Lombroso's Work.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 698, 24 December 1909, Page 12

Lombroso's Work.

j (NEW-YORK "POST.") 3 — a , A career'.of- extraordinary menial activity, and of very marked influence oil'the currents of;the time, has been brought-to u. close by the i death of Professor Lombroso. Few mon have doho soihtich to stimulato interest, and call forth effort, in the Study and handling of.the. problems of criminality; and if giving nri'impulse to inquiry is to be regarded as a cardinal service to progress; Jjombroso. is entitled to very high recognition. Restless. energy in , seeking new material to work-.'upon and fearless readiness to promulgate whatever results his enthusiastic search; for new truths seemed to furnish, formed n combination highly, favourable to..the effectiveness of such a propaganda as that with which LombrpsoV name is associated; and it-is a question upon which: there will always ,be; room for dispute whether the advancement of knowledge-' in matters; h'aviiig. a human interest' is more' in .lieed of such boldness, and, zeai a's: his to 'set; things agog, that patient: and, thorough 1 investigation, and'that spirit .of scientific rigor, .which gains results.fur more: slowly,' but 'with, far less, admixture; of "error, i The man, of the; Lombroso type,. becomes . possessed, with ft general idea of which ho is toiuperaiiiehtally. incapabla of seeing.the. limitations after-it'.'has once assumed .dominion in his mind; and his function thereafter is that of an insistent disturber of tho peace, a man who compels' others to give attention to' what has been neglected in the past; and if he does this at' the cost of ,the dissemiuatidn of, a vast amount of- inaccurate reasoning and exaggerated statement, it- is for others to sift the good" from the bad. In a domain !of enormous complexity, lie accepts ,a. simple: dogma upon inadequate; evidence,, and after: that'; all individual -facts, are unhesitatingly interpreted, in the light of that dogma., This is riot science, as the modern man understands science; but it may bo a powerful instrument; for; Stirring up activity : and bringing about improvement. ' ; ■'' . , It is . Admitted oil all Bides that Lombroso s insistence, on the part played in criminality by congenial physical' attributes has ; poworlully influenced both;the■ theory of. onminology and ■ the, practice of penal and reformatory institutions. It is oven probable that, ,eo ; i'ar as the actual : application of his principles has , thus far gone, it has .been productive o( almost Urir mixed good. ' Practice is sure to lag: behind theory; in such a ; .matter; and as tho practice of ages had orred'so absolutely on', tho other side vlp to ; within two or three; generations, there has been' little danger in our time ,of.. excess in. the: direction - of', too great regard for the personal peculiarities or the inherited tendencies' of' prisoners in,, our. penal institutions. isut; when it comes.'to the (influence on gciieral opinion, .toil the."formation of- that .attitude: towards the- question of crime whiolu prevailing' in one generation,' is- destinod to .• bo the .basis of action in ! tlie; next, the case/ is very,;, diifcroht'., If ; the. habit; were to .bccomo general of regarding criminals as a:Bpepial typo of'.'the human face, 1 , and of placing the re-, sporisibility, of criminal acts not; upon the ;man who has committed. them; butupon !? ls , dity and environment,;there could"not tail to 'result: a '.' gradual but ;steady undermining, of tho whole, notion of personal responsibility for crime or immorality; And the danger of such a development is greatly increased by; the spreSd ; but entirely: lniatakeii; notion -that the^ voice of Lombroso and his sohool is the voice of science.' .-He .and his followers—and his .predecessors—have .accumulated .a, vast segregate - of • : pattioular.- ) :•fa(|t^,'•, l 'and'••ih«y:'•.'?®y?• drawn, emphatio ' attention to" . some ;: aspects -i-'of nthose vfactS; which ; had previously been.'insufficiently attended tobut '.they have established)-no'; :broad ..scientific, they linvp undermined, no,-great| conviction, previously ehtertaiued-%, thinking...petjple in general.- . Just, where;the line, is.-to be drawnbetween absolutely unavoidable criminality, and criminality. that, can -be held: in. by;;tho operation of ordinary) human motives. \s a matter fordetermination: or,^iscu^iAn- by; persons wrijfc e' v ® ri theiVnliyfigftiy : \sucn oVS"* to know that the cases are extrmefefew, .in wliich the",criminal impulse is.'so?deep-seated and imperative;'as - td." be ,uttGrly; : beyond • tho rbach of. -What, 1 for '•- want .• bf a better.; name, wo;"call, the will.' AVith- these,: extremely . few cases, .'he ;nefed ; not''burdens his f thoughts -any •nHoro than"ho thinks of.'the albino .as one of tho important' varieties of man,' or 'of' death by lightning as onb ol! the. ordinary incidenta of life. Leaving out such oxtromo'cases,: tllo Lombroso; doctrine,, however useful, his insistence upon iit may havo; proved in the ways that have, been' indicated,' is really nothing new.,:"\Ve all, know that onp'man differs in : .herently from; 1 , another, according to tho inheritance 'he ' gets: iri; his blood 1; wp all: know thftt'tho abjectly-poor' and the'i excessively rich', 'have Jess' chance' f.or , the '.development of • a normal, moral .character than those;placed' in a 1 more wholesome situation.'; But.wo also know tliat ;thb - very, "moment' any ! 0f 'us' ceased -'to regard . himself as called upon to. conform,to tho-. standards ,to which tho' mftss, of our fellows is held,; his;would lose" tho" mainstay of his wliole moral being.; No amount of piling -up of technical particulars can; remove this central fact','or.so much 1 as' diminish, its import-ance-by an iota,. ■ ;, ■ ■ |It- .is not observation' or dogmatic theorising that ;is.. uantedi; for ■ the -"illumination, of ;■ a furidambrital'truth liko'tliis;;in bo'far as it• is ail explicit:' intellectual' quality, at. all, •as 'distinguished from what we call insight or common v'sense; 'it; is : the: faculty- for sound logic. And- in'this.'.fafcultyjthe- representatives of the kind of eciontiftc activity of which .the work of Lombroso. is: tin 'example.have;'always been, signally t deficient.,.' It ;is • the 1 kind that.- used to ; tell us' that,, women's intellectual powers wore scientifically proved to bo less than, men's by- the simple'' fact that their brains weighed less; it: is : the,; kind.:that .;thinks to' establish the-idontity of . genius with insanity by simply, picking, out: the, curious ' peculiarities of many men of. gonitis. Qualitatively, ,we have 'known all along_ that .crimihality: was partly; heredity, that genius .was' more or less.abnormal titatively, , ! it is .to bo 'doubted whether-Lom-broso's: work, valuable as. it may have been in somo aspects, has'advanced these ,theses'for beyond Dryden's "Great wits to madness suro are near allied" or that still older, declaration that ,the; sins; of: 1 the: fathers shall bo-, visited upon the: children . to: tho ■ third and fourth generation. , • -V