136 DARWINISM STATED BY DARWIN HIMSELF. 



into a horse, hardly any light is thrown by the belief in 

 abrupt modifications on the deficiency of connecting links 

 in our geological formations. But against the belief in 

 such abrupt changes embryology enters a strong protest. 

 It is notori ous that the wiagf "f birds a^ d bats, and the 

 legTof horses or other quadrupeds, ar e undistinguishable 

 at an early embryonic P£riod, and tha t they become differ- 

 enHated by insensibly^iie_steps. Embryological resem- 

 BTances oi'aTr~Ends can be accounted for, as we shall 

 hereafter see, by the progenitors of our existing species 

 haying varied after early youth, and haying transmitted 

 their newly acquired characters to their offspring at a 

 corresponding age. The embryo is thus left almost un - 

 affectedLamd seryes as a recofdrofTIi e"^st c o ndition of 

 thejggfiifia^ Hince itli that existing species during the 

 early stages of their development so often resemble an- 

 cient and extinct forms belonging to the same class. On 

 this view of the meaning of embryological resemblances, 

 and indeed on any view, it is incredible that an animal 

 should have undergone such momentous and abrupt trans- 

 formations as those above indicated, and yet should not 

 bear even a trace in its embryonic condition of any sud- 

 den modification, every detail in its structure being de- 

 veloped by insensibly fine steps. 



He who believes that some ancient form was trans- 

 formed suddenly through an internal force or tendency 

 into, for instance, one furnished with wings, will be al- 

 most compelled to assume, in opposition to all analogy, 

 that many individuals varied simultaneously. It can not 

 be denied that such abrupt and great changes of struct- 

 ure are widely different from those which most species 

 apparently have undergone. He will further be com- 

 pelled to believe that many sbructures beautifully adapted 

 to all the other parts of the same creature and to the 



