Morphological Analysis of Certain Organs (Stigmata)
In our morphological analysis of certain organs, we shall have occasion to enumerate a number of separate malformations, to the study of which criminal anthropology has devoted much attention. Since many of these are met with in children, we will make a rapid enumeration of them, but must keep in mind that the ability to distinguish the abnormal form from the normal requires practice in the actual observation of subjects, while mere verbal descriptions may lead to false and confusing impressions.
SYNOPTIC CHART
| Eyes | position | |
| rima palpebrarum or eye-slit | high type | |
| low type | ||
| size of eye-ball | macrophthalmia | |
| microphthalmia | ||
| exophthalmia | ||
| sclerotic coat | ||
| foramina (pupils) | miosis | |
| mydriasis | ||
| anisocoria | ||
| Ears | asymmetrics | position |
| form | ||
| malformations | Wildermuth's ear | |
| embryonal ear | ||
| Morel's ear | ||
| handle-shaped ear | ||
| crumpled ear | ||
| canine ear, etc. | ||
| Nose | types | leptorrhine |
| platyrrhine | ||
| mesorrhine | ||
| anomalies | flat | |
| crooked | ||
| trilobate | ||
| Buccal apparatus | lips | simian mouth |
| negroid mouth | ||
| hare-lip, etc. | ||
| teeth | number | |
| dimensions | ||
| form | ||
| diastemata | ||
| irregular position | ||
| tongue | macroglossia | |
| microglossia | ||
| palate | ogival (pointed arch) | |
| cleft | ||
Generalities.—Passing on to a more minute study of form, we shall have to invade the field of human æsthetics. The proportions of the body are all determined, in respect to their harmony; and especially admirable is the harmony existing between the principal parts of the human physiognomy. Artists know that in a regular face the length of the eye is equal to the interocular distance, or to the width of the nose, while the latter stands to the width of the mouth in a ratio of 2 to 3. The length of the external ear remains, at all ages, exactly equal to the sum of the width of the two eyes.
The eyes and the external ears grow but little, consequently they are relatively quite large in children. The nose and mouth, on the contrary, grow much more, and hence appear quite small in infancy. The growth of the face, like that of the whole body, is an evolution.
Among all the harmonies of the human body, that which can undergo the greatest numbers of alterations in the course of its evolution is the reciprocal harmony between the parts of the face. There are more children than grown persons with beautiful faces, because the efforts of adaptation to environment, or congenital biological causes, or pathological causes may easily alter the evolution of the face.
We will take a rapid glance at the principal morphological anomalies likely to be encountered in connection with the face.
All the malformations that we are about to enumerate are still included under the generic name of stigmata, and they may be degenerative stigmata (congenital anomalies), pathological stigmata (acquired through disease), or stigmata of caste (caused by adaptation to environment).
Anomalies relating to the Eye.—The eyes may be too far apart (usually in broad, square faces of the Mongolian type), or too near together (for the most part in long narrow faces, with a hooked nose).
Rima Palpebrarum (Eye-slit).—A straight, narrow slit (low type); an oblique slit (Mongolian eye).
Size of Eye-ball.—The eye-ball may be too large (macrophthalmia) and hence often protrudes from the socket (exophthalmia); or it may be too small and deep-sunken (microphthalmia), or asymmetrical in size (one eye-ball larger than the other).
Direction.—Strabism (inward, outward, mono-lateral, bilateral).
Sclerotic Coat.—It may be injected with blood (delinquents), or partly covered over by an abnormal development of the semilunar plica or fold of the palpebral conjunctiva.
Pupillary Foramina.—The two foramina of the pupils ought to be equal in size, circular and with a clearly marked contour. But under various conditions of age and ill health the size as well as the equality of the pupils may vary.
As regards the size of the pupils:
When the pupillary foramina are too small, this constitutes miosis—a condition frequently found in certain serious nervous diseases (locomotor ataxia, paralytic dementia), and in chronic opium poisoning; it is frequent in meningitis. In old persons miosis is a normal condition.
