Interest In Fossils Research Articles

The obstetrician, the surgeon and the premature birth of the world's first dinosaur: William Hunter and James Parkinson

Abstract William Hunter (1718–83) and James Parkinson (1755–1824) were both London-based surgeons with a passion for palaeontology, willing to advocate that the extinction of species had occurred when this viewpoint was seen as controversially arguing for a ‘flawed Creator’. Although there is no evidence that they ever corresponded, let alone met, they had mutual connections, such as Jean André de Luc (1728–1817) and William's youngest brother, John Hunter (1728–93). More importantly, they are united by their shared interest in fossils, the expansion of both their collections through the great Leverian Auction, and the desire to write the first introductory explanatory text on fossils at a time when fossils were only beginning to be accepted as the remains of extinct organisms. This paper looks at the connections between these individuals during a period of great intellectual change, and how Parkinson's magnum opus ‘Organic Remains’ – very much the prototype for today's pan-collection popular books on fossils or dinosaurs – subsequently influenced Hunter's collections in the nineteenth century, part of their posthumous mutual impact on each other's palaeontological legacy.

Amateur paleontological societies and fossil clubs, interactions with professional paleontologists, and social paleontology in the United States

Considerable interest exists among lifelong learners in the USA about fossils and the science of paleontology. Unlike some other science-related groups, e.g., astronomy and ornithology, interest in fossils among amateur paleontologists is primarily focused within local clubs and societies with little national coordination. This paper presents the results of formative evaluation of the FOSSIL project, conducted after the project “Kickoff” meeting held at the NAPC (North American Paleontological Convention) in 2014. FOSSIL is developing a national networked community of practice that includes amateur and professional paleontologists. Our research indicates that more than 60 amateur fossil clubs and societies exist in the USA, of which almost 40 have elected to be part of the FOSSIL network. Overarching goals of this program include enhanced collaborations between amateurs and professionals, knowledge-building about paleontology, access to resources for lifelong learning, and development a viable learning community of practice focused on topics of common and societal interest, such as collections (including digitization), evolution, climate change, and K-12 outreach. In addition to more traditional means such as list-serves and newsletters, FOSSIL is developing an online community (myFOSSIL) and using social media (Facebook and Twitter) to foster communication and interactions among stakeholders, and thus promoting the concept of “social paleontology”. Bruce J. MacFadden. Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 USA, bmacfadd@flmnh.ufl.edu Lisa Lundgren. School of Teaching and Learning, College of Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 USA, lisa.lundgren@ufl.edu Kent Crippen. School of Teaching and Learning, College of Education, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 USA, kcrippen@coe.ufl.edu Betty A. Dunckel. Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 USA, bdunckel@flmnh.ufl.edu Shari Ellis. Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611 USA, sellis@ufl.edu

Edouard Poty: a bio- and bibliography

‘Generalist’ is a qualifying word that best describes Edouard – ‘Eddy’ – Poty in term of knowledge. He is not just a well-known palaeontologist. Passionate in all branches of geology, he developed an exceptional background and became one of the very few feeling comfortable out of his area of expertise and capable of seeing the bridges connecting field observations. His research and publications do not necessarily reflect his wide knowledge but those who have or have had the chance to work with him know that Eddy is a living encyclopedia. Moreover, his interest largely crosses over the borders of geology and he can with erudition discuss archaeology, history, architecture, volcanoes, anthropology, literature, cuisine and wine! To understand the man, let us visit his career. Born in 1949 in Seraing, near Liege in Belgium, the young Eddy quickly found his interest in fossils after he discovered brachiopods in the excavation made for the construction of a bridge in Esneux. His first fossils… and the beginning of a life-long passion for geology. During his childhood and teenage years, he used to search for fossils and minerals while on holiday with his parents, but also around Liege. In 1967, he entered the University of Liege to study geology (at that time ‘Geological and Mineralogical Sciences’) and learned from Prof. Belliere, Michot and Ubaghs among others. Four years later he presented his master’s thesis on Visean corals. His scientific career was not yet cast because mili

