THE BELL PETTIGREW MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY · 2014-02-18 · Bell Pettigrew Museum University of...

Bell Pettigrew Museum University of St Andrews

THE BELL PETTIGREW MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY

A history and guide to the collection !by Heather Davies and Carl Smith

This is a draft guide to the museum that will go through further changes before final editing. If any of the text is unclear, too detailed or not detailed enough, or if you feel there are important omissions, please let us know so that your ideas can be incorporated into the final version. Please email comments to [email protected].

�1

Murex pecten (Muricidae), the

Venus comb murex. A predatory

gastropod mollusc from the Indo-Pacific region.

mailto:[email protected]


�2

“Packed full of treasures and wonders, the Bell Pettigrew is a spectacular reminder of how important a museum can be in the study of the natural sciences”

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

Contents Page

Introduction! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 3!

Origins of the Bell Pettigrew Museum! ! ! ! 4!

Layout of the Museum! ! ! ! ! ! ! 6!

Highlights of the Collection ! ! ! ! ! ! 8!

Famous Names Linked to the Bell Pettigrew Museum! 19!

Artwork in the Bell Pettigrew Museum! ! ! ! 27!

The Display Cases! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! 33!

Further Study and Volunteering! ! ! ! ! 34


�3

IntroductionThe Bell Pettigrew Museum has its origins in 1838, in the same year as the coronation of Queen Victoria. The collection was built up during a period of rapid scientific progress, with Britain at the forefront of these scientific developments whilst also ruling over the world's greatest empire. The contents of the museum reflect Britain's predominance at the time, with scientists, explorers and collectors contributing specimens to the Museum from around the world. In this period, the field of natural history shifted from being a branch of natural philosophy to that of the science of biology. Some of the major figures that shaped the development of the biological sciences, including Prof. James Bell Pettigrew, Prof. William Carmichael M’Intosh and Prof. Sir D'Arcy Thompson, have close connections with the Museum. Many of the specimens deposited in the museum were obtained by some of the great Victorian explorers and collectors, including Alfred Russell Wallace, Prof. Albert Günther, Dr Francis Day and Prof. Louis Agassiz.!

Today the Bell Pettigrew Museum is part of the University of St Andrews Museums collection, but is also an integral part of the School of Biology, used for teaching and research by undergraduate and postgraduate students. The museum hosts school visits, university receptions, public lectures, art classes and is open to the public during the summer vacation. It is used as a venue for teaching, lectures and discussion, and its collection of approximately 13,500 specimens continues to function as a vehicle for research in the School of Biology. Specimens collected in the course of scientific research are deposited in the collection and work on these specimens is active and ongoing.!

The Bell Pettigrew Museum is unusual in retaining the original philosophy of a museum as an institution of learning, and without a distinction between science, history and art. The collection contains historic and scientific items, but also displays drawings, paintings and photographs by contemporary artists and scientists associated with the museum (see Artwork in the Bell Pettigrew Museum, below). The significance of art for science was particularly recognised by Prof. D'Arcy Thompson, and his scientific work and ideas have been influential not only in biology and mathematics, but also in the fields of engineering, art and design.!

Sir David Attenborough visited the Bell Pettigrew Museum in 2011 and commented that: “Packed full of treasures and wonders, the Bell Pettigrew is a spectacular reminder of how important a museum can be in the study of the natural sciences”.!


�4

The museum was originally housed in Upper College Hall in St Salvator's Quad, off North Street (now used by the University for exhibitions, dinners, ceilidhs and examinations), and proved extremely popular with students and the public. The collection grew and the m u s e u m b e c a m e i n c r e a s i n g l y overcrowded, with exhibits spilling out of the museum hall and down the stairway. Plans were drawn up for an extension to the museum, and were championed by the biologist Prof. William M’Intosh (see Famous Names Linked to the Bell Pettigrew Museum, below). Copies of these plans still exist but were never put into action.

Sadly, the Literary and Philosophical Society went into decline and was unable to afford the upkeep of the museum. In 1904 the University assumed sole ownership for the museum on condition that the collection was preserved, housed and displayed. A new home for the collection was built and the present Bell Pettigrew Museum in the Bute Medical Building in St Mary’s Quad was officially opened on 14th September 1911, corresponding with the 500th anniversary of the University.

