1、The Philosophy of Zoology Before DarwinThe Philosophy of ZoologyBefore DarwinTranslated Stanton Cook University of Oregon Originally published by Flix Alcan, Paris in 1884 original French text by Edmond PerrierA translated and annotated version of the by Alex McBirne with annotations by y and Gregor
2、y RetallackISBN 978-90-481-3008-5 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2009 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or
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4、ness Media () e-ISBN 978-90-481-3009-2 Alexander McBirney Stanton Cook Department of Geological Sciences Department of Geological Sciences University of Oregon University of Oregon 2780 Capital Drive 2780 Capital Drive Eugene OR 97403 Eugene OR 97403 USA USAmcbirneysmtp.uoregon.edu Library of Congre
5、ss Control Number: 2009930626 v Table of Contents Foreword .xi Translators Preface xv Preface xvii Chapter I Introduction 1 The earliest ideas about the place of animals in nature. Myths and philosophies of ancient people. Chapter II Aristotle 7 The earliest notions about the analogies and homologie
6、s of organs Correlative forms Establishing divisions within the animal kingdom The concept of species The principle of continuity Degrees of perfection of the organs Possibility that the forms of animals might be transformed. Chapter III The Roman Period . 15 Lucretius: Formation of the earliest org
7、anisms; the struggle for life. Pliny: attributed marvelous things to animals; the nature and origins of marine monsters; notions about anatomy. Elien, Oppien, and Galen: Progress in anatomy; correlations between the external form of animals and their organization and behavior. Chapter IV The Middle
8、Ages and Renaissance 21 Arabian medical doctors. Alchemists. Albert the Great. The first great voyages. Renaissance of anatomy. Belon, Rondelet. Francis Bacon. Progress in physiology and anatomy. The first micrographs. Prejudices that reigned until the XVIth century. vi Table of Contents Chapter V E
9、volution of the Concept of Species 27 The great descriptive works: Wotton, Gessner, Aldrovandi. Ray: definition of species. First attempts at nomenclature. Linnaeus: the fixity of species; binomial nomenclature. Chapter VI Charles Bonnet: the scale of living creatures; global revolutions; the past a
10、nd future states of plants, animals, and humans; the preformation embotement of germ cells Robinet: his ideas about evolution. on epigenesis. Transformation of animals under the influence of habitat; analogies between Lamarck and Darwin. Maupertuis: the roll of matter in transformations. Diderot: th
11、e life of species and the life of individuals. Chapter VII Chapter VIII Lamarck 59 The importance of the lower animals Spontaneous generation Gradual perfection of organisms; the influence of needs and habits Heredity and adaptation Transformation of species during earlier geological periods The abs
12、urdity of global cataclysms Importance of ordinary every-day processes Genealogy of the animal kingdom The origin of man. Chapter IX Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire . 73 The opposed doctrines of fixity and variability of species. A unified plan of composition Importance of the rudimentary organs Bala
13、ncing the organs Analogy of the lower animals to the embryos of higher animals Arrested development Monsters and teratology Geoffroys ideas about the variability of species; abrupt transitions; influence of the environment Extension of the theory of the unified plan of composition of articulated ani
14、mals: return of the vertebrates; the ideas of Ampre Genetic links between fossils and living species. Chapter X Georges Cuvier 87 Affinities with Linnaeus; the influence of Cuvier on scientific work; global revolutions; theory of successive creations and migrations. Cuviers inferences. The order of
15、appearance of animals; special creation Philosophers of the XVIIIth Century 33 De Maillet: fossils. Erasmus Darwin: transformation based Buffons opposition to classifications because they necessarily lead to transformation. The utility of artificial systems. Geographical distribution of animals. Pro
16、bability of modifications in species. Extinct causes. The principle of continuity. species: the struggle for life. Opposition to the doctrine of ultimateBuffon 47 Table of Contents vii of the principal groups. Natural classification: adherence to the principle Chapter XI Debate between Cuvier and Ge
17、offroy Saint-Hilaire 99 Attempts to extend the theory of a uniform plan of composition to molluscs. Cuviers opposition; what is the meaning of such a uniform plan? The relationships between embryology and epigenesis are clarified. Cuviers insistence on the pre-existence of the germ of ideas versus t
