Embryos and Haeckel

Most textbooks present pictures of embryos as proof of Macro Evolution

Professor Ernst Haeckel, University of Jena in Germany, produced a series of drawings of embryonic development in 1866 which greatly influenced Darwin and have been widely accepted as a proof of macro evolution

Haeckel’s Embryos

Folds on Haeckel’s Embryos

Haeckel Proposed That The Folds Under The Head In The Human Embryo Meant That At This Stage of Development The Human Had Rudimentary Gills.

In The Human The Folds Develop Into The Thymus Gland, Parathyroid Gland, Middle Ear and Tonsils. These Structures Have No Relationship To Gills.

Notice the great differences in the developmental stages of the embryos before reaching the stage shown by Haeckel.

Haeckel doctored the drawings to make them all appear closely related Haeckel doctored the drawings to make them all appear closely related. Had he shown the stages leading up to the stage before the one he published, the error would have been clear.

Haeckel’s drawings were first publicized as fraud two years, 1868, after he published them. The University of Jena asked him to justify his results in 1874. He admitted to some falsifications although his written acknowledgment of this is reported to be lost.

Think Critically What Kind of Evolution Do Vertebrate Embryos Support?

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