Anatomy, Comparative; Embryology, Human; Evolution; Human beings -- Origin
A week later (after the fourth week, on the twenty-eighth to thirtieth
day of development) the human embryo has reached a length of about
one-third of an inch (Figure 1.179 IV). We can now clearly distinguish
the head with its various parts; inside it the five primitive cerebral
vesicles (fore-brain, middle-brain, intermediate-brain, hind-brain,
and after-brain); under the head the gill-arches, which divide the
gill-clefts; at the sides of the head the rudiments of the eyes, a
couple of pits in the outer skin, with a pair of corresponding simple
vesicles growing out of the lateral wall of the fore-brain (Figures
1.180, 1.181 a). Far behind the eyes, over the last gill-arches, we
see a vesicular rudiment of the auscultory organ. The rudimentary
limbs are now clearly outlined--four simple buds of the shape of round
plates, a pair of fore (vg) and a pair of hind legs (hg), the former a
little larger than the latter. The large head bends over the trunk,
almost at a right angle. The latter is still connected in the middle
of its ventral side with the embryonic vesicle; but the embryo has
still further severed itself from it, so that it already hangs out as
the yelk-sac. The hind part of the body is also very much curved, so
that the pointed tail-end is directed towards the head. The head and
face-part are sunk entirely on the still open breast. The bend soon
increases so much that the tail almost touches the forehead (Figure
1.179 V.; Figure 1.181). We may then distinguish three or four special
curves on the round dorsal surface--namely, a skull-curve in the
region of the second cerebral vesicle, a neck-curve at the beginning
of the spinal cord, and a tail-curve at the fore-end. This pronounced
curve is only shared by man and the higher classes of vertebrates (the
amniotes); it is much slighter, or not found at all, in the lower
vertebrates. At this age (four weeks) man has a considerable tail,
twice as long as his legs. A vertical longitudinal section through the
middle plane of this tail (Figure 1.182) shows that the hinder end of
the spinal marrow extends to the point of the tail, as also does the
underlying chorda (ch), the terminal continuation of the vertebral
column. Of the latter, the rudiments of the seven coccygeal (or
lowest) vertebrae are visible--thirty-two indicates the third and
thirty-six the seventh of these. Under the vertebral column we see the
hindmost ends of the two large blood-vessels of the tail, the
principal artery (aorta caudalis or arteria sacralis media, Ao), and
the principal vein (vena caudalis or sacralis media). Underneath is
the opening of the anus (an) and the urogenital sinus (S.ug). From
this anatomic structure of the human tail it is perfectly clear that
it is the rudiment of an ape-tail, the last hereditary relic of a long
hairy tail, which has been handed down from our tertiary primate
ancestors to the present day.
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