Posts tagged naturalists

biomedicalephemera: When George Shaw first described a specimen of platypus brought to him by Captain John Hunter, the second governor of New South Wales, he (along with most naturalists of the time) thought it was a hoax. In his first description of it in 1799, he noted that it was “impossible not to entertain doubts as to its genuine nature”, and even took scissors to the dried skin sent to him in order to check for stitches.  However, by the time he gave his lecture series at the Royal Institution, he had no doubts of its authenticity, though it still baffled him as to its true nature as an animal. From Zoological lectures delivered at the Royal Institution. George Shaw, 1809.

biomedicalephemera:

When George Shaw first described a specimen of platypus brought to him by Captain John Hunter, the second governor of New South Wales, he (along with most naturalists of the time) thought it was a hoax. In his first description of it in 1799, he noted that it was “impossible not to entertain doubts as to its genuine nature”, and even took scissors to the dried skin sent to him in order to check for stitches. 

However, by the time he gave his lecture series at the Royal Institution, he had no doubts of its authenticity, though it still baffled him as to its true nature as an animal.

From Zoological lectures delivered at the Royal Institution. George Shaw, 1809.

Some of my favorite things: The interpretations of sea life by old mariners, and the legends they wrought. 

The walrus was once known as the Morse, and the Sea Horse. They’re massive beasts; the males can be nearly two tons and highly aggressive during mating season. Only the orca and polar bear dare attack it, and even those predators would rather find a less dangerous meal.

In Canada, it’s estimated that almost 50% of polar bear attacks on walruses end in the death or serious injury of the polar bear - they are a food of desperation, and the (rare) opportunity when there’s an injured or young walrus separated from the herd.

Legend and mythology of the Laplanders and Inuit often features the prized animal. The tusks and bones of the caught walruses were carved into beautiful designs, and the oosiks (baculum/penis bones) were given to newly-married couples as gifts to bless them with fertility.

“The time has come,” the Walrus
said,
“To talk of many things:
of shoes - and ships - and
sealing-wax —
Of cabbages — and kings -
And why the sea is boiling hot —
And whether pigs have wings.” 

-Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll

Walrus interpretations from Proceedings of the General Meeting of the General Meetings for Scientific Business of the Zoological Society of London. 1921.

Cuvier Day Swordfish and similar specimens. Though much of his classification work built off of Lamarck’s categorization, Cuvier was highly skeptical if Lamarck’s theories of evolution and differentiation. Cuvier was personal friends with Geoffroy St. Hilaire (another proponent of gradual changes in species), and though he respected Lamarck as a naturalist, he even wrote in his “Elegy for Lamarck” a fairly flippant refutation that Lamarckian evolution, “…rested on two arbitrary suppositions; the one, that it is the seminal vapor which organizes the embryo; the other, that efforts and desires may engender organs. A system established on such foundations may amuse the imagination of a poet; a metaphysician may derive from it an entirely new series of systems; but it cannot for a moment bear the examination of anyone who has dissected a hand, a viscus, or even a feather.”

Cuvier Day

Swordfish and similar specimens.

Though much of his classification work built off of Lamarck’s categorization, Cuvier was highly skeptical if Lamarck’s theories of evolution and differentiation. Cuvier was personal friends with Geoffroy St. Hilaire (another proponent of gradual changes in species), and though he respected Lamarck as a naturalist, he even wrote in his “Elegy for Lamarck” a fairly flippant refutation that Lamarckian evolution,

“…rested on two arbitrary suppositions; the one, that it is the seminal vapor which organizes the embryo; the other, that efforts and desires may engender organs. A system established on such foundations may amuse the imagination of a poet; a metaphysician may derive from it an entirely new series of systems; but it cannot for a moment bear the examination of anyone who has dissected a hand, a viscus, or even a feather.”

Cuvier Day Turtle juveniles. Cuvier had a younger brother named Frederic, who was also a naturalist. He was mentioned by Darwin as having determined many facts regarding differentiating habit and instinct. Frederic wrote a Natural History book with Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, with whom his older brother had significant ideological differences. Still, all three men recognized each other as respectable and important natural history writers. 

Cuvier Day

Turtle juveniles.

Cuvier had a younger brother named Frederic, who was also a naturalist. He was mentioned by Darwin as having determined many facts regarding differentiating habit and instinct. Frederic wrote a Natural History book with Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, with whom his older brother had significant ideological differences. Still, all three men recognized each other as respectable and important natural history writers. 

Cuvier Day Reindeer and roe deer stag. Cuvier classified organisms into 4 classes: Vertebrata, Articulata (arthropods & segmented worms), Mollusca (considered to be all other squishy invertebrates), and Radiata (Cniderians/Echinoderms).

Cuvier Day

Reindeer and roe deer stag.

Cuvier classified organisms into 4 classes: Vertebrata, Articulata (arthropods & segmented worms), Mollusca (considered to be all other squishy invertebrates), and Radiata (Cniderians/Echinoderms).

People in Science: Georges Cuvier

“Why has not anyone seen that fossils alone gave birth to a theory about the formation of the earth, that without them, no one would have ever dreamed that there were successive epochs in the formation of the globe?” - Baron Georges Cuvier


Born Georges Léopold Chrétien Frédéric Dagobert Cuvier in 1769 in Montbeliard, France (at the time under the jurisdiction of the Duke of Wurttemberg), Baron Cuvier’s writings and research have contributed more to science than could ever be listed.

