A work in progress: William Bateson's vibratory theory of repetition of parts.
Hist Philos Life Sci
; 46(1): 11, 2024 Feb 05.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38315308
ABSTRACT
In 1891 Cambridge biologist William Bateson (1861-1926) announced his idea that the symmetrical segmentation in living organisms resulted from energy peaks of some vibratory force acting on tissues during morphogenesis. He also demonstrated topographically how folding a radially symmetric organism could produce another with bilateral symmetry. Bateson attended many lectures at the Cambridge Philosophical Society and viewed mechanical models prepared by eminent physicists that illustrated how vibrations affected materials. In his subsequent research, Bateson utilized analogies and metaphors based upon his observations of nature to build a thought model on the effects of vibrations on living tissue, because he realized that the chemistry and biology of his day lacked technologies to perform actual experiments on the subject. He concluded the production of organic segmentation was both a chemical and mechanical phenomenon. By the time of his death Bateson had incorporated new ideas about embryonic organizer regions to suggest a center from which a rhythmic force emanated and then produced the observed repetitive segmentation as a common feature in living organisms.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Vibration
/
Morphogenesis
Language:
En
Journal:
Hist Philos Life Sci
Year:
2024
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Estados Unidos