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hello everyone and welcome to video
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number four in our romp through the
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history of paleontology in which we're
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going to be looking at some developments
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that happened after the establishment of
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geology as a science with paleontology
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as a part of that and these largely
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coincide with the Victorian era in UK
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history so we're talking into we're
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talking about the
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1900s so I wanted to start by
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introducing just a couple of people who
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are quite important during this time
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period the first of these is William
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Buckland this man is an English
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Theologian a religious man who
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ultimately became the dean of
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Westminster but alongside his religious
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roles he was also a geologist and a
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paleontologist he's notable because he
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wrote the first full account of a
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dinosaur he described a specimen of
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Megalosaurus and he is well respected um
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at during the time um during his
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lifetime for work showing that kirkdale
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cave in North Yorkshire
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was a prehistoric hyena Den in the
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middle here on this slide you can see a
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contemporary illustration of that he is
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also fairly famous for naming and
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pioneering work on coolites so that's
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fossilized poo so cool claims of
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fame um his religious background
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influenced his work in this area and he
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was famous for contributing a thing
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called the Bridgewater treates the cover
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of one of these is shown on the right
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hand side here which was one of the
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first sorry one of the last last
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attempts within the establishment of the
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church and the scientific um Community
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to try and meld those two worldviews
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together so was quite important at the
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time moving on I wanted to also
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introduce uh a gentleman that I actually
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mentioned the last set of videos called
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Charles Lyle shown on the left hand side
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here this handsome gentleman with the
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Fantastic bow tie was a British lawyer
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but is also one of the best known
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geologists of the Victorian
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era whilst he wasn't directly involved
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in the formation of paleontology as a
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field his work was still quite important
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because it popularized Hutton's concept
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of
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uniformitarianism that I've mentioned
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previously this was at a time when Kia's
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catastrophism was more
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prominent he did so by arguing that for
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example volcanes as shown in one of his
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diagrams on the right hand side here um
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were the result of gradual um processes
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and volcanoes built up gradually and he
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also identified the causes of
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earthquakes all of this opened the door
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for slow moving forces that are still in
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operation today to have acted over a
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very long period of time to create the
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geology that we see today this in turn
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helped promote the idea of a very
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ancient Earth um directly in opposition
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to the ideas of catastrophism and um
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formed a frame work for paleontological
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thought in decades to come that
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Viewpoint also influenced prominent
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thinkers in the world of Life Sciences
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such as Charles
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Darwin but this was also a kind of a
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very fractur period where lots of people
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were having beef and fights with each
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other as the the building blocks of what
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we consider geology today were put into
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place and a really good example of this
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is the order Vision controversy and this
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was an argument between the two rep
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probates shown on this slide here so on
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the left hand side you can see Adam
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Cedric this man was the son of a Vicor
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and he went on in his life to become the
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woodwardian professor of geology at the
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University of Cambridge even then a very
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old well respected and learned
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institution as a um a person he was a
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very conservative member of the Church
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of England and he didn't for example buy
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the concept of evolution despite being a
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tutor and a friend of Charles Darwin he
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was notable in the construction of the
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geological column for proposing the
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Cambrian and the devonian
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periods in contrast rodri imp mergerson
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shown in the middle here was a Scottish
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geologist and he is known for first
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describing and investigating rocks from
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the sorian time period and indeed the
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two presented a joint paper based on
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fieldwork in Wales in 1835 called on the
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soran and cambian systems exhibiting the
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order in which the older sedimentary
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strata succeed each other in England and
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Wales Snappy title isn't it um but this
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in turn led to this argument that I've
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mentioned so Cedric's upper Cambrian
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Period overlapped with the lower part of
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merch's soran period Cedric used rocks
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to Define his C period whereas merchon
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used fossils to do the the definition of
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his time period and what could be viewed
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as a quarrel over semantics so something
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that's not really that important on the
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scale of things between these two men
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left them permanently exra estranged and
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the scientific Community took years to
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resolve this problem the in fact the
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solution was only really worked out in
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1879 when one of Cedric's um colleagues
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Charles lapworth I've mentioned on the
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far right hand side here
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um who was later a famous Professor of
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geology at Birmingham introduced a third
