Arizona weekly journal-miner., 1895-09-11
TATToolNG AND CRIMINALS.
A French Writer Who Does Not Believe
 In go Connection Between the Two.

A French Writer Who Does Not Believe
 In Connection Between tho Two.
 The French scientific journal Archives d'Authropologie Crimi. nelle prints curious and interest. ing study of tattooing in its relation to criminals and other outcastS, vag- abOud> and the insane Tho article k maGo up partly of extracts from a recently published German work on the subject and partly from the studies of anthropo}ogists in various countries, especially in Italy, France and Germany. Some persons have thought that tho habit of submitting to tue t0Jooing process not unusu- al among criminals and rare among persons of regular and reputable life was evidence of the close relation of tho criminal to tho primitive say age in fact an effect of ataviSm. Thoro have been many attempts also to trace a relation between the sub jects depicted in tattoo upon the bodies of criminals and others and their mental and moral character istics. The conclusions of the arti- cle arc not favorable to those the ories.
 Although Gn examination of crim- inals in many prisons seems to indi- cate a decided taste for tattooing among them, tho belief of the com piler of tue article is that the fact that man k tattooed cannot be taken as indicating anything as to the category to which he belongs. It is believed that the frequency of tattooing among any class of men is determined by external rather than internal causes. No anthropologic- al analogy is found in the tattooed designs, though the subjects of tat tooing upon the persons of prisoners agree with the view and customs of persons belonging to their social grade. Tattooed persons do not have marked criminal characteris- tics. and ordinarily they are not dan- gerouS or insensible to good Lines without color made in prison by the prisoner upon himself seem to indi- cate morbid psychic excitement Colored tatt0oiug is a valuable aid in reconsuuctng the past of prisoner and for the identification of crimi- nals, though not so good for the lat ter purpose as anthropometrics.
 The facts and figures that precede these conclusions arc of the most curious sort.
 TattoOing seems to be common among the lowest class of women of loose lives. One student of the sub jcct examined 500 of these women and found that 10 per cent were tat toood. Names and initials of lovers were common marks. After a oapi- tai "E'' followed the name, to signi- fy that tho affection was eternal. Hearts pierced with a dagger were common, as indeed they are upon tattooed men. The breast and fore arm are fGvorite places for tattooing with both women and men. There is a conjecture that women of weak will and vagabond habits submit to tattooing oftener than others, and its prevalence among women of loose lives k inscribed to their association with criminals.
 It has been found that a consider ablo proportion of the insane poor are tattoocd. They exhibit a curious variety of sUbjects-allegorical, CT ratic, religious and conventional but the students of the subjects have not been able to discover that tho halluCinations of the mad have any relation to the tattoo marks that they bear. Favorite subjects arc a woman's head and bust, soldiers, clasped hands, which is probably a Masonic sign, stars, comets, a boot with spur, Christ crucified, an altar with $, the sun, animals and mathematical figures.
 The article does not refer to the accepted belief that tattooing is commoner among sailors than among men in other occupations, though some statistics of the former occupa- tions of t-ttooed criminals show a large proportion of sailors. There is no special reference to the elGbo- ratoly tattooed men and women that exhibit themselves in dime muse ums on this side of the water or to the fact that men have been found tattooed almost from head la foot with Masonic emblems. There k no reference either to the fact that the enforced idIenoss of some prisoners and of slilors on long voyages prob ably leads them to resort to tattoo ing as 8 means of killing time.-New York Sun.