•
James Parkinson (after whom the
disease is named) publishes a general text on paleontology wherein he illustrates and describes teeth belonging to
Megalosaurus. Because his reference to this name in print was earlier to
William Buckland's formal description of the genus, some people have concluded that Parkinson was the one who invented the name. This is a misconception: Buckland truly deserves credit for the name
Megalosaurus and Parkinson got the name from him. • According to an oft-repeated story, while
her husband is treating a patient,
Mary Ann Mantell amuses herself by rummaging through a pile of stone rubble and discovers the first fossil of what would later be named
Iguanodon. This tooth intrigues her husband, who ascertains the quarry they were excavated from and returns there to successfully discover more fossils belonging to the species. However, some have questioned the authenticity of this story. • In May, Mantell publishes a book called
The Fossils of the South Downs wherein he briefly describes his findings of the fossils belonging to a large reptile, which he would
later name
Iguanodon. ==References==