522 
Phenomena of Ontogenesis 
[October, 
geological development of the groups concerned.” In 
another place he says — “The individual development of the 
Cladomena , and other Meduscz similarly propagated, corre- 
sponds with the systematic series of the Medusa polypes.” 
He gives many other instances of parallelism of individual 
and racial development among the lower forms of life. 
But the crowning faCt of all is that the vegetable world 
conforms to the same law. A little further on, in the same 
chapter, Oscar Schmidt remarks — “Quite recently A. Braun 
has pointed out the accordance of the botanical system, and 
therewith of palaeontological succession, with the develop- 
ment of the individual plant, when he says : — In the further 
elaboration of the Natural system, the gradation of the 
vegetal kingdom, and, at the same time, the relation of the 
system to the history of development, becomes more and 
more spontaneously and incontrovertibly manifest. The 
Acotyledons are verified as Cryptogams, as they were 
already considered by the old botanists of pre-Linnaean 
times, and their relation to the Phaenogams is thus more 
clearly pronounced. The Cryptogams are separated into 
two essentially different divisions, in which gradation is 
likewise distinctly pronounced (cellular and vascular Crypt- 
ogams, Thallophytes, and Kormophytes) ; between the 
perfect Phaenogams and the Cryptogams an intermediate 
grade has been shown, that of the Gymnosperms. But 
most important of all is the circumstance that the four 
chief grades ascertained in the vegetal kingdom accurately 
correspond with the grades of development occurring in the 
individuals of all the higher plants ; — the germ, the vegeta- 
tion stem, the blossom, and the fruit.” 
The parallelism of the metamorphoses of embryonic deve- 
lopment, and the stages of historical evolution, is far more 
complete than the brief sketch I have just given of its 
more salient features would seem to convey. Its universality 
has, however, been sufficiently illustrated. 
It is, then, a fundamental law of Nature that the develop- 
ment of each organism, independently, must recommence 
ah initio, and that the phases of the development corrrespond 
in every way with those of the evolution or expansion of 
the primordial germ from which it has sprung. 
The first and main conclusion to be drawn from this law 
appears to be that the aCtual development of organisms is 
not due to Selection. 
The second inference to be derived from it, in connection 
with other facts, is that organic development is not a mere 
manifestation of molecular force. 
