1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,680 --> 00:00:16,680 Speaker 1: Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. 4 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,440 Speaker 2: I don't remember which historical hoax we talked about on 5 00:00:20,480 --> 00:00:23,720 Speaker 2: the show that led me to put the Missouri Leviathan 6 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 2: on my short list. I do remember, though, that I 7 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:30,760 Speaker 2: didn't want to do this episode immediately because I like 8 00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,839 Speaker 2: find the hoax episodes to be very fun, but I 9 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,200 Speaker 2: also like to spread them out a little bit, since 10 00:00:37,560 --> 00:00:39,599 Speaker 2: they can seem a little bit repetitive if they get 11 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:43,839 Speaker 2: all bunched up together. After doing this research, I'm not 12 00:00:44,280 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 2: entirely convinced that hoax is actually the right word for 13 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,920 Speaker 2: the Missouri Leviathan. But regardless, now it has been long 14 00:00:53,040 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 2: enough since I put this on a list that I 15 00:00:54,640 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 2: don't even remember what the episode was that inspired it, 16 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:00,400 Speaker 2: so that seems like it's been long enough that it 17 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 2: will not seem repetitive. 18 00:01:03,480 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: The Missouri Leviathan was an enormous skeleton made of fossilized 19 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:11,440 Speaker 1: bones that were excavated and assembled by Albert C. Kock. 20 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: He was born on May tenth, eighteen oh four, in Saxony. 21 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:20,440 Speaker 1: That's now Germany. His parents were Johann Yusebius Sigismund Cock 22 00:01:20,840 --> 00:01:25,399 Speaker 1: and Johanna Maria Vellemine Martini. We don't know a whole 23 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:27,399 Speaker 1: lot about his early life, but he came to the 24 00:01:27,520 --> 00:01:31,680 Speaker 1: United States in eighteen twenty six and initially settled in Pennsylvania. 25 00:01:32,760 --> 00:01:34,840 Speaker 1: One of the ways Cock tried to make a living 26 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: after arriving in the United States was collecting and selling 27 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: specimens for natural history museums. That might sound kind of 28 00:01:43,200 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: weird today, but it was not all that uncommon as 29 00:01:46,280 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 1: a way for people to make money at the time. 30 00:01:49,240 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: The first natural history museums as we would recognize them today, 31 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:56,600 Speaker 1: date back to about the seventeenth century, but a lot 32 00:01:56,800 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: more of them opened in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. 33 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:05,240 Speaker 1: This included museums that were established by universities and institutions 34 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:08,840 Speaker 1: other formal organizations, as well as ones that were just 35 00:02:08,880 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: started by individual people who wanted to start a museum. 36 00:02:13,440 --> 00:02:17,200 Speaker 1: This surge was driven by a public fascination with ongoing 37 00:02:17,240 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: discoveries in the natural sciences, like entire fields like palaeodology 38 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:25,560 Speaker 1: were just getting established. This was also paired with a 39 00:02:25,680 --> 00:02:29,560 Speaker 1: rise in leisure time among some economic classes, so more 40 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 1: people had time to do things like visit museums, so 41 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,600 Speaker 1: there was a huge market for all kinds of objects 42 00:02:35,639 --> 00:02:39,919 Speaker 1: to go in such museums. Cock partnered with various people 43 00:02:39,960 --> 00:02:42,760 Speaker 1: in his collecting business as he moved from place to place, 44 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: and he sold objects to a museum in Berlin as 45 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: well as to institutions in the United States. Before leaving Pennsylvania, 46 00:02:51,120 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 1: Cock married Elizabeth Reid. They would eventually go on to 47 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:58,840 Speaker 1: have four children. By eighteen thirty they'd moved to Michigan, 48 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:01,920 Speaker 1: and by eighteen thirty five if they were in Saint Louis, Missouri. 