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THE INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC SERIES 
 
 EYOLUTIOJ^J^ BY ATROPHY 
 
 IN BIOLOGY AND SOCIOLOGY 
 
 BY 
 
 JEA]Sr pEMOOE 
 
 AOR^Qfi OF THE FREE UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS 
 
 JEAN MASSART 
 
 CHARO& DS COCKS OF THE FREE UNIVESSITY OF BRUSSELS 
 
 EMILE VANDERVELDE 
 
 PROFESSOR AT THE INSTITUTE OF HAUTES fiTUDES OF BRUSSELS 
 TRANSLATED BY 
 
 MES. CHALMERS MITCHELL 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 D. applet'on and company 
 
 1899 
 
PEEFACE 
 
 This treatise, compiled in connection with a scheme 
 for research work in general sociology, elaborated 
 in June 1894, was presented to the Institute of 
 Sociology at Brussels. In drawing up the pro- 
 gramme of the Institute, the founder, M. Ernest 
 Solvay, after having mentioned the questions which 
 especially called for the investigation of his col- 
 leagues, added the following statement : — 
 
 " The Institute of Sociology will take part in the 
 labours of the modern school of Sociology, the object 
 of which is to ascertain the normal conditions under 
 which societies exist, and the laws which govern their 
 evolution. But the advances of Natural Science in 
 this century have not yet been sufficiently assimilated 
 by those Sciences most closely related to it, and it 
 is from such assimilation that the most important 
 additions to knowledge may be expected." 
 
 In stating that the results of Natural Science 
 have not been sufficiently assimilated by Sociology, 
 M. Solvay is only apparently at variance with 
 those who rightly protest against exaggerated and 
 
vi PKEFACE 
 
 premature comparisons between social organizations 
 and animal or vegetable organisms. 
 
 The existence of such exaggerations, which have 
 caused a reaction such as recently induced an emi- 
 nent American economist to declare the bankruptcy 
 of biological sociology, is perhaps due to the fact 
 that, with a few distinguished exceptions, bio- 
 sociological investigations have hitherto been con- 
 ducted either by naturalists with a limited know- 
 ledge of social questions, or by sociologists whose 
 training in biology was incomplete and superficial. 
 
 To prevent this danger, our researches in the 
 same subject have been made separately from the 
 social side, and from the biological side, and have 
 now been co-ordinated and combined. 
 
 This work was commenced in May 1893, with 
 the collaboration of our friend M. Dollo, the curator 
 of the Natural History Museum at Brussels. In 
 June 1894, however, M. Dollo's many occupations 
 no longer permitted of his collaboration. The zoo- 
 logical part was therefore completed by M. Jean 
 Demoor, to whom most of the facts quoted in the 
 first book were given by M. Dollo, whose assistance 
 we most gratefully acknowledge. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Prepacb 
 
 PAGE 
 V 
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 Societies and organisms. 2. Individuals, colonies and 
 societies. 3. Communities and societies. 4. Distinc- 
 tive characters of societies of which the members are 
 united by social contract .... 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Part I. Degeneration in the development of institutions 
 
 and organs ...... 21 
 
 Chapter I. In the evolution of organs all modification is 
 
 necessarily attended by degeneration ... 22 
 
 § 1. Preliminary considerations .... 22 
 
 (1) Original formation of organs in ancestral forms , 23 
 
 (2) Development of organs in the individual . . 23 
 
 (3) Philogeuetio evolution of function . . 25 
 
 (4) Individual adaptation .... 26 
 Section I. Transformation of orgaus of animals . 30 
 
 § 2. Transformation of homortynamic organs in the indivi- 
 dual (metameric appendages) , , . 30 
 Theoray-fish ...... 31 
 
 § 3. Transformation of homologous organs in individuals 
 
 of different species (limbs) .... 41 
 
 Ijimbs adapted to an aquatic life (Ceratodus, OrtJia- 
 canthuSj Protoptemis amphiHuSj Protojpterus annec- 
 tem, Lepridouren ..... 43 
 
 Limbs adapted to a terrestrial life ... 43 
 
viii CONTENTS 
 
 PAGR 
 
 1. Adaptation to walking on two legs (man, 
 birds). 2. Adaptation to leaping (Dipus agyp- 
 tius, kangaroo, Tarsiua epectrum, Rana eaculenta, 
 3. Adaptation to running (horse, ruminants). 4. 
 Adaptation to flight (birds, Pterosaurians, bats). 
 6. Adaptation to arboreal life {Arcfocelms cala- 
 laremis, Chamceleo). 6. Adaptation to swimming 
 (Cetaceans, Sirenia). 7. Adaptation to burrowing 
 (Talpa curopcea, Heterocephalw) ... 46 
 
 Section II. Modification of the organs of plants . 68 
 
 § 4. Modification of hemodynamic organs in the indivi- 
 dual (basilar and apical leaves) ... 68 
 1. Rosa rugosa. 2. Serrainla centauroides. 3. 
 Sagittaria sagittifolia. 4. Lathyra Aphaca. 5. 
 Nymphaea dentata ..... 70 
 
 § 5. Modification of organs which are homologous in 
 
 individuals of different species (foliage leaves) . 78 
 
 1. Adaptation to climbing {Cobaeea scandals, Vicia 
 pyrenaica, Cummis satims). 2. Adaptation to 
 carnivorous nutrition (Utncularia, Nepenthes, 
 Drosera). 3. Adaptation to an aquatic life (Sagil- 
 taria, Nymphaea, Vallisneria, Potamogeton, Ranun- 
 culus, Ouvirandra fenestralis). 4. Adaptation to 
 defence against ants (Acacia sphae/rocephaUi), 5. 
 Adaptation to drought (Sempendman). 6. Adapta- 
 tion to defence against herbivorous animals 
 (Garagana, Ilex, Mamillaria, etc.) . . 78 
 
 Chapter II. In the evolution of institutions all modification 
 
 is necessarily accompanied by degeneration . . 90 
 
 § 1. Modifications of similar institutions in the same 
 
 society ...... 91 
 
 (1) The communal budgets of Belgium . , 92 
 
 (2) Budget of the States of the German Empire , 95 
 
 (3) The budgets of Germany, France, and England . 97 
 
 g 2. Modification of similar institutions in different social 
 
 groups (the development of landed property) , 98 
 
 1. Family property (Montenegro). 2. Village pro- 
 perty (EuBsia). 3. Feudal property (England). 
 
CONTENTS ix 
 
 FAGE 
 
 4. Public or collective property (Switzerland). 
 6. Corporative property (Belgium). 6. Private 
 property (Switzerland). 7. Summary . . 100 
 
 Part II. Degeneration in the evolution of orgauisms and 
 
 societies ....... 115 
 
 Chapter 1. All organisms exhibit rudimentary organs , 115 
 
 Section I. Budimentary organs of animals . . 117 
 
 § 1. Budimentary organs in man .... 117 
 
 1. Integumentary system. 2. Skeleton. 3. Mus- 
 cular system. 4. Nervous system. 5. Digestive 
 system. 6. Vascular system. 7. Sense organs. 
 8. Genito-urinary system . . . 117 
 
 S 2. Budimentary organs in various groups . . 121 
 
 1. Coelenterates. 2. Worms. 3. Eohinoderms. 4, 
 
 MoUusca. 5. Arthropodes. 6. Vertebrates . 121 
 
 Section II. Budimentary organs in plants . . 145 
 
 1 3. Budimentary organs in various groups of plants . 145 
 1. Algse. 2. Mushrooms. 3. Bryophyta. 4. Pteri- 
 
 dophyta. 5. Phanerogams , , . . 145 
 
 § 4. Beduced organs in the vegetative apparatus of the 
 
 Phanerogams . . . . . . 149 
 
 Chapter II. Survivals exist in all kinds of societies . . 151 
 
 § 1 . Instances of svirvival in various groups . . 153 
 
 (1) Instances of survival in the most modern social 
 groups (the United States) .... 155 
 
 (2) Instances of survival in less civilized social groups 
 (Veddahs, Fuegoes, Australian tribes . . 156 
 
 § 2. Survivals of ancient forms of marriage, and of the 
 
 family in Modern Europe . . . . 161 
 
 1. Forvis o/ marriage. — (1) Marriage by capture. (2) 
 Marriage by purchase. (3) Marriage by consent 
 of both parties (marriage by simple consent, mar- 
 riage in facie Mcclesite) .... 161 
 
 2. The Family System.— {I) Matriarchy. (2) Patri- 
 archy ....... 167 
 
 Part III. Summary and conclusions .... 170 
 
175 
 178 
 179 
 
 179 
 
 X CONTENTS 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 THE PATH OF DEaENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Part I. The supposed law that degeneration retraces the 
 steps of progress ..... 
 
 diopter I, The path of degeneration in biology 
 
 Section, I. The path of degeneration in animals 
 1. Morphology and embryology ; the law of recapitu- 
 lation. 2. Degeneration of the third eye in lizards. 
 3. Degeneration of the organs of sight in deep-sea 
 Crustacea. 4. Atrophy of the branchial Tessels in 
 man ....... 
 
 Section II. The path of degeneration in plants. . 192 
 
 1. Rarity of cases of recapitulation in the organ- 
 ogeny of leaves (Vicia, Acacia with phyllodes). 
 2. Organogeny of flowers {Brassica oleracea var. 
 Botrgtis). 3. Progressive degeneration of the pro- 
 thallus in phanerogams .... 192 
 
 Chapter II. The path of degeneration in sociology . . 205 
 
 § 1. Investigation of facts ..... 205 
 
 1. Tithings, hundreds and counties in England. 2. 
 Order of elimination of various racial elements in 
 a country. 3. The degenerative evolution of polir 
 tical organizations. 4. Degeneration in monetary 
 systems. 5. Degenerative adaptation in colonial' 
 legislation. 6. Degenerative evolution of the cor- 
 porations of Western Flanders . . . 207 
 § 2. A criticism of the supposed inverse path of degenera- 
 tion ....... 217 
 
 Pakt II. The irreversibility of degenerative evolution. . 221 
 Chapter I. Do institutions or organs which have disappeared 
 
 reappear? . . " . . . . 222 
 
 Section I. Disappeared organs .... 222 
 
 1. Plants ...... 222 
 
 2. Animals. Teratology of the horse, Hypertrichosis, 
 etc. Swimming limbs in Stomatopoda and De- 
 capoda Maoroura ..... 223 
 
 Section II. Disappeared institutions . , , 227 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 XI 
 
 (1) Apparent revival of bygone institutions . . 
 
 (2) Apparent disappearance of institutions . 
 
 (3) Instances of convergence .... 
 Chapter II. Can rudimentary institutions or organs reassume 
 
 their primitive functions ? .... 
 
 Seditm 1. Rudimentary organs 
 
 1. AnvmaXs. (1) Muscles of the ear in man. (2) The 
 abdomen and appendages in deep-sea hermit crabs 
 
 2. Plants. (1) Hermaphrodite flowers in Mdandryiim. 
 (2) Branches of Colletia cruQiata, Crataegus, Vida 
 Fata, Sem/pereiimm, Veronica, etc. . 
 
 Section II. Eudimentary institutions . 
 (1) Truck system and clearing-house. (2) Corpora- 
 tions and syndicates. (3) Archaic collectivism and 
 modern collectivism. (4) The survival of elective 
 sovereignty in England 
 Chapter III. Can rudimentary organs or institutions re- 
 develop and assume new functions ? 
 Section I. Eudimentary organs 
 
 1. Animals. Eespiratory organs in Birgm latro 
 Mesonephric spaces in the higher vertebrates 
 
 2. Plants. Stamiaodes of Pentstemon 
 Section II. Eudimentary institutions . 
 
 Zevirat ...... 
 
 Part III. Summary and conclusions . . 
 
 PAOE 
 
 227 
 229 
 230 
 
 2.32 
 232 
 
 232 
 
 233 
 237 
 
 239 
 
 242 
 243 
 
 243 
 244 
 245 
 245 
 
 247 
 
 BOOK III 
 
 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLDTION 
 
 Part I. Atrophy of organs and institutions . 
 Section I. The factors of atrophy . 
 (1) Biology (accidental, individual, normal and specific 
 atrophy). (2) Sociology (accidental and nuruial 
 atrophy) ..... 
 
 Section II. Causes producing atrophy 
 Chapter I. Atrophy of organs .... 
 § 1. Atrophy from lack of space , . , 
 
 251 
 251 
 
 251 
 260 
 260 
 261 
 
xii CONTENTS 
 
 FAOI 
 
 (1) DeTelopment of the teotli. (2) Atrophy of the 
 superior glume (Loliwm). (3) Degeneration of 
 Palese (composite flowers) and of stamens 
 (ScrophulAriacese) .... 261 
 
 § 2, Atrophy from lack of use .... 263 
 
 1, Functional inutility : (1) Etiolated plants and 
 
 immobile limbs. (2) Epicotyl and primary leaf 
 of Nymphaea. (3) iSoots of Utrieularia ; coty- 
 ledons of parasitic plants {Cnseata, Ordbanche) ; 
 leaves transformed to spines in Phyllocactus 
 crenMus. (4) Atrophy of the branchial arches in 
 mammals. (5) Atrophy of ventral hns^PediciUatif 
 Protopterus), (6) Atrophy of muscles {Cetacea^ 
 Sirenia). (7) Atrophy of the tail in man. (8) 
 Degeneration of the hyuid apparatus in man 
 and birds. ..... 263 
 
 2. Transference of function : (1) Atrophy of the tail 
 
 in Batraehia anwra, and the larval gills in some 
 insects. (2) Disappearance of limbs (Slow- 
 worms, Ampbisbaena, Snakes, Eels, and Saccu- 
 lina). . (3) Atrophy of the leaf (acada with phyl- 
 \oiea, Xylophylla). (4) Atrophyof theprotonema 
 in mosses, and of the leaves in some xerophilus 
 plants (MnrMetibechia plafyclados, Oenista, 
 Spartivm, Alhagi). (5) Disappearance of the 
 calyx. (6) Atrophy of roots (Pine, Beech, 
 Corallorkyza, Myrmechii, Tillandsia itmeoides), 
 or of leaves and stems {Tcmiophyllum Zollin- 
 geri, Podostemacece) .... 268 
 
 § 3. Atrophy from lack of nutrition . . . 274 
 
 1. Parasitic castration (Melandryum album). 2. 
 Severe or prolonged compression of a limb. 
 
 3. Atrophy of the genitalia in neuter bees. 
 
 4. Atrophy of the superior flowers in Carex. 
 6. Atrophy of pistils and stamens (Ffitillaria 
 peraica, Vibumam tomeniomm, Vibm-nam Opulm) 274 
 
 § 4. Atrophy without apparent cause . . . 278 
 
 Atrophyof perianth (i4rtemi9!a, Poferium). Atrophy 
 of the eyes (Myriopodes, Cymotlioe). Correlative 
 atrophy 278 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 281 
 282 
 
 Chapter II. Atrophy of institutions .... 
 § 1. Atrophy from lack of use .... 
 
 1. Functional intiiility : (1) Offices of the port of 
 
 Bruges. (2) The forest-courts of England . 282 
 
 2. Transference of fuTiction : (1) Republican institu- 
 
 tions under the Roman Empire. (2) Special 
 jurisdiction in England .... 284 
 
 § 2. Atrophy from lack of resource . . . 287 
 
 1. Local administration at the close of the Eoman 
 
 Empire. 2. Degeneration of societies in general 287 
 
 Pabt II. Causes of the persistence of organs or institutions 
 
 without function ...... 292 
 
 Chapter I. Survival of organs ..... 292 
 
 § 1. Unfunotional organs that are not rudimentary . 292 
 
 Absence of variation (flowers of Ficaria ranmieu- 
 loides, LysiTnachia Swrnwidaria, /Uodeacanaderms, 
 straliotes aloides, cleistogamous flowers, eyes in 
 the male Machaeritea .... 292 
 
 § 2. Unfunotional organs which persist as rudiments . 295 
 
 1. Absence of variation. Insignificance <f the rudi- 
 mentary organ (stipules of Tropaeolnm wajiis, 
 acce.-sory rudiments of enamel organs in the 
 development of teeth .... 295 
 
 Chapter II. Survival of institutions .... 298 
 
 § 1. Integral persistence of an institution . . . 299 
 
 (1) Maintenance by compulsion (rotten boroughs in 
 England ; the States of Normandy and the 
 Dauphiny in France). (2) Indirect usefulness 
 , (English monarchy). (3) Respect for tradition 
 (royal prerogatives exercised by the prsetor ; 
 institution of sheriffs in England) . . 299 
 
 § 2. Survival of institutions in a reduced condition . 3U6 
 
 1. Insignificance of the institution (jurisdiction at 
 da Martinique ; summons gico warraiito ; Diocese 
 of Cambrai ; marsh-land in Artois ; tribute paid 
 to Spain by France). Respect for traditions 
 (survival of the old regime in England ; instances 
 of survival in law and religion . . . 307 
 
 Pabt III. Summary and conclusions .... 317 
 
 General conclusions ...... 320 
 
 2 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 EvEE since the application of theories of evolution 
 to social phenomena, there has been a constant inter- 
 change in terminology between biology and sociology; 
 societies have been called organisms, and organisms 
 societies of cells. There is an actual division of 
 labour among the organs of a living body, while 
 institutions have been called the organs, or parts 
 of organs, of Society. The interchange of matter 
 effected among the organs of an individual has been 
 called a " physiological contract," while the circula- 
 tion of. money may be compared to the circulation 
 of blood and lymph. Questions arise as to what 
 extent such comparisons are legitimate, if they 
 should be taken in any other than a metaphorical 
 sense, and if it is possible to set a precise boundary 
 between the provinces of biology and sociology. 
 
 Much has already been written on such problems 
 as these, and no doubt much more will yet be 
 written. We shall not attempt either to discuss 
 or to solve them in these few introductory pages ; 
 they are merely touched upon here, and will only 
 be alluded to when absolutely necessary for the 
 careful investigation of facts bearing upon our work. 
 
 I. Societies and organisms. — The analogy exist- 
 
8 EVOLUTION BY ATEOPHY 
 
 ing, from the point of view of evolution, between 
 biology and sociology, arises from the fact that the 
 evolution of societies as well as that of organisms, 
 is the result of the co-operation of two factors — 
 similarity and adaptation. 
 
 In biology, the similarity between organisms 
 springing from the same stock, is due to heredity, 
 while adaptation is the result of individual variation. 
 
 In sociology, societies are the descendants of 
 former societies, in that the new are modelled 
 upon the old. Similarity is the result of imita- 
 tion, while adaptation is the result of invention 
 — i.e. of all improv ment and innovation tending 
 to make a new society different from that which 
 preceded it.^ 
 
 These fundamental analogies suffice in themselves 
 to justify our collaboration, whatever may be the 
 solution of the question — which is really only a 
 question of terms — as to whether societies should 
 be regarded as organisms, or organisms as particular 
 kinds of societies.^ 
 
 ^ Invention is frequently a combination of several imitations. 
 When a society is formed, its characters are not necessarily 
 borrowed from those societies from which it more or less directly 
 proceeds. It may be modelled upon other social structures with 
 which it had no hereditary connection. — V. Tarde, Zes Lois de 
 I'imitation. 
 
 2 See Zes SoaUtis animales, p. 128 (Espinas). "Integration, 
 or grouping together, is a universal law common to all organic 
 or inorganic existence. Society, properly speaking, is only a 
 complex and important instance of this universal law." 
 
 See La Science Sodale, p. 97 (FouilMe). •• All purely physio- 
 
INTEODUCTION 9 
 
 In either case, it is certain that organisms and 
 societies — used * in the sociological acceptation of 
 the term — exhibit some characters in common, and 
 some distinctive characters. 
 
 The common characters may be accounted for 
 by the co-operation which exists in both cases 
 between the units of which they are composed 
 (individuals, or cells). 
 
 The dissimilar characters are probably connected 
 with what constitutes the essential difference be- 
 tween social aggregates and organic aggregates. 
 With the former there is a physiological continuity 
 between the composing units, while with the latter 
 co-operation is entirely due to mental relations. 
 
 II. Individuals, colonies and societies. — Our view 
 in this matter is considerably at variance with the 
 current opinion. Many authors, and M. Espinas 
 among them, regard colonies, whether animal or vege- 
 table, as societies, even when the members of these 
 colonies are connected by physiological bonds.^ 
 
 logical characters of life, viz. : 1. Correlation of parts ; 2. Relation 
 between structure and function ; 3. Division of all living parts 
 into other living parts ; 4. Spontaneity of movement ; 5. Partic- 
 ulate existence ; 6. Development and degeneration, i.e. evolution, 
 are to be found in a greater extent in animal and human societies." 
 ^See Les 8oci4t4s amAmtxles, section 2, pp. 207 and foil. — 
 (Espinas), Gours de pMlosophie positive, vol. iv. (A Comte). 
 "These strange societies are to be found among the lower 
 animals, an involuntary co-operation being the result of an un- 
 severable organic union, which is either a mere adherence or 
 actual continuity." 
 
1 EVOLUTION BY ATEOPHY 
 
 We shall j'ustify the distinction we make by 
 showing that colonies are entirely distinct from 
 societies. The two are divergent branches which 
 spring from the same source, a solitary indi- 
 vidual. These divergent branches of organic life 
 may be distinguished in the following manner : 
 An individual may be either unicellular or mul- 
 ticellular. Every cell capable of sustaining life 
 and reproducing its own kind is an individual.'' 
 
 In the case of multicellular individuals there is 
 an unbroken physiological continuity, while life 
 lasts, between the cells of which they are com- 
 posed. All these units spring from one primary 
 cell {i.e. a fertilized egg) which sprang itself from 
 two cells (male and female), proceeding usually 
 from two separate individuals. From the moment 
 that this union is effected, the continuity remains 
 unbroken.^ When such an individual reproduces 
 
 ^ We regard the cell as the unit of life, although, according to 
 Altmann, the unit of life is a still simpler structure — the bioblast. 
 He maintains that the bioblast, or living granule, is the ultimate 
 element of the cell ; it is born from a pre-existing granule ; it 
 lives, feeds, reproduces, and is, in fact, an organism (see Die 
 Elementarorganisnun und ihre Beziehungen zu, den Zellen ; 
 Leipzig, 1890. — Stmdien Uber die Zellen; Leipzig, 1886. — Zur 
 Oeschichte der Zellfheorien ; Leipzig, 1889 (Altmann). The 
 existence, however, of the bioblast is a pure hypothesis, no 
 definite proof having been established of its existence ; and to 
 assume that it is the simplest unit of life is to abandon oneself 
 to pure imagination. 
 
 2 Although this theory is in agreement with the observed facts 
 of biology, it is necessary to point out the complexity of the 
 ideas of individual and organism. Boveri (fiber die Befruchivmgs 
 
INTRODUCTION 1 I 
 
 asexually, giving rise to offspring which remain 
 attached to it, the whole forms a colony. All 
 the cells of this colony spring then from one 
 single cell (a fertilized egg cell), and an inter- 
 change of nutriment goes on incessantly among 
 these cells. This is what Spencer designates as 
 a " physiological contract." Societies, on the other 
 hand, consist of units springing from various sources, 
 whose connection is merely mental. It is only in 
 the communities which Tonnies calls " Gemein- 
 schaften" in distinction from societies hound by 
 mental agreement {Gesellschaften), that all the in- 
 dividuals spring from one and the same couple. 
 
 From our point of view, a colony must not be 
 regarded as an intermediate condition between an 
 individual and a society. No 'known society has 
 passed through a colonial stage, and the members of 
 a colony could not, on separating, become a society. 
 Among the simplest aggregates, all the units are 
 
 rmd EntwickhmgsfdhigTcett kemloser Seeigel-Eier, und iiher the 
 Mbglichkeit ihrer Bastardirung. Arch. f. Erdioicklwngsmechanik 
 der Organismen, Bd. ii., pp. 394-443), for instance, has shown 
 that it is possible to fertilize the eggs of Echinoderms, from 
 which the nuclei have been removed, by the spermatozoa of 
 other species of Echinoderms. The egg is a typical cell, an 
 oiganism, an individual. All its parts are essential to it, and 
 are incapable of separate existence, at any rate for any length 
 of time ; close physiological bonds unite the component parts, 
 yet it is possible to substitute for an essential part of one 
 individual a part taken from another individual. It may there- 
 fore be concluded that the idea of an organism no longer necessarily 
 implies the idea of continuous functional unity which one was 
 formerly tempted to ascribe to it. 
 
12 EVOLUTION BY ATROPHY 
 
 equivalent, and each retains all the functions of 
 life (S'pirogyra, Choanoflagellates, Hydra). The 
 colony may disintegrate, but the cells or indi- 
 viduals set at liberty are capable of living alone, 
 and do not form a society.^ 
 
 As the organisation of a colony becomes more 
 complicated, the units proceed to differentiate. Each 
 one assumes certain functions in particular, and 
 becomes less adapted to discharge others. If such 
 a colony is dispersed, the individuals are incapable 
 of maintaining a separate existence.^ 
 
 ' (a) A thread of Spirogyra consists of cells placed end to end, 
 physiologically connected with one another. Under certain 
 conditions, however, quite apart fi'om the phenomenon of cellular 
 reproduction, all these cells are capable of isolating themselves. 
 The colony is thus transformed into a set of individuals capable 
 of maintaining a separate existence, and no longer in connection 
 with one another. 
 
 (6) Among the Choanoflagellates, some consist of free individuals, 
 while in others all the individuals are united by a common stalk, 
 and intercommunicate by protoplasmic threads in the stalk. When, 
 for some cause, these individuals separate, they never form them- 
 selves into a society. 
 
 (c) A colony of Hydra is formed by the budding of a single indi- 
 vidual. While nourishment is abundant, all the individuals of the 
 colony retain their connection with each other, and may themselves 
 give rise to buds. On the other hand, when food is scarce, the 
 colony disintegrates and each individual lives a free life without 
 entering into social relations with its neighbours. 
 
 ^ In some cases the terms individual and colony become ex- 
 tremely involved. Although one accept our view, it is difficult to 
 rigorously apply our generalizations to such facts as the following : 
 Certain male cephalopods, at the period of reproduction, separate 
 from their bodies a specialized tentacle (hectoootyle) in which is 
 stored the seminal fluid. This organ, set at liberty, swims in the 
 
INTKODUCTION 13 
 
 III. Communities and societies. — The bond ex- 
 isting between all the constituent parts of a society 
 is not of the same nature as that which unites the 
 members of a colony or the cells of an animal or 
 plant. These physiological bonds, are not compar- 
 
 sea, and after living there a certain time, enters the female oepha- 
 lopod, to effect impregnation. 
 
 The individuality of this hectocotyle appears so obvious that 
 for a long time it was regarded as » distinct species - some kind 
 of worm. At first sight, then, the hectocotyle seems to be an 
 individual. This, however, is not the case, as it reproduces, not 
 a hectocotyle but a cephalopod. 
 
 Many Eohinoderms, by a spontaneous act of protection, can 
 separate their arms from their bodies. Such a separated arm 
 may live, feed and slowly build up again a whole Echinoderm. 
 Plainly, it would be impossible to indicate the precise point at 
 which such an organ should be regarded as an individual. The 
 vegetable kingdom abounds in analogous facts. A strawberry 
 plant, for instance, gives off runners in the course of the Summer, 
 which take root, and themselves become strawberry plants. So 
 long as these young plants are insufficiently developed to main- 
 tain themselves, the mother-plant continues to supply them with 
 nourishment. As soon, however, as the young shoot can dispense 
 with this support, the runner atrophies, and the little plant begins 
 a separate existence. By prematurely cutting the runner, the 
 new plant may be compelled to live alone sooner than it naturally 
 would have done. 
 
 With some other plants {Phalangium mviparum) the young 
 shoots frequently retain their connection with the mother-plant, 
 although quite capable of maintaining themselves. Under these 
 circumstances it is obviously impossible to say if these plants 
 represent colonies or free individuals. Speaking generally, it 
 may be said that no precise line can be drawn between colonies 
 and individuals. Many writers on the subject, and Perrier among 
 the number, consider that every colony where there is a physical 
 continuity among the members, should be regarded as an in- 
 dividual. 
 
14 EVOLUTION BY ATKOPHi' 
 
 able, without forcing the analogy, although they have 
 been so compared by some sociologists, to such means 
 of communication between individuals and societies 
 as exchange, traffic, roads, railways, telegrams and 
 telephones. It is merely a matter of definition, and 
 if societies are to be termed organisms, they should 
 be distinguished as organisms by social contract, 
 organismes contractuels (Fouill^e). 
 
 This definition, however, only applies to those 
 sociBties which owe their existence to a formal 
 contract with definite objects in view, and not to 
 ready-made communities consisting of individuals 
 already united together without any preliminary 
 contract. The latter is the case, for instance, in 
 societies of ants or bees, and in human societies in 
 those social groups in which the individuals are 
 united by the bonds of consanguinity. The char- 
 acters of such communities partly approach the 
 characters of organic associations, but precisely as 
 such natural communities approach societies by 
 social contract, the differences between social groups 
 and actual organisms become more marked. In the 
 more complex forms of societies the results of the 
 characters we have distinguished become most ac- 
 centuated. 
 
 IV. Distinctive characters of societies of which 
 the memhers are united iy social contract. — (1) A 
 cell cannot be part of two organisms or of two 
 
INTRODUCTION 1 5 
 
 organs at the same time.^ On the other hand, 
 there is no reason why the members of one social 
 community should not belong to other communities 
 at the same time. 
 
 2. Speaking generally, the biological conception 
 of an organism denotes a definite thing — a plant or 
 an animal in itself, quite distinct from similar 
 organisms. In sociology, however, there is no 
 precise line between co-existing social communities. 
 Are we to regard, for instance,, the families, com- 
 munes and cantons of a state as distinct organisms, 
 or merely as organs ? Does a free town such as 
 Hamburg or Fraukfort cease to be an organism 
 when it loses its independence ? Take the various 
 Swiss cantons, which are now mere organs of 
 the Helvetic Confederation, like the Provinces 
 of Belgium, or the Departments of France, would 
 they become organisms on the rupture of the 
 Federal bond ? On the other hand, with the 
 growth of international treaties between the 
 states of Eastern Europe, will their social indi- 
 viduality disappear, and will they come to be 
 regarded as are the United States of America, 
 as the organs of an organism in process of 
 formation ? These few examples suffice to show 
 
 ^ When two organs are united into one whole, thj cell exercises 
 two totally ditfei'ent functions. The liver, as we now know, is a 
 double organ consisting of a bile-forming Uver, and the^glycogen- 
 producing liver, two organs which are embryologically distinct. 
 The cells of which the liver is composed are both bile-secreting 
 and glycogen-formin^organs. 
 
1 6 EVOLUTION BY ATKOPHT 
 
 that, SO far as social matters are concerned, the 
 conception of organisms is a pure convention. 
 In the course of this treatise, we may therefore 
 regard families, societies and nations as distinct 
 organisms, or, with regard to their connection with 
 other and vaster organizations, as organs of the 
 latter. . 
 
 3. The structure of an animal or plant depends 
 upon the physical arrangements of its parts, and on 
 the physiological links between those parts. The 
 structure of a society depends upon the links of 
 social contract existing among its members. We 
 regard these as two very different things, and we 
 cannot follow Tarde in pressing the analogy between 
 them in the following way : " The length, breadth, 
 and height of an organism are never very much out 
 of proportion. With snakes and poplars the height 
 or length preponderates ; among flat fish the thick- 
 ness is very small compared to the other dimensions, 
 but in each instance the disproportion exhibited in 
 extreme cases is not comparable to that shown by 
 any social aggregate — such as China for instance, 
 which is 3000 kilometres in length and breadth, 
 and only one or two yards in average height, for 
 the Chinese being a short race, build their edifices 
 correspondingly low."^ 
 
 4. Organic modifications are effected more slowly 
 and with greater difficulty than are social modifica- 
 
 ^ Les Monades et la Science sodcUe. (Tarde. Eevue de Soeiologie, 
 1893, p. 169.) 
 
INTEODUCTION 17 
 
 tions.^ The result is an important one from the 
 point of view of method. 
 
 In biology, excepting in the case of individual 
 adaptation of artificial selection, direct observation 
 — the historical method, if we may so call it — is 
 not available for the study of the origin and 
 modification of organisms. Phylogeny, the science 
 of organic kinship, resorts to other methods, and 
 particularly to the comparative method in its 
 various forms : — 
 
 (a) Morphology, the science of determining the 
 phylogeny of organs by comparing them with the 
 organs of other creatures belonging to the same 
 systematic group. 
 
 (&) Palseontology, which determines the direct 
 ancestors of living creatures. 
 
 (c) Embryology, which, so far as it is founded 
 upon the principle of recapitulation, investigates 
 the development of organs in the individual, and 
 draws conclusions therefrom bearing upon its 
 descent. 
 
 1 Among animals there is a special factor which gives a stability 
 to the specific characters not found elsewhere — this is reproduction. 
 Specific characters being common to the whole line of descent, aro 
 very deeply enrooted in'the organism. They are not easily modi- 
 fied by the influence of new environments, but maintain their 
 likeness to one another in spite of external conditions. They aro 
 regulated by an internal force, notwithstanding the importimities 
 to variation offered from outside. This force is heredity, and 
 heredity accounts for the precise way in which specific characte) s 
 may be defined. In society this internal force is wanting. {Les 
 Eegksdelam&,hodesociologiqvs. Durckheim, Paris, F. Alcan, 1895.) 
 
18 EVOLUTIOK BY ATEOPHY 
 
 (d) Teratology, which compares normal with 
 abnormal forms for the same purpose. 
 
 In sociology these various systems of comparison 
 are only of a secondary value, owing to the great 
 variability of social forms, while the historical 
 method of investigation assumes a greater impor- 
 tance. In sociology, however, there are methods 
 analogous to the comparative methods of biology : 
 
 (a) Archaeology corresponds to palseontology. 
 
 (b) Social morphology, by comparison of series 
 of institutions, makes up to a certain extent for 
 the absence of direct observation of their origin 
 and development. Thus, to use the phrase of 
 Bagehot, by studying the customs and institu- 
 tions of modern savages, the prehistoric living 
 may be made to throw light upon the pre- 
 historic dead. If an institution be found in full 
 operation among savages, of which a Vestige still 
 exists among more civilized people, it may be 
 assumed .that the vestige was at some time fully 
 functional among the latter. It must be borne 
 in mind, however, that in many instances such 
 vestiges are the result of imitation. Theodore 
 Eeinach has shown that this applies in the case 
 of circumcision.^ 
 
 This gravely weakens the conclusions drawn by 
 Spencer from the survival of this custom among 
 
 ^ De quelques faits relatifs d Vkistoire de la circoncision chez les 
 pevples de la Syrie (Th. Reiiiacli, L'Antltropologie, 1893, vol. iv., 
 pp. 28 and I'ollowing). 
 
INTKODUCTION 19 
 
 certain Australian tribes. Granting, he says, that 
 circumcision, the removal of teeth, and other 
 similar mutilations imply a condition of political 
 or religious subjection — or both — no longer exist- 
 ing among these tribes, the custom is obviously the 
 vestige of a more complex social condition. This 
 conclusion seems the less reliable, since, according 
 to the Eev. J. Matthevr, the rite of circumcision 
 was probably introduced into Australia by natives 
 of Sumatra, and this vievr is confirmed by the 
 local distribution of the custom and by other evi- 
 dences of the same origin, such as the paintings 
 which have been discovered in certain caves.^ 
 
 (c) Teratology and social embryology also play a 
 part in sociology, but it is of less importance than 
 the others. 
 
 Certain customs among criminals show a re- 
 semblance to the habits of primitive man. On 
 the other hand, we find cases where the individual 
 development of an institution or society is a mere 
 repetition of the development through which similar 
 institutions and societies of other epochs and places 
 have passed. Thus, for instance, there still exists 
 in some parts of modern Russia a voluntary agri- 
 cultural commune, for the periodical division of the 
 land, an institution which existed more universally 
 in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries during 
 
 * The Cave Paintings of Australia {Jmimal of the Anthropo- 
 logical Institute of Great Britain and Irelamd, April 1893, pp. 51 
 and following). 
 
20 EVOLUTION BY ATEOPHY 
 
 the existence and after the disappearance of family 
 communities.^ 
 
 In studying the development of these new com- 
 munities, one can, in a measure, picture -to oneself 
 the development of laws of property, which were 
 current in other countries at other times, and of 
 which we possess little or no direct information. 
 It is, however, hardly necessary to insist upon the 
 hypothetical quality of such conclusions. 
 
 Our methods show, then, that organisms and 
 societies exhibit considerable differences as well 
 as analogies, a necessary result of their different 
 natures. These few remarks must suffice ; to add 
 to them, we should have to overstep the limits we 
 have set to this treatise, enter into well-worn con- 
 troversies, and anticipate our own conclusions. 
 Having merely explained our terminology, and 
 indicated our general views, we will proceed to 
 the subject of our investigations. 
 
 1 Tableau des origines et de revolution de la jpropridti et de la 
 famille, p. 170 (Kowalevsky). 
 
BOOK I 
 
 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE 
 
 EVOLUTION 
 
 PART I 
 
 DEGENERATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSTITUTIONS 
 AND ORGANS 
 
 The term " Evolution " does not in itself convey 
 an idea of either progress or degeneration. It 
 comprises all the changes undergone by an 
 organism or society independently of the ques- 
 tion as to whether these changes are favourable 
 or otherwise. The evolution of an organ, or of 
 the different parts of an organ, is degenerative if 
 it tends to the ultimate decay of that organ or of 
 its parts, and the facts are shewn by means of 
 arranging series of fossils or living forms, and com- 
 paring them. Evolution is progressive if it tends 
 to the development of an organ or to the formation 
 of a new organ. 
 
 These definitions may be applied — mutatis 
 mutandis — to the changes undergone by societies 
 and institutions or their constituent parts. 
 
 The ideas of progress and of degeneration seem 
 at first sight to relate to diametrically opposite 
 phenomena. The term "progressive evolution" 
 
22 UNIVEKSALITY OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 conveys the ideas of progress, development, im- 
 provement, of increasing differentiation, and of the 
 progressive co-ordination of the functions or organs 
 thus differentiated. 
 
 Degenerative evolution, on the other hand, con- 
 veys the ideas of decline, of decay, and of de- 
 generation, such as the atrophy of the organs of 
 locomotion in Saceulina, the degeneration of the 
 leaves of parasitic plants, or the dissolution of 
 corporate bodies in a declining state. 
 
 We propose to show, however, that these two 
 ideas, which at first sight seem contradictory and 
 mutually exclusive, are found, on a strict examina- 
 tion of the facts, to interpenetrate and complete 
 each other. Degeneration and progress will appear 
 as the two sides of one whole, or as two aspects of 
 the same evolution, and it will be seen that all 
 progress must necessarily be attended by degenera- 
 tion. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 IN THE EVOLUTION OF ORGANS ALL MODIFICATION IS 
 NECESSARILY ATTENDED BY DEGENERATION 
 
 Section I. — Preliminary Considerations 
 
 In order to effect the demonstration which is the 
 object of this chapter, only the phylogenetic modifi- 
 cations of organs will be discussed, setting aside 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF ORGANS 23 
 
 the original formation of these organs in their 
 ancestral forms, their development in the indivi- 
 dual, the phylogenetic evolution of function, and the 
 great variation resulting from individual adaptation. 
 Before entering upon our immediate subject, it 
 would be as well to, define its limits by saying 
 a few words concerning the questions not under 
 immediate consideration. 
 
 1. Original formation of organs in ancestral 
 forms. — Little is known concerning the primary 
 origin of organs, and their development before their 
 assumption of the aspect and function by which 
 we know them. What were the rudimentary 
 leaves like in the ancestors of flowering plants ? 
 What were the eyes of the first vertebrates like ? 
 Did these organs develop from existing organs ful- 
 filling other functions, or were they formed inde- 
 pendently ? However that may be, if they arose 
 from other organs, we know nothing of the modifi- 
 cations which they underwent ; and if they were 
 formed independently, we need not discuss the 
 fact here, for in that case the organ would not 
 have developed by transformation. Having once 
 been formed, it would develop and improve, and 
 this process would not necessarily have been 
 attended by partial degeneration. 
 
 2. Development of organs in the individual. — In 
 the course of embryological development, organs 
 do not exactly repeat the successive phases 
 
24 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 through which they passed during their ancestral 
 evohition. Generally speaking, and especially in 
 the case of plants, the development of organs in 
 an individual is direct, and gives no clue to its 
 ancestral history. Moreover, when there is a re- 
 capitulation of ancestral stages, it often happens 
 that evolution takes place without leaving traces 
 
 J, of the various 
 
 -^v^ stages. This is 
 ^wT especially the 
 "^ case in complex 
 
 organs which 
 have been pro- 
 duced by many 
 lines of evolu- 
 tion converging 
 in a single struc- 
 ture — a struc- 
 ture which thus 
 becomes the seat 
 
 Diauram showinprthe evolution of pyramidal „f „ „V^or.iol fnrio 
 cella in tlie animal series. 01 d bpeciai lUnC- 
 
 Tlie upper scries of cells represents the psychic cell in tion Or Set of 
 various vertebrates : A, t e frog; B, the lizaril ; 
 C, lire rat; D, man. Tlie lower series shows the functionS. 
 progressive stages in the evolution of the pyj amidal 
 
 cell in the human brain: o, the neuroblast without TllC neurOn 
 protoplasmic processes; 6, the appearance of the , ' 
 
 nerve process and of the terminal ramifications ; for instanCC the 
 c, the nerve more fully developed; d, appearance of . . 
 
 lateral branches of the axis cylinder ; c, development ganf^lionic Cell 
 of protoplasmic outgrowths of the protoplasm of '^ 
 
 nerve-cell and nerve. (Ramon y Cajal.) of the COrtex of 
 
 the human brain, passes successively through stages 
 corresponding to those which are to be found in the 
 adult fish, frog, bird, and mammal. In this case 
 
 Fio. 1.- 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENEEATION OF OEGANS 25 
 
 the development consists in an increasing com- 
 plexity of the cell with no formation of unnecessary 
 rudimentary parts. 
 
 3. Phylogenetic evolution of function. — Evolution 
 may be regarded from a physiological, as well as 
 from an anatomical standpoint/ but, in the former 
 case, evolution is less a set of changes of function 
 than an increasing specialization and division of 
 labour, and under these circumstances it is often diffi- 
 cult to recognize a degenerative element in the evolu- 
 tion. A few examples will demonstrate this point : 
 
 Self -mutilation is a very common phenomenon 
 among Echinoderms. Among brittle star-fish this 
 reaction is controlled by some region of the nervous 
 system ; in some star-fish the reaction follows more 
 quickly because the stimulus can act upon the 
 ganglion at the root of each arm near the circum- 
 oral nerve-collar. In Asteraeanthum ruhens, there 
 is a complete localization of this function, and self- 
 mutilization only results when an exact region of 
 the nervous system is stimulated.^ In the Medusa 
 we find an equally interesting example of functional 
 evolution (Eomanes).* With some of these (the 
 
 1 Evolution fonMionnelle du systeme nerveux. J. Demoor, Bemie 
 universitaire, Briixelles, 1892. 
 
 ^ Cordribution d, la physiologie nerveuse des Echmodermes. J. 
 Domoor and M. Chapeaux. Tijds. Ned. Dierk. Vereen. (2) III. 
 2 Nov. 1891. 
 
 ^Preliminary Observations on the Loeomotor System of Medusa: 
 Jelly-fish, Star-fish, and Sea-urchins. Eomanes, Int. Scient. Series, 
 1885. 
 
26 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Acraspedote, on the outside of the umbrella being 
 separated from the central part, the two separate 
 parts continue to lash the water, the outer part 
 with even strokes, the central mass more slowly 
 and feebly. "With the Graspedote, on the other 
 hand, the central part, under the same conditions 
 seems quite paralyzed and immovable, while the 
 outer part continues to move in a perfectly normal 
 manner. The causative function of the movement, 
 the spontaneity of the movement as it was formerly 
 called in physiology, is incompletely specialized in 
 the Acraspedote, whereas in the Graspedote it is 
 entirely localized. 
 
 Individual adaptation. — The individual is by 
 no means a slave to heredity. It is capable of 
 certain modifications under the influence of certain 
 external conditions. These phenomena of individual 
 adaptation may be arranged in three groups. 
 
 (a) When an organism, either animal or vegetable, 
 is placed under new conditions of existence, when 
 for instance, it relinquishes a terrestrial for an 
 aquatic life, light for darkness, or fresh water for 
 salt or esturine water, its external aspect, and in- 
 ternal structure, undergo variations of considerable 
 importance if it succeeds in adapting itself to the 
 new conditions.^ 
 
 ' Examples : (a) The leaves of the water Ranunculus with 
 laoinaled leaves {JianuTicuhis aquatilis fluitans, etc.), are of normal 
 structure when cultivated on dry land. The epidermis is furnished 
 with stomata and the constituent cells contain no chlorophyll. 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF ORGANS 27 
 
 The organ does not, however, lose its primitive 
 and typical characters. Actual organic transforma- 
 tion cannot, therefore^ be said to take place in the 
 case of individual adaptation. 
 
 The same leaves of the same plant when grown in water are 
 much longer than those of the terrestrial type ; the leaves have no 
 stomata, and the epidermic cells are full of chlorophyll (Askenasy, 
 Ueber den Einfluss des Waohstumsmediums auf die Gestalt der 
 PfloMzen, Bot. Zeit., 1870, pp. 193 and following). Among the 
 Stratiotes aloides it is not uncommon for the upper part of a leaf to 
 rise above the surface of the water while the base is submerged ; the 
 epidermis at the, base contains chlorophyll, but has no stomata, 
 while the part of the same leaf which rises out of the water is 
 furnished with stomata, but has no chlorophyll in the epidermis. 
 
 (6) A good example of this individual adaptation may be obtained 
 by cultivating Cacti alternately in the light and in the dark. 
 Goebel has shown that when a specimen of Phyllocactus is onlti- 
 vated in the dark, the stems are prismatic and thorny ; if the plant 
 is afterwards placed in the light, the thorns disappear and the 
 stems become quite smooth. (K. Goebel, Ueber die Einmrkung des 
 Lichtes auf die Gestaltung der Kacteen und miderer Pflanzen, Flora, 
 vol. 80, p. 96, 1895.) 
 
 (c) The animal kingdom furnishes numerous examples of indi- 
 vidual adaptation. 
 
 The gradual drying up of Lake Aral caused the formation of a 
 number of basins containing water at various stages o f concentration. 
 The Cardium of this region exhibits a whole series of adaptive varia- 
 tions. The shells become thinner and horny, their shape elongates, 
 the openings contract, and their colour becomes duller (Baieson). 
 
 Mytilus edulis (the edible mussel), exhibits three different kinds 
 of shells. It lives either in salt water, deep water, or shallow 
 water visited by the tide. In each of these three vicinities the 
 shells exhibit typical aspects. 
 
 The direction of boney lamellfe is known to agree with that in 
 which* the greatest strain is habitually applied, and the entire 
 structure of a bone is dominated by the incidences of the forces 
 applied to it. When, after a badly-mended fracture, the two broken 
 
28 UNIVEKSALITY OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 (6) Our second group comprises the cases of 
 cellular adaptation which may be produced in the- 
 course of embryonic life and may result in the for- 
 mation of an embryo from half or the quarter of 
 an egg.^ 
 
 Here again the formation of organs takes place 
 under new and abnormal conditions, but there is 
 no " transformation " of these organs into fresh 
 structures exhibiting other characters than those 
 of primitive and typical organs. 
 
 pieces arc joined by an oblique segment, the trabeeulse in this seg- 
 ment follow the direction from whence comes the greatest strain, a 
 different direction to that which they would have taken had the 
 inserted segment been placed parallel with the two broken pieces. 
 
 Without entering upon explanatory theories concerning these 
 facts, it is important to notice that the adaptations of plants exhibit 
 different characters to those of animals. 
 
 With plants it is only when a young organ is born under new 
 conditions that it exhibits new characters. This is not necessarily 
 the case with animals. In an animal organism the separation of 
 the young tissues from the old is not so noticeable as with plants, 
 as the organs undergo a continuous renewal and can always adapt 
 themselves more or less to new conditions. 
 
 ' When the two cells resulting from the first division of a fertilized 
 egg of Amphioxus are artificially separated, each cell may develop 
 directly into a complete individual. The same happens even when 
 the first four cells are separated from each other artificially. 
 
 When this is effected in the case of Echinus or of an Amphioxus 
 embryo of eight cells, each cell developes as if it liad remainod a 
 part of the whole ; but when the blastular stage is reached, that 
 stage slowly completes itself. 
 
 In the first case the cell adapts itself to the new conditions, in 
 the second case it is the blastular which does so. (See Anafi/tische 
 Theorie der orgcmiscJien Eniwiclcelung. Hans Driesch, Leipzig, 
 1894.) 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF ORGANS 29 
 
 In an adult cell, adaptation may, in a more or 
 less normal way, cause the formation of new organs. 
 
 Even completely specialized cells of an organism 
 may, when placed under certain conditions of life, 
 adapt themselves to those new conditions and give 
 rise to successive generations of different cells, thus 
 generating other kinds of organs than those to 
 which they would have given birth under normal 
 conditions. This happens, for instance, with all the 
 cells of Salix, which are capable of reproducing the 
 whole organism by means of budding. This organic 
 plasticity is shared with the Begonia Rex, but in that 
 case it is only thoroughly developed in the epidermic 
 cells. Analogous examples abound among animals, 
 especially in the lower zoological groups.^ 
 
 ' Loeb has shown that in certain groups, when the organism, 
 after having been wounded, is subjected to unusual light, position, 
 or pressure, organs are formed at the wounded part, which are 
 essentially different from those which would hare been formed 
 in a normal recovery. When this heteromorphosia occurs in 
 Tubularia mesennbryoMtKerrmm, Aglaophenia pluma, Aniliermu- 
 laria rosa, etc., the positions of the oral and apical poles may 
 be transposed. When Antennularia is placed so that gravity 
 acts upon it In a contrary direction to the ordinary one, there 
 are formed oral and apical branches, where they would not have 
 been formed had the organism been kept in a normal position. 
 (Jacques Loeb, Unters. zur physiol. Morphologie der Thiere: 1. 
 Ueber Heteromorphose, Wiirzburg, 1891 ; II. Organbildiimg imd 
 Wachsfhum, Wiirzburg, 1892.) 
 
 Similarly there is a true heteromorphosia when in a case of 
 club-foot the faces and articular surfaces of the bones and 
 cartilages assume characters ada[)ted to the new work thrown 
 on them as the abnormality of the joint increases. Another 
 such case is in the false joints sometimes formed when the two 
 
so UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 These various instances of cellular adaptation 
 called " heteromorphosis " by Loeb, are outside 
 the limits of our present researches, for reasons 
 which we have already given. 
 
 The law of universal degenerative evolution 
 applies only to the transformations of organs, and 
 not to their original formation in either individuals 
 or species, under normal or abnormal conditions. 
 
 Section I. 
 
 Transformation of organs of animals. 
 
 § 2. Transformation of homodynmnic organs in 
 the individual. 
 
 In oi'der to study the degenerative evolution 
 exhibited in the specific modifications of the 
 organs of an individual, it is necessary to choose 
 homodynamic organs that are numerous, and conse- 
 quently small enough to undergo different kinds of 
 transformation fitted to the functions they may 
 have to serve in the different parts of the body. 
 
 The numerous appendages of the cray-fish form 
 an extremely interesting study of this kind. The 
 
 j)arts of a bone do not unite after fractiire. In that case a com- 
 l)leted joint with cartilage ligament and synovial membrane may 
 he formed in the neighbouring tissues under the influence of the 
 new stimuli. In extra uterine gestation the placenta is formed 
 upon some abdominal organ. When this occurs, the unusual 
 stimulus is sutBoient to cause the cells of an abdominal organ 
 to form a perfectly specialized organ of a nature foreign to their 
 normal life. 
 
TKANSFOEMATION OF OEGANS OF ANIMALS 31 
 
 appendages of the different metameres (the somites, 
 or constituent segments of the body) of the cray- 
 fish are constructed on the same plan. The 
 typical organ (fig. 2), when complete, consists of 
 three parts — the jpTotopodite (pr.), 
 which is inserted into the body .,, 
 and carries a gill (6?'.) ; the eTido- 
 podite (en.) and the exopodite 
 {ex.), each of which consists of a 
 series of joints which are attached 
 to the end of the protopodite 
 — the endopodite to the inner 
 side, the exopodite to the outer. 
 
 _ . Fig. 2.— Diaernm of tvpipal 
 
 Let us now examine the and complete appenaage 
 
 , . of Astacv/i JiuviaiUis : pr. 
 
 twenty metameres of the animal protop-d:'- ; br, riu; 
 
 ex^ exopodite; e», enuo- 
 
 in succession. poaite. 
 
 In each segment of the body we find a pair of 
 appendages, the structure of which is 
 based upon that of a complete ap- 
 pendage, but in which many different 
 adaptations have brought about the 
 ?pr conservation and increase of some of 
 the typical parts, and the partial or 
 F.r,. 3. - Asiacs total atrophy oi other parts. 
 CSSoMhe Take first the abdominal segments, 
 B;ga,enf orTh^'etbey Carry appendages (fig. 3) formed 
 prTTrotopoditi-of the three fundamental parts: the 
 m, CTdSpoaw,; protopodite (pr.), the exopodite (.. x.), and 
 (Hnxiey). ^jjg eudopodite (en.). Each of these 
 
 parts is itself divided into different joints, the 
 
 en- 
 
32 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 description of which is not of immediate impor- 
 tance. The portion of the appendage which has 
 degenerated is the podohrafich, which has completely 
 disappeared. The reason is obvious; these ap- 
 pendages, having become a support for the eggs, 
 have lost their respiratory function. The part 
 specially adapted for that function has been allowed 
 to atrophy, the more readily because the presence 
 of gills on the ventral surface of the abdomen 
 would be incompatible with free movement of that 
 
 part of the body when the 
 cray-fish is swimming. 
 
