540 The American Naturalist. [June,. 
reversion, but, in the article alluded to, I then had reference to psycho- 
sexual atavism alone. Sexual perversion and psychic hermaphrodi- 
tism are prominent characteristics of the congenital criminal ; I do not. 
intend, however, to discuss them in this paper. I have examined, 
macroscopically and microscopically, twenty-three criminal brains. 
Twenty of these brains were those of recidivists, and abnormalities. 
were found in all of them. In one of them, taken from a criminal 
executed for an attempt at rape and murder, there was confluency of 
the fissures. In several of them the frontal lobe presented four 
(apparent) convolutions ; in all of them there was deficiency in weight. 
In others the gray matter was scanty and thin, and the convolutions 
superficical and few in number. Havelock Ellis says: “The im- 
portant matter of the vascular supply of the brain in criminals has yet- 
received little attention, but a variety of pathological features have 
been found in the cerebral substance and membrance—pigmentation, 
degenerating capillaries, ete.” ; he then adds in conclusion, “ It must: 
be added, as a point of considerable importance, that in very few cases 
have these pathological lesions produced any traceable symptoms during 
life.” There are two kinds of abnormal ears found in the criminal 
type; large out-standing ears, like those of the chimpanzee and 
nshiego-mbouve, and ears, small, and closely applied to the skull, like 
those of the gorilla. I have found that the small ear is generally pos- 
sessed by the sneak-thief and pick-pocket, while the large ear is pos- 
sessed by the burglar with murderous tendencies. In all my experience 
I have never seen an habitual petty thief with a large ear, while all 
the murderers whom I have examined had large ears. A prison- 
keeper said to be on one occasion: “I can tell athief froma mur- 
derer every time, by the size and shape of his ears.” (sic). I have 
thirty-six sketches of pick-pockets. These drawings were made from | 
life, and are drawn to scale, and in all of them the ear is small and, 
generally, misshapen. One sketch, made of a convict now in ar 
Indiana prison, shows the strange abnormality of a forked helix. 
Féré and Segelas present a cut of an ear somewhat like the sketch just 
mentioned. There are other abnormalities in the ear of the recidivist, 
such as “a development of the Darwinian tubercle, absence of one of 
the branches of the fork, absence of the helix, effacement of the anti- 
helix, etċ., ete.” Most of these abnormalities are, unquestionably, 
-atavistic attempts, and especially is this true of the small gorilla-like 
ear and the large, projecting chimpanzee-like ear. 
"Havelock Ellis: The Criminal, p. 63. 
‘Ibid, p. 68. 