49 00:03:02,520 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: In Saint Louis, Cox started a museum of his own 50 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:09,040 Speaker 1: and that opened in eighteen thirty six. Like many early 51 00:03:09,120 --> 00:03:12,280 Speaker 1: natural history museums, the Saint Louis Museum followed in the 52 00:03:12,280 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: footsteps of Renaissance era cabinets of curiosities, which were cabinets 53 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:20,720 Speaker 1: or even entire rooms where well off people collected things 54 00:03:20,800 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: like fossils, shells, animal specimens, and even works of art. 55 00:03:25,880 --> 00:03:28,840 Speaker 1: These were also still around by the nineteenth century, and 56 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:32,120 Speaker 1: Cox's father, who was a magistrate in their village in Saxony, 57 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,240 Speaker 1: had one of these in their home, so it's possible 58 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:39,720 Speaker 1: that that was the inspiration for Cox Museum. Cox Museum 59 00:03:40,080 --> 00:03:43,520 Speaker 1: was near where the Gateway Art stands today, and it 60 00:03:43,600 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: was full of all kinds of things, plants and animal specimens, taxidermy. 61 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:54,840 Speaker 2: Fossils, shells, pieces of coral and Egyptian artifacts. On February 62 00:03:54,880 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 2: twenty second, eighteen thirty eight, he announced that he had 63 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 2: purchased the collection of William Clark, who had teamed up 64 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 2: with Meriwether Lewis for the Core of Discovery expedition across 65 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:09,280 Speaker 2: the western part of North America. Clark had developed a 66 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 2: huge collection of indigenous artwork and other objects during this 67 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 2: expedition and during his military service and his time working 68 00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 2: as an Indian agent. The details are a little fuzzy 69 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:27,320 Speaker 2: about exactly how Cock acquired this collection. A number of 70 00:04:27,400 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 2: sources say that he bought it after William Clark's death, 71 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 2: but Clark died on September first, eighteen thirty eight, and 72 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:38,480 Speaker 2: that was a few months after this acquisition was announced. 73 00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:41,600 Speaker 2: A lot of the objects in the Saint Louis Museum 74 00:04:41,680 --> 00:04:44,400 Speaker 2: would have a home in a natural history museum today, 75 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:47,599 Speaker 2: but a lot of the natural history museums of this 76 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:51,880 Speaker 2: era also had a focus on almost vaudeville like entertainment 77 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 2: and spectacles that didn't necessarily have a place in the 78 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:58,640 Speaker 2: real world. That was the case for the Saint Louis 79 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:02,480 Speaker 2: Museum as well. Albert Kok and his museum are often 80 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 2: compared to P. T. Barnum, who became tightly associated with 81 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,800 Speaker 2: both showmanship and flimflam. Some of Cock's exhibits would be 82 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:13,800 Speaker 2: compared to Barnum's Fiji Mermaid, which was made from a 83 00:05:13,839 --> 00:05:16,880 Speaker 2: monkey and a fish like. Cock had an animal that 84 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,719 Speaker 2: he called the proc which he said was the size 85 00:05:19,720 --> 00:05:22,400 Speaker 2: of a mule, with stripes like a zebra and the 86 00:05:22,440 --> 00:05:26,360 Speaker 2: head of a rhinoceros. The Saint Louis Museum also had 87 00:05:26,400 --> 00:05:31,799 Speaker 2: a dramatic saloon for entertainers to perform in a dramatic 88 00:05:31,880 --> 00:05:36,719 Speaker 2: saloon not an uncommon addition to natural history museums of 89 00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:37,280 Speaker 2: this era. 90 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:42,560 Speaker 1: I feel like there's a speakeasy opportunity here. Cock was 91 00:05:42,640 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: also an avid fossil collector, including the fossilized bones of 92 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:50,520 Speaker 1: the megafauna that had lived in North America until the 93 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:54,320 Speaker 1: end of the Last Ice Age, so things like mastodons 94 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: and giant ground sloths, and that is what led to 95 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:01,559 Speaker 1: the creation of the Missouri Leviathan. There are a number 96 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:04,800 Speaker 1: of stories about exactly how he came into possession of 97 00:06:04,839 --> 00:06:10,400 Speaker 1: these fossilized bones, possibly because he used bones from multiple 98 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: animals to do it. One story is that in eighteen 99 00:06:14,760 --> 00:06:17,839 Speaker 1: thirty eight he heard about a farmer on the Brebus River 100 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 1: in east central Missouri who had been trying to improve 101 00:06:22,080 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: a spring and found several bones in the process. Another 102 00:06:27,080 --> 00:06:29,720 Speaker 1: is that a year later, in eighteen thirty nine, he 103 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:33,600 Speaker 1: heard that a farmer near Rock Creek in Kimswick, southeast 104 00:06:33,600 --> 00:06:36,039 Speaker 1: of Saint Louis, had found some bones in a field. 