Lecture 2: The age of the Earth & fossil record 1500-1830.

Part 2 o Big precursor to Darwin

o But he does not accept that the history of earth is progressive. The only person not to accept
 Georges Cuvier 1769-1832 this.
o One of the most important figure o He thought if scientist were to accept this, it suggests evolution
o Comparative anatomist o Most famous for his book – principles of geology
o 1796 paper on living and fossil elephants o Argued against sudden revolutions (Cuvier). Instead slow gradual change.
o Become famous and powerful and dangerous o Natural effects such as erosion, silting, volcanic eruptions, elevation and subsidence from
o Around 1800, proposed an era that existed before now. The age of reptiles Earthquakes
o Skeleton of Mastodon o So:
o Until this point of time, extinction not accepted. Considered to be irreligious idea. Why would  The present is the key to the past
God create something and allow it to vanish?  Geological processes have always been slow
o He said this animal is huge, no way this giant thing walking around and no one has seen it.  There is no progress or direction
Thus it must have gone extinct o Remains of ancient roman building (the 3 columns)
o Additional elephant like species that are gone  Columns been standing for over 2000 years
o Evidences from the rocks shows a series of change that have occurred in the history of the  Black stripes seen in the middle
earth  Composed of little holes, organisms have drilled into the rock, made by animals
o Cuvier called these changes – revolutions who live in sea
o Extinction – now accepted scientific fact  Since this temple was built, the ground on which its sitting have gone down
o The only thing known to be extinct – Dodo, but now there are loads of things  Then the land has gone back up
 Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829)  All of these happened in 2000 years
o He hated Cuvier’s idea of extinction. Think it’s very religious view  Seems to be a strong evidence for his case
o He proposed a very different theory o Lyell was trying to argue that history of earth is not one of progress, era after era
o He said that animals don’t extinct but they changed. o The fossils just seem to progress
o The word Lamarckism now – is used to mean the inheritance of acquired characteristics o Lyell introduced Lamark’s theory to a greater audience
 How did the giraffe get its long neck? By stretching o He argues that things go extinct in a gradual way. The world is always changing slowly. For
 The offspring inherit the long neck Lyell species cannot change/evolve but the world keeps changing. Species can only keep up
o But this is rubbish! with the change in the world to certain extent, then go extinct. The world become too different
o Lamarck’s original theory – is actually about change over time. A law of nature driving living for it to adapt.
o But where did the new species come from? He left it vague. He was consistent in all his theory
things up to a higher level/complexity
o First person to publish a theory of evolution a sort. until this issue.
 Rev. Bucklands’ Bridgewater Treatise
o But different from Darwin.
o Top: Different kinds of fossils in different kind of rocks
 Lamark – transformist
o All of these endless era of geological times. NONE show evidence of human beings
 Darwin – evolutionist
o The diagram misleading o The human history only a tiny layer above.
o Lamark’s theory o Thus accepted by everyone that the earth is very old
o Each line is a family lineage. Constantly upwards, becoming more complex  Charles Lyell
o Everything that has vanished, will reappear. Spontaneous generation o Things that have gone extinct will come back again when the environment is right
o Why all start at different stages? Different point of creation. The process of emerging is still o Continuous process of extinction and new ones appearing
happening o Though not everything is accepted, he is the most influential geologist then
o Cuvier disliked this theory. Cuvier was popular in those days.  John Herschell – Philosopher
o Thus, the scientific idea of evolution was not popular o He got a copy of Lyell’s book
 Mary Anning (1799 –1847) o He wrote to Lyell a letter
o Amateur fossil hunter o He used the now famous expression
 Pre-Darwin understanding of life works. A story of progress.  The mystery of mysteries, the first appearance of new species on this earth
o Since that, universally accepted  Darwin wrote it on the first page of origin of species
o Its only from this time, its proper to talk about the origin of species
o As times move up the rock, different creatures appeared
o None of these taken as evidence of evolution o Inappropriate to assume that people have been asking the same questions
o The questions people ask have always been changing depending on their motives, politics
o A progress of simple to complex
etc…
 Charles Lyell 1797-1875
o Only when people began to find these extinct species that people began to ask these questions
o Scottish geologist
 Vestiges
o This book took a radical plunge
o Published in 1884, 10 years after Lyell’s book
o Published anonymously. Who wrote this radical book?
o Robert Chamber. Scottish publisher
o He was afraid if he published it under his own name, it will damage his business
o He did admit he was not a professional but amateur
o Extremely controversial
o Put forward a theory of evolution of a sort
o Similar to Lamark’s theory
o Vestiges theory – all happening in the natural world is controlled by natural laws. Nothing is
outside the control of natural laws. Everything in nature is progressing. He didn’t use the word
evolution but the word development. Not just biology but everything is developing.
o Nebula hypothesis – gradual progressive development of solar system
o He even suggested that there will be a higher species than human
o Controversial – put God out of the picture.
Summary
• William Smith – first geological map (1815)
• Georges Cuvier (1739-1862) – anatomist who could reconstruct entire animal from one bone
• Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829) – theory of change over time (NOT acquired inheritance)
• Mary Anning (1799-1847) – female fossil hunter who dug up the reptile (fish lizard – ichthyosaur) fossil
• William Buckland – discovered remains of a hyena den – imagined ecosystem (1821)
• Charles Lyell (1797-1975) – suggested gradual change (opposed the theory of life – which stated species
just popped up). Wrote the Principles of geology in 1830 and used the columns (with holes) of the Temple
of Serapis as evidence. Respected Lyell but his refuted his ideas.