. The chordates. Chordata. 346 Comparative Anatomy—Its History, Aim, and Method. £-* j&k Fig. 279 (Left). Johannes Miiller (1801-58). Fig. 280 (Right). Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-95). (Courtesy, Locy: "Biology and Its Makers," New York, Henry Holt & Co., Inc.) The first half of the nineteenth century was a period of fact-gather- ing. The evolution theory was not under active discussion. Apparently it was accepted by only a very small and mostly silent minority. The comparative anatomy of the period was strongly impregnated with transcendentalism. It was the fashion to search f
. The chordates. Chordata. 346 Comparative Anatomy—Its History, Aim, and Method. £-* j&k Fig. 279 (Left). Johannes Miiller (1801-58). Fig. 280 (Right). Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-95). (Courtesy, Locy: "Biology and Its Makers," New York, Henry Holt & Co., Inc.) The first half of the nineteenth century was a period of fact-gather- ing. The evolution theory was not under active discussion. Apparently it was accepted by only a very small and mostly silent minority. The comparative anatomy of the period was strongly impregnated with transcendentalism. It was the fashion to search for unity of plan, uni- formity, repetition of similar parts—to try to reduce many things to one thing—and all with little regard for causal explanation. But the need for interpretation was merely somnolent, not dead. The half- century's accumulation of fact built up a state of intellectual high pres- sure which merely awaited something to release it into open demand for interpretations. The work of Darwin and Wallace effected the release. Evolution at once became the chief subject for scientific discus- sion. The weight of Darwin's evidence and the clearness of his reason- ing were irresistible. The forceful writings and lectures of Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-95) greatly strengthened the case for evolution. Within two decades, evolution, in the sense of genetic continuity ac- companied by change in form and structure, came to be the accepted view of the great majority of scientists. But opinions differed, as they still do, in regard to the causal factors in the process of evolution. POST-DARWINIAN COMPARATIVE MORPHOLOGY The post-Darwinian period is marked, first of all, by the consolida- tion of the grounds for evolution. This was done not so much by making additions to morphologic knowledge as by reinterpretation of the old knowledge. Transcendental anatomy had not been altogether a waste of time. "Archetypes" had served as a useful basis for comparison and ana
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