Photo Of The Day!!!

[ricki]

A blast from 144 years in the past, "Along the Florida Reef." It was a monthly series of articles written by Dr. J. B. Holder for the Harper's New Monthly Magazine between March and July of 1871. It described his ramblings and discoveries in South Florida and the Keys with finely detailed illustrations such as shown below. The reefs must have been truly astonishing for their vitality, rich unblemished color and texture, sadly unlike today in varying degrees. Still, aside from KW and some isolated areas, they were much like that as recently as the 1980's. Dr. Holder was into a lot of interesting things, from what amounted to artificial reef construction and study on behalf of Louis Agassiz, to being a doctor in the miltary prision of the Dry Tortugas. He may have there at the same time as Dr. Saumuel Mudd, likely both battling the yellow fever outbreak there with little in the way of medicine or funds. Dr. Holder was also a key figure at the American Museum of Natural History.