Anatomy, Comparative; Embryology, Human; Evolution; Human beings -- Origin
The metazoa, the tissue-animals or gut-animals, then sub-divide into
two main sections, according as a body-cavity is or is not developed
between the primary germinal layers. We may call these the _cœlenteria_
and _cœlomaria,_ the former are often also called _zoophytes_ or
_cœlenterata,_ and the latter _bilaterals._ This division is the more
important as the cœlenteria (without cœlom) have no blood and
blood-vessels, nor an anus. The cœlomaria (with body-cavity) have
generally an anus, and blood and blood-vessels. There are four stems
belonging to the cœlenteria: the gastræads (“primitive-gut animals”),
sponges, cnidaria, and platodes. Of the cœlomaria we can distinguish
six stems: the vermalia at the bottom represent the common stem-group
(derived from the platodes) of these, the other five typical stems of
the cœlomaria—the molluscs, echinoderms, articulates, tunicates, and
vertebrates—being evolved from them.
Man is, in his whole structure, a true vertebrate, and develops from an
impregnated ovum in just the same characteristic way as the other
vertebrates. There can no longer be the slightest doubt about this
fundamental fact, nor of the fact that all the vertebrates form a
natural phylogenetic unity, a single stem. The whole of the members of
this stem, from the amphioxus and the cyclostoma to the apes and man,
have the same characteristic disposition, connection, and development
of the central organs, and arise in the same way from the common
embryonic form of the chordula. Without going into the difficult
question of the origin of this stem, we must emphasise the fact that
the vertebrate stem has no direct affinity whatever to five of the
other ten stems; these five isolated phyla are the sponges, cnidaria,
molluscs, articulates, and echinoderms. On the other hand, there are
important and, to an extent, close phylogenetic relations to the other
five stems—the protozoa (through the amœbæ), the gastræads (through the
blastula and gastrula), the platodes and vermalia (through the
cœlomula), and the tunicates (through the chordula).
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