270 FROM THE GREEKS TO DARWIN 



grandeur; otherwise each individual part is but a 

 lifeless letter.^ 



Thus Goethe was the first to remove the sup- 

 posed anatomical barrier between man and the 

 apes and to declare his belief in the ascent of 

 man from the animal kingdom. Stimulated by 

 the physiognomic studies of Lavater and aided 

 by Loder at Jena, also by Merck, he wrote of his 

 great discovery: 



In accordance with the teaching of the Gospel I 

 must hasten as quickly as possible to inform thee 

 [Herder] of tlie good fortune tliat has come to me. 

 I have discovered — neither gold nor silver, but some- 

 thing that gives me unspeakable joy — the os inter- 

 maxiLlarC' in man ! 



He gave a superb poetic interpretation" to the 

 influence of habit upon the shape and form of 

 this intermaxillary bone: 



Thus by the animal's form is its manner of living 



determined ; 

 Likewise the manner of life affecteth every creature, 

 Moulding its form. 



This was Goethe's interpretation of the adaptive 

 influence of habit on form, and of the relation of 

 individual development or ontogeny to the past 



^Letter to Knebel, November 17, 1784. 

 ^Metamorphose der Tiere, W., iii, 90. 