A naturalist and zoologist by training, his most significant contributions to natural sciences were the establishment of the fields of vertebrate paleontology and comparative anatomy. Though he disbelieved in the theories of his predecessors/contemporaries Lamarck and Saint-Hillaire (who posited some of the first hypotheses of evolution), his establishing of extinction as fact was ironically one of the most significant steps towards Darwin’s theories. 

Stay tuned throughout the day for more facts and trivia about one of the most prolific and important naturalists in history, presented with just a tiny fraction of his thousands of illustrations…

Ara grossei (the Jamaican Red Parrot) was a hypothetical parrot that used to live on the island of Jamaica. Records of it come from descriptions and paintings of one skin that was in the Earl of Derby’s zoological collection.  It’s been suggested that the parrot was not a unique species, but either a misidentified specimen or a conspecific subspecies of the Cuban Red Parrot (Ara tricolor).  Extinct Birds. Hon. Walter Rothschild, 1907.

Ara grossei (the Jamaican Red Parrot) was a hypothetical parrot that used to live on the island of Jamaica. Records of it come from descriptions and paintings of one skin that was in the Earl of Derby’s zoological collection. 

It’s been suggested that the parrot was not a unique species, but either a misidentified specimen or a conspecific subspecies of the Cuban Red Parrot (Ara tricolor). 

Extinct Birds. Hon. Walter Rothschild, 1907.

It’s a bird sort of day.

You call it lazy, I call it a celebration of the inspirational husband/wife team of John and Elizabeth Gould.

Even though Elizabeth died before her husband did his work on mammals and before his works were mentioned by Darwin, she was a major part of John Gould’s observations and research. Over 600 of the lithographs in John Gould’s work were Elizabeth’s art, including the newly-classified (by her husband) finches that Charles Darwin gave to the Goulds for classification input, and later used to both develop his theory of natural selection and illustrate his concepts in On the Origin of Species. Even though John Gould is mentioned as a direct influence by Darwin and Elizabeth was not (subsequently allowing her work to be almost completely eclipsed by her husband’s), his wife’s work was still important, lovely, and generated a lot of public interest in birds both domestic and foreign.

Edward Lear did the mammalian lithographs and a few bird lithographs (the post-1841 works), but all of the pre-1841 birds (the majority of them) were Elizabeth’s work.

So yeah. Birds today. And keep Elizabeth’s hard and skilled work in mind. She did all this in the middle of taking care of 8 children (she had no nanny while in Australia with her 4 oldest children, who were quite young at the time). She was one awesome possum.

John Gould, 1840

Elizabeth Gould with Australian cockatiel, memorial oil painting, produced shortly after her death

Pteroglossus ulocomus, the Curl-crested Araçari. Now known as Pteroglossus beauharnaisii.  I like the name of these Toucans. “Ptero” means “of the wing” or “wing”, and “-glossus” means “pertaining to the tongue. Tonguewings!  From Voyage Autour de Monde par les Mers de L’Inde et de Chine. Captain M. Laplace, 1832.

Pteroglossus ulocomus, the Curl-crested Araçari. Now known as Pteroglossus beauharnaisii. 

I like the name of these Toucans. “Ptero” means “of the wing” or “wing”, and “-glossus” means “pertaining to the tongue. Tonguewings! 

From Voyage Autour de Monde par les Mers de L’Inde et de Chine. Captain M. Laplace, 1832.

Haeckel’s Chelonia plate.  Top to bottom:1. Hawksbill Turtle2. Leatherback Turtle3. Mata Mata4. Argentine Snake-necked Turtle5. Galapagos Tortoise 6. Geometric Tortoise7. Common Snapping Turtle Kunstformen der Natur. Ernst Haeckel, 1904. 

Haeckel’s Chelonia plate. 

Top to bottom:
1. Hawksbill Turtle
2. Leatherback Turtle
3. Mata Mata
4. Argentine Snake-necked Turtle
5. Galapagos Tortoise 
6. Geometric Tortoise
7. Common Snapping Turtle

Kunstformen der Natur. Ernst Haeckel, 1904. 

When George Shaw first described a specimen of platypus brought to him by Captain John Hunter, the second governor of New South Wales, he (along with most naturalists of the time) thought it was a hoax. In his first description of it in 1799, he noted that it was “impossible not to entertain doubts as to its genuine nature”, and even took scissors to the dried skin sent to him in order to check for stitches.  However, by the time he gave his lecture series at the Royal Institution, he had no doubts of its authenticity, though it still baffled him as to its true nature as an animal. From Zoological lectures delivered at the Royal Institution. George Shaw, 1809.

When George Shaw first described a specimen of platypus brought to him by Captain John Hunter, the second governor of New South Wales, he (along with most naturalists of the time) thought it was a hoax. In his first description of it in 1799, he noted that it was “impossible not to entertain doubts as to its genuine nature”, and even took scissors to the dried skin sent to him in order to check for stitches. 

However, by the time he gave his lecture series at the Royal Institution, he had no doubts of its authenticity, though it still baffled him as to its true nature as an animal.

From Zoological lectures delivered at the Royal Institution. George Shaw, 1809.

Um. Lost those European Badgers. Here’s an American one…it’s by Audubon, so hopefully that makes up for it :D Will hunt those European ones down in a sec. From Quadrupeds of North America by John James Audubon. 1851.

Um. Lost those European Badgers. Here’s an American one…it’s by Audubon, so hopefully that makes up for it :D Will hunt those European ones down in a sec.

From Quadrupeds of North America by John James Audubon. 1851.