Anatomy, Comparative; Embryology, Human; Evolution; Human beings -- Origin
In recognising this, comparative anatomy has itself advanced to a
higher stage. Gegenbaur, the most distinguished of recent students of
this science, says that with the theory of evolution a new period
began in comparative anatomy, and that the theory in turn found a
touch stone in the science. "Up to now there is no fact in comparative
anatomy that is inconsistent with the theory of evolution; indeed,
they all lead to it. In this way the theory receives back from the
science all the service it rendered to its method." Until then
students had marvelled at the wonderful resemblance of living things
in their inner structure without being able to explain it. We are now
in a position to explain the causes of this, by showing that this
remarkable agreement is the necessary consequence of the inheriting of
common stem-forms; while the striking difference in outward appearance
is a result of adaptation to changes of environment. Heredity and
adaptation alone furnish the true explanation.
But one special part of comparative anatomy is of supreme interest and
of the utmost philosophic importance in this connection. This is the
science of rudimentary or useless organs; I have given it the name of
"dysteleology" in view of its philosophic consequences. Nearly every
organism (apart from the very lowest), and especially every
highly-developed animal or plant, including man, has one or more
organs which are of no use to the body itself, and have no share in
its functions or vital aims. Thus we all have, in various parts of our
frame, muscles which we never use, as, for instance, in the shell of
the ear and adjoining parts. In most of the mammals, especially those
with pointed ears, these internal and external ear-muscles are of
great service in altering the shell of the ear, so as to catch the
waves of sound as much as possible. But in the case of man and other
short-eared mammals these muscles are useless, though they are still
present. Our ancestors having long abandoned the use of them, we
cannot work them at all to-day. In the inner corner of the eye we have
a small crescent-shaped fold of skin; this is the last relic of a
third inner eye-lid, called the nictitating (winking) membrane. This
membrane is highly developed and of great service in some of our
distant relations, such as fishes of the shark type and several other
vertebrates; in us it is shrunken and useless. In the intestines we
have a process that is not only quite useless, but may be very
harmful--the vermiform appendage. This small intestinal appendage is
often the cause of a fatal illness. If a cherry-stone or other hard
body is unfortunately squeezed through its narrow aperture during
digestion, a violent inflammation is set up, and often proves fatal.
This appendix has no use whatever now in our frame; it is a dangerous
relic of an organ that was much larger and was of great service in our
vegetarian ancestors. It is still large and important in many
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