Theorie en praktijk van Cuviers Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles

Abstract

Theory and practice of Cuvier's 'Recherches .sur les ossemens fossiles' The capital importance of Cuvier's Recherches .sur les ossemens fossiles (1812) for the development of palaeontology has always been duly acknowledged, but no satisfactory analysis of Cuvier's palaeontology has appeared as yet. In this paper, the interpretations of Russell. Daudin, Coleman. Rudwick and Balan are shown to be defective. These authors either overrated or underestimated the role Cuvier's anatomical rules played in his palaeontological research. It is argued that for Cuvier. the anatomical rules, especially the rule of the correlation of parts, were an indispensable guide to the study of fossils. However, they were not used as abstract principles of reconstruction. The reconstruction of extinct animals has been incorrectlv labeled the piece de resistance of the Recherches. Most memoirs deal only with the identification, description and classification of fossil remains, and it was mainly on this level that Cuvier applied his anatomical rules. Further, the philosophical and theoretical background of Cuvier's anatomical rules and his palaeontological method are discussed. It is pointed out that, however conspicious the discrepancy between Cuvier's theoretical claims and his actual investigations may be. this does not imply that theory and practice of Cuvier's palaeontology are incompatible.