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time period the order Vision so that's
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where the order Vision known for these
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fantastic fish on the the right hand
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side here was first named and all that
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was was um the the time period between
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the disputed upper Cambrian and lower
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silan um periods of Cedric and merch and
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he just took that overlapping bit and
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said guys we're going to call this the
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aivis this happened a lot and this guy
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merchon had other run-ins with famous
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geologists such as a gentleman called um
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Dees regarding the devian and the
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carbonis so it was a time period where
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we were building the geological column
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but people were arguing with each other
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an awful lot over um over these things
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and often I I kind of feel reading about
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it that it was driven a lot by
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egos the other person that I've
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mentioned on the slide is John Phillips
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this man was an English geologist who
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published in
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1841 the first Global geological time
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scale based on the correlation of
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fossils in rock strata um he went a long
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way to standardizing um the basic
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terminology that we still use today for
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example he invented the term misic for
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the um Triassic Jurassic and Cretaceous
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time periods which um uh we is something
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that we still use today
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[Music]
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another really important um character
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actor in the story but another example
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of um kind of someone that was very
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prone to these arguments was Richard
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Owen who's shown on the left hand side
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in a photograph here and in a
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contemporary cartoon in the mill here he
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was interesting because he was born in
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Lancaster to a poor family and he was
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considered both lazy and impudent at
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school he dropped out of a career of his
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training in medicine and ended up
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studying Anatomy he moved to London and
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became a lecturer in comparative Anatomy
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after meeting George
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kuier he is in fact responsible for
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bringing comparative Anatomy to the UK
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he defined for example the concept of
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homology the idea that for example our
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arms sorry just looking for the camera
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there um are the same structures in
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terms of um of their Origins as a bat's
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wings and a bird's wings they are the
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for liims of a tetrapod say
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and he extended this to recognize a
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common structural pattern for or
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structural plan I should say across all
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vertebrates he examined reptile like
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fossils from the southeast of the UK and
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concluded that the bones of iguana Don
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Megalosaurus and other um organisms that
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we now recognize to be members of a
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common group were not just lizards but
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they actually were members of their own
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group and in 1842 he called this group
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the dinosaur or the
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dinosaurs he founded also the Natural
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History Museum in London which is still
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going strong today here it is from a
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conference dinner that I went to um and
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he insisted which was quite
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revolutionary at the time that it should
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be free and it should be accessible to
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all people so well done Richard Owen
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okay and it may seem if I left it there
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like he's just a good guy didn't he do
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well however he is also legendary for
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being vain arrogant envious and
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vindictive Ive he was not a nice person
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and a good example of this is his
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relationship with a contemporary of his
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a guy called Gideon
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Mel here is Mel shown on the left hand
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side here this man was an English
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obstetrician so he was a um a medical
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Man by training but he was also a
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geologist and a
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paleontologist he was born in Sussex and
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jumped around schools during his
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education as he was a Methodist so he
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was a not a member of the church of
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England so couldn't go to his local
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grammar school once more religion seems
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to be impacting on people's education
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quite a lot in this time period he
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worked as a doctor but in his spare time
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he collected fossils in Sussex largely
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from the Cretaceous chalk downlands that
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cover this
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County mantel or his wife it's not quite
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clear which from the record found some
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teeth and despite the fact he was mocked
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for this Viewpoint by the scientific
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Community um he maintained that these
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teeth were like those of an iguana like
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a lizard but they were
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bigger um and he was eventually proved
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right so this plays into this story of
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the origin and the recognition that the
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dinosaurs are an extinct group of things
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that are not alive today you can see
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some of these um teeth on the right hand
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side of this
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slide but he wasn't particularly
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successful in terms of his economics by
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1838 he was financially destitute he had
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a horrendous coach accident in 1841
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which left him in constant pain with a
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spine
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injury and
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then when he dropped out of kind of the
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public Consciousness Richard Owen
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claimed Iguanodon was his own Discovery
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and indeed he do did do some of the
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early descriptions of this txon um and
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when mental was injured and wasn't
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around anymore Owen renamed several
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dinosaurs that mantel had already um
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talked about in scientific literature to
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claim as his own when mantel then died
