Edward JacobDied 26 Nov 1788 (born c. 1710). English naturalist who published Plantaeæ Favershamienses (1777) on the flora of Faversham, Kent. He also wrote about his fossil finds on his estate on the Isle of Sheppey (purchased in 1752), and nearby coastal cliffs of Kent, including chambered Nautilus varying in size “from that of a hazelnut to that of a Man's Head,” crabs, turtle, petrified fruits and vegetables. In 1750, he discovered the acelabultim, a vertebra and a 4-ft thigh bone sticking in the clay on the Minster cliffs, which he thought were remains of an Elephas (elephant). Until his explorations there, little was known of interest to the antiquarian, naturalist, geologist and zoologist. He believed the great variety of remains of very different climates to be proof of “an universal deluge.”« |