When, on the contrary, the foramina of the pupils are too large, this constitutes mydriasis (poisoning from atropine, intestinal diseases, etc.).
In addition to these, there is anisocoria, when the two foramina are unequal (neurasthenia, chronic alcoholism, first stage of paralytic dementia).
Form of the Pupillary Foramen.—It is not always round, sometimes it is oval (cat's-eye). Frequently the form of the pupil is permanently altered as the result of a surgical operation.
Thus, the contour of the pupil may be broken instead of clear cut; in verifying this phenomenon it is important to inquire whether the subject has suffered from any progressive disease of the iris, such as might produce the same condition.
Anomalies of the Ear.—While in the case of animals the external ear is greatly developed, movable and detached from the cranium, in man it is reduced in size, immovable and attached to the cranium. Two measurements are taken of the ear, the length and the width, and by means of the usual formula we obtain the index of the ear, which for the European race is about 54 per cent. This index has a certain importance because we find that the proportion of width to length steadily increases as we descend through the inferior human races, down to the ape, and the same increase continues if we descend through the different grades of the simian order.
This is to a large extent a result of the fact that, in the descent from man to ape, the lobule of the ear, which is essentially a human form, steadily diminishes, until it finally disappears.
From this it may be concluded that there exist minute zoological differences other than generic between man and animals. As to malformations of the human ear, which may consist of shortness or absence of the lobule (formerly interpreted as a simian inheritance) they are to-day attributed to physiological causes. An abundant circulation produces an ample and fleshy lobe; in oligohæmic constitutions (deficiency of blood) the lobe is delicate, pale and even atrophied. Brachysceles often have a big lobe, and macrosceles, predisposed to phthisis, often have no lobe.
In regard to the external ear we should observe:
1. Symmetry.—The ears should be symmetrical:
a. In respect to their position.
b. In respect to the more or less pronounced divergence of the ears from the cranium.
c. In respect to their form.
a. Position.—We must look for this form of asymmetry by observing the cranium according to the occipital norm. The asymmetry may be caused by one of the ears being placed too high up or too far back in respect to the other, or both asymmetries may occur together.
b. The asymmetry due to divergence is observed from two norms, the facial and the occipital.
c. Asymmetry of form is perceived by observing successively the two external ears according to the lateral norms; their morphological aspect should correspond on the two sides.
2. Anatomy and Malformations of the External Ear.—A preliminary anatomical note is necessary. The external ear consists of various parts, which were first studied and named by Fabricius of Acquapendente:
- The Helix.—This is the outermost fold of the ear; it takes its origin above the auricular foramen in a root starting from the inside of the concha and rises upward, to descend again describing a regular helix; and it terminates in the lobule. At the point where the helix bends downward to form the descending branch, a small cartilaginous formation can be discerned by the sense of touch; this is the Darwinian tubercle.
- The Antihelix.—This originates in two roots under the ascending branch of the helix and terminates in the antitragus; it is a cartilaginous formation.
- The Auricular Fossa.—This divides the helix from the antihelix.
- The Tragus.—This is a little triangular cartilaginous formation situated in front of the auricular foramen. Between the tragus and the antitragus is the intertragical fossa.
- The Concha.—This is the concavity, the internal fossa of the auricle, which leads to the channel of the internal ear.
Instances may be found of malformation of each and all of these various parts of the ear, which may be excessively developed, or almost wanting, or altered in form.
The Helix.—The over-folding of the cartilage may be wanting, leaving the margin of the auricle straight; this form is met with in the Mongolian race, but among us it is a malformation (Morel's ear). It is a more serious malformation if it occurs combined with excessive development of the Darwinian tubercle; in this case the auricle assumes a really animal-like aspect ("canine ear").
The helix may originate within the concha from a root so prolonged that it divides the concha itself into two parts, an upper and a lower.
The helix may be greatly developed and sharply divergent from the cranium—handle-shaped ear; or it may be bent at an angle at the upper outer margin—embryonal ear.
