actually fcxisti;;g wi LCJ :ale that v;e 



are fast approaching the state pictured by him. 



Dr. V. Veresaeff assures us that : " Our olfac- 

 tory organ has become quite rudimentary ; the 

 sensibility of the cutaneous nerves to variations 

 of temperature, and their faculty of regulating 

 the calorification of the body, has become appre- 

 ciably lessened ; the glandular tissue of the 

 female breast is becoming atrophied, consider- 

 able weakening of sexual energy is noticeable, 

 the bones are becoming smaller, the first and the 

 floating ribs show a tendency to disappear, the 

 wisdom teeth have become rudimentary organs 

 and are entirely lacked by 42 per cent, of Euro- 

 peans it is prophesied that the double molars 

 will follow suit, the intestinal duct is ever 

 growing briefer and the army of the bald ever 

 increasing." (" The Confessions of a Physician," 

 p. 211.) 



Dr. W. A. Chappie says : " In New Zealand 

 the ratio of defectives, including deaf and dumb 

 lunatics, epileptics, paralytics, crippled and 

 deformed, debilitated and infirm, has gone from 

 5*4 per thousand over fifteen years, in 1874, to 

 n'4 in 1896, slightly declining to 10*29 in 1901. 

 The ratio of lunatics has gone up from rg in 

 1874 to 3*4 in 1901." ("The Fertility of the 

 Unfit.") 



This would indicate that the decline is far 

 more rapid in the salubrious climate of New 

 Zealand even, than in this country, a fact which 

 makes immediate investigation all the more 

 urgent. As the title of his book implies, Dr. 

 Chappie ascribes this condition to the indiscri- 

 30 



