332 BIOLOGY AND ITS MAKERS 
was scouted by those of theological bias, but it won its way 
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 to the year 1859, to consider the 
effect upon the science of paleontology 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 studics 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 archeopteryx—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 
