Omphalos (book)
Encyclopedia
Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot is a book by Philip Gosse, written in 1857 (two years before Darwin's
On the Origin of Species), in which he argues that the fossil
record is not evidence of evolution
, but rather that it is an act of creation inevitably made so that the world would appear to be older than it is. The reasoning parallels the reasoning that Gosse chose to explain why Adam (who would have had no mother) had a navel: Though Adam would have had no need of a navel, God gave him one anyway to give him the appearance of having a human ancestry. Thus, the name of the book, Omphalos, which means 'navel' in Greek.
As a Fellow of the Royal Society, Gosse had heard talk about Darwin's theory which was to be published the following year, but is here expressing the prevailing consensus that included the expressed opinions even of the geologist Charles Lyell
.
Gosse's argument was that since living things had a cycle of reproduction and development, God must have created them in the act of developing, with trees having rings, and animals having skin, blood, and bones all making them appear older than they were, a theory he calls prochronism. From any examination of a post-creation world, the world would appear to have been created in the cycle of normal processes, and would look old. He claimed "the acceptance of the principles presented in this volume, even in their fullest extent, would not, in the least degree, affect the study of scientific geology... we might still speak of the inconceivably long duration of the processes in question, provided we understand ideal instead of actual time; that the duration was projected in the mind of God, and not really existent." No element of deception by God would be inherent in this.
Gosse's main concerns in Omphalos was to bolster the principle of creation which as he saw it "is a violent irruption into the circle of nature". However, he claimed, "I wish it to be distinctly understood that I am not proving the exact or approximate antiquity of the globe we inhabit. I am not attempting to show that it has existed for no more than six thousand years." His claim was that this principle applied to creation whenever it occurred: "Don't be alarmed! I am not about to assume the moment in question was six thousand years ago, and no more; I will not rule the actual date at all; you, my geological friend, shall settle the chronology just as you please or, if you like it better, we will leave the chronological date out of the enquiry as an element not relevant to it." He even includes the year 1857 in his list of possible times.
He admits that his argument applies primarily to the organic world and that he has no expertise outside of this but points to other cyclical processes in nature: "Whether the economy of the globe is circular or not, I am not in a position to show. But its movements certainly are; and so are the movements of all the myriad worlds with which astronomy is conversant. Asteroids, planets, satellites, comets, suns—nay even the stellar universe itself—obey in their motions, the grand universal law of circularity."
Though the idea of cycles may now seem strange, there were several precedents at the time. James Hutton
uses the idea and avoids being drawn into controversies about progression. Lyell
refers to a cyclical process and the first edition of Vestiges of Creation contains a chapter on the Macleay system
which used a cyclical approach to the classification of Chambers' "animated tribes".
Darwin is mentioned several times within the book, but always with considerable respect. Gosse had attended meetings at the Royal Society
where evolutionary theory was tested by Darwin before the publication of Origin—and had even made similar observations himself about variation of species in his own studies into marine biology
—and considered Darwin's reasoning scientifically sound.
: "We have no hesitation in pronouncing this book to be the most important and best-written that has yet appeared on the very interesting question with which it deals. We believe the logic of the book to be unanswerable, its laws fully deduced", the rest of the sentence in the review reads "and the whole, considered as a play of metaphysical subtlety, absolutely complete; and yet we venture to predict that its conclusions will not be accepted as probable by one in ten thousand readers." The reviewer concluded that Omphalos contained "idle speculations, fit only to please a philosopher in his hours of relaxation, but hardly worthy of the serious attention of any man, whether scientific or not". The geologist Joseph Beete Jukes was more scathing in a later issue: "To a man of a really serious and religious turn of mind, this treatment is far more repulsive than that even of the author of Vestiges of Creation. and the Lamarckian School".
