Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1903-12-31

struggle. The reindeer desired ice and
snow and the llama was ever in search
of rich pasture land. So the reindeer
trekked to Norway and Sweden and
the llama and the ancient two and
three-toed horse started out for this
continent.
DR.. Ashmead has spent thousands Of
dollars to prove his theory regarding
the original population of America.
One of the points upon which DR.. Ash
mead bases his assertions is the evil
dence that the same diseases existed
in South America that were prevalent
in western Europe. The images found
IN the mummy graves of Peru indicate
skin tuberculosis, which was prevalent
in the Ligurian peninsula of Europe.
On the other hand, he has found no
indications of leprosy, as would be the
case were the movement to this coun-
try from Asia. In this connection he
has been upheld by some of the
learned men in the United States and
abroad. The tiny statues which are
found in the graves of some districts
of South America form a fascinating
study. When a prehistoric man or
woman of that period was buried Il
was the custom to bury with the body
a representation of it when alive.
The disease of which the person died
was indicated clearly, besides other
! tokens, showing the social caste. oc-
cupation and wealth in life. A number
of these potteries indicate that the
disease of wolf cancer, at one time a
scourge of western Europe, was preva-
lent in South America. IF the nose or
mouth of the victim was affected it
was usual IN those days to cut off the
offending member. The images show
the horrible results of such operations.
In all the cases examined there are
no images representing the ravages of
leprosy on the hands and feet. Usually
the hands are represented as being
perfect This, in the opinion of Dr..
Ashmead, destroys the theory of the
race movements from Asia. If Mr..
Berliner succeeds in obtaining the es-
sential fossils and images in and about
Teneriffe DR.. Ashmead will regard his
theory as fairly well complete. The
last remaining vestige' of the arm of
land which in prehistoric days stretch
ed across the ocean is supposed to be
what are now the Canary islands. Led
by their llamas and horses the original
Americans made their way across
what is now the Atlantic ocean and
finally made their home in South
America. This region at that time was
the most favorable in climate, and the
pack animals found good feeding.
Little by little the races became civil
lied or died away, but nearly all left
some token of their occupation.
The red Indian was one of these
tribes, which did not yield so easily
to the civilization of the times and
some branches drifted to the north
ward. Therefore, when Columbus
came he saw people who were de-
scendants Of Europeans, if those of the
stone and ice age can be called such.
DR.. Ashmead realizes that this new
theory will cause much discussion, but
after a five-years' controversy with
Prof Virchow OF Berlin. he rather en-
joys such passages at arms on this
topic. He is confident that the prog
ress of disease indicates a movement
from Europe to America. In 1876 DR..
Ashmead was surgeon in the service
of the Japanese government and then
had an opportunity to study Asiatic
diseases. This experience, he says,
places him in better position to say
that the evidence of disease among the
ancient dwellers of South America
shows first of all that the original
Yankee had no trace of Hindustani in
him.