“‘It is the sustained departure from the normal condition of mind and mode of life which should suggest a grave suspicion of impending insanity. When we find a modest man become boastful, a lover of truth transmitted into an habitual liar, a humane individual suddenly become cruel, etc., we may be sure there is mental disturbance of a very severe character.’”
“Well, how about our friend over there, doctor? It’s too dark now to look at him, but our young inspector doesn’t seem to me either particularly mad or cruel.”
“No, not yet, Angland, but I’d bet a thrifle, if I had it, that he hates his work. At present he’s only a ‘sub,’ and if he’s wise he’ll not stick to it. No, he’s not got the cruel facial-lines yet on his ‘boyish front.’”
“Whilst you’re on the subject of ‘hatred, murder, and all uncharitableness,’ will you tell me about the hereditary part of the business? Does a child always inherit the bloodthirsty proclivities of its parents, say, in the case of the father having been forced by circumstances to become a member of the Black Corps?”
“No, not always. It would be rough on the coming race of young bush-reared Australians if that was the case. But as the history of an animal is the history, to a great degree, of the race to which it belongs, as Darwin says, only he puts it in rather a better way, young humans have generally more or less savage instincts. Dr. Hammond, the great authority upon neurology, declares, in a paper upon the Whitechapel murders, that ‘a desire to kill exists, to a greater or lesser extent, in the mind of every human being without exception.’ Now civilization is the counteracting force. Parents living in the backwoods of Australia, and accustomed to few of the restraints of civilization and plenty of scenes of slavery and slaughter, are hardly likely to train their offspring in the paths of gentleness and peace.”
“You think there is more in a child’s associations and home training in determining its character than in its parentage?”
“My experience of children I have seen grow into men certainly points to that conclusion. But it is a somewhat difficult subject on which to gather reliable data, for in nine cases out of ten the child’s parents are inculcating their own ideas of right and wrong into their youngster during the years its expanding brain is most sensitive to permanent impressions. What an ordinary observer might put down to hereditary characteristics of the individual, may thus merely be due to tuition and example.”
“You think the guardians of youngsters, then, more responsible for their children’s sins than is generally supposed?”
“Well, the young of well-bred men and animals—I mean by that of parents whose ancestors have long been trained in and for certain purposes and habits—have possibly less inclination to revert to the original or wild type; but what a lady friend of mine in Auckland said to me once upon a case in point very well expresses my opinions. This lady told me that the mother of Hall called upon her once, bringing the afterward notorious poisoner with her, he being then a child. The youngster was a very spoilt child, and made a great disturbance at first; but by-and-by he became quiet, and left the room where the ladies were seated, to the great relief of both of them. Presently, on Mrs. Hall leaving, the two ladies went to look for the boy, and found him sitting on the lawn quietly watching the agonies of my friend’s ‘harmless, necessary cat,’ all of whose paws he had carefully disarticulated with a small axe. My lady friend in telling me the incident said, ‘I was very shocked, of course, but I can’t say I was very surprised, for he was a thoroughly spoilt boy, and allowed to follow his own inclinations entirely; any child almost would become bad and cruel under those circumstances.’ I believe, on the whole, she was right in her reasoning.”
“And does this murdering of natives still go on, doctor? I can’t really get my mind to believe it?”