 The appendages of the 
 sixth abdominal segment 
 are greatly modified into 
 a caudal fin (fig. 4). 
 This also exhibits the three 
 fundamental parts of a 
 
 Fio. i.-~Attacus fiuviatilis.- — Left up- _ _. 
 
 pendage of the (inh »bdi>miral seg- COmplctC appendage. ilie 
 
 ment. Fin8{l,5/1) : ?r, vrotopodite; . . ,, . , 
 
 «a:,exopodlte; en,endopoditeCUu.\luy).J)9-050pOaite {pr.) IS tulCK 
 
 and short and has no gill, degeneration being ex- 
 hibited in the loss of the gill, and by the reduced 
 length of the part. The eocopodite (ex.), and the 
 enciopodite {en.) are modified into two large oval 
 plates which serve as propellers. The actual de- 
 velopment of these two parts is accompanied by 
 degeneration. In a typical appendage, the eocopodite 
 and the endopodite terminate in slender parts divided 
 into several rings by false joints ; in the propellers, 
 which should offer the maximum resistance to the 
 
TEA^fSFOKMATI0N OF OEGANS OF ANIMALS 33 
 
 pressure of the water, the segmentation has dis- 
 appeared, but across the part corresponding to the 
 exopodite there still remains a transverse groove. 
 
 The second abdominal segment of the female 
 carries appendages similar to those which have 
 just been described. In the male, the organs of 
 this segment, as also those of the segment in front 
 of it, have become organs used in fertilization. 
 We must consider what new structures 
 have appeared here, and to what extent 
 these new modifications have been 
 attended by degeneration. The ap- 
 pendage of the second segment (fig. 5) 
 is longer than that of the other seg- 1^ ■ 
 ments ; pressed against the ventral 
 surface of the back part of the thorax, 
 it stretches out as far as the space be- jimtaUHs. l ft 
 tween the second and third walking SBdabd.minaueK- 
 
 , . , , ment of the male 
 
 legs, the part which corresponds to (fiMitTiew)(i,.yi): 
 the oviduct of the female. It serves as «a;', exopodite; w) 
 
 1 1 rt ■ T i» endopodite; a, 
 
 a channel to conduct the liuid from roiied piate of the 
 
 p T r. 1 endopodite; 6» 
 
 the male orifice to that or the female, the jointed ex- 
 
 . . T / \ tfinity of the 
 
 It consists of a protopodlte (pr.) same (Hnxley). 
 
 and an exopodite (ex.) similar to the corresponding 
 parts of the appendages we have just described. 
 The endopodite is profoundly modified. The inner 
 border of its proximal region, which is not jointed, 
 is extended into a thin plate rolled into a hollow 
 horn (a) while the outer border is represented by 
 an annulated part (&). The part in process of 
 
34 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 degeneration is the exopodite. On considering the 
 
 development of the various parts of this appendage, 
 
 it may he concluded that the exopodite has not 
 
 undergone the same modification as the endopodite. 
 
 It now remains to conclude this study of the 
 
 . abdomiiial appendages by an ex- 
 
 H' amination of the first segment. 
 
 o-p*- Immense variation occurs in the 
 
 female. Sometimes there are two 
 
 Fio. 6. — Astacus Jhivia- 
 
 Hiis. Lefi appendage appendages, somctimcs one or both 
 
 of the 4th abdominal ^-^ .. 
 
 BPRment of the f n ale are missiug : in any case the 
 
 (3/l):pr, piotopodite; . . °' ■' 
 
 en,en<iopodite (Huxley), existing Organs are very small 
 (fig. 6). The protopodite (pr.) is small, the exopodite 
 is missing, and the endopodite (en.) is represented 
 by an imperfectly jointed thread. The appendages 
 of this first segment being no longer necessary, 
 atrophy, and, as has just been 
 pointed out, there is no regularity 
 or uniformity in the order of their 
 disappearance. In the male, the 
 appendages of this segment (fig. 7) 
 possess an unjointed rod (t) cor- 
 responding to the endopodite of the f,^. 7. _1;„,„ ^.^ia. 
 second segment, and this rod ^f Ji,e S S^'^ai 
 stretches out to a considerable (iI!,7i'i:',,°^oiatedTod 
 distance. The eompodite is missing, Wuxiey). 
 and the articulations between the different parts 
 have disappeared. This may reasonably be regarded 
 as the result of degeneration, and confirms what has 
 already been said concerning the appendage of the 
 
TEANSFOKMATION OF ORGANS OF ANIMALS 35 
 
 second metamere, where degeneration was exhibited 
 by the relatively small size of the exopodite. 
 
 It may be concluded from this examination that 
 in the abdominal appendages there is a degenera- 
 tion common to all — this is the absence of the 
 podohranch. In accordance with the particular 
 adaptations of each pair of appendages, special 
 degeneration accompanies special adaptive develop- 
 ments as we have shown above. 
 
 We now pass to the fourteen anterior metameres 
 of the cray-fish. The first six of these constitute 
 the head, and carry on the first segment the stalked 
 eyes ; on the second, the antennules ; on the third, 
 the antennae ; on the fourth, the mandibles ; on the 
 fifth and sixth, the two pairs of maxillae. The 
 eight metameres of the middle of the body form 
 the thorax, and carry on the seventh, eighth, and 
 ninth, the maxillipedes ; on the tenth, the claws ; 
 and on the eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and four- 
 teenth, the walking legs. 
 
 The structure of all these appendages may be 
 referred to that of the typical primitive appendage. 
 First take the thoracic appendages, commencing 
 with the third maxillipede (fig. 8) which is the 
 most complete appendage. It consists of a proto- 
 podite formed of two parts (coxopodite and basipodite) 
 and carries a podobranch (br.), a well-developed 
 endopodite (en.) consisting of five jointed parts, and 
 of a small exopodite segmented like those of the 
 abdominal appendages. 
 
36 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 The third maxillipede may be regarded as the 
 mean type of the average thoracic appendages. 
 Compared with it the other appendages exhibit a 
 true alternative development of their parts. When 
 the exopodite is large the endopodite is small, and 
 vice versd. Besides these general modifications in 
 which the degenerative evolution of the entire 
 appendages is exhibited, each one of the segments 
 undergoes certain modifications of its own. 
 
 Fig. 8. — Aitacus tluviatilis. Third left maxillipede 
 (1,5/1): CO, coxojiodi e. find 6a, hasii'Oilite, form n^ 
 pr. protop dite ; br, gill ; ex, exopodite ; en, en- 
 di'podite (Huxley), 
 
 Fio. 9. — Asfarusjiuviatilit, Second 
 loft maxillipede (1,5/1) ; co, coxo- 
 pudltf , and ba, basipCHdite, forming 
 pr, proTopodite ; en, endopodite, 
 ex, exopodite ; 6r, gill (Huxley). 
 
 In the second maxillipede (fig. 9), which much 
 resembles the third, the exopodite {ex.) is large, and 
 the endopodite (en.) is small, the prodopodite (pr.) is 
 better developed, and the podobranch (br.) has 
 begun to atrophy. 
 
 The same evolution is exhibited by the first 
 
TKANSFOEMATION OF ORGANS OF ANIMALS 
 
 37 
 
 maxillipede (fig. 10), but here it is more strikingj 
 
 and considerably modifies 
 
 the general appearance of 
 
 the appendage. The exopo- 
 
 dite (ex.) is well developed, 
 
 especially at its base ; the 
 
 endojaodite (en.) is small and 
 
 consists of only two joints ; 
 
 in the prodopodite (pr.) the 
 
 ■^ ' \x / FlQ. 10. — AstacusJIunatihs. First 
 
 two component segments leftn)axillipede(l,5/l):co,coxo- 
 
 ■*■ ° podiie, and 6a, basipodite, form- 
 
 p ing pr^ protopodite; en, eodo- 
 
 '' -Ca podite; eXf exopodlte; e/>, epi- 
 
 podite (Huxley). 
 
 are transformed into 
 two long thin plates, 
 and the podobranch 
 is replaced by a mem- 
 braneous plate (the 
 epipodite) (ep.). Behind 
 the maxillipedes are 
 the claws and the four 
 walking legs. In these 
 five pairs of appen- 
 dages the exopodite 
 shows most signs of 
 degeneration. We will 
 
 Fro. n. — Astacvs fliiviatilis. Second left 
 
 w Iking lei! (1,5/1) : CO, (oxnponite and now examine the com- 
 
 ha, bhsipodi e, formine pr, protopodite; 
 
 ir, gill; is, ischlopodite; /ne, meroi-oditej pOUent partS Of thCSC 
 
 CO, caipopoiiite; i), prupodite; dj, dacty- 
 
 lopodite (Huxley). appendages (lig. 11). 
 
 The protopodite (pr.) consists of two parts (ba. and 
 CO.), and carries a gill (Jr.) 'except in the last walking 
 4 
 
38 UNIVEKSALITY OF DEGENERA.TIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 leg. The endopodite consists of five primitive joints, 
 which' are well developed and form the ordinary 
 claw ; these five parts are the ischiopodite (is.), the 
 mesoppdite (me.), the carpopodite (ca.), the propodite 
 (pr.), and the dadylopodite (da.). The exopodite is 
 missing. No vestige or rudiment of it is to be 
 found in any phase of the development of the cray- 
 fish. In the lobster, however, which is closely 
 allied to the cray-fish, the exopodite is still to be 
 found during the larval period. The third funda- 
 mental part of the primitive member persists also 
 in prawns throughout the entire period of life, but 
 the organ is very small. At the extremity of the 
 first and second pairs of walking legs there is an 
 apparatus consisting of a fixed part — an elongation 
 of the proiopodiie — and of a moveable part — the 
 daetylopodite. This furnishes the walking leg with 
 a prehensile organ which is well developed in the 
 first pair of walking legs, and which is enormously 
 increased in the true claws. In this evolution 
 degeneration is exhibited by the disappearance of a 
 joint, for in these appendages the basipodite and the 
 ischiopodite are immovably united. This morpho- 
 logical degeneration corresponds to a functional 
 change in the appendage. So long as the claw was 
 used for locomotion a joint at this point was in- 
 dispensable for progression. It is this joint which, 
 in six or eight-footed beasts allows of the horizontal 
 motion of the member necessary for locomotion, 
 which in six-footed beasts results from the general 
 
TRANSFOKMATION OF ORGANS OF ANIMALS 39 
 
 structure of the parts and their auricular combina- 
 tions. On the claw becoming prehensile, the joint 
 hinge consolidates, the lever 
 thus becoming much stronger 
 and permitting the claw to be 
 used to greater advantage/ 
 
 It now remains to examine ^^^'^J? J-'SC 
 
 the appendages situated in 
 
 front of the maxillipedes, i.e. 
 
 the appendages of the head. f,o. n.^Astacm jiuvmmu. 
 
 In the second maxilla (fig. 1 2) L7™.*„p'„1W":„1'6''a/bia(Ji,i 
 
 a special transformation may ^i'T'eXTuf ? T^S 
 
 be observed. The coxopodite »»">ide(Hu.ie,). 
 
 (co.), and the basipodite (la.), are flat plates ; the 
 
 endopodite (en.), which is small and undivided, ex- 
 
 ., hibits signs of degeneration in its 
 
 ^*~t!!\,V*" size, and in the absence of all 
 
 '?Vo.-^-^X^ articulations. The exopodite, accord- 
 
 ^fc^ ing to some authorities on the 
 
 Tia.is.—Axtacusnuvia. subjcct, no longer exists, while 
 
 tills. First left max. "' ° . j ., ^ 
 
 ilia (1,5/1): CO, coxo- accordms to others it constitutes 
 
 podlte, and ba, basl- , . t • / i i 
 
 podite, forming pr. With tliB cpipodite fthe analogous 
 
 protopodlte; en. en- i i • i i 
 
 dopodite (Huxley), part to that which we regard as 
 representing the gill in the maxillipede), a large 
 peculiarly-shaped blade, the scaphognathide (sc). 
 
 In the first maxilla (fig. 13), a partial degenera- 
 tion of the organ is very marked : the exopodite and 
 
 ' See J. Demoor, Secherches sur la Marche des Crmtac4s (Arch, 
 de Zool. exp. et gen., 2° serie, t. iv., 1891). 
 
 T. List, Bewegungsapparat des Arthropoden, 1. Theil, Astacus 
 Fluviatilis. Morphol. Jahrbuoh., xxii. Bd. 3. Heft, 1895. 
 
40 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 the epipodite are missing ; the endopodite is reduced 
 to a mere unjointed stem, and only the protopodite 
 retains its two normal component parts. 
 
 The mandibles (fig. 14), the appendages of the 
 fourth segment, are modified entirely for mastica- 
 tion. They consist of a strong transverse piece 
 (jyr) provided at the extremity with an inner 
 surface {st) for grinding and sawing, and of a 
 three-jointed piece {en) with bristles which point 
 outwards. The first piece is the result of the 
 
 X^ 
 
 Fifl. 14. — Astacuf fiuvia- Fio. 13. — A&tacus fiimia- Fio. 16. — Astacwi Jfuvia- 
 
 tilU. Left niKiiHlt'le tUin. Left ant nna tilts. Left antennu'e 
 
 (1,5/1): pr, protopodite; (1.5/1) : pr, i lotopodite ; (1,S/1) : pr, protopodite; 
 
 «j, er-dopi'dite; st^ r«sp- ex, exopodite: en^ eudo- ex^ exopodite; c», CLdo. 
 
 inc purftice of the proto- podiie(MUXley). podite (Huxley). 
 podite (Huxley), 
 
 modification of the two parts of the protopodite, 
 which have united to form the organ of mastica- 
 tion ; the second, which represents the endopodite, 
 is the feeler, an organ of sensation. All the other 
 parts of the appendage have disappeared. 
 
 The antenna (fig. 15), which is a tectile ap- 
 paratus, is formed of two parts representing the 
 segments of the protopodite (pr.). The long-ringed 
 process is the endopodite, while the lateral scale of 
 the antenna represents a much reduced exopodite (ex.). 
 
TKANSFOEMATION OF ORGANS OF ANIMALS 41 
 
 The antennule (fig. 1 6) consists of a protopodite 
 (pr.), furnished with an annulated endopodite (en.) 
 and exopodite (ex.).. 
 
 The eye-stalk (fig. 17) consists of a two-jointed 
 protopodite (pr.). This is all that remains, the 
 endopodite and the exopodite being 
 
 absent altogether. ^c'T^P'' 
 
 This examination of the appen- ^^^ r.'Zsiacus ju^na- 
 dages of the cray-fish clearly shows 'nfiu-^'*^ rotlT'o^to 
 that all fresh adaptation in the (Huxiei). ' 
 appendage entails the modification of some parts 
 and the degeneration of others. In each case 
 evolution is accompanied by degeneration. 
 
 § 3. Transformation of homologous organs in 
 individuals of different species. 
 
 The limitations of our present knowledge make 
 it difficult to determine definitely the origin of 
 limbs among vertebrates, but they are universally 
 supposed to have developed from the lateral folds 
 which still persist in AmpMoxus, and which pro- 
 bably existed in the ancestors of vertebrates.^ 
 
 ' A. Morphological proofs : 
 
 {a) Lateral folds of amphioxus. 
 
 (J) Identity of the skeletons of paired and unpaired fins. 
 
 (c) The number of spinal nerves passing to the fins. 
 
 {d) The mode of entrance of these nerves into the fins. 
 B. Emhryological proof s : 
 
 (a) Continuous lateral folds in the embryoes of fish. 
 
 (i) The formation of metameric poucnes (ooelomie in- 
 vaginations not only at the point of origin of the 
 limbs, but between them). 
 
42 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 At first the only skeleton of these lateral rods 
 consisted of parallel rods of a tough material. By 
 the transformation of these rods, the skeleton of 
 the limbs of vertebrates was ultimately formed. 
 
 The skeleton of limbs then consisted originally 
 of a certain number of parallel rods. One of these 
 rods, lying in the long axis of the future limb, 
 became longer than the others, v^hile the neigh- 
 bouring rods began to slant, so that those nearest 
 to the elongated rod spread out like a fan, and 
 gradually moved outwards along the principal rod. 
 This phenomenon was repeated several times, so 
 that eventually those rods nearest to the principal 
 rod passed towards the free end of it, and as the 
 others followed in the same direction, the fin finally 
 acquired a feather-like structure. 
 
 This transformation of the continuous folds into 
 limbs — a progressive transformation, since new and 
 more perfectly adapted organs were formed — was 
 accompanied by degeneration, for a considerable 
 part of the folds disappeared. In the same way, 
 although the transformation of the parallel rods 
 into bipinnated fins constituted a development, 
 
 C. Palaxmtologicdl proofs : 
 
 (a) The series of paired spines in Diplammfhus and in 
 Clvmaims between the pectoral and ventral spines. 
 (S) The skeleton of the fins of Cladoselaclie. 
 
 D. Philogenetic proof: The necessity of the bifurcation of the 
 
 unpaired folds at the anal region {Stemarchiis). 
 K Fhysiologieal proof: The lateral folds are the undifferenti- 
 ated condition of organs of equilibrium in modem fish. 
 
TEANSrOEMATION OF ORGANS OF ANIMALS 43 
 
 the rods nearest to the free extremity of the 
 principal rod were considerably reduced jn size. 
 
 Two series of transformations should now be 
 followed — that of limbs which have not yet 
 ceased to be aquatic, and that of limbs adapted 
 to terrestrial existence. 
 
 Among aquatic creatures, the Pleuracanthides 
 and the Dipneusti (Xenacanthus and Ceratodus) 
 have best preserved the bipinnated fin. In 
 Ceratodus especially it is exhibited in almost the 
 primitive condition. Gradually, however (as in 
 Orthacanthvs), the rods situated along one edge 
 of the principal rod disappeared, and the fin, no 
 longer bipinnated, became unilateral. This pro- 
 gressive transformation entailed the disappearance 
 of nearly half of the fin. 
 
 With creatures which have become adapted to a 
 terrestrial life, the limbs — so far as can be judged 
 from what is known at present — appear to have 
 undergone the following transformations : The bi- 
 pinnated fin (such as that of Ceratodus) (fig. 18) 
 is always the starting-point. Then the lateral rods 
 of one half almost completely disappear (as in 
 (Protopterus Amphibius). Next, the other half 
 follows (as in P. anneeteus) (fig. 19), and finally 
 only the principal rod remains (as in Zepidosiren) 
 (fig. 20). , 
 
 At this point the limbs are reduced to mere 
 lopped stems ; they have not, however, atrophied ; 
 the degeneration which has accompanied this de- 
 

 
 ISf^. 
 
 iiMJ 
 
 B94HmmiiHBBHi 
 
 
 Fig. Mj—Ceraloim Forsteri, Kretft. Bipinnate fins (after GUnther). (-See Doi 
 
 Fig. 20. — Lepidosiren parade 
 
et Dipneutlea, Bull. Soc, beige de Giol,, de PaUmt., et SHydr<il,,t. IX , 1895. 
 
 F. Cray). (See PoiLO.) 
 
 y Lankester), (SeeDoiLO) 
 
46 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 velopment lias reached its ultimate limit; the 
 limb has now to disappear altogether, or else to 
 provide itself with new elements. 
 
 Judging from the embryology of the Urodele 
 Amphibia, the primitive terrestrial limb had only 
 one toe at first, and then a second appeared, then 
 a third, a fourth, and, a fifth. In this way was 
 formed the primitive five-toed limb. < 
 
 Let us now trace the adaptation of this five-toed 
 limb to the principal functions it fulfils in the 
 animal kingdom — walking upon two legs, running, 
 jumping, climbing, burrowing, swimming, and flying. 
 We shall find that the transformations it has under- 
 gone for all these functions have been accompanied 
 by degeneration. 
 
 1. Adaptation to walking on two legs. — Adapta- 
 tion to the upright position may be effected in two 
 different ways, by walking or jumping. We will 
 first investigate the former. 
 
 This adaptation to bipedal progression may be 
 effected with or without the intervention of arboreal 
 life, as may be seen by the following examination, 
 the adaptations of man and of birds. 
 
 (a) Man. — The first sign, among mammals, of a 
 definite adaptation to arboreal life, is the oppos- 
 ability of the great toe. The great toes of human 
 beings are not opposable, the cases of " prehension " 
 exhibited among savage races being due to lateral 
 movements ; we shall see presently, however, that 
 this opposability of the great toe which is exhibited 
 
TEANSFOKMATION OF OEGANS OF ANIMALS 47 
 
 by all modern monkeys, probably existed at some 
 time in man or his immediate ancestors. 
 
 The terrestrial five-toed foot must have acquired 
 an opposable great toe in the course of adaptation 
 to arboreal life. Without attempting to enumerate 
 all the attendant phenomena of degeneration en- 
 tailed by this modification, we will merely examine 
 those exhibited by the nails of the hind foot. 
 Comparison with the supposed ancestors of the 
 Primates (Insectivores) shows that in the primitive 
 terrestrial foot the nails completely covered the 
 extremities of the terminal phalanges. With the 
 lowest Lemur (Tarsius) the nails of the second and 
 third toes are in the form of claws, while all the 
 others are degenerating; they cover only the 
 anterior face of the terminal phalanges, and are, 
 in fact, flat nails. In all the other Lemurs, only 
 the second toe has a claw, whereas in true monkeys 
 all the nails are flat. Finally, in the Orang the 
 great toe often has no nail at all. 
 
 We then come to limbs adapted to arboreal life, 
 such as those of the Gorilla. With some anthropoids, 
 however, and especially the Orang, the modification 
 has gone further, and is accompanied by phenomena 
 of degeneration in other parts of the limb. While, 
 in the case of the Gorilla (fig. 21) the great toe 
 has a true articulation between the metatarsal and 
 the first phalanx, and also between the first and 
 second phalanges, with the Orang (fig. 22) the great 
 toe is much reduced so that it has no articulation 
 
48 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 between the metatarsals and phalanges, and fre- 
 quently the last phalange is absent altogether. 
 
 The development of another foot, that of man, 
 adds confirmation to the heading of this chapter. 
 The great toes of man or his immediate ancestors 
 must have been opposable. This' may clearly be 
 seen by a careful study of the muscles. We know 
 what a resemblance there is between the muscles 
 
 ^'laCaloftie. 
 
 Fios. 21 and 22 Skeletons of the feet of the Gorilla and OranB-outanK. 
 
 ca calcaneum; os, astvagulus; «c, scaphoid; lie rtt, first fun ifoj'm ; 2e rti, 
 second cuiieifoi-m ; 3e cu, third cuneifoi-m ; c, ruhoid ; ^f, nietHlarsuls ; p/iat, 
 phalangi-s : ph anip, distal and fermiualjoints (after Waterhouse and Hawkins). 
 Hee Huxley, Man^s Place in Nature, 
 
 of the soles of the feet and those of the palmar 
 region. With the exception of man, all mammals 
 which have opposable thumbs, have also opposable 
 great toes. On the other hand, there are various 
 mammals (prehensile marsupials, rodents, bats, mar- 
 mosettes, etc.) which have opposable great toes but 
 
TEANSFOEMATION 01' OEGANS OF ANIMALS 49 
 
 not opposable thumbs. We may presume then 
 that the hind limbs were the first to become 
 adapted to arboreal life, and, since the great toe 
 of man is not opposable, it may be concluded that 
 it ceased to be so when terrestrial life was assumed. 
 This modification is not wholly degenerative, for 
 the functions of the lower limbs are no less im- 
 portant in man than in apes. There are, however, 
 undoubted signs of degeneration in the changes 
 entailed. The muscles which rendered the great 
 toe opposable were probably the first to degenerate, 
 but by referring to a skeleton it may be seen that 
 whereas the great toe and the metatarsals have 
 gained in length, the first phalanges, and still more 
 the other phalanges, are reduced. In some cases 
 the last phalange of the little toe has even dis- 
 appeared altogether. 
 
 (b) Birds. — First take the reptile-footed Dino- 
 saurians. These are four-footed beasts, and the 
 hind limbs are plantigrade and five-toed. Counting 
 from the inner side the phalanges of the toes are : 
 2, 3, 4, 5, 4 in number. 
 
 In passing on to the bird-footed Dinosaurians 
 we find that with HypsilopTiodon, the foot is func- 
 tionally four-toed. From the first to the fourth 
 toe the phalanges are the same in number as with 
 the reptile-footed Dinosaurians, but the fifth toe is 
 greatly reduced, being merely represented by a 
 pointed metatarsal. In Gamptosaurus, the fifth toe 
 has disappeared, the second, third, and fourth are 
 
50 UNIVEKSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EYOLUTION 
 
 fully functional, but the first, although retaining the 
 usual number of phalanges, is greatly reduced in 
 size. Finally, in Iguanodon,^ which is fully adapted 
 to the upright position, the second, third, and fourth 
 toes are still fully functional, but not only has the 
 fifth toe disappeared, but the first is merely repre- 
 sented by a pointed metatarsal. 
 
 Thus it is apparent that each new phase in the 
 transformation from quadruped to biped is attended 
 by partial degeneration, although the hind limbs, 
 having alone to fulfil the function of locomotion, 
 necessarily acquire a fuller development. The 
 Iguanodon is too specialized in its development 
 to have been the ancestor of birds; but this is 
 not so with other bird-footed Dinosaurians, such 
 as Camptosauriis and Hypsilophodon, where the 
 hind foot is sufficiently primitive to have been 
 the forerunner of the bird's claw. 
 
 Most birds have four functional toes, which have 
 retained the primitive number of phalanges, but the 
 legs of running birds exhibit more or less important 
 variations. The modifications they have undergone 
 have obviously not diminished their functional im- 
 portance, but quite the contrary. These modifications 
 have, however, been accompanied by degeneration 
 with running birds, and the first toe disappeared 
 first, as in the Cassowary and the American Ostrich, 
 
 ^ DoUo : First, second, third, fourth, and fifth Notes mr les 
 Dinosauriens de Bemissart, Bvil. Mtis. royal d'Hiat. nai. de Belg. 
 1882, 1883, 1884. 
 
TKANSFOEMATION OF OEGANS OF ANIMALS 51 
 
 to be followed in the second stage by the second 
 toe. Then the fourth began to atrophy until the 
 whole weight of the body was supported by the 
 third toe alone, as in the ostrich. 
 
 2. Adaptation to Imping — We now come to the 
 various instances of adaptation to leaping. This 
 adaptation is one necessarily undergone either by an 
 animal which originally lived a terrestrial life, such 
 as the Jerboa, or by one which had ceased to be 
 arboreal in adapting itself to leaping, such as 
 the kangaroo ; or, again, by an animal which 
 formerly lived an arboreal life, and which con- 
 tinued to lead such a life with the additional 
 adaptation to leaping, such as the tarsius ; and, 
 finally, by an animal which first lived and swam 
 in the water, and which continued to do so after 
 becoming adapted to leaping, such as the frog. 
 
 In each «f these cases adaptation to leaping has 
 resulted in the fuller development of the hind limbs, 
 the size of which, as well as the functional impor- 
 tance, has greatly increased, which shows that the 
 modification is of a progressive nature. All these 
 modifications are, however, attended by degeneration. 
 
 (a) The Jerboa {Dijrus). — Some rodents, such as 
 rats, porcupines and squirrels, are five-toed. This 
 five-toed foot represents the primitive one from 
 which, after passing through various still existing 
 phases, was derived the three-toed foot of the jerboa. 
 
 With the hare there is no first toe, so that the 
 foot is functionally four-toed. 
 
52 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 The fifth toe next disappeared^ leaving the foot- 
 three-toed, as in the viscacha, the 
 capybara and agouti. In the foot 
 of the agouti the metatarsals have 
 considerably gained in length, and 
 are closely pressed together. 
 
 In the jerboa (fig. 23) the three 
 metatarsals (M.) are united, and 
 the intervening tissues have dis- 
 appeared. Besides this modifica- 
 tion, the hind limbs of the animal, 
 being used for leaping only, have 
 become thinner, while gaining in 
 Ftn. 23. —Hind limb of length bv the elongation of the 
 
 Diptis (Jerl)i.a). I, arst , , 
 
 rndimeiitaiy dirft ; 1 1, metatarsals.*- 
 
 (&) The Kangaroo. — Although 
 now inhabitants of the plain, 
 kangaroos are descended from 
 arboreal marsupials, which them- 
 selves have gradually ceased to be 
 arboreal.^ All the intervening 
 phases of this transition from type to type are known. 
 
 ' The last segment of the leg of the jerhoa— the foot being 
 formed by the union of the second, third and fourth metatarsals 
 — corresponds more or less to the formation of the bird's foot. 
 This, however, is a case of convergent modification more apparent 
 than real, for in the cannon bone of birds, besides the second, third 
 and fourth metatarsals, there is the whole set of distal tarsals, 
 whereas in the jerboa the distal tarsals remain free and isolated 
 bones. 
 
 " L. Dollo, autographs of the course given at the Institute of 
 Solvay, 1891-1892, 5th lecture, The Origin of KwiUjaroos. 
 
 second digit : III, hird 
 digit ; IV, fourtli (ii/tit; 
 if, bnne tornu'd by 
 fusion of 2nd, Srd, and 
 4th metatarsiils; 
 cah-aneum; as, astra- 
 jnilut ; n, navicular; 
 c3, third cuneiform ; c2, 
 second cuneifcTin ; c6, 
 cuboid. (Aft V Flower, 
 Jittfodnrtioji to the Oft/e- 
 olofjy of the Mamntalia.) 
 
TEANSFOKMATION OF ORGANS OF ANIMALS 
 
 53 
 
 In the Opossum (Didelphys) we find a normal 
 five-toed foot, in which the third toe predominates, 
 bnt which is fully adapted to. arboreal life, the first 
 toe being opposable and provided with a flat nail. 
 
 The foot of the Phalanger 
 (Phalangista) (fig. 24) is 
 also five-toed, and the great 
 toe is opposable, but here it 
 is the fourth toe (iv.) which 
 predominates owing to the 
 degeneration of the second 
 (ii.) and third (iii.) 
 
 The Kaola (Phascolarctos) 
 exhibits the same type of 
 foot, but with an even more 
 marked diminution of the 
 second and third toes. 
 
 In Uypsiprymnodon the 
 first toe has become rudi- 
 mentary, e, 
 
 In Perameles the first toe 
 is only represented by a 
 metatarsal with phalanges. 
 
 In the kangaroo (fig. 25) 
 it has completely disappeared. 
 
 Finally, in Chceropus (fig. 26) the fifth toe is 
 reduced to a mere thread, as are also the second 
 (ii.) and third (iii.) toes. 
 
 This last stage, which represents the present and 
 most perfect adaptation of marsupials to leaping, 
 
 Fig. 24.— Riglit fore-paw of 
 
 Phulanger. 
 calranenm; a, astragalus; n, 
 08 centi-ale ; c6, cuboid ; cl, c2. c^, 
 first,sek-oiid, and third cuneifdrms ; 
 I, 11, ill, IV, V,— 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 
 4th and 5th d'giis, of which the 
 second and third are degenerating. 
 (After Flower, Inlrodurtion to the 
 Osteology of the Mammalia.) 
 
54 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 was attained by the predominance of the fourth toe, 
 accompanied by the almost total extinction of the 
 other toes. The persistence of the fourth toe 
 
 Fig, 25,— Right fove-paw 
 of Kangaroo. 
 
 c, enlcaneum ; a, astra^- 
 lus; c&t cuboirl ; n, as 
 centrale; cn.third cunei- 
 form. 11, in, IV, V,— 
 second, third, fourth 
 and fifth difrits, the 
 B cond and third being 
 degenerate. (After 
 
 Flower's Introducti n 
 to the Ontpology of the 
 Ma/mmalia.) 
 
 Fig, 2fi. — Cficeropus. 
 Right fore-paw. 
 c, calcaneum ; a, nstiu^n- 
 lus i n, OS centrale ; r6, 
 cuboid; c3, 3e, ttiird 
 cuneiform; II, III. IV, 
 V, — second, third, 
 fourth and fifth digits, 
 of which the second, 
 third and fifth are de- 
 generating. (Atter 
 
 Flower's Intrrdnction 
 to the Osteology of the 
 Mammalia.) 
 
 Fio. 27. — Riclit liind-raw 
 of Tnrsius Spectrum. 
 
 c, calcaneum ; a, astmgu- 
 liis; 7',navicuar; cl, c2, 
 e^, first, second, and 
 third cuneiforms ; cfr, 
 cuboid ; I, II, III, TV, 
 V,— first, second, third 
 andfoiirthdieits. (After 
 Flower's IntrodncMnn 
 to the Osteology of the 
 Mammalia. ) 
 
 instead of the third is accounted for by the 
 previous arboreal existence of marsupials before 
 they became .adapted to leaping. 
 
 (c) The Tardus (Tardus spectrum). — The tarsius, 
 which is a small lemur, is to be found in Celebes. 
 
TRANSFORMATION OF ORGANS OF ANIMALS 55 
 
 It is so-called owing to the remarkable length of 
 its tarsus (fig. 27), a very exceptional formation, 
 for the elongation of an animal's foot is usually 
 effected by means of a lengthened metatarsal. 
 This abnormal formation in the foot of the 
 tarsius can, however, be accounted for. Like 
 most of the Primates, the tarsius is adapted to 
 an arboreal life, and, among other characters, it 
 exhibits an opposable great toe. When on the 
 ground, however, instead of running on two or 
 four legs, it progresses by leaping; and this 
 may also be noticed with some of the lemurs 
 of Senegal (Galago). The tarsius has become 
 adapted to leaping by the lengthening of the 
 hind limbs, the thigh, leg and foot being equally 
 elongated. The foot, however, being of faii-like 
 structure, it is clear that if all the toes were 
 elongated, the feet would overlap one another 
 in the middle line, and therefore with most 
 animals that leap the elongation of the foot 
 involves a reduction in size of the outer and 
 inner toes to prevent overlapping. The tarsius, 
 however, has remained arboreal, although it has 
 taken to leaping, and it therefore requires a well- 
 developed foot with an opposable great toe in order 
 to obtain a firm grip on branches. To avoid over- 
 lapping of the feet, the length has been augmented 
 at the ankle, which, not being shaped like a fan, 
 does not consequently gain in length. 
 
 A more detailed examination would doubtless 
 
56 UNIVEHSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 show that this modification of the foot has been 
 attended by the degeneration of some parts of it, 
 but, as we have to restrict ourselves here to the 
 data with which we are already furnished, it is the 
 degenerative phenomena exhibited by other parts of 
 the limb consequent to adaptation to leaping, which 
 we shall proceed to enumerate. 
 
 There are two leg bones, the fibula, and a larger 
 one, the tibia. These two bones are usually held 
 together by muscles, or by an interosseous membrane, 
 the latter being merely degenerated muscular tissue. 
 As a rule, the tibia and the fibula reach the entire 
 length of the leg and are quite separate. In the 
 process of adaptation to arboreal life, these bones 
 have remained apart, as may be observed in most 
 arboreal animals of the present day. Moreover, in 
 order to promote prehension by the foot, the tibia and 
 fibula in prehensile-footed marsupials may turn upon 
 one another, as is the case with our radius and ulna. 
 With the tarsius it is quite otherwise. Here the 
 lower halves of the tibia and fibula are united, and 
 the muscles which formerly connected the two bones 
 have consequently disappeared. There is further 
 evidence of degeneration in the upper half of the 
 fibula which has become reduced to a mere thread. 
 There is no question that these phenomena are the 
 result of adaptation to leaping, for they are not 
 exhibited among exclusively arboreal animals, while 
 many parallel cases of modification are known to 
 , exist amongst other species. 
 
TRANSFORMATION OF ORGANS OF ANIMALS 
 
 57 
 
 of the 
 astragulus 
 
 (d) The Frog {Bana Esculenta). — Adaptation to 
 leaping entails, as a rule, the elongation of the hind 
 limbs. When a large blade-like swimming foot is 
 required, the number of toes cannot be diminished 
 and length must be augmented, as in the tarsius, in 
 the region of the ankle (fig. 28). 
 But, in the frog, it is the 
 astragulus (a.) and the calcan- 
 eum (c.) which have elongated, 
 whereas in the tarsius it was 
 the calcaneum and navicular 
 bones. 
 
 Besides the union 
 calcaneum and the 
 bones — which may be regarded 
 as a phenomenon of degenera- 
 tion, as it entails the disappear- 
 ance of the intervening tissues 
 — the adaptation of the frog to 
 leaping has been attended by a 
 yet more characteristic sign of 
 degeneration : the tarsus, which 
 is a very complicated structure 
 in tailed amphibia, is reduced, 
 especially in the distal row, 
 bones. 
 
 3. Adaptation to running. — The ruminants and 
 the horse furnish us with two, excellent examples 
 among mammals of adaptation to running. 
 
 Their common ancestor is known to have been a 
 5 
 
 Fig. 28.— Rlehtfootof/iaiia 
 escuJejtta. 
 
 u, astragulus; c, calcan- 
 i unl ; 1-3, 71, A, Al, tarSHls ; 
 7n, metatarsals; 1,11, ILl, 
 IV, V, digi'S. <After 
 Kcker, Anatomy of the 
 Frog.) 
 
 to a few minute 
 
58 UNIVEESALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 clumsy five-toed animal which lived in swamps. As 
 the horse type was evolved, the legs, which originally 
 only served to support the vjeight of the body in a 
 slow progress, were gradually adapted to running. 
 This modification was certainly advantageous to the 
 animal, as it enabled it to escape more easily from 
 its enemies. It was, however, accompanied by de- 
 generation, for the ancestor of the horse lost first the 
 great toe, then the fifth, and next the second and 
 third toes became so reduced that eventually only 
 one toe remained functional. 
 
 Adaptation to running was effected differently 
 with the ruminants, but it was equally accompanied 
 by degeneration. With them, first the great toe 
 disappeared, then the second and fifth became simul- 
 taneously much smaller, while the third and fourth 
 continued to increase equally in length. In process 
 of time the second and third toes entirely disap- 
 peared, and the metatarsals of the third and fourth 
 joined together to form the cannon bone. In this 
 way mammals were evolved with cloven hoofs and 
 adapted to running. 
 
 4. Adaptation to flyiiig. — There are three types 
 of animals among the vertebrates : birds, ptero- 
 saurians, and flying bats, by which is meant, not 
 those bats which are merely able to float in the 
 air like a parachute, but those which can both raise 
 and guide themselves during flight. 
 
 (a) Birds. — We have seen that the ancestor of 
 all terrestrial vertebrates was a five-toed animal. 
 
TRANSFOEMATION OF ORGANS OF ANIMALS 59 
 
 The hand of the oldest known bird, however, — 
 Arckceopteryx — had only three digits, and the 
 question arises as to whether this atrophy of the 
 two outer digits was effected in the process of 
 the animal's gradual adaptation to flight or if it 
 dates from a still earlier period. 
 
 Arckceopteryx had four toes. The fore legs were 
 smaller than the hind legs. Now, with bipedal or 
 quadrupedal animals which make no special use 
 of their fore legs, the contrary may invariably be 
 noticed. It is of small importance, therefore, 
 whether Archceopteryx was quadrupedal or bipedal 
 before it took to flying, for neither of these modes 
 of progression would have entailed the loss of two of 
 its digits, and the disappearance may reasonably be at- 
 tributed as due to the process of adaptation to flight. 
 
 The three remaining digits of Arckceopteryx were 
 complete in their structure. The phalanges, which 
 were of different lengths, are furnished with claws, 
 and were of the same number as is normal among 
 reptiles, i.e. 2, 3, 4, counted from the inner side. 
 The wing of Arckceopteryx had not therefore under- 
 gone much modification beyond the toes of the two 
 outer digits, but it must be remembered that the 
 bird was a weak flyer ; instead of having a large 
 boney sternum necessary for powerful flight, the 
 sternum of Arckceopteryx was formed of cartilage, 
 and the wings were short and rounded in shape. 
 
 With good flyers, on the other hand — such as 
 pigeons or sea-birds— the adaptation to flight is 
 
60 UNIVEBSALITT OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 fingers 
 entailing 
 
 more perfect, the modifications entailed are much 
 greater and have been accompanied by further signs 
 of degeneration. In the fowl 
 (fig. 29) all the claws have 
 disappeared {degeneration No. 1); 
 the thumb (i.) and the index 
 finger (ii.) have each lost a 
 phalanx ; the middle finger (iii.) 
 has lost three (degeneration No. 
 2) ; finally, the metacarpals of 
 the index and middle 
 have fused (as.) thus 
 the degeneration of the muscles 
 between those parts (degeneration 
 No. 3). 
 
 (J) The Pterosaurians. — These 
 
 reptiles, which are now extinct, 
 
 were able to fly, like bats, by 
 
 means of a membrane. There 
 
 is no connection between them 
 
 Fia. 29.-sicfiet»n of wing and birds which fly in quite a 
 
 i,Fir8tdiK"oTthnmbi IT, different way. 
 
 m,°thir5'"or"'^'e'»t ^ The membrane of the Ptero- 
 
 ?ile'°reconrS'""thi?i sauriaus (fig. 30) was supported 
 
 diKits. (After Huxley.) ^^ ^ framework of which the 
 
 most important part was the fifth finger (v.), the 
 digit corresponding to our little finger, which was 
 greatly elongated. 
 
 The patagium (the flight membrane) consisted of 
 two kinds of membrane, the antebrachial membrane 
 
TKANSFOEMATION OF OEGANS OF ANIMALS 61 
 
 which extended from the neck to the wrist, and the 
 true wing membrane, which reached from the free 
 end of the little finger to the ankle. 
 
 There are three essential types of Pterosaurians. 
 Pterodactylvs, which had a short tail and teeth all 
 along the gape; 
 Bhamphory - 
 hnchus, which 
 had a long tail 
 and a heak set 
 in the front 
 part of the jaw 
 with teeth be- 
 hind it ; and 
 Pteranodon, 
 which had 
 neither teeth 
 nor tail. This 
 last type was 
 the most spe- 
 cialized of the 
 pterosaurians, 
 and the strongest flyer of the whole group. They 
 attained to a huge size, the skull measurement averag- 
 ing 1 metre 20, and the wing extension 8 metres 30. 
 The modification which the fore-limbs of the Ptero- 
 saurians underwent in the course of their adapta- 
 tion to flight, was accompanied by degenerative 
 phenomena in proportion to the extent of the 
 specialization (see Pterodactylus spedabilis) (fig. 30). 
 
 Fig. 30. — Pterodactylna upeefabiHa (after Huxley, 
 Anatomy (^ Vtrtebrated Animals), 
 
62 UNIVEKSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 In the process of adaptation to flight the thumb (i.), 
 and the little finger (v.) first lost their nails and 
 became useless. Next, the metacarpal and the 
 proximal phalange of the thumb became much 
 smaller, and united with the bones of the wrist, 
 while the distal phalange degenerated to a mere 
 thread. Fresh evidences of degeneration presented 
 themselves as the specialization became more ad- 
 vanced. In Ptera- 
 nodon, for instance, 
 the metacarpals of 
 the clawed digits 
 were considerably 
 reduced in size, the 
 arms having almost' 
 ceased to exercise 
 any function but 
 that of flight. There 
 
 Fig. 31. — Pteropus ca Im*)- Skeleton of forp- ^ ^ 
 
 I'."?";,?' {'"^T'! '' ";««'"■'■"'"? "'"J ' '• '■• vision for the support 
 
 111, JV, V, ditfics. (After Btxxley^ Anatomy ^^ 
 
 of Verlebrated Animals.) of thoSC great wingS, 
 
 the development of which was only equalled among 
 vertebrates by that of the pectoral fins of the 
 skate. Whereas the legs were upheld by the pelvis, 
 which was in its turn supported by the sacrum, the 
 arms of Pteranodon were attached to the middle of 
 the shoulder blade, the latter being supported by 
 the vertebral column — an absolutely unique con- 
 dition. This kind of pectoral sacrum implied the 
 fusion of a number of vertebrae, and involved a 
 
TEANSFOKMATION OF ORGANS OF ANIMALS 63 
 
 consequent degeneration of the muscles which in 
 earlier Pterosaurians caused the movement of one 
 vertebra upon another. 
 
 Two phases may thus be observed in the evolu- 
 tion of the Pterosaurians : first, Pt&rodactylus and 
 BhampkoryTwhus, and next Pterarwdon, while de- 
 generation attended the modifications of both. 
 
 (c) Bats. — Bats, like the Pterosaurians, fly by 
 means of a membrane, only that the membrane, 
 instead of principally extending from the little 
 finger to the body, is equally developed between 
 all the fingers. 
 
 Let us consider what degeneration is involved by 
 this modification. 
 
 Firstly, all the digits have lost their nails, except- 
 ing the thumb and the index finger in fruit-eating 
 bats, and the thumb alone in insect-eating bats, 
 while some of the phalanges of the digits are 
 missing, the usual number being two instead of 
 three. Further, instead of the ulna and radius 
 being equally developed in the fore-arm, the ulna 
 is greatly reduced in size. 
 
 5. Adaptation to arboreal life. — ^We have seen 
 that, as a rule, the first evidence of adaptation to 
 arboreal life is the opposability of the great toe. 
 This modification is accompanied by the degeneration 
 of the nail, for, instead of consisting of a claw cover- 
 ing the entire extremity of the last phalange, it 
 becomes a small nail covering only the upper side. 
 
 Another modification is exhibited at a slightly 
 
64 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 later stage. In the primitive foot of the aminota, 
 the third toe is the longest, but among animals 
 which have become adapted to an arboreal life (fig. 
 32) the fourth toe preponderates, thus allowing of 
 a wider grasp, and the second (ii.) and the second 
 and third toes gradually degenerate {Arctocebus 
 ccdalarensis. Potto). A clear proof that this modi- 
 „ jy fication is due to adaptation to 
 
 arboreal life, lies in this same 
 tendency being exhibited by two 
 groups not closely allied to one 
 another — the marsupials and the 
 lemurs. 
 
 In a still more advanced stage 
 the phalanges of the second digit 
 Fio. si—Arctoreim cfa- disappear almost completely, and, 
 
 harennu. Right ) and. ^i r j t ' 
 
 I, II, 111. IV, v=the live for all practical purposes, no 
 
 finders, of which II and ^ r r ' 
 
 III are deceneiaiiMg. longer Cxist. 
 (After Huxley, Anatomy o 
 
 of vertebrated Attimiit.) Amoug reptilcs, chamelcons 
 furnish a striking example of adaptation to climbing. 
 With them three digits are opposable to the other 
 two (figs. 33 and 34), instead of one being oppos- 
 able to the other four. To further promote this 
 opposabilily, there is a fusion of digits (syndactilism), 
 i.e. each set of digits is enclosed up to the nails 
 within a common integument. The result of this is 
 that the enclosed digits are no longer capable of 
 lateral movement, and the muscles have degenerated 
 in consequence. The wrist and tarsus also show 
 signs of partial degeneration. 
 
TKANSFOEMATION OF OKGANS OF ANIMALS 65 
 
 6. Adaptation to swimminff. — Among mammals, 
 adaptation to swimming entails the functional dis- 
 appearance of the lower limbs, and the modification 
 of the fore-limbs into fins. 
 
 This modification involves considerable degener- 
 ation. The alteration in the number of digits 
 varies; the whale-bone whales have kept all five; 
 in rorquals only four remain; and, after a series 
 
 •Cd/C 
 
 Fio. 83.— Skeleton of hand of 
 Chameleon. (After Ouvler.) 
 
 Pro. .W.— Chame'eon. Skele- 
 ton of foot. (After Cuvier.) 
 
 of intermediate conditions, the dolphin is evolved, 
 the fins of which are functionally two-toed. If the 
 Cetaceans vary as to the number of digits they ex- 
 hibit, they all have this character in common — the 
 joints have disappeared. The arm no longer articu- 
 lates at the elbow, and neither the wrist nor the 
 phalanges are jointed. The simple stratum of 
 cartilage which takes the place of the true joints 
 allows of a slight movement of the various 
 segments, but not of true articular movement. 
 
66 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 This results in the degeneration of all the 
 muscles which caused this mobility in their 
 terrestrial ancestors. 
 
 A similar degeneration may be observed among 
 Plesiosaurians, Ichthyosaurians, and Mosasaurians.^ 
 With regard to Sirenia, the Dugong is unable to 
 move the arm at the elbow 
 joint, but the Manatee can 
 grasp things with its fins. 
 Besides many other modifi- 
 cations, the adaptation of 
 these animals to an aquatic 
 life has entailed the fusion 
 of the two bones of the fore- 
 arm, thus involving the de- 
 generation of those muscles 
 which formerly prevailed 
 Fio.36.-Forc-itobotr«(pa ovcr the movement of the 
 ie,r.airrr"clpuofd-'t,Bomi. two bones when separate. 
 rul^fSTm^oi^'a^o^Si V. Adaptation to hirrow- 
 'A 'rS?l.ef V^fSo^il ing.—Theve are two types 
 ;rdrti?,)oinf*of'digffTAS of adaptation to burrowing 
 Wo,...-.) —that of the Mole and 
 
 that of the HeterocepJialus. 
 
 In the mole (fig. 35), the fore-limb, although it 
 has become shorter in order that it may better fulfil 
 
 ^ L. Dollo, Fremiire note sur Us Mosasauriens de Mesoin (Bull. 
 Soc. belg. 64ol. PaZ&mt. Hydrol., vol. iii., 1889) ; Nouvelle note 
 sur Vostiologie de Mosasauriens (Bull. Soc. belg. OM. Pal^ont, 
 ■Hydrol, vol. v., 1892). 
 
TKANSFOEMATION OF OEGANS OF ANIMALS 67 
 
 its function, is obviously in process of development, 
 for it has not only retained all five digits, but, what 
 is functionally a sixth digit, has made its appear- 
 ance (rs.). The phalanges are very well developed 
 (phal.), but, on the other hand, the distal phalanges 
 (ph.) have degenerated and are very short. 
 
 Heterocephalus (fig. 36) is a burrowing rodent, 
 only, instead of being talpoide as is the Bathyergus, 
 i.6. instead of exhibiting a body furnished with 
 
 Fio. 36. — Heterocephalus PMHppi. (After Oldfleld Thomas.) 
 
 strong short legs, Heterocephalus looks more like 
 an ordinary quadruped. In process of adaptation 
 to an underground life, the hair, especially that on 
 the legs, ha:s disappeared. This is the more re- 
 markable, as in no other case does it occur among 
 mammals unless as an adaptation to aquatic life. 
 Here it is in the atrophy of the roots of the hair 
 that degeneration is manifested. 
 
 One form of hair, however, is still to be found 
 on Heterocephalus, for there are a few bristles on 
 the outer sides of the feet. These serve as brushes 
 to sweep away the sand while burrowing. 
 
68 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Section II. 
 Modification of the organs of plants. 
 § 4. Modification of /wmodynamic organs in the 
 Individual. 
 
 the same reasons as we have already 
 the case of vertebrates, those leaves 
 which grow out of 
 different parts of the 
 main stem, and have 
 undergone many 
 modifications in 
 order to adapt them- 
 selves to their vari- 
 ous functions, will 
 best serve as ex- 
 amples for our pre- 
 sent demonstration. 
 In descriptive 
 botanical treatises 
 the term "leaf" is 
 applied without dis- 
 crimination. As a 
 rule, however, this 
 
 term should only be applied to the true leaves, i.e. 
 
 those of which the parts are fully developed 
 
 throughout.^ 
 
 ^ The embryological development of the leaf among the Angio- 
 spevms (fig. 37) exhibits the following phases : — The leaf arises 
 from the growing point in the form of a small bud, which grows 
 
 Fia. 37. — GrowlnR point of Vicia varia^ 
 showing the origin of leaves, 
 , 2, 3, 4, leaves respectively older; leaf 1 is 
 still in the primordial condition ; leaf 2 is 
 flivided into epipodlum and hypopodium (A). 
 Tn leaves 3 and 4 the epipod id divided i' to 
 petiole and leaflets, and the hypopod forms 
 btipulea. 
 
MODIFICATION OF THE ORGANS OF PLANTS 69 
 
 These foliage leaves, which are solely assimilative, 
 are philogenetically the oldest, for the assimilative 
 function of leaves was certainly an earlier function 
 than any they may now exercise ; but it is not un- 
 common to find both basilar {NiederUatter) and 
 apical leaves (Hochbldtter) as well as fpliage leaves 
 {Laubbldtter) in the same plant, and even growing 
 from the same branch. These leaves, which arise 
 directly from the foliage leaves, have more or less 
 completely lost their primitive function, and have 
 assumed others. Their structure has undergone 
 corresponding modifications which are all attended 
 
 for some time without any evidences of differentiation, and con- 
 stitutes what is called the primordial leaf. Next the leaf is 
 differentiated into a proximal part, which almost surrounds the 
 stem (the hypopod), a distal part (the epipod), and an inter- 
 mediate part (the mesopod). From this point the various parts 
 of the leaf begin to develop individually. 
 
 Little foliacious lamina (the stipules) frequently arise laterally 
 from the hypopod, and, while still in the bud these stipules, being 
 often much larger than the rest of the leaf, serve as a very effective 
 protection to the young organs. 
 
 The way in which the epipod differentiates varies very much in 
 different cases. The lamina is developed from it, and little buds 
 are gradually formed around the point until the whole is ready to 
 branch out. At this stage the young leaf is still rolled up within 
 itself, and protected by stipules, when there are any. 
 
 Next, the mesopod grows into the petiole, and the growth of the 
 petiole causes the separation of the different parts of the leaf. 
 
 The leaves of many plants are much less complicated than 
 these. Sometimes the mesopod is missing, and the hypopod and 
 the epipod are left in contact. Sometimes there is practically no 
 hypopod, and in some cases the primordial leaf develops with- 
 out any differentiation into hypopod and epipod. See fig. 49 
 (Semperviimm arachTtoideum), 
 
70 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 by degeneration. A good demonstration of this will 
 be to examine the leaves of the following types : 
 Rosa rugosa, Serratula centauroides, Sagittaria sagitti- 
 folia, Lathyrus Aphaca, and Nymphaea dentata?- 
 
 1. Rosa rugosa. — In the foliage leaves (iig. 38, F) 
 of a rose-branch, Buch as of Rosa rwgosa, there are two 
 
 Flff. 38. — Lpaves from the snme b'-anch of Uma mgom. 
 A — E, successive basilar leaves ; F, fuliage le*f; G~l, successive apical leaves. 
 
 lateral stipules which arise from the hypopod and 
 are fused with the base of the petiole. The petiole, 
 which arises from the mesopod, has from two to six 
 pairs of leaflets, and also a terminal leaflet — all of 
 which are derived from the epipod. 
 
