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In 2023, the 150th anniversary of the death of Jean-Louis-Rodolphe Agassiz, a Swiss naturalist recognized for his analysis of glacier movement and his proposal of the existence of glaciations in the Pleistocene, is commemorated. Although initially rejected, his theory was eventually accepted and contributed to the systematic study of evidence of glaciations. Agassiz was recognized for his work on glaciers and his influence on the scientific community of his time. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Philosophy & History of Biology / Filosofia e História da Biologia is the property of Associacao Brasileira de Filosofia e Historia da Biologia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Swiss-born geologist Louis Agassiz helped create modern glacial theory in the nineteenth century, but he did lasting harm in the name of science by promoting the idea of superior and inferior races. In this essay, I tell the story of a curious monument to Agassiz in Maine and weigh its political and cultural implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Massachusetts geologist Edward Hitchcock was among the first of his American colleagues to investigate the glacial theory of Swiss geologist Louis Agassiz. After studying a copy of Agassiz's Études sur les Glaciers 1840, Hitchcock displayed an initial enthusiasm regarding its explanatory powers in the published version of his presidential address before the newly-founded Association of American Geologists, and in his concurrently-published Final Report on the Geology of Massachusetts 1841. But that same year, Hitchcock also undertook a 400-mile journey to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, to test the possible validity of a hypothetico-deductive argument that he had formulated, about whether Alpinestyle glaciers had once descended from their summits. From the lack of supporting field evidence, Hitchcock abruptly retreated into a non-committal stance that merely argued for some combination of ice-and-water that he labeled "glacio-aqueous action." In the following year, Hitchcock engaged in a brief controversy with British geologist Roderick Murchison, in which the two men accused each other of mis-representing his support for the glacial theory. In reality, both had ended up on exactly the same side of the debate, having independently reached identical conclusions concerning rejection of the Alpine glacial theory. Hitchcock's stance appears to have influenced at least a few of his American colleagues to adopt this line of reasoning. But neither Hitchcock, nor Murchison, was able to extrapolate from the notion of Alpine to continental glaciation, as Agassiz had daringly conjectured, with the result that acceptance of the glacial theory was delayed for the next two decades or more. Ironically, neither man seemed to have realized that they had reached a virtual consensus on this question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early nineteenth century systematists sought to describe what they called the Natural System or the Natural Classification. In the nineteenth century, there was no agreement about the basis of observed patterns of similarity between organisms. What did these systematists think they were doing, when they named taxa, proposed relationships between taxa, and arranged taxa into representational schemes? In this paper I explicate Charles Frederic Girard's (1822-1895) theory and method of systematics. A student of Louis Agassiz, and subsequently (1850-1858) a collaborator with Spencer Baird, Girard claimed that natural classificatory methods do not presuppose either a special creationist or an evolutionary theory of the natural world. The natural system, in Girard's view, comprises three distinct ways in which organisms can be related to each other. Girard analyzed these relationships, and justified his classificatory methodology, by appeal to his embryological and physiological work. Girard offers an explicit theoretical answer to the question, what characters are evidence for natural classificatory hypotheses? I show that the challenge of simultaneously depicting the three distinct types of relationship led Girard to add a third dimension to his classificatory diagrams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The isolated teeth of a new euselachian shark Artiodus prominens Ivanov and Duffin gen. et sp. nov. have been found in the Artinskian Stage (Early Permian) of Krasnoufimskie Klyuchiki quarry (Sverdlovsk Region, Middle Urals, Russia). The teeth of Artiodus possess a multicuspid orthodont crown with from four to nine triangular cusps; prominent labial projection terminating in a large round tubercle; distinct ornamentation from straight or recurved cristae; oval or semilunar, elongate, considerably vascularized base; dense vascular network formed of transverse horizontal, ascending, short secondary and semicircular canals. The teeth of the new taxon otherwise most closely resemble the teeth of some protacrodontid and sphenacanthid euselachians possessing a protacrodont-type crown, but differ from the teeth of all other known euselachians in the unique structure of the labial projection. The studied teeth vary in crown and base morphology, and three tooth morphotypes can be distinguished in the collection reflecting a moderate degree of linear gradient monognathic heterodonty. The range of morphologies otherwise displayed by the collection of teeth shows the greatest similarity to that described for the dentitions of relatively high-crowned hybodontids from the Mesozoic. The internal structure of the teeth, including their vascularization system is reconstructed using microtomography. The highest chondrichthyan taxonomic diversity is found in the Artinskian, especially from the localities of the Middle and South Urals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Priacanthids are a small family of percomorph fishes comprising fewer than 20 extant species currently assigned to four genera. One of these, Pristigenys, was established by Louis Agassiz (1835) to include the Eocene species Pristigenys substriata from Monte Bolca, and is usually regarded as a subjective senior synonym of Pseudopriacanthus. Consequently, Pristigenys currently comprises five extant species plus the fossil Pristigenys substriata. The osteology of the type species of this genus, however, is poorly known, and this makes it difficult to provide an adequate comprehensive definition of the taxonomy of the whole family. Pristigenys substriata is redescribed in detail based on five well-preserved articulated skeletons. Pristigenys substriata can be easily distinguished from other priacanthids based on its unique combination of characters. Morphological analysis of the fossil specimens reveals that there is substantial evidence to justify recognition of both Pristigenys and Pseudopriacanthus as valid genera, with extant species previously assigned to Pristigenys now referred to Pseudopriacanthus. Within the Priacanthidae, Pristigenys and Pseudopriacanthus form sister taxa and this pair can be considered as the sister-group to all remaining extant priacanthid genera (Cookeolus + [Heteropriacanthus+Priacanthus]). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sasha Huber'sRentyhorn(2008), Switzerland, was a component of the Swiss Demounting Louis Agassiz campaign. The campaign sought to rename Agassizhorn, a peak bearing the name of Swiss-born scientist Louis Agassiz (1807–1873) a proponent of scientific racism. The article examinesRentyhorn, an intervention, by the Swiss/Haitian artist Huber (b 1975, Zurich), through concepts of re-mapping. WithinRentyhorn, the Swiss landscape is exposed through the naturalised systems of knowledge (geological mapping), making visible unacknowledged histories (Agassiz's legacy), and marginalised perspectives (postcolonial critique) within a geographical terrain. PositioningRentyhornas a critique of Swiss official ‘memory’ of Agassiz, as an esteemed scientist, highlighting how the processes of historical amnesia on Agassiz's role in the formation of racist theories, are a symptom of a wider societal disavowal of Swiss engagement with the colonial project. Challenging Agassiz's presence in the Swiss landscape emerges as a nexus of critical debate, visual and political activism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the history of the anthropogenic climate change wherein it was measured in eons, not centuries which extends no further backwards than American scientist Charles Keeling to European-trained biologist Louis Agassiz. Topics discussed includes the proposed discovery of the anarchist geographer Kropotkin to the dying civilization on Mars and his exploration of Siberia and the first scientific attempt for natural climate change as the history of civilization.

