St. George Jackson Mivart PhDPHD may refer to:* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian reform organization* PHD, a track on The Crystal Method album Tweekend* PHD finger, a protein sequence* PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company...
M.D.The Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians...
FRS (November 30, 1827 – April 1, 1900) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
biologistA biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life.Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
. He is famous for starting as an ardent believer in
natural selectionNatural selection is the process by which heritable traits that make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce become more common in a population over successive generations...
who later became one of its fiercest critics. Trying to reconcile
DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection...
's theory of evolution with the beliefs of the Catholic Church, he ended up being condemned by both parties.
Mivart was born in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. His parents were Evangelicals, and his father was the wealthy owner of Mivart's Hotel (now
Claridge'sClaridge's is a luxury hotel in Mayfair, central London. It is located at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street.-History:Claridge's is a traditional grand hotel. Its extensive and old connections with royalty have led to it being referred to as an "extension to Buckingham Palace"...
).
St. George Jackson Mivart PhDPHD may refer to:* Parisada Hindu Dharma, an Indonesian reform organization* PHD, a track on The Crystal Method album Tweekend* PHD finger, a protein sequence* PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company...
M.D.The Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians...
FRS (November 30, 1827 – April 1, 1900) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
biologistA biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life.Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
. He is famous for starting as an ardent believer in
natural selectionNatural selection is the process by which heritable traits that make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce become more common in a population over successive generations...
who later became one of its fiercest critics. Trying to reconcile
DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist who realised and presented compelling evidence that all species of life have evolved over time from common ancestors, through the process he called natural selection...
's theory of evolution with the beliefs of the Catholic Church, he ended up being condemned by both parties.
Early life
Mivart was born in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. His parents were Evangelicals, and his father was the wealthy owner of Mivart's Hotel (now
Claridge'sClaridge's is a luxury hotel in Mayfair, central London. It is located at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street.-History:Claridge's is a traditional grand hotel. Its extensive and old connections with royalty have led to it being referred to as an "extension to Buckingham Palace"...
). His education started at the
ClaphamClapham is an area of South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth.-History:Clapham dates back to Anglo-Saxon times: the name is thought to derive from the Old English clopp + hām or hamm, meaning Homestead/enclosure near a hill....
Grammar School, and continued at
Harrow SchoolHarrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London. Harrow has educated boys since 1243 but was officially founded by John Lyon under a Royal Charter of Elizabeth I in 1572....
and
King's College LondonKing's College London is a British higher education institution and co-founding constituent college of the University of London. Founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, its royal charter is predated, in England, only by those of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge...
. Later he was instructed at
St Mary's, Oscott St Mary's College, Oscott, often called Oscott College, is the Roman Catholic seminary of the Archdiocese of Birmingham, England, though it admits students for the priesthood from various dioceses of England & Wales, as well as some overseas students...
(1844–1846); he was
confirmedConfirmation is in many Christian Churches a rite of initiation normally by laying on of hands and/or anointing for the purpose of bestowing the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. In some denominations, confirmation bestows full membership in the church upon the recipient...
there on 11 May 1845. His conversion to Roman Catholicism automatically excluded him from the
University of OxfordThe University of Oxford , located in the UK city of Oxford, is the oldest surviving university in the English-speaking world and is regarded as one of the world's leading academic institutions. Although the exact date of foundation remains unclear, there is evidence of teaching there as far back...
, then open only to members of the Anglican faith.
Appointments
In 1851 he was called to the bar at
Lincoln's InnThe Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn...
, but he devoted himself to medical and biological studies. In 1862 he was appointed to the Chair in Zoology at St Mary's Hospital medical school. In 1869 he became a Fellow of the
Zoological Society of LondonThe Zoological Society of London is a learned society founded in London in April 1826 by Sir Stamford Raffles, the Marquess of Lansdowne, Lord Auckland, Sir Humphry Davy, Robert Peel, Joseph Sabine, Nicholas Aylward Vigors along with various other nobility, clergy, eminent naturalists and gentlemen...
, and from 1874 to 1877 he was Professor of Biology at the short-lived (Catholic) University College, Kensington.
He was Vice-President of the Zoological Society twice (1869 and 1882); Fellow of the Linnean Society from 1862, Secretary from 1874-80, and Vice-President in 1892. In 1867 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his work "On the Appendicular skeleton of the Primates". This work was communicated to the Society by T.H. Huxley. Mivart was a member of the
Metaphysical SocietyThe Metaphysical Society was a British society, founded in 1869 by James Knowles. Many of its members were prominent clergymen.Papers were read and discussed at meetings on such subjects as the ultimate grounds of belief in the objective and moral sciences, the immortality of the soul, etc...
from 1874. He received the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy from Pope Pius IX in 1876, and of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Louvain in 1884.
Controversy
Mivart met Huxley in 1859, and was initially a close follower and a believer in natural selection. "Even as a professor he continued to attending Huxley's lectures... they became close friends, dining together and arranging family visits." However, Huxley was always strongly anti-Catholic and no doubt this attitude lead to Mivart becoming disenchanted with him. Once disenchanted, he lost little time in reversing on the subject of natural selection. In short, he now believed that a higher teleology was compatible with evolution.
- "As to 'natural selection', I accepted it completely and in fact my doubts & difficulties were first excited by attending Prof. Huxley's lectures at the School of Mines."
Even before Mivart's publication of
On the genesis of species in 1871, he had published his new ideas in various periodicals and Huxley, Lankester and
FlowerSir William Henry Flower KCB FRCS FRS was an English comparative anatomist and surgeon. Flower became a leading authority on mammals, and especially on the primate brain...
had come out against him. The publication of the
Genesis aroused fury from his former intimates, including Darwin himself, who described it as "grossly unfair". Mivart had quoted Darwin by shortening sentences and omitting words, causing Darwin to say: "Though he means to be honourable, he is so bigoted that he cannot act fairly.". After Mivart's hostile review of the
Descent of Man in the
Quarterly ReviewThe Quarterly Review was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by the well known London publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967.-Early years:...
