William Franklin "Franklin" Dove (11 April 1897 – 24 March 1972) was an American biologist who was most famous for his "unicorn" experiment he conducted at the University of Maine in the early 20th-century. He also performed other research projects in regard to food selection by mammals and other areas of animal reproduction and nutrient intake. Dove was a member of the faculty of the University of Maine.
Early life and education
Dove was born in Marion, Iowa, on 11 April 1897. He earned his B.S. from Iowa State College, in 1922. He earned an M.S. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1923, and his Ph.D. in 1927.
Career
Dove's Unicorn Research
The horn of the unicorn dates back all the way to ancient times where they were sought after by kings and queens because they were believed to have magical powers as an antidote against poisons. The typical description in the mythology of a unicorn would have the head and neck and the fine-boned, graceful legs of the horse; the beard and divided hooves of the Capridae; (part of the Artiodactyla family) the tail of the oryx; and a single spike spiraling from the forehead.
The artificial production of unicorns has been suggested a number of times in the past. François Levaillant, 1776, in his "Travels to Africa," describes a process of contriving the horns of an ox. During more contemporary times has there been articles of accounts of so-called "unicorned" sheep in Nepal, and what fascinated him was the manner in which they were created. The process adopted was branding with a red-hot iron the male lambs when they are about two or three months old on their horns when they begin to sprout. The wounds are then treated with a mixture of oil and soot and when they heal, instead of growing at their usual places and spreading, they come out as on through the middle of their skull.
Although more recently has scientific scrutiny began to arise over these accounts, trying to disprove them. A majority of naturalists are inclined to say that the mere fact of searing the budding horns would not result in those appendages sprouting out at the summit of the skull instead of still sprouting out of sides as in natural horns do. However it is true that horns of a young animal might be induced to grow together by binding them together, but that would still put an unnatural strain on them and make them grow out bony and unnatural, they would not arise smooth and straight out the middle of the skull as stated in previous research.
On March, 1933, an operation was performed on a day-old male Ayrshire calf. The two horns were cut placed closely together over the frontal stitches at the intersection of the lines drawn from the original horn spouts. The horn buds were trimmed flat. The frontal periosteum it was expected that the two horns would fuse together into one large horn solidly attached to the skull and located above and between the eyes. The experiment was successful, at the age of two years the two buds have formed together into one large horn molded into the forehead for support. What makes this unicorn different from the other ones is all in the horn, unlike the other unicorns the horn spike grew from the skull instead of upon. A single united sheath covers the horn spike, the horn curves slightly upward toward the tip and gracefully extends the curve of the back and neck when the animal stands at attention. Like that of a mythical unicorn described by Ctesias and Fresnel, the horn sheath is white or grayish-white at the base and is tipped with black. (Had the unicorn been a female, the horn would be tipped with red, since the color appears as a sex-limited factor in this particular breed. This Ayrshire bull, whose Scottish ancestors flourished under King James VI, who, as James I of England put the unicorn on England's coat of arms, is a true unicorn. Although it is an animal with the hereditary potentiality for two horns, he recognizes the power of a single horn which he uses as a prow to pass under fences and barriers in his path.
The Unibull Experiment
The Unibull was one of W. Franklin Dove's more well known experiments. In this experiment he theorized that the horns didn't grow from the skull but grew into the skull over time from horn buds. In order to test his hypothesis he conducted his experiments on many animals like sheep, cows, and goats, as well as the famous Unibull.