Interest In Paleontology Research Articles

1990s dinomania: Public and popular cultures of palaeontology from Jurassic Park to Friends

In the 1990s, the English-speaking world was swept up in a deluge of popular cultural content on palaeontology. Dinosaurs were featured in programming ranging from B-movie horrors to children's cartoon franchises to popular novels. In some ways, this widespread public interest in palaeontology was mirroring broader public and scientific conflicts such as the Alverez hypothesis, the ‘birds are dinosaurs’ debate, ownership rights over dinosaur fossils, intelligent design and creationism in schools, and major DNA sequencing projects. But in other ways, this popular culture material existed beyond these specific debates, and speaks to the ways that depictions of palaeontology fostered public understanding of science in this period. Perhaps no two depictions of palaeontology frame different, and in some ways conflicting, aspects of the field better than two of the biggest popular culture phenomena of the 1990s: Jurassic Park and Friends. Jurassic Park, for which we are approaching the 30th anniversary of its initial release, spawned two sequels within a decade, and three more since then. The heroes of the original movie were two palaeontologists, Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern). Friends, which aired 1994-2004, was certainly the most successful sitcom of the period and one of the most popular television shows of all time. One of the six main characters, Ross Geller (David Schwimmer), is a palaeontologist, who at the beginning of the series works for the American Museum of Natural History and by the show's conclusion, has received tenure at New York University. The depiction of palaeontology in these two programs could not be more different. Drs. Grant and Sattler are competent action heroes, whose expertise regarding dinosaur morphology and behaviour are central to both their survival and their identity. Notably, the filmmakers for Jurassic Park centred the science of palaeontology in its story, working close with palaeontologist Jack Horner. They were also helped by the fact that their source material, Michael Crichton's 1990 novel of the same name, closely engages with scientific ideas and ethics. For Ross Geller on the other hand, his career as a palaeontologist is only on the outskirts of the TV series. Viewers occasionally saw Ross in professional settings (the classroom, the museum, a conference, a fellowship interview), but are not provided with enough information to even determine what sort of research he even does. The focus is always on his personal life; his interest in dinosaurs is just one aspect of his personality, one that does not even get mentioned in many episodes. It thus offers an unusual representation of scientists and science as fully integrated into society and the lived experiences of non-scientists. The palaeoscience occurs off-screen as a facet of the character rather than their defining characteristic. In this article, the authors will situate Friends and Jurassic Park within the dinosaur-mania of the 1990s, while analysing the different versions of palaeontological study that they projected to the public. It will draw connections between how palaeontology was depicted on-screen to the major real-life debates and discoveries in the field at the same time.

Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier Transform Infrared (ATR FT-IR) Spectroscopy Sensitivity to the Thermal Decay of Bone Collagen.

The analysis of collagen stability is of interest in forensics, archaeology, and molecular paleontology. Collagen decay rates are often measured by thermal kinetic studies that employ liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to assay collagen quantities. However, these kinetic studies generally focus on measuring the decreasing levels of collagen instead of an exact molecular concentration of each sample. Thus, attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR FT-IR) spectroscopy can offer a simpler and less expensive alternative to LC-MS. The application of a new protocol to determine decreasing amounts of bone collagen in artificially decayed porcine and bovine bone was assessed. The protocol uses a forensic application of ATR FT-IR spectroscopy on size-restricted bone powder from three uniformly high temperature conditions. Also, for the first time, collagen-specific second-harmonic generation (SHG) imaging was also applied to artificially aged bone to add an independent, qualitative perspective to parallel FT-IR assessments. SHG images and ATR FT-IR spectra together reveal the same orderly bone collagen decay as found in previous thermal kinetic studies. Resulting Arrhenius plots with r2 values > 0.95 suggest that the ATR FT-IR-based protocol has potential as a precise and simple tool for measuring bone collagen decay rates. The results are significant for applications of thermal kinetic studies, and our protocol can serve as an inexpensive, precise, and pragmatic means of evaluating bone collagen stability within an array of conditions.