 ' In studying these types we will confine our attention to tlie 
 leaves arising directly from the foliage leaves, to the exclusion of 
 the floral leaves. 
 
MODIFICATION OF THE ORGANS OF PLANTS 71 
 
 The basilar leaves (fig.. 38, a to e), which are 
 usually withered in an adult branch, have more or 
 less completely lost their assimilative function, and 
 merely serve as a protection to 
 the bud. The hypopod plays an 
 important part in this modifica- 
 tion, but there are evidences of a 
 partial degeneration, the epipod 
 being reduced in size in propor- 
 tion as the assimilating function 
 is lost.^ 
 
 The apical leaves also have 
 partially lost their assimilative 
 function, and have assumed, like 
 the basilar leaves, a protective 
 function which they exercise on 
 the floral buds. This modification rm. sg.-Leavesfrom ti,o 
 is effected difi'erently to that of fr/c^So^.f""' 
 the basilar leaves, but is equally ^•^^^w^iiiiu^^il 
 attended with evidences of degener- r.i'tactoftheinvomc™. 
 ation. The hypopod continues to gain, as the epipod 
 loses, in importance, but the leaflets, instead of de- 
 
 ^ On examining the foliage leaves of a plant from above down- 
 wards, one finds successively leaves with large stipules and small 
 leaflets (fig 38, e), then leaves with very small leaflets crowded at 
 the end of the hypopod and which have only the basilar part of the 
 petiole (fig. 38, D), and then leaves of which the epipod and the 
 free part of the petiole have disappeared (fig, 38, c). Finally, at 
 the base of the plant there are loaves in which the hypopod is 
 markedly reduced, and which carry nothing but small stipules 
 (fig. 38, A and b). 
 
*72 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 creasing in size, decrease in number. At first there 
 may be three leaflets, and then only a single large 
 leaflet (fig. 38, g). 
 Finally, towards the 
 floral end of the 
 branch the leaflet be- 
 comes smaller and 
 smaller until it dis- 
 appears altogether 
 (fig. 38, H and i). 
 The apical leaves, like 
 the basilar leaves, are 
 eventually reduced 
 simply to thehypopod. 
 
 2. Serratula cen- 
 tauroides. — The foli- 
 age leaves of this 
 species are close to 
 the ground, their bases 
 are ensheathed, and 
 the long petioles ter- 
 minate in rhomboidal 
 blades. 
 
 In passing on from 
 these assimilative 
 leaves to the basilar 
 and apical leaves, a 
 double adaptation becomes apparent, as in Mosa 
 Tugosa. In Eosa rugosa, however, both adaptations 
 were protective, while in Serratula centauroides this 
 
 Fig. 40. — Sagittaria fagittifolia, 
 A, winter bud with raembr-n'-OQS leaves en- 
 closing the swollen poi-tion and ro led leav< s 
 protecting the burl ; B C, smmerfied leaves; 
 DjE, floating leaves; F, aerial foliage leaf; 
 G, leaf protecting the flower-bud ; H, 
 Beedling grown from a seed planted in the 
 water on the su' face of the mud. I, seed- 
 ling from seed planted in the water under 
 a layerof mud. In figures H and I, c is 
 the cotyledon, I the first leaves. 
 
MODIFICATION OF THE ORGANS OF PLANTS 73 
 
 is only the case with the basilar leaves, which sur- 
 round the winter buds. 
 
 The modifications of the basilar and apical leaves 
 of Serratula centauroides are similar to those of Mosa 
 rv^osa, and it is therefore unnecessary to repeat the 
 description. 
 
 Those of the apical leaves tend towards their 
 protection from rain. When rain falls upon the 
 radical leaves, they are flattened out upon the 
 ground, which prevents them from being torn. 
 This is not so with the apical leaves, and had 
 their primitive structure remained unchanged, they 
 would have been constantly exposed to destruction. 
 M. Stahl^ has shown how these leaves have pro- 
 tected themselves by shortening their petioles and 
 fringing their edges. In this way the leaf has 
 acquired greater resistance, and the water is better 
 enabled to run off it. This modification, however, 
 although one advantageous to the plant, has in- 
 volved the partial degeneration of the petiole and 
 the blade. ^ 
 
 3. Sagittaria Sagittifolia. — The Sagittaria is an 
 
 1 E. Stahl, Megenfall und BlattgestaU {Ann. du Jard. lot. de 
 BuUenzorg, vol. xi., 1893). 
 
 ^ In the leaves (fig. 39, b and c), immediately above the foliage 
 leaves, the petiole gradually disappears altogether, while the blade 
 has become deeply serrated, thus providing for the water drainage 
 while retaining an assimilative surface. 
 
 Further up the stem the leaf blades are more and more reduced, 
 until eventually they are no longer differentiated into hypopod and 
 epipod, but arise directly from the growth of the primordial leaf 
 (fig. 39, D to F). 
 6 
 
74 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 aquatic plant, the foliage leaves of which emerge 
 from the water. The blade of these leaves (fig. 
 40, f) is shaped like an arrow-head, and the barbs 
 facilitate rain-water drainage. The petiole is very- 
 long, and terminates in a sheathed base derived 
 from the hypopod. 
 
 The apical leaves (fig. 4, g) are represented by 
 transparent membraneous scales, which serve as a 
 protection to the floral buds. 
 
 The basilar leaves, which either float on the 
 surface of the water or else are entirely sub- 
 merged, have undergone both development and 
 degeneration. Degeneration is more noticeable on 
 glancing downwards from the foliage leaves to 
 those which protect the winter buds.^ 
 
 ' (a) The leaves nearest to the foliage leaves float upon the 
 surface of the water (fig. 40, e). The lateral harbs, 
 being no longer required, have begun to degenerate. 
 (6) The floating leaves immediately beneath es^hibit barbs 
 which are still more reduced (fig. 40, d), and there are 
 no stomata except those upon the upper surface. 
 
 (c) The next leaves are completely submerged and lengthened 
 
 out into long ribbons which broaden into flat blades 
 at their upper ends, which are not separated from the 
 hypopod by petioles (fig. 40, c). In this case the blade 
 is very much smaller, and the petiole has disappeared. 
 
 (d) The next leaves to these are submerged, and are ribbon- 
 
 like in shape. They spring immediately from the 
 primordial leaf without difl'erentiating into hypopod, 
 mesopod, and epipod. 
 («) After these leaves follow leaves consisting solely of a hypo- 
 pod, which is much reduced in size (fig. 40, A). These 
 leaves are folded round, and serve as a protection to the 
 bud. 
 
MODIFICATION OF THE ORGANS OF PLANTS 75 
 
 Lathyrus Aphaca. — The foliage leaf (fig. 4, leaves 
 4 and 5), which most nearly resembles the primi- 
 tive type,^ consists of two stipules and a petiole 
 which terminates in a point and is provided with a 
 pair of lateral leaflets. 
 
 Each individual plant is furnished with from one 
 to three of these foliage leaves. 
 
 Above them are leaves (fig. 41, leaf 6) consisting 
 of only a hypopod which forms two large stipules 
 that partially enclose a small point arising from 
 the epipod. The entire function of assimilation is 
 exercised by these stipules, and consequently both 
 
 (/) Filially, there are some scaly leaves which also consist 
 
 merely of a hypopod. These protect the tubers (fig. 
 
 40, a), and are practically devoid of chlorophyll. These 
 
 various leaves follow one another in the course of the 
 
 growth of the plant, in the inverse order to that in 
 
 which they are here described. As winter approaches, 
 
 some upright stems appear, the inflated ends of which 
 
 are stored with reserve nutrition (fig. 40, a). It is 
 
 round these tubers that the scaly leaves are to be found. 
 
 The bud which does not develop until the following 
 
 Spring is at the top, surrounded by folded leaves. The 
 
 ribbon-like leaves which grow under water and also those 
 
 broadened out at the ends make their appearance in the 
 
 course of the Summer. Next come the floating leaves 
 
 with slightly developed barbs, then the leaves which rise 
 
 well above the surface of the water, and finally the scaly 
 
 leaves which grow out of the fl.owering stalk. 
 
 ^ The foliage leaves of Lathyrus Aphaca may be regarded as the 
 
 best representatives of the primitive leaf, for in most species of 
 
 the genus Lathyrus, each leaf is furnished with leaves and with 
 
 one or more tendrils. L. Aphaca is probably specialized from 
 
 other species, for the majority of the leaves have lost their lateral 
 
 leaflets. 
 
76 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 the petiole and the lateral leaflets have atrophied. 
 
 Higher up on the stem 
 (fig. 41, leaves 7 and 8) 
 are some leaves consisting 
 of two stipules and a non- 
 branching tendril. The 
 ^■Q^ latter represents the meso- 
 pod and the epipod from 
 which the lateral leaflets 
 have disappeared. Below 
 the foliage leaves, there 
 are usually three leaves 
 which have considerably 
 degenerated (fig. 41, leaves 
 1 to 3). The hypopod 
 is represented by two 
 very small stipules, and 
 the epipod by the tiny 
 point in the centre. The 
 portion of the stem out 
 of which the basilar leaves 
 would grow does not, 
 under normal conditions, 
 emerge from the soil, 
 which accounts for the 
 way in which these leaves 
 have degenerated. 
 
 5. Nymphaea dentata. 
 — Here the foliage leaves 
 are large, floating, fleshy. 
 
 Fio. 41.— Seedllne of Lalhynu 
 Aphaca, 
 1, 2, 8, very rudlmeniary leaves ; 4, 6, 
 loliuge leaves; 6, leaf compoaed 
 only of a pair of stipules. 7, 8, 
 ttrmlnal leaves turned Into tendrils. 
 
MODIFICATION OF THE OEGANS OF PLANTS 77 
 
 and toothed at the edges. During germination the 
 seed-leaves remain within the seed as with Lathynis 
 Aphaca. 
 
 The first leaf is upright and reed-like in shape 
 (fig. 42, A 1). Its principal function is to pierce 
 the layer of soil which 
 covers the grain, thus 
 allowing the little ter- 
 minal bud to emerge 
 into the light. Com- 
 pared with the other 
 leaves; this needle-like 
 leaf seems to have con- 
 siderably degenerated. 
 The plant next pro- 
 duces a series of little 
 slender short-stemmed 
 leaves which grow 
 under the water. The 
 first of these leaves 
 are narrow and ribbon- 
 like (fig. 42, A 2); the 
 next are broader (fig. 
 42, b), then follow 
 more slender sub- 
 merged leaves, but with no lateral barbs (fig. 42, c); 
 then floating leaves, the edges of which are not 
 dentated, and last of all there are some leaves with 
 dentated edges. Owing to their submergence, the 
 basilar leaves of Nymphaea have greatly degener- 
 
 Fig. 42. — Xymphcea dentata. 
 A, seedling with two leaves (1, 2) ; B, C, 
 leaves taken from older plants. 
 
78 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 ated ; the blade is very thin, being composed of a 
 few layers of cells, and there are no stomata. 
 
 The basilar leaves and the apical leaves fre- 
 quently lose either partially or entirely the as- 
 similative function which they previously exercised. 
 Some of these leaves serve as a protection to the 
 buds of both leaves and flowers. Others are 
 adapted as protection from rain, and others have 
 undergone considerable modifications owing to their- 
 existence either under water or under ground. 
 
 In all these instances of modification it can be 
 seen that some degeneration has invariably attended 
 each change which has taken place. 
 
 § 5. — Modification of organs which are homologous 
 in individuals of different species. 
 
 Having investigated the modifications of leaves 
 in the individual, we will now give our exclusive 
 attention to the- various modifications undergone 
 by the foliage leaves ; we shall see among the 
 various species we examine that degeneration has 
 played a part in each instance of modification. 
 
 Of these adaptations the following are the most 
 characteristic: adaptation to climbing, to a carni- 
 vorous diet, to aquatic life, to defence against ants, 
 against drought, and against herbivorous animals. 
 
 1. Adaptation to climbing. — Climbing plants 
 attach themselves by means of tendrils to the 
 nearest support within their reach. These tendrils, 
 
MODIFICATION OF THE ORGANS OF PLANTS 79 
 
 which are thread-like and sensitive to contact, are 
 
 Fio. 48. — Coiaea scandens. 
 A, B, seedlings ; the leaver uf tbe second end iu tendrils ; 
 udult plant. 
 
 C, 3'ouiig leaf of 
 
 modifications of either stems, leaves, or roots, the 
 latter being the most rare. 
 We will confine our atten- 
 tion at present to those 
 adapted from leaves. 
 
 In Cobaea scandens the 
 first two leaves of the 
 seedling usually terminate 
 in a leaflet (fig. 43, a) ; 
 the leaves which come 
 after are much finer and 
 are modified into tendrils 
 (fig. 43, c). 
 
 This modification of 
 leaflets into tendrils, which 
 entails the almost com- 
 plete disappearaneeof the original assimilative func- 
 
 Fio. 44.— Bnsal port'on of a young 
 plant of Vicia Pyrenaica. 
 
80 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 tion of the leaflet, is by no means uncommon. Vicia 
 Fyrenaica (fig. 44) famishes a good example of 
 this change, of which the degeneration of the blade 
 is the necessary consequence. 
 
 In Cucumis sativus (the cucumber) some of the 
 leaves are the shape of ordinary assimilative leaves, 
 while others are entirely modified into tendrils ; in 
 the case of the latter the blade has completely 
 degenerated. 
 
 2. Adaptation to carnivorous nutrition. — Some 
 plants, instead of obtaining nutriment exclusively 
 from minerals and carbon dioxide, are capable of 
 assimilating animal matter from insects and other 
 small organisms, which they capture by means of a 
 special function exercised by the leaves. 
 
 (a) Utricularia. — In the aquatic Utricularia the 
 leaves are minutely sub-divided like many other 
 submerged plants. The leaves of Utricxdaria 
 vulgaris exhibit leaves of this type. Some of 
 their ramifications carry pouches, which serve for 
 the capture of minute organisms. These pouches 
 are formed by the modification of part of the 
 blade, and have almost completely lost their 
 chlorophyll. 
 
 Utricidaria intermedia (fig. 45) exhibits two 
 
 . kinds of branches ; the one kind stretches out 
 
 horizontally and carries green leaves ; the others 
 
 are devoid of chlorophyll, and the leaves are 
 
 purely carnivorous. 
 
 (6) Nepenthe. — The distal extremity of the leaf 
 
MODIFICATION OF THE ORGANS OF PLANTS 
 
 81 
 
 terminates in a receptacle of complicated structure 
 which is adapted for the capture of carnivorous 
 nutriment. Degeneration has attended this change, 
 for the modified portion of the leaf is almost 
 
 Fig. 45. — Utricularia intermedia (after Goebcl, Pfianzetibiologische Schilder- 
 ungun, vC'l. ii., p. li?5). 
 The plant has grown from a winter bud of which the remains a'fl visible to the 
 li ft. I'he horizontal, assimilating branch bears two pendulous twigs with 
 carnivorous urns. 
 
 entirely without chlorophyll. A carnivorous diet, 
 however, for these plants, is only supplementary to 
 the typical plant nutrition, and therefore the assimi- 
 lative function remains active. 
 
82 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 In Utricidaria this function is exercised by tlie 
 leaves (as in U. intermedia), or by certain parts 
 of the leaves {U. vulgaris). In Nepenthe, however, 
 another and different assimilative organ is exhibited. 
 This consists of two lateral herbaceous growths, which 
 are not formed from the blade, but arise from the 
 petiole. In between the receptacle and the en- 
 larged portion of the petiole is a part in which 
 the petiole has assumed the function of a tendril. 
 While the receptacle is in process of formation, this 
 tendril twines itself round a support in order to 
 obtain the additional strength that will be required 
 later on to uphold the receptacle when full of diges- 
 tive juice. 
 
 (c) Brosera. — The leaves of the sundews {Brosera 
 rotundifolia, D. longifolia, etc.) are furnished with 
 a great number of emergences, each of which ter- 
 minates in a digestive gland. There is a large 
 drop of sticky fluid at the end of each gland, 
 and these drops, which sparkle in the sunlight, 
 have given the plant its name {Bos soZi's = sundew) 
 (fig. 46). 
 
 These emergences contain very little chlorophyll. 
 
 "A plant of Drosera, with the edges of its leaves curled 
 inwards so as to form a temporary stomach, with the glands 
 of the closely-inflected tentacles pouring forth their acid 
 secretion, which dissolves animal matter afterwards to be 
 absorbed, may be said to feed like an animal." 
 
 — Darwin, Insectivorous Plants, p. 18. 
 
 This adaptation to a carnivorous diet has not 
 
MODIFICATION OF THE ORGANS OF PLANTS 83 
 
 come about without a certain amount of conse- 
 quent degeneration. The chlorophyll has dis- 
 appeared, excepting a small quantity exhibited in 
 the upper and under 
 surfaces of the blades 
 of the leaves, in the 
 flower stalks, in the 
 central tentacles, and 
 in the petioles. 
 
 3. Adaptation to 
 an aquatic life. — The 
 adaptation of leaves, 
 particularly of sub- 
 merged leaves, to an 
 aquatic life entails 
 important changes, 
 and these changes 
 are invariably at- 
 tended by degenera- 
 tion. 
 
 1. Owing to the 
 buoyancy of water, 
 submerged leaves are 
 not dependent on 
 any highly developed 
 organic support, and 
 the fibres and other thick-walled cells have con- 
 sequently degenerated to a great extent. 
 
 2. There being no transpiration in submerged 
 leaves and very little in floating leaves, the 
 
 Fig. 46. — Leaf of Drcsera longifolia. 
 Near the top, an insect is in toe act of being 
 captuied and the suclcers are bL'n'ifng ovc-r 
 it. liOVftr down is an insect reduced to a 
 chitonoDS slteleton. 
 
84 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 former are very seldom provided with stomata, 
 and the latter only exhibit stomata on their 
 upper surfaces (see page 26, note on Ranunculus 
 and Stratiotes). The conducting apparatus too, i.e. 
 the wood and the roots, has- greatly diminished in 
 size owing to the diminution of transpiration. 
 
 3. Very little light penetrates to submerged 
 leaves, and oxygen is only partially soluble in 
 water. The blade has therefore become much 
 smaller. Very , little importance, however, is at- 
 tached to this last modiiication, as the size of the 
 blade varies greatly in dififerent specimens, whereas 
 the other modifications are similar in all. 
 
 (a) In the species already mentioned — Sagittaria 
 (p. 72) and Nymphaea (p. 76) — the first leaves 
 which are formed are submerged, with petioles either 
 short or entirely absent, and very slender blades. 
 In Vallisneria and many species of Potamogeton there 
 are only slender submerged leaves. 
 
 All these leaves augment their surface contact 
 with the water by ridding themselves of the deeper 
 layers of assimilative cells. Very little light could 
 penetrate to these cells, and any oxygen formed 
 would be difficult to get rid of. 
 
 (6) In other plants, especially in the Dicotyledons, 
 another kind of modification takes place for the 
 same end ; the blade is divided into very thin seg- 
 ments which in some cases present a hair-like 
 appearance. 
 
 The Banunculus is a good example of this. 
 
MODIFICATION OF THE ORGANS OF PLANTS 85 
 
 Besides the many species found on moors and culti- 
 vated land and in woods, there are other kinds 
 of Ranunculus — B. sceleratus, for instance — which 
 grow by the water-side. In this species it is not 
 uncommon to find floating leaves, and leaves which 
 wholly emerge from the water, growing on the same 
 stem. In other species, such as JSanuTwulus 
 hederaceus, there are seldom any but floating leaves. 
 Among the numerous varieties of Banunculus aquor 
 tilis there are some which, in addition to the floating 
 leaves, have also some leaves which are completely 
 submerged and deeply dentated ; in other varieties 
 of the same species there are only slightly dentated 
 leaves, while in BanuTwulus fiuitans the leaves are 
 all fringed.^ 
 
 (c) In a submerged plant which is to be found in 
 Madagascar, Ouvirandra fenestralis (fig. 47), the 
 diminution in volume, compared to the surface, is 
 effected in a different manner. After the leaf has 
 developed in the ordinary way, all the parts of the 
 leaf in between the veins of the blade disappear. 
 This results in the blade being reduced to a delicate 
 piece of network, consisting entirely of communicat- 
 ing veins accompanied by adjacent assimilative cells. 
 
 4. Adaptation to defence against ants. — In the 
 
 1 JSanuneiilus sceleratus grows by the water-side ; JR. Tiederaceus 
 is to be found oh marshy ground, the internodes and petioles being 
 quite short ; S. aquatilis grows in shallow water, and the internodes 
 are of sufficient length to raise the flowers out of the water ; E. 
 fluita-ns grows in strongly-running streams, so that floating leaves 
 would be useless. 
 
MODIFICATION OF THE OKGANS OF PLANTS 87 
 
 tropics, especially in South America, plants are 
 much exposed to the ravages of leaf-eating ants 
 (Atta). In order to protect themselves, they provide 
 other kinds of ants with shelter and nourishment, 
 and this necessarily entails several modifications. 
 
 Fig. 48.— Part of a leaf of Acacia tpnaerocephala (nfter Pchfmpcr, Die Wfeh'el- 
 beziehvfigen zwiKhen Pflmizf'n and Ameiien im trnpischen Amefika. Fafic. 1 
 of Schimper's botanische Mittheilungtnaus den Tropen. Jena, 1888). 
 
 In Acacia sphaerocephala (fig. 48), for instance, the 
 blades of the leaves are bipinnated and the proximal 
 leaflets terminate in small cavities filled with a nutri- 
 tive secretion. The stipules, which no longer contain 
 chlorophyll, are modified into hollow thorns in which 
 
88 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 the ants live and obtain nutriment, not only at the 
 
 ends of the leaflets, but also in a thorny gland which 
 
 is situated upon the petiole. 
 
 5. Adaptation to drought. 
 ■ — In places where rain 
 seldom falls, plants are 
 provided with natural 
 reservoirs of water. These 
 reservoirs are situated 
 either in the roots or the 
 stems and occasionally in 
 the leaves. Where the 
 leaves are fleshy, these 
 reservoir leaves are gener- 
 ally very simple in forma- 
 tion. Those of Sempervi- 
 vum and of several other 
 
 genera arise directly from the primordial, non- 
 differentiated leaf, 
 
 and there is no 
 
 difierentiation into 
 
 hypopod, epipod 
 
 and petiole (fig. 
 
 49). See further 
 
 on (fig. 73), p. 236 
 
 (Sempervivum tec- 
 
 tOTUTH ^ ^'®' ^^' — ^™°*^^ o' Caragana. 
 
 6. Adaptation to defence against herbivorous 
 animals. — Thorns are an adaptation which serve as 
 a protection against herbivorous animals. They 
 
 Fio. 49.— Growing point of Semper- 
 vivum arachnoideum. 
 
MODIFICATION OF THE OEGANS OF PLANTS 89 
 
 are derived from the modifications of various parts 
 of the plant, either the roots, stems, leaves, or 
 even of the floral stems. 
 
 This modification is always accompanied by some 
 degeneration ; the thorn, which is quite hard, ex- 
 
 Fio, 51. — Mamillaria elepJumiident (after Lemalre? The figure Is taken from 
 Goebel, Pflamenbiologitche ScMlderungen^ vol. i., p. 71). 
 
 cepting at the point, is made up of thick-walled 
 cells from which the protoplasm has disappeared. 
 
 Leaf thorns arise from the modification of various 
 parts of the leaves — either of the stipules (as in 
 Caragana), the petioles {id.') (fig. 50), or of the 
 7 
 
90 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 blade (as iu Ilex). In each case the leaf par- 
 tially retains its assimilating function and its 
 chlorophyll. 
 
 In other plants, however, and especially in Cacti, 
 and the fleshy-leaved Euphorbias, the leaves exhibit 
 further evidences of degeneration, their function 
 being exclusively one of defence (fig. 51), 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 IN THE EVOLUTION OF INSTITUTIONS ALL MODIFICA- 
 TION IS NECESSARILY ACCOMPANIED BY 
 DEGENERATION 
 
 The distinction we have drawn between the 
 homodynamic organs of an organism, and the homo- 
 logous organs of organisms belonging to other 
 species, is not applicable in sociology, as we have 
 already pointed out in the introduction. Institu- 
 tions, however, may be regarded from two distinct 
 standpoints — from a statical point of view, as they 
 exist in the same society, and from the dynamical 
 point of view, as existing from epoch to epoch, and 
 from society to society. In both cases, we shall 
 arrive at the same conclusion as in biology, that 
 all modification entails degeneration. 
 
 In order to demonstrate this we will examine 
 in succession the modifications undergone by the 
 principal types of financial organizations now exist- 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENEKATION OF INSTITUTIONS 91 
 
 ing in Europe, .and the most important stages in 
 the evolution of landed property amongst various 
 peoples. 
 
 § 1. — Modifications of similar institutions in the 
 sams society. 
 
 The financial organization of European towns 
 and states has undergone very important changes 
 since the middle ages. Taxes and duties have 
 attained a now universal importance, as substitution 
 for the revenue from crown lands, which constituted 
 the principal, if not the only, resources of the 
 sovereigns of the feudal ages.^ 
 
 ^ There are three stages in the eTolution of financial systems in 
 countries (such as England, for instance) where the question of 
 finance has been most successfully dealt with. 
 
 1. l%e Feudal System, wherein the king had no separate revenue 
 
 apart from the nation, and wherein the revenue of the 
 sovereign was principally derived from crown land, the 
 cultivation and administration of which was carried on as 
 a source of private income to the king. 
 
 2. The Oo-eadstence of the Feudal System and the Modern System, 
 
 viz., the disappearance of personally held land and its 
 attendant institutions, the development of the public pro- 
 perfy of the State or Township, and the imposition of 
 duties and taxes. 
 
 3. The Modern System, viz., the complete separation of the 
 
 personal property of the sovei'eign from the property of 
 the nation, the increasing importance of taxes and duties, 
 and the almost complete disappearance of State and town 
 lands. Industries taken over by the State — such as rail- 
 ways, postal and telegraphic arrangements, etc. — and by 
 the towns — such as gas, water, etc. — constitute monopolies, 
 and are no longer subjected to the law of competition which 
 is always active in private business. — Wagner. 
 
92 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Here, too, we find that all modification is 
 attended by degeneration. As a demonstration 
 of this, we will examine in succession^firstly, 
 the Communal budgets of Belgium ; secondly, the 
 State budgets of the States which compose the 
 German Empire ; thirdly, the budgets of Germany, 
 England, and France, regarded as belonging to one 
 group — the Western Eepublic of Auguste Comte. 
 
 I. The Communal Budgets of Belgium. 
 
 Collective property in its archaic form still exists, 
 in spite of considerable modifications in certain 
 parts of the Ardennes, of the Eagne, and of 
 Lower Luxembourg.^ 
 
 At Wanlin, for instance, the collective property 
 constitutes nearly one-half of the land — 220 hec- 
 tares, of which 130 is arable land, and 90 is wood- 
 land. The arable land is divided into allotments, 
 apportioned among the heads of the various families 
 every eighteen years, for which they pay an annual 
 rent of 1 francs. There are no taxes or communal 
 duties, the revenue derived from this public property 
 being sufficient without them. 
 
 This economic and fiscal system, suitable to a 
 scattered and agricultural people, existed formerly 
 throughout the whole country, but the increase in 
 population and cultivation of the land have almost 
 
 ' Paul Eitera, Les Masuirs. Historical and judicial researches 
 in the vestiges of the old territorial system of Belgium. Brussels, 
 Weissonbruph, 1891, 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF INSTITUTIONS 93 
 
 put an end to this archaic condition of things. 
 Private property has encroached upon collective 
 property, and taxes and duties are now substi- 
 tuted for the revenue which was formerly derived 
 from land alone. 
 
 This modification was of a progressive nature, 
 the extended requirements of the population de- 
 manding a corresponding augmentation of the com- 
 munal revenue. Degeneration, however, is exhibited 
 in the disappearance of the collective land of the 
 communes and of the attendant administrative 
 institutions. 
 
 The monographs of Paul Errera and the docu- 
 ments collected in 1875 by the Statistical Commis- 
 sion relating to the expenditure and receipts of the 
 communes, demonstrate the various stages of this 
 degenerative evolution : — 
 
 1. The vestiges of the old system may be 
 
 observed to decrease in number and im- 
 portance on approaching the North-West 
 from the South. The proportion of re- 
 ceipts from land compared with those 
 derived from taxes and duties is greatest 
 in Upper Belgium; then follow those of 
 Condroz, Hainault, Brabant, Campine, and 
 finally, of the two Flanders. 
 
 2. The constitution of the two Flanders passed 
 
 through the following stages: — 
 (a) In certain localities round about Bruges the 
 old and the new system co-exist. Side by side, for 
 
94 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 instance, with the communes of Oedelem, Beemem 
 and Oostcamp we find, though in a degenerate con- 
 dition, the old collective property of the aenborgers 
 of Beverhoutsveld, with its administrative college of 
 Veldheeren.''- 
 
 (b) In Sysseele, and in several other communes, 
 the assembly of Veldheeren has been abolished, and 
 the property which - they administrated has become 
 the property of the commune by whom the rents 
 are collected. 
 
 (c) At Gand, the grazing land of the JETeernisse of 
 Saint-Bavon, which was declared collective property 
 by a decree of November 16, 1887, was afterwards 
 
 ^ Beverhoutsveld is a vast domain situated outside the gates of 
 Bruges, in the territory of the commune of Oedelem. According to 
 the terms of a decision of the 13th August 1859, it constitutes a 
 collective property belonging to three sections of the communes of 
 Oedelem, of Beernem, and of Oostcamp. The family representatives 
 of these three sections are alone privileged to rent these lands, 
 and the revenue accruing from them is divided among the three 
 sections. 
 
 The old administrative authority, the college of Veldheeren, 
 ■which was in existence in the thirteenth century, still exists, 
 though in a new form. According to the terms of the decision 
 of 1859, the police are provided for from the taxes of Oedelem, as 
 the property is within that district ; "but in other matters, and 
 in the administration of the rights and revenues accruing from 
 it, the property shall be under the control of a commissioner 
 appointed, so far as possible, by the interested parties — i.e. the 
 aenborgers — in conformity with the laws and regulations relating 
 to the matter." 
 
 The Vrij-Geweid, also situated in the environs of Bruges, is 
 similarly administrated. (See Errera, des Masuirs, chaps, xix., 
 XX. and following.) 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF INSTITUTIONS 95 
 
 transformed into priva,te estates, and has been so 
 built over as to become almost unrecognizable. 
 
 (d) In some towns the receipts from land only 
 represent a very small part of the communal revenue, 
 3 per cent, at Eoulers, 0"1 at Saint-Nicolas.^ 
 
 It is thus evident that the evolution of com- 
 munal finance, whic];i has been especially char- 
 acterized by the development of duties and taxes, 
 has been accompanied by the degeneration of the 
 old system of collective property. 
 
 II. Budget of the States of the German JEmpire. 
 
 The feudal system of finance has left its mark 
 upon Germany, especially in the eighteen subsidiary 
 states where archaic institutions have been best 
 preserved.* The principal stages in the progressive 
 evolution of the modern system, and the corre- 
 sponding degeneration of the feudal system may be 
 enumerated as follows : — 
 
 1. Mecklembourg-Strelitz still exhibits the primi- 
 tive system in a comparatively little altered 
 form. The Grand Duke is the sole adminis- 
 trator ; the budget is not separated from the 
 civil list; the revenue amounts to an average 
 
 1 Hector Denis, I'lmpSl, pp. 55. Brussels, V". Monnom, 1889. 
 
 " Leroy-Beaulieu, TraiU de la science des Finances, 1, 21, and 
 following. 
 
 Adolf Wagner, Lehr-vmd Handbuch der Politischen Oekonomie ; 
 Finan^wissenschaft. Erster Theil, sees. 214-216. 
 
96 UNIVEBSALIlT OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 of seven millions, of which five are derived 
 from land. 
 
 2. The Duchy of Mecklembourg-Schwerin is ad- 
 
 ministered partly on the modern and partly 
 on the feudal system, but the former pre- 
 dominates. There are two public budgets. 
 That of the Duke is of the greater im- 
 portance, and amounted to 14,500,000 
 marks in 1887, of which 7,000,000 were 
 derived from landed property.^ The second 
 budget is that of the municipal expenditure 
 (Gemeinsamen Finanzverwaltung), which is 
 defrayed by means of rates and taxes, the 
 receipts of which amounted in 1887 to 
 4,175,000 marks. 
 
 3. In the larger States of the Empire the feudal 
 system has completely disappeared, but the revenue 
 obtained from collective property forms an im- 
 portant part of the public income. 
 
 Bavaria 
 
 jua>va>Lxa 
 
 Wiirtemberg 
 
 
 • 13-2 % 
 
 Saxony 
 
 
 • 9-7% 
 
 Baden 
 
 
 • '^•1% 
 
 Prussia 
 
 
 ■ 8-4% 
 
 4. In the budget of 
 
 the 
 
 Empire, which is of 
 
 recent construction, naturally 
 
 no traces of the feudal 
 
 system remain. 
 
 
 
 ^ These lands comprise more than 99 German square miles with 
 over 206,000 inhabitants — about 37 per cent, of the population, 
 L, Beaulieu, i., p. 48. 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF INSTITUTIONS 97 
 
 III. The Budgets of Gerynany, France, and England. 
 
 (a) Germany. — We have just seen that in the 
 principal States of the Empire there is still an 
 extensive amount of collective property. In 
 Prussia, for instance, besides forest land, there 
 are nearly 1,500,000 acres of arable land, an area 
 equal in extent to one of the smaller departments 
 of France. 
 
 (6) France. — Of the old collective property of 
 France only forest land remains, all grazing and 
 arable land having long since been alienated. 
 
 The budgets of modern times, however, still 
 exhibit traces of the old feudal system. The 
 State, for instance, up to the last few years, 
 continued to receive quit-rents for properties 
 under the old system.^ The budget shows an 
 annual decrease in these receipts, having fallen 
 from 100,000 francs in 1857 to 32 francs in 
 1869. In 1876, however, there was a rise to 
 2000 francs. 
 
 (c) England. — Here the decline of collective 
 property is still further exhibited. In the 
 Statistical Abstract published in 1877, the net 
 revenue from Crown lands for Great Britain and 
 Ireland figures at £40,000 net. Among the " mis- 
 cellaneous receipts" we find only £200,000 which 
 can be regarded as revenue derived from collec- 
 tive property, i.e. 15 millions in a budget 
 
 * Leroy-Beaulieu, TraiU de la science des finftnces, i., p. 35, 
 
98 UNIVEKSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 receipt of 1,956,000,000 francs. Later on, in 
 1884-1885, these revenues became rather larger 
 (principally owing to the purchase of the shares 
 in the Suez Canal which had belonged to the 
 Viceroy of Egypt), but the proportion remains 
 the same — 22 to 23 millions in ^ budget of 
 2 milliards 300 millions. We see, then, that in 
 all the financial systems of modern Europe the 
 progressive evolution of the modern system is 
 taking the place of the more or less rapidly- 
 degenerating feudal system. 
 
 § 2. Modification of similar institutions in different 
 social groups. 
 
 According to the primitive constitution of things, 
 the land occupied by a tribe or clan was regarded 
 as res nullius, and consequently at the free disposal 
 of all the members of the community (the Feld- 
 Walt- und Weidegemeinsehaft of V. Maurer). 
 
 With the increase of population, the value of 
 land rose, and the state of things became modified, 
 the rights of groups and individuals becoming con- 
 solidated and at the same time limited. Then arose 
 gradually or simultaneously the following various 
 forms of landed property : — (1) Land held by 
 families ; (2) by villages ; (3) feudal property ; 
 (4) communal or public property ; (5) property 
 belonging to corporations ; (6) private property. 
 
 I'amily, village, and feudal property represent. 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF INSTITUTIONS 99 
 
 among certain peoples, three successive stages in 
 the evolution of property. When the old system 
 of land tenure was abolished, private and communal 
 or public property began to develop simultaneously. 
 
 While certain lands which were free to alL the 
 inhabitants became transformed into collective 
 property, other such lands lost their public char- 
 acter and became private property. In the first 
 case, the communes, on being called upon to fulfil 
 functions of increasing complexity, proceeded to 
 transform all or part of the properties concerned 
 into patrimonial property or property for the use of 
 the people (communaux, allmenden)} 
 
 In the second case the property of the old 
 community became the joint but undivided property 
 of the members of the corporation ; when, however, 
 for purposes of cultivation it became necessary to 
 divide it, the corporative property became trans- 
 formed into private property. 
 
 ^ Giron, Le droit administratif de la Belgique, No. 683. " There 
 were three kinds of eommunal property : 
 
 "(a) Property directly appropriated to the use of the public such 
 as public squares, streets, churches, &c. 
 
 " (5) Comnwnal property properly speaking — i.e. the real estate 
 and rights belonging to the tribune and to which the people 
 were entitled to a personal share. These consisted of the 
 forest land, rights of appanage, waste land, moorland, and 
 the rights of pasturing. 
 
 "(c) Patrimonial property, i.e. that held by the commune, 
 the revenue from which went to the commune to defray the 
 expenses of administration. It included timber land, arable 
 land, house property, market places, &o." 
 
100 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEEATITE EVOLUTION 
 
 On reviewing in succession these various phases 
 in the evolution of landed property, it will clearly 
 be seen that modification has everywhere been 
 attended by degeneration. 
 
 1. Family 'property (Montenegro). — Of all the 
 Balkan States, Montenegro — owing to the natural 
 barriers which separate it from the rest of Europe — 
 has best preserved its archaic institutions. Here, 
 side by side with modem institutions, may be found 
 the old system of division into forty-two tribes 
 (pleme) which are sub-divided into clans or confrater- 
 nities (brastvo) and into patriarchal families (zad- 
 rugas and inokosnas).^ The development of modern 
 political and judicial institutions has, however, con- 
 siderably lessened the importance of the plemes 
 and the brastvos, so that progression in this direc- 
 tion has not been effected without accompanying 
 degeneration. 
 
 With regard to property, the two different forms 
 of family tenure have been substituted for what 
 was formerly the tribal or clan system. Of the 
 former collective property of the clan, there only 
 remain the following traces : — 
 
 1. Property rights held over certain portions of 
 
 land — ^generally forest or waste land. 
 
 2. The right of pre-emption in favour of mem- 
 
 bers of the brastvo or of those related to 
 
 'For information about the common or differential characters 
 of the zadniga and the inokosna see Ardent, La FamUle zougo- 
 siave au Montinigro, (Mforme sociale, 17th October 1888.) 
 
EVOLUTION AKD DEGENERATION OF INSTITUTIONS 101 
 
 a member within the first six degrees of 
 
 lineal descent.^ 
 
 3. The right pf allottiijg to relatives their share 
 
 in the duties of helping widows and paupers 
 
 in their work. The workers in this case 
 
 receive no payment, neither have they any 
 
 right to demand maintenance. 
 
 Still rarer are vestiges of the collective property 
 
 of the pleme. A few portions of land, however, still 
 
 belong to that body, and it is probably a survival of 
 
 this ancient condition of things that foreigners are 
 
 ^ Article 48 of the Civil Code of 1888, drawn up by Bogisic in 
 all possible accordance with "the excellent customs" of Monte- 
 negro, begins with the statement that " the right of pre-emption, 
 a privilege which has so long been enjoyed by the members of the 
 brastvo, by persons whose lands adjoin, and by the members of the 
 village and pleme, still flourishes, and will probably continue to 
 do so." 
 
 Bogisic adds that, in accordance with this right, "any person 
 desiring to sell his land, or any kind of real estate belonging to 
 him, is constrained, according to the established custom in such 
 cases, to first offer it in legal order to those persons who enjoy the 
 right of pre-emption, in order to give them an opportunity of pur- 
 chasing it at the price at which it is to be offered to the public. 
 
 Article 49, sec. 1, gives a list setting out the order of precedence 
 of those who enjoy the right of pre-emption. 
 
 1. Members of the brastvo within the first six lineal degrees of 
 
 descent, 
 
 „ T> ■ J- ■ • 1 J "\ Transference, of recent 
 
 2. Persons owning adjoining lands. I . . . , , 
 
 3. The other members of the village. V f • )\ • ■ ii 
 
 4. The other members of the pleme. I „ f , r^ 
 
 ^ ■' fined to relatives. 
 
 If none of those entitled to the first offer desire to purchase, the 
 owner may then sell his property to any other Montenegrin. 
 
102 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 not permitted to acquire landed property in 
 Montenegro,^ and that the public are unrestricted 
 in the right to hunt over any ground they 
 choose.^ 
 
 2. Village property {Russia). — Village communes 
 and the periodical division of land — the mer of 
 Russia or the dessah of Java, for instance — do 
 not represent types of a primitive system, but 
 are the outcome of a whole series of modifica- 
 tions, Kowalevsky traces the evolution of the 
 present system in Eussia through the following 
 principal stages : — 
 
 1. The joint use of land by the members of one 
 
 family group (pechische), corresponding to 
 the zadruga of the Southern Servians, and 
 sometimes comprised of more than forty 
 persons. 
 
 2. The division of the mother-family into 
 
 separate households, thus forming a village 
 community, and the temporary allotment 
 of the land of the community among the 
 separate families. 
 
 ^ The old Montenegrin law relating to landed property, which 
 prescribes the purchase of land in Montenegro by any but 
 Montenegrins, is still in full force. No transaction in violation 
 of it is legally binding (Dickel, &ud,e sur le nouveau Code civU 
 rtwriUrUgrin). 
 
 ' Throughout the Southern Slavonic countries hunting is the 
 free right of all. Anyone may hunt where and how they please, 
 not only on public ground, among the mountains and forests, but 
 upon private property, whether cultivated or not (Diekel, p. 86). 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF INSTITUTIONS 103 
 
 3. The alienation of all or part of the allot- 
 
 ments assigned to the families and the 
 constitution of agricultural communes no 
 longer necessarily consisting exclusively 
 of persons akin. 
 
 4. The periodical division of land, which, as the 
 
 population increased, was instituted with a 
 view to re-establishing an equal distribu- 
 tion. This system of division, which was 
 established gradually, only dealt with the 
 more valuable sort of land, such as meadows 
 and arable land. The forest land and pas- 
 turage, that at least which was not already 
 annexed by the Lords of the Manor, was 
 free to all. 
 This transformation of family communities into 
 village communities was not effected without 
 accompanying degeneration. The administrative 
 institutions of the family group disappeared, and 
 the rights of pre-emption in favour of blood rela- 
 tions were gradually replaced by village rights. 
 The importance of the family, regarded as an 
 economic group, decreased in proportion with the 
 increase of the importance of the village. 
 
 In some places, however, and especially among 
 the Ossetes who inhabit the valleys of the 
 Caucasus, the old system may still be found. 
 There, at any rate up to within the last few 
 years, the aouls (villages) are principally com- 
 prised of families holding land in joint tenure, 
 
104 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 frequently sharing all things in common. These 
 aouls are very rarely met with nowadays.^ 
 
 Besides these family communities, there yet 
 remain among the Ossetes, as in Montenegi'o, 
 numerous vestiges of the primitive system of 
 clan property, i.6. the appropriation of certain 
 portions of land by the members of the clan, 
 the common use of pasturage and forest land, the 
 enforced participation in certain public works, and 
 the rights of heritage over unclaimed land, or un- 
 appropriated property which had become so owing 
 to the lapse of some " feu " or by the extinction of 
 a family community.^ 
 
 3. Feudal property {England). — The introduction 
 of the feudal system into England resulted in the 
 substitution of a new method of grouping, in place 
 of the old agrarian communities. These new 
 groups, like the townships of earlier times, con- 
 sisted of a complete organization occupying definite 
 boundaries. Instead, however, of being a family 
 group administrated by a democratic organization 
 and government, this new system, which Sumner- 
 Maine calls a " manorial group," consisted of 
 a tenantry autocratically grouped together and 
 governed by a feudal chief — the Lord or Seignior.' 
 
 ' See KowaJevsky, C<mtv,me ccmtemporaine et loi aruyiemne, p. 42. 
 Paris, Larose, 1893. 
 
 ^ See Kowalevsky, Coutume contemporaine et loi andenne, pp. 68 
 and following. Paris, Larose, 1893. 
 
 ' See Sumner-Maine, Les Com.munaut4s de village; 1 D,, Mvdea 
 mr PHistoire du Droit; 1 D,, I'Ancien Droit et la covitime amdenne. 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF INSTITUTIONS 105 
 
 Although it cannot definitely be asserted that 
 each one of these manorial groups was developed 
 from what had formerly been a village community, 
 yet it is evident that such was frequently the case, 
 and that the transformation was accompanied by 
 partial degeneration. Tor instance : — 
 
 1. The assembly of the inhabitants of the town- 
 
 ship, which formerly exercised complete con- 
 trol over all legal and administrative affairs, 
 disappeared, and in its place sprang up the 
 Manorial Court which was comprised of a 
 limited number of tenants and presided over 
 by the Lord of the Manor or his representa- 
 tive. 
 
 2. The collective property became absorbed, or 
 
 was at least considerably reduced by the 
 acquisitions of the Lord of the Manor, or by 
 divisions effected by members of the com- 
 munes. The old system of collective pro- 
 perty held by townships did not, however, 
 wholly disappear. 
 {a) The " rights of usage " in regard to waste 
 land, forest and moors (such as the use of unclaimed 
 pasturage, the cutting of timber, etc.), were still 
 enjoyed by the old inhabitants, and even in some 
 instances by other persons upon whom these "rights" 
 had been conferred. 
 
 Emile Laveleye, Les Commvmautis de famille et de villagt 
 (Bevue d'iconomie politique, 1888, pp. 350 and following). 
 Vmogradofif, Fillainage in England, Oxford and London, 1892. 
 8 
 
106 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Q>) With regard to meadow land, sometimes the 
 Lord of the Manor put up enclosures for his own 
 benefit from Candlemas till Midsummer, the rights 
 of the community being established during the 
 remainder of the year only; sometimes it was the 
 community who put up the enclosures, when the 
 Lord of the Manor was only entitled to the use of 
 the land during the intervals ; sometimes pasturage 
 was held as the joint property of the old community, 
 or rather of their descendants the tenants ; but as a 
 rule it was regarded as more or less common pro- 
 perty. The best meadow land was divided up into 
 what were termed " deals " and apportioned by 
 drawing lots. 
 
 (c) With regard to arable land, the method of 
 appropriating and cultivating the land occupied by 
 the tenants retained many traces of the village 
 system of collective property. For instance : the 
 enforced rotation of crops; the periodical division 
 of land in certain parts of the country; the 
 division of land into three breaks in other places ; 
 and the destruction after the harvest of the en- 
 closures surrounding the crops, after which the land 
 was used for the herding of cattle. 
 
 These survivals may yet be found in some districts 
 of modern England, in spite of all the great changes 
 in the English system of property ; changes such as 
 the disappearance of the serf and the appearance of 
 yeomen in the course of the thirteenth to the six- 
 teenth century, and the dispossession of the yeoman 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF INSTITUTIONS 107 
 
 in favour of the growth of large properties in the 
 course of the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. 
 
 4. Public or collective propei'ty (Switzerland). — 
 It is easy in Switzerland to follow the course of 
 the transformation into political communes of the 
 old system of economic communes, whether village 
 or manorial. 
 
 In the mountainous parts of Switzerland this 
 transformation is still incomplete, and side by 
 side with the modern commune may be seen 
 the old form of collective property, though in a 
 more or less advanced stage of degeneration. 
 
 The successive stages of this evolution may be 
 enumerated as follows : — 
 
 1. The village communities (the Feld-Walt-und- 
 
 Weidegemeinschaft of von Maurer). 
 
 2. The collective property of the inhabitants, 
 
 whether feudal, free, or partly both 
 {Gemischte Gemeinde). 
 The Feldgemeinschafi completely disappeared 
 after the Eeformation, the collective land 
 of the community, the joint use of which 
 was the right of all the inhabitants, being 
 restricted to mere waste land, forest land, 
 and pasturage (Allmend). 
 
 ' The Allmend, in the primitive sense of the word, meant that 
 part of the old collective property held in joint tenancy by a 
 community of inhabitants or any other public body, the use of 
 which was limited to those who had a personal title to it. This 
 primitive meaning has changed in Switzerland — excepting in the 
 
108 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 3. Thd institution of JBurgergemeinde — public 
 
 corporations — the members of which 
 enjoyed the sole use of the Allmend, 
 and upon whom fell the costs of local 
 administration ; as the population increased, 
 the conditions of admission into the Bilrgefr- 
 gemeinde became more and more strict. 
 
 4. The creation of Einwohnergemeinde, or political 
 
 communes, established side by side with the 
 old system, and in many localities eventu- 
 ally taking its place. In these the responsi- 
 bilities of the former system were assumed, 
 and part or the whole of the collective 
 property was appropriated. Where the 
 old communities still survive, they have, 
 as a rule, ceased to exercise the greater 
 part of their original functions. In the 
 Cantons of Berne and Saint-Gall, for 
 instance, the old communities have de- 
 livered up the greater part of their 
 possessions to the political communes to 
 provide for the expenses of general ad- 
 ministration. Their only now remaining 
 function is the administration of the small 
 remainder of their patrimony and the main- 
 tenance of the indigent members of the 
 community. 
 
 Canton of Sohwyz — owing to the changes in the institution itself 
 (see Miaskowaki, Die Schweiizerische Allmend in ihrer geschicht- 
 lichen Entwickelung, von xiii. Jahrhundert Ms zum Gegenwart). 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF INSTITUTIONS 109 
 
 Independently of this decay of the old system 
 of communities, the formation of political com- 
 munes was attended by other phenomena of 
 degeneration : — 
 
 1. The suppression of all or part of the " rights 
 of usage" enjoyed by the inhabitants. 
 
 The EinwohnergemeiTuie, being called upon to dis- 
 charge more and more onerous and complex func- 
 tions, were obliged to either partially or wholly 
 transform the communal possessions, to the per- 
 sonal use of which the people were entitled, into 
 property appropriated to the use of the public, 
 either directly {i.e. into churches, teaching insti- 
 tutions, etc.) or indirectly, as a means of obtaining 
 a revenue (UrwerbsqtieUe). 
 
 2. The decrease in collective property. 
 
 Many of the BUrgergemeinde, although no longer 
 discharging public functions, retained part of their 
 estates, which were held by the members in joint 
 tenancy. On the other hand, as the increased 
 population necessitated the cultivation of the 
 Allmend, the original " right of usage " re- 
 sulted in many instances in a transformation of 
 the land into private property. 
 
 This transformation, however, was not always 
 complete, and all the intermediate stages may be 
 traced between the old collective tenure and the 
 appropriation by individuals. 
 
 5. Corporative property (JBelgiiimy—^Here we will 
 limit the sphere of our observations to Belgium, in 
 
110 UNIVKRSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 order to avoid repetition, similar examples being 
 almost universally exhibited throughout Europe.^ 
 
 Our information is obtained from the work of 
 Paul Errera, entitled Les Mamirs, recherches his- 
 toriques et j'uridiques stir quelques vestiges des formes 
 anciennes de la propri4td en Belgique, 
 
 The masuirs (the amlorgers of Flanders) were 
 the mansuarii or maiisoarii of the Merovingian 
 period, originally serfs, afterwards tenants and 
 copy-holders, and finally freemen. 
 
 Their history exhibits the following stages : — 
 
 1, The feudal epoch in which the masuirs — i.e. 
 
 all the members of the manorial group — 
 enjoyed "rights of usage" over all Vaste 
 lands, forests and pasturage adjoining their 
 holdings. These rights appear to have been 
 conferred by the Lord of the Manor, but 
 they, really dated from a much earlier 
 period. 
 
 2. As the increasing population necessitated the 
 
 regulation and limitation of these rights, 
 certain conditions of property and residence 
 were stipulated for in those seeking admis- 
 sion to the rights of the masuirs, and these 
 privileged persons organized themselves into 
 corporations which were more or less ex- 
 clusive and separate from the general 
 community. 
 
 * With regard to corporative property in Switzerland, see von 
 Miaskowski, Die achweiaerisehe Allmend, pp. 87 and rollowing. 
 
EVOLUTION AND. DEGENEKATION OF INSTITUTIONS 111 
 
 3. By degrees — by means of cantonments, pur- 
 
 chases, prescriptive claims, &c. — these cor- 
 porations absorbed the best part of the 
 land, and became almost independent of 
 the Lord of the Manor; as a rule, the latter 
 gave up half of the common territory to 
 them, and freed the surplus from all rights 
 of usage. In the corporations of masuirs, 
 however, there were still a few remaining 
 vestiges of some of the institutions of the 
 old manorial group from which they had 
 gradually developed. The Lord of the 
 Manor, for instance, himself being an in- 
 habitant and a masuir, had a right to a 
 share in the property of the conmiunity, 
 and further, in his seigniorial capacity, 
 certain privileges accrued to him such as 
 " la haute ileur des bois," i.e. tithes and 
 pannage (crops of acorns). 
 
 4. The Eevolution put an end to all feudal 
 
 rights, and removed the last remaining 
 traces of the origin of the masuirs. 
 Throughout this long series of transformations, it 
 is evident that degeneration has followed in the 
 track of progress. Besides the disappearance of 
 the manorial group and its attendant institutions, 
 the rights of the masuirs may be said to have 
 become more restricted as they became more defined 
 and secure. In the early days, all the inhabitants 
 enjoyed joint rights over a vast common territory. 
 
112 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 at the close of the old system this territory had 
 become much reduced in extent, and had become 
 the property of a more or less large group of 
 privileged persons. 
 
 6. Private ^property (Switzerland). — After the 
 Eevolution, the communities of masuirs and other 
 similar corporations ceased to have any recognized 
 legal existence. Those which still survived in 
 spite of the irregularity of their legal position, 
 owed their existence to their insignificance. The 
 others dispersed themselves, or were dispersed, and 
 the property which had belonged to them was 
 either incorporated with the communal estate, or 
 divided up among the members of the old com- 
 munity. 
 
 In each of these cases the transformation was 
 attended by degeneration, for the archaic adminis- 
 trative organization disappeared. 
 
