Maybe the text is not that malevolent? Perhaps it only refers to the voluntary cultural exchange between the Starved delegation who chose to stay in London. Changes such as styling one's facial-fingers into a trendy moustache, relinquishing their spare limbs for scaling dangerous stalactites in favour of a leaner constitution, or altering their hand-shape to better fit a pen, a gun, a journal, a harpoon, a Crooked-Cross or all five at once. More generous explanations exist, let us not take the least charitable one.