born Aug. 21, 1826, Würzburg, Bavaria
died June 14, 1903, Heidelberg, Ger.
German anatomist.
A strong supporter of Charles Darwin 's theory of evolution, he showed that comparative anatomy supplies evidence of it. His Elements of Comparative Anatomy (1859) stressed that structural similarities in different animals, especially parts with a common origin (e.g., human arm, horse's foreleg, and bird's wing), give clues to their evolutionary history.