44 MORAL CONDITION OF THE CHILD 



WHAT DOES THE BOOK OF LIFE TELL Us OF A CHILD 

 AT THE TIME OF ITS ENTRANCE INTO THE WORLD ? 



That book presents us with an animal, indis- 

 tinguishable up to this point from the other ani- 

 mals that inhabit the earth. I now quote at large 

 from Prof. Edward Porter St. John, who is an 

 authority good enough in science and religion to 

 have his findings in the Sunday School Journal. 



" Every human being begins his existence in 

 the form of a one-celled germ, which is anatom- 

 ically and biologically very like the lowest forms 

 of animal life that are known. Later the embryo 

 takes on a wormlike character. This is followed 

 at about the third week of development by what 

 embryologiste universally call the fish stage. The 

 body is elongated, there are four finlike limbs, the 

 lungs appear only as a bladder-like rudiment, and 

 the neck is furnished with gill slits. There are 

 other resemblances in the shape of the brain and 

 face. 



"At about the beginning of the third month 

 the gills have disappeared, the lungs have de- 

 veloped, and the limbs have taken on marked char- 

 acteristics of reptilian life. At the fourth month 

 the spine has the double curve of the lower verte- 

 brates. In the sixth month the whole body, except 

 the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet 

 and a few other small spots, is covered with a fine, 

 dark hair, known as the lanugo. The direction of 



