The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972, October 09, 1910, Page 62, Image 62

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    I,., , v.w. .. JuUh.-.l, -v 1 " - ' ' i
. "
till feiwf : :,; A : 'f
::.;. .U . . ,. I
The Real Science of Criminology That is Based
on a Coldblooded Analysis of Body and Soul
TTJTE KNOW nothing, ' speaking sci , To Ae ttri States; in the person of
li tntifically and relatively, of the . one devoted student. w Aw f w;Va
" criminals of the past. We know icated his. life to the creation of the new, real
but, little more of the criminals of the present.: i science of criminology, much cf edit for orig
We may know all about the criminals of the - 'xm research, and urging of its employment
future. f duehuj it u to Russia, last government of
In the two hemispheres great nations have; a t0' expect it from, and to Argentina, so far
Alread'y taken the immense, well-nigh impos- behind us in material development, that the
sible problem seriously in hand, resolved that , nonor belongs of having -first transformed
the criminal of the present shall yield to sci " nt0 the practical reality what has previously
enceK and so to society, the innermost secrets been only the dream of advanced thinkers in
inal of the future -perhaps, too, many crim
inals of t the present--may be . eliminated,
saved from himself and all the cruel, crushing
factors that have combined to make criminals
of men and women who should be useful and
Mr T f . f t l .
nappy: memoers Qf tne ooayi politic ana social,
A
i reverSDUTK, IB KOMI. IllW IS ta ODera-
tlon now aa iMtltutlon ct lejirnlng , wholly :
ew w ui. vl.,u.-TritKe normal memben of the community. -Nevertheless.
existed by the race of the Argentine government
lor some years past In Buenos Aires. It li a crlm
, loological laboratory, and frbm the funds of the.
Imperial Academy of Science, of Russia, the sum of
1750,000 is reported to have -been set aside for Its
foundation and support
: It constitutes the Russian - department i of what ;
may be the -world-wide criminological Institute of the
future the International Criminological Institute
proposea years ago by the American investigator ana
: ftl til l n f V, A I ' 1 .. . XfMnnM.AU MA ftf
Washington.
The publication of Mr. MacDonald'a profoundly sug-
feetlve paper, "A Plan for the Study of Man," in the
llllfttln fit t Visa Tmnarlol kt Arvw ff UnUn oaci in
February. 1908, although it was but a brief con
densation of the United States senate document of
mmuim line Huea irotn uie government pnnuns
mce at Washington In 1902, aroused the most
Intense interest. TMr. MacDonald's report to the
Amsterdam Congress of Criminal Anthropology, telling
f the Institution already existing in the Argentine
republic, gave precedent and encouragement
i council 01 me rsycno-rveuroiogicai ineu
, tute, of St Petersburg, Prof. V. H. Bechterew pro-
fiosed the foundation of an Independent criminological
nstltute. end after long conferences It was decided
that the new scientific Institution must have as its
principal work a "many-sidea and thorough study of
the criminal himself, as well aa of his outward sur-
to And rational methods of reducing crime."
snthropology," Professor Bechterew had declared, "and
U.u,.,j . v ui-sL. .t 1110 unu jlliiiliaA
physiological psychology must not be neglected. In
order to come ' in closer touch with criminals and
thereby to become better acquainted twith their
peculiarities. lt& would be very desirable for the pro
fessors of the institute to obtain permission' to enter
the prisons. And it would be verv useful to make
observations upon the criminal youth who are pupils
in the agricultural colonies."
COMPARATIVE STUDY OP MAM -
" These counsels were directly along the ' lines
advocated by the American expert and the director
of the agricultural colony for young criminals, M. P.
liekleschorfp, emphasized .the Importance of observa
tion; of those criminals by their teachers as being
valuable material for study, while he pointed out that
there should be special courses for the teachers In
the house of correction. -
It Is contended by the American pioneer m the
work, Mr. MacDonald. that the greatest results will
be attained only when all the nations of the world
Join In the endeavor to supply data, applying to ail
peoples and races, which win suffice for the compara
tive study of humanity at large and under its purely
criminal aspects. ;
Nor. Is the criminal of supreme Importance in his
own activities only. He may represent extremes of
departure from type. If we consider the law-abiding
man typical ; but he actually Incarnates little that ia
not existent, actively oK passively, in the ordinary
man who manages to pass for a. worthy citlaem From
the criminal, once he is understood from his faulty
fcejrtnntngs to the bitter misguided end. we may learn
wuch that is utterly unknown regarding the average
man. and find the means of preventing the average
.CUiiUi.i ' "' . ,'
1 he hssls of the whole study of criminals, as pro
The time is not now merely of the future,
but of the present, when the criminal, and
especially the juvenile makings of the criminal,
are being subjected to such Elaborate studies
as science has hitherto given onty to the most
. . O -
interesting of specimens in zoology.
