The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-07-24
From he Louisville Journal.

| The .UisSouriuBi outd0Re.-An examination OF
the remarkable skeleton lately exhibited in our
city called up 10 our recollection a similar ex-
hlbnlon made here in January, 1881, OF SIM
liar portion OF the bones Of some most huge and
stupendous animal animals, found at Big
Bone Lick m this State. They were dug up
! by Captain Benjamin Finnel and were found
about twenty-five feet beneath the surface, i'm
bedded In soft black mari, largely impregnated
with saline fluids These bones were but the
fragment oil skeleton, but from their enormous
size they must have belonged TO some animal
as much superior in bulk 10 the huge Missourium
lately exhibited here, as that animal was superior
10 the common elephant This we should in
fer from the size OF the spinal canal alone, II be-
ing Of the incredible bulk Of seven inches in
diameter. The bones Of the head were very
little larger, if any than those OF the Missounum;
and we think il more than probable that the
tusks and other bones exhibited at that time be-
onged to different animal from those Of the
spine
In turning 10 the columns of the Journal, in
January 1881, we find some notice OF these
bones furnished us by scientific gentleman,
FS r yha C hs a6s S ssh G
his account Of them may be new to most of our
readers, we will give the substance Of his state
ments and conclusions respecting them. Alter
describing the locality OF these bones, he says
..Most conspicuous and wonderful among this
collection Is Uranium, with It's defences or
horns, superior maxillary bone and molares of
carnverous formation. These bones are all in
situ natural, and evidently belonged TO some
monstrous incognitum, whose vast magnitude
greatly transcends any on record. The cranl-
UNI, though very small in comparison with other
parts of the skeleton. weighs upwards OF 400
pounds, and the molares, having high double
coned processes, and interlocking fangs," weigh
ten twelve pounds each. The detences,
tusks, two in number, are fifteen feet in length,
two feet in circumference, and eight inches in
diameter Together they weigh six hundred
pounds. They are fixed in the side of the head,
about a foot and half apart in their bases,
though they diverge greatly as they proceed and
run in the form of spiral volute.'"
The os TlaIiiidre inferias, with its high
double coned moiares, the cerricdt, dorsai, and
lumbar rertebrG, the sdcrum and os c0cygis,
the ischium, the femorai and tibiai bones are
of corresponding dimensions From the dame
ter of the spinal canal, the medulid spindltis
must have measured, in thickness, seven inches;
size incredible unless attested by personal OBJ
servation. But, above all, the bones of the feet
strike with amazement The size and shape of
the osSd calcium, the proportions and general
anatomy Of the other bones composing them in
dicate that they must have been the paws of
some prodigious unknown, of carniverous habits.
When clothed with cartilage, ligaments fascig,
lemons, muscles, SIKH, anu ndlI, IL Is MOI cAdB
geration to think that they may have covered
three or four feet of ground.
g From comparative anatomy, and from the
special and general osteology of this skeleton,
from ehe dimensions Of It's Uranium, OF the su-
perior and inferior maxlllary bones and their i'm
mense teeth, from the massy and huge size Of
iis femoral and tibial bones, and its prodigious
feet or paws, but more especially from the mag
nitude Of its vertabra and consequently Of its
info
the principles of philosophical induction, that
the animal to which these bones belonged must
have been upwards Of sixty feet in length and
twenty or thirty feet in heightw
| IL is evident that portion OF this collection
of bones belonged TO a genus OF animals very
much larger than either the Mastodon or the
Mssourium An animal with spinal marrow
seven inches in diameter, or twenty-one in cir
cumference, as large thrifty young cedar OF
thirty years growth must certainly have been
mammoth among mammoths, and could have
roamed king among megatherra, mastadons
and Missouriums. The poetical conceptions Of
the well known Shawnee tradition concerning
mighty race Of animals, which roamed through
the Western forests long before the coming Of
the pale faces, and carried terror and destruction
in their PATH crushing the forests beneath their
feet and drying up the streams when they
slaked their thirst, seem TO have been almost re-
allied in the species of animals to which these
huge bones belonged.
This Indian tradition, TO which we have re-
ferred, is so beautiful that we cannot do better
than to quote it, as finale TO our series of dis
sertatons on "big bones"
Ten thousand moons ago, when nought but
gloomy forests covered the land of the sleeping
sun; dong before the pale men, with thunder
and fire at their command, pushed on with the
wings of the wind to ruin this garden of nature,)
when nought but the untamed wanderers OF the
wood, and men as unrestraned as they, were
masters of the soil, race OF animals were in
being huge as the frowning precipice, cruel as
the bloody panther, swift as the descending ca
gle, and terrible as the angel of night The
pines crashed beneath their feet and the lake
shrunk when they sIaked their thirst. The
iorceful javeiD in vain was hurled, and the
barbed arrows fell harmless from their side. Fo
rests were laid waste at a meal; the groans OF
expiring animals were heard, and whole villages
inhabited by men were destroyed in moment.
The cry Of universal distress extended even TO
the regions of peace and the Good Spirit inter
posed 10 save the unhappy.
The forked lightning cleaned all around, and
loudest thunder rocked the globe The bolts of
Heaven were hurled upon the cruel destroyers
alone, and mountains echoed with the below
| ings of death. All were killed except one male,
the fercest Of the race, and him even the fury
of the skies assaled in vain, He assembled the
buest summit which shades the source of many
waters, and roaring aloud, bid defiance TO every
vengeance The red lightning scorched the lof-
ty frs, and rived the knotty oaks, but glanced on
the enraged monster. AT length, maddened
with disdain, he leaped over the waves Of the
West, and AT this moment reigns the uncontrol-
ed monarch Of the wilderness, in spite OF ON
impotence itself
II will be recolected by our readers that In
dian tradition not only preserved knowledge OF
the existence of the skeleton Of the Missouri
um, but even designated the precise spot where
it lay imbedded, some twenty feet below the
/