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of an opan overdose in 1852 that was
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brought around by dealing with the pain
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of his his injuries um Richard Owen had
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his spine cut out and pickled and
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they're stored on a shelf in the Royal
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College of Surgeons you can see that
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spine
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here his Anonymous AIT that we all think
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was probably written by um Richard Owen
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said that um man
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was little more than a mediocre
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scientist who brought forth few notable
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contributions so um Richard Owen had
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both the final um words about Manel and
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indeed um looked after some of his
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remains it's kind of like a really um
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interesting uh I guess illustration of
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the kind of gentleman that Richard Owen
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was and how Unforgiven V forgiving
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Victorian society was even to to those
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who were in relatively respected
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professions such as
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doctors a really good um illustration of
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just how famous and important um
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paleontology became as a field in the
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Victorian era is the great exhibition of
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1851 you can see some um some
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illustrations from this very famous
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event on this slide here so essentially
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what happened is that Queen Victoria's
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husband Prince Albert um decided that
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England and Britain more generally
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should host a great exhibition to show
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the fruits of their empire to show that
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they are indeed top of the world and
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this was a a massive event that occurred
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in the year of 1851 a Crystal Palace
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SoCal because it used so much glass and
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steel was built in um South Kensington
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now I think in in
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London and it went on to house this
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great exhibition before a few years
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later being moved to Crystal Palace in
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London hence the name Crystal
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Palace um and it's a really good example
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of the impact that this new science of
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penologist had on society because there
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were a S series of um of sculptures is
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the word I'm looking for of dinosaurs
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that were designed by a famous architect
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called Benjamin W house hop Hawkins
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under the scientific direction of Sir
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Richard Owen and you can see some
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contemporary illustrations of these
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dinosaur
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um
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here these were actually created for the
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move of Crystal Palace to um what is now
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Crystal Palace in
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1853
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um and these were created because
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dinosaurs had really captured the public
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imagination of this time when it came to
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creating an exhibit that everyone would
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want to see when they went to visit the
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Crystal Palace these dinosaurs were wear
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it was at and that was because dinosaurs
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were suddenly um a major part of the
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public Consciousness even for the poor
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in this time period there was actually a
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famous banquet that was held in the mold
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of one of these Dinosaurs the Crystal
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Palace Iguanodon on New Year's Eve in
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1853 that's shown on the right hand side
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here with a number of the famous players
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that we've met already during this time
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period in attendance so there you go by
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the 1850s paleontology had established
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itself as a science and in fact it was
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about as cool as ever been I hated to
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inform you that people don't really
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think we're that cool
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anymore during the 19th century um there
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was A Rush of um especially during the
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later 19th century of vert paleontology
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work in Europe um and North America and
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Rich bone beds in North America were
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discovered in Colorado Nebraska and Wy
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Wyoming this then lead led to a heated
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rivalry between the two gentlemen that
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are shown on this slide that was dubbed
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the bone Wars or the great dinosaur Rush
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this was between Edward Drinker cope and
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oil Charles Marsh so uh Charles Marsh is
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this dude here Drinker cope is this dude
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with a M JY mustache here both of these
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gentlemen had really strong
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personalities and they fell out towards
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the end of the 1860s from 1872 to 1892
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both went on large expeditions to
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collect fossils they used their funds
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and influence to acquire fossils by any
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means whether those were moral or
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otherwise in a game of one upmanship
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between them they established over 140
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new species of dinosaur all the while
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whilst they were trying to discredit
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each other they had publicly AED
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Grievances and arguments in a series of
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letters to newp to newspapers including
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the New York Herald in these cope
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accused Marshall of financial
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mismanagement and plagiarism Marsh
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responded by accusing cope of slander
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branding him a liar and a thief it was a
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colorful episode in the history of
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paleontology arguably between a couple
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of
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douchebags just my opinion there for you
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um but it left an enduring scientific
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Legacy their finds included for example
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Triceratops Allosaurus depicus and
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stegosaurus all famous dinosaurs that we
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still um talk about today
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a key consideration during this time
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period was how old the Earth actually
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was and a a famous person who
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contributed to this um debate was uh
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Lord Kelvin it's shown on this slide
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here he was born in 1824 in Belfast and
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was an Irish mathematical physicist and
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engineer his father was a math professor
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and Kelvin started University at the age
