DEGENERATION RETRACES STEPS OF PROGRESS 177 



particular, has shown this in his investigations into 

 the degeneration of writing and speech. 1 



In a lecture on the evolution of language, de- 

 livered at the University of Brussels, he said as 

 follows : " For several years I have studied the 

 degenerative evolution of writing, and I have 

 shown how the writing of the insane resembles 

 that of children. All that I have said with 

 regard to writing applies to speech, and just as 

 drawing lasts longer than writing, so rhythm and 

 music survive after the power of expressing ideas 

 by words has been lost." " The gradual degenera- 

 tion of speech may be traced in the case of old 

 men who gradually pass down the incline into 

 senility. Study of the speech of such persons 

 shows that the degeneration of their faculty re- 

 traces the steps by which it had been progressively 

 acquired." 



The labours of Heger were in a field where the 

 social element was important. It is a small step 

 from them to social affairs themselves. A number 

 of authors, including Ferrero, Colajanni and Degreef, 

 base their ideas upon this law of retrogression, which 

 they regard as established and applying to sociologi- 

 cal phenomena. 2 



1 Sur Involution Regressive de I'jZcriture chez certains alitnts 

 (Bull, de la SocttU d'Anthropologie de Bruxelles, v., 1885-1886). 

 Sur Involution du Langage (Revue Universitaire, Bruxelles, 1892- 

 1893, p. 143). 



2 Degreef, Le Transformisme Social. F. Alcan, Paris, 1895, 

 p. 365. 



M 



