EVOLUTION. 15 



lancelet ; and so on through forms 1 csembling stages 

 of the embryos of fish, reptile, and quadruped. Not 

 that man is ever a fish or beast, but his embryo and 

 that of a fish at certain periods are almost identical, 

 and each diverges — the fish toward its final form, and 

 man toward a resemblance to the embryo of a higher 

 class, at a period before it assumes its complete 

 shape. 



. Haeckel in *' The Evolution of Man," gives a plate 

 illustrating the development of the fish, salamander, 

 tortoise, chick, hog, calf, rabbit, and man, which 

 shows that at some period there is a correspondence 

 of form between the embryos of each which demon- 

 strates their relationship, and can only be explained 

 by admitting the unity of the nature of all verte- 

 brates. 



What is the meaning of these remarkable facts ? 

 Is it probable that the Creator, after making all things 

 at once in a perfect form, decided that all future 

 structures should pass through all the gradations of 

 lower forms before assuming their designed condi- 

 tions, or do the facts suggest that each hidividtial 

 declares to us the history of its race ? If in twenty-one 

 days the chick passes through the forms common to 

 sponges, shell-fish, fish, and reptiles, does it not sug- 

 gest that its race may have developed through these 

 lower races during vast ages ? If in forty weeks a 

 single man now develops through forms common to 

 all the lower races of animals, may not the race of 



