Talk:Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire

infobox

I notice a few things:

1. size was excessive: now corrected

2. were THREE labels identifying the subject – I think two's enough!: now corrected

3. there were no such things as doctoral advisors or students in 18/19th C: now corrected

Macdonald-ross (talk) 15:42, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Epigenetics

In the discussion of Geoffroy's theory, the statement that "[t]he direct effect of environment is not believed today by any main-stream evolutionist" is much too strong. In fact there is a growing school of thought about epigenetic factors which govern inherited characteristics. There is evidence that "stubborn marks" (possibly related to histone methylation patterns) can and do directly modify DNA (cf. the changes in the nose of the pit bull and Belyaev's experiments with domesicating foxes ). There are plenty of endocrine-disrupting chemicals which cause inheritable epigenetic changes, and many of these are found in the environment, both natural occurring and from human-induced contamination. --Dcjamison (talk) 15:21, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

We have a detailed, well-referenced, article on epigenetics, which does not sustain such an interpretation. Geoffroy's work is not rehabilitated by any recent work, and for the proposed changes we would need a detailed analysis published in a refereed journal. We do not have this, and this is a prime requirement for WP. We do have plenty of well-established publications on the original position. The key word in the original formulation is direct in "the direct effect of the environment". Macdonald-ross (talk) 15:57, 24 December 2008 (UTC)

References

Geoffroy's Cat (Legacy)

I can find no evidence for the claim that Geoffroy St-Hilaire traveled in South America. He was a Paris-based zoologist, noted for his travels to Egypt during the Napoleonic period: I think it improbable that he went to South America. It is not even very clear to me that the cat was not named after his son Isidore, as suggested in the OED (First Edition). Myopic Bookworm (talk) 15:52, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Geoffroy's Theory and Deism

The first paragraph of the subsection "Geoffroy's Theory" states:

Geoffroy was a deist, which is to say that he believed in a God, but also in a law-like universe, with no supernatural interference in the details of existence. This kind of opinion was common in the Enlightenment, and goes with a rejection of revelation and miracles, and does not interpret the Bible as the literal word of God.

What does Geoffroy's theory have to do with his deist beliefs? -Ano-User (talk) 08:24, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

I think it quite clear that his relaxed religious views made it possible for him to think about organic change and other naturalistic ideas without conflict. Macdonald-ross (talk) 09:44, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Oh, that makes sense. But I think it should say something like that in the article rather than just stating it in one paragraph and moving on to an entirely different topic; a transition sentence would be helpful. -Ano-User (talk) 11:18, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Well, I've put a link in. Macdonald-ross (talk) 19:23, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

That works, thanks! -Ano-User (talk) 08:27, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

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Rescue of Haüy

Much of this article is taken from s:1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Étienne, but has dropped the (over-detailed and dramatic) adventure concerning the failed attempt to rescue of the abbé Haüy and others from imprisonment. Does that story not stand up to modern scholarship, or should it be re-instated? David Brooks (talk) 20:13, 19 December 2019 (UTC)