Agassiz on Evolution

Published just a few weeks before Darwin's "Origin, An Essay on Classification" was Agassiz's primary argument against evolution. This key pre-Darwinian anti-evolution work by the "father of American palaeontology" centres on his system of classification, which demonstrated "the manifold ties which link together all animals and plants as the living expression of a gigantic creationism". Giving Agassiz the opportunity to present his anti-evolution arguments to the wider public, his form of Special Creationism set him apart from his fellow naturalists in the United States, particularly Asa Gray who would later support Darwin. Agassiz's views were eventually superseded by the Darwinian perspective, but the work is still of critical importance to scholars today, vividly illustrating the sharp contrast between Agassiz's assumptions of special creationism and Darwin's concept of the evolution of species in "Origin". "Methods of Study of Natural History" (1863) was intended primarily as a commentary on the essay.
Based on a series of lectures delivered in the Lowell Institute, it became a work of broad mass appeal, reaching scientists as well as the general public; 19 editions of the work were published between 1863 and 1884. Together these two works provide a useful snapshot of Agassiz's views on natural history and should be a useful resource for historians of American thought, evolutionary studies and biology.