Memoir on the Pearly
Nautilus by Richard Owen, London, 1832
Shell collecting
was a popular activity for wealthy Europeans of the early 19th century
and the most sought-after prize in any collection was the beautiful pearly,
or chambered, nautilus, a rare and large shell with a perfect logarithmic
spiral and dramatic markings.
Until Richard Owen, an influential English scientist, wrote this book,
the marine animal that formed and lived in these extraordinary shells
was a mystery. This is not surprising since the chambered nautilus, a
relative of the octopus and native of the tropical western Pacific, inhabits
the sea at depths of 300 to 1500 feet.
One of Owen's colleagues at the Royal College of Surgeons in London captured
a single nautilus specimen off the New Hebrides in 1829, preserved it
and handed it over to Owen two years later for dissection. The exhaustive
study that resulted is considered a classic work of comparative anatomy.
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Mann Library, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853 |
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