Fossil Gallery

1814 Mary Anning first ichthyosaur skull

Temnodontosaurus platydon. First scientific illustration of Mary Anning's (and the world's) first ichthyosaur skull (actually found by her brother Joseph in 1811 and the body excavated by her in 1812 -some cite 1810 and 11). Folio size, It comes from an 1814 paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society by Sir Everard Home (1756-1832) illustrated by Clift. Home was the first geologist to publish detailed reports and illustrations on ichthyosaurs (previous more fragmentary remains had been misidentified as crocodiles) but he did a poor job, naming them Proteosaurus for a semblance to salamanders in 1819 - a name that was hence widely ignored. Preference was given to Konig's unpublished suggestion of the name Ichthyosaur, and De La Beche and Conybeare soon came to write the definitive early papers on ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs. The specimen is still in the British Museum

© PAUL D STEWART/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

1862 Dinosaurs and Pterosaurs

Lithograph with later hand colouring combining two of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins six wall posters "Waterhouse Hawkins Diagrams of the Extinct Animals" produced for the Department of Science and Art in 1862. It includes nearly all the dinosaurs known up to that date. From left 1 & 2 Iguanodon, 3 Hylaeosaurus, 4&5 Megalosaurus. On cliffs in background are pterosaurs (not dnosaurs). In 1855 Waterhouse Hawkins produced lifesize reconstructions, with the scientific help of Richard Owen, for the gardens of the Crystal Palace at Sydenham. When that project was curtailed he continued to use the designs for artwork such as this, also producing scale models of the sculptures for sale. Later he travelled to the USA where he began work on a similar project in New York's Central Park using more complete skeletal remains of dinosaurs recently discovered there. Sadly that project was never completed

© This image is Paul D. Stewart 2009. Do not reproduce without permission of the photographer at Stewartpauld@aol.com

1800 Thomas Jefferson Portrait

Thomas Jefferson, polymath, American Founding Father and President (b. 13 April 1743 - d. 4 July 1826). Engraving by W.Holl in "The Gallery of Portraits" 1837 with later colouring, after print by Desnoyers and painting by Peale 1800. His chief contribution to science came in paleontology, describing the American Mastodon and in 1797 the first fossil of the giant ground sloth Megalonyx jeffersonii from West Virginia. Megalonyx means "giant claw" (see Leidy 1855). Cuvier credited the discovery and illustrated it in his 1812 "Ossamens fossiles". Buffon had been dismissive of the American fauna as feeble and Jefferson was happy to counter the claim with fossils such as these. Jefferson also contributed to the sciences as an inventor and archaeologist. He founded the University of Virginia

© This image is Paul D. Stewart 2009. Do not reproduce without permission of the photographer at Stewartpauld@aol.com