MAN 177 



invalid. In criticising the plans of would-be re- 

 formers, this fact should not be forgotten. He 

 was a wise man who said " You cannot, by passing 

 an Act of Parliament, make a Vice into a Crime." 



It must, however, be remarked that the doc- 

 trine of degeneracy has lost both in force and in 

 usefulness, by the treatment it has received at 

 the hands of those who have constituted them- 

 selves its popular exponents. Some of these 

 writers have made it but too evident that their 

 criticisms are often captious, and that their defini- 

 tion of degeneracy includes all human failings 

 except their own. The reader who devotes a 

 little attention to the subject will, however, read- 

 ily find an explanation of this: for he will easily 

 recognise, in the popular writers on Degeneracy, 

 the characteristics of the Degenerate, as described 

 by themselves. 



First, the choice of a disagreeable subject, when 

 the whole field of science lay open to them : for 

 the Degenerate prefers a disagreeable subject. 

 Secondly, the almost universal discovery of causes 

 of dissatisfaction, in every possible direction : for 

 the Degenerate is always vexed with everybody 

 except himself. Again, the want of principle 

 shown in appealing to the morbid tastes of the 

 public, by laying before it information on dis- 

 agreeable subjects: for the Degenerate is lacking 

 in principle; what does it matter to him how 

 much harm is done to weak minds by his writings, 

 so long as he sees in such writings a safe means 

 of securing eager readers and liberal pay ? Again, 

 the Degenerate seeks notoriety ; and this is easily 

 secured by writing books that discuss the morbid 

 side of life. 



Above all, the habit of carrying the war of 



