Old Print Article: “Dr. Moser’s Discovery,” Brooklyn Daily Eagle (1898)

"The liver strikingly resembles the liver of a camel or a seal."

In a ranking of the best pathologists in the history of the world, Dr. William Moser would not be near the top of the list. From the July 18, 1898 Brooklyn Daily Eagle:

“Some of the medical profession in this borough are at present discussing the subject of an interesting human liver recently come upon by Dr. William Moser, pathologist of St. Catharine’s and St. Mary’s Hospitals in the course of an autopsy on a middle aged male adult. Dr. Moser has presented the liver to the Brooklyn Medical Society and it is now preserved and on view at the society’s rooms.

Dr. Moser, who, on account of his abilities, possesses the respect of his fellows in the profession, made the statement to an Eagle reporter this morning that the discovery was one of the strongest pieces of corroborative evidence in support of Darwin’s theory of evolution recently discovered.

He said: ‘The specimen to which I have drawn the attention of the profession demonstrates a human liver analogous to that of a camel or a seal from the fact that it consists of numerous lobes like theirs. In fact, I am convinced that we have in it a specimen of atavism, or a reversion to a remote ancestral type or to our own next of kin, the orangutan or the ape. In this instance the liver strikingly resembles the liver of a camel or a seal, and going a step backward, furnishes strong evidence in support of Darwin’s theory of evolution.'”

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