Dr. Gideon Mantell's fused and distorted spine preserved at the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS). Composite image from Hodgkin & Adams, Med. Chir. Tran
Dr. Gideon Mantell's fused and distorted spine preserved at the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS). Composite image from Hodgkin & Adams, Med. Chir. Trans 1854: 37: 167-80. Gideon Mantell, discoverer of the dinosaurs, died of an opium overdose to relieve pain on 11th Nov 1852. His spine was donated at his request to the RCS to elucidate a condition which had been a mystery in life. The spine went to the Hunterian Museum. It revealed curvature (scoliosis) and osteo arthritis - a long term condition exacerbated by a carriage accident nearly ten years earlier. Ironically it was fusion of the lower vertebrae that was a defining feature of the dinosaurs he helped discover. And the man who made that association, and who presided over the Hunterian Museum, was his arch-enemy Richard Owen. Though it is often said the specimen was destroyed in WWII, it was actually disposed-of to save space in 1970.
Size: 5774px × 4883px
Photo credit: © PAUL D STEWART/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: arthritis, artwork, black, black--white, college, death, dinosaur, discovery, geologist, gideon, iguanodon, illustration, injury, mantell, monochrome, osteo, owen, richard, royal, scoliosis, specimen, spine, surgeons, white
