. Chemical embryology. Embryology. 50 EMBRYOLOGY IN ANTIQUITY [pt. ii Ancient Greek thought shows many evidences of appreciation of the mystery of embryonic growth, as for example in the Orphic cosmogonies, which had their origin about the seventh or eighth century In these rehgious and legendary descriptions of the world, which have been exhaustively discussed by A. B. Cook and F. Lukas, the cosmic egg plays a large part, and has been shown to occur also in the . ^ , ,. • f T^ T 1- -r. • 1 Fig-2. Eros hatching ancient cosmogonies ot Lgypt, India, Persia and from the cosmic egg. Phoenicia
. Chemical embryology. Embryology. 50 EMBRYOLOGY IN ANTIQUITY [pt. ii Ancient Greek thought shows many evidences of appreciation of the mystery of embryonic growth, as for example in the Orphic cosmogonies, which had their origin about the seventh or eighth century In these rehgious and legendary descriptions of the world, which have been exhaustively discussed by A. B. Cook and F. Lukas, the cosmic egg plays a large part, and has been shown to occur also in the . ^ , ,. • f T^ T 1- -r. • 1 Fig-2. Eros hatching ancient cosmogonies ot Lgypt, India, Persia and from the cosmic egg. Phoenicia. A familiar reference to this cosmic (A Hellenistic gem de- egg, out of which all things were produced at ^^^^ ^ y . oo .j the beginning of the world, is in Aristophanes' comedy. The Birds, where the owl, as leader of the Chorus, says in the Parabasis (J. T. Sheppard's translation): Chaos was first, and Night, and the darkness of Emptiness, gloom tartarean, vast; Earth was not, nor Heaven, nor Air, but only the bosom of Darkness; and there with a stirring at last Of wings, though the wings were of darkness too, black Night was inspired a wind-egg to lay. And from that, with the turn of the seasons, there sprang to the light the Desired, Love, and his wings were of gold, and his spirit as swift as the wind when it blows every way. Love moved in the Emptiness vast, Love mingled with Chaos, in spite of the darkness of Night, Engendering us, and he brought us at last to the light. And perhaps another reference to the place of the egg in ancient cosmogony occurs in The Arabian Nights, where Aladdin's request for a roc's egg is treated as a blasphemy by the genie. Still more fantastic is the speculation of C. H. Rice (in Psyche, 1929!) that the world is an egg; living matter being the embryo and inorganic matter the yolk. But none of the facts which have so far been mentioned bears more than obliquely upon the main centre of interest, the study of embryology. For its direct ance
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookpublishernewyorkthem, booksubjectembryology
