(542 THE DINOSAURS OR TERRIBLE LIZARDS. 



bird on which it preys are relatives, although an}^ intimate relation- 

 ship between them is of the serpent's making, and is strongh' objected 

 to by the bird. 



But if we compare the skeleton of a Dinosaur with that of an 

 ostrich —a young one is preferable — and with those of the earlier })ird.s. 

 we shall find that many of the barriers now existing between reptiles 

 and birds are broken down, and that they have many points in com- 

 mon. In fact, save in the matter of clothes, wherein birds differ from 

 all other animals, the two great groups are not so very far apart. 



The Dinosaurs were bj^ no means confined to North AnuM'ica. 

 although the western United States seem to have been their head- 

 quarters. ))ut ranged pretty much over the world, for their remains 

 have l)een found in every continent, even in far-off New Zealand. 



In point of time they ranged from the Trias to the Upper Cretace- 

 ous, their golden age, marking the culminating point of reptilian life, 

 l)eing in the Jurassic, when huge forms stalked by the seashore, 

 browsed amid the swamps, or disported themselves along the reedy 

 margins of lakes and rivers. 



They had their day, a day of many thousand years, and then passed 

 away, giving place to the superior race of mammals which was just 

 springing into being when the huge Dinosaurs were in the heyday of 

 their existence. 



And it does seem as if in the dim and distant past, as in the present, 

 brains were a potent factor in the struggle for supremacy; for. though 

 these reptiles were giants in size, dominating the earth through mere 

 brute force, they were dwarfs in intellect. 



The smallest human brain that is thought to l>e (•onipatil)le with life 

 itself weighs a little over 10 ounces, the smallest that can exist with 

 reasoning powers is 2 pounds; this in a creature weighing from i'lii 

 to 150 pounds. 



What do we find among Dinosaurs^ Thespesius, or Claosaurus, 

 which may have walked where Baltimore !iow stands, was 25 feet in 

 kMigth and stood a dozen feet high in his })are feet, had a l)rain smaller 

 than u man's clenched fist, weighing less than 1 pound. 



Brontosaurus, in some respects the biggest l)rute that ever walked, 

 was ]»ut little better off, and Triceratops and his relatives, creatures 

 having twice the bulk of an elephant, weighing probal)ly over 10 tons, 

 possessed a brain weighing not over 2 pounds. 



How uuuh of what we term intelligence could such a creature 

 possess — what was the extent of its reasoning powers^ Judging from 

 our own stand])oint and the small amou.ntof intellect apparent in some 

 hiunans witli much larger i)raiiis. these big reptiles must have known 

 just about enough to have eaten when they were hungrv; anything 

 more was superfluous. 



Howe\er. intelligence is o!ie thing, life another, and the spinal cord 



