This Christmas, NewScientist presents a palaeontological pantomime – a scientific spectacular set in southern Germany. Ourtale may be short on giants, ugly sisters and fairy godmothers but it does have heroes, villains and miraculous stones. The strange-but-true story takes place in Franconia, a land of lakes and mountains ruled by a wise and scholarly prince. Our hero is the prince’s doctor Johann Beringer, a most innocent and worthy man. The villains are a mean mathematician and a green-eyed librarian. The dastardly duo set a trap for Johann, luring him towards destruction with the help of wondrous stones that promise fame, fortune and scientific glory. Will Johann discoverthe plot? Or will he lose it? Take your seats for a festive fantasia of fraud, fossils and foolery.
The scene opens with Johann Beringer, chief physician to the Prince-Bishop of Würzburg and Duke of Franconia, gazing into his cabinet of curiosities. Among its treasures are crystals, ammonites and all manner of peculiar petrifactions. But in 1725, when our story begins, the good doctor has tired of his collection. Shark’s teeth and ammonites are ten a pfennig. Yet fossils are the talk of the time. What are they? How did they get to be there? What do they mean? Johann’s dearest wish is to find something so remarkable his name will go down in history.
In another part of Würzburg, two men are hatching a plot. Ignatz Roderick is professor of geography, algebra and analysis at the university. His fellow conspirator, Georg von Eckhart, is privy councillor and librarian to the duke’s court and the university. Envious of Beringer’s influence with the