In April 1838 a Literary and Philosophical Society was founded in St Andrews following the announcement that: "Several Gentlemen connected with the University and the City of St Andrews, being desirous of establishing a Literary and Philosophical Society, are anxious to receive the names of those Gentlemen, who are disposed to countenance such an Institution. Beside the general object of promoting Literary and Philosophic research the Society would especially have in view the establishment of a Museum in the University". The society instituted evening meetings and public lectures as well as the founding of a museum. Notably, Charles Darwin was an honorary member of the society.!

Origins of the Bell Pettigrew Museum


�5

!The Museum is a memorial to Prof. James Bell Pettigrew (see Famous Names Linked to the Bell Pettigrew Museum, below) and was a generous gift to the University by his widow, Elsie Bell Pettigrew, after his death in 1908. Elsie Bell Pettigrew, who was independently wealthy, paid personally for the construction of the new museum, including the display cases made by Sage and Co. (see The Display Cases, below), with the mosaic floor of the museum her particular gift. The money was given on condition that the museum was named as a memorial to her husband, hence ‘Bell Pettigrew Museum’. In 1912, the collection was transferred from Upper College Hall to the present Bell Pettigrew Museum. !

Since its move, the Museum and collection have gone through further transformations. The Museum originally occupied two floors, with a high ceiling and a gallery in the upper floor. In 1958 the upper floor was modified for use in teaching and the collection was reduced substantially, with specimens sent to other museums. Dr David Burt, who served as Head of the Zoology Department at St Andrews, expertly transformed the remaining collection to a teaching museum between 1964 and 1970. In 1990 the museum was further reorganised into a more logical order of the major animal groups by Prof. Pat Willmer. Dr Martin Milner, honarary curator of the Museum from 2004 to 2013, added a substantial collection of antique scientific instruments to the collection, some of which are displayed in Cases 41 and 44, and acquired and commissioned artwork for the museum. The current honarary curators of the Museum are Dr


�6

Layout of the MuseumThe museum is arranged in a logical way, reflecting the system used by taxonomists to organise the living world into discrete groups, which broadly reflects their evolutionary origins. Starting at Case 1, which summarises how animals are classified, each case around the walls of the museum displays a group of animals, ending with primates in Case 32. Cases placed in the centre of the museum display particular groups of animals or subjects of interest, such as a display on cetaceans and whaling (Case 45), or on scientific instruments (Cases 41 and 44). Note also the mounted heads of large mammals hung around the walls of the museum.

Ailurus fulgens (Ailuridae) the red panda. This species is not closely related to the giant Panda and is found in southwest

China and the eastern Himalayas


CASE CONTENTS

1 Classifying the animal kingdom

2 Protozoa (single-celled animals), Porifera (sponges)

3 Porifera, Cnidaria (jellyfish, sea anemones & corals),

4-5 Cnidaria, Ctenophores (comb jellys), Platyhelminths (flatworms)

6-9 Nematodes (roundworms), Rotifers (wheel animals), Molluscs (snails, mussels, chitons, squid, cuttlefish & octopus)

10 Annelids (worms), Arthropods (insects, chelicerates, crustaceans & others)

11 Insects

12 Insects, Crustaceans (crabs, lobsters, shrimps & barnacles)

13-14 Crustaceans, Chelicerates (spiders, scorpions & horseshoe crabs), Bryozoans (moss animals)

15 Echinoderms (starfish, sea urchins & sea cucumbers),

16 Echinoderms, Chaetognaths (arrow worms), Hemichordates (acorn worms), Cephalochordates (lancelets)

17-18 Hagfish & Lampreys (jawless fishes), Sharks, Rays & Chimaeras (cartilaginous fishes), Teleosts (bony fishes)

19 Amphibians (frogs, toads & newts)

20 Reptiles (snakes, lizards & turtles)

21-26 Birds

27 Mammals, Monotremes (egg-laying mammals)

28 Marsupials (pouched mammals), Insectivores (insect-eating mammals)

29 Rodents (rats, mice, squirrels, porcupines), Edentates (anteaters, sloths & armadillos)

30 Rodents, Lagomorphs (rabbits & hares), Proboscids (elephants), Hyraxes

31 Carnivores (dogs, cats, seals, weasels, bears, hyaenas)

32 Primates (monkeys, apes, humans)

33 Flightless birds

34 Bird migration

35 Birds of the Americas and the British Isles

36 African birds

37 Australasian birds

38 Oriental birds

39 Mammalian limb evolution

40 Niche construction

41-44 Microscopes and scientific equipment

42-43 Fossils

45 Marine mammals and whaling

46-47 Odd and even-toed ungulates (hooved mammals)

48 Australian mammals

�7


�8

Highlights of the collectionWhite-tailed sea eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) - Case 1

The white-tailed eagle, which is the largest species of eagle in Europe, became

extinct in Scotland in 1918 when the last bird was shot in Shetland. A

reintroduction programme was started on the Isle of Rum in the Hebrides

between 1975 and 1985, using eagles imported from Norway. The programme

was successful and there are now over 30 breeding pairs on the West Coast of

Scotland. In August 2013, the white-tailed eagle bred for the first time since its

extinction from Britain in eastern Scotland, at a secret location in Fife. !

