Human Infancy and the Recapitulation Theory 63 



" . . . there remains a residue . . which may be collected 

 and associated in a category of pithecoid affinities. The flat- 

 ness of the nose, the imperfect power of opposition of the poilex 

 (shown by the mode of grasping in the new-born infant), the 

 straighter lumbar column, the flattened sacrum, the imperfectly 

 extensible hip and knee, the proportionately long upperlimb, 

 the incurved feet (and, in the female, the straighter vagina), 

 may be mentioned as features of this kind . . . further 

 . . . there is no reasonable doubt but that the associations 

 are with the Simidae rather than with their lower congeners 

 among the Primates." 1 



The foetus at the fifth month shows a somewhat greater 

 prominence of the features associated with placental development 

 as such, and the specific human characters are asserting them- 

 selves. The residue of simian characters is very small, so small 

 indeed, that nothing is indicated of man's ancestry beyond the 

 immediately antecedent Simidae. 



It will be seen from this authoritative review of the facts of 

 foetal development that the character of the human foetus is 

 determined chiefly by its particular foetal condition and by its 

 future as an adult human organism. The resemblances to adult 

 existing apes, and presumably to the adult ape-like ancestor, 

 are few and comparatively unimportant, and as far as we can 

 see, are such as might be due to an indirect likeness to this ape- 

 like ancestor by way of the foetus of the latter. This accords 

 with the view of ancestral similarities reported in the preceding 

 chapter as that having the greater weight of authority among 

 biologists. In instituting these comparisons between non- 

 comparable stages, that is, between the human foetus and the 

 adult ape, Duckworth is under the influence of the traditional 

 conception of recapitulation, to which he refers sympathetically 

 in his introductory paragraphs. 



In the chapter following (VIII) the author reports the results 

 of a comparison of certain features in the mode of development of 

 man and the apes in the earlier stages. As we should now expect 

 when corresponding ontogenetic stages between closely allied 

 forms are compared, a striking resemblance is found. And, as we 

 should also expect, the resemblances, though more often with 

 the embryogeny of the ape, are to a less degree, with other and 

 lower mammals. The closeness of this correspondence between 



pp. 188, 190. 



