GERMS NOT IDENTICAL. 109 



Avriter, and at least one other,* have brought for- 

 ward : it is, that I assume, not only that the organic 

 germs of all creatures are alike, but that they are 

 identical. The Edinburgh Review brings a con- 

 tradiction to this proposition from Dr. Clark. It 

 is wholly unnecessary, for no such assumption was 

 ever made by me. The phrase used in the book 

 was, " Its primarj" positions [meaning the doctrines 

 of embrA'onic development] are that the embryos 

 of all animals are not distinguishably different 

 from each other ;" which is a very different pro- 

 position. In several other instances, propositions 

 are thus misrepresented to afford the glorj^ of a 

 %-isionary refutation. For example : the idea that 

 there being light in the planets, any inhabitants 

 of these orbs may be presumed to have eyes, as 

 eyes bear a relation to light, is met by him very 

 gravely with the fact, left for him to discover, that 

 animals have eyes before they are bom ! 



I have now reviewed the vestiges of creation, 

 presented in both the geological and physiological 

 records, the former presenting memorials of the 

 actual progression of species, in nearly such a con- 

 formity with the general arrangements of the 

 organic kingdoms as we might expect in the pre- 

 * North American Review, April 1845. 



