Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1922-09-09
MISSING LINK IN EVOLUTION
OF MANKIND is DISCOVERED
Proof of Theory That Asia
Was ''Mother of CONT
nents" and Cradle of Life
of World Is Found

| IlSII1o S<iiSH ~ S~NH'S -'' -
of World Is Found
NEW YORK.-By the Asso
ciated Press.)-Proof of the pale
ontologist's pet theory that Asia
was the mother Of continents" and
| the cradle of life on this globe
carrying with it great promise OF
| the discovery in the Awastes Of the
| Cobb desert of the long-sought miss
ling link" in the evolution of man
kind-has been found by the third
Asiatic expedition led by Roy Chap
man Andrews for the American MI
scum of Natural History, Henry
Fairfield Osborn, the museums di'
rector, announced today.
The proof" to the uninitiate,
would appear to be just a heap Of
fossilized bones. dug up by a band
of curious men in the frozen waste
lands of Mongolia. But to the mind
trained in grouping back through
| hundreds of thousands Of years for
history of the days when man was
not, these fossilized remains Of din
osaurS and other prehistoric beasts
and reptiles furnish a conclusion
simple and inevitable as two times
two"
The discoveries, barely limited at
in cable dispatches, are fully report
ed and interpreted by DIR. Osborn
original prepayment Of the Asia,
mother of continents" hypothesis
in the current issue Of the magazine,
Asia. The magazine co-operated
with the museum and the Ameri-
can Asiatic association in organic
ing this most ambitious Of all SINH
lar expeditions, toward the financ-
ing OF which liberal contributions
were made by J. P. Morgan, John
D. Rockefeller, Jr., Mrs. Willard D.
Straight, George F. Baker, Darwin
P. Kingsley, Dwight w. Morrow,
Childs Frick, w. A. Hartman, the
late H. P. Dawson and many others.
The hypothesis put forward by
DR.. Osborn in 1900-and now con-
firmed to his satisfaction-was
based on the fact that two great de-
posits of remains of animals at the
dawn period Of mammalian life on
the northern hemisphere had been
dL' W1OCly Sepctl ~
ed points-the one in Europe, the
other in the American Rockies.
Answer in Discovery
They could not have originated
where the remains were found, DR..
Osborn reasoned, else they would
have spread westward from Europe
and eastward from the Rockies dur
ing the period of early dispersal.
Hence, he held, they must have orig.
mated at some halfway spot on the
less explored side of the globe, trav-
cling as far as the Rockies on the
one hand and Europe on the other
before the early sun set On the last
Of their line. He then drew up
series of charts locating Asia as
the dispersal center, and plotting
out with nicely remarkable in view
of the expeditions discoveries, the
spots where the first centers prob
ably were located.
A little further on than the ex-
petition has gone so far is the sec
ton labelled "primate'-the species
of ape held by psychologists to
have been the first ancestor of man.
So enthusiastic has DR.. Osborn
become over the expeditions discoV
cries to date, and the promise for
the future that he plans to sail for
Pekin, the winter headquarters,
September Is, to get first hand re-
ports and aid in mapping out the
campaign for the second year of the
five-year program.
Writing, with elation, on the re-
Osborn said of the fossil deposits:
This discovery gives the answer
to one of the four great questions
which the expedition sought 20
solve; namely, whether ancient Asia
is the mother of the life of Europe
to the far west, of North America
to the far east. 1t is a kind of real
ization of a paleontologic Garden of
Eden-of the birthplace, or Asiatic
homeland, from which many kinds
of reptiles and mammals spread
westward and eastward.
1.-THE existence of such a center
has long been a matter Of pure theo-
ry. We have waited until 1922 to
verify it. This verification has come
with unexpected suddenness and
with a completeness beyond our
fondest hopes, and there still remain
four years in which the great expe-
dition, under Roy Chapman An
drews will fill out the Details
Mr.. Andrews report was made in
letter dated May at Urga, in
upper Mongolia. The party had set
out from Pekin a month before, ira
Versing the desert by motor truck
toward Turin, where they planned
to meet a caravan of Is camels with
supplies. which had been sent on
ahead.
Halfway across Mongolia, between
Kalgan and Urga, the attention of
the explorers was caught by some
interesting geological exposures, and
camp was made. While supper was
cooking, and three biologists of the
party-Walter Granger, Charles P.
Berkey and Frederick Morris-began
prospecting, and within a few yards
of camp discovered some bones of
dinosaurs. This was the first dis
covery of giant reptiles in northern
Asia.
Other Findings
The region promised to be so in
teresting that Mr.. Andrews left the
geologlStS at work and pushed on
to Turin 1872 miles south Of Urga.
with other members Of the party, to
meet the caravan. He accompanied
the caravan to Urga, planning to
plunge deeper into the heart of
Asia. But at Urga he received a LETT
ter from the fosseil-huntcr-in-ch
Granger, telling of such rich discov-
cries that he hurried back.