GEOFFROY SAINT-HILAIRE, ÉTIENNE. - Zoologist and paleontologist, b. at Etampes (Seine-et-Oise) on 15 April 1772, d. at Paris on 19 June 1844. Professor of zoology at the Sorbonne. A friend of Lamarck and a follower of his transformed theories, he recognized a factor of modification in the gradual depletion of oxygen in the air. He further maintained that variations of species are abrupt (in this fact one sees the germ of the mutationist theory) and due to anomalies of the embryo caused by rapid changes in the environment (as happens with monstrosities). He was at first a friend and later an opponent of Cuvier, with whom he carried on polemical discussions at the Academy.
Author of the Loi du balancement des organes, according to which the development or decrease of one organ works respectively to the disadvantage or not of another organ.
During the French Revolution and in July 1830 he labored with self-denial and courage to help priests escape and to hide them, among them the celebrated Hally; a Catholic, though not practicing, he had a lively trust in Providence, especially during the period of his blindness and old age.
Bibliography4 worksI. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Vie, travaux et doctrine scientifique d'E. G. S.-H., Paris 1841, pp. 411 and 414; G. L. Kneller, Il cristianesimo
BIBL.: I. Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Vie, travaux et doctrine scientifique d'E. G. S.-H., Paris 1841, pp. 411 and 414; G. L. Kneller, Il cristianesimo ed i naturalisti moderni, Italian trans., Brescia 1906, pp. 513-16; G. Montalenti, s. v., in Enc. Ital., XVI (1932), p. 602; R. Furon, La paléontologie, Paris 1943, p. 73.
Maxia, Carmelo. “Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, etienne.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, col. 44. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/geoffroy-saint-hilaire-etienne.
MLA
Maxia, Carmelo. “Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, etienne.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, col. 44. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/geoffroy-saint-hilaire-etienne.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec6_geoffroy_saint_hilaire_etienne,
author = {Maxia, Carmelo},
title = {Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, etienne},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VI},
pages = {44},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/geoffroy-saint-hilaire-etienne}
}
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