The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1895-10-18
DE-. ]. L. WORKMAN.

DR. J. L. WORKMAN.
his friends. Tt may be set down as
fact, however, that the news of DR..
Workman success this year does not
come to his friends as surprise. To
them he has often repeated the state
ment that i'll his opinion the part of
Wyoming near the headwaters of Bitter
creek, where the priceless find was
made, contains the richest and Oldest
accessible deposits of fossils that have
yet been discovered anywhere.
Originally the bed of fresh water
lake, it was filled in through almost
countless ages by sediment brought in
by streams tributary thereto. In this
sediment the bones of animals that
were mired or drowned were frequently
preserved almost and sometimes quite
intact, only to be revealed to the iDquir-
ing eye Of the investigating scientist,
ages after their interment, by the
washing away of the silt When it is
explained that layers OF preserved re-
mains almost a mile thick are now ex-
posed to sight in the bed of this old
lake, the cause for DR.. WOrtman's en-
thusiastic researches there can be readily
understood. Concerning the nature of
the current discovery SO much has ap-
peared in the dispatches and elsewhere
that it is necessary here to say nothing
further save that the bones are undOubt-
eddy those of a monkey, and that the
indications are that i'll life it was at q
stage of evolution which would practi-
cally confirm the truth of the SO called
DaEwinian theory. Scientists will look
for Dr.. Wortman's detailed and technic-
al account Of this discovery and what
it means with great impotence, and it
is to be hoped that the doctor can be in
duced also to give to the world popular
version thereof.
Unlike most profoundly scientific
men, this discoverer is peculiarly happy
in COUGHING the most difficult scientific
truths in words that may be understood
by every one. So thorough are both his
scientific knowledge and his mastery
of clear, simple and strong English that
he is able to impart all the charm of
romance to what told by the pen or the
tongue of many another would be but
the dullest recital. DR.. Workman be-
lieves IL the romance of science, be-
lieves it to be far more interesting than
the romance of sentiment, and halls with
delight every opportunity that presents
itself for pitting the stories of investi-
cation against those of the emotions.
Perhaps lie has never appeared to better
advantage than he did Ole evening last
spring at a dinner given by the Sign O
the Lantern, New York club Of which
the professor is a popular member, to
John Swinton, journalist, romanticist
and social reformer. 1t should be said,
to the credit of Mr.. Swinton, however,
that he held his own well.
1t was contended by Mr.. Swinton that
in these unitarian, scientific days there
is little or no romance; that while, as
to mere comfort, mankind may be bet
ter off than formerly, he is no longer
picturesque or personally independent
in degree even family approaching the
picturesque Independence of the past,
and that the tendency Of present condi-
tions cannot fail to be in the direction
of great and lasting deterioration of
| the race. Mr.. Swinton did not pour
| forth these views in any such common
/ place and conventional phrases as those
/ which l have Derforce employed. He
! clothed his ideas i'll the crystalline
| forms of nervous and idiomatic English,
/ Of which he is SO great master, and
when he sat down it seemed that no one
would or we'll could disagree with him.
But this notion was a mistaken one.
Scarcely had the speaker seated himself
when DR.. Workman arose and began a
plea for the recognition of the romance
of science and the value of scientific re-
search. Possibly his words may not have
been so gracefully arranged as Mr..
Swinton s, but they were vigorous, en-
thusiastic and compelling. In support
Of what he had to say the doctor told Of
the discoveries that had been made by
himself and others in the very locality
whence the bones of the SO called miss
ing link were taken last summer. His
stories were not recited in the spirit of
one who wc1ld glorify himself, but
were chosen from his own experience,
obviously because he knew them better
than any others. He told Of the proofs OF
the evolution of the horse from a threa
toed creature the size Of shepherd dog
that have been found there and general
~ accepted by scientists, and Of many
other discoveries almost as great, and he
held is IstSssrs spellbound.
~ : 3 MARSHALL