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Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire by Hervé Le Guyader, University of Chicago Press, $45/£31.50, ISBN 0226470911 Reviewed by Roy Herbert

FAR from a normal biography, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire is mostly a reprint of the arguments about anatomy between Saint-Hilaire and Georges Cuvier in 1830. Saint-Hilaire, a brilliant young man and a Bonapartist, was a member of Napoleon’s expedition to Egypt. It was there he conceived the idea that all vertebrates had the same basic body plan, and that applied to insects, too. Cuvier, an outstanding scientist, but also a careerist loaded with honours with a reputation for being something of a creep, vigorously opposed this view and the dispute became public.

This was a consequence of the affair of the crocodiles of Caen, fossil remains that revealed four types with markedly different features. To Saint-Hilaire this showed they had developed because of different environments. Cuvier maintained they had existed because of four acts of creation, each species with permanent form.

The arguments demonstrate how fiery disagreements could be debated with courtesy and respect, but they are somewhat fatiguing to read. It is hard at times to understand the dispute, especially as the terms used change occasionally. The book includes orations from Saint-Hilaire’s funeral, adding an enjoyable flavour of the period. They are followed by a valuable survey of modern biology, acknowledging that Saint-Hilaire’s ideas were uniquely far-sighted.