Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1920-07-30
JZEG0 SAZ12DS

of wind from the side would blow it over. 1t is
ridiculous to think that animal hundred feet
long would have legs close together in the mid-
die and have three-quarters Of its length sticking
out in front and behind unsupported in the air.
My idea is that the brontosaurus was reptile.
practically a crocodile with a snake-like neck,
and not mammal, that it carried itself as
crocodile does, that is, crawed on its belly when
On land and did not walk straight legs.
Il think it crawled with its neck drawn back
so as to strike like cobra and most likely had
poisonous fangs. In fact it was big poisonous
lizard, and that it brilliantly colored, like
them, and perhaps discharged poison through its
skin like toad when irritated.
The best weapon to shoot 1t with would be
the magnfed Mauser rifle, such as the Germans
used against tanks, only with an explosive shell
instead of an armor-piercer. If I were younger
should be off after him."
Anyway, the monster is sufficiently real to
have set the scientists dsputing about his posi-
bility, his identity and his looks. They call him
all sorts Of s-brontosaurus, triceratops bro
alosaurus, tylosaurus and so on. One expert
writes to the press:
"The animal in question can not be bromo-
surus, if the illustration in III. G. Wells book,
Outlines of History are correct The illustra-
lions show very different creature from the de-
scriptions in the newspapers Of this one. What
this really appears to be is trceratops, only
that animal has two horns"
Another zoologist heaps scorn on the entire
idea, asserting that while he believes there are
undiscovered animals living in the heart of Africa,
he doubts that dinosaur or any other primeval
beast exists anywhere today. He writes:
"The period In which they lived is incredibly
remote man counts time Their bones are
found in the strata of the Eocene period The
brontosaurus was remarkable for his very small
head and small brain cavity. His whole skull was
no larger than his neck bone. The name means
thunder beast and species was well over fifty
or more"
The evolution of man has been a long process
so long that the biologists and other scientists
prefer to dodge the question Of the millions Of
years involved and reckon In eras, an era being
anywhere from six to AS millions of years. They
call the first era Archeozoc; it is ancient beyond
all knowledge. Then comes the Proterozoic with
its very primitive forms Of water life LASTING az
millions of years. The Paleozoc, with fish am
phibians and land plants, lasted As millions The
Mezozoic, the age of reptiles and amphibians and
Of trees saw the first mammals: it lasted 16 mil
lions of years. The present era the Cenozoic has
seen the rise and development Of the highest or
ders of plants and animals and the appearance of
man its duration to date is put at million years
So that's what we are up against when we
talk Of there being at large in Africa a survivor
of the Age Of Reptiles
anyway, know these reptiles actnal1v
existed because find their fossil remains nrat+v
much all over the world. Why, these fossils are
so thick out in Utah, U. S. A., that we have the
Dinosaur National monument. You see once upon
a time, the waves of an open sea rolled over the
snot where now stands Longs peak ia 255 feetl
"zing of the Rockies" In this sea sported the
marine monster of long ago and on its shores
lived the grotesque creatures of the Age Of Rem
tiles. Then the Rocky Mountains heayed them
selves up and this great inland sea had to run off
into the Arctic ocean and the Gulf Of Mexico and
the Pacific. And then the rains washed down the
mountains and filled up the plains with the
scourings.
Some of the creatures in this inland sea got
mired and their bones are now found petrifed in
a remarkably perfect state of preservation. And
it's no trick for scientist who knows his busi-
ness to reconstruct animal from his bones