Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/546

 530 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

hands, feet, fingers, thumbs, and ears. After working for a time among the various nationalities which the prisons here present, I found that nationality was so influential, that so much depended upon race, climate, soil, nutrition, etc., of the various countries, that these results must be compared with those of normals of the same race and conditions. This seems to demonstrate clearly that we cannot accept the statements that criminals are more brachycephalic than normals, when one has measured only Italians or Russians, and that this is an ethnic characteristic. It is just here that Lombroso's results are untrustworthy when applied to various races and countries. Where one is dealing with structure, and this is dependent upon climate, soil, atmosphere, food, geographical location, etc., data must be confined to the race from which they are gleaned, and not be extended to char- acterize all criminals, merely because they are such.

With reference to weight, Lombroso says prostitutes are often heavier. He says : "This greater weight among prostitutes is confirmed by the notorious fact of the obesity of those who grow old in their vile trade, and who become positive monsters of adipose tissue."' My observations show the average weight of the student to be 124 pounds; of the prostitute, 120 pounds; the maximum. weight for any prostitute was 160. From a care- ful observation of some 400 women in the Blackwell's Island workhouse I was unable to verify his statement, as these women were not heavier than were those observable upon New York streets. He makes no note of the fact that there is a tendency toward obesity with increasing age, or that nutrition, sanitary conditions, labor, etc., influence this among both nor- mals and criminals.

With reference to age, Lombroso states that prostitutes are long-lived.^ This fact is not applicable to Americans. Dr. Sanger, once resident physician at Blackwell's Island, has studied the subject thoroughly in America, and says: "In Paris 6^ per cent, survive courtesan life for fourteen years ; in New York, only 2 Y^ per cent. ; in Paris, 1 7 y^ per cent, survive the life for ten

' Lombroso, Female Offender, p. 50. '^ Ibid., pp. 127-9.