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A RARE FOSSIL.
The Ancestor of the Higher
Forms of Animals.
The Most Remarkable Discov¬
ery of Recent Years.
Professor Whitfield, the curator of the
Department of Geology in the American
Museum of Natural History in New York
City, has just received a pew addition to
hia department. This is a cast of one
of the earliest mammal fossils which
science has yet discovered. The inter¬
est in thiB specimen is keen, owing to
the fact that the fossil is the skeleton of
an animal which is regarded ns the par¬
ent type of all animals of today which
are distinguished by having hoofs. Its
aqientifie name is Phenaeodus primsevus.
The fossil was discovered several years
ago in the Wind River of Wyoming Ter¬
ritory, and was afterward secured by
Professor Cope, who learned of the cir¬
cumstance.
The preservation of the animal is re¬
markable. It had apparently lain down
to die in the clay, and the body remain¬
ing undisturbed, the bones were not
scattered. In appearance Ihe skeleton
is not formidable. The animal which is
believed to have been full grown, was
not when alive much larger than a sheep
or a yearling calf. What first strikes
the observer is its remarkable preserva¬
tion. The smallest hone appears to be
preserved. Apparently tin animal sank
down in the clay exhausted and went
into its last sleep. The carcass was not
disturbed, the bones were never scat¬
tered and the skeleton was gradually, in
the course of thousands of years, trans¬
formed with the surrounding earth into
stone. The skull lias some resemblance
to that of a horse, but is moro of the
general type of the rhinoceros. There
are no tusks, but slight protuberances
which indicate an approach to them.
The teeth have much tho same charac¬
ter us those of modern animals. Each of
the four feet has five long and slender
toes, which have tho general appearance
of human lingers, except that each of the
toes is capped with a small perfectly
shaped hcof, h<W|W* which is a copy in minia
Uug of a
Thc animal, Professor Whitfield says,
fed able on to plants and the flesh, as it the was other, best
fbc procure ono or
cartilaginous portiiyi of tho skull at
the mouth is wailing, that but thc general
Structure is similar to of the rhinoc¬
eros, wliicli 1ms flic long pointed lip
like tho beginning of a trunk for thc
purpose of bettor gathering in the grass
or foliage, while the teeth in their struc¬
ture aro adapted in somo measure to the
food of carnivorous animals. If the
larger animals of today had not then
mado their appearance the Phenaeodus
must have been in thc habit of making
his special meals on snakes,frogs and the
like. From the appearance of his feet
lie was a flat-footed animal, but the toes
also rested on the ground and aided him
Y c'Uf'’>hq
ProL;,. ,r 11 ; ro
i vlV s. 4c
C Ol f Hit )»%, to nwu is
'nrb A ul
jHBseed fora, • ’ animal w led
some years ago m i’muce, the
subject of much speculation by Cuvier
the naturalist. It was termed the Pal
eotlierium, and was regarded as the an¬
cestral form of the horse. Several other
specimens have since been discovered in
good condition, showing that the ani¬
mal had reached the size of a deer, but
its toes were reduced to three or four.
Professor Cope, as tho results of his
studies on thc early character of animals
indicated in a paper which he published
in 1881, that the older form of these
animals if ever found would possess
those distinctive traits which are indi¬
cated in this specimen of the Phcnaco
Hus, which he has since obtained. The
stratum in which tills fossil was found
belongs to the early Eocene,or the lower
Tertiary period, in thc first of which the
remains of mammals have been obtained.
The time of their existence is calculated
by geologists as anywhere between 400, -
000 and 500,000 years ago, so small a
matter of 100,000 years either way mak¬
ing little difference.
The Phenaeodus Dr. Cope regards as
the distinct ancestor of the higher forms
of animals. In succeeding ages the
larger animals, like the elephant and
giraffe, were developed from it, and the
different surroundings and conditions
led to the growth of plantigrade ani¬
mals like the bear, the carnivora like the
i leopard, and the lion and hoofed ani-
mala like the horse and deer, all of these
branches developing some of the minor
traits which were possessed by the origi¬
nal type. When the new building of
the Museum of Natural History is com
pleted, Professor Whitfield expects to
secure for his department a complete col
lection of fossils showing the develop¬
ment of these branches of animal life so
far as science has yet been able to indi
cate them .—New York Tribune.
Samoan Houses.
