IN 1787, SOMEONE in Nely ten—found anenormous ticking out of a stream bank at a place called oodbury Creek. t belong to any species of creature still alive, certainly not in New Jersey.

    From tle is kno is t to o a  time, dinosaurs were unknown.

    t to Dr. Caspar istar, tion’s leading anatomist, a meeting of ty in P autumn. Unfortunately,istar failed completely to recognize tiousand uninspired remarks to t t it ed so little interest t it  in a storeroom and eventually disappeared altogether.

    So t dinosaur bone ever found  to be lost.

    t t attract greater interest is more ttle puzzling, for its appearancecame at a time  about tanimals. trange assertion by t Frencuralist te de Buffon—ed sper—t living to te in  and muceemed oire Naturelle , agnant, tive, and t size or vigor, titutions rose from its rotting ss. Insuc even tive Indians lacked virility. “tive organs were“small and feeble.”

    Buffon’s observations found surprisingly eager support among oters, especiallyt complicated by actual familiarity ry. ADutc native American males  only reproductivelyunimposing, but “so lacking in virility t ts.” Sucy and could be found repeated or ecexts tillnear teentury.

    Not surprisingly, sucly met in America. ted a furious (and, unless text is understood, quite betal in es on tate of Virginia , and induced o send ty soldiers into to find a bull moose to present to Buffon asproof of tature and majesty of American quadrupeds. It took to trackdoable subject. t, unfortunately lacked tJefferson  Sullivan tfully included a rack of antlers from an elk orstag ion t ttacead. er all, would know?

    Meany—naturalists o assemble t elep-like creature kno first as “t American incognitum” but lateridentified, not quite correctly, as a mammot of ta place called Big Bone Lick in Kentucky, but soon oturning up all over. America,it appeared, ruly substantial creature—one t ions.

    In to demonstrate tum’s bulk and ferocity, turalists appear to ly carried aimated its size by afactor of six and gave it frig came from a Megalonyx, or giantground slot ty and ferocity of tiger,” and portrayed it in illustrations as pouncingo prey from boulders. usks otive orer screusks in upsidedooot, isfyingly aggressive aspect.

    Anotusks so t t ture ic and o ancself to trees inent consideration about tum,  it appeared to be extinct—afact t Buffon cs incontestably degenerate nature.

    Buffon died in 1788, but troversy rolled on. In 1795 a selection of bones made to Paris, ology, tocratic Georges Cuvier. Cuvier akingiculated bones and  ure of an animal from a single tooten nameto t no one in America  to ea formal description of t, Cuvier did so, and ts officialdiscoverer.  a mastodon (eeth”).

    Inspired by troversy, in 1796 Cuvier e a landmark paper, Note on ts, in  time a formal tinctions.  from time to time tastropures . For religious people, including Cuvier able implications since it suggested an unaccountable casualness on t of Providence. to e species only to  later? tion rary to t C t every living t  abide t t o vaniso t, to evolve). So  to  t be scientific and political value in sending a party to explore terior of Americabeyond t at trepid adventurers sized creatures grazing on teous plains.

    Jefferson’s personal secretary and trusted friend Meriuralist for tion. ted to advise  to look out foro animals living and deceased ar.

    In t, t tocratic and celebrated Cuvier ion t into t ions. illiam Smitruction on tCoal Canal. On tting in a coacion t ually make ation. to interpret rocks,to be some means of correlation, a basis on  t o realize t t every crata certainspecies of fossils disappeared  levels. By noting a, you could  tive ages of rocks o make a map ofBritain’s rock strata, rials in 1815 and one of modern geology. (tory is compreer’s popular book t Cunately, , Smiterested in understanding trata and content myself  it is so,”  come he Province of a Mineral Surveyor.”

    Smition  regarding  strata  ened tinctions. to begin  confirmed t God  creatures not occasionally butrepeatedly. t so mucile. It also made itinconveniently necessary to explain  o succeeding eons. Clearly to extinctions ted for by a single Noacter to isfaction by suggesting t Genesis applied only to t recentinundation. God, it appeared,  ract or alarm Moses  extinctions.

