172 UNIVERSALITY OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 



and in some of the Volvocineae (Stephanosphsera, 

 Eudorina). 



Plainly then, the further one examines the facts, 

 the more enlarged becomes the conception of de- 

 generative evolution. It is not confined to unusual, 

 abnormal or pathological cases. Degeneration is 

 not an accident in evolution : it is the obverse of 

 progressive evolution and the necessary complement 

 of every transformation whether anatomical or 

 social. 



Whatever transformation may be studied, it will 

 be found that change is always accompanied by an 

 elimination of some parts and that in the interests 

 of the organism as a whole these useless parts 

 gradually degenerate. When a whole organization 

 begins to undergo retrogressive evolution and to 

 decay, it is frequently in the interests of some still 

 larger organization. Individuals or species out of 

 harmony with their surroundings disappear to make 

 room for others. August Comte has shown how 

 death is a progressive agency in the social organi- 

 zation removing the worn-out tissues and leaving 

 room for new and more plastic intelligences. All 

 progress implies necessary eliminations. In the 

 domain of society, those who are victims and who 

 from birth, education, or interests, attach themselves 

 to the decaying institutions naturally see only the 

 degenerative side of the change ; but those who 

 regard the process as a whole and do not concentrate 

 their attention upon the injured interests and 