The white-tailed eagle is an extremely large and powerful bird of prey, with a

wing span over 2.4 m and weighing over 7 kg. Only the Steller’s Sea Eagle (East

Asia), Philippine Eagle (Philippine Islands) and Harpy Eagle (Central and South

America) are larger. It is closely related to the American Bald Eagle. White-tailed

eagles are monogamous and, once a pair bonds and breeds, they will stay

together for life. Only if one of the pair dies will the other seek another partner.

The pair will tend to stay at the same breeding area over several years. The

female is often larger and heavier than the male. She is typically the dominant

partner in a pair and is

capable of catching

heavier prey than the

male. In Scotland the

whi te - ta i led eagle

chiefly hunts fish, birds

and rabbits, but also

feeds on carrion. It

lives, on average, for 21

years. !


Venus’ flower basket (Euplectella aspergillum) - Case 3

This is a glass sponge that forms a complex, lattice skeleton from silica. First

described in 1841 by Richard Owen, the first Director of the Natural History

Museum in Kensington, the body is a tube structure with a large, central chamber.!

Found primarily in the seas around Japan and the Philippines, these sponges are

deep-water organisms, found at depths from 10-1000 m, where the water is cold

(between 2-11 °C) and with high dissolved silica levels. The sponge is anchored to

the ground by hair-like structures and filters the water to extract small items of

food. It has recently been found that the skeleton of these animals has similar

properties to fibre-optic cables and can transmit light. It is unclear why the

skeleton of the sponge is able to transmit light, but its unusual properties are

currently used in research on fibre-optic technology. !

This sponge has an interesting commensal

relationship with a certain species of shrimp in the

family Spongicolidae, known as ‘wedding

shrimps’. A pair of wedding shrimps enter the

sponge as juveniles and feed on food items carried

inside the sponge as it filters the surrounding

water. As they grow, the shrimps become too large

to leave the sponge, though the pair reproduce,

with their larval offspring able to escape from the

sponge and ultimately finding their own sponge

to occupy. Thus the adults spend their entire

reproductive lives trapped inside the sponge. It has been the custom in Japan to

present dried specimens of Venus’ flower basket, containing a pair of shrimps, as a

wedding gift, as an example of life-long fidelity (but also, perhaps, symbolising a

life of entrapment). See also the drawing of the museum’s specimen of the Venus’

flower basket by Kirsty Whiten in the corridor outside the museum.!

�9


The peanut worm (Golfingia vulgaris) – Case 10

This unassuming little animal has a particular association with St Andrews. The peanut

worms are a group of unsegmented marine worms, found in coastal waters and typically

living in burrows. Prof. William M’Intosh (see Famous Names Linked to the Bell Pettigrew

Museum, below) collected a sample of worms locally, but was unsure of their classification

and asked his friend Sir Ray

Lankester, who was on a golfing

holiday in St Andrews, to

examine a specimen. Lankester

was an expert invertebrate

taxonomist, director of the

Natural History Museum in

Kensington, founder of the

Marine Biological Association

and one of the most influential

evolutionary biologists of his

generation. Between rounds of

golf, Lankester dissected and

described the worm, which he

named Golfingia macintoshii, in

honour of the game and his

friend, M’Intosh. The specific

name of the animal later

r e v e r t e d t o a p r e v i o u s

designation of vulgaris, but

several species of Golfingia

have now been described and they are placed in their own family – the Golfingiidae.

!

�10


Bank’s oarfish (Regalecus glesne) - Case 18

This remarkable animal is the longest species of bony fish and can grow to a

length of 11 m and weigh over 270 kg, though it is more typically about 3 m long.

It has a worldwide distribution in the world’s oceans and occurs to a depth of 1000

m. The fish lacks scales and its silvery appearance is due to the presence of

guanine crystals in its skin. They feed on planktonic crustaceans, small fish and

squid. !

This particular specimen was washed up near East Sands in St Andrews in

December 1944. It measured 3.5 m specimen and was collected by Prof. D’Arcy

Thompson. Unfortunately local fisherman had already cut the fish up by the time

D’Arcy arrived and he was only able to save the head and a small section of the

body for the museum. !

