Picks from the Past
March 1909:
The Darwin Celebration
The New York Academy of Sciences celebrates the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Charles Robert Darwin and the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of “The Origin of Species” at the American Museum of Natural History.
January 1914:
The Blind in the American Museum
The American Museum furnishes an instructor for classes of blind children who are allowed to “see” with their hands. By Agnes Laidlaw Vaughan
February 1915:
Animals of Central Brazil
Together with mention of the geographical work of the Roosevelt-Rondon South American expedition in exploring the “River of Doubt.” By Theodore Roosevelt
October 1916:
Sharks—Man-eaters and Others
With suggestions that Americans turn to economic account
some of the smaller species of the Atlantic Coast. By Hugh M. Smith
April 1917:
Individuality, Temperament, and Genius in Animals
From such research we learn to appreciate human individuality, and to realize that any future conscious control of human life must come through a study of the conditions under which varied types of temperament will develop the highest character and the greatest genius. By Robert M. Yerkes and Ada W. Yerkes
May 1918:
My Life as a Naturalist
With a presentation of various first-hand data on the life histories and habits of the big game animals of Africa. By Theodore Roosevelt
April-May 1919:
Thomas Jefferson’s Contributions to Natural History
His effort sent out the Lewis and Clark exploring party into the unknown West. Recognition and honor are given today to the expedition’s leader, Meriwether Lewis. By John S. Patton
December 1919:
The Coming Back of the Bison
The disappearance of the American bison to the verge of extermination constitutes one of the greatest and most striking catastrophes to our wild life that have occurred in the experience of modern man. By C. Gordon Hewitt
March-April 1921:
Insects as Food
How they have augmented the food supply of mankind in early and recent times. By John S. Patton
May-June 1921:
How Diamonds Are Polished
By H. P. Whitlock
November-December 1921:
Rains of Fishes
Do fishes fall in rain from the sky? By E. W. Gudger
September-October 1922:
The Elephant in Captivity
As the elephant walks beside its keeper, it lowers its pillar-like legs deliberately as though conscious of the crushing force of their descending weight. By W. Henry Sheak
May-June 1923:
Monkeys Trained as Harvesters
Instances of a Practice Extending from Remote Times to the Present. By E. W. Gudger
November-December 1923:
Mounting Horse Skeletons to Exemplify Different Gaits and Actions
A Glimpse behind the Scenes at the American Museum. By A. Katherine Berger
May-June 1924:
Profiteers of the Busy Bee
Observations on the honey guides of Africa. By James P. Chapin
January-February 1925:
The Hoop Snake Story
With some theories of its origin. By Karl Patterson Schmidt
January-February 1926:
The Ordeal of Getting Civilized
Troubles of an Indian treading the white man’s path. By Gilbert L. Wilson
May-June 1927:
Hydras as Enemies of Young Fishes
In August, 1902, a sudden epidemic occurred among the black-spotted trout fry in the hatchery of the United States Fish Commission at Leadville, Colorado. By E. W. Gudger
May-June 1927:
The Antiquity of Man in America
A presentation of new evidence of man’s antiquity in America. By J. D. Figgins
May-June 1928:
“Robinson Crusoe’s Children”
The strange story of nine english mutineers who, more than a hundred years ago, took up their abode with their native Tahitian wives, on a desert island in the South Seas. By H. L. Shapiro
November-December 1929:
A Collector in the Land of the Birds of Paradise
Collecting brilliantly colored birds among the mountains of New Guinea—The problems and difficulties of an ornithologist in the savage interior of one of the greatest of islands. By Rollo H. Beck
December-January 1930:
Tails
Caudal appendages adapted by nature to the needs of Her creatures. By Charles E. Burt
January-February 1931:
Living With the Natives of Melanesia
How ethnological work is carried on by representatives of the American Museum among primitive people of the South Seas. By Margaret Mead
March-April 1931:
The Fate of the Rash Platybelodon
A prehistoric death trap yields its spoils—persistent exploration by the Central Asiatic Expeditions in eastern Mongolia at last reveals the most favorable conditions under which remains of ancient man might be found. By Roy Chapman Andrews
January-February 1932:
A Tenderfoot Explorer in New Guinea
Reminiscences of an expedition for birds in the primeval forests of the Arfak Mountains By Ernst Mayr
March-April 1932:
Meshie: The Child of a Chimpanzee
A creature of the African jungle emigrates to America. By H. C. Raven
March-April 1933:
A Day in Patagonia
Collecting remains of prehistoric animals in southernmost South America. By George Gaylord Simpson
March-April & May-June 1933:
Floating Gold: The Romance of Ambergris
By Robert Cushman Murphy
November-December 1933:
Man—500,000 Years From Now
Trends and influences now at work in changing or modifying the physical characteristics of civilized man. By H. L. Shapiro
November-December 1933:
Further Adventures of Meshie
A chimpanzee that has lived most of her life in a New York suburban home. By H. C. Raven
October 1934:
Patagonian Oasis
Even amid the wind-swept desolation of southern Argentine a haven may occasionally be found. By George Gaylord Simpson
April 1935, September 1936, & September 1937:
José
The life of a Barro Colorado coati (in three parts). By Frank M. Chapman
September 1935:
To the Strange “Buttons”
The story of the Bowdoin-MacMillan Arctic Expedition of 1934 to Cape Mugford, Labrador, and the Button Islands of the Northwest Territories. By Alfred O. Gross
October 1935:
Astronomical Fiction
Amusing errors in astronomy to be found in literature. By Frank C. Jordan
February 1936:
Bird Voices in the Southland
Making "talkies" with an all star cast of native American birds. By Albert R. Brand
February 1937:
The Indoor Explorer
Radio listeners were recently astounded by the announcement, broadcast from a Chicago station, that they were about to hear a singing mouse. By D. R. Barton
February 1938:
What Are They Thinking?