A STUDY OF ECO-LITERACY AS A COMPONENT OF NATURALISTIC INTELLIGENCE AMONGST IN-SERVICE SCHOOL TEACHERS

Being ecologically literate, or Eco literate, means, in our view, understanding the basic principles of ecology and being able to embody them in the daily life of human communities' Fritjof Capra Eco-literacy or ecological literacy is the ability to understand the organization of natural systems and the processes that maintain the healthy functioning of living systems and sustain life on Earth. The term Eco literacy was rst published 16 years ago by Capra (1997), who founded the Center for Eco literacy. An ecologically literate person is able to apply this understanding to the design and organization of our human communities and the creation of a regenerative culture. In 1983, Howard Garner revised the earlier notions of intelligence with his Theory of Multiple Intelligences, which set forth eight distinct types of intelligence and claimed that there need be no correlation among them. Naturalistic Intelligence features is one among the eight intelligences listed by Gardner. Concept of Naturalistic Intelligence (NI): Gardner designates naturalistic intelligence as the human ability to discriminate among living things (plants, animals) as well as sensitivity to other features of the natural world (clouds, rock congurations). This intelligence has to do with observing, understanding, and organizing patterns in the natural environment. Children possessing naturalistic intelligence may enjoy subjects, shows, and stories that deal with animals or natural phenomena, or they may show unusual interest in subjects like biology, zoology, botany, geology, meteorology, paleontology, or astronomy. Naturalistic Intelligence may manifest itself in various dimensions and have many components such as Ÿ Pro-Environmental behavior Ÿ Eco-Literacy Ÿ Environmental Attitude Ÿ Eco-sensitivity etc

The Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society and its contribution to the study of the Chalk Group of northern England

Papers devoted to chalk-related topics have varied in frequency since the foundation of a geological society in Yorkshire. There have been contributions from vicars, corn merchants, a wallpaper manufacturer, a corset maker and a car salesman, as well as academics and professional geologists. Many early ideas have become established. Indeed, the concept of a Chalk Group Northern Province was suggested by the Reverend J.F. Blake as early as 1878. The keen observation and painstaking recording of other early workers such as Lamplugh on Flamborough Head were continued in the late twentieth century by, for example, Whitham and Mitchell, and the advent of modern technology enabled new dimensions of study. Following a ‘dark age’ of very few contributions, a 1978 publication, though short, finally proposed an accepted lithostratigraphy for the northern chalk that is distinct from that of the south, and in so doing became what might be considered a milestone paper. This ‘renaissance’ bloomed into a ‘golden age’; North Sea activities, advanced technology and a rekindling of interest in chalk stratigraphy and palaeontology all contributed to the publication of a spate of papers. Exactly 50% of all papers and over 50% of all authors involved were published between 1987 and the present day.

Global physical controls on estuarine habitat distribution during sea level change: Consequences for genetic diversification through time

Abstract Determining the extrinsic (physical) factors controlling speciation and diversification of species through time is of key interest in paleontology and evolutionary biology. The role of sea-level change in shaping species richness patterns of marginal marine species has received much attention, but with variable conclusions. Recent work combining genetic data and Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based habitat modeling yielded a framework for how geomorphology of continental margins mediates genetic connectivity of populations during sea-level change. This approach may ultimately yield insights on how distinct lineages, species, and biodiversity accumulate in coastal settings. Here, we expand this GIS work globally to different geomorphic settings to model estuarine habitat in a larger geographic framework and test how tectonic setting, oceanographic setting, climate, and margin age affect habitat distribution during sea-level change. In addition, independent of estuaries we explore paleobiologic (e.g. Olsson, 1961) and neontolologic effects of sea-level change on evolution, and test the relation between overall shelf area and species richness using data of 1721 fish species. We find 82% global reduction of estuarine habitat abundance at lowstand relative to highstand, and find large habitats change in size much more than small habitats. Consistent with prior work, narrow continental margins have significantly less habitat at highstand and lowstand than wide margins, and narrow margins significantly associate with fore-arc settings, effectively linking tectonic setting to habitat abundance. Surprisingly, narrow margins host greater species richness, a finding which violates the canonical species-area relation. This finding can be explained if: 1) the physical isolation imposed by narrow margins facilitates the formation of new species over time; 2) the size-stability of small habitats, which disproportionately occur on narrow margins, accumulate and retain species extirpated in the more variable habitats on wide margins; or 3) the smaller habitats on narrow margins facilitate greater species richness through greater habitat heterogeneity. These results are generally at odds with prior interpretations, but the combination of richness data and population genetic principles offer a different perspective on these long-studied questions. Finally, we emphasize that the nuance of Pleistocene-Holocene sea level oscillations should be more explicitly considered in genetic studies.

