Page 482 - Atlas of Creation Volume 3

ONCE, THE FOSSIL RECORD WAS THOUGHT

TO PROVE EVOLUTION

aleontology, the study of fossils, developed long before Darwin. The founder of this science was the
French naturalist, Baron Georges Cuvier (1769-1832). According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, he

P introduced fossils into zoological classification, showed the progressive relation between rock strata
and their fossil remains, and demonstrated, in his comparative anatomy and reconstructions of fossil skele-
tons, the importance of functional and anatomical relationships. 18
Cuvier was opposed to the theory of evolution proposed in his time by Lamarck. He insisted that gen-
era of living things were created separately, stressed the detail and delicacy in animal anatomy and ex-

plained that its characteristics ruled out any idea of random alteration. Cuvier also argued that "each
species is so well coordinated, functionally and structurally, that it could not survive significant change. He
further maintained that each species was created for its own special purpose and each organ for its special

function." 19
But Charles Darwin interpreted fossils differently. He believed that various species descended in stages
from a single, common ancestor in a process of evolution and that fossils were proof of this process.
But Darwin's interpretation rests on no proof. On the contrary, in his day, no extant fossils demon-
strated evolution. The fossil remains of extinct creatures did not

share the kind of family relationship and
resemblance that Darwin's
theory required. Every

known fossil, like every
known living thing,
Cuvier, the founder of paleon-
possessed its own
tology, maintained that cre-
unique features. As is
ation is a scientific fact and
that evolution is impossible.
the case with natural
history today, species
of the past have not
been very similar and

close to one another,
but rather divided into
groups that are very dif-
ferent from one another,
with major structural dif-

ferences between them.
For this reason, Darwin
could not use fossils to prove

his theory. On the contrary, his
book proposed "fabricated ex-
planations" to misrepresent this
matter that posed such a serious
problem for him. He dealt with this

480 Atlas of Creation Vol. 3