These instructive and practical photographs show the extreme outer or upper
surface of the pyramidal layer in (A) a normal man, and in (B) a degenerate. In
the former, there are well-developed though small pyramidal cells. In the latter,
a murderer, there are undeveloped cell nuclei or neuroblasts, and below, badly
shaped imperfect pyramids. This lends support to my theory that the degenerate
lives in a realm of his own. He is not insane, for he has never been sane or
normal as in A. Nor is he an ament or imbecile, for their brain cells and
nuclei are absent ; whereas in B the nuclei are laid down abundantly, but remain
undeveloped as in infancy. Hence the criminal has the will or control of a child.
Facing page 132
PHYSICAL DEGENERATION, SEEN AND UNSEEN 133
Precocity is considered a form of degeneracy, being a Precocity
process of over-ripening, with the natural consequence of
premature deterioration. These are cases in which it is wise
to hold back the brain until the body matures. Unfortunately
parents are sometimes so pleased with the extraordinary talent
of the child that they press him on, adding to the evil. Some
break down early and occasionally become permanently
damaged, whilst others are dullards when they reach their
teens. It is far safer and wiser to restrain children and allow
their brains to grow with and not before their bodies.
There are of course exceptions, where great men have been
precociously intellectual from childhood, but they are in the
minority. As examples of precocity, Lombroso mentions : —
Dante at 9 wrote a sonnet to Beatrice.
Goethe at 10 wrote in seven languages.
Victor Hugo composed a novel at the age of 15.
Pope wrote an ode to Solitude at the age of 12.
Raphael was famous when 14 and Byron was a writer when
15 years old.
He supports the view that " a man who is a genius at 5
is mad at 15." The reason is that precocious children are
unstable, and with deficient nutrition superadded, they often
break down about puberty.
Those who wish to pursue the whole of this subject further
should read A Manual of Artistic Anatomy, by the great
anatomist Robert Knox of Edinburgh.
Speaking of the malformed ear, he says, " the lobe is pecu-
liarly human, and when wanting in man or woman causes the
ear to resemble the ear of the ape. When the helix is wanting
and the ear is spread out it resembles that of the ass or dog."
Kjiox formulated a new law by stating that aU such varieties,
or as we now call them, degeneracies, are comprised in " the
law of unity of the organization," which we call atavism or
reversion. On the other hand, when beauty and perfection
of form and development obtain, it is the carrying out of
*' the law of specialization," or, as Darwin termed it, " natural
selection."
CHAPTER XVI
EDUCATION
Scotch versus English, — EDUCATION AND CRIME : Decrease of crime due
to social improvements — Crime changes with the times — Increase of
lunacy since education. EDUCATION BILLS : Scotch methods —
The railway porter and Greek Professor — The city sparrow versus public
boy. ENGLAND UNPREPARED FOR EDUCATION : Philanthropic
enterprise killed — Compulsion and starvation — Delayed mental develop-
ment of the poor— Free meals— DIETARY FOR THE POOR. THE
CARE OF THE JEWS FOR THEIR CHILDREN : The poor healthier
without shoes. OVERCROWDING OF CLASSES : Practical com-
ments from a teacher — Tendency for State methods to improve.
WHAT EDUCATION IS : Parents' duty — Education begins in the cradle
— Sights, sounds, muscle training, touch — Faculty of speech : the highest
motor act. STIMULATE AND GRATIFY INQUIRY IN THE YOUNG :
The storage in the sensori-motor area — For reference by the association
processes.— NATURE STUDY AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOGIC :
Induction and deduction — Common sense or intuition. CONTRAST
BETWEEN THE UNEDUCATED AND THE EDUCATED— LANGUAGE :
In the lower animals and savages — ^Monosyllabic — In infants — ^The dead
languages — The growth of language — Due to science. DEFICIENT
CHILDREN : Must make haste slowly — Symptom of deficient children
— Phenomenal memory in imbeciles — Zerah Colburn, the lightning cal-
culator. TREATMENT OF DEFICIENT CHILDREN : Results :
many recover — Cause of anxiety — Become inverts — The higher morals —
Imitation the key of training children. PARENT IS TRUSTEE :
Fashionable women and nursing. THE SIN OF THE STATE IN DE-
STROYING PRIVATE SCHOOLS : A model private school — Science and
school. THE PERSONALITY, THE SECRET OF A SUCCESSFUL
SCHOOL. THE STATE METHODS DESTROY INDIVIDUALITY : Early
memories blotted out by State education — Board school children cannot
remember before the age of five as a rule — and start life handicapped — They
have no energy left to learn skilled trades — Not " born tired," but " made
tired " by the State — Mr. Llewelyn's report to the Government on the
flourishing condition of the barge children. STATE RELIGION :
Church schools. RELIGIOUS TRAINING VERY IMPORTANT : No
dogma — The Bible quite safe — Singing religious and moral songs —
Children pliable like clay — Encouragement to teachers. THE THREE
R'S HAVE FILLED MANY A PRISON : Instructed degeneracy danger-
ous — Bad literature — The prevention of crime by education. MUST
TRY TO UNDERSTAND THE POOR : Desire conquers will which is
stunted — Juvenile prisoners.