    So by teentury, fossils aken on a certain inescapableimportance, o see tunate. Suddenly, in any case, bones urning up all over. Several otunities arose for Americans to claim t all ed. In1806 tion passed tion in Montana, anarea er literally trip over dinosaur bones, and even examined failed to make anyt. Otprints icut River Valley of Neer a farm boy named Plinus Moody spied ancient tracks on a rock ledge at Soutts. Some of t least survive—notably tion of t Yale. Found in 1818, tdinosaur bones to be examined and saved, but unfortunately  recognized for il 1855. In t same year, 1818, Caspar istar died, but ainunexpected immortality  named ttall named a deliger anical purists still insist on spelling it aria .

    By time, ological momentum o England. In 1812, atLyme Regis on t coast, an extraordinary ceen, depending on range fossilized seamonster, seventeen feet long and noeep anddangerous cliffs along the English Channel.

    It art of a remarkable career. Anning  ty-five yearsgato visitors. (So be tongue ter “Splesiosaurus, anoter, and one of t and best pterodactyls. tec  terribly relevant at time since nobody t a dinosaur   turesstrikingly unlike anyt now find.

    It  simply t Anning  spotting fossils—tt—but t sract test delicacy and  damage. If youever o visit t marine reptiles at tural ory Museumin London, I urge you to take it for to appreciate ty ofually unaided  basic tools innearly impossible conditions. took en years of patient excavation.

    Altrained, Anning o provide competent draions forsc even age of  finds were rare and s of y.

    It ory of paleontology t in fact tell and ry doctor in Sussex.

    Mantell ed amateur paleontologist. o ed and observant  in rural Sussex, Mrs. Mantell  for a stroll do  to fill pot—a curved broone,about t. Kno in fossils, and tmigook it to ell could see at once it ootera little study became certain t it  remely large—tens of feet long—and from taceous period.  on allcounts, but t had been seen before or evenimagined.

    A irely upend ood about t, and urgedby al appetite—to proceed ion, Mantell devoted taking years to seeking evidence tosupport  tooto Cuvier in Paris for an opinion, but tFrenc as being from a amus. (Cuvier later apologized eristic error.) One day erian Museum inLondon, Mantell fell into conversation old ootudying, Soutycomparison confirmed tell’s creature became Iguanodon , aftera basking tropical lizard to  in any manner related.

    Mantell prepared a paper for delivery to ty. Unfortunately it emerged tanot a quarry in Oxfords been formallydescribed—by t to work in e.

    It ually suggested to Buckland by his friend Dr.

    James Parkinson, t maybe recalled,  a geologist, and  , for transactions of ty of London , ed t ture’steet attacly to t placed in sockets in t iced to realize  meant:

    Megalosaurus irely neype of creature. So alt demonstrated littleacuity or insig ill t publision of a dinosaur, and so to ell goes t for t line ofbeings.

    Una disappointment o be a continuing feature of ellcontinued ing for fossils—, til  fossilcollection in Britain. Mantell  doctor and equally gifted bone er, but o support botalents. As ing mania greon and consumed muc  to undering tion of books t feoorations of ty copies and left of pocket—an uncomfortably substantial sum for times.

    In some desperation Mantell  on turning o a museum andcedly realized t suc leman, not to mention as a scientist, and so o visit ter ing botice and ually o sell most of ion to pay off s. Soon after,  aking th her.

    Remarkably, roubles  beginning.

    In trict of Syden a place called Crystal Palace Park, tands a strange and forgotten sig life-sized models of dinosaurs. Not manypeople travel t once t popular attractions inLondon—in effect, as Ricey ed, t te a lotabout t strictly correct. ts nose,as a kind of spike, and it stands on four sturdy legs, making it look like a ratout anda crouc  t tscould cause great rancor and bitterness, but tural ory  ter of fiercer and more enduring reds t beasts knownas dinosaurs.

    At time of truction, Sydensspacious park o re-erect tal Palace, t-iron structure t erpiece of t Exion of 1851, and fromook its name. t of concrete, traction. On Ney-one prominentscientists ified t among t table est star of tology. ime ed several productive years to making Gideon Mantell’s lifehell.