MEMORIAL TO LUKAS HOTTINGER (1933-2011)

Lukas Hottinger, micropaleontologist and longtime professor for geology and paleontology at the University of Basel passed away peacefully on September 4, 2011 in Allschwil, Switzerland. He was born in Dusseldorf (Germany) on February 25, 1933, into a family of medical doctors as son of Prof. Adolf Hottinger, pediatrist, and Dr. Greta Hottinger-Cahn, a chemist of Swiss nationality. Because of Nazi oppression, the family decided early to move back to Allschwil, Switzerland. Lukas attended primary and secondary school in Basel with summer courses in Neuchâtel (Switzerland) and Exeter (England). In 1952, he received his Matura (university entrance qualification) from the Humanistische Gymnasium (classical Greek and Latin). His early interest in fossils and geology was awakened by an uncle, who offered him his fossil and mineral collection without labels, obviously requiring some detective work. A few years later, his father handed Lukas a letter of recommendation to introduce him to August Buxtorf, an oil geologist and later professor and head of the Geological and Paleontological Institute in Basel. Buxtorf, sitting behind the typical large and heavy dark desk of a professor of that time, welcomed Lukas by reciting the famous poem of Oswald Heer on Miocene fossils from Oeningen—an experience that Lukas described as his first contact with fossil communities and their significance. This attracted his interest in earth sciences and in 1952 he entered the University of Basel to study geology and paleontology with additional courses in zoology, comparative anatomy, botany, and marine biology. For him, the study of earth sciences opened up the potential to travel and explore the world. In 1956, his future doctoral advisor, professor Manfred Reichel, offered him a thesis topic where he was asked to develop a high-resolution biostratigraphy for species of the larger benthic foraminiferal genus Alveolina by means of biometry. At this time, the …

NORMAN GARY LANE: PRESIDENT OF THE PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY (1987–1988) AND FOUNDER OF “FRIENDS OF THE ECHINODERMS” (1967)

Norman Gary Lane (1930–2006), president of the Paleontological Society (1987–88) and founder of “Friends of the Echinoderms” (1967), contributed to the lives of each of the authors of this essay. He was an excellent paleontologist, a very fine person, and our friend. He influenced each of us, in ways large and small, and through his wisdom, insight, and sheer human decency he helped each of us to become better scientists, better teachers, and better human beings. We are proud to number ourselves among a great many for whom Gary Lane was a role model. Gary Lane (Fig. 1) was born in French Lick, Indiana, on February 19, 1930. In his early childhood the family moved to Sidell, Illinois, where for many years his father owned and operated the small-town newspaper that served the local farming community. Following graduation from high school, Gary attended Oberlin College in northeastern Ohio—at that time and for many decades earlier regarded as among the most outstanding of all liberal arts colleges—from which he received his Bachelor's degree in Geology in 1952. Even in his student days Gary delighted in carrying out geologic field work. This, coupled with the accessibility of the kindly (if demanding) faculty of the Oberlin Geology Department, kindled Gary's interest in fossils and the history of life, just as it spurred on two of his classmates, E. G. Driscoll and J. A. Fagerstom, each of whom, like Gary, were later to become professors of paleontology. Figure 1 —Norman Gary Lane (1930–2006) Gary obtained his graduate education at the University of Kansas, where he studied with the distinguished paleontologist Raymond C. Moore (lead author of the famous Moore-Lalicker-Fischer textbook, the “Bible of Invertebrate Paleontology” in the 1950s and '60s). His Masters thesis (1954) was a study of the Lower Permian Grenola Limestone in …

Barnum Brown: Dinosaur Hunter (review)

