oS THE DARWINIAN HYPOTHESIS ey ; 
yet, at the outset of his studies, he finds that no 
adaptive reason whatsoever can be given for one- 
half of the peculiarities of vegetable structure. 
He also discovers rudimentary teeth, which are 
never used, in the gums of the young calf and in 
those of the foetal whale; insects which never 
bite have rudimental jaws, and others which 
never fly have rudimental wings; naturally blind 
creatures have rudimental eyes; and the halt 
have rudimentary limbs. So, again, no animal or 
plant puts on its perfect form at once, but all have 
to start from the same point, however various the 
course which each has to pursue. Not only men 
and horses, and cats and dogs, lobsters and 
beetles, periwinkles and mussels, but even the 
very sponges and animalcules commence their | 
existence under forms which are _ essentially 
undistinguishable ; and this is true of all the 
infinite variety of plants. Nay, more, all living 
beings march, side by side, along the high road of 
development, and separate the later the more like 
they are ; like people leaving church, who all go 
down the aisle, but having reached the door, some 
turn into the parsonage, others go down the 
village, and others part only in the next parish. 
A man in his development runs for a little while 
parallel with, though never passing through, the 
form of the meanest worm, then travels for a 
space beside the fish, then journeys along with 
the bird and the reptile for his fellow travellers : 