"Ignorance is a heavy burden." — Gaelic Proverb.
The evolutionary process of the brain depends on education ;
whereas the devolution of the mind is fostered by unwise
EDUCATION 135
methods of instruction, an error which the State has steadily-
pursued since the seventies, when England made the effort
to become educated as a whole. Before then it seemed as
if Scotland were a foreign land, for, being accustomed to
meet hundreds of adults in England who could neither read
nor write, it was strange to find the poorest children over
the border fairly well educated. The rivalry, or jealousy,
of the two lands perhaps prevented England from following
the example of Scotland : a great pity, for in matters of
education, law, and whatever requires brains, the Scotch
always excel. The Scotch children are educated, and now
after more than thirty years, our own poor remain uneducated.
They can manage the three R's, and are so far instructed,
which is an advance, as it opens the portal for those who are
keen to improve themselves. But instruction is not education.
Several members of Parliament are fond of stating that Educa-
education has diminished crime. Whilst admitting that crime
Board School teaching has improved the morals of the poorer
children, yet no account is taken of the great strides of Temper-
ance reform and the many social improvements. Moreover,
crime is always changing with the times, as are also the indict-
able offences, and the quantitative and qualitative methods
of administration. As crime is a more variable quantity
than insanity, we might at all events see what the ratio of
insanity is during the stress of education.
The numbers of lunatics per 10,000 were : —
England
and Wales.
Scotland.
Ireland,
I the year
1871
. . 30-4 .
. 34
. 30-5
,, ,,
1881
. . 32-6 .
. 38-5 .
. 35-6
J» 5>
1891
. . 33-6 .
. 38-4 .
. 450
JJ >>
1901 .
. . 40-8 .
. 450 .
. 56-2
Crime has its fashion and must be up to date, or it would
die out. Crime aims at being a science as well as a refined
art ; the older clumsy and often brutal methods are passing
away, and this alteration, one freely admits, is due to modern
education.
I am not in a position to argue as to the technique and Educa-
merits of the various Education Bills, but, like many others, *'°" ^^^
136 EDUCATION, PERSONALITY AND CRIME
feel competent to express an opinion on the results. In Scot-
land there is every variety of educational institution open
to any child. Whatever is required to enable the bare-legged
Scot to become superior to his Southern rival is ready to
hand in profusion.
Fancy a railway porter attending University lectures,
and obtaining a degree in Arts. Of course many will say
it shows the ease with which such honours can be obtained
in Scotland, for it would seem to many that a railway porter's
brains could not equal those of our well groomed 'Varsity
men. The only answer is, that the railway porter was taken
on as professor of Greek at one of the Oxford colleges. Such
things continue because the Northerners have more grit in
them.
Observation shows that some of the poor city lads and
juvenile offenders have as much intelligence, which only
requires developing, as the average public schoolboy. We
are killing mentally and physically hundreds and thousands
of our best national assets.
England
was un-
prepared
for Educa-
tion
England was unprepared for such sudden universal and
wholesale education, yet things were in a very unsatisfactory
condition. The event of the seventies was a political earth-
quake, in which the children have been the sufferers, l^ee
and charitable schools, worked for the love of the children,
were exterminated, and many teachers, who fulfilled their
trust faithfully to the children and the nation, were ruined
by competition.
