Elementary Geology

Edward Hitchcock

Jan 1855 · Ivison & Phinney

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This and previous editions include a paleontological chart showing a branching diagram of the plant and animal kingdom against a geological background. Hitchcock referred to it as a tree. This "tree of life" is the earliest known version that incorporates paleontological and geological information. Hitchcock saw a Deity as the agent of change. He explicitly rejected both atheistic evolution, and a religious six-day creation. He perceived that new species were introduced by a Deity at the right time in the history of the earth. The chart is present in all editions between 1840 and 1859. After Darwin (1859) published his Origin of Species, a tree of life image was generally interpreted as an evolutionary tree. In the 1860 edition of Elementary Geology, Hitchcock dropped the chart. In 1863, he wrote an article in which he refuted Darwin's theory of natural selection. After his death in 1864, his son Charles Henry Hitchcock (1836-1919) published a new edition (1870) also without a paleontological chart. Cf. Wikipedia