BIO 337 – Comparative Anatomy
Name:_______Key________________________
Lab Time:___________
Introductory Assignment – History & Evolution Review
Mastering the discipline of Comparative Anatomy requires an understanding of evolution…it is also
helpful to have a historical perspective. Using the information provided in this document and Chapter 1
of your textbook, please complete this assignment. Please note that your first lecture exam will include
material from this assignment.
Our understanding of anatomy and ideas of evolution stem back to ancient times. What are the names
of the two Greek philosophers that were (according to your text book) among the first to propose that
organisms evolve?
______Anaximander______________________ & _____Empedocles___________________
Although not included in your textbook, another important historical figure that contributed to our
discipline was Galen, a Greek-speaking Roman physician and philosopher. Galen is considered to be
“ahead of his time”. He was the first to develop aseptic techniques for surgery and used animal
dissections (like the Barbary Macaque) to provide a detailed description of human anatomy. (At the
time, it was taboo to use humans for dissection!).
Galen’s work remained the most important reference of human anatomy until Andreas Vesalius
published De Humani Corporis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Anatomy) in 1543. This work was
actually based on human dissections and he is considered the founder of modern human anatomy.
The ideas of evolution and the structure of organisms have been intertwined throughout history. There
has been controversy over evolutionary process on three levels:
___Fact____________________, ________Course (Goal)________ & _____Mechanism__________
Some very famous scientists did not consider evolution to occur. One was Carl von Linné (also known as
Carolus Linnaeus), probably most famous for his Hierarchy of Categories and his book, Systema Naturae
(a classification of nature).
He thought that species were immutable. What does that mean?
__Immutable means that species are fixed and unchanging; created as seen today_________________
Linnaeus was not alone in this way of thinking.
_Reverend John Ray____________________________ wrote The Wisdom of God Manifested in the
Works of Creation (1691). Here he described why the Creator would make creatures that can plague
humans…basically to deter poor (or unsavory!) human behavior.
This was echoed by _William Paley_____________________________ who wrote Natural Theology (or
Evidence of the Existence & Attributes of the Deity Collected from the Appearance of Nature) (1802).
Here in the United States, _____Louis Agassiz______________________, curator of the Museum of
Comparative Zoology agreed that all creatures he collected were manifestations of a divine mind!
An 18th century anatomist who championed fixed, unchanging species (and is also considered the Father
of Comparative Anatomy) was
___Georges Cuvier__________________________________
He thought form and function were too coupled, like a machine, for evolution to ever occur. If there
was any alteration of an animal’s parts, the parts would no longer work and the animal could never
survive!
Another anatomist, _____Richard Owen_________________________, agreed…however he thought
homologous parts needed to be more adequately explained…the “archetype”
What is an archetype?___An archetype is a biological blueprint, a basic underlying plan under which
__ creatures are built. When animals are members of a particular group, they are built on a basic plan.
One early proponent was Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck. To Lamarck, evolution was a fact and he outlined
this in his 1809 work Philosophie Zoologique
Lamarck thought that evolution did have a goal…”upward toward perfection”. What does this mean?
__This means that evolution was trying to develop into a superior organism. Basically, the evolutionary
process was meant to create humans; mankind is the pinnacle of evolution and the most complex.
This was illustrated much later in 1896 in the Pedigree of Man (at diagram of the tree of life) diagram by:
__Ernst Haeckel____________________________________
To most modern students, Lamarck is best known for his description of the mechanism of evolution.
Today, with our understanding of genetics and inheritance, it seems silly; however, these ideas were
unknown in Lamarck’s day. Lamarck’s mechanism is known as:
___Inheritance of acquired characteristics.__________________________________
Here, Lamarck confuses physiological responses with evolutionary response. Regardless of his
misunderstanding of the process, Lamarck was bold in his day for supporting ideas of evolution.
Modern evolutionary thought owes much to two individuals who independently developed an
understanding of evolution by natural selection. These two individuals are:
___Charles Darwin______________________&______Alfred Russel Wallace________
Both individuals were influence by others of their day. These include Sir Charles Lyell, who published his
Principles of Geology where he outlined the ideas of Uniformitarianism. Amongst other ideas, this
established that 1) the laws of chemistry and physics are constant, and 2) that past geological events
occurred by natural processes. Lyell explained that the earth was very old, allowing time for the gradual
processes that shaped the planet and life.
Additionally, both were influenced by a book written by_____Reverend Thomas Malthus____
called An Essay on the Principle of Population, as It Affects the Future Improvement of Society.
The first major work that outlined evolution by natural selection was published in 1859 and called
____The Origin of Species_______________________________________
This work provides evidence for evolution and describes the three premises of natural selection:
1._High reproductive potential_______________________________________________
2. Competition for limited resources
3._Survival of the few__________________________________________________________________
In class (as you know), we discussed evolution in the modern context that includes our understanding of
genetics. Natural selection requires genetic variation, too!