86 



FACTS AND FANCIES 



to be related to or caused by the improvement 

 of the Hmbs. 



It will be observed that in the above extract, 

 under the formula ** the causes which affected 

 the development of the five-fingered foot . . . 

 must certainly be found," all that other men 

 would regard as demanding proof is quietly 

 assumed, and the animal grows before our 

 eyes from a fish to a reptile as under the 

 wand of a conjurer. Further, the transmission 

 of the five toes is attributed to heredity or un- 

 changed reproduction, but this, of course, gives 

 no explanation of the original formation of the 

 structure, nor of the causes which prevented 

 heredity from applying to the fishes which 

 became amphibians and acquired five toes, 

 or to the amphibians which faithfully trans- 

 mitted their five toes, but not their other 

 characteristics. 



It is perhaps scarcely profitable to follow 

 further the criticism of this extraordinary 

 book. It may be necessary, however, to re- 

 peat that it contains clear, and in the main 

 accurate, sketches of the embryology of a 

 numbei of animals, only slightly colored by 

 the tendency to minimize differences. It may 

 also be necessary to say that in criticising 



