Looking squarely at you through the frame of its great curved tusks, the huge skull of a mammoth ... From the October 5, 1935,

Submitted by admin on Fri, 2005-10-07 21:00. ::

Looking squarely at you through the frame of its great curved tusks, the huge skull of a mammoth recently placed on exhibition at the New York State Museum in Albany produces a most awesome effect. The awesomeness is not diminished, either, by the leglike arrangement of the half-dozen supporting rods needed to hold up its ponderous weight, which somehow produces a vague suggestion of a vast, fantastic insect, striding out of an antediluvian dream.

The skull, known officially as the Randolph Mammoth, was found during excavation at the New York State Hatchery near the town of Randolph. It was in fragments, and cost more than a little difficulty and labor to get together, but the final assembly produced an almost perfect specimen.

A gloomy future for the teeth of mankind-a future in which we shall have to pamper our mouths increasingly-is foreseen by Dr. William Seidel of the U.S. Marine Hospital in Norfolk, Va. Dr. Seidel bases his forecast on existing knowledge of the causes of various dental ills.

Evolution and diet are causing man to lose his teeth, in Dr. Seidel’s opinion. Since evolution is an irreversible process, the human oral cavity appears destined to be forever afflicted with caries, pyorrhea, and misplaced teeth, he says.

Loss of teeth through evolution has been going on for centuries, Dr. Seidel points out. The great length of time is indicated by the fact that we have already completely lost 16 permanent teeth, having now only 32, while the usual number for mammals is 48. Individually one can lose a good many teeth at one séance with an exodontist, but the evolutionary process is slow, and it has required many centuries to produce such a change in our dentition.

This is cache, read story here