DEVELOPMENT OF

EVOLUTIONARY THOUGHT
GENERAL BIOLOGY 2
 HISTORY OF
EVOLUTIONARY
THOUGHT
“Just as life has a history, science has also its
own story.”
16 CENTURY
th
 Andreas Vesalius:
Comparative Anatomy
• Started out his career as a defender of “Galenism” at
the University of Paris
• He began dissecting corpses for himself to show his
students fine details of anatomy at the University of
Padua.
• He drew charts for the students to study, and the
exquisite quality of the charts made him famous – so
famous that the criminal court judge of Padua made
sure he had a steady supply of cadavers from the
gallows.
Andreas Vesalius:
Comparative Anatomy
• As he grew more familiar with the human body,
he began to notice that here and there, Galen had
made mistakes.
• The human breastbone is made of three
segments; Galen said seven. Galen claimed that
the humerus (upper arm bone) was the longest
bone in the body, save only the femur; Versalius
saw that the tibia and fibula of the shin pushed
the humerus to fourth.
Andreas Vesalius:
Comparative Anatomy
• Over the centuries, anatomists sometimes had minor quibbles
with Galen, but Versalius began to suspect that there was
something seriously wrong with his work.
• He widened his scope, dissecting animals, and reading over
Galen more carefully. The source of mistake dawned on him.
Galen had never dissected a human. The traditions of Rome did
not allow such a practice, and so Galen had had to make to do
with dissecting animals and examining his patients during
surgery. Instead humans, Galen was often writing about oxen or
Barbary macaques.
Andreas Vesalius:
Comparative Anatomy
• At the age of 25, he launched a full assault on Galen.
Lecturing at Padua and Bologna, he rigged up skeletons of
humans and of Barbary macaques, and showed the
assembled students how wrong Galen had been.
• He then set out to put together a new anatomy book that
included his discoveries.
• He named his book De humani corporis fabrica libri
septem, or “The Seven Books on the Structure of Human
Body” – commonly known as Fabrica.
17th CENTURY
 Nicholas Steno:
Fossils and the Birth of Paleontology
• If one day in history had to be picked as the
birth of paleontology, it might be the day in
1666 when two fisherman caught a giant shark
off the coast of Livorno in Italy.
• The local duke ordered that this curiosity to be
sent to Niels Stensen (better known as Steno).
As he dissected the shark, he was struck by how
much the shark teeth resembled “tongue
stones”, triangular pieces of rock that had been
known since ancient times.
 Nicholas Steno:
Fossils and the Birth of Paleontology
• He made the leap and declared that
the tongue stones indeed came from
the mouths of once-living sharks. He
showed how precisely similar the
stones and the teeth were. But he
still had to account for how they
could have turned to stone and
become lodged in rock.
• He proposed the Law of
Superposition – his greatest
contribution to geology.
 John Ray:
The “species” Concept
• First scientist (in the modern sense of the word)
to carry out a thorough study of the natural
world
• Ray’s particular interests lay with plants, for
which he developed an early classification
system based on physiology and anatomy.
• During this work, he established the modern
concept of species, noting that organisms of one
species do not interbreed with members of
another. He used species as the basic unit of
taxonomy.
 John Ray:
The “species” Concept
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Thomas Robert Malthus:
The Ecology of Human Populations
• He made his groundbreaking economic arguments by
treating human beings in a groundbreaking way. Rather
than focusing on the individual, he looked at humans as
groups of individuals, all of whom were subject to the
same basic laws of behavior.
• He used the same principles that an ecologist would use
studying a population of animals or plants. And indeed, he
pointed out that the same forces of fertility and starvation
that shaped the human race were also at work on animals
and plants.
18 CENTURY
th
 Carl Linnaeus:
The Modern Taxonomic System

• Was fascinated by plants, paying botany much more attention

than was required for his medical studies at the university, and
took up the new idea that plants reproduced sexually, using
differences in reproductive structures to develop a system for
classifying plants.
• He moved on to study animals and to help make sense of the
huge volume of data accumulated during his teaching and
research that gave all his specimens a descriptive Latin
binomial, or two-word name.
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de
Buffon:
Evolution and the Age of the Earth

