Georges Cuvier was born into a military family in France. His extraordinary intelligence and learning ability surpassed his peers under the careful guidance of mother. It is said that he could read specialized books at a very young age, particularly in the fields of natural science and linguistics. Buffon's "Natural History" ignited his curiosity about biology when he was 10 years old. Just two years, with his exceptional memory and keen interest, he became familiar with quadrupeds and birds like a first-rate naturalist. Cuvier served as a tutor in a noble family after graduating from university. A few years later, he was introduced by Saint-Hilaire to work at Garden of the Plant in Paris where the young man began to stand out.
Cuvier restored ancient biological fossils.
One of his remarkable skills was determining the species of animals from a pile of fossils. He restored the ancient animals through fossils and templates of their living relatives. One such classification was of elephants. Before this, people thought an elephant was just an elephant. However, Cuvier divided them into two types: Asian elephant and African elephant. He also meticulously studied the fossils of American mastodon and Siberian mammoth. Because of some differences in skeleton, they were not the same species as modern elephants. They should be considered extinct ancient organisms.
The fossils and geology of quarries near Paris were also studied in depth by Cuvier and his colleagues. The uppermost stratum contained fossils of plants and animals from freshwater lakes and swamps. Below, the stratum alternated with deposits of marine and freshwater organisms. The Paris basin had been submerged by seawater several times in history, and all local terrestrial organisms were replaced by crabs, shells, and fish. After the seawater receded, it transformed back into freshwater environments like rivers and lakes. Terrestrial organisms appeared again.
According to stratigraphy data available at the time, Cuvier discovered that the lowest stratum is oldest and contained no fossil. The earliest fossils came from marine invertebrates. In the slightly younger stratum above, ferns and palm fossils appeared. Fish fossils also began to become abundant, but terrestrial vertebrates had not yet emerged. Reptiles were discovered in higher stratum. The most recently formed stratum was at the top where fossils of mammals were buried. Isn’t this a scenario of biological evolution?!
Cuvier and Catastrophism
Unfortunately, Cuvier firmly believed that species were unchangeable, so he perfectly missed correct answer. Catastrophism was created by him to reconcile reality with Genesis. The organisms did not occupy the same place since they were created by God. When a disaster (such as sea level rise or continental subsidence) wiped out local creatures, species from nearby areas would migrate to reproduce here. Thus, various biological fossils would be deposited in different strata over time. However, catastrophism could not explain why only very simple organisms were found in ancient strata, and organisms became increasingly complex and advanced in more recent ages. Another event reinforced his belief in the immutability of species. In Egypt, Napoleon's army had obtained mummified cats and ibises that was thousand years old. There was no difference between them and their modern descendants. This indicated that all creatures might not undergo significant changes within 80,000 years (as Buffon speculated).
Catastrophism was a treasure for theologians and the Christian church, as it provided a "scientific theory" to explain the Bible. It had been modified more and more absurdly. More than one great catastrophe had occurred in Earth history. After global extinction resulted from volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and great floods, animals and plants were recreated by God. However, the Creator no longer remembers exactly how many species exist on Earth and what forms and structures each one has. He could only create new species based on vague impressions. This is why new species differ slightly from their predecessors. Such repetitions formed the situations we observe in strata. The most recent catastrophe was the great flood recorded in Bible.
Georges Cuvier opposed evolutionary theory, but his work in comparative anatomy and paleontology provided significant evidence for it. Many scientists began to question creationism. They gradually believe that current lives evolved from more ancient ones.