Practice question

Aristotle, fourth century BC, authored Historia Animalium and De Generatione Animalium, observing chick embryo development, cephalopod eggs, and bee metamorphosis. He compared morphologies across species, proposed epigenesis versus preformation, and recognized similarities in vertebrate organization long before microscopy. His systematic dissection and staging of embryos established foundation for comparative developmental anatomy. Later investigators like von Baer, Müller, and Wolpert built upon evolutionary embryology, but Aristotle remains first known scholar to integrate descriptive embryology across animal groups, emphasizing functional anatomy and developmental sequences rather than spontaneous generation myths.