Study of man : in connection with establishing laboratories to investigate criminal, pauper, and defective classes / by Arthur MacDonald.

  • MacDonald, Arthur, 1856-1936.
Date:
[between 1910 and 1919]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Study of man : in connection with establishing laboratories to investigate criminal, pauper, and defective classes / by Arthur MacDonald. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    MEANING OF THE INDORSEMENTS. One reason for such extensive indorsement is that any one desir- ing to aid the work financially, legislatively, or otherwise can do so with safety and without further inquiry. Another reason is that any one interested may not feel able to judge of a work requiring knowledge of several specialties without depending upon authority. Judgment as to the value of a pioneer line of work must, to a large extent, be a matter of opinion. It is a general rule in science that opinion is valuable according to amount of first-hand knowl- edge. The work was therefore submitted to those whose life and professioh bring them into close contact with it or some of its branches. It is sometimes said that indorsements are easy to obtain and therefore are not liable to have much weight. If this be true of some associations or persons, it is by no means true of all. For instance, the writer’s work was three years under consideration by the American Bar Association. The able Committee of the Ameri- can Medical Association gave the matter careful consideration and full discussion, as did many other professional bodies in medicine, law, and religion. The work in all its bearings was thoroughly discussed in a gen- eral session of the ‘ ‘ International Congress of Criminal Anthropol- ogy ” of Europe, was indorsed, and letters were sent to this country. This is the most any foreign association could be expected to do. This Congress meets once in five years ; its 400 or more members are University specialists in medicine, anthropology, physiology, psychology, jurisprudence, and sociology. It is the broadest or- ganization of University investigators in existence. The members had access to all of the writer’s publications, some of which have been translated into other languages. To say that an association of this character merely acted in a formal or etiquettical way is not only false, but shows ignorance of the organization, or a confusing it with some popular associations. As to the scientific value of this work, the indorsement of this International Congress alone is amply sufficient, not to mention that of many professional associations and of many specialists, including such names as Ranke and Sergi in anthropology, Mosso in phj's- iology, Obersteiner and Mills on the nervous system, Marro on in- sanity, Eillienthal on criminal law, and Ferri, Eombroso, Ellis, and Morrison in criminology. To assert that these authorities wrote indorsements merely out of good will is a libel upon their character and scientific integrity. Such a statement is not only false, but absurd, since the writer had personal acquaintance with but few of the specialists and members of associations indorsing his work. • If any one questions the value of this work to science, medicine, law, and religion, he is respectfully referred to the organizations mentioned on page 8 of enclosed leaflet.