J D Hooker slide collection
The British Geological Survey is home to more than three million fossils collected over two centuries and catalogued with enormous precision.
However, as generations of curators have come and gone, a few collections have lain forgotten and their significance has gradually passed out of memory.
Recently, a collection of ‘unregistered fossil plants’ was found in one of the Survey’s windowless vaults in Keyworth, in central England.
These comprise hundreds of beautiful thin sections of fossil wood dating from the early nineteenth century.
The collection was assembled by botanist Joseph Hooker (Darwin’s best friend) while he was briefly employed by the Survey in 1846.
The material includes some of the first thin sections ever made by William Nicol, the pioneer of petrography, in the late 1820s, as well as specimens picked up by Darwin and Hooker on their round the world voyages in the 1830s and 1840s.
The collection is particularly interesting in the way it sheds light on the vibrant and sometimes murky world of early nineteenth century science. This is the story of these fascinating fossils:
LONDON (AP) — British scientists have found scores of fossils the great evolutionary theorist Charles Darwin and his peers collected but that had been lost for more than 150 years.
Dr. Howard Falcon-Lang, a paleontologist at Royal Holloway, University of London, said Tuesday that he stumbled upon the glass slides containing the fossils in an old wooden cabinet that had been shoved in a "gloomy corner" of the massive, drafty British Geological Survey.
Using a flashlight to peer into the drawers and hold up a slide, Falcon-Lang saw one of the first specimens he had picked up was labeled 'C. Darwin Esq."
"It took me a while just to convince myself that it was Darwin's signature on the slide," the paleontologist said, adding he soon realized it was a "quite important and overlooked" specimen.
He described the feeling of seeing that famous signature as "a heart in your mouth situation," saying he wondering "Goodness, what have I discovered!"
Falcon-Lang's find was a collection of 314 slides of specimens collected by Darwin and other members of his inner circle, including John Hooker — a botanist and dear friend of Darwin — and the Rev. John Henslow, Darwin's mentor at Cambridge, whose daughter later married Hooker.
The first slide pulled out of the dusty corner at the British Geological Survey turned out to be one of the specimens collected by Darwin during his famous expedition on the HMS Beagle, which changed the young Cambridge graduate's career and laid the foundation for his subsequent work on evolution.
Falcon-Lang said the unearthed fossils — lost for 165 years — show there is more to learn from a period of history scientists thought they knew well.
"To find a treasure trove of lost Darwin specimens from the Beagle voyage is just extraordinary," Falcon-Lang added. "We can see there's more to learn. There are a lot of very, very significant fossils in there that we didn't know existed."
He said one of the most "bizarre" slides came from Hooker's collection — a specimen of prototaxites, a 400 million-year-old tree-sized fungus.
Hooker had assembled the collection of slides while briefly working for the British Geological Survey in 1846, according to Royal Holloway, University of London.
The slides — "stunning works of art," according to Falcon-Lang — contain bits of fossil wood and plants ground into thin sheets and affixed to glass in order to be studied under microscopes. Some of the slides are half a foot long (15 centimeters), "great big chunks of glass," Falcon-Lang said.
"How these things got overlooked for so long is a bit of a mystery itself," he mused, speculating that perhaps it was because Darwin was not widely known in 1846 so the collection might not have been given "the proper curatorial care."
Royal Holloway, University of London said the fossils were 'lost' because Hooker failed to number them in the formal "specimen register" before setting out on an expedition to the Himalayas. In 1851, the "unregistered" fossils were moved to the Museum of Practical Geology in Piccadilly before being transferred to the South Kensington's Geological Museum in 1935 and then to the British Geological Survey's headquarters near Nottingham 50 years later, the university said.
The discovery was made in April, but it has taken "a long time" to figure out the provenance of the slides and photograph all of them, Falcon-Lang said. The slides have now been photographed and will be made available to the public through a new online museum exhibit opening Tuesday.
Falcon-Lang expects great scientific papers to emerge from the discovery.
"There are some real gems in this collection that are going to contribute to ongoing science."
Dr. John Ludden, executive director of the Geological Survey, called the find a "remarkable" discovery.
"It really makes one wonder what else might be hiding in our collections," he said. source:
Science
Doesn't Make Any Sense!
