56 | Great Geologists
Agassiz’s diagram published in 1844 showing the distribution of
different fossil fish taxa through geological time.
simpler forms precede more complex forms in the geological
record and this development is repeated in embryonic
development. Often expressed as “ontogeny follows phylogeny”
this is now considered an over-simplification. Nonetheless,
Darwin wrote in On the Origin of the Species that “this doctrine
of Agassiz accords well with the theory of natural selection”. As
early as 1844, Agassiz was publishing charts of fossil fish species
distribution through time that could be considered evolutionary
trees, but were in his mind simply designed to show that more
simple forms preceded more complex forms as designed by
God.
Biographical portraits of Agassiz have become increasingly
damning in recent years. He is often portrayed as a scientific
showman, whose charisma led to success in fund-raising
that was the envy of many and whose scientific contributions
were often built on the work of others. He eventually became
intellectually isolated as demonstrated by his resistance to
evolutionary theory. Whilst it is true his ideas on an ice age were
developed from Jean de Charpentier and Karl Schimper, who
had taken him into the field (Schimper had even mentioned the
term “eiszeit” (ice age) to him), it was Agassiz who developed
them on a grand scale, gathered evidence and publicised them
effectively. His work on fossil fish was unique and he tirelessly
promoted science in America, creating the famous Museum for
Comparative Zoology at Harvard. We have already noted the
irony in that his paleontology and embryological work helped
Rocks polished and striated by a glacier, from Études sur les glaciers,
1840.
Darwin and others to develop evolution as a theory. He may have
been unwitting in this, but the insight he allowed is important
nonetheless. Let us remember Agassiz for these contributions.
REFERENCES
This essay has drawn upon information from the following
sources:
Gould, S.J. 1980. The Panda’s Thumb. W.W. Norton & Co., Inc.
Gould, S.J. 1983. Hen’s Teeth and Horse’s Toes. W.W. Norton &
Company, Inc., 413pp.
Irmscher, C. 2013. Louis Agassiz: Creator of American Science.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. 434pp.
Lurie, E. 1960. Louis Agassiz, a Life in Science. University of
Chicago Press.
McPhee, J. 1998. Annals of the Former World. Farrar, Straus and
Giroux. 696pp.
Rudwick, M.J.S. 2014. Earth’s Deep History. The University of
Chicago Press, 360pp.
Williams, D. 2007. Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz: examination,
observation, comparison. In: Huxley, R. (ed.) The Great Naturalists.
Thames & Hudson, 261-266.