comes almost invariably hereditary; but, if counteracted in time, it
would never be incurable. Strange contradiction! Dissection proves that
a man dies of a malady that may be transmitted, and then, by
precautionary measures, his descendants are preserved from the affection
of which he has been the victim. Let the same facts be produced in the
moral order of things; let it be demonstrated that a criminal almost
always bequeaths to his son the germ of a precocious depravity. Will
society do for the safety of this young soul what the doctor does for
the body, when it is a question of contending against hereditary
vitiation? No; instead of curing this unhappy creature, we leave him to
be gangrened, even to death; and then, in the same way as the people
believe the son of the executioner to be an executioner, perforce, also,
they will believe the son of a criminal also a criminal. And then we
consider that the result of an inheritance inexorably fatal, which is
really a corruption caused by the egotistical neglect of society. Thus,
if, in spite of the evil mark on his name, the orphan, whom the law has
made so, remains, by chance, industrious and honest, a barbarous
prejudice will still reflect on him his father's offences; and thus
subjected to undeserved reprobation, he will scarcely find employment.
And, instead of coming to his aid, to save him from discouragement,
despair, and, above all, the dangerous resentments of injustice, which
sometimes drive the most generous disposition to revolt to ill, society
will say:

"Let him go wrong if he will,--we shall watch him. Have we not gaolers,
turnkeys, and executioners?"

Thus for him who (and it is as rare as it is meritorious) preserves
himself pure in spite of the worst examples, is there any support, any
encouragement? Thus for him who, plunged from his birth in a focus of
domestic depravity, is vitiated quite young, what hope is there of cure?

"Yes, yes, I will cure him, the orphan I have made," replies society;
"but in my own way,--by and by. To extirpate the smallpox, to cut out
the imposthume, it must come to a head."

A criminal desires to speak.

"Prisons and galleys, they are my hospitals. In incurable cases there is
the executioner. As to the cure of my orphan," adds society, "I will
reflect upon it. Let the germ of hereditary corruption ripen; let it
increase; let it extend its ravages far and wide. When our man shall be
rotten to the heart, when crime ooze