New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1891-11-05

cavation. Having picketed q few men from tne
mass Of the workingmen and dismissed the rest,
began my search. A reward was offered for the
first bone unearthed, but for long time no as
covcry was made. Radiating trenches were cut
from the centre, the soil being carefully removed
with q shovel and 10 spade or gruDDihs-hoe
allowed Underneath the mud lay stratum OF
yelowish and very tenacious clay, and beneatp
this, in every instance where the bed was reached
it proved to he Of slate, from between whose
laminae the waters gushcd as soon as IL was ialu
bare. 1t was wearisomc business, this hgh'
with the outflow OF inaccessible springs tha'
gained upon us as fast as it could be got rld Oh
The sun scorched u.s. and we were drenchcd ana III
itely discomposed and DISTRACTED by heaVy
showers of almost daily occurrence. linen again
no remains to light and tie men became
Respondent and began to doubt their existence ana
to look upon me as unatic. At last one day there
came shout Of triumph from one of them who
| was at work where shaft Of argillaceous lime
| stone burst through the slaty bottom. lie had
| got down to the bedrock and there, after the
enclosing earth was carefully removed By hand,
| lay the immense thigh-bone OF a mastodon. we
raised it with the utmost tenderness and care. but
| after the many hands which supported its weight
were withdrawn, it crumbled to pieces on its bed
of grass This was the history Of all parts OF the
skeleton brought to light except the teeth IL
| left as they were found, the water from subter-
ranean sources soon covered them. IL removed
they crumbled by their own weight. Then " niac'>
care, sat constantly upon the cruppcr of your cor
respondents horse, and journeying into the regions
below Edom Mr.. J. d. Pennybacker, late United
States Inspector Of Surveys, was brought upon
the scene Of our misfortunes. That able engineer
rode and waded about for half day, after winch
he delivered the following opinion:
"You can't stop the water. and you can 90
nothing unless it is stopped In your case shouiu
suspend further operations.
The mastodon had been found, but it was q
| labor inaptarum-he could not be saved. IL one
mioht occupy proper situation in interplane-
tary space, he would now see, so far as our eat'n
is concerned. a globe with silvery light hurt
ling around the sun at varying rates OF speeo'
with frightful oscillations, never travelling twice
in the same track. but, upon the whole, moving
nearly in circle This circularity Of orbit
has not, however, been constant Owing 10
astronomical influences into which it is needless
TO enter here, the eccentrcity of the ellpSe mas
been greatly increased at different and irregular
periods. The poles likewise change their position
with relation to that central luminary which is
the worlds surface About two millions Of years
aco planetary conjunction produced one Of those
eIongations of the orbit spoken Of and this, TO-
| gether with a procession Of the equinoXes that
placed our hemisphere nearly eleven millions OF
miles further away from the sun in winter, neces-
sariIy resulted in the formation Of more ice dur
ing the season in which it's direct rays failed to
reach il than could be melted in summer 30
| oil
about 90 900 years, and it during the quatcr-
| nary that the mastodon became extinct. AS
uroup of species the geographical distribution OF
this animal embraced India Central Europe, Oreat
| britain. and North and South America. In time
| its range extended from the middle miocene to
| the end of the pliocene in Asia and Europe, but
| in America. as was said, it did not vanish from
| the earth until some period during the Ice age
Comparative ANTAGONISTS are accustomed 10 uc,ei
mine the character of an animal from d iIdSl
of its frame, and far as the more general Ica1
ures 60 its essential characteristics OF structure
| can be so determined. When, however, we de-
| scend to details which, perhaps, have consider.
| able influence in deciding the fate OF group
during the struggle for existence, these morphoiosi
| cal CONGRATULATIONS prove to be lnsuihclent.
| Classification is one thing, and the estimation
of organic traits which will enable q creature 70
| adjust itself to its environment and TO conquer
its adversares and live is another. Ihose speclal
| relations that existed between the mastoaoniS
groups are not very well understood; h., o In'
| nently competent biologists, but the specimens
were scarce and the results, so lar as thc fela
lions between species OF the genus are concerned
| seem to he rather unsats fac tory. III Is certain
| that this form Of the prohcScldlans stands az
an intermediate organism with the dlnotherlum
| of the tertiary on one side and the modern ele-
| plant on the other. IL may also DC c9nhden.ly
asserted that mastodOn resembles the latter
| more than the former. There is no need to enter
| upon those technical differences by winch these
genera are Disseminated, and this part OF the SUD-
ect NAV be- concluded by saying that TINS partcu-
| lar beast. after whose bones the writer has been
| grubbng in the mud for q month, was the So
called gigantic mastodon. lie was PROVIDED wiJ'
| other names also; was larger tllan tne aNeraee
African elephant, and had smaller BRAN IMAM
| any elephant now existing. His tusks were very
much curved; he was essentially a browsing ami
| NAL, and piobably, possibly, was as stupid and
| aggressive as o black rhinoceros. No doubt many
| a skin-cad savage Of that unknown race whose
rude relics remain to attest their presence here
| heard the fatal trumpet too late 10 save MN
! self, active and certain In movement as ne was,
Likewise it is probable that when not taken al
| disadvantage he often made general slaughter
| among our paJeoithic fGllOw-counrrynen VINO
| yen,ured TO assault him. These events of an
earlier world are lost in oblivion. curtain
| no more 10 be raised than the veil of Isis, has
fallen upon the stage where such Wild dramas
| were enacted All we can know for certain Is the
existence OF the actors ana all that can ne mace
sure Of is that imaginations Truly scichtlhc arc
never altogether wrong The fancles suggested
| BIZ the associations of some particular spot may
| be erroneous 50 far as the place III question Is
concerned but they are true of some other locality
| No horde such as knded the fires whose charrcd
| cmbers were found buried in the earth before the
| caves of Linvilc may have done my mastodon
| TO death. Yet the evidence that The primeVai
! cIephant was destroyed by the cave-dwcllcrs OF
| the Somme and Dordogne is conclusive, ana IL Is
| mor-raciona 10 believe than to doubt that wha'
| was accomplished under known conditions IN one
| place should occur under like circumstances