Fig. 47.—J. Fr. Meckel, 1781-1833.
Rathke.—Martin Henry Rathke (1793-1860) greatly advanced the science of comparative anatomy by insisting upon the importance of elucidating anatomy with researches in development. This is such an important consideration that his influence upon the progress of comparative anatomy can not be overlooked. After being a professor in Dorpat, he came, in 1835, to occupy the position of professor of anatomy and zoölogy at Königsberg, which had been vacated by Von Baer on the removal of the latter to St. Petersburg. His writings are composed with great intelligence, and his facts are carefully coördinated. Rathke belonged to the good old school of German writers whose researches were profound and extensive, and whose expression was clear, being based upon matured thought. His papers on the aortic arches and the Wolffian body are those most commonly referred to at the present time.
Müller.—Johannes Müller (1801-1858), that phenomenal man, besides securing recognition as the greatest physiologist of the nineteenth century, also gave attention to comparative anatomy, and earned the title of the greatest morphologist of his time. His researches were so accurate, so complete, so discerning, that his influence upon the development of comparative anatomy was profound. Although he is accorded, in history, the double distinction of being a great anatomist and a great physiologist, his teaching tended to physiology; and most of his distinguished students were physiologists of the broadest type, uniting comparative anatomy with their researches upon functional activities. (For Müller's portrait see p. 187.)
Gegenbaur.—In Karl Gegenbaur (1826-1903) scientific anatomy reached its highest expression. His work was characterized by broad and masterly analysis of the facts of structure, to which were added the ideas derived from the study of the development of organs. He was endowed with an intensely keen insight, an insight which enabled him to separate from the vast mass of facts the important and essential features, so that they yielded results of great interest and of lasting importance. This gifted anatomist attracted many young men from the United States and from other countries to pursue under his direction the study of comparative anatomy. He died in Heidelberg in 1903, where he had been for many years professor of anatomy in the university.
Fig. 48.—Karl Gegenbaur, 1826-1903.
In the group of living German anatomists the names of Fürbringer, Waldeyer, and Wiedersheim can not go unmentioned.
E.D. Cope.—In America the greatest comparative anatomist was E.D. Cope (1840-1897), a man of the highest order of attainment, who dealt with the comparative anatomy not only of living forms, but of fossil life, and made contributions of a permanent character to this great science; a man whose title to distinction in the field of comparative anatomy will become clearer to later students with the passage of time. For Cope's portrait see p. 336.