By Christopher Mcgowan
The dramatic tale of the way a bunch of 19th-century fossilists perpetually replaced our view of history-and laid the foundation for the Darwinian revolution.
Set in nineteenth-century England, The Dragon Seekers chronicles the fantastic discoveries of the 1st fossilists, whose findings in geology and paleontology ended in the invention of the age of dinosaurs. The fascinating forged of characters contains Mary Anning, a working-class lady who turned the most profitable fossil creditors of all time; Thomas Hawkins, one other novice collector who ''improved upon'' fossils with the intention to elevate their marketplace price; the eccentric William Buckland, discoverer of the world's first dinosaur (Megalosaurus), and Richard Owen, knowledgeable anatomist, who synthesized the discoveries of the age and finally coined the observe ''dinosaur'' in 1842. Christopher McGowan takes us again to a time whilst the recent sciences of geology and paleontology have been as younger and colourful as genetic engineering is this day. via heated public debates on every thing from the age of the earth to the thought of extinction, the Dragon Seekers initiated the shift from a biblical to a systematic interpretation of the distant earlier. during this approach, they laid the highbrow foundation for Darwin's progressive principles, and introduced a world obsession with the Age of Reptiles that maintains even at the present time.
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Additional info for The Dragon Seekers: How An Extraordinary Circle Of Fossilists Discovered The Dinosaurs And Paved The Way For Darwin
Example text
Beyond the Cobb is Monmouth Beach, and beyond that, out of sight around the point, lies Pinhay Bay. The walk to Pinhay would have given her some two miles of Blue Lias to explore. A journey in the opposite direction, to the east of the Cobb, would have brought her to a broad reef of shale, low on the beach, right by the town. Known today as the saurian shales, it is where many of her reptilian fossils were collected. It is also where modern collectors have found most of the ichthyosaurs. The best time to prospect the reef is on a low spring tide, which comes twice each month.
There is an entry in his journal for June 30 recording that "A packet of fossils from Cuckfield from Mr. Leney arrived, it contained bones, teeth. . " He also found Tilgate fossils at some other quarries. In the fall of 182 1 Mantell was paid a visit by Lyell. Although they had never met before, they sat talking about geology until late into the night. The two Chalk Pits and Leeches men, who became firm friends and confidants, continued their conversation the following day. The letters they exchanged afterward reveal that the main topic of their discussion was the fossils from Cuckfield.
Of wise foresight and benevolent intention and infinite power, that he must be blind indeed, who refuses to recognize . . " Buckland saw the same "proof" of the wise Creator in the design of living organisms, each one forming a "link of the boundless chain of living beings . " Quoting freely from Archdeacon William Paley's Natural Theology (1802), every example of natural design, from the movements of the planets to the interlocking mechanism of the barbs of a bird's feather, were cited as incontrovertible "proofs" of the existence of the "supreme intelligent Author " The supposed "proof" of the existence of God on the grounds of design was a popular and persuasive argument throughout much of the nineteenth century.