Griffith E
Name: Edward Griffith
Achievements: English naturalist whose work helped bring about the evolutionary view of nature.
Born: 1790; Stanwell, Middlesex, England
Died: January 8, 1858; London, England. Aged 67
Field & Discipline: Natural history; Naturalist
Language: English.
Father: William Griffith
Mother: Unknown
Siblings: Unknown
Spouse: None.
Children: None.
Education: St. Paul's School, London (1800-06)
Major Work:
“General and Particular Descriptions of the Vertebrated Animals” (1821)
Life & Times:
Griffith, a lawyer, had been fascinated from childhood with natural history and while following his legal career by day, he studied the subject in his spare time.
In 1821, he published his first work, “General and Particular Descriptions of the Vertebrated Animals,” based on his study of monkeys and lemurs. The work attracted the attention of the Linnean Society and Griffith was elected a Fellow in 1822.
Some years previously, in 1817, the French zoologist and statesman [translated work of] Cuvier* had published his last great work, “Le Regne Animal Distribue d'Apres son Organisation,” “The Animal Kingdom, Distributed According to Its Organization,” which was a significant advance over the systems of classification established earlier by Linnaeus.
Griffith, who was not only fluent in French but a great admirer of Cuvier, decided to translate the work into English, a job that took him ten years to complete. The translated work, which ran to 15 volumes and included many color plates and additions by Griffith, was published between 1827 and 1834.
A highly influential book in England, marking the transition from 18th-century to late-19th century evolutionary concepts of natural history, “Animal Kingdom” rejected the 18th-century method of arranging animals in a continuous series from slime to mankind.
Instead, Cuvier classified them in four large anatomical groups, vertebrates, mollusks, articulates, and radiates. The work reintroduced the theory of catastrophism, favored by [work related to] Buckland* and set the science of palaeontology on a practical foundation, by introducing fossils into zoological classification.
On November 29, 1824, Griffith was at the meeting of the Linnean Society in Soho Square together with, among others, [worked with] Raffles*, at which it was decided to form a society for the study of zoology and comparative anatomy.
Formally named the Zoological Club of the Linnean Society of London, Raffles wrote its prospectus in 1825 and its first general meeting took place on 29th April 1826. With over 100 people attending, including Griffith, Raffles and [worked with] Davy*, the meeting established a Zoological Society.
The new society’s aim was to set up a museum of preserved animals and comparative anatomy. In addition, they founded a collection of living animals, now known as London Zoo, which opened to the public the following year.
Griffith was also a member of the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Society. He wrote and published two socio-political works, “A Collection of Ancient Records Relating to the Borough of Huntingdon,” on borough franchises, in 1827, and “Cases of Supposed Exemption from Poor Rates” in 1831.
Assessment: His contributions to natural history include involvement in the establishment of the Zoological Society of London and the translation into English of Cuvier's “Animal Kingdom”
Oneliner: Edward Griffith, co-founder of London Zoo
Bibliography:
- Dictionary of National Biography.
Edward Griffith (zoologist) - Wikipedia