At eight years commenced at school to steal certificates of merit in order
to get a prize. At fourteen, at the invitation of a friend who was a
thief, robbed a jeweller; from that time committed numerous robberies
whenever he could. Willingly gets drunk, but his chief passion is travel.
In politics he would prefer a Republic, but without police or prisons; but
confesses that in winter, when work is scarce, “it is not bad in prison.”
His parents affirm they are honest, but not the other relations. Mother
suffers from palpitation of the heart. One sister is leading a bad life;
another is very religious. A maternal cousin was in prison. (V. Rossi.)
III.--Certa Fil, condemned to four years’ imprisonment for thefts of fur
cloaks and similar articles. Age 56. Circumference of head, 545. Right eye
placed rather low. Tendon reflexes normal.
From a child she has suffered from illness caused by fear, owing to a fall
into the water. From fifteen to thirty suffered from frequent headaches.
Eight years ago, about three years before thefts, had typhoid fever, and
also contracted syphilis from her husband. She had frequent and severe
pain in the temples. No children. Her mother suffered from arthritis,
which caused melancholy, which is said to have contributed to her death.
She had fourteen children, mostly twins, who all died at birth except one,
who is very extravagant and dissolute.
_Sensibility._--With esthesiometer: on the hand, 3 mm. on left, 2 mm. on
right; head, 16 mm.; tongue, 9 mm. With faradic current: general
sensibility, 70 mm.; on the hands, while a student has pain on palm at 55,
on dorsum at 60, she has pain on right palm at 50, left at 50; right
dorsum at 60, left at 55. Strength with dynamometer slight: right, 28 cg.;
left, 38 cg.; with both hands, 58 cg.
_Psychological Examination._--Married at age of nineteen, she lived
happily with husband for twenty years, _i.e._, until age of thirty-nine.
Then the husband began to lead a dissolute life, and infected his wife
with syphilis. Driven wild by her husband’s continual ill-treatment, she
began to steal furs and other articles from a neighbouring shop. She was
always afraid of being discovered, and experienced remorse which took away
sleep and appetite, and she planned methods for restoring the things
without being discovered.
During her four years of imprisonment she did not learn the _gergo_ or
prisoner’s slang, would not associate with her companions, and was always
crying. She blushed slightly when questioned concerning her periods.
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