It may seem a simple idea to class great men, who have exercised such an enormous influence on civilisation, with wretched beings, to whom no brilliant part has been allotted, and to estimate mad ideas at their true worth; yet it had never occurred to any one before.
It is in the minor works of geniuses that the greater number of absurdities abound, but they are little known to the general public, who are acquainted only with the masterpieces. Critics either ignored the absurdities and heresies contained in these works, or, dazzled by the genius of the author, made them the subject of infinite studies, in the conviction that they were merely allusions or symbols demanding interpretation. All the defects of great men, all the extravagant notions written or spoken by them were covered with the magic veil of glory; and there was no innocent little child, as in Andersen's charming story, to tell the world of the nakedness of geniuses.
Thus idiocy, epilepsy and genius, crimes and sublime deeds were forged into one single chain; and the brilliant lights of some of its links, and the gloomy shadows thrown by others, were reduced to a play of molecules, like those which transform carbon into a refulgent diamond or a sombre lump of graphite.
_Criminal Man (L'Uomo Delinquente) considered in relation to Anthropology, Jurisprudence, and Psychiatry_
Although my father's theories on the male criminal have already been set forth in the volume now presented to the public, I feel that it would not be inappropriate to add to the descriptions of his other important works a brief survey of the original book for the use of readers desirous of studying the subject more thoroughly.
The first volume is devoted to an investigation of the atavistic origin of crime among plants, animals, savages, and children. This is followed by an exhaustive study of the physical nature of the born criminal and the epileptic, modern craniology, the anomalies connected with the different classes of offences, the spine, pelvis, limbs, and physiognomy. The data given are based on the results obtained from the examination of about 7000 criminals.
In the study of the brain, the macroscopic anomalies in the convolutions and histological structure of the cerebral cortex of criminals and epileptics are the object of special consideration, since these anomalies solve the problem of the origin of criminality.