Note that the current scientific name of this species is Regalecus glesne, though it is

labelled as Regalecus banksii. The scientific names of plants and animals are

occasionally changed as taxonomists continuously update and revise the status

and relationships between species. The reason for the revision in the case of Bank’s

oarfish is that the fish was separately described and named by two biologists

working in different parts of the world and at different times. So, Peter Ascanius, a

Danish biologist, first described this fish in 1772 and named it Regalecus glesne.

Later, in 1835, the French biologist Achille Valenciennes described the same species

and named it Regalecus banksii, without realising

that it was the same species already described by

Ascanius. This error has now been recognised by

biologists (after examining the original specimens,

which are held in museum collections), and the

convention is to revert to the original name.

Hence this fish is now referred to as Regalecus

glesne.

�11


St Kilda Mouse (Mus musculus muralis) - Case 30

This specimen was collected on the islands of the remote St Kilda archipelago off

northwest Scotland, 41 miles west of North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. These

islands are the most important seabird breeding colonies in northwest Europe.!

The presence of stone tools suggest that St Kilda

was first inhabited about 4000-5000 years ago,

and the common house mouse probably

established in human habitations at that time.

The St Kilda mouse, which is now extinct,

evolved from these introduced mice. The St

Kilda mouse was larger than the common house

mouse and is an example of the phenomenon of

island gigantism. Although not a separate

species, it was a distinct race of mouse and is designated as a subspecies. !

In 1930, the human population of St Kilda fell to only 36 individuals, who

requested to be evacuated. After the departure of the human population, the St

Kilda mouse persisted for a further 8 years, but because of their reliance on human

habitation for food, they eventually died out and the subspecies went extinct.!

Specimens of the St Kilda field mouse (Apodemus

sylvaticus hirtensis) are also in the museum

collection. This is a subspecies of the wood

mouse (A. sylvaticus), but approximately twice

the size and another example of gigantism. This

mouse still occurs on St Kilda. !

!

�12


Resplendent Quetzel (Pharomachrus mocinno) - Case 35

This striking bird is found at high altitudes in

Central American cloud forests and is extremely

rare. The specimen in the Bell Pettigrew

Museum collection was presented by the great

taxonomist Albert Günther, who was Keeper of

Zoology at the Natural History Museum in

Kensington (and brother-in-law of William

M’Intosh, Famous Names Linked to the Bell

Pettigrew Museum, above). The specimen was

originally part of the collection of Alfred Russell Wallace, who independently of

Charles Darwin formulated the theory of evolution by natural selection.!

Male quetzals display striking colouration and grow a pair of tail feathers that can

be 1 m in length during the breeding season. Females are also brightly coloured,

but lack the extended train of the male. Quetzals have severely declined in

numbers as a result of hunting for their feathers and skins, and also as a result of

habitat loss. Notably,

Quetzels are almost

impossible to keep

in captivity and

typically die quickly

after capture. For

this reason, they are

used as a symbol of

l i b e r t y i n t h e

Americas.!

!

�13


Carthorse ‘Bassey’ (Equus caballus) – skeleton between Cases 39 & 40

This famous horse, named Bassey, was considered one of the finest examples of a

carthorse in his day. He was owned by James Craw and between 1807-1811 he was

employed in transporting massive blocks of stone for the construction of the Bell

Rock lighthouse, which still functions today off the coast of Angus. He hauled raw

blocks of stone (primarily granite and sandstone) from Arbroath harbour to a

stonemason, then brought the dressed stone back to the harbour for shipping to

the construction site offshore. He pulled a Woolwich Sling Cart, a special cart

designed for transporting heavy artillery. It is believed that he transported 2835

blocks of stone weighing over 2000 tonnes. In recognition of the enormous effort

he made, he was retired after completion of the work. He spent his retirement on

Inchkeith, an island in the Firth of Forth. Bassey was also commemorated by

Robert Stevenson, chief engineer of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, who named a

section of the lighthouse after him. After Bassey’s death in 1818, the eminent

anatomist Dr John Barclay acquired his skeleton and it was subsequently

displayed at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh (today the University of

Edinburgh Medical School). His skeleton was obtained in 1922 by the Bell

Pettigrew Museum. !

Notice the difference in the massive

size of Bassey’s skeleton to the

skeleton of the racehorse ‘Eclipse’

opposite. Bassey would have weighed

close to 1000 kg and stood 18 hands

(1.83 m, 6’) high at his shoulder.

