This power of self-control may be
natural or acquired, and it may or may not be possessed by the
man who feels a desire to commit a homicide. The fact to be
observed--the interesting and, broadly speaking, the
astonishing fact--is that among a people like ourselves
anybody should have a desire to kill. It is even more
astonishing than that the impulse should be yielded to so
often if it comes.
This, then, is the real reason why men kill--because it is
inherent in their state of mind, it is part of their mental
and physical make-up--they are ready to kill, they want to
kill, they are the kind of men who do kill. This is the
result of their heredity, environment, educational and
religious training, or the absence of it. How many readers of
this paper have ever experienced an actual desire to kill
another human being? Probably not one hundredth of one per
cent. They belong to the class of people who either never
have such an impulse, or at any rate have been taught to keep
such impulses under control.
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