• Set out the current knowledge of the whole of

natural history in the 44-volume “Natural History”
(“Histoire Naturelle”), a series that greatly increased
popular interest in science.
• He also contributed to the debate over the age of the
Earth (begun by Isaac Newton), suggesting that our
planet had formed in a molten state and that its
gradual cooling must have taken far longer than the
6000 years.
 Erasmus Darwin:
Thoughts on Evolution
fa m il y to co n si d er the concept of
the first in his 802) was a
• Charles was not s D arw in (1 7 3 1 -1
ndfather, Erasmu ny scientific
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e ss fu l co u n tr y d octor who publish The Loves of the Plants”
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introduce
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E ra sm
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• A s w e re d if
dern specie lection to
was aware that mo d animal breeders used artificial se tures
t an fea
also saw how plan ts. He knew that offspring inherited h could
uc art
enhance their prod d went so far as to say that life on E eved in
an eli
from their parents, common ancestor. While Erasmus b
a that point.
be descended from of life, his God was “hands-off” from
n
the original creatio
 Georges Cuvier:
Contribution to Paleontology
• Was interested in Biology from childhood, an interest that he developed
further while living in the French countryside during the Revolution.
• He read both Linnaeus and Buffon and worked on his own ideas on
classification and taxonomy, before joining the Museum of Natural History
in Paris, studying and writing on comparative anatomy.
• His work was extremely useful in interpreting the remains of the fossil
animals and relating them to living species.
• He also classified animals according to their body plan (as vertebrates,
molluscs, those with exoskeletons and those with radial symmetry), which
is a major advance in thinking about relationships.
• His extensive studies of fossils gave rise to the science paleontology, and
he recognized that particular groups of fossil organisms were associated
with certain rock strata.
 Georges Cuvier:
The Catastrophism Model of
Earth’s History