Reviewed by: Dragon Dancing Hope Morrison Schaefer, Carole Lexa Dragon Dancing; illus. by Pierr Morgan. Viking, 200732p ISBN 0-670-06084-4$16.99 R 3-6 yrs Nineteenth-century paleontology was clearly no gentlemanly affair; first Othniel Marsh and Edward Cope raced, feuded, and cheated to discover specimens for their respective museums. Then, with a public crazed for all things dino, a Second Great Dinosaur Rush was just over the horizon, and one of its main contestants, Barnum Brown of the American Museum of Natural History in New York, would rank among the most successful fossil hunters. In this picture-book account, Sheldon delves back into Brown's childhood to establish his early interest in fossils but spends most of the time on Brown's adult career, with particular emphasis on his discovery of Tyrannosaurus rex and subsequent finds of nearly complete skeletons. While some of the meatier details (Cope's and Marsh's intentional destruction of sites; the inaccuracy of the T. rex's originally reconstructed posture) are saved for the closing note, there's plenty of juice in the story about keen rivalries and surprising finds. Mixed-media scenes blend solidly rendered literal interpretations of the action in the text, more translucent depictions of Brown's imaginings, and a rather fanciful spread of five grinning, chummy dinos unearthed by the Brown and the rival Sternberg expeditions. Quibbles notwithstanding, the popularity of T. rex among young dinophiles should secure this title a place on their must-read list. Copyright © 2007 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

The power to educate and inspire

Fossils have the power to educate and inspire outside the specialist world of palaeontologists. Dinosaurs as a topic have captured the imagination of children worldwide, and are a theme used prolifically to inspire learning by early childhood educators. Fossils have the potential to unlock the minds of many ordinary people as they ignite curiosity, marvel, wonder and interest. Where do the discoveries, facts and findings of palaeontologists go after they've been published and let out into the public arena? How are they utilised? Does a child who loves dinosaurs have to become a paleontologist? Or can such an interest be a stepping-stone to other things? The following observations are a result of an interest in fossils, a career in education in Queensland and the Northern Territory, and work with both state museums.

Developing new tourism services: Dinosaurs, a new drive tourism resource for remote regions?

This paper examines issues encountered when developing new tourism services generally, and specific aspects relating to the development of remote area dinosaur fossil fields for tourism. It studies two sites, one in the USA and one in Australia. Access to both sites is by minor roads, and both sites are characterised by long drives separating the sites from small communities that offer limited infrastructure and few other attractions for visitors. In both areas, however, tourism is seen as one of the few possible ways to sustain existing communities in the face of declining primary-industry-based employment. In general, tourists visiting these areas are on touring holidays of two weeks’ duration or more where the attraction is the general attributes of the region as well as to a lesser extent their interest in dinosaur fossils. These provide a potential resource for remote-region economic development through commodification as a new tourism attraction. Development of dinosaur fossil finds as a tourism resource is conceptualised here as new service development. Developing new tourism services, especially in remote regions, is challenging and has not been well examined in the tourism literature. The new service development process used in this case study first examines the characteristics of the existing tourists travelling through the region. The characteristics of a number of potential market segments currently interested in dinosaur fossils were then examined and contrasted with the existing market. This is conceptualised on a specialist-generalist spectrum of interest in fossils. A study of the tourist service features associated with dinosaur fossil tourism in remote regions of the USA was conducted, leading to the identification of a number of possible incremental development opportunities. The paper then takes a strategic approach to examining potential new tourism service development related to dinosaur fossils in remote regions of Queensland, Australia. In particular, it describes use of information about existing services in similar regions as the basis for ideas about development as well as comparison between existing and potential markets.

Brüder, Geister und Fossilien: Eduard Mörikes Erfahrungen der Umwelt by Thomas Wolf (review)

