The Other Darwin- Alfred Russell Wallace
from EvMed Forum by noreply@blogger.com (Dr. T)
February was a busy month and thus the absence of my presence. Billy and I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Richard Dawkins who is revered as the modern evangelist of evolutionary theory. There was one quote that he stated that rang a bell in my mind: "We are all African Apes." Obviously, during the question and answer session there was the typical rebuttal to the science of Evolution by some in the audience.
A few days later, we attended a lecture by Anthony Bourdain, from No Reservations, on the Travel Channel. I found him to be a great speaker. Like Dawkins, he made a comment that once again stuck in my mind: "The world's history is on your plate." Although he did no elaborate on this comment, I immediately knew that he was absolutely right. Case and point, lets look at the famous Italian dish Spaghetti which in my mind has an abundance of history.
1) The tomatoes to make the sauce originated from South America, possibly centered in Peru. They were brought to Europe by Spanish Colonizers from the New World... i.e. the explorer Cortes.
2) The pasta originated from the travels of the Italian explorer Marco Polo who brought the pasta back to Italy.
3) The Parmesan cheese reflects the capacity of Homo sapiens in Europe to continue to produce the intestinal enzyme lactase into adulthood. It appears that humans have been consuming diary products in Europe for the last 7,000 years.
4) Black pepper is native to India
5) If your are going to add some crushed chili peppers also note that peppers originated from South America.
So, yes, Anthony is absolutely right that there is history in our food even though I would not touch pasta myself.
Switching subjects, last month was Darwin's birthday. He is seen as the father of Evolution. However, this may not be totally correct. There is another who seems to have received minimal credit for the co-discovery of the science of Evolution. His name is Alfred Russell Wallace (January 8, 1823 – November 7, 1913). Wallace independently came up with the idea of evolution. His work included travels to the Amazon basin and Indonesia. According to Wikipedia, "He was considered the 19th century's leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species and is sometimes called the 'father of biogeography'". He was also a social activist and raised concerns about the human impact on the environment.
Wallace was of Scottish background and was born in the Welsh village Llanbadoc. He was one of 8 children. He earned a law degree but never practiced law. Instead he became a naturalist.
During his travels to the Malay Archepelago, Wallace noticed the differentiation of species along a line later referred to as the Wallace line that separated Southern Asian areas (Malaysia and Western Indonesia) from Australia. The separating line dividing the different types of species is centered between New Guinea/ Papa New Guinea and Western Indonesia.
Wallace once met Darwin prior to his publications. He was aware that Darwin had the same conclusions of an evolutionary process. Wallace sent Charles Darwin letters describing his theory. He even entrusted him with his essay, "On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type."
On July 1, 1958, both Wallace's and Darwin's essays were jointly presented to the Linnean Society of London which were published. Moreover, the correspondence with Wallace concerned Darwin. This prompted Darwin to promptly publish his Origin of Species in 1859. This led to Darwin capturing most of the credit of discovering evolutionary science.
On Darwin Day, February 12th, 2011, Billy and I attended a series of lectures regarding science and evolution. I asked one of the main speakers about why do we not note and celebrate the work of Alfred Wallace. His reply was "Because Alfred Wallace did not link the concept of Evolution with Humans."
Charles Darwin in his writing predicted that humans originated from Africa. During his time, there was only one small hominid fossil specimen from South Africa. In the early 1900s, it was believed that humans originated from Southern Asia based on hominid fossil remains which later turned to be false specimens. It was the work of Louis Leakey, a Kenyan of British descent, who later proved Darwin's claims with his hominid fossil finds in Kenya. Interestingly, Leakey was a devout Christian.
Unfortunately, history has not been very kind to Alfred Wallace as Charles Darwin seems to have claimed most, if not all, of the glory concerning evolution. However, I have personally ratified the site to give credit where credit is due. Wallace's photo is seen to the right.
Wallace died at 90 years of age and is buried in a small cemetery in Dorset, England. Erected on his grave is the fossilized tree trunk. |