George Turner describes a native Sam¬
oan bouse as a gigantic beehive, thirty
five feet in diameter, a hundred in cir¬
cumference, and raised from the ground
by a number of short posts at intervals
of four feet from each other all around.
The spaces between these pests, which
may be called open doors or windows
all round the house, arc shut in at night
by roughly plaited cocoanut leaf blinds.
The floor is raised six or eight inches
with rough stones, then an upper layer
of smooth pebbles, then some cocoanut
leaf mats, and then a layer of finer mat¬
ting. In the centre of the house there
are two, sometimes three, posts, 20 feet
long, sunk three feet into the ground,
and extending to and supporting the
ridgepole. These arc the main props of
the building.
The space between the rafters the na¬
tives fill up with what they call ribs, the
wood of the bread-fruit tree, split up
into small pieces, and joined together so
as to form a long rod the thickness of
the thumb running from the ridgepole
down to the caves. AH are kept in
their places, an inch and a half apart, by
crosspieces male fast with sinnet, or
rope made out of cocoanut fibre.
The thatch is laid on with great care
and taste; the long, dry leaves of the
sugar-cane arc strung on to pieces of reed
five feet long; they are made fast to the
reed by overlapping the one end of tho
leaf, and pinning it with one rib of the
cocoanut leaflet run through from leaf to
leaf horizontally. The reeds thus fringed
with the sugar-qane leaves hanging
down three or four feet are laid on, be¬
ginning at the eaves and running up to
the ridgepole, each one overlapping its
fellow an inch or so, and made fast ono
by one with sinnet to the inside rafters.
Upwards , of hundred , , of „ these , reeds ,
‘ a
, > ;
of thatch , are required . , for single . , row
\ a
r ;,
. from the , to , the , ridgepole. . , ,
running ° eaves ° 1
Another then g made, « and , so on all
»
round the house. Two, three or four
thousand fnagod , . , reeds , may be required . ,
for a good sized house. The thatching,
if well done, lasts for seven yearn.
- * «
To select thc sugar cane leaves and
“sew” the ends on to thc reeds is tho
work of tho women, An active woman
can sew fifty reeds in a day, and three
men will put up and fasten to the roof
of the houso some five hundred in a day.
Thc great objection to the thatch is
that in gales it stands up like a field of
corn, and then the rain pours into tho
house.
The Milk Soured by Thunder Myth.
You ask, says tho New York Sun in
reply to a question propounded by a sub¬
scriber, why does thunder cause milk to
sour? a question that. cannot be an¬
swered, for tho simple reason that thun¬
der has no such effect as stated in the
question. It is ono of thoso old super¬
stitious notions that are very difficult to
eradicate from the minds of persons who
are accustomed to handle milk. It is
well established, however, that milk be¬
comes acid sooner in damp, hot weather
than when there is little humidity in tho
air, and as it is during the damp and
rainy days that we are visited by thun¬
der storms, the rapid souring of milk is
attributed to the thunder, and not to the
true causes, which aro high temperature
and humidity.
Curious Animal Remains.
A man named Shumway, while dig
ging a well near Livingston, Neb., has
found a portion of the jaw of some ex
tinct monster containing two teeth, one
of which is teninches long and four wide,
and weighs seven and one-half pounds,
The animal is supposed to have been a
species of fish, as fragments were found
of fins about as large as a man s hand,
The skull is long and flat and has a horn
between the eyes nearly two feet long
and resembling that of a rhinoceros.—
Easy to Get One.
Mrs. McCorker (to new servant)—The
last servant had a habit of going into the
parlor with her young man and sitting
there the whole evening. Have you a
young man?
New Servant—No, mum; but I might
get one with such inducements offered.
SCIENTIFIC SCRAPS.
The average size of an American fam
/l y> according to statistics, is 4.13.
Invention will make future telescopes
thirty per cent, more powerful than the
pld.
Steam heating is reported to have
passed the experimental stage on the
trains.
Edison says that only one-fourth cl
the coal is used—the rest goes up the
chimney.
There is talk of building an alumi¬
num factory at Duluth, Minn., as the
clay there is the richest in that metal of
any yet discovered.
The fault found with many insula¬
tions is that on the smaller size3 of wire
they are altogether too thin, while on
the larger sizes there is often more than
is required.
What is known as the admirable Con¬
nelly method has been applied to cards
in some of the Lowell mills, and, it is
reported, with good success, increased
production and improved work being
the result.
