CONSTANCY OF OLD SPECIES 155 



botli is due to various causes ; but it is never the result of an 

 inherent constitutional necessity. The talk about the decay of 

 old civihsations is based on a misconception of scientific fact. 

 It may be true that the so-called Latin races are decaying 

 to-day ; but this decay is not to be traced to any physiological 

 necessity such as senile decay. In the first place, it cannot be 

 accurately said that Italy, which has made such extraordinary 

 economic and social progress since its unification in 1870, is a 

 decaying nation ; the very reverse is the case. And if Spain 

 be undoubtedly decadent, the cause is, again, a complete failure 

 to adapt itself to modern social conditions — a failure which, in 

 turn, can be traced to that persistent inverse selection which, 

 during three centuries, systematically destroyed all that was of 

 value in the intellect of the Spanish nation. As to France, it 

 has yet to be shown that she is really decadent ; and if she should 

 succumb in the struggle for European hegemony, it will not be 

 because of inherent incapacity for further efiort ; but simply 

 because other and rival nations are more prolific, and, if not 

 intrinsically more intelhgent, at all events more methodical 

 in their intellectual aims and endeavours. Method also has its 

 value in the struggle for existence. 



To sum up, we may say that a frequent cause of the extinction 

 of species is that crises occur, in which old and constant species 

 are not allowed time enough to readapt themselves to modified 

 conditions. On the determinant theory, this failure to effect 

 readaptation is quite intelligible. The characters of the species 

 are more stable than the character of the individual ; and the 

 older a character is, the more persistent it is. If a species 

 has been adapted for a long time to certain conditions, and if 

 a change is suddenly effected in these conditions — ^if, for instance, 

 a new and rival species, which reproduces itself more rapidly, 

 or which possesses greater intelligence, enters the field, then 

 the older species will often not have time to readapt itself to 

 these new conditions ; its determinant complex is too firmly 