• His paleontological studies told him that large

numbers had become extinct. To explain this, he
used the concept of catastrophism: a series of
catastrophes, one of which was recorded in the
Biblical story of the flood, had caused repeated
waves of extinction.
• Areas were then repopulated by migration from
unaffected areas. There was no room in this
model for the evolution of new species. In his
view, life had existed unchanged on Earth for
hundreds of thousands of years, ever since the
Creation.
 Jean-Baptiste Lamarck:
Concepts of Evolution and
Inheritance
• Worked at the Natural History Museum in Paris,
but his views on species were the opposite of
Cuvier’s. His model of evolution proposed that
individuals were able to pass to their offspring
characteristics acquired during their own lifetimes.
At that time, this was a perfectly acceptable model
of change, given that nothing at all was known
about the processes of inheritance.
• But what annoyed Cuvier was Lamarck’s proposal
that species did not go extinct, but instead evolved
into another form.
• In fact, Lamarck went further, stating that
evolution produced more complex organisms from
simple ancestors, and that this process of change
took time.
 Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hillaire:
Concepts of Evolution and
Inheritance
• Elaborated Lamarck’s views.
• Like Lamarck, he felt that the environment could
produce changes in living things, but went on to suggest
that if these changes were harmful, then the organism
would die; only those well-adapted to the environment
would survive. This is a foretaste of Darwin’s theory of
natural selection, but Geoffroy never went on to develop
his idea further.
• This is because both his suggestions, and Lamarck’s
ideas about inheritance of acquired characteristics, were
thoroughly ridiculed by Cuvier. Since Cuvier was such a
prominent scientist, his attacks carried a lot of weight.
Most scientists accepted the principle of catastrophism
that he championed so strongly, until the work of
Englishmen James Hutton and Charles Lyell.
 James Hutton:
Principle of
Uniformitarianism
• Made significant contribution to the understanding of the
geological processes that shaped the Earth.
• He was a keen chemist but also developed a strong interest in
geology.
• He recognized that the Earth was extremely old. He saw that there
was no need for global catastrophes to shape the surface of the
Earth. Instead, given sufficient time, the gradual ongoing processes
of erosion, sedimentation, and uplift could produce the geological
features he saw. This concept became on as the principle of
uniformitarianism.
• Without the concept of an extremely old and slowly changing
Earth, Darwin would not have had the time available for his model
of evolution to work.
• In fact, Darwin specifically applied Hutton’s concept of gradual
change, or gradualism, to his model of how species evolved.
 Charles Lyell:
Principles of Geology
• Went to Oxford to study mathematics and law but turned to geology after
being introduced to Hutton’s work.
• He met Gideon Mantell, who had discovered several different dinosaurs
in English rocks, and this led him to the serious study of the geological
history.
• Lyell travelled widely in Europe, where he observed ancient raised
seabeds separated by lava flows, and became convinced that Hutton’s
model of gradual geological change was correct.
• He collected a large amount of supporting evidence of uniformitarianism
and set this out in the “Principles of Geology”, a book that had a
tremendous influence of Darwin.
• Building on the idea of gradual long-term natural changes as the shaping
force of the Earth’s surface, he considered the origins of plants and
animals. While he believed in the special creation of all species now in
existence, he also recognized that many species had become extinct and
been replaced by others.
 Charles Robert Darwin:
Theory of Evolution by Natural
• One of the sixSelection
children born to Robert and Susannah
Darwin. Robert was a well-respected local doctor and
also something of a private investment banker. The
family was always very well off. Charles was
fascinated by science, particularly natural history,
from a young age. His father wished him to become a
doctor, but the traumatic experience of observing an
operation on a non-anaesthetized child caused Charles
to reject that career and took classes in geology and
natural history, particularly marine biology.
 Charles Robert Darwin:
Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection
• Robert Darwin still wished his son to have a career and so
arranged for him to study for the clergy at Cambridge. Many
country clergymen managed to combine their priestly duties
with an interest in natural history, so this seemed the obvious
thing for Charles to do.
• However, Charles once more ignored his official studies and
took classes reflecting his interest in the natural world, including
botany and geology. His teachers in these courses viewed
Darwin as an outstanding and hardworking pupil, but his father
was still set on him becoming a country person.
 Charles Robert Darwin:
Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection
• The summer after he graduated from Cambridge, he
received a letter that was to change his life. His botany
professor, John Henslow, had put his name forward to join
the crew of HMS Beagle, on a surveying expedition to
South America. Contrary to popular myth, this was not the
naturalist’s position (which was filled by the ship’s
doctor).
• Instead, the Beagle’s captain, Robert FitzRoy, required a
“gentleman companion” to provide company and
conversation on the voyage.
• FitzRoy found Darwin acceptable and the Beagle left on
what was to be a five-year voyage on December 27, 1831.
Darwin was yet to turn 23.
 Charles Robert Darwin:
Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection
• Robert Darwin (who was paying Charles’ expenses) expected
that his son would settle down on the voyage and come home
ready to take up a country parish. His university tutors and
scientific friends had different expectations: Charles was to
collect scientific specimens and send them back to England.
This sort of amateur collecting was a significant hobby for the
upper classes in Darwin’s time – and provided a livelihood for
less well-off men such as Alfred Russel Wallace, who was later
to provide the impetus for the publication of “On the Origin of
Species.”
 Charles Robert Darwin:
Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection
• Darwin’s thinking was enormously influenced by the
work done by previous scientists. Not least of these was
Charles Lyell. Darwin took Lyell’s “Principle of
Geology” for reading matter on the voyage. What he
read, and later confirmed at first hand in South America,
led him to accept the uniformitarian approach to Earth’s
history. This is significant because it allowed for the vast
age of the Earth, necessary for his model of gradual
evolutionary change.
 Charles Robert Darwin:
Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection
• Darwin travelled extensively in South America while the
Beagle continued its surveying duties. He made extensive
fossil collections and noticed that these fossils were found in
regions now occupied by their slightly different descendants.
This led him to think about factors affecting a species’
distribution. He also found evidence supporting Lyell’s theory
of gradual geologic change, such as fossils and ancient sea
beds now far from the sea, and witnessed first-hand how a
large earthquake could raise the land.
 Charles Robert Darwin:
Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection
• He also visited the Galapagos Islands and noted how the
finches and iguanas there resembled those of the South
American mainland. Contrary to the usual story, “Darwin’s
finches” did not provide him with a “eureka!” moment. He
noticed how the islands’ giant tortoises varied from island to
island, but the significance of the varied finch species did not
strike him until after his return to England.
 Charles Robert Darwin:
Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection

