The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-08-14
Nature as q Faker.

He came uD smilin'-good for him!
New York Times.
Nature as q Faker.
On the so-called Table Mounds of
| Iowa are numerous impressions Of
| what look exactly like cloven feet. 1t
is not surprising that superstitious
| people should attribute them to the
devil. taking his walks abroad
| though, as a matter of fact, they are
not footprints of any kind whatsoever.
but merely weather-worn impressions
left by a species of mollusk-like ami
| NAL known to science as pentamerus.
| To the Smithsonian Institution not
| long ago somebody sent from the Bad
Lands of Nebraska what purported to
be a fossil ham. 1t did in very truth
look like a ham. and, to render the
| verisimilitude complete, the bone was
actually sticking out at one end of it.
Nevertheless, an investigation showed
that the alleged bone was in reality a
| "vaculite"-an extinct mollusk's shell,
rodlike in form-and the rest of the
| ham" was a mere accidental agglom-
Grafton of stony stuff.
One day, quite recently, a young
man walked into the national museum
at Washington and presented to the
anthropologist in charge a petrified
foot. 1t was received with many
p, thanks, though recognized at glance
| as a water-worn fragment of rock
| which had accidentally assumed a
| shape resembling foot.
Such chance limitations as these fire.
Quently accur in nature. Another one,
! deposited in the same institution, was
/, supposed by the finder to be a petri-
fed oyster. 1t looks as if on the half
shell; all its parts are wonderfully dis
tinct, and there is even a small pearl
in it seemingly. Yet it is not an osyter
at all.
Many years ago the Cocoon" was
| introduced as fossil to a wondering
| world by Sir William Dawson, an emil
nent geologist. 1t was accepted by
science for quite a while as the earliest
and oldest of known animals-the
dawn animal" as it's name signifies.
| Recent scientific investigation, how
ever, has proved that it is not, and
never was. an animal at all. 1t is
| ton of two minerals which has the
look of something that once upon a
time was alive.
1t has recently been proved that
many markings on sedimentary rocks,
long supposed to be fossil prints of
algae and other plants, are, in reality,
tracks left by insects, mollusks. and
worms. Some of these alleged plants
had actually received names and been
classified into genera and species
But it has been sufficiently shown
that markings exactly similar can be
produced by allowing such animals as
those above mentioned to creep across
surface Of moist plaster or wet clay
counterfeiting rock in a plastic and
not-yet-hardened condition, and one
noted as fossil. has in this way been
| satisfactorily identified with the trail
of the larva of the dragon f1y.-Satur-
day Evening Post.
Unusual Fresh-air Cure.
, One of the most modern cures for
, burns has just proved successful in the
cas- eof Mrs: Mary Reaso. who was
discharged from the Garretson hospit-
, al yesterday, where she had lain for
, forty days. When admitted to the
hospital almost every inch of skin and
, some of the flesh had been scorched
from her body.
was in the hospital she was not ban
daged in any way, nor did she suffer
i. any pain or itch incident to the grow
: ing of new tissue. She received a
: treatment of picric acid, prepared tai
cum powder and fresh air. The latter
was kept continuously flowing over
her body.
! The doctor and the nurses who &C
: complished the cure refused to give
their names, but it was learned that
DIR. Russell, who is a very young man,
accomplished the results. One of the
physicians of the hospital said last
night:
forty days ago with the skin and some
,, of the tissue of her body burned away
She had what are technically known
as third degree burns. She had been
doing homework, and her clothing
became ignited. Her case was given
up as hopeless, but it was considered
a good time to try this fresh-air cure
"It was tried, but no. one expected
it to succeed. The woman's muscles
and moving tendons were visible to
the naked eye. The picric acid, which
, is used in tanning leather, was ap-
piled daily, and then followed coat
: ing of prepared powder. No bandage
or covering touched the woman at any
t time She was fed by two nurses
who watched her daily. To our sur
prise, she began to recover, and to-
; day she left the hospital without as
I sistance. cured.
"She looks as if she were badly sun
burned. 1t is often held that person
] with half or third Of the skin burned
awav will not recover, but this case
: has somewhat upset the regular
course of events. "-Philadelphis
!, North American.
: Lightning Struck His Watch.
n Lightning played strange joke or
IT IT Palmer, of Kenwood Springs. to-
y day. Palmer was sitting at table
' with a friend. when there was heav,
: clan of thunder and a binding fash
He saw the crpola of the church
S across the street totter and fail.
: A streak of fire ieaped through th'
I door and shot across the table. Tit
: friend fell backward and was dazed
, when he came to Palmer was laugh
1 | ing at him ut never touched me,
he said
j Later he had occasion to look at hi
rratch II WAS 1olden-hued no longer