductions may per- 

 haps be drawn. 



The general chapters which bear upon 

 the subject of the production of criminals 

 are interesting and form a valuable contri- 

 bution to penology. 



Charles L. Dana. 



New York. 



Bildungselemente und erziehlicher Wert des Un- 

 terriehts in der Chemie. Von Peof. Dk. 

 EuDOLP Arendt. Voss, Hamburg and 



