THE BRAINS OF CRIMINALS. 503 



2. That where the distribution of mechanical strains has been alike upon 

 •all the digits of the nianus or pes, or both, thej have remained in a state of 

 .approximate uniformity of development. 



3. It is held that these views are Lamarkian and not Darwinian, that 

 is, that they more especially take cognizance of mechanical forces as muta- 

 ting factors in evolution, in accordance with the doctrine of the correlation 

 ■of forces. — The American Naturalist. 



THE BRAINS OF CRIMINALS- 



In a recent issue we published a very interesting letter from our Vienna 

 correspondent, in which a brief summary was given of Prof. Benedict's re- 

 searches on the brains and skulls of criminals. The subject is an important 

 -one, both from a physiological and a psychological point of view, and it is to 

 toe hoped that more extended and more precise inquiries will be made upon 

 it, for the results which Dr. Benedict has obtained, though very important, 

 are not sufficiently numerous to warrant any large induction. Up to the 

 prescLt time Dr. Benedict has examined the brains of sixteen criminals, all 

 of which, on comparison with the healthy brain, he finds to be abnormal. 

 Not only has he found that these brains deviated from the normal type, and 

 apj)roach toward that of lower animals, but he has been able to classify 

 them, and with them the skulls, in which they are contained, in three cate- 

 ijories. These consist in (1) absence of symmetry between the two halves 

 of the brain ; (2) an excessive obliquity of the interior part of the brain or 

 skull — in fact a continuation upward of what we term a sloping forehead ; 

 (8) a distinct lessening of the posteriorpart of the §kull in its diameter, and 

 with it a diminution in size of the posterior cerebral lobes, so that, as in 

 the lower animals, they are not large enough to hide the cerebellum. 



In all these j)eculiarities the criminal's brain and skull are distinctly of 

 a lower type than those of normal men, and the interesting question arises, 

 how far are the evil acts of the criminal to bfe attributed to this retrograde 

 development. Dr. Watts can pardon the vicious propensities of "bears and 

 lions," on the ground that " God had made them so." If he had foreseen 

 these new inquiries he might have felt less hopeful when he bade his readers 

 not to "lot their angrj'- passions rise." The result of Dr. Benedict's re- 

 searches, if confirmed by further examinations, will do much to shake many 

 beliefs now firmly fixed. — London Examiner. 



