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The Lesson of Latimeria: a False Missing Link That Convinced Many

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The Lesson of Latimeria: a False Missing Link That Convinced Many The Lesson of Latmneria A FalseMissing Link ThatConvinced Many of the Realityof Evolution LaurenE. Brown INCE the publicationof On the Originof Speciesby Dar- win (1859), the theory of evolution has become the foun- dation of the entire field of biol- ogy and has had far-reaching impacts on the physical and so- Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/57/4/202/47115/4449971.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 cial sciences. In spite of the great importance of evolution, much of the public has been uneducated and unconvinced of its reality. There are several Figure 1. Drawing of the coelacanthLatimeria chalumnae by D.P. Voorvelt. (Courtesy reasons for this. Undoubtedly J.L.B. Smith Institute of Ichthyology and StanfordUniversity Press.) the opposition of fundamental- ist religions has played an im- portant role. In addition, the great length of On the The Huixley-WilberforceDebate Originof Speciesand Darwin's complex style of writ- This famous debate occurred on June 30, 1860 (six ing make the treatise difficultto read. The complexity months after publicationof On theOrigin of Species);at of advances in the field and failure of evolutionists to a meeting of the BritishAssociation for the Advance- adequately communicate their findings to the public ment of Science at Oxford, England. Professors, are also contributingcauses to this lack of education. scientists, undergraduates, amateur natural histori- Furthermore,many textbooks give inadequate cover- ans, and clergy were among the 700 people attend- age to evolution. Lastly, there has been the reluctance ing. Accounts of the confrontation have been given or inability of elementary and secondary school by various authors (e.g. Clark 1968; Gould 1986; teachers to give proper attention to evolution in Himmelfarb 1962; Irvine 1955; Moorehead 1969; biology and science classes. Peterson 1932), which I summarize as follows. The public, however, has been quite aware of the The two protagonistswere Thomas Huxley, Profes- existence of the theory of evolution. Three major sor of Natural History, Royal School of Mines, and historical events in the century following the publi- Samuel Wilberforce,Bishop of Oxford. Darwin was cation of On the Originof Specieshave been responsi- absent because of illness. At 35 years of age, Huxley ble for a considerable amount of this awareness: (known as Darwin's bulldog) was one of a group of 1. The Huxley-Wilberforcedebate men who were associatedwith Darwin. Earlier 2. The Scopes trial young in his career,Huxley had participatedin a four and one- 3. The popularization of the discovery of living coelacanths (Latimeria). half year naturalhistory survey aboardH.M.S. Rattle- The objective of this paper is to discuss these events snake in the Aushalianregion. His subsequentpublica- and their impact. Particularattention will be placed tions earnedhim a respectablereputation as a scientist. on the discovery of the coelacanth (Figure1), as I feel Wilberforce(known as Soapy Sam) at 54 years old, that this fish has had the greatest significance in was at the prime of his career and a formidable convincing the public of the reality of evolution, and orator. However, his only scientific accomplishment consequently has importantimplications for teaching was as an undergraduatewhen he excelled in math- evolution. ematics. Prior to the debate he had been tutored by Sir Richard Owen, well-known comparative anato- mist and rabid anti-evolutionist. Several speakers were scheduled to participate in Lauren E. Brown, Ph.D., is Professor of Vertebrate Zoology in the the meeting. Thus, it was some time before the Bishop Department of Biological Sciences at Illinois State University, Campus Box 4120, Normal, IL61790-4120. took the podium. As his sarcastic talk progressed, it became clear that Wilberforceknew nothing about 202 THEAMERICAN BIOLOGY TEACHER, VOLUME 57, NO. 4, APRIL195 evolution. Finally, bloated with presumed success, defeat for Bryan. Shortly after the trial he died, with the Bishop turned to Huxley (who was seated on the stress undoubtedlybeing a contributingfactor. platform)and stated "was it through his grandfather As could be expected, Scopes was found guilty of or his grandmotherthat he claimed his descent from teaching evolution and was assessed a fine of $100. a monkey" (Clark,p. 58, 1968;there is some question However, the verdict was later overturned on a as to his exact words-Gould 1986). This resulted in technicality. The conclusion was that the evolution- an uproar among the audience. Huxley slapped his ists had won a great victory. knee with his hand as he turned to a colleague next to Throngs of evangelists and religious zealots had him and stated "The Lord hath delivered him into converged on Dayton to participatein activities out- mine hands!" (Clark,p. 58, 1968). When Huxley rose side the courthouse. Additionally, more than 100 to speak, he gave a clear but brief account of evolu- newspaper reporters covered the trial (including the tion. He then proclaimed: well-known H. L. Mencken, columnist for the Balti- more Evening Sun). Thus, the trial received wide- If. the questionis put to me 'wouldI ratherhave a miserableape for a grandfather,or a manhighly endowed by spread publicity. The evolutionary scientists who natureand possessedof greatmeans and influence,and yet were denied the opportunity to testify at the trial who employsthese faculties and that influencefor the mere wrote voluminous statements in support of evolution purposeof introducingridicule into a gravescientific discus- which were published in many newspapers (Tomp- Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/57/4/202/47115/4449971.