Georges Cuvier
George Cuvier (1769-1832) is a famous paleontologist from 18th to 19th century. He is the founder of anatomy and paleontology.
George Cuvier established comparative anatomy and paleontology by comparing many existing animals and fossils. He established the concept of extinction. First, he defined fossil specimens as "extinct species" with the same taxonomic status as modern species. The catastrophe theory is put forward to explain the formation of geomorphology. At the same time, it also opposes the early evolutionary thought, because species appear in the stratum in a sudden way, and there is no trace to show the evolutionary process. He died of cholera in Paris in 1832.
Life experience
On August 23, 1769, George Cuvier was born in Montpellier, eastern France (at that time, he also belonged to monteriad, Germany); from 1784 to 1788, he studied at Caroline University in Stuttgart, Germany; from 1788 to 1794, he worked as a tutor in Normandy, France. He carefully observed and dissected a large number of marine animals, especially molluscs and fish, using the coastal conditions Specimens. In 1795, he entered the Museum of natural history as an assistant professor of animal anatomy. Although he believed that species were immutable, his work provided important evidence for the establishment of the later theory of evolution. Since 1796, he has been a member of the French Research Institute (since 1803, he has been the lifelong Secretary of the Institute) and began to work This paper studies the primitive elephant, an extinct animal; since 1800, he has been a professor of the French Academy and a university councilor; from 1800 to 1805, he published the lecture notes on comparative anatomy and put forward the law of "organ correlation", which holds that the anatomical structure of each organ of an animal is related to its other organs in function, while the function and structure of each organ are closely related to each other In 1802, he became the honorary professor of Paris botanical garden. In the same year, he was appointed as the consultant of the Institute; in 1804, with the assistance of Alexander brongniard, he began geological research, especially the formation of strata; in 1811, he was granted the title of Lord; in 1814, he was elected as the State Councilor; in 1817, he was appointed as the Deputy Minister of the interior; in 1818, he was elected as the academician of the French Academy of Sciences; in 1819-1832, he was elected as the chairman of the Interior Department of the Senate; and in 1818, he was elected as the academician of the French Academy of Sciences On May 13, 2002, he died of cholera in Paris.
Published works
In 1797, he published the "preliminary stage of zoology"; in 1800-1805, he published the "lecture notes on comparative anatomy", which put forward the law of "organ correlation", holding that the anatomical structure of each organ of an animal is functionally related to its other organs, and the functional and structural characteristics of each organ are the result of interaction with the environment; in 1812, he published the "fossil bones of quadrupeds" Research, in 1825, merged with the introduction and published the title of catastrophe on the earth's surface, put forward a new explanation for the ancient concept of catastrophe: he believed that the earth had undergone many great changes in a short period of time, each time the land rose, floods and species destroyed, thus forming the face of the earth today; in 1817, he wrote the book "animal kingdom", which is more advanced than Linnaeus' classification It has been reprinted many times. The book divides animals into four categories: vertebrates, mollusks, arthropods and radiation animals. Each class has its own special anatomical type, and all animals of the same class are variants of a special anatomical type. He published revolution on the surface in 1826, which is a simple discussion drawn from the study of quadruped fossils; he published 22 volumes of the natural history of fish in 1828.
Main contributions
Organ related laws
He put forward the "organ related law", which holds that the animal body is a unified whole, and all parts of the body have corresponding connections. For example, ruminants such as cattle and sheep have teeth that grind coarse plant fibers, corresponding masseter muscles, mandible and joint, corresponding digestive tract and corresponding hole angle and limb structure that are suitable for resisting and escaping enemies; carnivores such as tigers and wolves have various structures and functions of movement and digestion corresponding to catching prey. founder of anatomy and Paleontology he not only studied the living animal species, but also classified the fossils of extinct species known at that time into the same animal system for comparative study. He used the principles and methods of organ related, based on a small number of bone fossils to restore the animal as a whole. These pioneering works made him the founder of comparative anatomy and paleontology. He first pointed out that African elephant and Asian elephant are two different species, and mammoth (mammoth) is an extinct animal closer to Asian elephant, and proved that mammoth fossil found in North America is another extinct new genus mastodon. Although he was against the theory of biological evolution, he correctly put forward the concept of natural extinction of species (and groups on species), and demonstrated the relationship between extant species and extinct species in morphology and "kinship", which objectively provided scientific evidence for the theory of biological evolution.
Study on stratigraphic fossils
He believes that the more new the stratigraphic age is, the more advanced the paleontological types are. There are no fossils in the oldest strata. Later, there are fossils of plants and marine invertebrates, and then there are fossils of vertebrates. Only in the rock strata of the recent geological age did modern mammalian and human fossils appear. These arguments are basically consistent with the conclusions of modern geology, paleontology and evolutionism. According to the "discontinuity" phenomenon between each geological age and each biological development stage, Cuvier put forward the "catastrophe theory". It is believed that the global change of nature has caused the "great extinction" of biological groups, and the remaining parts have formed the biological groups at various stages after development and spread. His scientific hypothesis is basically consistent with the conclusions of modern geology and paleontology.
Catastrophe theory
Cuvier believes that in the whole process of geological development, the earth often has all kinds of sudden disastrous changes, and some disasters are of great scale. For example, the ocean dries up into land, and the land rises up into mountains. In turn, the land can sink into the ocean, as well as volcanic eruptions, floods, and rapid climate change. When the flood, the landscape of the earth has changed, many creatures were destroyed. Every time after a huge disastrous change, it will make almost all the creatures extinct. These extinct organisms are deposited in the corresponding strata and become fossils to be preserved. At this time, the creator re created new species, so that the earth back to life. It turns out that the creator can't remember exactly how many species there are on the earth and what shape and structure each species has. So the creator only creates new species according to the original general impression. That's why new species are slightly different from old ones. Such a cycle of reciprocation constitutes what we see in various strata. Cuvier infers that there have been four disastrous changes on the earth. The most recent one was the Moses flood more than 5000 years ago. This almost wiped out all life on earth, and God recreated all species. Later, R. Owen (1804-1892), a student of Cuvier, strongly advocated the theory of Cataclysm, which had a great influence not only in France, but also abroad. although the theory of cataclysm has gained a dominant position in French academia, Cuvier's theory has been criticized by some biologists, especially Lamarck and Saint tirel, who advocated the theory of evolution, although they formed a friendship at the Museum of natural history in Paris at the end of the 18th century. In 1830 (shortly after Lamarck's death), St. tirel had a heated debate with villea. It broke out at a meeting of the French Academy of Sciences. The debate between the two sides became more and more intense day by day, and lasted for a total of six weeks. Such a fierce debate is rare in the history of science. this debate has attracted people's attention in France and even in Europe. At that time, newspapers and some propaganda organizations reported this. In the end, Cuvier won. At the debate, Cuvier expressed his academic views incisively and vividly, vehemently opposed the theories of Lamarck and Saint tirel, and stubbornly adhered to the theory of Cataclysm. Catastrophe theory also has a certain position in geological theory, because catastrophe theory can also be used to explain geological changes. However, just when cataclysm theory won the victory in biology, the famous British geologist Sir C. Lyell (1797-1875) advocated "gradual change theory", opposed cataclysm theory, and eliminated the influence of Cataclysm theory in Britain.
Chinese PinYin : Ju Wei Ye
Cuvier