None of them was trained as a scientist in an unpaid position now known as the London Museum of Natural History (NHM). Established in 188 1, the museum benefited from the work of early volunteers, whether from Evelyn Chesman, an entomologist who worked for free in the Department of Natural History in the 1920s, or Ronald Campbell Gunn, a botanist from 19, who all contributed to its collection.
Foraminifera is not uncommon. In some parts of the world, foraminifera are very abundant, and their seabed sediments are made of shells. For example, the pink beaches in Bermuda are rosy because of red-haired corals, and red foraminifera thrive on nearby coral reefs. However, in their lives all over the world and thousands of years, they represent valuable records of evolution, archaeological times and environmental changes. In order to describe the species of foraminifera, Heron Allen and Earland edited and catalogued specimens on hundreds of slides, including many new species. As R.L.Hodgkinson, a scientist in the Paleontology Department of the Museum, wrote in 1989, "Heron Allen &；; The Earland slide specimen collection provides an excellent example of the early Victorian foraminifera specimen collection. The slides themselves and labels are works of art, and animals are beautiful, so it is difficult to arrange and catalogue them.
Although they mainly focus on exploring various forms of these fossils, with the approach of June 65438+February every year, they spend their time on more whimsical slide arrangements. These Christmas-themed slides were exchanged by the two people in years of cooperation, and personalized greetings were spelled out with microscopic fossils (a fossil with a size less than 1 mm). 19 12 One of the slides starts with Erlan ("AE") and "XMAS", and the length of a year is about 1 cm.
NHM has a collection of several Christmas slides. This slide 19 12 is part of the museum's treasures, including birds studied by Charles Darwin and iguana bones described by richard owen. This slide is more inconspicuous than these prominent objects. It is still an incredible work of art and science. Each small fossil shell has been carefully selected and skillfully attached to the glass slide with a beautiful brush and baicalin.
Edward Helen Allen and Arthur Erlan (provided by London Museum of Natural History) In the blog of NHM 20 1 1, Giles Miller, the main curator of microfossils (research on microfossils), pointed out that Helen Allen established the basic part of the museum's microfossil collection, including his slides and a large foraminiferal library. His cooperation with Erlan included 19 19 13 the analysis and publication of foraminifera collected by terranova Antarctic expedition (Robert Falcken Scott and his whole expedition died infamous there when they returned from the geographical Antarctic). In their published article about Terra Nova foraminifera, 650 species of foraminifera were described, 46 of which were new species at that time. It is worth noting that some of these forms were found in Arctic specimens, which indicates that they evolved at the same time. They also described the species of the British Isles, East Africa and the Southern Ocean in the waters near T, and their slides and research further revealed the diversity and cross-century evolution of marine life.
Because holiday slides may be made of leftover fossils, they may reflect their current research. For example, 19 15 On August 5th, in an article in Nature, Heron Allen wrote that the "protective investment" of Ramsar's super-mmina species was so "differentiated" that Erlan once made me a Christmas card slide "stand out from its variety". On the slide of 19 12, the fossils used for carving come from Rhabdammina, whose tubular shape is a foraminifera refuge formed by seabed sediments.
Recently, NHM obtained a slide collection of Herun, including three Christmas messages: 193 1, 1932 and 1936. However, these were all caused by a big fight between two fanatics. An article in the Independent 20 12 reported that in the early 1930s, their cooperative relationship was dissolved, probably because of credit conflicts or even more scandalous personal differences. (The Independent quoted a letter from 1943, in which Erlan mused about the "last woman" who caused their disagreement.
The Christmas slide is engraved with "Christmas greetings from 1928 Eugene" (Eugene is Allen's nickname for Arthur Erlan. ) (provided by London Museum of Natural History) Miller wrote in a blog post on 20 12 that in a scientific journal of 1933, Erlan wrote that due to illness, "Helen Allen could not take such a large share in the preparation of this report as usual. At his own request and against my will, his name was deleted from the list of authors. 193 1 When I came back from Ceylon in, I found that Erlan had taken all my works for himself.
Even before the book was published, there was fierce hostility, because Erlan did a lot of slide work, Helen Allen wrote many works, he had greater wealth and professional relations, and Helen Allen was able to publish more. (Erlan was never the first author of their joint paper. ) When Helen Allen was elected as a member of the Royal Society on 19 19, the tension may have intensified.
Another factor may be that Helen Allen's daughter Amor was killed in a car accident at 1930, when she had just finished surgery and was studying natural science. Whatever the reason, it is said that the two men began to go to the museum on different days to avoid meeting each other. Miller said that because the newly obtained Yilan slides "can be traced back to the death of Sharon Allen's daughter in 1930, we can only assume that Yilan prepared these slides, but due to limited contact, we never gave them to Sharon Allen." He added, "There are other slides with preprinted slide labels in Herun's series, and the names" Helen Allen and Earland Series "and" Helen Allen "have been crossed out. However, we'll never know whether it's just separating the slides despite this, which Herun thinks is part of his separate collection. It is also clear that there are no Christmas card slides made and given to Herun by Helen Allen in his collection.
The breakdown of their friendship can be seen in the final Christmas slide. Previous holiday slides had many details, such as the one in 1928, with an incredible wreath. Each tiny shell looks different in shape, and the last example is even more barren. One of them was made by Erlan in 1930. There are obviously few specimens, and each one is wandering alone in the black circle of the slide. Arthur Erlan and Edward Helen Allen made them in 1930 and 1909 respectively.
Miniature fossil Christmas card slide (provided by London Museum of Natural History) "I Love You"