Dictionary of Scientific Biography

seems to have told Lhwyd that he had already formed a theory explaining the origin of fossils, then still a matter for debate. In 1690 Lhwyd wrote to a friend stating that Woodward seemed well informed for his age but that he doubted that he was sufficiently experienced to satisfy others on such a debatable matter. This visit to Gloucestershire, however, led Woodward to adopt the study of geology and mineralogy as one of his major interests for the rest of his life. Meanwhile he continued to study medicine and botany.

In 1692, at the age of twenty-seven, Woodward was appointed professor of physic at Gresham College, London. His candidature had been supported by Barwick and Plot, among others. Evidently his abilities had now become more widely known. Barwick stated in his testimonial that Woodward “had made the greatest advance not only in physick, anatomy, botany, . . . but likewise in all other useful learning of any man I ever knew of his age . . .,” and that he was “very much respected upon this account by persons of the greatest judgement and learning.” Not long after his appointment Woodward took up residence at Gresham College. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society in 1693, and in 1695 was awarded the degree of doctor of medicine by special dispensation of Thomas Tenison, archbishop of Canterbury. In 1696 Woodward was granted an M.D. by the University of Cambridge, and he was elected fellow of the College of Physicians in March 1703. As a lecturer in Gresham College his obligations were relatively light, and he established himself as a practicing physician at least as early as 1709. In 1718 he published his only medical work, The State of Physick and of Diseases . . . More Particularly of the Smallpox. The treatment he recommended contradicted the views of some eminent contemporary physicians, notably Richard Mead, and led to a duel between the latter and Woodward.

Woodward continued to reside at Gresham College until his death. He spent much time cataloging his geological and mineralogical specimens, and his museum was often visited by other naturalists, who have left accounts of it. Contemporary records show that, at least in later life, Woodward, although not without friends, was a man of unattractive character, conceited, quarrelsome, and dogmatic. He quarreled with the council of the Royal Society and made enemies of other naturalists. His contributions to science were nevertheless of considerable importance.

Woodward made a valuable contribution to botanical science as a result of a series of systematic experiments on plant nutrition carried out in 1691 and 1692, a detailed account of which was published by the Royal Society in 1699. The most important result of this investigation was a clear demonstration that the greater part of the water absorbed by a growing plant is exhaled through its pores into the atmosphere. This was the first demonstration of transpiration. Woodward also claimed that the food of plants is not water, but the mineral substances dissolved in the water.

Woodward is chiefly remembered for his contributions to the earth sciences. In his first contribution, Essay Toward a Natural History of the Earth (1695), which he claimed was based on his own observations, Woodward assumed that the earth formerly had been submerged beneath a universal deluge, the waters of which had originated in a central abyss within the earth. These waters had dissolved, or disintegrated and held in suspension, all the stony and mineral matter forming the outer crust of the earth. At the same time all the animals and plants then living were submerged in the waters but were not destroyed beyond recognition. From the confused mass that had formed, the matter in suspension, both organic and inorganic, subsided in an order determined, so far as was possible, by the specific gravity of the individual components. Thus a stratigraphic succession was formed in which the specific gravity of both the organic remains and the rock matrix in which they occurred decreased gradually in passing upward in the succession.

Woodward asserted unequivocally that the fossil organic remains that had been found in rocks were definitely the remains of living animals or plants, a view not universally held at that time. The term “fossil” was then widely used to denote anything that was dug out of the earth, whether mineral substances or organic remains. In Woodward's terminology stones and minerals were “native” fossils, and organic remains were “extraneous” fossils.

Woodward had observed that particular rock formations might contain a different assemblage of extraneous fossil forms to those occurring in beds above or below the formation. While he realized that this observation required explanation, it is perhaps not surprising that he failed to recognize the true explanation; and the one he offered was soon criticized.

Woodward's Essay was widely read both in Great Britain and, in translation, in other European countries. The great Swiss naturalist J. J. Scheuchzer was converted by the Essay to belief