CARUS, KABL GUSTAV

CARUS, Karl Gustav. — German anatomist and biologist, born in Leipzig on 3 January 1789, died in Dresden on 28 July 1869, follower of Naturphilosophie. He is remembered for his work Symbolik der menschlichen Gestalt and for his study on the "comparative symbolism" between the skeletons of man and ape (Zur vergleichenden Symbolik zwischen Menschen und Affen-Skelett [Jena 1861]), in which he was the first to examine the proportions of the skeletons of man and gorilla, highlighting "the dignity of the human organism" and its uniqueness. Religiously, he did not entirely free himself from the taint of pantheism.