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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (April 26, 1908)
TIIE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE: APRIL 26, 1903. r Christians OME. April 14. -On the Island of IB I a the Tlbr, tmong the follower JOk I ' of St John of Ood, there Is a brother, Fra Arsenlco, who la a famous dentist and wha charges no f for his work. His only diploma la a lame sack full of the teeth that ha has pulled. An American lady wintering In Home asked a man who knows all about Home, ancient and modern, to give her some In formation about tha "dentist monk aoroa wheres In Roma who pulls teeth free," as her servant had a toothache and she, tha lady, was not prepared to pay a den tiara, bill, while It was a bother to hare the maid about with a swollen face. Tha man directed her to tha Island once sacrd to the worship of Aecupapius and now tha home of Christian priests who minister to tha sick, gav her the name of Fra Ar senlco and teld her tha story of the Island a story of temples and their sick worship pers, of wornout slaves exposed and left to die thera of a charitable task begun by pagans, continued by Christians and carried on for twenty-two centuries a , curious story even for Homo. Many' centuries ago when Rome. was but a small village ' perched on the rain tine hill, surrounded by woods and marshes and Inhabited by a community of shep herds who grazed their flocks on the up land of the Vclla and the Opplan, there waa down In the valley where flowed the river Tiber a. spot among the reeds that grew on Us banks where the waters of tha stream rushed and gurgled as they broka against a low, wild Inland. It was merely a strip of land In the middle of the river, accross which the Etruscans gazed with surprise at the square fortifications of the new people who had founded a city high up on tha opposite bank. It was almost covered over and hidden by the watrs that surrounded It, unexplored and the.--fore unknown. This Island In the course of time ac quired a legendary origin. It was said that when the Romans expelled the Tarquln and "olzed their goods the golden corn waa cut from tha fields of Mars and thrown Into the river. The current carried It to Ward tha Insula caeca, the blind Island dr sandbank. Here It stopped, and tha and and mud of the river were mixed With It until It rose above the stream and became an Island, and tha Insula Tlberlna, or Island of the Tiber, was thus formed. Llvy and Plutarch and other ancient writ ers recount the legend, but modern critics have explained It away and they only con tiect the name of Tarquln with the island of the Tiber, inasmuch as under him Roman and Etruscan worships became un ited and from tha capltol they gradually spread down tha river. Ancus Marclus. fourth king of Rome, Is ald to have built a bridge of wooden piles subllcao, hence Pons Subllclus between tha Jantculum, which he fortified to check the Incursions of the Etruscans and tha Island. This wss the first bridge across tho' Tiber and It was the bridge Horatlus Codes held against the hosts of Porsonna. No iron was used in Its original construc tion nor In subsequent repairs. Its memory lasted .through the middle ages. In 1484 Pope Slxtus used the remains of its foun dations of travertine to make cannon balls, and In 1877 the last traces of it wera blown up to clear the bad of tha river. Tho bridge gave but small fama to tha Island, which remained uninhabited for several centuries. In fact until tha year SOI B. C. Then pestilence raged In Rome and spread over all tha city, with Its narrow streets and high houses overcrowded with slaves, and for three long years tha In habitants died dally by hundreds. Bo the1 senate sent to Epldaurus to re quest that Aesculapius, tha tutelary god of that place, might coma to avert tha evil. Tha ambassadors returned with a sacred snake, the emblem of the god, which had found Its own way Into their ship and ensconced Itself In the cabin. ' When they arrived In the Tiber, the snaka gilded from the-ship and swimming to tha Island disap peared there, and In consequence a temple was built on the island to the Greek god of Midlclne, whose worship was thus In troduced into Rome. Tha temple waa called Asklept. and mora than a sanctuary or a place of worship was a hospital where poor people who could not afford to pay the doctor to cure their maladies, flocked and prayed and hoped that their health would ba restored. Belief In tha supernatural powers of U.4 divinity end therefore In miracles then was at strong a It is