However, those who look for such as psychoanalysis to carry the burden of the quiring for reformation, are destined for disappointment. They are, for the very simple reason that an individual is, at a given moment, the sum of countless impressions, thousands of which were not sufficiently engraved on his memory to abide there; but which, to the last impression, pyramided upon either his good, or bad, or doubtful character. Therefore, mental research must be comparative, as is every thing else on earth; and therefore, the results accruing from mental research will be comparative results, as are all results on earth. Just the same, one needs must dig deeply while aiming high; but above all else, tie to fully-known, practical quantities, and apply them so that they shall yield as nearly as possible, under the circumstance, to the height of their power. In so far as mental research goes hand in hand in sequence with that dictum, it will bless. Whereas, if it is reduced by too strenuous devotees to the indignity of a fad, it will likely go the way of fads; for it is no "cure-all," and is first aid to the befuddled mind. XI PSYCHOLOGY AND THE CRIMINAL "_Worthy to be a rebel; for to that the multiplying villainies of Nature do swarm upon him._" _Macbeth: Act 1: Scene 1._ Matter of the preceding chapters touches the mental crotchets of criminals with reference to given courses of conduct by given types of criminals. Though to do so is always precarious, something approaching general statement must be employed to demarcate different grades of lawbreakers; yet attempt to classify criminals and keep them classified, must, in measure, go by the boards. Hence, for one reason, our caption reads, "Psychology _and_ Criminal," instead of "Psychology _of_ the Criminal." There is no such thing as psychology of _the_ criminal. There is psychology of _a_ given criminal, under given circumstances, in a given environment, after a given bringing-up. The rest will issue with the preponderating weight of influence, comprehensive as relates to the activities in full from birth of a given subject, in addition to his congenital markings. The school of crime differs from any other schooling, in that the order of procedure is usually retrogressive instead of progressive. Your dockrat sneak-thief dreams of the notable moment when he can ride gun-hung with broad-day bandits. The tyro at dealing crookedly from a "cold deck" practices assiduously for the day when he can "go South" and "mark" cards while they are in play with the best of them: the which means that he must take with him naught of the rough-hewn churl in speech and approach, since crass attack would cross the high-class "suckers" for whom he casts his lines. Right here it is pat to interpolate a cardinal clue as to why so many cannot be brought to realization of the ominous menace of the criminal; and why criminals of all types "get away with it," both without and within prison walls.