A ninety-foot Greenland whale has re¬
cently gone ashore at Cattegat, Den¬
mark, the first one seen in those waters
in many years, although once they were
common. Its skeleton is to be sent to
the Copenhagen Museum.
The electrical apparatus by which
doomed criminals will bo put to death
in New York consists of a chair, proba
bly of iron. Tho current will be sent
from arm to arm of the subject, or from
the hfcad to the spine. The exact loca
tion of the poles will, no doubt, vary
with the subject and the opinion of phy¬
sicians.
Professor Mosso of Turin that
the blood of eel3 is poisonous in
jeeted into the veins of dogs and other
animals, and that an cel weighing five
pounds contains poison enough to kill
ten men. The blood of the eel is inert,
however, when taken into the stomach,
and the poisonous properties are de¬
stroyed by heat.
Dr. Frithjof Nansen, the Greenland
explorer, who is awaiting thc end of the
“ice period at Godtliaab, ,,, , the largest , , of ,
the ^ Greenland , , settlements, ... , , has , been
taken , , to , Denmark _ , by , the ,, steamer , Ice¬ ,
bear. ... Dr; ,, Nansen intends . , , to , publish ,,
a
^ .7 dMlin wltt thc rcsuUs
.. . T . •> ,
of , his journey. . It , is to be published m
D 8wwU ^ Gm mi Eng
lish.
Professor Brooks, director the
Smith Observatory, Geneva, N. has
obtained several observations of the new
white region on Saturn’s ring, and an¬
nounces his discovery that the light is
variable, and that pulsations of the light
at irregular intervals have been detected
by him. This evidence of a change in
Saturn’s system is of thc highest scien¬
tific interest.
Vibratory law, said Mr. C. C. Has¬
kins in a recent thoughtful paper, lies at
the very bottom of all vegetable and
animal life. To it we are indebted foi
all that is beautiful in art and in nature.
It gives us all our magnetic and electrical
action. It actuates our telegraphs and
our telephones, the fire alarm and the
electric light. Our batteries would be
powerless without it.
Much interest is felt in the novelty and
success of Hollis’s raisin-packing factory
at Holbrook, Mass., one ton of raisin?
per day being assorted, stemmed,
weighed, put in cartons, packed into
sixty-pound boxes and shipped, the fruil
being from Mr. H.’s own vineyard in
Ettiwanda, Cal., no other such factory
being in existence east of that state)
170,000 pouuds have been shipped this
packing season.
The Brooklyn elevated and Union ele
rated roads of Brooklyn are experiment
with fche }nvCDtion of a Brooklynite
to substitute crude petro leum for coal in
locomotiycs> The invcntor clairas that
^ WOfked succcssfully with stationary
^ and caQ be equally as we n uti b
^ for loComotive3> Tbe petroleum U
on ^ tender> and is fed t0 th<
^ ^ & smaU jet that tWs a con ,
sinuous sprav of the fluid, combine!
^ compressed air .
____
Her Donkey Had a Defect.
Ethel (who hears her new pet donkey
bray for the first time)- -Oh, mamma!
mamma!
Ethel’s Mother—TTha’l is it, my dap
ling?
Ethel (breathlessly)—Oh, mamma,
you know how much I love my donkey J
but I do wish he wouldn’t doak.
EARLY AMERICANS.
Simplicity in their mode of living was the
marked characteristic of the early settlers of
America.
Everyihing which pertained to them was plain
and unostentatious.
The food which they ate was frugally served
and of the substantial kind.
Their clothing was home-spun and (hemocca¬
sins which covered their feet were a home pro¬
duct, being made from the hide of animals and
ornamented with beads after the Indian fash¬
ion.
Their homes were simplicity itself, consist¬
ing shingles—the of roughly hewn logs and home made Log
whole cons ituting the old
Cabin home of frontier life.
Yet thos3 were model homes.
tlhe wives and mothers were well verse 1 in
the art of all that pertained to housewifery.
Conspicuous figure in the early home was the strik¬
ing of the old grandmother.
Not only was she the adviser in social affairs
but she was the medical adviser and prescriber
for the sick. Often were her bauds engaged
in the preparation of some healing potion or
remedy for the relief of those in ill-health.
Fully versed in all the bountiful supplies con¬ the
tained in the grand store-house of nature,
wisely knew how to utilize the curative proper¬
ties contained in certain roots and herbs and
accordingly she transformed, them into certain
remedial agents, which have made the old Log
Cabin famous for all time to come.
