Grand Rapids herald. [volume] (Grand Rapids, Mich.) 1892-1959, 1894-01-06
GIANT OF THE BOGs
HOW SCIENTIFIC afsfAaCH
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anybody who woaid speak . good
word Cor swanp~- The man who
drains one aud tarus n. mar<hy surface
into productive soil h university Ne
gerded A. pablic h>nefzstor. So the
projectea draining Of the plsEa&l
sNamp IA Virginia and the Okefcncl<es
swamp II Gssrgn n r~Ezrfe<i only
with favor. aud fcw e.suit BE- fsnnd 20
regret the disappearance Of these ~
ElarAabie fsatares Of our Am<ricsn
l.lnslsrspts. says Youths compsnioa-
Vet. 4rtting aside the strange
Fi~tzresqllenez~ oi such marshy regions
and the ei,-iositiSs of plant life watch
they exhibit IL II easy % show that
ssvamps Hare been useful In . manner
that eould hardly have been sntici-
passd fhey hasc very eifectuaily
served the cause of science By pre-
serving she remal,s OF some of The
MIA remarkable Of the former In
Aab.tantf Of the earth
Here in Americs the, skeletons of
several hlastodons have been found
inahedded In ancient swamps, and 10
psrfeetiy preserved that no difficulty
whatever hss been encountered In re-
storing the bones To their normal po-
sitioa- setting the skeletons ON their
feet and shus exhibiting TO the eyes OF
modern man the monster animals
which werc probably familiar sights %
our ancestors nobody knows how many
thousands II years ago
In Ireland the ancient swamps were
equally efilcaeious in preserving for us
the gigantic cl<s which became mired
IA them
Swzmps have proved no less useful
sgents of science In other parts OF the
world. and particularly In Australia,
New Zealand and Madac.scaf. What
eoald Be more interesting than the
bones Of giant bird which
was In al probability she roc
Described by SZndbad? just such
boass have ben discovered In
the marshes OF Madagascar and New
Zealand.and there Is plentyof evidence
that the great bir.is which owned them
we're the contemporaries of men in the
past histsRy Of those islands But for
the swamps we might have remained
Ignorant u the fact that birds with
legs larger and heavier than those Of
the largest horse once f-urished In the
southern hemisphere.
Lately these Madagascar swnmps
have yielded other remains OF extinct
animal. hardly lcss interesting than
The hnge bird. the epiornis, its.lf
Thsss are The sl<sietons Of . creature
rsssubling . lsmur Of gigantic size.
BE s>mark.bae for the small quantity
of brains which IL possesssd- II IL said
that man was responsible for the de-
s<sucs>ou and disappcarsncs of this
eyeatur& II 70 10 was probably . SIM
PIE 60 Of hraina against brute force.
Thgs = reason for thinking that
Ueul o<heT discoveries remain 20 Be
x,sds In AadngsssAr-discoverie that
WI pouably bring e. light even more
Interesting fscts concerning the former
Of that part Of The world.
sspposs one Of our swamps, which
we regard - utterly useless, should |
preserve 70 . yemo<s future age tho |
only remains Of some animal like the
bison OF The tiger. now rapidly becom-
Ing extinct The men of science then
living would have the s.ne reason for
rejoicing that that swamp had existed
that We have for being thankful for
The revelations contained In the
of ancient days