Tribune Extras Lecture and Letter Series. 



THE HOUSE IX AMERICA. 



PROF. MARSH'S DISCOVERIES IN FOSSILS. 



ANCESTRY OF THE NOBLE ANIMAL THE MORMON 

 BIBLE CONCERNING HORSES SKETCHES BY PRE- 

 HISTORIC MAN THE FAMILY TREE OF THE HORSE. 



[FROM THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNE. 1 



NEW-HAVEN, April 18. Few facts in the history 

 of tlie race have been the occasion of wider gener- 

 alizations tbuu the circumstance that the horse the 

 most important of all the animals which man has 

 pressed into his sei vice was utterly unknown on 

 the continent of America at the time of the discov- 

 eries of Columbus. Xot only tha horse, but all the 

 related family the ass, the zebra, and the quagga 

 were equally wanting. The Western hemisphere, in 

 this total deficiency of both its divisions, presents a 

 marked contrast to the Old World, since Europe, 

 Asia, and Africa are each the native habitat of one 

 or more members of this largo family. 



But the recent labors of science have opened a 

 new page in tho horse's history, and have changed 

 entirely the scope and nature of the inquiry. It is 

 now known that in the eras with which geology 

 deals, America was not only for countless ages the 

 home of the horse, but of an immense variety of an- 

 imals of the horse family or nearly allied to it ; and 

 in the long series of these varying forms there seems 

 to be presented evidence of change, progress, and 

 development, which is welcomed by tho believers in 

 the theory of evolution as supplying many of the 

 missing links in the ancestry of the noble animal. 



Foremost among the laborers in this special field 

 of research is Prof. O. C. Marsh of Yale College. 

 Headers of THE TRIBUNE have had descriptions of 

 his explorations at the West, and it will be only 

 necessary here to summarize them in a few words. 

 Almost every Summer for some years past he has or- 

 ganized an exploring party, chiefly at his own ex- 

 pense, in quest of fossil animal remains in the terti- 

 ary formation in our Western Territories. He 

 has met with unexampled success. A 

 greater addition of new fossil animal forms has been 

 made since this class of explorations was under- 

 taken, than during any similar period since Cuyier 

 described the extinct animals of the Paris basin. 

 A fe*v <>f the extraordinary creatures which Prof. 

 Marsh has identified, have been partially described 

 iiiTino TKIIIL-NE. His expedition last Summer was 

 peculiarly rich in discoveries of fossils of the horse 

 family. It is to these the present letter rc-lates. 



the date of the discovery of America? This is a 

 question of more interest than would be at first sup- 

 posed. The horse of Europe was probably cotem- 

 porary with the earliest man, and there are traces of 

 the existence of that animal among some of the 

 most ancient relics of the cave-dwellers. In the 

 cavern of La Madelaine, Dordogne, France, among 

 remains of pre-histuric man of the flint 

 period, the antler of a reindeer waa 

 found having seven figures of horses carved 

 upon it. Coarsely executed though they are, there 

 can bo no question as to what these flint carvings 

 were intended to represent. These are horses not 

 asses, nor of the ass family, since the ears are short, 

 none of the tails arc tufted, and one of the tails cer- 

 tainly indicates by its thickness that it had the 

 abundant long hair covering it which distinguishes 

 the horse. It is not at all* likely that the cave- 

 dwelling man held the horsa in subjection; it was 

 probably one of the animals which ho hunted; a 

 kind ol venison among game which included the 

 auroch and the cave bear, the reindeer, and perhaps 

 tho elephant. 



SKETCH OK A HORSE BY PREHISTORIC MAN. 



Did the horse exist in America after the advent of 

 man, and become extinct between that period and 



ANOTHER PREHISTORIC SKETCH. 



But Brigham Young has hailed the discovery of 

 fossil horses in America as an evidence of the truth- 

 fulness of the sacred writings of tho Mormons. 

 Years ago, in a discussion in England, the represen- 

 tative of the Mormons was worsted in argument 

 upon the point that these writings make the blunder 

 of describing horses as existing in America coeval 

 with man, but prior to the advent of the Spaniards. 

 There may be other instances in the Mormon Bible, 

 but the following will serve to illustrate the point : 

 The book of Ether describes a pciiod subse- 

 quent to the building of the tower of Babel. It 

 gives the particulars of construction, under divine 

 command, of a number of covered barges, "exceed- 

 ing tight," that would "hold water like a dish," 

 each provided with an air-hole in tho top, closed 

 with a stopper, to be opened when needful for ven- 

 tilation. These remarkable vessels were loaded 

 with provisions ; a small colony embarked upon 

 them, and a strong wind, miraculously provided, 

 drove them across the ocean. Tho voyagers were 

 344 days alloat, without light or fire ; but at last they 

 reached the promised land, where, ii is slated: 



In tho space of sixty-and-two years rlioy became ex- 

 ceeding rich, having all manucr of fruit and of frriun, 

 and of silks, and of flno linen, and of cold au1 of silver, 

 ;uid|of precious tilings, and also all 111:111111-1- of catcle, of 

 oxen, and of cows, and of sheep, and of swino, 

 and of goats ; * * * and they also had lioraos 

 and asses, and there wore elephants, and curoloms, and 

 cumotns ; all of which were useful unto man, and moro 

 especially tho elephants, and curoloius, aud cmuorns. 