105 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:40,880 Speaker 1: Kock is known to have excavated massdon bones from at 106 00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 1: least three places, those two that we just mentioned and 107 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:49,200 Speaker 1: a site on the Poonditaire River. Cock had no formal 108 00:06:49,240 --> 00:06:53,480 Speaker 1: training as a paleontologist or a naturalist or a museum curator, 109 00:06:53,960 --> 00:06:56,440 Speaker 1: but neither did a lot of other people doing this 110 00:06:56,560 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: same work in the eighteen thirties. We don't really know 111 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,000 Speaker 1: if he'd ever read any of the existing literature about 112 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 1: mastodons in their anatomine, so it's not entirely clear whether 113 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 1: he intentionally assembled the bones of multiple animals to make 114 00:07:10,800 --> 00:07:15,280 Speaker 1: one deceptively enormous skeleton, or if He thought this was 115 00:07:15,320 --> 00:07:17,920 Speaker 1: what a real animal had looked like, and he used 116 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,000 Speaker 1: the bones of multiple animals to basically fill in what 117 00:07:21,200 --> 00:07:22,400 Speaker 1: he thought were gaps. 118 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:27,920 Speaker 2: The skeleton he assembled and displayed at his museum, calling 119 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:31,960 Speaker 2: it the Missourium or the Missouri Leviathan, belonged to what 120 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:34,680 Speaker 2: he said was an animal thirty two feet long and 121 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:38,720 Speaker 2: fifteen feet tall. That's almost ten meters long and four 122 00:07:38,800 --> 00:07:42,480 Speaker 2: and a half meters tall. As we said, an adult 123 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,560 Speaker 2: American mastodon was about the size of an elephant, so 124 00:07:46,760 --> 00:07:50,080 Speaker 2: males were typically a little less than ten feet tall 125 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 2: or three meters tall. Those are approximate conversions, obviously, Although 126 00:07:56,280 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 2: some people use the word mastodon and mammoth interchangeably, these 127 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:04,520 Speaker 2: were different animals, with macedons typically being shorter and stockier 128 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:10,000 Speaker 2: with straighter tusks than mammoths had. This assemblage had at 129 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,040 Speaker 2: least ten more vertebrae than a mastodon would have had. 130 00:08:13,840 --> 00:08:17,040 Speaker 2: Kock also placed spacers between the vertebrae to make the 131 00:08:17,080 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 2: skeleton even longer. He also used a couple of ribs 132 00:08:21,080 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 2: to make the collar bones. He claimed that the Missourium 133 00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:28,360 Speaker 2: was aquatic, and added long bones to the skeleton's toes 134 00:08:28,640 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 2: to create what looked like webbed feet, and rather than 135 00:08:32,000 --> 00:08:35,560 Speaker 2: having the animal's tusks point forward, he pointed them out 136 00:08:35,600 --> 00:08:40,920 Speaker 2: to the side. Here is his explanation for these sideways 137 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:44,520 Speaker 2: pointing tusks, taken from a pamphlet that he wrote and 138 00:08:44,559 --> 00:08:48,160 Speaker 2: published in eighteen forty one, which was titled Description of 139 00:08:48,320 --> 00:08:53,600 Speaker 2: Missourium or Missouri Leviathan, together with its supposed habits and 140 00:08:53,800 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 2: Indian traditions concerning the location from which it was exhumed. 141 00:08:58,080 --> 00:09:02,280 Speaker 2: Also comparisons of the whale, crocodile, and Basoorium with the 142 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:05,319 Speaker 2: Leviathan is described in the forty first chapter of the 143 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:07,720 Speaker 2: Book of Job quote. 