XXX EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 



where the working of the same creative Mind, through all times, and upon the 

 whole surface of the globe, (p. 115) 



The history of the particular type-plan to which an individual be- 

 longed reflected the development of the individual, all such change 

 representing fixed and final products. These embryological con- 

 cepts, predicated on assumptions of final and absolute fixity of types, 

 comprised the only kind of "evolution" that Agassiz could ever ad- 

 mit. Darwin and his followers subsequently attempted to use the 

 concept of recapitulation as support for their doctrines. But as 

 Agassiz and von Baer phrased and understood the notion, it was 

 in fact a conception generally valueless for an understanding of the 

 dynamics of change in populations.^^ 



The persistence of ideal assumptions in the Essay should not ob- 

 scure the fact that it contained some highly valuable statements and 

 guideposts for the study of natural history. For example, the reader 

 is told that "every new fact relating to the geographical distribution 

 of well-known species is as important to science as the discovery of a 

 new species." In this connection, Agassiz urged new directions for 

 zoological research: 



without a thorough knowledge of the habits of animals, it will never be possible 

 to ascertain . . . the true limits of all those species which descriptive zoologists 

 have . . . admitted . . . into their works. . . . what does it matter to science, 

 that thousands of species . . . should be described and entered in our systems, 

 if we know nothing about them? (p. 66) 



In emphasizing the need for research in ecology Agassiz offered im- 

 portant advice to his fellow naturalists: 



Every species is described as if it stood alone in the world. . . . Yet, how inter- 

 esting would be a comparative study of the mode of life of closely allied species. 

 . . . We scarcely possess the most elementary information ... to discuss . . . 

 the question of the instincts, and in general the faculties of animals, and to 

 compare them together and with those of man. . . . Who . . . could believe for 

 a moment . . . that the habits of animals are . . . determined by the circum- 

 stances under which they live, after having seen a little turtle . . . still enclosed 

 in its egg-shell, which it hardly fills half-way, with a yolk bag as large as itself . . . 

 with its eyes shut, snapping as fiercely as if it could bite without killing itself? 

 (pp. 67-68) 



Again, in words striking in their modernity, Agassiz states: 



" See Agassiz's discussion of recapitulation in Chapter II, section 8, and Chapter III, 

 section 6 of the Essay, and especially the notes and references in these sections. 



