The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-01-27
THE UNIVERSITY HAS.
4 NUMBER OF
RELICS
Of Rare Specimens of the Ami
NAL World in It's
Museum.
ONE IS 10000 YEARS OLD
The Higate MastOdOn is the One Cur.
iosity That Attracts the Most
Attention.
1T WAS BROUGHT FROM CANADA

1T WAS BROUGHT FROM CANADA
An Evening Times RepOrter's Intcrest-
ing observations mt the states
Seat Of Learning.
People who visit Grand Forks
should take trip to the University
museum, which occupies the third
floor of Science Hall, at the Univer-
sity. They will see there many things
OF interest. There is the musk OK
presented by the Hudson's Bay Com
pany, the brown bear, which is about
feet in height. Then there are the
different makes of firearms, the In
dian relics and almost countless va
riety of foreign coins. The John P.
Bray collection, sent from Melbourne,
Australia, contains kangaroo with
young one in its pouch, an ant-eater,
great flying squirrel the size of an
ordinary cat, a Tyre bird, wombat
which resembles the American beaver,
fairy pinquin, a funeral cockatoo,
and various other animals which can
not be foundrin any other country but
Australia. There is also number of
mounted foxes, badgers, Canada beav-
ers, white owls, cranes, swans, and
almost a complete collection of North
Dakota birds. There are hundreds of
different kinds OF birds eggs here, and
many fossils and other geological
specimens. Among the South Ameri-
q 10 ha oI@
resembles monkey. This animal
lives mostly in the trees, and travels
along the branches with it's back
downward. Not long ago a fox bat
was brought here from Ceylon, Asia.
It measures feet across the wings.
There are also several species of the
American deer
Among the variety of fishes are a
Columbia River salmon about 81 feet
long and 1 foot wide, while sturgeon
feet long, and halibut which is
about feet long and IL feet wide.
This is the fish which cary in it's ca
reer found it easier to lie on the side
than on its stomach, and as a result
both eyes gradually moved over to
the side of the head which was turned
upward. Hence the law of accommo-
dalton.
1t would be impossible to mention
here all the different specimens and
curiosities which the museum con-
tains 1t has great number of lob
sters, shells, and beautiful corals, and
also living alligator But the most
valuable of all is the skeleton of the
Highgate mastodon, which was
brought here a few years ago.
The maStOdOn no longer exists. He
is, however, represented today by the
elephants of the tropical regions of
Asia and Africa We wonder at the
size of these animals, but when COM
pared with the gigantic proportions of
the mastodon, elephants become mere
pigmfes. In America the mastodon
has been found in the deposits of the
Pleistocene age, which is computed,
by most biologists, to have been about
10000 years ago. They have been
found from ocean to ocean as far
south as Mexico, and as far north as
the 70 degrees north latitude.
The specimen which is now at the
University museum was found on a
farm near the village of Highgate, On
tario, about 100 miles west of Toron-
to-. 1t is known as the Highgate mas
todon, and was unearthed in the sum-
mer of 1886. The bones do not seem
to have been affected much by the
thousands of years during which they
have been entombed. They were en-
bedded in q gray mare about six feet
below the surface; over this was a
aver of black loamy soil.
The following are the measurements
of some of the bones: Eight teeth,
Sx3 inches; tusks, 9 feet 8 inches, q
portion broken off that would likely
make it fully 13 feet long. 1t is 26h
inches in circumference at the thick
est part width OF under jaw is 24k
inches. The atlas bone. situated
where the head and neck connect, is
171s inches wide The longest rib,
55k inches, with circumference of
10 inches. The passage for the
spinal cord Is inches in diameter.
The large bone of the fore-leg is 40
inches long, and 80 in circumference.
The pelvis is 40 inches wide; third
Joint in the tail, 1917 inches. The
bones of the tongue are IL inches
long and 91a inches between them.
If this skeleton were mounted it
would be 1871 feet high and 10 feet
long. One can scarcely picture to
oneself the gigantic proportions which
such an animal would assume when
clothed in its proper amount of flesh.
The largest specimen of it's kind
which has yet been found is the New
burgh mastOdOn, mounted in the mu-
scum of Boston. But it Is only IL
feet high and II feet long. The High
gate mastodon has not, as yet, been
mounted. To do this would require
a room about Is feet high and 80 feet
long. This Is not to be found at the
University. When due provision has
been made by the legislature, the Uni
versity will be able to exhibit the
skeleton of a primeval monster, the
equal Of which has not yet been found.
And people will come from far and
near to see it.
The University is indebted to DR..
Grassick, formerly of Buxton, for pro-
curing this rare specimen of antiquity.
The bones, after being unearthed,
were sold to a show company for
$4,000. After being exhibited in diff
ferent parts of the country, they final
ly landed in st. Paul and were there
held for freight charges, by the Great
Northern railway company. For
nominal sum DR.. Grassick procured
for the University this valuable col
lection.
Joint Meetinp. III a.
A Joint meeting of the Adelphi and,
the A. ID. Il. societies was held in
chapel last evening. Its purpose was
to discuss the action of the faculty
upon the Gansl debate. B,
Some years ago Mr.. Gansl, OF this