St. George Mivart

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St. George Jackson Mivart

St. George Jackson Mivart (born November 30, 1827 in London ; † April 1, 1900 ibid) was an English zoologist specializing in comparative anatomy and a Catholic natural philosopher . Under the influence of Thomas Henry Huxley , Mivart engaged in comparative anatomical studies on monkeys and developed into a follower of the idea of evolution , which he sought to reconcile with his Catholic faith in his writings. In On the Genesis of Species , published in 1871, he argued against the effectiveness of the natural selection mechanism described by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species . In the following years he developed into one of the most resolute opponents of Darwin's theory of evolution .

Mivart's efforts to reconcile Catholic teaching with the natural sciences initially found high recognition in the Roman Catholic Church . Later he came more and more in contradiction to the dogmas of the church with his natural philosophical views. Three of his writings were placed on the Forbidden Books Index . Mivart himself was excommunicated shortly before his death .

Live and act

Title page of the 2nd edition of On the Genesis of Species (1871).
The illustration of a Potto's hand in On the Genesis of Species shows the degenerated index finger.
Meet the Zoological Society of London with Mivart on the right. Caricature after a drawing by Harry Furniss (1854–1925) from Punch magazine .

George Mivart was the third son of James Edward Mivart (1781-1856), who had owned the Hotel Mivart's on Grosvenor Square in London since 1812 . He began his education at Clapham Grammar School and continued it at Harrow School and King's College London . Mivart was interested in architecture and at the age of 16 attended various churches designed by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin . In Birmingham he met in the St Chad's Cathedral later President of the Oscott College , John Moore (1807-1856), under whose influence Mivart 1844 to the faith of the Roman Catholic Church converted . From October 21, 1844 to 1846 he continued his education at Oscott College. There he became Bishop on May 11, 1845 Nicholas Wiseman received Confirmation .

On January 30, 1851, Mivart was appointed barrister of the Lincoln's Inn Bar Association. He was interested in Richard Owen's lectures at the Royal College of Surgeons and met Thomas Henry Huxley in 1859 , who had taught at the Government School of Mines and Science Applied to the Arts , founded in 1851, since 1854 . In 1849 he had already become a member of the Royal Institution of Great Britain . On the recommendation of Owen and Huxley, he received the position of lecturer in zoology at St. Mary's Hospital in Paddington in 1862 , which he held until 1884. In that year he became a member of the Linnean Society of London , as its secretary he worked from 1874 to 1880 and its vice-president from 1880 to 1892.

After the publication of Huxley's Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature (1863), Mivart began studying monkeys and lemurs . His first zoological publication dates from 1864 and deals with the skull and teeth of common Makis . The wet-nosed monkeys were the focus of his anatomical studies until 1869.

With Huxley's assistance, Mivart was inducted into the Royal Society on June 3, 1867 . In 1869 he joined the Zoological Society of London , for which he was Vice President from 1869 to 1882. In 1868 he suggested a popular biological article series that appeared in the Popular Science Review and for which he himself wrote articles (for example on lobsters , cuttlefish and sea ​​urchins ). Under the influence of Huxley's lectures, Mivart developed into a supporter of the idea of evolution . In his first book, On the Genesis of Species , published in 1871, however, he denied with numerous objections the effectiveness of the mechanism of natural selection described by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species . In the book Man and Apes , published two years later, he insisted on the creationist exceptional position of humans.

Mivart, who continued to publish zoological works on cat-like and bear-like (Arctoidea) predators , dogs and lories , turned more and more to questions of natural philosophy. In doing so, he tried to reconcile his theory of evolution with his Catholic faith, and at the same time fought against widespread agnosticism . In 1874 Mivart became a member of the Metaphysical Society and in the same year professor of biology at Catholic University College Kensington , where he taught until 1877. For his efforts to reconcile Catholic teaching with the natural sciences, Pope Pius IX awarded him . 1876 PhD in philosophy . In 1884 he received a doctorate in medicine from the Catholic University of Leuven , where he later taught - from 1890 to 1893 - as a professor of philosophy of natural history.

