Baer's rule
The Baer rule formulated by Karl Ernst von Baer in 1828 is a forerunner of the basic biogenetic rule established by Ernst Haeckel in 1866 . Von Baer recognized in vertebrates that their embryos of different species are more and more difficult to distinguish the younger they are found. Baer called this the Law of Embryo Likeness .
Baer believed he recognized a law in this observation. Just like Ernst Haeckel's further biogenetic basic rule, which draws the conclusion of the relationship and the (controversial) development recapitulation from the similarity, this "law" also had to be relativized later. Both are now only referred to as a rule.
As early as 1837, the Scottish physician Martin Barry took up the Baer rule and proposed that the animal world should be classified according to characteristics from embryonic development . The strong similarity of the early embryonic stages suggests that each animal had the same beginning and only developed the order, family and species-specific characteristics in the course of development.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Julia Voss: Darwin's intelligent design. In: MaxPlanckResearch . 4/2007, p. 25.