Transmutation of species
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Related e |
Featured: |
Transmutation of species was a term used by Jean Baptiste Lamarck in 1809 for his theory that described the altering of one species into another, and the term is often used to describe 19th century evolutionary ideas that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. Other 19th century proponents of pre-Darwinian evolutionary ideas included Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Robert Grant, and Robert Chambers who anonymously published the book Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. Opposition in the scientific community, led by influential scientists like the anatomists Georges Cuvier and Richard Owen and the geologist Charles Lyell, to these early theories of evolution was intense. The debate over them was an important stage in the history of evolutionary thought and would influence the subsequent reaction to Darwin's theory.
See also
- Chronospecies
- Edward Blyth
- Erasmus Darwin
- Evolutionary ideas of the renaissance and enlightenment
- History of evolutionary thought
- James Burnett, Lord Monboddo
- James Cowles Prichard
- Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
- Patrick Matthew
- Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
- William Charles Wells
- William Lawrence (biologist)