Footprints Of The Creator: Or, The Asterolepis Of Stromness (cambridge Library Collection - Darwin, Evolution And Genetics)

The geological writings of Hugh Miller (1802 - 56) did much to publicise this relatively new science. After an early career in banking in Scotland, Miller became editor of a newly founded Edinburgh newspaper, The Witness , in which he published a series of his own articles based on his geological research, a collection of which was issued as a book, The Old Red Sandstone , in 1841, and led to the Devonian geological period becoming known as the 'Age of the Fishes'. Footprints of the Creator (1849) described his reconstruction of the extinct fish he had discovered in the Old Red Sandstone and argued, on theological grounds, that their perfection of development disproved the current Lamarckian theory of evolution. The book, illustrated with woodcuts, was written partly as a response to the then anonymous Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1884), also reissued in this series. Cover......Page 1 Frontmatter......Page 4 TO THE READER......Page 10 Contents......Page 16 LIST OF WOOD-CUTS......Page 18 STROMNESS AND ITS ASTEROLEPIS.---THE LAKE OF STENNIS......Page 20 THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES......Page 32 THE RECENT HISTORY OF THE ASTEROLEPIS.---ITS FAMILY......Page 43 CEREBRAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE EARLIER VERTEBRATA.---ITS APPARENT PRINCIPLE......Page 57 THE ASTEROLEPIS.---ITS STRUCTURE, BULK, AND ASPECT......Page 89 FISHES OF THE SILURIAN ROCKS, UPPER AND LOWER.---THEIR RECENT HISTORY, ORDER, AND SIZE......Page 125 HIGH STANDING OF THE PLACOIDS.---OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED......Page 142 THE PLACOID BRAIN.---EMBRYOTIC CHARACTERISTICS NOT NECESSARILY OF A LOW ORDER......Page 155 THE PROGRESS OF DEGRADATION.---ITS HISTORY......Page 176 EVIDENCE OF THE SILURIAN MOLLUSCS.---OF THE FOSSIL FLORA.---ANCIENT TREE......Page 200 SUPERPOSITION NOT PARENTAL RELATION.---THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE......Page 225 LAMARCKIAN HYPOTHESIS OF THE ORIGIN OF PLANTS.---ITS CONSEQUENCES......Page 238 THE TWO FLORAS, MARINE AND TERRESTRIAL.---BEARING OF THE EXPERIENCE ARGUMENT......Page 257 THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS IN ITS EMBRYOTIC STATE.---OLDER THAN ITS ALLEGED FOUNDATIONS......Page 272 FINAL CAUSES.---THEIR BEARING ON GEOLOGIC HISTORY.---CONCLUSION......Page 298 Cover 1 Frontmatter 4 TO THE READER 10 Contents 16 LIST OF WOOD-CUTS 18 STROMNESS AND ITS ASTEROLEPIS.---THE LAKE OF STENNIS 20 THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES 32 THE RECENT HISTORY OF THE ASTEROLEPIS.---ITS FAMILY 43 CEREBRAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE EARLIER VERTEBRATA.---ITS APPARENT PRINCIPLE 57 THE ASTEROLEPIS.---ITS STRUCTURE, BULK, AND ASPECT 89 FISHES OF THE SILURIAN ROCKS, UPPER AND LOWER.---THEIR RECENT HISTORY, ORDER, AND SIZE 125 HIGH STANDING OF THE PLACOIDS.---OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED 142 THE PLACOID BRAIN.---EMBRYOTIC CHARACTERISTICS NOT NECESSARILY OF A LOW ORDER 155 THE PROGRESS OF DEGRADATION.---ITS HISTORY 176 EVIDENCE OF THE SILURIAN MOLLUSCS.---OF THE FOSSIL FLORA.---ANCIENT TREE 200 SUPERPOSITION NOT PARENTAL RELATION.---THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE 225 LAMARCKIAN HYPOTHESIS OF THE ORIGIN OF PLANTS.---ITS CONSEQUENCES 238 THE TWO FLORAS, MARINE AND TERRESTRIAL.---BEARING OF THE EXPERIENCE ARGUMENT 257 THE DEVELOPMENT HYPOTHESIS IN ITS EMBRYOTIC STATE.---OLDER THAN ITS ALLEGED FOUNDATIONS 272 FINAL CAUSES.---THEIR BEARING ON GEOLOGIC HISTORY.---CONCLUSION 298 9781108005531 Cambridge Library Collection - Life Sciences