MLRy 98.4, 2003 1049 Bruder, Geister und Fossilien: Eduard Mbrikes Erfahrungen der Umwelt. By Thomas Wolf. (Untersuchungen zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte, 108) Tiibingen: Niemeyer. 2001. vi + 202pp. ?28.63. ISBN 3-484-32108-3 (pbk). Morike's poetry, like that of his contemporaries Droste and Heine, shares with its readers the minutest details of the author's everyday life, and Thomas Wolf's book, which explores three aspects of Morike's life in equally minute and affectionate de? tail, is therefore welcome. Admittedly, the aspects dealt with in Wolf's loosely linked essays seem incommensurable. An account of Morike's difficultrelationships with his four brothers sits oddly alongside studies of his interest in the supernatural (intertwined with a survey of his relationship with Justinus Kerner) and of the passion for collecting fossils which occupied him in the 1840s. They are united by the author's intention to document the engagement of the supposedly reclusive Morike with the world around him. Ofthe Morike brothers, August died at the age of 17, while Karl and Adolph caused Eduard endless worry through their misdemeanours. Adolph, a carpenter, took to dissipation and fraud, and eventually lost contact with his siblings; Karl, a civil servant, got himself into political trouble through scarcely believable folly and dishonesty, which he compounded by blackmail and forgery,and his death from tuberculosis in 1848 must have caused some relief. Morike found refuge from these distresses in his complementary hobbies, a late-Romantic fascination with the spirit world and a realistic interest in fossils (in which he was conscious offollowing Goethe). The parsonage at Cleversulzbach was thought to be haunted by the ghost of a previous incumbent. Strange noises, shufflingfeet, rappings, and even shots were heard whenever visitors came to stay. Had Wolf treated these matters less flippantly,he might have enquired into the probable connections between poltergeist phenomena and emotional disturbance , and concluded that the Morike household was even less idyllic than its image. He offersmore interpretative suggestions in his chapter on fossil-hunting, forwhich he has examined the fivehundred or so surviving specimens of Morike's fossil collec? tion, and concludes that Morike's interest in palaeontology was aesthetic rather than scientific. It would have been good to learn more about Morike's scientific assumptions , his conception of geological epochs (in one place, perhaps jokingly, he estimates a fossil's age at eight thousand years), and their relation to the Bible: Wolf directs us to the poem 'Gottliche Reminiszenz', which fails back on biblical chronology. Although an overall argument is lacking, and although Wolf concentrates on bio? graphical details rather than exploring links with Morike's poetry or with wider intellectual currents, he has given us a readable, attractive, and suggestive book, presenting material that is otherwise scattered throughout the Historisch-kritische Gesamtausgabe and numerous far-flungpublications. Although slight by comparison with Susanne Fliegner's much more coherent and wide-ranging study, Der Dichter und die Dilettanten: Eduard Morikes Lyrik und die biirgerlicheGeselligkeitskultur des ig. Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1991), Wolf's book forms a useful supplement to Fliegner's important monograph. St John's College, Oxford Ritchie Robertson Nestroy: Die Launen des Gliickes. By Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler. Vienna: Zsolnay . 2001. 175 pp. ?15.90. ISBN 3-552-05173-2 (hbk). Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler's monograph, published in 2001 to mark the two-hundredth anniversary of Nestroy's birth, is a multi-layered and undogmatic, enlightening and thought-provoking piece of work. It belongs in a small category of critical studies that have appeal for both the specialist and the lay reader in that it is written 1050 Reviews in a lively and accessible style and combines acute critical insight and an informed, sympathetic response to the plays. In a brief compass the author covers an amazing amount of territory,of which only a few examples can be mentioned here. He provides an extremely helpful survey of editorial and critical scholarship on Nestroy from the publication of the Chiavacci-Ganghofer edition to the completion of the new critical edition of Nestroy's works, the Historisch-kritische Ausgabe (HKA), pointing out and accounting for the widely differentcritical responses the works and the editions have provoked. Worthy of special mention here...

Brüder, Geister und Fossilien: Eduard Mörikes Erfahrungen der Umwelt by Thomas Wolf (review)

