CHAPTER XIII. 



DEGENERACY. 



Degeneracy is a term used to express a tendency toward a de- 

 velopment less perfect or less advanced than that which is normal 

 or healthy. Among the lower animals it is usually used to designate 

 certain forms of parasitism in which a previously active animal at- 

 taches itself to a "host" and then degenerates into an animal capable 

 of existing only as a parasite. In man the word degeneracy is 

 used to express any retrograde condition, such as a deformity, or 

 any congenital weakness of body or mind. Thus, idiots, insane and 

 weak minded persons, epileptics, and the criminal and pauper classes 

 are designated as degenerates. 



In some experimental studies into the causes of degeneracy, 1 

 which were continued for a period of five years, Charin and Cley 

 innoculated rabbits with the bacillus of blue pus and its toxins. The 

 results were not uniform, but the most frequent results were steril- 

 ity, abortion, or immediate death of the progeny. Occasionally 

 the offspring survived, and in rare instances they were healthy. 

 Two rabbits were born of a couple of which the male alone was 

 innoculated with a sterilized culture. Five rabbits were born of 

 these two, of which two were normal, a third was deformed and 

 died in a few days. In the remaining two the ears were mere 

 fragments and one leg of each was much shorter than the other, and 

 ended in a stump without foot or toes. In other cases the bones 

 were shortened and provided with enormous ends. 



(i) Transactions de 1'Institute Pasteur, 1896. 



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