[untitled] The Harvard Theological Review, (1917-10-01), pages 391-394

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BOOK REVIEWS 391

bution are very perplexing indeed, such as the appearance of Melane-
sian motives in the southeastern regions. As the author realizes,
a satisfactory interpretation of the data is rendered difiBcult by the
absence of Tasmanian and West Australian data.

Throughout the volume Professor Dixon pays attention to the
problem of historical connection, offering tentative but for the most
part sane and stimulating suggestions as to the contact of the several
Oceanian populations. It seems a great pity, and is probably the
only serious deficiency of his work, that he has not been equally
generous in his treatment of American parallels. To be sure, a fair
number of these are mentioned, but their theoretical treatment is
casual and in the conclusion entirely too summary. These resem-
blances are so remarkable that Tylor in his Researches into the Early
History of Mankind, in spite of his bias in favor of independent
development of cultural features, was constrained to suggest an
historical connection between the New and the Old World. This
general problem has become a perennial one in ethnological circles,
and a table setting forth all the significant similarities between
Oceanian and American lore would have been of the greatest service.

In conclusion, a tribute should be paid to the literary deftness with
which Professor Dixon has handled his subject. Even to the pro-
fessional ethnologist a volume of primitive tales generally forebodes
a considerable measure of boredom, but the author's method of treat-
ment has very successfully overcome this difficulty, so that the book
makes decidedly interesting reading.

ROBEBT H. LowiEj.
American Museitm of Natural History,
New York.

The Individual DELiNQUBajT. Wilmam Healy. Little, Brown, & Co.
1915. Pp. xviii, 830.

Criminological literature since the days of Lombroso has been
characterized by the lavish production of one-sided theories con-
cerning the origin of crime. A few notable text-book writers (e.g.,
Aschaffenburg, Ferri, Bonger, De Quiros) have synthesized the
findings of the monographists and have suggested that each criminal
act is to be traced to a variety of factors, both constitutional and
environmental. Few studies of all of the important causative
factors of crime have been written covering large numbers of in-
dividual criminals. Recently, however, two very significant con-
tributions have been made to this literature, both of which are more
valuable in many respects than any preceding studies in this field.

Sm HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW

These two are Goring's The English Convict and Healy's The Indi-
vidual Delinquent. The former, prepared by an associate of Karl
Pearson, is a biometrical study of 3000 adult males "guilty of grave
and repeated offences" and imprisoned in the Parkhurst Prison in
England. The latter is a study made in Chicago of 1000 juvenile
delinquents, mostly repeaters.

The cases covered in The Individual Delinquent were selected
from those brought before the Psychopathic Institute of the Juvenile
Court of Chicago. The study was confined to the "formative
period, for the sake of learning the structural growth of whole de-
linquent careers." "Just because the delinquent's character is the
result of a long-continued process of growth, one needs to regard
him as the product of forces, as well as the smn of his present con-
stituent parts; one must study him dynamically as well as statically,
genetically as well as a finished result."

The aim of Dr. Healy's work is stated to be " to ascertain from the
actualities of life the basic factors of disordered social conduct,"
and its field is termed "characterology," for "as students of character
we are dealing with the motives and driving forces of human conduct,
and, since conduct is directly a product of mental life, we immediately
become involved in individual and differential psychology." Dr.
Healy's book, though it may not be criticised fairly as unilateral,
stresses the psychological factors of crime.

The first chapters are on Orientations and the Mental Bases of
Delinquency. These are followed by three chapters on Working
Methods, submitting a schedule used for recording case-histories,
and showing the order and the form of examination of each case, and
by a long chapter on the mental tests, which includes a description
of some new tests devised by Dr. Healy. These are followed by a
chapter on Statistics, which classifies and enumerates certain of the
causes of crime, by a chapter on methodological conclusions, and by
another on conclusions as to treatment of cases.

The chapter on Statistics of the cases is a summary of Dr. Healy's
findings. The Statistical analysis of home-conditions, of mental
conflicts, of sex-experiences, of physical conditions, of "unsatisfied
interests," of early developmental conditions, has the appearance of
precision. It is unfortunately not well explained nor is the basis of
the differentiation of cases well shown. Nevertheless, the chapter, as
it stands, is an important contribution to criminological literature.

