Cesare Lombroso
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Cesare Lombroso ( , ; ; born Ezechia Marco Lombroso; 6 November 1835 – 19 October 1909) was an Italian
eugenicist Eugenics is a set of largely discredited beliefs and practices that aim to improve the genetics, genetic quality of a human population. Historically, eugenicists have attempted to alter the frequency of various human Phenotype, phenotypes by ...
, criminologist, phrenologist,
physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...
, and founder of the Italian school of criminology. He is considered the founder of modern criminology by changing the Western notions of individual responsibility. Lombroso rejected the established classical school, which held that crime was a characteristic trait of human nature. Instead, using concepts drawn from
physiognomy Physiognomy () or face reading is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain without referenc ...
, degeneration theory,
psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental disorder, mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, Mood (psychology), mood, emotion, and behavior. ...
, and
Social Darwinism Charles Darwin, after whom social Darwinism is named Social Darwinism is a body of pseudoscientific theories and societal practices that purport to apply biological concepts of natural selection and survival of the fittest to sociology, economi ...
, Lombroso's theory of anthropological criminology essentially stated that criminality was inherited, and that someone "born criminal" could be identified by physical (congenital) defects, which confirmed a criminal as savage or atavistic.


Early life and education

Lombroso was born in
Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...
, Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, on 6 November 1835 to a wealthy Jewish family. "Cesare Lombroso, A Brief Biography", ''Brain and Mind'' (1997).
/ref> His father was Aronne Lombroso, a tradesman from Verona, and his mother was Zeffora (or Zefira) Levi from Chieri near
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
. Cesare Lombroso descended from a line of rabbis, which led him to study a wide range of topics in university. He studied literature,
linguistics Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...
, and archæology at the universities of
Padua Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
,
Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, and Paris. Despite pursuing these studies in university, Lombroso eventually settled on pursuing a degree in medicine, which he graduated with from the University of Pavia.


Career

Lombroso initially worked as an army surgeon, beginning in 1859 when he enlisted as a volunteer. He claimed that he developed the theory of atavistic criminality during this period. In 1866, he was appointed visiting lecturer at
Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...
, and later took charge of the insane asylum at
Pesaro Pesaro (; ) is a (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Marche, capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, on the Adriatic Sea. According to the 2011 census, its population was 95,011, making it the second most populous city in the ...
in 1871. His research into the bodily characteristics of soldiers and asylum inmates became the foundation of his work on criminal anthropology. He became professor of forensic medicine and hygiene at
Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...
in 1878. That year he wrote his most important and influential work, ''L'uomo delinquente'' (''Criminal Man'' in English), which went through five editions in Italian and was published in various European languages. Three of his works had been translated into English by 1900, including a partial translation of ''The Female Offender'' published in 1895 and read in August of that year by the late nineteenth-century English novelist George Gissing (1857–1903). Lombroso became a professor of psychiatry (1896) and of criminal anthropology (1906) at Turin University.


Personal life and final years

Lombroso married Nina de Benedetti on 10 April 1870. They had five children together, one of whom— Gina—would go on to publish a summary of Lombroso's work after his death. He died in Turin in 1909.


