Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
and published a short topic that shared the fossil's name. Scheuchzer's discovery of a hu-
man witness to the Flood not only showed that a world of sinners drowned but that they
were giants, just like the Bible implied when it said “there were giants in the earth in those
days” (Genesis 6:4). Scheuchzer had a ready answer for the dearth of human remains in the
rocks laid down by the Flood. The bones of innocent animals were to remind us of their
sacrifice, whereas the rarity of human remains confirmed that sinners deserved condemna-
tion to eternal oblivion.
Convinced he had found proof of Noah's Flood, Scheuchzer spent his last years com-
piling his
Sacred Physics
, in which he sought to harmonize natural history with scriptural
truths. He proposed that the fountains of the deep had burst forth when the hand of God lit-
erally reached out and applied the brakes to Earth's rotation, stopping the world dead in its
tracks, splitting continents apart and spilling out subterranean seas to produce the biblical
flood.
That idea didn't catch on, but Scheuchzer's human flood victim was a sensation. A mu-
seum in Haarlem acquired
Homo diluvii
to show it off to the faithful. Although natural
philosophers decided within a few decades that it probably was just a big fish, it remained a
popular attraction until 1812, when the prominent French anatomist Georges Cuvier, whom
we'll meet shortly, authoritatively declared it otherwise. Ironically for a talented naturalist,
Scheuchzer's faith that the geologic record told the story of Noah's Flood led him to the
colossal blunder he is still lampooned for today. As Cuvier pointed out, Scheuchzer's flood
victim was a giant amphibian.
