Read Online Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History by Stephen Jay Gould - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Stephen Jay Gould
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the Cambrian, nearly all modern phyla made their first appearance, along with an even greater array of anatomical experiments that did not survive very long thereafter. The 500 million subsequent years have produced no new phyla, only twists and turns upon established designs—even if some variations, like human consciousness, manage to impact the world in curious ways. What established the Burgess motor? What turned it off so quickly? What, if anything, favored the small set of surviving designs over other possibilities that flourished in the Burgess Shale? What is this pattern of decimation and stabilization trying to tell us about history and evolution?
T HE S ETTING OF THE B URGESS S HALE
WHERE
On July 11, 1911, C. D. Walcott’s wife, Helena, was killed in a railway accident at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Following a custom of his time and social class, Charles kept his sons close to home, but sent his grieving daughter Helen on a grand tour of Europe, accompanied by a chaperone with the improbable name of Anna Horsey, there to assuage grief and regain composure. Helen, with the enthusiasm of late teen-aged years, did thrill to the monuments of Western history, but she saw nothing to match the beauty of a different West—the setting of the Burgess Shale, where she had accompanied her father both during the discovery of 1909 and the first collecting season of 1910. From Europe, Helen wrote to her brother Stuart in March 1912:
They have the most fascinating castles and fortresses perched on the very tops. You can just see the enemy creeping up and up—then being surprised by rocks and arrows thrown down on them. We saw, of course, the famous Appian Way and the remains of the old Roman aqueducts—just imagine, those ruined-looking arches were built nearly 2000 years ago! It makes America seem a little shiny and new, but I’d prefer Burgess Pass to anything I’ve seen yet.
The legends of fieldwork locate all important sites deep in inaccessible jungles inhabited by fierce beasts and restless natives, and surrounded by miasmas of putrefaction and swarms of tsetse flies. (Alternative models include the hundredth dune after the death of all camels, or the thousandth crevasse following the demise of all sled dogs.) But in fact, many of the finest discoveries, as we shall soon see, are made in museum drawers. Some of the most important natural sites require no more than a pleasant stroll or a leisurely drive; you can almost walk to Mazon Creek from down-town Chicago.
The Burgess Shale occupies one of the most majestic settings that I have ever visited—high in the Canadian Rockies at the eastern border of British Columbia. Walcott’s quarry lies at an elevation of almost eight thousand feet on the western slope of the ridge connecting Mount Field and Mount Wapta. Before visiting in August 1987, I had seen many photos of Walcott’s quarry; I took several more in the conventional orientation (literally east, looking into the quarry, figure 2.2). But I had not realized the power and beauty of a simple about-face. Turn around to the west, and you confront one of the finest sights on our continent—Emerald Lake below, and the snow-capped President range beyond (figure 2.3), all lit, in late afternoon, by the falling sun. Walcott found some wonderful fossils on the Burgess ridge, but I now have a visceral appreciation of why, well into his seventies, he rode the transcontinental trains year after year, to spend long summers in tents and on horseback. I also understand the appeal of Walcott’s principal avocation—landscape photography, including pioneering work in the technology of wide-angle, panoramic shots (figure 2.4).
But the Burgess Shale does not hide in an inaccessible wilderness. It resides in Yoho National Park, near the tourist centers of Banff and Lake Louise. Thanks to the Canadian Pacific Railway, whose hundred-car freights still thunder through the mountains almost continuously, the Burgess Shale lies on
T HE S ETTING OF THE B URGESS S HALE
WHERE
On July 11, 1911, C. D. Walcott’s wife, Helena, was killed in a railway accident at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Following a custom of his time and social class, Charles kept his sons close to home, but sent his grieving daughter Helen on a grand tour of Europe, accompanied by a chaperone with the improbable name of Anna Horsey, there to assuage grief and regain composure. Helen, with the enthusiasm of late teen-aged years, did thrill to the monuments of Western history, but she saw nothing to match the beauty of a different West—the setting of the Burgess Shale, where she had accompanied her father both during the discovery of 1909 and the first collecting season of 1910. From Europe, Helen wrote to her brother Stuart in March 1912:
They have the most fascinating castles and fortresses perched on the very tops. You can just see the enemy creeping up and up—then being surprised by rocks and arrows thrown down on them. We saw, of course, the famous Appian Way and the remains of the old Roman aqueducts—just imagine, those ruined-looking arches were built nearly 2000 years ago! It makes America seem a little shiny and new, but I’d prefer Burgess Pass to anything I’ve seen yet.
The legends of fieldwork locate all important sites deep in inaccessible jungles inhabited by fierce beasts and restless natives, and surrounded by miasmas of putrefaction and swarms of tsetse flies. (Alternative models include the hundredth dune after the death of all camels, or the thousandth crevasse following the demise of all sled dogs.) But in fact, many of the finest discoveries, as we shall soon see, are made in museum drawers. Some of the most important natural sites require no more than a pleasant stroll or a leisurely drive; you can almost walk to Mazon Creek from down-town Chicago.
The Burgess Shale occupies one of the most majestic settings that I have ever visited—high in the Canadian Rockies at the eastern border of British Columbia. Walcott’s quarry lies at an elevation of almost eight thousand feet on the western slope of the ridge connecting Mount Field and Mount Wapta. Before visiting in August 1987, I had seen many photos of Walcott’s quarry; I took several more in the conventional orientation (literally east, looking into the quarry, figure 2.2). But I had not realized the power and beauty of a simple about-face. Turn around to the west, and you confront one of the finest sights on our continent—Emerald Lake below, and the snow-capped President range beyond (figure 2.3), all lit, in late afternoon, by the falling sun. Walcott found some wonderful fossils on the Burgess ridge, but I now have a visceral appreciation of why, well into his seventies, he rode the transcontinental trains year after year, to spend long summers in tents and on horseback. I also understand the appeal of Walcott’s principal avocation—landscape photography, including pioneering work in the technology of wide-angle, panoramic shots (figure 2.4).
But the Burgess Shale does not hide in an inaccessible wilderness. It resides in Yoho National Park, near the tourist centers of Banff and Lake Louise. Thanks to the Canadian Pacific Railway, whose hundred-car freights still thunder through the mountains almost continuously, the Burgess Shale lies on
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