18、he school of facts. The influence of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Cuvier, and Lamarck. Chapter XII Goethe 109 Goethes thoughts on the unity of types of organization. Metamorphosis and structure of plants: the ideal plant. Studies of comparative anatomy; research on the ideal type of skeleton. Goethes con
19、ception of descent with modification transformisme Kielmeyer. Chapter XIII Dugs 115 Attempts to reconcile the ideas of Cuvier and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Organic Chapter XIV Schellings ideas. Oken: polarities and the origin of the universe. The primitive mucus. Equivocal generation of the infusoria,
20、anatomical elements. The law of repetition deduced from natural philosophy. Man and the microcosm. Degrees of organization. Theory of the vertebrates; constitution of the cranium as vertebrae. Spix: application of the law of repetition to comparative anatomy. Carus: Extension of the theory of verteb
21、rates. Chapter XV The Theory of the Organic Types and its Consequences . 139 Richard Owen the archetypical skeleton. Analogy, homology, homeotypes. Theory of the vertebrate segment. The ideal vertebrate; the existence of God. Owens views on Transformism. Savigny: the uniform structure of the mouths
22、of insects. Audouin; the uniform structure of skeletons of articulated animals. H. Milne-Edwards and the typical articulated of ultimate causes; the principle of environmental conditions; law of the correlation of forms; law of subordination of characteristics. The four major branches of the animal
23、kingdom. The German Natural Philosophers . 127 conformity in the scale of animals life Moquin-Tandon and the zoonitetheory Dugs generalizations of this theory Theory of the constitution ofideas about the types of organisms. organisms: law of modification and complication, law of coalescence Dugs cel
24、ls. Von Baer and the four types of development. The school viii Table of Contents of the body; law of the division of physiological labor and its importance. The growth of the body and agamic reproduction and the laws of political economics. Studies of the lower animals: de Quatrefages, Blanchard, a
25、nd de Lacaze-Duthiers. Chapter XVI Louis Agassiz . 157 Philosophical consequences of the hypothesis of fixity of species. The of transformism. Arguments in favor of the fixity of species. Weaknesses of these arguments. Characteristics of the graduated zoological divisions. A new definition of specie
26、s. Inconsistencies between this definition and observed facts. The reality of species. Causes of the physiological isolation of species. Chapter XVII Progressive discoveries relative to the lower animals Trembley: the fresh-water hydra. Peyssonnel: the corals. Cuvier: the pennatule. Lesueur: the sip
27、honophores. De Chaisso “ the alternating generation of the salpas. Sars: the alternating generation of the hydromedusas. Steenstrup: a theory of alter-nating generations. - Van Beneden: digenesis. Leuckart: polymorphism. Owen: parthenogenesis and metagenesis. M. de Quatrefages: geneogenesis. Milne-E
28、dwards theory of reproduction. General theory of the phenomena of asexual reproduction. Chapter XVIII of zoonites. Parallels between the laws of the constitution of animals of the articulates; identity of these two phenomena; the significanceThe Lower Animals . 169 animal; fundamental identity of th
29、e zoonites; significance of the regions possibility of setting up a classification that demonstrates the existence of God. The existence of a plan of creation is inconsistent with the doctrine Cell Theory and the Constitution of the Individual 185 Pinel: the membranes. Bichat: the tissues; their gen
30、eral properties. Dujardin: the sarcode. Schleiden: the cells of plants. Schwann: extension of cellular theory to animals. Prvost and Dumas: segmentation of the vitellus of the egg. Studies of the origin of cells and anatomical elements of organisms; significance of the egg Definition of the cell; pr
31、otoplasm and the plastids. Constitution of the simplest individuals. Animal colonies; numerous transitions between colonies and the individuals of higher orders. Isadore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire: life in colonies as a sign of inferiority. De Lacaze-Duthiers: difference between the invertebrates and ve
32、rtebrates. General theory of the individuality of animals. Table of Contents ix leaflets, - Exaggerated generalization of results obtained from studies of vertebrates. Embryology from the point of view of histogenesis and organogenesis. Serres and transcendent anatomy. Embryology considered as trans
33、itional comparative anatomy. Arguments supporting this theory. Embryological Classification; their shortcomings. The embryology of an organism is its condensed genealogy Embryological acceleration; perturbing phenomena that result from it. Links between embryogenesis, general morphology, and paleont
