Early Depictions Of Ancient Animals

[jpevahouse]

This antique peanut tin dates between 1910 - 1920. I thought this interesting as a popular depiction of the mammoth at a time when most people probably never heard of such a beast. One of the earliest depictions of an ancient animal I know in advertising is of a dinosaur painted in cobalt on a pottery crock made in Flemington, NJ during the 1880s. I believe the crock is now in the collection of the NJ State Museum.

The picture on the peanut tin is amazingly accurate for the era. The dinosaur on the crock is not so accurate but likely inspired by the discovery of the hadrasaur at Haddon Heights, NJ in 1835.

Edited August 8, 2014 by jpevahouse

[tmaier]

I have a copy of "Harper's Fifth Reader", printed 1861, and in the section on geology it discusses these new fossil creatures.

One of my hobbies is to find delapidated antiquarian books and make them readable again. Here is that Harper's Reader, waiting for repair.

Here is an law book from England, 1726, that I rebound. It was a ball of dirty paper when I found it.

And for you people who study evolution, this should be of interest. I have two copies of Paley's "Natural Theology". This is the famous "Watchmaker" book that spawned the book "The Blind Watchmaker" by Dawkins. I have two copies that I'm going to rebind (1840's).

[painshill]

Interesting items. I love fossil history.

I’m reminded of the “Bone Wars” era in the late 1800’s when Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope were jockeying for position as top dog in the fossil world. Marsh went to have a look at a re-assembled Elasmosaurus skeleton Cope had excavated from the Haddonfield marl pits and gleefully pointed out that the skull had been mistakenly placed on the end of the tail.

A bitter argument ensued and Joseph Leidy was invited to offer his opinion. Much to the horror of Cope, he confirmed that the skull was at the wrong end. Apart from being made to look foolish by his rival, Cope had already published a paper via the American Philosophical Society including the error and he desperately tried to buy up all the copies (unsuccessfully). His embarrassment was compounded further when Leidy exposed the attempted cover-up at the next society meeting.

Here’s one of the plates from Cope's paper showing the embarrassing Elasmosaurus reconstruction in the foreground:

"Lealaps-cope" by E.D. Cope - Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Edited August 8, 2014 by painshill

[tmaier]

Really interesting interpretation of the pterodactyl... looks like a sqaushed seagull.

[tmaier]

“Bone Wars” era in the late 1800’s when Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope

They decided to settle the war by having their brains removed and compare by weight. They both agreed this should ONLY be done AFTER they died, of course.

People believed the larger the brain, the smarter you were.

[painshill]

At the beginning of the 18^th Century in England, fossils were known as “figured stones” and associated with folklore legends rather than being recognised as the remains of ancient creatures. The famous Whitby ammonites were believed to be the result of St Hilda, the Abbess of Whitby who lived between AD 614 and 680, turning snakes into stone. Local curiosity shops sold ammonites with a snake’s head carved on the end to reinforce the legend… like this:

Whitby “snake stone” – Copyright of the Trustees of the British Museum; The Natural History Museum 2003.

[jpc]

Interesting items. I love fossil history.

I’m reminded of the “Bone Wars” era in the late 1800’s when Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope were jockeying for position as top dog in the fossil world. Marsh went to have a look at a re-assembled Elasmosaurus skeleton Cope had excavated from the Haddonfield marl pits and gleefully pointed out that the skull had been mistakenly placed on the end of the tail.

A bitter argument ensued and Joseph Leidy was invited to offer his opinion. Much to the horror of Cope, he confirmed that the skull was at the wrong end. Apart from being made to look foolish by his rival, Cope had already published a paper via the American Philosophical Society including the error and he desperately tried to buy up all the copies (unsuccessfully). His embarrassment was compounded further when Leidy exposed the attempted cover-up at the next society meeting.

Here’s one of the plates from Cope's paper showing the embarrassing Elasmosaurus reconstruction in the foreground:

Elasmosaurus.jpg

"Lealaps-cope" by E.D. Cope - Licensed under Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Leidy retired form paleo rather than become too entangled in the Cope/marsh feud.

[tmaier]

... and Darwin started to refuse all visitors due to the uproar over his books.

He had a "public defender" in Thomas Huxley. When people would attack Darwin, Huxley would jump in and give public speeches to defend his honour and theory. Huxley became known as "Darwin's Bulldog", as Darwin himself remain silent and in seclusion, writing more books.

