FOR SPECIALISTS ONLY: The Thorniest Problems

This month’s Thorniest-Question-That-Is-of-Interest-Almost-Exclusively-to-Specialists is the determination of the type of the sub-genus Pseudamussium. Read about it, if you will, in F.K. North’s provocative 1951 study “On the Type of Pseudamussium and Other Notes on Pectinid Nomenclature“, a fragment of which is reproduced in the image shown here. (Thanks to investigator Delia Rehobeth for bringing it to our attention.). Professor North explains “The determination of a type for this sub-genus has been the thorniest problem in Pectinid nomenclature, except for that of Pecten itself.”

This month’s Second-Thorniest-Question-That-Is-of-Interest-Almost-Exclusively-to-Specialists is the question of whether the last supper of Jesus Christ occurred on a Wednesday or on a Thursday.  (Thank you to investigator Paula Bek for bringing this to our attention.) A press release just issued by the University of Cambridge says:

The Last Supper … actually took place on a Wednesday, a groundbreaking study is to reveal. Professor Sir Colin Humphreys, a scientist at the University of Cambridge, argues that he has solved what the eminent Biblical scholar, F. F. Bruce, once described as “the thorniest problem in the New Testament”.