The Origin of Species as revealed by Vertebrate Palæontology

Abstract

I. JUST as in the inorganic world energy directs J matter, not matter energy, so motion or func tion 'invariably precedes form; change of motion or function precedes change of form.3 A static condition of form, in either the trunk, the limbs, the vertebra?, or the teeth, implies a static condition of habit, of habitat, or of function; consequently, a new habit (ontogeny), in either the unchanged or changing environment, gives rise to a new movement or function and results in change of form in the organ most directly affected. Each particular organ and each part of an organ may manifest a dependent or in dependent change of function and consequent change of form; thus a series of organs or of closely related or similar parts of the same organ may manifest either harmonic or disharmonic change. This principle, first observed by Aristotle, more or less developed by Lamarck, and more specifically by Cope, has been confirmed by such observations as those of Arbuthnot Lane.