Con-cious of the great value of some of those
old time home cures a successful effort has been
made to re-discover the lost secret of their pre¬
paration, and, coupled with all the improve¬
ment which human ingenuity and progress
suggests, they are now widely known under the
name of Warner’s Log Cabin Remedies, the
most prominent being Log Cabin sarsaparilla
and Log Cabin cough and consumption erne.
The suffering public has been quick to recog¬
nize and appreciate their true value and ihe
manufacturers are daily in receipt of much
praise for the re-discovery and revival of disease. these
old time remedies against sickness and
To the old Log Cabin home however is justly
due the praise for all the good which may,
thereby, he affected.
Extraordinary Honesty.
An unusual conscience contribution
has been received at the Treasury Depart¬
ment, Washington, D. C., being a case
of a man’s • honesty in paying a debt
twenty-one years old, which would prob¬
ably never have been demanded of him.
CharlesW. Hartshorn, of Taunton, Mass.,
recently called on the Deputy Collector
of Internal Revenue at that place, and
insisted on paying $2,0% which he
claimed was due to the government from
the estate of his father, Jesse Hartshorn,
who died in 1868. There was at that
time in vogue a succession tax law levy¬
ing a tax on estates as they passed from
one hand to another. From some reason
or other the tax on his estate was never
paid or demanded, troubles in the family
preventing a complete settlement of the
estate. The account was overlooked in
the office, and the matter was for¬
gotten, and would probably never have
been remembered. Upon investigation
it -was learned that the man’s story w r as
correct, and that he really was the Gov¬
ernment’s debtor to that amount, and the
money was sent to Washington and the
account canceled. This is regarded at
the Treasury Department as a most ex¬
traordinary case of honesty.
One Way.
An applicant for a postoffice forwarded
his picture to the postoffice department
at Washington, D. C.. The fact was
published and others imitated his exam¬
ple, until now the First Assistant Post¬
master General has pictures enough to
fill an album. One candidate, in addi¬
tion to his own picture, sent a photo¬
graph of a handsome residence. On the
back of it was written: “This is the
home of , applicant for the prst
office, who came to this town a year ago
with $40 in his pocket, and by industry
and thrift has been able to build this
handsome residence, costing $4,000.”
This picture was put on file, and another
photo soon came, forwarded by the same
man. This was of a rather disreputable tough¬
two-story building, with several
looking men standing in front of it.
On the back of it was written: “This is
the home of , the other candidate
for the postoffice at-, the place for
which I have applied. He lives up-stairs
and underneath is a saloon.”
The room was dark, the maiden rose
To fetch a match, she said;
But he persuaded her to stay
And make a match instead.
—Pittsburg Dispatch.
“Sat, ma,” remarked the small boy,
“isn’t it funny that everybody calls my
little brother a bouncing baby? When
I dropped him on the floor this morning
he didn’t bounce a bit.”
The Chief Reason for the marveUeua
WSJ of Hood's Sarsaparilla U ferod la the
that this me$cln« actually secomphah* * *n
that is claimed tor it. It* W*l n*«rU h« Woo
Merit Wins
greater than that of any other- blood
It curat Scrofula, all Human. Dyapepsla, «c.
Prepared only by C. L Hood A Ce., Bowen, Kaw.
Treasure in a Bureau.
Isaac Newman and wife, early settlers
of Miami county, died, the first on Sat
urday and the latter on Sunday last.
Two years ago Mr. Newman suffered a
serious illness, from which he never
fully recovered; and, during the time,
made mention to his son, Benjamin, that,
should he die, he would find in an old
and unique family bureau a small sum
of money, namiug the amount at about
$100, and which he said was there for
contingent expenses. Mr. Newman re¬
covered, the son moved to Minnesota,
and the subject was entirely forgotten, it
until after the burial of the couple through¬ re¬
verted to him. Diligent search
out the bureau failed to reveal the cash,
and the conclusion was reached that it
contained no money. The search was
again renewed upon suggestion of possi¬
ble false drawers or bottoms, and a more
thorough and systematic search disclosed
a false bottom in which, neatly sewed up
in various at tides of apparel, was the
sum of $7,000 in gold, silver and paper.
Mr. Newman to-day deposited the money
in a Peru bank.
A Camel Market.
