" CONTRE-EVOLUTION " 193 



the negroes is due to a high degree of biological integrity, not- 

 withstanding inferiority in other directions. Physiologically, they 

 do not deserve to be classed as an inferior race, and one would 

 rather exclaim with regard to the cause of their immunity to 

 microbic attacks : " vraie noblesse nul ne blesse." Absence of 

 biological integrity and absence of Phagocytosis go together. 

 Thus, as previously noted, in the notoriously parasitic 

 Nematodes, no wandering phagocytes have been discovered, 

 and the same is true of other lowly types. 



When Dr. Larger surmises with regard to the Red Indians 

 that " leur race etait sans doute, degeneree quelque peu, avant 

 la conquete de 1'Amerique, comme 1'etait certainement celle 

 des Asteques," this is merely " repondre en Normand." We 

 want to know the reason, the physiological reason, for this early 

 phase of degeneration. " Over-specialisation " and " Over- 

 Evolution," or " Cont re-Evolution," are mere words explaining 

 nothing. 



It is well known that the class Cephalopoda, comprising the 

 Cuttle fishes, Squids, Pearly Nautilius, etc., are all marine and 

 carnivorous, and it is interesting to learn from Dr. Larger that 

 the study of their past orders has helped to engender some 

 sympathy amongst Palaeontologists with the idea of 



Degenerescence-Maladie : C'est ce qu'exprime clairement un jeune 

 savant frangais prematurement disparu, Felix Bernard : En general, dit- 

 il, les formes ainsi modifiees sont frappees d'une sorte de dibiliti cong&nitale 

 qui les rend mains aptes d la lutte pour la vie et ne donnent pas une longue 

 strie de descendants : c'est ce qui arrive pour les Cdphalopodes devoules 

 qui atteignent une assez grande taille et disparaissent ensuite brusque- 

 ment ; ce fait se produit a diverses epoques et aux depens de groupes 

 distincts. II est accentue surtout pendant la periode Cretacee. II 

 semble, a la fin de cette epoque, que le groupe entier soit malade. 



Bernard's intuition, respecting the morbidity of monstrous 

 size, however, was confined to the Cephalopods, according to 

 Dr. Larger, who here again raises the absurd claim that no one 

 but himself had ever thought of connecting extinction with 

 pathology. Thanks to the law of " Attenuation," so Dr. Larger 

 thinks, a giant animal race, though morbid, may yet remain able 

 to procreate for considerable periods of time. An acromegalic 

 giant, such as an elephant, according to him, suffers merely from 

 monstrosity. It is more or less " en etat d'imminence morbide." 

 It is in a state of grave degeneracy, 



Mais non pas au propre, un malade. C'est ce qui explique comment 



