Julien-Joseph Virey (21 December 1775,

Langres Langres () is a commune in northeastern France. It is a subprefecture of the department of Haute-Marne, in the region of Grand Est. History As the capital of the Romanized Gallic tribe known as the Lingones, it was called Andematunnum, then ...

– 9 March 1846) was a French naturalist and anthropologist.

Biography

Julien-Joseph Virey grew up in Hortes village in southern

Haute-Marne Haute-Marne (; English: Upper Marne) is a department in the Grand Est region of Northeastern France. Named after the river Marne, its prefecture is Chaumont. In 2019, it had a population of 172,512.pharmacist. Arriving in Paris, he attended the League of Ideologues and Human Observers. He later studied

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pr ...

and became a medical doctor. After becoming a protégé of Antoine Parmentier (1737-1813), he wrote a major work quickly in the field of anthropology, in which he promoted the theory of polygeny. Virey was interested in the origin of the

human races A race is a categorization of humans based on shared physical or social qualities into groups generally viewed as distinct within a given society. The term came into common usage during the 1500s, when it was used to refer to groups of variou ...

. He wrote the ''Natural History of Man'' (1801), which was reprinted in a new edition in 1824. Virey addressed these issues for a long time. The 20th-century scientists

Paul Broca Pierre Paul Broca (, also , , ; 28 June 1824 – 9 July 1880) was a French physician, anatomist and anthropologist. He is best known for his research on Broca's area, a region of the frontal lobe that is named after him. Broca's area is involve ...

and

Armand de Quatrefages Armand refer to: People * Armand (name), list of people with this name *Armand (photographer) (1901–1963), Armenian photographer *Armand (singer) (1946–2015), Dutch protest singer *Sean Armand (born 1991), American basketball player *Armand, ...

rank him among the precursors of a style of

anthropological Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...

questioning, without agreeing with all his ideas. Most of Virey's work and personal contributions relate to pharmaceutical science and technology. He participated in the reissue of the works of

Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent ...

(1707-1788 ) with Charles-Nicolas-Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1751-1812). In 1821 he published a book entitled ''History of Morals and the Interests of Animals'', in which, far from

Étienne Bonnot de Condillac Étienne Bonnot de Condillac (; ; 30 September 17142 August or 3 August 1780) was a French philosopher and epistemologist, who studied in such areas as psychology and the philosophy of the mind. Biography He was born at Grenoble into a legal ...

and especially in opposition to Descartes, he passed from discussing the "animal soul" to proposing "intelligence in animals". He studied in libraries and wrote a quantity of books and articles.

Evolution

Virey was an early advocate of

transmutation of species Transmutation of species and transformism are unproven 18th and 19th-century evolutionary ideas about the change of one species into another that preceded Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection. The French ''Transformisme'' was a term used ...

who a postulated direct

descent Descent may refer to: As a noun Genealogy and inheritance * Common descent, concept in evolutionary biology * Kinship, one of the major concepts of cultural anthropology **Pedigree chart or family tree ** Ancestry ** Lineal descendant **Heritag ...

of humans from apes.Corbey, Raymond. (2005). ''The Metaphysics of Apes''. Cambridge University Press. pp. 62-63. Virey used the term

evolution Evolution is change in the heritable characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. These characteristics are the expressions of genes, which are passed on from parent to offspring during reproduction. Variation ...

in 1803. He was highly critical of the ideas of

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolo ...

such as

spontaneous generation Spontaneous generation is a superseded scientific theory that held that living creatures could arise from nonliving matter and that such processes were commonplace and regular. It was hypothesized that certain forms, such as fleas, could arise f ...

but supported an evolutionary history of life on earth.Corsi, Pietro. (2005). ''Before Darwin: Transformist Concepts in European Natural History''. ''

Journal of the History of Biology The ''Journal of the History of Biology'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the history of biology as well as philosophical and social issues confronting biology. It is published by Springer Science+Business Media and the edito ...

'' 38 (1): 67-83.Corsi, Pietro. (1987). ''Julien-Joseph Virey, the first critic of Lamarck''. History of the Species Concept in the Life Sciences, Paris: Fondation Singer Polignac, No. Atran, S. (Ed.). pp. 176-187 Virey commented that "It is thus plausible that, thanks to such evolution, nature has arisen from the most tenuous mould to the majestic cedar, to the gigantic pine, just as it has advanced from microscopic animals up to man, king and dominator of all beings." Virey also sketched an early version of the

recapitulation theory The theory of recapitulation, also called the biogenetic law or embryological parallelism—often expressed using Ernst Haeckel's phrase "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny"—is a historical hypothesis that the development of the embryo of an a ...

. He was a

polygenist Polygenism is a theory of human origins which posits the view that the human races are of different origins (''polygenesis''). This view is opposite to the idea of monogenism, which posits a single origin of humanity. Modern scientific views no ...

minimalist, proposing two human species (the "White" and "Black"), divided into six chromatic races.Stocking, George W. (1988). ''Bones, Bodies, Behavior: Essays in Behavioral Anthropology''. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 30-31. One group consisted of dark-skinned peoples such as Africans which he situated closer to apes than the other of Europeans, American Indians and light-skinned peoples. In 1819, Virey commented that "the apes would seem to be the root of the human genus. From the orang-utan to the Hottentot Bushman, through to the most intelligent negroes, and finally to white man, one passes indeed by almost imperceptible nuances." Virey was influenced by Buffon and

Cabanis Cabanis is the surname of: *George Cabanis (1815-1892), American politician *Jean Cabanis (1816–1906), German ornithologist *José Cabanis José Cabanis (2 March 1922 – 6 October 2000) was a French novelist, essayist, historian and magistrate ...

. He was part of one of the central controversies in science in 1820-1830, related to the origin and age of man. Georges Cuvier,

Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent Jean-Baptiste Geneviève Marcellin Bory de Saint-Vincent was a French naturalist, officer and politician. He was born on 6 July 1778 in Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) and died on 22 December 1846 in Paris. Biologist and geographer, he was particularly in ...

, Louis Antoine Desmoulins and Virey all struggled to determine the origin and age of man.

Works

* ''Histoire naturelle des Médicamens, des Alimens et des Poisons'' . Rémont, Paris 182
Digital edition
by the University and State Library Düsseldorf *''Histoire naturelle du genre humain, ou, recherches sur ses principaux fondements physiques et moraux, précédées d'un discours sur la nature des êtres organiques'' (Paris: Dufart, an 9

801 __NOTOC__ Year 801 ( DCCCI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Emperor Charlemagne formally cedes Nordalbian territory (modern-day Schleswig-H ...

*''Histoire naturelle du genre humain'' (new edition - Paris: Crochard, 1824) *"Homme" in ''Nouveau dictionnaire d'histoire naturelle appliquée aux arts'' (new edition - Paris: Deterville, 1817)
''Natural History of the Negro Race''
translated by J.H. Geunebault (Charleston, South Caroline: D.J. Dowling, 1837)

Biography

Evolution

Works

References

Further reading