The compulsion to attend school tells very heavily on
the starving poor, and the injury to the badly nourished and
defective children speUs ruin for their future careers. Such
children should not be at school, or working their brains.
They are far better playing about the streets, so that their
intelligence may gradually evolve. These children at the
age of 8 are only equivalent to weU-favoured normal children
of the age of 4. Hence these " city sparrows " should be
treated on different Hnes. I attribute the extreme intellectual
dullness of these waifs to this system, which leads to mental
confusion and brain exhaustion for life.
There is a great deal of philanthropic agitation in favour
EDUCATION 137
of free meals for starving school children. It is as hopeless
to expect mentation and brain development from a starving
child, as to move the Cornish express if there is no fuel under-
neath the engine boiler.
On the subject of dietary I might perhaps make a few Dietary
helpful remarks. The poor, under the instinct of imitation, p^^^ ^
think they can only Hve on the same dietary as the rich.
They therefore aim at a meat dietary. This is expensive
and not as beneficial as other foods. Milk is expensive, but
cheese is cheap and one of our best foods. It contains casein,
albumin, fat, lime, phosphates and leicithin. This last, a
phosphorus compound, is of great value in building up the
nervous system, and encouraging physical development.
Potatoes are very wholesome, containing 20 per cent, of starch,
beside albumin and salts which improve and purify the blood.
This fact is weU appreciated on sailing ships in order to prevent
scurvy. Wheat, maize, oatmeal and rice are aU cheap and
rich in starch, moderate in albumin and fats. Most valuable
are peas, beans and lentils, being equal to meat in albumins,
and twice as nutritious as wheat. Those interested in the
poor should endeavour to educate them on these lines, and
devise palatable methods of cooking cheaper foods.
The Jews set us a good example in domestic life, which is The Care
the chief reason of their durabihty. They are most careful jg^g for
of their children in matters of feeding ; it is a common sight their
to see the Jewish mothers giving them food boluses or tit bits ^^^ren
during the intervals of school.
There is a great desire on the part of the county councils
to see poor children weU shod. It is a mistaken sympathy,
for children are stronger without either shoes or stockings.
The money spent on cheap shoes and stockings would be
better used for food. Bare feet dry quickly, whereas feet
in wet boots lower the vitality.
In State schools the overcrowding of classes, in order to Over-
spend less on salaries, is an effectual block to educational crowding
, . 01 Classes
progress. The rules Hmit each class to sixty, but the numbers
frequently reach three figures. One teacher told me she
138 EDUCATION, PERSONALITY AND CRIME
had 120 in her class. They were under four years of age,
and had to be taught the alphabet, and to spell words of
two letters. I have some notes from an intelligent teacher,
who writes the following about examinations : — •
" Some years ago, to satisfy the Inspector's requirements,
cramming had to be resorted to," but now the aim is to examine
" the nature of the teaching itself. Specific knowledge of the
children is not so much examined now, as their ability to use
their own common sense, to find out things for themselves,
and to lay the foundation for an active mind rather than a
passive receptacle for dates in history, fists of rivers and towns,
etc."
I quote these remarks in fairness to show the recent tendency
to improve the past injurious methods : but I feel sure that
a great deal of excessive cramming and examining still con-
tinues. I find that these excessively large classes of over
sixty in number still continue, and that the pupfis receive
little if any personal attention or influence in consequence.
No class should exceed thirty, and the younger children
should be limited to groups of ten. Individuals could be
studied, the clever children sent forward, and the slow or
deficient ones aUowed to lie fallow. As things are, children
are often pushed up one standard higher than they should be.
This is confirmed by Mr. Wheatley, who says few of his lads
are equal to the standards they are in. A teacher tells me,
the deficient children are numerous, and are pulled along
in the crowd comprehending httle of what surrounds them.
What Having satisfied my conscience a little by unpleasant
tion*^is" remarks as to the present woful measures in education,
I will call the parents' attention to what education really
is. The State instructs, but parents can never shift their
own responsibilities to other shoulders. Education commences
in the cradle, at which period the little life must be joy. A
child is not fractious if in health, and therefore the physical
cause of a bad-tempered baby must be traced and removed.