 We saw in the cdlmend, of Switzerland, this 
 same divergent evolution of public and private pro- 
 perty, part of the common land being transformed 
 into communal property, while the use of the sur- 
 plus ended in some instances in the land becoming 
 ultimately the private property of individuals. 
 This frequently occurred where land was cultivated 
 as orchards. In early times both fruit and fruit- 
 trees belonged, like the land itself, to the community, 
 . and in certain parts of the Cantons of Uri and 
 Schwyz this is still the case. By degrees, however, 
 individual rights over fruit-trees planted on the 
 
EVOLUTION AND DEGENERATION OF INSTITUTIONS 113 
 
 allmend came to be recognized. These rights, 
 whether temporary or held for a life-time, eventually 
 became perpetual, and finally this right to the 
 private acquisition of trees led to a right to acquire 
 the land itself. This last transformation was not 
 effected without a struggle and occasionally the 
 land was reclaimed by the community, the pro- 
 prietor of the trees receiving compensation. Now- 
 a-days the possession of trees and land usually go 
 together. Duality of this kind, however, is still to 
 be met with in certain localities. In the Sernfthal 
 (in the Canton of Claris) a still stranger custom 
 prevails with regard to the maple forests. There, 
 the soil, the trees, and the fallen leaves (the latter 
 being used as litter for cattle) all belong to different 
 persons.1 With regard to house property there are 
 more intermediary conditions between use and 
 possession. In some villages, the chalets as well 
 as the ground upon which they are built, belong to 
 the whole community ; in other villages, both are 
 part of the collective property. Sometimes private 
 possession is restricted to the house or chalet, the 
 right to the ground upon which it is built lapsing 
 with the existence of the house. In order to limit 
 the number and durability of these buildings, many 
 restrictions are imposed, such as the prohibition to 
 build houses of stones, or chalets of wood cut from 
 trees not belonging to the builder himself or to the 
 corporation to which he belongs, etc. 
 * Miaskowski, Die schweizerische Allmend, pp. 18 and following. 
 
114 UNIVEKSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 7. Summary. — This long series of modifications, 
 the result of which was the transformation of 
 primitive communities of goods into the modern 
 forms of public and private property, was ac- 
 companied throughout by degenerative changes. 
 The establishment of family property entailed 
 the curtailment of tribal and clan rights. Family 
 property passed into property held by the village ; 
 next the development of feudal tenure involved the 
 degeneration of the old agrarian communities ; 
 finally, the primitive organization of property with 
 the administrative and political institution depen- 
 dent on it, disintegrated and disappeared as the 
 primitive community of goods lapsed into the 
 personal enjoyment of these by individuals, and 
 as the primitive method of land tenure passed 
 into the rights of private property. 
 
 We see then that degeneration has always 
 accompanied evolution : the destruction of old 
 institutions is involved in the formation of new 
 institutions. 
 
PART II 
 
 DEGENEEATION IN THE EVOLUTION OF OEGANISMS 
 AND SOCIETIES 
 
 We have seen that modification of organs and of 
 institutions is always associated with partial de- 
 generation. We have now to show that, similarly, 
 when organisms and societies become modified, de- 
 generation is shown in some of their organs or 
 institutions. This shows again the universality of 
 degenerative evolution. 
 
 CHAPTEE I 
 
 ALL OEGANISMS EXHIBIT EUDIMENTAEY OEGANS 
 
 All existing organisms have lost some organs in 
 the course of their phylogenetic development. 
 
 This may be proved in two ways : either there 
 are Remaining vestiges of these organs, or else they 
 are to be found in other creatures which may be 
 regarded as ancestors. 
 
 "5 
 
116 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 1. Eudimentary organs, signs of a degenerative 
 
 transformation in the organism itself, are 
 either organs which have ceased to be 
 functional, or which have so diminished in 
 importance that their total disappearance 
 would be unattended by any appreciable 
 loss to the organism. In the majority of 
 cases this cessation of function is attended 
 by a corresponding structural decay. 
 
 2. The system of comparing living organisms 
 
 with their presumptive ancestors equally 
 demonstrates the retrogression of certain 
 organs. 
 
 Among the Orobanchacese for instance, parasitic 
 plants derived from normal green plants, no trace 
 of cotyledons is observable from the period of 
 germination.^ 
 
 Among animals, taking the horse as an example, 
 several organs have wholly disappeared. In the 
 genealogy of the horse, which is well known, the 
 earliest ancestor Uohippus, possessed five functional 
 fingers on the fore-feet, and four toes on the hind- 
 feet. The horse still possesses one functional finger 
 and one functional toe, two rudimentary fingers and 
 two rudimentary toes. Two fingers and two toes 
 have entirely disappeared. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to point out that this 
 system of comparison does not demonstrate the 
 
 ' L. Koch, Die EntwicielungsgeachiciUe der Orohanchen. Heidel- 
 berg, 0. Winter, 1887. 
 
RUDIMENTARY ORGANS OF ANIMALS 117 
 
 degenerative changes attending the phylogenetic 
 development of an organism with such incontestable 
 certainty as does the existence of vestiges of rudi- 
 mentary organs. 
 
 It is our belief that all organisms contain 
 vestiges of organs, either more or less apparent. 
 In our present condition of knowledge, however, 
 it is quite impossible — particularly as regards 
 plants — to prove this theory universally. It is 
 to be hoped, however, that future researches will 
 ultimately succeed in establishing it. 
 
 In the meantime, we will point out the most 
 typical among the cases known to us. 
 
 With animals, as with plants, our investigations 
 have extended not only to every kind of group, but 
 to the most varied systems of organs, thus giving 
 our theory an extremely wide application. 
 
 Section I. 
 
 Rudimentary Organs of Animals. 
 § 1. Budimentary Organs in Man. 
 
 Throughout the whole human organic systems 
 signs of degeneration abound. 
 
 1. The Integumentary System. — In the ancestors 
 of man, the entire surface of the skin was covered 
 with hairs. Man's clothing of hair is far from 
 perfect, the hairs of which it is composed being 
 rudimentary. 
 
118 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 According to Hertwig, the teeth should be 
 regarded as part of the tegumentary system, as 
 they really represent the scales of the skate, 
 situated within the buccal cavity. 
 
 In man, the last molar, or wisdom tooth, is a 
 rudimentary tooth. The small-sized shallow crown, 
 the diminished number of tubercles, the fusion of 
 the roots, the tardy appearance and occasional 
 absence altogether, are all indications of a rudi- 
 mentary condition. 
 
 2, The Skeleton. — With few exceptions, the 
 articular surfaces of the bodies of mammalian 
 vertebrates are covered in youth with bony 
 plates. These sometimes become very thick, and 
 are called terminal epiphyses. In some mammals 
 — the Sirenians, for instance — the terminal epi- 
 physes have disappeared. In man they stiU 
 exist, but in an advanced stage of degeneration. 
 In the lower vertebrates, such as the crocodile, 
 many more ribs are functional than in man. 
 In the crocodile all the ribs connected with the 
 cervical vertebrae are functional; whereas in man 
 they have degenerated. Of one entire section of 
 the human vertebral column — the tail — so fully 
 developed in the majority of other vertebrates, 
 only a vestigd now remains. 
 
 Other rudimentary skeletal pieces are the lesser 
 horn of the hyoid bone, the stylo-hyoidean liga- 
 ment, the coracoid process, and the Interclavicular 
 ligament. 
 
EUDIMENTARY ORGANS OF ANIMALS 119 
 
 3. The Muscular System. — The cutaneous muscles, 
 those of the shell of the ear, and those that move 
 the tail, which in most mammals are well developed, 
 are still present in man, but have degenerated. 
 
 Further, there is to be found in man the 
 intra-aeetabular part (the round ligament) of the 
 deep flexor muscle of the toes which is functional 
 in some animals — in young ostriches, for instance. 
 In the adult ostrich the intra-acetabular part is 
 separated from the rest of the muscle, which is 
 attached to the pelvis. Traces remain in the 
 horse of a connection between the intra- and the 
 extra-acetabular parts ; the muscle itself is divided 
 into two parts, the pectineal muscle in the thigh, 
 and the deep flexor muscle of the toe situated in 
 the leg. In the orang-outang, this degeneration 
 has made further advances than in man, the intra- 
 acetabular part of the muscle having entirely 
 disappeared,^ 
 
 4. The Nervous System. — Here we find numerous 
 signs of degeneration, of which the following are 
 a few examples : 
 
 In the brain the pineal gland, the last remaining 
 vestige of what was formerly a functional eye, is 
 present. 
 
 In the spinal cord the fllum, terminale still 
 exists. We know that the spinal cord in man does 
 not retain its normal thickness to the extreipity of 
 
 * See Sutton, Ligaments, their nature and morphology. London, 
 1887. 
 
120 UNIVEKSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 the vertebral column but is arrested at the first 
 lumbar vertebra. There a considerable number of 
 special nerves leave it, forming a mass of branches 
 like a horse's tail. Along the centre of these 
 nerves, in the middle line, a slender filament 
 represents the spinal cord to the extremity of the 
 coccyx. This filament is the flam terminale, the 
 spinal cord in a condition of degeneration, 
 
 5. The Digestive System. — The caecum and its 
 vermiform appendage, are well known to be organs 
 which have degenerated. 
 
 6. The- Vascular System. — In quadrupeds the 
 intercostal veins are vertical, the blood consequently 
 flowing against gravity. These veins contain valves 
 which indirectly facilitate the upward and onward 
 flow of the blood by preventing it from running 
 back. Man, being a biped with a vertical thorax, 
 is provided with intercostal veins that are almost 
 horizontal. The ancestral valves being no longer 
 indispensable are in a condition of degeneration. 
 
 7. Sense Organs. — In the olfactory organ there 
 remains a degenerate Jacdbson's organ. In the 
 organ of sight there is a third eyelid in a state 
 of degeneration. In the organ of hearing there 
 remains on the shell of the ear a kind of point 
 (Darwin's point) which is the last remaining vestige 
 of the ancestral elongated and pointed ear. 
 
 8. Genito-urinary System. — There is a whole 
 series of rudimentary organs in the genito-urinary 
 system of the higher animals. As is well known, 
 
RUDIMENTARY ORGANS OF ANIMALS 121 
 
 the Wolffian body plays a considerable part in the 
 t'oripation of the system. This body, the primitive 
 kidney, loses its urinary function at a certain 
 stage of embryonic development, and the permanent 
 kidney which gradually develops alongside, assumes 
 the urinary function. Later on, the Wolffian body 
 assumes new functions, becoming an important part 
 of the genital apparatus. 
 
 In this transformation partial degeneration occurs, 
 resulting in such reduced structures as the epi- 
 didymis, the organ of Rosenmiiller, the vas aberrans, 
 etc. (see fig. 57). 
 
 § 2. Budimentary org'ins in various groups. 
 
 1. Coelenterates. — The Ooelenterates comprise three 
 great groups.^ The Anthozoa, of which the coral is 
 a type, the Hydrazoa, which include fresh water 
 Hydra and the common jelly-fish of our seas, and 
 the Ctenophora, of which the chief representative 
 in our seas is Cydippe, a globular transparent animal 
 frequently to be found floating in large numbers on 
 the surface of the water. 
 
 The colonies of Anthozoa are usually composed 
 of individuals all exactly alike. In some species, 
 however, in the Pennatulidse and the Alcyonaria 
 for instance, there is a distinct differentiation 
 amongst the numerous individuals composing the 
 colony. Side by side with sexual individuals 
 1 See C. Vogt and Emiie Yung, Traits d'anatomie comparie, vol. L 
 9 
 
122 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 provided with tentacles and the eight mesenteric 
 folds, are other far simpler individuals : the zooides, 
 the function of which is respiratory and of which 
 the greater part of the organs have degenerated ; 
 the generative organs are lacking, the tentacles are 
 very small, and the mesenteric folds only number 
 two instead of eight. Degeneration, then, is 
 exhibited side by side with specialization. 
 
 Among the Hydromedusce similar examples 
 abound. It is known that the polyp-like or 
 medusa-like forms of this group which may live 
 independently, frequently associate themselves 
 together to form colonies, sometimes predominantly 
 polypoid, sometimes completely medusoid, and occa- 
 sionally a mixture of the two. 
 
 In these cases a marked polymorphism is often 
 apparent. The different individuals become adapted 
 to definite functions, and the corresponding organs 
 undergo special development ; the other parts of 
 the body having become either unnecessary or 
 merely accessory, begin to degenerate and finally 
 disappear. Thus we see in Hydroid colonies, not 
 only the hydra-like members, nutritive, fixed and 
 sterile, and the medusa-like members which are 
 reproductive and become free from the colony, but 
 also certain individuals which are termed gono- 
 phores. These gonophores are really medusa-like 
 members which have lost their independent move- 
 ment, and have consequently more or less lost 
 both their tentacles and their umbrella-like discs, 
 
RUDIMENTARY ORGANS OF ANIMALS 
 
 123 
 
 i.e. their organs of locomotion. In some colonies 
 of Hydroids, polymorphism has made such advances 
 that there are tactile individuals of which the 
 digestive tube lacks both mouth and tentacles, and 
 other purely defensive individuals of which the 
 internal organs are almost all in a state of atrophy. 
 
 Opinions differ regarding 
 the complicated question of 
 the structure of the Siphon- 
 ophora. The organism (fig. 
 52) may be regarded as a 
 simple medusa of which 
 the different appendages — 
 the pneumatophore (pn.), 
 the swimming bells (d.), 
 the siphons (.s.), the shield 
 (&.), the tentacle (t), the 
 palp (pa.), the gonophores 
 (ffo.), etc. — constitute the 
 organs, or as a colony each 
 part of which is represented 
 by an individual polypoid 
 adapted to fulfil a special 
 function. Whatever theory 
 is accepted, it is clear 
 that a whole series of parts of the creature must be 
 regarded as organs in a condition of degeneration. 
 
 We accept the second of these theories,^ and 
 
 1 Haeokel, System der Medusen : Jena, 1880-1881. A. Lang, 
 Traiti d'anatomie compart. 
 
 Fig. .is. — Diagram of the structure 
 cf one of the Sipk(mophora. 
 
 pn. pneumatophore or float ; cl. 
 swimni ng bil ; 6, protective 
 pilyp i t. tentaile; pa, palp; g, 
 gonuDhore; p. peouncle bearing 
 the iriouth; s, i_diTiunals for nu- 
 trition. 
 
124 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 regard the whole creature as formed from a 
 Craspedote Medusa which has become mother of a 
 colony and of which the umbrella, developed into 
 the pneumatophore (pw.) has had its radial canals 
 greatly simplified and its tentacles reduced to one 
 during the growth of the colony. The stalk-like 
 stomach (p.) of this medusa has increased in length, 
 but this development is attended by corresponding 
 degeneration, the buccal aperture, which is situated 
 at the free end of the peduncle in normal 
 Craspedote Medusae, having entirely disappeared. 
 The stalk, formed in this way, serves as a support 
 to the number of other individuals of which the 
 colony is constituted, and which are remarkable 
 for the great morphological variation they exhibit. 
 Among these individuals, those at the top, i.e. 
 those nearest to the air-sac, fulfil the function of 
 locomotion. They become transformed into swim- 
 ming bells (cl.) and contain no organs whatever. 
 Below these locomotory organs are the sexual 
 individuals, or gonophores (ff.), and the sterile 
 individuals (s.). The former are of medusoid 
 structure, the umbrella is more or less perfect, and 
 they are sometimes provided with tentacles, and 
 possess a peduncle or manubrium which some- 
 times has a buccal aperture. The sterile individuals 
 provide nutrition for the others. The organs no 
 longer essential to them atrophy in a variable 
 degree. In the case of some the umbrella is 
 present, in others it is absent, and between these 
 
EUDIMENTAEY ORGANS OF ANIMALS 125 
 
 two extreme types come intermediate types which 
 exhibit every possible stage of degeneration. 
 
 In the Gtenophore group development and de- 
 generation are exhibited simultaneously in the 
 organs of locomotion. The fundamental and typical 
 shape of the Gtenophore is round or oval, and the 
 eight sides are provided with swimming plates, 
 originally uniform — as in Bero'i. 
 The individuals belonging to 
 this group exhibit important 
 evidences of modification in 
 their external morphology. The 
 body being sometimes com- 
 pressed in various directions, 
 the shape is altered from, the 
 original, and assumes a more 
 or less irregular appearance. 
 
 mi £ T J. ■ ^iG. 53. — Bolina S'orvegica, 
 
 ihe organs of locomotion seen from the bioad side. 
 
 dT . C, Shore rows of swimming 
 
 ergo a corresponding piatps; a, long rows; l, 
 
 1 m 1 1 lobfcs. (After Vogt and 
 
 change. Take for example Yung, Traiu d'matomie 
 an adult specimen of Bohna 
 norvegiea (fig. 53); the body is lobate, although it 
 was round during the larval period ; the swimming 
 plates are not uniform, four being long and reaching 
 along the whole length of the body, the other four 
 being only developed in the upper half of the body 
 as far as where the lobes are inserted, where they 
 end as degenerate hair-like processes. By referring 
 to the Cestidas, which are ribbon-like in shape, it 
 will be seen that by means of compression the body 
 
126 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 of the animal is lengthened out into the shape of a 
 narrow ribbon. Of the primitive lateral row of 
 plates, four are represented by mere vestiges, and 
 I the other four, which continue to be functional, are 
 situated, closely coupled together, on the two edges 
 of the animal. 
 
 2. Worms. — We will next take in succession the 
 Plathelminthes or flat worms, the Eotifers, the 
 Nemathelminthes, or round worms, the Annelids 
 and the Gephyreans. 
 
 Among the Plathelminthes, the group of Cesfodes 
 contains the common tape-worm of man {Tcenia 
 solium). In the course of its parasitic existence 
 this worm has undergone considerable morphological 
 changes. The digestive tube is lacking, and the 
 whole nervous system has become greatly simplified. 
 The degeneration of the nervous system is not, 
 however, complete, for important vestiges still per- 
 sist. The degeneration of the digestive tube is 
 much more thorough. In Tcenia solium it is alto- 
 gether absent. In species closely allied to the Tcenia 
 some slight vestiges of the digestive apparatus yet 
 remain. The head or scolex of some species of 
 Tetrarhynchus contain glandular cells which have 
 been homologized with the salivary glands of other 
 flat worms (Trematodes). In other species of Tetra- 
 rhynchus there is a rudimentary organ which repre- 
 sents the oval sucker of the Trematodes, and in 
 Anthroeephalus elongatus the orifices of the salivary 
 glands are in the region of tliis vestige of the 
 digestive tube. 
 
EUDIMENTAEY ORGANS OF ANIMALS 127 
 
 Many facts in support of our argument may be 
 drawn from a study of the excretory organs of the 
 Cestodes. . 
 
 The condition of these organs in Caryophylleus 
 7/iutabilis best represents the primitive condition. 
 Within the body of this worm are a large number 
 of narrow ducts with ciliated funnels communicating 
 with the spaces in the parenchyma (Fraipont). 
 These organs communicate with canals which 
 gradually reunite and anastomose to find a vent in 
 one single aperture, the foramen caudale, which is 
 situated in the posterior part of the body where 
 there is a bladder.. In the Cestodes, however, where 
 the body is very long, the action of the bladder 
 is insufficient to secure a complete evacuation. 
 Secondary apertures are therefore formed at in- 
 tervals along the main ducts. This new structure 
 entails the degeneration of the terminal bladder 
 which has become superfluous. In Botryoce-phalus 
 punctatus, which possesses a great number of 
 excretory apertures, the primitive evacuatory appa- 
 ratus — i.e. the contractile cavity — ^has completely 
 disappeared. 
 
 Rotifers are minute animals, usually living in 
 fresh water, a few being marine. One of them, an 
 inhabitant of damp eayth or moss, has been supposed 
 to possess the power of revivifying after complete 
 dessication. At the anterior end of the body, a 
 rotifer possesses a complicated ciliary apparatus 
 which fulfils the function of locomotion, and from 
 
128 UNIVEESALITY OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 the rotatory movements of which the name of the 
 group have been given. This organ is well developed 
 in those types which lead an independent existence, 
 but in those where movement is more restricted or 
 where the character of the organ has changed, it is 
 considerably modified and reduced in size. In 
 PhilodiTWP. (crawling Eotifers) the organ of rota- 
 tion has lost the central part, and in its place is 
 substituted a very complicated organ of prehension. 
 
 In sessile forms such as Floscularia, the organ is 
 modified and only the primitive character of the 
 inner ring is retained, while the outer ring is 
 segmented and becomes a series of arms or lobes, 
 furnished with stiff bristles. In Apdlus, another 
 sessile form, the organ of locomotion has disap- 
 peared ; this is obviously an instance of true retro- 
 gression, for in young specimens a vibi'atory crown 
 still persists. 
 
 The Nemathelminthes contain such round worms 
 as these common intestinal parasites : Ascaris, 
 Oxyuris, Strongylus, etc. These all belong to 
 the Nematode group, and possess a complete 
 digestive tube. Gordius, however, exhibits organs 
 which are reduced in a marked degree ; in the 
 adult animal the buccal orifice of the digestive 
 tube is closed, and the posterior part of the 
 intestine has disappeared, although in the young 
 worm the alimentary canal is complete. This 
 modification, though incomplete and appearing 
 only in the adult life of Gordius, is complete 
 
EUDIMENTAEY ORGANS OF AKIMALS 129 
 
 and permanent in some other Nematodes. In 
 UchinorJbynchiis, for instance, the digestive tube 
 is absent, and nourishment is obtained by means 
 of osmotic soaking through the body walls. 
 
 The Annelids comprise the annulated sea-worms 
 and forms like the common earth-worm {Lumbricus 
 terricola). In these creatures we will take, first, 
 the development of the eyes. In Oligochcetes, which 
 for the most pari live in soil or mud, the organs of 
 sight are greatly reduced. The Maidomorphce alone 
 have eyes. The Archiannelida — Histrior (a para- 
 site), for instance — possess eyes when young, but 
 in the adult state the eyes have greatly degener- 
 ated. As a rule, the eyes of the Polychcetes are 
 well developed, and in some of them quite re- 
 markably so. In species, however, which do not 
 move about much, the eyes are merely represented 
 by small pigmented spots. 
 
 We may mention, too, the Qephyreans, without 
 pledging ourselves as to their exact relationship. 
 Bonellia viridis, the history of which is well known 
 and of great interest, belongs to this group. The 
 male Bonellia lives as a parasite on the proboscis, or 
 in the gullet or the nephridium of the female. It 
 is flat and small, and has neither mouth, arms, nor 
 circulatory system. All the organs remain as in 
 the larval condition, with the exception of the 
 genital organs, which are fully developed. 
 
 Bonellia and Binophilus, a rotifer, of which the 
 male is degenerate, exhibit a progressive degenera- 
 
130 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 tion of all the organs not connected with reproduc- 
 tion. Degeneration has made furthest advances in 
 JBonelUa, which affords a striking example of retro- 
 gression side by side with development. 
 
 Investigations of animal series such as these 
 might well be continued throughout the various 
 classes and groups, showing the existence of rudi- 
 mentary organs in all. We will restrict ourselves 
 here, however, to mentioning the larger subdivisions 
 only, taking one example from each group. 
 
 3. The Hchinoderms. — This order comprises 
 star-fish or asterids, sea-urchins, Crinoids and 
 Holothuria or trepangs. 
 
 Of these we will take the star-fish, and proceed 
 to examine its digestive tube. Under normal 
 circumstances, the intestine terminates in a dorsal 
 anus, centrally, or slightly excentrically placed, pre- 
 ceded by a very short but well-developed rectum. 
 Asteracanthion and Solaster furnish good examples 
 of this. In some kinds of Asterids — in Astropecten 
 aurantiaeus, for instance — the anus no longer exists, 
 and the rectum, having become useless, is greatly 
 reduced, though still exhibiting signs of its original 
 condition. 
 
 4. Mollusca. — Of the group of Mollusca we 
 will take the Gastropods and the Cephalopods as 
 examples. 
 
 There are two kinds of Gastropods, straight 
 and twisted, the former representing the primitive 
 type. The straight types — such as Chiton, Patella, 
 
EUDIMENTAEY OEGANS OF ANIMALS 
 
 131 
 
 Saliotes, and Fissurella — are bilaterally symmetri- 
 cal, while in other Gastropods the spiral twisting 
 of the body causes a progressive diminution of the 
 organs situated on the side towards which the 
 twisting occurs; the organs of the left side may 
 therefore become smaller, and finally atrophy 
 almost completely. 
 
 The internal shell of the Cephalopods furnishes 
 a striking example of 
 a rudimentary organ.^ 
 The Nautilus (fig. 54) 
 has a shell, the spiral 
 coils of which are 
 pressed tightly against 
 one another. The spiral 
 is divided into a series 
 of chambers by means 
 of partitions, each par- 
 tition being provided 
 with an aperture for 
 
 tVio nf)Tni«<sinn nf thp 2, terminal tliamber of the siiell ; o, body 
 ine aamibSlOn or tne of I he animal ; i.Biphon; r, mantle luia. 
 
 siphon (Z.). The shell (^'''■'Ow™.) 
 of Spirula (fig. 5 5 and 5 6, a), a creature still existing, 
 is only partially curled round ; the last chamber of 
 the shell is very small, and only encloses a part of 
 the animal, most of which remains outside the shell, 
 and partially covers it by the mantle (p.), the 
 shell being therefore partly external and partly 
 internal. On examining the fossil species : Spirvb- 
 ^ W. Boas, Lehrbuch der Zoologie. Jena, 1894. 
 
 Fig. 54. — Nautilus pompiHus, 
 ell ; a, ■ 
 mantle lold. 
 
132 UJSriVEESALITY OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 lirostra (fig. 56, b), Belemnites (fig. 50, c), and 
 Conoteuthis (fig. 56, d), a progressive simplifi- 
 cation of the shell may be observed, the latter 
 becoming less and less coiled, until finally the 
 original shell is transformed into a straight 
 chambered portion surmounted by a stiliform 
 process. Degeneration is principally exhibited in 
 
 Fie. 56 — ^hers of various Oephalopods. 
 A.Spirula; U, Spim/irostra ; C, Be/fmnites; 
 tetilhis; E, Ommatostrtphei; F, Lo/igopsis. 
 Buas.) 
 
 D, Cono- 
 i. (After 
 
 Fig. 5-5 
 
 prototppo.i. 
 a, body of thrj nnirtial; 
 Pt mantle fold ; c, 
 sliell, pardy internal, 
 partly external. 
 (After Owen.) 
 
 the segmented part, which becomes more and more 
 reduced. In Ummatostrephes (fig. 56, E), and in 
 all existing species .(such as Loligopsis, fig. 56, f), 
 with the exception of those just mentioned above; 
 degeneration has become complete. , The shell no 
 longer contains a cavity for the reception of the 
 animal, and the phenomenon already mentioned 
 with regard to Spirula — the development of the 
 
RUDIMENTARY ORGANS OF ANIMALS 133 
 
 organism round about the shell — has become 
 more marked in character. The shell has 
 become internal instead of external, and forms 
 the so-called cuttle-bone. This structure, being 
 only the vestige of what was originally an 
 external shell, must be regarded as a reduced 
 organ. 
 
 5. Arthropoda. — :The group of Arthropods com- 
 prises the Myriopoda, the Crustacea, the Arachnida, 
 and the Insecta. 
 
 Instances of rudimentary organs are very common 
 among the Crustacea, but our investigations with 
 regard to the appendages of the cray-fish were so 
 thorough that we will give examples from another 
 group, that of the Insecta, instead. 
 
 Insects are characterized by the possession of 
 three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings. The 
 organs of flight exhibit a multitude of special 
 adaptations, and numerous instances of degenera- 
 tion are exhibited. In the Neuroptera (dragon 
 flies), Hymenoptera (saw flies and bees), and Lepi- 
 doptera (moths and butterflies), the four wings are 
 generally all alike and fully developed. In the 
 Dijptei'a (flies), the posterior wings have atrophied 
 and are represented by two reduced organs, the 
 " balancers," these being absent in certain types. 
 The Strepsiptera form a group of which compara- 
 tively little is yet known; the larvae live in the nests 
 of laees ; the females have no wings ; in the males 
 the anterior wings are rudimentary and the pos- 
 
134 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 terior wings are fully developed. In the group of 
 Coleoftera (scarabs, cockchafers, lougieorns, and 
 beetles), the anterior wings ("wing covers") have 
 become very resistant, and constitute a perfect 
 cuirass covering and protecting the abdomen, and 
 the posterior wings, the organs of flight, are folded 
 beneath the wing covers when in repose. In the 
 Scarabasi and the Calosoma the posterior wings 
 are much reduced. In other Coleoptera the wing 
 covers are united by their inner edges, thus render- 
 ing all movement of the underlying wings ineffectual 
 and useless. The result may, as in Gibbium, 
 be the total atrophy of these under wings. In 
 the Staphylinidae, the upper wall of the abdomen 
 is so strong that the protection of wing covers is 
 unnecessary; consequently the wing covers have 
 degenerated into little lamella which cover only 
 the anterior quarter of the body. In the female 
 Lampyris (glow-worm), the wings have totally dis- 
 appeared. The Orthoptera (cockroaches and ear- 
 wigs) exhibit a great number of variations in the 
 organs of flight. In cockroaches all four wings 
 are usually fully developed ; in some specimens, 
 however, and these principally female, a very pro- 
 nounced degeneration of all the wings may be 
 observed. The anterior wings of the Forficulides 
 are reduced. In the group of Phasmidse we find 
 side by side with species of the genus Bacillus, 
 which have no wings and look like dried twigs, 
 Phyllmm sieci/olium to which the large green and 
 
EUDIMENTAKY ORGANS OF ANIMALS 135 
 
 yellow wings give the appearance of a leaf. The 
 neuters of Termites have no wings. 
 
 6. Vertebrates. — Among Vertebrates the genito- 
 urinary system contains a great number of rudi- 
 mentary organs. In order to fully understand the 
 nature of these organs, it will be necessary to 
 glance through the ontogenetic and phylogenetic 
 development of the system. 
 
 The first stage in the formation of the kidney- 
 system is the pronephros (fig. 57, a). This primitive 
 organ consists of intricate canals (a, a, a), opening 
 into the body cavity at the point where the glomeruli 
 are formed on the sub-intestinal vein. All these 
 canals originally had apertures to the exterior. 
 Later on, however, these uriniferous tubules became 
 connected with one single excretory canal (c.) opening 
 into the cloaca (ce.). The primitive genital gland was 
 situated close to the pronephros. In process of time 
 the mesonephros replaced the pronephros (fig. 57,b); 
 in origin it was quite distinct from the pronephros, 
 its appearance being that of a secretory urinary 
 gland (g.) and its secretory canal (c.) (segmental 
 duct), was the same as that of the pronephros. 
 The urinary system thus formed, became and still 
 continues to be, closely connected with the genital 
 gland, the discharging canals of which passed 
 through the mesonephric kidney in order to find 
 a passage to the exterior through the segmental 
 duct. During the mesonephric stage, another canal 
 was formed which started from the cloaca and 
 
136 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 opened out into the general body cavity, this was 
 Miiller's duct (m.). 
 
 Fig. 57. — ^Development of the Urino-ffenital system in lii jlier Vertebrates. 
 
 A. Pronephrlc stage, a, tubules; c, ex<retiiig duct; ce, cl -ui-a. 
 
 B. Mesonepbric stage. U, mesunephros; r, lemains of pronep ros ; c, excreting 
 canal; w,nfutral^enitblg and; Jf, Mtillei'sduct; CfT, ciuuea, 
 
 C. Metanephric or adult Btige, ititlie male. iJ, pei man* nt kidney; IT, ureter; 
 r,bladder; T, testis; cand r, epididjmis and vaBHefesens ; s.vas deferens; 
 Am, hydatid of Morgagni; h, hydatid ;p, paradldymitj; um, uterus in^sculinus. 
 
 D. Metanephiic or adult state in the female. ^, pt^rrnhnent kidney; i/,ur(ter; 
 F, bladder; 0^ ovary; p and p\ parovHrium and paraorhOTT.n: w, Weber's 
 organ ; F, vagina; u, uteru^i; e, apertui'e uf Fallopian tube; A, hydatid. 
 
 The mesonephros, however, was not the perma- 
 nent kidney. In the course of time the metanephros, 
 the permanent excretory gland, was developed (fig. 
 
EUDIMENTAEY ORGANS OF ANIMALS 137 
 
 57, c and d). This development was attended by 
 important modifications, further instances of de- 
 generation taking place, and fresh organic connec- 
 tions being established. An examination of the 
 male and female sexes is necessary in order to 
 explain what really took place. 
 
 In the male (fig. 57, c) the mesonephros began 
 to atrophy ; that part which was connected with 
 the testes was transformed into the epididymis and 
 the vas deferens (e. and v.) of the true male genital 
 organs; the remaining part atrophied, and when the 
 permanent organization was attained, only persisted 
 in the form of a paradidymis (p.) and a hydatid 
 (h.), organs which are quite without function in tlie 
 adult state. 
 
 The discharging canal which, during the mesone- 
 phric stage was common to both urinary and genital 
 glands, remained simply in connection with the 
 testes, and then became the vas deferens (s.) of 
 which the cloaca having disappeared, the terminal 
 extremity became gradually individualized. The 
 permanent kidney (R.) became connected with a 
 fresh canal — the ureter (u.) which was formed by 
 degrees at the expense of the primitive discharging 
 canal, and subsequently became separated from the 
 latter in order to empty itself into the bladder (v.). 
 
 These changes were attended by a remarkable 
 
 evolution of Miiller's canal, which first increased 
 
 in size, and then at a certain point proceeded to 
 
 atrophy until all that remained were the distal and 
 
 10 
 
138 UNIVEESALITY OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 proximal extremities in the shape of reduced organs, 
 the hydatid of Morgagni Qim), and the uterus 
 masculinus {urn), neither of these being functional. 
 The intervening part of the canal remained, and 
 formed a canal which has been described by Gasser. 
 
 We see then, that in the genito-urinary apparatus 
 of an adult male there are : 
 
 (1) Organs which have come into existence at 
 different times, but which have retained their 
 original functions, viz. : the testes, the kidney 
 (metanephros), and the ureter; (2) Organs which 
 are functional, but of which the ultimate function 
 differs from the original, viz. : the epididymis and 
 the VOLS deferens ; (3) Reduced organs, vestiges of 
 what were formerly active organs, viz. : the hydatid 
 and the paradidymis ; (4) Eeduced organs, vestiges 
 of MuUerian canal which only became active in 
 the female, viz. : the hydatid of Morgagni and the 
 male uterus. 
 
 In the female (fig. 57, d), the development of 
 the renal part is similar to that we have just 
 described in the male. Taking first that part of 
 the mesonephros which became connected with the 
 genital gland and the corresponding discharging 
 canal, we find that the canal disappeared with but 
 rare exceptions in which it formed Gartner's duct ((/.), 
 the lower part persisting in the form of a rudiment 
 (Weber's organ (w.)) ; the upper part became reduced 
 to a small tissue which surrounded the paraovarium 
 (p.), and the paraophoron (p.) vestiges of what was 
 
RUDIMENTARY OEGANS OF ANIMALS 139 
 
 formerly the mesonephros. Miiller's canal became 
 considerably enlarged ; it formed the vagina, the 
 uterus, and the Fallopian tubes ; at the upper end 
 it was connected with the hydatid, a vestige of the 
 mesonephros. 
 
 It is plain then that the genital-urinary apparatus 
 of the female comprises some organs of which the 
 functions remain unchanged • the ovaries, the per- 
 manent kidney, the Fallopian tubes, the uterus, the 
 vagina, and the ureter, and some rudimentary organs, 
 vestiges of what were once active organs; the 
 paraovarium, the paraophoron, hydatid and Weber's 
 organ. 
 
 The complicated development of this system 
 becomes clear if a careful study is made of the 
 history of the genito-urinary apparatus of the entire 
 series of vertebrates. 
 
 It appears that the various phases through which 
 the embryos of the higher vertebrates pass are 
 stages similar to those which may be observed in 
 the adult lower vertebrates. 
 
 The principle of recapitulation, that the embry- 
 onic stages of higher animals recapitulate successive 
 stages attained by the adults of lower animals, 
 receives a full corroboration from the facts we have 
 been displaying. 
 
 Amphioayus, for instance, remains still at the 
 pronephric stage : fish as a rule have a mesonephric 
 or permanent kidney. Some lizards (Lacerta) up 
 to the age of two years make use of the mesone- 
 
140 UNITEESALITY OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 phros as the organ for eliminating urine, but, at 
 the same time they make use of the metanephros 
 which is also functional. 
 
 In Chamceles the mesonephros remains partially 
 active throughout life. Both birds and mammals 
 completely lose the mesonephros, and in the adult 
 stage the metanephros is the only active kidney. 
 
 This is not the place in which to complete our 
 study of the recapitulation theory, and we shall 
 have to recur to it later on ; but it was impossible 
 to describe the numerous rudimentary organs of 
 this system without taking a comprehensive glance 
 at the individual and specific development of the 
 whole. This investigation, moreover, raises another 
 question. 
 
 It has just been shown that the epididymis is 
 only a vestige of the mesonephros, but in this case 
 it cannot be' said that there has been degeneration ; 
 what has happened is that an organ has been trans- 
 formed, and that one function has been replaced by 
 another. According to some authorities the supra- 
 renal capsule, an organ of unknown, but doubtless 
 essential function, is the result of the transformation 
 of the pronephros. If this theory be ultimately 
 established, it will furnish a second example of what 
 we have stated above. The thyroid gland may 
 and ought to be investigated from this standpoint. 
 The various component parts of this organ had 
 no original connection. In higher vertebrates only 
 the central part of the organ appears to be similar 
 
RUDIMENTARY ORGANS OF ANIMALS l41 
 
 to the same organ in the whole series of vertebrates. 
 In man the mesial part of the thyroid gland is 
 reduced, but it cannot correctly be said that the 
 organ itself is degenerating. The contrary may 
 even be asserted, for all we know upon the subject 
 goes to prove that in mammals the thyroid gland 
 is formed and established at the expense of the 
 primitive rudimentary organ of which all the 
 morphological and embryological connections are 
 changed. This secondary development, entailing 
 the loss of a reduced ancestral organ, is attended 
 by a functional modification of great importance. 
 The primitive function probably discharged by the 
 gland has given place to another and rather vague 
 function, but one which is connected with the 
 breaking down of toxic matter formed by living 
 tissues. 
 
 An examination of the vertebrae of vertebrates 
 will show the existence of rudimentary organs 
 throughout the whole group, each type and each 
 individual among the vertebrates exhibiting special 
 degeneration. In order to briefly demonstrate this 
 point, take two quite different types of which all 
 the vertebrae are well known and can therefore 
 be examined without difficulty : man and the 
 frog. 
 
 We know that the construction of the primitive 
 bony vertebra was as follows : — a centrum, carrying 
 neurapophyses, an intercentrum, carrying hsema- 
 pophyses, and a pair of unforked ribs. 
 
142 UNIVEESALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Each phase in the evolution of this primitive 
 vertebra has been attended by degeneration. 
 In man the vertebral column consists of : — 
 (a) Seven cervical vertebrae, 
 (6) Three dorsal vertebrae. 
 
 (c) Pive lumbar vertebrae. 
 
 (d) Three sacral vertebrae, 
 
 (e) Six coccygeal vertebrae. 
 
 Each one of these vertebrae exhibits important 
 modifications, and shows signs of degeneration. 
 The proatlas is represented by its intercentrum only. 
 The atlas consists of a centrum and neurapophyses, 
 but there is no zygapophyses ; it possesses one pair 
 of ribs and hsemapophyses in a reduced condition. 
 The axis consists of the same elements but carries 
 postzygapophyses. 
 
 The four following cervical vertebrae consist of 
 the same elements, but carry both zygapophyses 
 and postzygapophyses. In man all the cervical 
 vertebrae, with the exception of the first (the 
 proatlas) have lost the intercentrum. The next 
 vertebrae which is generally regarded as the seventh 
 cervical vertebra, consists of the same elements, but 
 it ought to be regarded as the first dorsal vertebra. 
 The vertebral artery and the sympathetic nerve 
 trunks accompanying it, do not pass through the 
 vertebral canals ; in some cases these do not exist. 
 The so-called seventh cervical vertebra has occasion- 
 ally one fully developed rib which articulates with 
 the sternum like the ribs of true dorsal vertebrae. 
 
EUDIMENTAEY OKGANS OF ANIMALS 143 
 
 There are thirteen dorsal vertebrae. "With the 
 exception of that which has just been described, 
 they consist of : — a centrum, neurapophyses, and a 
 pair of fully developed ribs ; the intercentra has 
 completely disappeared, and the htemapophyses, 
 which form the head and neck of the rib, are in a 
 reduced condition. In the five lumbar vertebrae 
 which follow, the rib disappears, or to speak more 
 accurately, the transverse processes are all that 
 remain of what were the ribs, and have ossified 
 with the vertebra. 
 
 The sacrum is a region profoundly modified to 
 support the pelvic basin. It is formed by the 
 fusion of five vertebrae, each consisting of a 
 centrum, neurapophyses, and short bicipital ribs. 
 The first three vertebrae are the true sacrals, as 
 these alone support the basin ; the two following are 
 really caudal vertebrae in process of fusion with the 
 sacrum. In monkeys other than anthropoids there 
 are really only three sacral vertebrae and these are 
 at once succeeded by the tail. In man, the taiP 
 consists of six vertebrae of which the two first — 
 which consist, of a centrum and neurapophyses and 
 of bicipital ribs — have fused with the sacrum, 
 while the four remaining lower vertebrae, which 
 consist of only the centra (the first still exhibits 
 rudimentary neurapophyses) have fused, and form 
 the coccyx. 
 
 ' See Albrecht, La queue cJiez Vhomme (Bull. soe. Anthrop. 
 Brux., vol. iii., 1884-1885. 
 
144 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 2. The Frog. — The vertebral column in the 
 frog consists of nine vertebrae and the coccyx 
 (urostyle). 
 
 The first vertebra (the proatlas), which is fully 
 functional, retains a centrum and tv^o well-developed 
 neurapophyses, but the transverse processes, the 
 intercentrum, the hsemapophyses and the ribs have 
 all disappeared. 
 
 The eight following vertebrae each have a 
 centrum, neurapophyses and transverse processes 
 which at least partially represent the ribs. 
 
 The coccyx, whether it be formed by the 
 lengthening out of the last caudal vertebra or by 
 the fusion of several, is undoubtedly part of the 
 vertebral column which has been transformed. 
 The coccyx of the frog is equal in length to the 
 whole of the remaining part of the vertebral 
 column, and is fully functional ; it serves as a 
 support to the pelvic region and fulfils the part of 
 a sacrum from the physiological point of view. 
 The coccyx, excepting at its commencement, con- 
 sists of only one centrum, or of several fused 
 centra, all other elements of the vertebrae have 
 disappeared. Here then is an animal in which the 
 modifications of the vertebral column have been 
 attended by the following retrogressive phenomena : 
 in the upper part of the vertebral column from 
 three to five parts of the vertebrae have disappeared ; 
 in the lower half, all the parts, excepting one, are 
 gone. 
 
KUDIMENTAEY OEGANS IN PLANTS 145 
 
 Section II. 
 Rudimentary Organs in Plants. 
 
 We have just glanced through a series of 
 rudimentary organs in animals, and many more 
 examples might easily have been furnished, but, 
 when dealing with rudimentary organs in the 
 vegetable world, much greater difficulty is met 
 with. In plants, the elimination of non-functional 
 organs is usually complete, and the vestiges left are 
 insignificant and hard to recognize. We can find, 
 however, amongst the various groups of the vege- 
 table world, and especially among the Phanerogams, 
 some instances of reduced organs. 
 
 § 3. Rudimentary organs in various groups of 
 plants. 
 
 1. Algae. — On the surface of sea- wrack (Fucus) 
 may be found, distributed in large .numbers, little 
 crypts (conceptacles) with hairs growing out of 
 them. On certain parts of the plant, these crypts 
 represent the organs of reproduction, producing 
 eggs and spermatozoa ; in other parts they fulfil 
 no known function and may be regarded as con- 
 ceptacles arrested in the course of development. 
 The fact that in other Fucacise (Splachnidium), 
 fertile conceptacles are distributed over the entire 
 surface of the plant adds support to this theory. 
 
146 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 2. Mushrooms. — Among the Peronospora and 
 the Saprolegnese there originally existed, besides 
 the various sexual means of propagation, a typical 
 reproductive process, including eggs, and antheridia, 
 consisting of male branches separated by a cell- 
 wall from the rest of the organism. 
 
 In Pyt^i^ium, for instance, in which this primitive 
 stage may be observed, an actual fecundation takes 
 place, the protoplasmic contents of the antheridia 
 being injected into the ova. 
 
 In other species, the organs of reproduction have 
 undergone a more or less complete degeneration. 
 In PTiytopMhora, a small part only of the male 
 protoplasm passes into the ova. In some species 
 of Saprolegnia and Achlya, the male branch con- 
 tinues to attach itself to the ova, but the membrane 
 between them remains intact, and consequently 
 protoplasmic communication is not established. 
 
 In other species, the antheridia are very short, 
 and do not even touch the female cells. 
 
 In Leptomitus, which exhibits an advanced stage 
 of atrophy, the female organs are not discernible, 
 and reproduction is carried on completely asexu- 
 ally.i 
 
 3. Bryo-phyta. — In the germination of a certain 
 number of Hepaticse, belonging to such widely 
 
 ' For further details see A. de Bary, Vergleiclunde Morphologic 
 wnd Biologie der Pilze, Leipzig, Engelman, 1884. W. Zopf, Die 
 Pilze. In Sohenk's Handbxich der Botanik, 4. Bd., Breslau, 
 Trewendt, 1890. 
 
EUDIMENTAKY ORGANS IN PLANTS 147 
 
 separated genera as Blasia, Badula, and Preissia, 
 four cells of equal size are formed, arranged round a 
 centre. One only of these cells proceeds to develop 
 into a plant, and the others simply atrophy. In 
 all probability the Hepaticae have sprung from 
 some ancestor, in which each spore gave rise to 
 four individuals. 
 
 4. Pteridophyta. — According to Farlow,^ in- 
 stances of apogamy — the loss of sex — such as have 
 just been described as existing among mushrooms, 
 are also exhibited in certain ferns. In some 
 species,^ the eggs are not fertilized, but the organs 
 of reproduction still persist in a reduced condition ; 
 in other species there are no spores, and the 
 prothalli spring directly from the leaves (apospory). 
 
 5. Phaner ogams. — Some of the Phanerogams — 
 Silene (fig. 58), Melandryum, (fig. 59), Aspara- 
 gus, etc. — exhibit unisexual flowers, but have 
 obviously sprung from species of which the 
 flowers were hermaphrodite. 
 
 In Silene maritima (fig. 58) there are herma- 
 phrodite flowers (fig. 58, b), and also unisexual 
 flowers. The female flowers (fig. 5 8, a) still possess 
 some tiny stamens, each of which is provided with 
 filaments and anthers in a state of degeneration. 
 The male flowers have non - functional pistils, 
 
 ' W. Fai'low, Ueber v/ngeschUchtliche Erzeugung von Keimpfldne- 
 chen cm Famprothallien. Bot. Zeit., 1874, p. 180. 
 
 ^ A. de Bary, Ueber apogame Fame u.s.w, Bot. Zeit., 1878, 
 p. 449. 
 
148 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Fig. 58. — rinwprs of Silene maritima. 
 
 A, female flower witd rudimentary stamens; 
 
 B, liennaphrodite flower. 
 
 consisting of an ovary stylus and stigma in reduced 
 conditions. 
 
 In Melandryum (fig. 59, a) the female flowers 
 
 retain only 
 vestiges of 
 stamens, and 
 the pistils of 
 the male flowers 
 are reduced to 
 mere filaments. 
 In Asparagus 
 officinalis all the 
 transition stages 
 between herma- 
 phrodite and unisexual flowers may be observed: 
 in the unisexual 
 flowers, the organs 
 of the opposite sex 
 still exist, though 
 in various stages of 
 degeneration. In 
 many unisexual 
 flowers which have 
 sprung from herma- 
 phrodite flowers — 
 Valeriana dioica, 
 for instance — no 
 traces of the non- 
 functional organs remain. 
 
 Among the Phanerogams, rudimentary organs 
 
 Fig. 59. — Flowe''S of Melandryum album. 
 A (to the left), a female flower; to the right, a 
 male flower ; e. rudimentflr.v stamens form- 
 ing a circle at the hase of the ovary. 
 
KUDIMENTAET ORGANS IST PLANTS 149 
 
 appear not only in the reproductive organs, but in the 
 accessory organs of the flower — the calix and corolla. 
 Many of the Umbelliferae exhibit a reduced calyx. 
 The corolla persists, though in a very reduced 
 state in cleistogamous flowers (i.e. flowers which 
 never open, and which are self-fertilizing) — such as 
 the Oxalis, Impatiens, Violet, etc. The corollas of 
 the winter-opening flowers of Stellaria media are 
 much reduced, and for a very obvious reason — 
 the corolla exists only for the attraction of insects, 
 and there are no insects at that time of the year. 
 
 § i. Eeduced organs in the vegetative apparatus 
 of the Phanerogams. 
 
 We have seen that reduced sexual organs are 
 exhibited among the various groups of plants, and 
 we will now mention a few instances of reduced 
 organs in the vegetative apparatus of the Phan- 
 erogams. 
 
 1. The embryo within the ripe seed of Phanerogams 
 contains a rudimentary root which develops during 
 germination. In certain Nympheacese — Nelumbium 
 Euryale and Victoria — this root never properly 
 develops. 
 
 In other aquatic plants degeneration has gone 
 further ; in the embryo of l/tricularia, for instance, 
 the root has entirely disappeared.^ 
 
 1 For further details relating to the roots of the Nympheacese and 
 the Utricularia see Goebel in Pflwnzenbiologische tsohilderungen, 
 vol. ii., Marburg, Elwert, 1891-1893. 
 
150 UNIVEESALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 2. As a general rule, tl)e cotyledons, which are 
 the two first leaves to appear after germination, are 
 formed within the embryo. The ripe seeds of some 
 Anemones, however, contain no traces of cotyledons.^ 
 These are formed, nevertheless, 
 after germination, sometimes sprout- 
 ing up out of the ground and 
 becoming functional, and occasion- 
 ally remaining underground, in 
 which case they are quite small, 
 without chlorophyll and non- 
 functional (Anemone nemorosa); 
 these underground leaves may 
 fairly be regarded as rudimentary 
 organs. 
 
 3. In Lathyrus Nissolia (fig. 60) 
 there are some very small stipules 
 of unimportant function, at the 
 base of the simplified leaves ; these 
 reduced stipules are occasionally 
 absent altogether. 
 
 4. The foliage organs in the 
 adult Oxalis bulpeurifolia are 
 
 Fig. 60.— Seedling of -T , , -, 
 
 Lathyrus NUioua. merely represented by enlarged 
 leaflets. These phyllodes bear reduced leaflets 
 which rapidly disappear. In an adult specimen of 
 the Acacia which has phyllodes, these reduced 
 leaves are absent. 
 
 ' E. de Janozewsky, itudesmorphologiqvjis sur le genre Anemone, 
 {Bevue ginirale de botanigue, t. iv., p. 241.) 
 
SURVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 151 
 
 5. In several plants the assimilative function 
 of the leaves is lost, either because the plant is 
 parasitic or saprophytic, such as Corallorhiza, 
 Mafflesia, Cuscwta and Orobanche, or because the 
 assimilative function is relegated to the stem alone 
 as in the Uuphorbia of the desert, Buscus, Mamil- 
 laria} Fliyllocactus, Phyllanthus, and Miihlenbeckia, 
 or to the roots as in TcBniophyllum? 
 
 In each of these cases the leaves are greatly 
 reduced, and only serve as a means of protection to 
 the functional organs, principally to the flowers 
 and buds, but though very minute they may often 
 be discerned quite easily on the young shoots.* 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 SUBVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 
 
 It may be said as certainly of societies as of other 
 organisms that certain modifications have taken 
 place, and that no society actually represents a 
 primitive social organization. All have been 
 submitted to more or less important modifications 
 and have lost some of their early institutions in 
 
 » See fig. 51. 
 
 2 See further on the figs, of Phyllocactus (fig. 78), PTiyllanihus 
 (fig. 84), Miihlenbeckia (fig. 80), and Tceniophylhim. (fig. 81). 
 ' Goebel, J'flanzenbiologische Schilderungen, Bd. i. 
 
152 UNIVEKSALITT OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 process of their development. In many cases this 
 can be historically demonstrated. 
 
 It may fairly be asserted that in all societies 
 there are instances of survival, i.e. survival of 
 customs, beliefs and institutions, the original 
 character of which has so completely disappeared 
 that they might well be dispensed with altogether. 
 
 We shall deal only with such survivals as 
 coriespond-^midatis mutandis — to the rudimentary 
 organs of animals and plants. 
 
 These survivals are of two kinds, the institu- 
 tion itself, such as the various corporations of the 
 city of London, which may still persist, though in 
 a modified condition, or there may remain only 
 traces of the institution in forms, ceremonies, 
 symbols, public games and fStes, customs and 
 _ legislative formula. 
 
 In order to demonstrate this point, it will not 
 be necessary to make a complete enumeration, 
 furnishing examples from all countries of the 
 world, or to draw up a complete list of survivals in 
 any given country. It will be enough to establish 
 two points : 
 
 1. That instances of survival shall be shown to 
 
 exist in all societies, even where they are 
 least likely to be found. 
 
 2. That, in any institution — that of the family, 
 
 for instance — survivals may be found of 
 all the former stages through which it 
 passed into its present condition. 
 
SURVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 153 
 
 These two points being established our conclu- 
 sions drawn from them may be given a very wide 
 application. 
 
 § 1. Instances of survival in various groups. 
 
 "It is a well-known fact," says Kowalevsky, 
 "that as the past gives place to the present it 
 leaves traces which vary in number and impor- 
 tance." ^ 
 
 This is obviously the case with regard to most 
 customs, but it is unnecessary to point out all the 
 instances of survival which abound among the 
 peoples of the countries round about us. They are 
 naturally most common in barbarous societies 
 where the servile imitation of the ancestor plays a 
 much greater part than with us. This is strongly 
 urged by Bagehot in the following passage ; — 
 
 " Man," he says, " may be defined as a creature 
 of habit. As he has done a thing once, so he will 
 probably do it again, and the oftener he has done 
 a thing the more likely he will be to repeat it in 
 the same way, and, what is more, to insist upon 
 others doing the same. 
 