Thoroughbred racehorses are

typically no bigger than 16 hands

(1.63 m, 5’ 4’’) and weigh only about

450 kg.

�14


Dura Den Fossil Fishes - Case 43

The Dura Den fossil beds lie 6 miles East of St Andrews and hundreds of hugely

significant fossil fishes have been discovered here.

In 1827, Mr Spence, a student at St Andrews

University, discovered the first fossil at Drumdryan

quarry. Reverend Dr John Anderson, a doctor of

divinity at the University of St Andrews and

minister of Newburgh, carried out the first

excavations of the site. Here he describes an

excavation at Dura Den:!

“…while they were seeking for fish I set our party all over the Den to see its beauties which

they all admired greatly. Lord Kinnaird and myself remained with the workmen – his

Lordship cast his coat – I kept mine on – but set to work also.!

This went on at a snail’s pace for an hour and a half – and no fish would appear. The party

came back and we all lunched on a beautiful grassy bank on pies – chicken, pigeon and ham

– and then grapes, peaches, plums, apricots and nectarines – all of which were washed

down with plentiful supplies of cider and sherry. We heard a shout just as were finishing,

from the diggers – and we all ran, some tumbling and falling by the way: and lo! A fish,

the largest and finest that ever rose to the geological hammer, was laid at our astonished

feet…”. !

The fossil fishes from Dura Den are lobe-finned

fishes, with modern representatives including

species of lungfish and the coelacanth. These

fossil fishes are only distantly related to

modern bony fishes, but share a common

ancestry with all living tetrapods - amphibians,

reptiles, birds and mammals.!

�15


Gangetic Dolphin (Platanista gangetica) - Case 45

Gangetic dolphins are highly endangered and the museum possesses 2 skeletons

and a preserved embryo. There are fewer than 100 specimens of this dolphin held

in museums worldwide. The specimens held in the Bell Pettigrew Museum

contributed to a study to determine whether dolphins in the River Indus and

River Ganges are different species. The results showed that, although there are

differences between the dolphins in the two river systems, the differences are not

great enough to designate them as separate species, though they are recognised as

distinct races.!

The Gangetic dolphin displayed in Case 45 was the first complete specimen of this

species brought to Britain from India and has an amusing history associated with

it. The specimen was collected by Dr Francis Day, an army surgeon in British

India, who had an interest in natural history and became an expert on the fauna of

the Indian subcontinent, particularly of its fishes. The specimen was transported to

Britain in a watertight wooden case lined with metal, with the specimen preserved

in fluid. The case was ceremonially opened in London in front of an audience of

�16


distinguished scientists, as well as members of the public, and including Prof.

M’Intosh, then director of the Bell Pettigrew Museum. Unhappily the specimen

had not been properly preserved on its journey from India and an unusually

powerful odour was released when the case was opened, with members of the

audience demanding the immediate removal of the specimen. At this point Francis

Day approached Prof. M’Intosh and asked if, ‘He cared to have a whale?’.

Unperturbed by the strange offer or, seemingly, the odour, M’Intosh bravely

agreed and arranged for the specimen to be transported to the Linnaean Society at

Burlington House on Piccadilly prior to its transfer to St Andrews. The case was

hurriedly closed (too hurriedly it soon transpired) and placed on the roof of a cab.

Unfortunately the jolting of the cab as it was driven through London caused the

preserving fluid, which was red and had the appearance of blood, to splash down

the cab sides and onto the stones on Piccadilly. The cab, with what appeared to be

a small coffin on its roof that was spilling blood and releasing a foul odour,

quickly drew the attention of the police. Fortunately, staff at the Linnaean Society

were on hand to provide an explanation and the specimen eventually made its

way north to the Bell Pettigrew Museum. Note that only the skeleton is on display,

the soft parts having been poorly preserved were most probably discarded by

M’Intosh.

�17


Thylacine or Tasmanian wolf/tiger (Thylacinus cynocephalus) - Case 48

The extinct thylacine was the world’s largest marsupial predator. It formerly

occurred across Australia and New Guinea, but went into decline with the arrival

of humans 40,000 years ago. By the time of the arrival of Europeans, the thylacine

was extinct in New Guinea, had been almost entirely eradicated from mainland

Australia, and was largely confined to the island of Tasmania. Conflicts with sheep

farmers resulted in the introduction of a bounty of £1 paid by the Tasmanian

government for every thylacine killed. The last recorded thylacine in the wild was

shot in 1930 and the last captive thylacine died in Hobart Zoo in 1936. Although

there have been reported sightings of thylacines as recently as 2006 in Tasmania,

the species is almost certainly extinct. Despite once being relatively common, we

know little about the biology of this remarkable animal.

