Doctors fight over the terrible lizards
Richard Owen, a British doctor who became better known as a paleontologist, coined the word dinosaurian, meaning terrible lizard; though now we realize not all Dinosaurs were terrible; nor were they lizards. Owen, though toyed with the term Herpeton; which could have been more apt; for reasons best known to him, continued with the word dinosaurs – the terrible lizard. He also overlooked the fact that there were two orders amongst them, bird-hipped ornithischians and lizard hipped saurishchians.
Richard Owen trained in medicine in Lancaster and devoted his time to his medical practice and study of anatomy. Anatomy, those days, attracted people from all walks of life; including even artists like Da Vinci. Owen went to the extent of even illicitly collect organs and corpses for his study of anatomy. Once he stumbled while walking with a bag and the bag fell down with its content rolling down to rest in front of a door. It was the head of a black African, which he had decapitated form a corpse he got for dissection.
Meanwhile, almost at the same time, John Hunter (after whom Hunterian Professorships of the Royal College was named – Prof M S Valiathan, Prof Solomon Victor are the distinguished recepients) had gleaned an impressive volume of anatomical specimens in the Royal College of Surgeons; himself a great surgeon and anatomist. But he never had enough time from his practice to arrange them. That was the time Owen came to London and joined the Royal College of Surgeons. He was methodical and organized and not to forget, manipulative. Owen’s rise to fame as an anatomist was so mercurial, that any carcass was first sent to him for his assessment, before it was disposed off by the zoo! This fame of his did bother his wife when she came in one day to be greeted by the head of a rhino with its horn kept right at the entrance of his house! He went on to publish over six hundred papers, some of which included the extinction of dodo or hunting of moas by Maoris, etc.
Owen was successful professionally, but the same success eluded him in his personal life. Owen, with his long hair, bulging eyes, gaunt appearance was cold and terribly ambitious, who never hesitated in getting taller by chopping others’ heads. A very genial scientist, who never was known to lose his temper, whose epoch-making discoveries ,made us look differently at ourselves, Charles Darwin even hated him. His son committed suicide not being able to tolerate his imperious father. He did not hesitate in indulging in dishonest practice to further his career. Owen was single-mindedly pursuing his goal. He worked hard, applied himself, and stole theories and samples from fellow colleagues and even used slander to silence them. He used his official position to his advantage and reduced careers of many promising naturalists to nothing.
One such doctor, who like Owen himself was a great fossil expert, Gideon Mantell could never save himself from his wrath. Before we take up the bitter fight between mantel and Owen, we should all remember the British lady, Mary Anning, who got so much addicted to collecting fossils, that it became her profession. Though not formally trained, she had impeccable knowledge and a keen eye for fossils. It is said, the famous tongue twister, she sells sea-shells on the sea-shore was written after her!!!
Gideon Mantell was a doctor in Sussex with keen interest in anatomy. He was a child-friendly version of Owen in personality! He was self-absorbed, self-centered and a loner. But there had never been a more committed paleontologist than Mantel. In his pursuit for his hobby and profession, he neglected his family. His wife, a very devoted lady, during her morning stroll came across a brown stone as big as a walnut. Mantell recognized it was a fossilized tooth, and a scientific deduction proved that it is from a reptile, huge in size and who was herbivorous.Mantel sent it to Paris for recognition, but it returned without a name. A friend of Mantell found some uncanny resemblance of this with the iguana in South America. So the species was names Iguanodon – a term Mantell coined. Mantell wanted to publish on his new found sample; but the elderly man Reverend Buckland asked him not to be in haste. As Mantell worked on thsiiguanodon, Buckland discovered Megalosaurus; a word which was suggested by Dr James Parkinson; after whom parkinsons disease is known as. This was the first published report on dinosaur, and the author by default was Buckland, though the real credit should have gone to Mantell.