Beginnings

Rosalind Krauss remembers a trip to the caves of Ruffignac, Les Combarelles, and Pech Merle in France with Annette Michelson, made to celebrate the tenth anniversary of October magazine, which the two had founded in 1976. Krauss describes the significance of Michelson's interest in paleontology and her important translation of two chapters of André Leroi-Gerhoun's Prehistory of Western Art (published in October 37).

Fossil heritage conservation in Scotland

A globally significant palaeontological resource is an integral part of Scotland’s geoheritage. A strong amateur collector tradition, extending back over two centuries has helped fuel scientific advance with the fossil resource also supporting hobby collecting. However, during the long history of collecting activity, finite fossil resources have been under pressure with instances of large-scale collecting that has damaged some particularly vulnerable localities. Legislative provisions over recent decades offer robust site-based protection that will have safeguarded some of the best and most representative fossil localities. Additionally, the Scottish Fossil Code, the first national code of its type, has had a role in helping to raise awareness of Scotland’s fossil heritage and engender its responsible collecting and subsequent care. The Code as designed appears to be working to an extent. However bespoke site management approaches are required for the most vulnerable localities with additional site safeguard measures being adopted where required. Care is being given to ensure that ongoing and potential future efforts to curb occasional instances of damaging collecting activity do not operate to the detriment of the amateur collector tradition and the encouragement of interest in palaeontology particularly in younger and future generations.

Evolutionary lineages of marine snails identified using molecular phylogenetics and geometric morphometric analysis of shells

The relationship between morphology and inheritance is of perennial interest in evolutionary biology and palaeontology. Using three marine snail genera Penion, Antarctoneptunea and Kelletia, we investigate whether systematics based on shell morphology accurately reflect evolutionary lineages indicated by molecular phylogenetics. Members of these gastropod genera have been a taxonomic challenge due to substantial variation in shell morphology, conservative radular and soft tissue morphology, few known ecological differences, and geographical overlap between numerous species. Sampling all sixteen putative taxa identified across the three genera, we infer mitochondrial and nuclear ribosomal DNA phylogenetic relationships within the group, and compare this to variation in adult shell shape and size. Results of phylogenetic analysis indicate that each genus is monophyletic, although the status of some phylogenetically derived and likely more recently evolved taxa within Penion is uncertain. The recently described species P. lineatus is supported by genetic evidence. Morphology, captured using geometric morphometric analysis, distinguishes the genera and matches the molecular phylogeny, although using the same dataset, species and phylogenetic subclades are not identified with high accuracy. Overall, despite abundant variation, we find that shell morphology accurately reflects genus-level classification and the corresponding deep phylogenetic splits identified in this group of marine snails.

Dynamic Modelling of Tooth Deformation Using Occlusal Kinematics and Finite Element Analysis.

BackgroundDental biomechanics based on finite element (FE) analysis is attracting enormous interest in dentistry, biology, anthropology and palaeontology. Nonetheless, several shortcomings in FE modeling exist, mainly due to unrealistic loading conditions. In this contribution we used kinematics information recorded in a virtual environment derived from occlusal contact detection between high resolution models of an upper and lower human first molar pair (M1 and M1, respectively) to run a non-linear dynamic FE crash colliding test.MethodologyMicroCT image data of a modern human skull were segmented to reconstruct digital models of the antagonistic right M1 and M1 and the dental supporting structures. We used the Occlusal Fingerprint Analyser software to reconstruct the individual occlusal pathway trajectory during the power stroke of the chewing cycle, which was applied in a FE simulation to guide the M1 3D-path for the crash colliding test.ResultsFE analysis results showed that the stress pattern changes considerably during the power stroke, demonstrating that knowledge about chewing kinematics in conjunction with a morphologically detailed FE model is crucial for understanding tooth form and function under physiological conditions.Conclusions/SignificanceResults from such advanced dynamic approaches will be applicable to evaluate and avoid mechanical failure in prosthodontics/endodontic treatments, and to test material behavior for modern tooth restoration in dentistry. This approach will also allow us to improve our knowledge in chewing-related biomechanics for functional diagnosis and therapy, and it will help paleoanthropologists to illuminate dental adaptive processes and morphological modifications in human evolution.

