The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-04-09

cessfully fought a department of the |
United States government in his efforts /
to expose wrong doing. Red Cloud paid |
Prof. Marsh the highest compliment known |
to the Indian code. He presented him with |
his pipe and tobacco pouch, afterwards |
visiting him in New Haven
The bone-hunting chief" he declared |
through his Interpreter, lis the only pale |
face who keeps his promises"
Prof. Marsh made an exhaustive study
Of The brains of animals, and he has adj
vanced some rather startling Conclusions
According to scores of comparative meas
urements Prof. Marsh found that the av-
erage weight of the japanese brain was
greater than that of any other race. This
would Indicate that the Jap is the coming
man, that the course of the empire still
takes its way 20 the westward. While the
white race has been dominant In war, in
art, in literature and In commerce, the
mongols of Japan have been slowly build
ing brain tissue, the results of which are
already becoming apparent. Tomorrow,
prophesied Prof. Marsh, they may be In j
the van of civilization.
Prof Marsh was impatient with the
science that collects few facts and then
leaps into print with unconsidered theo-
ries and UNDERGONE conclusions.
How He Exposed the Cardiff Giant.
1t was Prof. Marsh who exposed the.
famous Cardiff giant. in October, 1859.
farmer named Newell, living near Car
diff, N. Y, twelve miles south of SYRIA
cuse, was digging a well, when he unex-
pectedly unearthed stone giant ten feet
long, with a body. head and limbs in per-
feet proportion. 1t was at once proclaimed
as the remains of a prehistoric man, and
numbers of scientist made pilgrimages of
examination and recorded their belief in
its very great value as scientific discov-
cry. Even the state geologist of New
York became greatly interested in the
giant and endeavored 10 have II sent to
the state museum at Albany. But 1t was
finally placed on exhibition at Syracuse
where 1t soon became an attraction almost
equal to a circus. Special trains were run
from the surrounding country to accom-
modate the people who wished TO see II,
and its owners are said to have refused an
offer of $500, 900 in cash for It, although
they subsequently, parted with a quarter
share So important did the relic become
in the eyes of the scientific world
that Prof. Marsh visited Syracuse and
made an. examination of the giant The
| next day he wrote to a friend
1T is of very recent origin, and a most
decided humbug'
He found that the figure had been cut
from block of gypsum. similar to that
| found In many parts of New York, and
close inspection revealed the presence of
human Workmanship.
LAS gypsum is soluble in about 400 parts
of water" he wrote, "a very short ex-
posture would suffice to oblilerate all traces
| of tool marks and also to roughen the
| surfaces"
Prof. Marsh's letter was published in q
| Buffalo newspaper. The account OF how
the stone was made had the effect of slim
| ulating the manufacture Of giants. and to
the establishment of every one half doz-
| en- Cardiff giants were being exhibited
| around the country withia a year. Re-
Gently the practical joker who made the
giant told the story OF his deception for
the first time.
Disposing of a Prehistoric Giant.
Years later marvellous accounts came
| from Nevada of the discovery of human
footprints in the sandstone strata at Car
| son City. Each of the prints were from
| eighteen to twenty inches long, about
| eight Inches wide, having the exact shape
of a moccasined human foot. There were
regular right and left tracks with a dis
! lance between them of from eighteen to
nineteen inches. They were at once pro-
claimed as the remaining evidences Of a
| race of giants which once Inhabited the
| Pacific coast, and the undoubted anthem
| ticity Of the impressions on the stone in
| duced not few men of scientific preten-
sions to take this view. Such a discovery
| at once aroused the keen interest OF Prof
| Marsh, but after an examination of the
prints he came to the conclusion that they
| were not made by men at all He read a
paper on the subject to the National Acad-
envy of Sciences with which he presented
| carefully drawn picture of the huge
| skeleton foot of an extinct sloth found In
the same general region and in the same
| geological horizon, A comparison of this
with the outline of the footprint showed
conclusively that 1t was a sloth and not
man that had strolled slowly along the
shore of this prehistoric lake and left his
| footprints on the sands of time
Prof. Marsh was also fond of telling of
| an encyclopaedia article which was COM
| mended to his attention. The writer wish
| Ing 10 give modern man graphic idea of
! the appearance of his remote ancestors
| had, made a restoration of an extinct an
ima1 in flesh and blood but unfortunately
| he had placed the head on the end of the
| tail.
| A Business Coup in PterOdactyles
Prof. Marsh had real scientific passion
! for new fossils. When he was STUDYING
| pterodactyles, flying dragons" which he
had discovered in the chalk of Kansas he
| saw notice in a German scientific mag
| a4ine that very perfect pterodactyle had
| been discovered in Bavaria 1t was des
cribed as having well preserved wings
and long tail with a membrane at the
end. evidently used as a rudder in hyine
Realizing the great Importance of the dis
covery and knowing that the museums OF
Europe would strive TO secure the fossil
so essential just then TO his own investi-
| cations, he at once cabled to the magazine
| editor:
Buy Eichstadt Pterodactyle for Yale
| College, Marsh
The editor, quiet German professor
was lost in amazement. The price of the
fossil was more than his annual salary.
but the message was buy" and he bought
and the precious pterodactyle was on its
way to New Haven before The Euronean
museums received answers to their written
inquiries. The fossil dragon was entirely
new to science, and Prof Marsh described
it at length under the name Rhamphor-
| hyncus phylurus,
For more than thirty-three years he
served Yale College wholly without salary
or other remuneration from the university
| corporation. Moreover, during the frst