The chronicle=news., 1913-03-22
two feet deep and half an inch In
Ilumff.rg It,rrnr.s

'Wo 1871 ufrp ana haI an men IN
diameter, Horrors No.
In vain Dr. von Schronk urged
that this experiment had bccn made
hundreds OF times without danins.
TO trees and that by counting tn.
rings shown on tho plug he could
ifarn tho trees nNcrue" rat. OF
growth and thus solve on. OF tn.
great scientific problems o! tho world
The mayor was all humility and sub
missivch.ss. Anything h" possessed
was a' til" disposi,ion OF tn" dis,in-
s'dsh"d United States official. i.u;
touch III" tree h" should not
so pr. Won Schr.nk wax comp.ii-
ed TO content himself with mcasur-
Ing the hole and with taking photo
graphs o: the tree from the roof of
the city hall
Though rcpniscd u; this firs, trial
br Won Srhrenk's ar'ior to b.. the
first 1" ohtnin accurate data by
which To estimate the trees ag. has
been k'nhl"d only the more. lie has
determined that ut the first oppor.
'nno'y he will return to Santa Ma
rin del Tulc for n second attempt.
when he hopes to find u mayor of
more scientific sympathy. lie IL
| tiorary troubles In OnNacn.
Recent dispatches from Mexico
CITY told OF heavy artillery battles in
the vicinity OF the CITY OF Oaxaca. in
which 1000 insurrcct"s led by Zapa-
Ia were routed by federal troops.
TIL" ha,,i" ragged through several VII
lagos near Oasacn. which wcr" sack
cd and destroyed with dynamite.
Santa Maria del Tuic was no,
named In the dispatches. and Il Is
not known whether the ancient cy-
press was endangered by cannon
balls. But all the sanctity In which
II Is held. In view OF the wcli-known II
vandalism OF war. would probably
not prevent shciiiny II II enemies
should shelter about II. or cutting Il
down for kindiing wood II camp
fires ran low.
! Professor hlphonsc de Candollc.
nm illu-irio,is bo,anIst. calculated
that the Santa Maria del Tulc cy-
press might bc 5000 year old. Pro-
fcssor Asa Gray. under one compu-
iiation. estimated that II might bc
'l2i year old and named II the
Ncstor of the cypress race. if not OF
the whole vegetable Kingdom ''
Both these computations would
make ifr Mexican cypress Older by
from 1000 TO 20Oo years than tho
giant scHuoia tree OF California In
the bol~ OF which John Muir. the fa-
nous biologist and nrchaeoiogiat. .
counted more than 1000 rings. The
iscduoias. however. being trees of
more rapid growth. greatly surpass
the cypress In height.
Upon the WHOLE writes Profess
sor GRAY in his Scientific Papers -
we cannot resist the = conclusion
that many trses have far survived
what We are accustomed to consider
their habitual duration: that even in
Europe. where man has 80 often and
extensively changed the face Of the
soil. Il" his wants or capriccs hay /.
dictated. some trees, favored by for
tune. have escaped destruction for
nj least 1000 or 1000 years. while in
other and particularly In some trop-
ical countries. either on account OF
n mora favorable climate or because
they have been moro respected or
haply more neglected by the inhabi-
tants. a few may. with strong prob
ability. he traced back to twice that
period. and. perhaps. almost to thai
opieh which thu monuments of both
history and Of geology seem to indi-
cate as that of the last grca, rcvolu-
tion OF the carth's surface.
after making every reasonable
allowance for errors of observation
and too saneuinc inference. and as
suming. in the more extraordinary
cases, those estimates which give
minimum results. we must still re-
/ -
,ch oldest inhabitants of the globe,
but MS more ancient than any human
mon,i!ront--as exhibiting n living
antiquity compared with which the
moldering relies of the earliest Egyp
tian civilization. the pyramids them
selves. are bus structures of yestcr-
day"