Arthur Smith Woodward and his involvement in the study of human evolution

Abstract In 1884, Arthur Smith Woodward first met Charles Dawson, a solicitor and industrious amateur collector, antiquarian, geologist, archaeologist and palaeontologist. This began a long association and friendship centred on their mutual interest in palaeontology and human evolution. Dawson devised a complicated plot focused around the ancient river gravel deposits at Barkham Manor near the village of Piltdown, Sussex. In these gravels he planted stone tools and fossil mammal remains together with the lower jaw of an ape and numerous modern human cranial bones to deceive the scientific establishment into believing an early human ancestor had been found in his own back yard. Cleverly devised to provide anatomists and archaeologists with evidence for concepts that they wanted to believe were true, Dawson fuelled numerous contentious debates among scientists that quickly attracted international attention. Nothing could be more unfortunate than such a respectable scientist as Arthur Smith Woodward being taken in by the events of 1912, and then subsequently swept along by them well into his retirement right up to the time of his death in 1944.

Presentation of the Harrell L. Strimple Award of the Paleontological Society to John and Michael Topor

It is a great pleasure to introduce John and Mike Topor as the 2011 recipients of the Paleontological Society's Strimple Award recognizing outstanding contributions to our field by avocational paleontologists. Nearly 40 years ago, John and Mike, two brothers from Hamtramck, Michigan, were encouraged in their interest in paleontology by Professor Robert Kesling of the University of Michigan. Kesling and others, including Ruth Chilman, Jean Wright, and Aurele LaRocque, had just started a group called the “Friends of the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology” that met monthly in Ann Arbor and provided an informal setting in which a cross-section of professional and avocational paleontologists from southern Michigan and northern Ohio discussed specimens and ideas, planned field trips, and generally shared knowledge of our field. John and Mike soon became two of the most conscientious and energetic supporters of this group, managing work and family obligations so that they could attend these meetings each month, despite the two hour round trip. They continue today as core contributors to this group, frequently having served as its president and on its board of directors. John and Mike have collected fossils at many localities in the U.S. and Canada, but they soon developed a special affinity for Middle Devonian exposures along the Ausable River near Arkona and Thedford, Ontario. For over 30 years, they have maintained a three-season program of weekend fieldwork in one or another of the Arkona-area quarries, systematically collecting the full range of its marine fauna. Tireless, observant, and ingenious in the field, they realized that the disarticulated and fragmented remains that were abundant on surface exposures and that had satisfied other collectors for generations were the end-products of weathering and disaggregation of initially much more intact specimens preserved at depth in poorly indurated shales. By taking the time to excavate …

Presentation of the 2010 Harrell L. Strimple Award of the Paleontological Society to J. S. H. “Joe” Collins

This evening, it is an honor and delight to present to you Mr. J. S. H. Collins, known universally as Joe, who is the 2010 recipient of the Harrell L. Strimple Award. Joe was born within the sound of Bow Bells and brought up in London, and a worse place to develop an interest in field paleontology is hard to imagine. Favorite trips into town as a schoolboy included visits to the British Museum (Natural History) and Geological Museum in South Kensington. When he was ten years old, Joe was presented with his first book on paleontology, Webster Smith's ‘The World in its Past’ (1931). Finally, a school trip to Lyme Regis in 1939 gave young naturalist Joe his first taste of collecting fossils, one he enjoyed. Meanwhile, across the North Sea, Adolf Hitler was (inadvertently) doing what he could to encourage Joe's collecting. Evacuation to a small village near Liphook in Hampshire on the outbreak of war allowed Joe to further pursue his interests in natural history, mainly in entomology. After the war, Joe was in the Royal Navy for 16 days before being discharged ‘visually unfit for naval service’, a strange pronouncement for a man whose descriptions of fossil crustaceans abound with minute observations. Joe then worked for the Wellcome Foundation as an animal technologist in the Immunology and Histopathological departments for 21 years. From 1967 he owned a secondhand bookshop, specializing in natural history, from which he retired in 1989. All the while he was developing his interest in paleontology, and particularly decapod and cirripede crustaceans, the first specimens of which he collected from the Cretaceous Gault Clay in 1947. S.K.D. has been corresponding and working with the awardee since the late 1980s, so he reckons to know Joe's abilities and achievements well. Joe Collins has made an …