    Orained as a doctor.

    omist and so devoted to udies t imes illicitly borros from cadavers and took tion.

    Once  removed, O cobble and ctage, o rest int parlor.  ts o say upon finding an unattaco a at t can only be imagined. One assumes t t formed any terriblyadvanced conclusions  later, a fraugrieved t again.

    In 1825, aged just ty-one, Oo London and soon after o ensive, but disordered, collections ofmedical and anatomical specimens. Most of t to titution by Joer, a distinguisireless collector of medical curiosities, but alogued or organized, largely because ter er’s death.

    Oly distinguision and deduction. At time o be a peerless anatomist incts for reconstructionalmost on a par  Cuvier in Paris.  on tomy ofanimals t ed first refusal on any animal t died at to ion. Once urned o find a fres  on all kinds of animals living and extinct—from platypuses,eco tinct giantbirds called moas t il eaten out of existence by t to describe teryx after its discovery in Bavaria in 1861 and tto e a formal epitapogetomicalpapers, a prodigious output.

    But it  means “terrible lizard” and  name. Dinosaurs, as all terrible—some s and probably extremelyretiring—and t empically   tures ilian and  ly good Greek  for some reasonc to use it. Anoty of specimens at time) dinosaurs constitute not one but tiles: the lizard-hipped saurischians.

    O an attractive person, in appearance or in temperament. A pogrape middle years s and sinister, like torianmelodrama, o frig scruple in tions. o e. Even Owen’s son (wer killed o able coldness of .”

    ed gifts as an anatomist allo a barefaceddisies. In 1857, turalist t. ion ofCory  Oed as Professor ofComparative Anatomy and P t Sc ion al error, old t tion o them by Dr.

    O named  Oakingcredit for one of o a bitter dispute ist over tfor a teeth.

    ate to persecute t ty to blackball a young man named Robert Grant . Grant oniso discover to tomical specimens o conduct o pursue o an understandably dispirited obscurity.

    But no one suffered more from Otentions tragic Gideon Mantell. After losing ice,and most of ion, Mantell moved to London. teful yearin  glory for naming and identifying tell errible accident. , greangled in t a gallop overroug left , crippled, and in ch a spine damaged beyond repair.

    Capitalizing  on  Mantell’s  enfeebled  state, O about systematically expungingMantell’s contributions from t Mantell  for tell continued to try to dooriginal researc Oy to ensure t most of ed. In 1852, unable to bear any more pain or persecution, Mantell took  to t orof terian Museum.

    But ts  quite finiser Mantell’s deatingly uncableobituary appeared in terary Gazette. In it Mantell omist ributions to paleontology ed by a “ of exactknouary even removed ted it instead to Cuvier and Oyle ural sciences doubted thorship.

    By tage, ransgressions o catctee of ty—a committee of en on an extinct mollusc called te. “es in ory of terrible Lizard, “t quite asoriginal as it appeared.” te, it turned out, eur naturalist named Ced ata meeting of ty. O meeting, but failed to mentionted a report of o ty—in ally,ened ture Belemnites o a permanent tarnisation, even amongers.

    Eventually o do to Oed off ties. As a final insult erian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons.

    Oant researc tter edto one unexceptionable pursuit for ion of tisy ion of London’s Natural ory Museum. ton, opened in 1880, is almost entirely a testament to his vision.

    Before Oion of te, andeven t  to gain access. In tisivevisitors o make a ten application and undergo a brief intervieo determine if t to be admitted at all. to return a second time to pick up a ticket—t isassuming tervieime to viereasures. Even t alloolinger. Oo o t of encouraging o visit in to devote most of to public displays. o put informative labels on eac people couldappreciate  unexpectedly, . h.

    museums situtes. By making tural ory Museum an institution for everyone, Oransformed our expectations ofw museums are for.

    Still, ruism in general to  official acts o lobby against a proposal to erect a statue inmemory of Cain belated,inadvertent triumpoday atue commands a masterly vieaircase of tural ory Museum, o tare gravely over peoplesnacking on cups of tea and jam dougs.

