CHAPTER XV 



MORPHOLOGICAL SPECIALIZED RESEARCH UNDER 

 THE INFLUENCE OF DARWINISM 



1. Anatomy and Embryology 



Development of anatomy 



THERE IS NO DOUBT that the power of Darwinism reached its zenith 

 in the seventies and eighties. By then the opponents of the earlier 

 school had for the most part said their last word, and the younger 

 generation of scientists who had embraced the new doctrine as yet found 

 no difficulties in its application. Rather, efforts were made, by means of 

 exhaustive investigations in every possible field, to collect fresh proof for 

 it. These endeavours resulted in an extraordinarily abundant and many-sided 

 production, chiefly in the sphere of morphology, with its various special 

 subjects, though also in those of geography and oecology, as well as in the 

 purely systematic sphere. In this chapter we shall give a comprehensive re- 

 view of this specialized morphological research -work, which was as many- 

 sided as it was rich in results. 



Anatomy developed as the outcome of a number of investigations, the 

 results of which were recorded in numerous memoirs. To give an account 

 of all the valuable facts that were brought to light in the course of this 

 ceaseless work would be impracticable within a reasonable compass; a mere 

 list of the anatomical works that were published during that period would 

 run into hundreds of pages. In the field of the invertebrates especially, in- 

 numerable new and important anatomical discoveries were made; hitherto 

 unknown, or at least neglected, animal forms were now studied and often 

 produced undreamt-of ideas for the furtherance of comparative research. 

 Chastognatha and Enteropneusta, Tunicata and Brachiopoda may be men- 

 tioned as examples of such forms, which, though insignificant in their ap- 

 pearance and scope, are nevertheless interesting for their structure and 

 development. But the Vertebrata also continued to provide valuable con- 

 tributions to comparative anatomy, which, for the very reason of its mor- 

 phogenetical aims, found every animal form, however insignificant, worth 

 while investigating and examining for the circumstances of its origin and 

 evolution. But, on the other hand, by reason of the aims they had in view, 



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