he occupation, education, health and character of all who
are nearly related to him is obtained, as also the moral and economic
conditions of his home life, and the character of his associates. He
himself is studied for the existence or traces of disease; for
abnormalities, arrested or exaggerated physical and mental development.
The strength of his various muscles, the vitality of his organs, his
mental and nervous capacity, and his moral susceptibility are all
estimated. His powers of self-control are determined. His disposition is
carefully studied. His opportunities in life, his educational
advantages, his early career, the nature of the crime, the immediate
influencing circumstances, as provocation, hunger, cold, atmospheric
disturbances are all noted.

Such is a brief outline of the examination, the object of which is to
discover as far as possible the real cause which led to the crime, what,
if any, were the social, physical, psychical and provocative elements
contributing to the cause; what their value; and what are the most
promising lines upon which the criminal's reform may be directed. He is
by no means regarded as a passive product of forces over which he has no
control, nor his crime as the consequence of himself. It is essential
to the success of all reformatory discipline that moral responsibility
must be recognised and observed. In fact it may be said, that
reformation is complete when moral responsibility, insisted upon by the
discipline, becomes at last acknowledged by the man.

Perhaps it may be thought that it is not possible to conduct such a
study with anything like accurate results, and that the greater part of
it would be mere guess work, as e.g. the determining the capacity of
a man's nervous system or his degree of moral susceptibility. This is
quite a mistake. There is nothing whatever of a speculative quality in
the results advanced by criminologists. Their methods are exact and
compare equally with those for the investigation of other phenomena.

It is not claimed that the absolute or the relative value of the data
collected is as yet determined, nor yet that any one investigation has
been exhausted; but this much can be claimed, that the results obtained
are of high practical worth and justify the assurance that the solution
of the problem concerning the criminal will soon be reached.

Chapter VIII.

THE PREVENTION OF CRIME.

The result of Criminological studies has indicated