 " By means of counsel and example he transmits 
 to his offspring the customs he himself originated. 
 This is true of the human beings to-day and will 
 doubtless hold good for all time. It is character- 
 
 ' Kowalevsky, Tableau des origines de la, propriitd et de la 
 famille, p. 7. 
 11 
 
154 UNIVERSALITT OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 istic of primitive societies that sooner or later most 
 of these customs come to be regarded as having a 
 supernatural sanction, and the whole community is 
 impressed with the belief that if the old tribal 
 customs are violated, incalculable misfortune will 
 follow." 1 
 
 Social modifications are therefore effected very 
 slowly and with great difficulty — stagnation is the 
 rule, and progress but a rare exception, innovators 
 being forced to retain the greater part of the old 
 institutions, introducing only an inevitable minimum 
 of change. A course of history, or a careful study 
 of the conditions of social institutions at an earlier 
 stage of development than our own, will furnish 
 numerous instances of survivals. It now remains 
 to be seen if there are no rudimentary social groups 
 wherein all the primitive institutions have been 
 retained, and which, having undergone no modifica- 
 tions, exhibit no traces of degeneration. We shall 
 further see if no form of society exists uninfluenced 
 by the spirit of tradition, and where institutions 
 which have come to be regarded as no longer useful, 
 disappear suddenly and entirely either by voluntary 
 dissolution or by legislative measures. Only in these 
 two extreme cases can the existence of survivals 
 be questioned. We have then to establish two 
 points: 
 
 (a) That all societies, even those to be regarded as 
 
 ' Bagehot, Lois scientifiques du ddveloppemeni des nations, p. 164, 
 Bibl. sclent, intern., Paris, F. Alcan, 1885. 
 
SURVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 155 
 
 primitive, have undergone certain modifica- 
 tions. 
 (6) That all societies, even the least conservative, 
 exhibit instances of reduced institutions, 
 and of vestiges of institutions which have 
 disappeared. 
 We will take the second point first, as it can be 
 more briefly dealt with. 
 
 1. We know that imitation of the past and 
 respect for tradition and custom are reduced to a 
 minimum in modern societies, especially in the 
 countries of the New World. Even in these 
 recently formed States, however, instance of sur- 
 vival may be found. 
 
 In the first place, there are legal and religious 
 survivals of European origin. Jews settling in the 
 United States kept up the practice of circumcision, 
 while Christians introduced the Eucharist. Spencer ^ 
 has shown that forms of greeting are vestiges of a 
 primitive ceremonial demonstrating submission to 
 the omnipotence of others. Then take the Calendar 
 system which is universal ; we know that the names 
 of months and days of the weeks are survivals from 
 Polytheistic times, and it seems Certain that both 
 circumcision and the celebration of the Mass are 
 true survivals which originated in religious sacrifices. 
 Independently of these imitative survivals vestiges 
 remain in the United States of reduced institutions 
 which were fully functional in the last century. 
 } Essays on Progress. 
 
156 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Take for instance the town meetings of Boston and 
 Newhaven.-^ 
 
 When the inhabitants of a town attained to a 
 certain number, the town became a city, and the 
 Assembly of inhabitants was transformed into a 
 Common Council. In some instances, this old 
 system persists though in a reduced condition. 
 
 In Boston, which continued to be a town, 
 governed by an Assembly of all the inhabitants up 
 to 1821, the present Charter of the city authorizes 
 the convocation of a town meeting wherever the 
 Mayor and Aldermen consider it advisable; the 
 latter, however, never make use of this privilege. 
 
 In Newhaven (Connecticut), the old town meeting 
 continues to exist side by side with the Common 
 Council which was established in 1784, but, 
 Levermore says, " This ancient institution nowadays 
 is a meeting together of a small number of citizens 
 to conduct the business of several thousands. The 
 few people connected with the affairs of the town 
 (which is very poor), meet together to discuss 
 matters in a friendly way, decide what money is 
 required for current expenses, and then adjourn. 
 Not one in seventy of the inhabitants attends these 
 meetings. Few know when they take place, and 
 the papers make brief, if any, mention of them." 
 
 2. We have now to show that the simplest 
 societies have undergone modifications, and exhibit 
 
 ^ Bryoe, The American Commonwealth, i., pp. 59Sand following. 
 London, Macmillan, 1893. 
 
SUEVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 157 
 
 instances of survival. We will take as examples 
 those rudimentary types most nearly approaching to 
 the primitive type,^ i.e. the Veddahs of Ceylon, the 
 Fuegoes of Cape Horn, and the Australian tribes. 
 
 (a) The Veddahs, who have lived in the jungles 
 of Ceylon for centuries, either as separate ■ families, 
 or in groups of two or three families, appear to 
 have formerly possessed a much more complicated 
 social organization. According to Max Miiller, 
 they were not formerly so low in the scale of 
 humanity ; he says that their language, if not 
 their blood, betrays their " distant connection with 
 Plato, Newton, and Goethe." 
 
 In their language, folk-lore, and clothing, these 
 retain characteristic vestiges of a former condition. 
 Take for instance the carefully observed practice of 
 piercing the ears of children at the age of three or 
 four years, although eventually only a small number 
 of them could wear ornaments in them, others 
 having to be content with small pieces of twig, 
 coiled leaves, or bits of straw. 
 
 " This custom," says Deschamps, " is extremely 
 
 old, and we may suppose — as there is no other 
 
 signification in it than the prospect of ultimately 
 
 wearing jewels — that it dates back from a time 
 
 when the people were not in so low and destitute 
 
 1 "Aggregates formed by a simple repetition of hordes or clans 
 without any such interrelations between them as to form inter- 
 jnediate groups between the whole collection and the individual 
 clans." Durckheim, les Begles de la m&lwde sociologigue, Paris, 
 P. Aloan, 1895. 
 
158 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 a condition as they are now. Having in more 
 civilized times worn jewels in their ears, the 
 custom of piercing the ears in youth persists, 
 though the jewels may be lacking." ^ 
 
 (6) Bridges says that according to a tradition 
 which is probably true, the Fuegoes, until quite 
 recently, submitted their young men to a sort of 
 initiatory trial when they attained to adolescence. 
 They were taken into a hut (the Mna) set apart 
 for the purpose, and there underwent certain tests, 
 including a rigorous fast. Bridges adds that the 
 kina was also the theatre of mysterious and bizarre 
 scenes of very ancient origin, the roles of which, 
 now relegated to men only, were entirely performed 
 by women. Contrary to Giraud-Teulon who cites 
 these facts as evidence of the former existence of 
 a matriarchy, the fetes of the kina seem to have quite 
 disappeared from among the natives of Orange Bay. 
 
 Dr Hyades, however, mentions a survival of the 
 old custom. " The custom is still observed of 
 submitting young girls to a fast at the time of 
 puberty, but this fast is less severe than that 
 already mentioned as undergone by the boys ; the 
 same good advice is then given them by their 
 parents, as was formerly bestowed upon the boys 
 in the Kina."^ 
 
 ^ Emile Desoliamps, V Anihropologie, 1891, t. ii., pp. 297 and 
 following. 
 
 * Mission mentifque du cap Horn, 1882-1883, t. vii. Anihro- 
 pologie, Ethnographie, by P. Hyades and J. Deniker; Paris, 
 Gauthier-Villars, 1891, p. 377. 
 
SURVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 159 
 
 (c) Eecent researches into the family system 
 among the Australian tribes has brought a number 
 of survivals to light. This is especially the case 
 with regard to the careful researches of Fison and 
 Howitt'^ who have shown that, independently of 
 their tribal divisions — which are really territorial 
 groups — the Australians are divided up into clans 
 or sexual groups comprising all the individuals with 
 the same Kohong.'^ 
 
 The members of these groups are regarded as 
 members of the same family, and may never, 
 under any circumstance, intermarry, under pain 
 of being driven out of the clan and hunted like 
 wild beasts. Sometimes individuals of antagonistic 
 tribes living at several hundred miles' distance from 
 one another and speaking different languages have 
 the same Kohong. The law of classes remains 
 active ; a captor may not violate a prisoner belong- 
 ing to his group, but a stranger may enter into 
 relations with the women of another tribe, so long 
 as the tribe belongs to a class related to his own. 
 This system of relationship can only be explained 
 as being a survival from a former period in which 
 all persons with the same KdboTig belonged to the 
 same group. This is a disputed point,^ however, 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, Kurnai and Kamilaroi {Journal of the 
 ArUkropological Institute, 1884). 
 
 2 "The Kobong of a man is the animal or plant, the name of 
 which he bears and reveres as a protecting spirit " (Starcke). 
 
 ' Starcke, la Famille primitive (Bibl. soiens. intern., Paris, 
 F. Aloan, 1891, p. 22). 
 
160 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 for besides this very likely hypothesis, undoubted 
 survivals remain of intermarriage by groups or 
 sexual groups. In the writings of Fison and Howitt, 
 we find the two following instances of this in two 
 tribes which, according to them, severally represent 
 the highest and lowest in the scale of civilization, 
 among those with which they came in contact.^ 
 
 (d) The tribe called Kunanddburi was divided 
 into two exogamous classes : Mattara and Ywngo. 
 Theoretically all the Yungos whether male or 
 female were regarded as the males of the Mattaras, 
 and vice, versd. In point of fact, however, only 
 one vestige of the primitive communal marriage 
 remained — the jus primes nociis which was the 
 prerogative of all the contemporaries of the 
 husband belonging to the same group. 
 
 (e) The tribe called Narrinyeri which repre- 
 sented a more advanced stage of civilization, was 
 equally divided into two sexual groups, but in 
 reality, marriage was strictly individual. One 
 survival remained, however, of the former system. 
 When a man captured an alien bride, all the men 
 of his own generation and belonging to the same 
 group possessed the right of jus primce noctis. 
 
 3. We have seen that instances of survival are 
 rare in some countries because modifications are 
 only effected slowly, and in others because changes 
 are effected very quickly and useless institutions 
 
 ' Fison and Howitt, Jov/mal q/" the Anthropological Institute, 
 1882, p. 36. 
 
SURVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 161 
 
 are eliminated root and branch. It is in countries 
 like England, where modifications are brought about 
 with a due respect for old customs and traditions 
 that ceremonies, institutions and customs exhibit 
 the greatest number of survivals. 
 
 § 2. Survivals of ancient forms of marriage and of 
 the family in Modern Europe. 
 
 We think we may regard it as proved that 
 all societies exhibit instances of survival, but in 
 order to further demonstrate the universal character 
 of retrogressive evolution, we shall show, by means 
 of a careful study of one particular institution, that 
 vestiges of former institutions are neither rare uor 
 exceptional, taking as examples the various forms 
 of marriage and of the family throughout Modern 
 Europe. 
 
 1. Forms of Marriage. — From archaic times up 
 to our own, we find that among modern nations, 
 marriage by capture, marriage by purchase, and 
 marriage with the consent of the woman have been 
 successively followed by marriage by simple consent, 
 religious marriage (in facie Ucclesice) and civil 
 marriage,^ and that survivals remain of all the 
 forms of marriage anterior to civil marriage.^ 
 
 ^ Paul Viollet, Sistoire du droit civil Fran^ais, p. 424 and 
 following. Paris, Larose & Foroel, 1893. 
 
 ' Westermarck, The Bistory of Human Marriage, 1892, p. 418 
 (when the mode of contracting a marriage altered, the earlier mode, 
 from having lieen a reality, survived as "ceremony "). 
 
162 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Marriage hy Capture. — Traces of this early form 
 of marriage, which is still to be met with in certain 
 parts of Bulgaria,^ are exhibited in the nuptial rites 
 and customs of Ukraine, where the ceremonial is 
 quite a museum of reduced institutions. 
 
 Vestiges of what originally was marriage by 
 capture occur too in France and Belgium, and other 
 countries. The nuptial games of Lower Brittany 
 and Chimay have obviously been derived from it.^ 
 
 Marriage bi/ purchase. — The retrogressive evolu- 
 tion of this form of marriage exhibits the following 
 stages : 
 
 ' Th. Volvok, Eites et usuges nuptiavx de l' Ukraine (VAidJiro- 
 pologie, 1891, p. 169). " In certain parts of Bulgaria {Kvjitendil), 
 the capture of young girls takes place even in the present day and 
 constitutes a foiToi of marriage ( Vlatcheny monny)." 
 
 ° Monseur, Bulletin du Folklore, January and March 1895, 
 Costumes, p. 1 ; les noces, p. 18. 
 
 " In some villages of Chimay (Hainavlt), when a young man 
 chooses a bride from a neighbouring village, the young people 
 proceed in cavalcade to the home of the bride. The leader of 
 them presents her with a whip and a large cake crowned with 
 a bouquet. The bride then takes up her position on the door- 
 steps while the bridegroom and his friends pass and repass her 
 at full gallop seeking to dispossess her of the whip with which 
 she lashes at them. All this may be regarded as the last remain- 
 ing phase of marriage by capture, the bridegroom arriving at the 
 dwelling of the bride with a cortege, being more or less tigurative 
 of a marauding expedition. " 
 
 Baudrillard {in Siances et travavx de VAcad&mie des sciences 
 morales, Jan. 1884, p. 36) connects the customary nuptial games 
 of Lower Brittany with the primitive marriage by capture. In 
 these games the bride hides before going to chui'ch, and the 
 bridegroom has to search till he finds her. 
 
SURVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 163 
 
 1. The payment made was originally a pecu- 
 
 • niary compensation to the family of 
 the captured bride. By degrees, actual 
 capture gave place to mere symbolical 
 capture and then the system of compensa- 
 tion became transformed into the purchase 
 system. 
 
 2. The price paid for the bride which was origin- 
 
 ally the property of the whole clan under 
 the name of wergelt, became the perquisite 
 of the bride's father. 
 
 3. It next became modified into a marriage 
 
 dowry given to the wife by her husband 
 and the ceremony of purchase became 
 purely symbolical. In the Merovingian 
 period, for instance, the future husband 
 presented the father of the bride with a 
 sou and a denier (marriage per solidum et 
 denarium)} 
 
 Other survivals still exist of these three stages 
 in the evolution of marriage. 
 
 (a) In Ukraine, where the signification of the 
 purchase system was purely one of the vira 
 or compensation (wergelt), the bridegroom 
 has to give a present to each member of 
 the bride's family ; this is the custom too 
 in the valleys of the Caucasus where the 
 
 ' Vanderkindere, Condition de lafemme d, I'^oque miromngierme, 
 p. 12. A. Heussler, Iiislitviionen des deidschenFrivatrechts,!!., p, 
 280. 
 
164 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 relations make a further demand of pay- 
 ment in money.^ 
 (6) The custom of purchasing the bride from the 
 father still exists — although with no legal 
 recognition among the Ossetes and in certain 
 Russian villages, 
 (c) Lastly, the marriage "per solidum et deTiarium. 
 Traces of this are left even in modern 
 France. This particular purchase signified 
 the payment of thirteen silver deniers 
 according to a certain value of the sou. 
 The introduction of these thirteen deniers into 
 the ceremony of marriage can be traced through 
 the middle ages up to the marriage of Louis XVI. 
 when they still appeared. In some parts of France 
 such as Dijon, Bordeaux and Earrois, they may 
 still be met with even nowadays. With the excep- 
 tion of this figurative number of thirteen, character- 
 istic of the primitive origin of the ceremony, this 
 form of marriage has undergone such changes as 
 almost to entirely obliterate its primitive character. 
 This is so, too, with other survivals of the system 
 of marriage by purchase — they have come to be 
 only intelligible by means of the comparative 
 method, or by a knowledge of their historical 
 antecedents.* 
 
 ' Volvok, Journal V Anihropologie, 1892, p. 579. Kowalevsky, 
 Droit coutumier oss4tien, p. 176. 
 
 " See Paul Viollet, Histoire du droit civil franrma ; Paris, 1893, 
 p. 403. 
 
SURVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 165 
 
 Marriage fairs — now transformed into kermesses, 
 and still held at Lierre in Belgium and other 
 places — appear to have been originally regular 
 markets for the purchase of young women.^ 
 
 The custom of offering the wrong young woman 
 
 to the bridegroom as his future wife — a custom 
 
 still in vogue in the department of Landes in 
 
 France — formed part of the nuptial ceremonies 
 
 among the ancient Hindoos, and is probably a 
 
 vestige of the tricks which were played upon the 
 
 bridegroom after the purchase of the bride. Several 
 
 vestiges of this kind may be noticed among the 
 
 customs of modern peasants. It is by no means 
 
 infrequent for a wife to be sold by her husband, 
 
 on the principle that what has been bought may 
 
 fiiirly be sold, and the transaction rendered legally 
 
 binding by being drawn up on stamped paper. 
 
 This is merely a survival of the old system of 
 
 marriage by purchase. 
 
 ' "The second Sunday of this fair, which commences on tlie 
 Sunday after All Saint's Day, is called the veersensmarM (Heifer- 
 fair or market), and the third Sunday is called the bruUenmerkt, 
 a name derived from the word britl, and signifying a heifer lowing 
 noisily. The veersensmerkt is the day especially set apart for the 
 young girls who attend the fair to find husbands. The bruUen- 
 merkt is the day dedicated to older women as a sort of forlorn hope 
 for those who have hitherto failed to get married. No one seems 
 to know when these "markets" first came to be held. I am more 
 than sixty years old, and they were old when I was young, with 
 this difference only, that in my youth, a young girl who respected 
 herself would not have been seen at the bmllenmerkt, which is not 
 the case nowadays. " (Taken from a letter from the Secretary of 
 the Commune at Lierre.) 
 
160 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Marriage by consent of both parties. — In French 
 civil marriages of the present day, traces remain of 
 the two other forms of marriage by common con- 
 sent which preceded it. 
 
 (a) The marriage by simple agreement, which held 
 good throughout Christian Europe until the Council 
 of Trent, is still valid in Scotland. Gretna Green 
 marriages (Gretna Green being a village situated on 
 the Border, near Carlisle) were notorious. In ac- 
 cordance with an old custom, the blacksmith of 
 Gretna Green kept the register of these marriages, 
 and the union was contracted in his presence.^ 
 
 After the Council of Trent, marriages in facie 
 Uoelesice came to be alone recognized by the 
 Church : all marriage to be valid must be sanc- 
 tioned (if not actually celebrated) by the parish 
 priest of one contracting party, in the presence of 
 one or more witnesses. The legislation of the 
 Council of Trent became French law after the 
 Ordinance of Blois in 1574, until the law was 
 revised in September 1792, when civil marriage 
 was definitely established in France. 
 
 ' VioUet, Histoire du droit civU fra/ru;ais, p. 428. 
 
 "These marriages, about which everyone has heard, were not 
 an invention of Scotch law. Like most legal curiosities, they 
 find an explanation in survival from a former condition of 
 things, persisting in a singularly original and peculiar form. 
 
 "The blacksmith and his register were not necessary in them- 
 selves to contract a marriage ; they merely constituted evidence 
 that it had taken place. In 1304 a Scotch man and woman 
 merely declared themselves man and wife in writing, and in 
 18H they were recognized as legally married by Scotch law." 
 
SURVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 167 
 
 From that time forth, religious marriage may he 
 regarded in the light of a survival, having lost all 
 legal importance, while civil marriages are greatly 
 on the increase. Priests, then, the " groomsmen " 
 of Lower Brittany, and the blacksmith of Gretna 
 Green may alike be regarded as plain evidences of 
 an institution in process of decline. 
 
 II. The family system. — Archaic forms of the 
 family Still exist, sometimes as mere vestiges, 
 sometimes as exceptional cases, in countries where 
 only separate families are legally recognized. 
 
 1. The Matriarchy. — Traces of the matriarchy, 
 i.e. of the exogamous family of blood relations 
 through the mother, abound among the customs 
 of the inhabitants of the valleys of the Caucasus. 
 Kowelevsky, in his book on the customs of the 
 Ossetes, has dealt with this subject. The vestiges 
 remaining even in France of marriage by capture 
 and the prohibition of certain marriages in Monte- 
 negro, derived doubtless from an exogamous period, 
 are alike survivals of this primitive family system. 
 Further, although both facts and their interpreta- 
 tion are rather doubtful, some authorities regard 
 the couvade, a custom which is still in practice 
 among the Basques and also in the Isle of Mark 
 (in Holland), as a vestige of the transition period 
 between the matriarchy and paternal affiliation.-^ 
 
 ^ See Viollet, Prids de I'histoire du droit fran^ais, ii. 326, and 
 Giraud-Teulon in Origines du marriage et de la famille primitive, 
 Paris, 1884, p. 138 ; and Staroke, Famille primitive, p. 49. 
 
168 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 2. The Patriarchy. — The Patriarchy, which was 
 a system of family community, is still exhibited in 
 the participanze of Italy, the companias de Galicia 
 of Spain, the parsonneries of France, the Haiis- 
 genossensehaffen of Germany, and the zadrugas of 
 the Balkan peninsular. Besides these, the family 
 system of to-day, according to Sumner-Maine, 
 aifords constant evidences of a patria protestas 
 in process of decay and of declining male property 
 rights. 
 
 Survivals from the old patriarchal system abound 
 in modern legislation. Take the following examples : 
 (a) The limitations imposed on a testator with 
 regard to leaving his property away from 
 his family (Civ. Code, 213 and following). 
 (&) The legal opposition to a woman's equality 
 in succession. 
 The more barbarous laws, if not actually 
 excluding women from succession, at least 
 excluded their succession to landed estate, 
 in order to keep the family property intact. 
 In France the privilege of sex was main- 
 tained in some respects, even among the 
 peasants, up to the close of the old 
 regime, and it still exists in the present 
 day in different degrees in Scandinavia, 
 Russia, Servia, and some of the Swiss 
 Cantons. 
 c) The inequality of the sexes as regards con- 
 jugal fidelity. 
 
SURVIVALS EXIST IN ALL KINDS OF SOCIETIES 169 
 
 The privileges of the husband over the wife 
 in this matter are survivals from the time 
 when these obligations were wholly on one 
 side. 
 (d) Affiliation following on a double marriage. — 
 In some countries, under the old system, a 
 child could only succeed to the property of 
 his parents if he resided with them (ex- 
 cepting in quite exceptional cases). Hence 
 there arose marriages by exchange. In 
 order to compensate the children, the two 
 families, if each had a son and daughter, 
 exchanged them, and bestowed the rights 
 of one upon the other. Under the new law 
 these rights could not be legally claimed, 
 and yet even in the present century they 
 are not wholly unknown. The last mar- 
 riage by exchange was probably that 
 mentioned by Dupin^ which took place at 
 Gacogne (Ni^vre) in 1839. 
 In conclusion then, we have found that while 
 the legislative systems of modern races tend to 
 become more and more alilce in main principle, we 
 can yet find vestiges, more or less faint and dis- 
 torted, but quite recognizable, of the different 
 institutions which dominated the earlier conditions 
 of the different races. 
 
 * Viollet, Sistoire du droit civil frangais, p. 491. 
 
 12 
 
PART III 
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 
 
 The examples we have been able to give in the 
 first part of this volume make it plain that de- 
 generative evolution exists everywhere. It must be 
 noticed, however, that biological investigation shows 
 that in the evolution of organs certain parts may 
 disappear completely, but also that in the evolution 
 of organisms certain organs may also disappear. 
 This last phenomenon is most common in embryo- 
 logical development, when it is known as ontological 
 abbreviation.^ Sometimes it is the adult stage that 
 is suppressed, this being possible by what is called, 
 psedogenesis a precocious appearance and ripening 
 of the sexual organs.^ 
 
 ^ In Scalpellnm Stroi'ni, a deep sea Cirripede, the naupUus stage 
 of the larval life is suppressed at least so far as that is a free 
 swimming larva. Here is at least a physiologically complete sup- 
 pression of a whole larval stage. 
 
 ^AxoloU. Most salamanders pass through a larval stage in 
 which they are aquatic and perform their respiration hy means of 
 external gills. In this condition they are incapable of reproduc- 
 tion, and must undergo metamorphosis to secure propagation of 
 the species. In the case of Amblystoma, however, a Mexican 
 salamander, the larval form of which is called the Axolotl, repro- 
 duction is possible in the larval stage. Thus most individuals of 
 170 
 
SUMMAEY Ami CONCLUSIONS 171 
 
 Sometimes a degenerative transformation becomes 
 still more complete and wonderful ; not only may 
 a larval stage or an adult stage be completely 
 suppressed, but a multicellular organism may even 
 lose its power of dying. It is known that the 
 simplest forms of life are practically immortal : 
 when a microbe like micrococcus divides nothing 
 dies, and throughout the whole series of successive 
 divisions the primitive life is preserved. On the 
 other hand, in the case of higher animals such as 
 man there are both mortal somatic cells and 
 reproductive cells which by means of conjugation 
 become practically immortal. The mortality of the 
 somatic cells is evidently an acquisition, an advant- 
 age fixed by natural selection ; but 'there exist 
 multicellular organisms evidently derived from 
 creatures which had acquired the division into 
 mortal somatic and immortal reproductive cells and 
 which have lost it since. All the cells of their 
 body are. able to avoid death by conjugation. 
 This occurs in many conjugate algae like spirogyra 
 
 this species do not actually reach the adult stage. According to 
 Boas writing on Neotenie in Gegenbaur's Festschrift, 1896, this 
 probably happens in the case of all the perennibranchiateurodeles. 
 Sanunculacece. On page 85 we showed that in Sammculus 
 aquatUis there are produced first submerged leaves, and afterwards 
 floating lobed leaves, and that the flowers are produced in the 
 axils of the floating leaves. Some forms of the plant living in 
 deep water produce only laeinated leaves, in the axils of which by 
 a kind of psedogenesis the flowers are produced. In other species 
 {Sanunculus Jiuitans and M, divaricatus) the psedogenesis has 
 become definitely established and no floating leaves are formed. 
 
172 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 and in some of the Volvocinese (Stephanosphsera, 
 Eudorina). 
 
 Plainly then, the further one examines the facts, 
 the more enlarged becomes the conception of de- 
 generative evolution. It is not confined to unusual, 
 abnormal or pathological cases. Degeneration is 
 not an accident in evolution : it is the obverse of 
 progressive evolution and the necessary complement 
 of every transformation whether anatomical or 
 social. 
 
 Whatever transformation may be studied, it will 
 be found that change is always accompanied by an 
 elimination of some parts and that in the interests 
 of the organism as a whole these useless parts 
 gradually degenerate. When a whole organization 
 begins to undergo retrogressive evolution and to 
 decay, it is frequently in the interests of some still 
 larger organization. Individuals or species out of 
 harmony with their surroundings disappear to make 
 room for others. August Comte has shown how 
 death is a progressive agency in the social organi- 
 zation removing the worn-out tissues and leaving 
 room for new and more plastic intelligences. All 
 progress implies necessary eliminations. In the 
 domain of society, those who are victims and who 
 from birth, education, or interests, attach themselves 
 to the decaying institutions naturally see only the 
 degenerative side of the change ; but those who 
 regard the process as a whole and do not concentrate 
 their attention upon the injured interests and 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 173 
 
 individual sufferings will see the other side of the 
 movement. 
 
 When a social organism is degenerating there is 
 considerable opposition to its complete disappearance, 
 and so as Houzeau has said (see the summary of 
 Book III.) it is to be expected that living and 
 superior civilizations drag behind them a trail of 
 debris from dead civilizations. 
 
BOOK II 
 
 THE PATH OF DEGENEEATIVE 
 EVOLUTION 
 
 PART I 
 
 THE SUPPOSED LAW THAT DEGENERATION EETEACES 
 THE STEPS OF PEOGEESS 
 
 It is a common opinion, supported partly by the 
 etymology of the word, that retrogression is a tracing 
 backwards of progression. 
 
 " In the degeneration of organizations fallen out 
 of use," M. A. Lameere has said, " it is to be ob- 
 served that the structures formed most recently 
 and most specialized are the first to disappear, and 
 that the most fundamental characters are those 
 which persist longest: that in fact degenerative 
 evolution retraces the steps made by progressive 
 evolution. Peculiarities recently acquired, if they 
 become disused, rapidly disappear, while dispositions 
 of a more ancient kind have a persistence almost 
 exactly proportioned to their age.^ 
 
 This supposed biological law of retracement has 
 
 ' A. Lameere, Esquisse de la Zoologie, Bruxelles, Rosez, p. 184. 
 
 175 
 
176 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 penetrated to psychology and sociology. In 1868 
 Hughlings Jackson, in the study of certain maladies 
 of the nervous system, had arrived at the conclusion 
 that, "In the degeneration of this system the higher 
 functions, those more complex, specialized and volun- 
 tary, disappear more quickly than the lower, simpler, 
 less specialized and more automatic functions." ^ 
 
 Starting from this point, and expressing it in 
 terms of physiology, Eibot formulates as follows 
 the law of degeneration of will and memory : 
 " The dissolution of the will occurs in a retro- 
 grade fashion, from the more voluntary and com- 
 plex to the less voluntary and simpler — that is to 
 say, towards automatism." ^ 
 
 So also in progressive loss of memory, the 
 degeneration proceeds from the less stable to the 
 more stable. " It begins with recent acquisitions 
 not firmly rooted in the brain, rarely repeated, and 
 so not firmly associated with others, in fact with 
 the least organized parts of memory. It ends 
 with sensory memory which is instinctive, and is 
 deeply rooted in the organism, or is indeed a 
 part of the organism itself."® 
 
 These retrograde transformations of the nervous 
 centres have their echoes in the modes in which 
 ideas and feelings are expressed. Paul Heger, in 
 
 * Ribot, Maladies de la MSmoire, p. 29. Dallemagne {Diginiris 
 et D4s4quili3iris), p. 480. 
 ^ Maladies de la Volants, p. 150. Paris, F. Alcan. 
 ' Maladies de la M^oire, p. 94. 
 
DEGENERATION EETKACES STEPS OF PKOGEESS 177 
 
 particular, has shown this in his investigations into 
 the degeneration of writing and speech.^ 
 
 In a lecture on the evolution of language, de- 
 livered at the University of Brussels, he said as 
 follows : " For several years I have studied the 
 degenerative evolution of writing, and I have 
 shown how the writing of the insane resembles 
 that of children. All that I have said with 
 regard to writing applies to speech, and just as 
 drawing lasts longer than writing, so rhythm and 
 music survive after the power of expressing ideas 
 by words has been lost." " The gradual degenera- 
 tion of speech may be traced in the case of old 
 men who gradually pass down the incline into 
 senility. Study of the speech of such persons 
 shows that the degeneration of their faculty re- 
 traces the steps by which it had been progressively 
 acquired." 
 
 The labours of Heger were in a field where the 
 social element was important. It is a small step 
 from them to social affairs themselves. A number 
 of authors, including Ferrero, Colajanni and Degreef, 
 base their ideas upon this law of retrogression, which 
 they regard as established and applying to sociologi- 
 cal phenomena.^ 
 
 ^ Sur Vivolution Il4gressiv6 de VArUure cJiez certains dli&nis 
 (Bull, de la SocUU d'Anthropologie de Bruxelles, v., 1886-1886). 
 Sv/r I'ivolution du Langage (Meime Universitaire, Bruxelles, 1S92- 
 1893, p. 143). 
 
 2 Degreef, Le Transformisme Social. F. Alcan, Paris, 1895, 
 p. 365. 
 
178 THE PATH OF DKGENllEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Before describing and discussing the special facts 
 to which they apply their theory, it is necessary to 
 examine its biological foundation. 
 
 CHAPTEE I 
 
 THE PATH OF DEGENEKATIOIT IN BIOLOGY 
 
 We have now to consider if the degeneration of 
 organs retraces the steps taken in their progres- 
 sive evolution. According to Hughlings Jackson 
 and Eibot, in the cases mentioned in the preceding 
 chapter, degeneration proceeds by successive atro- 
 phies occurring in the order opposite to that of 
 ontological formation. Is the same order to be 
 found when we compare the degeneration of 
 organs or of individuals with their phylogenetic 
 development ? To answer this question, we must 
 employ both morphology and embryology. Using 
 the morphological method, we shall study the re- 
 duction of a homologous organ in several species 
 descended from the same type, and compare the 
 different stages of reduction with the different 
 stages of phylogenetic development of the organ.^ 
 
 ' In this investigation it will be necessary to compare absolutely 
 identical organs — for instance, not to compare the pineal eye with 
 the paired eyes. It will be necessary also to choose animals of 
 common parentage — to avoid, for instance, comparing a Vertebrate 
 eye with a Crustacean eye. 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN ANIMALS 179 
 
 Using the method of emhryology and the prin- 
 ciple, so far as it can be followed, that ontogeny 
 recapitulates phylogeny, we shall investigate the 
 mode of origin of some reduced structures. We 
 shall thus learn if the organs in degenerating 
 resume any of their ancestral stages. 
 
 Reduced organs may appear in two different 
 forms. They may be atrophied after having 
 reached a more or less complete development, 
 and in this case we shall have to compare the 
 course of the atrophy with the course of the 
 development.. They may be rudimentary, that 
 is to say, their development may have been 
 arrested at a given point, the adult state never 
 being attained. In this case, so far as ontogeny 
 repeats phylogeny, the arrest of these organs at 
 different stages in different species should furnish 
 a series with greater or smaller lacunae, but a 
 series which will be the reversed series of the 
 original stages in phylogeny. 
 
 Section I. 
 The path of degeneration in animals. 
 
 1. Morphology and Emhryology. The law of re- 
 capitulation. — It has been so often repeated that the 
 individual development of an organ is a r^sum^ more 
 or less compressed of its historical evolution, that 
 people are apt to attempt too exact an application 
 
180 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 of this principle to every individual case. Such an 
 exact application is, however, impossible. Every 
 living organism is plastic, and in its development 
 presents individual variations which serve as 
 material for the operation of natural selection. 
 In consequence, the recapitulation cannot be more 
 than a repetition more or less vague of the essential 
 phases of phylogeny.^ 
 
 Moreover, there is nothing inevitable in the law 
 of recapitulation, for most plants develop directly. 
 
 "With these limitations, however, we may state 
 that among animals, the ontogeny usually repeats 
 in a modified fashion the main ancestral stages. 
 This is certainly the case when we compare the 
 development of the brain of man with the probable 
 ancestral stages as displayed in the series of verte- 
 brates. 
 
 ^ Lang, Anatomie compared. As throughout the whole course of 
 time, adaptation, that is to say, the preservation of what is most 
 useful in the struggle for existence, is a force modifying heredity, 
 it is plain that a species instead of resting stable must change. 
 According to its oiroumatanoes, moreover, the successive stages in 
 the ontogeny of a creature are under the influence of conditions 
 different from those that affected the corresponding ancestral stages. 
 We shall call the process of embryology palingenetic so far as it is 
 based upon inherited legacies, and coenogenetic so far as it is modi- 
 fied by adaptation. 
 
 Baldwin in his Treatise on Menial development in tJie child and 
 m the race (London, 1895), also shows that the development of the 
 individual is not an exact repetition of ancestral stages. The 
 development of the child exhibits "short cuts" and phases of 
 direct development due to adaptation and destroying the exactness 
 of the parallel with phylogeuy. 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENEEATION IN ANIMALS ] 8 1 
 
 In Fish 
 
 The cerebral hemispheres 
 
 In the human 
 
 Same 
 
 and Batiachia. 
 
 do not cover the region 
 
 embryo (fig. 
 
 aspect. 
 
 
 of the third ventricle 
 
 61, A) of the 
 
 
 
 from which the eyes arise 
 
 seventh week. 
 
 
 
 (thalamencephalon). 
 
 
 
 In Reptiles. 
 
 The hemispheres cover 
 
 In the human 
 
 Same 
 
 
 the thalamenaphalon but 
 
 embryo (fig. 
 
 aspect. 
 
 
 leaveuncoveredtheregion 
 
 61, b) of the 
 
 
 
 of the optic lobes (mesen- 
 
 middle of the 
 
 
 
 cephalon). 
 
 third month. 
 
 
 In mammals. 
 
 The hemispheres cover 
 
 In the human 
 
 Same 
 
 
 the thalamencephalon, 
 
 embryo (fig. 
 
 aspect. 
 
 
 the mesencephalon, some- 
 
 61, c) of the 
 
 
 
 times the metencephalon 
 
 fifth month. 
 
 
 
 (cerebellum and medulla). 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 and the olfactory lobes. 
 
 
 
 In some mam- 
 
 The hemispheres are 
 
 In the human 
 
 Same 
 
 mals even of 
 
 smooth. 
 
 embryo (fig. 
 
 aspect. 
 
 higher orders 
 
 
 61, D) of the 
 
 
 (e.g. some 
 
 
 midddleofthe 
 
 
 Hapalidse). 
 
 
 fifth month. 
 
 
 Within such limits, the law of recapitulation 
 may be applied, and the embryonic history of an 
 individual may be considered roundly as a repeti- 
 tion of the essential phases of its ancestral history. 
 We have now to consider how far a reduction by 
 atrophy or by arrest represents a retracing of steps 
 in evolution (fig. 61). 
 
 From this point of view, we may study the 
 
182 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 degeneration of the pineal eye in the slow-worm, 
 and in a series of lizards. 
 
 The pineal or median eye in the slow worm and 
 
 Fio. 61, — A, Brain of a human embryo of seven weeks ; h^ cerebral hemispheres; 
 ci, inttrmeoiate brain nr tlialamenctjphalon ; cm, mid brain ; cp, hlnd-bfain. 
 5, Brdin of a Imman embryo about the beginning of the tiird month; h, i-ere- 
 bral hemisphtsres; /?, ref^lon of the corpora qundrif^emina ; cm, mid-brain. 
 (7. Brain of a liuman embryo at the middle of the third month; A, cerebral 
 hemispheies ; iq, corpora quadrigemina; ce, cirehellum. Z), H-iman brain 
 of th« fifth embryonic month; A. cerebral liemisphen s ; o!f, olfactory lobes; 
 5, fissure of Sylvius; ce, cerebellum. (After MiualltuTi s, EntnUkelungs- 
 gescliiehte des Qehirni. Leipzig, 187/.) 
 
 the lizard passes through the following stages in 
 its individual development.^ 
 
 (1) Formation of a hollow outgrowth from the 
 roof of the third ventricle of the brain 
 (fig. 62, D). 
 
 ^ P. Franootte, Becherches sur le cUveloppement de Vijriphyse. 
 {These presenUg d la FaetdU de mideciiie de Bruxelles.) Arch, de 
 Biohgie, 1888. 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN ANIMALS 183 
 
 (2) This little sac elongates, changes its direction, 
 
 FiQ. 62. — Diagram indicating the protfressive evolution and the degeneratiuxi of 
 the pineal eye. 
 
 A. Perfect pineal eye, as found in the slow-worm before bii*th, or in the adult 
 Sphenodon (Hatteria) ; c, lens; r, retina; n, optic nerve; d, di?ertialum of the 
 thalamencephalon. B. Pineal eye in first stage of degeneration as it exists in 
 ChamcEleo and as It was in the slow-worm before stage A. Ttielens(c), and 
 the retina (r), are not differentiated. C. Pineal eye in the degenerate form 
 found in Calotes aniLeiodera; c, lens; r, retina; n, optic nerve in fatty de- 
 generation. J>. Very degenerate pineal eye as In C^c?oci«s and like the earliest 
 stace in the slow-worm ; there is no differentiation of the divertialum from the 
 thalamencephalon. E, F, G. Other modes of degeneration of the pineal eye. 
 The eye lies within the skull and there is no parir'til foramen ; cr, cranial 
 membranes; £. Ceratophora. F. Birds; ^, mammals. (After Baldwin 
 Spenct.r.) 
 
 and becomes divided into a proximal and 
 distal portion. The cells lining the distal 
 
184 THE PATH OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 part, that farthest from the brain, become 
 differentiated into the cells which will 
 form the lens, and the cells which will 
 form the retina. 
 
 (3) The distal part becomes specialized, the lens, 
 
 the retina, and the stalk of the optic nerve 
 are mapped out. 
 
 (4) The lens, the retina, and the optic nerve 
 
 become fully formed (fig. 62, a). 
 
 At this stage the third eye has reached its limit 
 of development. 
 
 There is a. well-formed retina connected with the 
 brain by a special optic nerve. The organ projects 
 strongly from the surface of the head, but from 
 this point, owing to the development of the 
 cerebral hemispheres, degeneration begins. The 
 nerve (fig. 52, c), becomes broken and fatty, and 
 pigmentary degeneration occurs in it. At the 
 same time, the pineal eye having become useless 
 or even harmful to the animal possessed of it, 
 before the power of receiving perceptions of light 
 has been lost, and before the organ has been far 
 reduced by phylogenetic destruction, a veil of 
 black pigment is formed over it, completely shut- 
 ting it off from the outer light. The nerve 
 disappears completely before birth, its degenerate 
 cells becoming lost in the mesoblastic skeletal 
 tissue of that region. At the time of birth 
 the whole eye is enclosed in a thick membrane 
 which isolates it. The deposition of pigment has 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENEKATION IN ANIMALS 185 
 
 destroyed any functional activity in the lens and the 
 retina, but these parts none the less retain traces 
 of a complicated structure recalling their condition 
 when functional. 
 
 In the Ehynchocephala and Lizards examined 
 by W. B. Spencer,^ there is to be found a series of 
 types representing the various stages of the 
 degeneration of the eye in the slow-worm. 
 
 In the type Sphenodon {Hatteria, fig. 62, a), the 
 organ in the adult is in the complete form. The 
 eye possesses a lens (c), a retina, (r), with com- 
 plicated histological structure. A nerve {n) places 
 the retina in communication with the brain. 
 
 In Chamceleo (fig. 62, b), the degradation of the 
 organ has reached the following stage : the epi- 
 physis has a distal portion corresponding to the 
 eye, but the histological differentiation of this is 
 incomplete, neither the retina nor the lens being 
 distinct. Netvous fibres connect this with the 
 proximal portion which is hollow and in com- 
 munication with the brain. It thus represents 
 the second stage in the formation of the eye in 
 the slow-worm. 
 
 In the types Leiodera and Calotes (fig. 62, c), the 
 chief degeneration is in the optic nerve, which has 
 partially disappeared, and no longer connects the 
 eye with the brain. The eye itself is not quite 
 
 ' W. B. Spenoer, On the presence and structure of the pineal 
 eye in Lacertilia {Quarterly Journal of Micrasoopicat Hoienee, 
 1886). 
 
 13 
 
186 THE PATH OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTiOK 
 
 SO degenerate : the retina has not a complex 
 structure, but both retina and lens are present. 
 
 In the type Cyclodus (fig. 62, d), the degeneration 
 is still greater : the epiphysis is a vesicle attached 
 to the thalamencephalon. The walls of this 
 vesicle show only the smallest symptom of primi- 
 tive differentiation into lens and retina. The 
 proximal part remains hollow, and shows no trace 
 of differentiation at all. 
 
 This, however, is not the only fashion in which 
 degeneration of the pineal eye proceeds. In 
 another series of creatures it retains its connec- 
 tion with the thalamencephalon, but remains inside 
 the skull. The parietal foramen closes, thus 
 completely shutting off the eye from the light; 
 the eye becomes useless, degenerates, and the 
 optic nerve loses its function as a conducting 
 channel, Ceratophova (fig. 62, e). The pineal 
 organ then becomes a degenerate structure in 
 which it is exceedingly difficult to see traces of 
 its original condition, and which is usually marked 
 by an abundance of blood-vessels : Birds (fig. 62, f), 
 Mammals (fig. 62, g). 
 
 Thus, the degeneration of the pineal eye shows 
 that the optic nerve, the last organ to be completed, 
 is the first to disappear.^ 
 
 In studying the d^eneration of the pineal eye, 
 
 ' The same happens in the case of the ordinary paired eyes. In 
 the degenerate eyes of the mola, tl\e optic nerve is more reduced 
 than arc the other structures. 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN ANIMALS 187 
 
 we have seen the path of progressive evolution 
 being retraced, at least in the case of these reptiles. 
 The present state of knowledge does not permit an 
 extension of the enquiry to the conditions found in 
 higher animals. HoWever, according to Flesch, 
 traces of a sensory epithelium have been found in 
 the pineal^irody ^i -man, the horse, the sheep, and 
 the bat : that is to say, that in these creatures too 
 the oldest parts of the structure have resisted 
 degeneration longest. We cannot refrain from the 
 conclusion that in this series degeneration retraces 
 to a large extent the steps of original advance. 
 
 2. Degeneration of the organs of sight in deep- 
 sea Crustacea. — We cannot however establish the 
 conclusion of the last paragraph as a general 
 principle. 
 
 The fauna of the deep sea includes a large 
 number of Crustacea, and in these the eyes, which 
 are relatively useless, are often degenerate. The 
 course of the degeneration is generally definite, and 
 of all the structural parts the most long-lived are 
 the eye-stalks, although we know that these are 
 a recent formation. A number of examples chosen 
 from Decapod Crustaceans, which are specially 
 abundant, will illustrate this point.i 
 
 Nephropsis, which lives in the Atlantic and 
 Indian Oceans at moderate depths, is a relative of 
 the Lobster. The optic stalk is short and carries 
 
 ' See Pelseneer, V Exploration mologique des mers profamdei 
 (Omifireruies Universitaire de Bruxelles). 2 Annee, 1890. 
 
188 THE PATH OF DEGENEKATITE EVOLUTION 
 
 a rudimentary eye which has neither pigment nor 
 cornea and is coloured like the general surface of 
 the body. 
 
 Eryonicus (fig. 63) belongs to the same group, 
 and comes from the region of Saint-Thomas in the 
 Antilles, where it lives at a depth of about 825 
 yai'ds. This animal has a reduced optic stalk, 
 but at the extremity of this, where in littoral 
 
 forms the eye 
 is borne, there 
 is only a de- 
 pression as if 
 the eye had 
 been carefully 
 scooped out. 
 
 Willemcesia 
 '(fig. 64), a re- 
 lative of the 
 marine cray- 
 fish and an in- 
 habitant of the 
 Atlantic at a depth of about 3500 yards, is com- 
 pletely devoid of eyes in the adult condition, 
 although it possesses them in the larval stage. ' 
 
 Scolophthalmus (fig. 65), which lives' down to 
 4000 yards, is quite devoid of eyes, but possesses 
 eye-stalks which terminate in spines. 
 
 It seems, then, that different species' of deep-sea 
 Crustacea may present different degrees of degenera- 
 tion of the eye. One species in itself exhibits all 
 
 Fio. 63. Eryonicus caecus. Bate? (After W. Faxon, 
 The Stalk-eyed Crustacea, Mem. of Mus. of- Comp.. 
 Zuol. Hurvui'd College, vol. xviii., 1895.) 
 
mm- 
 
 i-m; 
 
190 THE PATH OF DEGENEEATITE EVOLUTION 
 
 grades of degradation according to the depth at 
 wliich it lives. This creature — Gymonomus — 
 which, when near the surface, has fully formed 
 eyes upon movable stalks, at a depth of a few 
 hundred yards exhibits movable stalks without 
 eyes; and at 1500 yards the stalks are fixed and 
 end in spines. 
 
 Isopod Crustacea, which live in the deep sea, 
 present similarly degenerate eyes. Many are blind 
 
 Fig. 65 Scolophthalmus htcffugus. Fax. 
 
 a, optic peduncle transfoi-med to a i-pine. (Afttsr W. Faxon, The Stalk-eyed 
 Crustacea, Mem. of Mus. ofComp. Zool. Harvard College, vol. xviii., 1S95.) 
 
 and display all kinds of optic degeneration. Noesa, 
 for instance, simply has eyes devoid of pigment. 
 Thus, in abysmal Crustacea, the degeneration of the 
 eyes is in no sense a retracing of developmental 
 stages. 
 
 Another instance chosen from examples of the 
 atrophy of organs in individuals, shows that the 
 supposed law of retracing cannot be made uni- 
 versal. 
 
 4. Atrophy of the branchial vessels in man. — 
 Examination of a human embryo of about three 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN ANIMALS 191 
 
 
 weeks old shows the presence of a series of slits on 
 the sides of the neck, the slits not being parallel, 
 but converging towards the ventral surface. Be- 
 tween these slits are swellings, or pads, which pass 
 up towards the dorsal surface and appear like the 
 beginnings of hoops or ribs enclosing the visceral 
 cavity ; the elevations are the branchial arches, the 
 slits are the gill-slits. 
 
 In the human embryo (fig. 66, A), as in fish, 
 these slits appear 
 from above 
 downwards, and 
 as they are 
 formed, the cor- 
 responding blood- 
 vessels arise. 
 
 These vessels, 
 or aortic arches, 
 arise from a ven- 
 tral aorta (a.) 
 which gives off 
 six lateral 
 branches (c.) at each side. These lateral branches 
 run up between the gill-slits and form two main 
 trunks on the dorsal side which converge to form 
 the descending aorta (ad.). 
 
 In man the branchial arches are transformed, 
 parts of them entering into the structure of the 
 face, and during the transformation parts of the 
 aortic arclies atrophy (fig. 66, b). But the order 
 
 Fig. GG Diagram of brandiial arches in roammalS'. 
 
 A. Embryonic sta^e. a, anrta; c. aortic arcties; 
 AD. uorsal anrta. B. Adult Btage. Itie parts 
 represented- bv dntted lines have degenerated. 
 At aorta; v, carotid; ap^ pulmonaiy arteiy. 
 
192 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 of this atrophy does not correspond in any way to 
 the order of the formation of the vessels. 
 
 The median parts of the anterior two lateral 
 branches {m} and m^) disappear, and the vertical 
 parts remain as the internal and external carotid 
 vessels. The vertical piece which joined the 
 posterior parts of the third and fourth arches dis- 
 appears : the internal and external carotids thus 
 acquire a stem of their own. The parts of the 
 fourth arch remain ; the fifth arch disappears at 
 each side, and the sixth arch forms the pulmonary 
 artery (a.p.). 
 
 Thus the degeneration of these vessels represents 
 in no way whatever a retracing of their develop- 
 mental history. All that occurs is that the useless 
 parts disappear and the useful parts persist. A 
 comparative study of this example would only 
 enforce our conclusion. 
 
 In ontogeny the neurapophyses are more ancient 
 than the vertebral centres. None the less, as we 
 have already seen, the examination of any vertebral 
 column from head toward tail shows a gradual 
 disappearance of all parts except the centra, 
 although the centra are the last to be formed. 
 
 Section II. 
 
 The path of degeneration in plants. 
 
 1. Rarity of cases of recapitulation in the 
 organogeny of leaves. — We have already said that 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENEKATION IN PLANTS 193 
 
 recapitulation seldom occurs in plants, the develop- 
 ment of the whole and of its organs being usually 
 direct. When it does occur, it is generally limited 
 to characters coming from comparatively recent 
 ancestors and not even in the most transitory 
 form entering into the formation of the fundamental 
 parts of the plaut.^ ' 
 
 ■■ The rarity of recapitulation among vegetables is the result 
 partly of their fixed condition in the soil, and partly of the more 
 rigid nature of their cells. 
 
 The immobility of a plant forces the adnlt to live in the same 
 place as the embryo. Among animals, on the other hand, it 
 frequently happens that the young pursue a manner of life 
 different from that of the adult and resembling that of the 
 ancestor. Young Cirrepedes are vagrant and have the same 
 needs and use the same organs as other vagrant Crnstaoea ; larval 
 frogs inhabit the water like their fish-like ancestors. In plants 
 there is nothing similar; all the aqnatic flowering plants are 
 derived from terrestrial ancestors, bnt if at the beginning of their 
 existence these aqnatic plants were to bear leaves adapted to 
 aerial life they would ensure their own destruction. The ex- 
 ceedingly rare ancestral traits to be found in a few species are 
 naturally of a kind not to incommode their possessors. It is 
 improbable that these are a legacy from distant ancestors ; they 
 would not have been spared by natural selection had they not 
 come from-ancestors of very much the same habit. The absence 
 of locomotion in plants has also produced a greater adaptability 
 than among animals. Animals, when conditions are unfavourable 
 can remove in search of more suitable localities, plants being fixed 
 in the soil must become modified or perish. Plants, therefore, 
 offer numerous cases of individual adaptation. We do not know 
 if these adaptations are transmitted by heredity, but natural 
 selection has at least secured the widest range of plasticity. 
 Thus plants rapidly rid themselves of ancestral legacies which 
 have become useless. 
 
 The transitory organs of animals arc employed for the service 
 
194 THE PATH OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 In consequence, vegetable embryology is of little 
 use for investigation of the supposed backward path 
 of degeneration, for the rudimentary or reduced 
 organs of plants do not generally represent ancestral 
 stages. 
 
 The seedling of LatJiyrus tenuifolius (fig. 67), a 
 vetch, possesses rudimentary organs which . cannot 
 be ancestral stages as their development is direct. 
 In this plant a whole series of leaves are formed 
 between those arising at germination and the adult 
 leaves. This intermediate series displays many 
 arrests of development. 
 
 The adult leaf, has a pair of stipules, foliage 
 leaflets, and tendrils (fig. 67, J). The leaves just 
 before these, have a pair of stipules (fig. 67, l), 
 which are absent in the leaves next before (fig. 67, 
 h). Still earlier leaves are produced with fewer 
 leaflets and tendrils (fig. 67, d-g), leaves" without 
 leaflets and with a single tendril (fig. 67, c), and 
 leaves entirely without tendrils (fig. 67, b). Lastly, 
 at germination very rudimentary leaves are pro- 
 of the whole hody, the branchial arches of mammals are employed 
 in the formation of important parts of the head and neck. The 
 tail of the tadpole is reabsorbed by phagocytes and its substance 
 used for the nutrition of the body. In the case of plants, such 
 occurrences are rare and limited ; the cells are enclosed in a rigid 
 wall which resists displacement or alteration ; the protoplasmic 
 contents may be absorbed and used as nutritive material by 
 another part, hut the cellulose cell-wall remains. A useless organ 
 can be eliminated only at the expense of loss of material. 
 J. Massart, La JUcapitulation et I'lnrwvation en embryologie 
 vigitale {Bull. Soc. Soy. Bot. Belg., t. xxxiii., p. 150, 1894). 
 