, relationships between the two men were near breaking point. In response, Darwin arranged for the reprinting of a pamphlet by
Chauncey WrightChauncey Wright , American philosopher and mathematician, was born at Northampton, Massachusetts.In 1852 he graduated at Harvard, and became computer to the American Ephemeris and Nautical Almanac. He made his name by contributions on mathematical and physical subjects in the Mathematical Monthly...
, previously issued in the USA, which severely criticised the
Genesis. Wright had, under Darwin's guidance, clarified what was, and was not, "Darwinism".
The quarrel reached a climax when Mivart lost his usual composure over what should have been a minor incident. In 1873,
George DarwinSir George Howard Darwin, FRS was an English astronomer and mathematician, the second son and fifth child of Charles and Emma Darwin.-Biography:Darwin was born at Down House...
(Charles' son) published a short article in
Contemporary Review-Foundation:It was founded in 1866 by Alexander Strahan and a group of intellectuals anxious to promote intelligent and independent opinion about the great issues of their day. They intended it to be the church-minded counterpart of the resolutely secular Fortnightly Review, which was founded by...
suggesting that
divorceDivorce or dissolution of marriage is the final termination of a marriage, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between two persons...
should be made easier in cases of cruelty, abuse or mental disorder. Mivart reacted with horror, using phrases like "hideous sexual criminality" and "unrestrained licentiousness". Huxley wrote a counter-attack, and both Huxley and Darwin broke off connections with Mivart. Huxley blackballed Mivart's attempt to join the
Athenaeum ClubAthenaeum Club may refer to:*Athenaeum Club, London, a private gentlemen's club situated in London, England.*Athenaeum Club, Melbourne, a private gentlemen's club situated in Melbourne, Australia....
.
Mivart was someone Darwin took seriously. One of his criticisms, to which Darwin responded in later editions of the
Origin of Species, was a perceived failure of natural selection to explain the incipient stages of useful structures. Taking the eye as an example, Darwin was able to show many stages of light sensitivity and eye development in the animal kingdom as proof of the utility of less than perfect sight (argument by intermediate stages). Another was the supposed inability of natural selection to explain cases of parallel evolution, to which Huxley responded that the effect of natural selection in places with the same environment would tend to be similar.
Though admitting
evolutionIn biology, evolution is change in the genetic material of a population of organisms from one generation to the next. Though changes produced in any one generation are normally small, differences accumulate with each generation and can, over time, cause substantial changes in the population, a...
in general, Mivart denied its applicability to the human intellect (a view also taken by Wallace). His views as to the relationship between human nature and intellect and animal nature in general were given in
Nature and thought (1882), and in the
Origin of human reason (1889).
From 1885 to 1892 five articles in the
Nineteenth century brought him into conflict with Church authorities: "Modern Catholics and scientific freedom" (July 1885), "The Catholic Church and biblical criticism" (July 1887), "Catholicity and Reason" (December 1887), "Sins of Belief and Disbelief" (October 1888) and "Happiness in Hell" (December 1892). These articles were placed on the
Index Expurgatorius. Later articles in January 1900 led to his being placed under
interdictThe term Interdict may refer to:* Court order enforcing or prohibiting a certain action* Injunction, such as a restraining order* Interdict , an ecclesiastical penalty which bars a specific person or group of people from receiving the sacraments* Air interdiction, a military tactic* Interdiction,...
by Cardinal Vaughan.
Death
Mivart died of diabetes in London on April 1, 1900. After his death, a long final struggle took place between his friends and the church authorities, which resulted in his burial in
Kensal GreenKensal Green is a neighbourhood in the London Borough of Brent. The area is also referred to as Kensal Rise.- Location :A small area on the southern edge of the London Borough of Brent, Kensal Green borders the boroughs of Westminster to the East, and Kensington and Chelsea to the South...
Catholic cemetery on January 18, 1904.
Publications
Mivart's chief works are the following:
- One point of controversy with the agnostics. In Manning (ed) Essays on religion and literature (1868)
- On the genesis of species (London 1871)
- An examination of Mr. Herbert Spencer's Psychology.
- Lessons in elementary anatomy (London 1873)
- The common frog in Nature Series (1873)
- Man and apes: an exposition of structural resemblances and differences bearing upon questions of affinity and origin. (Robert Hardwicke, London 1873)
- Lessons from nature (London 1876)
- Contemporary evolution (London 1876)
- Address to the Biological Section of the British Association (1879)
- The cat: an introduction to the study of backboned animals, especially mammals. (Murray London 1881)
- Nature and thought (London 1882)
- A philosophical catechism (London 1884)
- On truth (London 1889)
- The origin of human reason (London 1889)
- Dogs, jackals, wolves and foxes: Monograph of the Canidæ 2 vols in one (Taylor & Francis for R.H. Porter and Dulau & Co. London 1890)
- Introduction générale à l'etude de la nature: Cours professé à l'Université de Louvain (Louvain and Paris 1891)
- Birds (Taylor & Francis, London 1892)
- Essays and criticisms 2 vols (London 1892)
- Types of animal life (London 1893)
- Introduction to the elements of science (London 1894)
- Castle and manor (London 1900)
- A monograph of the Lories, or brush-tongued parrots (London 1896)
- The groundwork of science: a study of epistemology (London 1898)
- The helpful science (London 1898)
- Ape, in Encyclopædia Britannica
Also, many publications in serials, popular, scientific and religious in content.