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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt;text-align:center" align="center"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><b><span style="line-height:115%">Old
Croone Day is on Sunday, 04 June </span></b></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%"> </span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%">Because
the 355<sup>th</sup> anniversary of Old Croone Day falls on a weekend this
year, I am sending out the announcement early. </span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%"> </span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%">Old
Croone Day marks the anniversary of a significant event in the history of
natural history collections. It was on the fourth of June of 1662 that a
physician named Dr. William Croone showed “two embryos of puppy-dogs, which he
had kept eight days, and were put in spirit in a glass-vial sealed hermetically”
to the Royal Society of London. This is the first recorded mention of fluid
preservation of a scientific specimen. </span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%"> </span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%">Although
the production of beverage alcohol goes well back into prehistory, specimen preservation
requires alcohol that is at least 100 proof (50%), which can only be achieved
by distillation. Knowledge of distillation spread throughout Europe after the
publication of <i>The Little Book of
Distillation</i> by </span><span style="line-height:115%">Hieronymus
Brunschwygk in 1500. By the time Croone conducted his experiments, many London
basements and backrooms housed illicit stills that made strong alcohol out of
barley mash. </span><span style="line-height:115%"></span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%"> </span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%">Croone
(sometimes spelled Croune) was born in London on 15 September 1633 and was awarded
a degree from Emmanuel College (Cambridge) in 1650. In 1659, Croone was appointed
Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College in London, where he fell in with a
small group of men interested in science experiments, who then founded the
Royal Society of London in 1662. Croone was named “Doctor of Physic” by royal
mandate at Cambridge in 1662, elected a Fellow in the College of Physicians in
1675, and </span><span style="line-height:115%">appointed by
the Barber-Surgeons' Company as an anatomy lecturer in 1670</span><span style="line-height:115%">.
</span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%"> </span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%">Croone
developed a private medical practice but in his spare time he conducted
research on physiology, embryology, the circulation of blood, respiration, the
density of air, and the freezing of water. In 1664, he famously </span><span style="line-height:115%">choked a chicken until it appeared
dead, then revived the bird by inflating its lungs with fresh air through a
glass pipe inserted down its throat. </span><span style="line-height:115%">Croone died in </span><span style="line-height:115%">London on 12 October 1684, and (ironically)
was buried in the church of St Mildred, Poultry. </span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%"> </span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%">It
was Croone’s interest in embryology that led him to discover fluid
preservation. In this same spirit of scientific curiosity and inquiry, I invite
you join me in celebrating 04 June this year with a fine single malt whiskey to
preserve good friendships and reflect on how often important developments in science
have come about when someone was trying to solve some other problem. </span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%"> </span></span></font></p><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif">
</span></font><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><font size="2"><span style="font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><span style="line-height:115%">Here’s
to you, William Croone!</span></span></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><br></span></p>
</div><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr">John E. Simmons<br>Museologica<br>128 E. Burnside Street<br>Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010<br><a href="mailto:simmons.johne@gmail.com" target="_blank">simmons.johne@gmail.com</a><br>303-681-5708<br><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.museologica.com&d=DwMFaQ&c=-dg2m7zWuuDZ0MUcV7Sdqw&r=CLFZJ3fvGSmDp7xK1dNZfh6uGV_h-8NVlo3fXNoRNzI&m=bqdtuqc44JabfdsU1zbNDL3WutOhTGc4AxdcyFXJZW0&s=MMOz9X1Vq-Sa88m3ZpQOrB_964AAibShUplIpra23h4&e=" target="_blank">www.museologica.com</a><br>and<br>Adjunct Curator of Collections<br>Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery<br>Penn State University<br>University Park, Pennsylvania<br>and<br>Instructor, Museum Studies<br>School of Library and Information Science<br>Kent State University<br></div></div></div></div></div>
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