Fio. St .—Lathynia tenuifolius. 
 A. B, seedlings in two stages of giowili. C to J, different forms pt successlye leaves. 
 
196 THE PATH OF. DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 duced, the sole function of which is to protect 
 the axillary bud (fig. 67, B, 1, 2). We have now 
 to show that this series is by no means a retracing 
 
 of ancestral stages. 
 All, or nearly all, 
 the Papilionace- 
 ous plants have 
 stipulate leaves ; 
 this shows that 
 the exstipulate 
 leaves of L. tenui- 
 folius do not re- 
 present an ances- 
 tral stage. More- 
 over, before the 
 acquisition of 
 tendrils, vetches 
 had a terminal 
 leaflet (see Vicia 
 Pyrenaica, fig. 
 44) ; none of the 
 reduced leaves in 
 L. tenuifolius re- 
 produce this 
 
 Fig. C8. — Seedling Vicia of monantlios, stao'e ' moreOVCr 
 
 the simple leaves without leaflets do not represent 
 an ancestral condition ; the winged petiole is not an 
 ancestral character. 
 
 The primary leaves of another vetch Vicia 
 monanthos confirm our conclusion. In this case 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN PLANTS 197 
 
 the first few leaves formed in the seedling remain 
 rudimentary, aud serve only to protect the axillary 
 buds (tig. 68, leaves 1 and 2). Contrasted with 
 the condition in L. tenuifoUus, although all the 
 vetches had probably a common ancestor, these 
 primary leaves have three little projections, the 
 two lateral of which are reduced stipules. 
 
 We do not know of any vegetable example of 
 recapitulation in the case of an organ reduced by 
 arrest of development. Plants exist, however, 
 which after having produced leaves of typical 
 structure begin to produce leaves the development 
 of which remains arrested. Such a plant is the 
 Acacia which bears phyllodes. At first the leaves 
 are like those of other Acacias ; next it bears leaves, 
 the blades of which are rudimentary ; and finally 
 leaves with normal stipules, but with no trace of 
 lateral leaflets on the petiole. 
 
 In this case the ancestral conditions are known 
 and are quite different.^ 
 
 2. Organogeny of flowers. — What we have said 
 about leaves applies to the organogeny of flowers. 
 Here also in the cases of atrophy produced by 
 arrest of development there is no indication of 
 
 ^ Many other reduced plant organs might be instanced, such as 
 the stipules of SamhvAsus or the teeth of the calyx, in many Com- 
 positse and Umhelliferse. After then' formation such organs grow 
 very slowly and exhibit no trace of recapitulation. This happens 
 with the leaves of Sempervwum (fig. 49). Without doubt these 
 leaves are derived from leaves normally divided into hypopodium 
 and epipddium, but they show no trace of this division. 
 
•198 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 ancestral stages, and thus there is no evidence that 
 degeneration retraces the path of progressive evolu- 
 tion. 
 
 In the cauliflower {Brassica oleracea, var. Botry- 
 
 tis), a cultivated 
 variety, the 
 inflorescence 
 branches ex- 
 uberantly; most 
 of the flowers 
 produced on 
 these branches 
 are arrested in 
 their develop- 
 ment. Of the 
 immense num- 
 ber of flowers 
 produced on 
 each plant only 
 a few attain 
 sexual maturity 
 and produce 
 seeds; the others 
 abort at differ- 
 Most of these remain in a very primitive 
 stage and do not develop sepals ; but, scattered 
 among them, may be found more fully developed 
 flowers, so that the same plant presents almost 
 every possible stage of flower development. 
 
 The organogeny of these flowers is quite like 
 
 FiQ. 69. — Development of flowera of ihn Cauliflower. 
 
 sa, anterior sepal; sp^ postjiiui* sepal; si, lateral 
 sepal; p, petal ;,.'«, lu^igiitianien ; ee, short stamen ; 
 0, ovaiy. A, very yQung flower with only rudi- 
 ments of two sepals; 13, flower with rudimentu of 
 four sepals ; C, older flower with rudiments of 
 petals; D, still older flower with rudiments of 
 stMmens and ovary. (The flowers A — D are seen 
 ft nm the t-ide. In the flgures C and D the lateral 
 sepal has been removed.) E, flower seen from 
 behind; the posterior sepal has been removed. 
 
 ent stages. 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENEEATION IN PLAJS'TS 199 
 
 that of other Cruciferse. If in the cauliflower the 
 arrested flowers corresponded to different ancestral 
 stages the case would be striking; but this does 
 not occur. Primitively the flower contained only 
 the stamens and pistils, the essential organs of 
 reproduction. But we see that the cauliflower 
 produces first the anterior and posterior sepals 
 (fig. 69, a), then the lateral sepals (fig. 69, b), then 
 successively the petals (fig. 69, c), the four larger 
 stamens (fig. 69, d), and the two shorter stamens 
 (fig. 69, e). Moreover, the flowers display a special 
 readiness to the suppression of certain parts such 
 as the petals, as in the flower D (fig. 69). 
 
 3. Progressive degeneration of the prothallvs in 
 phanerogams. — Although embryology gives us few 
 examples, morphology proves clearly enough that 
 in plant degeneration there is no return to ancestral 
 types. 
 
 This appears clearly from a comparison of the 
 progressive evolution of the prothallus in crypto- 
 gams with its degeneration in phanerogams. 
 
 Terrestrial vegetation has been derived entirely 
 from aquatic life. The Bryophyta (mosses and 
 liver-worts), the Vascular Cryptogams (ferns), and 
 the flowering plants all have sprung from aquatic 
 algse probably not very different from Goleochcete. 
 Such aquatic forms are reproduced by means of 
 true ova and spermatozoa. The terrestrial plants 
 which were derived from them had also spermatozoa 
 with vibratile locomotor hairs and impregnation 
 
200 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 took place in a fluid. A special organ, the arche- 
 gonium, was developed ; this contained the ovum 
 and made the approach of the spermatozoa more 
 easy. 
 
 For the present purpose we may omit considera- 
 tion of the mosses and liver-worts as it is improb- 
 ahle that they are in the line of ancestry of the 
 flowering plants. It is necessary only to say that 
 in them, while a single egg is produced in the 
 archegonium a large number of spermatozoa are 
 produced in the antheridium. 
 
 The same condition is found among the fern-like 
 plants, but in their case, owing to the development 
 of special channels for the passage of nutritive 
 materials, it is possible for a much greater size to 
 be reached. In these circumstances it would be 
 unlikely that the spermatozoa should find at the 
 summit of a comparatively lofty plant the drop 
 of water necessary for the task of fertilization.^ 
 Accordingly the sexual cells are produced on 
 prothalli, which hardly reach above the surface of 
 the ground, and are in a favourable position for the 
 necessary moisture. 
 
 In the less specialized ferns (fig. 70) a single 
 prothallus bears both male and female organs 
 (antheridia and archegonia). In the Equisetums 
 
 ' The smaller forms like the Selaginellidse and the cUib-mosses 
 were represented in the past by plants of much greater size, as is 
 seen from fossil remains, and it is probable that the modem forms 
 have descended from these giants. 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN PLANTS 
 
 201 
 
 the prothalli are unisexual, but the spores from 
 which they are produced are alike. Finally, in the 
 allies of Selaginella which are the Cryptogams most 
 nearly approaching flowering plants, the prothalli 
 which bear male organs 
 are quite distinct from 
 the prothalli which bear 
 female organs ; more- 
 over, the spores which 
 give rise to the two 
 kinds of prothalli are 
 quite different. A 
 small number of large 
 spores arise in special 
 sporangia, termed 
 macrosporangia, and it 
 is from these that the 
 female prothalli arise. 
 A larger number of 
 smaller spores are pro- yw. to.— seeaiinK of rem (Aspimmm 
 
 duced . m miCrOSpor- ^1,6 prothallus (J) beai-s anlheridia at its 
 nnmn nnrl fVif«5P minrn edees and towards the centre an aiche- 
 angia anu tnese micro- goniam -which has teen fetUized. The 
 
 <snnrp<5nrndiipp t,hp TTialp '"'""•' seedling developed from the 
 spuietj piouuue llia lUdie fertilized ovum has already given riaa 
 ■nrothalli *** roots and to two leaves. 
 
 The spores of ferns are very small and contain 
 only the nutritive matter required for germination ; 
 the spores of Selaginella, even the microspores, are 
 very much larger and contain a large supply of 
 reserve material at the expense of which the 
 development of the prothallus takes place. 
 U 
 
202 THE PATH OF DEGBNEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 We may give a brief account of the formation of 
 the sexual cells in Selaginella. Tlie first stages in 
 the appearance of microsporangia and macro- 
 sporangia are identical. Later on in the one case 
 each of the spore mother-cells breaks up into four 
 microspores, in the other case only one mother-cell 
 breaks up into four macrospores, the others dis- 
 appear. On germination the maerospore becomes a 
 fairly large prothallus with several archegonia : the 
 microspore forms only one cell as the representative 
 of the prothallus, the rest of the structure becoming 
 the autheridium. 
 
 In Phanerogams (flowering plants) a drop of 
 water is no longer necessary for fertilization. The 
 spermatozoon reaches the ovum, not by swimming 
 movements, but by a kind of growth. This 
 difference has resulted in profound modifications. 
 Fertilization may occur in the air, and it is no 
 longer necessary for the maerospore to become 
 detached : it remains fixed on the individual from 
 which it arose and there proceeds to develop. 
 In the. Gymnosperms the archegonia are fully 
 formed in a prothallus of considerable size, but the 
 Angiosperms which are more specialized, retain 
 only traces of these structures. The microspores 
 (pollen grains) exactly as in Selaginella are pro- 
 duced in great numbers, but when they leave the 
 parent plant they develop only if they reach suit- 
 ablfe conditions. In germination there is shut off, 
 as in Selaginella, a single cell to represent the 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN PLANTS 203 
 
 prothallus ; later on in a few Gymnosperms it 
 undergoes a few divisions representing the forma- 
 tion of the antheridium. In Angiosperms the 
 reduction has proceeded further, and each pollen 
 grain besides the prothallus cell produces only one 
 or at most two reproductive nuclei. In all 
 Phanerogams the reproductive nucleus reaches the 
 ovum by, being carried in a long tube which grows 
 out from the pollen grain at the expense of 
 nutriment derived from the female tissues. 
 
 Thus, the prothallus may be traced through 
 marked stages of reduction from the condition in 
 ferns, through Selaginella to Gymnosperms and 
 higher flowering plants. But these phases of 
 reduction are by no means to be regarded as 
 repetitions of ancestral conditions. 
 
 In conclusion, it is plain that we cannot assert 
 as a general law, that degeneration retraces the 
 steps of evolution. In the vegetable kingdom no 
 facts support such a conclusion. In certain special 
 cases in the animal kingdom, the most recently 
 developed structures are the first to disappear when 
 atrophy sets in, but this proves no more than that 
 these particular structures happened to be less 
 stable, and to offer less resistance. It is quite 
 impossible to make such facts support the generally 
 held view, that degeneration is a kind of inverse of 
 evolution. 
 
 It is very seldom that a living apparatus with 
 complex functions loses all of them, but usually 
 
204 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTIOS 
 
 preserves one or other ; for instance, the leaves of 
 parasitic flowering plants continue to serve as 
 protectors af the buds, and degeneration does not 
 affect the part that has remained functional. It 
 is highly probable that the original function of 
 leaves was assimilative rather than protective, and 
 yet here it is the later function that is retained. 
 
 Even when all function is lost, and the whole 
 structure degenerates, there is no reason why the 
 degeneration should retrace the evolution. In the 
 case of the atrophy of an organ in an individual 
 especially in such pathological instances as those 
 mentioned by Ribot, it may be that the latest 
 formed parts are the most fragile, and the most 
 ready to disappear; but the path of atrophy is 
 quite different in the case of the gradual reduction 
 of an organ in a species. When an organ becomes 
 useless to a species, as in the case of the eyes of 
 deep-sea Crustacea, the only thing that matters to 
 the species is that it may be got rid of. Any 
 individual variation tending towards reduction will 
 be of advantage, and may be retained by natural 
 selection. There is no reason to suppose that such 
 individual variations appear in any inverse order; 
 in fact we do not know that the appearance of 
 variations follows any law at all. Perhaps the 
 apparent inverse order of the degeneration of the 
 pineal eye in lizards may be explained from the 
 fact that the most recently acquired characters are 
 frequently the most variable. 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENEKATION IN SOCIOLOGY 205 
 
 However, even when the most recent organs 
 disappear first, we cannot speak safely of a law 
 of degeneration inverse to evolution. In the 
 actual evolution of many organs, parts have 
 appeared and then completely disappeared. If 
 degeneration were a true inverse of evolution, 
 it would be necessary that such lost parts should 
 reappear only to disappear again. Such observa- 
 tions apply both to ontogeny and phylogeny. 
 
 CHAPTEE II 
 
 THE PATH OF DEGENEEATION IN SOCIOLOGY 
 
 § 1. Investigation of facts. 
 
 We have now to see if degenerative evolution in 
 social matters retraces the steps of progressive 
 evolution. 
 
 In the first place the question cannot be even 
 entertained with regard to some cases, and this for 
 a general reason which will be dealt with later on. 
 
 When a complex institution — such as a com- 
 mercial society or an administrative organization — 
 becomes useless and ceases to be functional, it usually 
 disappears either by voluntary dissolution or else it 
 is legally suppressed. In either case there is no 
 slow retrogressive degeneration retracing inversely 
 the steps of progress, for all the parts cease to 
 
206 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 exist simultaneously. If certain parts of the sup- 
 pressed institution are allowed to persist, these are 
 by no means necessarily the oldest parts, but quite 
 the contrary. 
 
 When, for instance, the Provincial States of 
 Dauphiny and Normandy were suppressed by the 
 French monarchy, only the titles with their cor- 
 responding emoluments were allowed to remain, and 
 they were obviously of more recent origin than the 
 States themselves. 
 
 It must be borne in mind that all the parts of 
 an institution rarely become simultaneously useless 
 and non-functional. Those which retain their utility 
 longest are by no means always the most ancient in 
 origin. 
 
 English sheriffs have gradually become of less 
 and less functional importance, and now fulfil no 
 other rdU than that of presiding over elections and 
 accompanying the judges when on circuit. Both of 
 these functions have been acquired recently com- 
 pared with all those which the sheriff discharged in 
 the days when the care and protection of the whole 
 county practically devolved upon him. 
 
 The question then of the pathway of degeneration 
 only arises jn those cases where the same cause 
 of dissolution simultaneously affects all parts of 
 the institution, and where, without sudden inter- 
 ruption, degeneration is effected slowly but surely 
 through many successive stages. This, of course, 
 happens in the degenerative evolution of individual 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN SOCIOLOGY 207 
 
 societies or institutions, and not in the disappearance 
 of complete classes of institutions. 
 
 These reservations being understood, we will 
 mention a few more or less obvious cases in which 
 degeneration does retrace the footsteps of progressive 
 evolution. 
 
 1. Tithings, hundreds and counties in England. — 
 In the chapter dealing with the pathway of degenera- 
 tion in Transformisme social, G. Degreef mentions 
 the following interesting facts : — 
 
 " Mr Herbert Spencer, after describing the forma- 
 tion of tithings, hundreds and counties in England 
 under the Anglo-Saxon regime, observes that the 
 tithings along with their courts of justice were the 
 first to disappear, then the hundreds followed, though 
 , some vestiges of their old courts of justice remained, 
 and only the counties and the county courts were 
 left intact. Now we have historical proofs that 
 English counties along with their courts of justice 
 were created before the hundreds, and the hundreds 
 before the tithings." ^ 
 
 2. Order of elimination of various racial elements 
 in a country. — In his interesting work Civiliza- 
 tion et depopulation,^ Dumont mentions certain 
 facts which go to show that the inhabitants of poor 
 districts, who are nevertheless of pure racial descent, 
 have a birth-rate higher than that of the members 
 of the population who are not aboriginal, and who 
 
 ' -Degreef, Le transformisme social, p. 450. 
 ^ P. 156. 
 
208 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 for the most part dwell in the towns and fertile 
 plains. From this he concludes that the various 
 racial elements of a nation are eliminated in inverse 
 order to that in which they were introduced. In 
 France, for instance, the Prank has been com- 
 pletely absorbed in the Gaul. 
 
 3. The degenerative evolution of political organiza- 
 tions. — The progressive and degenerative evolution 
 of political organizations has been described by 
 Herbert Spencer as follows ^ : — 
 
 " Political integration, as it advances, obliterates 
 the original divisions among the united parts. In 
 the first there is the slow disappearance of those 
 non-topographical divisions arising from relation- 
 ship, as seen in separate gentes and tribes — 
 gradual intermingling destroys them. In the 
 second place, the smaller local societies united 
 into a larger one, which at first retains their 
 separate organizations, lose them by long co- 
 operation ; a common organization begins to 
 ramify through them. And, in the third place, 
 there simultaneously results a fading of their 
 topographical bounds, and a replacing of them by 
 the new administrative bounds of the common 
 organization. 
 
 " Hence, naturally, results the converse truth that 
 in the course of social dissolution the great groups 
 separate first, and afterwards, if dissolution con- 
 
 ^ Herbert Spencer, " Political Institutions," Part iv. o! Principles 
 of Sociology, p. 286. 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN SOCIOLOGY 209 
 
 tinues, these separate into their component smaller 
 groups. Instance the ancient empires successively 
 formed in the East, the united kingdoms of which 
 severally resumed their autonomies when the coer- 
 cion of keeping them together ceased. Instance 
 again the Carlovingian Empire which, first parting 
 into its large divisions, hecame, in course of time, 
 further disintegrated by subdivisions of these. And 
 when, as in this last case, the process of dissolution 
 goes very far, there is a return to something like 
 the primitive condition, under which small preda- 
 tory societies are engaged in continuous warfare 
 with like small societies around them." 
 
 We may conclude then that political integration 
 is attended by degeneration ; primitive institutions 
 disappear and make way for fresh institutions, and 
 their disappearance is permanent. In the course 
 of the dissolution of the Carlovingian Empire 
 there was no reappearance either of the gentes 
 or of the primitive tribal system ; but when this 
 vast organization broke down, it was natural that 
 the more recently formed social- bonds, having had 
 the least opportunity of becoming consolidated, 
 should be the first to be sundered. 
 
 4. Degeneration in monetary systems. — The prin- 
 ciple that degeneration retraces the steps of pro- 
 gress applies equally to a very different range of 
 ideas, — the evolution of monetary systems. Stanley 
 Jevons says that there is little doubt that every 
 system of coinage was originally identical with a 
 
210 TIIE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 system of weights. A survival of this primitive 
 condition existed in Eoman law, and even when no 
 use was made of them, the custom of bringing a 
 pair of scales survived as a legal formality in the 
 sale of slaves at Eome. 
 
 After the time of the Punic wars, the aes, 
 which originally equalled a Eoman pound in 
 weight, diminished rapidly, until it became re- 
 duced to the weight of an ounce. The Eomans 
 had naturally reverted to weighing the metal, and 
 the CBS grave was money reckoned by weight, and 
 not by tale. Generally speaking, whatever be the 
 inconveniences of the method, currency by weight 
 is yet the natural and necessary system to which 
 people revert whenever the abrasion of coins, the 
 intermixture of currencies, the downfall of a State, 
 or other causes, destroy the public confidence in a 
 more highly organized system.^ 
 
 It is plain then that the more recent developments 
 in the coinage system are the first to disappear.^ 
 
 The disappearance of money altogether and the 
 return to a system of exchange would represent a 
 much farther advanced stage in degeneration. 
 
 ^ See Stanley Jevons in Money, International Scientific Series. 
 
 ^ There is no silver money and only a little copper in China. 
 Nowadays, Mexican piastres, on reaching the country in payment 
 of commercial transactions, are melted down into bars as soon as 
 they fall into the hands of the merchants, and these bars are then 
 imprinted with the Chinese stamp. This was the usual system 
 employed amongst civilized peoples before the invention of money. 
 See Thorold Rogers in " The Economic Interpretation of History." 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN SOCIOLOGY 211 
 
 5. Degenerative adaptation in colonial legislation. 
 — In his treatise (Annalisi della proprieta vapita- 
 lista), Loria furnishes another striking example of 
 the law of degeneration : " When English colonies 
 were first formed in America, the colonists hesitated 
 to establish any legislation other than that of the 
 mother-country. They were habituated to it; it 
 was written in their own language, and therefore 
 seemed best to correspond with their national 
 characteristics. But, from the outset, the greatest 
 difficulties were met with in the application of this 
 legislation to the colonies. 
 
 " In the first place the Statute law of England, the 
 most recent addition to the legislation, was found 
 to be quite unsuited to the economic condition of 
 a colony, and so common law alone came to be 
 established, which, being the more ancient, was 
 better suited to the social organization of a newly- 
 formed society. But even this form of legislation 
 did not remain permanent under social conditions 
 profoundly different to those in which it had been 
 originally established, and the construction of a 
 special legislation was found to be necessary. In 
 this way the common law of England came to be 
 regarded as unsuited to her colonies, excepting in 
 such cases as were unprovided for in the new 
 colonial law."^ 
 
 Loria then proceeds to give numerous examples 
 of how these colonial statutes — owing to the simir 
 ^ Loria, Annalisi della proprieta capitalista, ii. 48. 
 
212 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 larity of circujnstances between those for whom 
 they were severally fashioned — came to resemble 
 the primitive law of England. 
 
 6. Degenerative evolution of the corporations of 
 Western Flanders. — In a treatise published by one 
 of pur number in May 1892, entitled revolution 
 regressive des corporations de la West-Flandre} it 
 was shown that among these associations, the insti- 
 tutions the first to degenerate were those most 
 recently established. 
 
 The twelve corporations which still exist, though 
 in more or less degenerate conditions in Bruges, 
 Fumes, Eeghem, and Iseghem, were formerly con- 
 structed on similar principles and fulfilled the 
 following functions : — 
 
 1. The furtherance of sociability (i.e. the holding 
 
 of banquets and fStes). 
 
 2. The encouragement of religious feeling {i.e. 
 
 frequent celebrations of the mass and the 
 building of new churches). 
 
 3. Mutual assistance (i.e. insurance against loss 
 
 of work through illness, or against funeral 
 expenses). 
 
 4. Mutual protection of professional interests. 
 
 5. The furtherance of certain political and mili- 
 
 tary interests. 
 These various functions were established not 
 simultaneously but in succession. The Flemish 
 corporation of the fourteenth or fifteenth century 
 ^ La SocUti nouveUe, Mai 1892, Bruxelles, Monnom. 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN SOCIOLOGY 213 
 
 represents the last stage in a long series of corpora- 
 tions of different kinds, and of increasing complexity. 
 It will be as well to glance briefly through these 
 various kinds of corporations in order to compare 
 the different stages of dissolution through which the 
 corporative system eventually passed with the pro- 
 gressive evolution exhibited in the course of its 
 establishment. 
 
 (a) Associations formed for the holding of 
 banquets and i&tes (cowvivia) which were origin- 
 ally distributed throughout Northern and Western 
 Europe. 
 
 (6) The convivia assumed a religious character 
 when the Church, unable to suppress them, deter- 
 mined to transform them. 
 
 (c) Guilds (etymologically significant, according 
 to Brentano, of repasts where all expenses were 
 shared) where the original convivium was accom- 
 panied by religious ceremonies, but a feature of 
 which was the addition of institutions of mutual 
 insurance. 
 
 (d) Corporations (amhachten). — These embodied 
 all the primitive institutions that had gone before : 
 (1) the banquets; (2) religious ceremonies; (3) 
 mutual assistance ; (4) fresh means for the protec- 
 tion and development of professional interests. 
 
 (e) Finally, at the commencement of the four- 
 teenth century, these corporations assumed both 
 political and military functions. The concession of 
 keure to the people in 1304 by Philip of Thiette 
 
214: THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 was the first act by which was recognized the right 
 of the corporations of Bruges to take part in com- 
 munal administration and to provide a military 
 contingent of their own. 
 
 When these corporations began to decline mili- 
 tary and political functions were the first to be 
 eliminated, in other respects the corporation con- 
 tinued to exist till the close of the eighteenth 
 century in the form of economic groups, and groups 
 for mutual aid and religious development. 
 
 An investigation of such corporations as still 
 s^irvive shows that it is. in the economic functions 
 formerly discharged that degeneration has made 
 furthest strides, while the religious character is 
 maintained and banquets are still held. Of the 
 twelve corporations of Western Flanders six preserve 
 the old corporative institutions almost intact ; seven 
 maintain a scale of charges and regulations con- 
 nected with them ; ten provide organizations for 
 assurance against illness ; eleven hold annual re- 
 ligious ceremonies ; twelve, i.e. all of them, continue 
 to hold banquets. 
 
 These figures alone show that the original and 
 earlier functions have remained longest in force, but 
 to further demonstrate this point it will be necessary 
 to enter more fully into details and to study each 
 groKp separately. 
 
 The first group — consisting of associations con- 
 tinuing to protect professional interests — consists of 
 three branches : the four oflEices of Bruges (including 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENEEATION IN SOCIOLOGY 215 
 
 vendors of lime, coal, seeds and beer), the two offices 
 of Purnes (street porters and vendors of beer), and 
 the community of the bakers of Bruges. 
 
 AH the ancient statutes of the four offices have 
 beep preserved, including trade monopolies, the 
 freedom of the city, and scales of charges, help 
 in times of illness, accident, or when out of work ; 
 religious ceremonies and banquets. With the com- 
 munity of bakers, however, this is not the case; 
 here the economic functions discharged are reduced 
 to a minimum. The association continues to exist 
 in a triple capacity : as a syndicate to keep up a 
 fair price in wheat and bread, as a mutual assur- 
 ance association in times of distress among the 
 members, and as a confraternity imposing religious 
 obligations and holding an annual banquet and f^te. 
 
 In the second group consisting of mutual aid 
 associations such as the corporations of tailors, shoe- 
 makers and weavers of Bruges, all trade interests 
 have disappeared, and the corporations only exist 
 in the capacities of confraternities and mutual aid 
 societies. At this particular stage of degeneration 
 these corporations resemble in a striking degree the 
 old guilds which preceded the ambachten en neringen. 
 It is interesting in connection, with this, that the 
 corporation of wool weavers (wollewevers) in Bruges 
 has. lost its orginal professional character, and quite 
 heterogeneous elements have been introduced ; there 
 are only twenty-five weavers in Bruges, and their 
 society numbers nearly two hundred members. The 
 
216 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 guild of weavers in Eeghem represents the thii'd 
 stage only — that of a religious confraternity. The 
 office of mutual aid has disappeared, and only the 
 Saints' Day Fete and the amvivium remain : " The 
 first Sunday after the fSte of the Trois-Eois, which 
 is the annual fete day of the weavers, the guild 
 proceeds to the parish church, headed by a banner, 
 accompanied by a jester, and with drums beating, 
 where mass is celebrated in honour of Saint Severin. 
 The rest of the day is passed in diversions." 
 
 The guilds of Saint Crispin at Iseghem, all that 
 remains of the old corporation of shoemakers, are 
 representative of the final stage of degeneration: 
 the association has resumed its most primitive 
 character, and is reduced to a mere dining society — ■- 
 the primitive convivium. 
 
 There are from 1500 to 2000 shoemakers in 
 Iseghem. At the time of the Eevolution their 
 ambacht, having resumed its archaic form, was 
 divided up into six or seven guilds. Some years 
 ago a vain attempt was made to reconstruct these 
 guilds and adapt them to modern requirements. 
 At a time when success in this project was still 
 hoped for, one of the promoters of the reconstruction 
 wrote as follows : — 
 
 " The members of the guild still recognize Saint 
 Crispin as their patron saint, but they no longer 
 assemble in church to do him honour by the cele- 
 bration of mass. They keep the anniversary instead 
 by going from one public-house to another, with 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN SOCIOLOGY 217 
 
 flying banner and drums beating, and the day has 
 become merely a day of copious libations, and serves 
 as a pretext for poor workmen, the fathers of families, 
 to spend all the week drinking in public-houses." 
 
 In conclusion then the cycle is complete ; a 
 corporation, unless suddenly dispersed, ends as it 
 began ; in the last stage of decline it resembles 
 the associations from which it originally developed, 
 the most recently established functions having been 
 the first to decay and disappear. 
 
 § 2. ^ criticism of the supposed inverse path of 
 degeneration. 
 
 These few examples suffice to show that in 
 certain cases the more recently formed institu- 
 tions are the first to decline and disappear, while 
 the older persist to the end. 
 
 It must be remembered, however, that the con- 
 trary is at least as frequently the case. All changes 
 of legislation, either juridical or religious, follow, 
 but never precede, the economic transformations to 
 which they relate, whether these be social or ethical, 
 unless the transformations are ephemeral. " Imita- 
 tion," says Tarde, " proceeds from the more obvious 
 to the less obvious ; that is to say, ends and feel- 
 ings are imitated sooner than their means and 
 expressions." 
 
 Title-deeds and armorial bearings survive no- 
 bility ; houses continued to be held as personal 
 or moveable property long after the disappearance 
 15 
 
218 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 of nomadic tribes, which, living as they did in 
 tents, originated the conception.^ 
 
 Among peoples where the system of marriage by 
 groups has existed, family nomenclatures continued 
 to persist long after the disappearance of the family 
 system to which they owed their origin. " The 
 family," says Morgan, " is an active element, never 
 stationary ; it keeps pace with the development of 
 society in the march of progress. On the other 
 hand, the reckoning of kinship changes very 
 slowly ; only after long lapses of time does it 
 register the progress actually made by the family 
 in the course of ages, and does not undergo any 
 radical transformation until long after the family 
 itself has been completely changed." " And," adds 
 Karl Marx, whose critical annotations on Morgan's 
 book were carefully preserved by Engels, " this also 
 applies to systems of politics, law, religion, or 
 philosophy." 
 
 These systems, formed after the completion of 
 the social organization which they express, survive 
 after the organization itself has disappeared. Their 
 elimination is not of such importance to society 
 as is that of the economic or family institutions 
 themselves, as these, when they become useless and 
 disadvantageous, are a drag on future development. 
 
 ^ Viollet, Sistoire du droit civil fr., p. 617. 
 
 "Although houses were for centuries treated as moveable pro- 
 perty, they continued to be legally treated as such for a, still 
 longer period of time ; it is characteristic of judicial ideas that 
 they lag far behind economic progress." 
 
THE PATH OF DEGENERATION IN SOCIOLOGY 219 
 
 It cannot be established, however, as a general 
 principle, that the pathway of degeneration as 
 regards societies or institutions, is inverse to that 
 pursued by their progressive evolution. In the 
 first place, the mere explanation of this supposed 
 law shows that it is quite untenable. 
 
 What reason is given for supposing the decline 
 of memory or will power, the degeneration of writ- 
 ing and speech, the decadence of societies and 
 institutions, to be a retracing of the steps of 
 progressive development ? The reason given is 
 that, other things being equal, the more fragile, 
 unsteady and complicated structures are the first 
 to fall. 
 
 Now, although the most fragile structures are 
 frequently those most recently formed, and which 
 have not had time to settle down and firmly estab- 
 lish themselves, it is also true that in many cases 
 the more recent acquisitions and structures attain 
 a more solid basis than those which have preceded 
 them. 
 
 There is nothing invariable about the pathway of 
 degeneration. It can no more be said to retrace the 
 pathway of progress in an inverse direction than it 
 could be said that in a country abandoned by its 
 inhabitants the more recently formed paths of com- 
 munication would be the first to become effaced. It 
 is quite true that the broader roads, which would 
 naturally last longer, are frequently the oldest 
 paths of communication ; whereas the footpaths, 
 
220 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 which are the first to disappear, are usually of 
 more recent origin. Very frequently, however, 
 the new roads follow a rather dififerent direction, 
 and, although more recently constructed, are not 
 the first to disappear. 
 
 It is the same with great commercial crises. It 
 is quite inexact to say with Ribot, who is respon- 
 sible for the analogy : " Old houses ofifer the best 
 resistance to the storm ; it is the new houses 
 which, being less solid, crumble and fall."i 
 
 After the time of the cotton famine, during the 
 America,n war of Independence, the greater part of 
 the old firms of Gand became bankrupt, whereas 
 most of the large, newly-established joint-stock 
 companies survived the crisis. 
 
 Moreover, in those cases where the most recently 
 formed structures are the first to decay, it cannot 
 be deduced that evolution is reversed, and that 
 the institution returns to its primitive condition, 
 for there is no reappearance of the intermediate 
 structures. 
 
 ' Ribot, Les Maladies de la Memoire, p. 99. 
 
PART II 
 
 The irreversibility of degenerative evolution 
 
 Most authorities on the subject are agreed that 
 evolution is not reversible,^ and that institutions 
 or organs which have disappeared or been reduced 
 to rudiments do not reappear and develop afresh. 
 It would be a useless extension of this volume 
 to cite many facts in favour of a view which is 
 almost without supporters, but it will be useful to 
 examine the exceptions, real or apparent, and to 
 discuss — 
 
 1. If an institution or organ which has dis- 
 
 appeared^ may reappear. 
 
 2. If an institution or organ which has been 
 
 reduced may resume its primitive function. 
 
 3. If an institution or organ which has been 
 
 reduced may redevelop and assume a func- 
 tion other than its original function. 
 
 1 L. DoUo, Les his de ViholuUon {Soe. Belg. G4ol., Pal&int, 
 Eydr., t. vii., 1893, prock-verbaux, pp. 164-166. 
 
222 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 DO INSTITUTIONS OE ORGANS WHICH HAVE DIS- 
 APPEARED EEAPPEAE? 
 
 Section I 
 Disappeared organs 
 
 In biology we are almost unaware of indisputable 
 examples of the normal reappearance of disappeared 
 organs. 
 
 1, Plants. — As the embryonic development of 
 plants is usually direct, it is impossible to decide 
 whether an organ which forms a component part 
 of the embryological history represents an ancestral 
 organ. However, in a few rare cases, artificial 
 selection causes an actual reversion of evolution. 
 
 Typical geraniums possess two whorls of five 
 stamens, as, for instance, in Geranium. In JErodium 
 there is only one cycle of five. In Pelargonium one 
 cycle of five is complete ; the other is represented 
 by two stamens and three filaments which have 
 lost their anthers. But in certain varieties with 
 very large flowers the two complete cycles re- 
 appear, five stamens having long, and five short, 
 filaments. In this case there is no doubt as to 
 the reappearance of the three stamens lost in 
 typical Pelargoniums, 
 
DO INSTITUTIONS OE ORGANS REAPPEAR? 223 
 
 This reappearance is the result of artificial 
 selection. The typical- Pelargoniums have a bi- 
 lateral symmetry, but horticulturists set a higher 
 value on flowers with radial symmetry, and in 
 consequence have produced flowers with such a 
 symmetry. As a. matter of fact, they have paid 
 attention only to the symmetry of the petals, but 
 in modifying that, they have also modified the 
 symmetry of the stamens.^ 
 
 The Privets (Zigustrum), like most of the Oleaceae, 
 possess only two stamens. Nevertheless, it is not 
 uncommon to find among normal flowers of the 
 common Privet specimens with three or four 
 stamens. In this case, however, it is uncertain 
 whether there is a real reappearance of lost organs, 
 or if the loss has not actually become complete. 
 
 Animals. — In the case of animals, teratology and 
 embryology furnish a few exceptional cases of an 
 apparent reversion of degenerative evolution. 
 
 As an abnormality in the horse, the first, second, 
 fourth, and fifth digits may reappear. 
 
 Adult man has lost the complete covering of 
 downy hair. According to Ecker, however, hyper- 
 trichpsis is an abnormality really due to the re- 
 appearance of this ancestral condition, as may be 
 seen from the mode of its distribution in whorls. 
 Hypertrichosis is a trait frequently inherited, and 
 in this connection the Mauchamp variety of Merino 
 
 1 The flowers upon which these observations were made wera 
 kindly provided by H. Cannell of Swanley. 
 
224 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLtTTION 
 
 sheep are interesting. This variety was obtained 
 by breeding from a sport which appeared in a 
 normal flock, and which transmitted its peculiarity 
 to its descendants. From time to time, in normal 
 flocks, variations occur which are similarly capable 
 of giving rise to Mauchamp breeds. 
 
 As recorded by Willett and Walsham, there 
 have been found in human children cases of a 
 bone stretching from th^ scapula to the sixth and 
 seventh cervical vertebrae. According to these 
 authors, the bone represents the suprascapula of 
 the tailless amphibia, which the normal homologue 
 in man is the merest edge of the scapula ossified 
 from a separate centre. 
 
 Such cases, as well as cases of polydaetylism and 
 of supernumerary mammae, are usually set down as 
 atavistic. However, the attempt to explain by 
 atavism such pathological and teratological peculi- 
 arities must be made with caution. Such inherited 
 anomalies occur very frequently in degenerate 
 families — the neuropathic families of F^re^ — and 
 are associated with other abnormalities equally 
 heritable and certainly not due to atavism. Such 
 are pigmented retinitis, congenital cataract, chro- 
 matic asymmetry of the iris, asymmetry of the 
 pupil,, ichthyosis, pigmented erectile spots on the 
 skin, and congenital disposition to bleeding. 
 
 As in a degenerate line of heredity these 
 abnormalities may replace one another iudiffer- 
 
 ' f&ii, La Famille rUvropatMqne, 1894. Paris, F. Alcan. 
 
DO INSTITUTIONS OR ORGANS REAPPEAR ? 225 
 
 ently it is very doubtful if any of them ought 
 to be regarded as the inheritance of ancestral 
 traits. Teratology contains no undoubtful case 
 of the reversion of evolution. 
 
 On the other hand, it seems certain that in the 
 individual development of some species there is a 
 real reappearance of lost organs. The larval his- 
 tory of certain Crustacea Malacostraca'- (cray-fish, 
 shrimps, etc.), seems to' provide instances. 
 
 In Stomatopoda, the youngest erychtheus larvae 
 (fig. 71, a) are formed of three parts : the head, 
 five anterior thoracic segments, each bearing a pair 
 of biramous swimming limbs (i.-v.), the three last 
 decreasing in size from before backwards (these five 
 pairs of appendages represent the five pairs of buccal 
 appendages of the adult) ; three terminal posterior 
 segments (vi.-viii.), and a caudal fin, all without 
 appendages.' In older larvee the first and second 
 pairs are profoundly modified, losing a joint and 
 acquiring gills (fig. 71, B, i.-ii.) ; the third, fourth, 
 and fifth pairs disappear completely, or at most 
 occur as minute saccules (iii., iv., v.). New thoracic 
 segments ate formed, and later on in the third 
 larval stagd the thoracic appendages reappear in 
 their final form. 
 
 Similar facts occur in the development of the 
 
 Decapoda Macroura, such as Palinuerus and 
 
 Scyllarus. "While within the egg the creature 
 
 passes successively through nauplius and phyllo- 
 
 * Lang, Anatomie compart, vol. i., p. 458. 
 
226 THE PATH OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 some stages, and possesses all its thoracic appen- 
 dages (three pairs of jaws and five pairs of 
 ambulatory appendages). In this larval life the 
 exopodites of the second and third pairs of jaws 
 
 Fig, 71. — ErycJtthmi larvce of Btomalopo^a. 
 A, The 3'ounffest known Jiri/C'.theus larva: I — V, buccal n]ip<iiuace9 well developed — 
 B, YuuQic Erychtheus larca: I and II modified buccal appendaf^es ; 111— V, dtifeneiatlnff 
 buccal appenuages; VI — VIII, segments devoid rf appendaffes.— C, O.der Erychtheui 
 larval I — II, mod fied buccal appenf^ages ; III — V, reappeirine buccal appendages: 
 VI — VIIT, ambulatory appendages m couifie of foimation. (After Glaus, In Lung's Traiti 
 (Canatomie comparie^ vol. i. ) 
 
 atrophy. Shortly before hatching, the first pair 
 of jaws atrophies completely ; the two pairs of 
 antennae and the two posterior pairs of ambula- 
 tory legs become very degenerate. In the young 
 phyllosome stage these organs are rudimentary, 
 but in the older phyllosome larvae the first pair 
 
DO INSTITUTIONS OE OEGANS EEAPPEAR ? 227 
 
 of jaws and the two posterior pairs of ambulatory 
 limbs are reformed ; the posterior two pairs of jaws 
 reacquire exopodites, and gills are formed on the 
 ambulatory limbs. 
 
 As a matter of fact, in most Crustacea, the 
 ambulatory appendages appear when they become 
 necessary, that is to say at the end of larval life, but 
 in the Stomatopoda and in the Decapoda Macroura, 
 owing to inheritance, they appear much sooner. 
 But when these appendages are useless during the 
 larval life they disappear again to reappear at the 
 end of larval life as in most Crustacea. This 
 adaptation of the larva to special conditions is of 
 great importance, as the larval life is most im- 
 portant from the point of view of the species. 
 
 Section II. 
 Disappeared Institutions. 
 
 The apparent revival of lygone institutiotis. — It 
 seems, at first sight, as if there were many instances 
 of the subsequent revival of bygone institutions. 
 
 Those of ancient Rome and Greece, for instance, 
 appear from time to time to have been recon- 
 structed. In feudal Eome of the fourteenth century, 
 Cola di Eienzi, by turns tribune and senator of the 
 people, re-established the old republican constitu- 
 tion. During the Renaissance period the ancient 
 
228 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 schools of science were resuscitated, and during the 
 rrench Revolution similar attempts at revival were 
 made, especially in the department of politics. When 
 H^rault de S&helle, being ordered to draw up a 
 scheme of legislation, revived the laws of Minos, 
 in the constitution of the year VIII., the Tribunal, 
 Senate and Consuls reappeared. During the First 
 Empire, Napoleon, in imitation of Augustus, affected 
 a respect for republican institutions, and had the 
 coinage stamped with his own effigy and that of 
 the Republic. In Germany, the Holy Empire 
 which nominally ceased to exist in 1806, reap- 
 peared in 1871. In Greece, the Olympic games, 
 suppressed in 1525, were re-established in 1896. 
 
 It is hardly, necessary to insist upon the essen- 
 tially superficial nature of these revivals. It is 
 always possible to bestow upon new social systems 
 the ceremonial code of an institution long since 
 abandoned, but it is quite impossible that the 
 institution itself should be resuscitated in the 
 midst of surroundings which have been completely 
 transformed. The consuls of the year VIII. and 
 the emperors of modern times do not resemble the 
 consuls and imperatores of ancient Rome more than 
 the Christian societies of the present day resemble 
 those of the middle ages. With regard to outer 
 form in the drawing up of statutes, in all which 
 constitutes, so to speak, the decorative side of the 
 institution, the organizers imitated minutely the 
 keures of the old ambachten ; beneath this appar- 
 
DO INSTITUTIONS OR ORGANS REAPPEAR ? 229 
 
 ent similitude, however, were structures of an 
 essentially different nature. Just as tl]^e new rail- 
 way station at Bruges, in spite of its towers and its 
 pointed arches, is far more like any other railway 
 station than a Gothic cathedral, so the Christian 
 societies of to-day, in spite of the archaic caprices 
 of their founders, resemble more closely modern 
 associations than ancient associations. We see then 
 that it cannot be said in any of these cases that 
 the actual revival of a decayed institution took 
 place. The empty form reappeared, but the founda- 
 tions and the essential parts had become completely 
 transformed. 
 
 2. The apparent disappearance of institutions. — 
 There are other instances, however, showing the 
 opposite of this phenomenon. The essential parts 
 remain unchanged, but the form itself is modified ; 
 the institution persists, but its existence is dis- 
 sembled. Sometimes even when the dissolution 
 of an institution has been enforced, there has been 
 a reconstruction on the first opportunity. 
 
 An instance of this is the reappearance of poly- 
 gamy among the Mormons, the last traces of 
 polygamy having disappeared during the middle 
 ages from the people of the West.^ 
 
 1 In Bigon'e there was maintained up to the fifteenth century, 
 a kind of system of concubinage called massipia, which, though 
 not actually polygamy, was the contraction of an inferior union in 
 conjunction with real marriage. 
 
 In Marseilles, too, polygamy seems to have reappeared in the 
 middle ages, owing to the frequent intercommunication between 
 
230 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 In ceasing to be legal, however, polygamy has 
 by no means ceased to exist, even iu the present 
 day, and fiie Mormons in instituting polygamy 
 have only given official recognition to what had 
 never really disappeared. 
 
 In the process of social transformation, periods of 
 transition are frequently characterized by reactions 
 in favour of bygone institutions, which reappear 
 although apparently permanently abolished. This 
 has been the case with certain corporations, and 
 with numerous other institutions of the old regime 
 which reappeared after the revolutionary crisis. 
 Some years ago a large landed proprietor in the 
 domain of Peterhoff, in Eussia, attempted, in the 
 interests of his serfs, to introduce the rural system 
 of European countries. He divided up the land 
 into independent allotments, and built at his own 
 expense a separate house for each family; but 'no 
 sooner was the abolition of serfdom declared than 
 the peasants proceeded to re-establish the primitive 
 commtinity, and to rebuild their houses on the old 
 sites in spite of the considerable labour which this 
 entailed.^ 
 
 3. Instances of convergence. — It sometimes happens 
 
 that town and the East. It was never, however, established there 
 officially as was the maasipia in Bigorre. The municipality 
 promptly suppressed it by issuing the following mandate : "Quod 
 (vir) non habeat duaa uxores, vel mulier duos viros." (VioUet, 
 Sisbrire du droit civil, fr. p. 388. ) 
 
 ' De -Laveleye, De la PropriM et ses Formes primitives. Paris, 
 F. Aloan, 1882, p. 23. 
 
DO INSTITUTIONS OR ORGANS EEAPPEAR ? 231 
 
 that after the lapse of several centuries, an institu- 
 tion seems to reappear. 
 
 An exact analogy to the primitive contubernium 
 (the community of the cabin) is exhibited in modern 
 slavery. Only a few years ago, in the Spanish 
 Antilles, marriage between slaves was recognized by 
 neither church nor state. When a negro wished to 
 become united to a particular negress he asked per- 
 mission of his owner to share his cabin with her, 
 and these unions could only be dissolved with the 
 consent of the master. It is hardly likely that 
 these slave marriages of the Spanish Antilles are 
 survivals or rather resuscitations of the Roman 
 contubernium. They rather represent a case of 
 convergence: identity in circumstance has been 
 productive of identity in institution. In this case, 
 as in all others of the same kind, it cannot be said 
 that a bygone institution has reappeared, for the 
 new institution has quite a different origin. Further, 
 in the other instances which have been mentioned, 
 an institution which has reappeared has never really 
 ceased to exist ; a real dissolution has never been 
 followed by a resuscitation. For this to happen, the 
 whole social surroundings would have to be trans- 
 formed into their former condition, which is obviously 
 impossible. 
 
232 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 CHAPTEE II 
 
 CAN RUDIMENTARY INSTITUTIONS OR ORGANS RESUME 
 THEIR PRIMITIVE FUNCTIONS ? 
 
 There is no break of continuity between a rudi- 
 mentary organ and the complete ancestral organ : 
 the rudimentary organ is the ancestral organ trans- 
 mitted by inheritance. It is the same organ not 
 only because it has the same form, but because it is 
 actually a part of it. For the reduced organ to 
 return to its ancestral condition and resume its 
 ancestral function, it must retrace the series of 
 steps in degeneration along which it has passed. 
 
 So also in sociology there are many instances of 
 institutions which are rudimentary, but which retain 
 their original form because of uninterrupted imitative 
 transmission. In their case also resumption of the 
 primitive functional activity would imply a retracing 
 of the degenerate steps. 
 
 This necessity of retracing shows at once that 
 after a certain amount of degeneration resumption 
 becomes impossible. We shall find in the few cases 
 we are able to adduce, that when organs retrace 
 their steps and resume their ancestral functions, 
 degeneration had not gone very far in them. 
 
 Section I. 
 Biidimentary organs. 
 
 I. Animals. — Among animals it is very unusual 
 for a rudimentary organ to become active again. 
 
CAN OBGANS KESUME THEIR PEIMITIVE FUNCTIONS? 233 
 
 The only cases show that in them no great amount 
 of degeneration had taken place. 
 
 1. Muscles of the ear in man. — It is known that 
 the human ear possesses a number of intrinsic and 
 extrinsic muscles reduced to delicate fibres, and 
 incapable of producing movement of the whole ear 
 or of one part of the ear on another part. In some 
 abnormal persons, however, certain of these muscles 
 may be well developed, making movements of the 
 ear possible. 
 
 2. The abdomen and appendages in deep-sea 
 hermit-crabs. — The hermit-crabs of the deep sea are 
 another instance of reversion to an ancestral form. 
 Littoral hermit-crabs inhabit the spiral shells of 
 Gastropods, and to suit this mode of life the body is 
 unsymmetrical, the appendages of one side being 
 rudimentary. In the depths of the ocean such 
 spiral shells are rare, and the crabs either abandon 
 this mode of life or live in straighter shells. In 
 consequence the limbs and the abdomen become 
 nearly symmetrical again. It is plain, however, that 
 in the littoral crabs these structures are not truly 
 rudimentary. 
 
 11. Plants. — In plants it is very difficult to 
 distinguish between the reappearance of lost organs 
 and the formation of new organs. 
 
 1. Hermaphrodite flowers in Melandryum. — The 
 
 Hermaphrodite flowers of melandryum (fig. 59) may 
 
 be flowers which after being unisexual have again 
 
 become hermaphrodite, or they may have retained 
 
 16 
 
234 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 the primitive type. We cannot decide between the 
 alternatives. 
 
 2. Branches of Colletia cruciafa, Crataegus, Vicia 
 Faba, etc. — Some cases, however, point clearly to 
 a renewed development of rudimentary organs. 
 Here are some examples. (See also, further on, 
 page 244 on hybrid individuals of Pentstemon.) 
 
 Colletia criiciata (6g. 72) in the normal adult 
 condition bears large flattened branches, which 
 serve for assimilation and possess only very rudi- 
 mentary leaves. Sometimes, however, the plant may 
 give rise to more slender branches with normal 
 assimilating leaves. These branches and leaves are 
 probably the reappearance of the ancestral condition. 
 
 Wild pear and apple trees produce small lateral 
 branches which are transformed into spines. These 
 thorns have evidently arisen from normal lateral 
 branches which originally bore leaves. In the 
 cultivated varieties these lateral branches have 
 resumed the leaf-bearing habit. 
 
 In the hawthorn (Crataegus) the lateral branches 
 are similarly modified into spines. None the less, 
 while these spines are still young they may be 
 artificially stimulated to produce leaves by cutting 
 the principal stem. 
 
 The branches of Vicia faiha bear low down a set 
 
 of rudimentary leaves. If the main stem be lopped 
 
 while still quite young, the usually rudimentary 
 
 leaves grow to the normal size.^ 
 
 ^ Goobel, Beilrdge zur Morphologie und Physiologie del Blaites. 
 Bot. Zeit, 1880. 
 
Fig. 72.— CoKrfte eruciata (af*^er Goetel, PflanzenUologi$ehe SchiTdervngen vol. 1,^ p. 17). 
 A, nonnal br<uich. B, biauch ivcurring lo ancestral iorm ; (nauUiui size). 
 
236 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Many plants such as Sempervivum'^ (fig. 73) 
 normally possess a very much shortened stem. 
 However, if the plant be grown in a saturated 
 atmosphere the internodes of the stem lengthen out. 
 
 Fig, 73 jSemperpivum tectorum, 
 
 A (left figure), normal branch; B (r<eht IlKure). b anch grown for several months in a 
 saturated atmosphere. 
 
 Certain Veronicas (fig. 74) bear only small scaly 
 leaves. Cultivation of these plants in an atmosphere 
 saturated with water, results in the appearance of 
 normal leaves. 
 
 Lastly, we may quote again the instances given 
 by Goebel of the production by JEquisetum arvense 
 of normal leaves under special conditions.* 
 
 ^ The branch figured here was grown by G. Clautriau, in the 
 Brussels Botanical Institute. 
 
 " Goebel, J/«Jcr die FruchUproaae der Equiseten. [Ber. d. d. Boi, 
 Ges.), vol. iv. p. 184, 1886. 
 
CAN OEGANS RESUME THEIR PRIMITIVE FUNCTIONS ? 2 3 7 
 
 Section II. 
 Rudimentary institutions. 
 
 It seems, at first sight, as if some societies of 
 the present day furnished instances of a return to 
 primitive conditions. 
 
 Modern developments in finance seemed to tend 
 towards a return to the exchange system. Politi- 
 cal institutions, 
 after a period of 
 absolutism, point 
 anew towards de- 
 mocratic equality. 
 Corporations re- 
 appear in the form 
 
 nf Rvnrlir»nfpq c\v ^'*** 74. — Veronica cvpreisoidex (after Goebel, 
 
 ui Djfuuiv^ai/co ui pjianiienbiulagtscheSchildermigen,yul.l.p.\9). 
 
 volim'nna annioficia End of a branch ffrown unaer a bell-jar In a 
 
 religious societies. saturated atmosphere. In the oldn- parts (B). 
 
 T QnrlprI ■nrnr>prfv theleaves are small and applied to the stem; 
 
 Ajtiiiucu jjiujjciu^y, in the youncer parts (A), the leaves are larger 
 
 formerly collective ondprotmde from the siem. 
 
 and now individual, seems to be again tending 
 towards collectivism. 
 
 The same phenomenon occurs in the evolution 
 of matters relating to maritime rights. The sea, 
 according to Eoman law, was equally open to all 
 maritime nations. Later on it has been from time 
 to time practically in the hands of a few nations, 
 and we have now returned to a condition iji which 
 it is equally open to all.^ 
 
 ^ Tarde, TrcMs/ormation du droit, pp. 161.-162. Paris, F. Alcan, 
 1890. 
 
238 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 These,' however, are not cases of true revival. 
 The resemblance goes little farther than the name. 
 
 A comparison of modern institutions with such 
 survivals of primitive institutions as continue to 
 exist will demonstrate this point. The difference 
 between them is so wide that it would be hardly 
 possible to utilize the old as a basis upon which to 
 form the iiew.^ 
 
 ' Cf. Diirokheim, Les Rigles de la mifhode aociologique. Paris, 
 F. Alcan, 1895. 
 
