Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-12-08
BY W. H. BaIiou, D. Sc.

~ ECEET careful study by medical
* science OF the fossil remains Of many
extinct and monstrous birds and
beasts has resulted In the announce1,e
that The wicked disease germs of todav
which plague US ara to be thanked for
wiping them OUT and giving US the chance
to live at all. For in the distorted stti-
tudes. the condition OF the bones, the pet
riheo MARKS OF their dying struggles re-
corded now imperishably in rock that once
was soft mud or sand medica, science has
found plain evidence Of what killed these
Creatures millions OF years ago
And to clinch the matter there have
actually been found fossils OF the -e-ns
themselves, some of them quite 80 0oC 900
years old--and appearing exactls the sar,e
as their descendants of this year 1915.
The maladies which wiped out these
huge and savage forms OF the vop,n Of
earth were in fact the same maladie. that
aHhct It's human creatures now. It's middle
age Tho monsters have gone. DESTROYED
by the microbe. The microbes preaa-ed.
therefore, the path for mans ascen,-for
without them these amphibian and later
spe-like forms through which he grew,
could not have held their own against Tho
nightmare carnivores such as the dino.
saurs on land the gigantic lizards of the
eea and the flying lizards Of the air.
Ihe microbes helped shove the monsters
into the discard. Now they are irving "a
DO the same thing with man, who HIS man.
aged TO sneak around the dangerous co.,
ners OF nature so far. Nan can. with tho
aid ~ l1,o
iouna us place IN the brain cavities OF the
monsters. circumvent the germ somewhat
Ana IN the end. when man has gone the
way or all other animal species. the germ
VIII no doubt still be striving. Fl. G
wells In an interesting story dealing with
eaTth's twilight. conceived 1t as cold
waste upon which, under red and diving
sun. moved only hideous c-astacears. He
might have looked still further and drawn
q world on which dwell, only microbes-ibe
earliest perhaps 10 come and the last cor.
tainly. to 60.
There are certain maligna Mt hpcilH which
lea'e their characteristic mark like the
pursiar upon the safe on their victims.
The police, grown familiar with the pecu.
liar methods OF the criminal, can teu In
an instant ghether 1t is Jimmy the Brute"
or Bill the Bite" say. by tha characteris
tic way each one has handled chisel or
loren or explosive upon the object OF his
attention Medical science. the police or
health, recognize the worl; of the tetanus
bactlli the tuberculosis germ the y;rue Of
meningitis and so ON in much tho same
wav-hv the marks they have left Oh that
broken safe of life. corpse or a fossil.
"h'ch is only very, very long dead
corns" or its petrifed imprint or remains.
:. In analyzing these marks, science has
discovered some extraordinary things in
deed. "
Among them that certain enormous
and dangerous carnivore of the Eocane
age, or long before the dawn Of the lowest
form o! ape man. died In hordcs Of Tho
very same disease that afflicted the in.
fated Car Nicholas's soma sof;oninp of
the bones called ostcomalacia. that csrr,es
with 1t frarilty OF the vessels o. the
circuiatory '"stcm that brings on hemor-
Thage from theAligntest bruise or pune.
ture. 1t was "a I'M OF this ancient disease
likewise that caused the death o. Anna
Held
PHorrhea alveolaris has been supposed
to he modern disease more or less. This
is the shrinking. OF the gums and the nus
poisoning that makes so many mouths of
TO-DAY the abode OF sickness and desth.
Ell PROFESSOR Roy l.. Noodle Cf the De-
partment OF Anatomy, College OF Medicine,
University Of Illinois. has discovered the
presence OF this disease among the ,.igan.
tic sea lizards called mosasaurs and rles io.
saurs-monsters greater than any sea ser.
pent OF legend-and even on the turtles OF
the cretaceous period
Professor Noodle. lecturing upon The
subject recently. said:
Every student OF fossil vertchra,es who
Is fortunate enough TO collect nrml o. OF
complete skeletons OF extinct animals. Is
almost sure to be impressed with the fire.
=uency OF to- peculiar cnrve to the back
wardly bent neck and the rigid appea nee
served in enytl'a,g like the posi,io, as.
sumed by the animal at death. This stt,
fude OF the skeleton is very common in
the petrified remains OF extinct animals
and II is doubtless what is known 10 rredi
cal men as ogisthotonos
"Willistcu. In describing tho fossil re.
mains Of long neckcd ples.osarr from the
cretaceons formation OF Kansas, SAYS:
THE specimen comprises the skull and
,twenty-eight ceryical vertcbrao, al nj.
,tached with their relative positions hut lit.
tie disturbed. They lie upon the RICH; side,