The lobule is, as we have already said, an essentially human formation, and as though man were conscious of this fact and proud of it, it is customary in all races to adorn it with ear-rings, to such an extent that in India and in Cochin-China the lobe is burdened with ornaments of great weight, in consequence of which it has continued to develop until it almost touches the shoulder.
The lobule may be attached to the cheek (sessile lobule).
The antihelix may be so developed as to rise in front of the helix—Wildermuth's ear.
Another important malformation connected with the ear, which is commonly found in idiots, is a prolongation and restriction of the intertragical fossa into a fissure (fissura intertragica). The tragus ought normally to exceed the antitragus in dimensions.
Anomalies of the Nose.—The nose presents very numerous individual varieties, even among normal individuals. In the European race we distinguish the straight nose (Italian), the aquiline, the retroussé (French), the sinuous, etc. But in all these forms one characteristic remains more or less constant: the aperture of the nostrils is long and narrow, or rather its length exceeds its width (the nostrils are thin and mobile, the skeleton of the nose projects above the plane of the face). In the other races of mankind, on the contrary, two other types of nose are distinguished in respect to this characteristic: 1. The aperture of the nostrils is round (the nostrils themselves are fleshy, the base of the nose somewhat flattened)—mesorrhine nose, characteristic of the Mongolian race, and found repeatedly in mongoloid idiots; 2. the aperture of the nostrils is broadened, i.e., the width exceeds the length (the nose is flattened and almost level at the base, and furrowed for the most part with transverse wrinkles, the nostrils are exceedingly fleshy and immobile)—platyrrhine nose, peculiar to the African and Australian races. Corresponding to the external form of the nose there is also a difference in the skeleton in relation to the piriform aperture and the naso-labial duct; the external form of the nose is really dependent upon the skeleton consequently, the above-mentioned nomenclature applies also to the piriform aperture of the cranium (see Skeleton of the face). The flat nose is found as a malformation in idiots, and is usually accompanied by prognathism.
Other important malformations relating to the nose are the development of a tubercle at the tip—trilobate nose, frequent in low types of idiots; and the tip of the note bent sideways (usually toward the left); this form occurs in leptorrhine noses and is considered to be a stigma of criminality (thieves).
Anomalies relating to the Buccal Apparatus.—Malformations occur in relation to the lips, the teeth, the tongue and the palate.
The Lips.—The European type of lips is well known both as regards their proportions and their lines of contour which determine the distinctive form.
Sometimes this graceful modeling is wanting; the contour of the lips is formed of almost horizontal lines, the oral aperture is very wide, and has the appearance, especially when laughing, of being edged by a perfectly uniform, narrow line, thus resembling the mouth of a monkey.
At other times we meet with thick, fleshy lips, slightly pendulous, like those of the black races, especially the Hottentots and Australians; it is a malformation frequent among idiots, and occurs together with prognathism and the flattened nose.
Another notable form is that in which the lips are not only thick and fleshy, but the internal tissues are so abnormally developed that they protrude from the oral orifice in a slight prolapsus; this form of lips is quite characteristic of myxedematous idiots. Finally, we may meet with the so-called hare-lip, or lip divided in the middle, signifying an arrest of embryonal development and frequently accompanied by a cleft palate and a double uvula (see Development of the face).
The Teeth.—There is nothing new to tell of the characteristic forms of the teeth—the incisors, the canines, the premolars, and the molars—nor of their regular placement in a single row corresponding to the curve of the maxilla and the mandible. I shall therefore merely give the two dental formulæ corresponding to the two dentitions of man.
First dentition, or "milk teeth":
| 2—2 | 1—1 | 2—2 | = 20 teeth |
| –—– | –—– | –—– | |
| 2—2 | 2—2 | 2—2 | |
| incisors | canines | premolars |
Second or final dentition:
| 2—2 | 1—1 | 2—2 | 3—3 | = 32 teeth |
| –—– | –—– | –—– | –—– | |
| 2—2 | 1—1 | 2—2 | 3—3 | |
| incisors | canines | premolar | molars |
In relation to the teeth there are a great number of anomalies which may occur, in number, in position, in size and form, and these anomalies are so frequent that we may say the smile stigmatizes the degenerate. Frequently it is the most evident stigma of the whole face; so much so that this same smile which adds so much charm to the normal human countenance becomes ugly and repulsive in degenerates.
