ontogeny a habit 49 



repeated as to be acted without hitch or 

 hesitation save perhaps in the cases of its 

 latest amendments. 



And now two or three last remarks by 

 way of summary and conclusion. 



No doubt when we try to ascertain the 

 details of this process the difficulties in our 

 way are, as Dr Francis Darwin candidly 

 allows, " of a terrifying magnitude." But in 

 all exploration the first thing is to secure, if 

 possible, a general survey, a bird's eye view 

 of the whole. If we are to see the wood, 

 we cannot be among the trees. Now it is 

 entirely with this preliminary problem that 

 we have been concerned ; and as befits such 

 an inquiry we have tried — not to scrutinize 

 the details of life — but to look at it as a 

 real, concrete whole. Such a whole implies 

 continuity: absolute breaks are impossible. 

 Leibniz's maxim, Natwa nan facit saltus, 



4 



