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2. INSIGNIFICANCE OF THE RUDIMENTARY ORGAN. It frequently happens that rudimentary organs are preserved simply on account of their insignificance : the absence of organs so small would not be an advantage to the plant sufficiently great to be laid hold of by natural selection.

Many species of Tropaeolum bear leaves without

FIG. 84. Two seedlings of Phyllanthus speciosus,
1, 2, 3, 4, successive assimilating branches; c, cotyledons.

stipules. In Tropaeolum majus there are stipules only in the case of the first two leaves of the seedling, and the position of these stipules is very variable. Sometimes both stipules are at the base of the petiole; sometimes only one is present; sometimes both are several millimetres from the base-a position in which functional stipules never

occur.

In the same way may be explained the persistence of accessory rudiments of enamel organs in the development of teeth. Besides the rudiments of the enamel organs for the milk teeth and permanent teeth, there are additional organs present in a very variable condition and number, nearer the external surface. They are, however, very generally present, and are exceedingly similar to the youngest stages of the normal enainel organs. Kollmann and Gegenbaur believe that they are abortive rudiments surviving from an ancestral condition in which teeth were more numerous.

CHAPTER II

THE SURVIVAL OF INSTITUTIONS

WE have seen that an institution which ceases to be functional without dissolution-either voluntary or enforced ensuing, tends to atrophy and disappear, while its resources are appropriated by other institutions. It now remains to account for the fact that this atrophy does not generally end in total disappearance. The two following hypotheses may be made :—

1. The structure of a non-functional institution may remain intact.

2. The institution may survive, but in a rudimentary condition.

§ 1. The integral persistence of an institution.

A non-functional institution may survive and retain its structure and resources in the following

cases :

1. By the intervention of some superior authority to prevent its suppression.

2. When, while ceasing to be functional, it continues to be useful, though indirectly so. 3. When its existence is maintained out of respect for old traditions.

We will take these three hypotheses in succession, but it must be borne in mind that when a nonfunctional institution is maintained out of respect. to tradition, or by virtue of an indirect usefulness, it is always by the intervention of legal authority. This legal authority, however, amounts to an expression of the public will, whereas an institution may also be maintained by the exercise of personal influence on the part of some one person.

It sometimes happens, too, that a non-functional institution continues to survive because its suppression would entail important changes in other parts of the social organization.

1. MAINTENANCE BY COMPULSION. -A useless institution is frequently maintained by compulsion, when its conservation is advantageous to those connected with it, or even to other persons.1

The following are a few examples of this :—

1 Spencer, Principles of Sociology, vol. iii.

(a) A long list might be made of all the sinecures, now quite useless, that some governments insist upon maintaining for the advantage of those occupying the posts. Such were certain offices in connection with the Court in former days or the avoueries of the end of the middle ages.

"Like the Fief system," says Errera, when writing about the Massuirs, "The avouerie afforded an effective protection-military as well as judicialagainst the various dangers arising in a still barbaric age. But, in the course of the last centuries of the middle ages, the obligations of feudal chiefs and the condition of avouerie disappeared; the reasons were that relative security was attained; militia was established, and the army, under the command of the sovereign himself, became better disciplined; and that there arose the organization of the justices scabinales, of bailiwicks, and of superior courts of justice. However, although the ancient offices disappeared, the emoluments attached to them continued to be drawn.1

(b) It often happens that institutions which have ceased to be functional are yet maintained as being a source of profit not only to those in direct connection with them, but to a considerable number of other persons.

Before the Reform Bill of 1832, when large towns like Leeds, Birmingham, and Manchester were unrepresented in Parliament, the House of

1 Errera, Les Massuirs, p. 75. Brussels, Weissenbruch, 1892.

Commons contained seventy members, nominated by thirty-five rotten boroughs in which there were no electors, and ninety members nominated by forty-six boroughs, containing less than fifty electors.

The borough of Old Sarum was a mere hillock belonging to Lord Canalford; Gatton and S. Michael had only seven electors; the borough of Dumwich had been long since submerged by the encroachment of the sea; Beeralston, belonging to Lord Beverley, consisted of one house, and Castlerising of two. In the county of Bute there were twentyone electors, only one of whom was a resident and who nominated himself.

The preservation of this system of representation which had long ceased to be adequate, was eminently favourable to the few persons who benefited by it, and they vigorously resisted the passing of the Reform Bill.

(c) After the provincial states of Normandy and the Dauphiny had been suppressed, the state functionaries retained their titles and emoluments.

In the Dauphiny the representative institutions ceased to be functional in 1627, but at the close of the eighteenth century the Bishop of Grenoble continued to receive 6000 livres per annum as primate of the dominion. Two barons, delegates of the nobility, shared a similar salary, and the Syndic of the province and two secretaries received lesser emoluments from the province which continued

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