that fish are the original progenitors of all other verte- 

 brates. Hence the five-joint limbs of the latter must have 

 developed from the fins of fish. This derivation was actu- 

 ally attempted but without success, as Fleischmann points 

 out at considerable length. By means of citations taken 

 from the writings of Darwinian adherents, he illustrates the 

 confusion which even now reigns among them on this mat- 

 ter. The evolution of the remaining vertebrates from the 

 fish is therefore a wholly gratuitous assumption devoid of 

 any foundation in fact. 



Fleischmann further discusses the "parade-horse" of 

 the theory of Descent. It has been the common belief, es- 

 pecially fostered by Haeckel, that the history of the De- 

 scent of our present horse lies before us in its complete in- 

 tegrity as pictured in the drawings of Marsh. Here Fleisclt 

 mann again proves at great length the insufficiency of ac- 

 tually available materials. Of special importance is his re- 

 peated demand that not only individual parts of the animals 

 but the whole organism as well should be derived from the 

 earlier forms. If, for instance, it be possible to arrange 

 horses and their tertiary kindred in an unbroken line of de- 

 scent according to the formation of their feet, whilst the 

 other characteristics (teeth, skull-structure, etc.,) do not 

 admit of arrangement in a corresponding series, the first 

 line must be surrendered. 



Very similar to this is the case of the "family history 

 of birds," which as all know, has been traced back to rep- 

 tiles. It is in this matter that the famous Archaeopteryx 

 plays an important part. Unfortunately, however, grave 



126 



