St. George Jackson Mivart

St. George Jackson Mivart FRS
Mivart, by Barraud & Jerrard
Born	30 November 1827 London, England
Died	1 April 1900 (aged 72) London, England

St. George Jackson Mivart FRS (30 November 1827 – 1 April 1900) was an English biologist. He is famous for starting as an ardent believer in natural selection and later becoming one of its fiercest critics. Mivart attempted to reconcile the theory of evolution as propounded by Charles Darwin with the beliefs of the Catholic Church but was condemned by both Darwin and the Church (although his condemnation by the Church was not because of his scientific ideas, but due to his theological ones). His belief in a soul created by God and insistence that evolutionism was not incompatible with the existence of such a God brought him into conflict with other evolutionists, while his theological theories on hell led him to clash with the Church.

Early life

Mivart was born in London. His parents were Evangelicals, and his father was the wealthy owner of Mivart's Hotel (now Claridge's). His education started at the Clapham Grammar School and continued at Harrow School and King's College London. Following his conversion to Catholicism, he was instructed at St. Mary's, Oscott (1844–1846), and was confirmed there on 11 May 1845. His conversion automatically excluded him from the University of Oxford, then open only to members of the Anglican faith. His mother followed him into the Catholic Church in 1846.

Appointments

In 1851 he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn, but he devoted himself to medical and biological studies. In 1862 he was appointed to the chair in zoology at St. Mary's Hospital medical school. In 1869 he became a fellow of the Zoological Society of London, and in 1874 he was appointed by Thomas John Capel as Professor of Biology at the short-lived Catholic University College, Kensington, a post he held until 1877.

He was vice-president of the Zoological Society twice (1869 and 1882); Fellow of the Linnean Society from 1862, secretary from 1874 to 1880, and vice-president in 1892. In 1867 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society for his work "On the Appendicular skeleton of the Primates". This work was communicated to the society by Thomas Henry Huxley. Mivart was a member of the Metaphysical Society from 1874. He received the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy from Pope Pius IX in 1876, and of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Louvain in 1884.

Controversy

Mivart and Huxley

Mivart met Thomas Henry Huxley in 1859, and was initially a close follower and a believer in natural selection. "Even as a professor he continued to attending Huxley's lectures... they became close friends, dining together and arranging family visits." However, Huxley was always strongly anti-Catholic, and no doubt this attitude led to Mivart becoming disenchanted with him. Once disenchanted, he lost little time in reversing on the subject of natural selection. In short, he now believed that a higher teleology was compatible with evolution.

As to "natural selection", I accepted it completely and in fact my doubts & difficulties were first excited by attending Prof. Huxley's lectures at the School of Mines.

Mivart's alternative evolutionism

Even before Mivart's publication of On the Genesis of Species in 1871, he had published his new ideas in various periodicals. Huxley, Ray Lankester, and William Henry Flower had come out against his ideas, although O'Leary (2007) reports that "their initial reaction to Genesis of Species was tolerant and impersonal".

Though admitting evolution in general, Mivart denied its applicability to the human intellect (a view also taken by Alfred Russell Wallace). His views as to the relationship between human nature and intellect and animal nature in general were given in his books Nature and Thought and Origin of Human Reason.

Mivart was someone Charles Darwin took seriously; Darwin prepared a point-by-point refutation which appeared in the sixth edition of Origin of Species. One of Mivart's criticisms to which Darwin responded was a perceived failure of natural selection to explain the incipient stages of useful structures. Taking the eye as an example, Darwin was able to show many stages of light sensitivity and eye development in the animal kingdom as proof of the utility of less-than-perfect sight (argument by intermediate stages). Another was the supposed inability of natural selection to explain cases of parallel evolution, to which Huxley responded that the effect of natural selection in places with the same environment would tend to be similar.

Mivart's hostile review of the Descent of Man in the Quarterly Review aroused fury from his former intimates, including Darwin himself, who described it as "grossly unfair". Mivart had quoted Darwin by shortening sentences and omitting words, causing Darwin to write: "Though he means to be honourable, he is so bigoted that he cannot act fairly." Relationships between the two men were near breaking point. In response, Darwin arranged for the reprinting of a pamphlet by Chauncey Wright, previously issued in the US, which severely criticised Genesis of Species. Wright had, under Darwin's guidance, clarified what was, and was not, "Darwinism".^{: 353–356}

The quarrel reached a climax when Mivart lost his usual composure over what should have been a minor incident: In 1873, George Darwin (Charles' son) published a short article in The Contemporary Review suggesting that divorce should be made easier in cases of cruelty, abuse, or mental disorder. Mivart reacted with horror, using phrases like "hideous sexual criminality" and "unrestrained licentiousness". Huxley wrote a counter-attack, and both Huxley and Darwin broke off connections with Mivart. Huxley blackballed Mivart's attempt to join the Athenaeum Club.^{: 355}

Mivart's banned theological articles

In 1892 and 1893 Mivart published three articles on "Happiness in Hell" in the journal The Nineteenth Century. Mivart proposed that the punishments of hell were not eternal, and that hell is compatible with some kind of happiness.

