The most prominent naturalist in Britain before Charles Darwin, Richard Owen made empirical discoveries and offered theoretical innovations that were crucial to the proof of evolution. Among his many lasting contributions to science was the first clear definition of the term homology—“the same organ in different animals under every variety of form and function.” He also graphically demonstrated that all vertebrate species were built on the same skeletal plan and devised the vertebrate archetype as a representation of the simplest common form of all vertebrates.

Just as Darwin’s ideas continue to propel the modern study of adaptation, so too will Owen’s contributions fuel the new interest in homology, organic form, and evolutionary developmental biology. His theory of the archetype and his views on species origins were first offered to the general public in On the Nature of Limbs, published in 1849. It reemerges here in a facsimile edition with introductory essays by prominent historians, philosophers, and practitioners from the modern evo-devo community.

Ron Amundson is professor of philosophy at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.

"This book's importance goes almost without saying, for it is the classic discourse in which Owen defined the key concepts of homology and analogy, and developed the modern understanding of the vertebrate skeleton.. . . . Recommended to anyone interested in nineteenth-century biology, palaeontology and evolutionary thought."

"[This] is one of the most important primary sources for idealistic morphology as it existed in Victorian England. The publishers deserve our gratitude for making the book widely available to the modern reader."

"It is well to be reminded of the debt modern evolutionary biology, particularly comparative anatomy, owes [Owen]. This volume admirably serves this valuable purpose."