Darwinism 



the same line which all its ancestors have traced 

 and lengthened from earliest time to the day 

 when the fully developed fowl appeared. It 

 must pass successively through vermian, fish, 

 and reptilian stages. It is not the straightest 

 line of development, but it is the most natural 

 and perhaps the only possible. If the evolution 

 theory be true, it is to be expected that onto- 

 genesis or the embryonic development of the in- 

 dividual will recapitulate phylogenesis, the evo- 

 lution of the species or larger group. 



But ontogenesis, or embryonic development, 

 occupies a few days or months. Phylogenetic, 

 or racial development, required ages. The em- 

 bryonic development must be hastened as much 

 as possible. Stages which can be slurred over 

 or crowded out will gradually disappear. Short 

 cuts will be taken wherever possible. The re- 

 capitulation will not be complete or exact. But 

 certain stages will reappear with great clearness. 



This general parallelism between the develop- 

 ment of the race and that of the individual has 

 always been rightly emphasized as one of the 

 strongest possible arguments for the truth of the 

 theory. It Is quite inexplicable by any other 

 theory. The geological succession is a second 



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