One of the French scientists who influenced Grant was the anatomist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, whose ideas on the unity of various animal body plans and the homology of certain anatomical structures would be widely influential and lead to intense debate with his colleague Georges Cuvier.
Un dos científicos franceses que influíu en Grant era o anatomista Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, cuxas ideas sobre a unidade do plan corporal de varios animais e a homoloxía de certas estruturas anatómicas serían moi influentes e orixinarían un intenso debate co seu colega Georges Cuvier.