Scottish Horticulturalist Patrick Matthew Proposed More Accurate Theory of Gradual Evolution Before Charles Darwin Did, Geologist Argues
ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2010) — Charles Darwin may not have put forth the earliest or most accurate theory of gradual evolution. In an essay in the journalHistorical Biology, New York University geologist Michael Rampino argues that a more accurate theory of gradual evolution, positing that long periods of evolutionary stability are disrupted by catastrophic mass extinctions of life, was put forth by Scottish horticulturalist Patrick Matthew prior to Darwin's published work on the topic.
"Matthew discovered and clearly stated the idea of natural selection, applied it to the origin of species, and placed it in the context of a geologic record marked by catastrophic mass extinctions followed by relatively rapid adaptations," says Rampino, whose research on catastrophic events includes studies on volcano eruptions and asteroid impacts. "In light of the recent acceptance of the importance of catastrophic mass extinctions in the history of life, it may be time to reconsider the evolutionary views of Patrick Matthew as much more in line with present ideas regarding biological evolution than the Darwin view."
Matthew (1790-1874), Rampino notes, published a statement of the law of natural selection in a little-read Appendix to his 1831 book Naval Timber and Arboriculture. Even though both Darwin and his colleague Alfred Russel Wallace acknowledged that Matthew was the first to put forth the theory of natural selection, historians have attributed the unveiling of the theory to Darwin and Wallace. Darwin's notebooks show that he arrived at the idea in 1838, and he composed an essay on natural selection as early as 1842 -- years after Matthew's work appeared. Darwin and Wallace's theory was formally presented in 1858 at a science society meeting in London. Darwin's Origin of Species appeared a year later.
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Historical Biology
Darwin's error? Patrick Matthew and the catastrophic nature of the geologic record
Author: Michael R. Rampino a
Abstract
In 1831, the Scottish horticulturalist Patrick Matthew (1790-1874) published a clear statement of the law [sic] of natural selection in an Appendix to his book Naval Timber and Arboriculture, which both Darwin and Wallace later acknowledged. Matthew, however, was a catastrophist, and he presented natural selection within the contemporary view that relatively long intervals of environmental stability were episodically punctuated by catastrophic mass extinctions of life. Modern studies support a similar picture of the division of geologic time into long periods of relative evolutionary stability ended by sudden extinction events. Mass extinctions are followed by recovery intervals during which surviving taxa radiate into vacated niches. This modern punctuated view of evolution and speciation is much more in line with Matthew's episodic catastrophism than the classical Lyellian-Darwinian gradualist view.
Keywords: natural selection; catastrophism; Charles Darwin; Patrick Matthew
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NOTA CAUSTICANTE DESTE BLOGGER:
Darwin sabia, NOTA BENE, sabia, e a comunidade científica da época, NOTA BENE, sabia, e a comunidade científica do século 21 sabe, NOTA BENE, sabe que o registro geológico (contexto de justificação teórica) NÃO CORROBORA as especulações transformistas de Darwin desde 1859.
NOTA BENE: DESDE 1859 que Darwin não fecha as contas epistëmicas no contexto de justificação teórica. E esta é a maior ideia que toda a humanidade já teve? Ora, vão caçar sapos de botas na lagoa de Down. E esta a ideia que revolucionou a biologia? Como é que toda a uma comunidade científica se deixou convencer por hipóteses que não são corroboradas pelas evidências é que me deixa pasmo. Ou eles são extremamente burros, oops ignorantes, mesmo sendo cientistas, ou há alguma outra coisa por detrás deste convencimento: uma agenda ideológica naturalista tentando se passar por ciência.
Fui, nem sei por que, pensando: quando é que a Akademia vai se convencer de que tem em mãos um mito secularista de criação em vez de teoria científica que explique a origem e evolução das espécies?
Eu disse mito? Disse, mas muito antes de mim, muito antes de mim, Sören Lovtrup, um biólogo evolucionista, chamou o darwinismo de MITO!!!