These articles were placed on the Index Expurgatorius. This was the first official action of the Catholic Church against Mivart but it "had nothing to do either with evolution or science". Later articles in January 1900 ("The Continuity of Catholicism" and "Scripture and Roman Catholicism" in The Nineteenth Century, and "Some Recent Catholic Apologists" in The Fortnightly Review) led to his being placed under interdict by Cardinal Herbert Vaughan. These last articles were written, by Mivart's own admission, in a provocative tone so that the authorities would have to act. In them, reversing his previous stance, he challenged the authority of the Church, concluding that the Bible and Catholic doctrine could not be reconciled with science.

"Without attempting to pass judgment on Mivart’s final stance, we can say that his attitude was not solely or principally determined by scientific motives and, more concretely, that evolution did not occupy a determining role in it."

The report of the consultor of the Holy Office dealing with Mivart's case does not mention evolution.

Death

Mivart died of diabetes in London on 1 April 1900. His late heterodox opinions were a bar to his burial in consecrated ground. However, Sir William Broadbent gave medical testimony that these could be explained by the gravity and nature of the diabetes from which he had suffered.

After his death, a long final struggle took place between his friends and the Church authorities. On 6 April 1900, his remains were deposited in catacomb Z beneath the Dissenters' Chapel, in the unconsecrated ground of the dissenters' section of the General Cemetery of All Souls, Kensal Green, in a public vault reserved for "temporary deposits" (most of which were destined for repatriation to mainland Europe or the Americas). His remains were finally transferred to St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green, on 16 January 1904, for burial there on 18 January 1904.

Legacy

Mivart's name is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of lizard, Emoia mivarti.

See also

• William Paley — English Anglican clergyman, philosopher

Other sources

• Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "St. George Jackson Mivart". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

Mivart bibliography

Chief works

• On the Genesis of Species, Macmillan & Co., 1871.
• An Examination of Mr. Herbert Spencer's Psychology (Dublin 1874–80).
• Lessons in Elementary Anatomy, 1873.
• The Common Frog, Macmillan and Co., 1874 [1st Pub. in Nature Series, 1873].
• Man and Apes: An Exposition of Structural Resemblances and Differences Bearing upon Questions of Affinity and Origin. London: Robert Hardwicke, 1873.
• "One Point of Controversy with the Agnostics," in Manning, ed. Essays on Religion and Literature, Third Series, Longmans, Green & Co., 1874.
• Lessons from Nature, 1876.
• Contemporary Evolution, Henry S. King & Co., 1876.
• Address to the Biological Section of the British Association, 1879.
• The Cat: An Introduction to the Study of Backboned Animals, Especially Mammals, John Murray, 1881.
• Nature and Thought: An Introduction to a Natural Philosophy, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1882.
• A Philosophical Catechism, 1884.
• On Truth: A Systematic Inquiry, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1889.
• The Origin of Human Reason, Being an Examination of Recent Hypotheses Concerning it, Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., 1889.
• Dogs, Jackals, Wolves and Foxes: Monograph of the Canidæ, Taylor & Francis, for R.H. Porter and Dulau & Co., 1890.
• Introduction Générale à l'Etude de la Nature: Cours Professé à l'Université de Louvain, Louvain and Paris, 1891.
• Birds: The Elements of Ornithology, Taylor & Francis, 1892.
• Essays and Criticisms, Vol. 2, 1892.
• Types of Animal Life, 1893.
• Introduction to the Elements of Science. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1894.
• The Helpful Science, Harper & Brothers, 1895.
• Castle and Manor, 1900.
• A Monograph of the Lories, or Brush-tongued Parrots, H. R. Porter, 1896.
• The Groundwork of Science: A Study of Epistemology, John Murray, 1898.

