Wednesday, August 19, 2020

Creation Moment 8/20/2020 - Rise of Apemen MYTH Series: Linnaeus

I have seen the foolish taking root... Job 5:3


"The connection between apes and human beings was strengthened by Linnaeus’ developing classification from 1735 to 1758.
He considered that his endeavor, as a believer in special creation, was to function as a second Adam in naming animals and plants, and placing them within an intelligently designed plan.
His plan was however influenced by the Aristotelian great-chain-of-being in which there could be no missing links. It was a
hierarchical system and not evidence of an evolutionary progression, but he believed there were designed “missing links” between apes and human beings; links that he intended to identify.

Controversially, in his 1758 classification the genus Homo was placed within the Primate order, and broken down into two subgenera, which were Homo diurnus and Homo nocturnus (Homo troglodytes)
The latter included the orang-outang as described by Bondt, and other apes and chimpanzees.
The orang-outang or Homo sylvestris was said by Linnaeus to only come out at night, was covered in white hair and possessed a cat-like third eyelid (Membrana nictitante). He repeated claims by Bondt and Kjoep that it could even speak, but only with a hissing tone.

Homo diurnus was subdivided into Homo sapiens, Homo monstrosus, and Homo ferus, thus including separate references to feral children and severely disabled human beings. But the more controversial aspect of this plan was placing monkeys and apes within the genus Homo, thus seemingly removing the distinction between animals and man, with loss of the uniqueness of man as the divine image bearer.

Linnaeus’ scheme was illustrated further in 1760 by four images presented under the title Anthropomorpha by Linnaeus’ student Christian Emmanuel Hoppius as part of his academic dissertation.
The term Anthropomorpha was, incidentally, first coined in 1693 by John Ray to denote ‘nail bearing’ or ‘anthropoid’ animals, although humans were excluded by Ray because of his belief in the sacredness of humanity.
Hoppius’ dissertation was overseen and published by Linnaeus, which suggests it reflected Linnaeus’ view regarding these entities, as Thomas Huxley later suggested.

From left to right the illustrations gradually become more ape-like: with increasing crouch, an increasingly ape-like head, and more ape-like hands and feet.

They were named: TROGLODYTA Boentii, LUCIFER Aldrouandi, SATYRUS Tulpii, and PYGMAEUS Edwardi
 While the Hoppius’ drawings were not considered to be an evolutionary progression by Linnaeus, the images seem to have been falsely and imaginatively modified from earlier drawings to fit into his scheme.

The first image on the left was called TROGLODYTA Boentii. This image was modified from Bondt’s imaginary impression of the orang-outang; a forest-dwelling creature that he considered to be an ape-human cross-breed.

The second image from the left was entitled LUCIFER Aldrouandi, primarily influenced by Gesner and Breydenbach’s drawings. However, the given name is perhaps a reference to a 1637 copy by Aldrouandi. The earlier drawing of Breydenbach was most probably that of a baboon: Brown suggests that Breydenbach’s image is possibly derived from ancient Egyptian iconography of Thoth, often portrayed as a baboon with a staff.7
Hoppius referred to it as a cat-tailed person, and Aldrouandi’s image does contain feline features, as also did one of Aldrouandi’s satyrs in Monstrorum Historia. Linnaeus considered it to be Homo caudatus; a tailed third species of man.
The clearly ape-like face and feet of the earlier drawings have been modified by Hoppius into a more human-like impression, and was used to fit Linnaeus’ scheme. So, Breydenbach’s baboon became almost human.

The third image from the left SATYR Tulpii is adapted from an engraving by GĂ©rald Jean Baptise Scotin’s II, clearly marked as a chimpanzee in 1738. The graphic impression drawn by Hoppius depicts more humanlike features, but without the teacup. Linnaeus considered it might be the species Satyrus sylvestris.
Man-of-the-Woods

The fourth image on the right is PYGMAEUS Edwardi, which is a copy of George Edwards Man-of-the-Woods. This is a drawing of the animal that Tyson had described, which he noted was known as the chimpanzee from Africa. Edwards thought he could offer a more accurate drawing, but also relayed reports of satyrs or orang-outangs from Asia, which he speculated might be more human-like than his chimpanzee."
CMI