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Quote by Ray Lankester

“The chemical differences among various species and genera of animals and plants are certainly as significant for the history of their origins as the differences in form. If we could define clearly the differences in molecular constitution and functions of different kinds of organisms, there would be possible a more illuminating and deeper understanding of question of the evolutionary reactions of organisms than could ever be expected from morphological considerations.”

Quote by Ray Lankester

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Ray Lankester
Ray Lankester

Ray Lankester was a prominent biologist whose work had a significant impact on the field of biology. His research covered various areas, including zoology, paleontology, and comparative anatomy. Lankester's contributions have had a lasting influence on subsequent biological research. more

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FirstsTwoLightAnimalStudyEvolutionResearchSkinsOrganizationFleshDivisionPeculiarLayersPlasticGermsTurning PointsEmbryosDiscsMembranes
Author:Karl Ernst von Baer
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“The doctrine of evolution implies the passage from the most organised to the least organised, or, in other terms, from the most general to the most special. Roughly, we say that there is a gradual 'adding on' of the more and more special, a continual adding on of new organisations. But this 'adding on' is at the same time a 'keeping down'. The higher nervous arrangements evolved out of the lower keep down those lower, just as a government evolved out of a nation controls as well as directs that nation.”

WellsGovernmentScienceNationsTermSpecialEvolutionHigherDoctrineNervousPassagesArrangementsOrganisationOrganised
Book:Selected Writings of John Hughlings Jackson: Evaluation and dissolution of the nervous system. Speech. Various papers, addresses and lectures
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“The great age of the earth will appear greater to man when he understands the origin of living organisms and the reasons for the gradual development and improvement of their organization. This antiquity will appear even greater when he realizes the length of time and the particular conditions which were necessary to bring all the living species into existence. This is particularly true since man is the latest result and present climax of this development, the ultimate limit of which, if it is ever reached, cannot be known.”

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Author:Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
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“The History of Evolution is the real source of light in the investigation of organic bodies. It is applicable at every step, and all our ideas of the correlation of organic bodies will be swayed by our knowledge of the history of evolution. To carry the proof of it into all branches of research would be an almost endless task. (1828)”

IdeasRealBodyLightWould BeScienceStepsSourceEvolutionResearchTasksProofEndlessBranchesInvestigationEvery StepCorrelation
Author:Karl Ernst von Baer
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“The meaning that we are seeking in evolution is its meaning to us, to man. The ethics of evolution must be human ethics. It is one of the many unique qualities of man, the new sort of animal, that he is the only ethical animal. The ethical need and its fulfillment are also products of evolution, but they have been produced in man alone.”

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Book:The Meaning of Evolution
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“The scientific doctrine of progress is destined to replace not only the myth of progress, but all other myths of human earthly destiny. It will inevitably become one of the cornerstones of man's theology, or whatever may be the future substitute for theology, and the most important external support for human ethics.”

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Book:New Bottles for New Wine: Essays
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