On the Origin o f Species by Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was published in 1859 in England and in 1860 in the United States. Its relatively positive initial reception in the United States was facilitated by a number of factors including the prominence of geology among the sciences, the high standing of Darwin with James Dwight Dana (1813-1895), and common knowledge about geology among many non-geologists. As indicated by the example of Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), knowledge of a long duration for the Earth and of the fact of species extinction was taken for granted. At the level of elite science, knowledge of geological concepts was also widespread, as indicated by the example of Joseph Henry (1797-1878), first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Instructed in geology not only by Amos Eaton (1776-1842) but also by the lectures of Charles Lyell (1797-1875), Henry proved a well-placed advocate for giving Darwin's book a fair hearing. In doing so Henry allied himself with the Harvard botanist Asa Gray (1810-1888). The fact that Darwin's Origin was published at a time of high political tension in the United States added to the drama: the opponent of evolution Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) engaged Gray, the proponent of evolution, on numerous grounds both intellectual and institutional. Further, vocabulary during the period moved back and forth across scientific and political contexts, as suggested by varied applications of the w'ord "extinction." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the umbilicaria virginis, a better known lichen genera discovered by paleontologist and glaciologist Louis Agassiz in Swiss Bernese Alps in Switzerland. It states that the lichen was discovered on the surface of the exposed rock and fragments. It mentions that the lichen reproduces sexually through unicellular and hyaline.

