The Whence and the Whither of Man: A Brief History of His Origin and Development through Conformity to Environment; Being the Morse Lectures of 1895Tyler, John M. (John Mason)
Religion
The Whence and the Whither of Man: A Brief History of His Origin and Development through Conformity to Environment; Being the Morse Lectures of 1895
Tyler, John M. (John Mason)
Evolution
We may therefore compare the hydra or gastrula to a little portion
of the lining of the human mid-intestine covered with a little flake
of epidermis. This much the hydra has attained. But our bones and
muscles and blood-vessels all come from the mesoderm by folding,
plaiting, and channelling, and division of labor resulting in
differentiation of structure. Of all true mesodermal structures the
hydra has actually none, but in the ectodermal and entodermal cells
he has the potentiality of them all. We must now try to discover how
these potentialities became actualities in higher forms.
The third stage in our ancestral series is the turbellarian. This is
a little, flat, oval worm, varying greatly in size in different
species, and found both in fresh and salt water. Some would deny
that this worm belonged in our series at all. But, while doubtless
considerably modified, it has still retained many characteristics
almost certainly possessed by our primitive bilateral ancestor. The
different parts of hydra were arranged like those of most flowers,
around one main vertical axis; it was thus radiate in structure,
having neither front nor rear, right nor left side. But our little
turbellaria, while still without a head, has one end which goes
first and can be called the front end. The upper or dorsal surface
is usually more colored with pigment cells than the lower or ventral
surface, on which is the mouth. It has also a right and left side.
It is thus bilateral.
The gastræa swam by cilia, little eyelash-like processes which urge
the animal forward like a myriad of microscopic oars. In our bodies
they are sometimes used to keep up a current, _e.g._, to remove
foreign particles from the lungs. The turbellaria is still covered
with cilia, probably an inheritance from the gastræa; for, while in
smaller forms they may still be the principal means of locomotion,
in larger ones the muscles are beginning to assume this function and
the animal moves by writhing. The bilateral symmetry has arisen in
connection with this mode of locomotion and is thus a mark of
important progress.
In the turbellaria we find for the first time a true body-wall
distinct from underlying organs. The outer layer of this is a
ciliated epithelium or layer of cells. Under this an elastic
membrane may occur. Then come true body muscles, running
transversely, longitudinally and dorso-ventrally. Between the
external transverse and the internal longitudinal layers we often
find two muscular layers whose fibres run diagonally. The body is
well provided with muscles, but their arrangement is still far from
economical or effective.
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