Anomalies in Number of Teeth.—Sometimes there are more than 32 teeth, owing to the presence of certain supernumerary teeth; these will be found to occur most frequently in the case of the canines, next in that of the incisors, and lastly in that of the premolars.
Fig. 132.—Mongolian eye.
Fig. 133.—Embryonal ear.
Fig. 134.—Decayed teeth.
Fig. 135.—Worn-down teeth.
Fig. 136.—Example of a worn-down tooth.
Fig. 137.—Handle-shaped ears.
Sometimes the number of teeth is less than 32, in which case it is necessary to distinguish two cases of very different significance: First, the last molars ("wisdom teeth") may be wanting; secondly, some of the other teeth may be wanting (incisors, canines, or premolars). The last molar is of no use whatever to man, because it does not enter into the service of mastication, and it is tending to disappear. We may even predict that the day is coming when mankind will no longer have wisdom teeth, and the human dental formula will be as follows:
| 2—2 | 1—1 | 2—2 | 2—2 | = 28 teeth |
| –—– | –—– | –—– | –—– | |
| 2—2 | 1—1 | 2—2 | 2—2 | |
| incisors | canines | premolar | molars |
The absence of useful teeth, on the contrary, is a grave sign of degeneration, and one which leaves wide spaces between two adjacent teeth (wide diastemata).
The diastema, or space left between adjacent teeth, is of great importance.
There are various causes for this stigma. Besides the one already mentioned, due to congenital absence of a tooth (broad diastema), another recognized cause is an anomalous placing of the teeth (narrow diastema). The significance of this is not always the same: for example, the diastema between two upper incisors indicates a very slight anomaly of embryonal development, and, some people think, gives a sympathetic charm to the smile. On the contrary, a diastema occurring at the side of a canine tooth signifies a congenital malformation.
At other times such anomalous spaces may be due to the fact that the teeth have remained small, or happen to have worn away laterally and present an almost filiform or thread-like aspect (diastemata due to microdontia resulting from syphilis or various dystrophic conditions).
The form of the teeth demands consideration next in order of importance. Sometimes we encounter cases of teeth that are all nearly alike in form; they have lost that morphological differentiation which already existed in the anthropoid apes; there is an insensible transition from the incisors, all exactly equal in form and dimensions, to the premolars, which also present the same appearance, passing over a tooth which it would be difficult to define either as incisor or premolar (the canine tooth). Usually in such uniform dentition there are slight diastemata.
This condition, however, is not frequently met with; it is much more usual to find this anomaly occurring only in part; the incisor teeth are all equal, or else the canine resembles an incisor or a premolar. In combination with this characteristic, it often happens that there is a diastema next to the canine.
In regard to size, the teeth may be too large, macrodontia, or too small, microdontia.
Microdontia may be due to a true and actual arrest of development of the teeth (white teeth, small and narrow, often all very much alike), or to a kind of corrosion of the teeth due to congenital dystrophism (syphilis). In this case the teeth are ground down and worn away either horizontally or laterally (filiform teeth), or again the cutting edge of the tooth is not horizontal in the two upper canines, but oblique, so that the teeth have the appearance of being broken.
Often the teeth are furrowed transversely with yellow streaks corresponding to a lack of development of the enamel.
Finally, the teeth may present various anomalies of position, which may be grouped under three heads:
a. Narrow teeth, so placed as to leave slight intervals between them.
b. Isolated teeth, planted outside the common line, or else transversely instead of horizontally.
c. The dentition does not follow the regular curved line, but shows various sinuosities, usually bending in at the point corresponding to the canine tooth.
The Tongue.—The tongue may present morphological anomalies of great importance, since they are the cause of many defects of speech. Sometimes the tongue is too big—macroglossia, in which case it cannot move freely within the buccal cavity and even finds difficulty in remaining within the mouth, but projects between the lips, contributing in no small measure to giving the face an imbecile expression. At other times it is too small—microglossia.
