Geological history does not support Darwin’s theory of gradual evolution, according to New York University geologist Michael Rampino.
He suggests that the evidence points to long periods of evolutionary stability, which ended with volcano eruptions and asteroid impacts.
Geologist Rampino refers to Scottish horticulturalist Patrick Matthew, who published his views on the law of natural selection in an Appendix to his 1831 book “Naval Timber and Arboricultureâ€.
He described natural selection in a way similar to Darwin but with an important difference, Matthew saw catastrophic events as a prime factor, maintaining that mass extinctions were crucial to the process of evolution:
He wrote, “There is a natural law universal in nature, tending to render every reproductive being the best possibly suited to its condition
“As the field of existence is limited and pre-occupied, it is only the hardier, more robust, and better suited to circumstance individuals, who are able to struggle forward to maturityâ€.
Matthew saw these catastrophic events, leading to mass extinctions, established strength in the survivors, which were essential in the process of evolution:
“ …all living things must have reduced existence so much, that an unoccupied field would be formed for new diverging ramifications of life… these remnants, in the course of time moulding and accommodating … to the change in circumstancesâ€, he wrote.
It appears that Patrick Matthew was much closer to present day thinking, than was Darwin.
Only time will tell, but as our knowledge of our planet and the evolution of plant and animal life increases, it could turn out that Matthew’s ideas were far advanced to the thinking of the day.
Maybe he will join the likes of Newton whose apple changed our thinking, da Vinci in so many things and when Galileo dragged his balls up the tower of Pisa, one a lot heavier than the other and then finding someone to toss them off to see which one would come first.
:('');
