the bottom of their conflicts with
the school authorities brought them into the hands of the police
authorities soon afterwards. The contact with the outside world soon
served to bring out other pathological traits of character. We now see
them manifest a pathologic emotionalism, an unbounded egotism, a
relentless vindictiveness and an apparently total disregard of
consequences. Frictions with the surrounding world, which a normal
individual meets in an ordinary manner with a view towards an efficient
adaptation to existing conditions, were reacted to by them in a
distinctly antisocial manner, with methods entirely void of
consideration of the rights of others, an attribute so essential for a
proper concourse with man. Thrown finally upon their own resources, when
they had to rely for their existence upon some industrial pursuit, we
find them lacking the most essential prerequisite for the efficient
struggle for existence--definiteness of purpose, and continuity and
persistence of effort. We find them leading a harum-scarum existence,
drifting from place to place, and from occupation to occupation, never
able to remain at any one undertaking for any length of time.

The next features which stand out prominently in the lives of these
individuals are their recidivism and the fact that every one of them
came under the observation of an alienist on one or more occasions in
his life. What is at the bottom of all this? We cannot, of course, deny
the very evident fact that these individuals differ from normal man and
that this difference is due to their inferiority. But what characterizes
this inferiority? Is it the lack of something which normal man
possesses, or is it rather a disproportion, a disharmony between the
various individual mental faculties of these individuals? In other
words, is their inferiority a quantitative or qualitative one? Taking
pure intelligence into consideration we find that they show no
deficiency in this particular sphere. On the contrary, most or all of
them show a degree of shrewdness and keenness which absolutely precludes
the existence of an intelligence defect _per se_. Their recidivism is
not due to an inability to distinguish between right and wrong. They
know very well what is and what is not right, at any rate, as well as
the average person, but they feel decidedly different from the average
person about this distinction. They are what they are because of a
discord, a disproportion betwee