The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1876-03-10
MISCELLANY.
Frogs Bigger than Oxen-MellOw
Music in the Air.
From the Hartford Times.


From the Hartford Times.
| In Boston lecture, on Tuesday night,
on the geological eras, Professor San
horn Tennev spoke of the climate and
lIfe OF the carboniferous age. The eli
mate was warm. for the reason that at
that time the Arctic sea WAS in tempera-
ture sixty degrees Fahrenheit, even in
winter, if there was any winter at that
time The highest life then was reptil-
ian. and not of the highest grade. No
| hirds built their nests in those ancient
forests, ard man found no shelter there.
The name "triassic" came from Ger
many, and has no special significance.
Triassic rock ia found on this continent
in Nova Scotia, New JERSEY. II is red
sandstone. its color coming from the
iron in its composition. In the Connec-
ticut valley it is 5000 to 5000 feet in
thickness, and it crops out in the great
Rocky Mountain belt and Sierra Neva-
da Mountains. Triassic rocks are used
for building purposes. The Portland
quarry of red sandstone is friassic, and
brown-stone fronts of buildings are of
| that kind of rock. In North Carolina
there are extraordinary coal beds in
triassic rock. On the TANKS Of the Ne
vadas are jurassic and triassic combined
as slate rock, disturbed and broken, and
also veins of gold bearing quartz. In
1S49, when there was such a rush to the
gold fields, gold was found spread broad
cast over that section of the country.
The life of the triassic age was inclnd
ed in two great groups, gymnosperms
and acrosgens. In England and on the
continent of Europe the triassic
rock contains fossiliated remains of ma
rine animals. In the United States, es-
| pecially in the Connecticut valley, the
stone contains fossils of.land and aquatic
mot sea) animals. In the same valley
are found also those remarkable tracks
of animals of race long since extinct.
A large number, possibly 10000, of
these tracks have been found in sand
stone, proving that 200 or 300 different
kinds of animals then existed that do
not now. Tracks were found in Hadley
that were made by animals allied to the
| frog, and they must have been IA large
as oxen. [Some of these tracks unmis-
tax ably indicate a kind of frog, but hav-
| ing a short tail, and he must have been
bigger than an OK. His voice must
have been deep and mellow. Times
! Other tracks belonged to birds twelve or
fourteen feet in height. GeologIsts were
divided in opinion as to the animals,
whether they were reptiles or birds.
The weight Of opinion was in favor of
the former. There were great numbers
of these animals, and they existed
through long period of time. Dia-
grams of rocks were exhibited showing
the imprint of animal feet. How the
imprints were secured and preserved
was easily explained. When the tide
was out, the bird or reptile left the i'm
press of its feet in the compact but
yielding sand. The sun dried the i'm
press, and when the tide came in a Inn
of sand filled into the cavity, and thus
preserved the mold. Thus the exis-
tence of those animals was made known
millions of years afterwards. A dia-
gram was shown, giving the impress of
rain drops upon Portland sand stone in
the early ages. The highest animal lite
| was the mammalia. A view of a Jaw
was shown which gave evidence of the
first mammal on this planet.
The jurassic rock was so.called from
the Jura Mountains, which was compos-
ed of that rock. In Europe, some of
the jurassic called rock might be triassic
Life in the jurassic age was exceedingly
abundant, and high as regarded reptiles.
| In this period were found most remark
able mollusks. In the jurassic and
cretaceous periods they reached their
highest development, and exhibited
forms wonderful in variety and beauty.
Immense cuttle-fsh then existed, of
which most excellently preserved speci-
mems had been found. 1t was known
that when the cutie fish was pursued,
it emitted an inky substance that cloud
ed the water and enabled it to escape!
This ink-bag has been fonnd embedded
in rock and preserved intact-just as il
was 10000 times 10000 years ago. In
this period were vertebrates, fishes and
reptiles. The display of the latter was
most wonderful. There were three
types, the ichthosaurus, pterodactyl and
megalosaurus. The first were from ten
to forty feet in length, swimming with
paddles instead of fins, with eyes ten
inches in diameter, jaws six feet in
length, and very long necks. The Sec
ond type were capable of walking, fly
ing or crawling, and lived upon the
land. The third class was of immense
size, often forty feet in length, interme
diate between the monitor and croco-