The Professor and the Naturalist Flashcards
(Professor and the Naturalist) How did Richard Owen get animals for his anatomical studies?
From the London Zoological gardens. He got the dead zoo animals.
(Professor and the Naturalist) In the early years of his career as an anatomist, what did Owen study?
Vertebrates as well as invertebrates (notably the nautilus).
(Professor and the Naturalist) What were Richard Owen’s early lectures about? How were they received?
The history of natural science. They went over really well, students didn’t riot.
(Professor and the Naturalist) What idea were contemporary anatomists “discovering” that had previously been understood by the Ancient Greeks?
Homology, the idea that certain parts of the body of one animals are equivalent to parts of another.
(Professor and the Naturalist) Which of Cuvier’s views did Richard Owen agree with?
The idea that the succession of life in the fossil record was due to waves of creation and extinction.
(Professor and the Naturalist) What was Richard Owen’s main focus at the Hunterian museum?
Cataloging the 20,000 specimens.
(Professor and the Naturalist) What was Darwin’s main issue regarding the samples he’d brought back from his trip?
He couldn’t find enough specialists to study his collection. They were all busy doing other stuff.
(Professor and the Naturalist) What was the purpose for Darwin’s professional visits to Richard Owen?
He depended on Owen for fossil interpretation.
(Professor and the Naturalist) Which of Darwin’s ideas could he not share with Richard Owen?
Darwin was beginning to believe in species transmutation, which Owen was super against.
