LITHOGRAPHIAE WIRCEBURGENSIS, ducentis lapidum figuratorum, a potiori insectiformium, prodigiosis imaginibus exornatae specimen primum.

IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN

My blog post of April 1^st 2011 announced the frightful partial collapse, in the middle of the night, of the Quarry Visitor Center onto the dinosaur fossil exhibit. It was a successful April Fool’s joke because 1) this was about half way through an extensive 18 month demolition, rehabilitation, and reconstruction project on the building which I had been covering in detail in my posts and 2) nobody thought I would be enough of a jerk to joke about such a thing. Of course, those who actually read the entire one paragraph post through to the end came across the last sentence that revealed it was an April Fool’s joke.  But some people panicked after the first few sentences and just began making phone calls.

Most people’s antennae are up when April 1^st rolls around and putting together a successful April Fool’s joke is really quite difficult to do.  There are many other paleontology bloggers who do such posts quite well. Rather than fail badly at that, today I’ll blog about a bit of fossil fakery from the early 18^th century. This is not fakery meant as a joke but intended to damage reputations and motivated by academic and professional envy and desire for revenge.

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A PASSION FOR FOSSILS

Dr. Johann Bartholomew Adam Beringer (1667-1740) was a successful physician, earning the titles of Doctor of Philosophy and Medicine, Senior Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Science of the University of Wurzburg (Germany), Advisor and Chief Physician to the Price-Bishop of Wurzburg, and Chief Physician to the Julian Hospital. Unfortunately it seems that relatively little is known about his life.  In addition to his high standing in society Beringer was also an enthusiastic dilettante in fields other than medicine. It was his fascination with oryctis (“things dug from the earth”) that led to the scandal for which he is best known to modern scientists and historians.

Lizard eating a fly: one of Beringer's original "Figured Stones".

The early 18^th century was a time of upheaval in the science of paleontology. Long held classical theories about the nature and meaning of fossils were being scrutinized and many new ideas about fossils, some more realistic than others, were coming to the fore and being discussed and debated.  Beringer was interested in fossils and had his own thoughts on these matters, although they would be viewed as bizarre by modern scientific standards. But he was passionate and started to compile a significant collection of fossils from all over Europe.

Although it is unclear when, Beringer hired several young men, aged 14-18, to work with him on Mount Eivelstadt and bring in any fossils they might find.  Nothing of real significance was discovered until May 31, 1725 when the first three of a long string of “fossils” were brought to him.  Beringer became very excited by these fossils and the others that followed and amassed a large collection.  He felt he had made a spectacular discovery, one well worth scientific description and publication and one that would further enhance his reputation as a learned man.

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 ACADEMIC HATRED AND FAKE FOSSILS

Occupying the Chair of Natural History at the University of Wurzburg placed Beringer in an academic setting.  For reasons uncertain, he made enemies of some in the university. J. Ignatz Roderick was a university professor of geology, algebra, and analysis.  George von Eckhart was privy counselor and librarian to the prince’s court and the university. Both despised Beringer, because as Roderick put it “… Beringer was so arrogant and despised them all.” They conspired to exploit Beringer’s passion for fossils in order to ruin him through fossil fakery.

Figured stones bearing butterflies and moths: lithograph from the Lithographiae Wirceburgensis.

The plot involved carving fake fossils and either selling them directly to Beringer or planting them on Mount Eivelstadt where they would be found later by Beringer and his hired crew.  At least one of that crew, Christian Zanger, was brought into the plot and paid for his services.  Roderick carved hundreds of fakes at least some of which still survive.  The fakes included normal types of fossil organisms, leaves, flowers, beetles, wasps, moths, butterflies, spiders, fogs  birds, snails, lizards, crabs, fish, etc. (not infrequently in copulito).

Figured stones bearing spiders, some still in webs (!): lithograph from the Lithographiae Wirceburgensis.

Figured stones bearing birds (left) and lizards (right): lithograph from the Lithographiae Wirceburgensis.

But many of the vertebrate fossils were not skeletons, but complete animals (such as birds with all their feathers).


More outrageous still were other fossil carvings of  the Sun, the Moon, and shooting stars (with their tails!). 

Amazing figured stones bearing moons, suns, stars, and comets: lithograph from the Lithographiae Wirceburgensis.

Finally, there are numerous blocks bearing Hebrew letters.  These look patently fake to us but not so to Beringer. He recognized that they might be carved but found evidence to dismiss that concern.  Since "with God all things are possible" he was not even deterred by the shooting stars or Hebrew letters.

If you believe anything you end up believing this. Figured stones bearing Hebrew letters and words: lithograph from the Lithographiae Wirceburgensis.

His belief that they were not forgeries was due, in part, to the fact that he himself had excavated some of them on Mount Eivelstadt (without realizing that they had been planted). It was also due in part to Beringer’s ideas about the origin of fossils. He was committed to the idea that that God has put them into the earth, maybe for his own amusement, maybe to test the faith of believers, or maybe for reasons we can’t understand.  Given those views, he was nonplussed by the occurrence of Hebrew letters and words.

