33 2 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 



was scouted bv those of theological bias, but it won its way 



* j 



in the scientific world and became an important feature in 

 preparing for the reception of Darwin's great book upon the 

 descent of animal life. 



We step forward now r to the year 1859, to consider the 

 effect upon the science of palaeontology of the publication of 

 Darwin's Origin of Species. Its influence was tremend- 

 ous. The geological theories that had provoked so much 

 controversy were concerned not merely with the disappear- 

 ance of organic forms, but also with the introduction of new 

 species. The Origin of Species made it clear that the only 

 rational point of view in reference to fossil life was that it 

 had been gradually developed, that it gave us a picture of 

 the conditions of life upon the globe in past ages, that the 

 succession of forms within the rocks represented in outline 

 the successive steps in the formation of different kinds of 

 animals and plants. 



Owen. Both before and after Darwin's hypothesis was 

 given to science, notable anatomists, a few of whom must be 

 mentioned, gave attention to fossil remains. Richard Owen 

 (1804-1892) had his interest in fossil life stimulated by a 

 visit to Cuvier in 1831, and for more than forty years there- 

 after he published studies on the structure of fossil animals. 

 His studies on the fossil remains of Australia and New 

 Zealand brought to light some interesting forms. The ex- 

 tinct giant bird of New Zealand (Fig. 98) was a spectacular 

 demonstration of the enormous size to which birds had 

 attained during the Eocene period. Owen's monograph 

 (1879) on the oldest known bird the archaeopteryx de- 

 scribed an interesting form uniting both bird-like and rep- 

 tilian characteristics. 



Agassiz. Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) (Fig. 99) also came 

 into close personal contact with Cuvier, and produced his 

 first great work partly under the stimulus of the latter. When 



