Recapitulation and Descent

Abstract

IN NATURE of October 14 my friend and colleague, Mr. L. T. Hogben, contributes a thoughtful letter on “Recapitulation and Descent,” on which you will, perhaps, allow me to make one or two comments. Mr. Hogben traverses the position taken up by Dr. Bather in his address to the Geological Section of the British Association that “recapitulation” in the development of animals is a proof of evolution. His objection is that “experimental breeding” does not justify the inference that a mutant recapitulates the characters of its ancestral type, and that “factorial omission” rather than “the perennial desire of youth to attain a semblance of maturity” is the key to “the omission of some steps in the orderly process.”