Biology and Its Makers / With Portraits and Other Illustrations

by William A. Locy

Cuvier the Founder of Vertebrate Palæontology.—The interesting discovery that the fossil relics in the Eocene rocks about Paris embraced extinct species was announced to the Institute by Cuvier in January, 1796; and thereafter he continued for a quarter of a century to devote much attention to the systematic study of collections made in that district. These observations were, however, shared with other labors upon comparative anatomy and zoölogy, which indicates the prodigious industry for which he was notable. In 1812-1813 he published a monumental work, profusely illustrated, under the title Ossemens Fossiles. This standard publication entitles him to recognition as the founder of vertebrate palæontology.

In examining the records of fossil life, Cuvier and others saw that the evidence indicated a succession of animal populations that had become extinct, and also that myriads of new forms of life appeared in the rocks of succeeding ages. Here Cuvier, who believed that species were fixed and unalterable, was confronted with a puzzling problem. In attempting to account for the extinction of life, and what seemed to him the creation of new forms, he could see no way out consistent with his theoretical views except to assume that the earth had periodically been the scene of great catastrophes, of which the Mosaic deluge was the most recent, but possibly not the last. He supposed that these cataclysms of nature resulted in the extinction of all life, and that after each catastrophe the salubrious condition of the earth was restored, and that it was re-peopled by a new creation of living beings. This conception, known as the theory of catastrophism, was an obstacle to the progress of science. It is to be regretted that Cuvier was not able to accept the views of his illustrious contemporary Lamarck, who believed that the variations in fossil life, as well as those of living forms, were owing to gradual transformations.

Lamarck Founds Invertebrate Palæontology.—The credit of founding the science of palæontology does not belong exclusively to Cuvier. Associated with his name as co-founders are those of Lamarck and William Smith. Lamarck, that quiet, forceful thinker who for so many years worked by the side of Cuvier, founded the science of invertebrate palæontology. The large bones with which Cuvier worked were more easy to be recognized as unique or as belonging to extinct animals than the shells which occurred in abundance in the rocks about Paris. The latter were more difficult to place in their true position because the number of forms of life in the sea is very extended and very diverse. Just as Cuvier was a complete master of knowledge regarding vertebrate organization, so Lamarck was equally a master of that vast domain of animal forms which are of a lower grade of organization—the invertebrates. From his study of the collections of shells and other invertebrate forms from the rocks, Lamarck created invertebrate palæontology and this, coupled with the work of Cuvier, formed the foundations of the entire field.

Lamarck's study of the extinct invertebrates led him to conclusions widely at variance with those of Cuvier. Instead of thinking of a series of catastrophes, he saw that not all of the forms of life belonging to one geological period became extinct, but that some of them were continued into the succeeding period. He saw, therefore, that the succession of life in the rocks bore testimony to a long series of gradual changes upon the earth's surface, and did not in any way indicate the occurrence of catastrophes. The changes, according to the views of Lamarck, were all knit together into a continuous process, and his conception of the origin of life upon the earth grew and expanded until it culminated in the elaboration of the first consistent theory of evolution.

These two men, Lamarck and Cuvier, form a contrast as to the favors distributed by fortune: Cuvier, picturesque, highly honored, the favorite of princes, advanced to the highest places of recognition in the government, acclaimed as the Jove of natural science; Lamarck, hard-working, harassed by poverty, insufficiently recognized, and, although more gifted than his confrère, overlooked by the scientific men of the time. The judgment of the relative position of these two men in natural science is now being reversed, and on the basis of intellectual supremacy Lamarck is coming into general recognition as the better man of the two. In the chapters dealing with organic evolution some events in the life of this remarkable man will be given.

The Arrangement of Fossils in Strata.—The other name associated with Lamarck and Cuvier is that of William Smith, the English surveyor. Both Lamarck and Cuvier were men of extended scientific training, but William Smith had a moderate education as a surveyor. While the two former were able to express scientific opinions upon the nature of the fossil forms discovered, William Smith went at his task as an observer with a clear and unprejudiced mind, an observer who walked about over the fields, noticing the conditions of rocks and of fossil forms embedded therein. He noted that the organic remains were distributed in strata, and that particular forms of fossil life characterized particular strata and occupied the same relative position to one another. He found, for illustration, that certain particular forms would be found underlying certain other forms in one mass of rocks in a certain part of the country. Wherever he traveled, and whatever rocks he examined, he found these forms occupying the same relative positions, and thus he came to the conclusion that the living forms within the rocks constitute a stratified series, having definite and unvarying arrangement with reference to one another.

In short, the work of these three men—Cuvier, Lamarck, and William Smith—placed the new science of palæontology upon a secure basis at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Summary.—The chief steps up to this time in the growth of the science of fossil life may now be set forth in categories, though we must remember that the advances proceeded concurrently and were much intermingled, so that, whatever arrangement we may adopt, it does not represent a strict chronological order of events:

I. The determination of the nature of fossils. Owing to the labors of Da Vinci, Steno, and Cuvier, the truth was established that fossils are the remains of former generations of animals and plants.