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(Second Section )
THE LIVING EVIDENCE FOR EVOLUTION
The evidence obtained from the study of the anatomy, physiology and biochemistry of plants and animals, their embryologic3 and genetic histories as outlined in Jaina Biology and the manner in which they are distributed over the earth's surfaces suggest that a sort of organic evolution has occurred.
Taxonomy - the science of naming, describing and classifying organisms as dealt with in Jaina Biology has been touched upon in brief in the second and third chapters. Like Ray and Kinpaeush the Jainācäryas are firm believers in the unchanging nature of species as is evidenced in their classifications, 7 “but present-day taxonomists are concerned with describing species primarily as a means of discovering evolutionary relationships."8
From their points of view an evolutionary relationship among the species of organisms - plants and animals may be discovered on the
1. See the fourth chapter - Organisation of the Body, Blood and Circulatory
systems ( 1st section ), the Respiratory system ( 2nd section ), the Digestive system ( 3rd section ), the Excretory system (4th section ), the Integumentary and Skeletal system (5th section ), the Muscular system (6th section ), the Nervous system (7th section ), the Sense - organs (8th section ), the Endocrine system
( 9th section ). 2. See the second and third sections of the second chapter : second section-General
properties of Green plant, Cellular Respiration, The skeletal system of the plants, Plant Digestion, Plant Circulation, Plant Saps, Plant Excretion, Plant Co-ordination, Transmission of Impulses of Plants, and Sleep Movement of Plants ; third section - The structures and Functions of a Seed Plant, the Roots and its funtions, The Environment of roots : Soil, The stem and its functions, the leaf and its function, Transpiration. The movement of Water, and the
Storage of Food. 3. See th: 5th Chapter - Reproduction, second section Human Reproduction, third
section - Embryonic Development. 4. See the 6th chapter - The Mechanism of Heredity, the 1st section - The Physical
Basis of Heredity, The Development of Genetics. 5 See Țhāņapadam. Pannavana Sutta 2.348 - 150, (pệthivikāya- upto 166 (pamcim
diyathāņa) 6. Biology p. 543 7. Ottar ādhyayana Sūtra, 36; Pannavanā Sutta, Jivapaņņayanā. 8. Biology, p. 543.
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