276 METAMOBPHOSES OF MAN 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 



GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS. CONCLUSION. 



We have briefly analyzed the three great phenomena 

 presented by the animal kingdom in the development 

 of living beings. Resuming what we have already 

 stated in regard to each of them, we perceive that * 

 transformation presents itself in all, and that it alone 

 is concerned in the development of most of the higher 

 animals. Metamorphosis properly so called, comes 

 next, but it is fundamentally a phenomenon of trans- 

 formation which occurs beneath our eyes, instead of 

 taking place in the depths of the organism, or when 

 concealed by the envelopes of the ovum. Then genea- 

 genesis presents itself; but from being essentially con- 

 nected with the processes of growth and progressive 

 individualization, it is for that reason associated with 

 the two other phenomena. 



Thus we may with certainty repeat what we asserted 

 in the commencement of this work, that transformation, 

 metamorphosis, and geneagenesis, are but three forms 

 of one and the same phenomenon, that they bring 

 about the same consequences, and terminate in the 

 same result. 



The conversion of a rudimentary germ into a com- 

 plete individual is the final end and object of these 

 changes of form and proportions. Hence it follows 

 that general metamorphosis is essentially progressive, 