still today In many parts of Italy. ' 'The temple had a community of priests who, besides attending to tha worship of the god, ministered to tha crowd of poor patients that came to be cured, and recom mended remedies, baths and diets gener ally, 'which very often proved mora suc cessful than tha Intervention of tha Greek god. Tha pattenta slept under the porti coes, and so great was their faith that they expected tob cured with the first light of dawnon the' (following morning, t Tha site of the temple was wall adapted for a hospital, as It was outside the city walls and in an Isolated poiUlun. It was patronised by the very poor, the freedmen who worked In tha factories, the soldiers of tha legions and tha sailors from tha galleys moored onr tha river. Thera waa a cuBtom In Roma which con tributed In keeping tha parttooea of tha Asklepla crowded. Tha owners of slares afflicted by incurable 'maladies and there fore worthless used to have them carried to tha Island and left there. Originally tha owner of a slave had tha right to kill Mm when ha had no further use for him, and before tha temple of Aesculapius was built on tha Island and bis worship Instituted In Rome, when a slave beoama ill beyond hope of recovery ha was killed by his .master. Tha prieets of th Greek god acquired celebrity for cur ing tha poor, and tha god sometimes per formed miracles, so that diseased slaves wera no longer killed, but sent to the Asklep'a, and In such numbers that the portico at times wara full of them. Emperor Claudius abolished the custom and decreed that any slave abandoned or Prattle of the On day small Edna's grandmother Showed her a large old-fashioned cent "Grandma," she said, after sislng it up. "If they had such big oenta whan you wi a girl, the dollar must have been whop pers." It is not every on who prove the In (factuln of hksomnla cures at 7 years of age. The father of tha lad, who wa about 7 yet' its old, was a phyalcian, and when the , cl lid found difficulty in getting to sleep ready with advice. "I'll tell you something that will soon put you to sleep," hi said. "Tou bg1n and i-ount slowly up to l'XJ. and then another hundred, and so on, and before you know It you'll be sleeping. Try It, tonight when you go to bed." KverytUlng remained quiet that night vntll the fattier wut to retire. A a Take Up exposed should become a free man, 'and that any person who killed a diseased slave waa guilty of the crime of murder. As a result the number of patients at the Asklepla diminished. But the sadness of th place remained, and the grova of sacred trees that adorned tha Island, tha shrlnea to other gods which In time were erected close to the temple, the many votive of ferings which wera hung (on the wall as testimony of the healing powers of the Greek god, and tha 'shape given to tha island, which was made to resemble a trireme, with an obelisk to serve the pur pose of a mast, were not sufficient to change the aspect of tha place, which was that of a hospital for poor people, a tef jge ' V" V- " v.. ,V T v. ' . v ... ' ' of poor, diseased humanity. Several inscriptions in Greek have been found bearing evidence of cures obtained through intercessions to the god. Cuius, tha blind beggar, prostrated himself before tha altar of the god and placed the five extended fingers of his right hand on it. He touched his eyes and recovered his sight Lucius, another beggar who was unable to sleep owing to great pains in his side, was oured by placing ashes from the sac rifice ba offered on tha affected side. Tha " -its - 1 ' i V - ,..... j Citizens Who Inhabited Montana Three Million Years Ago EW YORK, April 26. Prof. Henry F. Ostorn curator of vertebrate palaeontology at the American Museum of Natural History, haa Just put on exhibi tion in the new dinosaur ball two specimens of the trachodon or duck bill dinosaur, a gigantlo herbivorous crea ture which roamed western America In primeval times. One specimen is shown in a rearing attitude, which was probably a customary pose of tha trachodon In Ufa, while the other alongside Is represented aa feeding. An idea of the six and appearano of the trachodon may be had from tha ac companying picture. In which a group of school children are seen looking the big fellow over. In mounting the other speci men Prof. Osborn has departed from tha 'jsoal methods and haa supplied a view of a dinosaur at- dinner as it might have been seen soma millions of years ago. This is tha first time that such a thing has . been shown. The trachodon 1 shown feeding on various tropical fruit and plants. Casta