Form and Function: A Contribution to the History of Animal MorphologyRussell, E. S. (Edward Stuart)
History
Form and Function: A Contribution to the History of Animal Morphology
Russell, E. S. (Edward Stuart)
Anatomy, Comparative -- History; Morphology (Animals) -- History
(haemapophysis), and in monotremes, birds and reptiles it is in the adult
a large and separate bone. Its ossification from a separate centre in
mammals has therefore a homological significance. The scapula in mammals
is an example of what Owen calls a "homologically compound" bone. All
those bones which are formed by a coalescence of parts answering to
distinct elements of the typical vertebra are "homologically compound"
(p. 105). On the other hand, "All those bones which represent single
vertebral elements are 'teleologically compound' when developed from
more than one centre, whether such centres subsequently coalesce, or
remain distinct, or even become the subject of individual adaptive
modifications, with special joints, muscles, etc., for particular
offices" (p. 106). The limb-skeleton, corresponding as it does to a
single bone of the archetype, is the typical example of a teleologically
compound bone. Owen in his definition of teleological compoundness has
combined two kinds of adaptation--(1) temporary adaptation of bones to
the exigencies of development, birth and growth (_e.g._, development of
long bones from separate centres); (2) definitive adaptation of a
skeletal part to the functions which it has to perform (_e.g._,
teleological structure of limbs). Such adaptations are, so to speak,
grafted on the archetype.
Owen's general views on the nature of living things merit some
attention. Organic forms, according to Owen, result from the
antagonistic working of two principles, of which one brings about a
vegetative repetition of structure, while the other, a teleological
principle, shapes the living thing to its functions. The former
principle is illustrated in the archetype of the vertebrate skeleton, in
the segmentation of the Articulates, in the almost mathematical symmetry
of Echinoderms, and the actually crystalline spicules of sponges. It is
the same principle which causes repetition of the forms of crystals in
the inorganic world. "The repetition of similar segments in a vertebral
column, and of similar elements in a vertebral segment, is analogous to
the repetition of similar crystals as the result of polarising force in
the growth of an inorganic body" (p. 171). This "general polarising
force" it is which mainly produces the similarity of forms, the
repetition of parts, and generally the signs of the unity of
organisation. The adaptive or "special organising force" or [Greek:
idea], on the other hand, produces the diversity of organic beings. In
every species these two forces are at work, and the extent to which the
general polarising or "vegetative-repetition-force" is subdued by the
teleological is an index of the grade of the species.
This view is analogous to the Geoffroyan conception that the diversity
of form is limited by the unity of plan. Owen thus ranges himself with
Geoffroy against Cuvier, who considered that diversity of form is
limited only by the principle of the adaptation of parts.
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