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Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory

Posted on: Thursday, 28 October 2004, 03:00 CDT

Larson, Edward J. Evolution: The Remarkable History of a Scientific Theory New York: Modern Library 368 pp., $21.95, ISBN 0- 679-64288-9 Publication Date: May 2004

This challenging but rewarding volume by Pulitzer Prize-winner Edward J. Larson, the Russell Professor of History and Talmadge Professor of Law at the University of Georgia, lays out a detailed history of evolutionary thought from eighteenth-century geology and paleontology to the latest findings in sociobiology and evolutionary psychology.

Despite his pioneering work in paleontology and comparative anatomy, the great Frenchman Georges Cuvier opposed early theories of evolution. But the strata and fossils could not be denied and Cuvier's "young earth," punctuated by catastrophic events such as the biblical flood, gradually gave way to James Mutton's and Charles Lyell's "old earth," which allowed time for uniform processes, including evolution, to operate.

Even then, Lyell and many others were slow to accept evolution until Charles Darwin opened the floodgates in 1859 with his monumental On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. (Alfred Russell Wallace arrived at essentially the same theory as Darwin and prodded him into publishing it.) The voyage of the Beagle had converted the young naturalist to old-earth uniformitarianism on the Cape Verde Islands and to evolution on the Galapagos Islands. He observed that finches had adapted to environmental niches and generalized this to all species everywhere. Back in England, after much research and thought, Darwin arrived at a general theory- natural selection-that involved variation, competition, and the survival of those individuals best suited to the natural environment. The theory of evolution caught on quickly with most scientists, but the devil was in the details.

Natural selection explains very little of the way evolution actually works and, by the turn of the century, was virtually moribund. The solution, of course, was the science of genetics, introduced by Moravian monk Gregor Mendel in 1866 but not widely known until after 1900, when the time was ripe for statistical interpretations of empirical evidence. Later, the discovery of DNA, RNA, and the double helix opened new avenues for research.

No short review could do justice to such a remarkable book. It includes biographical sketches, illustrations, the early relationship of evolution to racism, nationalism, imperialism, eugenics, and a balanced treatment of religious reactions, including the recent "intelligent design." Professionals and others who are intensely interested in the theory of evolution should read this book. It will be the definitive survey for years to come.

HOWARD A. BARNES

Winston-Salem State University

Copyright HELDREF PUBLICATIONS Fall 2004

Source: History; Reviews of New Books

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