In 1812, the skeleton of a monster was discovered beneath the cliffs of Dorset, setting in motion a collision between science and religion, and among scientists eager to claim supremacy in a brand-new field. For Reverend William Buckland, an eccentric naturalist at Oxford University, the fossil remains of a creature that existed before Noah's flood inspired an attempt to prove the accuracy of the biblical record. Novelist Gideon Mantell also became obsessed with the ancient past, and eminent anatomist Richard Owen soon entered the fray, claiming credit for the discovery of the dinosaurs.
In a fast-paced narrative, Terrible Lizard re-creates the bitter feud between Mantell and Owen. Revealing a strange, awesome prehistoric era, their struggle set the stage for Darwin's shattering theories -- and for controversies that still rage today.
Deborah Cadbury is an award-winning TV science producer for the BBC. She is also the author of The Feminization of Nature. She lives in London.
In 1812, a twelve-year-old girl named Mary Anning was collecting fossils for her father beneath the cliffs of Dorset when she discovered the outline of a lizardlike skeleton embedded in the limestone. Working with a small hammer, she unearthed a giant prehistoric animal seventeen feet in length.
News of her discovery baffled scholars and attracted the attention of the Reverend William Buckland, an eccentric Oxford naturalist known for his interest in geology or "undergroundology," as he called it. Buckland eagerly used Mary's find and other remnant fossils to set in motion a quest to understand the world before Noah's flood, though his inquiry was in fact an attempt to prove the accuracy of the biblical record (the scriptures alone were the key to understanding history in his view, and fossils were interpreted in this context).
Meanwhile, another naturalist, Gideon Mantell, a poor country doctor, uncovered giant petrified bones in a Sussex quarry and became obsessed with the ancient past that, he came to realize, must once have been teeming with creatures up to seventy feet long. Initially scorned by the scientific establishment, Mantell risked his reputation and career to reveal his vision of the lost world of reptiles.
Despite their efforts, it was the eminent anatomist Richard Owen, patronized by royalty, the prime minister, and the aristocracy, who claimed the credit for the discovery of the dinosaurs. Through guile, political intrigue, and brilliant scientific insight, Owen rose from a surgeon's apprentice in Lancaster to the highest echelons of society and was feted as the man who gave the extinct creatures their name, dinosaur, or "terrible lizard."
Deborah Cadbury's lively story re-creates the bitter feud between Mantell and Owen, which drove one of them to despair and ruin and secured for the other unrivaled international acclaim. Their struggle brought to light the age of dinosaurs and created a new science that would forever change man's perception of his place in the universe.
"Sheer narrative pleasure . . . [Cadbury] has scoured diaries, letters and newspaper archives and can tell her story in the words of the people who lived it."Carl Zimmer, Scientific American
"Sheer narrative pleasure . . . [Cadbury] has scoured diaries, letters and newspaper archives and can tell her story in the words of the people who lived it."Carl Zimmer, Scientific American
"Cadbury makes the career struggles of the men and women who first described dinosaurs as real as yesterday's pink slip . . .We hold our breath as we turn the pages."The Christian Science Monitor
"Much more than a tale of scientific discovery . . . Cadbury recounts this tale of scientific aspiration and professional backstabbing with the verve and insight of a novelist. Her grasp of the social ethos of the early Victorian era enables one to better understand the conflicting ideals of material progress and religious faith that were notable features of the 1800s."Ed Voves, The Philadelphia Inquirer
"Richly descriptive . . . a humanizing book, evocative of the intellectual and social atmosphere of its setting."Gilbert Taylor, Booklist
"An absorbing account of the pioneer 19th-century British geologists and fossil collectors. Our hero is Gideon Mantell, of a noble family long fallen on hard times. The son of a shoemaker, Mantell was smitten with fossils at an early age. Without resources but recognized as a prodigy, he was apprenticed to a surgeon and became a doctor in London. For the rest of his life he would balance his unenthusiastic practice of medicine with a passionate devotion to fossils. Enter one Mary Anning, who supported her family by gathering fossil 'trinkets' from the dangerous coastal cliffs of Dorset to sell to tourists. Her keen eye led to her recognition as a prime 'fossilist' among geologists and collectors, including Mantell. One of her major finds was the fossil remains of a giant sea lizard; little by little, other huge reptilian bones were unearthed by Mary and others, but not without controversy. Mantell waited years before the eminent Baron Cuvier in Paris agreed that he had found the remains of a huge herbivorous land reptile (reversing his earlier opinion that the fossil was mammalian). But the plot thickened with the appearance of the wicked Richard Owen, who rose to pinnacles of power within the Royal Society and the Geological Society, became a social lion, and was an intimate of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. At every step of the way he did his best to 0discredit and ridicule Mantell, at the same time claiming some of Mantell's fossils as his own. His comeuppance (and the recognition of Mantell's true worth) was the result of both his egregious behavior and his being on the wrong (creationist) side of the evolutionary debate as the scientific tide turned to Darwinian theory. 'He lied for God and for malice,' an Oxford don declared. 'A bad case.' A scholarly account infused with a rare drama and suspense: read it not only for the science, but to learn what happened to all these wonderful characters."Kirkus Reviews
"This is a must-read book for dinosaur enthusiasts, and for anyone who has ever wondered about the source of our present-day assumptions and unanswered questions about human origins."Publishers Weekly
"This wonderfully written account filled with eccentric characters, gigantic reptiles and a war between science and religion makes Jurassic Park seem like cereal box copy . . . Cadbury has crafted a spirited, compelling story, and the cast of strange and exotic creatures matched by strange and exotic people makes this the kind of book that keeps Coppertone in business . . . fascinating and entertaining."Douglas Cruickshank, Salon.com
"Cadbury's dramatic rendition of the first dinosaur hunters' stories captures the religious and scientific ramifications of early fossil finds."Science News
"Cadbury is a wonderful writer, weaving natural history, human history and science together in a smooth, flowing tapestry that keeps you turning the pages as if her book was a thriller, which of course it is, as we track the rise and fall of the dastardly Sir Richard Owen, as unscrupulous a villain as ever appeared in Victorian fiction . . . An important book."Richard Ellis, The Times (London)
"A captivating tale of dinosaur intrigue . . . Do not be deceived by the easy style . . . Cadbury has