he fingers typical of murderers; I will now
refer in brief to a form of Nature's other danger signals. The feet of
murderers are, as a rule, very short and broad, the toes flat and
square-tipped. As a rule, too, they either have very receding chins, as
in the case of Mapleton Lefroy, or very massive, prominent chins, as in
the case of Gotfried.

In many instances the ears of murderers are set very far back and low
down on their heads, and the outer rims are very much crumpled; also
they have very high and prominent cheek-bones, whilst one side of the
face is different from the other. The backs of many murderers' heads are
nearly perpendicular, or, if anything, rather inclined to recede than
otherwise--they seldom project--whilst the forehead is unusually
prominent.

It is a noteworthy fact that a large percentage of modern murderers have
had rather prominent light, steely blue eyes--rarely grey or brown.

Their voices--and there is another key to the character--are either
hollow and metallic, or suggestive of the sounds made by certain
animals.

Many of these characteristics are to be found in criminal lunatics.

_Pre-existence and the Future_

To talk of a former life as if it were an established fact is, of
course, an absurdity; to dogmatise at all on such a question, with
regard to which one man's opinion is just as speculative as another's,
is, perhaps, equally ridiculous. Granted, then, the equal value of the
varying opinions of sane men on this subject, it is clear that no one
can be considered an authority; my opinion, no less than other people's,
is, as I have said, merely speculation. That I had a former life is, I
think, extremely likely, and that I misconducted myself in that former
life, more than likely, since it is only by supposing a previous
existence in which I misbehaved, that I can see the shadow of a
justification for all the apparently unmerited misfortunes I have
suffered in my present existence.

I do not, however, see any specific reason why my former existence
should have been here; on the contrary, I think it far more probable
that I was once in some other sphere--perhaps one of the planets--where
my misdeeds led to my banishment and my subsequent appearance in this
world. With regard to a future life, eternal punishment, and its
converse, everlasting bliss, I fear I never had any orthodox views, or,
if I had, my orthodoxy exploded as soon as my common sense began to
grow.

Hell, t