• Darwin was greeted with considerable scientific acclaim on

returning home. This was due to the quality and quantity of the
scientific specimens he brought with him, and in fact he made
his name as a geologist, not a biologist. Robert Darwin became
resigned to the fact that his son was going to follow his own
path, and Charles settled down to writing about his travels, and
studying his specimens.
 Charles Robert Darwin:
Theory of Evolution by Natural
Selection
• He began to develop his theory of evolution by natural
selection as a coherent explanation for his observations
on the form and distributions of species, tying it into the
concepts developed by other thinkers such as Lyell,
Lamarck and Malthus. While he quickly produced an
outline of this theory, Darwin was to spend the next 25
years refining it and amassing still more supporting
evidence. It took a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace to
push him into publication.
Alfred Russel Wallace:
Theory of Evolution

• Did not have the same advantages in life as Charles

Darwin.
• Largely self-taught, he had always had an interest
in natural history but do not have the funds to
indulge it. Unhappy with what was essentially a
dead-end job, he managed to save enough money to
fund a trip to South America, with the intention of
collecting specimens and selling them to wealthy
private collectors. This was a difficult life but
Wallace was moderately successful. More
importantly, he also attended various scientific
meetings, published papers, and began
corresponding with Darwin.
Alfred Russel Wallace:
Theory of Evolution

• While on a major expedition to South East Asia,

Wallace began to give a serious consideration to how
the species he was observing might have evolved. Like
Darwin, he was influenced by the ideas on limits to
population size developed by Malthus.
• Quite independently of Darwin, Wallace came up with
the idea that the best-adapted organisms in a population
would survive to breed, passing on their adaptations to
their offspring.
• He worked this insight up into a paper that he sent to
Darwin, asking for his comments and assistance in
getting it published.
The Theory of Evolution
by Natural Selection
• Darwin was shocked to receive Wallace’s paper. He had been sitting on his
theory for 25 years and here was another naturalist coming up with the same
concept. Darwin felt that Wallace should have priority in publication, but was
persuaded by his friends that he should produce a precise copy of his own
work.
• The two documents were read together at a meeting of the Royal Society, but
it is Darwin’s contribution that we remember today.
• “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the preservation
of favored races in the struggle for life” was published in 1859.
 The following statements represent the heart of the theory of how

The Theory of
species evolve by the process of natural selection, developed by
Darwin and Wallace:
Observations:

Evolution by 1. Organisms of all species can produce so many offspring that

their population size would increase exponentially if all
individuals that are born reproduce successfully.

Natural 2. Populations tend to remain stable in size, except for seasonal

fluctuations.

Selection 3. Environmental resources are limited.

4. Individuals of a population vary extensively in their
characteristics; no two individuals are exactly alike.
5. Much of this variation is heritable.
The Theory of
Inferences:
1. Production of more individuals than the environment can
support leads to a struggle for existence among individuals of

Evolution by a population, with only a fraction of offspring surviving each

generation.
2. Survival in the struggle for existence is not random, but

Natural depends in part on the hereditary make-up of the surviving

individuals. Those individuals whose inherited characteristics
best fit them to their environment are likely to leave more

Selection
offspring than less-fit individuals.
3. This unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce
will lead to a gradual change in a population, with favorable
characteristics accumulating over the generations.
The Theory of Evolution
by Natural Selection

Or, to put it in another way:

• Natural selection = Differential reproductive success
• Natural selection occurs as a result of interaction between the
environment and genetic variability in the population.
• The outcome of natural selection is the adaptation of populations
to their environment.
 • Make a comic strip
involving scientists or
people who contributed
ACTIVIT to early evolutionary
ideas.
Y: • To be written in a bondpaper, by pair.
• Choose your own pair.
• To be submitted on Thursday or
when you come back to school.
• Stay hydrated!! 