A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)Jordan, David Starr
History
A Guide to the Study of Fishes, Volume 1 (of 2)
Jordan, David Starr
Fishes; Fishes -- Bibliography; Zoology -- History
always changing with each accession of knowledge.
The result is, again to quote from Dr. Coues, "that the natural
classification, like the elixir of life or the philosopher's stone, is
a goal far distant."
=Analogy and Homology.=--_Analogy_, says Dr. Coues, "is the apparent
resemblance between things really unlike--as the wing of a bird and
the wing of a butterfly, as the lungs of a bird and the gills of a
fish. _Homology_ is the real resemblance, or true relation between
things, however different they may appear to be--as the wing of a bird
and the foreleg of a horse, the lungs of a bird and the swim-bladder
of a fish. The former commonly rests upon mere functional, i.e.
physiological, modifications; the latter is grounded upon structural,
i.e., morphological, identity or unity. Analogy is the correlative of
physiology, homology of morphology; but the two may be coincident,
as when structures identical in morphology are used for the same
purposes, and are therefore physiologically identical. Physiological
diversity of structure is incessant, and continually interferes with
morphological identity of structure, to obscure or obliterate the
indications of affinity the latter would otherwise express clearly....
We must be on our guard against those physiological appearances which
are proverbially deceptive!"
"It is possible and conceivable that every animal should have been
constructed upon a plan of its own, having no resemblance whatever
to the plan of any other animal. For any reason we can discover
to the contrary, that combination of natural forces which we term
life might have resulted from, or been manifested by, a series of
infinitely diverse structures; nor would anything in the nature of
the case lead us to suspect a community of organization between
animals so different in habit and in appearance as a porpoise and a
gazelle, an eagle and a crocodile, or a butterfly and a lobster. Had
animals been thus independently organized, each working out its life
by a mechanism peculiar to itself, such a classification as that now
under contemplation would be obviously impossible; a morphological or
structural classification plainly implying morphological or structural
resemblances in the things classified.
"As a matter of fact, however, no such mutual independence of animal
forms exists in nature. On the contrary, the members of the animal
kingdom, from the highest to the lowest, are marvelously connected.
Every animal has something in common with all its fellows--much with
many of them, more with a few, and usually so much with several that it
differs but little from them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account