Note 4 — Chapter VII · THE THIRD SCHOOL1 AND THE SOCIALISTS.

“From the human point of view a crime represents the satisfaction of a need of the criminal, like the satisfaction of any other need, and comes under the law of the struggle for existence. In fact, a need not satisfied constitutes a pain, and pain, whatever its nature be, first excites and then depresses and exhausts the functional power of the organism. The organism, under the influence of pain, loses a quantity of phosphates proportional to the intensity of the pain; the physiological equilibrium is broken, and some functions important for the internal economy are neutralized. The organism, because of the law of conservation, is called upon to relieve the pain. Often it can do this without injury to others; at other times it comes into collision with social interests, and in such a case falls into crime.”4