TYSON, EDWARD

born 1650, Clevedon, Somerset, Eng. died Aug. 1, 1708 English physician and pioneer of comparative anatomy whose delineation of the similarities and differences between men and apes provided an empirical basis for the study of man and not only suggested a continuity of animality and humanity, but also indicated the existence of definite relationships between humans and other primates. Tyson's comparisons, set forth in his landmark treatise (1699) of anthropology and comparative anatomy, remarkable for its empirical approach, proved so accurate that they served as an aid to naturalists 150 years later. He thought, however, that the chimpanzees from which he made his observations were pygmies and believed them to be the missing link.