Miscellany

• Under the Ban: A Correspondence between Dr. St. George Mivart and Herbert Cardinal Vaughan. New York: Tucker Publishing Co., 1900.
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ape". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 160.
• Mivart, St. George Jackson; Gadow, Hans Friedrich (1911). "Rattlesnake". In Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 22 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 919–920.

Selected articles

• "Difficulties of the Theory of Natural Selection," Part II, Part III, The Month, Vol. XI, 1869.
• "On the Use of the Term 'Homology'," The Annals and Magazine of Natural History, No. 32, 1870.
• "Evolution and its Consequences – A Reply to Professor Huxley," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XIX, 1872.
• "Contemporary Evolution," Part II, Part III, The Contemporary Review, Vols. XXII/XXIII, 1873/1874.
• "Instinct and Reason," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXV, 1875.
• "Likenesses: or Philosophical Anatomy," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXVI, 1875.
• "Natural History of the Kangaroo," Popular Science Monthly, Vol. VIII, 1876.
• "What are Bats?," Popular Science Monthly, Vol. IX, 1876.
• "Liberty of Conscience," The Dublin Review, Vol. XXVII, 1876.
• "Emotion," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. III, 1878.
• "The Meaning of Life," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. V, 1879.
• "The Government of Life," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. V, 1879.
• "On the Study of Natural History," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXXV, 1879.
• "What are Living Beings?," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXXV, 1879.
• "Animals and Plants," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXXVI, 1879.
• "The Forms and Colours of Living Creatures," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXXVI, 1879.
• "The Relation of Animals and Plants to Time," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXXVII, 1880.
• "The Geography of Living Creatures," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXXVII, 1880.
• "The Relation of Living Beings to One Another," The Contemporary Review, Vol. XXXVII, 1880.
• "Notes on Spain," Part II, Part III, The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. V, 1880.
• "The Soul and Evolution," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. VI, 1881.
• "A Limit to Evolution," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. VIII, 1883.
• "On Catholic Politics," The Dublin Review, Vol. XCIII, 1883.
• "The Life and Times of Frederic II," Part II, Part III, The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. IX, 1884.
• "Phases of Faith and Unfaith," The Catholic World, Vol. XXXIX, 1884.
• "Ecclesiastical Survivals and Revivals," The Catholic World, Vol. XL, 1885.
• "Organic Nature's Riddle," Part II, The Eclectic Magazine, Vol. XLI, 1885.
• "Modern Catholics and Scientific Freedom," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XVIII, 1885.
• "A Tour in Catholic Teutonia," Part II, The Catholic World, Vol. XLII, 1886.
• "What Are Animals and Plants?," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XI, 1886.
• "Notes on Colonial Zoology," The Contemporary Review, Vol. LI, 1887.
• "The Catholic Church and Biblical Criticism," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XXII, 1887.
• "Catholicity and Reason," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XXII, 1887.
• "The Future of Christianity," The Forum, Vol. III, 1887.
• "Laughter," The Forum, Vol. III, 1887.
• "On the Possibly Dual Origin of the Mammalia," Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Vol. XLIII, 1888.
• "Why Tastes Differ," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XIII, 1888.
• "Impressions of Life in Vienna," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XIII, 1888.
• "Sins of Belief and Sins of Unbelief," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XXIV, 1888.
• "Darwin's Brilliant Fallacy," The Forum, Vol. VII, 1889.
• "Where Darwinism Fails," The Forum, Vol. VII, 1889.
• "Professing Themselves to be Wise, They Become Fools," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XVI, 1891.
• "The Foundations of Science," Natural Science, Vol. I, No. 7, 1892.
• "Happiness in Hell," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XXXII, 1892.
• "Catholicity in England Fifty Years Ago—A Retrospect," Part II, Part III, The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XVII/XVIII, 1892/1893.
• "Evolution in Professor Huxley," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XXXIV, 1893.
• "Christianity and Paganism," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XXXIV, 1893.
• "The Index and my Articles on Hell," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XXXIV, 1893.
• "L'Ancien Régime," Part II, The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XVII/XVIII, 1893/1894.
• "The Newest Darwinism," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XIX, No. 76, 1894.
• "The Evolution of Evolution," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XX, 1895.
• "Balfour's Philosophy. Part I.: Some Consequences of Belief," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XXI, 1896.
• "Balfour's Philosophy. Part II.: Some Reasons for Belief," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XXI, 1896.
• "What Makes a Species?," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XXIII, 1898.
• "Living Nature," The American Catholic Quarterly Review, Vol. XXIII, 1898.
• "The Continuity of Catholicism," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XLVII, 1900.
• "Scripture and Roman Catholicism," The Nineteenth Century, Vol. XLVII, 1900.

