Slinking Diplodocus, 1909

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25a. Slinking Diplodocus, 1909

Although Hay published his famous "Sprawling Diplodocus Landscape" in 1910, he had made his first argument for a splayed-out Diplodocus in 1908, and this first article received an enthusiastic reception from a German anatomist, Gustav Tornier. In this 1909 paper, Tornier attempted in great detail to reconstruct the Diplodocus leg bones so that the elbow/knee joints were at a nearly ninety degree angle. And at the end of the article, there was attached a striking folding plate (see right), with a new Diplodocus carnegii skeletal restoration according to Tornier's anatomical re-evaluation.

William J. Holland at the Carnegie Museum took great exception to Tornier's reconstruction, and in an article in 1910, Holland rebutted Tornier (and Hay) point by point.

Source:

Tornier, Gustav. "Wie war der Diplodocus carnegii wirklich gebaut?" in: Sitzungsbericht der Gesellschaft naturforschender Freunde zu Berlin, Jahrgang 1909, pp. 193-209. This work is part of the Library Collections, but it is NOT on exhibit.

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