What is it about?
The Gibraltar Scientific Society received the Gibraltar Skull in 1848 and it was in their care until 1853. This paper explores the history of this little known society that included members such as the geologist James Smith of Jordanhill, and the botanist and microscopist Robert Brown.
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Why is it important?
The Gibraltar Scientific Society is mentioned in most accounts about the history of the Gibraltar Skull but mostly to note that the skull was stored away and forgotten about. This account, the first to provide a comprehensive history of the Society, looks at the curation and management practices of the Society as well as the connections it formed with researchers in Britain and elsewhere arguing that far from being a group of dilettantes the Society provides an example of networking in the nineteenth century.
Perspectives
The research for this paper will hopefully enable a new historiography of the Gibraltar Scientific Society to emerge. From the previously published accounts I had always thought that the Society had been portrayed in a less than fair way. So it was satisfying to learn by using primary sources (such as the Society's minute book) that members were contributing to knowledge about Gibraltar and to science outside Gibraltar.
Alex Menez
Gibraltar Museum
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: CUSTODIAN OF THE GIBRALTAR SKULL: THE HISTORY OF THE GIBRALTAR SCIENTIFIC SOCIETY, Earth Sciences History, January 2018, History of the Earth Sciences Society,
DOI: 10.17704/1944-6178-37.1.34.
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