Evolutionary Anthropology 18:241–246 (2009) Crotchets & Quiddities Gray’s Anatomy An Effort to Simplify Shows How Complex Life Really Is. How Does It Get That Way? KENNETH M. WEISS On July 1, 1858, papers by Charles lisher Parker & Son. That was Gray’s with Carter’s artistic help and the Darwin and Alfred Russell Wallace Anatomy, Descriptive and Surgical publisher’s encouragement, Gray were read before the Linnean Soci- (Fig. 1). Its story is also worth fol- aimed at something that could be ety. This was the first public presen- lowing from 1858 to the present. used effectively in class, a book with tation of their ideas about how natu- (The following history of Gray’s is simple descriptions and clear, utili- ral variation arose and proliferated largely from a recent book by Ruth tarian drawings to train future into new, diverse species. The meet- Richardson1). surgeons. After about two years of ing had been scheduled for June, but Like Darwin vis a` vis Wallace, the intense and patient work, with Carter had to be rescheduled because of the young anatomical star Dr. Henry often carving in less than the best of death of the Society’s vice-president Gray (1827–1861, Fig. 2a), Lecturer light to make its 363 woodcuts, (see Wikipedia, ‘‘Linnean Society’’). of Anatomy at St. George’s Hospital, Gray’s was published in 1858. The The evolution paper was shifted into also had a relatively unsung partner, initial edition of 2,000 copies sold the ad hoc summer meeting. Henry Vandyke Carter (1831–1897, out. Gray’s quickly went into subse- Famously, few people were there and Fig. 2b). While Gray wrote the crisp quent issues and became the new perhaps fewer paid any attention to descriptive text, it was Carter who standard. The result is history. the message (this may depend on drew the famously clear and estheti- The 1901 edition of Gray’s is still how many sherries had been con- cally beautiful illustrations that made available,4 though you’ll have to spot sumed). But the new ideas certainly their book a success. Carter’s wood for yourself which figures bear were noticed in the following year, engravings are still used by artists and Carter’s unique style, with its hand- 1859, when Darwin’s book on the many of us treasure our copies of engraved labeling embedded in the subject, On the Origin of Species, some edition of Gray’s just for its picture, because many new figures appeared. Darwin revised his book esthetics. Unlike Darwin, however, have been added. Also, Carter’s draw- through a sixth edition. Countless Henry Gray was not forthcoming in ings were altered when better pub- copies have been published. After giving due credit to his co-conspirator. lishing methods were developed. 150 years, it is still the book on evo- The young Dr. Gray undertook this It’s easy to refer to traits like the lution, still the original in Darwin’s project because he was dissatisfied ‘‘limb’’ or ‘‘head.’’ But these single word as well as name. with the existing anatomy books. words belie a boggling wealth of in- That story has been told many One was by John Bell (1763–1820)2. tricacy and detail. To ask the Dar- times. But other things were going Bell’s book was noted for its realistic winian question, ‘‘How did the head on in London in that remarkable but gruesome figures, which accu- evolve?’’ is but a metaphoric ques- year, 1858. Almost to the day of the rately depicted the socially degraded tion, and hardly a scientific one, as is Linnaean Society meeting, the edited people who were used in dissecting easy to see. Its anatomy alone, as proofs of another book, which theaters at the time (Fig. 3). Those seen in just a few of Gray’s figures became ‘‘the’’ book on its subject, whose parts were separated for med- depicting the head (Fig. 4) is daunt- were delivered to the London pub- ical students had first been separated ing. If it is even biologically mean- from their resting places by grave- ingful to speak of a head as one robbing. Bell’s illustrations often of structure, this one comprises a weav- Ken Weiss is Evan Pugh Professor of villains or paupers from the dregs of ing of arteries, veins, capillaries, lym- Anthropology and Genetics at Pennsyl- society further degraded them, and phatic vessels, blood, nerves, the vania State University. E-mail: kenweiss@ rather needlessly. many parts of the eyes, outer and psu.edu However, the standard text in inner ears, olfactory and taste sys- Gray’s day was Quain’s.3 It was au- tems, teeth, muscles, tendons, liga- thoritative, but too detailed for stu- ments, fascia, joints, marrow, pas- VC 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. dents, who needed training as physi- sages into and out of bones, and DOI 10.1002/evan.20240 Published online in Wiley InterScience