Page 116 - Once Upon a Time There Was Darwinism

ment. Particularly striking was the similarity between the em-
bryos of a fish and a human being; so much so that in the
drawings, the human embryo had what looked like gills. On

the so-called scientific basis of these drawings, Haeckel pro-
claimed his theory that "Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny."
This slogan represented his belief that in the course of its de-
velopment, either in the egg or in its mother's womb, every
Once Upon a Time There Was Darwinism
creature repeats the history of its own species, from the be-
ginning. For example, a human embryo first resembles a fish,
in later weeks a salamander, then it passes through the reptil-

ian and mammalian stages before "evolving" into a recogniz-
able human being.
The concept conveyed in the slogan "Ontogeny recapitu-
lates phylogeny" quickly became known as the "recapitula-
tion theory," and in a very short time this myth became one of
the most important proofs for evolution. Throughout the 20th
century, countless students saw the chart of the human em-
bryo's imaginary progress from fish, through salamander,
chicken and rabbit; and the myth that the human embryo had

gills for a while became an accepted fact. Even today, many
supporters of the theory of evolution, if asked, would cite this
as one of its proofs.
However, this is pure fabrication. In fact, the embryos of
various creatures did not at all resemble one another.
Haeckel's drawings made all sorts of misrepresentations. To
some embryos, he added imaginary organs, removed organs

from others, and showed larger and smaller embryos as all
the same size.

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