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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 19 February 2018
In his book on Psychological Principles the late Prof. James Ward defines “character” as “nothing but Nature modified by circumstance”, Apart, however, from the fact that much depends upon the meaning which we attach to the terms here employed, this generalization raises many questions which are worthy of consideration, and a discussion of its validity is not without interest.
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(2) Hoffing, , Psychology, p. 349.Google Scholar
(3) áνθρωoχ ϕνσ∊i. Aristotle, Politics, i, 2.Google Scholar
(4) Julius Cœsar, Act i, scene 2, line 201.Google Scholar
(5) In Teutonic folklore the term “Kobbold “(which is probably cognate with “goblin”) originally meant a hut sprite. It became associated with the idea of dwarfs or little-men who mine for precious metals in the mountains. Agricola (De Animantibus subterraneis) thus describes them: “They are called little miners, because of their dwarfish stature, which is about two feet. They are venerable-looking, and are clothed like miners…. This kind does not often trouble the miners, but they idle about the shafts and tunnels and really do nothing. Sometimes they throw pebbles at the workmen, but they rarely injure them unless the workmen first ridicule or curse them…. They are especially active in the workings where metal has recently been found, or where there are hopes of its discovery.” The metal cobalt derives its name from this superstition. The word Kobbold is used by Luther to translate the Hebrew “Lilith “in Isaiah xxxiv, 14 (A.V. “night-monsters”).Google Scholar
(6) Lazar, , Zeitschr. f. Kinderheilkunde, 1913, p. 523. Dr. Lazar mentioned in conversation that in five cases of boy-murderers which he had investigated, the culprit had belonged in every case to the Kobbold type. It is of interest in this connection to read a contemporary description of the murderer Wainewright, “a man with a massive head in which the animal propensities were largely developed. His eyes were deeply set in his head; he had a square solid jaw … as to moral character he was a man of the lowest stamp.” Havelock Ellis (The Criminal, p. 16) adds, “He seems to have been born of a failing and degenerate stock.” Yet Wainewright wrote criticisms and essays which were considered sufficiently good to be edited by Hazlitt! The description of the physical configuration of the poisoner, Dr. Neill Cream, who may be taken as a good example of the so-called “moral imbecile,” closely conforms to the Kobbold type.Google Scholar
(7) For a discussion of this type cf. Lazar, , Zeitschr. f. Kinderheilkunde, 1920, p. 113.Google Scholar
(8) Heredity and Eugenics, p. 114.Google Scholar
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(11) Cf. Jensen, , Feebleness of Growth and Congenital Dwarfism, 1921.Google Scholar
(12) Shuttleworth, (Brit. Med. Journ., September 11, 1909), states that of 120 cases in which the age of the parents is recorded, 41 were over 40 years of age and only 14 were under 30 years. Of 107 Mongols, 68 were stated to be last born (63 per cent.), and at Earlswood, 46 per cent. Google Scholar
(13) Psyche, iii, p. 240.Google Scholar
(14) Lecture to London County Council, June 26, 1912.Google Scholar
(15) Berman, , The Glands regulating Personality, 1922.Google Scholar
(16) Whetham, , The Family and the Nation, p. 118.Google Scholar
(17) Ethics, Book vi.Google Scholar
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(19) Myers, , Human Personality, pp. 64–67 (1907 edition).Google Scholar
(20) Spearman, , Psychological Review, xxi, No. 2; also Presidential Address, Psych. Sect. Brit. Association, 1925. Cf. also Burt, , “Educational Abilities” (L.C.C. Report), 1921.Google Scholar
(21) Quoted by Macdougall, , The Group Mind, p. 18.Google Scholar
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(23) Myers, , Brit. Assoc., Psychol. Sect., Presidential Address, 1922, p. 11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(24) Mott has produced evidence that in schizophrenia (dementia præcox) there are clearly marked cellular changes in the sex-glands.Google Scholar
(25) Parsons, , “Bowman Lecture,” Lancet, July 18, 1925.Google Scholar
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(29) Integration of the Nervous System, p. 325.Google Scholar
(30) This is still the stage of development of language in various primitive races. Thus Miss Kingsley describes a Central African tribe, the members of which found it difficult to communicate with one another in the dark, when gestures could not be appreciated.Google Scholar
(31) Cf. Myers, , Journal of Psychology, December, 1921.Google Scholar
(32) Studies in Neurology, p. 669.Google Scholar
(33) Cf. Golla, , Croonian Lectures, 1921.Google Scholar
(34) Introductory Lectures, p. 299.Google Scholar
(35) For the substance of this section I am indebted to Prof. Lloyd Morgan, and for many helpful suggestions throughout this paper.Google Scholar
(36) Rivers, , Conflict and Dream, p. 95.Google Scholar
(37) Cf. Smith, Hamblin, Psychology of the Criminal; Burt, The Young Delinquent. Google Scholar
(38) Spenser, .Google Scholar
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