[Nhcoll-l] Time to Celebrate Old Croone Day!!

[John E Simmons]

*Old Croone Day, 04 June 2023*



The problem of fluid preservation,

Was far more than just botheration.

But alcohol and a jar,

Proved best things by far,

And thus, Old Croone won our admiration.



The international holiday known as Old Croone Day celebrates the first
record of the preservation of scientific specimens in alcohol on 04 June of
1662, on which day Dr. William Croone (1633-1684) demonstrated that he had
“two embryos of puppy-dogs, which he had kept eight days, and were put in
spirit in a glass-vial sealed hermetically.” The members of the *Royal
Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge*, the oldest scientific
society in the world, were duly impressed.



Croone (sometimes spelled Croune) was a physician, anatomist, a professor
of Rhetoric at Gresham College, and interested in physics, physiology, and
embryology. Despite his diverse accomplishments, however, he is remembered
by us today for his experiments with spirits of wine (ethyl alcohol) and
the two specimens he first preserved.



And so, let us join together today to celebrate the unquenchable spirit of
curiosity and experimentation by hoisting a glass of your favorite beverage
and toast the preservation of community and friendship while basking in the
pleasure of finding things out.



Here’s to you, Dr. William Croone!


[image: image.png]

John E. Simmons
Writer and Museum Consultant
Museologica
*and*
Associate Curator of Collections
Earth and Mineral Science Museum & Art Gallery
Penn State University
*and*
Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia
Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima
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