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of 10 um he stayed at Glasgow for most
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of his working life down many eminent
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appointments he's known for many things
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including his formulation of the first
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and second laws of thermodynamics
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introduction of the concept of an
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electromagnetic field with Faraday and
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he was the scientific ADV adviser when
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we laid the first um telegraph cables
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across the Atlantic but he was also
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notable for inest investigating the
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Earth's cooling so it started off as a
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hot ball and then it's cooled over time
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and um this served as a vehicle by which
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he made historical inferences about the
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age of the Earth using cooling
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calculations and you doing this he
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posted that the Earth had once been too
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hot to support life contrary to the
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strict idea of
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uniformitarianism and by making this
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assumption then working out how long it
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would take a body to Cool by 1897 he had
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settled on an estimate of the age of the
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Earth of between 20 to 40 million years
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old now now we know now now that he's
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really quite quite far out in that right
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we know now radioactivity exists and the
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Earth has been kept warmer than we would
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otherwise expect by the gradual decay of
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radioactive
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elements but um nevertheless um that
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gave us this idea of a very old Earth
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over which Evolution Etc and the laws of
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geology could um play out and that set
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um further allowed many ideas of uniform
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materialism in except not in incredibly
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strict ways to to to be accepted as
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fact so that's all been very UK Centric
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elsewhere in Europe there were things
00:18:51
that were going on that um also were
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important in the development of
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paleontology so on this slide you can
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see a Je
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a Swiss born biologist and
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geologist this is a guy that studied
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with cuvier for a while and then he
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settled as a professor of Natural
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History at a university in Switzerland
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before immigrating to the US in 1847 his
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major contribution um really to the
00:19:16
field of paleontology was a study of
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fossil fish an example of one of his
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illustrations next to his fantastic
00:19:22
marget shown on this slide here he also
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studied geology and was the first person
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to suggest that the the Earth had been
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through ice ages in the past he was the
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only person um to name a species after
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Mary Anning during her lifetime world
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onj but as ever life is complex and
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later in his life he wrote about
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scientific racism um
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and this is obviously um really
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problematic so take that for what it's
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worth um the world is a complex
00:19:56
place this is also notable as time perod
00:19:59
where women um started to contribute
00:20:02
within the scientific hierarchy um later
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in this period women started to be
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accepted as scientists themselves into
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um the structures by which people um
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communicate science a really good
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example of this is Dortha bate that's
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shown on this slide on the left hand
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side here she was a pioneer of Aro
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zoology the study of animal bones from
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archaeological sites she worked
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extensively on um cave sites she used
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animal bones in order to deduce dates
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climate and the environment of sites of
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interest and I think and I include her
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because I think she's awesome for a
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number of reasons she had a little
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formal education and she has commented
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on the record that her education was O
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only um briefly interrupted by school
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sounds cool to me in 1898 as a late teen
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she got a minial job at the Natural
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History Museum and worked her way up
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learning her field as she went
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she managed to fund fieldwork using a
00:21:01
grant from the Royal Society which I've
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mentioned previously in these videos at
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a time when women were not actually
00:21:07
permitted to join the Royal Society
00:21:10
still the image in the middle here shows
00:21:13
her um Excavating a dwarf hippopotamus
00:21:15
from Cypress field fieldwork which she
00:21:17
reconstructed for display at the Natural
00:21:19
History Museum in London and she
00:21:21
remained an unofficial work in the
00:21:23
Natural History Museum until 1958 48
00:21:26
sorry Way Beyond retirement age when she
00:21:28
was nearly 70 when she was given her
00:21:31
first senior managerial role finally um
00:21:34
breaking in to the official hierarchy of
00:21:37
the museum so well done dth she's really
00:21:40
really awesome another person I should
00:21:42
mention given her Manchester connections
00:21:44
because we're um recording this in the
00:21:46
University of Manchester is a British
00:21:48
author by the name of Mary
00:21:50
stopes she was a paleobotanist and she
00:21:53
was also a campaigner for women's rights
00:21:57
more of that in a tiny bit later in a
00:21:59
tiny bit she attended um the University
00:22:01
College of London uh as a scholarship
00:22:04
student and um she got a first um degree
00:22:09
so she got a degree in two years um in
00:22:13
both botany and geology by attending
00:22:14
both day and night school she then got a
00:22:16
PhD in paleobotany in 1904 in the
00:22:19
University of Munich she then became a
00:22:23
lecturer in paleobotany at the
00:22:25
University of Manchester between 1904
00:22:27
and 190 7 during this time period She is
00:22:31
shown on the left hand side here she was
00:22:33
the first female academic at the
00:22:35
University of
00:22:37
Manchester she studied coal Coal balls
00:22:40
seed Ferns and made contributions uh to
00:22:43
knowledge of the earliest angiosperms
00:22:44
that's flowering plants um and indeed
00:22:47
her coal classification scheme is still
00:22:49
used by many people
00:22:51
today but she had less and less time to
00:22:54
publish as the years went on because she
00:22:56
was actively campaigning more and more
00:22:59
as she got older for women's
00:23:01
Reproductive Rights she opened the first
00:23:04
birth control clinic in Britain and
00:23:07
wrote an early sex manual called married
00:23:08
love or love in marriage shown on the
00:23:10
right hand side here which was a very
00:23:13
long way ahead of her time and indeed
00:23:16
she was a Pioneer in many ways for
00:23:19
women's rights which makes her quite
00:23:21
notable as um a paleobotanist and as uh
00:23:26
through her contributions to society so
00:23:27
these are the two things that go hand in
00:23:29
hand she did many La laudable things but
00:23:32
we also have to note when we say that
00:23:33
that part of the reason that she was
00:23:35
really big on reproductive right because
00:23:37
she was also a strong advocate of
00:23:40
eugenics this is a set of beliefs and
00:23:43
practices that aims at improving the
00:23:45
genetic quality of the human population
00:23:48
that we now consider to be really very
00:23:50
problematic so once more um as with
00:23:53
several people that we've met over the
00:23:55
course of these videos she's got this
00:23:57
I'm going to say check record Legacy of
00:23:59
she did many good
00:24:01
things but some of those were inspired
00:24:04
by um or had inspiration that we think
00:24:07
is very problematic today so um it's a
00:24:10
complicated situation and I'll I'll end
00:24:12
this video there and I'll see you for
00:24:13
the final video video number five when
00:24:15
we look at more recent history of
00:24:17
paleontology in just a few minutes see
00:24:19
you around