Concept of criminal atavism

Lombroso's general theory suggested that criminals are distinguished from noncriminals by multiple physical anomalies. He postulated that criminals represented a reversion to a primitive or subhuman type of person characterized by physical features reminiscent of apes, lower
primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...
s, and early humans and to some extent preserved, he said, in modern "savages". The behaviour of these biological "throwbacks" will inevitably be contrary to the rules and expectations of modern civilized society. Through years of postmortem examinations and anthropometric studies of criminals, the insane, and normal individuals, Lombroso became convinced that the "born criminal" (''reo nato'', a term given by Ferri) could be anatomically identified by such items as a sloping forehead, ears of unusual size, asymmetry of the face, prognathism, excessive length of arms, asymmetry of the cranium, and other "physical stigmata". Specific criminals, such as thieves, rapists, and
murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse committed with the necessary Intention (criminal law), intention as defined by the law in a specific jurisd ...
ers, could be distinguished by specific characteristics, he believed. Lombroso also maintained that criminals had less sensitivity to
pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging Stimulus (physiology), stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sense, sensory and emotional experience associated with, or res ...
and touch; more acute sight; a lack of moral sense, including an absence of remorse; more vanity, impulsiveness, vindictiveness, and
cruelty Cruelty is the intentional infliction of suffering or the inaction towards another's suffering when a clear remedy is readily available. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept. Cruel ways of inflicting suffering may involv ...
; and other manifestations, such as a special criminal argot and the excessive use of
tattooing A tattoo is a form of body modification made by inserting tattoo ink, dyes, or pigments, either indelible or temporary, into the dermis layer of the Human skin, skin to form a design. Tattoo artists create these designs using several Process of ...
. For Lombroso, the "born criminal" character was embodied by
Vittorio Pini Vittorio Pini (20 August 1859, in Reggio Emilia – 8 June 1903, in the penal colony of Cayenne) was a worker, activist, and theorist of Individualist anarchism, individualist and Illegalism, illegalist anarchism. Having arrived in France during ...
(1859–1903), a famous Italian
anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...
who engaged in a series of sensationalist robberies and was one of the founders of illegalism. He chose him to be the archetype of that idea he was developing. Besides the "born criminal", Lombroso also described " criminaloids", or occasional criminals, criminals by passion, moral imbeciles, and criminal epileptics. He recognized the diminished role of organic factors in many habitual offenders and referred to the delicate balance between predisposing factors (organic, genetic) and precipitating factors such as one's environment, opportunity, or poverty. In ''Criminal Woman'', as introduced in an English translation by Nicole Hahn Rafter and Mary Gibson, Lombroso used his theory of atavism to explain women's criminal offending. In the text, Lombroso outlines a comparative analysis of "normal women" as opposed to "criminal women" such as "the prostitute." However, Lombroso's "obdurate beliefs" about women presented an "intractable problem" for this theory: "Because he was convinced that women are inferior to men Lombroso was unable to argue, based on his theory of the born criminal, that women's lesser involvement in crime reflected their comparatively lower levels of atavism." Lombroso's research methods were clinical and descriptive, with precise details of skull dimensions and other measurements. He did not engage in rigorous statistical comparisons of criminals and non-criminals. Although he gave some recognition in his later years to psychological and sociological factors in the etiology of crime, he remained convinced of and identified with, criminal
anthropometry Anthropometry (, ) refers to the measurement of the human individual. An early tool of biological anthropology, physical anthropology, it has been used for identification, for the purposes of understanding human physical variation, in paleoanthr ...
. After he died, his skull and brain were measured according to his own theories by a colleague as he requested in his will; his head was preserved in a jar and is still displayed with his collection at the Museum of Psychiatry and Criminology in Turin. Lombroso's theories were disapproved throughout Europe, especially in schools of medicine: notably by Alexandre Lacassagne in France. His notions of physical differentiation between criminals and non-criminals were seriously challenged by Charles Goring (''The English Convict'', 1913), who made elaborate comparisons and found insignificant statistical differences.