IMnmntlnn-vhlok . htiMn!itiat th
criminal Is apirecla fllfferent-ln oma-rMpect-troin
there may be plenty of people regarded as normal
who are In reality criminals, If not In fact then In
possibility. l- , 1 f . ' , .
The criminal. who has been ound out" usually
possesses some abnormally or some phase of degen
eration 'that distinguishes hira from the average, law
abiding person. If the normal man, in all his aspects
and attributes, can be adequately defined, and If the
abnormal or degenerate criminal can be .classified
along the various departures which he shows from the
average normal condition, then, at least fbe case of
the criminal has been aotentifically diand3ed. It will
remain for society, searching Its own heart for crimes
against its dividual membership, as well as study
ing the consequences of its treatment of all criminals,
to discover the curt.
Bo vast a subject necessarily reveals itself in ever
increasing details and ramifications as such an inquiry
progresses, until the student feels utterly loBt in the
maze of questions he has wandered Into. But some few
clues are available. Thus, as Mr .MacDoriald ha
' i i utf thr are three kinds' of degeneration: .
pnysicai, mental and moral. Society may be respon
sible for some of them, prenatal Influences and dls- ;
ease for others, accident for eUli others. ThBe vari
eties of degeneration may, and commonly do, interact
In one individual ,
i.Th,erel.e-r. signiflcancles both general and partlo- '
Ui,f.i ,Phy8lcal stigmata which call for the complete
pryJ,cai examJ'atlon which , should be:a part of the "
study hf every individual crimlpal. Moral stigmata, in
?5e. consist of anomalies of character, including
53 JUpu.lse8;, 8trane vagaries of sensibility, refrac
toriness to all reform and instinctively perverse acts
Hke theft murder, brutality and coarseness; and evil
tendencies that show such stigmata may be awakened
f,J:,ev ,ped by aloohol, opium, cocaine, chloral-the
whole ruinous round of Intoxicants and drugs whose
oMaeUyears bave been aPPalHng the United States
ro1e?theri? a,re the mental stigmata, which may
5 5f.'.roinM,,ll8rle Jhortcomings to general weakness
ox the intellect and even Insanity. The other forms
ULfiifmata..re supplemented by what is termed "so
ciological Btigmau.,rdue to a permanent lack of adap
tation to surrounding conditions and resulting In
actions detrimental to society. ) ..." r "
mllt th gating population of prisons be eliminated,
most of those who remain are sons of alcoholics
rather alcoholic, son alcoholic and usually a thief.
The habitual criminal 18 a moral degenerate, ana tne
"i" w.n commits, the same erime several times has
probably a criminal . monomania, or irresistible Impulse.
. torou15n Btuay of Jnan as has been outlined
by Mr. MacDonaid cannot be made without numerous
instruments, of the most perfect precision. Those In
struments have been devised already by specialists In
various parts of the world, for the subleol ; has
engaged universal attention. V . suoject . nas
..f,onr "lu88 Jhat erve general purposes of obser
vation are the kympgraphion. a sortr of laboratory
typewriter, that marks records of human movements
of the slightest, kind on stnoked paper; the chrono
. scope, tor accurately determining time Inteials ajrid
actually meaeurlng the quickness of thought; The
myrograph, whichehows the difference in strength of
Then there are the blethysmograph. which rneas.
ur, the variation! In tne volume of vkrious organs"
the pneumograph, recordinar the tnovem. ifl
chest in respfratlon:! the' baresthieBieti---4t,-
moe-a!gwneTeT,-wiii;ch determine the sublect's sen.
sltlveness to pressure and to pain; the estbeslometer
th vT v JiT umiy 10 aisimguish points
for measuring sensibility to. beat,': the automato
graph, for the study of voluntary movements; the
psychograph, an apparatus for the study of trembling; '
the sphymograph, determining variation in blood
pressure; the sprlngergograph, that tells the relations
between ..muscular and mental fatigue. And there are.
many more, as strange, as delicate and as necessary.
If criminology Is to know Its criminal. Inside and out,
body.-mind and souL
If the results that have been already achieved with
row bill-
A MERICAK independence must and shall
J Nobody fooling .with 'American in-
! x v .