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

St. George Jackson Mivart — Corresponding member of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia; Member of the Council of Linnean Society, etc., b. in London, 30 November, 1827, d. there 1 April, 1900.

Professor Mivart, whom Darwin styled the "distinguished biologist", third son of James Edward Mivart, owner of Mivart's Hotel in Brook Street, was born at 39 Brook St., Grosvenor Square, London. His parents were Evangelicals; and his early education was received at the Clapham Grammar School, at Harrow, and at King's College, London; from which latter institution he intended to go to Oxford. His enthusiasm for architecture led him, at the age of sixteen, to make a tour of Pugin's Gothic churches; and while visiting St. Chad's, in Birmingham, he met Dr. Moore (afterwards President of St. Mary's College, Oscott) who received him into the Catholic Church in 1844. Mivart's conversion is said to have been determined by Milner's "End of Religious Controversy". On his reception he proceeded to Oscott College, where he remained until 1846. On 15 January of that year he became a student at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the Bar in 1851. He did not, however, follow a legal career, but gave himself to scientific and philosophical studies; and in 1862 was appointed Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School. In 1874, he was appointed professor of Biology at the (Catholic) University College, Kensington. From 1890 to 1893 he gave a course of lectures on "The Philosophy of Natural History" in the University of Louvain. From 1849 he was a member of the Royal Institution; Fellow of the Zoological Society from 1858, and Vice-President twice (1869 and 1882); Fellow of the Linnean Society from 1862; Secretary of the same during the years 1874-80, and Vice-President in 1892. In 1867 he became a member of the Royal Society — elected on account of the merit of his work "On the Appendicular skeleton of the Primates". This work was communicated to the Society by Professor Huxley. Mivart was a member of the Metaphysical Society from 1874. He received the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy from Pope Pius IX in 1876, and of Doctor of Medicine from Louvain in 1884. His communications, dating from 1864, to the "proceedings" of learned Societies — notably the Royal, the Linnean, and the Zoological — are numerous and of great scientific value. He contributed articles to the "Encyclopædia Brittanica," and to all the leading English and American reviews.

In 1871 he published his "Genesis of Species", in which work, foreshadowed by an article in the "Quarterly Review" of the same year, he took his stand as the leading opponent of the Darwinian hypothesis. This estranged him from Darwin and Huxley; but his reputation as a specialist in biological science was in no way impaired by the position he took up. In subsequent editions of his "Origin of Species" Darwin deals at great length with the objections raised by Mivart. His since published "Life and Letters" afford ample evidence of how weighty he felt them to be. Mivart, however, himself professed a theory of evolution; but he unhesitatingly and consistently asserted the irreconcilable difference between the inanimate and animate, as well as between the the purely animal and the rational. By maintaining the creationist theory of the origin of the human soul he attempted to reconcile his evolutionism with the Catholic faith. In philosophical problems, towards which he turned more and more in later years, his attitude was rather that of a neo-scholastic as against the post-Cartesian philosophies; and he opposed with success a critical, or moderate realist, system of knowledge to the widely prevalent agnosticism of his time. Towards the close of his life Mivart's philosophical speculations began to verge on an "interpretation" of theological dogma that was incompatible with the Faith. The crisis, however, did not become acute before his articles in the "Nineteenth Century" ("Modern Catholics and Scientific Freedom" in July, 1885; "The Catholic Church and Biblical Criticism" in July, 1887; "Catholicity and Reason" in December, 1887; "Sins of Belief and Disbelief" in October, 1888; "Happiness in Hell" in December, 1892) were placed on the Index.

His orthodoxy was finally brought into the gravest suspicion by the articles "The Continuity of Catholicism" ("Nineteenth Century", January, 1900) and "Some Recent Apologists" ("Fortnightly Review", January, 1900). In the same month (18 January, 1900), after admonition and three formal notifications requiring him in vain to sign a profession of faith that was sent him, he was inhibited from the sacraments by Cardinal Vaughan "until he shall have proved his orthodoxy to the satisfaction of his ordinary." The letters that passed between Archbishop's House and Dr. Mivart were published by him in the columns of the "Times" newspaper (27 January, 1900); and in March a last article — "Scripture and Roman Catholicism" — repudiating ecclesiastical authority, appeared in the "Nineteenth Century".