The Rev. Charles Kingsley
, author of The Water-Babies and a friend of Gosse, was asked to review Gosse's book. Refusing, he wrote to Gosse:
For a long time, the only oblique references to the book were to be found in Father and Son, the psychological portrait of Philip Gosse by his son Edmund Gosse
published in 1907. He wrote:
It was rescued from obscurity by the American biologist Stephen Jay Gould
in a 1987 article entitled "Adam's Navel", which has since been republished as a mini book. He comments:
It had earlier been referred to in a short work by Jorge Luis Borges
.
The theory presented in the book is now called the omphalos hypothesis
: that the world and everything in it could have been created at any time, even mere moments ago, with even our own memories being false indications of its age.
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
On the Origin of Species), in which he argues that the fossil
Fossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
record is not evidence of evolution
Evolution
Evolution is any change across successive generations in the heritable characteristics of biological populations. Evolutionary processes give rise to diversity at every level of biological organisation, including species, individual organisms and molecules such as DNA and proteins.Life on Earth...
, but rather that it is an act of creation inevitably made so that the world would appear to be older than it is. The reasoning parallels the reasoning that Gosse chose to explain why Adam (who would have had no mother) had a navel: Though Adam would have had no need of a navel, God gave him one anyway to give him the appearance of having a human ancestry. Thus, the name of the book, Omphalos, which means 'navel' in Greek.
Synopsis
The first three chapters of the book are a review of the geological evidence available at the time (the 1850s) which is a generally fair description. He then states his major assumptions: "I shall take for granted the two following principles:– I. The creation of matter. II the persistence of species." and adds:As a Fellow of the Royal Society, Gosse had heard talk about Darwin's theory which was to be published the following year, but is here expressing the prevailing consensus that included the expressed opinions even of the geologist Charles Lyell
Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, Kt FRS was a British lawyer and the foremost geologist of his day. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology, which popularised James Hutton's concepts of uniformitarianism – the idea that the earth was shaped by slow-moving forces still in operation...
.
Gosse's argument was that since living things had a cycle of reproduction and development, God must have created them in the act of developing, with trees having rings, and animals having skin, blood, and bones all making them appear older than they were, a theory he calls prochronism. From any examination of a post-creation world, the world would appear to have been created in the cycle of normal processes, and would look old. He claimed "the acceptance of the principles presented in this volume, even in their fullest extent, would not, in the least degree, affect the study of scientific geology... we might still speak of the inconceivably long duration of the processes in question, provided we understand ideal instead of actual time; that the duration was projected in the mind of God, and not really existent." No element of deception by God would be inherent in this.
Gosse's main concerns in Omphalos was to bolster the principle of creation which as he saw it "is a violent irruption into the circle of nature". However, he claimed, "I wish it to be distinctly understood that I am not proving the exact or approximate antiquity of the globe we inhabit. I am not attempting to show that it has existed for no more than six thousand years." His claim was that this principle applied to creation whenever it occurred: "Don't be alarmed! I am not about to assume the moment in question was six thousand years ago, and no more; I will not rule the actual date at all; you, my geological friend, shall settle the chronology just as you please or, if you like it better, we will leave the chronological date out of the enquiry as an element not relevant to it." He even includes the year 1857 in his list of possible times.
He admits that his argument applies primarily to the organic world and that he has no expertise outside of this but points to other cyclical processes in nature: "Whether the economy of the globe is circular or not, I am not in a position to show. But its movements certainly are; and so are the movements of all the myriad worlds with which astronomy is conversant. Asteroids, planets, satellites, comets, suns—nay even the stellar universe itself—obey in their motions, the grand universal law of circularity."
Though the idea of cycles may now seem strange, there were several precedents at the time. James Hutton
James Hutton
James Hutton was a Scottish physician, geologist, naturalist, chemical manufacturer and experimental agriculturalist. He is considered the father of modern geology...
uses the idea and avoids being drawn into controversies about progression. Lyell
Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, Kt FRS was a British lawyer and the foremost geologist of his day. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology, which popularised James Hutton's concepts of uniformitarianism – the idea that the earth was shaped by slow-moving forces still in operation...
refers to a cyclical process and the first edition of Vestiges of Creation contains a chapter on the Macleay system
Quinarian system
The Quinarian system was a method of zoological classification which had a brief period of popularity in the mid 19th century, especially among British naturalists. It was largely developed by the entomologist W. S. MacLeay in 1819. The system was followed by Nicholas Aylward Vigors and William...
which used a cyclical approach to the classification of Chambers' "animated tribes".
