There is a theory that humans in childhood and most of maturity retain the features and general form of “foetal” apes. Young humans and young apes appear similar for several years, but then apes develop rapidly into their mature form. Humans, however, appear to delay maturity and retain this “foetalized” appearance for decades. Supposedly it then followed that in old age we relapse into ape-like features characteristic of the mature animals. According to the theory, if humans could live a much longer time than they do now, they would eventually turn into apes. .The theory has since fallen out of favor (along with the once related concept “ontology recapitulates phylogeny”). It is the main story-line in AFTER MANY A SUMMER DIES THE SWAN, by Aldous Huxley. But people once thought it explained why old people get hairy in odd places, and stringy in form, seeming to change into ape-like creatures – and that if only the onset of that change could be delayed by medicine treatment, that people could live hundreds of years..There will be a test on this Monday.
There is a theory that humans in childhood and most of maturity retain the features and general form of “foetal” apes. Young humans and young apes appear similar for several years, but then apes develop rapidly into their mature form. Humans, however, appear to delay maturity and retain this “foetalized” appearance for decades. Supposedly it then followed that in old age we relapse into ape-like features characteristic of the mature animals. According to the theory, if humans could live a much longer time than they do now, they would eventually turn into apes. .The theory has since fallen out of favor (along with the once related concept “ontology recapitulates phylogeny”). It is the main story-line in AFTER MANY A SUMMER DIES THE SWAN, by Aldous Huxley. But people once thought it explained why old people get hairy in odd places, and stringy in form, seeming to change into ape-like creatures – and that if only the onset of that change could be delayed by medicine treatment, that people could live hundreds of years..There will be a test on this Monday.