A series of three articles entitled The Happiness in Hell , which he published in The Nineteenth Century Magazine in late 1892 and early 1893 , was placed on the Prohibited Books Index on July 19, 1893 . In it he took the view that hell is not a place of torment, but a place to attain natural happiness, and that this view is not a contradiction to the Catholic faith. When he reiterated his views on hell in two articles at the beginning of January 1900, describing a god who had created such a place of torment as a bad god, he was, during the tenure of Pope Leo XIII. , excommunicated on January 18, 1900 after a brief controversy with Cardinal Herbert Vaughan .

Mivart died just a few weeks later. A church burial was initially denied to him. It was not until January 18, 1904, that he was buried in the Catholic cemetery at Kensal Green . The physician Frederick St. George Mivart (1855-1925) was his son.

Mivart and Darwin

Charles Darwin (1869).
Title page from first edition of On the Origin of Species (1859).

Mivart met Charles Darwin through Thomas Henry Huxley . In June 1867, shortly after his admission to the Royal Society , Mivart Huxley announced that he would publish his objections to Darwin's views. Under the title Difficulties of the Theory of Natural Selection , The Month , published by the Jesuits, published an anonymously published series of articles by Mivart that formed the basis of his work On the Genesis of Species . Mivart had carefully chosen the title based on Darwin's On the Origin of Species . In January 1871, Darwin received a copy of On the Genesis of Species from Mivart shortly after making final corrections to Human Descent and Sexual Selection .

Mivart summarized his objections to Darwin's theory in On the Genesis of Species as follows:

  • That "natural selection" is incapable of explaining incipient stages of useful structures.
  • That it does not harmonize with the coexistence of similar structures of different origins.
  • That there are reasons to believe that species differences developed suddenly rather than gradually.
  • That the view that species have fixed, albeit very different, limits on their variability is tenable.
  • That certain intermediate fossil forms are missing that one would expect to be there.
  • That some geographic distribution facts add to other difficulties.
  • That the objection derived from the physiological difference between “species” and “race” has not yet been refuted.
  • That there are many remarkable phenomena in organic forms that "natural selection" does not illuminate.

Mivart's main focus was on convergent developments and the non-existent intermediate stages in the course of evolution. In his opinion, the selection could neither explain the convergence between the dog and the Australian thylacine nor a "beginning wing". He backed up his claims with numerous anatomical examples. At the same time he was of the opinion that evolution was directed towards a goal and did not include man.

Darwin took Mivart's objections very seriously. He interrupted his work on the almost finished work The Expression of Emotional Movements in Man and Animals and turned to another edition of On the Origin of Species (6th edition, 1872). Under the title Miscellaneous Objections to the Theory of Natural Selection (Chapter 7: Various Objections to the Theory of Natural Selection ) he added an extensive chapter to his work in which he dealt with Mivart's arguments and refuted them.

In his letters, Mivart tried to appease Darwin:

"Confessing your views means for many the abandonment of belief in God and in the immortality of the soul as well as future rewards and punishments [...] I think that the destruction of these beliefs is extremely serious for the earthly happiness of mankind [...] "

- Letters from Mivart to Darwin, January 22nd and 24th, 1871

"While I was (like me forced to do the duty) attacking positions that you take, I take less you than others, whose views are based on your research"

- Letter from Mivart to Darwin dated April 23, 1871

Darwin received unexpected support from the American Chauncey Wright , a student of Asa Gray , who sent him his analysis of Mivart's "Genesis", which was to appear in the journal North American Review in July 1871 . Darwin was so impressed with this contribution that he had Wright's article reprinted by John Murray at his own expense in September and even adopted the revised title Darwinism: An Examination of Mr. St. George Mivart's 'Genesis of Species' proposed by Wright .

In July 1871, Mivart's review of The Descent of Man appeared in the Quarterly Review , an advance copy of which Mivart had received in early 1871, which further intensified Darwin's relationship with Mivart. Huxley wrote a reply to Mivart's review and attacked the evolutionist Catholic vigorously: "If Suárez has reproduced the Catholic doctrine correctly, then evolution is the worst heresy." Church and a loyal soldier to science ”. In January 1872 Darwin and Mivart ended their scientific correspondence by mutual agreement.

