Human Infancy and the Recapitulation Theory 65 



A significant suggestion which was to lead to a better under- 

 standing of this transition, had already been made in an essay- 

 by Wallace, Darwin's co-discoverer of the descent theory. This 

 essay appeared in 1864, 4 and presented the idea that for a long 

 period in the history of man's immediate ancestors natural 

 selection had been slowly transferring from the body to the mind, 

 so that by the time of the final emergence of the human species 

 man's bodily evolution had been practically completed for all 

 time, his future evolution being destined to take place along 

 intellectual and moral lines. That is to say, the transition from 

 the ape-like to the human condition had been chiefly in the 

 region of mind and the nervous system. 



It is in this connection that Fiske's theory of infancy became 

 prominent. Fiske's thought in this direction was taking form as 

 early as the year 1873, as we learn from a paper published in the 

 North American Review for that year. A more complete state- 

 ment appeared in the Cosmic Philosophy of 1875, an independent 

 and constructive presentation of the Spencerian philosophy for 

 American readers. Fiske's views were reiterated with insigni- 

 ficant modifications in his later writings. 5 



The argument of the theory runs as follows. There is an 

 increase in the amount of nerve tissue of the cephalic ganglia, 

 and in the convolutions of the cerebral surface, paralleled by an 

 increase in the higher psychical powers, in the vertebrate scale 

 from lower to higher forms. These higher powers are associated 

 with the compounding and co-ordinating of already compounded 

 nerve connections in the lower centers. Whereas among the 

 lower vertebrates the uniformity and repetition of identical 

 responses to environment brings about a fixed and determined 

 reflex and instinctive organization of nerve tracts in the individu- 

 al, which are transmitted to descendants, the responses of higher 

 vertebrates are so complex, so lacking in uniformity, that repeti- 

 tion of any specific mode is insufficient to fasten upon the indi- 

 vidual and his descendants fixed modes of action. There arises 

 accordingly among such animals a plastic condition of the higher 

 nerve connections which requires time in the early years of life 



« Reprinted in Natural Selection and Tropical Nature, chap. VIII. 



« Vol. II, Chap. XVI and XXII. For later statements, see Excursions of an Evolu- 

 tionist, Chap. XII; Destiny of Man, 35-76. Anticipations of Fiske's idea have been 

 pointed out by Butler, Armstrong, and others. See Phil. Ben., Vol. 15, p. 59. 



