The initial reactions of French biologists to Darwin's Origin of species.

Abstract

One of the most interesting aspects of nineteenth century science is the very marked differences that existed between British, French, and German scientists. The differences are very clearly manifested in the various responses to Darwin's Origin of Species and are particularly marked when one compares the French scientists with the Germans. The Germans accepted Darwin with almost as much enthusiasm as the French rejected him. The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors when led the biologists of France to reject Darwin during the crucial early years and to point out the very different situation that existed in the German states. The most obvious characteristic of the French reaction was that French scientists attacked the Darwinian theory of evolution by using the very same arguments they had employed in reacting to Lamarck thirty years previously. In discussing Darwin they referred to the early nineteenth century arguments over "the unity of type" and the four Cuvierian "embrachements," the ontogenetic concept of "l'evolution," and the fundamental distinction between species and varieties. In many ways the Darwinian debate was a reenactment of the Cuvier-Lamarck debate of earlier years. These arguments show that the basic structure of French biology had not changed since the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was still theoscientific in nature and could still accept explanations which incorporated ideas of design and development of life forms to a final cause. The purpose of French biology was not simply to discuss material things, but to gain insights into general truths which substantiated French beliefs that God played a fundamental role in the natural world as well as in human society. In addition, the mid-nineteenth century stress on empiricism reinforced this outlook since its foremost proponent, Cuvier, obviously utilized empiricism in his castigation of the speculative Lamarck. These concepts were foreign to the mid-nineteenth century German