This article is based on one section of a PowerPoint presentation that I did for the Design Science Association of Portland in May 2024. The title of the talk was “Evolution’s 14 Greatest Frauds” where Haeckel’s Embryos was listed as fraud #4. German biologist Ernst Haeckel was also instrumental in the Bathybius haeckelii fraud discussed here on this website. The background for the current discussion is provided in Slide #1.
Slide #1
Haeckel was a devout believer in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution through natural selection. He stood firm in this belief to his death. Slide #2 describes the motivation behind Haeckel’s belief.
Slide #2
So, Haeckel developed some sketches of embryos that seemed to show that the biogenetic law was true. But it was not. His depictions were inaccurate in some cases and outright fraudulent in others. Haeckel’s fraudulent sketches are shown in Slide #3.
Slide #3
The idea in Slide #3 is that the animals along the top row all had embryos that looked very similar. That is that the fish, salamander, tortoise, chicken, hog, rabbit, calf, and human embryos were nearly identical at the beginning. The next two stages represent the development of the embryos along a path that duplicates a supposed evolutionary path for each. This is the biogenetic law that assumes that “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny.” Slide #4 explains the result of these sketches.
Slide #4
These illustrations are still portrayed in one form or another in many biology books of today. I will show you some examples shortly in this article. More of the resulting history is shown in Slide #5. In this discussion we must not confuse the illegitimate “biogenetic law” with the “Law of Biogenesis.” The Law of Biogenesis (life only comes from life) is a law of nature that has never been observed to fail!
Slide #5
Evolutionary embryologist Michael K. Richardson’s photos are shown in Slide #6 along the bottom row. One would think that this work would result finally in the complete non-use of Haeckel’s drawings from that date forward. But there has been no such result. Slide #6 shows that the Haeckel illustrations are still commonly found in 21st century high school and college textbooks. They may be somewhat modified, but the biogenetic law idea is clearly seen in each of the examples in Slide #7.
Slide #6
The evolutionary progressions in Slide #7 are vertically depicted except for the example in the upper left corner which is horizontal.
Slide #7
As shown in Slide #8 some popular post-Richardson writings also still promote the biogenetic law. The example is from the 1998 edition of Dr. Spock’s Baby & Child Care book. What is stated in Slide #8 is totally untrue. Humans never have gills like a fish or tails like amphibians! More of Dr. Spock’s disproven ideas are seen in Slide #9. He is presenting nothing but evolutionary philosophical mumbo jumbo.
Slide #8
Slide #9
I think it is impossible to even imagine non-human primates learning to use their fingers with the skill and delicacy of a human. It certainly has not happened so far. Humans were created in the image of God and no other animal was so created. The differences between humans and apes are nearly infinite as stated many years ago by Dr. John Whitcomb.
Nevertheless, the biological culture must still contend with actions like that described in Slide #10. R.J. Richard’s paper was carefully evaluated by creationist E. van Niekirk (see Journal of Creation, 25(3):89-95, December 2011), and he wrote he did not think that Richards had made his case.
Slide #10
A synopsis of E. van Niekirk’s conclusion as placed in the Journal of Creation report is reproduced in Slide #11.
Slide #11
Finally, I ask that the reader take another look at Richardson’s photos compared to Haeckel’s drawings in Slide #12 to see the truth of Haeckel’s dishonesty. All this was done to promote the false idea of macroevolution, an idea hoped for and imagined by many for centuries but never seen in reality.
Slide #12
J.D. Mitchell