have been made of various specimen of fossil figs, leaves, rushes, etc., found near tho remain ot the trachodon, . and these have been scattered aibout the mounted specimen, thus giving an ac curate picture, of the creature in tha aot of feeding. . The queer shaped monster waa nearly thirty feet long. The trachodon, which I shown standing, tower up kangaroo fashion some seventeen feet in the air, tha two short tore limbs only a few feet In length, dangling in marked contrast to the lonaj and powerful hind limbs. This might reptile was cne of the ancient Inhabitants of Montana and flourished some three or more millions of years ago, during the upper cretaceous period, near the close of the age ol reptile. On of tha remarkable features of the beast was that in his large head, nearly four feet long by two feet wide, then, were some 2,000 teeth, the greatest nunber possessed by any animal In tha worlL This flental battery wiis used In nibbling fruit lnd tearing up and munching various water plants and othnr soft substances which grew on the lake and river bottoms, as the dinosaur was ecitlreiy herbivorous. The simple teeth were closely packed to gether, were rodlike and single rooted, and were arranged like a moasio pavement The enamel was only on one side, on the inside In the lower jaw and the outside In the upper Jaw. As the teeth were worn away another Youngsters passed the boy' bed a little vole piped: "Papa." "Yes, my boy. "What comes after UrlllknsT" But the wakeful youngster's query was not answered; his fattier had vanished into his own badroom. Sandy and Donald McArthur wera nawly impcrtud from the Scottish bills and phe rich twang to their speech was a source of much amusement te the school children, who almost without exception did not come from English shaking hoinea t)iemsclvea. When reading about beds Saudy says, "Oh, I sleep In a we bit of a bawk at home." When urged to remove his top ooat. which filled unoomfortubly the small seats, he steadily refused. When tho teacher permuted 1n her efforts he at lnt cried out in desperation: ' "But I cahu't take off ma ooat sa pkhnt i bust" ) s W ork on A !r -vx.r A ' ' i ill ' i i row appeared an the cutting surface and took their place. One of the accompany ing photographs shows the two lower jaw having 1,000 of these teeth. Each jaw baa from forty-five to sixty vertical and from ten to fourteen horizontal rows of teeth. The mouth, which broadened out in the shape of a ducklike bill, was covered with a horny sheath like that of birds or tur tles. A realistic glimpse of the Ufa ap pearance of these animals is shown in tha reproduction of tha painting by Charles R. Knight There is a little story connected with tha finding ot tha big trachodon. It escaped tha keen, trained eyea of the professional fossil hunters sent out yearly by various college and acientlflo institution and waa , ' . j f r r- n i.- t fc-vvcr roeo rw. discovered by two cowboys riding along the Bad Lands of Montana, One or these , noticed a protruding, weathered bona coming out of tha side of a cliff and held it to bo a buffalo bone, while the other took the vte-v that it wa prob ably a fragment of a worthless fossil ani mal. In order to prove his theory ha dl irounted and proceeded to kick off tha tops of precious ribs exposed above ground. ITies being brittle, immedlatelv fell broken pieces, thus conclusively proving to the dlswjntlng cowboy that they -nrere fos sils and not the bones of a modern buffalo. Boon afte.-ward another ranchman, a bit more wine, heard of the find, realised the possible value of the burled bones, barbae Deen around tha camDS of tha foaall plorers, and traded a six-shooter with th first cotfbay discoverer for his Interest in tha boue olalw. The new owner sold hi right for a a mall sum to Bkraum Brown, on of tha field explorars of tha Muaaiun of Natural History's palaontological depart- : 1 I M t s . . sss-T-Tiw i ainiiiss V ' the Island of Tiber f .1 i .! ' 1 r !'1 f .: I -it " 1 MM a i n 1 m rn-miM nnnani lji.. jjinr wji 11 j 1 i 'h 1 .1 yir& '': x-;;- i y ' ' ' V' " :V " -, -1 ' . f: -. '".' , , i -:i.r - -Srv-k' v r - . . . - j , - -J. - , '- ' - - - : ' ... - I c Iium imimii' . f .1 - . : .Jti ,m , 11.1iMiini11r.1r i. r. , 1. ,-l,lt-0 V- .-.-,. 1 ' . ' 1 1 - v 1 ; - ., - ' r ! " " '- ,- , -:. t . , is , : . .