ATHABASCA
33
ATHANASIAN
to do ^y\th lost characters, e. g. the possession by
man of supernumerary fingers and toes.
II. Atavism is also used to express the tendency to revert to one of the parent varieties or species in the case of a hybrid; this is the ata-\-ism of breeders. Crossed breeds of sheep, for example, show a con- stant tendency to reversion to either one of the orig- inal breeds from which the cross was formed. De Vries distinguishes this kind of atavism as vicinism (Lat. i>!'fm».s, neighbour), and says that it "indicates the sporting of a variety under the influence of others in the vicinity."
III. Atavism is employed by a certain school of evolutionistic psychologists to express traits in the individual, especially the child, that are assumed to be, as it were, reminiscences of past conditions of the human race or its progenitors. A child by its untruthfulness simply gives expression to a state that long since was normal to mankind. Also in the child's fondness for splashing about in water is exhibited a recrudescence of a habit that was quite natural to its aquatic ancestors; this latter is called water-atavism. Many such atavisms are distin- guished, but it hardly needs to be said that they are in many instances highly fantastic. Atavism is com- monly supposed to be a proof of the evolution of plants and animals, including man. Characters that were normal to some remote ancestor, after having been latent tor thousands of generations suddenly re- appear, and thus give a clue to those sources to which the present living forms are to be traced back. Tliat a character may lie dormant for several gener- ations and then reappear, admits of no doubt; even ordinary observation tells us that a grandchild may resemble its grandparent more than either of its immediate parents. But the sudden appearance of a tailed man, for instance, cannot be said to prove the descent of man from tailed forms. Granting that man has really descended from such ancestors, the phenomenon is more intelligible than it would be were no such connexion admitted. But the proving force of atavism is not direct, because teratological phenomena are so difficult to interpret, and admit of several explanations. Darwin, pointing to the large canine teeth possessed by some men as a case of atavism, remarks: "He who rejects with scorn the belief that the shape of his own canines, and their occasional great development in other men, are due to our early forefathers having been provided with these formidable weapons, will probably reveal, by sneering, the line of his own descent".
Atavism is appealed to by modern criminologists to explain certain moral aberrations, that are looked upon as having been at one time normal to the race. Accepting the doctrine that man has, by slow prog- re.ss, come up to his present civilized state from brute conditions, all that is brutish in the conduct of criminals (also of the insane) , is explained by ata- vism. According to this theory degeneracy is a case of atavism. The explanation offered for the sudden reappearance of remote ancestral characters is so intimately connected with the whole question of heredity that it is impossible to do more than in- dicate that most writers on heredity seek this ex- planation in the transmission from generation to generation of unmodified heredity-bearing parts, gennnules (Darwin); pangenes (De Vries); determi- nants (Weismann). (See Heredity.)
Chamberlain, The Child (London, 1900); De Vries, Species and Varieties (Chicago, 1906); Weismann, Vot- trfige iihtr Descendenztheorie (Jena, 1904); tr. by J. A. and M. R. Thompson (London, 1904); Delage, La structure du prutoplasme et les theories 8ur Iheredite et les grands probU-mes de la biologic generale (Paris, 1895); Lombroso, L'homme criminel (Paris, 1895).
Jos. C. Hebrick.
Athabasca, Vicariate Apostolic of (North-west Territories). — ^Suffragan of Saint Boniface; ere'^ted II.— 3
8 April, 1862, by Pius IX. Bounded on the north by
the Vicariate of Mackenzie; on the east and south-
east by the Vicariate of Saskatchewan; on the south
by 55° N. lat. ; on the west by the Rocky Mountains.
The first vicar Apostolic was Bishop Henri Faraud,
O.M.I., b. at Gigondas, France, 17 March, 1828; d. at
Saint Boniface, 26 Sept., 1890; ordained priest at
Saint Boniface, 8 March, 1847; elected 8 May, 1862;
consecrated at Tours, France, 30 Nov., 1864, titular
Bishop of Anamur. He was succeeded by Bishop
Emile Grouard, O.M.I. , titular Bishop of Ibora; b. at
Brulon, Mans, 2 Feb., 1840; ordained priest at Bou-
cherville, 3 May, 1862, elected Bishop of Ibora,
18 Oct., 1890; consecrated at Saint Boniface, 1 Aug.,
1891, and appointed vicar Apostolic. The Oblates
of Mary Immaculate serve all the missions of Atha-
basca. There are 11 stations, 23 priests, 28 Soeurs
de la Providence, 6 Sceurs Crises. Catholics, about
5,000. (See Saint Boniface.)
Le Canada Ecclesiastique (1907); Battandier, Ann. pont, calh., 1907.
John J. a'Becket.
Athanasian Creed, The. one of the symbols of the Faith approved by the Church and given a place in her liturg\', is a short, clear exposition of the doctrines of the Trinity and the Incarnation, with a passing reference to several other dogmas. Unlike most of the other creeds, or symbols, it deals almost exclusively with these two funda- mental truths, which it states and restates in terse and varied forms so as to bring out unmistakably the trinity of Persons in God, and the twofold na- ture in the one Divine Person of Jesus Christ. At various points the author calls attention to the penalty incurred by those who refuse to accept any of the articles therein set dowTi. The follow- ing is the Marquess of Bute's English translation of the text of the Creed: —
Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic Faith. Which Faith except everyone do keep whole and un- defiled, without doubt he shall perish everlast- ingly. And the Catholic Faith is this, that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Ghost is all One, the Glory Equal, the Majesty Co-Eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father Uncreate, the Son Uncreate, and the Holy Ghost Uncreate. The Father Incomprehensible, the Son Incompre- hensible, and the Holy Ghost Incomprehensible. The Father Eternal, the Son Eternal, and the Holy Ghost Eternal and yet they are not Three Eternals but One Eternal. As also there are not Three Uncreated, nor Three Incomprehen- sibles, but One I'ncreated, and One Incompre- hensible. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not Three Almighties but One Almighty. So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not Three Gods, but One God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not Three Lords but One Lord. For, like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge everj' Person by Himself to be God and Lord, so are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say, there be Three Gods or Three Lords. The Father is made of none, neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father, and of the Son:
