It is also well-known that every human being, begins life as a germ-cell, stem-cell, or fertilized ovum, all of these phrases meaning the same thing; that every such body develops and grows anew for itself. Each body is a new combination of the atoms and cells, of which it is composed. The forces and motions, which assemble and group these atoms and cells into the chemical combinations and mechanical arrangements, which build up a body, are new, unique and peculiar to that body.
The theory of heredity is based on these facts: The father contributes the spermatozoön and the mother the ovum, which form the germ-cell; this cell and its daughter-cells develop and grow to be a man or a woman, who has substantially the same form, size, structure, organs and parts that one of its parents has, and generally has some of their qualities, characteristics and traits.
But these facts do not prove that the child inherits anything from either parent; they do not prove that the parents, or either of them, caused the child to develop, grow and resemble them in any of these particulars. The existence of a fact and the cause of that fact are two different things. Thus, every body knows that a stone falls to the ground; but nobody knows why. The child resembles its father—but why? Do the parents cause this resemblance? Can they, or either of them, cause their child to have blue eyes or black; a long or short nose; a large or small foot?
Neither Darwin, nor any other man has ever shown how it is possible for the bodies of the parents, or any part of either of them, to affect, modify or determine the form, features, size, structure, qualities, characteristics or traits of their children. It is admitted on all sides that the parents have no voluntary control over these things. Darwin, (Origin of Species, 1, p. 15), says: “The laws governing inheritance are for the most part unknown.” Haeckel is voluminous in describing the phenomena of reproduction, heredity, etc. But has nothing to say about the cause, nor the mechanism of heredity.
It is undoubtedly true that the human body is a compound physical structure; that each organ and part of every such body has to be made, anew, of fresh materials, for that body; that the child does not “take over,” bodily, any organ nor part of either parent, but has its own new organs, unique and peculiar to itself; that neither the father nor the mother has any voluntary power to select, assemble nor group the atoms and cells, of which the embryo body is made; nor to generate, guide, nor control the forces and motions by which this work is done. All this being true, how is it possible for the parents, or either of them, to transmit any of their qualities, characteristics or traits to their child?
The notion of mankind in general appears to be the body of the child is a sort of offshoot or branch of the bodies of the parents, as if the child had budded out on the trunk of the mother; and finally dropped off and become a distinct individual. But this view is wholly erroneous. The embryo becomes a separate and distinct entity the moment the germ-cell is formed; and it develops and grows, anew, for itself independently of the bodies of its parents, which have no more to do with its development and growth than the body of any other person has.
If we assume that each human being is a new direct and special creation by Almighty God, we can readily understand the mysterious phenomena called “heredity.”
At first, the germ-cell does not resemble either parent nor even a human being, it being too small, even to suggest a human body, at all. An infant at birth, is too rudimentary to resemble either parent more closely than it does any other person of the same sex.
Whether the germ-cell and its daughter-cells are to develop and grow to be a man, resembling its father; or a woman resembling its mother, the same forces and motions are required to assemble and group the necessary atoms and cells into the proper chemical combinations and mechanical arrangements in order to construct its body. The fact that the child may resemble its father or its mother or both of them, does not dispense with the assembling of the atoms and cells; nor with the grouping of them into the necessary combination and arrangements. It is clear that the same or similar forces and motions are necessary to construct any animal body, whatever its form, size or sex may be.
According to the evolutionist and materialist, the fact that the child resembles its parents is adequate to account for, and explain all the phenomena of reproduction. But the existence of this resemblance, and, the cause of it, are two wholly different things. The fact that the child resembles its parents only deepens the mystery; for it would require less knowledge, skill and creative force to construct a body with the qualities and characteristics of mankind in general, than it would to group the atoms and cells of the body in such a manner as to produce a body in the image of a particular man or woman. Thus a portrait painter could make a fancy sketch of an imaginary person, without any striking features, more easily than he could paint a particular man with all his peculiarities; as, for example, his bald head, high forehead, blue eyes, long aquiline nose, wide mouth, massive lower jaw and tall, slender body. The closer the resemblance, between the child and its parents, the greater the mystery.