por Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) was a French naturalist and zoologist who dedicated part of his life to the study of geology, in which he followed the current of catastrophism. Lhe great contributions he made to science were establishing the foundations of modern paleontology and the study of comparative anatomy during the 19th century.
In Cuvier’s work The animal kingdom (1817), four ramifications are added to Linnaeus’ Taxonomy (vertebrates, molluscs, joints and zoophytes).
Also, through comparative anatomy, Cuvier was able to verify that some fossils, such as those of the mastodon and the mammoth, belonged to extinct species and not to modern elephants.
Biography of Georges Cuvier
early years
Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert, Baron de Cuvier, was born on August 23, 1769 in Montbéliard. At the time of his birth, this city belonged to the Holy Roman Empire, but in 1796 it would become part of France.
He was the son of Jean George Cuvier, a distinguished soldier in the Swiss army at the service of France. At the age of 50, Cuvier’s father married the young Anne Clémence Chatel.
Georges Cuvier’s health was fragile in his childhood, but thanks to the care his mother gave him, he recovered and achieved a healthy youth. Cuvier’s education was also in charge of him, at the age of four he could already read fluently.
He was raised in a Protestant family and remained under the precepts of this religion throughout his life.
At school he learned Latin, which he practiced with his mother every afternoon, becoming an outstanding class. He also became interested in other disciplines such as drawing, rhetoric, and history. It is said that the facts «once entrenched in his memory, were never forgotten.»
Duke Charles, uncle of the then King of Württemberg, decided to favor the young Cuvier when he was 14 years old and sent him to the Carolina Academy of the University of Stuttgart free of charge.
science and state
After his graduation in 1788, he worked as a tutor for several years. He then joined the staff of the Natural History Museum in Paris in 1795. In 1803 he married Madame Duvaucel, a widow with whom he had four children, who died before reaching adulthood.
In parallel with his work at the museum, Cuvier served the government of Napoleon Bonaparte as Imperial Inspector of Public Instruction, a position from which he contributed to the creation of universities throughout France. For this service he was awarded a knighthood in 1811.
In 1814, Cuvier was chosen as an Imperial Councilor. Then, in 1817, he was appointed Vice President of the Ministry of the Interior during the reinstatement of the Bourbons, whom he also served in different positions.
Georges Cuvier balanced scientific pursuits with his career as a statesman. Despite his strong Lutheran convictions, he attempted to separate religion from his public life. In 1818 he founded the Parisian Bible Society.
From 1822 until his death he served as Grand Master of the Protestant Faculty of Theology at the French University.
Death
On May 13, 1932, at the age of 62, Georges Cuvier died in Paris, France.
Cuvier’s theories
catastrophism
Cuvier maintained that the changes in the Earth were given by revolutions and catastrophes that generated sudden changes in the geography and, consequently, in the fauna.
These revolutions were described as deluges. Cuvier claimed that in each of these events a new geological stratum was generated.
These strata were endowed with a specific fauna and vegetation, which, according to Cuvier, must have lived on the surface, before being below it. He claimed that stratification was proof that there were successive geological epochs in the formation of the Earth.
Comparative anatomy and taxonomy
Cuvier’s studies in comparative anatomy provided concepts that helped the development of various fields of science.
According to Cuvier, the principle of comparative anatomy consisted in the mutual relationship of forms in organized beings. Thus, the species can be determined by any fragment of one of its parts.
He explained that the body has two types of functions. The animals, executed by the neuromuscular system and allow movement; and the vital ones, which are the ones that maintain the life of the animal thanks to its internal organs. So, if you know the possible patterns in which these parts can be integrated, you will know the animal.
These principles served both for the study of fossils and for the study of animals that are alive today. From the comparison between the two, it was established whether they were the same species or a different one.
Thanks to these works, Cuvier added four branches to Linnaeus’ taxonomic system: vertebrates, molluscs, joints and zoophytes. In this classification, the difference was given by the central nervous system that the animals possessed.
Extinction and paleontology
Through comparative anatomy, Cuvier came to the conclusion that the animal remains found in the different geological strata belonged to extinct species.
These varieties had to share a period of time on the surface, before a catastrophic «revolution» triggered the extinction of most individuals.
The elephants served as evidence for two remarkable aspects of Cuvier’s work: extinction and the difference between living species.
Studying the bone differences between Asian and African elephants, it was clear to Cuvier that they were different species.
The same thing happened when comparing current elephants with the remains of mastodons and mammoths, of which there were no longer living specimens.
Another example of extinction was the Megatherium americanumwhich Cuvier named and related to the family of sloths and other long-hoofed mammals, such as armadillos, anteaters and pangolins.
Cuvier’s contributions to science
Animal classification
His functional conception of the organism allowed him to be the first scientist to classify animals according to their structure and morphology, subject to function. Hence, he could group the animal kingdom into vertebrates, molluscs, radiated and articulated.
Development of paleontology and stratigraphy
Thanks to his studies and his collaboration with the geologist William Smith and the botanist Alexandre Brongniart, he was able to establish that the Earth was formed with a system of layers that remained for a very long time, and where different types of animals and plants developed. With this, the foundations of stratigraphy were laid, a science that studies volcanic, sedimentary and metamorphic rocks.
Principle of correlation of the parts
This principle was based on the fact that an organism had at least two main functions: animal and vital. This allowed him to identify extinct animals from fossils by comparing them to the functions of living animals.
Extinct species
Thanks to comparative anatomy, he is the first naturalist to affirm that there are extinct species (or «lost», as they said at the time) that have no apparent relationship with the living and current ones.
In addition, he said that it was very difficult for the fossil species found to be discovered alive in some remote place on Earth. He was also the first to say that the dinosaurs became extinct due to a natural catastrophe.
modern geological maps
His collaboration with Brongniart had as a happy consequence the publication of the first modern geological maps.
In them, which represented the lands surrounding Paris, they managed to subdivide the region not only by mineralogical and sedimentation sediments, but also according to the fossils found in it. This allowed them to establish a fairly precise chronology.
References
Well, M. (2007). The Little Larousse Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary 2007. 13th ed. Bogota (Colombia): Printer Colombiana, p.1258
Rudwick, M. (1997). Georges Cuvier, fossil bones, and geological catastrophes. University of Chicago, pp.18 – 24.
Lee, R. (1833). Memoirs of Baron Cuvier. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman, p.11.
Lee, R. (1833). Memoirs of Baron Cuvier. London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman, p.31.
Encyclopedia Britannica. (2018). Georges Cuvier | Biography & Facts. [online] Available at: .britannica.com