MLRy 98.4, 2003 1049 Bruder, Geister und Fossilien: Eduard Mbrikes Erfahrungen der Umwelt. By Thomas Wolf. (Untersuchungen zur deutschen Literaturgeschichte, 108) Tiibingen: Niemeyer. 2001. vi + 202pp. ?28.63. ISBN 3-484-32108-3 (pbk). Morike's poetry, like that of his contemporaries Droste and Heine, shares with its readers the minutest details of the author's everyday life, and Thomas Wolf's book, which explores three aspects of Morike's life in equally minute and affectionate de? tail, is therefore welcome. Admittedly, the aspects dealt with in Wolf's loosely linked essays seem incommensurable. An account of Morike's difficultrelationships with his four brothers sits oddly alongside studies of his interest in the supernatural (intertwined with a survey of his relationship with Justinus Kerner) and of the passion for collecting fossils which occupied him in the 1840s. They are united by the author's intention to document the engagement of the supposedly reclusive Morike with the world around him. Ofthe Morike brothers, August died at the age of 17, while Karl and Adolph caused Eduard endless worry through their misdemeanours. Adolph, a carpenter, took to dissipation and fraud, and eventually lost contact with his siblings; Karl, a civil servant, got himself into political trouble through scarcely believable folly and dishonesty, which he compounded by blackmail and forgery,and his death from tuberculosis in 1848 must have caused some relief. Morike found refuge from these distresses in his complementary hobbies, a late-Romantic fascination with the spirit world and a realistic interest in fossils (in which he was conscious offollowing Goethe). The parsonage at Cleversulzbach was thought to be haunted by the ghost of a previous incumbent. Strange noises, shufflingfeet, rappings, and even shots were heard whenever visitors came to stay. Had Wolf treated these matters less flippantly,he might have enquired into the probable connections between poltergeist phenomena and emotional disturbance , and concluded that the Morike household was even less idyllic than its image. He offersmore interpretative suggestions in his chapter on fossil-hunting, forwhich he has examined the fivehundred or so surviving specimens of Morike's fossil collec? tion, and concludes that Morike's interest in palaeontology was aesthetic rather than scientific. It would have been good to learn more about Morike's scientific assumptions , his conception of geological epochs (in one place, perhaps jokingly, he estimates a fossil's age at eight thousand years), and their relation to the Bible: Wolf directs us to the poem 'Gottliche Reminiszenz', which fails back on biblical chronology. Although an overall argument is lacking, and although Wolf concentrates on bio? graphical details rather than exploring links with Morike's poetry or with wider intellectual currents, he has given us a readable, attractive, and suggestive book, presenting material that is otherwise scattered throughout the Historisch-kritische Gesamtausgabe and numerous far-flungpublications. Although slight by comparison with Susanne Fliegner's much more coherent and wide-ranging study, Der Dichter und die Dilettanten: Eduard Morikes Lyrik und die biirgerlicheGeselligkeitskultur des ig. Jahrhunderts (Stuttgart: Metzler, 1991), Wolf's book forms a useful supplement to Fliegner's important monograph. St John's College, Oxford Ritchie Robertson Nestroy: Die Launen des Gliickes. By Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler. Vienna: Zsolnay . 2001. 175 pp. ?15.90. ISBN 3-552-05173-2 (hbk). Wendelin Schmidt-Dengler's monograph, published in 2001 to mark the two-hundredth anniversary of Nestroy's birth, is a multi-layered and undogmatic, enlightening and thought-provoking piece of work. It belongs in a small category of critical studies that have appeal for both the specialist and the lay reader in that it is written ...

Bryozoans and corsetry: the palaeontological work of George Robert Vine (1825–1893) of Sheffield

George Robert Vine was a Sheffield-based stay- (corset-) maker and amateur naturalist who also specialized in the study of bryozoans. He was born near Portsmouth into a poor family and received a limited school education. He was largely self-taught and spent a period in his youth engaged in various trades, as well as being active in the movement for social reform. In the 1850s he moved to Ireland to take up employment as a manager of a corset factory, married and had one daughter. He subsequently returned to Britain, where he had further children. He finally settled in Sheffield when he established a business as a stay-maker. His interest in fossils dated from his Irish sojourn and, in the late 1870s, he developed a fascination with Carboniferous foraminifera and bryozoans in particular. He published about 75 papers on bryozoans between 1877 and 1893. In particular, an ambitious series of British Association for the Advancement of Science reports on British fossil and Recent faunas are his most valuable contribution to bryozoological research, and he is principally remembered today as the author of the Order Cryptostomata. With his son, he sold micropalaeontological specimens from his home in order to augment his income. Vine's specimens are distinctive and many are now housed in several museums in the United Kingdom.