More than 170 years ago, Louis Agassiz, one of the creators of glacial theory, made his first attempt to drill into the bed of Unteraargletscher, Swiss Alps. Since that time, various systems for thermal and mechanical drilling have been designed especially for boring into ice, and some conventional drill rigs been adopted for ice coring. Although contemporary ice-drilling knowledge and techniques are now familiar, there remain many problems to be solved by advanced modern technology. Specific challenges related to improving old drilling methods and developing new emerging technologies include: (1) identification of depth limitation of 'dry' drilling; (2) improvement of casing; (3) searching for the new environmentally friendly low-temperature drilling fluids; (4) reliable elimination of sticking drills; (5) improvement of core quality in the brittle zone; (6) additional core sampling from borehole walls after the core has been drilled; (7) obtaining oriented core; (8) designing automation drilling systems; (9) developing rapid-access drills. Possible ways of solving these problems are presented below. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the history of National Academy of Sciences (NAS), a nonprofit organization, created by U.S. Congress in 1863 which aims of advising the government on policy-related technical issues. Details on the contributions made by former Harvard student Louis Agassiz and geophysicist Alexander Dallas Bache to the NAS management are noted. It also outlines the goals of the NAS to the development of American science and promote reliable scientific advices to the U.S. government.

The Reverend Charles Grenfell Nicolay (1815-1897) made an important contribution to early geological work in Western Australia as a scientific adviser to the Colonial government and founder of the Colony's first public collection of rocks, minerals and fossils. During his early career he taught geography at King's and Queen's Colleges in London, before leaving London in 1858 to serve as the Anglican Church Chaplain to the British residents in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. We describe here some of his geological activities in Brazil over the period 1858-1869. He assisted Charles Frederick Hartt (1840-1878) and Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) on the Thayer Expedition of 1865-1866 in their geological investigations of the province of Bahia, most notably providing geological descriptions of the diamond deposits of the Chapada Diamantina, then a diamond province of world importance. After returning to England, he presented his findings on the Chapada Diamantina to the British Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Norwich in 1868. From May to August 1869, he made a brief return visit to Brazil acting as a geological advisor to the Brazilian Turba Company, who were hoping to exploit bituminous sedimentary deposits adjacent to the Bahia de Camamu, Bahia, in the production of oil and gas. Following his arrival in Western Australia, he corresponded with the Reverend William B. Clarke (1798-1878), in 1871-1872, on the subject of Brazilian diamonds, as Clarke sought to understand the diamond occurrences in eastern Australia. Through Clarke, Nicolay's description of the geology of the Chapada Diamantina was circulated to the Australian scientific community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the biogeographical theory of racial origins of British and South Carolina physician John Perkins Barratt. It examines his development of the theory and his Christian theology, debate between groups called monogenists and polygenists concerning the origins of race, and the theories of Swiss scientist Louis Agassiz. The article also discusses the March 1850 meeting of the organization the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Charleston, South Carolina.

An unresolved tension between faith and reason prevails in Hemingway's work, but to fully comprehend this tension, we must first lay to rest the common misperception that his years at Oak Park High School lacked any significant introduction to Darwinian evolutionary theory and were instead dominated by the anti-evolutionary teachings of Louis Agassiz. This essay presents clear evidence to the contrary: Hemingway did indeed receive extensive exposure to Darwinian science in his high school zoology class in 1915-16. The truth lies in the very Darwinian textbook for the class as well as the fascinating laboratory notebook Hemingway kept for the course, which has gone largely unnoticed in the Monroe County Public Library in Key West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented that reviews the book "Delia's Tears: Race, Science, and Photography in Nineteenth-Century America," by Molly Rogers, is presented. It is said that several daguerreotypes containing images of African Americans, purportedly taken for research in physical anthropology at the request of naturalist Louis Agassiz.