144 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 1: As I was. 145 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:12,959 Speaker 2: Successful in finding the right tusks solid in the head 146 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 2: when I first discovered it, and as it remained fixed 147 00:09:16,600 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 2: in its socket during its excavation and transportation over a 148 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 2: very rough and wilderness country, I am enabled therefore to 149 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 2: give a correct and indisputable description of the position and 150 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,560 Speaker 2: situation which the tusts occupied in the skull of the 151 00:09:31,600 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 2: animal during its life. They were carried by him almost horizontally, 152 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:40,000 Speaker 2: bending somewhat down and coming with their points up again. 153 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:43,800 Speaker 2: Their length is ten feet exclusive of one foot inches 154 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 2: from which formed the root and is hidden from the 155 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 2: eye of the observer as it is concealed in and 156 00:09:50,320 --> 00:09:53,680 Speaker 2: under the skull. In other words, he said he knew 157 00:09:53,720 --> 00:09:56,800 Speaker 2: the animal's tusks swept out to the side because that's 158 00:09:56,840 --> 00:09:58,920 Speaker 2: the way one of them was pointing when he found it, 159 00:09:59,200 --> 00:10:01,320 Speaker 2: and it didn't move from that position in all of 160 00:10:01,360 --> 00:10:03,880 Speaker 2: the jostling it took to get it back to the museum. 161 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:08,040 Speaker 2: We'll talk about what he said. These sideways, pointing tusks 162 00:10:08,080 --> 00:10:17,880 Speaker 2: were four after we paused for a sponsor break. 163 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:24,560 Speaker 1: According to Albert Cock, the Missouri Leviathan was a giants 164 00:10:24,760 --> 00:10:29,040 Speaker 1: aquatic animal armored like an alligator. He had made it 165 00:10:29,160 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: from Macedon bones. But in his pamphlet Description of the 166 00:10:32,520 --> 00:10:36,040 Speaker 1: Missourium or Missouri Leviathan, which we read the entire title 167 00:10:36,080 --> 00:10:39,200 Speaker 1: of before the break, he not only said it was 168 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:44,319 Speaker 1: not a Masthdon, but also that it had several notable 169 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:49,000 Speaker 1: differences from a masdon. He wrote, quote, the most striking 170 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:52,800 Speaker 1: difference between the Leviathan and the Macedon are First, the 171 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:56,680 Speaker 1: leviathan had no trunk, therefore could not be classed under 172 00:10:56,679 --> 00:11:01,000 Speaker 1: the Probosa genus. Second, its toes were armed with claws 173 00:11:01,120 --> 00:11:04,600 Speaker 1: or nails, and this circumstance prevents its being classed with 174 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:09,280 Speaker 1: the hoofed animals, to which class the mastodon belongs. Third, 175 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: the Leviathan has twenty four dorsal vertebrae and forty eight ribs, 176 00:11:14,280 --> 00:11:19,680 Speaker 1: whereas the mastodon has nineteen dorsal vertebrae in thirty eight ribs. Fourth, 177 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:22,839 Speaker 1: the scapula or shoulder blade is materially shorter in the 178 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:27,720 Speaker 1: Leviathan than in the mastodon. Also, the ribs are much smaller. Fifth, 179 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:30,840 Speaker 1: the dental system at the first view somewhat resembles that 180 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,160 Speaker 1: of the mastodon, but upon a close examination the observer 181 00:11:34,280 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 1: will perceive that the teeth of the Leviathan are much 182 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:40,319 Speaker 1: smaller in proportion to the maxillary bones than those of 183 00:11:40,360 --> 00:11:45,520 Speaker 1: the mastodon, and also better calculated for masticulating softer substances. 184 00:11:46,480 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 1: He had this to say about how the Missouri Leviathan 185 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:53,960 Speaker 1: existed in its purported habitat, which is where we find 186 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:58,080 Speaker 1: out about those sideways tusks quote. The animal has been, 187 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:02,120 Speaker 1: without doubt an inhabitant of water courses such as large 188 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:05,360 Speaker 1: rivers and lakes, which is proven by the formation of 189 00:12:05,400 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 1: the bones. First, his feet were webbed. Second, all his 190 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:13,160 Speaker 1: bones were solid, and without marrow, as the aquatic animals 191 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:16,960 Speaker 1: of the present day. Third, his ribs were too small 192 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,440 Speaker 1: and slender to resist the many pressures and bruises they 193 00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: would be subject to on land. Fourth, his legs are 194 00:12:24,320 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: short and thick. Five his tail is flat and broad. 