Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

Lilies of the Sea: Martin Lister (1639-1712), crinoid fossils and chemical theories of fossilisation  

Prof. Anna Marie Roos, FLS FSA | Professor of the History of Science and Medicine, College of Arts, University of Lincoln. 
Editor, Notes and Records: The Royal Society Journal of the History of Science

In the late seventeenth century, several luminaries in the early Royal Society debated the origins of fossils. The naturalist John Ray (1627-1705) and microscopist Robert Hooke (1635-1703) argued that fossils were remnants of past animal and plant life, although they differed in opinion of “how fossil-bearing strata had been deposited”.  Since the Christian creed taught that all species were created in Genesis, any ideas of species becoming extinct were considered heterodox. On the other hand, Dr Martin Lister (1639-1712), the first scientific arachnologist and conchologist, stated that fossils were not always remains of living creatures, but could be created spontaneously by nature as part of her inherent “generative powers”. He represented the views of early modern naturalists who postulated that metals and minerals were spontaneously nurtured and generated in deep mines considered to be Mother Nature’s womb, and stones that resembled living creatures could be generated without any organic origins.  In other words, although we think of fossils as remains of living creatures, many seventeenth-century investigators thought these stones could be created spontaneously by nature as part of her inherent “generative powers”.  Underground aquifers carrying waters with generative seeds were thought to form rocks and minerals in the heat below ground. Mineral-generating seeds in the atmosphere could also be responsible for fossilisation. Lister’s explanation of these “generative powers” and “seeds” were all differing adaptations of, or reactions to, Belgian physician Johann Van Helmont’s (1579-1644) theories in saline chemistry. Lister’s claims over the origin of crinoid or sea lily fossils, as explained in his 1673 paper for the Royal Society, the earliest known journal article on the science of palaeontology, will be utilised as a case study to elucidate the fossil controversy and what he believed was a chemical basis of fossil formation.

7pm in the Tempest Anderson Lecture Theatre in the Yorkshire Museum

All Welcome. This is a free event although donations are also welcome.