Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/479

* HABIT. 427 HACHETTE. is habit, by virtue of its regularity and unifor- mity; it is also usage, by virtue of its social or common character. But it is. further, normative in nature: it exercises a moral consti'aint; vo may disobey it, as we may disregard the moral laws proper, but we do so at the risk of being considered 'eccentric,' if of nothing worse. Fash- ion is an individual habit which has acquired a temporary vogue. Habit in Its Relations to Ecology and Evo- lution. The habits of animals play an important part in evolution. A study of the habits or mode of life peculiar to this or that animal, i.e. wheth- er it has creeping, leaping, Ih'ing, burrowing, or mining habits, is receiving at this time much at- tention. The habits of an animal change with the environment. By competition a plastic form may be compelled to change its habits. A form adapted to living on land may be forced to change its habits, and become aquatic or adapted for flight. Thus the whales have evidently de- scended from some terrestrial ancestor which went on all fours, and birds have apparently sprung from some four-footed reptile. The initial cause of these transformations was a change in the conditions of life, together perhaps with com- petition. This led to change of habits, and this caused changes in the use or functions of this or that organ, this change being accompanied by changes in other parts of the body (correlation of parts). Hence it will be seen that the matter of habits and change of habits has direct bear- ings on the evolution of organisms. The importance of habits was clearly perceived by Lamarck, and change of habits is one of the factors of organic evolution suggested by him. He asserted that "great changes in circumstances bring aboiit in animals great changes in their needs, and such changes in their needs neces- saril.y cause changes in their actions. Now, if the new needs become constant or very perma- nent, the animals then assume new habits, which are as durable as the needs which gave origin to them." Then he goes on to say that if new habits are formed "there will from this result the use of such a part by preference to that of another, and in certain cases the total lack of use of any part which has become useless." He again says: "Such is then the power of habits, which have a singular influence on the conformations of parts, and which give to the animals which have for a long time contracted certain of them fac- ulties not found in other animals." Darwin also occasionally speaks of the effects of habits, both in domestic and in wild animals. At present much attention is being paid to a study of the habits of animals, since it affords data for the study of comparative psychology. Consult: Wundt. Ethics, translated (New York, 1897); .Tames, Principles of Psijcholofti/ (New York, 1890), which gives ethical impli- cations and pedagogical maxims ; Carpenter, Meyital Physioloiii/ (London, 1888); Huxley, Lessons in Elementary Physiology (New York, 1896) ; Sully, Outlines of Psychology (London, 1889). See Assooiation of Idkas; Custom; In- stinct. HABITUAL CKIMINAI,. One whose habit of indulging in criminal acts has been estab- lished by previous convictions. In some of our States there are statutes fixing three convictions as the minimum number required to constitute Vol. IX. -28. one an habitual criminal or offender, and in the absence of legislative dehnition, this number is sullicient to make out a case of habitual or common criminality. In other States, one con- viction of a felony or five convictions of a mis- demeanor warrant a judgment of habitual crimi- nality. It is the present view tluil an habitual offender against the criminal law ought to be punished more severely tlian a first transgressor. Accordingly, modern legislation |)rovides a sliding scale of punishments for persons convicted of crime. For the first offense a mild penalty is im- posed, wliile a heavier penalty is inflicted with each repetition of the same offense. (See Se.- TENCE. ) In some States it is provided that the person of an habitual criminal shall be at all times subject to the supervision of every judicial magistrate of the county, and of the overseer of the part of the town where the crimi- nal may be found, to the same extent that a minor is subject to the control of his parent or guardian. Consult: Bishop, 'Sew Criminal Law (Chicago, 1892) ; Blackburn v. State, 50 Ohio St., 428 (1893). HABITUAL DRUNKABD. In ordinary language a drunkard is one who has the habit of gething drunk, and the term habitual drunkard is therefore tautological ; but the term has a tech- nical legal use in the sense, a person who has become so confirmed in this habit of getting drunk as to render him a proper subject of legal guard- ianship, analogous to that exercised over insane persons, under provisions of statutory law. The law of the State of New York is typical of this class of legislation. LTnder it the proceed- ings for the appointment of a committee of a person as an habitual drunkard involves an in- quest into his character and habits, as in the case of insane persons. The eonunittee, when ap- jjointed, has charge, not only of the estate of the drunkard, but also, subject to control of the court, of his person, so that he can fix his resi- dence and otherwise determine his method of living. A finding of habitual drunkenness upon the in- quest deprives the habitual drunkard of his ca- pacity to bind himself by contracts, even when sober; but it does not class him with those per- sons of unsound mind who cannot make a valid will. See Drunkenness, and consult the author- ities there referred to. HACHETTE, ha'shet', Jean Nicolas Pierbe (1769-1834). French mathematician, born at Mezieres (Ardennes). He studied at Charleville and at Rheims, and taught at Rocroy ( 1787 ), Jle- zi&res (1788-92), and at the Coll&ge de Collioure (1793). On the founding-of the Ecole Polytech- nique in Paris, in 1794, he was given a sub- ordinate position, and in 1797 was called to the chair of descriptive geometry in this in- stitution. In 1810 he was nominated to a professorship in the university, but for politi- cal reasons the Government refused to confirm the nomination. His first election, in 1823, to the Academy of Sciences also failed of confir- mation, although he was finally, in 1831, suc- cessful in securing a scat. ITachette was a prolific writer on mathematical topics, his mem- oirs appearing in the -Jonrnnl dr I'Fcole Pulii- lerhniqiie. in the Corresponrlnnce de I' Ecole PoUi- tcchnique (Paris, 1817, 3 vols., which he edited),