Joseph Thomas Cunningham
Joseph Thomas Cunningham (1859–1935) was a British marine biologist and zoologist known for his experiments on flatfish and his writings on neo-Lamarckism.[1]
Career
Cunningham worked at the
According to science historian Peter J. Bowler the idea held by Cunningham that hormones transferred from one generation to the next independent of the germ plasm was seen at the time by neo-Lamarckians as a plausible hypothesis, however "its advocates were unable to get beyond the stage of providing indirect evidence for the effect they postulated."[4]
Experiments
In a series of experiments (in 1891, 1893 and 1895) on the action of light on the coloration of flatfish, Cunningham directed light upon the lower sides of flatfishes by means of a glass-bottomed tank placed over a mirror. He discovered that light causes the production of pigments on the lower sides of flatfishes, and gave his results a Lamarckian interpretation.[5][6][7] Other scientists interpreted his results differently.[8] George Romanes wrote approvingly of Cunningham's interpretation, but the geneticist William Bateson was not convinced that the cause of the increase in pigmentation was from the illumination.[9] Thomas Hunt Morgan criticized the experiments and did not believe the results were evidence for Lamarckism.[10]
Opposition to sexual selection
Cunningham challenged the concept of sexual selection.[11] His book Sexual Dimorphism in the Animal Kingdom (1900) attempted to explain secondary sexual characters by Lamarckian principles.[12] The chemist Raphael Meldola noted in a review for Nature that "although many of us may arrive at the conclusion that Mr. Cunningham has not succeeded in establishing his case, it will be generally admitted that he has discussed the problem, on the whole, in a more or less scientific spirit."[13]
He translated Theodor Eimer's Die Enstehung der Arten (1888) into English.
Publications
- Charles Darwin: Naturalist (1886)
- Sexual Dimorphism in the Animal Kingdom: A Theory of the Evolution of Secondary Sexual Characters (1900)
- The Preservation of Fishing Nets (1902)
- Hormones and Heredity (1921)
- Modern Biology: A Review of the Principal Phenomena of Animal Life in Relation to Modern Concepts and Theories (1928)
References
- .
- ^ J. T. Cunningham, M.A. Late Lecturer In Biology, London Hospital Medical College. The British Medical Journal. Vol. 2, No. 3887 (Jul. 6, 1935), p. 42.
- ISBN 0-262-08319-1
- ISBN 978-0801843914.
- ^ Cunningham, Joseph Thomas (1891). "An Experiment concerning the Absence of Color from the lower Sides of Flat-fishes". Zoologischer Anzeiger. 14: 27–32.
- .
- .
- ^ Moore, Eldon (September 15, 1928). "The New View of Mendelism". The Spectator (Book review). 141 (5229). London: 337. Retrieved 2015-10-24. Review of Modern Biology (1928) by J. T. Cunningham.
- ^ Cock & Forsdyke 2008, pp. 132–133
- ^ Morgan 1903, pp. view=1up, seq=277 257–259
- ^ Bartley, Mary Margaret. (1994). A Century of Debate: The History of Sexual Selection Theory (1871-1971). Cornell University. p. 49
- ^ Review in The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4, issue 707 (May, 1900), 243/244.
- ^ Meldola, Raphael. (1900). Sexual Dimorphism in the Animal Kingdom: A Theory of the Evolution of Secondary Sexual Characters. Nature 63: 197-202.
- Cock, Alan G.; Forsdyke, Donald R. (2008). Treasure Your Exceptions: The Science and Life of William Bateson. Springer. OCLC 344846261.