Creation
Research Center
"We
don't know how He does it," said Landover Junior High School
teacher, Mrs Doris Whitaker, "but Jesus changes the colors of
the leaves on the trees during the Fall (a season named after the
fall of man from Eden, which had no autumn colors). No science book
will tell you that. But it is clear that Jesus is behind the
pretty colored leaves that drop off the trees as piles of trash on
your lawn! Why else are only the Christmas trees left green?
So they can be decorated on His birthday, that's why! Praise!"
Mrs. Whitaker expressed a long-held Baptist belief that science
cannot explain natural phenomenon. "For years, Congress has been
able to force scientists to label their disgusting work as fiction,"
said Pastor Deacon Fred. "But we don't think that's good enough.
It's not called "Science Fiction" for nothing folks.
So-called science is just a big pile of secular lies made up solely
to take the credit away from God. There is no other way of putting
it! They need to stop calling it Biology, Chemistry, Astronomy, and
Physics. Do they think that the people of God are going to stand by
like idiots and let them rot this country's education system with a
mythology spawned by hoofed demons in the fiery caves of Hell?"
One does not have to have a degree in Theology to see the Devil's hot
red hands in this plot. It was only a matter of time before
scientists would start trying to pawn off their silly stories as
"truth." Christians know that scientists have never cared, nor will they ever care, one iota about "the Truth." Because truth can't be found in the light of a Bunson Burner. It can only be seen in the Light of God's Word. And that is only found in the Bible. The Bible will tell you that God did not make man from so-called carbon; He made him with dirt.
Today's scientists have taken a turn for the worse. Their mysterious campaign of deception was no doubt designed by several demons of the highest order, armed with Al Gore's calculator and more than likely orchestrated by the hoofed satyr, Lucifer, himself. Science is a "fuzzy math" and a blood-bought Baptist must have a spirit of discernment to see through secular science's toxic cloud of confusion. They mislead the public by creating different names for themselves. They say, "I'm a psychologist," or "I'm a therapist or microbiologist." Poppy-cock! That's what it is. They are nothing more than Satanists with spectacles and pockets full of pencils and rulers. In fact, the word "scientist" is actually Latin for "Satanist." Do they take Christians for fools?
Jesus told us that we need to become like children if we want to get into Heaven. You see, Jesus doesn't want us to get puffed up with so-called education and knowledge, which is why He has anointed Mitt Romney. Scientists would have you believe that salvation can be found in the accumulation of knowledge. They say that "knowledge" will set you free. This is hogwash according to our Lord and Savior. Through Jesus, we know that all knowledge outside of the Holy Bible is a lie. A child could tell you that! During this time of Thanksgiving, science has yet to provide an explanation as to why there are still so many turkeys available after they were all killed last year. We will tell you why: Jesus blesses us with those turkeys, end of story. We don't need to read a book to find out where they come from! They come from Jesus! And if those skinny, knock-kneed Africans had the presence of mind to come up with a holiday that centered around eating, instead of collecting shrunken heads, Jesus would give them food so they wouldn't starve, too. Ask and you shall receive!
We can't understand how people fall for science. Do you know where scientists say that "ice" comes from? They say that when water gets cold, it huddles together for warmth. They say this "molecular body heat" stops the water from shaking so it becomes still. Can you believe how stupid secular scientists are? God's Word offers another explanation – the true explanation. "Jesus wants us all to be Christlike - - and what better way than to be able to walk on water? Praise His name!"
How long will Christians be subjected to ridiculous notions about where rain comes from, what causes hurricanes (Would you believe that scientists blame them on a man called Nino living in Peru? It's outrageous! But they really believe it!), why there are floods and droughts, what causes sinkholes, where oil comes from (scientists will tell you oil and coal come from fern trees – try getting either substance from trees!), how food suddenly appears each day in the aisles of grocery stores, how gasoline makes cars "go," how houses get warm during the winter, how light comes out of little glass bulbs (or even how those glass bulbs are made!)."
As Christians, we don't have silly stories or some bizarre mythology to explain the Truth. We know that Jesus is up in heaven, living on a cloud, sitting on a golden throne. If He rustles His silver robes, the Sahara gets a sand storm. If He flicks a drop of perspiration off His furrowed brow, those little folks in Tokyo find themselves under 10 feet of water. Secular scientists go crazy about a few little factories belching smoke, saying it causes acid rain and holes in the erogenous zone. But I have news for you, if the Lord just lets out just one tiny pooty-poot, it is like 4,000 Mount St. Helen's blowing a dark hole straight through the sky. Source:
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