Scientific Sophisms. 



the pedigrees of the Homeric heroes in those of 

 an historian. And no wonder ; for, unauthentic 

 and unreal as they are, they are indispensable. 

 Without them the theory of evolution has no 

 pretence to " continuity." But with their aid, 

 although the continuity which they confer is still 

 in nubibus, the argument is rounded with the 

 completeness of a circle. What are the proofs 

 of man's descent from the ape ? The facts of 

 ontogenesis 1 and phylogenesis and their corre- 

 spondence. Where are these facts enumerated ? 

 In the twenty-second chapter of Haeckel's 

 "Natural History of Creation." What is the 

 authority for these facts ? Chiefly this : that 

 they are necessitated by the exigencies of the 

 theory. But where is the demonstrative evid- 

 ence, direct or indirect, that any creatures repre- 

 senting these twenty-two imaginary stages ever 

 existed ? In the majority of instances there is 

 no such evidence ; but they " must have existed," 

 otherwise the theory would be imperfect. 



For example, the Monera, according to 

 Haeckel, are our earliest "ancestors;" and of 

 these it is stated, as if it were a plain historical 



1 Ontogenesis, the history of individual development 

 Phylogenesis, the history of genealogical development. 

 Biogenesis, the history of life development generally, 

 taeckel.) 



