BOOK III 



CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE 

 EVOLUTION 



PART I 



ATROPHY OF ORGANS AND INSTITUTIONS 



The factors of atrophy 



THE causes which are active in producing degenera- 

 tion are various, but they may all be referred to the 

 limited nature of the means of subsistence, that is 

 to say, of nourishment in the case of organisms, 

 and of capital and labour in the case of institu- 

 tions. This limitation produces a struggle between 

 the individuals (societies or organisms) and between 

 their component parts. 



In the course of the perpetual struggle for 

 existence among the different parts of an indivi- 

 dual, the institutions or organs which have ceased 

 to be functional tend to disappear, their nourish- 

 ment being absorbed by the active parts. 



1. Biology. In biology the struggle for existence 

 among component parts appears clearly as a factor 

 of degeneration in the case of accidental atrophy. 

 This is to be seen, for instance, in the atrophy of 



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