early evolutionary ideas
David Campbell (bivalve@mailserv0.isis.unc.edu)
Mon, 13 Dec 1999 12:47:16 -0500
Does anyone know what sort of evolutionary ideas were likely to be held in
the U.S. in the mid-1840's? A paper from 1845 speculates that a
newly-found fossil might be "an intermediate connecting link between"
Cetacea and Saurians (i.e., whales and reptiles). Robert W. Gibbes was a
medical doctor in Columbia, South Carolina and wrote several papers on
fossil vertebrates. I believe that Linnaeus thought evolution could at
least account for changes from one species to another within a genus.
Would this be an example of a broader concept of the possible range of
evolutionary change? Obviously, Darwin's publications over 10 years later
were not an influence here. The supposed similarity to reptilian teeth is
due to convergent reduction in his form rather than being an actual
transition from reptile to whale.
David Campbell
PS: Reference is:
Gibbes, R. W. 1846. Description of the Teeth of a new Fossil Animal found
in the Green Sand of South Carolina. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural
Sciences of Philadelphia 1845, v. II, p. 254-256, pl. I.