The Great Fossil Enigma: The Search for the Conodont Animal

438 Pages·2013·7.206 MB·English

by  Simon J. Knell

T H E G R E A T
F O S S I L E N I G M A
Life of the Past
James O. Farlow, editor
T H E G R E A T
F O S S I L E N I G M A
The Search for the Conodont Animal
SIMON J. KNELL
Indiana University Press Bloomington & Indianapolis
Illus., p. vi: Pinhead fossils. This scanning electron microscope image of conodont
fossils on a dressmaking pin became an iconic image in those years after the animal had
been discovered. Photo: Mark Purnell, University of Leicester.
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iupress.indiana.edu Knell, Simon J.
The great fossil enigma : the search
Telephone orders 8008-42-6796 for the conodont animal / Simon J. Knell.
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Includes bibliographical references and
© 2013 by Simon J. Knell index.
ISBN 978-0-253-00604-2 (cloth : alk.
All rights reserved paper)
ISBN 978-0-253-00606-6 (ebook)
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For the
harbingers of spring
and
all who wondered

Contents
List of Illustrations · xi
Preface & Acknowledgments · xiii
Prelude: The Impossible Animal · 1
1 · The Road to El Dorado · 4
Th e fossil is found – the search begins – Pander’s chicks – a friend of Murchison – Pander
sees teeth and imagines fi shes – others see trilobites, sea cucumbers – Owen sees any-
thing but fi sh – Harley sees crustaceans – Moore in paleontological ecstasy – the fossil
arrives in Cincinnati – Newberry sees fi sh – Grinnell misses Custer’s Last Stand – Ulrich
denies the fi sh and sees a worm – Hinde proves the fi sh – Smith’s surprise – Huxley’s
encouragement – Zitt el and Rohon murder the fi sh and see a worm.
2 · A Beacon in the Blackness · 34
Oil enters the American soul – fossils take on economic importance – microfossils
take center stage – scientifi c worth of conodonts recognized – the black shales prob-
lem – godlike Ulrich vs. Kindle – Bryant’s fi shes – Hibbard’s washing machine – Ulrich
and Bassler’s proof of method – Stauff er’s chance discovery – Gunnell’s vision of the
future – Chalmer Cooper the disciple – Branson and Mehl’s big campaign – Huddle’s
accidental beginnings – an index discovered – Icriodus the ideal – Cooper’s cellophane
fossils – contamination – Ellison’s logic.
3 · The Animal with Three Heads · 58
Th e fi ght for biological paleontology begins – Croneis’s infl uence – the geography of
thinking – Macfarlane’s conodont oil theory – giant conodonts – Kirk fi nds bone –
Gunnell’s imaginings – Eichenberg’s novel idea – Schmidt’s assemblage – Stadtmüller’s
infl uence – Scott fi nds oil, earthquake and assemblage, and worm – Jones fi nds assem-
blages and Denham thinks of sex – Ulrich and Bassler in denial – Loomis and Pilsbry
see snails – Demanet fi nds the fi sh – Cullison’s remarkable jaw.
4. Another Fine Mess · 80
Looking inside the fossil – chemistry like bone – Stauffer loses his teeth – Hass sees ex-
traordinary detail – knowing the animal becomes impossible – more Ellison logic – Scott
attempts to convince skeptics – Du Bois sees flesh – Germany plays catch up – Beckmann
adopts German fish – Schmidt stuck in the past – Rhodes makes the assemblage a real-
ity – a fine mess.
5. Outlaws · 96
A chaos of names – the rights of nuts and bolts – Croneis’s military order – the
problematic Commission – Rhodes’s duel with Sinclair – Lange’s revolutionary worm
teeth – Sylvester Bradley and Moore’s parataxa – the solution to illegality is to change the
law – the Treatise – Moore spells trouble – Arkell’s ammonites join the cause – arguments
get political – the plan is thrown out – Moore explains how to ignore the problem.
6. Spring · 116
Postwar optimism and the fifties generation – Rhodes’s overview of the problem and
the future – Müller’s war – Gross’s influence – Cooper pioneers acids – acids take hold
and the conodont world is turned on its head – Beckmann’s technique – Gross finishes
off the dying fish – Schindewolf rises to power – the magic mountain – Müller in the
Devonian – Beckmann reveals the German future – the rush for glory begins – Ziegler
starts his meteoric rise – Müller escapes to the Carnic Alps – Walliser’s energy – Lindström
the schoolboy geologist – Sweet changes track and meets Bergström.
7. Diary of a Fossil Fruit Fly · 138
