In 1861 the Natural History Museum's
Archaeopteryx was discovered in quarries near Solnhofen Bavaria, when a slab of
lithographic limestone was split in two. Archaeopteryx is one of the rarest
fossils in the world and one of the most scientifically important specimens in
The Natural History Museum's collection.
Given to Dr Karl Haberlein, an amateur collector, in settlement of a quarryman's
medical bill, it was briefly described as Gryphosaurus, a feathered reptile, but
then named Archaeopteryx - meaning ancient wing.
In 1861 geologist, Professor Herman von Meyer of Frankfurt announced its
discovery to a stunned world. Institutions competed with each other to obtain
the unique find but some German scientists, who did not believe the value of the
new discovery, scared off potential buyers. George Waterhouse, Keeper of Geology
and Richard Owen, Superintendent of the Natural History Department were, at this
time, leading opponents to Darwin's theories of evolution. Owen, fervently
against the idea of a missing link between birds and dinosaurs, regarded the
discovery of the Archaeopteryx as a threat.
In 1862 Haberlein, hoping to raise a dowry for his daughter, approached The
British Museum offering to sell his entire fossil collection, which included the
Archaeopteryx, for £750. The Museum's Trustees were reluctant to make the
purchase but Owen was desperate to secure this unique specimen. Waterhouse was
sent to Pappenheim to negotiate its purchase but with only £500 spending money.
After six months of hard bargaining between Waterhouse and Haberlein, Owen acted
without the Board of Trustees' approval. He purchased the Archaeopteryx and some
of the more important fossils for £450, with the promise that the museum would
buy the rest the following year for £250.
To Owen's delight the Archaeopteryx arrived at The Natural History Museum on 1
October 1862. Regarded as the greatest living palaeontologist, he knew the
importance of his opinion to the scientific community. Owen would now have first
say on the fossil and therefore avert the danger of Archaeopteryx becoming a
mascot for the evolutionary theories of Darwin and his supporters.
The Board of Trustees was annoyed about the purchase but Owen left it to
Waterhouse to explain their actions to the Trustees, implying that he had hardly
been involved. The Trustees saw no reason why the museum should pay the £250
promised for the following year as they already had the prize specimens.
Waterhouse was told to write Haberlein a letter breaking off the agreement. In
defiance Waterhouse never wrote this letter and bought the fossils the following
year as promised. The total outlay of £700 represented a bargain as The Museum
received a total of 1,703 fine specimens from Haberlein, including many other
important items.
Owen wrote the first scientific
description of the Archaeopteryx in 1863. After careful study he concluded that
it was simply an "ancient, long-tailed bird". He predicted that other
more complete specimens would be found where the beak and breastbone - classic
bird features - would be visible. He assumed the bony tail was just a variation.
A young scientist, Thomas Huxley, who continually opposed Owen's theories, saw
the arrival of this fossil as opportunity to challenge Owen.
When Owen delivered a talk on 20 November 1862 about the Archaeopteryx all
present were expecting a clash of opinions between Owen and Huxley. In fact it
was an uneventful evening with Huxley silent throughout the talk, which annoyed
Darwin's supporters. The trouble was Huxley was not convinced by Darwin's
theories and he thought the Archaeopteryx was an anomalous type of bird rather
than the missing link.
Huxley embarked on a comprehensive study of living birds while the rest of the
science world lost interest in Archaeopteryx. Huxley was determined to bring
down Owen and in 1867 he produced a huge body of work that reclassified all
living birds. In it he stated a link between reptiles and birds.
At Oxford that same year, Huxley was to make his most important discovery while
being shown a Megalosaurus bone in a display case. He suddenly realised it was
out of place and that it was identical to a pelvic bone he had been studying in
living birds. This showed that both birds and dinosaurs might in fact be related
and could share a common ancestor.
In 1868 Thomas Huxley reported his observations on the Archaeopteryx to the
Royal Institution in London and noted its reptilian qualities. He went on to
speculate in a paper later that year, "are any fossil birds more reptilian
than any of those now living?".
This would be Huxley's most famous talk, demonstrating that birds and dinosaurs
were linked, and it helped to crush Owen's theories and reputation. Huxley said
that the Archaeopteryx was in fact an evolutionary offshoot within birds,
providing the world with its first definitive statement on the origin of birds.
He suggested that humble backyard blackbirds were in fact dinosaurs in disguise.
Its significance proven by Huxley, The Natural History Museum's Archaeopteryx
was left in peace until Sir Gavin de Beer produced a highly detailed monograph
about the specimen in 1954. This drew together all the known information about
Archaeopteryx since its discovery nearly a century before and represented its
most detailed study since Huxley's examination in 1867.
Gavin de Beer noted that over this time no fewer than 38 different scientists
tried to speculate exactly where the Archaeopteryx lies in relation to fossil
reptiles and living birds. De Beer followed the accepted theory that
Archaeopteryx is a true, but very ancient bird, which contains the first
evidence of evolutionary change. So, while Archaeopteryx is not the 'missing
link' between birds and dinosaurs - its discovery marked the beginning of a 140
year search to solve one of nature's greatest mysteries - that birds truly are
related to meat-eating dinosaurs.
