T.H. Huxley was not only "Darwin's Bulldog" he also had an interest in large reptiles. He spent most of his life chasing the "Labyrinthodont." This creature is quite similar to the newt and salamander that we see today. There are two drastic differences, one is that Labyrinthodont has a mouthful of sharp teeth and that it can grow to an incredibly large size. Huxley was looking for a connection between birds and reptiles. In 1858 he found what he called the Frankensteinosaurus. It was a cross between the Stagonolepis, which is crocodile sized, and the Cetiosaurus also known as the "whale reptile." Huxley said that it was the "largest animal that ever walked the earth."
He also explored the bird reptile relationship through the Ornithoscelida which were bipedal and had hind legs and a pelvis like a bird.
It is interesting the Huxley not only was involved in evolution but also geology.
http://aleph0.clarku.edu/huxley/guide6.html
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This is really interesting in that, while I knew that early science produced some relatively bizarre (at least that's how they're generally perceived now) theories and assumptions, I had never heard of anything ever being referred to as the "Frankensteinosaurus"; and, as absurd as it sounds, it was actually a real creature (though by a different name)!
ReplyDeleteI also really liked that the article included one of Huxley's "doodles", because I feel like we can learn a lot about the author/artist, and the time period, from the personality of an image he or she created. Clearly, dinosaurs weren't believed to be too much taller than pre-modern man (and that they co-existed)!