Authors: Richard Fortey

Dry Storeroom No. 1 (49 page)

There is a purposefulness about the scientific benches in the early twenty-first century that is probably more focussed than at any time in the past. After all, we live in competitive times. Formerly, there was more leisure for people behind the scenes to cultivate their eccentricities like prize vegetable marrows, mulching them regularly with their prejudices and fertilizing them with long draughts of solitude. This had something to do with the security of tenure of the established civil servant. I doubt whether a Kirkpatrick, creator of the nummulosphere, or a W. N. P. Barbellion could survive in the present climate.

What I have written about the Natural History Museum in London applies just as much to the American Museum of Natural History in New York, and to the National Museum of Natural History in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and to any one of forty similar institutions around the world. All these museums face similar challenges to those I have described to keep systematic research advancing in a changing funding culture. Their research has never been more important at a time when human impact on the environment is causing whole ecosystems to degrade. The great museums may harbour the conscience for the natural world, not merely provide its catalogue. They may be the only places where future generations may be able to find the answer to the question:
What have we done?
The collections may yet shame us all: let us hope history proves otherwise.

For now, what unites the public galleries and the secret hinterland I have explored with you is the celebration of life’s richness. We—visitors and researchers alike—are all united with the animals and plants on display, or in their hidden drawers, in the brotherhood of DNA. The fossils are part of our story, be they ever so strange. The least microbe or the greatest mammal deserves our attention. The geological history of our planet is as intimately entwined with the history of the life on its surface as the symbiosis between tree and truffle. Evolution is not a late ingredient to be added as a kind of seasoning to sharpen our taste for the natural world, it is the main course itself. When we wander with the crowds through gallery after gallery of specimens, or pause to examine moving models and videos explaining the working of the eye or the cell division of a bacterium, we are seeing what evolutionary change has accomplished on our planet through nearly four billion years. Our privilege—our uniquely human privilege—is that we alone among the multitude of species can understand the processes that got us where we are today. Those who work in the secret museum on understanding animals and plants remind us, paradoxically, what it is to be human.

I will finish by quoting the diarist W. N. P. Barbellion, even if his evolutionary scenario is no longer quite the ticket. On 22 July 1910 he wrote:

I take a jealous pride in my Simian ancestry. I like to think I was once a magnificent hairy fellow living in the trees and my frame has come down through geological time
via
a sea jelly & worms & Amphioxus, Fish, Dinosaurs & Apes. Who would exchange these for the pallid couple in the Garden of Eden?

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to many friends and colleagues in the Natural History Museum for sharing their oral histories with me, often in return for no more than a good lunch. Any errors that appear in this book are entirely the fault of the author, who may have not been the best of scribes, and nothing to do with those at lunch. I apologize to those who gave me stories that I failed to use: there was no shortage of material. I apologize even more sincerely to those who still have not received their lunch. I should particularly mention the following (in no particular order): Edmund Launert, Sandra Knapp, Peter Hammond, Dick Vane-Wright, Victor Eastop, Martin Hall, Steve Brooks, Andrew Polaszek, Paul Eggleton, David Reid, John Taylor, David Johnson, Vaughan Southgate, Amoret Whitaker, Jenny Bryant, Linda Irvine, Bob Press, Robert Symes, Richard Herrington, Alan Hart, Paul Taylor, Hugh Owen, Ellis Owen, Angela Milner, Cyril Walker, Ollie Crimmen, Ron Croucher, Chris Stringer, Andrew Currant, Alex Ball, Sara Russell, Frances Wall, Chris Stanley, Bob Hutchison, Rowland Whitehead, Klaus Sattler, Kathy Way and Lorraine Cornish. Polly Tucker helped greatly with making Museum archives available to me. Thanks also to Katie Anderson in the Natural History Museum Picture Library. Heather Godwin gave her usual eagled-eyed attention to the first draft, and removed several bad jokes. Robin Cocks read through the manuscript. Jackie Fortey gave indispensable help with picture research.