195 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:32,680 Speaker 1: Sixth and last, his tusks are so situated in the 196 00:12:32,720 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 1: head that it would be utterly impossible for him to 197 00:12:35,160 --> 00:12:40,199 Speaker 1: exist in a timbered country. He possessed, also, like the hippopotamus, 198 00:12:40,200 --> 00:12:43,679 Speaker 1: the faculty of walking on the bottom of waters and 199 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 1: rose occasionally to take air. The singular position of the 200 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:52,120 Speaker 1: tusks has been very wisely adapted by the creator for 201 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,760 Speaker 1: the protection of the body from the many injuries which 202 00:12:55,760 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: it would be exposed while swimming or walking under the water. 203 00:13:00,600 --> 00:13:05,679 Speaker 1: Cox pamphlet also incorporated what he described as indigenous traditions, 204 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:09,480 Speaker 1: although with this caveat quote, it is perfectly true that 205 00:13:09,559 --> 00:13:14,079 Speaker 1: we cannot with any degree of certainty depend on Indian traditions, 206 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:17,480 Speaker 1: but it is equally true that generally these traditions are 207 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: founded on events which have actually transpired. From there, he 208 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:24,600 Speaker 1: related a whole story that he claimed was an indigenous 209 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:27,800 Speaker 1: legend about the arrival of the first O sage and 210 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:31,280 Speaker 1: a war with giant animals living in the area. It 211 00:13:31,360 --> 00:13:34,520 Speaker 1: is completely unclear whether this is something an indigenous person 212 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: told him or if he just made it up. I 213 00:13:37,320 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 1: can imagine an indigenous person telling him this to see 214 00:13:40,320 --> 00:13:43,760 Speaker 1: if he believed it. Yeah, and even if it was 215 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:50,079 Speaker 1: based in a real legend that was part of indigenous 216 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:52,480 Speaker 1: law and culture like that was not really his to 217 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:58,199 Speaker 1: share for hours. The pamphlet also connected the Missouri Leviathan 218 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,520 Speaker 1: to the sea serpent love Viiathan described in the Hebrew Bible, 219 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,360 Speaker 1: including in the Book of Job. It's sort of a 220 00:14:05,400 --> 00:14:09,360 Speaker 1: close reading of the Biblical verses drawing purported connections to 221 00:14:09,520 --> 00:14:12,559 Speaker 1: the fossil. It goes through the whole. 222 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:19,520 Speaker 2: Biblical text with like connections to this creature. Here is 223 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 2: just an example from this quote, the thirteenth and fourteenth verse, 224 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:28,480 Speaker 2: who can discover the face of his garment, or who 225 00:14:28,560 --> 00:14:31,680 Speaker 2: can come to him with his double bridle? Who can 226 00:14:31,800 --> 00:14:36,120 Speaker 2: open the doors of his face? His teeth are terrible roundabout. 227 00:14:37,120 --> 00:14:40,240 Speaker 2: The first sentence again has reference to his shield or covering. 228 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 2: Doubtless no one could approach him without incurring imminent danger, 229 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 2: not even near enough to discover the face of his 230 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:50,760 Speaker 2: garment or in other words, to examine the construction in 231 00:14:50,800 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 2: particular parts of his covering the latter part of the 232 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,920 Speaker 2: thirteenth and the whole of the fourteenth. First take particular 233 00:14:57,000 --> 00:15:00,880 Speaker 2: notice of his enormous grinders an immense tes usks, more 234 00:15:01,000 --> 00:15:05,280 Speaker 2: especially to the situation which these latter occupy in the skull. 235 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: And in a claim that prompted a lot of controversy, 236 00:15:10,160 --> 00:15:13,440 Speaker 1: Cock wrote that he had also found objects clearly made 237 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 1: by human beings, proving that these animals lived at the 238 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:20,400 Speaker 1: same time that humans did. He started by describing a 239 00:15:20,440 --> 00:15:23,520 Speaker 1: different find, which may have been a ground sloth, before 240 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:27,520 Speaker 1: moving on to the Leviathan quote. There was embedded immediately 241 00:15:27,640 --> 00:15:30,320 Speaker 1: under the femur or hind leg bone of this animal 242 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:34,800 Speaker 1: an arrowhead of rose colored flint, resembling those used by 243 00:15:34,800 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: the American Indians, but of a larger size. This was 244 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 1: the only arrowhead immediately with the skeleton, but in the 245 00:15:41,920 --> 00:15:44,680 Speaker 1: same strata, at a distance of five or six feet 246 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: in a horizontal direction, four more arrowheads were found. Three 247 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:52,359 Speaker 1: of these were of the same formation as the preceding. 