MAN 173 



seen existing in the adult, as a gap or open space 

 in the neck, called by the medical man "cervical 

 fistula": this is an instance of degeneracy in the 

 body. Take, for another instance, the klepto- 

 maniac, who snatches up everything he takes a 

 fancy to, although he is not in want. This is 

 degeneracy of the mind, a relic of savage nature 

 out of place in civilised man. Yet the gill-space 

 is an ancestral feature which has its right time to 

 appear, though it is out of place in the adult; 

 and the " want-to-snatch " stage, as we have al- 

 ready seen, is quite natural in the young child. 

 A parallel instance to the last is that of the 

 hysterical girl who invents all sorts of tales about 

 her harrowing adventures, weaving in stories she 

 has heard of other people, with an account of 

 her own life. She is an impostor; but her in- 

 stinct for weaving yarns is that of the savage, 

 who is the more admired by his fellows the more 

 he can show himself a liar. Even the dangerous 

 criminal, such as the Anarchist assassin, is com- 

 parable with the treacherous savage, who stabs 

 his guest, and with the fierce animal that bites 

 the hand that feeds it. 



The causes of degeneracy may seem obscure. 

 But if we turn to our gardens, how easily is the 

 process understood ! Leave a cultivated plant to 

 look after itself; neither watered, nor manured, 

 nor weeded; and how long will it be before tha 

 plant resembles its wild ancestors ? The flower 

 will be less fine, the leaves more weedy ; the 

 whole aspect of the plant is changed. The 

 causes : insufficient food and water, and the 

 struggle for root space, standing-room, and light, 

 with the weeds around it. Just in like manner 

 the human being, when unfed, unwashed, and 



