the ants live and obtain nutriment, not only at the ends of the leaflets, but also in a thorny gland which is situated upon the petiole.

5. Adaptation to drought.

In places where rain seldom falls, plants are provided with natural reservoirs of water. These reservoirs are situated either in the roots or the stems and occasionally in the leaves. Where the leaves are fleshy, these reservoir leaves are generally very simple in forma

FIG. 49.-Growing point of Semper- tion. Those of Sempervi

vivum arachnoideum.

vum and of several other

genera arise directly from the primordial, nondifferentiated leaf, and there is no differentiation into hypopod, epipod and petiole (fig.

49).

See further

on (fig. 73), p. 236 (Sempervivum tec

torum).

FIG. 50-Branch of Caragana.

6. Adaptation to defence against herbivorous animals.-Thorns are an adaptation which serve as a protection against herbivorous animals. They

are derived from the modifications of various parts of the plant, either the roots, stems, leaves, or even of the floral stems.

This modification is always accompanied by some degeneration; the thorn, which is quite hard, ex

FIG. 51.-Mamillaria elephantidens (after Lemaire? The figure is taken from Goebel, Pflanzenbiologische Schilderungen, vol. i., p. 71).

cepting at the point, is made up of thick-walled cells from which the protoplasm has disappeared.

Leaf thorns arise from the modification of various parts of the leaves-either of the stipules (as in Caragana), the petioles (id.) (fig. 50), or of the

blade (as in Ilex). In each case the leaf partially retains its assimilating function and its chlorophyll.

In other plants, however, and especially in Cacti, and the fleshy-leaved Euphorbias, the leaves exhibit further evidences of degeneration, their function being exclusively one of defence (fig. 51).

CHAPTER II

IN THE EVOLUTION OF INSTITUTIONS ALL MODIFICATION IS NECESSARILY ACCOMPANIED BY

DEGENERATION

THE distinction we have drawn between the homodynamic organs of an organism, and the homologous organs of organisms belonging to other species, is not applicable in sociology, as we have already pointed out in the introduction. Institutions, however, may be regarded from two distinct standpoints from a statical point of view, as they exist in the same society, and from the dynamical point of view, as existing from epoch to epoch, and from society to society. In both cases, we shall arrive at the same conclusion as in biology, that all modification entails degeneration.

In order to demonstrate this we will examine in succession the modifications undergone by the principal types of financial organizations now exist

ing in Europe, and the most important stages in the evolution of landed property amongst various peoples.

§ 1. Modifications of similar institutions in the

same society.

The financial organization of European towns and states has undergone very important changes since the middle ages. Taxes and duties have attained a now universal importance, as substitution for the revenue from crown lands, which constituted the principal, if not the only, resources of the sovereigns of the feudal ages.1

1 There are three stages in the evolution of financial systems in countries (such as England, for instance) where the question of finance has been most successfully dealt with.

1. The Feudal System, wherein the king had no separate revenue apart from the nation, and wherein the revenue of the sovereign was principally derived from crown land, the cultivation and administration of which was carried on as a source of private income to the king.

2. The Co-existence of the Feudal System and the Modern System, viz., the disappearance of personally held land and its attendant institutions, the development of the public property of the State or Township, and the imposition of duties and taxes.

3. The Modern System, viz., the complete separation of the personal property of the sovereign from the property of the nation, the increasing importance of taxes and duties, and the almost complete disappearance of State and town lands. Industries taken over by the State-such as railways, postal and telegraphic arrangements, etc.—and by the towns-such as gas, water, etc.-constitute monopolies, and are no longer subjected to the law of competition which is always active in private business. — WAGNER,

Here, too, we find that all modification is attended by degeneration. As a demonstration of this, we will examine in succession-firstly, the Communal budgets of Belgium; secondly, the State budgets of the States which compose the German Empire; thirdly, the budgets of Germany, England, and France, regarded as belonging to one group-the Western Republic of Auguste Comte.

I. The Communal Budgets of Belgium.

Collective property in its archaic form still exists, in spite of considerable modifications in certain parts of the Ardennes, of the Fagne, and of Lower Luxembourg.1

At Wanlin, for instance, the collective property constitutes nearly one-half of the land-220 hectares, of which 130 is arable land, and 90 is woodland. The arable land is divided into allotments, apportioned among the heads of the various families every eighteen years, for which they pay an annual rent of 10 francs. There are no taxes or communal duties, the revenue derived from this public property being sufficient without them.

This economic and fiscal system, suitable to a scattered and agricultural people, existed formerly throughout the whole country, but the increase in population and cultivation of the land have almost

1 Paul Errera, Les Masuirs. Historical and judicial researches in the vestiges of the old territorial system of Belgium. Brussels, Weissenbruch, 1891.