New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-03-27
THE GRAVE OF A MASTODON
COLOSSAL RELICS FOUND NEAR EpOM
VIRGINIA.
,uE INCIDENT AND THE SURROUNDINGS IN
yEsTIGATED BY SCIENTISTS FROM WASH
INGToN-vrEwS AS TO THE POSSIBLE
RELATION OF THESE ANCIENT RE
MAINS TO PREHISTORIC
MAN

RELATION OF THESE ANCIENT RE
MAINS TO PREHISTORIC
MAN IN AMERICA
washington, March 0.-Sohe weeks ago misdirected
litter made its appearance at the National Museum
"A had been reSusctaed from the Dead Letter Office
hv means OF unknown agencies. In ii your CORE
snondent read an announcement Of the discovery OF
mastodons remains near Edom, Rockingham County
virginia Perhaps the public may not be aware of the
.oct that all such occasions the first thing 10 be
done is TO open correspondence This never does any
cod, but that has nothing to do with the question
- law Of nature that scientific societies of all kinds
must pond and they do. and have always done
en- since the PastOphOri and otIoc naturastS, no
doubt Of the old Egyptian priesthood sent of their
papyrl the upper reaches of the White Nile and the
shores Of Eastern Arabia One of three results follows
This preliminary lctC writing. Either the subject is
dropped in despair (such things have been known
me individual addressed in the first instance evolves
an eXemp0raneOuS theory. Cements the few sad frag
rents" OF actual information with "A mass Of science
implied by himself, and forthwith presents the world
nth a discovery or. finally he goes to for himself
xheher the original account contained anything Of
importance. on this occasion chose the latter
eoarse. ! say We because Immediately upon
Ing an intention of making pilgrimage to the masto
lop's grave, my distinguished companion, W. W. Rock
hill the Oriental scholar and dscOverer in porcd
regions Of High ASIA volunteered TO take part in the
uedltOn. Hcnceforh then. this report becomes imper
sonal and is to be regarded a statement Of
mon observations and conclusions.
Late in the evening of saturday. February Of
we're deposited from the train in a mud lOlo at the
small way-statlon of Linvle. The weather tenn
pe,trous, and for some time there was every prob
ability Of passing such stormy winter night as both
had often passed before. Mr. Fletcher. the station
master however, had compassion upon the destitute
condition of travellers in region where there are no
hotels and being mounted next morning through the
kindness of DR.. Zlrkle. of Edom able to make
a preliminary survey of the spot where the dead coos-
sus Law. without geological details. it may be said
that this section of the Shenandoah Valley is n
limestone formation almost exclusively. Water. sat
urated with decompOsng vegetable matter. has followed
the rocks into numerous caves, some OF when are
extensive and the floods that marked the Drift Period
have largely contributed toward giving the country ITS
surface features. Those parallel ranges Of ancient
secondary mountains, whose stsata are folded upon
themselves owe in great part their uniform and some
what monconous contours to the same agent acting
in different WAYS During the course of immcmorial
ages RAIN snow and ice have croded Them worn away
their peaks and filled up their ,avines with debris from
the heights.
