Re: Dinosaur Genera List corrections #166

["Robert G. Tuck Jr." <tuckr@digital.net>]

Sidebar here:

Back in the good ol' days when I was a herpetologist at the USNM, one of my
mammalogist cronies, seeing my distress after trying to untangle some of
Cope's herp type specimen messes, told me that the day after E.D. went to
his final reward (in Hell, awaiting Marsh's arrival?) his assistant
discovered that the next specimen to be prepared as a museum item (i.e.,
skeleton) was none other than his former boss. A Smithsonian urban myth,
perhaps . . . ?

However, the late evolutionary biologist Loren Eiseley (1907-1977) once
wrote an essay about Cope, whose skull he had carefully rescued and
treasured. Eiseley expressed his desire to have the skull buried with him.

Does anyone know whether Eiseley's wishes were carried out?

-= Tuck =-

----- Original Message -----
From: <Dinogeorge@aol.com>
To: <dinosaur@usc.edu>
Cc: <Dinogeorge@aol.com>
Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2001 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: Dinosaur Genera List corrections #166


> In a message dated 7/11/01 7:00:33 PM EST, dinoland@lycos.com writes:
>
> << Sorry for being picky, but aren't you referring to Buckland??
According
> to Chris McGowan's new book _The Dragon Seekers_, it was the pathological
> vertebrae and braincase of Buckland that were put on display at the
Hunterian
> Museum.  Judging from McGowan's writing, it seems as if the remains still
> exist.
>
>  Maybe this information is wrong, though?? >>
>
> Well, I happen to have both books. Haven't finished reading Chris
McGowan's
> book, but your email inspired me to look through it for the account of
> Buckland's death. Here's what turned up:
>
> (1) In Cadbury's book, it is definitely, no question, Mantell, not
Buckland,
> whose lower backbones were preserved in the Hunterian Museum. She goes
into
> some detail about this, in several places, and notes that they were
destroyed
> in the London blitz. But she does not go into detail about Buckland's
death
> or about where his remains might repose.
>
> (2) In McGowan's book, it is Buckland's cervical vertebrae and lower
cranium
> that were diseased and, after he died, were preserved in the same
Hunterian
> Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. Mantell, he says, was simply
buried
> after he died. McGowan, however, does not go into detail about Mantell's
> death, much as Cadbury does not go into detail about Buckland's death.
> Buckland's remains, according to McGowan, may still be on display; he does
> not mention their destruction in World War II.
>
> I cannot imagine that either of these writers, considering the
considerable
> documentation that both provide for their text, would have made the kind
of
> mistake that seems at first glance to have happened. Is it too much to ask
of
> coincidence that >both< Buckland's remains and Mantell's remains were
> preserved in the Hunterian Museum, for related reasons? But if so, why did
> neither writer uncover this most peculiar circumstance? A most interesting
> little conundrum that certainly requires emailing both writers to resolve!
>
> (By the way, the jacket of the US edition of Terrible Lizard features a
nice
> photo of the skeleton of Baryonyx--but this dinosaur appears nowhere in
the
> text.)