...to learn that Haeckel's drawings in their textbooks were faked.
I posted the following in the other thread, I'll repeat it here:
Haeckel did not "fake" his drawings. They're not particularly accurate and he did emphasise those features he wanted to draw attention to, and reduce other features he wanted to draw attention away from. And, what's more, he freely admits in the introduction to the second edition that he has done so. Haeckel argues that this is true of
any and all diagrams and he has a point - you don't include oily stains on a diagram of an engine, for example.
Drawing inaccurately is different from faked, and different from fraud. Schematic diagrams are different from faked, and different from fraud.
Personally, I think it's a shame they are still used so often, photos will demonstrate the point just as well and without any dificulties of 'ariststs interpretation' (which, in fact, is what the textbook I studied from at school did).
By way of analogy,
this is a map of the underground, allowing you to compare the "real" map to the schematic one shown everywhere. The
standard map bears strikingly little resemblance to the actual positions of things yet it is neither faked nor fraudulent.
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