We cannot deny, then, that certain individuals have propensities to crimes, and even to those of the most atrocious character. Helvetius himself, the great antagonist of the innateness of the qualities of the mind and soul, is obliged to allow "that there are men so unfortunately constituted, as never to be happy but in doing deeds which will send them to the gallows." Cardinal Polignac,* also speaks of men " born vicious, for whom crime has actual charms, and who are borne along by a furious passion, which obstacles only irritate." †

Thus far, however, the propensities of which I speak are not of the number of those, which evince an actual alienation. These propensities render the most energetic measures necessary, and criminals of this description cannot be tolerated in society. The greater part, according to the expression of M. de Sonnenfels, "ought to be slain, as we slay wild beasts, to prevent their destroying the human race." ‡

It has been objected to me, that these persons ought not be judged by their orgialzation. It is not pretended that they should be. But it is desirable to prove the reality of these facts, and to explain them by this perverse organization, that people may cease to accuse the voluntary perversity of these monsters.

Let us quit this painful subject, to notice those cases in which we may pronounce with confidence on the absence of moral liberty, and, consequently, the impossibility of admitting moral guilt, or any kind of responsibility. Such are those cases, in which illegal actions may be considered as done from imbecility of mind, mental alienation, or certain derangements of the natural state of health.

It will, perhaps be said, that the acts of imbecile or deranged persons are not subject to the operation of criminal laws. But my researches on this subject will throw

De l' Esprit, p. 578.

Anti Lucrece, trad. par. M. de Bougainville, Louis, 1754, p. 184. # Grundsætze der Policey, etc. t. 1.

great light on the preceding discussion; and, on the other hand, it appears to me essential to determine with the greatest precision, the circumstances in which one of the cases mentioned really occurs. I shall treat separately of each of these subjects.

Application of my Principles to illegal Acts which result from a peculiar weakness of the Mental Faculties.

I here make use of the expression, peculiar weakness of the mental faculties, because I am treating only of actions which are the consequence of a greater or less imbecility of mind. I shall not speak of acts which flow from complete and general stupidity of intellect. These last acts being purely involuntary or automatic, have not even the appearance of moral liberty, and can by no means, form the subject of my present researches.

Among the young boys who were brought to us in one of the prisons of Berlin, (Stadt-Vogtey,) there was one who particularly attracted our attention. We advised that he should not be set 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 accompanied 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 or more revolting 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 organization for those functions of the soul, which belong to a superior order, the same happens which takes place in regard to each organ whose development is defective; that is, there results a relative imbecility, and, in consequence, the incapacity of acting morally; while the propensities of an inferior order act with uncontrolled energy. Such an individual finds himself under an absolute necessity to act solely from the impulse of the passion which governs him; and his organization often places him in a worse state for self-government, than that of a well-organized 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 individual, 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 fore

head was very low, depressed back immediately above the eyebrows, very sloping laterally above the eyes, but broad and saliant towards the temples. His physiognomy announced no attention for reasonable subjects; nothing could be there discovered but cunning and malice. Was it, then, very difficult to conclude from the organization of this simpleton, that he must be incorrigible?

XXX.

To make evident this species of imbecility, which excludes all moral liberty, I exhibit in my lectures the skull of an individual organized 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, notwithstanding 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. The reader may compare it in my large work, Pl. xxvi. with that of a man endowed with faculties of an elevated order, Pl. What benefit can be expected froin punishments and houses of correction in regard to half-human beings like this? We saw in the prison of Berne, a boy of twelve years, ill organized and rickety, who could never prevent himself from stealing; with his 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 Fesselmayer, whom no corporal punishment could correct. 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 organization 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 these propensities in action. I 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, without 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 young 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 in the flames. When the fire was over, he thought no more of it, which proves, that he acted only from animal instinct.

What happens to individuals with respect to theft, murder, and incendiarism, likewise takes place in other individuals, with respect to any other organ endowed with an extraordinary degree of activity. The quality dependent on this organ, then, acts in them mechanically at each