Further Reading

Arnold, E. N. 2003.
Reptiles and Amphibians of Europe.
Princeton University Press.

Barbellion, W. N. P. 1919.
The Journal of a Disappointed Man.
Sutton Publishing.

Bowler, P.J. 1983.
The Eclipse of Darwinism.
Johns Hopkins University Press.

Cheesman, E. 1949.
Six-Legged Snakes in New Guinea: A Collecting Expedition to Two Unexplored Islands.
Harrap.

Clutton-Brock, J. 1999.
Natural History of Domesticated Animals.
2nd ed. Cambridge University Press.

Corfield, R. 2003.
The Silent Landscape: In the Wake of HMS
Challenger,
1872–1876.
John Murray.

Erzincliogglu, Z. 2000.
Maggots, Murder and Men.
Harley Books.

Ferguson, N. 2001.
The House of Rothschild: Money’s Prophets, 1798–1848.
Penguin.

Gee, Henry. 1996.
Before the Backbone.
Chapman & Hall.

Gilbert, O. L. 2000.
Lichens.
Collins New Naturalist Series.

Godfray, H. C. J., and S. Knapp. 2004.
Taxonomy for the 21st Century.
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 359.

Grady, M. 2000.
Catalogue of Meteorites.
Cambridge University Press.

Kenrick, P., and P. R. Crane. 1997. “The Origin and Early Evolution of Plants on Land.”
Nature
389:33–39.

Lawrence, P.N. 1989.
Impressive Depressives: 75 Historical Cases of Manic Depression from Seven Countries.
P. N. Lawrence.

Mayor, A. 2000.
The First Fossil Hunters: Paleontology in Greek and Roman Times.
Princeton University Press.

Molleson, T., and M. Cox. 1993.
The Spitalfields Project. Volume 2: The Anthropology—The Middling Sort.
Council for British Archaeology Research Report No. 86.

Morton, V. 1987.
Oxford Rebels: The Life and Friends of Nevil Story Maskelyne.
Sutton Press.

Ramsbottom, J. 1953.
Mushrooms and Toadstools.
Collins New Naturalist Series.

Rasmussen, Pamela C., and Robert P. Prys-Jones. 2003.
History
vs
Mystery: The Reliability of Museum Specimen Data.
British Ornithologists’ Club.

Reid, D. G. 1996.
Systematics and Evolution of Littorina.
The Ray Society.

Rudwick, M. 2006.
Bursting the Limits of Time.
University of Chicago Press.

Russell, Miles. 2003.
Piltdown Man: The Secret Life of Charles Dawson.
Tempus.

Schindler, K. 2005.
Discovering Dorothea.
HarperCollins.

Smith, K. G. V. 1986.
A Manual of Forensic Entomology.
British Museum (Natural History).

Smith, V. S. 2005.
DNA Barcoding: Perspective from a “Partnerships for Enhancing Systematic Expertise (PEET)” Debate.
Systematic Biology.

Spooner, B., and P. J. Roberts. 2003.
Fungi.
Collins New Naturalist Series.

Stearn, William T. 1981.
The Natural History Museum at South Kensington.
Heinemann.

Weil, S. E. 1995.
A Cabinet of Curiosities: Inquiries into Museums and Their Prospects.
Smithsonian Institution.

Whitehead, P. J. P. 1985.
FAO Species Catalogue.
Volume 7. Clupeid Fishes of the World (Suborder Clupeoidei).
An Annotated and Illustrated Catalogue of the Herrings, Sardines, Pilchards, Sprats, Shads, Anchovies and Wolf-herrings.
Part 1—Chirocentridae, Clupeidae and Pristigasteridae. Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Fisheries Synopsis, 125, volume 7, part 1:x + 1–304.

Wyse Jackson, P. N., and M. E. Spencer Jones. 2002.
Annals of Bryozoology: Aspects of the History of Research on Bryozoans.
International Bryozoology Association, Dublin.

