56 EVOLUTION 



new features have been added on as adapta- 

 tions to novel conditions. The recapitulation 

 is seen more in the stages in the development 

 of organs than in the development of the 

 organism as a whole, and the reason for this 

 is obviously to be found in the individuality 

 or specificity of every creature. Increased 

 precision of embryological work discloses 

 individual characteristics even in early stages 

 of development; indeed, a skilled embryolo- 

 gist (exaggerating a little in his turn) has 

 said that even a blind man could distinguish 

 embryos of the duck from those of the fowl 

 as early as the second or third day of in- 

 cubation. The developing frog is in many 

 ways like a developing fish, for instance, as 

 regards its heart and circulation, but it is 

 none the less, from almost the very outset, an 

 amphibian and nothing else. 



It must also be frankly stated that we are 

 apt to get into a vicious circle in arguing 

 about recapitulation. We infer the pedigree 

 from the development, and then say that the 

 development recapitulates the pedigree. But 

 this is not quite so bad as it seems, since no 

 racial history or phylogeny is worth consid- 

 ering for a moment that does not show 

 the anatomical affiliation of actual forms, 

 whether living or fossil, and embryological 

 investigation cannot do more than suggest 