The animal whose bones were found must have
pershed amid scenes which the present landscape i'm
perfectly conceas. In time. the allies or ancestors
Of the great brute lying in the drift OF
Mountain Val ,y succeeded reptile forms which. in
the common acceptatiOn of the term. were truly
nonstrous. OF course there is only the remOteSt
connection between the sea dragons and toothed
birds OF the Chalk are and comparatively modern
mastodon who had genealogy Of bis own. Stl. in
order 10 form an idea Of the circumstances under which
the present specimen existed, some brief sketch OF
those general conditions that determined organic de-
veIopment at the time should be given. AT the dawn
NJ that period which biologists sometimes call Recent
although its subdivisions marked in the stTatlgraph
ical record represent laPses of time when wheh
EXPRESSED In figures. convey definite conception
of what they were but only leave vague impression
NJ immense duration upon the mind, the first Eocene
rocks arose from the sea. Now they are piled three
or four thousand feet deep upon the SUBMITS OF the
California Coast Range and on the Alps, Apprentices
Caucasus and IIimalavas. The animais OF thls era
as their remains indicate obey the evolutionary law
~ which s.r,ctures OF all kinds necessarily pass from
relatively simple 10 more complex types. According
IN this rne as illustrated in the fossil history OF the
earth ceneralzed creatures are more ancient than
speciazed ones. For example. an antelope Is oioer
tlan deer. pig than an OK ana WIN fctefchCe "
,bc last two an oreodon. which generalzed the
characteristics Of both. came before either OF thei
So ID was with the prcboscidians. The dinotherlum
ortedatcd the masodon. and this had become extinct
before modern elephants appeared. Much OF ue
interest attaching 10 the discovery OF maStocoh so
10 sneak depends upon reahZatoh Oh inc eNc"'9
which attended it, life and that OF the group 10 WIN"
u belongs together with those incidents anu NciS
s.rdos in the worlds geological chronicle that &C
COMMANDED their Disappearance. From all s'"es
evidence Of vast cpochs, whose climates were strongly
contrasted accnmu!ltes. The range OF these NaiIa
4ons WAS great not only in degree bnl III eA'c"'' -
has been supposed that the general 'enPoi1'"''
gradually fell in consequence OF the iuuiauo, % ,'
eafth,s internal heat into space ms eNplahd'loh
i insufficient Loss OF heat goes on Dnt inc e"e' =
4+r,rted - il have not been observed. Now ana al
J.,
directly Or indirectly, determined temperature ram
f,u vece4otion and the geographical Distribution OF
on,r,a,s and plants From the earliest uhc' VIII
defined zones have circcd the earth bn' lneNc i''0
NOT always been the same. When the HiSI ~"
lived the North Polar sea had climate hhe ""' VI
tbe Indian ocean, when the subject OF III, pap,
sd ,bo weather Of Northern Virginia was Ike that
in Labrador IT the present day Such r4i'p'
q tropical and Subartlc cHha'cS WIZ
in the following manner. . ,o,
Our Globe la, double movement. II reVol'es
about the sun in an cllipSc OF greater vi ~ .,a
t-jcitv and turns upon its own ANS b'' ,.,.
are srbiect T. variations which modify the oo'',.''
of all animate beings. Planetary at'rac''oh "'' -
IN. naro NJ ifs orbit and bic distance TO Whch IL
rccedes from TIE At present we nl'>I "O
tho soc,rco Of Iirht and heat in path which, a''S"
I, * probably never twice the same, Is heVer'"'''
nearly cjrcular In time we never ge' i'u'" "'0
10000 600 miles from the central booN VI va" -
tom Int IN the past this distance has D'eH NV
- az zoo 900 miles Axia revolution IS also SUD
,oc, IN oscillation. not in time. but like thh oi V'c
orbit in the relations which our planet sn,'ai'S ~
is primary. Tie angle of its inclination 10 ihe pan,
Of the ecliptic is moi always parailel I" lt,cn T.,
slight change is constantly taking place. "m'" ~ -,
time becomes great one. An uh'Pu'l 49, WV l,,
exerted on the equatorial protubeiahcc ON "'o |
And moo, The noar direction Of its axis is sh'eo'
When the axis moves, the plane OF the cchpc moves
with IT, and therefore also the equinoc'ia' po'"l
While the world swings roand the oiDH' It's "N',
travels in a contrary direction, nnul III pe!Iou VI
about 10 800 years this procession OF 'l' eP"'oN
as it is called is completed ana me o'uc' VI .',
seasons beccmcs reversed. 1t need scarcely Dc N'iu
tha, spcb q, rovolution would profoundly ahcct th'
climate Of both northern and southern hci NP'icIo'