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 sion'-I unhesitatinglyaffirm my preferencefor the ape kins 1965).The effect these statements had in educat- (Clark,p. 59, 1968). ing the public is conjecturalbecause the circus-like This again resulted in chaos in the audience and one atmosphere of the trial received emphasis in the woman even fainted. The last speaker was Joseph newspapers (Mencken referred to it as a religious Hooker (botanistand supporter of Darwin) who gave orgy-Tompkins, p. 39, 1965). Consequently, it is a particularlyeffective rebuttalto Wilberforce(Gould doubtful if the public absorbed much information of 1986). substance about the validity of evolution. And so ended the first and most famous public As a postscript to this case, de Camp (1968) indi- debate on evolution. Although Huxley was enthusi- cated that Scopes' only association with a biology astically congratulatedby many, including the clergy course was as a substitute teacher for two weeks, and (Irvine 1955), it is questionablewhether he or Wilber- he confessed to friends after the trial that he never force won the confrontation (Gould 1986). However, taught evolution in that course. However, it is clear little information was offered to the public about the that Scopes strongly believed that biology could not realityof evolution. Thus, the public was for the most be taught without covering evolution, and he did part uneducated about evolution. briefly cover the topic in his general science course. The Scopes Trial The Discovery of LivingCoelacanths The second major historical event of evolutionary On December22, 1938, a large, heavily scaled, blue significance to the public transpired 65 years later fish was caught by Captain Hendrik Goosen's (1925) far across the Atlantic in Tennessee. Detailed trawler, Nerine, at about 40 fathoms off the mouth of accounts of this trial have been given by a number of the ChalumnaRiver on the coast of South Africa.This authors (e.g. Allen 1925; Berra 1990; de Camp 1968; animal was to become the most famous fish ever Ruse 1982; Tompkins 1965) and are summarized as captured, and as a supposed "missing link" was to follows. In 1925the state of Tennessee established the play an importantrole in convincing the public of the ButlerAct which prohibitedthe teaching of evolution reality of evolution. Events that transpiredhave been in public schools. John T. Scopes, a young high school reportedin detail by Smith (1956a,b)which I summa- science teacherfrom Dayton, Tennessee, let himselfbe rize as follows. prosecuted(with the urging and support of the Amer- When the trawler reached port in East London, ican Civil LibertiesUnion) for teaching evolution. This South Africa, MarjorieCourtenay-Latimer was con- resulted in one of the more renowned trials in this tacted. She was a young curator of the small East century(Ruse 1982).The brillianttrial lawyer and noted London Museum, who had earlier asked several agnostic, Clarence Darrow, defended Scopes. Three- commercial fishing firms if they could supply her times unsuccessfulpresidential candidate, William Jen- museum with any unusual fish they might capture. nings Bryan, assisted in the prosecution.Bryan was a When Latimer arrived at the dock, she realized she noted oratorwith fundamentalistreligious views. had a problem because of the large size of Goosen's The judge refused to allow the expert testimony of fish (5 ft [1.5 m], 127 lb [57.6 kg]) and its oily evolutionaryscientists for the defense. Consequently, condition (the fish continued to ooze oil for many Darrow cross-examinedBryan as an authorityon the years after its capture). However, she managed to Bible. The result was a devastating and humiliating convince a reluctant taxi driver to transport the LATIMERIA203 I4 4 This astonishing discovery was formally announced to the scientific world in a paper read to the Royal Society of South Africa (Smith 1939a), and was closely followed by a paper in the prestigious international journal, Nature (Smith 1939b). In the next year a monograph was published (Smith 1940). Unfortunately, the outbreak of World War II temporarily de- layed scientific endeavors per- taining to Latimeria. On December 20, 1952, a sec- ond coelacanth (Figure 2) was Downloaded from http://online.ucpress.edu/abt/article-pdf/57/4/202/47115/4449971.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 caught near the Comoro Islands (then governedby France),to the northwest of Madagascar(Smith 1953).
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