Darwin is mentioned several times within the book, but always with considerable respect. Gosse had attended meetings at the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
where evolutionary theory was tested by Darwin before the publication of Origin—and had even made similar observations himself about variation of species in his own studies into marine biology
Marine biology
Marine biology is the scientific study of organisms in the ocean or other marine or brackish bodies of water. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifies species based on the environment rather...
—and considered Darwin's reasoning scientifically sound.
Reception
The book was very controversial at the time, sold few copies and had almost no supporters. Though the publisher was able to use in advertising an extract from the Natural History ReviewNatural History Review
The Natural History Review was a short-lived, quarterly journal devoted to natural history. It was published in Dublin and London between 1854 and 1865....
: "We have no hesitation in pronouncing this book to be the most important and best-written that has yet appeared on the very interesting question with which it deals. We believe the logic of the book to be unanswerable, its laws fully deduced", the rest of the sentence in the review reads "and the whole, considered as a play of metaphysical subtlety, absolutely complete; and yet we venture to predict that its conclusions will not be accepted as probable by one in ten thousand readers." The reviewer concluded that Omphalos contained "idle speculations, fit only to please a philosopher in his hours of relaxation, but hardly worthy of the serious attention of any man, whether scientific or not". The geologist Joseph Beete Jukes was more scathing in a later issue: "To a man of a really serious and religious turn of mind, this treatment is far more repulsive than that even of the author of Vestiges of Creation. and the Lamarckian School".
The Rev. Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley was an English priest of the Church of England, university professor, historian and novelist, particularly associated with the West Country and northeast Hampshire.-Life and character:...
, author of The Water-Babies and a friend of Gosse, was asked to review Gosse's book. Refusing, he wrote to Gosse:
For a long time, the only oblique references to the book were to be found in Father and Son, the psychological portrait of Philip Gosse by his son Edmund Gosse
Edmund Gosse
Sir Edmund William Gosse CB was an English poet, author and critic; the son of Philip Henry Gosse and Emily Bowes.-Early life:...
published in 1907. He wrote:
It was rescued from obscurity by the American biologist Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould was an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist, and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation....
in a 1987 article entitled "Adam's Navel", which has since been republished as a mini book. He comments:
It had earlier been referred to in a short work by Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo , known as Jorge Luis Borges , was an Argentine writer, essayist, poet and translator born in Buenos Aires. In 1914 his family moved to Switzerland where he attended school, receiving his baccalauréat from the Collège de Genève in 1918. The family...
.
The theory presented in the book is now called the omphalos hypothesis
Omphalos (theology)
The Omphalos hypothesis was named after the title of an 1857 book, Omphalos by Philip Henry Gosse, in which Gosse argued that in order for the world to be "functional", God must have created the Earth with mountains and canyons, trees with growth rings, Adam and Eve with hair, fingernails, and...
: that the world and everything in it could have been created at any time, even mere moments ago, with even our own memories being false indications of its age.
External links
- Gosse, Philip H. Omphalos: An Attempt to Untie the Geological Knot. John Van Voorst, London, 1857 A complete and unabridged edition of this book is available at Google Book SearchGoogle Book SearchGoogle Books is a service from Google that searches the full text of books that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical character recognition, and stored in its digital database. The service was formerly known as Google Print when it was introduced at the Frankfurt Book Fair in October...
- Ron Roizen, "The rejection of Omphalos: a note on shifts in the intellectual hierarchy of mid-nineteenth century Britain," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 21:365-369, 1982.