 In sociology, dealing as it does with things familiar to us all, 
 such as the family, property, crime, etc., it is useless to attempt 
 to adhere to exact definitions. The exact meaning of some words 
 in common use in conversation cannot he defined with any pre- 
 cision ; the common acceptation of these w^ords cannot be avoided. 
 Now this common acceptation is frequently very ambiguous, so 
 that two totally different things are often referred to under the 
 same name, causing hopeless confusion. 
 
 There are, for instance, two different kinds of monogamous 
 unions— those so only in point of fact, and those which are 
 legally so. In the first case, a man has only one wife, though 
 legally entitled to several ; in the second he is only legally 
 entitled to one. These two kinds of conjugal conditions are 
 quite different, and yet the same word serves to express both ; 
 it is commonly said of some animals that they are monogamous, 
 although there can be nothing approaching to a legal contract 
 between them. Spencer, when dealing with the subject of 
 marriage, makes use of the term monogamy without defining 
 it in its common and equivocal sense. The result of this is 
 that the evolution of marriage seems to him to represent an 
 incomprehensible anomaly. It seems, according to him, that 
 the superior or monogamous form of union was prevalent during 
 the primitive phases of historic development ; that it then dis- 
 appeared during an intermediate period, to subsequently reappear. 
 From this he concludes that there is no regular connection between 
 
CAN ORGANS RESUME THEIR PRIMITIVE FUNCTIONS? 239 
 
 It may be definitely asserted then that a re- 
 duced, but still persistent, institution never again 
 becomes actively functional. The following are a 
 few examples which will serve to illustrate this 
 point: — 
 
 1. The truck si/stem and dearing-house. — Some 
 forms of the primitive system of exchange sur- 
 vive, not only in countries where money is 
 unknown, but in certain industries where the 
 workers continue to be paid in kind (the truck 
 system). 
 
 On the other hand, there seems to be a modern 
 tendency towards the elimination of money as an 
 instrument of exchange. The clearing-house system 
 is singularly analogous to the old exchange system. 
 "The truck system," says Stanley Jevons, "represents 
 the first and the last stage ; but it appears for the 
 second time in a very different form. Gold and 
 silver money continue theoretically to be the 
 instrument for buying and selling, but practically 
 metal no longer constitutes the real medium of 
 exchange, and has ceased to pass from the hands 
 of the purchaser into those of the vendor." 
 
 In this transformation there is obviously no 
 return to primitive systems, the last vestiges of 
 which, far from being revived, are rapidly dis- 
 appearing. 
 
 social development in general and a progressive advance towards 
 an improved system of family life. A more exact definition would 
 have prevented this erroneous conclusion. 
 
240 THE PATH OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 The suppression of the truck system coincides 
 with the development of the clearing-house system. 
 
 2. Corporations and syndicates. — The radical 
 differences existing between the corporations of 
 former days and the greater part of modern pro- 
 fessional associations has already been pointed out. 
 The ecclesiastical associations, however, of the 
 present day are modelled as closely as possible 
 upon mediaeval institutions. It does not follow 
 that the last remaining vestiges of the latter have 
 been revived. There seems to be evidence that 
 quite the contrary has taken place. 
 
 At Bruges no attempt was made by the founders 
 of the guild of ambachten to resuscitate such 
 mediaeval corporations as continue to exist in a 
 state of decline. 
 
 At Iseghem, a small town in the west of 
 Flanders, we have already seen that the corpora- 
 tion of shoemakers was divided up into six or 
 seven guilds at the time of the Eevolution. An 
 attempt was made a few years ago to reconstruct 
 and modernize these guilds, but the scheme fell 
 through. A new corporation — wholly disconnected 
 with the guilds of Saint Crispin, and with no 
 structural resemblance to them — was established 
 instead.^ 
 
 3. Archaic collectivism and modern collectivism. — 
 Societies of the present day exhibit numerous 
 
 ' Emile Vandervelde, EnquUe sw lea Associations professionelles 
 d'ouvriers el d'artisans en Belgique, i., p. 17, Bnixelles, 1891. 
 
CAN ORGANS RESUME THEIK PRIMITIVE FUNCTIONS? 241 
 
 vestiges of archaic collectivism. The question 
 arises as to whether there is a tendency in the 
 modern school of collectivism to resuscitate such 
 vestiges as remain of the old archaic form of col- 
 lectivism. Far from this being the case, collective 
 property, as conceived by the modern socialist, 
 implies the suppression of the few existing remnants 
 of archaic collectivism. 
 
 Inheritance, ah intedat, for instance, is a survival 
 from the days of the family community, which 
 itself arose, as we have already seen, from the 
 primitive community. If the modern coUectivist 
 school had any desire for a return to the old 
 primitive community, it would make for the re- 
 construction of the family community by re-estab- 
 lishing the law of collateral succession. Now it 
 is just the opposite with the coUectivists. In 
 order to establish a universal system of collective 
 property they demand among other things, the 
 suppression of inherited succession, ah intestat, at 
 least as regards the collateral line of descent. 
 
 4. The survival of elective sovereignty in Eng- 
 land. — The above examples apply to institutions 
 which have degenerated without having completely 
 ceased to be functional. 
 
 It very rarely happens, however, that having 
 arrived at that condition, they renew their vitality 
 and all their former functions, and this still more 
 rarely occurs in cases of genuine survival. 
 
 In the English coronation ceremony vestiges 
 
242 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 remain of the old democratic system in which the 
 king was elected by the people.^ 
 
 The English sovereignty of the present day is 
 merely a decorative institution, the real head of the 
 Government being the Prime Minister, who is 
 nominated in fact if not in theory by the public. 
 This system may almost be regarded as a return 
 to bygone democracy. Nobody would wish, how- 
 ever, to revive the old system of elective sovereignty, 
 and to retrace in an inverse direction the various 
 stages of its degeneration, 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 CAN RUDIMENTARY ORGANS OR INSTITUTIONS RE- 
 DEVELOP AND ASSUME NEW FUNCTIONS ? 
 
 The few facts which we are able to cite on this 
 
 subject must be received with considerable caution. 
 
 ^ The formality of an election disappeared during the Tudor 
 period. The coronation of Henry VIII. was the last occasion on 
 which the formula was read which set forth the national agree- 
 ment with and recognition of, the succession. The king was, in 
 fact, declared chosen and elected. This formula of election, which 
 disappeared after the coronation of Henry VIII., is recalled to mind 
 by the conclusion of the coronation ceremony of the present day. 
 The archbishop, walking in succession to all four corners of the 
 platform upon which the throne is placed, addresses the people in 
 the following terms : "Gentlemen, I herewith present to you the 
 undisputed sovereign of the realm. Come all who are present and 
 offer homage to him. Are you prepared to offer it?" and the 
 people signifying their assent by acclamation, cry, ' ' God save the 
 Queen " or "God save the King." (De Kranqueville, Le gouverM- 
 memt et lepwrlement JBrUmmiques, i., p. 291.] 
 
CAN OKGANS EEDEVELOP NEW FUNCTIONS ? 243 
 
 Section I. 
 Bicdimentary organs. 
 
 1. Animals. — In Birgvs latro (a land-crab of the 
 Philippines), the gills are atrophied and the bronchial 
 chamber is very richly supplied with blood vessels, 
 while a kind of incipient lung is formed from the 
 lining membrane of the reduced bronchial chamber.-^ 
 
 However, it is by no means certain that the 
 atrophy of the bronchial apparatus has preceded 
 this development of a pulmonary apparatus. In 
 the following case it rather seems to be one in 
 which a rudimentary structure has redeveloped in 
 order to assume a new function. In the develop- 
 ment of the urinary organs, it appears that the 
 ducts of the mesonephros are quite independent of 
 those of the pronephros, although these mesonephric 
 ducts become functional later in the embryonic life 
 than the pronephric ducts. They are, neverthe- 
 less, formed at an earlier stage, and their rudiments 
 have appeared before there is any trace of the others. 
 From this fact it would appear that in some 
 ancestors of existing vertebrates there existed simul- 
 taneously mesonephric canaliculi and canals homo- 
 logous with them, but exercising a different function. 
 Such a condition actually exists in Amphioxiis : in 
 the branchial region of that animal there are pro- 
 nephric urinary canals and genital chambers which 
 
 1 Semper, "The Natural Conditions of Existence as they affect 
 Animal Life.'' (International Scientific Series.) 
 
244 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 are homologous with mesonephric spaces ; but these 
 latter do not exist as genilal chambers in higher 
 vertebrates.^ 
 
 It must be noted that the homology between 
 mesonephric spaces and the genital spaces of 
 AmphioaMS, as made by these writers, is not uni- 
 versally accepted. 
 
 2. Plants. — The Scophulariacese, which have 
 usually four stamens, are derived from ancestors 
 which possessed five. Usually the fifth stamen is 
 only represented by a tiny process which rapidly 
 atrophies. However, in Pentstemon the fifth or 
 posterior stamen is developed, not as a functional 
 stamen, but as a staminode, the function of which is 
 to stretch open the flower to make it accessible to 
 hymenopterous insects with short probosces. 
 
 Can it be said that in such cases a rudimentary 
 organ has really become redeveloped to assume a 
 new . function ? To establish this it would be 
 necessary to show in the case we have just 
 mentioned, that the stamen did not become trans- 
 formed directly into a staminode, but that it first 
 became rudimentary and then developed afresh into 
 a staminode. 
 
 An interesting fact is, that in some hybrid 
 varieties of Pentstemon the staminode becomes fertile 
 
 ' Boveri, Die Nierencanalchen der Amphiooeua. {Zool. Jdhrhuch. 
 AUh. Anat. und Ontogenie der Thiere, vol. v., 1892.) 
 
 Wiedersheim, Orundziige der Vergleidienden Anatomie der Wir' 
 belthiere. Jena, 1893. 
 
CAN ORGANS EEDEVELOP NEW FUNCTIONS ? 245 
 
 again. In some flowers sent to us by Mr Cannell 
 of Swanley, the number of petals was increased to 
 six, seven, eight, or nine. In some of these the 
 posterior stamen was sterile and like a staminode ; 
 in others there were five fertile stamens. It is 
 obvious that in this case the staminode had resumed 
 its original function after having lost it. 
 
 Section II. 
 Mvdimentary institutioiis. 
 
 The Zevirat. — In his work entitled Tableau des 
 origines et de revolution de la famille et de la 
 propridU, Kovalewsky mentions an instance of a 
 reduced institution which, without having first 
 ceased to be functional, became transformed into 
 another institution. 
 
 " The custom mentioned in the Bible of alloting 
 a woman to the brother of her deceased husband, is 
 explained by the primitive condition of things with 
 regard to the relations between the sexes ; all the 
 women were the common property of the men 
 belonging to one group of relations. Under the 
 name of levirat, this custom survived for several 
 centuries, owing to the idea which arose later on 
 that a wife was property. Consequently, on the 
 death of the husband, the widow, along with his 
 other belongings, was treated as the inheritance of 
 the person whom the death promoted to the rank 
 of chief or head of the family community." 
 
246 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 The levirat, a family institution, thus derived 
 from the old system of marriage by groups, was 
 transformed by degrees into an economic institution. 
 It is important to notice, however, that this trans- 
 formation was effected without the institution having 
 even been reduced to the condition of a mere 
 survival. 
 
PABT III 
 
 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 
 
 From all the facts that we have brought together, 
 the general conclusion becomes plain that retrogres- 
 sion, notwithstanding the etymology of the word, 
 does not imply a return to the ancestral condition. 
 
 Eudimentary organs and institutions resemble the 
 primitive states of these, in so far as they no longer 
 possess certain parts which the primitive stages did 
 not yet possess. None the less, profound differences 
 exist between the primitive and the reduced forms. 
 In the primitive condition the institution or organ 
 is capable of varying in the direction of new uses ; 
 in the reduced form, after a certain ■ degree of 
 atrophy, there is no longer the possibility of 
 redevelopment to resume old or to acquire new 
 functions. These observations apply equally to 
 biology and to sociology. 
 
 Magnan and Legrain, in their work on de- 
 generate persons, came to similar conclusions. 
 They came to regard degenerate persons as 
 abnormal, chiefly because they were devoid of 
 the power to reacquire the normal condition and 
 quite unlike their primitive ancestors, who, although 
 
 "47 
 
248 THE PATH OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 possibly brutal and unintelligent, were normal 
 beings with the activity and stamina necessary 
 for future progress. 
 
 The following two diagrams, borrowed from these 
 authors, represent clearly the differences between the 
 initial and reduced condition of an organ or institu- 
 tion : — 
 
 aO 
 
 z z 
 
 In the diagrams the ascending lines represent 
 the progressive evolution of an organ or institu- 
 tion ; the descending lines represent the degenera- 
 tive evolution. From the point a, representing 
 the primitive condition progressive evolution passes 
 towards o, an imaginary perfect condition of the 
 organ. Along the upward line, however, the points 
 a, 6, c, d, etc., represent obstacles to further pro- 
 gress — that is to say, factors tending towards 
 degeneration. From these points lines of de- 
 generation pass towards z, and the condition at 
 z, although representing that at a, is not identical 
 
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 249 
 
 with a, and is not reached by a sliding backwards 
 down the line o, a. 
 
 Thus, although the most recently acquired 
 features may disappear first, degeneration is not 
 an actual retracing of steps until the point of 
 departure is reached. The degenerate condition 
 is a new point, and really the term retrogressive 
 evolution is misleading. 
 
 It 
 
BOOK III 
 
 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE 
 EVOLUTION 
 
 PART I 
 
 ATROPHY OF OEGANS AND INSTITUTIONS 
 
 The factors of atrophy 
 
 The causes which are active in producing degenera- 
 tion are various, but they may all be referred to the 
 limited nature of the means of subsistence, that is 
 to say, of nourishment in the case of organisms, 
 and of capital and labour in the case of institu- 
 tions. This limitation produces a struggle between 
 the individuals (societies or organisms) and between 
 their component parts. 
 
 In the course of the perpetual struggle for 
 existence among the different parts of an indivi- 
 dual, the institutions or organs which have ceased 
 to be functional tend to disappear, their nourish- 
 ment being absorbed by the active parts, 
 
 1. Biology. — In biology the struggle for existence 
 among component parts appears clearly as a factor 
 of degeneration in the case of accidental atrophy. 
 This is to be seen, for instance, in the atrophy of 
 
252 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 the leaves of an etiolated plant ^ or of the muscles 
 of a limb which has been immobile for long, or in 
 the case of muscles which have become inactive 
 from disease of the central nervous system. The 
 results are similar in cases of normal atrophy. 
 In frogs, toads, and other Batrachia Anura,^ the 
 disappearance of the tail before the adult state is 
 reached is the result of a struggle amongst the 
 cells. The active protoplasm of the muscular 
 fibres develops specially, and gives rise to many 
 cells, which enter the contractile material and 
 separate its elements. Gradually all the contrac- 
 tile material is absorbed by these isolated cells. 
 
 Many plants, especially Sempervivum (see fig. 
 73, A, p. 236) possess a reduced stem with the 
 leaves closely massed upon it. This reduction 
 of the stem, which is nearly constant in the 
 
 ^ When a cutting from a potato or a seed (fig. 75) is allowed to 
 sprout in the dark, the young stems assume characters different 
 from those of plants grown in light. The absence of chlorophyll 
 produces important modifications of growth. In light the stem 
 is short, and the leaves are large and expanded ; iu darkness the 
 stem is very long, and the leaves are much reduced. This atrophy 
 of the leaves is the result Of the struggle for existence amongst the 
 organs of the plant. Light increases the rate of transpiration, 
 which is chiefly due to the presence of chlorophyll. As chloro- 
 phyll is most abundant in the leaves, the transpiratory current 
 sets strongly towards them, carrying in it the nutritive materials 
 for the formation of new cells. On the other hand, in etiolated 
 plants, transpiration is slower, and the nutritive materials delayed 
 in the stem give that the opportunity for specially active growth, 
 which takes place at the expense of the leaves. 
 
 ' Metchnikoff, Amnalea Inst. Pasteur, January 1892. 
 
THE FACTORS OF ATKOPHY 
 
 253 
 
 species, is the result of a struggle amongst the 
 organs produced by a scanty water supply. The 
 leaves attract to themselves the greater part of 
 the water absorbed by the roots, 
 and thus retard the growth of 
 the stem. But if the plant be 
 cultivated in an atmosphere satur- 
 ated with water, the struggle be- 
 tween the leaves and stem is 
 stopped, and the stem grows to 
 a much greater extent (fig. 73, 
 B, p. 236). 
 
 Vicia Faha, like most vetches, 
 produces at germination rudi- 
 mentary leaves, and similar leaves 
 are borne at the base of each 
 branch. Goebel has shown that 
 these rudimentary leaves may be 
 made to grow by cutting away 
 the terminal buds at a young 
 stage. In this way the struggle 
 between the first formed and later 
 leaves is suppressed. 
 
 In the case of the individual, '''i;rfanre"?ij;'r''l! 
 atrophy results from the struggle 
 for existence amongst the organs. 
 In atrophy throughout a species it is the struggle 
 for existence amongst individuals that plays the 
 chief part. Clearly in this struggle, useless organs 
 become impediments and burdens. If any organs 
 
 Fio. 75. —Two 8<>edllngs 
 of Cicer arietinum. 
 
 seedliap grown in ^lf;ht. 
 B, seedling grown in 
 darknesit. 
 
254 CAUSES OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 are useless they are harmful as they use nutrition 
 without conferring any advantage upon the whole 
 organism. Darwin pointed out that when through 
 changed environment a structure became useless, 
 its degeneration became certain, as it was a dis- 
 advantage to the individual to squander nourish- 
 ment upon a useless part. Weismann has shown 
 that such a reduction or disappearance of a useless 
 organ is the result of variation and natural selec- 
 tion.^ 
 
 Variation results in the appearance of individuals 
 with the useless organ in various stages of imperfect 
 development ; natural selection perpetuates these 
 advantageous stages by giving advantage to indi- 
 viduals which tend to produce the organ in the 
 most degenerate condition.^ 
 
 ^ See, however, Herbert Spencer's Social and Moral Problems, as 
 he differs from Weismann on this point. 
 
 ' The following are good examples of the operation of variation 
 and selection in producing atrophy in a species : — 
 
 (1) Loss of constaTU colour among domestieaied animals. — Wild 
 animals, especially birds and mammals, have a colour which is 
 constant for a whole species. Frequently the colour is protective 
 in rendering the animal little distinguishable from the environ- 
 ment in which it lives. As soon as such a species has been 
 domesticated man becomes its protector, and protective colouration 
 is no longer necessary, and soon disappears. In the wild state, 
 the colour is quite as variable as in the domesticated state, but 
 the abnormal individuals become the prey of enemies and are 
 removed from the species. This applies not only to animals 
 which are preyed on by others, but to predatory animals them- 
 selves. The wild-cat, for instance, will have less diflBoulty in 
 stalking its prey if its colour makes concealment easy. In the 
 
THB FACTORS OF ATKOPHY 255 
 
 2. Sociology. — With societies this elimination of 
 useless structures is effected much more easily than 
 with organisms for several reasons : — 
 
 In biology a special factor, heredity, gives to 
 specific characters a force which does not exist in 
 the same degree with social institutions. Now 
 functional organs common to a whole line of 
 descent are not easily effected by the influence, 
 of individual surroundings. Further, the trans- 
 domesticated condition man provides food and the colour being 
 unimportant all variations may survive. 
 
 (2) Loss of spines inplamts on oceanic islands. — It is well known 
 that the presence of spines protects plants from the ravages of 
 herbivorous animals, particularly mammals. But in oceanic islands 
 bats are generally the only mammalian inhabitants, and so, accord- 
 ing to Wallace (Darwinism), there are no spiny plants in the 
 indigenous flora of St Helena. The much richer flora of the 
 Hawaian islands includes only a very few prickly plants. All 
 the endemic genera are unarmed, as also are most of the endemic 
 species of other genera ; even genera like Xwn.thoxyVwm, Acacia, 
 Xylosoma, Lycium, and Solanum, which are so frequently armed 
 in other countries, are there represented by unarmed species. 
 The two species of JRubus bear prickles reduced to the merest 
 points and . the two palms are devoid of spines. How is the 
 absence of spines to be explained in these plants? The plants 
 have been derived from the mainland, the seeds being brought by 
 the wind, by currents, or by birds, and having found soil have 
 germinated. In their new country they are not attacked by 
 herbivorous animals, and it is immaterial to them whether or no 
 they bear spines. The individuals badly armed are at no dis- 
 advantage compared with those possessing the normall armature ; 
 on the other hand, they have the advantage of being without 
 useless organs to support. Spines, ip consequence, gradually 
 disappear. 
 
 This struggle for existence may cause the disappearance of some 
 organisms themselves, and not only the atrophy of parts of them. 
 
256 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 mission of acquired characters is, to say the least, 
 doubtful. There is no proof of individual atrophy- 
 being hereditary, while with societies modification 
 may be transmitted by imitation. Institutions 
 which have fallen into disuse rarely recur in 
 freshly-formed societies. Natural selection plays 
 an all-important part in biology, but it is artificial 
 selection which almost exclusively governs the social 
 domain. 
 
 Many vegetables, as for instance the carrot {Daiicus Carota) are 
 natives of France. The seeds of the cultivated carrot must fre- 
 quently be carried to waste lands or uncultivated soiL The 
 domesticated variety, however, is never found wild although the 
 wild variety is abundant. This vegetable has lost the power of 
 struggling against weeds ; it flourishes only when it is protected 
 by man and when by repeated weedings its wild competitors are 
 removed. When it is returned to its original wild haunts the 
 plant dies out at once. 
 
 Most cereals, although we may not know their wild ancestors, 
 are in a similar condition. For instance, if man were to cease 
 cultivating Wheat {^Triticv/m, saMvum), or Eye (SecaZe cereaie), 
 there is no doubt but that these would completely disappear. 
 Their fate would be shared in Belgium at least by many species 
 which are reaped with them at harvest, such as Centaurea cyamts 
 the Corn-flower, Agrostenima Githago the Rose-Campion, Specu- 
 alaria speculum, and others. If a corn-field were left to the free 
 operation of nature, weeds would soon intrude and cause the dis- 
 appearance of the plants usually present in it. What would 
 happen in Belgium would happen with other plants in other 
 countries. Thus, near Bergen in Norway, some plants, such as 
 Melandryum album, Sihne inflsta, Vida cracca, etc., occur only 
 in cultivated fields. In Java, many aquatic plants such as Limno- 
 chwHs Plumieri, I/udwigia perennis, Jussiaea suffruticosa, etc., 
 live only in the rice-fields which are artificially watered and 
 manured. The cessation of tillage would cause the disappearance 
 of all these plants from those localities. 
 
THE FACTOES OF ATROPHY 257 
 
 An institution which has become useless and 
 burdensome is generally suppressed before its 
 complete degenerative evolution is accomplished. 
 This suppression may be either voluntary — as in 
 the liquidation of a commercial company, for 
 instance — or it may be enforced. By the terms 
 of Article 73 of the Belgian Company's Act, 
 " the dissolution must be declared upon the 
 demand of all those interested at the termina- 
 tion of six months from the time when the 
 number of shareholders has been reduced to less 
 than seven." 
 
 The downfall is generally effected in this sudden 
 way, either voluntarily by the interested parties, or 
 by the intervention of legislative means.-^ 
 
 Sometimes, however, artificial selection does occur, 
 
 ' The occurrence of autotomy or self-mutilation in animals, as 
 in crabs, has analogies with what we have been discussing. 
 Similarly some plants brought into a new locality suddenly 
 shed their leaves, lianuncuhcs aquaiilis, cultivated in water, 
 produces long divided leaves without stomata and with chloro- 
 phyll in the epidermic cells. If, from some chance, the water 
 falls below the level of the plants, the adult leaves become dry 
 and perish. The very young leaves growing unsubmerged are 
 still divided, but to a lesser extent ; they have stomata, and the 
 epidermis is devoid of chlorophyll. If the plants be again sub- 
 merged, this form of leaf dies, and there is a new development 
 from the youngest leaves of the normal aquatic type. 
 
 Other plants show similar occurrences. Thus, when a Fuchsia 
 that has been cultivated in a conservatory is exposed to the air, 
 all its leaves are shed and are replaced by new leaves. These new 
 leaves again fall at once if the plant be brought back into the 
 conservatory. This is a real case of autotomy in plants. 
 
258 CAUSES OF DEGENEBATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 and then the degenerative evolution of useless insti- 
 tutions is brought about in a similar way as that 
 of non-functional organs. Atrophy of this kind may 
 be, as in biology, either accidental or normal.^ 
 
 In a besieged town cut off from all outside com- 
 munication, all train service is necessarily stopped 
 and the railway staff rendered useless. On the 
 other hand, the defence of the city requires both 
 men and money. Under these circumstances the 
 resources of the railway naturally come to be 
 absorbed in the service of the defence. 
 
 As a good example of normal atrophy may be 
 mentioned the disappearance, at a certain point 
 
 ^ See Durekheim on the difference between normal and acci- 
 dental sociological phenomena in Xes Regies de la Tn&hode 
 sociologique. 
 
 "All sociological phenomena, like biological phenomena, are 
 liable, while remaining the same individuals, to revert to 
 different forms. Now, of these forms, there are two kinds of 
 reversion : — ■ 
 
 "The one is common to the whole species, and is to be found, 
 if not in each individual, at least in the greater part of them. 
 The cases are not always identical, varying slightly with the 
 individual, but individual variation is restricted to very narrow 
 limits. 
 
 " The other kind of reversion is exceptional, being of a nature 
 rarely met with, and, when occurring, is seldom permanent 
 throughout the life of the individual. Cases of this kind are excep- 
 tional in point of duration as in other respects. 
 
 "Here then are two distinct varieties of phenomena which 
 should be distinguished from one another by different terms. 
 Individuals exhibiting only common characters are called 'nor- 
 mal,' while those exhibiting exceptional characters are designated 
 as 'morbid' or 'pathological.'" 
 
THE FACTOES OF ATKOPHY 259 
 
 of social development, of the popular assemblies 
 in which lay the origin of future societies, i.e. 
 the comitia, assemblies at the market-place, the 
 witenagemot, May Day games, rustic assemblies, 
 the Landsgemeinde of the Swiss cantons, the 
 parochial assemblies of the Andora Valley, and the 
 town meetings of New England, etc. Some of 
 these were suppressed, but some of them merely 
 fell into disuse as other institutions arose which 
 were better adapted to more modern conditions of 
 society. This happened with regard to the comitia 
 curiaia of the Eomans during the period of the 
 Empire, which were gradually supplanted by the 
 comitia centuriata and tribunal comitia. At the 
 time when they are first mentioned in history, they 
 fulfilled only one function: that of ridding the 
 laws of all traces of extrinsic customs.^ 
 
 To sum up then, it is plain that although social 
 degeneration is brought about by the same general 
 causes as organic degeneration, the comparative 
 importance of the factors in degenerative evolution 
 is far from being identical in the two cases. The 
 autotomy of organs, a protective self-mutilation, 
 exhibits only a far-fetched analogy with the 
 conscious and voluntary suppression of social 
 structures which have become either useless or 
 prejudicial. 
 
 Direct individual adaptation, which plays a part 
 
 1 Mommsen, Droit public romain. Lepeupte et h Sdnat, vol. i., 
 p. 364. 
 
260 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTIOK 
 
 of only secondary importance in the development of 
 animals and plants, is a dominating element in 
 sociology. Institutions are able to modify their 
 structure by assimilating new inventions and im- 
 provements, and by getting rid of the useless parts. 
 On the other hand, indirect adaptation spread over 
 a species plays no part whatever in sociology, for 
 societies seldom reproduce the structures of the 
 societies from which they sprang, when the latter 
 have ceased to exist ; whereas, in animals, when a 
 useless organ is reproduced by hereditary repetition, 
 variability and natural selection become agents in 
 its suppression. 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 ATROPHY OF ORGANS i 
 
 Part II 
 
 Causes producing atrophy 
 
 The ultimate cause of the atrophy of organs is the 
 limitation in the quantity of nourishment. We 
 have shown that if there were an indefinite supply 
 of food there would be no struggle, and, as a result, 
 no degeneration. We have now to examine more 
 minutely the course of atrophy and the nature of 
 its immediate causes. 
 
 The atrophy of an organ is a reduction in 
 
ATROPHY OF ORGANS FKOM LACK OF SPACE 261 
 
 structure, in nutrition, and in functional activity, 
 but the succession of these three events varies with 
 the nature of the exciting cause. 
 
 Eeduction begins with structure when the exciting 
 cause is lack of space, due, for instance, to increase 
 in another organ {atrophy from lack of space). 
 
 Atrophy begins with function when an organ has 
 become useless {atrophy from lack of utility). This 
 uselessness may arise from two causes ; the function 
 may be no longer useful to the individual or to the 
 species, or it may be assumed by another organ. 
 
 Lastly, atrophy may begin with a diminution in 
 the supply of nutritive materials (atrophy from lack 
 of nutrition). This defective nutrition may be the 
 result of a general cause such as feebleness of the 
 whole organism, or it may be due to the hypertrophy 
 of another organ. 
 
 § 1. Atrophy from lack of space. 
 
 Cases of this kind are rare. 
 
 1. Development of the teeth. — Among animals, the 
 development of the teeth furnishes an excellent 
 example. The number of the teeth in human 
 beings is reduced compared with the number 
 present in Lemurs and in Platyrhine Monkeys. 
 These have six grinding teeth while in man five 
 is the maximum number. Our posterior molar, 
 however, appears late in life ; it is smaller than 
 the others, so that it may be useless for chewing ; 
 
262 
 
 CAUSES OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 frequently it is absent, 
 
 in the lower races in 
 nineteen per cent, of 
 cases examined ; in the 
 higher races in forty-two 
 per .cent. 
 
 The reduction in num- 
 ber and size of these 
 teeth is due to a re- 
 duction in size of the 
 jaw-bones, a cause which 
 also frequently produces 
 a distortion in the 
 arrangement of the other 
 teeth. The rudiments 
 of the wisdom teeth 
 appear on the maxillary 
 tuberosity and on the 
 coronoid process ; it is 
 only after eruption that 
 they come into normal 
 connection with the jaw- 
 bones. 
 
 2. Atrophy of the 
 
 ■Among 
 
 Fig. 76, — ^Tip of an ear otLolium perenne^ 
 with two earlets, the superior bearing 
 two glumes, the lateral earlet with 
 only the superior Rlume. In the 
 lateral earlet the lower flower is open . , 
 
 and has two glumules ; all che other SVUp&rwr glume. 
 flowers are closed and exhibit only the i , j.i t; 
 
 inferior giumuie. plants tnere are tew cases 
 
 GI, inferior glume ; GS, superior glume; o . i_ ii. c 
 
 gi, inferior glumulei gi, superior 01 atrOphy aS a reSUlt 01 
 
 ^ """ "' lack of space. In grasses 
 
 of the genus Loliwm, the earlets are arranged in a 
 spike, but in such a fashion that only the terminal 
 earlet has space for both glumes (fig. 76). The 
 
ATROPHY OF ORGANS FROM LACK OF USE 263 
 
 superior glumes remain ; the inferior, pressed against 
 the axis, disappear after the embryonic develop- 
 ment of the flower. 
 
 3. Degeneration of palece and of stamens. — Lack 
 of space is probably the immediate cause of the 
 disappearance of palese in the receptacles of some 
 composite flowers and of the posterior stamen in 
 the flowers of some Scrophulariaceae and Labiates. 
 
 In normal racemose inflorescences each floret 
 grows in the axil of a reduced leaf called a 
 bract. When the axis of the inflorescence is 
 shortened and the florets crowded, as in the 
 capitula of composite flowers, it frequently hap- 
 pens that the bracts of the florets (termed 
 palese) disappear. This absence is most usual 
 when the capitulum is small and the florets are 
 large. 
 
 In Labiates and most Scrophulariaceae, although 
 the ancestral number of stamens was five, there are 
 not more than four present ; when only one is 
 absent, it is the original posterior stamen which 
 was pressed against the axis of the inflorescence. 
 
 § 2. Atrophy from lack of use. 
 
 1. Functional Inutility. 
 
 (1) Etiolated plants and immohile limbs. — We 
 have already quoted as instances of accidental 
 atrophy, cases of degeneration of leaves in etio- 
 
264 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 lated plants, and of muscles in unused limbs (see 
 fig. 75, p. 253). 
 
 Fia .77.— AympAoeo alba sown on tlie mud and at different depthg In It 1, 2, S, successive 
 stages of the same seedling. £au, water ; llmon, mud. 
 
ATROPHY OF ORGANS TKOM LACK OF USE 265 
 
 (2) Upicotyl and primary leaf of Nymphaea. — 
 These structures in the water-lily are good 
 examples of normal atrophy in individuals. Dur- 
 ing germination ^g. 77) the cotyledons of the 
 water-lily remain inside the seed, and a new 
 organ (at right angles to them) grows vertically 
 upwards. The lower part of this is the first 
 internode of the stem (epicotyl), and the upper 
 part is a primary acicular leaf. It grows up- 
 wards through the mud until the summit of the 
 leaf reaches light. The growth of the epicotyl is 
 then much slower, and its terminal bud begins to 
 shoot out horizontally. The use of this growth of 
 the epicotyl and primary leaf is to carry the bud 
 to the light. When that purpose is achieved, these 
 structures atrophy. A similar occurrence may be 
 found in SagUtaria sagittifolia (fig. 40, H, I, p. 72). 
 In that case, however, it is the hypocotyl which elon- 
 gates, until light is reached, and then degenerates. 
 
 (3) Moots of Uiricularia, cotyledons of parasitic 
 plants, leaves transformed to ^ines in Phylloeactus 
 crenatios. — As instances of atrophy throughout a 
 species produced by inutility of the parts con- 
 cerned, we have already mentioned the roots of 
 Utricfidaria and the cotyledons of the parasitic 
 plants Guscuta, Orohanche, etc. 
 
 The spines of Fhyllocadus crenatus produced 
 
 from modified leaves are another example (fig. 78). 
 
 Above the rounded base by which a branch of 
 
 Phylloeactus is attached to older branches, there 
 
 18 
 
266 CAUSES OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 are 
 
 \, 
 
 /' 
 
 N' 
 
 is an angular region, the sides of which 
 prominent, and bear leaves modified into spines 
 to serve as protecting organs, as in the similar 
 case of Cereus. Higher up the branch the pro- 
 minent sides become flat, and the 
 spines are replaced by minute 
 scales. This degeneration is the 
 result of loss of utility. The 
 Phyllocacti are epiphytes, and 
 their situation consequently places 
 them out of the reach of crop- 
 ping animals. The spines near 
 the basis of the branches are a 
 survival from the terrestrial an- 
 cestors of Phyllocactus. The 
 spines higher up have degenerated. 
 Animals offer many instances 
 of atrophy as a result of inutility, 
 both in individuals and in species. 
 (4) Atrophy of the branchial 
 arches in mammals. — As they are 
 no longer functional, most of 
 the mammalian branchial arches 
 atrophy. Three pairs alone persist, 
 and of these it is only those parts which are useful. 
 (5) Atrophy of ventral fins. — Instances of atrophy 
 through uselessness in species are to be found in 
 the ventral fins of fishes like the Pediculati, which 
 live in the mud, or in Frotopterus, which for a part 
 of the year is completely buried in mud (fig. 19, p. 44). 
 
 Fro. 78.— Branch of 
 Phyllocactus crenatus. 
 
ATKOPHY OF ORGANS FROM LACK OF USE 267 
 
 (6) Atrophy of muscles. — Cessation of use is also 
 the cause of the degeneration of the flexor and 
 extensor muscles of the fore-limh in Cetacea, and 
 of the imperfection of the finger joint articulations 
 in Cetacea and Sirenia (fig. 79). In the latter 
 cases the surfaces of the articu- 
 lation which make flexor and 
 extensor movements easy dis- 
 appear. When a limb becomes 
 a paddle, it is necessary that it 
 should be flexible, but that the 
 articulations should be immobile. 
 
 (7) Atrophy of the tail in 
 man. — The caudal region of the 
 human vertical column is com- 
 posed of four or five very de- 
 generate vertebrae. The whole 
 of this organ is degenerate. 
 When the tail is formed at an 
 early stage of embryonic life, no. 79.— a!otiocephaiu$ 
 
 ,1 i. T_ 1 1 • J. p melas. Kigiit anterior 
 
 the vertebral column consists of nn suowirg absence of 
 
 , 1 - . • 1 . i. 1 j_i 1 artifular fa'-ets f r the 
 
 thirty-eight vertebrae ; the lesser joints of the angers. 
 number of vertebrae in the adult ' 
 is due to reduction of the tail, which in man is 
 quite useless. Later on in life a further instance 
 of atrophy may occur in individuals. In old men 
 the caudal vertebrae are frequently fused, and the 
 whole region is smaller. 
 
 (8) Degeneration of the hyoid apparatus in man 
 and birds' — This case shows a close correspon- 
 
268 CAUSES OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 dence between atrophy and loss of function. The 
 second arch becomes connected with the third, the 
 parts of which are, in the adult, the styloid pro- 
 cess, the stylo-hyoidean ligament, and the lesser 
 horn of the hyoid bone. According to the weight 
 of the tongue, the parts of the second arch become 
 more or less developed. In man the suspensory 
 apparatus of the hyoid bone is extremely simple, 
 and it is still more reduced in birds. " The 
 tongue, reduced to a minute cartilage, no longer 
 requires the support of a bony base so that the 
 hyoidean apparatus might almost be removed from 
 the anatomy of a bird. It is present, but in a 
 rudimentary condition " (Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire). 
 
 In the horse, which has a heavy tongue, the 
 second arch is strong and completely bony. 
 
 In fish the hyoidean system is still more im- 
 portant, although in them this is associated not 
 with any importance of the tongue, but with the 
 branchial apparatus. The parts of the second arch 
 are very strong, as they form a fulcrum against 
 which the branchial system works, but its main 
 parts are recognizable. " The hyoidean apparatus 
 is the same in all vertebrates ; its functions are at 
 a maximum in fish, and at a minimum in birds, 
 while in mammals the condition is intermediate" 
 (Geoffroy-Saint-Hilaire). 
 
 II. Transference of function. — Among plants 
 and animals there are many instances of organs well 
 developed in younger stages of life, hut which 
 
ATROPHY OF ORGANS FKOM TKANSFEEENCE 269 
 
 become rudimentary in later stages on account of 
 their functions being assumed by other organs. 
 
 (1) Atrophy of the tail in Batrachia, Anura, and 
 of the larval gills in some insects. — The tadpole of 
 the frog has a well-developed tail which acts as 
 the organ of locomotion ; the adult animal moves 
 by its limbs, and the tail, useless in the adult, has 
 been removed by phagocytosis. 
 
 The aquatic larvse of many terrestrial insects 
 possess tracheal gills, that is to say, membranous 
 expansions of the skin, within which tracheae 
 ramify. In the adult insect respiration is con- 
 ducted by normal tracheae communicating with the 
 air, and the larval organs of respiration atrophy. 
 
 In addition to such cases of atrophy occurring 
 normally in the life-history of individuals, there 
 are known many cases where the organs of a 
 species have disappeared on account of the trans- 
 ference of their functions. 
 
 (2) DisappearaTice of limbs. — ^Vertebrates which 
 move by general undulations of the body have 
 lost their limbs for this reason. Such cases are 
 Slow-worms, Amphisbsena, Snak'es, Eels and Cse- 
 cilians. 
 
 Many parasitic creatures have similarly lost their 
 organs of progression, as they depend upon their 
 host for movement from place to place. 
 
 Sacculina, a parasite on the carapace of crabs, 
 has completely lost its organs of locomotion. More- 
 over, as it takes its food by processes passing into 
 
270 CAUSES OF DEGENEEATIYE EVOLUTION 
 
 the tissues of the crab, its digestive canal has been 
 lost. 
 
 (3) Atrophy of the leaf. — In many plants the 
 leaves have disappeared, their function having 
 been assumed by some other part of the plant, 
 as, for instance, by the phyllodes in Acacia and 
 in PhyllaTdhus (fig. 84). 
 
 (4) Atrophy of the protonema in mosses, and of 
 the leaves in some xerophUoiis plants. — At germina- 
 tion, mosses produce a much branched filamentous 
 structure which serves as the organ of nutrition, 
 and is termed the protovsma. Later on this gives 
 rise to buds which develop into the normal leafy 
 shoots of the plants. As soon as the leaves are 
 large enough to manufacture food for the plant, the 
 protonema begins to degenerate, and disappears 
 completely, except, in a few rare forms (Ephe- 
 meracese) where the leafy shoots remain very 
 small. 
 
 In MuehlenbecMa platyclados (fig. 80), which has 
 become adapted to arid regions, and in consequence 
 has the surface from which evaporation may take 
 place much reduced, the branches which do not 
 bear assimilating leaves are rounded at their bases, 
 but higher up flatten into broad blades. These 
 blades contain chlorophyll and fulfil the functions 
 of leaves, these latter being present only as minute 
 scales. 
 
 Similar phenomena occur in many Papilion- 
 aceous plants belonging to the genera Genista 
 
ATKOPHT OF ORGANS FKOM TKANSFEKENCE 271 
 
 (broom), Spartium, Alhagi, etc. The leaves dis- 
 appear, and the stems assume their functions. 
 
 (5) The reduction or disappearance of the calyx. 
 — The disappearance of the calyx in many com- 
 posite flowers and of roots in 
 epiphytes are instances of species 
 losing organs because of the 
 transference of function to other 
 organs. 
 
 In the simplest Compositae, 
 the fruits (achenes) are dissemi- 
 nated by the wind, the calyx 
 usually being modified into a 
 feathery tuft. In other Com- 
 positae, although wind dispersal 
 still occurs, the feathery calyx 
 is lost, its purpose being fulfilled 
 by wings on the sides of the fruit 
 {Florestinia pedaia), or it is united 
 to a large membranous scale 
 developed from the receptacle 
 (Dahlia), or the sterile florets 
 may be turned into wings {Zind- 
 heimeria teocana). In other cases 
 the fruits are dispersed, not by the wind, but by 
 animals which eat them (Clibadium asperuTn), or 
 they adhere to the fur of animals by hooks formed 
 on the achenes {Calendula), or by hooks formed 
 from the involucre of bracts {La.ppa). In all these 
 cases, and the list might have been made longer, 
 
 Fia. 80. 
 
 lenbeckia plaiyclados. 
 
272 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE KVOLUTION 
 
 the function of the calyx has been reduced, or has 
 disappeared on account of the transference of its 
 function. 
 
 (6) Atrophy of roots. — Eoots in most plants per- 
 form two functions : they fix the plant in the soil, 
 and, chiefly by means of the delicate hairs on their 
 youngest parts, they absorb water and dissolved 
 mineral substances. Sometimes, however, instead 
 of having root-hairs, the rootlets enter into a 
 kind of partnership with a fungus, which lives 
 in their tissues, and absorbs by its processes the 
 necessary food materials from the soil. The pine 
 and beech are examples of this. 
 
 In some orchids {Gorallorhyza, Myrmechis) the 
 fungi lodge in the subterranean part of the plant, 
 and the branches, having no function, disappear. 
 
 In most of the epiphytic Bromeliacese the roots 
 are useful only to anchor the plants ; the absorption 
 of water takes place entirely through new organs 
 developed from the leaves. The roots are few in 
 number and small, and after the plant has obtained 
 a firm position their growth almost ceases. In 
 another species {Tillandsia usneoides) of the same 
 family the roots have completely disappeared.^ 
 This plant, called by the Brazilians', " the plant of 
 the air," fixes itself to branches of trees by its 
 leaves, and is easily transported by the wind. Its 
 
 * For further details oonceming the Bromeliacese see Sohimper, 
 Die epiphytische Vegetation Amerikas, in Schimper's Botanisehe 
 Mittheilungen aus den Tropen, Jena, 1891. 
 
ATROPHY OF ORGANS FROM TRANSFERENCE 273 
 
 absorption takes place entirely through hairs de- 
 veloped upon the leaves. 
 
 In addition to such examples of plants which 
 have lost their roots on account of the functions of 
 the roots being assumed by other organs, there are 
 also plants in which the roots represent the sole 
 
 Fia. 81. — TtBniqphyUum Zollingeri with branches adhering to bark. The plant 
 bears a flower and a bud. 
 
 vegetative organs. In Tceniophyllium Zollingeri 
 (fig. 81), an epiphytic orchid, the leaves are reduced 
 to minute scales and are of no importance in the 
 nutrition of the plant, that function being trans- 
 ferred to the roots which in the form of flat green 
 ribbons, apply themselves closely to the bark of 
 trees. In this case the roots have assumed the 
 
274 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 functions of leaves, while in Tillandsia usneoHdes 
 the leaves have taken on the functions of roots. 
 
 The Podostemacese are aquatic plants which live 
 in warm regions attached to rocks in cascades. 
 The stems and leaves are completely absent, the 
 flowers even being produced on the roots. Some 
 of the roots become closely attached to the stones. 
 Others which are green and ribbon-like, float in the 
 stream, and serve for assimilation. 
 
 § 3. Atrophy from Iodic of nutrition. 
 
 In some cases of degeneration, the organs do not 
 lose their functions, but become reduced, merely 
 because adjacent parts rob them of their nourish- 
 ment. This kind of lack of nutrition which results 
 in local atrophy, must be distinguished from the 
 general limitation of food-supply which is the 
 ultimate cause of all degeneration. The possible 
 amount of food within the reach of any organism 
 is limited, but besides this, the share of the absorbed 
 food obtained by any particular organ or part of 
 an organ may be limited with a resulting atrophy 
 of that organ or part. Atrophy of this kind may 
 be accidental or normal. 
 
 1. Parasitic castration. — A good instance of acci- 
 dental atrophy of this kind is found in Melandryum 
 album where the ravages of a fungus UstUago 
 antheridarum may produce parasitic castration.^ 
 
 ' See Giard, La Castration paraHtaire in the Bull. Sdent, de la 
 France et de la Belgiqm. 1887, 1888, 1889. 
 
ATROPHY OF ORGANS TEOM LACK OF NUTRITION 275 
 
 Under the influence of this parasitic fungus which 
 makes its way to the anthers, the stamens of the 
 female flowers assume the form of those in male 
 flowers and in consequence the pistils of these 
 flowers abort from defect in nutrition. 
 
 2. Severe or prolonged compression of a limb, — A 
 long continued or forcible compression of a limb 
 results in atrophy of its extremity on account of 
 lack of nutrition from the compression of the blood- 
 vessels. 
 
 3. Atrophy of the genitalia in neuter tees. — ;Lack 
 of nutrition is also the cause of the arrested de- 
 velopment of the genitalia normal in neuter bees. 
 The neuters of bees and of some of their allies are 
 females in a state of arrested development. In 
 wasps, humble-bees, and hive-bees, it sometimes 
 occurs that the genitalia of these forms develop 
 sufficiently to be functional, thus resulting in the 
 appearance of small females. In most honeycombs 
 two kinds of cells are formed : in the smaller and 
 more numerous cells are placed the la,rvse destined 
 to become neuters, in the larger and less numerous 
 those destined to become queens or perfect females. 
 The food of the two sets of larvae is different; 
 those in the larger cells are given " royal food " a 
 more nutritious substance. When some of the 
 royal food by an accident gets into a worker cell 
 the sexual organs of that larva are developed so 
 that a small female is formed. In this way as 
 many females as may be desired can be produced, 
 
276 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 and when a hive has lost its queen, the worker 
 bees produce another^ (Lacordaire). 
 
 Plants afford many instances of degeneration due 
 to defect of nutrition. 
 
 4. Atrffphy of the superior flowers in Carex. — In 
 the tall spikes of Carex, it frequently happens that 
 the flowers towards the summit are rudimentary, 
 and authorities are agreed in regarding this condi- 
 tion as the result of defect in nutrition. 
 
 5. Atrophy of pistils wnd stamens. — Cases of 
 atrophy of the stamens or pistils normal in species 
 may be given. 
 
 In Fritillaria persica the flowers are disposed in 
 bunches. The lower flowers possess six perianth 
 members, two cycles of three stamens each, and a 
 pistil. In the median flowers the pistil is smaller, 
 and rarely capable of being fertilized. In the 
 superior flowers the degeneration is complete, the 
 pistil hardly being formed. It might be shown 
 
 ' The transference of a function is not invariably accompanied 
 by degeneration. Thus, in the functional development of an 
 individual's nervous system voluntary acts which have been re- 
 peated frequently become reflex actions, and have their seat in a 
 diflerent region of the nervous system — as, for instance, walking 
 and acquired professional dexterities. It has been sought to ex- 
 plain the development of the instincts of species in this way by 
 supposing that frequently repeated voluntary acts have become 
 inherited reflexes. As pathological degeneration in man frequently 
 aS'ects the higher regions of the brain, reflexes and instincts may 
 persist after loss of voluntary action. In the cases of transference 
 of nervous functions to lower centres the higher centres do not 
 degenerate but remain able to acquire new voluntary functions. 
 
ATEOPHY OF OEGANS FKOM LACK OP NUTRITION 277 
 
 that this degeneration is due to lack of nutrition, 
 by removing the inferior flowers from a young 
 bunch, but we are unaware that the experiment has 
 been made. 
 
 In Viburnum tomeniosum (fig. 82) the flowers 
 are arranged in a compound corymb and occur in 
 two forms. The central flowers have a small 
 corolla, five stamens, and a well-developed pistil 
 
 Fio. 83 — Flowers from the same inflorescence of Tibumum tomentosum. 
 A, stenie flower with rudimentary piHtii and no s:amen«. — B, sterile flawer witll 
 very rudimentary pisJil and stamens. — C, flower with two ferti.e stamens; the 
 other three stamens and the pistil are rudimentary. — D, fertile hermaphrodite 
 flower. 
 
 (fig. 82, d). The eight or nine peripheral flowers 
 of each inflorescence have the corolla much larger, 
 but the stamens are absent and the pistil is rudi- 
 mentary (fig. 82, a). The petals turned towards 
 the outer side are much the largest, and it is not 
 rare for the petals turned towards the inner side to 
 be hardly larger than those of the central flowers. 
 What is important to notice, as it bears out the 
 relation between degeneration and lack of nourish- 
 
278 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 ment, is that a smaller petal is always associated 
 with a larger stamen (fig. 82, B, c). 
 
 In Viburnum opulus, the wild guelder-rose, there 
 are also two kinds of flowers, the central flowers 
 which are sexual and hermaphrodite, and the 
 peripheral flowers which are sterile and possess a 
 very large corolla. The five petals are, however, 
 equal in size, and there are no forms transitional 
 between the sterile and sexual flowers. The 
 cultivated guelderTrose is a variety of the wild 
 form in which all the flowers are sterile and 
 possess a large corolla : the plant has completely 
 lost the power of sexual reproduction. 
 
 § 4. Atrophy without apparent cause. 
 
 In many cases it is impossible to determine the 
 cause of atrophy. Why, for instance, has half the 
 inflorescence disappeared from a unilateral cyme ? 
 Why have some composites like Artemisia or 
 Eosaceae like Poterium lost their habit of being 
 fertilized by the agency of insects, and become 
 anemophilous without conspicuous perianth ? Nor 
 can we explain why many Myriapods are blind, al- 
 though they live in association with species possess- 
 ing eyes and in conditions where vision apparently 
 would be useful. Semper discovered, in brackish 
 water in the Philippines, Crustacea (Cymothoe) 
 which were completely blind, although they lived 
 in light. The cause of such atrophies is unknown. 
 
ATROPHY OF ORGANS WITHOUT APPARENT CAUSE 279 
 
 Moreover, we know that organs may atrophy 
 through correlation with other degenerating organs, 
 or because the whole organism is degenerating 
 although there are no obvious anatomical bonds 
 present between the related parts. As instances of 
 such atrophies we may mention degeneration of the 
 brain resulting on degeneration of the supra-renal 
 capsules ; or of the condition of myxodoema 
 resulting from mechanical or functional disturbance 
 of the thyroid gland. When the essential sexual 
 organs of the male or female are congenitally or 
 accidentally absent, the secondary sexual characters 
 — the beard, voice, hair, and whole male or female 
 aspect — of the body degenerate. When one eye 
 becomes injured or diseased, a frequent consequence 
 is sympathetic degeneration of the undamaged eye. 
 
 To these cases of correlative atrophy we may 
 add the cases of leaves on many plants with 
 drooping or horizontal branches. On these, the 
 leaves on the upper aspect are frequently rudi- 
 mentary. The appearance is most striking where 
 the leaves are opposite the pairs being at right 
 angles to one another. In a branch of Acer 
 campestre which is upright, all the leaves are of the 
 same size. In a drooping branch the leaves turned 
 towards the sky are small. In plants belonging to 
 very different families (Acanthacese, Melastomacese 
 Urticacese, etc.) oblique branches exist, and the 
 failure in development of the dorsal upper leaves is 
 invariable. In Procris laevigata (fig. 83) the reduc- 
 
280 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 tion of these leaves has gone very far, but in 
 Klugia notoniana the leaves in the corresponding 
 
 Fig. 83. — Branch of Procris laevipala. 
 F'f, F"/") V"f". The successive pairs of leaves in the axil of a lar^e leaf F' 
 is a female inHoresct-nce ; in the axil of a Bm»ll leaf /" is a male inflnrescence. 
 (The original drawirg was maue at Buitenzorg in Java by Mas Kromobardjo, a 
 Malay draughtsman.) 
 
 position are absent. In another representative of 
 the same family (Streptocarpus monophylleia), the 
 degeneration has gone still further ; all the leaves 
 
ATROPHY OF INSTITUTIONS 281 
 
 are absent and a single greatly enlarged cotyledon 
 is the sole assimilating organ.^ 
 
 It is evident that in these oblique and horizontal 
 branches, the leaves directed vertically towards the 
 sky are in the most unfavourable position for assi- 
 milation, and that, in addition, their presence would 
 shade the leaves lying under them. In these 
 species the more or less complete reduction is an 
 inherited fixation of a sacrifice of these particular 
 leaves for the benefit of the whole organism. 
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 ATROPHY OF INSTITUTIONS 
 
 The causes of atrophy in institutions are more or 
 less analogous to those which bring about atrophy 
 of organs. First, there is atrophy from want of 
 use, when function either becomes useless or is 
 transferred to another institution. Atrophy from 
 lack of resources corresponds precisely with 
 atrophy from lack of nutrition. There is no- 
 thing, however, in the atrophy of institutions quite 
 analogous to that which, in organisms, results from 
 lack of space. But if the development of an 
 institution cannot be actually impeded by the co- 
 
 ^ See the figures of plants of this family in Fritsch, Gesneriaceee. 
 {Engler mid PrardVsTwMrlichen PflomsmfoimiUm. Leipzig, 1891.) 
 19 ' 
 
282 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 existence of another institution, certain instances 
 of atrophy do occur which cannot be said to arise 
 from either want of use or lack of resources. The 
 institution degenerates merely from hindrance 
 offered to the exercise of its functions. Thus, for 
 instance, the laws of exclusion voted in Germany 
 against socialists brought about the decadence, and, 
 ultimately, the downfall of a number of professional 
 and trade associations which cannot be said to have 
 been actually suppressed by law. It is the same 
 with the corporations of Western Flanders ; these 
 have survived the revolutionary laws, but are no 
 longer legally recognized, a state of things leading 
 to many difficulties ; the properties of several of 
 them have been confiscated, as having no owners, 
 and allotted to benevolent institutions. This want 
 of legal recognition must inevitably lead in the 
 near future to the entire disappearance of these 
 vestiges of the corporative system. 
 
