humanfaculty4 - page 64 of 305

Inquiries into Human Faculty

among mankind; but I have seen a well-dressed child of about four years

old poking its finger with a pleased innocent look into the bleeding

carcase of a sheep hung up in a butcher’s shop, while its nurse was inside.

The subject of character deserves more statistical investigation than it

has yet received, and none have a better chance of doing it well than

schoolmasters; their opportunities are indeed most enviable. It would be

necessary to approach the subject wholly without prejudice, as a pure

matter of observation, just as if the children were the fauna and flora of

hitherto undescribed species in an entirely new land.

Criminality, though not very various in its development, is extremely

complex in its origin; nevertheless certain general conclusions are arrived

at by the best writers on the subject, among whom Prosper Despine is one

of the most instructive. The ideal criminal has marked peculiarities of

character: his conscience is almost deficient, his instincts are vicious, his

power of self-control is very weak, and he usually detests continuous

labour. The absence of self-control is due to ungovernable temper, to

passion, or to mere imbecility, and the conditions that determine the

particular description of crime are the, character of the instincts and of the

The deficiency of conscience in criminals, as shown by the absence of

genuine remorse for their guilt, astonishes all who first become familiar

with the details of prison life. Scenes of heartrending despair are hardly

ever witnessed among prisoners; their sleep is broken by no uneasy

dreams—on the contrary, it is easy and sound; they have also excellent

appetites. But hypocrisy is a very common vice; and all my information

agrees as to the utter untruthfulness of criminals, however plausible their

statements may be.

We must guard ourselves against looking upon vicious instincts as

perversions, inasmuch as they may be strictly in

accordance with the

healthy nature of the man, and, being transmissible by inheritance, may

become the normal characteristics of a healthy race, just as the sheep-dog,