The average heads of criminals and those of ordinary people probably
do not vary much in size. A large brain does not necessarily indicate
great intelligence any more than a small one mental deficiencies,
this being true, as little importance can be attached to the weight
of brains of criminals. The weight of Oliver Cromwell's brain was
82.29 ounces; Lord Byron's, 79 ounces; Cuvier's, 64 ounces; Ruloff's
(a thief and murderer), 59 ounces; adult idiot's, 54.95 ounces;
Daniel Webster's, 53.50 ounces, and Gambetta's, that of the size of a
microcephalic idiot.
A face may either attract or repel; its lines indicate firmness
and decision, or weakness and sensuousness. In physiognomy may be
traced fineness or brutality, surfeit or privation, gentleness or
irascibility; yet from a consideration of the face it is assuming
too much to predicate the form of criminal tendencies, if any, on
the subject. Criminal physiognomy is not yet an exact science. The
practical criminologist regards criminality as bred in the bone and
born in the flesh, and the ethology of crime to be looked for chiefly
is in heredity and environment, using the word environment in its most
liberal sense, ante and post-natal, and whatever cause, in whatever
way, that exerts a deleterious influence upon nutrition and the
functions of organic life, voluntary and involuntary.
Little is being done in this country in criminal anthropology that can
compare with the studies and researches that are being carried on in
Italy, France, and Germany. The student unacquainted with the language
of these countries pursues his studies at a disadvantage, owing to the
paucity of literature in English upon the subject.
The tide of crime is steadily rising. The level of criminality, it is
well known, is rising, and has been rising during the whole of the
Nineteenth and Twentieth centuries, throughout the civilized world.
Its prevention and cure is a perplexing study, and is engaging the
thoughts and energies of the best intellects of the world.