Lombroso
Cesare, cha'za-re lom-bro-zo (1836-1909), an Italian scientist. He was born at Verona and died at Turin. His name is connected with the most thorough investigations that have been made of the abnormal human being. Lombroso is noted especially for his studies on the causes of crime, his theory being that a criminal should be treated as a diseased person, and as such may, in some cases at least, be cured. While his theories have not been accepted entirely as yet, they have had a radical effect upon the old-time conception of the criminal. In 1862 Lombroso was made professor of psychiatry, that is, the study and treatment of mental diseases, at Pavia, and later became professor of medical jurisprudence and psychiatry at Turin. He published several books setting forth his views. The Criminal, The Man of Genius, The Anarchists, and The Causes of, and Contest Against, Crime are among them. Lombroso has taken an interest in the work of the Society for Psychical Research, and has been associated with other scientific men in investigating various psychic phenomena. Recognized as an authority on psychology, his opinions, had he reached definite conclusions, would have great weight. Like many others, however, Lombroso satisfied himself as to the genuineness of the phenomena, but failed to find for them any adequate explanation.
Lombroso was a short, heavy, ill proportioned man, kind-hearted, but absent-minded and visionary. He would give to all who asked of him, and would have been penniless but for his wife. He was utterly regardless of dress, his wife running after him often, when he started for the university, to see that he wore a necktie or to take him his overcoat. His whole mind was given to his work. Whether his theories meet with general acceptance or not, their effect has been to awaken an interest in studying the causes that lead to crime, and in attempting to cure rather than to punish the criminal.