Legacy

Self-proclaimed the founder of modern scientific psychiatry, Lombroso is purported to have coined the term ''
criminology Criminology (from Latin , 'accusation', and Ancient Greek , ''-logia'', from λόγος ''logos'', 'word, reason') is the interdisciplinary study of crime and deviant behaviour. Criminology is a multidisciplinary field in both the behaviou ...
''. He institutionalized the science of psychiatry in universities. His graduating thesis from the University of Pavia dealt with "endemic cretinism". Over the next several years, Lombroso's fascination with criminal behaviour and society began, and he gained experience managing a mental institution. After a brief stint in the Italian army, Lombroso returned to the University of Pavia and became the first professor specializing in mental health. By the 1880s, his theories had reached the pinnacle of their fame, and his accolades championed them throughout the fields dedicated to examining mental illness. Lombroso differentiated himself from his predecessor and rival,
Cesare Beccaria Cesare Bonesana di Beccaria, Marquis of Gualdrasco and Villareggio (; 15 March 1738 – 28 November 1794) was an Italian criminologist, jurist, philosopher, economist, and politician who is widely considered one of the greatest thinkers of the ...
, by depicting his positivist school in opposition to Beccaria's classist one (which centred around the idea that criminal behaviour is born out of free will rather than inherited physical traits). Lombroso's psychiatric theories were conglomerated and collectively called the positivist school by his followers, which included Antonio Marro and Alfredo Niceforo. Ideas similar to Lombroso's assessment of white and northern-European supremacy over other races would be used by fascists to gird, for example, the promulgation of Italian racial laws. His school of thought was only truly abandoned in Italian universities' curriculum after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. Through his various publications, Lombroso established a school of psychiatry based on biological determinism and the idea that mental illness was via genetic factors. A person's predisposition to mental illness was determinable through his appearance, as explained in the aforementioned criminal atavism segment. Lombroso's theory has been cited as possibly "the most influential doctrine" in all areas studying human behaviour, and indeed, its impact extended far and wide. According to Lombroso, criminal appearance was not just based on inherited
physiognomy Physiognomy () or face reading is the practice of assessing a person's character or personality from their outer appearance—especially the face. The term can also refer to the general appearance of a person, object, or terrain without referenc ...
such as nose or skull shape, but also could be judged through superficial features like tattoos on the body. In particular, Lombroso began searching for a relationship between tattoos and an agglomeration of symptoms eut (which are currently diagnosed as
borderline personality disorder Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a pervasive, long-term pattern of significant interpersonal relationship instability, an acute fear of Abandonment (emotional), abandonment, and intense emotiona ...
). He also believed that tattoos indicated a certain type of criminal. Through his observations of sex workers and criminals, Lombroso hypothesized a correlation between left-handedness, criminality, and degenerate behaviour. He also propagated the idea that left-handedness leads to other disabilities, by linking left-handedness with
neurodegeneration A neurodegenerative disease is caused by the progressive loss of neurons, in the process known as neurodegeneration. Neuronal damage may also ultimately result in their cell death, death. Neurodegenerative diseases include amyotrophic lateral sc ...
and alcoholism. Lombroso's theories were likely accepted due to the pre-existing regional stigma against left-handedness, and greatly influenced the reception of left-handedness in the 20th century. His hypothesis even manifested in a new way during the 1980s and 1990s with a series of research studies grouping left-handedness with psychiatric disorders and autoimmune diseases. Despite his stance on inherited immorality and biologically destined criminal behaviour, Lombroso believed in socialism and supposedly sympathized with the stigmatization of lower socioeconomic statuses, placing him at odds with the biological determinism he espoused. His work stereotyping degenerates can even be seen as an influence behind
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
's movement to clean the streets of Italy. Many adherents to Lombroso's positivist school stayed powerful during Mussolini's rule, because of the seamless way criminal atavism and biological determinism justified both the racial theories and eugenic tendencies of fascism. However, certain legal institutions did press back against the idea that criminal behaviour is biologically determined. Within the penal system, Lombroso's work led to new forms of punishment, where occasionally punishment varied based on the defendant's biological background. There are a few instances in which case the physiognomy of the defendant actually mattered more than witness testimony and the defendant was subjected to harsher sentences. During the period in Italy between the 1850s and 1880s, the Italian government debated legislation for the insanity plea. Judges and lawyers backed Beccaria's classist school, tending to favour the idea that wrongdoers are breaking a societal contract with the option to exercise free will, tying into Beccaria's classist school of social misbehaviour. Lombroso and his followers argued for a criminal code, in which the criminal was understood as unable to act with free will due to their biological predisposition to crime. Since his research tied criminal behaviour together with the insane, Lombroso is closely credited with the genesis of the criminally insane asylum and forensic psychiatry. His work sponsored the creation of institutions where the criminally insane would be treated for mental illness, rather than placed in jails with their saner counterparts. One example of an asylum for the criminally insane is Bridgewater State Hospital, which is located in the United States. Other examples of these institutions are Matteawan State Hospital and Danvers State Hospital. Most have closed down, but the concept is kept alive with modern correctional facilities like Cook County Jail. This facility houses the largest population of prisoners with mental illness in the United States. However, criminal insane asylums did exist outside of Italy while Lombroso was establishing them within the country. His influence on the asylum was at first regional, but eventually percolated to other countries who adopted some of Lombroso's measures for treating the criminally insane. In addition to influencing criminal atavism, Lombroso wrote a book called ''Genio e Follia'', in which he discussed the link between genius and insanity. He believed that genius was an evolutionarily beneficial form of insanity, stemming from the same root as other mental illnesses. This hypothesis led to his request to examine
Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...
for degenerate qualities during his attendance at the 12th International Medical Congress in Moscow in 1897. The meeting went poorly, and Tolstoy's novel '' Resurrection'' shows great disdain for Lombroso's methodology. Towards the end of his life, Lombroso began to study
pellagra Pellagra is a disease caused by a lack of the vitamin niacin (vitamin B3). Symptoms include inflamed skin, diarrhea, dementia, and sores in the mouth. Areas of the skin exposed to friction and radiation are typically affected first. Over tim ...
, a disease which Joseph Goldberger simultaneously was researching, in rural Italy. He postulated that pellagra came from a nutrition deficit, officially proven by Goldberger. This disease also found its roots in the same poverty that caused cretinism, which Lombroso studied at the start of his medical career. Furthermore, before Lombroso's death, the Italian government passed a law in 1904 standardizing treatment in mental asylums and codifying procedural admittance for mentally ill criminals. This law gave psychiatrists free rein within the criminally insane asylum, validating the field of psychiatry by giving the psychiatrists the sole authority to define and treat the causes of criminal behaviour (a position which Lombroso argued for from his early teaching days to his death).