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THE LITHOGRAPHIAE WIRCEBURGENSIS OF 1726

Image of actual title page of  Lithographiae Wirceburgensis (1726).

Convinced of the immense importance of his discoveries, Beringer proceeded to published a lengthy tome describing the fossils and discussing their origin and significance.  Published in 1726, it was lavishly illustrated with lithographs of some 200 specimens. It was written in Latin, the language of the learned in those days (although an English translation by Jahn and Woolf was published in 1963).  The title was exceeding long, slightly over 100 words. The first part, which constitutes the title of this post, translates as

“The Wurzburg Lithography Illustrated with over two-hundred engravings of figured and insectiform stones, First Exemplar”

Furthermore, Beringer proudly dedicated the work in honor of his patron Bishop Christopher Franz, with the inscription

“To the Immortal Glory of the Most Reverend and Most High Prince and Lord of The Holy Roman Empire Christopher Franz, Bishop of Wurzburg, Duke of Franconia, Our Most Clement Princely Lord and Master”

But Beringer’s fame didn’t last for long --- trouble started soon after.

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AFTERMATH 

How Beringer came to realize that all his precious fossils from Mount Eivelstadt were fakes is uncertain, but it occurred soon after the Lithographiae Wirceburgensis was published.  One account is that it happened when he excavated a slab with his name carved in Hebrew letters, but there is no historical evidence to corroborate that.  At some point before publication of the book, both Roderick and Eckhart became quite alarmed about what they had done. They feared that they might suffer dire consequences should Beringer’s work appear in print.  Roderick and Eckhart made repeated attempts to alert Beringer, even going so far as to sell him some fake fossils and then telling him that they had carved them. But Beringer was so convinced of the correctness of his own ideas that he simply dismissed them.

The gullible Johann Beringer.

Regardless, by April 13, 1726 judicial proceedings were underway against Roderick and Eckhart, proceedings instigated by Beringer to save his honor. Transcripts of parts of the trial still exist (see Appendix B in Jahn and Wolfe 1963). Not only was Beringer’s honor at stake but so was that of the powerful Lord Christopher Franz, to whom the work was dedicated.

The trial discredited Beringer.  Some stories of the event have Beringer spending all his fortune trying to buy back all the copies of his own book and dying shortly after the trial.  However, we know that account to be false, because Beringer died some 14 years later in 1740. He had remained in his academic position at Wurzburg, publishing at least two additional books. 

George von Eckhart

Eckhart lost his post and his library privileges, which was disastrous for him because he was a well-known, and accomplished historian. Upon Eckhardt’s death four years after the trial a number of his unpublished and unfinished manuscripts were found in his estate.

Roderick soon left Wurzburg, although whether as a result of being expelled or of his own volition is unclear. He evetually appealed to Bishop Christopher Franz and was allowed to return to Wurzburg  in 1730 to help take care of parts of Eckhart’s estate.  He was eventually permitted to again teach geography and algebra.

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WHAT ABOUT THE FIGURED STONES?

The Lithographiae Wirceburgensis contains lithographic plates showing some 200 figured stones and an unknown number of others were collected before their real nature became known to Beringer.  I have not found an account of what happened to the collection but originals are on exhibit at the Oxford University Museum in England and the Teylers Museum in the Netherlands.  Several years ago, while studying dinosaur specimens in the Oxford Musuem, I purchased replicas of two of the stones in the Museum gift shop.  Photos of those replicas are below.

Casts of two Beringer's Figured Stones. Right a fake slug. Left, carved marks including the number 7, an arrow, and a clay pipe among others.

It’s hard to understand how Beringer, who already had a sizeable collection of real fossils from around Europe, could have failed to recognize these as fakes, especially after the fakers admitted to carving them.  But self-deception and over confidence in one’s beliefs is part of the core of the Lithographiae Wirceburgensis story. That’s something to keep in mind even when not studying fossils.

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SOURCES

Beringer, J.B.A. and  Hueber, G.L. 1726. Lithographiæ Wirceburgensis. Würzburg. Complete and digitized version of the original 1726 publication can be seen at http://amshistorica.unibo.it/3

Jahn, M.E. and Wolfe, D.J. 1963. The Lying Stones of Dr. Johann Batholomew Adam Beringer being his Lithographiae Wirceburgensis. University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles: 221 pages.  Translation of: Beringer, Johann; Hueber, George Ludwig (1726). Lithographiæ Wirceburgensis. Würzburg.

PHOTOS

Lizard eating fly: http://www.bibliothek.uni-wuerzburg.de/aktuelles/meldungen/single/artikel/die-wuerzb/

All lithographs from the Lithographiae Wirceburgensis: Jahn and Wolfe 1963.

Title page of  Lithographiae Wirceburgensis: http://amshistorica.unibo.it/3

Beringer: http://drabek.bigbloger.lidovky.cz/c/308496/Tajemna-tvoriva-sila-vis-plastica.html

Eckhart: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Georg_von_Eckhart