From The Dragon Seekers by Christopher McGowan
From The Dragon Seekers by Christopher McGowan |
In his inaugural geology lecture at Oxford, Professor William Buckland argued that geology completely supported the biblical account of the world's early history. Most of his words were not his own, however, but those of his close friend William Conybeare, who shortly afterward denounced Lamarck's transmutational theories as "monstrous."
William Conybeare was an astute scientist who devoted much of his life to paleontology, yet his interest in fossils came after his devotion to religion. Although he studied with Buckland at Oxford as a young man, he followed a different career path. While Buckland stayed on at Oxford with a modest income, Conybeare married and became a minister in living the countryside, and option he could afford thanks to a generous inheritance. Fortunately, his duties as a minister didn't keep him from the fossils he loved.
While looking through a collection of ichthyosaur vertebrae, Conybeare noticed a different kind of vertebrae and deduced that a different kind of animal must have lived with the ichthyosaurs. Mary Anning confirmed this suspicion with her find of the world's first plesiosaur. Yet Anning's first plesiosaur discovery, regrettably, lacked a skull. Conybeare found a jaw and a badly damaged skull that he believed to belong to the plesiosaur. Again, Anning made a discovery that proved him right — a complete plesiosaur skeleton with a skull matching his earlier finds.
French naturalist Cuvier was originally suspicious of the plesiosaur skeleton, thinking it a hoax, but Conybeare pronounced it genuine. Conybeare's defense of the fossil had the effect, perhaps purely incidental, of saving the Anning family's reputation — and finances. Ironically, though Conybeare would likely enjoy being remembered for his contributions to science, he might not care to be remembered for his treatment of the fossil collector who supplied him with so much evidence. Conybeare eschewed mentioning Anning by name, and when he did refer to her, he used the term "proprietor" as if to emphasize that her only interest in fossils was monetary. He was much kinder to his old friend Buckland, and remained Buckland's advisor throughout his career, a decision he may have occasionally regretted. When supporting Buckland's argument that modern landscapes had been shaped entirely by the Great Flood (a view Buckland himself later abandoned), Conybeare announced that no river in history had deepened its channel. His announcement was immediately followed by the reading of a paper describing a stream's ability to sweep away a bridge.
For more information:
Scenes from Deep Time by Martin J.S. Rudwick
The Dragon Seekers by Christopher McGowan
Terrible Lizard by Deborah Cadbury
The Dinosaur Papers edited by Weishampel and White
Bursting the Limits of Time by Martin J.S. Rudwick
To See the Fellows Fight by John C. Thackray
Gideon Mantell and the Discovery of Dinosaurs by Dennis R. Dean
Measuring Eternity by Martin Gorst
Finders, Keepers by Rosamond Wolff Purcell and Stephen Jay Gould
Narrative text and graphic design © by Michon Scott - Updated January 28, 2006