Anyway, isn't it interesting how dinosaurs "evolved" in literature from the above depiction of 1861 "saurian" to what we have today. How much further will dinosaurs evolve in the future?

Edited August 8, 2014 by tmaier

[Auspex]

Igunadon, 1854:

[tmaier]

The next great step in the evolution of dinosaurs was bipedalism, which happened in the late 1800's. No more belly dragging for these guys!

Then in the 1980's they evolved from lethargic, cold-blooded, lumbering misfits to became agile, fleet-footed, quasi-warm blooded athletes.

Now, with a new millenium underway, it looks like they are all going to evolve feathers.

I predict two decades from now they will be driving some type of vehicles and using the internet.

[thair]

This stuff is really interesting. Thanks for posting this historical stuff.

[tmaier]

Only the historical stuff? What about the humorous content? That took more effort, you know.

[Auspex]

...I predict two decades from now they will be driving some type of vehicles and using the internet.

Sadly, their Commodore 64s were an evolutionary dead end...

[jpevahouse]

Thanks to all for your interesting comments and additional history. The history of paleontology can be as interesting as fossils themselves.

I'm sure the recent PBS documentary "The First 4 Billion Years of Australian History" attracted a lot of viewers. To their credit people over the last 150 years have steady grown more interested in ancient history. A fossils exhibit I sponsored last year at our local historical society museum fascinated the grade school kids who I found to be surprisingly knownlegeable about dinosaurs.

[jpevahouse]

Sadly, their Commodore 64s were an evolutionary dead end...

There were numerous evolutionary dead ends in the early computer business and not always because they weren't good systems.

[tmaier]

Most books on dinosaurs previous to the K-T extinction theory gave the reason for dinosaur extinct to be that they were just not well adapted to the earth. That always sounded pretty feable because how could you declare them to be so ill-adapted when they were so dominant for so long?

There were some old books that gave the extinction theory that the dinosuars were eaten by rats, and thus the mammals won.

[painshill]

[tmaier]

LOL!

That one tops all my dinosaur jokes.

[Stocksdale]

I find the old illustrations really intriguing. Sometimes they are remarkably accurate.

Doesn't count as animals, but here's an illustration plate from 1723 that I used for a Wikipedia page on the carboniferous plant, Macroneuropteris.

Middle left on the plate is one of the first illustration of the fossil Macroneuropteris, nicely done. However, I'm curious about the other items on that plate and how the author thought they were connected. Maybe something to do with the Noah and the flood. If I could read latin I might figure it out. It's from the Herbarium diluvianum by Johann Jacob Scheuchzer. You can peruse the whole book here.

Edited August 8, 2014 by Stocksdale

[tmaier]

Doh! I really want to look at that, but I have a slow modem connection!

My latin is rough, but google translate can allow you to hack through most anything...

https://translate.google.com/

Put the latin in the box on the left, select "latin" in the drop-down selector, then select "english" in the box on the right, and click on the "translate" button.

I've read a lot of medieval writings and I can tell you the medieval mind is very mysterious to the modern mind. Logic is twisted and warped, and interwoven with religous themes. Oddly enough, the ancient mind, previous to the dark ages is much easier to understand.

[jpevahouse]

Thesaurus Dinosaur.jpg

Very funny cartoon. Thanks.

[Carcharodontosaurus]

From the 1830s.

[tmaier]

Check out the weird flipper-flapper feet on the Dinotherium (dead center in the middle of the page).

... and the horn on the nose of what is probably Iguanadon. Also notice that the saurian is up off the ground, but the images drawn by Martin and followers show him as a belly dragger. Looks just like a medieval european version of a dragon.

Edited August 9, 2014 by tmaier

[jpevahouse]

Folk art sculpture of T-Rex, Mississippi

[tmaier]

I'd like to mention to people that if you find any old representations of dinosaurs they are highly collectable on the antiques market. Prints, advertising (as shown in the first post), cast bronze figures, etc.

There was a dinosuar mania during the late 1800's and early 20th century and many items were made with dino images.

The cast bronze figures are popular, but watchout for paying a high price for fakes, because in the 1970's some of the early casts were re-issued as curios. If it dates back previous to 1930's, it is an antique collectable.