The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1873-11-29
ANCIENT LIFE OF AMERICA



Letter from Prof. Hayden.
To the Editor of the Word.
SIR:-The barren, treeless plains
Of the Far West are at this time in
vested with singular and profound
interest to the man of science.
|, Within q few years numerous
cemeteries of the extinct inhabi-
tants that roamed over these now
arid plains thousands of years ago
have been brought to light by the
various exploring expeditions. We
regard with sort of reverent;al
awe the ancient remains dug up
from the ruins of Rome and the
Holy Land, and view with sort of
vague wonder the remarkable cities
among the luxuriant forests of Cen
trail America, yet these wonderful
old inhabitants of Colorado, Wyo-
ming and Dakota were dead and
buried untold ages before the peo.
pie who conceived these ruins had
an existence. We bestow the high
est honors of literature on the his
torians of our own time, as Motley,
Bancroft and others, and vet the
period of human history is but
day compared with the innumera-
BILE ages OF the past with which the
geological historian has to deal.
It is the province of the geolo-
gist to reconstruct past worlds and
to repeople them with the ancient
inhabitants: to cover the surface
with the original seas, lakes, noun
tains, and forests. This is what
Lyn SO aptiy calls the charm of dis
covery, and with q true enthusiasm
he quotes the beautiful sentiment
of the historian Niebuhr: 'sHe who
calls what has vanished back again
into being, enjoys a bliss like that
of creating"
| One of the most remarkable re-
suits of the United States Geologi-
fcal Survey under my charge during
the past season, was the discovery
by Professor Cope, in the ssBad
Lands of Colorado, of cne of those
wonderful grave yards of long
past period, distinct from that of
Wyoming, and containing the osse
GUS remains of a great population
of beasts of totally different species
and even orders from those of the
latter age and region. They re.
semble more nearly those of the
White River of Nebraska. but many
have been obtained by Prof. Cope
not known there or elsewhere. So
far he has proven the existence oi
more than 100 species, some repre-.
sented by thousands of individuals.
OF these at least seventy five spe-
cies are new to science. They range
from the size of the mole to nearly
that of the elephant; sixteen species
only are reptiles.
Many forms of insectiyorous ami
mals related to the mole. and o.
very small size, have been procured
The delicacy and minuteness o.
thsse fossils is surprising.
p Gnawing animals, or rodents
left numerous remains of eightee,
species, some not larger than The
domestic mouse. Some were The
j predecessors Of the rabbits, other.
of squirrels, and others Of mice.
Of cloven footed quadrupeds
great many species have been found
Some were intermediate between
the deer and the hog in structure
Like the latter, they had no horns
They were about as large as sheep
Others were about the size of gra,
squirrels, being the smallest of thi
class of animals ever discovered
Several species of horses were hy
ing during the same period. as i
lproven by the bones and teetl
which have been discovered. Thei
relative, the rhinoceros, aboundc,
I. in Colorado in former days no les
than seven species having been pre-
cured by Professor Cope. One G
, the specimens is a perfect skull
. with teeth complete, and covere
with the moss like crystalizatio
seen in the moss agate. But th
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