48 THE MEANING OF EVOLUTION 



for the future development of that egg no man has 

 yet clearly said. This is not to say that we shall 

 never know, still less is it to say that this can never 

 be known. Ralph Waldo Emerson has said that there 

 is no question propounded by the order of nature 

 which the order of nature will not at some time solve. 

 If he is right, and I believe he is, we shall at some 

 time know how it is that this egg produces this snail. 

 But, as I said before, nothing but the frequency with 

 which the process goes on under our eyes could pos- 

 sibly blind us to the marvel of it. 



The regularity with which each animal reproduces 

 its kind is no more surprising than the faithfulness 

 of that reproduction. Some of our birds have won- 

 derful markings on their plumage. It is astonishing 

 to see with what fidelity the feather of a bird may 

 reproduce the corresponding feather of its parent. It 

 will occur to everyone how, in the human family to 

 which he belongs, there is some little peculiarity which, 

 while not appearing in every member of the family, 

 when it does appear is remarkably uniform. It may 

 be only the droop of an eyelid, it may be a tendency 

 to lift one side of the lip more than the other, it may 

 be the peculiar shape of a certain tooth in the set, 

 and yet when it appears it comes with astonishing 

 similarity in all who possess it. So much for the 

 principle of Heredity. 