A deficient or excessive development of the lingual frenulum may also interfere with the movements of the tongue (tongue-tie).
The Palate.—It is a frequent experience to meet with idiots having an ogival or gothic-arched palate, with the vault much curved and narrow, such as is met with in animals and similar in section to a gothic window. A special bony ridge or crest may also occur along the raphe or median line. Lastly, the palatine vault may be divided in two (cleft palate), a form frequently accompanied by a double uvula; this stigma may also be one of the causes of defective speech, so frequently met with in deficient children.
The palate normally presents a diversity of forms: Narrow and high, or broad and low—forms associated with the general type of head (dolichocephalic, high palate; brachycephalic, low palate) and especially with the type of face, as we have already seen in treating of the latter.
Importance of the Study of Morphology.—The study of morphology is of high importance in biology, and even more so in anthropology. And since the organism is a harmonic whole, in which the parts and their functions are closely interrelated, any external anomaly leads us to assume that there are corresponding anomalies of the internal organs, and hence, functional anomalies; hence also, in man, psychic anomalies. And conversely, if perfection of form has been attained, it leads us to assume that the entire organism is perfect in its internal organs as well, and in its complex physical and psychic functional action.
"Assure yourselves and one another," says Lelut in his Cadre de philosophie et de l'homme, "that wherever you see a change in the body, you will have to search for a corresponding change in the intelligence. Assure yourselves that you will have to establish this correlation throughout the entire scale, from the lowest degradations of imbecility to the highest achievement of genius, from the clearest and strongest mentality to that which is most profoundly and irremediably disordered."
This correlation between the morphological and the psychic personality must be sought throughout the entire scale of human variations, from the genius to the most degraded of imbeciles, from the strongest and most upright character to that which is most profoundly perturbed. Hence morphology constitutes a fundamental part in the study of human personality.
The principle of this aforesaid correlation was at first exemplified in the field of biological science only by abnormal persons, whose noticeable deviations from the customary limits, both in the external form of the body and in their psychic manifestations, gave proof of the phenomenon by exaggerating it. In his classic work, Traité des dégénérescences, Morel asserts that "the study of physical man cannot be isolated from the study of moral man." But in our own day, the theory has been marvellously illuminated and popularised by Cesare Lombroso, and precisely on its pathological side.
The Lombrosian theories were so rapidly popularised even before they were fully matured, that it seemed as though the spirit of the times was ripe to receive them, and had awakened to greet the new order of thought, after having long slumbered over the old; thus they wrought a revolution in the field of law and morality, and even laid a foundation for the erection of a new pedagogy.
Or to state it better, they again brought to light certain principles of truth that had been understood even from the most ancient times. For the principles proclaimed by Lombroso are in their general line certainly nothing new nor suddenly derived from a study of modern civilization; the belief that a physical stigma represents a moral stigma is exceedingly ancient. In the Bible we find Solomon saying: we may read the heart in the face. Homer describes the malignant Thyrsites as having a narrow forehead and ferret-like eyes. Caesar feared only those conspirators who were pale and lean. In the Middle Ages there was a law which held that in case of doubt as to which of two men was guilty, the uglier looking one should be hanged. And this same principle has been established from time immemorial in the current wisdom of the people, as is demonstrated by proverbs, which are like laws graven upon stone, and have been gathered experimentally through the repeated observation of successive generations. The proverbs tell us of the physical stigmata of the wicked: "Beware of those who bear the mark of God;" "The bristles prove the brute." Even in art, degenerative stigmata are introduced to represent the malevolent. The satyrs are represented as being of the microcephalic type. The devil was formerly represented as having goat's feet and a tail; Michelangelo pictures him with a narrow, receding forehead and pointed ears.
