Article ID: CBB001510262

The Cult of Amphioxus in German Darwinism; or, Our Gelatinous Ancestors in Naples' Blue and Balmy Bay (2015)

unapi

Hopwood, Nick (Author)


History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Volume: 36, no. 3
Issue: 3
Pages: 371-393


Publication Date: 2015
Edition Details: Part of a Series: Crossroads between nature and culture: Papers in honour of Christiane Groeben
Language: English

Biologists having rediscovered amphioxus, also known as the lancelet or Branchiostoma, it is time to reassess its place in early Darwinist debates over vertebrate origins. While the advent of the ascidian--amphioxus theory and challenges from various competitors have been documented, this article offers a richer account of the public appeal of amphioxus as a primitive ancestor. The focus is on how the `German Darwin' Ernst Haeckel persuaded general magazine and newspaper readers to revere this “flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood”, and especially on Das neue Laienbrevier des Haeckelismus (The new lay breviary of Haeckelism) by Moritz Reymond with cartoons by Fritz Steub. From the late 1870s these successful little books of verse introduced the Neapolitan discoveries that made the animal's name and satirized Haeckel's rise as high priest of its cult. One song is reproduced and translated here, with a contemporary “imitation” by the Canadian palaeontologist Edward John Chapman, and extracts from others. Predating the American “It's a long way from amphioxus” by decades, these rhymes dramatize neglected `species politics' of Darwinism and highlight the roles of humour in negotiating evolution.

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Article Bernardi, Giorgio; Fantini, Bernardino; Dröscher, Ariane (2015) Crossroads between Nature and Culture: An Introduction. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (pp. 301-304). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001510262/

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Authors & Contributors
Richards, Robert John
Gliboff, Sander Joel
Jin, Xiaoxing
Nichols, Rachael L.
Wetzel, Nadine
Skordoulis, Constantine D.
Concepts
Evolution
Darwinism
Biology
Science and literature
Science and religion
Biographies
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
20th century
Places
Germany
United States
Great Britain
Spain
Greece
France
Institutions
Panepistēmio Athēnōn
Ernst-Haeckel-Haus, Jena
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