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GEOREF RECORD

The Troost crinoids; lost, found, and (finally) published

Julie R. Newell
The Troost crinoids; lost, found, and (finally) published
Earth Sciences History (2005) 24 (1): 15-34

Abstract

In early 1850, Tennessee State Geologist Gerard Troost (1776-1850) completed a manuscript on fossil crinoids that should have been a landmark work in the study of this group. Despite public testimony to the importance of this work before the American Association for the Advancement of Science and in the American Journal of Science, Troost was unable to get legislative support to complete the revision of the manuscript and produce the necessary plates. He then sent his manuscript to the Smithsonian Institution. His death only weeks later was but one factor resulting in a half-century delay during which his manuscript and the related collections were repeatedly misplaced and/or neglected and his species were usurped or independently discovered by others. Despite the ways in which chance events of timing or association combined time and again to delay publication of Troost's findings, his work was never entirely lost. The resulting story is a rich case study in the process of establishing scientific priority in nineteenth-century America.


ISSN: 0736-623X
EISSN: 1944-6187
Serial Title: Earth Sciences History
Serial Volume: 24
Serial Issue: 1
Title: The Troost crinoids; lost, found, and (finally) published
Author(s): Newell, Julie R.
Affiliation: Southern Polytechnic State University, Department of Social and International Studies, Marietta, GA, United States
Pages: 15-34
Published: 2005
Text Language: English
Publisher: History of the Earth Sciences Society, Troy, NY, United States
References: 22
Accession Number: 2006-002578
Categories: Invertebrate paleontology
Document Type: Serial
Bibliographic Level: Analytic
Illustration Description: illus. incl. portr.
N40°25'00" - N43°30'00", W96°34'60" - W90°10'00"
N35°00'00" - N36°45'00", W90°15'00" - W81°40'00"
Country of Publication: United States
Secondary Affiliation: GeoRef, Copyright 2022, American Geosciences Institute.
Update Code: 200601
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