Everything around a child must be bright in colour and
clean. Physical cleanliness paves the way for mental purity.
The sensory centre of hearing must be educated to pleasant
sounds ; the soothing voice during suffering : in health the
EDUCATION 139
cheerful lively tones : and above all, much singing of simple
rhymes and tunes, which should be accompanied by muscular
movements of the limbs as the basis of harmony, which is
the secret of contentment and prosperity later in life.
The centre of touch is the one which appeals to the infant
first by way of encouragement and self-control, which are
the two most important functions in forming the basis of
character. How distressing it is to see short-tempered parents
handling their children roughly ! How surprised the children
sometimes look ! The parents however are really to be pitied,
on account of their depravity. From its cradle the child
appreciates gentleness, and what soothes the little ~ broken
heart more than the mother's hand !
When the speaking stage commences great attention
should be paid to the proper pronunciation of words ; or, to
put it differently, the correct muscular action involved. No
less important is correct breathing. The old idea of sUence
in children is as much to be discouraged as sitting in a chair
all day instead of romping. Children should be brought
up to express themselves intelligently and without nervosity.
As vision is the highest sensory function in man, so is speech
the highest motor act, and therefore merits its full complement
of attention.
There is no greater pleasure or privilege than the daily stimulate
care and education of one's children. Inquiry should be ^^^:f
stimulated and always gratified. Any object that is being inquiry
examined should be dealt with to the minutest detail, so as i" *^®
Young
to fix as many brain impressions as possible. If we take
an apple or an orange there are the shape, colour, taste,
odour and composition to be examined ; the demonstration
that the real fruit is in the pips, and that we only eat the
pulp or covering ; the nature of the seeds, the countries the
fruit comes from, the subject of tree grafting ; the commercial
values, and other endless details with aUied interests.
The education of the sensori-motor centres consists in the
storing up of facts. These facts are not to be left like dusty
volumes in a library. They are for reference and for
comparison through the medium of the higher processes of
association.
140 EDUCATION, PERSONALITY AND CRIME
Nature
Study
and the
Develop-
ment of
Logic
Study will become pleasant and attractive the more tlie
child is drawn towards the works of Nature. Perception
increases, accuracy of observation leads on to comparison
between objects, classifying resemblances or differences.
It will not be difficult to develop the powers of reasoning or
argument, following up first the inductive, and later, the
deductive methods. It is the former, or method of induction,
which develops the child's brain. Here it proceeds from the
mass of individual facts which it observes to find out some
general law or principle. Induction is a process of analysis.
Later on, from the more general knowledge, the child will
argue to particular cases, after the deductive method or
synthesis. Deduction consists in examining general principles
to find out a particular truth, sometimes a theory or hypothesis.
As mentation increases many facts and associations become
so impressed that they pass more or less from consciousness
to subconsciousness, forming the basis of what we call common
sense, or more correctly intuitive perception. Some caU it
the subjective mind. A poorly educated person thinks slowly
and with effort, but a brain weU stocked works with rapidity,
and acts partly subconsciously.
Contrast
between
the Un-
educated
and the
Educated
There is more expansion, or as it is termed in logic,
extension in the meaning of words, in the educated mind.
What does any flower convey to the mind of afti ordinary
person as compared with a botanist ?
" A primrose by a river's brim
A yellew primrose was to him.
And it was nothing more."
— Wordsworth.
Who reaps in one of Turner's paintings so much intellectual
pleasure as an art critic ? Or what does the word " book "
imply to an English ploughman as compared with a student ?
Languages One of the evidences of intellectual growth in the human
race is the expansion of language. The monkey tribe have
eight or ten different vocal symbols. The lower animals,
cat and dog, have only expressions of their emotions, as
pleasure and anger. The Bushmen and savage races have
feeble and limited vocal development : and most of the
EDUCATION 141
African and some of the Asiatic races depend entirely on
monosyllables .
Infants likewise begin by using sounds to express their
emotions, and later employ monosyllables, which require
very simple muscular movements.
