New-York tribune., 1922-08-18
Fossils i'm Cobb
Desert Evidence
OF Eden i'm Asia
DR.. Osborn, of Natural His
tory Museum, Says Discov-
cry of AndrewsE Expedition
Points to Origin of Life
Bones of Dinosaur Found
Scientists VIII Conduct Fur
ther Investigations i'm
Mongolia for Four Years

The discovery of great deposits of
bones of prehistoric reptiles and NAM
mails in the Cobb Desert by the expedi-
tion Of the American Museum of Nat
ural History, led by Roy Chapman An
drews, is regarded by DR.. Henry Fair
field Osborn, director of the museum,
as confirming the hypothesis he had
constructed prior to the discovery Of
such remains in Asia, that Asia was the
original Garden of Eden which peopled
the animal kingdom.
The fossilized proof of DR.. Osborn's
theory was discovered last May. DR..
Osborn said yesterday that he intended
to sail for Peking September Is. That
city is to be the winter headquarters of
the expedition, which is to remain in
Mongolia for four years more. Dr. os-
born expects to get much additional in
formation from the first-hand reports
he will receive there.
He has an article in the current
issue of ASIA" magazine which CO.
operated with the museum in organiz-
ing the expedition, In which he tells
OF the Importance of the discovery
made by Mr.. Andrews and his COM
panions.
1t Is twenty-five years, it is pointed
out by The Associated Press in an ar
ticle dealing with the subject, since
Dr.. Osborn deduced from the discov-
cry OF the. remains Of primitive crea-
lures Of. similar structure in the
Rocky Mountains and in Europe that
ASIA was the center from which they
spread eastward almost to the great
plains of America, and westward
through Europe.
Life Originated in Mongolia
The charts he drew up then 20 show
the line of argument he followed in
his reasoning point to the Monpol;an
regions as the probable nucleus of ami
NAL life in the world. Previous ex-
petitions made by Mr.. Andrews and
other explorers in Mongolia and Tibet
failed to reveal evidenve to support
the theory
Last May, however, midway between
the borders of Mongolia, between Urga
and Kalgan, Walter Granger. Charles
r. Berkey and Frederick Morris, geoIo-
gists and raleontologists; came upon
the first fossil remains of the dinosaur
to come to light in Asia. Further pros
pectlng revealed rich deposits of bones
dating from late reptilian and early
mammalian times.
The dinosaurs, strikingly similar to
those whose remains were found in
America and Europe, belong to the up-
per cretaceous period, and superif1-
posed upon their fossilized bones are
those of primitive mammals of the
Eocene Period. In strata above these
were found fossils Of the Lower Mio-
Gene Period and the remains of a huge
mammal, unknown in Europe and
Americas, some of whose bones have
been found in Baluchistan, in south
west India.
Dinosaur in Cobb Desert
Two kinds of carnivorous dinosaur
and a smaller one known as the ostrich
dinosaur, the geoiogists found, had left
their bones in the Cobb Desert just as
their remote relatives had left theirs
in the Wyoming mountains and in Eu-
rope. Fossil remains Of the rhinoceros,
mighty tortoises, croSodiles and carni-
vorae, were found also in large guam
titles.
"This discovery" DR.. Osborn writes
in asia" !" "gives the answer to one Of
the four great questions which the
expedition sought to solve: namelys
ancient Asia is the mother Of
the life of Europe to the far West and
of North America to the far East. It
is kind of realization Of paleonto-
logic Garden of Eden--of the birth
place or Asiatic homeland from which
many kinds Of reptiles and mammals
spread westward and eastward.
"The existence of such center has
long been matter Of mere theory. We
have waited until 1922 to verify it,
This verification has come with unex-
pected snddenness and with a com
pleteness beyond our fondest hopes, and
there still remain four years in which
man Andrews will fill out the Details"