ABSTRACT
The biogenetic formula that ontogeny repeats phylogeny was alluring, owing to the apparent facility with which it could be applied to all manner of spheres. 1 It became well known far beyond the range of specialists, and it is most likely that some of the writers on the child-likeness of savages quoted in Chapter 12 had been directly or indirectly influenced by it. The ‘law’ held out the promise of revealing humanity’s past and the linkage of that past with mental disturbances in the present; it explained the causes of social problems, justified imperialist policies and so on. Here I shall merely illustrate some of these issues, beginning with the last point.
