<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;text-align:center;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif" align="center"><b><span style="font-size:14pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Old
Croone Day, 04 June <span></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Today
is Old Croone Day, an international holiday that marks the anniversary of a
significant event in the history of natural history collections. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It
was on this day, 04 June, in 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 the long-term preservation of a scientific
specimen in alcohol. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Although
the production of beverage alcohol goes well back into the mists of prehistory,
specimen preservation requires alcohol that is at least 100 proof (50%), which
can only be achieved by distillation. Knowledge of distillation began to spread
throughout Europe after the publication of <i>The
Little Book of Distillation</i> by </span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Hieronymus
Brunschwygk in 1500. By the time Croone conducted his experiments, many London cellars
and backrooms housed illicit stills that made strong alcohol from barley mash. </span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Croone
(sometimes spelled Croune) was born in London on 15 September 1633. He was
awarded a degree from Emmanuel College (Cambridge) in 1650, and in 1659 was
appointed Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College in London. At Gresham
College, Croone fell in with a small group of men who were interested in
science experiments and founded the Royal Society of London in 1662. That same
year, Croone was named “Doctor of Physic” by royal mandate at Cambridge, then elected
a Fellow in the College of Physicians (in 1675) and </span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">appointed by the Barber-Surgeons'
Company as an anatomy lecturer in 1670</span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">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="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">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="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Croone died in </span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">London on 12 October 1684, and (ironically)
was buried in the church of St Mildred, Poultry. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">It
was Croone’s interest in embryology that led him to accidentally 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 (or
whatever is your beverage of choice) to preserve good friendships and reflect
on how often important developments in science have so often come about when someone
was trying to solve some other problem. <span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><span> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Here’s
to you, Dr. William Croone!<span></span></span></p>
<br clear="all"></div><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><font size="1"><span style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">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></span></font><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
</div>