at liberty, because he would not be restrained 

 from a continuance of his robberies. We added 

 that the best thing which could be done, was to 

 keep him always in a place of security. We 

 communicated our reasons to those who accom- 

 panied us. They consulted the register, and 

 found, to their great surprise, that this young boy 

 had, from his earliest infancy, shown the most 

 obstinate propensity to theft. Our adversaries 

 availed themselves of this opportunity to place in 

 the strongest light what they were pleased to find 

 frightful and dangerous in my doctrine. " To 

 condemn," said they, "a young boy to perpetual 

 imprisonment, because he has committed a theft ; 

 what can be more cruel orrevolting to humanity ?" 



What reason had we then, to give this advice ? 

 I have already made evident that we ought to 

 consider man in two points of view ; first, 

 as having qualities common with animals ; that is 

 to say, those of an inferior order ; then, as being 

 endowed with the character of humanity, or with 

 qualities of a superior order. I have also shown 

 that man, by means of his superior qualities, is 

 capable of subduing and directing his propensities 

 of an inferior order. But, if the qualities of a 

 superior order are controlled in an extraordinary 

 manner, to such a degree that their free action is 

 prevented, while those of the inferior order, on the 

 contrary, are active, — then the animal part of the 

 man predominates exclusively, and the flesh, or 

 the brutal desires, hold in subjection the spirit, or 

 the dispositions of the superior qualities, which are 

 hardly developed. With such an organisation for 

 those functions of the soul, which belongs to a su- 

 perior order, the same happens which takes place 

 in regard to each organ whose development is 

 defective ; that is, there results a relative im- 

 becility, and, in consequence, the incapacity of 

 acting morally; while the propensities of an in- 

 ferior order act with uncontrolled energy. Such 

 an individual finds himself under an absolute ne- 

 cessity to act solely from the impulse of the pas- 

 sion which governs him; and his organisation 

 often places him in a worse state for self-govern- 

 ment, than that of a-well organised animal. This 

 imbecility does not always exclude other very 

 active properties, which are common to animals, 

 such as that of cunning; so that this same indi- 

 vidual, even while abandoning himself to a guilty 

 and irresistible inclination, seems, in this respect, 

 to act with reflection and deliberation. It is thus, 

 that the most stupid idiots often find means the 

 most ingenious to satisfy their brutal wantonness 

 or their mischievous desires. 



Such was the condition of the young robber of 

 whom I have just spoken. The superior organs 

 had but a defective development ; that organ, on 

 the contrary, whose too great activity leads to 

 theft, had acquired a great degree of development 

 and energy, and this mischievous quality was 

 likewise seconded by the activity of cunning. 

 This man was short and thick-set ; his forehead 

 was very low, depressed back immediately above 

 the eyebrows, very sloping laterally above the 

 eyes, but broad and salient towards the temples. 

 His physiognomy announced no attention for 

 reasonable subjects ; nothing could be there dis- 

 covered but cunning and malice. Was it, then, 

 very difficult to conclude from the organisation of 

 this simpleton that he must be incorrigible ? 



To make evident this species of imbecility, 

 which excludes all moral liberty, I exhibit in my 

 lectures the skull of an individual organised in 

 the same manner. It was a young man of fifteen 

 years, who died in the prisons at Vienna. From 

 his infancy, he had constantly stolen, notwith- 

 standing the severest punishments. His skull is 

 ill-formed, and announces a constitution originally 

 rickety, one of the sides of the cranium projects 

 before, the other behind. The forehead is low and 

 depressed ; the anterior lateral parts of the temples 

 are large, but the total cranium is small. What 

 benefit can be expected from punishments and 

 houses of correction in regard to half-human be- 

 ings like this ? We saw in the prison of Berne, a 

 boy of twelve years, ill organised and rickety, who 

 could never prevent himself from stealing : with 

 bis own pockets full of bread, he still took that of 

 others. At Haina, the overseers gave us a long 

 account of an obstinate robber, named Fessel- 

 mayer, whom no corporal punishment could cor- 

 rect. In the prison he stole every thing he saw ; 

 and they had put on his arm a card which served 

 as a mark of disgrace, warning others not to trust 

 him. Before seeing him, we anticipated what 

 his organisation must be, and our expectation was 

 confirmed at the very first glance. He appeared 

 about sixteen years of age, though in fact he was 

 twenty-six. His head was round, and about the 

 size of a child of one year. This individual was 

 also deaf and dumb, which often happens in 

 cases of mental imbecility. 



Thus, although we have nothing to hope from 

 these imperfect beings, it does not follow that we 

 have nothing to fear. On the contrary, it often 

 happens that they are very dangerous ; especially 

 if they have the propensity to the sex, or that of 

 killing in a high degree, so that the slightest 

 cause will set the propensities in action. 1 have 

 quoted, in the first volume of my large work, the 

 example of a young man of fifteen years, who, in a 

 brutal paroxysm of lasciviousness, so ill treated his 

 sister that she died in consequence. I also spoke 

 of another idiot, who, after killing the two 

 children of his brother, came laughing to tell him ; 

 of a third, who killed his brother, and wished to 

 burn him for a funeral ceremony; finally, of a fourth 

 who, as Herder relates, having seen a hog killed, 

 thought he might try it on a man, and actually 

 cut his throat. We saw in prison a young man, 

 whom no one regarded as simple, but who, with- 

 out apparent motive, killed a child. They plied 

 him in vain with questions, and with threats, to 

 find what had led him to commit this act. He 

 merely answered, and repeated without ceasing, 

 that he had seen nothing but black : "Whoever," 

 said he, with a lamentable voice, " was not there, 

 cannot believe me, but God will pardon me." 

 The forehead of this individual is very narrow 

 and depressed, that is to say, low and flat ; the 

 top of his head, as in most epileptic idiots, is very 

 high, and the occiput flat and compressed. There 

 was in the prison of Friburg, in Brisgau, a ycung 

 man of fifteen, half-simple, who had set fire to 

 nine houses in succession. He used to assist in 

 extinguishing the fire, and once saved a child 

 who was on the point of perishing rh the flames. 

 When the fire was over, he thought no more of 

 it, which proves that he acted only from animal 

 instinct. 



