• SalmiakDragon@feddit.nu
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    1 day ago

    He noted their resemblance to human fetuses

    Ah yes, the early human fetus, famously very visually distinct from the early fetuses of other mammals. /s

    Also, would he even have had access to human fetuses in the first place? More so than other animals’ fetuses (since he apparently naturally associated the shape of the bean specifically to human fetuses)? I looked into it a bit, and I have my doubts. Pythagoras (Wikipedia) lived c. 570 – c. 495 BC, hundreds of years before human dissections were a thing in Ancient Greece. His listed main interests do not include anything medicine-adjacent. He did travel, I suppose.