It is not to be anticipated that Dr. Devon will at all points and at once conciliate agreement. Probably he is the last man to expect it. Perhaps it is even undesirable that his views should be accepted without keen discussion. But Dr. Devon is a seasoned warrior, well accustomed to fight his own battles; and no man is readier to acknowledge frankly a sound criticism. Dr. Devon begins and ends on the same note: absolute necessity for the "recognition of social conditions as they exist." Yes, "as they exist"; and not otherwise. His official position as medical officer of a large prison for more than half a generation, and a long experience as one of the examiners for the Crown for criminal cases in the West of Scotland, give him a right to a hearing on the medical and official aspects of the subject. There have been other writers that could claim official knowledge of the subject but Dr. Devon's qualifications on the social side are exceptional. He was helping to earn his own living before he was eleven, and his knowledge of the conditions of life among the working class has not been acquired from the outside. He had a practical acquaintanceship with the work of the unskilled labourer and of the artisan before he began the study of medicine; and his professional life, spent mainly in the poorhouse and the prison, has given him opportunities for outside observation of conditions with which he had had an earlier and more intimate acquaintance. He has been emphatically a man of the people, going in and out among his fellow-citizens of all classes for many years--lecturing, sharing confidences, advising and counselling every day, and, in a word, familiarising himself with every aspect of the diversified social life around him; an incalculable advantage when utilized by a keen intellect and a sympathetic heart. It will be found, then, that he has brought together the two factors of the problem--the Criminal and Society--with a solvent power beyond any previous effort. I believe that his book is the most illuminating and the wisest that has ever been written on the subject. CONTENTS PART I THE STUDY OF THE CRIMINAL CHAPTER I THE CRIMINAL AND THE CRIMINOLOGISTS Classification of criminals--The treatment of the criminal not a medical but a social question--Technical differences between crimes and offences--Changes in the law--Vice and crime--The beginner in crime--Common characters of the "criminal class"--Atrocious crimes exceptional--So-called scientific studies of the criminal--How figures mislead-- Composite photographs and averages--Estimate of character from physical examination--Causal relationship to crime of these characters _pages_ 3-17 CHAPTER II HEREDITY AND CRIME