-. t. " J . . .. . xv, . ' -j 'friJlfrf n 5 I , Begun by Pagans '. "' . t ii soldier Valerius Aprus recovered from his wounds by putting honey on them. But If some were cured many hoped and prayed, but died. When the day was over and the gates of tha temple wera closed for tho night the crowd of patients, many of them almost starved to death, all feverish and In pain, filled the porticos and there walled and cried and shrieked from pain and called on tha god for help during the long dark hours of the night, while tho waters of the river rushed and gurgled rcund the sides of the stone ship with Its lohd of suffering humanity. Tha night passed and dawn, heralded by the crowing of the cocks kept in tha sacred grove, appeared. The gates of tha temple were opened, and those among tha patients who were cured rushed in to offer sacri fices and thanks to the god, but many re mained still In the porticos until they were removed by tha priests. The god had not cured them and they had died during the Eight. The worship of Aesculapius ended, with the advent of Christianity. A holy man, St. Emlgdlus, Is said to have destroyed the temple of tha Greek god as well as tha shrines of Jupiter Lycaonlus, of Faunus and of Bemo-Sancus. In late Imperial times the Island was used as a prison and Arvandus, perfect of Gaul, waa Immured here In 4SS A. D. Churches and convents wara built on tha Island. Otho III founded tha basilica of Saint Adalbert on tha site of a still earlier church, and Golaalua II reohrUtanad this ment, who uncovered the petrified remains of one of the most complete fossil speci mens of modern times. Tha quarry in which the skeleton had been burled some 8,000,000 years Is situated 130 miles northwest of Miles City, on Crooked creek, centra tCon tana, perhaps tha, most Inaccessible spot In America. , Hare, by geological uplifts In the distant past, the earth has been thrown Into a erle of great rock waves or folds. In the downfolds of these haa been found to exist a wonderful layer of entombed dinosaur of enormous else. Tha country for many miles around was in remote times the bed of a great lake or inland sea and tha bodies of these aquatio trachodons when they died became Im bedded In the mlra of the lake and sea bot toms. When In the course of ayes tha water disappeared and the mud hardenel into rock their skeletons were preserved in a petrified Hale. In this primeval sea and around its chores lived during tha cretaceous ag nu ll erous hordes of the great scale-c rated trivchodons who walked erect on their maislve hind limbs and waded about In tha swamps and marshes searching for food. Aiong with the tracheal ins there lived a th sunt tlm twa (tero type of church In 1218, and gave It the name of St. Rartholommeo, which It still bears. The body of tha saint was brought from Boneventuw and plared here. Opposite this church la the Hospital of Bt John of Ood, also called Renefratelll, under tha care of a confraternity of brethern who nurse the sick and continue traditions of the priests of Aesculapius. Tho Island Is thus still dedicated to tha spirit of healing. In 1(V4 the whole Island waa converted Into a hospital for those stiloken with the plague. A small garden, probably all that remains of the sacred grove of pagan times, la now used as a morgue. Fragments of tha anciont temples are atlll to be seen, although tha island haa been greatly modernised and altered. 8lx years ago when the new embankment of the river was being built the faylssae or pits of the main temple were found filled with discarded: ex-votos, arms, hands, feet, breasts, modeled In terra cotta. Thera are still the two bridges that con nected the Island with the banks of tha Tiber. One, the ancient Tons Fabrlclus, b' of stone In the place of the old wooden one In 62 B. C. by U Fabrlclus, has two arches and a small-flood arch In the central pier. It la now called Ponte Quattro Cap! (Bridge of tha Four HeadsK from two henna of Jaua which still adorn Its para pet, and It la still Intact, having withstood the vicissitudes of nearly 1,000 years. The other, now called tha Ponte St. Bar tholommeo, originally built by IaicIus Cs tlus In B. C. 46. and restored by tha Em perors Vale'ntlnlan, Valens and Gratlan, was pulled down by the municipal authori ties In lSSg and rebuilt with the exception of the central arch, which la still the an cient one. Tn the center of the pistil, In front of tha Church of St Bartholommeo, where once stood the obelisk that formed the mast of the Island ship, there Is now a pillar with four niches adorned with the statues of Bt. Bartholomew, St Paulimia of Nola, St Francla and St. John of God, four humble men who spent their lives In works of charity, ministering to tha sick. They have taken the place of the Greek god Aesculapius, just as the Franciscan monks