Fetal and infant growth patterns of the mandibular symphysis in modern humans and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

Comparison of the early development of the mandibular symphysis between primates and modern humans is of particular interest in human palaeontology. Using geometric morphometric methods, we explored and compared the ontogenetic shape changes of 14 chimpanzee mandibles (Pan troglodytes) against 66 human CT-scanned mandibles over the age range from fetal life to the complete emergence of the deciduous dentition in a visualization incorporating the deciduous tooth arrangement. The results reveal that the symphysis is anteriorly inclined in the youngest chimpanzee fetuses but develops an increasingly vertical orientation up until birth. At the same time, the anterior teeth reorient before a vertical emergence, and a symphyseal tuber appears on the labial side. When the deciduous canine emerges, the symphysis inclines anteriorly again, exhibiting the adult characteristic slope. These two phases are characterized by a repositioning of the simian shelf. Unlike chimpanzees, the human symphysis remains vertical throughout fetal development. However, the combination of morphological changes observed in chimpanzee fetuses is similar to that of modern humans after birth, as the mental region projects forward. By elongating the alveolar process, the inclination of the chimpanzee symphysis could be a key event for emergence of the deciduous canine, as space is lacking at the alveolar ridge in a vertical symphysis once the deciduous incisors and molars have emerged. The repositioning of the simian shelf suggests that the suprahyoid muscles have a significant influence on the anterior growth of the symphysis. The anteroposterior positioning of the basal symphysis in both species may be related to hyoid bone position during ontogeny.

Mörike's Fossils: The Poetics of Palaeontology

Eduard Mörike's keen interest in palaeontology is reflected in two poems which both address changing conceptions of natural time and their impact on religion, memory and imagination in the nineteenth century. Within the guise of a light-hearted Gelegenheitsgedicht, Mörike's 'Der Petrefaktensammler' explores the gulf between geological theories and human experience; the speaker's enjoyment of nature is curtailed by fossils acting as reminders of the relative brevity of human life. This realisation is replayed within a more allegorical context in Mörike's poem 'Göttliche Reminiscenz'. Here a fossil features as the centrepiece of an imaginary painting of the young Christ which brings together the realms of religion and science not as conflicting paradigms but as two models of explanation which can still be harmonised. Despite their apparent differences, then, the article argues that 'Der Petrefaktensammler' and 'Göttliche Reminiscenz' provide complementary insights into Mörike's mobilisation of palaeontology as a tool of his poetic imagination.

Norbert Perrimon

Norbert Perrimon

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 ...

LOCKLEY, M. & MEYER, C. 2000. Dinosaur Tracks and Other Fossil Footprints of Europe. xviii+323 pp. New York: Columbia University Press. Price US $30.00, £19.00 (hard covers). ISBN 0 231 10710 2.

LOCKLEY, M. & MEYER, C. 2000. Dinosaur Tracks and Other Fossil Footprints of Europe. xviii+323 pp. New York: Columbia University Press. Price US $30.00, £19.00 (hard covers). ISBN 0 231 10710 2. - Volume 137 Issue 5

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.

Report of the Secretary

The responsibilities of Secretary of this Society bring with them an opportunity to interact with the membership and the public. It is a job that offers a unique perspective on the profession and a general perception of the profession. There is no doubt but that a high level of interest in paleontology is present “out there” in the real world and people are interested in fossils. I continue to receive many, many requests for our educational brochures and there has been a surprising number of requests for membership information in the Society by people for whom paleontology is an avocation.