Just the same, one needs must dig deeply while aiming high; but above all else, tie to fully-known, practical quantities, and apply them so that they shall yield as nearly as possible, under the circumstance, to the height of their power.
In so far as mental research goes hand in hand in sequence with that dictum, it will bless. Whereas, if it is reduced by too strenuous devotees to the indignity of a fad, it will likely go the way of fads; for it is no “cure-all,” and is first aid to the befuddled mind.
XI
PSYCHOLOGY AND THE CRIMINAL
“Worthy to be a rebel; for to that the multiplying villainies of Nature do swarm upon him.”
Macbeth: Act 1: Scene 1.
Matter of the preceding chapters touches the mental crotchets of criminals with reference to given courses of conduct by given types of criminals.
Though to do so is always precarious, something approaching general statement must be employed to demarcate different grades of lawbreakers; yet attempt to classify criminals and keep them classified, must, in measure, go by the boards. Hence, for one reason, our caption reads, “Psychology and Criminal,” instead of “Psychology of the Criminal.”