Evolution and Man

Antiquity ◽  
1957 ◽  
Vol 31 (124) ◽  
pp. 188-198
Author(s):  
Ronald Singer
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Comparative Anatomy ◽  
Modern Biology ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Morphological Studies ◽  
Technical Advances ◽  
Theories Of Evolution ◽  
Post War ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
The 19Th Century

The whole of modern biology has been called ‘ a commentary on the Origin of Species ’ (Charles Singer, 1949). In a sense this is true. Following the endeavours to trace the natural histories of the various living organisms, attempts are still in progress to determine the modes, patterns and directive forces of evolution. The end of the 19th and the first quarter of the 20th centuries were characterized by morphological studies in comparative anatomy, the rise of geology and the birth of genetics. The second quarter of this century has witnessed a phenomenal expansion in technical advances leading to critical appraisals of previous concepts and to maturation of new, revolutionary theories based upon seemingly disconnected disciplines-experimental embryology, genetics, physkal anthropology, palaeontology and geology. One of the unacclaimed causes of the correlation of knowledge is the post-war mastery of air travel. The spectacular rise of the ' basic ' biological sciences due to emergent industrial and atomic competitive needs in an era of socio-economic enlightenment is another factor giving rise to the pursuit of such knowledge. In a general sense this is the end of a Darwinian ' cycle ' ; the favourable socio-political situation of the 19th century formed the ' overture ' to the Darwinian theory. Act One saw the development, championing and triumphs of the intellectual interpretations of ' Darwinists '. In Act Two the weaknesses and the vital issues of the application of the theory to various living forms and particularly to Homo sapims were exposed, mainly through the clashes of ' neo-Darwinists ' and ' neo-Lamarckists '. This led to Act Three in which the various sciences (and especially genetics), competing to illustrate and develop alternative theories of evolution, blossomed out, particularly in their search for the mechanisms of the evolutionary processes. In the final scene of this Act the socio-political situation once again formed an important background as the diverse disciplines combine tq unify concepts, and, in fact, to prove evolution.

scholarly journals History of development of the biological microworld

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 152-178
Author(s):  
Vsevolod V. Borisov
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acid Sequences ◽  
Cell Nuclei ◽  
Modern Biology ◽  
Regular Sequences ◽  
Hereditary Factors ◽  
History Of ◽  
Living Nature ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
Real Essence ◽  
The 19Th Century

The history of modern biology may be considered to begin with the penetration of scientists to biological mini-world, formed by microorganisms, cells and sub-cellular entities. The main problem to be solved was the nature of biological (genetic) heredity. In the middle of the 19th century a conception was put forward about presence in living organisms of hereditary factors, later referred as genes, whose nature for a long period remained unknown. A significant progress was achieved with elaboration of the chromosomal theory of heredity based on the presence in cell nuclei of sub-cellular structures – chromosomes. In further search of hereditary agents the plausible candidate seemed to be a polymer chemically identified as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). But no fantasy was enough to establish any connection of DNA with phenotypical features of living organisms. In 1953 James Watson and Francis Crick in the process of construction of space model of DNA molecule succeeded to reveal a mechanism of copying non-regular sequences of four heterocyclic bases present as one per monomer in DNA. It was suggested that these sequences might be recognized as a hereditary information. But the real essence of heredity happens to be found not so in copying as in coding. This revolutionary idea was soon (in 1954) put forward by a physicist George Gamow who suggested that a sequence of bases in DNA is a genetic text and that living cells possess a genetic code which in fact is a mechanism of transformation of sequences of triplets of DNA monomers (the “letters” of genetic text) to amino acid sequences of a multitude of various proteins which are the main functional molecules of the living nature. Now a plenty of genetic texts were elucidated which made it possible for researchers to achieve a new level of knowledge about living nature.

scholarly journals Contemporary Ideas in a Traditional Mind-Set: The Nature Conservation Movement in Post War West-Germany (1945-1960)

2011 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid Mignon Kirchhof
Keyword(s):  
West Germany ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Conservation Movement ◽  
Normal People ◽  
Siglo Xix ◽  
Post War ◽  
Mind Set ◽  
German People ◽  
Harsh Criticism ◽  
The 19Th Century

