The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1855-04-18

gular geological discoveries" ho recent.
ly been going the rounds of the press.
which assumes to make some very start.
ling announcements. 1t purports to be
statement of wonderful discoveries,
over which the author calculates that
"Agassiz and Lyell. and the whole host
OF modern biologists" are destined to
stumble into everlasting oblivion. Eos.
sll men, found belonging to tho age of
the primitive rocks, and of course older
than the "corals. crinoids. trilobitcs" and
all
But really one can hardly tell wheth.
or to meet such ridiculous absurdities as
the article contains with an uninitigated
laugh, or try to be sober long enough to
refnte them by process of argument
Under the latter plan we should have
first to perform labor analogous to that
which butchers are said sometimes to
have to perform for very lean CATTLE
that Of P'OppiHg them up before ''knock-
ing them DORM" We should first have
to divcst the statements and the the.
cries of some of their most palpnble or.
rors, In order to put them in fairly com.
batable form. TO do this fully. how.
ever, would rcqniro more time and care
than VIC can well bcstow. and We must
content ourselves by abiding to only one
or two OF the fallacics and blunders
which the story contains.
The main fact that two fossilized I'm.
man beings were found, and under the
circumstances stated, we need no. per.
haps take upon us to deny although
even on tbs point there is much room
for doubt. Strange blundcrs are often
made by the uninitatcd in Judging of
fossils. But aside from general grounds
for doubt, there is strong evidence in the
story itself that no such fossil as is sup.
posed has been found. 1t is said the
mans body is composed of sandstone"
Now fossils are not formed. as this i'm
plies, by the deposition of solid PARTICLES
OF matter in successive layers. as grains
Of sand are deposited to form sandstone;
but they are formed by the gradual in
filtration of lime. silica. or other mineral
substance, in state Of solution. into the
original organization. of which the min.
eral gradually takes the place by being
prcciritatcd from the solution. In short,
fossi'ization is not mechanical but n
chemical process. Yet we arc distinctly
told that this strange carcass was made
up Of SAM. And further, special care is
taken to distinguish it from quartz.
although sand only differs from quartz
in the peculiar form aud state of aggrc.
CATION that characterize sand. And ac.
cordngly, if tho Mino dcscrijcH was. as
is said, piece Of sandstone, it was prob.
ably Just that, and nothing more. 1t is
true it may have loolm like man az
much as it did like a mole, mallet. or
Westinghouse and likely enough no
more SO.
But allowing The so>calcd fossils to
have been the vcritablc remains Of hu-
man beings, then the supremacy ridicu-
Ions part of the story would be the the
DRY of their age and origin. The man.
it is concluded was buried heels upward,
his head down in the primitive rocks.
his body in the secondary sandstones.
and his legs away mp in tho coalmeas
urcs We have heard of beet. and car.
rots growing so large and long that thcir
roots stuck through on the other eide of
the earth and tho rightful owners lost
them by their being pulled down through
Now this fossil man need not have been
quite so long as those premium car
ro'S, pu' ue must nave come next TO
them. For the thickness of the rock
formations between the primary rocks
and the carboniferous is some three or
four miles Rather n big giant that !
But one Of the wonders of the case is
how tie mans heels were held so high in
tho air through the long successive ages.
during which his mortal frame was fos-
silizing, and the rocks were forming a.
round it. Perhaps though, his legs were
tied to some Of the Gred stars Con
siderable bad predcament, however, for
one to stand on his head SO long, d cad
or alive
By way, however, of helping this poor
doomed specimen Of humanity out of
this terrible fix the writer of the account
suggests it as possible, though "not like
iy, that the man was buried in sandstone
strata, where all hut the head petrfed,
PITY that writer's brains couldn't lie
in sandstone strata a little while and
that tEeu by some convulsion of nature
he was jammcd into the lower primitive