The Van Buren press., 1876-07-04
CENTENNIAL LETTERS.
The Second of Series bv DR.. A. M.
Bourland.

When l commenced these notes, ex.
pected to finish them in one communica
| tion of two or three columns, with a brev-
ity so unequal to the subject as to be re-
ally painful to myself If not to the read
er. gladly and thankfully change my
| plan, according to the suggestion of
| friend to make it series Of letters, in
which, to myself | can, at least, easily
and delightfully."- give an extended des-
cription Of what most attracted my at
ton at the Centennial
To continue farther in relation to the
government building, and of Dr. f. V.
Hayden, the Geologist. / said, before,
that the labors of this man had been un-
exampled. for this | have the authority
of the English journal, Mature" in
which is quite full account of the sci
cntiic arrangement Of IIayden's s labors.
which have surpassed in perfection, that
of any other geologst on earth, and. that
his is an example to be recommended to
the enlightened world. Gladly do we
find that he stands brilliantly forth in the
government building, in many photo
graphs, and other illustrations of his
surveys Here in this building we find
natural history extensively represented
by the preparations of fish, animals and
birds of numerous kinds, also man and
his works illustrated from prehistoric
ages mp to the Present. Here we see the
implements of religious torture of saw
age nations that make one shudder to
lock on. The piles of sacrlieial yokes,
made of stone, are calculate to shake the
frame and chill the blood Of the behold
er The scientific journals have, for
years, been teemng with the discovery
Of the remains Of the bodies and works
of the cavc.d wcilers Here we see all the
kind of implements used by this remote
pre- historic people Here we see hume.
rous skulls of the human race, from the
low type with but little more space for
blains than our intelligent dogs, up to
the Comanchc Indian, and on to the
skulls of vast cavity for brain, of the
deep-thnking man Of the present day.
SO, here at a glance, the mind perceives
the gradation of human advancement
through the vast periods of time. Not
only do you here witness man as COM
pared with man, but man as compared
with other animals; link after link, and
chain after chain of animal existence So
numerous are the implements and relg-
Gus emblems of prehistoric times ,exhum.
ed from the dark recesses of the earth that
, it would he a task to the reader to look
over the enumeration of their uames
However, | hope it will not be unnter
esting to give description of some OF
the wonders of this department. Here
is SKULL of a walrus, having tusks 80
inches in length the jaw-bone Of q sperm
whale, l6 feet long, with twenty three
teeth on each side, averaging from q To
5 inches in length, and from to inches
at base, round at base and taperinS to a
, slightly hooked point The condyles, or
part where the jaw joins the head is #
across this species OF whale is often l0C
teet in length. Here is the skull and tooth
of the narwhale. This kind of whale
has but one tooth, which is twisted like q
screw, tapering from its insertion in the
skull to its point. The skull measures
, q feet The skull and tooth measures
: 8 feet. The tooth is white and looks like
fine ivory. Here we saw the teeth of the
Greenland whale, or right whale, about
l2 feet long, of black, shiny color and
is that of which the whalebone is made
and used for many purposes in the arts
, The Armadllo, as we have it in this age
t of the world, is small ANIMAL the
Ninebander, the one which / have seen,
is only about the size of the Virginia
,.-nssum; here we have the fossil re
o;n, n i'ha Glyptodon, q gigantic Ar
madil,o. foun,, mar Moutevideo, Upru
ou,v south America, 9 tt"et long and
feet across the shell. Here Is los
skeleton of the Megatherium Cuvicri
: found in Buenos Ayres, "a feet long,
reared up on the middle of scaly tree
showing that it fed upon this kind OF
tree. The feet are about three feet long
There, again, is the Dinotherium Gigan'
trum of the size of the one just men
t. toned, both of which strike the beholdel
. with an irrepressibe wonder, 1hls las
g is obtained from the valley of the Kline
= Here is the fossil skull and tusks OF thu
e Elephas Ganesa, found in the SeawallI
n Hills. India: the tushes are / feet lonl
: and 0 inches in diameter at tie base. 1
@ might not be uninteresting to tell you
of the Himmalayau Tortoise. The fos
p sill was found in the Sewalik Hills India