248 00:15:53,080 --> 00:15:56,760 Speaker 1: The fourth was of a very rude workmanship. One of 249 00:15:56,800 --> 00:15:59,520 Speaker 1: the last mentioned three was of agate, The others of 250 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 1: blueft lint. These arrowheads are indisputably the work of human hands. 251 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:07,840 Speaker 1: I examined the deposit in which they were embedded and 252 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:11,240 Speaker 1: raised them out of their embedment with my own hands. 253 00:16:11,920 --> 00:16:15,200 Speaker 2: A lot of the back and forth about this conclusion 254 00:16:15,320 --> 00:16:18,520 Speaker 2: played out in scientific journals later on, so we will 255 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 2: be returning to it in a bit. But Kock had 256 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:25,640 Speaker 2: hoped his so called Missourium would bring in big crowds 257 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,880 Speaker 2: to the Saint Louis Museum. When it didn't, he tried 258 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:32,000 Speaker 2: another tack, which was to take the skeleton on tour. 259 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:36,440 Speaker 1: He sold the museum to W. S. McPherson on January twentieth, 260 00:16:36,480 --> 00:16:40,240 Speaker 1: eighteen forty one. One thing that's not clear is what 261 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:45,240 Speaker 1: happened to William Clark's collection when Kock made this sale. 262 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,040 Speaker 1: Theoretically it should have stayed with the museum, but it 263 00:16:49,080 --> 00:16:52,440 Speaker 1: apparently didn't, and later on members of the Clark family 264 00:16:52,560 --> 00:16:56,960 Speaker 1: accused Kok of stealing it. In Philadelphia, Cock displayed the 265 00:16:57,000 --> 00:17:00,680 Speaker 1: Missourium at the Masonic Hall the skeleton and attracted the 266 00:17:00,720 --> 00:17:05,000 Speaker 1: attention of the local scientific community. An expert started pointing 267 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:09,920 Speaker 1: out issues with Cox's work. This included paleontologist Richard Harlan 268 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:13,800 Speaker 1: and anatomist Paul Goddard of the Academy of Natural Science 269 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:18,720 Speaker 1: in Philadelphia. Harlan published a thorough description of the skeleton 270 00:17:18,760 --> 00:17:22,080 Speaker 1: in the American Journal of Science and Arts, and in 271 00:17:22,119 --> 00:17:24,639 Speaker 1: it he had this to say, quote one of the 272 00:17:24,680 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 1: most extensive and remarkable collections of fossil bones of extinct 273 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:33,000 Speaker 1: species of mammals which have hitherto been brought to light 274 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,840 Speaker 1: in this country, a gratification for which our scientific community 275 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:42,159 Speaker 1: will acknowledge themselves, indebted to the perseverance of the enterprising proprietor, 276 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:47,119 Speaker 1: mister Albert Cock of Saint Louis, Missouri. This collection consists 277 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:52,440 Speaker 1: mainly of the largest skeleton of an aged mastodon, hitherto 278 00:17:52,680 --> 00:17:58,919 Speaker 1: disinterred in America. Nearly complete, the proprietor, not possessing the 279 00:17:59,000 --> 00:18:03,199 Speaker 1: advantage of anatomical knowledge, has committed some errors in the 280 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:07,919 Speaker 1: articulation of the bones, which no doubt his ulterior researches 281 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:11,440 Speaker 1: will enable him to rectify. Among these errors may be 282 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:16,160 Speaker 1: noticed here ten or more supernumery vertebrae in the spinal column, 283 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,920 Speaker 1: some supernumery ribs, and the first rib occupying the position 284 00:18:19,960 --> 00:18:25,040 Speaker 1: of the clavicle, et cetera. So Harlan recognized that these 285 00:18:25,080 --> 00:18:29,000 Speaker 1: were macedon bones, not bones of some newly discovered creature. 