THE OWEN DEBATE
One of the noted scientific feuds which Thomas Huxley participated in was with Richard Owen the head of the British Natural Science community. Over the years, Huxley and Owen debated two issues in particular, the dinosaurs’ relationship with mammals or reptiles and the relationship between humans and apes.
With the resent discovery of dinosaurs, naturalists were working on identifying and classifying the discovery. Richard Owen argued that the dinosaurs were related to the mammal group. Huxley’s view was that the dinosaurs were related to the reptile group. Over time, Huxley’s argument turned out to be correct.
Huxley spent many years on proving his theory on the relationship of man to apes due to evolution which was in direct conflict with Richard Owen’s theory of the similarity being superficial. The two butted heads over the subject for many years, and Owen suffered many defeats. Owen’s main argument concerned the human brain in comparison to that of an ape’s brain. He claimed that the ape’s brain did not contain some of the parts that a human’s brain had. With that fact, he believed that the classification of humans could not be with apes or descended from an ape. Huxley and associates showed anatomically that the brains of humans and apes were similar.
Over several years, Huxley worked on developing his theory through writings and lectures. Huxley’s most famous book was “Evidence on Man’s Place in Nature,” which was published in 1863. The book was the first to apply evolution to the human race.
Katheryn M. Auton
Joshua Withers
| 
