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Show NATURE A8 A FAKER. Sometimes Deceives Even the Trained Eye of the Scientist. On tho so-called Tablo Mounds ol Iowa aro numerous Impressions of what look oxactly llko cloven foet. It Is not surprising that superstitious pcoplo should attrlbuto them to the devil, taking his walks abroad, though as a matter of fact, they aro not footprints foot-prints of any kind whatsoever, but meroly wenthor-worn impressions left by a spociea of mollusk-ltke animal known to science as pentnmorus. To tho Smithsonian institution not long ago somebody sent from the Dad Lands of Nebraska what purported to bo a 'fossil ham. It did In vory truth look like a ham, and, to render tho verisimilitude comploto, tho bono was actually sticking out at one end of it. Nevertheless, nn investigation showed that tho alleged bono was In reality a "vacullte" an extinct mollusk's sholl, rodllko In form and tho rest of tho "ham" was a mere accidental agglomeration of stony stuff. Ono day, qulto recently, a young man walked Into tho National museum ut Washington and presented to tho nnthropologlst In chnrgo . n potrlflod foot. It was rocolved with many thanks, though recognized at a glauco as a water-worn fragment of rock which had accidentally assumed a shapo resembling a foot. Such chatico Imitations aa theso frequently fre-quently occur In unluro. Another ono, deposited In tho same Institution, was supposed by tho finder to bo a pctrlflod oyster. It looks as It on tho halt sholl; all Its parts aro wonderfully distinct, dis-tinct, and thero Is ovon a Bmall pearl In It seemingly. Yet it Is not nn oyster at nil, Many years ago tho "eozoon" was Introduced as a fossil to a wondering world by Sir William Dawson, an eminent em-inent goologlst. It was accepted by science for qulto a while ns tho earliest earli-est and ojdest of known animals tho "dawn animal," as its namo signifies. Decent sclnntlllc investigation, however, how-ever, has proven that it is not, and never was, an nulmal at all. It is merely a curious crystalllno combination combina-tion of two minerals which has tho look of something that onco upon a tlmo was atlvo. It has recently bcon proved thnt many markings on sodlmentary rocks, long supposed to bo fosBll prints of al-gao al-gao mid other plants, aro In reality tracks left by Insects, mollusks and worms, Somo of these ullogod "plants" had actually received names and been classified Into genera and Bpocles. Saturday Kveittng Tost. |