In winter 1947 the Association for the Protection of the German Forest was founded to prevent the eradication of the forest across Germany after suffering wartime destruction, overuse and firewood logging. Especially the occupying forces faced harsh criticism from the German people for their widespread deforestation even though it seems that the Allied Powers used the wood resources quite responsibly. This article argues that the uproar by nature conservationists, politicians and “normal people” reflected a German sense of powerlessness, and revealed images and convictions of the forest as a national symbol that was supposedly endangered in post-war Germany. These post-war discussions referred back to the discourse of the 19th century, when German intellectuals declared the forest to be the myth of the German people and developed a notion of “Heimat” that saw a close connection between nation and nature. The post-war discussions involved many of those images and convictions. Nevertheless, the discussions were not only retrospective: they also reacted to the contemporary political situation and adapted their answers and solutions accordingly. En el invierno de 1947, se fundó la Asociación para la Protección de los Bosques Alemanes  para prevenir  la destrucción de los bosques en Alemania después de la guerra,  la sobre-explotación y la extracción de leña. Especialmente las fuerzas de ocupación fueron duramente criticadas por el pueblo alemán por la deforestación que causaban, a pesar de que, al parecer, las autoridades alidas explotaban los recursos de madera responsablemente. El presente artículo postula que las quejas de los ambientalistas, políticos y “gente de a pie“ indicaban que el pueblo alemán se sentía impotente y sacaba a relucir imágenes e ideas de los bosques en tanto símbolos nacionales supuestamente en peligro en la Alemania de la posguerra. Estas discusiones de la posguerra reflejaban los discursos del siglo XIX con que los intelectuales alemanes elevaron los bosques a la categoría de mito representativo del pueblo alemán y desarrollaron en la idea de “Heimat” [“Patria”] una íntima conexión entre nación y naturaleza. Las discusiones de la posguerra trataron de muchas de esas imágenes e ideas decimonónicas pero no se limitaron a tener de ellas una mera visión retrospectiva, pues hicieron que respondieran a la situación política del momento y aportaran soluciones de acuerdo a la nueva coyuntura.    

Serial Homology as a Challenge to Evolutionary Theory

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Schmitt
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Serial Homology ◽  
The Core ◽  
Long Period ◽  
Colonial Theory ◽  
Experimental Approaches ◽  
Evo Devo ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Development And Evolution

The problem of the repeated parts of organisms was at the center of the biological sciences as early as the first decades of the 19th century. Some concepts and theories (e.g., serial homology, unity of plan, or colonial theory) introduced in order to explain the similarity as well as the differences between the repeated structures of an organism were reused throughout the 19th and the 20th century, in spite of the fundamental changes during this long period that saw the diffusion of the evolutionary theory, the rise of experimental approaches, and the emergence of new fields and disciplines. Interestingly, this conceptual heritage was at the core of any attempt to unify the problems of inheritance, development, and evolution, in particular in the last decades, with the rise of “evo-devo.” This chapter examines the conditions of this theoretical continuity and the challenges it brings out for the current evolutionary sciences.

scholarly journals Botulinum Toxin in WW2 German and Allied Armies: Failures and Myths of Weaponization

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Laurent Tatu ◽  
Jean-Paul Feugeas
Keyword(s):  
Botulinum Toxin ◽  
Biological Weapon ◽  
Military Research ◽  
Intelligence Services ◽  
National Archives ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Military ◽  
Second World

Botulinum toxin is nowadays approved as an effective medication for various neurological disorders. The extreme toxicity of this toxin-inducing botulism, a severe lethal muscle-paralyzing illness, has been well known since the seminal works of the end of the 19th century. Because of this toxicity, botulinum toxin was one of the first agents to be considered for use as a biological weapon. The Second World War was a crucial period for the first attempts to weaponize this toxin even if many unknown factors about botulinum toxin still existed at the outbreak of the war. Using documents from the British National Archives and other published sources, we discuss the main points of the attempts to weaponize this toxin in German and Allied armies. During WW2, Allied intelligence services regularly reported a major German threat related to the potential use of botulinum toxin as a biological weapon, especially during the preparation of <i>Operation Overlord</i>, the Allied invasion to liberate Europe. All these reports would ultimately prove to be inaccurate: botulinum toxin was not part of the German military arsenal even if some German scientists tried to use the results of the French pre-war military research. Misinformation spread by intelligence services stimulated military research at Porton Down facilities in England and at Camp Detrick in the USA. These studies led to a succession of failures and myths about the weaponization of botulinum toxin. Nevertheless, major progress (purification, toxoid) arose from the military research, providing useful data for the first steps of the therapeutic use of botulinum toxin in the post-war years.

scholarly journals The dawn of chelonian research: Turtles between comparative anatomy and embryology in the 19th century

2014 ◽  
Vol 324 (3) ◽  
pp. 169-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate MacCord ◽  
Guido Caniglia ◽  
Jacqueline E. Moustakas-Verho ◽  
Ann C. Burke
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Comparative Anatomy ◽  
The 19Th Century