and the followers of St. John of God have taken tha place and are slUl doing the work of the pagan priests. The Italian government haa seised tha monasteries, which are now divided Into tenement houses, but a narrow atrip of land has been left to the monks, and here they have a small hospital of seventy beds where they devote themselves entirely to the care of the sick poor, soma twelve, hundred of whom pass through tha hospi tal every year, besides the many cases re lieved In the reception rooms. Such Is the Island of the Tiber today. Sick slaves are no longer exposed and left to die here, but every lady living In Rome will send her servant girl to the hospital In case of need. Prima Facia Kvldenoe. "Come, Willie," said his mother, "don't be so selfish. Let your little brother play with your marbles a while." "But" protested Willie, "he means to keep them always." "Oh, I guess not." ' "I guess yes I 'Cause he' swallowed two them already." carnivorous dinosaurs, namely, th tyran Bosauru, and Ue three-horned monster, th trl cera tops. Theae were th deadly enemies of tha trachodons and constantly attacked and preyed upon them. Tha remain of the dlpoaaurs of herbl- vcrous types are more frequently found i than those of the flesh-eating dinosaurs, 'and their skeletons are likewise preserved , more complete, all the parts being usually united together. Remains of large carnlvor- ous dinosaurs are never found Intact, but scattered in different localities. '" Mining a big dinosaur's remain without damaging the brittle bones is a slow and delicate operation, requiring special care and skill. Tha uncovering of tha tracho don' skeleton was successfully accom plished by Mr. . Brown and one assistant after some three weeks of patient work. Including blasting, digging and tunnelling In th side of the cliff. To Insure safety during shipment and to aid in th setting of tha much fractured bone they wer handled after the fashion of a surgeon's treatment of a broken leg. Th bone wer treated with shellac and Incased in layer of plotter and strength ened by strlpa of wood tightly bound around with wet rawhide. The various section of th beast were then boxed up and carried by wagon to the railroad. Th trip ona way took fourteen days and waa.' ' as long and dreary a bit ot hauling as ona would want La I: nr1r-t V m . r Whan tha trachodon was receive! at the laboratory of th museum there' wa an other task requiring patience, tima and kill. Th massive and fragile bones had to ba cleaned and adjusted, steel frame work bad to be prepared to support tha ' skeleton and the final mounting of the gigantic reptile's skeleton In a Ufel'.ka attitude required anatomical study g' well as mechanical construction. , Chief Prep 'arator Adam Herman aj.d his assistant Charles Lang, worked under Prof. Osborn' direction, while Otto and Charles Falken. , back made the delicate casts showing tha fruit foliage, etc., used on the base and modeled in th few missing part n the skeleton. A will ba seen, the trachodon wa shaped aomewbat like a kangaroo, with short fore legs, long hind limbs and an extremely long talL Tha fore legs were about one sixth the slxe of the hind ones. It Is thought from the size and shape of the foot bones that the front legs could not fiave borne much weight and were probably Ui'ed only In supporting the front part of tht body when the animal was feeding and in aiding It to recover an upright position. Theri are four toes on the front foot and the h nd legs have three developed toe ending tn broad hoofs. One c" the principal features in tha makeup of this monster vegetarian waa th long tail. This was adapted to propel th creature's body at a rapid rate in vater and llrkwise served to balance It when as suming an uptight position on land. Tha trachodons are thought to have been rapid and expert swimmers. Having no armor or means of defense, their tails afforded them a means of escape from th attacks of the land dinosaurs by swiftly propelling them Into tun w.Ur fr out of the reach of their enemies. In fact, on the left hind foot of thl skeleton there are three sharp gashes, which are the marks of tho teeth of soma hunsry flesh eater. Tha d'rappi arance from the face of the ear'n of the lrac,..d,naiiJ Hie cjntcmpo rary carnivorous dlnoraurs about tha end of the cretaceous sge was almost simul taneous the world over. Pah-ontologtsts, i j notably Prof. Osborn, have several expla- ' nations to prevent in regard to this, one bing that th beasts wera unabl to opa with changed geological conditio, which cut off lhlr foo4 uvi i 4 t
