Bite Quotes

“Our understanding of horse evolution began with [Othniel Charles] Marsh's 1876 description of the ancient terrier-sized mammal Eohippus (Greek for "dawn horse"). Unearthed in Wyoming, the nearly complete skeleton had four toes on each of the front feet and three on the hind feet. Unbeknownst to Marsh, another paleontologist, Richard Owen (1804–1892), had named the same creature Hyracotherium nearly four decades earlier. Owen's specimen had been dug out of a seaside cliff near Kent in southeast England. As these things sometimes go, half a century after Marsh named Eohippus, a third scientist pointed out the double-naming discrepancy. Since Owen had named his fossil first, it had priority, and so Eohippus reverted to Hyracotherium. On the bright side, both Marsh and Owen had been dead for over three decades, so nobody's feelings were hurt.”
― Bill Schutt, Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth, from Hagfish to Humans

“Our understanding of horse evolution began with [Othniel Charles] Marsh's 1876 description of the ancient terrier-sized mammal Eohippus (Greek for "dawn horse"). Unearthed in Wyoming, the nearly complete skeleton had four toes on each of the front feet and three on the hind feet. Unbeknownst to Marsh, another paleontologist, Richard Owen (1804–1892), had named the same creature Hyracotherium nearly four decades earlier. Owen's specimen had been dug out of a seaside cliff near Kent in southeast England. As these things sometimes go, half a century after Marsh named Eohippus, a third scientist pointed out the double-naming discrepancy. Since Owen had named his fossil first, it had priority, and so Eohippus reverted to Hyracotherium. On the bright side, both Marsh and Owen had been dead for over three decades, so nobody's feelings were hurt.”
― Bill Schutt, Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth, from Hagfish to Humans