The Riddle of the Universe at the close of the nineteenth centuryHaeckel, Ernst
Religion
The Riddle of the Universe at the close of the nineteenth century
Haeckel, Ernst
Evolution; Monism; Religion and science; Soul
Thus comparative anatomy proves to the satisfaction of every
unprejudiced and critical student the significant fact that the body of
man and that of the anthropoid ape are not only peculiarly similar, but
they are practically one and the same in every important respect. The
same two hundred bones, in the same order and structure, make up our
inner skeleton; the same three hundred muscles effect our movements;
the same hair clothes our skin; the same groups of ganglionic cells
build up the marvellous structure of our brain; the same four chambered
heart is the central pulsometer in our circulation; the same thirty-two
teeth are set in the same order in our jaws; the same salivary,
hepatic, and gastric glands compass our digestive process; the same
reproductive organs insure the maintenance of our race.
It is true that we find, on close examination, certain minor
differences in point of size and shape in most of the organs of man
and the ape; but we discover the same, or similar, differences
between the higher and lower races of men, when we make a careful
comparison--even, in fact, in a minute comparison of the various
individuals of our own race. We find no two persons who have exactly
the same size and form of nose, ears, eyes, and so forth. One has
only to compare attentively these special features in many different
persons in any large company to convince one's self of the astonishing
diversity of their construction and the infinite variability of
specific forms. Not infrequently even two sisters are so much unlike
as to make their origin from the same parents almost incredible. Yet
all these individual variations do not weaken the significance of the
fundamental similarity of structure; they are traceable to certain
minute differences in the growth of the individual features.
CHAPTER III
OUR LIFE
Development of Physiology in Antiquity and the Middle Ages:
Galen--Experiment and Vivisection--Discovery of the Circulation
of the Blood by Harvey--Vitalism: Haller--Teleological and
Vitalistic Conception of Life--Mechanical and Monistic View
of the Physiological Processes--Comparative Physiology in the
Nineteenth Century: Johannes Müller--Cellular Physiology: Max
Verworn--Cellular Pathology: Virchow--Mammal Physiology--Similarity
of all Vital Activity in Man and the Ape
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