File:Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution (1900) (17815102333).jpg

Title: Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution
Identifier: annualreportofbo1900smitfo (find matches)
Year: 1846 (1840s)
Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Board of Regents; United States National Museum. Report of the U. S. National Museum; Smithsonian Institution. Report of the Secretary
Subjects: Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science
Publisher: Washington : Smithsonian Institution
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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484 thp: restoration of extinct animals. B. Waterhouse Hawkins was placed in charge of the undertaking. As it was not intended that these figures should l)e approac^hed closeh'^ they were built on a gigantic scale and located on a small wooded islet where they formed conspicuous features in the hmdscape. The size of the figures ma)' ))e inferred from the materials used in constructing the Iguanodon, for these comprised four iron colunms 9 feet long and 7 inches in diameter, 600 bricks, 1,550 tiles, 38 l)arrels of cemcMit, and 90 ))arrels of broken stone, besides bar and hoop iron. But little was known of the Dinosaurs at that time, and this dearth of informa- tion. c(>u))led with the fact that )\Ir. Hawkins was not deeply versed in comparative anatomy, resulted in the making of some I'ather singular animals. Megalosaurus (great lizard) and Iguanodon (Iguana-toothed) were represented as huge lizards, walking on four massive lim))s, the former with a head between that of a crocodile and a monitor, the
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Fig. 2.—Specimen of Ichthyos«iur found at Holzmuden, showing the impression of the (lorsal and caudal fins and restoration based on this specimen. After Fraas. latter with one ver)' obviously patterned after that of an iguana, and with the spike-like claw of the thumb placed on the tip of the nose. Still we should not be too severe on Mr. Hawkins for, as we have seen, Owen himself mistook the hip bones for the shoulder blade, and the very boldness of the attempt and the scale on which it was carried out deserve commendation. Granting even that these restorations were very largely erroneous, the)' were the first to be brought conspicuously before the public and served a good purpose in creating popular inter- est in the stud)- of paleontology. The most recent restorations are those prepared by Mr. Charles R. Knight under the direction of Prof. Henry F. Osborn for the Ameri- can Museum of Natural History, New York, and a few made by Mr.

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