Characteristic facial expressions, postures, and movements are the key to an understanding of animal psychology and the soul of animal art. By Charles R. Knight
May 1939:
A Fossil Comes to Life
One of the most important zoological discoveries of the present century gives us a glimpse at the closest living relative of our fish-like ancestors. By Edwin H. Colbert
Thunder in His Footsteps
The ghost of the most gigantic animal that ever walked the earth is conjured to life when a lone fossil hunter tracks down the first true footprints left by this stupendous creature, and thrills to the romance of a great discovery. By Roland T. Bird
November 1939:
The Pearl of Allah
The giant clam yielded its treasure only after slaying a native diver trapped when its great jaws snapped shut. Worshipped as the gift of Allah, the 14-pound pearl was finally presented to the author by a Mohammedan chief whose son he saved from death. By Wilburn Dowell Cobb
February 1940:
Animal Fables
How many commonly accepted superstitions about animals could you confidently deny? By W. Ley
March 1940:
The Story of Heraldry
Heroic symbols have everywhere marked Man's more adventurous activities since the dawn of time, and though coats of arms declined with Knighthood, the modern airplane may possibly bring about a new Heraldry to symbolize achievement in a new age.
October 1940:
Museum Quiz
“Information, please” is the request which comes 25,000-strong each year to one of the world's
unique clearinghouses of information. An inside view of the amazing curiosity of the American public. By Roy Chapman Andrews
February 1941:
A Dinosaur Walks into the Museum
Scientific detective work sheds new light on the habits and appearance of the most gigantic animals that ever roamed the earth, when the biggest footprints ever found are placed on display. By Roland T. Bird
The Massacre of St. Valentine’s Day
Strange things are bound to happen when an ancient Roman Fertility Rite is inducted into European society. By D. R. Barton
June 1941:
Scylla Was a Squid
Charybdis may have been a whirlpool, but modern science now recognizes the other half of Homer’s legendary partnership in maritime disaster as possibly the first mention in literature of the giant squid. By W. Ley
One-Man Explorer
Without benefit of base camps and elaborate supply lines, Harry Raven has ventured alone into some of the world's least known jungles. By D. R. Barton
September 1941:
The Truth About Termites
Labeled public enemies number one by exterminating racketeers, these “white ants” (which aren’t ants at all) are seldom destructive in civilized communities and definitely constructive in nature. Incidentally, some species can’t digest wood any better than we can. By Frank E. Lutz
September 1942:
Drum Talk Is the African’s “Wireless”
How the black man was able to send out his messages of joy or sorrow over jungle and valley long before the white man invented the radio. By A. I. Good
December 1942:
How They Got Their Names
Few of us realize what a fascinating hodgepodge of inappropriate names many of our well-known plants and animals carry, or how often when we call them by their right names other people will not know what we are talking about. By Roy L. Abbott
June 1943:
Every Man His Own Robinson Crusoe
A novel program to teach our South Sea fighters how to fare for themselves in time of need by use of ingenious native methods. By Kenneth P. Emory
September 1943:
Nine-Day Wonders
The story of one of North America’s greatest natural disasters, with a popular explanation of how and why hurricanes roar up out of the breathless doldrums one to twenty times each year to destroy what lies in their path. By Hobart E. Stocking
September 1946:
Man and His Baggage
All along the rough road from savagery to civilization, man has found it an increasingly complex problem to carry the things needed for life. By Clark Wissler
September, October, November 1946:
Letters
Correspondence to Natural History from September 1946 and several follow-up letters from the subsequent two issues.
