EMBRYOLOGY AND EVOLUTION 



By Edwin Grant Conklin 



Professor oj Biology^ Prijiceton University 



In early times and among primitive peoples all phenomena 

 were regarded as supernatural. The rising and setting of 

 the sun, the sweet influence of the Pleiades, the coming and 

 going of the winds, storms, lightning, thunder — all the 

 phenomena of life, birth, and death — ^were supposed to be 

 directly controlled by gods or spirits. In the course of cen- 

 turies many such events were seen to be natural — that is, 

 lawful or orderly — and were more or less understood, so that 

 gradually the supernatural withdrew to the misty mountain 

 tops of origins. During the last two or three centuries 

 enlightened people everywhere have come to realize that 

 ordinary phenomena occur in accordance with natural laws. 

 But in the matter of beginnings and origins the opinion is 

 still widely held that they do not happen in accordance with 

 nature, but only in response to supernatural action. 



The Nature of Development 



Even such a constantly recurring phenomenon as the origin 

 of the individual human being was by many regarded as a 

 supernatural phenomenon until a little more than a hundred 

 years ago; and even today many intelligent people believe 

 that the mind and soul of every person is supernaturally 

 created, though few, if any, would go so far as to maintain 



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