Alexander Gordon Melville (1819–1901) was an Irish

comparative anatomist Comparative anatomy is the study of similarities and differences in the anatomy of different species. It is closely related to evolutionary biology and phylogeny (the evolution of species). The science began in the classical era, continuing in t ...

, best known for his work on the

dodo The dodo (''Raphus cucullatus'') is an extinction, extinct flightless bird that was endemism, endemic to the island of Mauritius, which is east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. The dodo's closest relative was the also-extinct and flightles ...

. He was Professor of Natural History at Queen's College Galway, from 1849 to 1882.

Life

Melville graduated M.D. at the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

, and became Demonstrator in Anatomy there. He then moved to the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

as assistant to Henry Wentworth Acland. He lectured to the Royal Zoological Society.Collins, p. 92. At the 1847 British Association meeting Melville took part in the debate on '' Lepidosiren'', judging it to be an amphibian. Acland did not find Melville easy to work with, and replaced him with Lionel Beale; Melville left Oxford in 1847. ExtPassdodo-ea-rs05

It was during this Oxford period that Hugh Edwin Strickland approached Melville about their joint book on the dodo. Melville began work on the anatomical aspects in 1847. The "Oxford head", from John Tradescant's dodo was dissected, as was the "London foot", and the remains of the "Oxford foot", most of what remained of the dodo specimen that had been exhibited in the 18th century. The book's publication provoked a search for fossil evidence of the dodo on

Mauritius Mauritius, officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, about off the southeastern coast of East Africa, east of Madagascar. It includes the main island (also called Mauritius), as well as Rodrigues, Ag ...

, to supplement the scanty specimens available. In April 1848 Melville was working with

Gideon Mantell Gideon Algernon Mantell Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons, MRCS Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (3 February 1790 – 10 November 1852) was an English obstetrician, geologist and paleontology, palaeontologist. His attempts to reconstr ...

on '' Iguanadon'' and '' Hylaeosaurus''. Later in the year they went together to visit the private collections of George Bax Holmes and William Devonshire Saull, as well as the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

, as Mantell pursued his intense quest to undermine the original

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic Geological period, period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the #Evolutio ...

concept of 1842, as advocated by

Richard Owen Sir Richard Owen (20 July 1804 – 18 December 1892) was an English biologist, comparative anatomy, comparative anatomist and paleontology, palaeontologist. Owen is generally considered to have been an outstanding naturalist with a remarkabl ...

. Combative by nature, Melville was quite prepared to question the work of Owen on fossil reptiles: Owen's view was that the dodo was related to vultures, where Strickland and Melville associated it with pigeons and doves.Collins, p. 96. Matters came to a head in May 1849, and then Mantell and Melville directly attacked Owen over ''Iguanadon''. Strickland engaged Owen in controversy over the dodo in 1849–50, but by this time Melville had taken up his chair in Galway; Mantell died in 1852, and Strickland in 1853. Melville later collaborated successfully, for example with his Galway colleague William King. In 1854 he made a botanical tour in

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

with David Moore, who in the same year introduced Melville to Alexander Goodman More. Melville went on to help More with the ''Cybele Hibernica''. Melville gave the 1858 series of Swiney lectures at the Museum of Practical Geology. Andrew Smith Melville the botanist was his son.Collins, p. 101.

Works

*''The Dodo and Its Kindred'' (1848), with Hugh Edwin Strickland.

References

*Timothy Collins, ''Dodos and Discord: A Biographical Note on A.G. Melville of Queen's College Galway'', Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society Vol. 50, (1998), pp. 90–111. Published by: Galway Archaeological & Historical Society. Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25550197

Notes

External links

*
WorldCat page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melville, Alexander Gordon 1819 births 1901 deaths Irish anatomists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Academics of the University of Galway Place of birth missing