Poor Mantell was not aware that this will be the order of his life. There will be someone else stealing his achievements. Few years later, in 1833, Mantell found another giant, hylaeosaurus and spent months excavating the place with the British farmers. Unlike Owen, who neglected his medical practice, Mantell always remained a great physician, and a serious anatomist and paleontologist. His house in Brighton had space left for the bones Only!He published books on excavation and fossils in Sussex, but the science was too young to elicit any interest in an serious reader. Undaunted by this, Mantell continued his quest for fossils and found a giant hylacosaurus; and soon he was one of the biggest collector of fossils in England. His obsession for searching for fossils took a toll on his ,medical practice and he was unable to manage the large estate, the humongous collection of fossils and their maintenance. He even toyed with the ide of converting his house to a museum, but considering hiw own reputation as a doctor and a scientist he changed his mind.But he allowed people to visit his mansion and look at the fossils free. Eventually, he had to sell most of his collections to pay off his debts. Loss of a large house prompted his family tpo desert him and his wife with their four children left him.
Oh no, it is not the end of his trouble. Trouble starts here as Owen appears.
In South London, in Crystal Palace Park, the worlds first life sized models of dinosaurs were erected for the first time. With limited fossilized bones being available, and insufficient knowledge most of the recreations are quite inaccurate. But, nevertheless, they generated a great deal of interest in students to study Anatomy or paleontology. In 1851, the grand structure of iron and glass opened with its displays on the New Year Eve and one of the major attraction was Iguanodon – one of those passions of mantel, for which he lost almost every thing.
To commemorate this, and to honour the scientists, a gala dinner for twenty one leading scientists was organized – star attraction being Iguanodon. When the committee invited the discoverer to throw some light on this, the chairman stood up. There was no Mantell in the board room. It was Owen. Owen manipulated his way, destroyed every [paper mantel submitted, and provided his own papers! In 1857, he replaced the famous naturologist T H Huxley from the Churchill Medical Dictionary by using Huxley’s position and title after his own name. He stole credits from students, which included Hugh Falconer, who finally got lost in the oblivion. He never returned the samples he borrowed. He fought with the Queens dentist on a claim on dental physiology!!
After his family left him, Mantell left Sussex and came to London. His wealth, his practice – every thing was a thing of past. And his fossil collection – for which he lost every thing, and the same stuff was sold to pay his debts. In 1841, while crossing Clapham Common in a carriage, somehow, he fell from his seat and his legs got entangled with the reins of the horses pulling the cart. He was dragged quite a distance, which left him crippled, damaged spike and excruciating pain. By then, most fossils were collected by Mantell and were described by him as well.
Taking advantage of Mantell’s bed-ridden condition, owen set about in a very systematic plan. He expunged Mantell’s name and descriptions from the samples and replaced them with his. Whatever original work came for peer review to the Royal College from Mantell, Owen ensured, using his good links, that they were rejected, and were never published. Unable to bear this, mantel killed himself.
His spine was sent to the Hunterian Museum in Royal College. It was under the supervision of Richard Owen!!!
Even Mantell’s death did not end his misery. A very modest obituary was published describing Mantell as an average paleontologist, whose species could not be further established for want of samples and adequate research. It even did not mention about Iguanodon!!! Needless to say, though it did not say who wrote the obituary, every one knew who did it.
But Owen’s transgressions did not stop. He was then the Chairman of the Award Committee of Royal Society. The committee decided to award Owen its highest honor, a gold medal, for his work on an extinct molluscum, belemnite. But soon later, it was found out that, four years prior to that, in a meeting which was attended by Owen himself, a student of paleontology, Chaning Pearce had reported about it. Owen even had gone to the extent of naming it Belemnites oweni.
Owen was allowed to keep the medal, but this was expunged from the records. This tarnished his image the most. T H Huxley, then got into the scene; and indulged in exactly the same practice Owen indulged in!!! He threw Owen out of the Royal Society and took its control.
This pushed Owen to the museum. But this was a blessing in disguise. London’s Natural History Museum owes its existence to Owen. Museums were only being used for research work by senior students or academics. But Owen changed the way the museums were. The samples were organized and displayed for common people. His vision was, this would trigger a scientific mind in the young when they visit the museums. How true!!! In those days, to visit a museum, one had to appear at two to three interviews!!! They were all changed; and museums were open to all. His last stunt was to oppose a statue of Darwin!!! Though there was no way he could succeed to disallow the statue of one of the greatest scientists, he succeeded in placing the great scientist Darwin's statue in the coffee shop, whereas his own statue remains near the main staircase in the Main building of the museum, looking imperiously at every one who enters the museum!!!!
