The herald., 1896-02-22
Illustrative of Lombros0's School
of CriminoIogy
STUDYOF HEREDITARY TAINT
The Effects of the Union Of Normal
Stupidity
But Exhibit Tendencies to Pyseho-
ethical Anomalies

dereulty Is a conspicuous feature In the
theory of criminal anthropology held by
the school of which Lombroso is the lead
or, and LOmbroso's S Arohivio di Psichiatria
contains in recent issue an article Illus
trating it. 1t is a story by Renieri di
Rocchi Of three generations Of an italian
family. D., whose family since the early
years OF the sixteenth century had pro-
duced only commonplace mon and women,
married u, whose ancestors, immediate
and remote, had been brilliant men and
women, with here and there physical
ta!nt that often took tho form Of ophthal-
mia and Of a degeneration affecting the
skin, while others had exhibited psyche
ethical anomalies. D. was normal and
undistinguishcd, like all his recent ances.
tors, and was manifestly the inferior Of
his wife. She inherited the brilliancy of
her race, gathered about her an intellec-
tual society and sometimes wrote verse.
Her letters to d. were clever and charm
ing, though not mark ed with strong evi-
dences Of affection. DIS chief defeot as a
husband was certain inflrmity of temper,
marked by occasional outbursts of anger.
Six children we're born to this pair.
One son showed great brilliancy and fond
ness for study, SO that he promised to
letters, but he was early overtaken by
blindness through the inherited taint, and
he died at so undistinguished. The Sec
ond was "mattoid, in the language Of
Lombroso and his school. Ho was clever
but utterly without application. Satirio
poetry was his passion. He took to drink
and to play, thus exhibiting the psyche
ethical taint Of his mother's family, and
died at 80 from the result Of overindul-
gence in the course Of too rapid life. The
fathers inflrmity Of temper took with this
child the form Of marked impulsiveness.
The third child, daughter, was distin-
guished for extreme sensibility and sweet
ness of character. She was affeotionate,
charitable and self sacrificing. She lost
her husband and her daughter, however,
within n month and became q mad hypo-
chondriao, thus exhibiting the mental
taint Of the mothers family. Two other
daughters inherited the fathers normal
character and apparently not his infirmity
OF temper, as they are dismissed with
line. The sixth child, boy, inherited
traits Of both parents in q marked degree.
He was warmly affectionate, and his
moral sense was highly developed; but,
like the father, he was irasciblo and at
times driven to exhibitions of great anger
by tribes. He developed palpitation of the
heart toward 80. The inherited literary
bent Of the mothers family took In him
the form of graphomania. He married an
unusually sweet natured woman, not Of
italian blood, and died at 40, leaving a
son and q daughter Of tender years.
Here began the third generation. The
daughter was a girl Of rnYe intellectual
gifts and amazing confidence in her own
judgment. Premature old age overlook
her at 30. She, too, was graphomaniso,
and before she was 26 years old she had
written many romances, for the most part
politioo-religious. She wrote with no wish
for fame, but merely to put into words her
opinions and conceptions Of life. She re-
fused indeed to seek publisher for her
writings. The brother, before reaching
the age OF 1s, had written many romances,
dramas, poems and sociological studies.
He, too, was graphomaniao, and he pub
1ished nothing save few occasional poems.
OF four others In the third generation one
was gifted, but he became drunkard. A
second showed no marked anomaly, and a
third was unintelligent and abnormal.
Thus the marriage Of D., the scion Of a
normal and stupid race, with the brilliant
but tainted u, gave to the world strange
succession OF brilliant eooentrics, hypo-
chondriacs, mattoids and drunkards.