A History of Biology

A HISTORY OF BIOLOGY by Michel Morange. Translated by Teresa Lavender Fagan and Joseph Muise. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2021. 418 pages. Hardcover; $29.95. ISBN: 9780691175409. *A book that introduces the history of biology will be of interest to many readers of this journal. The Preface states that the author, Michel Morange, will present a broad historical overview of the history of biology that, unlike some other histories of biology, will include developments in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In this regard, he mentions Lois N. Magner, A History of the Life Sciences, 3rd ed. (New York: Marcel Dekker, 2002). Magner's book does cover many scientists and developments in the twentieth century, although, significantly, she does not discuss the modern evolutionary synthesis. *Morange states that he will present a "history which leans on the present to look at the past." That is, he will use "the past to shed light on the present, not to justify it" (p. xvii). To do this, the author uses a novel approach. Each chapter is subdivided into three sections: The Facts; Historical Overview; and Contemporary Relevance. "The Facts" is the first main section of each chapter; in the subsequent two, he reflects on some of the investigators and their discoveries. As he does so, he is not reticent to give his own evaluations and ideas; this is a strength of the book. Thus, he states that the book will not be a simple listing of facts and persons. For example, in the first chapter Morange suggests that the "hunt for pioneers" (for example, ancient thinkers who used the word "atom") is futile because the ancient idea had little to do with the development of the modern concept. Excursions such as these can be topics for fruitful classroom discussions. *Five succinct chapters take the reader from ancient Greece and Rome, through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the seventeenth century, and the Enlightenment. Chapter 1, in which Aristotle is designated as "the father of biology" (p. 2), offers some welcome thoughts on experimentation and the atomists. The discussion of the Middle Ages includes the suggestion that in the history of a science there may be long periods in which there is little growth in scientific knowledge. The chapter on the Age of Enlightenment, the eighteenth century, examines the history of the classification of organisms and the reproduction of animals. An introduction to the subjects related to reproduction, such as the importance of eggs versus sperm, preformation versus epigenesis, parthenogenesis, and spontaneous generation, would have made this topic more accessible. *Two chapters cover the history of biology in the nineteenth century. The author agrees with the idea that Theodor Schwann and Matthias Schleiden deserve much credit for the emergence of cell theory, but he mentions that some others, notably J. E. Purkinje, also deserve credit for this discovery. Under the heading The Rise of Germ Theory, the author describes many investigations that led to the understanding of infectious agents. Pride of place--and the (French) author may surely be forgiven for this--goes to Louis Pasteur and the diverse aspects of his work. This chapter offers a comprehensive description of the three important French post-revolutionary biologists: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, Georges Cuvier, and Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. A good account of Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection is followed by a description of the reception of this work in Great Britain, America, Germany, and France; in many cases, the theory was altered by the influence of other concepts (e.g., Lamarckism). Once the work by Gregor Mendel on the inheritance of characteristics in peas was rediscovered in 1900, "genetics" was rapidly established in Britain and the United States; it was established more slowly in Germany and France. *The prominence of Naturphilosophie in Germany and surrounding countries is described. Morange makes an excellent connection between his discussion of reproduction and the topic of Naturphilosophie by referring to the work of Caspar Friedrich Wolff, a biologist who was an early adherent of this way of thinking. Morange describes the origins of Naturphilosophie, and the influence of ideas in biology. Many German scientists were influenced by this philosophical school; it was a stimulus in the formulation of cell theory. Erik Nordenskiöld shows that Johannes Peter Müller progressed from speculative ideas about biology to making important contributions in many areas of biology. He supervised many graduate students who became important biologists. *The last three chapters, which address developments in the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries, are not only valuable for the historical descriptions, but also as a survey of biology as it is practiced today. The first chapter describes the emergence of biochemistry, immunology, microbiology, and our understanding of the nature and treatment of cancer. The "rediscovery of Mendel's laws and the rise of genetics" (p. 256) and the "rise of molecular biology" (p. 264) receive the extensive attention one would expect. Morange is clearly in his element here; biologists of all stripes will benefit from reading this chapter. *The chapter that follows describes the development of population genetics. This leads, aptly, into the topic of the modern evolutionary synthesis--the extended evolutionary synthesis is not mentioned. This is followed by an excellent summary of the various topics within ecology. Morange then describes the origins and methods of ethology; he includes the contributions of the three 1973 Nobel Prize winners: Karl von Frisch, Konrad Lorenz, and Nikolaas Tinbergen. The burgeoning field of behavioral ecology, related to the last two topics, is not addressed. In the reflective part of the chapter, the author comments, among other topics, on holism and emergentism, global warming, and the responsibility of biologists. *In the final chapter, Morange takes us on a tour of the developments that start with the science described in the previous two chapters and end in the present century. "Structural biology" (p. 331) is advancing our knowledge of nucleic acids and proteins. The relationship between the modern evolutionary synthesis and molecular biology leads to topics such as evolutionary developmental biology ("evo-devo"), epigenetics, and human genome sequencing. The contributions to human genome sequencing of Craig Venter are acknowledged, but the work of Francis Collins at the National Human Genome Research Institute is not. In the last pages of this chapter, and in the Conclusion section of the book, Morange gives numerous opinions on the topics he has covered. *Biologists will enjoy reading this book for the many insights and opinions it presents. They will appreciate reading about the history of their discipline from a French point of view. The English translation of this French book reads well; however, the footnotes and references need to be more suitable for the English-language readership. The footnotes, especially those intended to provide links to further reading, often refer to French-language books or journal articles; it would not be difficult to find many English -language equivalents. Some of the French books listed as references are available in English translations. In the Preface, the author states that readers "should consider this book a first version, which their critical input will help improve" (p. xx). One would hope that the author and Princeton University Press will address this last critical comment about the book, for the book has the potential of being a valuable textbook for students. *Reviewed by Harry Cook, Professor of Biology, Emeritus, The King's University, Edmonton, AB T6B 2H3.

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