The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-02-13

his collection of many thousand speci-
mems of geological and prehistoric inter-
est as soon as the society secured quar-
tiers in the new capitol building.
Secretary Upham in his paper said in
part:
Mankind, constituting a single genius,
of only one species, is yetsvariant in four
chief races, the Caucasian, or white; the
Ethiopic, or black; the Mongolia, or yell
low, and thes3American, or red race:
Among all the high orders OF animate
nature, man is the most fully cosmopol-
itan. He dwells in every habitable part
of the EARTH and under every climate,
from the burning heat of the tropics to
the severe cold ofsfpoaT regions Only
the ice-covered Antarctic continent, the.
similarly ice-enyeloped interior of Green
land and other barren and frozen lands
farther north remain uncolonized by
mankind
But the birthplace of our species was
undoubtedly somewhere in the warm
old world, as we call 1t In distinction from
the new world which Columbus found.
In the rock formations of the old world
belonging to the late geologic ages termed
Tertiary, fossil remains Of anthropoid
apes are found, but none are known in
the rocks of our Western continent.
either in North or South America. Not
only are these fossil traces or hints of
site side of the globe, but also there
several anthropoid genera survive to the
present time, as the gorilla, the Chin
panzee, and the orang-outang, each rep
resented by single species If we call
the black and thel yellow and the red
men our brethren, then. on a similar scale
of expression these anthropoid species
are related to us somewhat like fifth or
tenth cousins. They are our other near
est animal kin. The great tropical regions
of the old world, therefore, where they
still live, and where their and our back
wardly convergents lines of ancestry are
made known, though very fragmentarily,
by the testimony of the rocks, must be
regarded as the source Of our new cos
mopolitan human species.
The aboriginal American peoples seem
to most students worthy of classifica-
be admitted that they are most nearly
allied with the Mongoloid, or yellow race.
In respect to these definite terms of color,
we should remark as is we'll known to
compilations, tinged in Asia more or less
with yellow, and in America with
reddish, or coppery hue. The American
race, in all its diversity, from the Eski-
mos and our savage Indians to the half
civilized ancient AZtecs and Peruyians.
and to the almost gigantic but squalid
Patagonians and the fNuegians, has, be-
meath the tribal variations much resem-
blance In form and features, and in the
general structure and spirit, if l may so
call 1t. of the many and diverse lam
guages.
1t is impossible to define closely the
date of mans coming into America; but
it is known to have preceded the end of
the Glacial period. In the late glacial
gravel deposits Of the Delaware valley,
at Trenton, n j.. under a beach ridge
Of the glacial lake 1roquois, in Western
New York; in late glacial valley depos-
It's of Ohio, in a similar flood plain of the
Mississippi at Little Falls, Mimi, and
IL beach ridge of the glacial lake
Agassiz in Northwestern Manitoba
biologists have found traces of man.
presence during the closing scenes of the
Ice age.
How long ago that was, as measured
approximately in years, we learn from
the time required for. erosion of the Mis-
sissippi river gorge between Fort SHELL
ing and Minneapolis; from computations
of Prof G.. F. Wright based on stream
erosion in Ohio; from estimates of the
age of Niagara falls by c. K Gilbert the
present writer, and others; and from nu-
merous additional computations and es-
Inmates, independent of each other, which
have been made by biologists in both
estimates for the duration of the post
glacial period since the ice-sheets melted
away is mainly between 5000 and 0OOO
years. The ice on this continent was
probably forming its late marginal
moraines, prominent In belts of drift
hills in Wisconsin and Minnesota, about
10000 years ago; its waning border re-
and gorge probably 1890 or 5000 years
ago; Lake Agassiz, formed in the broad
valley of the Red River. of the North
and of Lake Winnipeg by the barrier of
the departing ice, existed probably about
5000 years ago: and the last glaciation of
parts of British America may have
terminated only half so long ago.