These note-books, similar to those hitherto kept by ladies for their house accounts, or for sentimental notes, would be of great service and aid to pedagogic anthropology, even though their use could not be extended to all mothers (the mothers of the proletariat, immoral women, etc., either could not or would not give similar contributions). The institution of "Children's Houses," if more widespread, could easily facilitate the education of the mothers and the diffusion of "Maternal Note-books" throughout all grades of society. But at most these mother's diaries furnish us only with notes of the near antecedents and not of the remote, which are of extreme importance.
Sociological Antecedents: Vocation, Morality, Culture.—Before all else, in inquiring into the sociological antecedents, it is necessary to know in what sort of an environment the child has grown, and whether it is an environment favorable, or otherwise, to his physical, psychic, intellectual and moral development. This is an exceedingly important matter to determine for the purposes of a clinical history, since the child's moral conduct and the profit derived from study depend to a large extent upon the environment in which the child has grown and lived. To this end inquiries should be made into the economic circumstances of the child's parents, their vocation, moral standards and degree of education, and also into the child's mode of life, whether with the parents or other relations, or with persons not related to him, whether he plays in the street, keeps company with street children, etc.
School Record: Judgments of Teachers.—This is the history of the pupil as made by his teachers, beginning with the first day that he enters school. The judgments of teachers, although not always so precise and so fair as those of mothers, nevertheless have an importance of their own. Inquiry should be made into the child's conduct in school and the profit he derives from his studies.
Illustrative Cases.—There are, for example, certain families so infected with a degenerative or pathological taint that the remote antecedents are sufficient in themselves to stigmatise the biological condition of an abnormal subject. This may be seen in the genealogy of the Misdea family (taken from Lombroso's work):
Grandfather: MICHELE MISDEA
(Not very intelligent, but very active)
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ |
| 1st uncle Guiseppe (imbecile) | 2nd uncle Domenico (eccentric and violent) ↓ | 3d uncle Cosimo (quick-tempered killed in a quarrel) | 4th uncle Michele (semi-imbecile) | Misdea the father (alcoholic, spendthrift, married to an hysterical woman, one of whose brotherswas a brigand and another a thief). ↓ |
| ↓ | ||||
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | |
| 1st cousin (idiot) | 2d cousin (madman) | 3d cousin (imbecile) | 4th cousin (imbecile) | ↓ |
| ↓ | ||||
| ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ | ↓ |
| 1st brother Cosimo (obscene, Misdea epileptic, drunkard, convicted of assault). ↓ | 2d brother Salvatore | 3d brother (sane) | 4th brother (alcoholic) | 5th brother (incorrigible) |
| ↓ | ||||
| grandson (obscene) | ||||
Similarly extraordinary is the genealogy of Ada Türcker, an alcoholic, thief and vagabond, born in 1740, a large part of whose numerous descendants it has been possible to trace. Out of the 834 individuals derived from this degenerate woman, the lives of no less than 709 have been followed up, and among these are included 143 mendicants, 64 inmates of asylums, 181 prostitutes, 69 criminals, and 7 murderers, who altogether cost the state upward of seven million francs!
Besides families like these there are others infected with a pathological taint, in which phthisis and gout alternate with epilepsy and insanity. Then again there are other families in which the pathological taint is scarcely perceptible, as for example, the family of an epileptic child with criminal tendencies, personally studied by me; all the members of this family are long-lived and enjoy good health; the father alone is a sufferer from articular rheumatism. Lastly there are families in which there is no sign of pathological or degenerative weakness; and in such cases we say that there is nothing noteworthy in the genealogy, and the near antecedents assume the highest degree of importance.
The study of antecedents not only has a scientific importance, in so far as it contributes to a knowledge of anthropological varieties of mankind (due to adaptation); but it also has an immediate pedagogic importance through its useful application to the school.