    It o suppose t Ricty rivalries marked tof nineteentury paleontology, but in fact o come, time from overseas. InAmerica in tury tacularlyvenomous, if not quite as destructive. It range and ruthniel Charles Marsh.

    tered, quarrelsome, jealous,mistrustful, and ever unology.

    tual friends and admirers, even naming fossil species after eac a pleasant oget e sure yt o consuming red over t ty years. It is probably safe to sayt no tural sciences her more.

    Marstle time in tfinding t to to notice t orian, “lyingevery anyted. Alt background—ate Ne financier George Peabody. erest in natural ory, Peabody  for  Yale andprovided funds sufficient for Marso fill it  ook his fancy.

    Cope ly into privilege—urous of tana er and roops  do Little Big ing for bones nearby.  ed out to  t t prudent time to be taking treasures from Indian lands, Cope t fora minute and decided to press on any one point o a party of suspicious Cro o edlytaking out and replacing eeth.

    For a decade or so, Marsual dislike primarily took tsniping, but in 1877 it erupted into grandiose dimensions. In t year a Coloradosceac h a friend.

    Recognizing tic saurian,” Lakes tfully dispatco boted Cope sent Lakes a rouble and asked  to tell anyone of o pass to Cope. Mars it  t .

    It also marked tart of a  became increasingly bitter,underen ridiculous. times stooped to one team’s diggers t team’s. Cope  jimmying open crates t belonged toMarsed eac and eacs.

    Seldom—perly and successfully byanimosity. Over t several years to almost 150. Nearly every dinosaur t tegosaurus, brontosaurus, diplodocus, triceratops—hem.

    1Unfortunately, te t tenfailed to note t a neo “discover” a species calledUintaty-times. Ittook years to sort out some of tion messes t sorted outyet.

    Of tific legacy ial. In a breatrious career, e some 1,400 learned papers and described almost 1,300 neypes, not just dinosaurs)—more tput in bot  unfortunately  into a ratatedescent in er years. ed a fortune in 1875, ed un everytrast finiser.

    In eresting obsession. It became ype specimen for is, t  for type specimen of a species is t set of1table exception being tyrannosaurus rex, which was found by Barnum Brown in 1902.

    bones found, but since no first set of s, to fill. It ooppose it. to t end, Cope ar Institute, a learned society inPs of tar.

    Unfortunately, after   t sypure one ype specimenfor one’s oition and ly sill notype specimen for modern humans.

    As for tic asylum in Clap far from well .

    Mantell’s ted spine remained on display at terian Museum for nearly a centurybefore being mercifully obliterated by a German bomb in tz.  remained ofMantell’s collection after o  aken to Neer became a distinguisually attaining ter of Native Affairs. In 1865 ed tion, including tooto ton,  started it all—arguably t important tootology—is no longer on display.

    Of course dinosaur ing didn’t end  nineteentury fossilers. Indeed, to a surprising extent it  begun. In 1898, t fellbetrove greater by far ticed, really—at a place called Bone Cabin Quarry, only a fe Como Bluff, yoming. to be found  of t, tsomeone  a cabin out of t t t bones ed from te, and tens of t followed.

    t is t by turn of tietury, paleontologists erally tons ofold bones to pick over. t till didn’t  comfortably support t t obviously contained. If Earty million years old or so, as t Lord Kelvin insisted, t creatures must o being and gone out again practically in tant. It just made no sense.

    Otists besides Kelvin turned to tst only deepened tainty. Samuel on, a respected geologist at trinity Collegein Dublin, announced an estimated age for ting. o tention, edusing ta and put t 153 million years. Jorinity, decidedto give Edmond s idea a ions t . ed t t fit neatly enougions but unfortunately not y.

    Suc by teentury, depending on  you consulted, you could learn t t stood bet range. As late as 1910, one of t respected estimates, by t t pertle as 55 million years.

    Just  intractably confused, along came anotraordinaryfigure  Ne Rutty able evidence t t leastmany her more.

    Remarkably, ural, spontaneous, scientificallycredible, and  alcon, it turned out,  beenso er all. And exactly  came to be is of course anotory.