Awful changes

Awful changes, by Henry Thomas De la Beche (1796-1855). This cartoon makes fun of the outlandish concept put forward by geologists such as Charles Lyell (1797-1875) that geological and biological history was cyclical and therefore extinct animals could return to the Earth. Professor Ichthyosaur is lecturing to a class of ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs about the fossilized skull of a now extinct Mankind, stating that it must have belonged to some lower order of animals on account of the poor development of the teeth and jaws. Lithograph

1796-1855 1797-1875 Account Awful Beche Belonged Biological Changes Cyclical Geological Geologists Ichthyosaur Ichthyosaurs Jaws Lecturing Lyell Mankind Outlandish Plesiosaurs Stating Therefore

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