LAUSR

The year 2018 is the sesquicentennial of Ernst Haeckel’s famous phrase regarding vertebrate embryology, “Ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny,” or “In the development of an individual, the stages resemble the phases of the evolution of the animal’s ancestors.” The theory was put forth in 1868 in his book, Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte (Natural History of Creation). This catchy phrase and the fascinating theory are now believed to be erroneous. This is a great pity, because Figures 1 and 2 would have provided further evidence for the hypothesis. Even a casual observer would see the striking similarity of this fragment to a fetus. What makes the resemblance even more appropriate is that the biopsy represents a fragment of an endometrial curetting—the nidus where implantation takes place, for the next generation to be born. Soon after publication of the book, Haeckel was denounced and was termed a fraud by his critics because of some errors in the illustrations. These errors were corrected in subsequent editions of the book. However, in 1997, an article in Science stated, based on an article written elsewhere by Richardson et al, that Haeckel had deliberately and fraudulently manipulated the images to fit his theory. Subsequently, however, Richards painted a more sympathetic view and suggested, with good 816817 IJSXXX10.1177/1066896918816817International Journal of Surgical PathologyPai research-article2018