At length the light seemed to break through his face.
"Among the various kinds of insanity," he said, slowly measuring
his words, "there is one that manifests itself as an irresistible
impulse to steal. Such terms as neuropath and kleptomaniac are
often regarded as rather elegant names for contemptible excuses
invented by medical men to cover up stealing. People are prone to
say cynically, 'Poor man's sins; rich man's diseases.' Yet
kleptomania does exist, and it is easy to make it seem like crime
when it is really persistent, incorrigible, and irrational
stealing. Often it is so great as to be incurable. Cases have been
recorded of clergymen who were kleptomaniacs and in one instance a
dying victim stole the snuffbox of his confessor.
"It is the pleasure and excitement of stealing, not the desire for
the object stolen, which distinguishes the kleptomaniac from the
ordinary thief. Usually the kleptomaniac is a woman, with an
insane desire to steal for the mere sake of stealing. The morbid
craving for excitement which is at the bottom of so many
motiveless and useless crimes, again and again has driven
apparently sensible men and women to ruin and even to suicide.
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