03
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Skin of an African Pangolin
Museum of Systematics and Ecology,
Biological Sciences
Sugar Pine Cone (Pinus lambertiana)
Museum of Systematics and Ecology,
Biological Sciences
Plastic Pineapple
(used in introductory language classes)
French
Our third pairing is one quite common to early-modern collections: a pangolin compared with a pinecone. The lesson offered here is that the formal comparison of seemingly unrelated objects (a process encouraged in the heterogeneous collection of the curiosity cabinet) can reveal hidden similarities. Both the pangolin and the pinecone use protective scales that are visually quite similar in form.
The plastic pineapple is added to suggest another way of associating objects, in this case etymological: the pineapple received its name because of its formal similarity to a pinecone.