4ffi?&Sag&&?
eTOi '
1 : ,jas&c?r
only a single such Instrument be taken or' only 4
ingle series of people, their Importance becomes
; apparent. The algometer, which Is pressed against
. the temple to determine sensitiveness to pain, is an
invention of Mr. MacDonald. Young women of wealthy
classes proved much more sensitive than women of
any other walks of life. Buslnesarwomen came next;
'then university women. Last'pfU the women came
washerwomen. '.. .. i
; The Instrument bad a. capacity up to- 4000 grams
IT OFF
: Haughty Austria, 'asserting its right to inter-' tuberculosis has given him International fame. dis
fere with th whiBlrpra nf , ttiA wnM will, ViArtna cern no single merit in the mustache, , whether It
,l at one extreme and the independent United States
at the other,' has declared, in the person of one
of its leading scientists, that we Americans have
no right, 'Tinder all the laws of hvcriene. ias well
M i tne ethics of - the .virile virtues to shave off
... wjuah wm vucb tho pnae oi pamain ana uie iiopw
of heroeB.'vMeddling.vBritainr,witli roemories of
. the years when she imposed on ns the very pants
her princes wore, has brought her 'armies ,to the
support of hairy Austria.- "
- Only this summer the famous Viennese phy-
sicjan, Dr;Fau! Klager, appeared before the med
ical society'' there and delivered himself of a sen-
jjSational diatribe against the pernicious practice,
inaugurated so extensively vby Americans, of going
stark naked as to theupper lip. Among 500 cases
.. of serious headache and diseases of . the. nose and
f throat which he Jhadttreated, 420 of his patients
were sans,' mustache. America,- that horrible ex
: ample of whiskerlessness, was an equally horrible
example of chronic diseases of the 'tead and the
, respiratory organs. . ' , , ' -
N.
EVERTHELESS and forsooth,, back, haughty
Austria! And Great Britain; too, vamoose! 4
. And as for 'you, Bill, if you want really to
merit youf right to "vote, hurry and shave it oft. '
' The sacred right ,of the free and untrammeled
American to emulate the classlo lines of the ancient,
conquering Romans, whose stern, clean countenance
his so closely resembles, Is not to be galnsaldrtln the
name of either tyranny of health-4specially, health-
The bygienlsts and specialists or tnis country are
prettjr nearly unanimous In theW agreement that the
ius In theW agreement that the
of soup and armlet) of microbes
l,y-aotUenegalRed
are certain remnants 6f
more numerous than1; the hirsute warriors - of young
i"r" cut wins it came to measuring , .
tlveness.of habitual criminals, a new one had to b t
made, for It didn't even feate some of them; their, dull- -
ness of feeling demanded an Instrument powerful .
enough to grind down on their temples with a pressure :
of 8000 gramsj or more , than seventeen pounds? Crlni
lnology previously knew In a general way that crlm
V tnals -were pretty tough; specimens but ,lt hag" taken
' the algometer to tell Just how .tough they are. '
Mr. MacDonal'd himself has repeatedly conducted'
; the - requisite practical and intimate . investigations
into the mentality and disposition of criminals, tang
ing through not only the better known, prisons, but
also through the more prominent reformatorieaj of
. this, country. - He has cross-examined criminals, with
. a stenographer to take down the history -of their
. Jives,- their own analysij of their motives. their iwn
mst secret attitude toward themselves and their
past and present environments. He has' conducted
, the most exhaustive measurements, from the shape .
and capacity of the cranium to the configuration of '
thelf limbs and bands. He ' has both .devised t and -'
utilized the most intricate and delicate. Instrument
for measuring their sensations, their emotions, their
physical, mental and. nervous powers, (their blood
nresRures vrv ' tiosslfale detail, character
' fdlosj'ncrasy by which the man Vho happens to be
. in Jail can ultimately be- provea to relate;
- differ from, the man out or Jan. .
' - And as these observation upon adult criminals are
only a fraction of the whole, enormous subject of
which youth and normality constitute possibly the
more Important as well as the larger part be has
collected records of nervous, mental and ' physical
endowments from thousands of school children. ;
Why all these recondite and apparently ; profitless
i investigations? Mr. MacOonald'e plea, in his 1'Plan
for the Study cf Man'wblch has at least the aeal of
-the United States government-as its puDusner, n nut .
the government's indorsement as the organiser here
of the criminal laboratory he has so long urged-
- answers the-question fully and very emphatically:
"As In machinery we must repair thei wheels out
: of gear, so In society we must first study the criminal
crank, insane, Inebriate or pauper who. can seriously
injure both individual and community. Thus"- the
t words were written years before the attack on Mayor
Gaynor and only a little whHe after the murder of
- i president McKinley"ai worthless crank, by killing
a prominent citizen, ' can paralyze the community,
Governments pay- out millions to catch, try and care
for criminals, but give very little to study the causes
that lead to crime,"
ACQUIRING THE KNOWLEDGE
And he indicated the best general means of acquir
ing the knowledge which governments have so long ,
and so expensively neglected:
'The study of man, to be of most utility, must be -.
directed first to the causes of crime, pauperism, .
