ON CREATION OR EVOLDTION. 191 



and almost as remaikable as the possession by the wombat 

 ofsomething- very like the human appendix cteci. The foetal 

 teeth of Bala3nida3, and the generally aborted dentition of 

 the Cetacea and Sirenia, are in keeping with their character 

 of degenerate mammals, which have become aquatic. It is 

 in keeping with this also that an ancient Sirenian from the 

 Tertiary deposits of Jamaica exhibits a distinctly superioi- 

 dentition to those now living, and that the extinct Zeuglodon 

 and Squalodon manifest a similar superiority over any 

 existing Cetacean, whose teeth are simple, numerous, and 

 of one kind. Degeneratiox downwards in the scale of 

 organization may be found as valid an explanation of these 

 characters in man and the lower animals as that of the 

 evolutionist. 



E)/ibri/ologi/ has been left to the last, because in the 

 " evolution of the individual " Ave do actually come upon 

 undoubted evolution or development. Let the evolutionist 

 dwell to his heart's content on the facts of this class, which 

 are clear, open to verification, and undisputed. But in 

 proportion to the fulness and freedom of this study will be 

 the demonstration that if this be evolution, it has no think- 

 able relation to the supposed origin of species or of com- 

 munities by evolution. Vaguest analogy there may be, 

 such as would suit the purpose of a biological teacher for 

 diagrams on the blackboard, but true similarity of process or 

 causation there is none. The supposed origin of species 

 depends for its very existence upon certain factors Avhich all, 

 more or less truly, represent observed facts, and Avhich it is 

 the conspicuous merit of Darwin and Mr. Wallace (in some 

 degree preceded by Mr. Herbert Spencer) to have dis- 

 covered. Wonderful as Avas the insight gained by this 

 discovery, or systematizing of previous discoveries, into the 

 Avorkings of nature, the conclusions draAvn from them are 

 exceedingly insecure. The factors referred to are of course 

 the familiar " struggle for existence," " natural selection " or 

 " survival of the fittest," " heredity," " variation," and one, 

 Avhich is often ignored, extinction. And of these there is only 

 one which can with any reason be applied to the cells of the 

 developing embryo, A^iz. — heredity. The process by Avhich 

 the embryo is dcA^eloped is called " epigenesis,'' or " the 

 successive differentiation of a relatively homogeneous rudi- 

 ment into the parts and structures which are characteristic of 

 the adult," and in the phenomena of ovulation, fertilization 

 of the oA''um, blending of the male and female pronuclei. 



