Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/95

* D£G£N£BACT. 71 S£GEN£RATION. the almshouse if suddenly transported to civ- ilized lite. In primitive life great variations from tiie normal are soon weeded out by Hie ruthless action of natural laws. The feeble- minded soon ])erish without opportunity of propajratiug their kind. In advanced society, with its higher regard for life, the defective has a chance to live, and, if society is sufficiently careless, an opportiuiity to reproduce. Thus tlie Jukes, a notorious New York family, might have attracted no attention in a hunting society, but living in New Vork in the nineteenth century, they cost the taxpayers millions of dollars besides ilie indirect harm of their presence and influence of their example. The individual loses power of adapting himself to changed conditions and sinlcs lower and lower. The question of degen- eracy thus becomes of vital importance to society. Certain forms of degeneracy are relatively of less social importanifc, as, for example, minor physical defects, or those monomaniacs who have ?trange beliefs, gi-otesque obsessions, great an- i-Tiish concerning impossible conditions. Indeed, great deviations from the normal may be ac- companied by unusual power in some line, as, for instance, the musical gifts of 'Blind Tom.' But these may vary from such iucourdinated motor reactions as persistent movements of limbs or face, to kleptomania, impulsion to suicide and homicide. Here the public welfare is again at stake. The greater degrees of degeneracy are repre- sented by the idiot who merely veget.ates. The higher centres are inoperative, the individual totally irresponsible. Among those whose mental functions are in evidence there are still certain physical stigmata. "The cunning look" of the criminal is proverbial. Lombroso and his fol- lowers have sought to classify criminals on this basis. The attempt has not wholly succeeded, but Z. E. Brockway, long superintendent of the Elmira Reformatory, has lately stated his grow- ing conviction that criminals were not normal men physically. Society must in some way dis- cover the line between the normal and respon- sible and the degenerate and irresponsible. It has become clear that there are born criminals, moral imbeciles. There is a difference between the erotic and the immoral man; the kleptomanic and the thief : the homicide and the assassin. Xot until these facts are understood will there be a scientific treatment of the individual who errs. It is a great misfortune that a man should be bom deaf, epileptic, or feebleminded. It is something more than a misfortune if he is al- lowed to grow up and transmit his defects. When it is found that children of deaf parents are likely to be deaf, those of the epileptic to have epilepsy, and the offspring of the feeble- minded to resemble their parents, society must call a halt. Without any greater knowledge of the field than we now have, it is plain that this is the first step to take. The immediate cause of degeneracy may be either individual or social, though the final causes are often beyond our ken. In present society immorality is a fruitful source of degen- eracy. All attempts to regulate it have been futile. Of the effect of this vice there has l)een far too little »tudy. On the best study extant, "The Jukes." Dugdale says: "Fornica- tion, either consanguineous or not, is the back- bone of their habits, flanked on the one side by pauperism, on the other by crime. The second- ary features are prostitution with its comple- ment of bastardy and its resultant neglected and miseducated childhood; exhaustion with its complement, intemperance, and its resultant, un- balanced minds; and dLsease with its coniple- ' ment. extinction." .jiother great cause is in- temperance, though the e.xtent of this is often overstated. "It is at once an effect and cause, a symptom and a source of degeneration." Lazi- ness, with its complement idleness, is likewise a potent factor. .Vmong social causes are enforced idleness, accident with its resultant loss of em- ploi."ment, dangx^rous employments, unhealthful housing conditions, producing weakness tending to dissipation and vice. These causes are per- ceptible, can be got at, and to a large measure be destroyed. The attempts of Nordau and others to class the genius with the degenerate has not succeeded. See Degexebation as a Factor in Evolction. BiBLiOGB.vpiiy. Jlorel, Traite des degineres- cences (Paris, 1857); Lombroso, L'uomo de- linquente (Turin. 1S9G) ; Warner, American Ch'irities (New York. 1894), of special value from a practical standpoint; Gallon, Eereditary Genius (Xew Y'ork, 1871); Dugdale, The Juices (New Y'ork, 1888) ; Nordau, Degeneration (Eng. trans.. New Y'ork. 1895). .See Pauperism; Pe- nology; Social Debtor Classes. DEGENERATION (Fr. degeneration, from Lat. degcnerare, to depart from one's race, to degenerate, from de, away + genus, stock, race, family). In pathology, a term applied to certain tissue changes of a retrogressive character, which are associated with various conditions resulting from age, malnutrition, infectious dis- eases, poisons, etc. The degenerative process may assume several forms which have been named from their special characteristics. Paren- chymatous degeneration, or albuminous degenera- tion, is the type which most often accompanies the infectious diseases. While any of the cells of the bodj' may be affected, those of the liver, kidney, and the epithelial cells of the mucous membranes, suffer most frequently; the cells become swollen, more granular than normal, and may go on to disintegration. Fatty degeneration is the term used to designate a process by which the protoplasm of the cells of various organs is converted into fat droplets. Under certain conditions tissues, especially those in the walls of blood - vessels, are converted into a homo- geneous transparent substance; this form of degeneration is called either hyaline degeneration or amyloid degeneration, according to the micro- chemical reaction of the substance. The term mucous degeneration is used to designate a form of degeneration affecting both cells and inter- cellular substance, and in which the protoplasm is transformed into a translucent substance containing mucin. . similar condition in which the new material is more dense and firm is known as colloid degeneration. Under certain conditions, granules of lime cells are deposited in the tissues, and may be so abundant as to make the tissue hard and brittle, or even bony; the condition thus produced is known as calcareous degeneration, ov infiltration. DEGENERATION as a Factor in EvoLr- TiON. Tlie progressive development of organic