[NHCOLL-L:5458] Re: Celebrate 04 June

[Steve Halford]

Should we plan something for next year, the trisemicentennial?

Steve.

-- 
Steve Halford (halford at sfu.ca)
Museum Technician
Department of Biological Sciences
Simon Fraser University
8888 University Drive
Burnaby, B.C. Canada               Phone
V5A 1S6                                  778-782-3461




On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 9:26 AM, John E Simmons <simmons.johne at gmail.com> wrote:
> Tomorrow is a significant, but little known anniversary of an important
> event in the history of natural history collections.  On the 4th of June in
> the year 1662, William Croone appeared before the Royal Society of London
> and “…produced two embryos of puppy-dogs, which he had kept eight days, and
> were put in spirit in a glass-vial sealed hermetically...”  This is the
> first recorded mention of modern fluid preservation of a scientific
> specimen.
>
>
>
> The Transactions of the Royal Society report that almost immediately Robert
> Boyle leaped up and “… promised to make like experiment in rabbets” and
> indeed, Boyle is often mistakenly credited with inventing preservation in
> alcohol.  The next mention of fluid preservation was when another member
> brought to the Royal Society an “abortive human foetus, kept in spirit well
> rectified” (meaning double distilled).  In 1664 Boyle donated to the society
> specimens of a linnet and a snake he had preserved in alcohol four months
> previous.
>
>
>
> Croone (sometimes spelled Croune) was born in London on 15 September 1633
> and received 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 founded the Royal Society of London in 1662.  Croone was named “Doctor
> of Physic” by royal mandate at Cambridge in 1662 and elected a Fellow in the
> College of Physicians on 29 June 1675.  When Croone died in 1684 his will
> established two lectureships, one for the Royal College of Physicians, the
> other for the Royal Society.  The income for the Royal Society lectureship
> came from one-fifth of the rent paid by the King’s Head Tavern on Old Fish
> Street, London, at the corner of Lambeth Hill.
>
>
>
> It was Croone’s interest in embryology (one of many areas of science to
> which he contributed) that led him to discover fluid preservation.  I invite
> all SPNHC members to raise a glass in celebration of this momentous
> anniversary tomorrow, 04 June, preferably by sharing a fine single malt
> whiskey with friends and reflecting on how often significant developments in
> our field have come about when we are really trying to solve some other
> problem.
>
>
>
> References for the True Nerds Among Us
>
> Birch, T.  1756-1757.  The History of the Royal Society of London for
> Improving of Natural Knowledge from its First Rise.  Volume I.  A. Millar,
> London
>
> Cole, F.J.  1944.  A History of Comparative Anatomy from Aristotle to the
> Eighteenth Century.  MacMillan and Company, Ltd., London, viii + 524 pages.
>
> Payne, L.M., L.G. Wilson, and H. Hartley.  1960.  Notes and Records of the
> Royal Society of London 15:211-219.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Croone
>
> http://rsnr.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/15/1/211.full.pdf
>
>
>
> -- John
>
> John E. Simmons
> Museologica
> 128 E. Burnside Street
> Bellefonte, Pennsylvania 16823-2010
> simmons.johne at gmail.com
> 303-681-5708
> www.museologica.com
> and
> Adjunct Curator of Collections
> Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
> Penn State University
> University Park, Pennsylvania
> and
> Lecturer in Art
> Juniata College
> Huntingdon, Pennsylvania
>
>