Re: historical origins of BCF [was Re: Feduccia's delusion]

["Demetrios M Vital" <vita0015@umn.edu>]

----- Original Message -----
From: <Dinogeorge@aol.com>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Sent: Friday, November 30, 2001 10:47 PM
Subject: Re: Feduccia's delusion


> Whatever the trackmakers were, we now know they are dinosaurs, but in 1802
> they were thought to be birds.

Yes, like ancient Greeks thought that mammoth skulls were cyclops skulls.

> So in 1802 dinosaurs were thought to be giant
> birds. (Sometime before that, they were thought to be giant people.) They
> weren't known as dinosaurs until 1842.

In 1802 they weren't talking about dinosaurs, they were talking about "bird"
footprints.  The idea that they weren't birds didn't occur to them.

A discussion about what a dinosaur is, before dinosaurs were identified, is
not a commentary on dinosaur-bird (boy, taking into account both sides of
this discussion, the terms "dinosaur" and "bird" are mutually
inclusive...that's potentially confusing) relationships.  They didn't think
in terms of the dinosaur-bird issue because there wasn't an issue to them.
They were not talking about what we are talking about, so they shouldn't be
seen to have done so.

-Demetrios Vital