Images Dated 7th November 2011

1812 Sloth skeleton by Cuvier

Skeleton of a three toad sloth, or Ai, copperplate engraving from Cuvier's "Ossamens Fossiles" 1812. Cuvier saw that the key to understanding fossils was to relate their bones to animals currently known. In this he was the father of comparative anatomy - a field that was to be crucial to the founding of modern biology. Here a modern sloth provides reference for the even larger bones of the extinct ground sloth megatherium that had been discovered in South America and displayed in Spain. Cuvier was among the first to realise the reality of extinction

© PAUL D STEWART/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

1835 Reverend William Whewell Portrait

The Reverend William Whewell, a lithographed sketch made by E.U. Fiddis 1835, printed by Sirel. Whewell was a polymath and leading light at Cambridge during Darwin's time there. Darwin recalled in his autobiography walking home with him from Professor Henslow's study on various occasions. He is said to have been an intimidating figure to the undergraduates. His "Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences" was a highly influential work on the method of science. Whewell also coined such words as "scientist", "cathode" and "anode" and his interests spanned many disciplines. He was an opponent of evolution however, his "Indications of the Creator" (1845) expressly aimed to undo the harm the popularity of Chamber's "Vestiges of Creation" was seen to have done. Whewell opposed Darwin's theory of evolution and wrote politely to say so upon receipt of a complimentary copy in January 1860

© PAUL D STEWART/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

1857 Gosse pterodactyle Bat-Lizards

1857 Illustration by Philip Gosse for his book "Omphalos" (which sought to explain that the world looked older than Creation because it had to be constructed by God with inbuilt history so that it would continue to work seamlessly). One of the mistakes he made in the book, was following E. Newman's earlier suggestion (1843) in "The Zoologist" that the pterodactyle was actually a form of marsupial bat with lizard like features. Omphalos was not a good book for Gosse's reputation, finding critics on both sides of the science-religion debate. The name "Omphalos" means navel - referring to the fact that Adam was created with a navel even though he had never been attached to a placenta

© This image is Paul D. Stewart 2009. Do not reproduce without permission of the photographer at Stewartpauld@aol.com