Field 



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Published Monthly by Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago 



Vol. 4 



MARCH, 1933 



No. 3 



EXHIBIT REVEALS INFLATION 

 ATTEMPT BY ANCIENTS 



The evolution of money in China, from 

 implements used for barter down to coins, is 

 illustrated in a new exhibit in George T. 

 and Frances Gaylord Smith Hall (Hall 24). 

 How attempts were made to inflate the 

 currency thousands of years ago, and how 

 the people resisted, is told by Dr. Berthold 

 Laufer, Curator of Anthropology. In the 

 exhibit is a coin with an inscription which 

 indicates an inflated value, many times the 

 actual value in smaller coins. When such 

 inflated currency was circulated, the Chinese 

 people refused to accept it at face value, 

 and used it merely at the actual value 

 represented by the metal in the coin, Dr. 

 Laufer says. As a result all inflation 

 attempts failed, and several emperors were 

 forced into bankruptcy. 



Included in the same exhibit are collec- 

 tions of ancient Chinese public and private 

 seals, and the world's earliest chessmen, 

 made of bronze and dating back to the ninth 

 century. There are also shown charms 

 derived from coin designs, and rare old 

 coins worn as charms to protect the wearer 

 against demons, lightning, snake bites, and 

 other dangers, and to bring luck, wealth, 

 long life, and numerous descendants. 



The currency exhibit begins with small 

 bronze or copper bells, axes, spades, and 

 knives which served as media of exchange 

 in earliest times. These gradually assumed 

 conventionalized forms, and finally became 

 flat, thin and convenient for circulation. 

 From these developed coins. The earliest 

 circular coins, with round or square holes 

 in their centers, are shown. 



The earliest of the seals are of clay, the 

 later ones of metal. Some, in addition to 

 the owner's name, are provided with his 

 thumb impression and thumbnail mark, and 

 Dr. Laufer states that the Chinese were 

 the first people to recognize the value of 

 fingerprints in identification. 



An exhibit of mediaeval cast iron objects 

 from China, ranging in date from a.d. 618 

 to 1643, has also been installed in the same 

 hall. A wide variety of objects is shown, 

 including temple bells. Buddhistic and 

 Taoistic figures, utensils, ornamental objects, 

 and iron coins. 



"During the Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1279) 

 scarcity of copper forced the government to 

 resort to iron currency which was circulated 

 {Continued on page X) 



NEW TAXIDERMY METHOD 

 APPLIED TO ORANG 



By Wilfred H. Osgood 

 Curator, Department of Zoology 



Because it is one of the anthropoids or 

 man-like apes, an orang is always interesting, 

 but an especially prepared specimen placed 

 on exhibition last month is extremely un- 

 usual. This orang is partly real and partly 

 synthetic, and represents the first serious 

 attempt to apply the so-called "celluloid" 

 process to hairy mammals. 



This process, developed by Leon L. 

 Walters of the Museum's taxidermy staff, 



has reached a high degree of perfection for 

 the reproduction of naked and scaly animals 

 such as amphibians and reptiles. It has 

 also proved successful for the hippopotamus 

 and the rhinoceros, and its potential advan- 

 tages for preparing exhibits of animals 

 which are mainly hairy but with the skin 

 exposed on certain parts have been evident 

 for some time past. 



The recent receipt of an orang in fresh 

 condition, shortly after its death, offered 

 an opportunity for applying the process 

 which was eagerly seized by Mr. Walters, 

 and the result is a specimen exceedingly 

 life-like in appearance and quite unique 



New Orang Exhibit 



This ape, now to be seen in Hall 15, represents 

 the first application of the Walters cellulose-acetate 

 process of reproduction to a hairy mammal, 



among museum preparations. The dead 

 animal was posed in a carefully chosen 

 attitude based on studies of living orangs 

 and molds were then taken from it, repro- 

 ducing its form with utmost precision. By 

 means of a special technique, the hair of 

 the original animal was transferred to the 

 reproduction, becoming embedded in the 

 celluloid-like composition exactly as it was 

 formerly in the skin. In effect, the skin 

 was replaced by the composition and in 

 the resulting specimen the only part not 

 artificial is the hair. 



The advantages of a reproduction of this 

 kind are mainly in the increased fidelity 

 to nature which is possible, especially in 

 the fine detail of the surface of the skin 

 and in its coloration, translucence and 

 texture. Like other works of taxidermy, 

 it is a combination of art and realism, but 

 while its art does not necessarily suffer, its 

 realism is less limited than by methods in 

 which the dried and tanned skin is used. 

 It does not threaten to displace earlier 

 methods, however, except for subjects to 

 which it is peculiarly adapted. 



The orang reproduction is exhibited in 

 Hall 15 in a case with the gorilla, chimpanzee, 

 and gibbons in the systematic series of 

 mammals. 



LIFE BEYOND EARTH INDICATED 

 BY METEORITIC BACTERIA? 



By Oliver C. Farrington 

 Curator, Department of Geology 



Is there life beyond the earth? The 

 problem of whether life exists in other parts 

 of the universe is one which probably will 

 always be of interest to the human race. 

 Aside from possibilities of "exchanging 

 signals with Mars," probably the only 

 physical source of evidence to which we 

 can look for an answer is in those celestial 

 rocks called meteorites. These missiles 

 from outer space arriving on the earth 

 have been examined for many years to 

 see what light, if any, they would throw 

 on the question. Until recently the only 

 indication they have given that life might 

 exist in the regions whence they came is 

 the fact that hydro-carbons, similar to 

 those which on this earth are of organic 

 origin, have been detected in some meteor- 

 ites. These compounds suggest that there 

 may be plant or animal life outside of the 

 earth, but no positive evidence in the form 

 of observations of microscopic cell structure 

 or other distinguishing features has ever 

 been obtained from a study of them. 



Recently a new suggestion that life exists 

 elsewhere than on the earth arises from the 

 work on meteorites of Dean Charles B. 

 Lipman of the University of California. 

 Dean Lipman's investigations, the results 

 of which have just been published, seem 

 to indicate that bacteria are sometimes to 

 be found in the interior of stone meteorites, 

 also known as aerolites. From these they 

 may be extracted and their growth and 

 multiplication carried on under terrestrial 

 conditions. 



Discovery of these bacteria also opens 

 further speculation on the theory some 

 scientists have propounded to the effect 

 that the original forms of terrestrial life 

 may have been brought to the earth by 

 meteorites hundreds of millions of years ago. 



Professor Lipman's experiments began 

 several years ago when he found evidence 

 of the existence of bacteria in ancient 

 terrestrial rocks and in coal. Turning his 

 attention to the possibility of finding them 

 also in meteorites, he applied to several 

 museums having large collections (among 

 them Field Museum) for a supply of 

 suitable material for an investigation. 

 Especially desired were small individual 

 meteorites, the interior of which had been 

 completely sealed by the crust which formed 

 on the surface during the journey through 

 the earth's atmosphere. This crust pre- 

 sumably would insure retaining the contents 

 of the interior in their original form and 

 condition. Field Museum responded to 

 this request by furnishing individuals of 

 the Pultusk, Poland, meteorites which fell 

 in 1868, of the Mocs, Hungary, meteorites 

 which fell in 1882, and of the Richardton, 

 North Dakota, meteorites which fell in 

 1918, Other museums cooperating were 

 the American Museum of Natural History, 

 of New York, United States National 

 Museum, Washington, D.C, and the 



{Continued on page 2) 



