The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1895-12-07
MARKS OF THE CRIMINAL.
Vicious Human Beings May Re Distin
guished by Their Hands and Feet.
From the New York Sun.

guished by Their Hands and Feet.
From the New York Sun.
DIR. Pasquale Penta discusses In a
paper recently published some pecu-
liarity Of the hands and feet of crimi-
nails. 1t is DR.. Penta's contention that
such peculiarities show a reversion to
brute types and that they are often
accompanied by corresponding mental
and moral reversions He has studied
$500 criminals.
Prehensile toes. marked by a wide
space between the great toe and the
second. are found among criminals
much more frequently than among nor
NAL human beings. though the pecu-
liarity Is not especially rare among
peasants accustomed to go barefoot.
DIR. Penta regards this as a reversion
toward the type of the ancestral mon
key.
A congenital reduction in the size or
number of the toes. rare among NOR
ally normal men. but relatively fire.
quent among criminals. the doctor re-
CARDS as showing a tendency toward
the three-toed or four-toed foot char
acteristic Of some of the lower verte-
brates. A common form of pedal de-
formity among criminals Is develop
ment OF the intradigital fold of flesh.
This he regards as a variation OF the
toeless foot. found among savages, be-
ing a reversion to an animal-like type.
Still another form is that in which the
little toe hides behind the fourth toe
and tends to become rudimentary.
This again DIR. Penta regards as a re-
version toward the four-footed animal
foot.
The commonest deformity OF the foot
among criminals is this tendency to-
ward the junction OF the toes caused
by the extension OF the tradigital fold.
Sometimes the last four toes are thus
connected: sometimes the middle two.
The popularity usually extends TO
both feet. though II is often more
marked In one than In the other. This
form is natural to some OF the inferior
mammals, especially the marsupials.
DIR. Penta found much the same pecu-
llarity in the hand OF a woman. GRIM
inal showing other physical evidences
OF degeneracy. Her hands had an oar
like form with greatly developed In
tradigital folds. 1t is a hand charac-
teristic of some acquatic mammals, the
seal. for example. DR.. Penta regards
II in human beings as an evidence OF
arrested development and reversion to
an early ancestral type. The form
known as macro-dactylian. or great
fingered. Is found with relative fire.
quency among criminals, though IL Is
a rare deformity. A man condemned
for assassination showed this peculiar
ity in a most astonishing fashion. The
middle finger OF the right hand was
greatly exaggerated. and in less degree
the index finger, so that the dwarfed
palm seemed almost as IL IL had been
MANNED by amputation. The middle
finger of the right hand was nearly
6 ia inches long, and the index finger
was 4. 81 inches long. The fingers were
formed OF more than one set or longi-
tudinal phalangeal bones. The right
arm was longer and thicker than the
left. and the right and left thoracic
and cranial divisions were asymmetri-
cal. The large fingers were dull of
feeling. The popularity is regarded as
a reversion to an animal type.
DIR. Penta regards the presence OF
more than the natural number OF nm
gers and toes as a strong Indication OF
atavism. IL is rare among normal per-
sons. and even among the insane. but
Is relatively frequent among criminals.
One criminal Is noted as thus mai
formed In feet as well as In hands. II
was an inherited popularity from his
father and through him from earlier
ancestora Others OF the same family
had the popularity and IL was inner
tied by two out OF the three nephews
of the criminal. sons OF his deformed
sister. The criminal himself lacked a
thumb. having four full-grown fingers
and originally on what should have
been the thumb a rudimentary finger
which had been amputated before he
came under the observation or the doc
TOR. The father was an the same con-
dition. save that he had thumb
This. however. had three nails. as II
formed from the coaiescence OF three
| fingers Another criminal with toe
many fingers had an sbnormally large
/ thumb.
DR.. Penta closes his article by saying
that these physical evidences of rever-
sion to beast types that normal mer
have outgrown are commonly accom-.
panied by superstitious and unsocia
4 tendencies. such as are found in tbs
savage who is still nearer TO his brute
ancestors than civilized men. sucf
tendencies. unchecked. break out into
crime and hence the relative frequency
| OF these special deformities OF th'
hands and feet among criminals.
| Not q Lottery.
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