Pinocchio e l’evoluzione

Revue Romane ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-293
Author(s):  
Margareth Hagen
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Fairy Tales ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Public ◽  
Continuous Evolution ◽  
Narrative Interpretation ◽  
Theories Of Evolution ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Pedagogical Literature

The first chapters of Carlo Collodi’s Pinocchio were printed in 1881, the same year as the publication of the novel I Malavoglia, Giovanni Verga’s masterpiece of verismo. While every critical reader of Verga’s realism has pointed out his particular narrative interpretation of evolution, Collodi’s has novel very seldom been connected to the theories of evolution, even if Darwin’s ideas were highly present in the public debate in Florence during the last decades of the 19th century. The reasons for this silence are primarily to be found in the genre of Pinocchio, in the fact that it is children literature, and therefore primarily related to the narrative mechanisms of the fairy tales and pedagogical literature. Focusing on Pinocchio, the article discusses to which degree Darwinism can be traced in Collodi’s literature for children, and questions if the continuous metamorphoses of Pinocchio can be read also in connection with the naturalist conception of the literary characters as unstable, in continuous evolution, and not only as part of the mechanisms of fairy tales and mythological narratives.

scholarly journals Collections of Japanese Art in Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2(6)) ◽  
pp. 109-123
Author(s):  
Alla Ozhoha-Maslovska
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Political System ◽  
Art Museum ◽  
National Museum ◽  
Literature Information ◽  
Professional Literature ◽  
Art Collections ◽  
Japanese Art ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 19Th Century

The stages of the formation of Japanese art collections on the territory of Ukraine from the beginning of the 19th century to the present are highlighted on the basis of archival materials, periodicals and professional literature. Information about Japanese collections of the pre-war and post-war periods are systematized, while their composition and sources of formation are determined. The influence of the socio-political system on the development of the process of collecting Japanese art in Ukraine is also analysed. The sources of the formation of collections of Japanese art in the collections of The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts in Kyiv, Odessa Museum of Western and Oriental Arts, the Chinese Palace of “Zolochiv Castle” Museum-Reserve, as well as Kharkiv Art Museum are explored. Finally, modern tendencies in the collection of Japanese art in Ukraine are determined.

scholarly journals Causes for increased flood frequency in central Europe in the 19th century

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Brönnimann ◽  
Luca Frigerio ◽  
Mikhaël Schwander ◽  
Marco Rohrer ◽  
Peter Stucki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Climate Model ◽  
Warm Season ◽  
Flood Frequency ◽  
Sea Surface ◽  
Weather Types ◽  
Annual Series ◽  
Climate Model Simulations ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 19Th Century

Abstract. Historians and historical climatologists have long pointed to an increased flood frequency in Central Europe in the mid and late 19th century. However, the causes have remained unclear. Here, we investigate the changes in flood frequency in Switzerland based on long time series of discharge and lake levels, of precipitation and weather types, and based on climate model simulations, focusing on the warm season. Annual series of peak discharge or maximum lake level, in agreement with previous studies, display increased frequency of floods in the mid 19th century and decreased frequency after the Second World War. Annual series of warm-season mean precipitation and high percentiles of 3-day precipitation totals (partly) reflect these changes. A daily weather type classification since 1763 is used to construct flood probability indices for the catchments of the Rhine in Basel and the outflow of Lake Lugano, Ponte Tresa. The indices indicate an increased frequency of flood-prone weather types in the mid 19th century and a decreased frequency in the post-war period, consistent with a climate reconstruction that shows increased (decreased) cyclonic flow over Western Europe in the former (latter) period. To assess the driving factors of the detected circulation changes, we analyse weather types and precipitation in a large ensemble of climate model simulations forced with observed sea-surface temperatures. In the simulations, we do not find an increase in flood-prone weather types in the Rhine catchment in the 19th century, but a decrease in the post-war period related to the sea-surface temperature anomalies.

CULTURE OF TURKISTAN IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE XIX CENTURY

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (7) ◽  
pp. 15-22
Author(s):  
Zebiniso A. Akhmedova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Diplomatic Relations ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Cultural Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Xix Century ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
The Military

The article analyzes the culture of Turkestan in the second half of the 19th century. The social, economic, politicaland cultural life of Bukhara during the Mangit dynasty is revealed. Clarified trade and diplomatic relations between Bukhara and Russia.On the basis of the works of Ahmad Donish, the economic and political situation in Bukhara, as well as relations with neighboring countries, are studied. The author draws attention to the military-bureaucratic colonial system of tsarism in Turkestan and reveals the reasons for the emergence of ideas of national liberation in the country. Examples are used to analyze the life of Bukhara before and after the invasion of tsarism

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