-' alcoholism, degeneracy and other forms of bnor "
mallty. To do this the Individuals themselves must
be studied. AS the seeds of evil are usually sown in
childhood and youth, it is here that all investigation -.
should commence, for there Is little hope of making ,
the world better if we do not seek the causes of social
'. evils at their beginnings." , , " A1,
- If the time ever come when the principles of the
new, real science of criminology shall be as completely
applied to civilized communities as they are now, at
last, logically and consistently enunciated, every
rlson, jail and house of correction in the world will
e simply a reformatory and criminological labora
' tory combined places where the criminal will ha
required, as his first duty to the state, to contribute
the full facts of his physiology and psychology to
science for his own immediate welfare and for the -
. ultimate . well-being of mankind, i . Specialists " in
1 ordinary physical examination.:, specialists in - phy-
" Slologicaf psychology, specialists in - neurology, In
ophthalmology, in all the senses, will take him in,
hand and analyze him and record him,' as though he .
- were an Invaluable specimen from th Andamans or .
a curto dropped from Mars. v" f ' "
Ana then, arter a long series oi tnese oDserva- a
tlons and experiments and the application of ahe lore
acquired to the prevention of the criminal. Just at
i the hour when the science of criminology attains Its
fierfect development It will become a dead letter, a
ost art a science perishing In the dusty tomes of.
the' past, whose especial era Is Inaugurated with the -present
which we are living 'in. - - - .
. There won't be any more criminals to analyze.
. Mr. MacDonald says that is the sole result the
, modem criminologist should work, for. (
Klager pictured It, is Just to laugh. , j j '
,. The foremost , American authorities on personal
hygiene In lta relation to conditions of health, in
cluding Dr. Lawrence F. Flick, whose work in organ
' izlng the great movement for the- extirpation of
be Austrian, "American or Chinese. " .
.? "Ko doubt" Doctor Flick admits, "nature made the ?
beard and mustache grow on , man for some good
purpose, ' and protection against the weather may. be
part j of Ui at purpose. But ' the" mustache cannot
possibly .. ereea - the -ostrll,-- and there i ' every
opportunity for it to collect the germs incident to
coughing, and so opening the way to their return to
the 'System In the food eaten and the air breathed. ,
There is a protection, or . screen, in the nose itself
designed for , the very purposes , for which the
mustache was v never intended the hair .- planted In
the nostrils by nature and the secretions " of the
mucous membrane. Those suffice. . ? i,r, .
NOT NEEDED ANY- MORE
; "No one I Imagine, can definitely determine the"
uses of the hair on man's face, although there have
been many surmises. It might be for the purpose of .
a tuftf . such as appears on the head of a maid bird,
v lending, the: appearance of strength and beauty for
the attraction of the female. - It might be to protect
t the male in - extremes of weather, because ' he has '
. been designed to brave them. But In . civilized' life
man has found artificial ways' of protecting his face
as well as his body, and he does not need depend,
upon nature's provision of hair. . . . - '- -
"The savages, compelled to live out of doors and
unprovided with clothing, no doUbt found protection
and comfort in the beard and mustache. But in our1 -temperate
climate there is-probably some advantage
in exposing the throat and face to the ordinary, out-of-door
air on account Of its stimulating effect on
the superficial nerves. -It would probably not be good
to. do It with the thermometer at 20 or 30 degrees
below-zero for any length of time. .
- "The tendency jof .modern sanitary thought is to.
abolish the mustache, above all else, and, If possible,
to eliminate the beard as well. Diseases, such as
tuberculosis, influenza and even 'colds,': are accom-
panled by a giving on oi Droneii-uuwu -. hhbub irom
- the mouth and nose. Inthe -wearingoOhe .mus
Llsthe fceard also to some extent. I make it a rule
lb . have an my. Tuoercuinua
mustache, and in some lnstitu
strictly observed order.",
patlfrMts remove the
the removal Is a :
A
V St7 CUnC V tii .kin by ib;n.Vof1 Uuc'hjp.teKt'heffiete0?. ' one W iti ttpothe uppe Up, T