''The Man of Genius''

Lombroso believed that genius was closely related to madness. In his attempts to develop these notions, while in
Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
in 1897 he travelled to Yasnaya Polyana to meet
Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...
in hopes of elucidating and providing evidence for his theory of genius reverting or degenerating into insanity. Lombroso published ''The Man of Genius'' in 1889, a book which argued that artistic genius was a form of hereditary insanity. In order to support this assertion, he began assembling a large collection of "psychiatric art". He published an article on the subject in 1880 in which he isolated thirteen typical features of the "art of the insane." Although his criteria are generally regarded as outdated today, his work inspired later writers on the subject, particularly Hans Prinzhorn. Lombroso's ''The Man of Genius'' provided inspiration for
Max Nordau Max Simon Nordau (born Simon Maximilian Südfeld; 29 July 1849 – 23 January 1923) was a Hungarian Zionism, Zionist leader, physician, author, and Social criticism, social critic. He was a co-founder of the Zionist Organization together with Theo ...
's work, as evidenced by his dedication of ''Degeneration'' to Lombroso, whom he considered to be his "dear and honored master". In his exploration of geniuses descending into madness, Lombroso stated that he could only find six men who did not exhibit symptoms of "degeneration" or madness:
Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...
, Da Vinci,
Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...
, Machiavelli,
Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...
and Darwin. By contrast, Lombroso cited that men such as
Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
,
Plato Plato ( ; Greek language, Greek: , ; born  BC, died 348/347 BC) was an ancient Greek philosopher of the Classical Greece, Classical period who is considered a foundational thinker in Western philosophy and an innovator of the writte ...
,
Aristotle Aristotle (; 384–322 BC) was an Ancient Greek philosophy, Ancient Greek philosopher and polymath. His writings cover a broad range of subjects spanning the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, a ...
,
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
and
Dante Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...
all displayed "degenerate symptoms". In order to classify geniuses as "degenerate," or insane, Lombroso judged each genius by whether they exhibited "degenerate symptoms," such as precocity, longevity, versatility and inspiration. Lombroso supplemented these psychological observations with skeletal and cranial measurements, including facial angles, "abnormalities" in bone structure, and volumes of brain fluid. Measurements of skulls taken included those from
Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant (born Emanuel Kant; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works ...
,
Alessandro Volta Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (, ; ; 18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827) was an Italian chemist and physicist who was a pioneer of electricity and Power (physics), power, and is credited as the inventor of the electric battery a ...
, Ugo Foscolo, and Ambrogio Fusinieri. Lombroso's reference to skull measurements was inspired by the phrenological work and research of German doctor Franz Joseph Gall. In commenting on skull measurements, Lombroso made observations such as, "I have noted several characters which anthropologists consider to belong to the lower races, such as prominence of the styloid apophysis". This observation was recorded in response to his analysis of
Alessandro Volta Alessandro Giuseppe Antonio Anastasio Volta (, ; ; 18 February 1745 – 5 March 1827) was an Italian chemist and physicist who was a pioneer of electricity and Power (physics), power, and is credited as the inventor of the electric battery a ...
's skull. Lombroso connected geniuses to various health disorders as well, by listing signs of degeneration in chapter two of his work, some of which include abnormalities and discrepancies in height and pallor. Lombroso listed the following geniuses, among others, as "sickly and weak during childhood":
Demosthenes Demosthenes (; ; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and cu ...
,
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...
, Descartes,
Isaac Newton Sir Isaac Newton () was an English polymath active as a mathematician, physicist, astronomer, alchemist, theologian, and author. Newton was a key figure in the Scientific Revolution and the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment that followed ...
,
