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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 19, 1949)
PAGE 4 THE DAILY NEBRASKAN Wednesday, October 19, 1949 Elias Plays Detective On Cuttlefish Puzzle BY GERALD MATZKE , An important contribution to ! the world of science-was made re cently by a University of Ne- ! braska scientist all because he ; had imagination, patience and the ; capacity for long hours of work. He is Dr. Maxim K. Elias, a j paleontologist, who is the first to j prove thaat the giant cuttlefish , a distant cousin 01 ine mum-m octiipus lived in North America during prehistoric ages. His discovery was the result of an outstanding and interesting piece of scientific detective work. Here's the story. Questions Identity In the September, 1948, issue of the "Journal of Paleontology," a paper published by two profes sors of an eastern university iden tified a fragment of a phehistoric fossil found in Kansas as a crus toze alga, a minature type of sea weed which forms a crust on rocks. Dr. Elias was not con vinced by the identification. While in the East in November of 1948, Dr. Elias found another scientist who. like himself, be lieved the fossil to be something other than an alga. Dr. Elias' skepticism was fur ther heightened by the fact that in 1934 a number of Washington paleontologists had identified a fragment of the same fossil found by George Sternberg, curator of the Museum of Paleontology at the Fort Hayes State Teachers College in Kansas, as a fragment of a coral reef. Careful Examination Determined to find out just what this puzzling fossil really was, Dr. Elias secured the largest piece of the fossil in existence from Mr. Sternberg. He then be gan the careful exacting exam ination of the note-book size fos sil which was to lead to its iden tification. The first clue to the identity of the pale-brown, rock-like fossil was its apparent bilateral sym metry which suggested a backbone-like structure. This fact proved that the fossil was not of coral or algal nature. For it takes thousands of these very small alga plants or coral animals to fill an ordinary cup. Due to the bilateral symmetry (lil.e that possessed by man) of this backbone-like structure Dr. Elias felt positive that it was the -fossil of i some larger animal capaoie ui moving rapidly. Procedure Change When comparison with known fossils failed to reveal the true identity of the fossil, Dr. Elias had to change his procedure and resort to the process of elimina tion. After exhausting every possibility save one, he was close to either success or failure. The one remaining possibility was the cuttlefish about which very little was known. More Eesearch By conducting parallel research on 'the present day cuttlefish (sometimes called a sepia or squid) Dr. Elias was able to prove by actual microscopic comparison that the fossil was originally a cuttlefish that lived in the great lake that covered Nebraska and Kansas about 100,000,000 years This is the first time it has been proven that a giant cuttle fish lived in the ancient lake that once covered the middle section of North America. And this par ticular cuttlefish is the largest known to have lived anywhere in the world. And so, a two-decade old mys tery of the cuttlefish fossil was solved by "chief detective" Dr. Maxim K. Elias of the University of Nebraska. Touchc! Colorado Women's College has a new fencing instructor, Jon Gusik has deserted the coaching of film stars for C.W.C. ANDY cigars jy Y'S C' Trr Out HOT FRESH TOP CORN THICK MALTED MILKS 1516 0 Street --ml Yes, at tobacco auctions Lucky Strike pays millions of dollars more than official parity prices for fine tobacco! There's no finer cigarette in the world today than Lucky Strike! To bring you this finer cigarette, the makers of Lucky Strike go after fine, light, naturally mild tobacco and pay millions of dollars more than official parity prices to get it! So buy a carton of Luckies today. See for yourself how much finer and smoother Luckies really are how much more real deep-down smoking enjoyment they give you. Yes, smoke a Lucky! It's a finer, milder, more enjoyable cigarette! L MURRAY MANGUM, independent tobacco buyer of Oxford, N. C, says: "Year after year, I've seen the makers of Luckies buy the kind of tobacco that tastes good and smokes good!" Mr. Mangum has smoked Luckies for 20 years. Here's more evidence that Luckies are a finer cigarette! . , l-r . I ;v a :; , A v r i If jf.fr : A Yn yA$$ tjf ' r-rf: -. : . ,." rv. !'-;' i ''-; . . . f ' ' ' k t :. , . . v : '.. - c ,fc...,M.M ,.,. .,.., - 1 COm., THC AMCRtCAN TOCCO COMf j9 So round so firm, so fully packed-so free and easy on the draw 3 f nn rzi r-r