!

�18


�19

Famous names linked to the MuseumProf. James Bell Pettigrew FRS, FRSE, MD (1834-1908) - Case 26

James Bell Pettigrew began his scientific career as a medical student in

Edinburgh. He developed enormous expertise in the anatomy of the human

heart and performed dissections of the musculature of the heart that are

preserved to this day. As an undergraduate he wrote a thesis on the anatomy of

the heart that was considered such an important contribution to medicine that he

was invited by the Royal Society to deliver the prestigious Croonian Lecture in

1860 – an extraordinary accolade for an undergraduate student. He subsequently

worked at Edinburgh Infirmary as House Surgeon and as Assistant Curator of

the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in London before

becoming the Curator of the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons in

Edinburgh. In 1875 he was appointed to the Chandos Chair of Medicine and

Anatomy at the University of St Andrews. Bell Pettigrew played a pivotal role in

establishing a medical school at St Andrews and served as Dean of Medicine for

25 years. !


�20

Bell Pettigrew had academic interests outside medicine, particularly in animal

locomotion, with his best known work ‘Animal Locomotion: or Walking, Swimming

and Flying’, which was published in

1873. In this book he compared the

modes of locomotion of unrelated

animal groups and identified common

features among them. He was

especially fascinated by flight and in the conclusion to the book he predicted the

development of human-powered flight. !

Bell Pettigrew went further than

simply speculating on this subject and

built his own flying machine. Bell

Pettigrew’s flying machine was an

ornithopter, which flew by flapping its

wings. He flew the machine down the slope at the lower end of Abbey Walk in St

Andrews for a distance of 60 feet (18 m) before crashing, with the then 70-year

old Professor of Medicine

breaking his hip in the

accident. See Case 26 for

more details of Bell

Pettigrew’s research on

animal locomotion and

attempts at manned

flight. Ancestors of Bell

Pettigrew have remained

in contact with the

museum and several family members visited the Museum in 2013.!


�21

Prof. William Carmichael M’Intosh, FRS, FRSE, MD (1838-1931) - Case 45

William Carmichael M’Intosh was born in St Andrews in 1838 and attended

Madras School. He entered the University of St Andrews at the age of 15 and

graduated with a first-class degree before completing a medical degree at

Edinburgh University. He worked as a superintendent of a mental asylum near

Perth, whilst also pursuing his lifelong interest in marine invertebrates,

especially polychaete worms, on which he was a world authority. After several

attempts, M’Intosh eventually obtained a Chair at the University of St Andrews,

becoming Professor of Natural History from 1882 to 1917.!

M’Intosh was an outstanding taxonomist

and anatomist, widely recognised as one

of the leading zoologists of his

generation. He was hugely energetic and

published over 300 scientific papers and

books, principally in marine zoology. He

was instrumental in founding the Gatty

Marine Laboratory at East Sands, the first

dedicated marine research laboratory in

the British Isles. In addition, he played a

major role in establishing the Bute

Medical Building in which the Bell

Pettigrew Museum is now housed and

was pivotal in reforming the teaching of Natural History at the University. After

construction of the Bell Pettigrew Museum, M’Intosh became its director and

was responsible for the first displays in the museum. The Museum possesses a

particularly comprehensive collection of marine animals, which is due largely to

the work of M’Intosh.


�22

M’Intosh also conducted research into fisheries biology and was a pioneer of

fishery science in the UK. He joined the Trawling Commission and was

responsible for assessing the impact of trawling on fish spawning grounds. He

painstakingly reared the eggs and young stages of marine fishes at the Gatty

Marine Lab and demonstrated that most commercially important species have

pelagic eggs and young stages, which means that they float in the water column

and are hence unaffected by trawling. He also conducted research on the

lifecycle and diet of Atlantic salmon in Scottish waters. !

M’Intosh became convinced, erroneously, that marine fish stocks are

inexhaustible, and that fishing had no negative impact on fish populations. He

held this view despite growing statistical data that demonstrated the decline of

fish stocks in response to fishing pressure. As a consequence, M’Intosh became

side lined in the later part of his career. However, that should not detract from

his enormous achievements, which have established St Andrews as a centre for

marine research.


