Omaha daily bee., 1899-04-09

vanced some rather startling conclusions.
According TO scores of comparative meas
uTements, Prof Marsh found that the aver
age 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 to the westward While the
white race has been dominant in war, in
art, in literature and in commerce, the mon
go,s Of Japan have been slowly building
brain tissue, the results of which are al
ready becoming apparent. Tomorrow,
prophesied Prof. Marsh, they may be in the
van of civilization
Prof. Marsh was impatient with the sci
ence that collects few facts and then leaps
into print with unconsidered theories ana
underdone conclusions.
SmOte the Cnrdif Giant.
1t was Prof Marsh who exposed the
famous Cardiff giant. In October, 1869,
farmer named Newell living near Cardiff,
n. Y, twelve miles south of Syracuse, was
digging a we'll, when he Unexpectedly un-
earthed a stone giant ten feet long, with
body, head and limbs in perfect proportion.
1t was at once proclaimed as the remains of
a prehistoric man, and numbers of scientists
made pigrmages of examination and re-
corded their belief in its very great value
as a scientific discovery. Even the state
geologst of New York became greatly in
terested in the giant and endeayored to have
it sent to the state museum at Albany But
it was finally placed on exhibition at Syra-
cuse, where it soon became an attraction
almost equal to a circus. Special trains
were run from the surrounding country 70
accommodate the people who wished to
it, 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 ex-
animation 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
a block of gypsum, similar to that found in
many parts Of New York, and a close in
specton revealed the presence of human
workmanship
"As gypsum Is soluble in about 400 parts
of wate.," he wrote, "a very short exposure
would suffice to obliterate all traces of tool
marks and also to roughen the surfaces"
Prof. Marsh's letter was published in
Buffalo newspaper. The account of how
the stone man was made had the effect of
stimulating the manufacture of giants anc,
to the establishment of every one half a
dozen Cardiff giants were being exhibited
around the country within a year. Re
Gently the practical joker who made the
giant told the story OF his deception for
the first time.
! 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 was from
| eighteen to twenty inches long, about
| eight inches wide. having the exact shape
| OF mOccasned human foot There were
/ regular right and left tracks with a dis
/ tance between them of from eighteen to
nineteen inches. They were at once pro-
! claimed as the remaining evidences of T.
race of giants which once inhabited the
/ Pacific coast, and the undoubted authen-
! ticity of the impressions on the stone In
! dueed not few men OF scientific preten-
sions 10 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
| emy of Sciences with which he presented a
! carefully drawn picture of the huge skele-
! ton foot of an extinct sloth found in the
same general region ana in the same geo,
! logical horizon. A comparison of this with
/ the outline Of the footprints showed con-