Illustration Credits

The author and publishers gratefully acknowledge the following sources for permission to reproduce illustrations:

INTEGRATED ILLUSTRATIONS

Diplodocus carnegii. Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Plesiosaur drawn by Mary Anning, 1824.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Museum cabinets.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Stuffed giraffe specimens.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Tray of molluscs from the Sloane collection.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Fungus gnat
Mycetophila. Photo © Andrew Darrington/Alamy.

Richard Owen with moa skeleton. From Richard Owen,
Memoirs on the Extinct Wingless Birds of New Zealand,
Vol. 2 (London: John Van Voorst, 1879), plate XCVII.

Seated statue of Charles Darwin.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Title page of
Stray Feathers, A Journal of Ornithology for India and Its Dependencies,
Allan Octavian Hume, Vol. 2 (1874).

Fossil ostracode
Colymbosathon ecplecticos. Photo © David Siveter. Article © The Sun.

Orobatid mite larva
Archegozetes. Photos © Richard Thomas.

Duck-billed platypus.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Nematode worm
Coenorhabditis elegans. Photo © Phototake Inc./Alamy.

Edible black truffle.
Photo © Jackie Fortey.

Trilobite “mines” in Morocco.
Photo © Brian Chatterton.

Devonian trilobite
Erbenochile. Author’s own collection.

Spiny trilobite, odontopleurid.
Photo © Brian Chatterton.

Ammonite.
Photo courtesy M. K. Howarth.

Colin Patterson.
Photo courtesy Peter Forey.

Kenneth Oakley, 1953.
Photo by Daniel Farson/Picture Post © Getty Images.

The Examination of the Piltdown Skull,
by John Cooke.
Photo © Geological Society, The/NHMPL.

Piltdown artefacts. Drawings from the
Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London,
1914.

Palaeontology laboratory.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Lycopsids from South Island, New Zealand.
Author’s own collection.

Winkles
Afrolittorina, Austrolittorina. Photo courtesy David Reid.

Lucinid clam
Rasta thiophilia. Photo courtesy John Taylor.

Clam
Plicolucina flabellata. Photo courtesy John Taylor.

View of the Chelsea Physic Garden c. 1910.
Photo © RBKC, Libraries.

John Peake.
Drawing courtesy John Taylor.

Nineteenth-century print of Loch Ness.
Author’s own collection.

Peter Whitehead.
Photo courtesy Oliver Crimmen.

Peter Whitehead.
Article ©
The Sunday Times.

Nummulosphere. Illustration from R. Kirkpatrick,
The Nummulosphere,
London, 1913.

Peter Purves and whale carcass.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Museum office.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Herbarium.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Traveller’s joy from Leonhard Fuchs,
De Historia Stirpium,
Basel, 1542.

Larkspur.
By permission of the Linnean Society of London.

Diatoms from Christian Ehrenberg,
Mikrogeologie,
1854.

Lake Baikal.
Photo © David Williams.

Screw worm (
Cochliomyia hominivorax
).
Photo courtesy Martin Hall.

Head of the larval screw worm (
Cochliomyia
).
Photo courtesy Martin Hall.

Screw worm plaque.
Photo courtesy Martin Hall.

Bruce Frederic Cummings.
Photo courtesy Eric Bond Hutton.

Walter Rothschild.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Butterfly collector
by Ian Jackson,
Punch,
22 May 1985.
Reproduced with permission of Punch Ltd.

Dick Vane-Wright.
Photo courtesy Dick Vane-Wright.

(
Top
) Decomposing piglet
.
(
Bottom
) Bluebottle (
Calliphora vicina
).
Photos courtesy Amoret Whitaker.

Springtail.
Photo © Holt Studios International/Alamy.

Head of midge
Heterotrissocladius grimshawi. Photo courtesy Steve Brooks.

