Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 5.djvu/142

 NOTES AND ABSTRACTS.

Degeneration, Marks of Degeneration, and Atavism. — In the course of development human beings are wont to present, physically and psychically, certain departures from the norm. The kind and degree of these variations are largely influ- enced by general racial and environmental characteristics; where these latter factors are numerous and widely divergent we have a broader range within which normal variation may occur than where the race-type is relatively simple and fixed and the environment comparatively stable. It is this determination of the range of normal variation relative to race and environment which is always a step necessarily preliminary to the discovery of the meaning we are to attach, in a given instance, to the terms found in the title line of this paper. A variation which would fall quite outside this range under one set of conditions might fall clearly within it under another. With this necessity of constant reference to general conditions in mind we may venture upon certain tritative formu- lations embodying, perhaps, essentials of precise definitions to be wrought out with the further progress of science. It is needful to remember also that the terms "degenera- tion," " stigmata," '* atavism," etc., may refer to morphological, physiological, or to psychic phenomena. With perfectly obvious modifications, the statements made here will hold equally well in any one of these three fields. Degeneration is characterized by a marked slowing of the vital activities, together with a lessening power of resist- ance to noxious influences of any kind. There is an increasing tendency of the whole organism toward physical and psychical inferiority. We have to do with a morbid state of affairs which may arise through diseased conditions in the germ from which the organism takes its rise, or through nutritional disturbances in utero, or during the first years after birth. It is through having this pathologic background upon the one hand and through the presence of this lowered vitality upon the other that degeneration is to be distinguished from simple abnormality, which does not of itself imply a proneness of the organism to physical and psychical disease. Degeneration may readily pass over into actual disease, but when it has so done, the disease is not to be called degen- eration. Usually the reduction of the vital activities is accompanied by the presence of certain anomalies — the so-called signs of degeneration or stigmata. These are occasional variations only, and those of the morphologic kind are of little or no func- tional importance ; they appear more frequently than do other variations upon those persons to whom for other reasons we apply the term "degenerates." They are generally found in company with other marks of a similar nature, and are not brought about through gross pathologic changes. Definitely localized affections (tumors, straljismus, nystagmus, etc.), local results of brain or nerve disease, etc., are actual diseased conditions, or symptoms of such, and are not to be reckoned as stigmata, which are evidences of widespread disturbances in the nutritive processes and are not always susceptible of having a definite nomenclature applied to them. In every instance it is necessary to know the precise history of the particular case before deciding whether a given anomaly is to be classed with the signs of degeneration. These marks are of importance only where they appear in considerable number and are developed to a high degree, and even then their precise value is problematical. They furnish an indication of the probable inferiority of their bearer; the larger their number and the more advanced their development, tlie more pronounced may be the statements concern- ing the degeneracy they indicate. With regard to the meaning of atavism there is more uncertainty than concerning that of degeneration. The anatomists and the zoiilogists, who are the most competent judges in the matter, are by no means agreed as to what shall be called an atavism ; and with each forward step in investigation the circle of so-called atavisms constantly narrows. The heart of the whole struggle seems to be that atavism may be real or only apparent. Genuine atavism must be a matter of inheritance. In concrete instances this is a most difficult thing to ascertain. The

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