Entering the aptly named Rockefeller Building, I acknowledge the welcoming smile and greeting of the front desk receptionist but then stop astonished at the size of the gigantic antlers on a skull on the floor.
“Wow” is a world I will mouth frequently as I wander around this small museum.
Once a medical library, the musky scented air and sight of the surrounding wood panelling and glass cabinets is like stepping back into the Victorian era. But the books have been replaced by thousands of skeletons, mounted animals, jars of pickled animals, embryos, insects, fish and marine life. Over-brimming in cabinets and cases with zoological specimens.
Dr Grant was the first theorist of evolution and once taught Charles Darwin. Dr Grant thought that nature progressively develops yet was ridiculed by the Creationist members of the Geographical Society where he presented his theory that the jawbone of the oldest mammals evolved from reptiles. Darwin was witness to this lecture and silently held back his agreement with Dr Grant until after his world voyage. Then took all the credit for coming up with it and Dr Grant had been ostracised by the scientific community.
Dr Grant bequeathed his collection of animal skeletons and zoological specimens to the University College of London where the Scot had been a professor for 47 years. There have been additional collections added by various schools and collectors over the years.
The antlers, I learn belong to an extinct Giant Deer. Nearby in a prime position is the case displaying extinct and endangered species and first thing that makes an impact on me, being a native of Australia myself, is the Tasmanian Tiger skeleton plus a hide showing the unique stripes on its back I had only previously seen on a grainy black and white film.
I had seen the taxidermy hide of a Quogga before at the Naturkunde Museum in Bamberg, Germany. Here at Grant’s there is a rare skeleton of this South African zebra which was hunted out of existence in the 19th Century.
Below the Quogga and displayed in two Edwardian wooden boxes are bones of a long extinct Dodo bird.
Another “wow” moment when I see the fang size on a huge skull of a Sabre Tooth Tiger. And an Asian elephant skull. And an elephants heart. And a long dugong skeleton. There is so much to see. In every cabinet I am dazzled by fantastic sights. Like a five metre African rock python intricate spine twirling around a branch. It had died at the London Zoo in the 1960’s.
Upstairs there are more skeletons on the second floor crammed into glass cabinets.
As I lean in for a closer look at the collection of scorpions, my breath fogs up the glass. I think how the museums cleaner must have a mammoth job cleaning all the glass displays in here. Speaking of mammoths, there is a tusk here on display.
Another highlight is the brain collection of various sizes. These remind me of a neurologist friend of mine who would love to see these up close. It then all makes sense why these specimens were important to scientists and medical students in the Victorian era. A way to study and understand for their profession. This brain collection came from Kings College London’s School of Medicine.
Interestingly animal heads have been cut down the middle to show the brain, nose and throat structure in a seal, sloth, rabbit, calf and wallaby in the Negus Collection of Bisected Heads.
On my way out of the museum in Case 12, I see the most popular oddity on display. A large sweets jar full of baby moles. It may seem grotesque for the queasy, but these babies are intact and their life still remembered 180 years on. The moles were intended for anatomy students to dissect and learn from.
If you feel inclined it is possible to adopt a specimen for a small fee. Your name will be displayed on or next to the jar. I see a Cassowary heart is still available to adopt.
Rockefeller Building, University College London
21 University Street, London
Opening hours Mon – Sat 1-5pm
Entry: FREE
DKJ's Walkabout 