Birmingham state herald., 1895-11-29
KEPT FOR AGES.
A Big Piece of Fat From Mammoth in Alaska An Actual Bit of Adipose From an Ani-
 nal Dead for Many Years.

Dr. Dall of the Smithsonian institution during his recent visit to Alaska, says the Washington Star, secured a natural history specimen that was a prize in need. It was a bit of mammoth fat from the actual adipose of an animal that had been dead for tens of thousands of years
 Bodies of mammoths in a fresh state have been dug up from time to time in Arctic Siberia, preserved in natural cold storage since a period antedatng the first appearance of man on the earth. This is an old story, but this is the first known instance in which the soft parts of a beast of this species have been found on the American continent. It is easy to imagine the scientific interests attaching to the discovery.
 Ages ago this mammoth died, under such circumstances that its corpse was buried in mud. At about that time thera was great and permanent change in the temperature of circumpolar regions. The climate had been Subtropical; 1t sud- denly became frigid. The mammoths were literally frozen out" the last of the species perishing with cold. The particular individual, frozen in a basin of clay, had every prospect of Keeping" for an indefinite period
 Hundreds of centuries later a stream flowing through an Alaskan valley tack led the clay bank referred to and began to cut it away. At length some big bones stuck out and~a native of ex- ceptional courage dug one or two of them. This required more of that quail ity known in civilized countries as nerve" than might be imagined, for strange monsters. however long they might have been dead, are regarded with superstitious awe by savages
 However, the natives finally summoned courage enough to drag the remains of the mammoth out of the clay bank piece meal. The body of the animal had been preserved so well that a fairly perfect cast of it was found in the matrix. A quantity of fat, which overlay the in- testines, was obtained and was used for greasing boots. Dr. Dall secured piece of it and fetched it back to Washington for an exhibit.
 In the office of Osteologist Frederic A. Lucas, at the National museum, is a mammoth's molar tooth, to which an odd story is attached. It was got from spring at Paso Verde, in the country of the Papago Indians. Ever so many cen turies ago mammoth in its dying ago. nies sought that spring for water, and fell into it, too weak to climb out. There its bones remain to this day, and the h. dians believe that, if they were removed the spring would dry up. Of course such an event in that dry region means the destruction of village.
 Mastodon bones of course are fre- quently dug up in the United States. The mastodon was a kind of elephant, but it did not belong to the genus Elephas. The mammoth did belong to that genus, being known to modern science as elephas pri- migenius. It often happens that farmers blow up the osseous remains of masto- dons, particularly in reclaimed swamps, where anciently the gigantic beasts be- came mred and died from sheer helpless ness to get out. The tusks are commonly found so far decomposed that the ivory crumbles between the fingers.
 The first mastodon ever dug up was found in 1613 The remains of these ami mals are by no means confined to the United States; they are discovered all over the world, in Europe, Asia and Asia Minor. They were much thicker set than the modern elephant. The lower jawbone of a full grown specimen weighs nearly 100 pounds. The first mastodon bones that were dug up were supposed to be those of giants of an earlier epoch.