34、ology. Chapter XX Species and their Modifications 211 A brief review of ideas concerning species. The true nature of the problem of species; means of resolving this problem directly. Attempts to find solutions indirectly. Differences between races and species. Proposed criteria for defining species
35、and their limited usefulness. The instability of hybrid forms: Godrons theory. Charles Naudins experiments and theory. Identity of race and species. Isadore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire: the theory of limited variability. Comparisons of the doctrines of Isadore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Charles Darwin. C
36、onclusions. References 225 Biographical Index 243 Index . 259 Chapter XIX Epigenesis and embryogenesis. Harvey: influence of the cellular theory. The egg considered as a cell. Theory of blastodermic Glossary 229 Embryology . 199 xi Foreword Jean Octave Edmond Perrier was a French zoologist who lived
37、 through the tumult of British Darwinism and Lyellism, and reminds us in this revealing account that French scientists had much to contribute to such perennial topics as evolution, catastrophism and creationism. While very much a product of the Third Republic, Perriers account also aimed to outline
38、timeless issues and permanent advances in taxonomic and developmental biology since classical Greece and Rome. In this aim he succeeds with surprisingly modern perspectives for a book first published in 1884. Perrier was born May 9, 1844 at Tulle, the son of the principal of a school which now bears
39、 his name, Lyce Edmond Perrier. In 1864 he was accepted to the cole Normale Suprieure, where he was strongly influenced by Louis Pasteur and Henri de Lacaze-Duthiers. After working for three years at a high school in Agen, he obtained a post of naturalist-aid at the Musum National dHistoire Naturell
40、e (1868), advancing in that institution to Chair of Natural History of Molluscs, Worms and Corals (18761903) and then Director of the museum (19001919) and Chair of Comparative Anatomy (19031921). Previous directors of the museum included many of the scientists he discusses in this book: George Cuvi
41、er (18221823, 18261827, 18301831), Isidore Geoffrey St Hilaire (18601861), and Alphonse Milne-Edwards (18911900). Perriers own research on echinoderms and earthworms took him on several expeditions in 1880-1885, mostly to Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, but also to the Caribbean. He was president
42、 of the Socit Zoologique de France (1879), elected to the Acadmie des Sciences (1892) and president of the Socit Nationale dAcclimatation (19011921). He died in Paris, July 31, 1921, an established insider of French science. Perrier was an early convert and evangelist for Darwinian evolution. He als
43、o wrote a biography of Jean-Baptiste de Lamarck, whom he viewed as a cofounder of the theory of evolution, but whose brilliant intuitions had been stifled by the powerful Cuvier. In 1908 a statue of Lamarck was erected at the entrance of the museum under Perriers direction. In this book Perrier demo
44、nstrates a complexity xii Foreword and depth to Lamarcks work that belies the common British notion of Lamarkism as the failed null hypothesis of inheritance of acquired characteristics. Lamarcks own writings are equivocal on the issue of acquired versus inherited characters, as are Darwins, written
45、 well before Mendel and modern genetics. This topic remains relevant today, as misconstrued “Lamarckism” is resurrected for theories of viral genome inheritance and mosaic evolution. Catastrophism was another doctrine commonly portrayed as pitting Frenchman Georges Cuvier against the uniformitarian
46、Scotsman Charles Lyell. The real story, as Perrier reminds us, is that Cuvier was a consummate empiricist, distrustful of theories such as the homology concept of Etienne and Isidore Geoffrey Saint-Hilaire or Lyells uniformitarianism. It is ironic that Cuvier has become a straw man for a general the
47、ory of abrupt geological change that was peripheral to his core interests in functional morphology. Nevertheless, catastrophism is now being resurrected to explain rapid changes in faunas such as those at the end of the Cre-taceous, Paleocene and Eocene, which Cuvier simply observed from his studies
48、 of the Paris Basin. Asteroid impacts, flood basalt eruptions, and methane outbursts from sea floor clathrates and igneous intrusions are now widely recognized as agents of abrupt geological change. Much of the charm of Perriers book comes not from its topicality, which is a wonderful intellectual exercise, but from surprises of natural history. He was a man entranced by the details of mule breeding, colonial invertebrates, South American marsupials, and deep ocean salps. Perrier rode an unprecedented wave of nine-teenth century natural histor
