Texas Journal of Microscopy - Texas Society for Microscopy

Figure 50. Mystery note and micrograph of crystal differentiation
in the frond cells of Lemna minor. See text for more
information.
crograph of developing Lemna minor crystals (Fig. 50). The note
signed Megan and the micrograph kicked around in my office
for close to 40 years. Many people have asked about it. Who was
“Megan?” What does the note mean? Just the other day, I began
to wonder! Megan is Dr. Megan Biesele, daughter of John Biesele,
Emeritus Professor of Zoology at UT Austin. Dr. Megan Biesele
is currently on the staff of the Department of Anthropology at
UT Austin where she does research on “Medical Rhetoric” of
different cultures. The “Alice in Wonderland bread-and-butterflies”
allusion I think is self obvious; the “Dr. Larson” is Donald
A. Larson, at that time, Professor of Botany at UT Austin. Why
did I need something to “rival his Pooh Bear EXPOTITION to
the North Pole?” That line was never clear to me, and still isn’t. I
do know that at that time, Larson and Mollenhauer were writing
a paper about CaOx crystals in the aerial roots of orchids (Mollenhauer
and Larson, 966). Well, for all of you that have asked
questions about the mystery note, I’ll borrow a line from Looney
Tunes Cartoons, “That’s all folks!”
By now, you realize that this paper is as much a review of my
studies of biological crystals as it is an autobiography. Regarding
that conundrum, here are some bits and pieces for thought. First, I
am not the only one who studied biological crystals. Second, there
are hundreds of thousands of papers dealing with aspects of the
subject. Think about the myriad of papers written about bones,
teeth and kidney stones; all are important examples of biological
crystals in action. If you want to read a recent review of biomineralization
I suggest you consult the following (Dove, De Yoreo
and Weiner, 2003). When you judge Part IV, please differentiate
88 Tex. J. Micros. 38: , 2007
between the general subject of biological crystals (or biomineralization)
and the small number of systems I have studied. True, the
latter are a part of the general literature, but they are also a part of
my life; hence they belong in my autobiography. The papers and
the crystal systems described in this “autobiography” are the gold
and diamonds that I found on my crystal trail.
Quatermain and his companions were lucky to escape from
King Solomon’s Mines. They popped out of the volcano’s surface
like groundhogs out of their burrows. Unfortunately, they left behind
“enormous wealth” in Solomon’s storeroom. However, they
arrived at the surface with their lives, and a pocket full of large
diamonds. In an analogous manner, my 50 years on the trail produced
a pocket full of crystal papers (my diamonds). Left behind
and undiscovered there is a wealth of crystal information still to
be discovered. As others travel the crystal trail, I will be waiting
to hear about their discoveries.
When trekking along your scientific trail, remember, you have
turn over “stones” to find out what’s under them! Success comes
from turning, and turning, and turning some more. When turning
over stones, please watch out for “rattlesnakes!” With the former
thought in mind, I am reminded of a line from an old cowboy
song which goes like this:
“A cowboy song is just like gold, it’s anywhere it’s found.”
I want to thank all of those, living and dead, that helped guide
me along the crystal trail. I have borrowed freely from the work
of students in my laboratory; to them I’ll always be indebted. I
thank the following for their many suggestions and for their proof
reading: Susan Garrett, Jean Arnott, Catherine Arnott-Thornton,
Martha Gracey and Camelia G.-A Maier. Errors are of course
my responsibility. One final comment. Writing in the first person
seemed appropriate for an autobiography; however, it’s hard to
write a first person declarative or exclamatory sentence without
“the pronoun I.” Those of you with a quantitative bent can tally
the number of “I’s” as a measure of my self-image (ego). Is “My
Crystal Trail” an ego trip? “Whoa, big time!” The latter is a
“handy exclamation” often used by my friend and teacher, Jess
Livesay.
The last part of my autobiography (Part V) is entitled, “Wood
– the Final Frontier.” With Part V completed in October 2007,
it will bring the details of my fifty seven years in science to a
close.