�23

Prof. Sir D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson FRS, FRSE (1860-1948) – Case 6 & 32

D’Arcy Thompson was an exceptional scientist and arguably the most

accomplished and prominent academic associated with the University of St

Andrews. He was appointed to a Chair at Dundee University at the age of 21,

and remained there for 33 years. In 1917, after the retirement of M’Intosh, D’Arcy

moved to St Andrews and occupied the Chair in Natural History for 31 years.!

D’Arcy Thompson was a polymath, with great expertise in several fields,

including mathematics, languages, and marine biology. His greatest contribution

to science was his book ‘On Growth and Form’, which was published in 1917 and

is a detailed analysis of form (body and appendage shape) in biology. In this

work, D’Arcy advanced the idea that animal and plant morphology

predominantly reflects physical and mathematical laws. D’Arcy Thompson’s

work was strikingly novel, with wide implications in biology, but also in design

and engineering. His ideas supersede the adaptionsist ideas of Darwin by

recognising the overriding constraints that are imposed on evolution by

fundamental physical laws. Thus, D’Arcy compares load bearing in the skeletons

of large animals, such as dinosaurs, with bridge design, and shows that skeletal

structure and bridge design follow common physical laws. Similarly, the

structure of bone reflects mechanical laws, imposed by the way stress and strain

is applied to a skeleton.


�24

Perhaps the most celebrated aspect of ‘On Growth and Form’ is D’Arcy

Thompson’s theory of transformations, whereby deformation of a simple body

plan can generate a vast array of related forms. ‘On Growth and Form’ has never

been out of print since publication and remains an influential work in the field of

biology. See the flat horizontal display case adjacent to Case 32 for more details!

D’Arcy Thompson was also a member of the Commission of Inquiry on the Fur

Seal Fishery in the Bering Sea, a Scientific Advisor to the Fishery Board for

Scotland and a British Representative on the International Council for the

Exploration of the Sea. He was knighted in 1937 in recognition for his work with

fur seal fisheries. A large number of specimens in the Bell Pettigrew Museum

were collected by D’Arcy Thompson. The giant spider crab in Case 13 was

bought by him in Tokyo fish market on a trip to Japan.!


�25

Prof. Harold Garnet 'Mick' Callan FRS, FRSE (1917-1993) – Case 41

Mick Callan was a renowned cytologist;

conducting research on chromosomes and in

particular ‘lampbrush chromosomes’, which are

special forms of chromosome found in the

immature eggs of some animals. In 1950, at the age

of 33, Callan became the youngest Professor in

Britain as the Kennedy Chair of Natural History at

St Andrews. He was head of the Zoology

Department, which was then based in the Bute

Building, and worked at the Gatty Marine Lab. !

Callan’s work on lampbrush chromosomes led to major advances in the

understanding of cell biology and genetics,

including our understanding of repetitive

DNA, localisation of RNA transcription

and histone gene distribution. He

summarised his research in the now classic

work ‘Lampbrush Chromosomes’, which was

published in 1986. For a scientist of his

prestige, he published relatively few

research papers (82) and just a single book,

and rarely held research grants. Despite

this, his research made a lasting

contribution to the field of genetics. A

summary of Callan’s work on lampbrush

chromosomes is displayed in Case 41.!


�26

Unusually for an academic, Callan was both modest and highly accomplished.

During his time at the University of St Andrews he was on the UK Advisory

Council on Scientific Policy, a Trustee of the British Museum, and on the councils

of Science Research and the Royal Society. He obtained an FRSE in 1952 and FRS

in 1963. In addition, he was elected Foreign Member of the American Academy

of Arts and Sciences (1974), Honorary Member of the German Society for Cell

Biology (1976) and Foreign Member of the Italian Accademia Nazionale Dei

Lincei (1982). !

During WWII, Callan was a Flight Lieutenant in the RAF and contributed to the

development of radar technology. He was a popular and highly respected Head

of Department and was instrumental in maintaining the integrity of the museum

and in ensuring its long-term survival as part of the School of Biology.!


�27

Artwork in the MuseumKirsty Whiten

In the corridors around the museum you will see several of Kirsty Whiten’s

drawings of museum specimens. Kirsty is a highly accomplished artist and has

received numerous awards. In addition to drawing and painting, her work

includes sculpture and photography. See more of Kirsty’s artwork at:

www.flickr.com/photos/kirstywhiten

Mike Laverack

Mike was Professor of Marine Biology at the University of St Andrews and was

Director of the Gatty Marine Lab from 1969 until 1985. He researched crustacean

neurobiology and gained an international reputation for his research. !

