Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-12-25
NOT PETRIFACTION.
NEVER MAS sucH 4 THING asa PET
RIFlsD HUMAN 6o0Y

4 Rev Facts On sakjres s.aieh 4 Al tbs
Mercy Of Psruiar isrser-lss~--Cii;Ts On
the Yel,eszssane s,.se--vaas rstsssAs-
ttss Really Is
the resfss alfsssst erery week ia the
newspapers Of the finding ct Il sfsetr.heaN
hs;rtan tssssy Ssac.i a thing f.sver sitl and
never sill exist Nevertheless, 50 dense
i tae fotaslisr ignorance u ss9rh matters.
AMI 10 se4tly iae ksssEssa mind 10 be de-
lads... that rSsasss> Vi tlis kind are COM
slc.siy accepted Is facts. II would be well
II they eeEsd re siepgivss! of ercdibili,y for
ali FIXTURE tiI5se by the publication of = few
truths Oh this subject.
In the ART place 'p~trifacricn" IL not.
sirisfig speaking. a transformation Of the
oFigiaal s;.iifsa. OF plant INTO stone IL Is
nterels Il rsfslsstesaeEs cf the organic tissue
by mineral substance. As each particle
of the pi&ut or animal decays and disap-
pears. lis placa Is taken, usually in water
or rausl. ~ Il particle OF mineral matter
deposited from the water which has held
it in suspension. Taas the perishabl
original is changed iuto ifnperishabie
stolie, preserving sts form and even its
structural appesraues yhen cut into.
Hy such u.essns have he skeletons OF an
inlaIs millions of years old been preserved
in the rocks Of the everlasting hills, so that
they mas lie reconstructed today as they
were ages heterc man appeared on the
earth ii,it it IS only the tpaEes thst are
in this way kept; never the flesh. because
water eanuut pescciaSe through it. In the
sanie way whole forests Of trees in the
Yellowstone region and elsewhere are
chaugef into agate Rrtl othcr forms of
stole The hollow legs OF the ut prime
val hejag often f"ala filed Ma heauti
fui crystals OF qrass1 and amethyst.
The cliffs that border the eastern branch
OF the Yellowstone river Gtforil "A view Of
series ot such Iores4, lHrit,i on top of one
another The luUerElcSt level MRS origi
nally wooded plata. hundreds OF thou
sautls vi Years ago. Volcanoes burst forth
in the neishiHrh0od. ;.i,d it WIS over
whelnle,l by their debris On top the lat
ter fresh trees took root and grew, TO be
in their turn hurled by subsequent erup
lions This sort OF thing continued through
century after century, until 1000 feet of
accommodations were heaped above the for
est at the bottom.
Beneath the hills thus formed water
HD&ttt. rs II tipsS constantly iHEptlel
eirth's crust. The buried trees gradually
decayed and their accomplishing substance
was replaced by mineral matter, trans
forming them into stone Afterward the
Yellowstone river cut down through the
strata formed of volcanic debris in the
manner described For thousands anu
thousands of years the great stream plowed
out its bed, until today the latter is II
Il. =
towering cliffs And as one looks upward
at those cliffs the buried forests are plain
" to lie seen in the Successive layers com
posing them They can be counted easily,
the reckoning carrying the observer back
to the very night of time when real drag
ons and chineras dirJ walked on the earth.
SWAN in the seas and flew in the air.
Nearly all the trees which line these
wonderful cliffs are turned into agate.
One can climb up and knock them off, rs
they break readily into sections Many
OF them, which were hollow before they
were buried. are filed with beautiful crys
| tails OF quartz and amethyst. Water, per
colating into such hollow trunks, brought
particles of silica, which formed them
selves into crystals, finally filling up the
cavities 1t is in hollow parts of buried
trees that nearly all existing crystals Of
amethyst and quartz were originally form
eel They are treasures which were hid
den AWAY by the hand of nature in old logs
and stum,IS Amethyst Of course is merely
1uartz crystal with ii iiitlc coiorng mat
ter from metallic oxides.
Mach OF the ;i,,;.tiHed and jasparlzed
| wool fGrud III various parts Of the west
WAS thus transformed Under water There
IS II fossil forest OF such material mt Los
CeritIos. y NJ. and another at thalcedo
nv Park A I. 1t IL largely used for or
namental purposes The trees fell and
were submerged, becoming siicifed in the
manner already described. While this WAS
| going on, Spores of fungi 1oated into the
cracks in the trunks aud branches, ger
minatng aud extending their threads of
mycelium through the deaaying who'd,
| These threads ere still visible III the pet
rifei" word "fossilizt1p' il consid
| rre,. preferable substance. ramifying
| through the cells OF the wood. The water
also brought salts Of iron in solution. which
We're srercied by the fungus anil after
| ward deposited by it, thus enricniuS the
| cUloratlnn OF the l0sSl.Icd structure,
| Iron, being plentiful in nlauy rocks and
| readily SOLUBLE, often rcpiacr. organic sub
| -intices aud forms fossils In the depart
ment OF prehistoric an,hTopulGgy mt the
| Smithsonian institution is preserved ~ hH'
man skull of iron, which WAS dug out o.
| =, hillside not lo4sg ago Net Only has iron
| replaced the Substance OF the llue. but
.he brain cavity IL filled with the metal.
% that IT," s.-ull weighs many pounds.
| it hill IL hich its owner w,us b,iried
| waS rich in iron ore of course.
| Shells, Enclosed in the strata Of hills,
are sometimes transformed into opal by
| process OF fossiliXatiOn, opal being merely
form OF quartz. Petrifieations, properly
! termed fossil. remains. of plants are read
| tly ,iistnpllishablp in beds Of coal SO that
| Il IL easily determined from what sorts OF
| giant ferns and other trees the coal was
originally formed Among the most an
| cient OF fossils are numerous insects
which. despite the delicaey of their struc
lure, hive been preserved through millions
of years for the instruction of modern
lsenera ion. the very fun on the wings OF
he primeva. moth being plainly distin
| qiishnble.
| Most Of the bodies reported in the news
papers ,ts found "petriied" are examples
If phenomenon long familiar. They have
| been TRANSFORMED not into stone. but into
| = sIi istauce called 'a,lipocpIc" or grave
wan" This IL true soap, into which the
corpse of "a human being will ordinarily
he metamorpiosed if buried III II grave
yart! or other place where water has ac-
| cess Ia It.
| This adipocere IL one of the most en-
during of substances II is not subject to
decay. and the body which has assumed
this constitution may preserve its form
tor many years. and even for centuries
nay, for ages, since evidence on the point
has been obtained from the orthoceras, a
molusk that i'ecame extinct millions of
years ago. of large size, and built after the
pattern Of the chambere,i nautilus. but
with straight shell.
| In shells of the orthoceras has been
| found ADJ ;ocere--the flesh Of the animal
transformed into the soapy substance de-
.4riled which would thus appear to have
been preserved intact from the silurian
| ria,ch until now. Washington Star.
Christmas Charity.
| NCnoJ will frwarI r.,at,t Ia Tho all nor