BOOK I 



UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE 

 EVOLUTION 



PART I 



DEGENERATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF INSTITUTIONS 

 AND ORGANS 



THE term " Evolution " does not in itself convey 

 an idea of either progress or degeneration. It 

 comprises all the changes undergone by an 

 organism or society independently of the ques- 

 tion as to whether these changes are favourable 

 or otherwise. The evolution of an organ, or of 

 the different parts of an organ, is degenerative if 

 it tends to the ultimate decay of that organ or of 

 its parts, and the facts are shewn by means of 

 arranging series of fossils or living forms, and com- 

 paring them. Evolution is progressive if it tends 

 to the development of an organ or to the formation 

 of a new organ. 



These definitions may be applied mutatis 

 mutandis to the changes undergone by societies 

 and institutions or their constituent parts. 



The ideas of progress and of degeneration seem 

 at first sight to relate to diametrically opposite 

 phenomena. The term " progressive evolution " 



