50 Years AgoThe British Museum (Natural History) library, alias the Natural History Museum seems to have been one the most significant historical accidents. When the natural history departments moved to South Kensington, no provision was made for a central library by trustees, architects or staff. Each discipline had its own departmental library, but the space crunch in the new building made it impossible to build them. It is because of this that many libraries are still housed in narrow, drafty, and in wet weather, leaky corridors. However, the central library was able to have a luxurious reading room after only eighty years. The museum was originally part of the British Museum in Bloomsbury, but the natural history collections as well as staff were moved to South Kensington in 1880. After failing to provide a library for the museum, trustees refused to automatically transfer scientific literature that related to the collections to the new museum. The result was that the Natural History Museum's libraries had to be built almost entirely from scratch in 1880. Their current status as one of the most important libraries in Earth and life sciences is due to the dedication of their scientists and librarians.From Nature, 2 July 1971150 Years AgoIn the upcoming issue of American Journal of Science, there will be an interesting announcement regarding American Palaeontology. This announcement concerns the discovery of a large pterodactyl (or flying lizard) by Professor Marsh in the Cretaceous rocks of the Rocky Mountain region. This form is a characteristic of European deposits and has been well-known for its combination of reptile and bird characters. However, the family was not expected to be included in the New World until Marsh's announcement. The addition of the pterodactyl to the American genera list shows a significant increase in palaeontological affluence. This confirms the statement made a while ago that America is not inferior to the Old World in terms of the variety of its fossil remains.Nature 29 June 1871