PRESENTATION OF THE HARRELL L. STRIMPLE AWARD TO DEAN PEARSON

Dean Pearson functions as a professional paleontologist on all levels and is making amazing contributions to the paleontology of southwestern North Dakota. At 43, he is probably the youngest Strimple Award winner but his contributions easily merit the recognition of this award. In his two day jobs, Dean is a feed mill manager at Equity Feeds on Scranton, North Dakota and is the Bowman County Emergency Manager. He has had a strong interest in the natural world and paleontology since the age of six when he found a fragment of fossil turtle shell on a hike with his father to the top of Chalky Butte, the highest point in North Dakota. In 1983, in an attempt to revisit that site, a 26-yr-old Dean found the humerus of a fossil rhinoceros, which re-ignited his interest in fossils. He contacted the North Dakota Geological Survey, who put him in touch with John Hoganson, a newly hired paleontologist. John introduced him to Mike Williams from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History who was collecting dinosaur fossils in the Hell Creek Formation and Dean began to work with Mike. This began a pattern where Dean would meet and work with visiting professionals. He learned from them and eventually began to collaborate with them. Now they come to him for advice. Dean is a voracious reader and his ability to acquire knowledge is one of his more impressive talents. He takes careful notes and asks thoughtful and practical questions. And he remembers …

Molding and Casting Fossils for Geology Laboratories

The study of fossils in introductory geology serves as an important link between sedimentary rocks, geologic structures, plate tectonics, and geologic time. In addition, there is a strong public interest in fossils and paleontology. Unfortunately, fossil labs in introductory geology usually offer minimal, if any, coverage of major fossil groups. One factor contributing to this lack of coverage is the cost and availability of specimens.A reasonable solution is to produce molds of key fossils and to utilize casts for teaching collections. The use of casts is not a new concept, nor is the making of molds. However, directions for producing high-quality, reusable molds can be difficult to find. Latex, which is relatively inexpensive, has long been utilized as a molding agent; however, latex molds are easily distorted, do not reproduce fine details, and have poor durability. Although the initial investment required is high, vulcanized silicone-rubber molds will reproduce the finest of detail and are virtually indestructible. Literally thousands of casts can be produced from a single mold. If properly colored, fossil casts are nearly indistinguishable from original specimens.

The accumulation and disposal of Gideon Mantell's fossil collections and their role in the history of British palaeontology

Through his early interest in fossils, Mantell participated in the geological exploration of the Weald and the Chalk Downs around Lewes. The material he accumulated contributed to the descriptive phase of British palaeontology and formed his notable museums at Lewes and Brighton, before its eventual acquisition by the British Museum. The nature of his collections, their significance and use in the interpretation of both vertebrate and invertebrate fossils and our knowledge of Cretaceous faunas, are discussed.

II. On the osteology of the genus glyptodon

Part I.— The history of the discovery and determination of the remains of the Hoplophoridæ, or animals allied to, or identical with, Glyptodon clavipes . The earliest notice of the discovery of the remains of Glyptodon -like animals is contained in the following extract from a letter, addressed to M. Auguste St. Hilaire by Don Damasio Laranga, Curé of Monte Video, which appears in a note at p. 191 of the fifth volume of the first edition of Cuvier’s ‘Ossemens Fossiles,’ published in 1823:— “I do not write to you about my Dasypus ( Megatherium , Cuv.), because I propose to make it the subject of a memoir which, I trust, may not be unworthy of the attention of those European savants who take an interest in fossils. I will merely say that I have obtained a femur, which was found in the Rio del Sauce, a branch of the Saulis Grande. It weighs about seven pounds, and may be six or eight inches wide. In all points it resembles the femur of an Armadillo. I will send you one of its scales. The tail, as you have seen, is very short and very large; it also possesses scutes, but they are not arranged in rings, or in whorls. These fossils are met with, almost at the surface, in alluvial, or diluvial, formations of a very recent date. It would seem that similar remains exist in analogous strata near Lake Merrim, on the frontier of the Portuguese colonies.”