Nearly three hundred thousand camels
pass in and out of Aden, Arabia, every
year laden with the various products of
the interior. The camel market is a
large space devoted to the sale and pur¬
chase of the camel-loads as they are
brought in. Every morning hundreds
of laden c tmels come streaming in from
the interior. Filing into the camel
market, they lay down beneath their loads
in the place assigned them and compla¬
cently chew the end or ruminate on the
subject of their woes, while a motley lot
of merchants,middle men and traders cir¬
culate among them, bargaining and
chaffering over the piles of lire wood,
charcoal and fodder, under which they
are almost hidden, or for the bales of
hides and skins, the bags of coffee, or of
country produce for tlie city market.
Tiie weakest living creature, by con¬
centrating his powers on a single object,
can accomplish something. The strong¬
est, by dispersing anything. his over many, may
fail to accomplish
Strength to vigorously push a business,
strength to study for a profession, strength la^. to
regulate a household, strength to do a day’s
bor without physical pain. Do you desire
strength? If you are broken down, have no
energy, feel as if life was hardly worth living,
you can be relieved and restored to robust
health and strength by taking Brown’s Iron
Bitters, a sure cure for dyspepsia, malaria,
weakness and all diseases requiring a true, and re¬
liable tonic. It acts on the blood, nerves
muscles, and regulates every part of the sys
sem.
_
The tanning industry will go, if making
leather by electricity proves success.
A Radical Care for Epileptic Fits.
To the Editor —Please inform your readers
that I have a positive remedy for the above
named disease which I warrant to cure the
worst cases. So strong is my faith, in its and
tues that I will send free a sample bottle
valuable treatiseto any sufferer who Respy, will give
me his P- O. and Express addresa. York.
H.G. ROOT, M. C., 183 Pearl St.. New
Catarrh aiKt"ctt''»fv® Cured.
u ,4« c iSSS‘m4 ,
itllO'.. will receive the recipe free of charge.
Keep them in the Nursery.
rrmstiDation or indigestion, as they are liked by
N.Y. ____
Bkadfteld’s Female Regulator cures all ir¬
regularities peculiar to woman. Those suf¬
fering should use it. Sold by all druggists.
A ?- %. y) m m F m - .rfc ■
THE WOELD Otf&HT TO SHOW IT.
The world ought to I | know wnat B. S. S. has
done for me in the cure I | of a malignan t Cancer,
which was so bad as to 1 I be considered meura
ble by the physicians I I in Chicago, where I
went to be treated. One I I of my neighbors sent
me a copy of an adver -1 I tisement in regard to
Swift’s Specific, the first and few 1 (began Idoses; taking the poison it. I was got
relief from of I system, and I was
gradually forced out | my It ten.
soon cured sound and a well. is now have
months since I quit tak-. * ing S. S. S. and I
had no sign of return of the dreadful disease.
Mrs. Ann Bothwell.
An Sable, Mich., Dec. 29, ’88.
Send for books on Blood Diseases and Cancers,
mailed free. >, The Swift Specific Co.
Drawer 3, Atlanta, Ga.
RADFIELD’Sb- -PSMA.LE
.REGULATOR Women!
Cures all Diseases Peculiar to
BOOK TO “WOMAN” MAILED FREE.
BUADFIELD UKOCI.ATOK CO., ATLANTA, GA.
Sold by all Dhcggists.
SOUTHERN DYE HOUSE
All kinds of Silk. Cotton or Woolen Goods
handsomely dyed or cleaned.
lYSnits a Specialty.^
tXPRESS PAID ONE WAY.
24 Walton St., ATLANTA, GA.
wanted' TJIPOKT ANT—Insurance Agent*, Bank Clerkfljtx
all over tbe country to act as oar agen ts; tidR
not Interfere with other duties. No capital required.
Liberal Inducements. Write for particulars to
INTEBNATIONAL BANKING CO..
31 aad 33 Broadway, New York City.
SlNGJEl$§i 3 il
PEERLESS DTES Are the BEST.
Sold by Darocisri
I prescribe and fully only en¬
dorse Big ti as the
A FT TO&Dl-rtb^ specific o? this disease. for the certain cure
a KurutLd no. G.B.I5GBAHAM.M. Amsterdam, N.Y. D..
310 Bsriet are
j irrd onlj by the We have sold and Big it GJ has 0T
i- If—** _ . ,«. many |-»---the years, best of satis
\
Bold by Druggist*.