282 CAUSES OF DEGENERATIVE EVOLUTION 



existence of another institution, certain instances 

 of atrophy do occur which "cannot be said to arise 

 from either want of use or lack of resources. The 

 institution degenerates merely from hindrance 

 offered to the exercise of its functions. Thus, for 

 instance, the laws of exclusion voted in Germany 

 against socialists brought about the decadence, and, 

 ultimately, the downfall of a number of professional 

 and trade associations which cannot be said to have 

 been actually suppressed by law. It is the same 

 with the corporations of Western Flanders ; these 

 have survived the revolutionary laws, but are no 

 longer legally recognized, a state of things leading 

 to many difficulties ; the properties of several of 

 them have been confiscated, as having no owners, 

 and allotted to benevolent institutions. This want 

 of legal recognition must inevitably lead in the 

 near future to the entire disappearance of these 

 vestiges of the corporative system. 



Cases such as these, however, must be regarded 

 as exceptional, and it may be said that, on the 

 broad average, institutions atrophy either from 

 want of use, or from lack of resources. 



1 . Atrophy from want of use. 

 I. FUNCTIONAL INUTILITY. 



(1) Offices in connection with the Port of Bruges > 

 The disorganization of the train service in" a 

 besieged city has already been alluded to as 



