Dinosaur Skeletons in Brussels

Abstract

WE regret to learn that the remarkable skeletons of the Wealden Dinosaur Iguanodon, which form the most striking feature of the Royal Museum of Natural History in Brussels, are beginning to decay. The bones are unfortunately much pyritised, and being exposed to moist air, the pyrites becomes oxidised and causes disintegration. The director of the Museum, Dr. Victor Van Straelen, has for some time arranged to treat the more fragile parts with preservatives, but he realises that the only method of permanent preservation is to enclose the specimens in glass cases in which the air can be kept dry. He has accordingly induced the Belgian Government to ask Parliament for a sum of money sufficient to provide the cases. The Belgian Senate, however, I after an animated discussion, has refused the appro priation on the ground that the preservation of these I fossils is not worth the needed expenditure. To this Dr. Van Straelen has fittingly replied, that if the Belgian nation is unwilling to preserve so great a scientific treasure, the skeletons of Iguanodon should be offered for sale to museums in other countries, which would be glad to acquire them and keep them intact for research. Palæontologists everywhere will certainly endorse this proposition. The Belgian Senate, years ago, provided a large sum of money to obtain the unique collection of Iguanodons and I other important fossils from the mine of Bernissart, to the great benefit of science and the enlightenment; of the Belgian people. It is to be hoped that the Senate may yet reconsider its present retrograde step.