The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-05-14

cred in North America from the first ap-
pearance of mammals down TO the Oil
gocene period. At the present rate Of
work the collection may be completed 10
cover the entire Tertiary period, some two
million years, within the next ten years.
In addition to this, work has recently
been begun on the. geologic period just
preceding this, that OF the gig ante rep
tiles, and the gre 1t leg bones seen at the
Academy exhibition are the first results
now appearing in the museum.
Every summer the field expeditions go
to the great fossil beds Of Wyoming and
Kansas, places where. millions Of years
ago, were the great fresh-water lakes, IN
and about which lived the monsters
whose skeletons they are seeking. Here
they begin by prospecting along the
bluffs. or over the beds of hard clay, IN
which the bones are found. When one
is found protruding above the surface
work is begun by carefully cutting away
the clay which surrounds the bone, not
enough to lay the bones completely bare
but to take out the mass Of clay in which
they are embedded. The bones are often
broken into fragments, and If they were
laid completely bare in the field, as has
always been done up to quite recently
they would come apart, and there would
be great danger of losing some of the
pieces and difficulty in determining the
relative positions Of the rest. The new
method Of handling them is TO leave tFem
embedded in enough Of the original clay
TO hold them together, and to cover the
whole with a plaster cast. This Is board
ed up and wrapped with wet rawhide,
which shrinks as ii dries, and binds the
whole firmly together. These great
| blocks. weighing from 100 10 1,5G0 pounds,
are then Grated and shipped 10 the mu-
scum. where the matrix is taken off and
the fragments removed from the clay BIZ
by bit and put together at once, just
as they come out, thus avoiding the diff
Guilty of solving the dissecting puzzle
which would be encountered Il the pieces
were separated in the field. The bones
thus completed are mounted in as nearly
as possible their relative positions. a
complete record of every stage of the pro-
ceedings is kept by photography. another
new feature of the work, affording. as can
readily be imagined. more adequate and
graphic idea Of the process than could be
given by many pages Of printed reports.
One Of the specimens thus unearthed
and prepared is part of the skeleton Of a
huge herbiverous reptile called by Cope a
Camarasaur, and by the late Professor
Marsh a Brontasaur. OF this skeleton the
museum has two Of the dorssl and nine
teen Of the caudal vertebrae. and parts
/ Of the peIvis and leg bones. The scientist
/ finds many points Of particular interest
/ in 1t. among others the fact that II shows
an error in Professor Narsh's restorati
| Of the skeleton several dorsal vertebrae
! being found which Professor Marsh had
/ omitted But to most people the interest
I ing thing about the skeleton Is the far'
! that the bones show unmistskable evf-
( dence OF having been broken and gna wed
/ By the teeth Of come other animal pre-
/ sUn1a bly, one OF the f1esh-eating reptiles,
/ whose bones are found in the same clay
/ beds. L sets ones Imagination hard
/ task 70 picture the conict-such one az
| might take place. for instance. between
! an eIephant and a tizer II the elephant
were eighty feet long ard sixteen feet
I high. and the tiger in proportion
4 more perfect specimen - the skeleton
/ u the Dtplodocus ionEus. an animal Tri~h
I must have been something Ike sixty feet
! in length. HIS headquarters. including
! some forty-fre feet % RS 5ark and ta.l
/ have been found The rey.ebrse show a
/ marvellous combination u iiRhtneSs ard
strength IN their structure. and the peiviE
! shows that powerful muscles we're attac1-
81 ., e. making * clear that this trsuen-
I 5ous tan vas 10 mere ornsnsnt - i-s
! 7veare- su- i was = strong propeile- =
TIRE water ard an ugly weapon on land
/ Both tbs beast and re BToniosaur were
! - banance1 by they long talis t1a' tnsv
/ could rear UP and get the beneft = a.
( most the wrola y their great iesEth Vzsn
/ zad5ax in deep water
+ On xhs5.iIoa is that e Mososs-T O. ga
uzsrs. nearly thir-y-sx fest l5nz- Eaieh
vas found n Kansas. + Is the mssf yer
/ fs-t one tazt has ever been f51nd-