PART III 



CHAPTER I 

 " CONTRE-EVOLUTION " 



" Le progres de la science ne depend pas seulement de la decouverte 

 des faits nouveaux, mais est en r6alite du a leur interpretation correcte." 

 HENRI DE VARIGNY. 



I HAVE already referred to Dr. Rene Larger 's book on 

 Degeneration, and, as I cannot insist enough on the morbidity 

 of predaceous types, it may be useful to consider that author's 

 testimony on the subject. 



At the outset he tells us that Biologists have persistently 

 confounded degenerative with normal characters. Although some 

 Palaeo-Zoologists have spoken of " retrogressive adaptation," 

 he says they have failed to recognise that they are dealing with 

 pathological developments a failure which, according to him, 

 is less pardonable in Palaeontologists who have had a medical 

 training than in those who have not. Somewhat similarly I find 

 fault with Dr. Larger 's stopping short at the mere fact of patho- 

 logical transmission, caused, as he thinks, by " une maladie 

 quelconque." This malady, I affirm, most certainly and most 

 importantly needs specifying, and I believe it to be none other 

 than what I have termed a " parasitic diathesis " due to nutri- 

 tional transgressions and to sluggishness of life, voluntary or 

 involuntary. 



How far is Dr. Larger from such a recognition ! 



He approves to a certain extent of the definition of degenera- 

 tion enunciated by Magnan and Legrain, which is to the effect 

 that a constitutional diminution of psycho-physical resistance has 

 taken place and that losses predominate, except for an occasional 

 regeneration. Of regeneration, however, he will not hear very 

 much, believing its role to be quite subordinate. 



We are exultantly introduced to " Pal eo -pathologic Generale, 

 Comparee." But the author seems as far from an appreciation 

 of Bio-Economics as, according to him, are those whom he, not 

 without reason, styles " Biologistes normaux," are from appre- 

 ciating Pathology. I should, therefore, be inclined to speak of 



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