Four images showing a tree-dimensional view of the intermaxillary bone of the human skull. Other figures from Goethe’s collection shown the same arrangement in the skull of an ape and in a variety of domesticated and wild animals. [5] |
“I have found neither gold nor silver, but something that unspeakably delights me—the human Os intermaxillary! I was comparing human and animal skulls with Loder, hit up the right track, and behold—Eureka! Only, I beg of you, not a word—for this must be a great secret for the present. You ought to be very much delighted too, for it is like the keystone to anthropology—and it’s there, no mistake! But how?”
A 1920 rendition of Goethe searching for an discovering the human intermaxillary bone, by Russian artist Dmitrievich Ezuchevsky (1880-1928). [7] |