Dr. Mivart died of diabetes 1 April, 1900, at 77 Inverness Terrace, Bayswater, London, W., and was buried without ecclesiastical rites. After his decease his friends, persuaded that the gravity and nature of the illness from which he suffered offered a complete explanation of the amazing inconsistency of Dr. Mivart's final position with that which he had maintained during the greater part of his life, approached the authorities with a view to securing for him burial in consecrated ground. Sir William Broadbent gave medical testimony as to the nature of his malady amply sufficient to free his late patient from the responsibility of the heterodox opinions which he had put forward and the attitude he had taken with regard to his superiors. His disease, not his will, was the cause of his aberration. But there were difficulties in the way. Cardinal Vaughan was ill and could not deal directly with the representations made. Misunderstandings arose about the publication of Sir William Broadbent's certificate; and the cardinal counselled a little patience and left the matter to the decision of his successor. So it was that, on the appointment of Archbishop Bourne, the case was reopened; and now the condition of the publication of the facts, at the archbishop's discretion, was accepted by the friends of Dr. Mivart. The burial took place in Kensal Green Catholic cemetery 18 January, 1904. The text of the certificate has not been published; but an account of the matter is to be found in the second volume of "Life of Cardinal Vaughan".

Dr. Mivart's chief works are the following: "One Point of Controversy with the Agnostics" in Manning: "Essays on Religion and Literature" (1868); "On the Genesis of Species" (London, 1871); "An examination of Mr. Herbert Spencer's Psychology"; "Lessons in Elementary Anatomy" (London, 1873) "The Common Frog" in "Nature Series" (1873); "Man and Apes" (London, 1873); "Lessons from Nature" (London, 1876); "Contemporary Evolution" (London, 1876); "Address to the Biological Section of the British Association" (1879); "The Cat" (London, 1881); "Nature and Thought" (London, 1882); "A Philosophical Catechism" (London, 1884); "On Truth" (London, 1889); "The Origin of Human Reason" (London, 1889); "Dogs, Jackals, Wolves and Foxes, Monograph of the Canidæ" (London, 1890); "Introduction Générale à l'Etude de la Nature: Cours professé à l'Université de Louvain" (Louvain and Paris, 1891); "Birds" (London, 1892); "Essays and Criticisms" (London, 1892); "Types of Animal Life" (London, 1893); "Introduction to the Elements of Science" (London, 1894); "Castle and Manor" (London, 1900); "A monograph of the Lories" (London, 1896); "The Groundwork of Science: a study of Epistemology" (London, 1898); "The Helpful Science" (London, 1898); Article "Ape" in "Encyclopædia Britannica"; besides many notes and memoirs not collected, Transactions and Proceedings of the Zoological Society and articles in the "Popular Science Review", the "Contemporary Review", the "Fortnightly Review", the "Nineteenth Century", the "Dublin Review", etc.

See Gentleman's Magazine (1856 and 1900); Royal Society Year Book (1901); Men and Women of the Time (1895); DARWIN, The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin (London, 1887); SNEAD-COX, The Life of Cardinal Vaughan (London, 1910); Oscotian, Jubilee Number (1888); The Times (January 12, 13, 15, 22, 27, 29, and April 2, 3, 4, 1900); The Tablet (April 7, 1900); Nature (April 12, 1900).

Further reading

• Brundell, Barry (2001). "Catholic Church politics and evolution theory, 1894–1902". The British Journal for the History of Science. 34 (1): 81–95. doi:10.1017/S0007087401004290. S2CID 143687119.
• Gruber, Jacob William (1960). A conscience in conflict: the life of St. George Jackson Mivart. Columbia University Press. OCLC 923296584.
• Root, John D. (1985). "The Final Apostasy of St. George Jackson Mivart". The Catholic Historical Review. 71 (1): 1–25. JSTOR 25021980. ProQuest 1290071732.
• Swain, Emma E. (December 2017). "St. George Mivart as Popularizer of Zoology in Britain and America, 1869–1881". Endeavour. 41 (4): 176–191. doi:10.1016/j.endeavour.2017.03.001. PMID 28669417.

External links

• Works by St. George Jackson Mivart at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about St. George Jackson Mivart at the Internet Archive
• Works by St. George Jackson Mivart, at Europeana
• Works by St. George Jackson Mivart, at HathiTrust
• Illustrations from A Monograph of the Lories,. Archived 19 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine
• Illustrations from Dogs, Jackals, Wolves, and Foxes Archived 31 August 2022 at the Wayback Machine
• Images of his 1857 British passport