Overview

This book is the first major study of what was probably the most important centre or pre-Darwinian evolutionary thought in the British Isles. It sheds new light on the genesis and development of one of the most important scientific theories in the history of western thought.It was long believed that evolutionary theories received an almost universally cold reception in British natural history circles in the first half of the nineteenth century. However, a relatively recently serious doubt has been cast on this assumption. This book shows that Edinburgh in the late 1820s and early 1830s was witness to a ferment of radical new ideas on the natural world, including speculation on the origin and evolution of life, at just the time when Charles Darwin was a student in the city. Those who were students in Edinburgh at the time could have hardly avoided coming into contact with these new ideas.

Full Product Details

Author:   Bill Jenkins
Publisher:   Edinburgh University Press
Imprint:   Edinburgh University Press
ISBN:  

9781474445788

ISBN 10:   1474445780
Pages:   256
Publication Date:   30 October 2019
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Tertiary & Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Edinburgh's university and medical schools in the early nineteenth century The legacy of the Scottish Enlightenment The University of Edinburgh at the beginning of the nineteenth century The University of Edinburgh's medical school Edinburgh's extra-mural anatomy schools Chapter 3: Natural History in Edinburgh, 1779-1832 Natural history in Edinburgh in the late eighteenth century Robert Jameson and the chair of natural history Comparative anatomy at the extra-mural medical schools Natural history, scientific and medical societies Natural history and science journals Chapter 4: Geology and evolution The Wernerian model of earth history Wernerians and Huttonians in Edinburgh The story of life as a tale of progressive development Wernerian geology and transformism Werner, Lamarck and Geoffroy in Edinburgh Chapter 5: Edinburgh and Paris Contemporary transformism in France: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Lamarck in Scotland The impact of Geoffroy's theories in Edinburgh Chapter 6: The legacy of the 'Edinburgh Lamarckians' The eclipse of transformism in Edinburgh Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation Transmutation without progress: Robert Knox and Hewett Cottrell Watson The legacy of Darwin's Edinburgh years Chapter 7: Conclusion Bibliography; Unpublished primary sources; Published primary sources; Secondary sources

Reviews

"[...] a well-written and very interesting read and an important contribution to the historiography of (British) evolutionism. --Koen B. Tanghe, University of Gent ""Journal of the History of Biology """

[...] a well-written and very interesting read and an important contribution to the historiography of (British) evolutionism. --Koen B. Tanghe, University of Gent Journal of the History of Biology

Author Information

Dr Bill Jenkins is a Cultural Engagement Fellow for Science, Technology and Innovation Studies at the University of Edinburgh and a freelance writer and copy-editor for the education sector. Jenkins received his PhD at the University of Edinburgh and published several papers in key journals, including the Journal of the History of Biology, Journal of Scottish Historical Studies and British Journal for the History of Science.

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