WHEATON ACADEMY
Science and the Bible¡b y Bolton Davidheiser OVN "EMBRYOS AND ANCESTORS" Part I
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kN E OF t h e evidences for evolu tion which is presented in the biology textbooks is called “ embry onic recapitulation.” This means that the developing individual, animal or human, passes through stages which correspond to certain aspects o f its evolutionary history. The egg is said to represent the ancient protozoan ancestry of the higher forms of life. A somewhat later stage corresponds to the jellyfish or polyp. Still later the embryo has characteristics which are interpreted as showing evidence of the time when its ancestors were fish. Students who enjoy appearing erudite like to say, “ Ontogeny [em bryonic development] recapitulates [repeats in abbreviated form] phy- dogeny [evolutionary history].” For many years the recapitulation theory was considered to be one of the most important evidences of evo lution, and Charles Darwin evaluated it as “ second to none in importance.” There are several forms of the theory, and one which is no longer accepted by biologists was popular ized by Ernst Haeckel, Darwin’s chief disciple in Germany. Haeckel gave this now-discredited hypothesis the presumptuous name of “ the fun damental biogenetic law,” and some thing of a scandal was created when he admitted having faked drawings to make them look the way he thought the embryos should look in stead of the way they actually did. Even in its most acceptable form, the recapitulation theory is not held in high repute by biologists today. As long ago as 1932 Dr. Waldo Shumway of the University of Illi nois said, concerning the recapitula tion theory, that a consideration of the developments of experimental embryology “ . . . seems to demand that the hypothesis be abandoned.” He continued, “ Those of us who were reared in the phylogenetic [evolu tionary] tradition may see it go with a sigh o f regret. Those o f us charged with the responsibility o f explain ing the law o f evolution to our classes will miss a familiar maxim, easily learned, and a convenient skeleton on which to hang the discrete data of embryology. But there can be no excuse for continuing to impress plastic minds by means of discredited generalizations.” Libbie Hyman, the outstanding woman biologist, reported in 1940
that “ the law of recapitulation has been severely criticized in many quarters since its enunciation and has been rejected altogether by a number of present-day embryolo gists.” Yet she says that although there is no direct proof of the evolu tion of many-celled forms from the protozoa, “ such origin besides being necessitated by the principle of evo lution is strongly indicated by the facts o f embryonic development. . . . ” These facts of embryonic develop ment are merely the observations that many-celled animals develop from single-celled eggs. Professor Gavin de Beer, the emin ent embryologist, says, “ Until re cently the theory of recapitulation still had its ardent supporters.” He comments, “ It is characteristic of a slogan [ ‘Ontogeny recapitulates phy- logeny’ ] that it tends to be accepted uncritically and to die hard.” It is frequently said that the re capitulation theory served a good purpose because it stimulated re search in embryology. Professor de Beer thinks otherwise, and says, “ . . . the prestige so long enjoyed by the theory of recapitulation has had a great, and while it lasted, regret table influence on the progress o f embryology.” It is interesting to note that al though an early stage of the embryo of higher forms of life is supposed to correspond to a polyp, those em bryos which illustrate this condition do not arrive at this form in the way which is characteristic of the polyps. The embroys become sack shaped by the cells pushing in on one side as they multiply, while the polyps achieve this shape as cells migrate past each other. The inter pretation of this formation of a “ gastrula” from a “ blastula” as a recapitulation has been considered very important ever since the days o f Haeckel as an evidence of the evo lutionary line to the higher forms of life. Professor John Tyler Bonner of Princeton University makes a very frank admission when he says, “We may have known for almost a hundred years that Haeckel’s blastea- gastrea theory of the origin of the metazoa is probably nonsense, but it is so clear-cut, so simple, so easy to hand full-blown to the student." ( Continued Next Month)
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JULY, 1964
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