cians and surgeons, not anatomists. muscles. Then there are the many (www.interscience.wiley.com). Anatomy books sold very well, so covering layers, the dura, pia, arach- 242 Weiss Crotchets & Quiddities structural and functional detail tional anatomy of, say, the face or within each of the aforementioned the ankle bones, and to suggest pos- structures. sible evolutionary scenarios for it, Similar complexities apply to every such as what kinds of natural selec- part of the body. Anyone who can tion might have been involved. This recall the dissecting room’s aura of was acceptable for most of the formalin knows that each of these twentieth century, which saw rapid features varies from person to per- growth in anatomical and histologi- son, within and between all primate cal knowledge. (Gray’s kept growing species. Yet for the most part these in size, too.) Some developmental complex structures, an arm, stom- experiments, such as manipulating ach, or head, are laid down in a very embryonic tissue in experimental similar way among individuals and organisms like the frog, chick, or among related species. They are, for mouse, showed the pattern of devel- example, similar on the left and right opment even at the cellular level, and sides, which to a great extent develop when and how that could be dis- independently. What differs are the rupted. But this was largely a black- relative sizes and timing of corre- box approach, because we had few sponding component parts. Despite ways to relate morphological phe- their variation, each newborn human nomena to the nature or evolution of or chimp is, after all, unambiguously their underlying genetic mechanisms Figure 1. Cover page of 1858 first edition of a human or chimp. that are presumed to be there. That’s Gray’s. Reconstituted from a photograph Anatomy develops through a genet- been changing dramatically as tech- in Richardson.1 ically choreographed embryological nologies in molecular development dance, with similar steps shared but and genetics have been opening up noid membranes, the bones, and syncopated among species. Carter’s the box. periostial layers, not to mention the figures from the nineteenth century The technological advances include layers, hairs, glands and other struc- show how very complex the mor- the availability of largely complete tures of the skin. And of course there phology of the human body is. And genome (DNA) sequences for is that minor item inside, known as Gray’s provided only a small subset humans and many other species; the brain. of the truth, as the growth in detail the ability to identify the genes In fact, these are just the gross in subsequent editions has shown. It expressed in any type of cell at any details that can be seen with the is hard to imagine how much com- time during embryonic development naked eye, and only of the adult, plexity is hidden just under the skin, by identifying the messenger RNAs not considering its embryological so to speak, even just anatomically, (mRNAs) that will be translated into stages, which include the timing, not to mention in our physiology, the proteins of each gene; and the location, size, formation, and miner- behavior, immunology, and our com- ability in a mouse or other labora- alization of each component of the plex sensory and other systems. tory vertebrate model to experimen- head. At the histological and cellular We’ve always been able to tally inactivate or modify the expres- level, there is a wealth of additional describe, and even test, the func- sion of any individual gene we might choose. After applying these tools for a couple of decades of intense and enormously successful research in developmental genetics, we have learned so much that the only remaining details we don’t yet under- stand are....most of the details. Nonetheless, we can see newer, bet- ter ways to approach an understand- ing of anatomy. DISSECTING THE BLACK BOX Modern genetic knowledge of ana- tomical development takes two gen- eral forms: breaking down and build- ing up. In the breaking-down depart- ment, for most traits genes are Figure 2. A brace of Henries: A. Gray, B. Carter. Public domain. known for which mutation has path- Crotchets & Quiddities Gray’s Anatomy 243 Figure 3. A gruesome representation of John Bell’s version. Source: public domain, from Bell.2 ological effects. Thus, mutational To account for this complexity in by testing for the expression of one of bashing of genes named Shh or Pax2 any simpler way is a challenge. The its genes, taken as an indicator, with- can lead to various forms of holopro- explosion of research findings in de- out needing to consider each of the sencephaly, facial midline defects velopmental genetics has occurred network’s participating members.