[Nhcoll-l] Old Croone Day

[John E Simmons]

*Old Croone Day, 04 June *



Once again it is Old Croone Day, an international holiday that celebrates
the anniversary of a significant event in the history of natural history
collections— *the first recorded mention of the long-term preservation of
scientific specimens in alcohol*. It was on 04 June 1662 that Dr. William
Croone demonstrated “two embryos of puppy-dogs, which he had kept eight
days, and were put in spirit in a glass-vial sealed hermetically” before
the Royal Society of London.



Croone (1633-1684) graduated from from Emmanuel College (Cambridge) in
1650, was appointed Professor of Rhetoric at Gresham College in London in
1659, and joined a group interested in science experiments which led to him
being a founding member of the Royal Society of London in 1662.



After Croone was certified as an anatomy lecturer by the Barber-Surgeons'
Company, and elected a Fellow in the College of Physicians in 1675. Croone
conducted research on physiology, the circulation of blood, respiration,
the density of air, and the freezing of water, but it was his interest in
embryology that led him to accidentally discover fluid preservation.



In this same spirit of scientific curiosity and inquiry, I invite you to
celebrate 04 June this year (and every year) by raising a glass of your
favorite beverage to toast the preservation of friendships and reflect on
how many important developments in science have come about when someone was
trying to solve some other problem.



Here’s to you, Dr. William Croone!




John E. Simmons
Writer and Museum Consultant
Museologica
*and*
Investigador Asociado, Departamento de Ornitologia
Museo de Historia Natural, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Lima
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