John Locke John Locke (; 29 August 1632 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.) – 28 October 1704 (Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.)) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment thi ...
,
Adam Smith Adam Smith (baptised 1723 – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish economist and philosopher who was a pioneer in the field of political economy and key figure during the Scottish Enlightenment. Seen by some as the "father of economics"——— or ...
,
Robert Boyle Robert Boyle (; 25 January 1627 – 31 December 1691) was an Anglo-Irish natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, Alchemy, alchemist and inventor. Boyle is largely regarded today as the first modern chemist, and therefore one of the foun ...
,
Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early ...
, John Flaxman, Nelson,
Albrecht von Haller Albrecht von Haller (also known as Albertus de Haller; 16 October 170812 December 1777) was a Swiss anatomist, physiologist, naturalist, encyclopedist, bibliographer and poet. A pupil of Herman Boerhaave and Jacob Winslow, he is sometimes r ...
, Körner and
Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (19June 162319August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest ...
. Other physical afflictions that Lombroso associated with degeneracy included
rickets Rickets, scientific nomenclature: rachitis (from Greek , meaning 'in or of the spine'), is a condition that results in weak or soft bones in children and may have either dietary deficiency or genetic causes. Symptoms include bowed legs, stun ...
, emaciation, sterility, lefthandedness, unconsciousness, stupidity, somnambulism, smallness or disproportionality of the body, and
amnesia Amnesia is a deficit in memory caused by brain damage or brain diseases,Gazzaniga, M., Ivry, R., & Mangun, G. (2009) Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the mind. New York: W.W. Norton & Company. but it can also be temporarily caused by t ...
. In his explanation of the connection between genius and the "degenerative marker" of height, Lombroso cites the following people:
Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...
and Elizabeth Browning,
Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...
, George Eliot, Thiers, Louis Blanc and Algernon Charles Swinburne, among others. He continues by listing the only "great men of tall stature" that he knows of, including
Petrarch Francis Petrarch (; 20 July 1304 – 19 July 1374; ; modern ), born Francesco di Petracco, was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance, as well as one of the earliest Renaissance humanism, humanists. Petrarch's redis ...
,
Friedrich Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright. He was born i ...
, Foscolo, Bismarck,
Charlemagne Charlemagne ( ; 2 April 748 – 28 January 814) was List of Frankish kings, King of the Franks from 768, List of kings of the Lombards, King of the Lombards from 774, and Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of what is now known as the Carolingian ...
, Dumas,
George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
,
Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...
, and Voltaire. Lombroso further cited certain personality traits as markers of degeneracy, such as "a fondness for special words" and "the inspiration of genius". Lombroso's methods and explanations in ''The Man of Genius'' were rebutted and questioned by the American Journal of Psychiatry. In a review of ''The Man of Genius'' they stated, "Here we have an hypothesis claiming to be the result of strict scientific investigation and reluctant conviction, bolstered by half-told truths, misrepresentations and assumptions." Lombroso's work was also criticized by Italian anthropologist
Giuseppe Sergi Giuseppe Sergi (March 20, 1841 – October 17, 1936) was an Italian anthropologist of the early twentieth century, best known for his opposition to Nordicism in his books on the racial identity of Mediterranean peoples. He rejected existing ra ...
, who, in his review of Lombroso's ''The Man of Genius''—and specifically his classifications and definitions of "the genius"—stated, "By creating a genius according to his own fancy, an ideal and abstract being, and not by examining the personality of a real living genius, he naturally arrives at the conclusion that all theories by which the origin of genius is sought to be explained on a basis of observation, and especially that particular one which finds in degeneration the cause or one of the causes of genius, are erroneous." Sergi went on to state that such theorists are "like the worshippers of the saints or of fetishes, who do not recognize the material from which the fetish is made, or the human origin from which the saint has sprung".


