The Elbert County tribune., 1899-05-18
GIGANTIC DINOSAURS
THAT INHABITED THE EARTH
ACES AGO,
Rsceut Discoveries Toll of Thefr Habits
wyoming Soil oivss Up Evidence
Of . Battle Bstwsen Two Monsters /.
Few Million Ycars Aga

We extract the following from re-
cent article which tells about a fight
between two gigantic monsters that
inhabited this earth few million
years ago. 1t was printed in the New
York World the other days
Aside from finding this great herb
summer of 81. DR.. Workman. assisted
by Professor Wilbur c. Knight. Of the
University OF Wyoming, also found a
new kind OF carnivorous dinosaur
which might have been the very one
that killed the herbivorous dinosaur.
Both specimens were found at depth
Of two miles. It Is unnecessary to say.
however. that DR.. Workman did not
have TO dig go deep In order to flnd
them. Where the deposition processes
for the last two million years have
been regular, the strata OF the Jurassic
age ordinarily are about two miles be-
low the present surface Of the earth.
But in the Bad Lands the strata in
which the fossil lay have often been
pushed upward In the work OF noun
tain making. Then an erosion took
place. the strata lying above being
torn away, leaving tho fossils on the
surface. Thousands Of remnants Of
bones were lying on the sage brush
where DR.. Wortman's expedition camp
ed. These were not only broken into
many pieces. but were also badly worn
by storms. By going down into the
earth short depth better specimens
are found. The greatest care is taken
In exposing the petrihed bones. They
are often cracked In every direction.
SO that 1t is necessary to saturate them
with some adhesive substance as they
are gradually exposed, to prevent the
small pieces from falling out and get
ting lost The fragments are sent East
in plaster paris casts In order to keep
them together. and the result Of DR..
Wortman's last expedition was some
two car loads OF bones.
When cowboy saw the tail OF the
herbivorous dinosaur he made the re-
mark that II he wagged II the way q
fox terrier did his when he was Of
fered n piece Of meat he shouldn't like
to have been near his heels when he
was happy.
II New Workers. realized the wonder
worlds that lie under glass cases In
the Natural History Museum. as many
people might visit the room where the
fossil remains are kept as go to Eu-
rope for o holiday. Our scientists say
that We are the least appreciative Of
any of the great peoples of the science
Of tho forms of life which antedated
man. Nevertheless, the great work Of
the Natural History Museum contin-
ues. We have now the finest collection
Of fossil remains In the world. Many
people who have seen those In the
Kensington Museum In London have
not seen those at their own door.
The paleontologists consider that tho
small boys idea OF a museum is dis
creditably prevalent. The small boy
thinks that the Museum is entirely
supcrfuous. He can see the same ami
mails that he sees there alive and
snorting at the Zoo. He wonders why
any one should care to see an elephant
that Is stuffed when you can see one
that eats hay and swings his trunk.
The stuffed animals get the most at
tention from visitors. After looking
at the skeleton Of the mastodon and
the dinosaurs which are set up, the
visitor is satisfied without looking at
the thousands of fragments of bones
in the glass cases.
In one of the cases Is the petrifled
skeleton of one of the first breathing
creatures that ever existed in America.
1t is not as long as ones thumb. There
are also the connecting links OF all
forms OF animal life, down to the days
when the hairy mastodon roamed over
North America. that existed during
the millions Of years that animals
flourished before man came. The
work OF stuflng the skins of existing
species is dilettante indeed beside that
of hunting for the bones of dinosaurs,
classifying them once you have them,
or putting tho skull OF an early rhin-
oceros together out of a score OF frag-
ments.
n mr1r1 mr-,rNrrx,-