112 REVERSION, NOT A LAW, SUI GENERIS. 



member; — the only difference being, in the amount of 

 time taken to operate. In the one case, the reintegra- 

 tion occurs immediately, or in the same generation, in 

 which the loss of structural integrity occurred ; and, in 

 the other case, the reintegration is deferred, owing to 

 the absence of favorable conditions, for several, or for 

 many generations. 



"It is notorious," says Darwin, "and we shall im- 

 mediately adduce proofs, that increased use or action 

 strengthens muscles, glands, sense-organs, &c. ; and, 

 that disuse, on the other hand, weakens them. I have 

 not met with a clear explanation of this fact, in works 

 on Physiology. Mr. Herbert Spencer maintains that, 

 when muscles are much used, or when intermittent 

 pressure is applied to the epidermis, an excess of 

 nutritious matter exudes from the vessels, and that 

 this gives additional development to the adjoining 

 parts." 



It may be remarked, en passant, that Mr. Herbert 

 Spencer never yet failed to explain (?) any phenomena, 

 where language was capable of converting a mere re- 

 statement of the facts, into the semblance of a vera causa. 



The greater efficiency in function, and the greatejr 

 development in structure, which follow greater ac- 

 tivity, are fully explicable, upon the view, that this 

 greater efficiency and greater development, were 

 once part of the perfect coordination of the organ- 

 ism, either in the individual itself, or in its ances- 

 tors; that the organism has degenerated; and that 

 the organism has ever been striving, — as Darwin 

 asserts Reversion to be ever striving, in the off- 

 spring of each successive generation, — to bring into 



