The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-30
SIXTY YEARS OF SCIENCE
r.. LYDEKKER, f. r.. s., WRITES OF
PROGRESS IN VICTORIA'S REIGN.
Darwin's Doctrine and Its Results Re-
Viewed-Ffrst Knowledge of the
Giant MOa's Existence.
srecial to the Indianapolis Journal.

n
able among the events which have occurred
| during the reign of Queen Victoria are
those which form mileposts in the paths
of biology. Within the sixty years referred
to we have first learned of the gorilla, the
| potamogale, the water chevrotain, the
parti-colored bear. the Australian lung
fish and others. The dark corners of the
earth have been explored and opened up,
| and the fauna of Thibet and other parts of
| central Asia or a large portion of Africa,
| of New Guinea, of central Australia and
| of many oceanic islands as we'll as the
| interior of Borneo and Celebes have been
| revealed and described. The ORTHODOXY of
| South America has received especial atten-
| ton during the reign while the magnificent
| expositions have made known the entire
fauna and flora of the central districts of
| the new world. in the classification and
morophology of fishes, as also in our
knowledge of whales and other marine
mammals great advances have been made.
In embryology and physiology the strides
have been enormous.
New doctrines in connection with the evo-
luton of animal life have also been pro-
pounded by Darwin within the period of
which l write. Among these one of the
most important, and one which has proba-
bly, played a very considerable part in ma
ture. is that of parallelism in Development;
that is to say the independent development
of similar structures in different groups of
animals living under similar circumstances,
or in course of adaptation to similar con-
ditions of life. Mimicry, too, is another
important factor in nature, the discovery
| and recognition of which has taken place
during the Queens reign.
The cutting of thin sections of animal
| and vegetable tissues and their examination
under the microscope and the wonderful
results that have been obtained thereby are
also development of the reign, as is like
wise microscopy in general. Bacteria and
microbes, again, are low types of life whose
investigation forms one of the greatest
achievements of the latter part Of the era,
and the incalculable benefits which have
already been conferred upon suffering hui
mainly by this line of study are well
known.
BIOLOGICAL PROGRESS.
The reign of Queen Victoria will be nota-
BILE in future generations for scientific dis
covery and progress, and among the
sciences that have advanced by leaps and
bounds during this heightened period, biol
ogy must surely occupy one of the most
prominent positions. Indeed, it is almost
impossible for workers at the present day
to realize how imperfect was our knowledge
and how comparatively few were our books
on biological subjects in the year of grace
1887. To give any adequate idea of the
amount of progress that has been made in
even one branch of this science during the
reign would be manifestly impossible in an
article of the present length, and it is hence
matter of extreme difficulty to select
points for special mention.
OF OWENS works the greater portion has
appeared during the reign, although his
memoir on the mammary glands of the
duckbill bears the date 1882. This serves to
remind us that the history of the mono
IRENE mammals has been practically
worked out during the same period, the dis
covery that these animals lay eggs not hav-
ing been announced till the year 1884. AL
though owing to his persistent opposition
10 the doctrine of evolution, his theories of
the relationships of animals have not met
with acceptation, it is difficult to
estimate the debt which zoology
and paleontology owe to Owen
for his work during the reign. To
him is due the honor of making known to
the world the former existence of the
gigantic extinct moas Dinornithidae) of
New Zealand, and also of the wonderful
extinct marsupial fauna of Australia, while
he was the pioneer in the elucidation of the
equally marvellous fossil mammals in South
America. Had these faunas not been dis
covered and worked out we should never
had gained our present ideas of the geo
graphical distribution Of animals. To the
same matter of anatomy is due the descrip-
ton of the long-tailed Jurassic bird
(Archaeopteryx) in 1862, the fossil being one
of the most remarkable missing links
ever discovered-too late, unfortunately, for
Darwin's "Origin of Species" Although
many of his views are now proved to be
erroneous, Owen also did much for the ex-
tinct Mesozoic reptiles which he well chris
tened Dinosaurs, and his labors laid the
foundation for almost all subsequent work
on fossil reptiles in general
The mention Of Dinosaurs naturally leads
on to Huxley, who, although by no means
essentially paleontologist, was the first to
point out the connection between that eX-
traordinary group of reptiles and birds, a
line of investigation in which he was ably
seconded by j. w. Hulke The life work of
Huxley was entirely produced during the
reign, and how much it contributed to sys-
tematic and morphological zoology needs
memoirs-on the structure of the palate Of
birds-forms, to a great extent the basis
of the present classifications of the group.
But in popular estimation Huxley's great
est claim is probably his brilliant advocacy
of the evolution theory. That doctrine will
ever remain the browning biological
achievement of the record reign, and it is
no disparagement to its illustrious ex-
pounders-Darwin and Wallace-to say
that it was only through the unwearied la
bors of workers in other branches of biol
ogy during and previous to the early part
of the reign, that it was possible for them
to have weaved the scattered facts and OBJ
servations into one harmonious fabric.
Although Darwin's name is, in popular
estimation more intimately connected with
the doctrine Of evolution, that of Mr.. Wal
lace (happily still among us) has obtained
a well-deserved fame in connection with
the geographical distribution of animals a
branch of biological science which may be
said to be almost an exclusive product OF
the Victorian era. 1t was in 1885, two years
only before the accession, that Swanson
published his Geography and Classifica-
ton Of Animals" and from that date till
the appearance Of Wallace's Geographical
Distribution of Animals" in 1876, this
branch of science was being gradually
evolved and perfected. Indeed, both on
this and the other side of the Atlantic this
interesting and important study is still en-
ploying the energies of several workers, al