From East to West

Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) was both a brilliant scientist and a virulent racist.  There were many European "men of science" who were racists like him in 18th and 19th century Europe.   (See The Ivory Leg in the Ebony Cabinet by Thomas Cooley, University of Massachusetts Press.)

Cuvier is often described as the "founding father of paleontology."  While he was correct in his theory of extinction, he was wrong in his denial of the theory of evolution just as he was wrong about race.

Strolling through the Jardin des Plantes.

Some of the basis for his theory of extinction came from his work in analyzing the remains of what was known at the time as "the Ohio animal."  Here's some background about that:

[From "A Box of Old Bones:  A Note on the Identification of the Mastodon, 1766-1806," Whitfield J. Bell, Jr., Assoc. Professor of History, Dickenson College, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. 93, No. 2, Studies of Historical Documents in the Library of the American Philosophical Society (May 16, 1949), p. 169.]

From the exploration of the western parts of North America in the eighteenth century there came an impressive body of facts for European philosophers to ponder and organize.  Botany, zoology, and ethnology were all enriched by the observations and collections which explorers, soldiers, and traders made in the wilder parts of the continent.  In these early expeditions beyond the Alleghenies American vertebrate paleontology had its origins.  The finding of remains of the prehistoric mastodon on the banks of the Ohio after 1739 was one of the exciting events in the history of eighteenth-century science; and the recognition, despite the persuasions of theology and common sense, of the principle of the extinction of species was one of the important intellectual achievements of the age.  This accomplishment was the work of a dozen men over a period of sixty years; it was a striking illustration of the world-wide association of eighteenth-century men of science in Europe and America.

In France, Cuvier studied "the Ohio animal" repeatedly.  When he came back to it in 1806, he finally gave it a name:  mastodon.

Cuvier is recognized for his achievements in the Jardin des Plantes (and its the National Museum of Natural History), where we began our walk yesterday. 

Entrance to the greenhouse in the Jardin des Plantes.

Just before we left the Jardin, I noticed a plaque honoring Henri Becquerel for his "discovery of radioactivity" in 1896.  Wasn't it Marie and Pierre Curie who did that, we thought?  Actually, all three of them received the Nobel prize in 1903 for their work on the evidence of radioactivity.  In addition to that prize, a unit of measure of radioactivity, the becquerel, or Bq, was named in honor of Henri. 

Carolyn Gramling's well-written article about Becquerel's discovery tells the sad ending: 

Becquerel died only 12 years after his discovery of radioactivity, at age 54. Although his cause of death was unspecified, he had developed serious burns on his skin, likely from the handling of radioactive materials. A few decades later, Marie Curie died of aplastic anemia, likely from exposure to radiation without proper safety measures. The damaging effects of ionizing radiation were still unknown at the time.

When we left the park by its lesser-known gate on the northwest side of the Jardin and followed along Rue Jussieu and Rue des Fosses St. Bernard to the easternmost terminus of the Boulevard Saint Germain.

We walked briskly along the busy grand boulevard, almost all the way to its other end.  Across from Rue Solferino, we hailed a taxi so we would not be late for our dinner reservation at Restaurant Khajuraho on Boulevard de la Tour Maubourg.

After a very fine Indian dinner there, we walked home, for a total of 6.5 miles of walking for the day.

Here are some more photos from yesterday:

This monument to the animal sculptor, Emmanuel Freminet
by Henri Greber (1913) includes two bas reliefs on the base.
one showing Joan of Arc on a horse (the other, on the back
depicts a bear hunter).  This is just inside the eastern
entrance to the Jardin des Plantes.

Bust of Georges Cuvier (above and below) on
a former laboratory in the Jardin des Plantes.

A science building just outside the Jardin is decorated with red neon.

Near Jussieu, we saw this heartbreaking poster about a lost cat named Johnny.

Restaurant Khajuraho serves five condiments
instead of the usual 3 or four served at Indian restaurants.

Carved figurines by our table at Restaurant Khajuraho.  The one below was
the tamest of four kamasutra carvings next to Tom's seat at the table.