Spiritualism

Later in his life Lombroso began investigating mediumship. Although originally sceptical, he later became a believer in spiritualism. As an atheist Lombroso discusses his views on the paranormal and spiritualism in his book ''After Death – What?'' (1909) which he believed the existence of spirits and claimed the medium Eusapia Palladino was genuine. The article "Exit Eusapia!" was published in the ''
British Medical Journal ''The BMJ'' is a fortnightly peer-reviewed medical journal, published by BMJ Publishing Group Ltd, which in turn is wholly-owned by the British Medical Association (BMA). ''The BMJ'' has editorial freedom from the BMA. It is one of the world ...
'' on 9 November 1895. The article questioned the scientific legitimacy of the
Society for Psychical Research The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to condu ...
for investigating Palladino a medium who had a reputation of being a fraud and imposter and was surprised that Lombroso had been deceived by Palladino. The anthropologist Edward Clodd wrote " ombrososwallowed the lot at a gulp, from table raps to materialisation of the departed, spirit photographs and spirit voices; every story, old or new, alike from savage and civilised sources, confirming his will to believe". Lombroso's daughter Gina Ferrero wrote that during the later years of his life, Lombroso suffered from arteriosclerosis and his mental and physical health was wrecked. The sceptic Joseph McCabe wrote that because of this it was not surprising that Palladino managed to fool Lombroso into believing spiritualism by her tricks.


Literary impact

Historian Daniel Pick argues that Lombroso serves "as a curious footnote to late-nineteenth-century literary studies", due to his referencing in famous books of the time. Jacques in Émile Zola's '' The Beast Within'' is described as having a jaw that juts forward on the bottom. It is emphasized especially at the end of the book when he is overwhelmed by the desire to kill. The anarchist Karl Yundt in Joseph Conrad's '' The Secret Agent'', delivers a speech denouncing Lombroso. The assistant prosecutor in
Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Tolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; ,Throughout Tolstoy's whole life, his name was written as using Reforms of Russian orthography#The post-revolution re ...
's '' Resurrection'' uses Lombroso's theories to accuse Maslova of being a congenital criminal, and in
Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish novelist who wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. The book is widely considered a milestone in Vampire fiction, and one of t ...
's ''
Dracula ''Dracula'' is an 1897 Gothic fiction, Gothic horror fiction, horror novel by Irish author Bram Stoker. The narrative is Epistolary novel, related through letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles. It has no single protagonist and opens ...
'', Count Dracula is described as having a physical appearance Lombroso would describe as criminal. In
Ian Fleming Ian Lancaster Fleming (28 May 1908 – 12 August 1964) was a British writer, best known for his postwar ''James Bond'' series of spy novels. Fleming came from a wealthy family connected to the merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., and his ...
's 1955
James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
novel '' Moonraker'', Bond mockingly describes the villainous, facially scarred Hugo Drax as a man with whom Lombroso would have been delighted.


