Edward Hitchcock’s Pre-Darwinian (1840) “Tree of Life”

@article{Archibald2009EdwardHP,
  title={Edward Hitchcock’s Pre-Darwinian (1840) “Tree of Life”},
  author={J. David. Archibald},
  journal={Journal of the History of Biology},
  year={2009},
  volume={42},
  pages={561-592}
}
  • J. Archibald
  • Published 2009
  • Biology, Medicine
  • Journal of the History of Biology
The “tree of life” iconography, representing the history of life, dates from at least the latter half of the 18th century, but evolution as the mechanism providing this bifurcating history of life did not appear until the early 19th century. There was also a shift from the straight line, scala naturae view of change in nature to a more bifurcating or tree-like view. Throughout the 19th century authors presented tree-like diagrams, some regarding the Deity as the mechanism of change while others… Expand
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