When Darwin's son George published the essay "Desirable Restrictions on Marriage" in 1873, the conflict with Mivart broke out again. In Primitive Man Mivart attacked George Darwin and accused him of wanting to loosen the bonds of marriage "for the sake of the betterment of the race"; George Darwin had merely suggested that a divorce should be made possible in cases of “criminality or viciousness”. The indignant Darwin put pressure on his publisher, John Murray , who was also the editor of Contemporary Review , to have a reply from his son in the next issue. Mivart's apology, which was printed at the same time, was not enough for Huxley and other members of the X-Club and only offended Darwin even more. On January 12, 1875, Darwin wrote a final letter to Mivart, informing him that he would never speak to him again.

Fonts (selection)

Books

  • On the Genesis of Species . London 1871; online (1st edition)
  • Lessons in Elementary Anatomy . London 1873; online (edition from 1889)
  • Man and Apes: an Exposition of Structural Resemblances and Differences Bearing upon Questions of Affinity and Origin . Robert Hardwicke, London 1873 - with 41 plates; on-line
  • The Common Frog . Macmillan, London 1874; on-line
  • Lessons from Nature, as Manifested in Mind and Matter . London 1876; on-line
  • Contemporary evolution. An Essay on Some Recent Social Changes . London 1876; on-line
  • The Cat: An Introduction to the Study of Backboned Animals, Especially Mammals . Murray, London 1881; on-line
  • Nature and Thought . London 1882
  • A Philosophical Catechism. For beginners . London, New York 1884
  • A Monograph of the Lories, or Brush-Tongued Parrots, composing the Family Loriidae - with 61 plates by John Gerrard Keulemans
  • On Truth: A Systematic Inquiry . London 1889; on-line
  • The Origin of Human Reason: Being an Examination of Recent Hypotheses Concerning It . London 1889; on-line
  • Dogs, Jackals, Wolves, and Foxes: A Monograph of the Canidae . London 1890 - with 45 plates by John Gerrard Keulemans; on-line
  • Introduction générale à l'étude de la nature - cours professé à l'école supérieure de philosophie à l'Université de Louvain . Lions, Paris 1891
  • Essays and Criticisms . 2 volumes, London, Boston 1892; Volume 1 , Volume 2
  • Birds . Taylor & Francis, London 1892
  • Types of Animal Life . London 1893; on-line
  • Introduction to the Elements of Science . London 1894
  • Henry Standon, Or Love's Debt to Duty . London 1894, 3 volumes - under the pseudonym D'Arcy Drew; Published in London in 1900 as Castle and Manor: A Tale of Our Time
  • The Helpful Science . London, New York 1895; on-line
  • The Groundwork of Science: A Study of Epistemology . London 1898; on-line

Zoological journal articles

  • Notes on the Crania and Dentition of the Lemuridae . In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . London 1864, pp. 611-648
  • Contribution toward a More Complete Knowledge of the Axial Skeleton in the Primates . In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . London 1865, 545-592
  • Observations on the Anatomy of Nycticebus tardigradus . In: Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London . London 1865, 240–256 - with James Murie
  • On some points in the Anatomy of Echidna hystrix . In: Transactions of the Linnean Society of London . Volume 25, pp. 379-403
  • On the Appendicular Skeleton of the Primates . In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London , Volume 157, 1867, pp. 299-429; on-line
  • Notes on the Osteology of the Insectivora . In: Journal of Anatomy and Physiology . 1868, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 117-154; PMC 1318593 (free full text)
  • On the Anatomy of the Lemuroidea . In: Transactions of the London Zoological Society . Volume 7, pp. 1–113 - with James Murie
  • Anatomy of the Lobster (Homarus) . In: The Popular Science Review . Volume 7, 1868, pp. 345-353
  • Anatomy of the Cuttle-fish (Sepia) . In: The Popular Science Review . Volume 8, 1869, pp. 111-120
  • The Echinus, or Sea Urchin . In: The Popular Science Review . Volume 9, 1870, pp. 366-377
  • On the use of the term "homology" . In: Annals and Magazine of Natural History . 4th Series, Volume 6, 1870, pp. 112-121 - with Ray Lankester
  • On the Vertebrate Skeleton . In: Transactions of the Linnean Society . Volume 27, 1871, pp. 369-392
  • On the axial skeleton of the Pelecanidae . In: Transactions of the Zoological Society of London . Volume 10, 1878, pp. 315-378; on-line