Mike was also a fine photographer and took beautiful photographs of marine

organisms, some of which are displayed around the museum. Look in Cases 5, 6,

7, 15 and 16 for just a few of his striking images. !


!

�28

Lindsay Sekulowicz

Lindsay concentrates on creating pieces from museum collections and archives,

and focuses on biological studies. She has also participated in scientific

expeditions to SE Asia. In 2012 she worked in collaboration with the D’Arcy

Thompson Zoology Museum at the University of Dundee as Artist in Residence.

View her website at: www.lindsaysekulowicz.com!


!

�29

Paul Bartlett

Paul Bartlett studied for a PhD on animal behaviour at the University of St

Andrews. He is also an extremely talented wildlife artist. In 2002 he was elected

member of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA). He was Birdwatch Artist of

the year in 2006 and BBC Wildlife Artist of the Year in 2009. Several of his

unique, eye-catching pieces are on display in the Bell Pettigrew Museum (see

Cases 9, 21, 33 and 48). View more of his work on this website:

www.naturalselectiongallery.co.uk!


Lara Scouller

Lara is another highly accomplished artist associated with the museum. Recent

acquisitions of Lara’s work are the anteater and bowfin in the corridor outside the

museum. Lara has exhibited her work widely and is the recipient of numerous

awards, most recently The Pastel Society Young Artist Award. Lara also teaches

painting and drawing at Wasp’s Meadow Mill Studios in Dundee. See more of her

work at: www.larascouller.com!

!

�30


Kit Martin

Kit is a photographer working with the museum and its archive with a

background in biological imaging and medical and forensic photography. Kit is

currently working with digital photography and hand-making prints using

alternative processes, primarily Cyanotype and Toray Plate Lithography. She has a

long-standing fascination with the natural world and likes to record the detail that

is often overlooked. Kit is a member of Dundee Print Studio. See more of her work

at: www.kitmartinphoto.co.uk!

!

�31


Guy Wilkins

In a number of cases in the museum you will see wax models

created by Guy Wilkins (1905-1957). Wilkins was a

commercial artist who joined the Natural History Museum in

Kensington in 1949 and managed the shell collection. His

precise wax models of molluscs are highly prized and are

displayed in several museums. Find pieces of his work in

Case 8.!

‘Doing Art in the Bell Pettigrew Society’ (DABS)

A group of post-graduate students from across the university meet every Tuesday

evening in the Bell Pettigrew Museum to draw and paint specimens in the

collection. The group was started in 2008 by Amy Deacon, a PhD student in the

School of Biology. The group is not a drawing class, there are no lessons and no

teachers. However, they produce an impressive standard of work, some of which

are on display in the museum, with others on the museum website. If you are

interested in joining the group email the museum curators for details (bellpett@st-

andrews.ac.uk).!

!

�32


The display cases

The beautiful display cases you see housing specimens in the museum were

designed and built by the company Sage and Co., founded by Frederick Sage

(1830-1899). Frederick Sage established a business in 1860 in Hatton Gardens in

London, with his three nephews later joining the business to form a partnership.

The company started by building cases and shop fittings and was hugely

successful, eventually moving to Gray’s Inn Road.!

Sage and Co. were highly respected showcase manufacturers. In addition to the

purpose built iron and plate glass cases in the Bell Pettigrew Museum, Sage and

Co. were responsible for building showcases for Harrods, a commission that took

five years to complete. The company were also showcase makers for Edward VIII

and Queen Mary.!

Unfortunately, in 1941 the factories and offices of the company in London were

destroyed by German bombing, and though the company managed to continue

functioning after this catastrophic event, it eventually stopped operating in the

1990s. !

�33


Further study and volunteering

If museums interest you as a career, it is worth noting that the School of Art History at

the University of St Andrews runs a postgraduate course on Museum and Gallery

Studies. See the School of Art History website for more details. Postgraduate students

from this course are actively engaged in the running and upkeep of the Bell Pettigrew

Museum and its archive.!

The Bell Pettigrew Museum always welcomes volunteers who are prepared to commit

time to the maintenance of the collection, and research on the specimens in our

archive. Email the curators for further details ([email protected]).!

�34


�35


�36

The images from the Bell Pettigrew Museum in this guide are the work of Sean Earnshaw & Kit Martin

THE BELL PETTIGREW MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY · 2014-02-18 · Bell Pettigrew Museum University of...

Documents

Transcript of THE BELL PETTIGREW MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY · 2014-02-18 · Bell Pettigrew Museum University of...