The article discusses the relation of naturalist Luis Agassiz to popular enthusiasm for the excavation of Devonian coral reef fossils of the Cedar Valley Group in Johnson County, Iowa. Topics include the presence of coral in the limestone known as Iowa City marble or Bird's Eye Marble, an 1864 lecture by Agassiz in Iowa City, Iowa, and the relation of this event to the naming of Coralville, Iowa. It is said that Agassiz was a prominent opponent of naturalist Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection.

The article focuses on the similarity of †Uropteryx elongatus and †Opisthomyzon glaronensis marine vertebrate fauna in the Engi Slate of Canton Glarus, Switzerland. It chronicles the early researcher of fossil fishes in the area, which motivate important realization that many of the proportional differences seen within fish genera from Engi represented tectonic deformation rather than biological variation. It also mentions the evidences presented by paleontologist Louis Agassiz that support his claim pertaining to the similarity of †Uropteryx elongatus and †Opisthomyzon glaronensis.

This essay takes Louis Agassiz's research on jellyfish, primarily his 1850 `Contributions to the Acalephae of North America', as a site for exploring the ethical implications of a muddled scientific and aesthetic gaze. Using Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology of sensory embodiment, as well as modern ecophenomenological perspectives, the author re-examines the human–jellyfish encounter that Agassiz narrates, with a concern for two different ‘dislocated bodies’: that of the scientist who would reduce himself to only his observing eye, and that of the frequently dismembered animal specimen. Agassiz's rhetorical negotiations of jellyfish as high aesthetic forms rather than high life forms (understanding them as creatures that, in an era of humanist ocularcentrism, cannot properly ‘look’, but are wonderful to ‘look at’) make this essay an analysis not only of the nineteenth-century disembodied gaze, but also of the figurative language that transforms animal into image. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An essay is presented on enslavement of blacks by white masters in the U.S. It reflects that the images and objects testifying the violent past of the U.S. must deserve special treatment in copyright and property law and discusses a legal battle between New York based artist Carrie Mae Weems and Harvard University in this context. It describes the history of Harvard ethnologist Louis Agassiz, the Daguerreotypes, and their relation to racist science in the U.S.

