New-York tribune., 1902-12-21

de-
posits in Wyoming that have been reported since
the days of Professor o. C Marsh. Mr. wieland
returned TO Yale few weeks ago. after a five
months stay in Wyoming, Dakota and Mon
tana and brought hack with him a considerable
collection of mammoth prehistoric North Ameri-
can turtles, besides valuable collection of fos-
sl plants which he found in the eocene beds
Of those regions and which add their proof to
the theory that at one time all the northern
part of the United States was tropical in eli
mate and bore most luxurious tropical plant
life The discoveries of DR.. Workman are re-
garded of great scientific value as he found
additional remains of fossil North American
monkeys
In a paper which DR.. Workman is soon to
publish in The American Journal of Sci
ence" his fossil monkey will be fully de-
scribed. Yale scientists who have seen the
specimens which he brought back with him from
wyoming say without reserve that DR. Wort
mans discovery is to be ranked with the most
important archaeological finds of recent years
Dr. Wortman's collaborators in palaontologi-
cal work at Yale say that his work and the de-
ductions he has been led 10 draw from il will
prove the beginnings of entirely new under
standing of the origin and distribution of man.
malta the earth. While DR.. Workman is
TO announce this discovery and the theory he
has drawn from it to the scientific world short
ly, this is the first announcement that he has
permitted TO be made Of it in the public press.
The generally accepted position of biologists
and biologists at the present day as the
origin of animal life on the earth is that its be
ginnings are be looked for in the present
tropical zones: that the North American fauna
branched out from the Old World fauna by
migration from their ancestral home, and that
man originated somewhere in the dense tropi-
cal regions of the Old World. Java probably.
It is not too much to say that if the long
series Of Investigations devoted to this sub
Ject by DR.. Workman prove to be true, these
hypotheses of the scientists will have 10 be
sremodened to large extent. From the monkey
fossil remains discovered by Leidy and Marsh
some twenty odd years ago. and from the new
and conclusive discovery made by DR.. Workman
this summer, entirely new and much more
logical theory is deduced
The theory Of a boreal origin of the apes.
monkeys and lenurs, and, in fact of the great
majority of the mammalia. supported as it is
by the facts in the possession of DR.. Workman,
and collected TO a considerable degree by his
own hands is likely. when il is launched. to
create a stir in the scientific world. Il expect.
of course, great opposition TO this new view at
first said DR.. Workman to-day. but l am
sure of my ground, and have abundant and in
controvertible evidence in these fossil remains
prove it"
scientist to take this advanced position are
those Of the eocene monkey, found in rock bed
in the Bridger Basin OF Wyoming Not larger
than a common house cat, this fossil skull is /
In almost a complete state of preservation not |
Rithstanding its burial in Wyoming rock for |
perhaps a million years. Dr. Workman says /,
regarding this conclusion:
If my deductions from this new evidence are |
correct two things are evident First, that the |
present South American monkey did not mi |
CRATE from any Old World locality, and is not |
the descendant of any Old World species. as is |
now commonly believed. Instead, he is the dl- |
rect descendant of the prehistoric monkeys |
whose fossil remains have from time to time
been unearthed in Wyoming. and the final rem
nant of which found this summer. From that
fact il must OF necessity be believed that mi
grafton southwark from the polar regions
across the United States to South America took
place among the monkeys as among other forms
Of animal and vegetable life, excepting, OF
course, such species as became extinct on the
way. 1t must also be accepted that at the time
the increasing cold in the north forced the
monkeys into South America, where they are
only TO be found, a bridge of forests con-
nected North and South America If this is
true, and this evidence says II Is, tnen the
geology Of this continent Will have to be re-
nised, geology now has it that. during the
time Of this migration. North and South Amer
lea were divided by an ocean. AS monkeys do
not swim, geology, in the light Of this new evi-
dence viii have 10 revise some of its teachings |
as TO the formation and history of the Ameri-
can continents. I believe that this will be done. |
and that future investigations in the Mexican
SNCAS7S /
wrong in this respect.
Secondly. if the logical deductiors from these
fossil remains in Wyoming, not alone Of mon
keys, but Of other faunse, correct
urely new theory will have to be constructed re-
earding the origin of certain forms of life on
this planet. l have come to the conclusion, based
on the evidence given by these and other fossil
remains, that the origin OF ape fauna and the
greater part of the mammals of this continent |
was in the north. and that the apes of the Old
and the New World had common origin in
circumpolar region. which at that time had
tropical climate This is also true, of course. |
Of the flora. We have sufficient data IN fossil
plants to assure ourselves that plant life also
originated in this region |
The discovery by Leidy Marsh and myself of
FOSSIL monkeys in deposits of the Eocene pellou
nin Wyoming will probably help to solve queS-
gard to origin and distribution of faune on
the earth. From what source, tor instance
spreng the South American apes? They are
different from the apes of the Old World D1d
they originate in the Old World ana deScsild
rom Old World monkeys, as some scientists ne
IeVe? Or did they migrate northward from .s uns
South Pole? The stumbling block to the bele1
in the descent Of the South American monkeys
from those of the Old World has been the great
oinerence in structure between the Two Two IN hn
South American monkeys are smaller IMAM
those in the Old World; they have an aodiuohd!
molar tooth in each jaw; their nostrlls are SEE
Wider apart and open laterally, Whle mos eho or
The Old World monkeys are closer toset
and open obliouely: they have no cheek loucnes' |
and their tails generally long ana prehsnsIi,e;
which is rarely, IL ever. found IN tne oIo "olin @
species. To believe that these dlIeIehcea "a
be traced back TO the comparatively recent MI
grafton from the Old World that is geoloS 10y 10y
necessary is difficult The fact tnat fossil s ii M
Keys have now been found IN wyoming III !"
deposit of tropical nature, and Whlch CORE |
spond in every particular, not 10 the iei.Iuds t -
the Old World. but 10 the monkeys a. ~ @ a.
lnhabiting South America, makes tli9 o. .ha
possible hvpothesis The evidence Is uide - |
South American monkeys instead OF oescehulns ,
rom Old World apes. have d I., Ierl found in |