Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1906-04-20
GIANTS OF THE PAST
PREVIOUS AGES SUPPLY US WITH
ENORMOUS FOSSIL BONES.

AMA u VnTNN0
WhoSe she'll Looked Like n uut.
The Remarkable Plated Lizard.
The belief In a race OF giants was
once almost universal. Even today
large skeletons when found are some
times reported rs being those OF giant
human bcings. This was especially
true OF the period abut tho tenth aud
eleventh centuries, and IN tie latter a
most amazing discovery was reported.
which threw the scientific world of the
time into great excitement 1t was said
that the body of pallas, the son Of
Evander. had been discovered beneath
the tomb of the Emperor Henry III.
The bones were enormous aud proved
to have belonged TO a huge fossil ele-
plant. Az late as the fifteenth century
a war Of words was waged over a find
of large bones, one party claiming that
they belonged to the giant T-eutobochus.
In 1857 q giant was discovered in
Switzerland. The council OF Lucorne
requested q learned scientific man. Pro
fcssor Felix Plator of Basel, to report
upon It, and he not only announced the
bones as part of a human giant, but
made n complete restoration, showing
the man twenty feet high. which the
proud city adopted as an ancestor In
tho arms Of the commonwealth. Unfor-
t~unately for the theory and much to the
discontinue OF the people who had
raised to a high pinnacle this mighty
ancestor, it was found to be the re-
mains of an elephant.
Nearly all the mastodon finds were
attributed to giants. but there ia no evil
dence that q human giant ever existed
over eight feet in height, ana It Is OK
tremcly doubtful If this height was
ever attained.
Giants other than human are very
common In all branches Of the animal
klngdom-giants In every sense when
compared TO their pygmy representa-
tlves CT today. Some years ago some
laborcrs In the Seaalik ILLS of India
were engaged upon n government
work when they came upon the re-
mains OF n turtle that proved beyond
question that these animals had their
giants in the days Of OLD. The she'll
which the men exposed might have
been used as a shelter for several men,
and Mt first, before its bony nature
= was observed, 1t was thought by the
natives to be q hut OF some kind. For
: tunatoly the bones were uninjured. and
i they were taken out and removed to
4 tho British museum, where II complete
restoration Of the animal may be seen.
= Tho length of the turtle was ten feet,
:, its horizontal circumference twenty
. five feet and It's girth fifteen feet, but
1t was estimated by scientists that
this was not an adult and that when
fully grown this huge creature would
display a domc-like back eight or nine
feet high. giving a total length of
twenty feet.
= One of the common animals in equa-
torial South America and in Central
America Is the lizard iguana, which
. attnins n length Of four or five feet
= and is considered rather large, but
it was a pygmy when compared to an
u ancestor that once wandered over Eng
land and various portions of the world.
A number Of years ago some working
= men were e%xcOvatlng and blasting in
a quarry near Maidstone, England, when
: some bones were uncovered that caus.
ed profound astonishment on the part
Of the finders. The skeleton was per
feet, and us it was lifted out, bone by
bone. their amnzement Increased, and
% the news was spread all over the coun.
q try, attracting large numbers of PEG.
l. pie. When the bones were placed in
" their proper position they We're found
: to be the skeleton of a gigantic lizard
u that when alive must have been three
II times as bulky as the largest living Gle
" plant and stood upon its hind legs like
" n kangaroo, tearing down branches
D from the highest trees. Such an AMI
e NAL was n slow move and sluggish
IL and must have fallen an easy prey t
Is the human hunters, II they existed.
W The marine giants were even more
le bizarre and remarkable than the lane
s. forms. II we can imagine the littl'
KS iguana heightened out to thirty feet. 1T
IN back spines changed to broad tinlik'
u objects, we form some idea of the p
u pearance of one Of the small dinosaurs
a Stegosaurus ungulatus, one of the mos
uncanny and remarkable creatures eve
~ found. 1t is called the plated lizard
es and the best skeleton was found ON tn,
We eastern flank Of the Rocky mountains
or Some Of the plates with which this ar
ne mored lizard were protected werc tw'
Ill or three feet In diameter and the spine
over two feet in length. From the fac
that the hind limbs were the largest !
is evident that this strange creaturl
could lift itself up and sit like a kan
s. CARGO. resting upon its powerful tai
e. which. with It's enormous spines, mus
- have been a terrible weapon.
by A giant from America had a skull
Of that measured eight feet in length. Al
most over the yes were two larg
d. horns, n third placed over the nose. Tn
IT. great length of the skull was given b.
a huge crest that was protected by
ridge of long plates. The mouth Of tn
&C. tricaratops was protected by a horn.
beak. In life It must have presented
by formidable appearance. with a bod.
nd clumsy and low like that Of n hippo
If pOtamus, n long tail like an a~lligator'i
ng fits head calling 70 mind the rhinocero'
m VIfa ra,ucfa. rvoo ft~onFu-0xfa foot 8