(
Top
) Beetle display.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London
.
(
Bottom
) Rhinoceros beetle.
Photo courtesy Rob Knell.

Field laboratory in Africa.
Photo © Dick Vane-Wright.

Beetle
Agathidium vaderi. Drawing courtesy Quentin Wheeler.

(
Top
) Martian meteorite ALH 84001.
Photo courtesy NASA/JSC
.
(
Bottom
) Micrograph of ALH 84001.
Photo courtesy NASA.

Jadarite.
Photo courtesy Chris Stanley.

(
Top
) SEM image of Cenozoic bryozoan (
Exochella jellyae
Brown, 1952)
.
(
Bottom
) Drawing by Brown of the holotoype.
Photos courtesy Paul Taylor.

Mineral Gallery, Natural History Museum.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Portrait of Edward Heron-Allen.
Photo courtesy Clive Jones.

Big Hole diamond mine, Kimberley, South Africa.
Photo © Chris Howes/Wild Places Photography/Alamy.

Diamond-cutting machine.
Photo © Corbis.

Native silver.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Arthur Russell. Photo from
Nature Stored, Nature Studied,
British Museum (Natural History), 1981.

Cartoon of Edwin Ray Lankester riding an okapi.
Punch,
12 November 1902.

Sir Gavin de Beer.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Museum logo.
Author’s own collection.

Extinct mammal
Myotragus. Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Lucy Evelyn Cheesman.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Model of the dodo.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Meinertzhagen collection.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Museum storage in Surrey caves, 1943.
Photo by Fox Photos/Hulton Archive © Getty Images.

War damage to the Botany Department.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

House journal
Tin Hat. Author’s own collection.

HMS
Challenger. Author’s own collection.

Richard Owen carving a dodo.
Photo © Science Museum/Science & Society Picture Library.

W. D. Lang.
Photo courtesy The Royal Society.

Cretaceous bryozoan
Pelmatopora. Photo courtesy Paul Taylor.

Carpoid
Cothurnocystis elizae
Bather.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

Drawing of a kangaroo by Sydney Parkinson.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

PLATES

1 Front façade of the Natural History Museum.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

2 Main hall, Natural History Museum.
Photo © David Pearson/Alamy.

3
Sir Richard Owen
by William Holman Hunt, 1881.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

4 Ceiling panel, detail of
Pinus sylvestris. Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

5 Giant sequoia.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

6 Moonfish in jar.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London/Alamy.

7 Osteology storeroom.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

8 Nathan Muchhala, Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve, Ecuador.
Photo © Jackie Fortey.

12 Portrait of Linnaeus by Martin Hoffman.
By permission of the Linnean Society of London.

16 Living bryozoan (
Adeona
).
Photo courtesy Piotr Kuklinski.

17 Ostracod.
Photo courtesy David Siveter.

21 Boxgrove excavation.
Photo courtesy The Boxgrove Project.

25 Sea spiders.
Photo courtesy Derek Siveter.

1 Portrait of Sir Joseph Banks by Thomas Phillips.
By permission of the Linnean Society of London.

4 Herbarium specimen of sweet pea.
By permission of the Linnean Society of London.

13 Termite
Bifidtermes. Photo courtesy Paul Eggleton.

15 Thin section of olivine basalt.
Photo M. Hobbs/GeoScience Features Picture Library.

20 Kovdorskite.
Photo courtesy Frances Wall.

21 Koh-i-noor diamond mould.
Photo courtesy Alan Hart.

25 The “accursed amethyst.”
Photo courtesy Alan Hart.

26 Illustration of owls, Plate 432 from John James Audubon’s
Birds of America
(1835–38).
Photo © Natural History Museum, London/Alamy.

27 Gymea lily from
Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae,
1816, by Ferdinand Bauer.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

28 Seaside ragwort from Newfoundland, Volumes, sketches by Georg Dionysius Ehret.
Photo © Natural History Museum, London.

While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein, the publishers would like to apologize for any omissions and would be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future editions.

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