Article Review: "The Lost World" by Elizabeth Kolbert

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On April 4, 1796, twenty-six-year-old Georges Cuvier lectured on elephants, both living and fossil, to the National Institute of Science and Arts in Paris. He demonstrated the differences in anatomy between elephants from Cape of Good Hope and Ceylon (now known as Sri Lanka), calling them two different species. He also demonstrated two lost species, the first of which he named “mammoth,” the second, an “Ohio animal” (later “mastodon.”) “What has become of these two enormous animals of which one no longer finds any living traces?” he asked the audience. Darwin’s work is inconceivable without Cuvier’s discoveries. And yet Cuvier’s obscurity is directly linked to Darwin’s fame. Darwin’s theory of extinction—that it was a routine side effect of evolution—contradicted Cuvier’s, which held that species died out as a result of catastrophes, or as he put it, “revolutions on the surface of the earth.” Darwin’s view prevailed,[/i]Cuvier’s was discredited, and for more than a century Cuvier was ignored. More recent discoveries have tended to support the theories of Cuvier that were thoroughly vilified. Very occasionally, it turns out, the earth has indeed been wracked by catastrophe and, much as Cuvier imagined, “living organisms without number” have been their victims. This vindication of Cuvier would be of interest mainly to paleontologist and intellectual historians were it not for the fact that many scientists believe we are in the midst of such an event right now. p. 139 -- This is a chapter excerpt from the book The Sixth Extinction, first published in The New Yorker. It covers a wide range of topics, from the discovery of the idea of extinction in the 18th century through debates and squabble of modern-day paleontologists over classifications and timelines of the various timelines of geologic history. In a time when even toddlers understand dinosaurs no longer roam the earth, the idea of extinction seems almost common sense to us, but is wasn’t always so. “[E]xtinction strikes us as an extremely obvious idea,” writes author Elizabeth Kolbert. “It isn’t.” (p. 137) Cuvier’s idea was that these animals suffered some great catastrophe. This, as author Kolbert points out, later put him at odds with Charles Darwin’s views, which posit extinction as a natural byproduct over time of evolution. People are taking another look a Cuvier’s idea of catastrophism, however. Much of the rest of the chapter is spent in the company of Jan Zalasiewicz, a stratigrapher and longtime member of the Geological Society of London, whose specialty is the study of fossil creatures known as grapolites. They appear in different forms in different strata, after different extinction events. It’s the book’s thesis that with the current high rate of species extinction, we are in a sixth extinction event. One of the argument that get kicked around by the various geologists is whether the current geological age should be called Anthropocene because of all the changes mankind has made to the earth. Personally, I think this is silly. It’s like sewing a letter “A” to the front of your dress. This is a relatively long article, but well worth the read. It is quite well written and never states the thesis explicitly. This is definitely food for thought and I’m curious enough to want to read the entire book, though, frankly, my gut is telling me that it’s a little on the alarmist side. Author Elizabeth Kolbert writes for New Yorker magazine, commenting on environmental issues. She has also written the 2006 book Field Notes from a Catastrophe. The Sixth Extinction won a Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 2015. _____ Title: “The Lost World” Published in: The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2014 First Published: from the book The Sixth Extinction, first published in The New Yorker Dec. 16 and 23, 2013 Author: Elizabeth Kolbert (b. 1961) *An earlier version of this review appeared on another site. It has been updated and expanded for its inclusion on myLot.*