Omaha daily bee., 1897-05-16
conception of the phrase would have more
antlY fitted Penlnpical conditions.


In general way, the truth has long been
known. for, of course, 1t could not escape the
attention of the most casual observer among
naturalists that lower forms of life have
smaller brains than higher form9, man hav-
ing proportonately the largest brain Of all.
But the full significance of this fact was
never understood by naturalists until COM
parison was made between the brains OF
living animals and the casts of brains OF
fossil species. or course, the actual brains
of fossil species cannot be studied, as they
went the way of all flesh some hundreds OF
thousands or even millions of years ago; but
| the bony brain cases THAT is, the Shulls) have
| in many cases been preserved, and for this
purposes these answer equally well. 1t re-
mained for Prof Marsh to develop the force
of the theory by the systematic study which
| he made of the brains of the fa-5i creatures
he had unearthed in Rocky mountain region.
| Almost from the fret he was struck
| with the difference between these brains and
| those of living animals of related species;
and very soon he was able to formulate as
general law the striking statement that 'Ali
| tertiary mammals had small brains"-terti-
| ary mammals, it being explained, meaning
| animals that lived in the age of mammals,
| some millions of years ago. 1t, for example,
rhinoceros of this tertiary age were COM
| pared with a rhinoeeros of today of equal
| bulk, 1t would be found,t that the ancient
| beast had a much smaller brain than its
| descendant. .H-
BRAINS OF THE MAMMALS.
But this was not all. The "age of NAM
| mails was very long period, extending over
| some millions of years probably and geolo.
gsts had divided it into three minor periods.
| known as the Eocene, or early; the Miocene,
| or middle and the PliOcene, or later, tertiary
| epochs and Prof Marsh found, when he COM
| pared the fossils from the earlier of these
| periods with those from the later, that there
| appeared difference in the average size OF
| brain During this time many species OF
| animals had died out and their places had
| been taken by new species, and on an aver
age the new species always had larger brains
than their predecessors. This certainly was
| interesting 1t suggested that something
| more than mere brute strength" had entered
! into the struggle for existence among these
animals, and had helped determine which
ones should go to the wall, and which be
perpetuated.
Here. for instance was great beast called
dnoceras, which roamed abundantly over the
| pateaus of western America 100000 or
| 3 900 600 years >ago. He was a massive
creature, almost as large as an elephant, and
in general appearance something like
rhinoceros. For long time his tribe -four
ished, and, by mere force of bulk, dominated
| the animal world. But 1t chancsd that the
huge creature, while abIndantly supplied
with brawn had the very smallest brain, pro-
| portionately, Of any known animal, ancient
or modern. His body kept growing and de-
veloping but his brain did not keep pace with
| 1t. What was the result? Presently there
| DEVELOPED other animals OF similar habits,
| less in bulk, but Win larger Drains, ana tneSe
relatively brainy creatures, having just jot
more wit than the dinoceras, finally were
able to adapt themselves to changing climatic
| conditions, to migrate, perhaps or to roam
| widely i'm search of fresh pastures; while the
dull dinoceras did not know enough to change
| his habits and so his tribe perished alto
! gether, leaving no descendants whatever. In
| the final turning OF the scale ounce of
| brain matter in a smaller animal outweghed
| the tons Of bone and muscle with which the
dnoceras was numbered.
THE DOOM OF Drawn.
| And this particular case merely epitomizes
| a record that has been repeated over and
| over millions Of times during the process of
animal evolution. Indeed, Prof. Marsh has
| found. after studying large collection Of
skulls of different periods, that the species
| of animal which was in the ascendancy in
traits to persistent and developing line of
| descendants, was always one that had
brain larger than the brains of contemporary
species. On the other hand, wherever
! creature was found like the dinoceras, with
| a Drain smaller than the average OF its con-
temporares, that species was doomed to ami
| hilation. The whole struggle for existence
among mammals ahen, has been very largely
| a battle of brains. Brawn might win for
| time, but in the long run the little beast
with a big brain annihilated the big beast
| with a little braingi No doubt the mighty
dnoceras looked with utter contempt, II his
dull brain was equal to such an emotion,
upon the little fox like creature which wac
| the horse of that period But the little fox
| like creature had a ready and plastic brain,
and so after the last descendant OF dinoceras
had Derished the descendants of the little fel-
| low remained as the big-brained. intelligent,
| modern horse OneGof the illustrations here
given shows thee brains OF dinoceras and
| the horse drawn to dhe same scale. Without
| that larger nugget Of nervous matter In his
skull the horse never would have won the
| battle and come to be what he Is.
| Having found this law 10 hold everywhere
among mammals. Prof. Marsh was interested
| to ascertain whether II applied equally to
| other classes OF vertebrates. In the age
that proceeded the tertiary there were
strange birds inhabiting the lakes OF western
America, which have left their skeletons in
the muddy lake bottoms, since turned to
rock One of these birds, which Marsh
named hesperornis, was like gigantic loon.
What manner OF brain had this bird as COM
pared with the modern loon? The briefest
comparison suficed to answer that question.
The ancient bird had brain not ne-fourth
as large, proportionately, as that OF the bird
of a later period. Other birds told the same
story and II became clear that brains had
fought the battle OF existence for feathered
as we'll as furred creatures.
Yet another stage lower lie the reptiles
In the so-called mesoZoic age, before the
tertiary, this class OF creatures abounded
aud were the dominant type OF life. Some OF
them were massive beyond any creature that