l8o THE STORY OF ANIMAL LIFE 



to the necessity for fresh methods of dealing with 

 these problems ; it is by the patient investigations 

 of scientific men that it has been enlightened. 



Meanwhile, it must not be forgotten that the 

 theory of degeneracy has its cheerful aspect. It 

 enables us to look at the offending fellow-creature 

 who belongs to the criminal classes, as an incom- 

 plete development rather than as a hardened sin- 

 ner. It reminds us, too, that the criminal and the 

 idler of to-day are now, what in the times of 

 savagery and animalism, every man once was. 

 The degenerate criminal, in fact, stands as a land- 

 mark, to point out the progress which has been 

 made by the human race. This was the starting- 

 point, where now he stands. How great the prog- 

 ress that is measured by the distance between 

 him, and the orderly, kindly-hearted citizen of 

 the present age ! 



CHAPTER XVI 



HOW ZOOLOGISTS DO THEIR WORK 



IT is one of the most well-worn of common- 

 place sayings, that " one half the world does not 

 know how the other half lives." It is equally 

 true that one half the world does not know how 

 the other half works ; and especially is this the 

 case when one of the world's halves is its learned, 

 and the other its unlearned, half. The average 

 business man probably has an idea that the man 

 of learning has a pretty easy time of it, and that 

 his most arduous occupation is to enlighten an 

 -attentive world by reading papers at the meetings 