Richard Owen, a British doctor who became better known as a paleontologist, coined the word dinosaurian, meaning terrible lizard; though now we realize not all Dinosaurs were terrible; nor were they lizards. Owen, though toyed with the term Herpeton; which could have been more apt; for reasons best known to him, continued with the word dinosaurs – the terrible lizard. He also overlooked the fact that there were two orders amongst them, bird-hipped ornithischians and lizard hipped saurishchians.
Richard Owen trained in medicine in Lancaster and devoted his time to his medical practice and study of anatomy. Anatomy, those days, attracted people from all walks of life; including even artists like Da Vinci. Owen went to the extent of even illicitly collect organs and corpses for his study of anatomy. Once he stumbled while walking with a bag and the bag fell down with its content rolling down to rest in front of a door. It was the head of a black African, which he had decapitated form a corpse he got for dissection.
Meanwhile, almost at the same time, John Hunter (after whom Hunterian Professorships of the Royal College was named – Prof M S Valiathan, Prof Solomon Victor are the distinguished recepients) had gleaned an impressive volume of anatomical specimens in the Royal College of Surgeons; himself a great surgeon and anatomist. But he never had enough time from his practice to arrange them. That was the time Owen came to London and joined the Royal College of Surgeons. He was methodical and organized and not to forget, manipulative. Owen’s rise to fame as an anatomist was so mercurial, that any carcass was first sent to him for his assessment, before it was disposed off by the zoo! This fame of his did bother his wife when she came in one day to be greeted by the head of a rhino with its horn kept right at the entrance of his house! He went on to publish over six hundred papers, some of which included the extinction of dodo or hunting of moas by Maoris, etc.
Owen was successful professionally, but the same success eluded him in his personal life. Owen, with his long hair, bulging eyes, gaunt appearance was cold and terribly ambitious, who never hesitated in getting taller by chopping others’ heads. A very genial scientist, who never was known to lose his temper, whose epoch-making discoveries ,made us look differently at ourselves, Charles Darwin even hated him. His son committed suicide not being able to tolerate his imperious father. He did not hesitate in indulging in dishonest practice to further his career. Owen was single-mindedly pursuing his goal. He worked hard, applied himself, and stole theories and samples from fellow colleagues and even used slander to silence them. He used his official position to his advantage and reduced careers of many promising naturalists to nothing.
One such doctor, who like Owen himself was a great fossil expert, Gideon Mantell could never save himself from his wrath. Before we take up the bitter fight between mantel and Owen, we should all remember the British lady, Mary Anning, who got so much addicted to collecting fossils, that it became her profession. Though not formally trained, she had impeccable knowledge and a keen eye for fossils. It is said, the famous tongue twister, she sells sea-shells on the sea-shore was written after her!!!
Gideon Mantell was a doctor in Sussex with keen interest in anatomy. He was a child-friendly version of Owen in personality! He was self-absorbed, self-centered and a loner. But there had never been a more committed paleontologist than Mantel. In his pursuit for his hobby and profession, he neglected his family. His wife, a very devoted lady, during her morning stroll came across a brown stone as big as a walnut. Mantell recognized it was a fossilized tooth, and a scientific deduction proved that it is from a reptile, huge in size and who was herbivorous.Mantel sent it to Paris for recognition, but it returned without a name. A friend of Mantell found some uncanny resemblance of this with the iguana in South America. So the species was names Iguanodon – a term Mantell coined. Mantell wanted to publish on his new found sample; but the elderly man Reverend Buckland asked him not to be in haste. As Mantell worked on thsiiguanodon, Buckland discovered Megalosaurus; a word which was suggested by Dr James Parkinson; after whom parkinsons disease is known as. This was the first published report on dinosaur, and the author by default was Buckland, though the real credit should have gone to Mantell.
