The Beauties of Nature, and the Wonders of the World We Live InLubbock, John, Sir
Philosophy
The Beauties of Nature, and the Wonders of the World We Live In
Lubbock, John, Sir
Astronomy; Natural history; Physical geography
Such modifications may be called adaptive, but there are others of a
different origin that have reference to the changes which the race has
passed through in bygone ages. In fact the great majority of animals do
go through metamorphoses (many of them as remarkable, though not so
familiar as those of insects), but in many cases they are passed through
within the egg and thus escape popular observation. Naturalists who
accept the theory of evolution, consider that the development of each
individual represents to a certain extent that which the species has
itself gone through in the lapse of ages; that every individual contains
within itself, so to say, a history of the race. Thus the rudimentary
teeth of Cows, Sheep, Whales, etc. (which never emerge from their
sockets), the rudimentary toes of many mammals, the hind legs of Whales
and of the Boa-constrictor, which are imbedded in the flesh, the
rudimentary collar-bone of the Dog, etc., are indications of descent
from ancestors in which these organs were fully developed. Again, though
used for such different purposes, the paddle of a Whale, the leg of a
Horse and of a Mole, the wing of a Bird or a Bat, and the arm of a Man,
are all constructed on the same model, include corresponding bones, and
are similarly arranged. The long neck of the Giraffe, and the short one
of the Whale (if neck it can be called), contain the same number of
vertebrae.
Even after birth the young of allied species resemble one another much
more than the mature forms. The stripes on the young Lion, the spots on
the young Blackbird, are well-known cases; and we find the same law
prevalent among the lower animals, as, for instance, among Insects and
Crustacea. The Lobster, Crab, Shrimp, and Barnacle are very unlike when
full grown, but in their young stages go through essentially similar
metamorphoses.
No animal is perhaps in this respect more interesting than the Horse.
The skull of a Horse and that of a Man, though differing so much, are,
says Flower,[11] "composed of exactly the same number of bones, having
the same general arrangement and relation to each other. Not only the
individual bones, but every ridge and surface for the attachment of
muscles, and every hole for the passage of artery or nerve, seen in the
one can be traced in the other." It is often said that the Horse
presents a remarkable peculiarity in that the canine teeth grow but
once. There are, however, in most Horses certain spicules or minute
points which are shed before the appearance of the permanent canines,
and which are probably the last remnants of the true milk canines.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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