1 / 10

Edward Blyth 1810-1873

Edward Blyth 1810-1873. Early Life. Born in London in 1810 Father died shortly after, leaving Edward to take care of family Never attended a formal university Studied chemistry under Mr. Keating Pharmacist, author, and editor Never made substantial amount of money

tamas
Download Presentation

Edward Blyth 1810-1873

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Edward Blyth1810-1873

  2. Early Life • Born in London in 1810 • Father died shortly after, leaving Edward to take care of family • Never attended a formal university • Studied chemistry under Mr. Keating • Pharmacist, author, and editor • Never made substantial amount of money • 1841- Curator at Asiatic Society of Bengal • Father of Indian ornithology

  3. Ornithology • Study of birds • Concentrated research in India while working for the museum • Proceedings of the Zoological Society (1837-1840) • Species of birds in India and Europe • Field Naturalist (1840) • Genus Ovis (sheep species) • Catalogue of the Birds of the Asiatic Society (1849)

  4. Blyth vs. Darwin • Lived during same time period, though Blyth did not necessarily believe in evolution • Darwin stole ideas from Blyth? • 1835 and 1837- Blyth expands on ideas presented by Charles Lyell concerning natural and sexual selection in The Magazine of Natural History • While on the Beagle, Darwin had access to The Magazine of Natural History • 1837- Darwin began first notebook concerning species • Blyth’s last notebook mysteriously belongs to Darwin without being published

  5. Blyth vs. Darwin(cont’d) • Darwin stole ideas from Blyth? (cont’d) • Similar word choice between Blyth’s papers and Darwin’s Origin of Species • “inosculate” • Blyth’s views of natural selection • Did not believe in the idea of a common ancestor • Man is a creation of God and different from all other animals

  6. Magazine of Natural History (1835) • Four varieties of animals: • Simple variations • Acquired variations • Breeds • True variety • Racial color is a fixed trait • Changes in traits are made by “Providence” • Left his ideas open for interpretation

  7. Later Years • Returned back to London to recover from illness • Fell into debt • Attempted to help write a book, Birds of India, but suffered from a mental breakdown • Led to becoming an alcoholic • Convicted of assault • Died from heart disease in 1873 • Never truly recognized for the inspiration he gave Darwin • Still seen as huge contributor to ornithology

  8. Major Works • Magazine of Natural History (1835 and 1837) • Proceedings of the Zoological Society (1837-1840) • Field Naturalist (1840) • Animal Kingdom (edited section on Mammalia, Birds and Reptiles in 1840) • Catalogue of the Birds of the Asiatic Society (1849) • Catalogue of the Mammals and Birds of Burma (1875)

  9. Summary • Father of Indian ornithology • Spent years studying birds in India as the curator of the Asiatic Society of Bengal • Wrote about ideas that were possibly stolen by Darwin • Theorized about variations of animals • Inspiration for “survival of the fittest” theory • Sadly forgotten and never truly advanced himself during his lifetime

  10. References http://www.thedarwinpapers.com/oldsite/Number2/Darwin2Html.htm http://www.wku.edu/~smithch/biogeog/BLYT1835.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Blyth Eiseley, Loren. Darwin and the Mysterious Mr. X. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1979.

More Related