To-day all this is shown to be true. The truth, and sometimes the intuitive semblances of truth in their relation to outward phenomena, have the most ancient and diffuse history, because, since they always existed, they were analogously interpreted by the intelligence of man. And this is proved by the glorious discoveries of positive science, which we may trace back to far distant foreshadowings; what was in danger of being lost has been born again with an overpowering fertility. The great theories of Darwin regarding evolution were already perceived by Herodotus. The cycle of indestructible material, proclaimed by Greek philosophy, formed the palpitating heart of the teachings of Giordano Bruno; and in our day it formed the fascinating halo of materialism which illuminated the face of my own teacher, Jakob Moleschott.
Now, the fact that it is not new demonstrates that the Lombrosian theory explains phenomena which really exist, since they came under the observation of man from the earliest times. And the fact that this theory has become popularised tells us that the times were ripe to fertilise its renovating principles into practical action. For where is it that we find the triumphant success of science? The attainment of its most profound purposes? We find it wherever science achieves something that is practical and useful for all mankind. Because, so long as anything is merely perceived or looked into, or even deeply studied, it never attains the apogee of its scientific glory and dignity unless it finds some means of benefiting and ameliorating humanity.
Lombroso grasps a principle and turns it into a benefit; and he sends it broadcast throughout human society, to purify society of the spirit of personal vengeance.
Garibaldi redeems an oppressed people and saves the oppressors from the burden of being unjust and tyrannical, through a work of humanity which has no national boundary; Lombroso, by means of his new scientific and moral principle, effects a world-wide redemption of a despised and outcast class, and saves us from the iniquitous burden of social vengeance. Two great deeds of heroism, one of the heart and the other of the brain; two great works of redemption.
Nevertheless, the principle of a morphological and psychic relationship was not wholly wanting in examples of practical application. Not, however, in the case of man; but in regard to animals it had been utilised for a long time back. For instance, when a horse cannot be broken by ordinary methods, the veterinary is called in, and he either discovers some ailment and prescribes a treatment, or else be studies the conformation of the forehead and the nasal bones, and if they are abnormal, he declares that the horse is absolutely untameable. In India the natives are afraid of the solitary elephant with a narrow forehead, for they know that he is ferocious.
To-day we know that many children who can be taught nothing in the public schools are really sick children, in whom anomalies of character coincide with morphological anomalies; and we are beginning to replace the old custom of blind and brutal punishment with a personal interest that leads us to invoke the aid of the physician and to establish special schools for the mentally deficient.
We may say that this new and reforming principle of pedagogics and the school, which transforms punishment into medical care and creates special educational institutions which are at the same time sanatoriums, constitutes the pedagogical application of the Lombrosian theories and accomplishes that social task which was foreordained to emanate from the lofty brain of Lombroso.
In its special application to pedagogics, anthropology aids in the difficult task by its diagnosis between the normal and the abnormal child.
But the contribution of anthropology to pedagogics is vastly wider than this. In this restricted sense of diagnosis, it accomplishes, to be sure, a complete reform of the penal sciences, but it is very far from doing like service to the science of pedagogy.
Scientific pedagogy must concern itself before all and above all, with normal individuals, in order to protect them in their development under the guidance of biological laws, and to aid each pupil to adapt himself to his social environment, i.e., to direct him to that form of employment which is best suited to his individual temperament and tendencies.
In this new task, anthropology not only studies the individual, but also gives real and personal contributions to the solution of many pedagogic problems; among others, that relating to study after school hours; to rewards and punishments; to physical training, elocution, etc.; while, by regarding the children as the effects of biological and social causes, it establishes new and enlightening standards of morality and justice, and reveals to educators responsibilities not hitherto conceived. It will suffice to call to mind the fact that the most studious children, and therefore those who receive the greatest amount of praise and prizes, show a deficiency in weight, in chest development, and in muscular force; consequently, a physiological impoverishment the blame for which must be attributed to an ignorance of hygiene and of anthropology, such as still persists throughout the whole field of pedagogy; an ignorance which leads the teacher to encourage by his praises the impoverishment of the best forces that reveal themselves in the school (the most intelligent and studious children) in an age when social industries, multiplied and grown to a giant size, demand the cooperation of a vigorous race, and to inspire by rewards and praise a sentiment of superiority and of vanity in an age that is dominated by the sentiment of universal equality and brotherhood.