Works


Original Italian

* 1859  ''Ricerche sul cretinismo in Lombardia'' * 1864  ''Genio e follia'' * 1865  ''Studi clinici sulle mallatie mentali'' * 1871 &nbs
''L'uomo bianco e l'uomo di colore''
* 1873  ''Sulla microcefala e sul cretinismo con applicazione alla medicina legale'' * 1876  ''L'uomo delinquente'' * 1879  ''Considerazioni al processo Passannante'' * 1881  ''L'amore nel suicidio e nel delitto'' * 1888  ''L'uomo di genio in rapporto alla psichiatria'' * 1890  ''Sulla medicina legale del cadavere'' (second edition) * 1891  ''Palimsesti del carcere'' * 1892  ''Trattato della pellagra'' * 1893  ''La Donna Delinquente: La prostituta e la donna normale'' (Co-authored with Lombroso's son-in-law Guglielmo Ferrero). * 1894  ''Le più recenti scoperte ed applicazioni della psichiatria ed antropologia criminale'' * 1894  ''Gli anarchici'' * 1894  ''L'antisemitismo e le scienze moderne'' * 1897  ''Genio e degenerazione'' * 1898  ''Les Conquêtes récentes de la psychiatrie'' * 1899  ''Le crime; causes et remédes'' * 1900  ''Lezioni de medicina legale'' * 1902  ''Delitti vecchi e delitti nuovi'' * 1909  ''Ricerche sui fenomeni ipnotici e spiritici'' In 1906, a collection of papers on Lombroso was published in Turin as ''L'opera di Cesare Lombroso nella scienza e nelle sue applicazioni''.


English translations

* 1891&nbs
''The Man of Genius''
Walter Scott. * 1895&nbs
''The Female Offender''
The 1895 English translation was a partial translation which left out the entire section on the normal woman and which, in true Victorian fashion, sanitised Lombroso's language. * 1899&nbs
''Crime: Its Causes and Remedies''
* 1909&nbs
''After Death - What?''
* 1911&nbs
''Criminal Man, According to the Classification of Cesare Lombroso''
* 2004 ''The Criminal Anthropological Writings of Cesare Lombroso'' * 2004 ''Criminal Woman, the Prostitute, and the Normal Woman.'' Translated by Nicole Hahn Rafter and Mary Gibson. * 2006 ''Criminal Man.'' Translated by Nicole Hahn Rafter and Mary Gibson.


Selected articles


"Illustrative Studies in Criminal Anthropology"
''The Monist'', Vol. I, No. 2, 1890.
"The Physiognomy of the Anarchists"
''The Monist'', Vol. I, No. 3, 1890.
"Innovation and Inertia in the World of Psychology"
''The Monist'', Vol. I, No. 3, 1890.
"The Modern Literature of Italy Since the Year 1870"
''The Monist'', Vol. I, No. 3, 1890.
"Criminal Anthropology Applied to Pedagogy"
''The Monist'', Vol. VI, No. 1, October 1895.
"The Heredity of Acquired Characteristics,"
''The Forum'', Vol. XXIV, 1898.
"Was Columbus Morally Irresponsible?,"
''The Forum'', Vol. XXVII, 1899.
"Why Criminals of Genius Have No Type,"
''The International Quarterly'', Vol. VI, 1902.


Introductions

* MacDonald, Arthur
''Criminology''
Introduction by Cesare Lombroso, Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1893. * Drahms, August
''The Criminal''
Introduction by Cesare Lombroso, The Macmillan Company, 1900. *


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Rafter, Nicole Hahn and Mary Gibson. (2004). ''Introduction to Criminal Woman'' (English translation). Durham, NC: Duke University Press. * * *


External links

* * *
"Cesare Lombroso"
Biblioteca Federata di Medicina F. Rossi, Università degli studi di Torino. Works in Italian, French and German. *
Works by Cesare Lombroso
at
JSTOR JSTOR ( ; short for ''Journal Storage'') is a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources founded in 1994. Originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals, it now encompasses books and other primary source ...

Works by Cesare Lombroso
at
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Anthropological Criminology
North Carolina Wesleyan College
History of profiling
North Carolina Wesleyan College
Lombroso, Cesare
Jewish Encyclopedia
References to Cesare Lombroso in European newspapers
at The European Library * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lombroso, Cesare 1835 births 1909 deaths 19th-century Italian writers Italian atheists Italian criminologists 19th-century Italian Jews Italian non-fiction writers Italian socialists Italian spiritualists Jewish atheists Jewish socialists Parapsychologists Physicians from Verona Academic staff of the University of Turin Italian male non-fiction writers 19th-century Italian male writers 19th-century Italian philosophers Proponents of scientific racism White supremacists