Complete Record - Heirs of Hippocrates No. 1494

KARL ERNST VON BAER (1792-1876) Über Entwickelungsgeschichte der Thiere; Beobachtung und Reflexion. Bei den Gebrüdern Bornträger 1828-1837 Vol. I: xxii, 271 pp.; Vol. II: 315 pp., 7 plates. 23.8 cm.

For more information on this author or work, see number: 1493

Though Caspar Wolf (see No. 364) and others had previously observed the foldlike germinal development of various vertebrate embryos, it remained for Baer in this classic work on developmental anatomy to confirm the germ layer theory and to extend the concept to mammalian embryology. By studying the similarities and differences in the embryos of various species, Baer made a number of fundamental observations which provided the groundwork for modern comparative embryology. His discovery that embryonic homologues such as the fin of a fish and the hand of a man begin as nearly identical structures was cited later by Darwin to support his theory of evolution.

See Related Record(s): 364

Cited references: Cushing B27; Garrison-Morton 479; Waller 11772

Gift of John Martin, M.D.