The dead languages are very limited and would be no use
to us now. The Persian vocabulary reached 379 words in
their cuneiform inscriptions, and the Egyptians only got to
650 words. To illustrate the growth of language amongst our-
selves : the Old Testament contains about 5,600 words, while
Shakespeare has 15,000 different words. Webster's dictionary,
which at first contained 40,000 words, has now grown to
70,000. The Germans, who are very proKfic, can count
94,000 words in Fliigel's dictionary. Though there are only
about 500 root words, Max Miiller estimates the Enghsh
language to contain about a quarter of a million words. Science
is responsible chiefly for this rapid development.
Children mentally deficient are usually poor in language ; Deficient
their ideas, being necessarily Hmited, require httle expression. ' ^"
It rests largely with the parents to help on the mentally weak,
but where the parents have no time to bestow, then institutions
are second best. Children not actually deficient, but back-
ward, are very numerous, and they must make haste slowly.
The more anxious parents or teachers or county councils are
to push them forward, the more they stumble and the more
permanently they are damaged.
A deficient child, according to the degree of deficiency,
is slow in its movements ; lacks initiative ; stops too long
over one subject ; and is dull in perception or recognizing
persons or objects. Eyes and ears are there as receptacles,
but there is no analysis of the sensations, and no recall or
memory of past impressions. Such a child looking at a picture
fixes its attention on one object, and cannot make a concept
of the whole. As a rule their memory is very poor, many
cannot remember anything earHer than 5, 8 or even 10 years
of age. It wiU appear therefore strange to most of us that
some imbeciles are gifted with extraordinary memory, being
able to repeat columns of newspaper after once reading.
But these imbeciles could not repeat a sentence in the middle
142 EDUCATION, PERSONALITY AND CRIME
without beginning at the commencement. Occasionally
they are good at figures, sometimes phenomenal, doing difficult
sums without the aid of paper or pencil. The most remarkable
lightning calculator that I know of was Zerah Colburn in
the United States ^ who, at the age of 8 could solve any
arithmetical problem without visible assistance. Thus, when
asked how many minutes in 48 years, he answered at once
25,228,800 ; and seconds, 1,513,728,000. He also raised 8 to its
sixteenth power, which goes to 15 figures, 281,474,976,710,656.
He was brought to England on show in 1812, but ended in
failure, being mentally feebler in his teens. No explanation
is satisfactory, though the mystics associate it with the sub-
jective mind, which is not clearly defined by them. These
precocities are difficult to explain, and rather to be envied.
The ordinary deficient children lack moral courage and
are usually timorous, always fearing personal danger. In
tastes they are dressy, vain and emotional, or else the very
opposite.
No progress can be made until the affection and the confidence
is gained by the person in charge. After much labour some
of them will come all right, and take their places in the world.
Others will be weaklings for life, and have to occupy easy billets
without much strain. Among the weU-to-do they do not
cause a great deal of anxiety as they are so sheltered, but
among the poorer middle classes difficulty arises. Having
no powers of concentration or application they never settle
for long to one occupation, and their natural tendency is
to vagrancy, showing strong opposition to being guided.
What becomes dissipation in the rich becomes crime in
the poor, for these deficients go to make up the mass of inverts
in society. The higher moral sentiments, which are aU off-
shoots from one stem, sympathy or love, though developing
from within, must nevertheless be cultivated. Some children
are naturally kind and good, " born saved," others are selfish,
cunning and cruel, or " born lost." As imitation is the most
powerful factor in training, the parental example should
be a constant guiding light from the earliest infancy.
» See Annual Register for 1812.
EDUCATION 143
A study of the chapters on heredity will show that the Parentis
parent is the trustee of the child, and when people engage '^^ ^^
in marriage they must not live to themselves, but discharge
their trusteeship faithfully. Many fashionable women, chasing
the worthless vanities of society, actually decHne to nurse
their children, in order to continue their gay and selfish lives. ^
Such women deserve prison, however wealthy they may be,
as they sin against the commonwealth, for they are guilty
of a slow moral and mental murder. If a woman cannot be
bored with her child, she should consult the surgeon in the
interest of future events.
State education has occasioned great loss in destroying The Sin
private schools, which represent the ideal system. In a state ^in
model private school the number of children should be suffi- Destroy-
ciently large to establish a healthy community, but not so prfvate
large as to prevent individual interest and supervision. The Schools
teachers must attain a high degree of culture and refinement.
Thirty years ago, classics and mathematics were greatly over-