| Many scientists by the 1920's had concluded that our species evolved from some kind of fossil ape. As a paleontologist at New York City's American Museum of Natural History, William King Gregory (1876-1970) argued relentlessly for our anthropoid ancestry. His major opponent in these debates was another zoologist, the aristocratic President of the Museum, Henry Fairfield Osborn. This dissertation focuses on Gregory's careful consideration of the biological evidence, and how it contrasted with Osborn's virtual indifference to the data. As a religious man, Osborn was convinced he had no relation to an ape-like creature.;As fundamentalist objections to teaching evolution in the schools resulted in the 1925 Scopes Trial, Gregory's debate with Osborn took shape. Osborn has been well characterized by Ronald Rainger in the context of his ambitious program for the Museum. Here the underlying philosophy that influenced his resolute view of human evolution is more closely examined. The debate therefore highlights the biases that often shape perceptions of human evolution, also demonstrating the effect of social movements (fundamentalism) on theory formation. The media played a role in this argument between scientists: Gregory began to popularize more often as he worried about the public's absorption of Osborn's already well-advertised ideas.;Gregory's own evolutionary progressionism was tempered as he constantly reminded his readers of the affinity between all vertebrate forms. His notion of human origins was largely accepted by the scientific community (though never by Osborn) through the 1930's. Gregory always tried as best he could to speak for the fossils and bones; in so doing, he had an enduring impact on the fields of vertebrate paleontology and physical anthropology.;Gregory pioneered methods in comparative anatomy and functional morphology, influencing some leading scientists of the modern synthetic theory of evolution. He studied animals holistically, with an artist's appreciation of the forms and an uncommon intuition regarding their evolutionary relationships. His style was cautious; he frequently noted his efforts at objectivity. During the First World War, however, Gregory became more speculative, describing his first human (the "ape-man") as notoriously violent and predatory. Then, in the 1920's, he returned to a more measured approach. |