Poor Mantell was not aware that this will be the order of his life. There will be someone else stealing his achievements. Few years later, in 1833, Mantell found another giant, hylaeosaurus and spent months excavating the place with the British farmers. Unlike Owen, who neglected his medical practice, Mantell always remained a great physician, and a serious anatomist and paleontologist. His house in Brighton had space left for the bones Only!He published books on excavation and fossils in Sussex, but the science was too young to elicit any interest in an serious reader. Undaunted by this, Mantell continued his quest for fossils and found a giant hylacosaurus; and soon he was one of the biggest collector of fossils in England. His obsession for searching for fossils took a toll on his ,medical practice and he was unable to manage the large estate, the humongous collection of fossils and their maintenance. He even toyed with the ide of converting his house to a museum, but considering hiw own reputation as a doctor and a scientist he changed his mind.But he allowed people to visit his mansion and look at the fossils free. Eventually, he had to sell most of his collections to pay off his debts. Loss of a large house prompted his family tpo desert him and his wife with their four children left him.
Oh no, it is not the end of his trouble. Trouble starts here as Owen appears.
In South London, in Crystal Palace Park, the worlds first life sized models of dinosaurs were erected for the first time. With limited fossilized bones being available, and insufficient knowledge most of the recreations are quite inaccurate. But, nevertheless, they generated a great deal of interest in students to study Anatomy or paleontology. In 1851, the grand structure of iron and glass opened with its displays on the New Year Eve and one of the major attraction was Iguanodon – one of those passions of mantel, for which he lost almost every thing.
To commemorate this, and to honour the scientists, a gala dinner for twenty one leading scientists was organized – star attraction being Iguanodon. When the committee invited the discoverer to throw some light on this, the chairman stood up. There was no Mantell in the board room. It was Owen. Owen manipulated his way, destroyed every [paper mantel submitted, and provided his own papers! In 1857, he replaced the famous naturologist T H Huxley from the Churchill Medical Dictionary by using Huxley’s position and title after his own name. He stole credits from students, which included Hugh Falconer, who finally got lost in the oblivion. He never returned the samples he borrowed. He fought with the Queens dentist on a claim on dental physiology!!
After his family left him, Mantell left Sussex and came to London. His wealth, his practice – every thing was a thing of past. And his fossil collection – for which he lost every thing, and the same stuff was sold to pay his debts. In 1841, while crossing Clapham Common in a carriage, somehow, he fell from his seat and his legs got entangled with the reins of the horses pulling the cart. He was dragged quite a distance, which left him crippled, damaged spike and excruciating pain. By then, most fossils were collected by Mantell and were described by him as well.
Taking advantage of Mantell’s bed-ridden condition, owen set about in a very systematic plan. He expunged Mantell’s name and descriptions from the samples and replaced them with his. Whatever original work came for peer review to the Royal College from Mantell, Owen ensured, using his good links, that they were rejected, and were never published. Unable to bear this, mantel killed himself.
His spine was sent to the Hunterian Museum in Royal College. It was under the supervision of Richard Owen!!!
Even Mantell’s death did not end his misery. A very modest obituary was published describing Mantell as an average paleontologist, whose species could not be further established for want of samples and adequate research. It even did not mention about Iguanodon!!! Needless to say, though it did not say who wrote the obituary, every one knew who did it.
But Owen’s transgressions did not stop. He was then the Chairman of the Award Committee of Royal Society. The committee decided to award Owen its highest honor, a gold medal, for his work on an extinct molluscum, belemnite. But soon later, it was found out that, four years prior to that, in a meeting which was attended by Owen himself, a student of paleontology, Chaning Pearce had reported about it. Owen even had gone to the extent of naming it Belemnites oweni.
Owen was allowed to keep the medal, but this was expunged from the records. This tarnished his image the most. T H Huxley, then got into the scene; and indulged in exactly the same practice Owen indulged in!!! He threw Owen out of the Royal Society and took its control.
This pushed Owen to the museum. But this was a blessing in disguise. London’s Natural History Museum owes its existence to Owen. Museums were only being used for research work by senior students or academics. But Owen changed the way the museums were. The samples were organized and displayed for common people. His vision was, this would trigger a scientific mind in the young when they visit the museums. How true!!! In those days, to visit a museum, one had to appear at two to three interviews!!! They were all changed; and museums were open to all. His last stunt was to oppose a statue of Darwin!!! Though there was no way he could succeed to disallow the statue of one of the greatest scientists, he succeeded in placing the great scientist Darwin's statue in the coffee shop, whereas his own statue remains near the main staircase in the Main building of the museum, looking imperiously at every one who enters the museum!!!!
Owen in the first two pictures. Mantel and his wife in the other two.
No comments:
Post a Comment