The Female Offender. By Prof. Cesar Lombroso and William Ferrero. The Criminology Series, edited by W. Douglas Morrison. New York: D. Appleton & Co. Pp. 313. Price, $1.50.
The scientific study of anthropology, which has risen to prominence within the last few years, bids fair to yield knowledge of much practical value. The anthropologists of several countries, and especially those of Italy, have been investigating the criminal class—trying to see if criminals are a distinct class, and what peculiarities mark them off from moral persons. When a basis of exact knowledge concerning criminals has been obtained, it will doubtless be possible to construct upon it much better modes of dealing with them than are now in vogue. Some results of this investigation have been made known to a limited circle through contributions to scientific journals and occasional volumes, but now the quantity of information collected has seemed to warrant the publication of a series of books devoted to criminology. As editor of the series the publishers have secured W. Douglas Morrison, M. A., of her Majesty's Prison, Wandsworth, England, a devoted student of the subject, and one who has had exceptional opportunities for observation. It is fitting that the series should begin with a book by Prof. Lombroso, who has devoted a laborious life mainly to criminal anthropology, and is the recognized leader of the Italian school in this branch of science. Associated with him as joint author is one of his most rapidly rising juniors—William Ferrero. As a result of their investigations, the authors regard as a complete type of the criminal woman one wherein exist four or more of the characteristics of degeneration. The criminal type in the female sex is rare as compared with the male. The reason is that women are generally occasional rather than habitual offenders. When a born offender, a woman is, in the majority of cases, an adulteress, a calumniator, a swindler, or a mere accomplice—offenses which require an attractive or at least a normal personal appearance. Atavism is regarded by our authors as the key to female delinquency. "The primitive woman was rarely a murderess, but she was always a prostitute"; hence the modern woman who degenerates atavistically takes to prostitution rather than to crimes of violence. The authors have given much attention to anthropometry, and present in this volume a large number of measurements of the skull, bodies, and limbs of female delinquents, also studies of brains, tests of senses, etc. The subject of suicide and the influence of hysteria and epilepsy on crime are considered. Tattooing, which is so common among male criminals as to become a special characteristic, is extremely rare in female delinquents. The discussions of the several topics treated are illustrated and fortified by many histories drawn from criminal records, and by portraits of French, German, and Russian subjects. The work is a valuable contribution to a new and much needed science.
Mental Development in the Child and the Race. Methods and Processes. By James Mark Baldwin, M. A., Ph. D., Stuart Professor of Psychology in Princeton University. New York and London: Macmillan & Co. Pp. 496. Price, $2.60.
In this work Prof. Baldwin appears as an observer, experimenter, theorizer, and critic, in short, as a maker of science, in which role he is quite as interesting and instructive as in that of expositor. The first event which led to the publication of this book was the birth of a daughter in 1890, whose mental unfolding was watched with unfailing attention. When she reached her ninth month he undertook to experiment with her to find out the exact state of her color perception. The account of his procedure, of the results reached, and his criticisms thereon, is given in Chapter III, entitled Distance and Color Perception by Infants. Chapter IV, on The Origin of Right-Handedness, describes the experiments undertaken to gain light upon the facts and conditions of left-handedness that had not before been closely observed. After discussing in the earlier chapters the general condition of the responsive movements of infancy and pointing out special problems, he enters in Chapter V upon a description of experiments concerning the rise of more complex movements. In 1892, at the birth of a second daughter, he continued his observations and planned new experiments, enlarging the scope of his
