QUESTION OF PHYSICAL DEGENERATION 271 

 VII 



SUMMING UP OF THE EVIDENCE 



I have now given a good deal of evidence on the subject of Adapta- 

 physical degeneracy and it is time to sum up. toenviron- 



In the first place, it is beyond dispute that, as change of condi- ment only 



in i , ,. . a matter of 



tions gradually makes certain characters and qualities unnecessary, time 

 or necessary only in a dwarfed condition, those characters and 

 qualities will tend to dwindle. The barnacle has lost its eyes 

 and its power of motion, the sacculina has lost every feature 

 that gave it grace and dignity, the apteryx has but vestiges of 

 wings, and the fish of the Kentucky caves have become blind. 

 In the same way man must become adapted to his environment. 

 In a world, where adaptation is the rule, it is not likely that 

 theie should be a great and inexplicable exception. Since 

 Natural Selection is still at work even among the most civilised 

 races, it is more reasonable to attribute their strength to that, 

 than to say that they have somehow become or made themselves 

 superior to the laws that prevail throughout the rest of the 

 organic world. As Darwinians we are bound to believe that 

 man will in course of time, however we may account for the 

 process, lose qualities he can dispense with. Thus stated, how- 

 ever, the fact has only an academic interest ; it has no practical 

 bearing. It leaves unsettled what we most want to know, viz., 

 whether the degeneration is likely to be rapid or slow. If it 

 will not begin to be felt till ten million years have passed, then 

 we are all of us so far practical politicians that we shall not 

 trouble about it. If, on the other hand to take the, other 

 extreme each generation is likely to be appreciably feebler 

 than the preceding one, then we shall feel that there is some 

 reason for depression. 



In forming our judgment, we must never lose sight of a fact Protected 

 which the evidence brings out most strongly ; there are certain ^""ted 

 organs which in the civilised man must be sound, though not qualities 

 necessarily so vigorous as in his barbarian ancestors. Among 

 these we may count the heart, stomach, liver, muscles, nerves. 



