REFORMATORY PRISONS. 609 



will develop. This is one of the most salient points of the prob- 

 lem. Lombroso cites an experiment made by a naturalist who 

 placed together in an aquarium, divided only by a piece of glass, 

 some carps and some of the little fishes they eat. At first the 

 carps knocked violently against the glass to catch their prey, but 

 after a while, seeing that their attempts were vain, they abandoned 

 them, and when after a while the glass was removed they lived to- 

 gether in harmony. By habit they became innocuous if not in- 

 nocent. So also the dog by custom and education ceases to steal. 

 It is by such methods that Lombroso holds that congenital crimi- 

 nals must be cured, and not by baths and gymnastics or " colle- 

 giate prisons," which are powerless to affect moral habits. 



These new theories and systems have ardent followers, but 

 obviously also encounter violent opposition. 



To Italy, to her honor be it said, belongs the due that she was 

 the first in Europe to instigate and propagate the study of crimi- 

 nal anthropology. It may indeed be claimed for her that in that 

 fair land the positive method is of ancient origin and that it 

 sprang up in the Renaissance with Galileo. It attracted less 

 attention as long as it was limited to the physical and natural 

 sciences ; but when it was carried into the moral and social field 

 it awakened diffidence, and of this diffidence the effects were felt 

 by men like Claude Bernard and Comte, in France ; by Spencer, in 

 England ; by Lombroso and Garofalo, in Italy ; and by Wundt, in 

 Germany. Bat all the men, nevertheless, pursued their course 

 undaunted. Indeed, most of them hold, and Lombroso above all 

 others, that all this opposition on the part of their adversaries is 

 desirable, as it spurs on to new exertions and helps to emphasize 

 the deductions of the positive school, based as they are on minute 

 anthropological researches. 



Lombroso's firmness of purpose in the pursuit of his studies 

 may best be estimated by quoting his own words with regard to 

 his life's work : 



"... me rallier sans convictions au jugements du public 

 moyen, en venir au moindre compromis pour l'amour de la paix, 

 m'arreter un seul instant dans le travail incessant de renouvelle- 

 ment juridique et psychiatrique, auquel je me suis voue; ce serait 

 non seulement m'avouer vaincu, mais ensevelir avec moi tout le 

 travail de ma vie. Jusque-la n'irait pas meme Fabnegation . . . 

 la plus chre'tienne." 



Surely he is a worthy successor and compatriot of Galileo. 

 Even that great blind scientist spoke no prouder words when, tor- 

 tured by rack and priests, he muttered, " Eppur si m-uove." 



vox,, xliii. — 44 



