South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-03-09
By w. II. Ballou, d. Sc.

N science or the fossil remains OF many
extinct and monstrous birds and
beasts has resulted IN the announcement
that he wicked disease germs OF to-day
which plague US are 10 be thanked for
Nping them out and giving us the chance
TO I've al all For in the distorted atti-
tudes. the condition OF the bones, the pet
rihed marks OF their dying struggles re-
corded now imperishably in rock that once
was soft mud or sand. medical science has
found plain evidence OF what killed these
creatures FL ms or years ago
And to I.inch the matter. there have
actually been found fossils OF the germs
themselves. some OF them quite 30 900 600
years old-and appearing exactly the same
as Their descendants OF this year 1918.
The maladies which wiped out these
huge and savage forms OF the youth OF
earth were in fact the same maladies that
hnlict It's human creatures now, its middle
age The monsters have gone. DESTROYED
BY the microbe The microbes prepared.
therefore. the path for mans ascent-for
without them these amphibian and later.
Epe-like forms through which he grew
could not have held their own against the
nightmare carnivores such as the dino
ssurs on land. the gigantic lizards OF the
and the flying lizards OF the air.
The microbes helped shove the monsters
into the discard Now they are trying to
do the same thing with man, who has man.
aged 70 sneak around the dangerous cor.
uer, OF nature so far. Man can. with the
aid Of knowledge that never could have
found its place in the brain cavities OF the
monsters. circumVent the germ somewhat.
And in the end. when man has gone the
way OF all other animal species. the germ
will doubt still be striving H. G.
Wells, in an interesting story dealing with
earth's twilight. conceived II as a cold
waste upon which. under a red and dying
sun, moved only hideous crustsceans He
might have looked stu further and drawn
. world on which dwelt only microbes-the
earliest perhaps TO come and the last, GER
tainly. TO go.
There are certain malignant bacllli which
leave their Characteristic mark. like the
burglar upon the safe, on their victims
The police. grown familiar with the pecu-
liar methods OF the criminal. can tell in
an instant whether Il Is Jimmy the Brute"
or -Bin the Bite say, BY the charscteris-
hc way each one has handled chisel or
torch or explosive upon the object OF his
attention. Medical science. the police OF
health. recognize the work OF the tetanus
bacilli. the tuberculosis germ. the virus OF
meningitis and so on in much the sams
way-by the marks they have left on that
broken safe OF life. q corpse or q fossil
which IA only a very. very long dead
corpse or its petrined imprint or remains.
In anaiyzfnS these marks. science has
discovered some extraordinary things In
deed
Among them that a certain enormous
and dangerous carnivore OF the Eocene
age or long before the dawn OF the lowest
form OF ape man. died in hordes OF the
very same disease that afflicted the n
tsted Car NicEolas's son-a softening or
the bones called osteomalacia, that carries
with II a fragility OF the vessels OF the
eirculstory system that brings on hemor-
rhage from the slightest bruise or pune
ture. Il was q form OF this ancient disease
likewise that caused the death OF Anna
Held.
Pyorrhea aiveolaris has been supposed
20 BE a modern disease more or less. This
poisoning that makes 20 many mouths OF
today the abode OF sickness and death.
Yet Professor Roy L. Noodle, OF the De-
psrtment Of Anatomy, College OF Medicine,
University of Illinois, has discovered the
presence OF this disease among the gigan-
etc sea lizards called mosasaurs and plesio-
ssurs-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 vertebrates who
e. fortunate enough 20 collect q number OF
complete skeletons OF extinct animals f.
almost sure 20 be impressed with the IRE
euency OF the peculiar curve TO the back
vardly bent neck and the rigid appearance
OF the limbs, II these members are pre-
served IN anything like the position as
sumed By the animal at death. This atti-
tude OF the skeleton IS very common IN
the petrihed remains OF extinct animals
and Il IS doubtless what Is known 70 medi-
cal men as opisthotonos
"Wnliston. IN describing the fossil re-
mains OF a long-necked plesiosaur from the
eretacsous formation OF Kansas. SAYS:
The specimen comprises the skull and
twenty-eight cervfcal verteorae, all az
taohed with their relative positions but lit
tie disturbed They lie upon the right side