The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1892-09-22

The Christian Register publishes, in
it's issue of the fifteenth instant,
lengthy and interesting letter from Mr..
j. L. Corning who was present at the
session of the Congress of Criminal An
thropology held last month at Brussels.
81 have been at some palms," says Mr..
Corning, "to gather reports of the do
ings of this notable convention, and
propose to give you little hint of the
fields of investigation traversed, with
some of the conclusions which were ar
rived at with unanimity, by the way,
which congresses of creed-makers might
well emulate" He considers that one
of the most weighty questions, which
came before the congress, was: as there
a definite type marking the criminal
class?' and continues as follows:
The Italian sdrdnt, Prof. LombrOso, has
affirmed the existence of definite anatomical
and physiOgnOmcal type of the born criminal:
and the Italian school of criminal anthrOpOlOgy
generally accepts this pOstulate. 1t was, how
ever, strenuOusly cOmbated by PrOfs. HenZe and
WarnOts of Brussels, who gave a joint report on
this question.
+ Law and medicine having had full opportunity
of expression, it was but fair to give theology
chance to be heard; and the Able de Baets of
Client made an eloquent plea for the reality and
the tremendous import of moral responsibility,
Notwithstanding all the mitigating factors dem
onstrated by science and universally admitted.
Second in Importance to no other theme which
came before the congress was the food question;
and this was treated with telling array of facts
by Prof. Hector Denis, rector of the University
of Brussels. His statistics concerning the famine
of 1916 have meaning which is terrible to con-
template. During the years 1876 AZ the number
of criminals had more than doubled that of the
year preceding; and during the succeeding years.
when food again was plentiful and cheap. the
criminal class went back to the old figures show
ing to demonstration that plenty and want are
mighty factors in the repression and increase of
crime.
OF course alcohol had it's due share of atten-
ton; and DR.. GARNER of Paris said enough of the
dram-ShOp as factor of public crime to satisfy
the most Jealous prohibitiOnist. This eminent
alienist startled the assembly by stating that be-
tween 1886 and 1890 he, in company with Dr.
Magnan made personal examination of the in
mates of Paris prisons, and found 255 persons,
unquestiOnably insane, condemned to incarcer-
alton as criminals. One would imagine that such
a statement as that coming from such a source
would set criminal judges and sheritfs all over
the civilized world to thinking. :
In conclusion, the congress put on record the
following recommendations: first, the establish
ment of an obligatory course for the study of
psychology and moral pathology in the medical
and legal faculties; second, the investigation in
all cases of criminal accusation of the physical
and mental condition of the accused; third, the
erection of prison asylums for the insane; fourth
the changing of the names of institutions for re-
form to asylums or schools; fifth petition to
governments to publish with statistics of crime
statements of the economic conditions which are
related to it, especially as regards the public sup
ply of food.
have thus given few hints of the deliver
ances of what will go into the history of scientific
philanthropy, or phianthrOpic science, as one of
the most notable conventions of our time, the
moral dignity of which is quite out of the reach
| of the understanding of the creed-makers of re-
ligion and the platform carpenters of politics.
The next congress will be held in &C.
neva in 1896.