CONCLUSION
THE PSYCHOGENETIC LAW
_The Individual as an Epitome of the Human Race_
The biogenetic law of Ernst Haeckel teaches us that the human embryo
passes through all the stages of development traversed by its ancestors
in their evolution from the lower forms of the animal world. Although
each successive stage completely replaces the preceding one, the latter
is there as its organic supposition. Man is not born as a human being
until he has travelled over the principal portions of the road to
evolution. This law, which establishes the natural connection of the
individual with the whole chain of organisms, is continued in a
psychogenetic law, not founded on the heredity of the blood but on the
heredity of culture (and therefore quite independent of the doctrine of
the origin of species). In the course of his development the individual
repeats the psycho-spiritual stages through which the species has
passed. But while the human body cannot sustain life until it is
perfectly developed, the degrees of psychic perfection vary very
considerably; not every individual reaches perfection; most men attain
to some degree, but there are others who do not even acquire the
rudiments.
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