THE RECAPITULATION THEORY 361 



original contribution, which deserves indeed 

 demands the fullest and most careful considera- 

 tion from all morphologists, and which acquires 

 special interest from the explanation it offers 

 of recapitulation as a mechanical process, through 

 which alone it is possible for an embryo to attain 

 the adult structure. 



That recapitulation does actually occur, that the 

 several stages in the development of an animal are 

 inseparably linked with and determined by its 

 ancestral history, must be accepted. _J!To take 

 any other view is to admit thaL-the structure of 

 animals and the history of their development form 

 a mere snare to entrap oui judgment." Em- 

 bryology however is not to be regarded as a 

 master-key that is to open the gates of knowledge 

 and remove all obstacles from our path without 

 further trouble on our part;, it is rather to be 

 viewed and treated as a delicate and complicated 

 instrument, the proper handling of which requires 

 the utmost nicety of balance and adjustment, and 

 which, unless employed with fhe greatest skill and 

 judgment, may yield false instead_o_true results. 



Embryology is indeed a most powerful and 

 efficient aid, but it will not, and cannot, provide 

 us with an immediate or complete answer to the 

 great _ridolle_- of life. Complications, distortions, 

 innumerable_and bewildering, confront us at every 

 step, and the progress of knowledge has so far 

 served rather to increase the number .and magnitude 

 of these_pit falls than to teach us how to avoid them. 

 Still JhereJ^ no cause for despair far from it. 



