The Union daily times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1918-current, 1922-08-21
Asia, The Cradle Of 49,,
The Life 0f the Wofld

The Life of the Wofld
New York, Aug 17-(By the Asso-
ciated Press) Proof of the paleon-
tologist's pet theory that Asia was
the "mother Of continents" and the
cradle of life on this globe--carrying
with 1t great promise of the discovery
in the wastes of the Cobb desert or
lthe long-sought "missing link" in the
evolution of mankind-has been found
by the Third Asiatic Expedition led
by Roy Chapman Andrews for the
American Museum -of Natural His
tory, Henry Fairfield Osborn, the
Museums director, announced today.
The proof" to the uninitiated.
would appear to be just heap of fos-
silized bones, dug up by a band of
curious men in the frozen wastelands
Of Mongolia. But to the mind train
ed in cropping back through hundreds
of thousands of years for history of
the days when man was not, these
fossilized remains of dinoaurs and
bother prehistoric beasts and reptiles
furnish conclusion simple and in,
evitable as "two times two"
The discoveries, barely limited at i6
cable dispatches, are fully reported
and interpreted by DR.. Osborn-orig-
nal proponent of the ;"Asia, mother
IT continents" hypothesis-in the cur
'ent issue of the magazine Asia. The
magazine cooperated with the Mu-
scum and the American Asiatic Asso-
citation in organizing this most am
bilious of all similar expeditions, to-
ward the financing 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
". Morrow, Childs Frick, w. A. Har-
imam, the late H. p. Dawson and
many others.
The hypothesis put forward by DR..
osborn in 1900-and now confirmed
his satisfaction-was based on the
:act that two great deposits of re-
mains of animals at the dawn period
# mammalian life on the northern
hemisphere has been found previous
~ at widely separated points-the
>ne in Europe, the other in the Am
erican Rockies.
They could not have originated
where the remains were found, DIR.
Osborn reasoned, else they would
have spread westward from Europe
and eastward from the Rockies dur.
ing the period of early dispersal.
-Ience, he held, they must have orig
mated at some halfway spot on the
less explored side of the globe, trav-
ling 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 d
series of charts locating Asia as the
dispersal center, and plotting out
with a nicely remarkable in view OF
the expeditions discoveries, the spots
where the first centers probably were
Located Is. --... ..-.-.-.,--... -.
A little further on than the expedi.
ton has gone SO far is the section
labelled "primate"-the species OF
ape held by psychologists to have
been the first ancestor of man.
So enthusiastic has DR.. Osborn be.
come over the expeditions discover
les to date, and the promise for the
future that he plans to sail for Pc,
king, the winter headquarters, Sep
tember Is, to get first hand reports
and aid in mapping out the campaign
for the second year of the five year
program.
Writing, with elation, on the re-
port received from Mr.. Andrews, DR.
Osborn said of the fossil deposits:
"This discovery gives the answe,
to one of the four great question.
which the expedition sought to solve
namely, whether ancient Asia is the
mother of the life of Europe to the
far west, Of North America to tn:
far east. 1t is kind of realization ot
a poleontologic Garden of Eden-o1
the birthplace, or Asiatic homeland
from which many kinds of reptile:
and mammals spread westward ant
eastward.
"The existence of such a center
has long been a matter of pure theo
ry-we have waited until 1922 to
verify it. This verifcation has come
with unexpected suddenness and with
completeness beyond our fondest
hopes, and there still remains four
years in which the great expedition
under Roy Chapman Andrews will
fill out the details"
Mr.. Andrews report was made in 6
letter dated May 9 at Urga, in uppe,
Mongolia. The party had set out
from Peking month before, travers
ing the desert by motor truck towarc
Turin, where they planned to meet &
caravan of rs camels with supplies
which had been sent on head.
Halfway across Mongolia, between