The teacher ought, on the contrary, to appoint himself the defender of the race, and to demand, among his other rights, that of making such social reforms and such reforms in the school and in pedagogies as may be necessary to the accomplishment of his purpose, which is the attainment of the highest degree of civilisation and of prosperity.
But this subject would lead us to repeat principles on which we have already insisted; it will suffice to reassert that the tendency of anthropology is undoubtedly toward a reform in the school and the opening of a new era in pedagogy.
The Significance of the So-called Physical Stigmata of Degeneration.—We have studied so many congenital malformations and pathological deformations that a synthetic statement of their significance becomes necessary. All the more so, because certain principles in this connection, already widely circulated among the general public, have now been rejected by science.
One of these principles refers to the so-called atavism and formed part of the original Lombrosian doctrines: but blessed is the scientist who is obliged to correct himself, for that means that his brain is still fertile.
Certain morphological anomalies call to mind forms of the inferior races and species, from which, according to the original Darwinian doctrine of evolution, the human species had descended in a direct line: hence the term "atavistic survival." It will suffice to mention the receding forehead that calls to mind the Neanderthal cranium, the long simian arms, the prognathism distinctive of the inferior human races and of animals, microcephaly which suggests the crania of anthropoid apes, the mongoloid eyes and protruding cheek-bones, which recall the yellow races; the "canine" ear, the wooly or smooth hair, polytrichia, the dark skin, etc.
Now, all this assemblage of stigmata which went under the name of atavistic, or absolute retrogression, were held to be in almost direct relation to degeneration.
Degeneration was supposed to revive in us forms that had been superseded in the course of evolution, and hence also psychic states that had also been superseded in the history of the human race; it is well known that, according to Lombroso, a criminal might be defined as a savage, a barbarian born among us, yet still having within him his particular instincts of theft and slaughter.
To-day, since the original interpretation of the Darwinian theory has been discarded, with it have fallen all those deductions which medicine and sociology were in too great haste to draw, in order to make scientific application of them.
In conclusion, the principle remains firmly established of a correlation between physical and psychic anomalies, which forms the very essence of the Lombrosian theory. What science wishes to-day to correct is the atavistic interpretation of stigmata and of types of degenerates. This takes nothing away from the brilliant record of Lombroso, who interpreted biological and pathological phenomena in the selfsame light that shed glory upon Ernest Haeckel, namely, the Darwinian theory. In the first enthusiasm of that luminous flame which had wrought a reawakening of thought throughout all Europe and the civilised world Lombroso tried to explain according to the letter what could properly be explained only according to the spirit; that is to say, in accordance with a very broad principle (evolution and the successive formation of species) which had been divined but not yet demonstrated.
We ought to have recourse, in interpreting congenital (degenerative) malformations to explanations analogous to those in the case of acquired deformations, i.e., to pathological explanations.
We find ourselves in all these cases in the presence of pathological phenomena affecting either the species or the individual. On the strength of analogies shown by certain malformations, the tendency to-day is to consider them as "arrests of development" or phenomena of infantilism, such, for example, as macrocephaly, macroscelia, nipples or shoulders placed too high, nose tending to flatness, handle-shaped ears, etc.—a whole series of stigmata which go by the name of stigmata of relative retrogression.
Meanwhile there are other malformations which merely deviate from the normal form (Morselli's "simple deviation"), and they may deviate either in the way of an excess (hyperplasia), or of a deficiency (hypoplasia), as, for example, macroglossia, microdontia, macro- and microphthalmia, etc.; or they may deviate in a true and actual sense (paraplasms), as, for example, in the various asymmetries (plagiocephaly, plagioprosopy, etc.). This whole group of above-mentioned stigmata, which seem to have a congenital origin, or, rather, to be connected in a general way with growth itself, are called malformations, to distinguish them from deformations, which evidently have an acquired origin, especially from pathological causes, such, for instance, as rachitis and forms of paralysis which arrest the development of a limb, etc., resulting in functional and morphological asymmetry.