Darwin and Modern ScienceSeward, A. C. (Albert Charles)
Philosophy
Darwin and Modern Science
Seward, A. C. (Albert Charles)
Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882; Evolution (Biology); Science -- History
In the ensuing forty years I have made many conscientious efforts to
penetrate further along that line of anthropological research that was
opened up by Goethe, Lamarck, and Darwin. I have brought together the
many valuable results that have constantly been reached in comparative
anatomy, physiology, ontogeny, and palaeontology, and maintained
the effort to reform the classification of animals and plants in an
evolutionary sense. The first rough drafts of pedigrees that were
published in the "Generelle Morphologie" have been improved time after
time in the ten editions of my "Naturaliche Schopfungsgeschichte"
(1868-1902). (English translation; "The History of Creation", London,
1876.) A sounder basis for my phyletic hypotheses, derived from a
discriminating combination of the three great records--morphology,
ontogeny, and palaeontology--was provided in the three volumes of my
"Systematische Phylogenie" (Berlin, 1894-96.) (1894 Protists and Plants,
1895 Vertebrates, 1896 Invertebrates). In my "Anthropogenie" (Leipzig,
1874, 5th edition 1905. English translation; "The Evolution of
Man", London, 1905.) I endeavoured to employ all the known facts of
comparative ontogeny (embryology) for the purpose of completing my
scheme of human phylogeny (evolution). I attempted to sketch the
historical development of each organ of the body, beginning with the
most elementary structures in the germ-layers of the Gastraea. At the
same time I drew up a corrected statement of the most important steps in
the line of our ancestral series.
At the fourth International Congress of Zoology at Cambridge (August
26th, 1898) I delivered an address on "Our present knowledge of the
Descent of Man." It was translated into English, enriched with many
valuable notes and additions, by my friend and pupil in earlier days Dr
Hans Gadow (Cambridge), and published under the title: "The Last Link;
our present knowledge of the Descent of Man". (London, 1898.) The
determination of the chief animal forms that occur in the line of our
ancestry is there restricted to thirty types, and these are distributed
in six main groups.
The first half of this "Progonotaxis hominis," which has no support
from fossil evidence, comprises three groups: (i) Protista (unicellular
organisms, 1-5: (ii) Invertebrate Metazoa (Coelenteria 6-8, Vermalia
9-11): (iii) Monorrhine Vertebrates (Acrania 12-13, Cyclostoma 14-15).
The second half, which is based on fossil records, also comprises three
groups: (iv) Palaeozoic cold-blooded Craniota (Fishes 16-18, Amphibia
19, Reptiles 20: (v) Mesozoic Mammals (Monotrema 21, Marsupialia 22,
Mallotheria 23): (vi) Cenozoic Primates (Lemuridae 24-25, Tailed Apes
26-27, Anthropomorpha 28-30). An improved and enlarged edition of this
hypothetic "Progonotaxis hominis" was published in 1908, in my essay
"Unsere Ahnenreihe". ("Festschrift zur 350-jahrigen Jubelfeier der
Thuringer Universitat Jena". Jena, 1908.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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