One of my favorite things Darwin was right about (in a pre-genetic way): the master control gene.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/04/4/text_pop/l_04...

It's all fascinating. I'm sure I will enjoy reading Darwin much more when I am older and have observed more of the world and evolved my own ideas relating to it.

"...indeed, we were capable of inducing a complete compound eye on an antenna, on a wing, or on a leg... We actually showed, later, that the fruit flies can see with these eyes."

Wow, that really is fascinating.

"We often see rudiments of various parts in monsters."

I must ask: What animal was it that, in those days, was referred to by eminent scientists as "monsters"?

Not any specific animal, but any animal (or person) that had gross deformities or severe birth defects might have been called a "monster" before about the middle of the twentieth century.

We still use a few words with the Greek stem teras. For example, teratology is the study of monstrosities (i.e. birth defects).

In Classical Arabic, the word that today means "monster" was used to refer to animals, or perhaps more specifically, wild (undomesticated) animals.