May 1947:
Popcorn
To many it is only a “circus treat,” but to the scientist, popcorn is a key to important questions concerning early man in America. By Edgar Anderson
September 1947:
Mystery of Singing Sands
One of the strangest tales of the desert happens to be true—sands that roar so loud one has to shout to be heard. A yet unsolved riddle of Nature! By E. R. Yarham
December 1947:
Payday for Primates
A report about monkey business. By Frank A. Beach
February 1948:
The Watch that Lincoln Gave
The little-known story from the life of the Great Emancipator, which takes the reader to the far-away isles of the Pacific and to the plight of an American seaman who was about to be killed and eaten. By Wilmon Menard
March 1948:
Meet the Curator
A candid view of the man who answers your scientific questions and who travels to all corners of the world to
get information and specimens for public exhibition By C. L. Hay
October 1950:
Beasts Before the Bar
Quaint court scenes of yesteryear show that ignorance of the law was once no excuse even for an animal. By Frank A. Beach
September 1951:
What Makes the Soviet Character?
Today the safety of all civilization may hinge upon our ability to develop ways through which the behavior of the members of any large modern society can be made intelligible to the members of other societies. By Margaret Mead
October 1951:
The Crowninshield Elephant
The surprising story of Old Bet, the first elephant ever to be brought to America. By George G. Goodwin
January 1954:
An Anteater Named Teddy
Even as a pet, his single interest was in ants, and he never quite got used to a tame chimpanzee. By Lilo Hess
November 1954:
The Big Sleep Is On
Those who suffer either from insomnia or cold feet may view with envy the many creatures who are now dreaming away the snowy months. By Will Barker
September 1955:
Mystery of the Prehistoric Stone Balls
Why should hundreds of perfectly shaped spheres, ranging in diameter from a few inches to eight feet, be scattered through the jungles southwestern Costa Rica? By Eleanor Lothrop
June 1955:
Last of the Tlingit Sealers
Harpoons fly and an oldtime Indian recalls the dangerous days of yore as a band of hunters on the Northwest coast put out for a final go at the fur seal. By Karl W. Kenyon
April 1957:
Go Fly a Kite
Though people joke about it as a toy, the kite has carried men aloft physically as well as spiritually and helped pave the way to mastery of the air. By Joseph J. Cornish III
November 1957:
Q’eros: A Study in Survival
In this barren part of Peru, people still use the Inca system of keeping records, the quipu. By John Cohen
December 1958:
Scrutinizing the Microcosm
Electron microscopy has shown the biologist a complex, new world. By Huntington Sheldon
November 1959:
The Wild Rat
This animal’s behavior has given it a reputation for cleverness. By Anthony Barnett
March 1960:
Wetland Saga
Flood, drought, freezing, and predation are the risks for a marsh muskrat population. By Paul L. Errington
August-September 1966:
Shakespeare in the Bush
An American anthropologist set out to study the Tiv of West Africa and was taught the true meaning of Hamlet.
By Laura Bohannan
December 1969:
Eating Christmas in the Kalahari
With a postscript, the people of /Xai/xai thirty years on. By Richard Borshay Lee
March 1971:
An Octopus Trilogy
After a decade of sleuthing, it can be safely said that the gigantic mass of tissue that washed up on the beach at St. Augustine in 1896 was the remains of an octopus that must have measured, from the tip of one tentacle to the tip of the opposite tentacle, 200 feet. Yes, Victoria, 200 feet. By F.G. Wood and Joseph F. Gennaro Jr.
January 1974:
Size and Shape
The immutiable laws of design set limits on all organisms. By Stephen Jay Gould (his first “This View of Life” column)
October 1974:
One Man’s Meat Is Another’s Person
Humans may taste good, but most societies are a long way from cannibalism. By Raymond Sokolov
October 1976:
America’s National Parks: Their principles, purposes, and prospects
By Joseph L. Sax
November 1985:
The Case of the Vanishing Caterpillar
A butterfly larva’s fate depends on who finds it first—its ant friends or ant foes. By Gary N. Ross
June 1988:
The Halloween Mask Episode
A gull researcher learns the barefaced truth about western gulls. By Larry Spear
November 1989:
The Creation Myths of Cooperstown
Or why the Cardiff Giants are an unbeatable and appropriately named team. By Stephen Jay Gould
December 1990:
Columbus, My Enemy
A Caribbean chief resists the first Spanish invaders. By Samuel M. Wilson
November 1991:
The Arizona Revisited
Divers explore the legacy of Pearl Harbor. By Daniel J. Lenihan
January 1993:
Species in a Bucket
For a few frightening moments, there was only myself standing between life and extinction. By Edwin Philip Pister
April 1993:
Der Ring des Bubbalungen
Borrow unto others before they borrow unto you. By Roger L. Welsch
June 1996:
Little Criminals
A true story of a lonely plant ecologist and his mischievous neighbors. By Truman P. Young
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