Ernest Hemingway and Ezra Pound shared a background in and an enthusiasm for the "Agassiz method" of scientific observation. Hemingway had been a member of the Agassiz Society from the age of four. Pound, for his part, referred to the "Modern" era more than once as "AFTER the era of 'Agassiz and the Fish.'" While Hemingway's apprenticeship to Louis Agassiz's naturalism and Pound's modernism have sometimes been understood to be at odds, this essay suggests instead their dual influence, and indeed their confluence, particularly in Hemingway's vision and revision of "Big Two-Hearted River." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legendary as a ‘genius’ out of time, Charles Darwin is said to have revolutionized our understanding of life on earth by explaining nature-history as the purposeless product of directionless variation naturally selected through a chancy struggle for existence. Yet, whatever may be deduced from his theory of natural selection as understood today, Darwin himself was not bound by any such conclusions. His vision of nature-history, for all its haphazardness, was directional, meliorative and hopeful. In the 1830s he went out of his way to develop privately a subversive theory of human evolution, and he pursued the subject with tenacity for three decades before publishing The descent of man in 1871. Underpinning his research was a belief in racial brotherhood rooted in the greatest moral movement of the age, for the abolition of slavery. Darwin extended the abolitionists’ common-descent image to the rest of life, making not just the races, but all races, kin. Human slavery, however, did not evolve into or out of existence. To Darwin it was a ‘sin’ to ‘expiate’ by moral action, and the Origin of species was written with a view towards undermining slavery’s creationist ideologues, most notably the Harvard professor Louis Agassiz. Intractable slavery collided with Darwin’s post-Christian progressivism in the US Civil War, clouding his hopes for humanity, but the Northern victory in 1865 enabled him to carry ‘the grand idea of God hating sin and loving righteousness’ into The descent of man, where the driving of formerly enslaved races out of existence is naturalized as a byproduct of historical progress in which ‘virtue will be triumphant’ at last. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract:Dickinson's poems and letters include a menagerie of creatures. From her beloved dog Carlo to the birds flying through her garden, Dickinson's animals provide a rich opportunity to study her descriptions of external objects as understood by human perception. This essay uses the debates surrounding anthropomorphism in Dickinson's time to provide a framework for understanding her own use of the human to describe the animal. For generations, scientists found that human concepts and emotions could productively aid in their study of animal life and activity. Charles Darwin, for example, uses anthropomorphism in order to describe his observations on the Galapagos Islands. Yet the emergence of Darwin's theories helped accelerate a shift away from these approaches toward the stance of scientists such as Louis Agassiz, who believed that humans could perceive and describe animals in a way that effaced an anthropocentric bias. Dickinson's own poetry evinces skepticism about both sides of this debate. Her work demonstrates the impossibility of eliminating this anthropocentric approach as we observe the external world. At the same time, these poems unsettle the reliability of the very human perceptions we cannot escape. This dual uncertainty is common in many of Dickinson's anthropomorphized descriptions, and it makes her animal poems a revelatory if often overlooked scene of her contemplations on human knowledge and consciousness itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Henry James Clark, a 19th-century botanist and zoologist who worked at Harvard University, first with professor Asa Gray and then professor Louis Agassiz. It notes that Agassiz, a charismatic lecturer, was a creationist and a racist, while Gray, much less flamboyant, was a careful scientist and a Darwinist. Clark's diaries are examined, revealing a man stricken with worries about his abilities but who loved opera and theater. They reveal Clark's eventual disillusionment with Agassiz. Agassiz, it notes, was politically powerful within Harvard and was thought to have treated Clark less than fairly. Ultimately Agassiz succeeded in ending Clark's career at Harvard. Clark's book "Mind in Nature" is examined.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Neal Lerner on the legacy of Louis Agassiz and another one by Alan Gross on visual semiotics.

The use of visual representation to learn science can be traced to Louis Agassiz, Harvard Professor of Zoology, in the mid-19th century. In Agassiz's approach, students were to study nature through carefully observing, drawing and then thinking about what the observations might add up to. However, implementation of Agassiz's student-centered approach has struggled with the conflict between science as a form of developing "mental discipline" in which mastery of scientific facts is the goal and science learning as a socially situated activity with an emphasis on the process of learning, not merely its products. Present-day attempts to have students draw to learn science often succumb to these same conflicts, limiting their full realization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This year marks the bicentenary of the birth of Louis Agassiz, a Swiss whose aim was to be the premier naturalist of his time. His father's assessment of him was that he had ‘a mania for rushing full gallop into the future’. His life was marked by the production of grandiose schemes, many of which he had the drive to complete. In addition to his massive ambition, he had a brilliant intellect, charming manner and boundless energy. These qualities often lead to his schemes coming to fruition, occasionally against tremendous odds, although sometimes with great cost to his health and personal relationships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a group of daguerreotypes depicting South Carolina slaves. The studies were commissioned by the naturalist Louis Agassiz and made by the photographer Joseph T. Zealy in 1850. The visual conventions evident in the images, of portraiture and scientific illustration, impart conflicting meanings simultaneously, one suggestive of individuality, the other of generic type. The author correlates this ambiguity with the evolving status of anthropological science in mid-nineteenth century America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the acceptance at Harvard College in 1846, naturalist Louis Agassiz's idealist approach to nature and his dual emphasis on observation and intuition. Indication that Harvard students and faculty were interest in books that promote a Platonist creation theory before Agassiz's arrival; Surge in interest in both Romantic writers and older Platonists.

Copyright of História, Ciências, Saúde - Manguinhos is the property of Casa de Oswaldo Cruz and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)