Re: The dinosaur papers - now available

[Josh Smith <smithjb@levee.wustl.edu>]

At 05:27 PM 10/29/2003, Brad McFeeters wrote:

> > (1) It was my understanding that the "dinosaur bone" in question (distal 
> > femur of a megalosaur?) was regarded by Mr Plot not as a "leg bone", but 
> > the petrified remains of another part of the human anatomy.  (So little 
> > wonder that Mr Plot thought this extinct giant to be a man - a BIG man.)
>
> That was R. Brookes in 1763. 
> (http://www.dinodata.net/Dd/Namelist/Tabs/S042.htm)

Actually, Plot described and illustrated the specimen in 1677, in _The 
Natural History of Oxford-shire_.  He was under the impression that the 
specimen represented a large mammal that might have been brought to England 
during the Roman occupation.

Brooks appended the binomial in 1763, although there is a decent amount of 
thought that he intended it as a joke, if the care and detail of his other 
figures in that work are examined.


------
Josh Smith
Assistant Professor of Geology
Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences
Washington University
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Office: 314.935.7033
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smithjb@levee.wustl.edu
http://epsc.wustl.edu

Director, Bahariya Dinosaur Project
http://egyptdinos.org