Journal articles on the theory of evolution

  • Difficulties of the Theory of Natural Selection . In: The Month . Volume 11, 1869, pp. 35-53, 134-153, 274-289 - published anonymously
  • Darwin's Descent of Man ' . In: Quarterly Review . Tape. 131, 1871, pp. 47-90
  • Specific Genesis' . In: North American Review . Volume 114, 1872, pp. 451-468.
  • Evolution and Its Consequences: A Reply to Professor Huxley . In: Contemporary Review . Volume 19, 1872, pp. 168-197; on-line
  • Primitive Man: Tylor and Lubbock . In: Quarterly Review . Volume CXLVII ?, 1874, pp. 40-77
  • Reply to George Darwin ' . In: Quarterly Review . Volume 137 ?, 1874, pp. 588-589
  • What Are Living Beings? In: Contemporary Review Volume 35, July 1879, pp. 688-718
  • Evolution in Professor Huxley . In: The Nineteenth Century Magazine . Volume 34, August 1893, pp. 198-211
  • Huxley as a Zoologist . In: Natural Science . Volume 7, 1895, pp. 121-125.
  • Are Specific Characters the Result of “Natural Selection”? In: Nature . No. 54, July 1896, pp. 246-247
  • Some Reminiscences of Thomas Henry Huxley . In: The Nineteenth Century Magazine . Volume 42, December 1897, pp. 985-998
  • What Makes a Species? In: American Catholic Quarterly Review . Volume 23, No. 89, January 1898, pp. 28-44

Natural philosophy journal articles

  • Herbert Spencer . In: Quarterly Review . Volume 135, 1873, pp. 509-539
  • Examination of Mr. Spencer's Psychology . In: Dublin Review . Vol. 23-32, 1874-1879
  • Herbert Spencer's System of Philosophy . In: Dublin Review . Volume 34, 1880, pp. 26-73
  • Modern Catholics and Scientific Freedom . In: The Nineteenth Century Magazine . July 1885; on-line
  • Bishop Temple's Lectures on Religion and Science . In: Edinburgh Review . Volume 162, 1885, pp. 204-233
  • The Catholic Church and Biblical Criticism . In: The Nineteenth Century Magazine . July 1887
  • Catholicity and Reason . In: The Nineteenth Century Magazine . December 1887
  • The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin . In: Edinburgh Review . Volume 167, 1888, 407-447
  • Happiness in Hell . In: The Nineteenth Century Magazine . Volume 32, pp. 899-919, December 1892
  • The Happiness in Hell: a Rejoinder . In: The Nineteenth Century Magazine . Volume 33, pp. 320-338, February 1893
  • Last words on the Happiness in Hell. A rejoinder . In: The Nineteenth Century Magazine . Volume 33, pp. 637-651, April 1893
  • The Continuity of Catholicism . In: The Nineteenth Century Magazine . Volume 47, pp. 51-72, January 1900
  • Some Recent Apologists . In: Fortnightly Review . Volume 67, pp. 24-72, January 1900
  • Under the Ban: A Correspondence between Dr. St. George Mivart and Herbert Cardinal Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster; Accompanied by Two Articles by Dr. Mivart on "Some recent Catholic apologists" and "The continuity of Catholicism". London 1900, online

Others

  • One point of controversy with the agnostics . In: Manning (Ed.): Essays on Religion and Literature . Volume 3, London 1868
  • Ape . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 9th edition, 1870-1890
  • Reptilia (Anatomy) . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 9th edition, 1870-1890
  • Skeleton . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 9th edition, 1870-1890

