The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-31
A Large Stock Of Umbrellas 81 up.

the organ in question. At all events, the
organ has been found to be diseased IN
several giants, male and female, who
have been cut up by the surgeons after
their demise.
Everybody has a queer bone in his
throat, so 10 speak, which is OF no par
ticular use. 1t is of semi-C.rcular shape,
embracing the upper part Of the larynX
or Adam apple, which is the voice box.
You Will hardly find il by feeling for IT.
1t is attached by ligaments to the base
of the skull and helps to support the
larynX, but 1t is practically functiOnless.
the same "hyOid bone" as IL is called,
In the horse and COW is fastened direct
ly to the skull and is most efficient in
sustaining the larynX. 1t is found in
fishes, whose gslls 1t supports. So here is
discovered a vestlge in the form Of
bone which in man has no very particu-
lar usefulness, but Il was valuable to his
ancestors undoubtedly The remote pro-
descended were fishes. From them were
developed the salamanders, which were
the forefathers Of the reptiles
At the lower end of the human Shout
der blade is a process known as the. cor
acoid bone" 1t is rudimentary and use
i tb But In lower vertebrate sanm2s
half of the shoulder joint 1t Is import
ant In birds and in reptiles. Turning
from bones to muscles, II is interesting
to observe that the muscular system of
the face Of an ape is much more elaDO-
rate and powerful than in human be-
ing. The muscles by which the ears are
wagged and the scalp moved have al
most disappeared in man, but occasionally
one sees a person who is able to wag his
ears and move his scalp back and forth.
These are traces Of character which in
peared.
1t may be SAID that the wisdom teeth
of civilized man are on the point of dB-
appearing, the jaw having grown so much
smaller that there is no longer room or
use for them. Consequently they appear
late in life are smaller and not so well
rooted as the other molars, and disappear
early. They are Of such poor material
as to decay quickly, and commonly have
10 be pulled out soon after they are erupt-
ed. On the other hand, the Polyneslans
and other savages have well-developed
plies to the primitive people of the caves
and the river-drift, whose skulls have
been dug up in Europe, and elsewhere.
Occasionally one reads in the newspa-
pers of person who, in old age, has cut
third set of teeth. 1t is a fact that this
freak does occur once in while. Every
human being has the germs of a third set
of teeth, but ordinarily they do not de-
Velop. They are found in the embryo of
the child. 1t Is conceivable that the time
may arrive when some means Will be found
of causing these third teeth to erupt The
Greenland whale has no teeth, but the
unborn whale-caf possesses a full set.
The young sperm whale seems to have no
upper teeth at all but a good set of them
Is hidden by the gum. This fact points to
the conclusion that the not distant ances-
tors of the sperm whale possessed and
did use their upper teeth
The more remote ancestors of the whale
undoubtedly had legs. The sperm whale
possesses a rudimentary thigh-bone,
while the Greenland whale has a rudi-
mentary thigh-bone and tibla. There seems
| to be no question that the progenitors of
modern whales were land animals but
their descendants took to the sea and
ceased to require legs. These rmarks ap-
ply TO hind legs; the forelegs of whales are
represented by their fippeTs. The ances-
tors of all marine mammals were land an
imals. The intermediate condition may be
observed in the seals. which live on land
to some extent The pOrpoise is legless
but has rudimentary hip bones The an
cestors Of modern snakes had legs and
walked The boa cons trictor possesses
rudimentary hind leg.
Every now and then a horse IS born
with two or three toes. Sometimes it is
a mere freak, but often, as scientists
assert 1t is a reversion to an ancestral
type The earliest horse known appeared
in the Eocene epoch, and was hardly big
ger than a fox. 1t had four toes each
/ terminated by small hoof. There was
presumably an older form that had five
toes, but no fossils to represent it have
been discovered. Later came a horse "a
big as goat, with three toes. The horse
of to-day walks on the nail of its middle
toe. and still exhibits the last two van
ished toes in the shape of little splinters
Of bone on either side of the leg beneath
the flesh
The not very remote ancestors of mod
ern horses probably were striped z like
their surviving relatives, the zebras and
have stripes on their legs. Now and then
appears a stripe on the shoulder like that
of the wild ass. The stripes are sup
posed to have been intended by nature
as a protective coloratiOn. 1t will be oh
served that the body stripes of a zebra
are vertical, while those on the legs are
horizontal; but when the animal lies down
and draws up its legs beneath it, the
bars run all the same way Thus thew
correspond to bars of light and shade and
1t is said that a zebra in its native
stumbled hot
It's presence is observed. Another point
worth mentioning is that baby lions are
spotted-pointing to the conclusion tina I
the ancestors of modern lions were orna-
mented in like manner
1t IS wonderful to observe how nature
dtspenses with organs that have ceased to
be useful. The baby mole of the Furo1
pean species has eyes connected nv the
optic nerves with the seeing part Of the
Draln. es Later IN us life the connection is
cut of. This means that the ancestors
/ Of the moles of to-day were not blind
some crustaceans have external ewes.
Ihough the optic ganglion is aborted OF
course, they are blind. These crustaceans
are found in caves and in the depths of
the ocean, where there is no light One
species sometimes develops a seeing eye,
/ and sometimes does not Certain fishes
can see when they are young. but are
) blind when adult, a membrane growing
+ over the eye.
/ AL birds are descended from rentiIes
/ ana are so slightly modified that anato-
I mically speaking a bird is only to be dis
\ tngulsshted from a reptile by the posses
{ sion OF feathers. Yet feathers and scales
are the same things differently modified.
/ The Oldest bird that has ever been found
fossil is the archaeopteryx, which was
/ half lizard, one might say 1t was about
+ the size Of big pigeon. A bird called the
hoatzin, recently discovered in South
i America, has claws on its wings and
/ climbs before it learns to fly. It is declar-
Led bird only because it has feathers.
/ Flying does not constitute a bird; there
! were reptiles in the Mesozoic epoch that
\ flew as well as any birds-some of them