Caption reads, 'One of Darwin's strongest arguments for evolution was a comparison of features that are similar in all vertebrate mammals. These forefeet, or hands, in rows, from left to right are those of man, gorilla, orangutan; dog, seal, porpoise; bat, mole and duck-billed platypus, as illustrated in an 1876 treatise by Ernst Haeckel'. (1876, most probably a reprint of his popular work, The History of Creation). Ernst Heinrich Philipp August Haeckel (1834-1919) was an eminent German biologist, naturalist, philosopher, physician, professor and artist who discovered, described and named thousands of new species, mapped a genealogical tree relating all life forms, and coined many terms in biology, including anthropogeny, ecology, phylum, phylogeny, and the kingdom Protista. Haeckel promoted and popularized Charles Darwin's work in Germany. |