The cautiousness of the writer is displayed at several points in the
statistical chapter. Avoiding the present tendency to blame crimi-
nality upon heredity, he lists defects of heredity as a minor causative

BOOK REVIEWS 393

factor of criminality in 502 out of 823 cases, and never as a main
factor. (We wonder if heredity played no appreciable part in the
production of the remaining cases of criminality.) "Feeble-minded-
ness" is listed as a major factor in 92 cases, and "mental sub-
normality" in 66 cases, but 455 are listed as showing "mental
abnormality " or " peculiar mental characteristics . ' ' This is a cautious
attempt to sub-divide narrowly the mental peculiarities of cases.
Other specialists would probably have classified a larger fraction of
cases under "feeble-mindedness." One may wonder also what may
be the significance of listing 455 out of 823 cases as possessing
"mental peculiarities." How large a percentage of the general
population would he have discovered by the same tests to suffer from
" mental peculiarities ' ' ?

Dr. Healy's findings concerning the stigmata of degeneracy are
of interest, because like Goring he discovers no support for the
theory of the origin of crime in atavism, as broached by Lombroso.
Well-marked stigmata were found in 133 of the 1000 cases. Those
structural anomalies "which could be found by careful examination
on almost every human body have altogether been left out of count."
The presence of the stigmata is considered in its relation to mental
pecuUarities, and Healy concludes, "If the cases of mental ab-
normality were taken out of our series, the proportion of marked
stigmata would be Kttle, if any, larger than in the general popula-
tion."

Book II treats of "Cases, Types, Causative Factors," and deals
in considerable detail with cases illustrating factors of heredity,
physical ailments and abnormahties, the use of stimulants. En-
vironmental factors are treated briefly, but psychological factors are
discussed through twenty chapters. The chapter-headings indicate
satisfactorily the classification: Professional Criminalism, Deliberate
Choice of Criminalism, Mental Imagery, Mental Habit, Mental
Conflict and Repressions, Abnormal Sexualism, Epilepsy, Mental
Abnormality in General, Mental Defect (four chapters). Mental Dull-
ness from Physical Conditions, Psychic Constitutional Inferiority,
Mental Aberrations (three chapters). Mental Pecvdiarities (four
chapters). Pathological SteaUng, etc. This second book consti-
tutes Dr. Healy's major contribution to criminological literature.
176 case-histories are placed in turn before the reader, with com-
ments which indicate fairly well the method of interpretation and
classification.

It is impossible in a book of 830 pages to treat cases of criminality
in suflScient detail to convince the reader of the correctness of

394 HARVARD THEOLOGICAL REVIEW

diagnosis. That is a difficulty inherent in the production of this
type of book. An elaborate monograph concerning each case would
still leave important questions unanswered. The author has,
however, provided us with a good outUne of his method, and has
shown us in a large number of cases how that method was applied
and what his findings were. These cannot fail to be in a high degree
valuable to any reader, layman or sf»ecialist, and out of the inevitable
disagreement as to interpretation will come improvement of method
of analysis of character.

On its psychological side, this work makes its major claim to
resp»ect. The newer psychoanalysis is but slightly applied, and
Freud, Jung, and the mass of recent psychoanalytical literature
are seldom mentioned. It is qiiestionable whether any one individual
could do what Dr. Healy has done and yet offer at the same time that
psychoanalytic treatment of cases which is now urgently needed by
penologists. It is to be hoped that some day in the not distant
future we may have a collaborated study of a 1000 individual
delinquents comprising correlated studies of each individual case
by a physician, a social scientist, a psychologist, and a psycho-
analyst, each highly trained and competent. Dr. Healy's admir-
able book is frankly submitted as a preliminary study of a large
question. It is a notable volume, a unique contribution to crimi-
nology, and should be utilized not only by specialists in criminology,
sociology, and psychology, but by ministers, teachers, social workers,
physicians — all persons whose function it is to guide youth in the
process of character building.

James Ford.
Harvard University.

A Guide to the Study of the Chbistian Religion. Edited by G. B.

Smith. The University of Chicago Press. 1916. Pp. x, 759. $3.00.
The Belief in God and Immortality. James H. Leuba. Sherman,

French, & Co. 1916. Pp. xx, 340. $2.00.
The Foundation of Modern Religion. The Cole Lectures for 1916.

Herbert B. Workman, D.D., LL.D. Fleming H. Revell Co. 1916.

Pp. 249. $1.25.
Is Christianity Practicable.' William Adams Brown. Chas. Scrib-

ner's Sons. 1916. Pp. xviii, 246. $1.25.

In the making of sermons, a text may be either a point of de-
parture or a point of arrival. It may be taken as a statement of
revealed truth calling for explication and enforcement, or, by an
approach from ordinary human experience, it may be discovered as