Biology in Transition (eBook)

The Life and Lectures of Arthur Milnes Marshall

Martin Luck (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018
432 Seiten
Pelagic Publishing (Verlag)
978-1-78427-167-1 (ISBN)

Infos

Arthur Milnes Marshall was a 19th-century scientist who gave academic and public lectures covering evolution, embryology, development and inheritance. Prof. Martin Luck has re-discovered these lectures - his careful curation, introductions to each lecture and copious annotations illuminate their significance as prequels to modern biology.

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Arthur Milnes Marshall was a 19th-century scientist who gave lectures addressing the biological debates of his time. They covered topics including evolution, embryology, development and inheritance, with Charles Darwin's name and those of other important biologists distributed liberally throughout.Marshall was a zoologist, embryologist, anatomist and Darwin enthusiast, as well as an accomplished mountaineer and sportsman. He was a humanist, an admired academic teacher and brilliant public educator. The lectures reveal his passion for communicating his subject, to his students and to the working men and women of Manchester, and they provide a remarkable snapshot of the state of biological science at the close of the 19th century.His death in 1893 aged only 41, on a climbing expedition in the Lake District, left a fascinating time capsule in the form of lectures from a critical transitional period in the history of biology. Evolution by natural selection was the established doctrine but genes were undefined, with Mendel's work yet to be recognised. Embryology was suggesting recapitulation but ancestry, genetics and missing links awaited liberation from theoreticians and the stones of palaeontology. Microscopy was flourishing and cell science was finding its feet, but DNA and molecular science were far in the future.Had Marshall lived and worked into the 20th century, these lectures would undoubtedly have been superseded and forgotten. Instead, they reveal biology's transformation from a descriptive exercise to an experimental science, its rejection of purpose and design in evolution, and the shift of its axis from continental Europe to Britain and the United States.Professor Martin Luck discovered these lectures (published by CF Marshall in two volumes shortly after his brother's death) languishing in a university corridor. His careful curation, introductions to each lecture and copious annotations on the organisms, theories and scientists discussed, illuminate their significance as prequels to modern biology. Marshall's own story brings the lectures and their social context into sharp relief.Biology in Transition will interest anyone curious about the history of science, especially biology, evolution, genetics and its 19th-century pioneers.

Autor

lt;p>Martin Luck is Emeritus Professor of Physiological Education at the University of Nottingham, UK. He holds degrees from the Universities of Nottingham, Leeds and the Open University and is a National Teaching Fellow and Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His early research career in reproductive biology and endocrinology took him to Germany and Australia, before returning to a faculty position at Nottingham in 1990. He has a longstanding interest in the links between teaching and research and helped to found a leading journal devoted to publishing research by undergraduate students. He has written books on student research and endocrinology and is currently co-authoring a major textbook for biology students.

Inhalt

Apology: History by Serendipity

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Volume 1: Biological Lectures and Addresses

Preface

Contents

Lecture 1: The Modern Study of Zoology

Lecture 2: The Influence of Environment on The Structure and Habits Of Animals

Lecture 3: On Embryology as An Aid to Anatomy

Lecture 4: The Theory of Change of Function

Lecture 5: Butterflies

Lecture 6: Fresh-Water Animals

Lecture 7: Inheritance

Lecture 8: The Shapes and Sizes of Animal

Lecture 9: Some Recent Developments of The Cell Theory

Lecture 10: Animal Pedigrees

Lecture 11: Some Recent Embryological Investigations

Lecture 12: Death

Lecture 13: The Recapitulation Theory

Interlude: A Revealing Book Review

Volume 2: Lectures on The Darwinian Theory

Preface

Contents

Lecture 14: History of The Theory of Evolution

Lecture 15: Artificial Selection And Natural Selection

Lecture 16: The Argument from Palaeontology

Lecture 17: The Argument from Embryology

Lecture 18: The Colours of Animals and Plants

Lecture 19: Objections to The Darwinian Theory

Lecture 20: The Origin of Vertebrated Animals

Lecture 21: The Life and Work of Darwin List of Authorities

Biography: Arthur Milnes Marshal and His Family

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 21.5.2018
• Reihe/Serie: History of Evolutionary Biology
• Verlagsort: Exeter
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Studium ► Querschnittsbereiche ► Geschichte / Ethik der Medizin
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Evolution
• Schlagworte: Biology • Darwin • Evolution • History of Science
• ISBN-10: 1-78427-167-5 / 1784271675
• ISBN-13: 978-1-78427-167-1 / 9781784271671