286 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:31,960 Speaker 1: But he also really gave Cock the benefit of the doubt, 287 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:35,439 Speaker 1: framing his decisions on how he put all this together 288 00:18:36,000 --> 00:18:39,880 Speaker 1: as errors that were brought about by ignorance, rather than 289 00:18:39,880 --> 00:18:43,840 Speaker 1: an intentional effort to deceive people. At a meeting of 290 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:47,440 Speaker 1: the National Academy of Sciences in October of eighteen forty one, 291 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:52,160 Speaker 1: Goddard reported on his examination of the skeleton. He said 292 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:55,040 Speaker 1: he had found it to be quote, a skeleton composed 293 00:18:55,080 --> 00:18:58,600 Speaker 1: of mastodon bones, most of which appeared to belong to 294 00:18:58,640 --> 00:19:03,080 Speaker 1: a single set, any however, having been superadded, and others 295 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:08,240 Speaker 1: mended and glued together in a manner holy erroneous. Goddard 296 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:10,840 Speaker 1: then walked through various errors he had noticed in the 297 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: skeleton's spine, ribs, head, shoulder, blades, and feet. Cock did 298 00:19:16,119 --> 00:19:20,480 Speaker 1: have supporters, though a rebuttal of Goddard's report appeared in 299 00:19:20,600 --> 00:19:24,400 Speaker 1: The Farmer's Cabinet and American Herd Book by someone who 300 00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:28,159 Speaker 1: signed their work only as j M, whose identity I 301 00:19:28,280 --> 00:19:32,400 Speaker 1: was not able to confirm. This rebuttal began quote. The 302 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:37,159 Speaker 1: most charitable conclusion is that doctor Goddard took not the 303 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,239 Speaker 1: opportunity to examine sufficiently the bones of the Missourium, and 304 00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:46,640 Speaker 1: is therefore entirely unacquainted with their particular construction and confirmation. 305 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:51,920 Speaker 1: Before refuting Goddard's observations point by point, you ask a 306 00:19:51,960 --> 00:19:55,280 Speaker 1: lot of questions, like how had Goddard been able to 307 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,520 Speaker 1: get up high enough to see what he said was 308 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:04,040 Speaker 1: glue on skeleton's snout. Cock does not seem to have 309 00:20:04,119 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: heeded these criticisms before taking the Missourium across the Atlantic. 310 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:12,840 Speaker 1: He displayed the skeleton at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London, 311 00:20:13,119 --> 00:20:17,040 Speaker 1: and it once again attracted the attention of experts. These 312 00:20:17,080 --> 00:20:20,720 Speaker 1: experts included Richard Owen, who coined the term dinosaur in 313 00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:24,480 Speaker 1: eighteen forty one. Owen pointed out a lot of the 314 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:28,480 Speaker 1: same flaws as Goddard and Harlan had. In eighteen forty two, 315 00:20:28,560 --> 00:20:31,600 Speaker 1: he read a report before the Geological Society of London 316 00:20:31,640 --> 00:20:34,680 Speaker 1: in which he noted that Kak had addressed one error 317 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,000 Speaker 1: in how he had mounted two of the ribs, but 318 00:20:37,119 --> 00:20:40,560 Speaker 1: said any other changes would cost too much money. 319 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:43,840 Speaker 2: One of Owen's comments on this was about the position 320 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:47,199 Speaker 2: of those tusks and why Cock might have found the 321 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:50,280 Speaker 2: skull with one of the tusks pointing out to the side. 322 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:53,719 Speaker 2: Quote with respect to the horizontal position of the tusks 323 00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:57,479 Speaker 2: and the skeleton exhibited at the Egyptian Hall, mister Owen 324 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:01,720 Speaker 2: states that it may have arisen from compression, the tusk 325 00:21:01,760 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 2: of the masodon, like that of the elephant, being inserted 326 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:07,960 Speaker 2: by a nearly straight cylindrical base in a socket of 327 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:12,080 Speaker 2: corresponding form, and can be rotated in any given direction 328 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:16,520 Speaker 2: when the natural attachments are destroyed by decomposition, and he 329 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:19,640 Speaker 2: alludes to the skeleton exhibited in London in eighteen oh five, 330 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 2: in which the tusks were bent downward. 331 00:21:22,960 --> 00:21:26,480 Speaker 1: But like other experts who had examined the Missouri Leviathan, 332 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:31,040 Speaker 1: Owen recognized the value of the bones themselves, so in 333 00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:34,760 Speaker 1: eighteen forty four he bought the Leviathan for the British Museum, 334 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:39,840 Speaker 1: where he was superintendent of Natural History. Some articles report 335 00:21:39,880 --> 00:21:43,000 Speaker 1: the sale price as two thousand dollars and others as 336 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:47,119 Speaker 1: thirteen hundred pounds, and a lot of sources, including the 337 00:21:47,119 --> 00:21:50,120 Speaker 1: website of the Natural History Museum, which was formed from 338 00:21:50,119 --> 00:21:54,399 Speaker 1: the British Museum's natural history collection, say that Cock was 339 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:57,320 Speaker 1: also paid one thousand dollars a year for the rest 340 00:21:57,359 --> 00:22:00,400 Speaker 1: of his life, but an article by all Or Bruce 341 00:22:00,480 --> 00:22:04,520 Speaker 1: McMillan describes this annual payment in connection to a different sale, 342 00:22:04,840 --> 00:22:06,960 Speaker 1: one that we're going to talk about after we pause 343 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:08,040 Speaker 1: for a sponsor break. 