Taung: A Fossil to Rival Piltdown - The Fossil Chronicles - page 29

of man.” 31 Dart worked in isolation and planned, apparently, to spring
Taung on his old colleagues—not to mention the rest of the world.
Dart dispatched his report to Nature in time to catch the mailboat
to England on January 6, 1925, and it reached the editor's desk by Janu-
ary 30 . 32 As he waited for a response, Dart's anticipation and excitement
got the best of him, and he confided to Mr. Paver, the news editor of the
Johannesburg Star, that he might “have something of worldwide signifi-
cance connected with man's origin to announce shortly.” 33 As Dart later
explained, “Paver's long, wistful look mixed with my own pride —or
vanity — and an overwhelming impulse to confide in somebody who
combined interest with understanding, loosened my tongue a little.” 34
After Paver promised that nothing would appear in the Star until Nature
published the report, Dart gave him a full account of the discovery and
photographs.
Dart believed that the report would be published in Nature near the
end of January, and no later than February 3 . 35 Accordingly, a lead story
was prepared in advance for the Star. As the date approached, the Star
learned that, because the discovery was so unprecedented, Nature had
referred the report to experts in England to seek opinions on whether
or not it should be published. (Although it may not have been so then,
this review process by academic peers is standard practice today at
Nature and other high-caliber science journals.) Paver, with Dart's bless-
ing, informed Nature that the Star intended to release the story in the
evening paper of February 3. (This would not be a successful ploy today,
because Nature has very strict rules about “embargoing” reports of other
media until the articles have been published in the journal.) Nature,
nonetheless, delayed publication until February 7, and the Star pub-
lished a phenomenal scoop on February 3, which was picked up the next
morning by newspapers around the globe. That happened to be Dart's
32nd birthday, and, overnight, he had become world famous ! 36
Although Dart worried about the reception Taung might receive, he
clearly had not been that worried. Perhaps he thought his assessment of