 Cases such as these, however, must be regarded 
 as exceptional, and it may be said that, on the 
 broad average, institutions atrophy either from 
 want of use, or from lack of resources. 
 
 § 1. JLtrophy from want of use. 
 
 I. Functional inutility. 
 
 (1) Offices in connection vnth the Port of Bruges. 
 — The disorganization of the train service in a 
 besieged city has already been alluded to as 
 
ATEOPHY OF INSTITUTIONS FROM LACK OF USE 283 
 
 furnishing an example of degeneration by susr 
 pension of function. 
 
 Another incidence of accidental degeneration is 
 furnished by the oBBce of wharf-porter, which was 
 formerly exercised in the port of Bruges. When 
 Bruges, consequent upon the blocking up of the 
 Zwyn, ceased to be a sea-port town, the wharf- 
 porters who were formerly employed to carry 
 grain, lime, and coal, etc., were no longer required 
 and so abandoned their calling. 
 
 (2) The forest-courts of E'Mjlwnd. — As an instance 
 of normal degeneration due to the transformation 
 of an agricultural country into a commercial country, 
 take the old English forest-courts. In the middle 
 ages there still existed in England great tracts of 
 forest land which were Crown property, and sub- 
 jected to special legislation conducted by three 
 separate courts of justice : (a) The Court of Attach- 
 ment ^ which instituted proceedings ; (&) the Court 
 of Swainmote ^ before which the culprits were tried, 
 and the Judge's Court presided over by the Lord 
 Chief Justice, who pronounced sentence, and from 
 whose decision there was no appeal. These courts 
 have lost all importance since the seventeenth 
 century, and the forest laws are now only functional 
 
 ^ When a forest law was infringed, it was the duty of the forester 
 to "attach" the culprit — i.e. constrain him to appear either by 
 seizing his person or his goods. These attachments were then 
 submitted to the Court of Attachment. 
 
 '^ The judges were called verderers; the jury was composed of 
 foresters of the reeve, and of four men out of each forest hundred. 
 
284 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 with regard to the Forest of Dean and the New 
 Forest. The office of Forest Judge has disappeared, 
 and but few vestiges remain of the courts of attach- 
 ment and Swainmote. Those persons who are con- 
 nected with either the Forest of Dean or the New 
 Forest, meet together still to transact business in 
 connection with them, but these meetings are of no 
 great importance. 
 
 II. Teansfeeence of function. 
 
 Instances abound of the transference of a function 
 from one institution to another ; but as a rule, when 
 this change is effected, it is attended by the sup- 
 pression of the old institution. Sometimes, how- 
 ever, this is not the case, and the institution merely 
 atrophies without having been suppressed. 
 
 (1) Republican institutions under the Roman 
 Empire. — As instances of this form of degenera- 
 tion take the institutions of the Eoman Eepublic, 
 after the establishment of the Empire — or the 
 decadence of the functions formerly discharged 
 by the Privy Council in England, the political 
 functions of which have been transferred to Parlia- 
 ment, and the judicial functions to the Court of 
 Common Pleas and the Court of Exchequer.^ 
 
 (2) Special jurisdiction in England. — It is the 
 
 1 De FranqueviUe, Le Oouivemement et le ParlemerU brUlanique, 
 i., p. 431. 
 
ATKOPHY OF INSTITUTIONS FROM LACK OF USE 285 
 
 same with special jurisdiction, such as the Eccle- 
 siastical Court, and the University Courts ; they 
 have completely degenerated, their functions having 
 Jbeen transferred to the jurisdiction of the Common 
 Law Courts. In England, however, special juris- 
 diction has not wholly ceased to be functional, for 
 there still exist, side by side with the modern 
 Courts of Justice, a few local Courts and other 
 exceptional forms of jurisdiction which are still 
 maintained in support of certain ancient acquired 
 rights and traditions.^ By far the greater part of 
 these special jurisdictions have, however, fallen 
 into disuse, owing to the creation of the modern 
 Courts of Justice. This happened, for instance, 
 with the following institutions : — 
 
 (a) The Local Courts of Fevdal origin. — These 
 Courts have decreased both in number and impor- 
 tance since the close of the thirteenth century ; the 
 only vestiges now remaining of them are the Court- 
 leets of certain manors. Sir James Stephen makes 
 special mention of the Court-] eet of the Manor of 
 Savoy, which extended from near the old city gate 
 of London (Temple Bar) up to Cecil Street. Some 
 of the old functions of this Court are maintained 
 in the present day. 
 
 (6) Country Town Courts. — Twenty-seven local 
 courts are mentioned in modern judicial statistics 
 before six of which no case has been heard for 
 twelve years. On the application of a litigant, 
 
 ' Idem, Le si'stime Judiciaire de la Grande- Bretagne, i., p. 216. 
 
286 CAUSES OF DEGENEEATIVB EVOLUTION 
 
 however, any one of these would resume its 
 functions.^ 
 
 (c) The Gov/rt of Stannaries, the vice- warden 
 of which is appointed by the Prince of Wales. 
 This Court has greatly degenerated in importance 
 and only a few minor cases are now heard before it. 
 
 (d) The Court of Piepowder . — This was a Court 
 of summary jurisdiction, dealing promptly with 
 disputes arising during fairs and markets. It has 
 almost disappeared from having fallen into disuse. 
 Practically only one example remains ; that is at 
 Bristol, and is becoming merged in another local 
 court called the Tolzey Court. 
 
 (e) The Husting's Court (or folkmote, scirmote, 
 a kind of County Court of the city of London). — 
 The old Husting's Court has completely lost all its 
 former attributes, in favour of the Court of the 
 Lord Mayor and Sheriffs. Up to 1860, however, 
 it reserved to itself the right- of jurisdiction with 
 regard to matters relating to landed property in 
 the city; the only cases which come before this 
 Court nowadays are those of replevy.^ 
 
 Finally, there is the House of Lords which 
 
 ' According tn jurispradence, the fact that a Court still existing 
 by virtue of Eoyal Charter, has ceased to be functional for two 
 hundred years, is no reason against a citizen having his case tried 
 before it, if he so chooses, even though the town authorities declare 
 the funds to be insufficient for payment of the judge. 
 
 (Case of Rex v. Mayor of Wells, DowHng PrcuMse Oases, p. 562), 
 mentioned by Franqueville. 
 
 " Franqueville, SyaUmejvd., i., pp. 235, and following. 
 
ATROPHY OF INSTITUTIONS FROM LACK OF USE 287 
 
 formerly held full powers of jurisdiction with 
 regard to matters relating to members of the 
 peerage ; this jurisdiction is now limited to cases 
 flf high treason or crimes committed by peers to 
 the exclusion of mere acts of misdemeanour which 
 are tried before the ordinary Courts. 
 
 § 2. Atrophy from lack of resources. 
 
 The instances we have mentioned are those of 
 institutions decaying because they had become 
 useless, and their resources were transferred to 
 other objects. The lack of resources was the result 
 of the lack of function. Sometimes, however, it is 
 the cause and not the result, in which case atrophy 
 may be due either to an abnormal development, 
 such as the hypertrophy of another institution, or to 
 poverty ensuing on the general decline of society 
 in general. Of course both factors may act 
 simultaneously. 
 
 1. Local administration ai the close of the Roman 
 Empire. — The decline of local government at the 
 close of the Eoman Empire is an instance of 
 atrophy ensuing from the ultra-development of 
 another institution. 
 
 As the demands of the central powers grew 
 more and more excessive, the fiscal rates had to be 
 augmented in order to meet them, and the curiales, 
 which consisted of members of the City Council 
 who were made responsible for the payment of 
 
288 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 taxes, finally found it was quite impossible to meet 
 their engagements, and made every effort to leave 
 the curia.^ 
 
 2. The degeneration of Societies in all their parts. 
 — A number of instances might be mentioned of 
 general social degeneration bringing about the 
 atrophy of some one or other institution in 
 particular. 
 
 Besides giving classical examples, such as the 
 Eomans, Peruvians and Astecs, V. Lilienfeld men- 
 tions the decline of the Negro kingdoms which 
 existed during the sixteenth and seventeenth 
 centuries in Southern and Western Africa, and 
 which are merely represented nowadays by 
 wretched little tribes.* 
 
 There are, according to Waitz, at some distance 
 from Carimango (the equatorial Eepublic) some 
 people of pure Spanish blood who have fallen back 
 into absolute barbarism. Their language is de- 
 formed past recognition, and their manners and 
 customs exhibit no traces of their former condi- 
 tion.* 
 
 Space precludes us from dwelling further upon 
 the various causes — often complex and obscure — 
 which bring about the downfall of societies, 
 suffice it to say that they are connected with 
 
 1 Laviase and Rambeaud, Sistoire gindrdle, I., ch. i., pp. 14aDd 
 following. 
 
 ^ Von Lilienfeld, Gedanke iiber de Sozialimssensch({ft der 
 Zuhmft, ii., p. 241. 
 
 ' Waitz, Anthropologic der Naiurvolker, 1. B., p. 86D, 
 
ATKOPHY OF INSTITUTIONS lEOM LACK OF USE 289 
 
 territory br with population, the two factors of 
 social evolution. 
 
 Either the physical surroundings of institutions 
 undergo unfavourable transformations, or else the 
 population itself degenerates. 
 
 (1) The almost complete disappearance of the 
 great family communities {zadrugai) of Montenegro 
 is a characteristic instance of atrophy from lack of 
 resources caused by the impoverishment of physical 
 surroundings. The persistent cutting down of trees 
 in the Black Mountain has had a disastrous effect 
 on the water supply, and consequently upon the 
 fertility of the ground. Most of the zadrugas, 
 having found it impossible to continue their 
 existence in common upon the same territory, 
 have split up into small families (inokosnas). 
 These latter represent, in a reduced state, the 
 old family system from which they have sprung. 
 Bogisic has shown that these in no way resemble, 
 our modern families, but are to be regarded, from 
 the judicial point of view, as reduced family com- 
 munities, each compriatfd of only a few persons. 
 
 (2) Other cases occur where the atrophy of an 
 institution — of an artistic or scientific society, for 
 instance — is brought about by the degeneration of 
 a population which ceases to be interested in the 
 society and no longer contributes to its support. 
 A large number of cases of this kind might easily 
 be mentioned, especially as occurring during the 
 period of the Byzantine Empire, but it is difficult 
 
290 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 to account for the sudden degeneration of a 
 people where the physical surroundings had re- 
 cently undergone no special modifications, and 
 when there had been no sudden and violent 
 check upon social development. According to 
 Lapouge and other sociologists of the Darwinian 
 school, this social degeneration was merely the 
 outcome of hereditary influences. The destiny of 
 a nation is dependent upon the quality of the 
 elements of which it is composed and by which 
 it is directed. If a nation is rich in energetic 
 and intelligent qualities, the greatest of disasters 
 can only have a transitory and limited influence. 
 When the contrary is the case, the same circum- 
 stances may produce an arrest in development 
 or a complete decline and fall. Up to the 
 present time, and especially in antiquity and the 
 middle ages, these favourable qualities were gene- 
 rally supplied by a dominating minority establish- 
 ing itself in a conquered country. In the common 
 course of evolution, these superior elements, which 
 are indispensable to social progress, are eventually 
 eliminated. The inferior elements regain greater 
 power, and each step of their progress is attended 
 by a backward step towards barbarism. Although, 
 at first sight, this seems contrary to the Darwinian 
 theory, it is strictly in accordance with it. The 
 superior individuals are relatively inferior when 
 their chances of success or of posterity diminish. 
 The superior individuals may not only be swamped 
 
ATKOPHY OF INSTITUTIONS FKOM LACK OF USE 291 
 
 by a diminution in their birth-rate, but in some 
 cases there may be a direct elimination of them.^ 
 
 The tendency of decadence is always towards the 
 degenerative and eliminatory selection of superior 
 elements. 
 
 It may be said in conclusion that there are 
 constant calls upon the capital and labour of a 
 society from its various institutions, and the conse- 
 quence is that, the resources not being unlimited, a 
 regular struggle for existence goes on amongst the 
 institutions. In the course of this struggle, the 
 decline of an institution may be brought about 
 in two different ways. It either begins to de- 
 generate from lack of sufficient means of support, 
 or degeneration sets in consequent upon the insti- 
 tution having ceased to be functional by inutility, 
 by transference of function to another institution, 
 or by obstacles placed in the way of exercising 
 that function. In either case the institution dis- 
 appears. It is only in exceptional cases, which 
 will be alluded to further on, that existence is 
 still maintained. 
 
 ^ 6. de Lapouge, La Vie et la Mart des nations (S^mie ini. de 
 Sociologie, 1894, pp. 421 and following). Several terms used 
 in this treatise were borrowed from tlie above article. 
 
 See also Hovelacque and Herv^, Precis d' Anthropologie, p. 189 : 
 ' ' War, in its double consequence of the elimination of the strong 
 and the survival of the weak, is for the more civilized races a 
 powerful factor in the cause of degeneration and downfall." 
 
PART II 
 
 THE CAUSES OF THE PEESISTENCE OP ORGANS 
 OR INSTITUTIONS WITHOUT FUNCTION 
 
 CHAPTEE I 
 
 SURVIVAL OF ORGANS 
 
 We have shown how and why oi-gans may become 
 rudimentary and tend to disappear. In many 
 cases the disappearance is complete ; and the organ 
 may not even reappear temporarily in the course of 
 the individual development. This disappearance 
 is, however, by no means universal. Even apart 
 from the phenomena of recapitulation, rudimentary 
 organs may persist in the adult, and sometimes, even 
 although organs have ceased to be functional, they 
 persist without degenerating. We have now to con- 
 sider why in such cases degenerative evolution does 
 not result in complete obliteration of such organs. 
 
 § 1. JJnfunctional orgains that are not rudimentary. 
 
 Absence of Variations. — There are some plants 
 such as Ficaria^ ranunculo'ides and Zysimachia 
 
 1 Lysimachia Nwnmularia occasionally produce seeds in some 
 valleys of the Pyrenees, and Errera has shown us specimens grown 
 from seeds coming from the shores of the lake of Quatro-Cantons. 
 
SURVIVAL OF ORGANS 293 
 
 Nummularia, the flowers of which hardly ever 
 produce seeds. How is it that in such species 
 flowefs are still produced ? The probable ex- 
 planation of this anomaly is, that for the disappear- 
 ance of flowers there would have to be produced 
 individuals with this advantageous variation. It 
 is the case, however, that the Ficaria and the 
 Lysimachia reproduce most actively by asexual 
 methods, and variations are extremely rare in 
 cases of these modes of reproduction. The result 
 is that these species having begun to form sterile 
 flowers continue to produce them through simple 
 lack of variation. 
 
 An analogous case is presented by Modea 
 Canadensis. This unisexual plant is represented 
 in Europe by only female plants. These plants 
 have multiplied asexually so luxuriantly that in 
 Holland they began to choke up the canals, and 
 it became necessary to make provision in the 
 budget of that country for the extermination of 
 the pefet. The plants are, of course, able to multiply 
 only asexually, as the female flowers cannot be 
 fertilized, and these useless flowers have been 
 maintained simply from the absence of variations. 
 
 Stratiotes alo'ides, a plant belonging to the 
 same family as Modea, is practically only repre- 
 sented by male individuals. Females are extremely 
 rare, and none the less the male flowers are pro- 
 duced, although in the vast majority of cases they 
 must be useless. 
 
294 CAUSES OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 W. Burck has called attention to, without 
 endeavouring to explain, other instances of the 
 persistence of functionless organs. A ■ large 
 number of Anonaceae bear flowers which do not 
 open, and which are self-fertilizing (cleistogamous 
 flowers). None the less, they have retained the 
 corolla, the original purpose of which was to 
 attract insects.^ 
 
 Burck has called our attention to the circum- 
 stance that several species belonging to the same 
 genus produce cleistogamous flowers, and that it is 
 improbable that this condition has been acquired 
 independently by these species. One would thus 
 have to admit that the original type must be very 
 remote, as it has given rise to descendants of 
 specific distinction, and yet the useless corolla has 
 persisted through the long series. 
 
 Parallel examples may be found among animals. 
 
 Maehaerites is an insect which inhabits caves 
 in North America. The females are quite blind ; 
 the males, on the other hand, have preserved, or 
 seem to have preserved, well-developed eyes ; but 
 are these eyes real? An abyssal fish, Ipnops,^ 
 seems as if it had enormous eyes extending from 
 the corner of the snout some distance along the 
 neck, but these organs are not really eyes; they 
 
 ' W. Burck, Ueber Kleistogamie im weiteren Sinne und das 
 Knight- Darwinsehe Gesetz {Ann. Jard. Bot. Buitemorg, viii., p. 
 122, 1889). 
 
 ^ Dollo, La Vie au sein des men, p. 242, Paris, Bailliire, 1891. 
 
SURVIVAL OF OEGANS 295 
 
 are light-producing organs, and the fish are in 
 reality blind. This may he the case also in the 
 males of Machaerites. It may also be the case 
 that the male has an opportunity for using eyes 
 absent in the case of the female, the males some- 
 times leaving the caves, the females remaining 
 within theni. Something analogous to this occurs 
 in the case of eels : the males remain always in 
 the sea while the females rejoin them only for 
 purposes of reproduction. Moreover, there is still 
 a third hypothesis, that the male of MachaeHtes be- 
 came an inhabitant of caves later than the female, 
 and has not yet had time for the loss of its eyes. 
 
 § 2. Uhfimctional organs which persist as rudiments. 
 
 It is outside our purpose to discuss here the 
 numerous cases of organs reduced through adapta- 
 tion, such as the leaves reduced to serve as 
 protectors of young buds {Phyllocactus, fig. 78), or 
 the wings of the ostrich which, although much 
 reduced, are supposed to assist the bird in running. 
 The utility of such organs explains their persist- 
 ence; we are concerned here with organs which, 
 although useless, persist in a reduced form. 
 
 1. Absence of Variations. — In discussing organs 
 which, although without function, have persisted in 
 a complete state, we attributed the persistence to 
 absence of variations. It is probable that the 
 same cause operates in maintaining useless vestiges. 
 
296 CAUSES OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 It is to be noticed, however, that the variability 
 of vestiges is frequently considerable. The flowers 
 of Asparagus^ officinalis are sometimes, although 
 rarely, hermaphrodite. Usually they are uni- 
 sexual and exhibit the organs of the other sex in 
 every conceivable stage of degeneration. It is 
 probable that the unisexual condition has been 
 acquired recently, and that there has not yet been 
 time for the operation of natural selection to cause 
 the disappearance of the useless organs.^ 
 
 ' We have actual knowledge of the mode of disappearance of an 
 organ in one case, and can see the part played by variability. In 
 Phyllanthus speciosus {Xylophylla arbuseida) the adult plant has 
 three kinds of branches : vertical branches, with rudimentary 
 leaves ; oblique branches which spring from the axils of these 
 leaves and themselves bear in two rows very rudimentary leaves ; 
 and flat branches which are the chief organs of assimilation of the 
 plant and which also bear rudimentary leaves in two rows. In the 
 seedling, on the other hand, there are formed after the two coty- 
 ledons, one or two completely developed assimilating leaves upon 
 an upright stem (iig. 84, a). 
 
 The flat branches grow from the axils of these, and bear, 
 unlike the fiat branches of the adult, assimilating leaves ; higher 
 up the vertical stem Dears only rudimentary leaves with flat 
 branches in their axils. 
 
 It may happen, however, that the seedlings bear, directly after 
 their cotyledons, rudimentary leaves (fig. 84, b) and in this case 
 the reduction of the leaves is present not only in the leaves borne 
 upon the vertical stem but in those borne on the flat branches. 
 These latter bear only a small number of assimilating leaves. 
 Thus, we have in this plant a remarkable example of incomplete 
 recapitulation : the seedling preserves in a functional condition 
 organs that are rudimentary in the adult, but the species furnishes 
 instances where these leaves cease to be functional even in the 
 seedling. 
 
SUETIVAL OF OKGANS 
 
 297 
 
 2. Insignificance of the Rudimentaey Oegan. — 
 It frequently happens that rudimentary organs are 
 preserved simply on account of their insignificance : 
 the absence of organs so small would not be an 
 advantage to the plant sufficiently great to be laid 
 hold of by natural selection. 
 
 Many species of Tropaeolum bear leaves without 
 
 Fig. 84. — Two seedllrgs of Phyllanthus speciosu^. 
 1, 2, 3, 4, successive assimilatmg brauchos ; c, cotyledons. 
 
 stipules. In Tropaeolum inajus there are stipules 
 
 only in the case of the first two leaves of the 
 
 seedling, and the position of these stipules is very 
 
 variable. Sometimes both stipules are at the base 
 
 of the petiole ; sometimes only one is present ; 
 
 sometimes both are several millimetres from the 
 
 base — a position in which functional stipules never 
 
 occur. 
 
 20 
 
298 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 In the same way may be explained the persist- 
 ence of accessory rudiments of enamel organs in 
 the development of teeth. Besides the rudiments 
 of the enamel organs for the milk teeth and 
 permanent teeth, there are additional organs 
 present in a very variable condition and number, 
 nearer the external surface. They are, however, 
 very generally present, and are exceedingly similar 
 to the youngest stages of the normal enamel organs. 
 Kollmann and Gegenbaur believe that they are 
 abortive rudiments surviving from an ancestral 
 condition in which teeth were more numerous. 
 
 CHAPTEE II 
 
 THE SURVIVAL OF INSTITUTIONS 
 
 We have seen that an institution which ceases to 
 be functional without dissolution — either voluntary 
 or enforced — ensuing, tends to atrophy and dis- 
 appear, while its resources are appropriated by 
 other institutions. It now remains to account for 
 the fact that this atrophy does not generally end in 
 total disappearance. The two following hypotheses 
 may be made : — 
 
 1. The structure of a non-functional institution 
 
 may remain intact. 
 
 2. The institution may survive, but in a rudi- 
 
 mentary condition. 
 
SURVIVAL OF INSTITUTIONS 299 
 
 § 1. The ijdegral persistence of an institution. 
 
 A non-functional institution may survive and 
 retain its structure and resources in the following 
 cases : — 
 
 1. By the intervention of some superior authority 
 
 to prevent its suppression. 
 
 2. When, while ceasing to he functional, it con- 
 
 tinues to be useful, though indirectly so. 
 
 3. When its existence is maintained out of respect 
 
 for old traditions. 
 
 We will take these three hypotheses in succession, 
 but it must be borne in mind that when a non- 
 functional institution is maintained out of respect 
 to tradition, or by virtue of an indirect usefulness, 
 it is always by the intervention of legal authority. 
 This legal authority, however, amounts to an ex- 
 pression of the public will, whereas an institution 
 may also be maintained by the exercise of personal 
 influence on the part of some one person. 
 
 It sometimes happens, too, that a non- functional 
 institution continues to survive because its suppres- 
 sion would entail important changes in other parts 
 of the social organization. 
 
 1. Maintenance by compulsion. — A useless in- 
 stitution is frequently maintained by compulsion, 
 when its conservation is advantageous to those con- 
 nected with it, or even to other persons.^ 
 
 The following are a few examples of this : — 
 
 ' Spencer, Principles of Sociology, vol. iii. 
 
300 CAUSES OF DEGENEKATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 (a) A long list might be made of all the sinecures, 
 now quite useless, that some governments insist 
 upon maintaining for the advantage of those occu- 
 pying the posts. Such were certain offices in con- 
 nection with the Court in former days or the 
 avoueries of the end of the middle ages. 
 
 " Like the Fief system," says Errera, when writing 
 about the Massuirs, " The avouerie afforded an effec- 
 tive protection — military as well as judicial — 
 against the various dangers arising in a still barbaric 
 age. But, in the course of the last centuries of the 
 middle ages, the obligations of feudal chiefs and 
 the condition of avouerie disappeared ; the reasons 
 were that relative security was attained; militia 
 was established, and the army, under the command 
 of the sovereign himself, became better disciplined ; 
 and that there arose the organization of the justices 
 scdbinales, of bailiwicks, and of superior courts of 
 justice. However, although the ancient offices dis- 
 appeared, the emoluments attached to them con- 
 tinued to be drawn.^ 
 
 (6) It often happens that institutions which have 
 ceased to be functional are yet maintained as being 
 a source of profit not only to those in direct con- 
 nection with them, but to a considerable number of 
 other persons. 
 
 Before the Eeform Bill of 1832, when large 
 towns like Leeds, Birmingham, and Manchester 
 were unrepresented in Parliament, the House of 
 ' Errera, Les Mansuira, p. 75. Brussels, Weiasenbruch, 1892. 
 
SURVIVAL OF INSTITUTIONS 301 
 
 Commons contained seventy members, nominated 
 by thirty-five rotten boroughs in which there 
 were no electors, and ninety members nominated 
 by forty-six boroughs, containing less than fifty 
 electors. 
 
 The borough of Old Sarum was a mere hillock 
 belonging to Lord Canalford ; Gatton and S. Michael 
 had only seven electors ; the borough of Dumwich 
 had been long since submerged by the encroach- 
 ment of the sea; Beeralston, belonging to Lord 
 Beverley, consisted of one house, and Castlerising of 
 two. In the county of Bute there were twenty- 
 one electors, only one of whom was a resident and 
 who nominated himself. 
 
 The preservation of this system of representation 
 which had long ceased to be adequate, was eminently 
 favourable to the few persons who benefited by it, 
 and they vigorously resisted the passing of the 
 Eeform Bill. 
 
 (c) After the provincial states of Normandy and 
 the Dauphiny had been suppressed, the state func- 
 tionaries retained their titles and emoluments. 
 
 In the Dauphiny the representative institutions 
 ceased to be functional in 1627, but at the close of 
 the eighteenth century the Bishop of Grenoble con- 
 tinued to receive 6000 livres per annum as primate 
 of the dominion. Two barons, delegates of the 
 nobility, shared a similar salary, and the Syndic 
 of the province and two secretaries received lesser 
 emoluments from the province which continued 
 
302 CAUSES OF DEGENEKATrSTE EVOLUTION 
 
 to make these payments for services no longer 
 rendered.^ 
 
 In each of the above cases of survival it is plain 
 that compulsion intervened — more or less directly 
 — to secure the maintenance of non-functional 
 institutions. 
 
 In. the first cases referred to, the privileged 
 persons concerned, took advantage of their influ- 
 ential positions to enforce the maintenance of their 
 sinecures. 
 
 In the second case — that of the rotten boroughs 
 — the institution was not only advantageous to the 
 member himself but to the whole of his party, so 
 that naturally its maintenance met with the cordial 
 support of the latter. 
 
 In the third case, those in authority maintained 
 part of the institution — that of the mere titles 
 and emoluments — in order to suppress the remainder 
 more easily. In this case it was not an institution 
 which atrophied, but an institution which was caused 
 to atrophy by compulsion. 
 
 2. Indirect usefulness. — It sometimes happens 
 that an institution, although ceasing to be functional, 
 yet retains a certain usefulness. This is so in 
 England, with the office of the Privy Seal. All 
 the functions formerly discharged by the holder 
 of this office have long since disappeared, but the 
 post is reserved as a sinecure for persons who have 
 
 ^ Babeau, Les assemblies des pays d'Etat sous I'ancien rigime ; 
 B^foi-me sociale, 1893, p. 701. 
 
SURVIVAL OF INSTITUTIONS 303 
 
 distinguished themselves in politics, but who from 
 advanced age are unable to take an active part in 
 public affairs. A great many sinecures are main- 
 tained for a similar purpose — that of furnishing 
 practical though not nominal pensions to distin- 
 guished persons in art or science. 
 
 " It may well be," says VioUet, " that an 
 institution, which at first sight seems to be a 
 mere useless wreck, is really of immense service 
 to society. The deep roots of a dead tree may 
 continue to furnish support to a new structure." 
 
 It is by reason of this negative usefulness that 
 — according to Bagehot — the English monarchy 
 has been preserved, forming as it does a symbol 
 of unity and coherence amidst the electoral changes 
 of power. The English monarchy offers a char- 
 acteristic instance of an institution which has lost 
 nearly all its former functional importance, while 
 nominally retaining its power. According to 
 Bagehot, the Queen would now have to sign her 
 own death warrant if condemned by both Houses 
 of Parliament. The outer form, however, remains 
 almost the same as in the days of absolute monarchy, 
 when the sovereign took an active part in public 
 affairs. At within the last few years, the 
 Queen's signature was required to all official 
 documents. It was only in 1862 that a law 
 was passed deciding that for the future, promotions 
 in the Army or Navy should be signed either by 
 the Commander-in-Chief, or by the Secretary of 
 
304 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 State. At that time, by dint of hard work, 
 the Queen had signed all commissions up to 
 1858, and there remained 15,931 documents of 
 this kind still unsigned.^ 
 
 3. Respect for Tradition. — The persistence of 
 some institutions can only be accounted for by a 
 lack of invention. Mommsen calls attention to 
 a remarkable instance of this kind in the history 
 of early Rome : 
 
 When a government by praetors — as consuls 
 were first called — was substituted for a govern- 
 ment by kings, the new system remained the same 
 in idea though nominally difl'erent. The old idea 
 of royal authority survived for a long period, and 
 the praetors enjoyed all the old kingly powers, even 
 those in plain contradiction to the temporary 
 character of their office : the king could not be 
 deposed, but neither could the praetor be con- 
 strained to depose himself ; the king, when dying, 
 nominated his successor himself, and this power 
 remained to the praetor — although the system of 
 election by the comitia had been introduced — 
 for the praetor had the right of excluding whoever 
 he chose from the list of candidates, and also of 
 annulling the votes given to those who displeased 
 him. It was only at a later period that a logical 
 
 1 Bagehot, The, English Constitution, pp. 57 and following; 
 London, 1891. 
 
 De Franqueville, Oou/oemement ei Parlement Britanniques, i., 
 p. 251. 
 
SURVIVAL OF INSTITUTIONS 305 
 
 and consistent conception of the consular authority 
 came to be formed.^ 
 
 In the same way the maintenance of the insti- 
 tution of sheriffs in modern England can only be 
 attributed to an exaggerated respect for tradition. 
 
 In the commission which sat in 1888 to inquire 
 into judicial organization, one of the commissioners 
 expressed himself as follows : " I cannot see that 
 sheriffs are of any use whatever, unless it be for 
 show ; there is not one single function attached to 
 the post which a sheriff can fulfil himself. I am 
 a sheriff, but I do not know what a sheriff's duties 
 are." The institution, however, remains intact. 
 The sheriff is credited with the discharge of several 
 functions, which are executed in his name and on 
 his responsibility. All he does is to receive the 
 judges, accompany them on circuit, and preside over 
 parliamentary elections.^ 
 
 The mode of nominating the sheriffs has remained 
 unchanged since 1340. The Queen, by means of a 
 traditional gold pin, is supposed to prick by chance 
 in the list of candidates which is presented to her, 
 the name of him upon whom she confers " the 
 
 ' Ferrero, Simbolii, p. 58, Torino, 1893. 
 
 2 "Tho two sheriffs of London, who are elected from among the 
 liverymen of the varions city companies, have not to go on circuit, 
 but are supposed to attend at the Central Criminal Court. Their 
 functions chiefly consist in escorting the Lord Mayor to all city 
 ceremonies, and in attending numerous banquets, some of which 
 are given at their expense. " De Franqueville, Sydeim judiaiaire de 
 la Grand- Bretagne, i., p. 611. 
 
306 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 charge and keeping of the county." This ceremony 
 is known as the " Pricking of Sheriffs." 
 
 § 2. The Survival of Institutions in a keduoed 
 
 STATE. 
 
 It has been shown that a number of institutions 
 in a state of decline continue to be maintained, 
 because they are still useful in spite of their reduced 
 condition. 
 
 This is the case with the symbolic ceremonies 
 which in former days accompanied the drawing up 
 of solemn contracts.^ 
 
 "We now come to institutions which persist in a 
 reduced condition, but which are not directly use- 
 ful to any one. In this case their persistence 
 may be attributed to one of two causes: either to 
 respect for tradition or to the insignificance of the 
 vestiges which remain. 
 
 ^ According to VioUet in Histoire du droit dml fr. , p. 607, the 
 primitive assemlily of the people still survives, though in a reduced 
 condition, in the Roman mawApatM, and in Scandinavia in a solemn 
 form of sale called the scotatio. 
 
 " I helieve," he says,' " that it was the primitive sale of German 
 law a sale concluded and ratified in a popular asseml>ly, that gave 
 rise, in the middle ages, to the Scandinavian scotatio. So also in 
 the case of the Roman mancipalio there has long been believed to 
 exist the remnants of a popular assembly. The dumb witnesses in 
 the scotatio appear to me the petrified representatives of the 
 German tribe or village ; and, in the opinion of good judges, the 
 witnesses in marwipatio are no other than symbolic statues of the 
 five classes of the Roman people. However, this is mere 
 li^'pothesia. 
 
SUEVIVAL OF INSTITUTIONS 307 
 
 It is difficult, however, to distinguish between 
 these two causes, for insignificant vestiges of 
 institutions are especially numerous in very con- 
 servative environments, and, on the other hand, 
 mere respect for tradition very rarely ensures the 
 maintenance of either a harmful or an expensive 
 institution. 
 
 1. Insignificance of the Institution. — Some 
 of these insignificant institutions are reduced to mere 
 vestiges, no longer functional, or of use to any one, 
 others — representing traces of a former system — 
 retain some local vitality, although not in keeping 
 with the new conditions ; these are of such small 
 importance that their very insignificance ensures 
 their survival. 
 
 (a) The two French laws passed in 1835 and 
 1849 relating .to entail have never become func- 
 tional at La Martinique. The old law of entail is 
 still active there, and this state of things is allowed 
 to continue without authoritative interference.^ 
 
 (&) In England, the sovereign, up to the close of 
 the sixteenth century, reserved to himself the right 
 of presiding over the Courts of Justice, and of 
 pronouncing sentence. Since the Revolution, no 
 sovereign has essayed to render justice personally, 
 and any attempt of the kind would be regarded as 
 unconstitutional nowadays. Vestiges of the old 
 system remain, however, in the formula of certain 
 legal proceedings, such as the serving of warrants, 
 > Viollet, Hist, du dr. civ./r., p. 883, 
 
308 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 in which an order is given to appear before the 
 Queen herself, and it has never been suggested that 
 the old formula should be altered.^ 
 
 The following are a few examples of local sur- 
 vivals which owe their existence to their insignifi- 
 cance : — 
 
 (a) Although Cambray has belonged to France 
 
 since the close of the seventeenth century, 
 its diocese includes a small part of Belgium ; 
 the ancient religious organization has in 
 this instance survived political changes.^ 
 
 (b) It is not generally known that with certain 
 
 properties situated in Artois — consisting 
 chiefly of marsh land — the law of primo- 
 geniture still holds good.* 
 
 (c) Public attention has recently been directed 
 
 to a very curious survival of the political 
 connections which existed during the middle 
 ages between B^arn and Spain. Every 
 year, on the 13 th of July, the inhabitants 
 of the French valley of Baretous in the 
 Pyrenees, solemnly pay a tribute — for the 
 
 ' De Franqueville, Systime judiciaire de la GrandeSretagne, 
 p. 23. 
 
 'VioUet, ffist. du. dr. civ.fr., p. 882. 
 
 ' Errera, Les Masuirs, p. 290. Decision of the Council of 25th 
 B'ebruary 1779, as regards the eastle-wards of Lille, Douai, and 
 Orohies. " Those portions of land which fall or have fallen to each 
 Inhabitant as the result of division, shall be inalienable; no person 
 shall possess two portions. The eldest male of each family, or in 
 default of the eldest male, the eldest female, shall alone inherit 
 the said portions of land." 
 
SURVIVAL OF INSTITUTIONS 309 
 
 maintenance of peace — to the inhabitants 
 
 of the Spanish valley of Eoncal.-' 
 
 It is plain that this custom, which has gone on 
 
 so long as to pass unnoticed, is too inconsistent 
 
 with the present relations between France and 
 
 ^ The ceremony commences at nine o'clock in accordance with 
 instructions laid down in a document which, according to the 
 mention made of it in the Procte-verbal, dates from 1375. 
 First, the French mayors don their scarves of office ; next the 
 Spanish mayors, advancing from a group of compatriots, proceed 
 towards the frontier boundary line, accompanied by a peasant 
 carrying a lance with a red flag tied to it— a symbol of justice — 
 and draw up within six yards of the boundary. The French 
 mayors follow suit, but the flag hoisted on the lance which 
 precedes them, carried by a peasant, is white, as signifying 
 their pacific intentions. The Mayor of Isaba then says to 
 them, "Is it peace?" The French mayors reply in the affirma- 
 tive, and, as a proof of their sincerity, couch their lance upon the 
 mile-stone marking the boundary. The Spaniards then first plant 
 their lance in French soil leaning against the stone, and after- 
 wards place it so as to form a cross with the French lance. 
 Next the Mayor of Arette places one hand upon the crossed 
 lances, and the Mayor of Isaba does the same, and together 
 they utter the formal declaration of peace, which all those 
 present swear to observe. After the vow, the Mayor of Isaba 
 cries three times, " Paz davans ! " which means, "May peace con- 
 tinue." 
 
 Peace being thus declared, the Roncalais, in order to ratify 
 their abandonment of hostilities, order the guards to remove 
 their arms from the French side. The ceremony being over, 
 it only remains to pay the blood-tax. This formerly consisted 
 of three white mares, all exactly alike ; but, owing to the great 
 difficulty of matching them, three unblemished heifers were sub- 
 stituted, all of same colour and with the same markings. These 
 three heifers cost about 600 francs, which is a large sum for that 
 part of the world. 
 
310 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 Spain to be continued much longer. " It is to 
 be expected," says the paper from which this 
 information was obtained, " that the French 
 Foreign Minister will in the near future come 
 to an understanding with the Spanish authorities 
 to put an end to this iniquitous custom, and it is 
 to be hoped that this year is the last occasion upon 
 which a blood-tax will be paid by the valley of 
 Baretous to the valley of Roncal." 
 
 2. Respect for tradition. — In his " Essays on Pro- 
 gress, Manners and Customs " ( Westminster Review, 
 1854), Spencer points out the connection between 
 respect for tradition and custom, and the con- 
 servatism of those in authority. He says that 
 certain customs, which have elsewhere died out, 
 survive in some departments of the government. 
 The Secretary of State in ratifying acts passed in 
 Parliament uses old Norman French,^ and certain 
 legal terms in old Norman French are still used. 
 The wigs now worn by judges and barristers are 
 identical with those seen in old portraits, while the 
 " Beef-eaters " of the Tower of London wear the 
 
 ^ " For financial Acts the formula is : La Reyne remercie ses bons 
 sujets, acoepte leur b&^volence et ainsi le veult ; for general Acts : 
 La Reyne le veult ; for private bills : Soit fait comme il est d^sir^ ; 
 for petitions : Soit droit fait oomme il est d^sir^. The veto is 
 announced : La Beyne s'avisera. Cromwell had changed these old 
 forms ; he gave his consent to Bills in English ; the old custom 
 was resumed at the Restoration, and the House of Commons in 
 1706 rejected a Bill passed by the Lords to abolish the French 
 phraseology r" De Franqueville, Oouvernement et Parlemeid Sritan- 
 niques, vol. i., p. 279. 
 
SUEVIVAL OF INSTITUTIONS 311 
 
 same costume as that once worn by the body-guard 
 of Henry VII.i 
 
 Two similar examples may be added : — 
 
 (a) At the coronation of English sovereigns two 
 gentlemen of the Privy Council, chosen " on account 
 of their appearance," and created knights for the 
 occasion, are appointed by the Lord Chamberlain to 
 represent the Dukes of Aquitaine and Normandy. 
 
 (b) The First Officer of the Crown was formerly 
 the Lord High Steward, which title having, in the 
 course of time, become purely honorary, was 
 hereditary in the family of the Earls of Leicester. 
 The post is now in abeyance, but, on the coronation 
 of a sovereign, or, on the occasion of a peer being 
 placed upon his trial, this dignity is conferred upon 
 some important person nominated solely for the 
 occasion. It is not only in ceremonial — which, 
 according to VioUet, is the museum of history — that 
 reduced institutions, which are completely useless, 
 are tenaciously maintained ; it is the same with 
 iudicial and religious institutions. A few examples 
 will suffice to show that this is so : — 
 
 (a) In its primitive form, the Assembly of the 
 People included the whole army, and was 
 necessarily held in some large open space. 
 The custom survived the necessity of the 
 choice of some such spot, and up to the 
 sixteenth century, whenever a new Emperor 
 was proclaimed in Germany, it was the 
 
 ^ H. Spencer, Morals, Science and Art. 
 
312 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 custom for the electors to proceed to some 
 mountain for the purpose, probably because 
 it was the custom in former days to hold a 
 general meeting there, before the election. 
 
 In Iceland, the althing — consisting of 
 two chambers now — was formerly one large 
 assembly held in the open air upon the 
 Logberg (the Mountain of the Law) near to 
 the Lake of Thingvellir. In the Eepublic 
 of Andora, criminal sentences are still 
 pronounced with great solemnity from the 
 Market-Place.^ 
 (6) Among the Ossetes, where the family com- 
 munity still flourishes, the only inalienable 
 and unsaleable property is not the real 
 property, but certain personal possessions, 
 such as the great cooking-pot with the 
 chain by which it is hung over the fire. 
 " At first," says Kowalewsky, " this may 
 appear a strange custom, but it must be 
 remembered that possessions of that kind 
 were of equal importance to the Ossetic 
 'family' as were their tombs to the 
 ancient Greeks and Eomans, which ex- 
 plains how any infringement of the 
 
 * In Montenegro, it was the custom, till recently, for the Prince 
 himself to render justice, sitting under a tree in front of his palace 
 at Cettigne. This mode of jurisdiction, which was probably a 
 survival of the old system of which we have heen speaking, has not 
 completely disappeared. 
 
SUKVIVAL OF INSTITUTIONS 313 
 
 custom is regarded as an infamy by the 
 Ossetes." ^ 
 
 We now come to cases of purely religious 
 survival, which offer the strongest resistance to 
 the inroads of change. Spencer instances the 
 custom of circumcising with a knife made of 
 flint, and the vestiges remaining in Catholic 
 worship of former primitive religions. The 
 Eucharist, as we have already pointed out, is 
 reminiscent of real sacrifices, and the symbolic 
 representation by a dove of the Holy Ghost is 
 only a rudimentary form of zoolatry.^ 
 
 In Belgium there are still traces of the old 
 custom of sacrificing an animal upon the com- 
 pletion of a new building, with the idea that the 
 animal's spirit will protect the edifice from harm,* 
 and if the observer of the following facts is correct 
 in his interpretation of them, there also remain in 
 Belgium traces of the ancient sacrifices to the 
 genius of the earth : — 
 
 " It is the custom, round about riorenville 
 (in the Belgian Ardennes), to offer a sacrifice to 
 the presiding genius of the road upon the con- 
 struction of a new road or railway. It is usually 
 a fowl, or a rabbit, or even a calf which is sacri- 
 ficed. ... In some parts of Luxembourg animals 
 
 ' Kowalevsky, Droit coutv/mier Ossetien, p. 105. 
 ^ Spencer, Principles of Sociology. 
 
 ' Folklore, Wallon, No. 1526, p. 115 (Bulletin de Folklore, ii., 
 177). 
 
 21 
 
314 CAUSES OF DEGENEEATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 are also offered in sacrifice to the genius supposed 
 to preside over a newly-purchased field, with a 
 view to ensuring abundant crops.^ 
 
 Eemains, either undoubted^ or only probable,' 
 of phallic worship, are scattered throughout Europe. 
 
 In Brittany* and in Belgium,* for instance, 
 strange old customs still exist showing that here, 
 
 ^ Rivue des traditions populaires, 1893, p. 394. 
 
 ^ Th. Volkov, Bites et usages nupticmx en Vlcraine {I'Anlhro- 
 pologie, 1891, p. 167). 
 
 Only a short time ago it was the custom in Tver, on the day 
 dedicated to Yarilo (the phallic God of Spring), for the parents 
 of young daughters to send them to join in games similar to 
 those of the ancient Slavs, with a, view to their getting married. 
 
 ' Note sur wn, vestige du culte de la terre mire (phallism) en 
 Frovence, hy B6renger-F&aud {Biime d'Anthrcfpologie, 1888, p. 
 563). 
 
 " At Luc, in Provence, upon the Ist of May, which is a country 
 holiday, the young girls proceeded to a place where two roads met. 
 Here they assembled around an olive tree, and after each dance 
 they slnick the olive tree three times with their backs. 
 
 "This fete, a survival of the floral fStes of the month Of May 
 which are still celebrated in Provence and Italy, continued to be 
 held until quite recently, and appears to have been a lingering 
 vestige of the ancient worship of creative Nature, Mother-earth 
 — in short, of phallic worship. 
 
 " The three knocks given by the young girls to the tree trunk 
 is a survival of the ancient virginal sacrifice to the phallic 
 emblem. The original meaning was not quite lost, for the Pro- 
 ven9als still realized, though vaguely, that the three knocks were \ 
 somehow connected with the idea of marriage." 
 
 * "Zes MigalUhes de Locmariaqiier et de Camac, et Us amours, by 
 Bonnemfere (Bivue des traditions populaires, 1894, p. 123). "In 
 former days it was the custom for all the young women who wished 
 to get married to climb (on the night of May 1), to the top of the 
 great menhir where they lifted up their clothing that their bodies 
 
SURVIVAL OF INSTITUTIONS 315 
 
 as elsewhere, a belief in the influence of fetiches 
 once prevailed, and particularly in the form of 
 megalithic monuments relating to the fecundity of 
 women. 
 
 The custom still prevalent in the African Congo, 
 of driving a nail into a fetich, with the view of 
 reminding it of a request, has not disappeared from 
 Europe. The young men of Couvin (Namur) still 
 stick pins into the wooden saints of the little 
 chapels round about in order to draw a lucky 
 number in the military lottery, and young girls in 
 Brittany do the same with a view to getting 
 
 inigtt come in direct contact with the stone, and then slid from 
 the top to the bottom." 
 
 At Carnao, young girls wishing to marry undressed completely 
 upon the same night, and proceeded to rub their abdomen against 
 a' special menhir. In that part of Brittany, where only French is 
 spoken, similar customs have equally prevailed. 
 
 " File de Notre-Dame de Eide-cul (Jules Lemoine, in the journal 
 Le petit bleu, of October 18, 1896). 
 
 Similar to the above Breton custom is that of sliding down the 
 Rocher Eide-cul, which is situated near to Landelies, in the valley 
 of the Sambre. Here, as in many other places, old customs have 
 been Christianized, and a Christian chapel now stands close to the 
 ancient shrine. Young people of both sexes used to seat them- 
 selves upon the top of the stone U])on little fagots of boxwood 
 gathered in the neighbourhood, and then slide down to the bottom. 
 
 According to the old saying an upset meant waiting ; an em- 
 brace signified mutual affection ; a collision, indifference ; and an 
 embrace followed by rolling over indicated matrimonial suitability. 
 Similar customs prevailed at Trou-deux-Trous, situated near to 
 the Rocher Eide-cul. These two megalithic temples disappeared 
 about forty years ago, their materials have been used as fluxes in 
 smelting works. 
 
316 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 married/ and in Belgium,^ as in Brittany,^ if the 
 image prove too hard, the reminding pin is stuck 
 instead into a fissure, or into the door of the niche 
 containing the image. Besides these mere vestiges 
 of pre-historic customs and belief, by referring to 
 certain illustrated documents bearing upon the 
 subject, it would be easy to work out the connec- 
 tion between the worship of saints which is pre- 
 valent in Belgium in the present day, and the 
 pagan worship of the ancient Celts and Germans.* 
 
 '^Bulletin de Folklore, i., 250-251. 
 
 * Ibidem. 
 
 ' The menhir of the Pierre-Frite in the valley of Lunain. In 
 nearly every hole or fissure of this monument, a nail or pin has 
 been stuck by the young people of that part in the belief that it 
 will ensure them a speedy marriage. {Bivue des traditions popu- 
 laires, 1893, p. 448.) 
 
 ^See for Saint Eloi, Mdlusine, viii., 122-132 ; for Saint Martin, 
 Bulletin de Folklore, i., 309-315; for Saint Hubert, Gaidez, La 
 Ba eet Saint Hubert. 
 
PABT III 
 
 EESUMi AND CONCLUSIONS 
 
 When an institution or an organ ceases to be 
 functional or in any way useful, it very soon 
 disappears altogether. If, as happens in some 
 exceptional cases, it persists, it is because neither 
 of the chief factors in causing atrophy, variability 
 or selection, have intervened. 
 
 Sometimes the vestiges are of too insignificant 
 a nature to call for their removal by either 
 artificial or natural selection, and sometimes their 
 existence is ensured by the lack of variability, as 
 in the case of the persistence of flowers in plants 
 which multiply asexually. This absence of varia- 
 tion occurs equally in the social domain, especially 
 in matters connected with religion, wherein ancient 
 customs are credited with a divine origin, Eeligions 
 may pass away, philosophies may be transformed, 
 and old beliefs cease to prevail, but the remnants 
 of old creeds, conveyed by popular tradition 
 through the centuries, defy destruction by modern 
 innovations. 
 
 The ancient winter festival, on which day the 
 
318 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 
 
 dead were supposed to leave their graves aud join 
 the living in a feast around the family hearth, is 
 still celebrated in the keeping of Christmas and in 
 the various customary practices on the first two 
 days of November. 
 
 The May-Day festivals — pagan festivals held in 
 honour of vegetable and human fecundity — are 
 still held in their early form round about 
 Loemariaquer and in the village of Campine. 
 Traces also remain in the picking and wearing 
 of flowers on the 1st of May, and the same day 
 is selected by the socialists for the celebration of 
 their near approach to a life under freer and 
 happier conditions. 
 
 This survival of festivals, customs and traditions, 
 while the religions and civilizations which produced 
 them have passed away, is the principal link which 
 connects us with bygone generations. 
 
 " Their value lies," says Houzeau in his Etvde de 
 la Nature, " in the establishment of a chain between 
 successive generations. The memory of au indivi- 
 dual may be regarded as constituting his personality. 
 Take from him the memory of his past, and he is left 
 at a point in time wherein there is no stability and 
 complete isolation. To be himself, a man requires 
 not only his recollections, but a knowledge of his past 
 habits and traditions. When a savage is removed 
 from his fellows and transported to new surround- 
 ings in a distant country, he loses all knowledge of 
 his former condition. Society itself, made up as it 
 
SUMMAKY AND CONCLUSIONS 319 
 
 is of customs and prejudices, constitutes history. 
 The mirror of the past is exhibited in the conscious- 
 ness of the collective individual which is called 
 a nation. What link shall we have with former 
 generations if not a heritage of their ideas — i.e. of 
 their discoveries and their mistakes ? Nations, 
 like individuals, are continually modifying, this 
 inherited legacy, but, like the individual, they 
 cannot get away from it without breaking the 
 thread which has made them themselves." 
 
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 
 
 All evolution is at once progressive and retro- 
 gressive. 
 
 All modifications of organs and institutions are 
 attended by retrogression. This occurs equally 
 in the modifications of organisms and of societies. 
 All existing forms, whether organic or social, have 
 undergone certain modifications, and, as a result, 
 have lost some parts of their structure. This 
 universality of degenerative evolution may be 
 proved either by the comparative method, or by 
 showing that all organisms contain rudimentary 
 organs, and that all societies contain survivals. 
 
 II 
 
 Degenerative evolution follows no definite path, 
 and can in no way be regarded as constituting a 
 return to the primitive condition. 
 
 In some cases — when one cause of dissolution 
 equally and simultaneously affects all the parts of an 
 institution or an organism — the most complicated 
 and delicate structures are the first to disappear; 
 but it must not be taken as a general principle 
 that the most complicated structures are necessarily 
 320 
 
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 321 
 
 the most recent, and that consequently degeneration 
 always retraces the path of progress. Evolution 
 is irreversible, and accordingly, with a few more 
 or less obvious exceptions, we draw the following 
 conclusions : — 
 
 1. That an institution or an organ which has 
 
 once disappeared never reappears. 
 
 2. That an institution or organ once reduced 
 
 to the condition of a vestige cannot be 
 re-established and resume its former func- 
 tions. 
 
 3. Neither can they assume fresh functions. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Degenerative evolution is brought about by a 
 limitation in means of subsistence — either in 
 nutriment, capital or labour. In biology the prin- 
 cipal if not the sole agents in its accomplishment 
 are the struggle for existence between the various 
 organs, and the struggle for existence between the 
 various organisms. 
 
 In sociology it is artificial selection which is the 
 dominating agent, and natural selection plays only a 
 secondary part. 
 
 The occasional causes of degenerative evolution 
 are inutility of function, insufficiency of nutri- 
 ment or resource, and (in biology only) lack of 
 space. 
 
322 GENERAL CONCLUSIONS 
 
 An institution or an organ which has ceased to 
 be fuactionalj and has also ceased to be useful either 
 directly or indirectly, continues to exist if neither 
 variability or selection intervene. 
 
 THE END 
 
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