The Terrible Lizard; The First Dinosaur Hunters and the Birth of a New Science

by Deborah Cadbury

• ISBN13: 9780805070873
• ISBN10: 0805070877
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2002-06-01
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks

Summary

In 1812, the skeleton of a monster was discovered beneath the cliffs of Dorset, setting in motion a collision between science and religion, and among scientists eager to claim supremacy in a brand-new field. For Reverend William Buckland, an eccentric naturalist at Oxford University, the fossil remains of a creature that existed before Noah's flood inspired an attempt to prove the accuracy of the biblical record. Novelist Gideon Mantell also became obsessed with the ancient past, and eminent anatomist Richard Owen soon entered the fray, claiming credit for the discovery of the dinosaurs. In a fast-paced narrative,Terrible Lizardre-creates the bitter feud between Mantell and Owen. Revealing a strange, awesome prehistoric era, their struggle set the stage for Darwin's shattering theories -- and for controversies that still rage today. Deborah Cadburyis an award-winning TV science producer for the BBC. She is also the author ofThe Feminization of Nature. She lives in London. In 1812, a twelve-year-old girl named Mary Anning was collecting fossils for her father beneath the cliffs of Dorset when she discovered the outline of a lizardlike skeleton embedded in the limestone. Working with a small hammer, she unearthed a giant prehistoric animal seventeen feet in length. News of her discovery baffled scholars and attracted the attention of the Reverend William Buckland, an eccentric Oxford naturalist known for his interest in geology or "undergroundology," as he called it. Buckland eagerly used Mary's find and other remnant fossils to set in motion a quest to understand the world before Noah's flood, though his inquiry was in fact an attempt to prove the accuracy of the biblical record (the scriptures alone were the key to understanding history in his view, and fossils were interpreted in this context). Meanwhile, another naturalist, Gideon Mantell, a poor country doctor, uncovered giant petrified bones in a Sussex quarry and became obsessed with the ancient past that, he came to realize, must once have been teeming with creatures up to seventy feet long. Initially scorned by the scientific establishment, Mantell risked his reputation and career to reveal his vision of the lost world of reptiles. Despite their efforts, it was the eminent anatomist Richard Owen, patronized by royalty, the prime minister, and the aristocracy, who claimed the credit for the discovery of the dinosaurs. Through guile, political intrigue, and brilliant scientific insight, Owen rose from a surgeon's apprentice in Lancaster to the highest echelons of society and was feted as the man who gave the extinct creatures their name, dinosaur, or "terrible lizard." Deborah Cadbury's lively story re-creates the bitter feud between Mantell and Owen, which drove one of them to despair and ruin and secured for the other unrivaled international acclaim. Their struggle brought to light the age of dinosaurs and created a new science that would forever change man's perception of his place in the universe. "Sheer narrative pleasure . . . [Cadbury] has scoured diaries, letters and newspaper archives and can tell her story in the words of the people who lived it."Carl Zimmer,Scientific American "Sheer narrative pleasure . . . [Cadbury] has scoured diaries, letters and newspaper archives and can tell her story in the words of the people who lived it."Carl Zimmer,Scientific American "Cadbury makes the career struggles of the men and women who first described dinosaurs as real as yesterday's pink slip . . .We hold our breath as we turn the pages."The Christian Science Monitor "Much more than a tale of scientific discovery . . . Cadbury recounts this tale of scientific aspiration and professional backstabbing with the verve and insight of a novelist. Her grasp of the social ethos

Author Biography

Deborah Cadbury is an award-winning TV science producer for the BBC. She is also the author of The Feminization of Nature. She lives in London.

Table of Contents

Picture Credits	vii
Acknowledgements	ix
PART ONE
An Ocean Turned to Stone	3	(30)
The World in a Pebble	33	(25)
Toast of Mice and Crocodiles for Tea	58	(22)
The Subterranean Forest	80	(21)
The Giant Saurians	101	(28)
PART TWO
The Young Contender	129	(19)
Satan's Creatures	148	(17)
The Geological Age of Reptiles	165	(17)
Nature, Red in Tooth and Claw	182	(20)
Nil Desperandum	202	(27)
PART THREE
Dinosauria	229	(25)
The Arch-hater	254	(26)
Dinomania	280	(22)
Nature without God?	302	(21)
Epilogue	323	(4)
Notes and Sources	327	(36)
Select Bibliography	363	(2)
Index	365