72 THE ASCENT OF THE BODY. 



each new step is attained first the semblance of the 

 Fish, then of the Amphibian, then of the Reptile, last 

 of the Mammal. Of these great groups the leading 

 embryonic characters appear as in a moving pano- 

 rama, some of them pronounced and unmistakable, 

 others mere sketches, suggestions, likenesses of infinite 

 subtlety. At last the true Mammalian form emerges 

 from the crowd. Far ahead of all at this stage stand 

 out three species the Tailed Catarrhine Ape, the Tail- 

 less Catarrhine, and last, differing physically from 

 these mainly by an enlargement of the brain and a 

 development of the larynx, Man. 



Whatever views be held of the doctrine of Evolu- 

 tion, whatever theories of its cause, these facts of 

 Embryology are proved. They have taken their place 

 in science wholly apart from the discussion of theories 

 of Evolution, and as the result of laboratory investi- 

 gation, made for quite other ends. What is true for 

 Man, moreover, is true of all other animals. Every 

 creature that lives climbs up its own genealogical tree 

 before it reaches its mature condition. " All animals 

 living, or that ever have lived, are united together by 

 blood relationship of varying nearness or remoteness, 

 and every animal now in existence has a pedigree 

 stretching back, not merely for ten or a hundred 

 generations, but through all geologic time since life 

 first commenced on the earth. The study of develop- 

 ment has revealed to us that each animal bears the 

 mark of its ancestry, and is compelled to discover its 

 parentage in its own development ; the phases through 

 which an animal passes in its progress from the egg to 

 the adult are no accidental freaks, no mere matters of 

 developmental convenience, but represent more or less 



