Richmond daily register. (Richmond, Madison County, Ky.) 1917-1978, 1921-02-15
fossil SEARCH
NEEDS EXPERTS
Scientific Expeditions Made Up
of Men Who Are Trained
Geolagjstx
AMATEUR RUINS SKELETONS
American Museum Huntstek Arr Under
Direction os Curator af Fossil
Northumberland L. asrl.
dig Work.

direction O. Curator a. Fossil
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. L. asrl-
dig WerIs
Washin ston.-The expedition OF ths
American Museum which. for several
months has been searching for the
skeletons Of ancient animals in a sand
stone quarry at. Agate. Neb.. has dis
covered many bones Of the little rhinoc-
eros. The deposits. containing these
bones have been cut into blocks which
will be shipped to- the Enuseum. where
the bones viii be placed on exhibition.
The little rhinoceros. or dIcerather-
fun, as he Is scientifically called, was
| about the size of a half grown calf
and roamed at large during the milo
Gene period. He had two horns side
| by side in front of. the skull Instead
| of one or of one behind the other. The
| expedition has been working under the
| direction of DIR. William D. Matthew.
| curator of fossil vertebrateS at the
| museum.
Few persons have any idea of the
vast amount of care and work that a
| large scientific institution takes in
planning and preparing for an expedi-
ton which seeks the remains of these
| ancient beasts in the hope that they
| will shed additional light on the dim
and distant evolutionary periods of an
early world. They have various ohiec-
| tivcs in view. Sometimes they are
| planned to fill in gap Of scientific
| knowledge.
Must Know MANY 1hynos
1t may he desirable TO know what,
| animals inha hited a particular region
which has remained UNEMPLOYED. or -
! find ont what kind Of animals lived in
particular geological epoch. or to
| trace the ancestry Of. same species of
| animals back to geological times. A
| scientist sci ting out on such an eNpee'-
| ton must have as a preliminary Il
! general knowledge ut geology. and Of
! the geology of the region which he
| Is to explore. He must he acquainted
| with the areas where the formations
| Of the geological period he ia TO visit
i are to he. found. He. needs TO have
| many records, of fossils that have been
| discovered In the past. Scientific in>ti-
| tutions- have many observations. of the
| occurrence Of fossils in regions In
| which they are Interested.
| One of the most remarkable fossil
birds ever discovered was brought To
| light three years ago in the Big Horn
| basin in an area which hadf been. thor.
| oughly explored by fossil hunters since
!! 1891, and vet practically no trace of
this great bird know as the diatryna
had been found there.
/ American museum explorers have
| gone over many old stamping grounds
which had been searched again and
| again, and have discovered something
new.
| 1t Is important that. such kind Of
prospecting and mining be done by
! trained men. An inexperienced man
| who undertakes to reuh1ye. such skele-
| tons IS pretty sure to- ruin them and
| the chances are that he Vsill> render
them entirely worthless
| To beeomeca successful collector 1t Is
| Of collecting, as It. IS q praeticsl field
knowledge OF formations. The collector
| must have a trained judgment Ia. order
| to know. what. prosnects are: worth in-
vestigating, and how best to 60 about
1t. 1t is for this reason. that the Amerl-.
| can Museum and other Institutions
have had to decline offers of voluntary
| assistance. on expeditions.
Four Men Go Ts1ethsr.
Generally speaking, q collecting ex-
| petition, DIR. Matthew said. consists
/ of from two to four men. 1t is, not con-
sidered good for a man to. be alone
| and take risks. It does not pay to have
more than four meh, otherwise they
Expeditions are usually organized mt
! a town or railroad point where equip
mcnt may he shipped to them.
In prospecting for fossils each mem
| her Of the expedition usually sets out
| in different direction in the morning.
He takes with him his lunch and q
canteen OF water, and explores as
much ground as he can before night.
fall. He is intent on finding what ap-
pears to him a good prospect on which
to begin work.
The instructions always issued to
such expeditions are not to take risks.
Yet the collector In his zeal and en-
I, thusiasm for his work would scarcely
i items TO the letter, and he frequently
takes risks Of many kinds. In such
| expeditions. OF the museum 1t is not re-
| called that any of their men have been
! dangerously injurs& They have had.
to be sure, attacks. Of mountain sick
4 ness which IS sort Of fever.
Looking for fossils is 4 serious work.
1 The prospecting must be carefully
done II big skslstsD IL to be- re-
1 moved good deal Of digging h re.
/ CURED, and this must be don<s with
\ extreme care. Sometimes it is, aeces-
/ sary to blast ledge. The work Of
prospecting a specimen" is anything
l but easy. Big specimens must be re-
\ moved in several blocks, and great
4 care must be used in handling them
! und In preparing them for transit AZ
\ they frequently must travail frnm =.