Criminal Man, According to the Classification of Cesare LombrosoLombroso, Gina
Science
Criminal Man, According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso
Lombroso, Gina
Criminal anthropology; Criminology
_The Feet._ Spaces between the toes like the interdigital spaces of the
hand are very common, and in conjunction with the greater mobility of
the toes and greater length of the big-toe, produce the prehensile foot,
of the quadrumana, which is used for grasping. The foot is often flat,
as in negroes. In the feet, as in the hands, there is frequently a
tendency to greater strength or dexterity on the left side, contrary to
what happens in normal persons, and this tendency is manifested in many
cases where there is no trace of functional and motorial
left-handedness.
_The Cerebrum and the Cerebellum._ The chief and most common anomaly is
the prevalence of macroscopic anomalies in the left hemisphere, which
are correlated to the sensory and functional left-handedness common to
criminals and acquired through illness. The most notable anomaly of the
cerebellum is the hypertrophy of the vermis, which represents the middle
lobe found in the lower mammals. Anomalies in the cerebral convolutions
consist principally of anastomotic folds, the doubling of the fissure of
Rolando, the frequent existence of a fourth frontal convolution, the
imperfect development of the precuneus (as in many types of apes), etc.
Anomalies of a purely pathological character are still more common.
These are: adhesions of the meninges, thickening of the pia mater,
congestion of the meninges, partial atrophy, centres of softening,
seaming of the optic thalami, atrophy of the corpus callosum, etc.
Of great importance, too, are the histological anomalies discovered by
Roncoroni in the brains of criminals and epileptics. In normal
individuals the layers of the frontal region are disposed in the
following manner:
1. Molecular layer. 2. Superficial layer of small cells. 3. Layer of
small pyramidal cells. 4. Deep layer of small nerve cells. 5. Layer of
polymorphous cells (see Fig. 6).
In certain animals, the dog, ape, rabbit, ox, and domestic fowl, the
superficial layer is frequently non-existent and the deep one is found
only to some extent in the ape.
In born criminals and epileptics there is a prevalence of large,
pyramidal, and polymorphous cells, whereas in normal individuals small,
triangular, and star-shaped cells predominate. Also the transition from
the small superficial to the large pyramidal cells is not so regular,
and the number of nervous cells is noticeably below the average.
Whereas, moreover, in the normally constituted brain, nervous cells are
very scarce or entirely absent in the white substance, in the case of
born criminals and epileptics they abound in this part of the brain.
The abnormal morphological arrangement described by Roncoroni is
probably the anatomical expression of hereditary alterations, and
reveals disorders in nervous development which lead to moral insanity
or epilepsy according to the gravity of the morbid conditions which give
rise to them.
=FIG. 6
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