In Chapter 5 "The World of Darkness," McGowan describes some of the discoveries that Buckland made in caves. In Chapter 6 "Revelation," he introduces us to the Reverend William Conybeare. Conybeare studied the ichtyhosaur and plesiosaurs found by Anning. He and Buckland had both been considered for the position of Reader in Mineralogy, but Conybeare declined the position in order to become a minister, although he continued to contribute to paleontological and geological knowledge.
In Chapter 7 "The Tooth of the Iguana," McGowan continues with the life of Gideon Mantell. Mantell had originally planned to name the dinosaur Iguanosaurus, but Conybeare objected to the name (meaning "iguana lizard"), saying that it was equally applicable to the modern iguana. Conybeare instead suggested "iguana tooth."
In Chapter 8 "Just Causes," McGowan introduces us to Charles Lyell, a lawyer interested in geology, and a friend of Mantell. Lyell is best known for his steady-state view of Earth history, referred to as actualism or uniformitarianism. Lyell believed that the "progression of life through geological time was an artifact of the fossil record, and there was no trend, no evolution, of living things, from the more primitive to the more derived states."
In Chapter 9 "More Giants," McGowan reunites us with Mantell and describes Mantell's discovery of another dinosaur, Hylaeosaurus (the third dinosaur to be named). In Chapter 10 "Improving on Nature," he introduces us to Thomas Hawkins, a decidedly eccentric character. Hawkins was a commercial collector, like Anning, who sold fossils to museums. Unfortunately, Hawkins seems to have had a habit of "improving" on the fossils that he collected, detailed in Chapter 11 "Mr. Konig Regrets." The skeleton of a large ichthyosaur "improved" on by Hawkins can still be seen at London's Natural History Museum, Temnodontosaurus platyodon.
In Chapter 12 "The Professor and the Naturalist," McGowan introduces us to Richard Owen and Charles Darwin. Owen is best known for naming the Dinosauria. His first work in paleontology was a paper about a fossil mammal that Charles Darwin collected in Argentina during his voyage aboard the Beagle. (For more information, be sure to read my articles "Sir Richard Owen" and "Charles Darwin.")
