luence of alcohol as a cause of crime will, from
the nature of the case, never be possible; but this much is certain,
that EVERY cause finds in it a strengthening contributary of
considerable potentiality.

=Imitation.=--One of the principal characteristics of the criminal is
his excessive vanity. His great ambition is to gain notoriety and to be
talked about by the public. Almost every criminal has his hero in crime
whose deed he tries to emulate as nearly as possible; or, better still,
to outshine. Thus we find, that when some daring deed has been
perpetrated, there are not wanting others who quickly make an attempt to
imitate it. A prisoner tried to kill his comrade because a third man,
who was standing his trial for murder, was receiving in his estimation
too much attention from the public and especially "too many bouquets." A
murderer in New Zealand declared that the notorious bushranger Ned Kelly
was his ideal of a man. A certain priest, beloved by all, was found
murdered. None could account for the crime; afterwards it was discovered
to have been the act of a young criminal who performed it merely as an
act of bravado. Instances of this sort might be multiplied all tending
to show that the vanity of the criminal leads him, as far as his courage
will permit, to imitate the most daring deeds in crime. The witnessing
of executions and reading the accounts of fictitious and real crimes
often leads many into crime. As a deterrent to crime, it was once the
custom in England to conduct executions in public. Lombroso records it
as being his conviction that such publicity does, by the law of
imitation, lead more into crime than it turns from it. This he considers
is one of the most powerful arguments in favour of abolishing the death
penalty. Out of 167 persons condemned to death in England, 164 had been
present at executions. The reading of sensational novels or the
descriptive accounts of great crimes has a most alarming effect upon
those who are of an impressionable nature. These persons are to
themselves the heroes of an imaginary world. They will put on an air of
bravado, adopt a "swagger" style of attire, carry sharp knives and pose
before their companions as dare-devils. If not sufficiently courageous
to perform deeds of daring they will constantly be recounting imaginary
ones for which they will claim the authorship; or else they will be for
ever threatening to do something of a staggering nature. The more
courage