proof

literature

  • Frederic Boase: Modern English Biography: Containing Many Thousand Concise Memoirs of Persons who Have Died Since the Year 1850, with an Index of the most Interesting Matter . Netherton & Worth, Truro 1892–1921 - 6 volumes
  • Adrian Desmond, James Moore: Darwin . List Verlag, Munich Leipzig 1991, ISBN 3-471-77338-X
  • David G. Schultenover: A View from Rome: On the Eve of the Modernist Crisis . Fordham Univ. Press, 1993, ISBN 0-8232-1359-5 , pp. 131-138
  • John M. Lynch: Mivart, St. George Jackson . In: B. Lightman (Ed.): The Dictionary of Nineteenth Century British Scientists . Thoemmes Press, Bristol 2004, pp. 1411-1415; on-line
  • Bertram Coghill Alan Windle: Who's Who of the Oxford Movement . Century, New York 1926
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Containing Obituaries of Deceased Fellows, Chiefly for the Period 1898-1904. With a General Index to Previous Obituary Notices . Volume 75, Harrison, London, 1905

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Claridge's. The five-star luxury hotel in Mayfair, London (accessed December 8, 2008)
  2. ↑ Desmond / Moore p. 626
  3. ↑ Hubert Wolf: Index: the Vatican and the forbidden books . CH Beck, 2007, ISBN 3-406-54778-8 , p. 264; on-line
  4. ^ The Roman Index . In: The New York Times April 29, 1894, p. 22, online
  5. ↑ Dr. St. G. Mivart Dead . In: The New York Times April 2, 1900, p. 1, online
  6. ↑ Desmond / Moore p. 643
  7. ↑ Stephen Jay Gould : Not Necessarily a Wing . In: Natural History . Volume 94, October 1985, pp. 12-25; on-line
  8. ↑ St. George Mivart to Charles Darwin, January 19, 1871, Letter 7447 in The Darwin Correspondence Project, (accessed December 11, 2008).
  9. ↑ On the Genesis of Species . 1st edition, London 1871, p. 24 f .: “ That“ Natural Selection ”is incompetent to account for the incipient stages of useful structures. That it does not harmonize with the co-existence of closely similar structures of diverse origin. That there are grounds for thinking that specific differences may be developed suddenly instead of gradually. That the opinion that species have definite though very different limits to their variability is still tenable. That certain fossil transitional forms are absent, which might have been expected to be present. That some facts of geographical distribution supplement other difficulties. That the objection drawn from the physiological difference between “species” and “races” still exists unrefuted. That there are many remarkable phenomena in organic forms upon which "Natural Selection" throws no light whatever, but the explanations of which, if they could be attained, might throw light upon specific origination. ”
  10. ↑ Desmond / Moore p. 651
  11. ↑ Desmond / Moore p. 656
  12. ↑ Chauncey Wright: The Genesis of Species . In: North American Review . Volume 113, July 1871, pp. 63-103
  13. ↑ Desmond / Moore p. 659
  14. ↑ Desmond / Moore p. 658
  15. ↑ Desmond / Moore p. 652
  16. ^ Thomas Henry Huxley: Mr. Darwin's Critics . In: Contemporary Review . Volume 18, 1871, pp. 443-476; on-line
  17. ↑ Desmond / Moore p. 660; Mr. Darwin's Critics p. 456
  18. ↑ Desmond / Moore p. 660; Mr. Darwin's Critics p. 458
  19. ↑ George Howard Darwin: On Beneficial Restrictions to Liberty of Marriage . In: Contemporary Review . Volume 22, 1873, pp. 412-426
  20. ↑ Desmond / Moore p. 687
  21. ↑ Charles Darwin to John Murray, August 11, 1874, Letter 9598 in The Darwin Correspondence Project (accessed December 11, 2008).
  22. ^ Charles Darwin to St. George Mivart, Jan. 12, 1875, Letter 9812 in The Darwin Correspondence Project (accessed December 11, 2008).

further reading

  • Christopher Olaf Blum: St. George Mivart: Catholic Natural Philosopher . University of Notre Dame, 1996
  • Jacob W. Gruber: A Conscience in Conflict. The Life of St. George Jackson Mivart . Columbia University Press, New York, 1960
  • John David Root: The Final Apostasy of St. George Jackson Mivart . In: Catholic Historical Review . Volume 71, January 1985, pp. 1-25

Web links

Commons : Genesis of Species  - collection of images, videos and audio files
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on January 15, 2009 .
personal data
SURNAME Mivart, St. George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mivart, George Jackson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English biologist
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH April 1, 1900
Place of death London