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COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF GOETHE’S “CORNERSTONE TO MAN”
FISCHER VON WALDHEIM, Gotthelf. Ueber die verschiedene Form des Intermaxillarknochens in verschiedenen Thieren.
Leipzig, Schäfer, 1800. 8vo. With 20 engraved figures on 3 numbered plates (plates 1 & 2 printed together and in this copy undivided). Contemporary paste-paper over boards.
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First and only edition of one of the earliest contributions to comparative anatomy. In Goethe’s first essay in the field of what we now call biology, Versuch aus der vergleichenden Knochenlehre ... , Jena, 1784, he showed that the tiny intermaxillary bone in the upper jaw, could be found not only in animals but in humans as well. This seemingly trivial discovery demolished one of the principal supports for the then general notion that humans were not related to animals, and Goethe called these bones “the cornerstone to man.” Goethe’s study also signalled the beginnings of comparative anatomy and paved the way for modern scientific biology (a term coined by Treviranus and Lamarck in 1802) and Darwin’s theory of evolution. Goethe’s and most other studies had concentrated primarily on mammals. The present work broadens the scope, not only adding new species of mammal (including some from the East Indies and Brazil), but also covering reptiles, amphibians and fish. The folding engraved plates show detailed views of the jaws of an armadillo, pangolin, hippopotamus, East Indian pig, hyrax, capybara, iguana, adder and numerous sorts of fish. Fisscher dedicated his book to Georges Cuvier, known as the father of comparative anatomy, but it appeared only two years after Cuvier’s first major work and twelve years before his Recherches sur les Ossemens Fossiles de Quadrupèdes .
Fischer (1771-1853) here just beginning his career, was to publish extensively, especially on fish, and moved to Moscow, where he was granted a noble title and other honours for his contributions to natural history.
With a manuscript note on the flyleaf referring to F.S. Leuckart’s 1840 essay on human intermaxillary bones. In fine condition, with only very minor browning in the text leaves and a blue mark in an open area of one plate. Binding only slightly worn at the corners and hinges. A remarkably early study of comparative anatomy, largely overlooked in the medical and zoological bibliographies.