A fossil’s evolution – Simpson’s evolution – naive evolution – Haldane and
Dobzhansky – New Paleontology – the problem of species – Müller’s evolving fos-
sils – Helms’s evolutionary details – fruit flies – Ziegler’s universal timescale – Ziegler
begins global campaign – a little setback – the conodont becomes mainstream – the
Pander Society formed – Müller’s Cambrian exotica – Youngquist’s Triassic proofs – the
Cretaceous seems possible – Japanese Jurassic fossils – Mosher reveals fantasies – Gould
and Eldridge deny conodonts’ evolutionary journey – Klapper and Johnson enter the
fray – conodont workers march on regardless.
8. Fears of Civil War · 160
Ziegler’s mountain – Rhodes begins to construct the skeleton – Huckreide and Walliser
do the same – Bergström and Sweet see skeletons too – Lindström’s symmetry transi-
tions – Rexroad and Nicoll’s fused fossils – Bergström and Sweet take a stand – Schopf
and Webers join them – Ziegler’s world explodes – Lange’s critical fossils – Pollock’s
clusters – Lane’s symmetry – Kohut’s numbers – arguing with Ziegler in Ohio – fears of
fractricide – the Marburg peace accord – learning to speak a new language – Parataxa
reappear – the “troublesome” Melville – Aldridge’s diplomacy – Sweet’s magnificent
letter – Melville’s astonishment – the turncoats.
9. The Promised Land · 182
The promise of ecology – conodonts are like God – Rexroad’s provinces – Lindström’s
honeymoon and Rosetta Stone – Sweet’s great campaign – Bergström’s Swedish Amer-
ican fossils – Bergström and Sweet’s animal migrations – Schopf’s models – Glenister
and Klapper’s Canning Basin – Druce in the field – Seddon’s reef ecology – Seddon and
Sweet’s arrow worms – Druce’s modifications – more problems for Ziegler – Merrill’s
changing ecology – the disruption of tectonic plates – Valentine’s influence – Barnes and
company put theory into practice – Waterloo – Jeppsson’s seasonal migrations – rising
doubts about ecology.
10. The Witness · 208
Catastrophism and color – Epstein acquires color vision – Alvarez and the aster-
oid – Schindewolf’s extraterrestrial causes – Walliser’s global events – Golden
Spikes – MacLaren’s asteroid – Clark’s index of evolution – Fåhræus’s ballet – Walliser
joins a club – Kellwasser – Ziegler, Sandberg, and Dreesen imagine another
world – Jeppsson’s island and his big idea.
11. The Beast of Bear Gulch · 232
Man lands on the moon and the animal is found – the false dawn of Scott’s
blebs – Lange’s mistake – Melton and Horner’s fish – strange fossils – the Chicago sensa-
tion – the rumor of Scott’s kidnap of Melton – Scott and Melton’s friendship – getting
funds – the truth of Melton – trouble brews – Huddle’s doubts – closing ranks – public-
ity – writing up – Riedl’s alternative – trouble in the quarry – Horner and Lower – East
Lansing – news spreads of the discovery – yet more trouble – the paper disappears in a
snow storm – errors in publication – thrilled readers and the indigestible meatball.
12. The Invention of Life · 264
Models of animals – the purpose of the tiny fossils – Fahlbusch’s algae and little vic-
tory – Nease’s plants – Gross’s animal-less conodont – Lindström’s first animal – the
rush for the SEM – Müller and Nogami’s art – Lindström’s tentacled worm – Rietschel’s
jaws – Lindström’s grand thought experiment and tiny barrel – Conway Morris’s con-
odont animal – denying Melton and Scott – Priddle looks to the lamprey – Bischoff in-
troduces yet more animals – Hofker looks to the soil – Bengtson’s new teeth – Landing’s
superteeth – Nicoll’s filter – Hitchings, Ramsay, and Scott design filters – Jeppsson’s
teeth – Szaniawski’s influential arrow worms.
13. El Dorado · 292
Finding the real animal – the shock of the old – Clarkson’s puzzle – the Mazon Creek
clue – meeting with Briggs – Halstead and the rumor – Aldridge’s luck – the first
paper – Aldridge joins up – Clark’s extraordinary eye – rumors spread – the Conodont
Animal – revisiting models – Dzik and Drygant remove the arrow worm – Janvier’s
critique – Nicoll’s view – vandalism – the Waukesha animal – Nottingham – Smith
strengthens the team – Norby’s model – rebuilding the apparatus – separating fact from
myth – strengthening interpretations – Dzik asserts the vertebrate – Tillier and Cuif’s
strange mollusks – Sweet’s critique – Aldridge and Briggs’s repost.