344 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:22,200 Speaker 2: After buying the so called Missouri Leviathan from Albert Cock, 345 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:27,280 Speaker 2: Richard Owen took it apart and reassembled the appropriate bones 346 00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:31,879 Speaker 2: into a single Macedon skeleton, and this new configuration was 347 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:36,520 Speaker 2: relatively correct. Today this Macedon is on display at the 348 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:40,200 Speaker 2: Natural History Museum in London, and according to Adrian Lister, 349 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:44,600 Speaker 2: who's a paleobiologist at the museum, it's still mostly as 350 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:48,960 Speaker 2: Owen articulated it. This makes it the first accurately assembled 351 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:52,960 Speaker 2: Masdon skeleton in the world. Cock had taken his family 352 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:55,520 Speaker 2: with him when he left the US for Europe, and 353 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:57,920 Speaker 2: when he set sale to return to the United States 354 00:22:57,920 --> 00:23:01,159 Speaker 2: on May twenty sixth, eighteen forty four, his wife and 355 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:04,760 Speaker 2: their four children stayed behind. It seemed like for a 356 00:23:04,880 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 2: stretch of time they lived in Dresden while he made 357 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:11,399 Speaker 2: trips back and forth to the United States. After a 358 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:16,479 Speaker 2: really terrible storm filled crossing back to the Uskock arrived 359 00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:20,120 Speaker 2: back in New York, where he visited Barnum's American Museum. 360 00:23:20,720 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 2: Then he spent some time traveling around New York and 361 00:23:23,160 --> 00:23:27,200 Speaker 2: New England, collecting fossils and shark's teeth and other specimens. 362 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:30,680 Speaker 2: He kept a diary in German which he published in 363 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:34,920 Speaker 2: Dresden in eighteen forty seven. This was later translated into 364 00:23:35,000 --> 00:23:38,240 Speaker 2: English as Journey through a part of the United States 365 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 2: of North America in the years eighteen forty four to 366 00:23:40,760 --> 00:23:41,800 Speaker 2: eighteen forty six. 367 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,560 Speaker 1: Cock eventually returned to Saint Louis, where he went back 368 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:49,320 Speaker 1: to looking for large fossil bones. He also started purchasing 369 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:52,359 Speaker 1: mines and mineral rights, beginning with a lead mine in 370 00:23:52,400 --> 00:23:56,280 Speaker 1: Franklin County, Missouri. By eighteen forty five, even though he 371 00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 1: had no medical training and there is no evidence of 372 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:03,320 Speaker 1: him ever earning it doctoral degree, he was calling himself doctor. 373 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: That year, he excavated another assortment of fossilized bones that 374 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:13,800 Speaker 1: he assembled into one skeleton, which he called the Hydruggists, 375 00:24:13,880 --> 00:24:17,639 Speaker 1: meaning King of the Waters. This measured one hundred and 376 00:24:17,640 --> 00:24:22,000 Speaker 1: fourteen feet or almost thirty five meters long. He dug 377 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,959 Speaker 1: these bones up in Alabama after trying to find the 378 00:24:25,000 --> 00:24:28,879 Speaker 1: source of various large bones that were all around the area. 379 00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:32,199 Speaker 1: People just kind of had gigantic bones as part of 380 00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:36,120 Speaker 1: their home and business decor. Cock tried to get these 381 00:24:36,160 --> 00:24:38,720 Speaker 1: bones to New York by sea, but there was a 382 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:41,639 Speaker 1: shipwreck along the way, and Cock thought all of his 383 00:24:41,720 --> 00:24:44,320 Speaker 1: work had been lost until he learned that salvagers had 384 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,240 Speaker 1: managed to get the crates off the ship before it sank, 385 00:24:47,840 --> 00:24:51,440 Speaker 1: and because they considered these bones to be scientific specimens, 386 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:53,960 Speaker 1: he was not charged a fee to get them back. 387 00:24:55,080 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 1: Cox's so called sea serpents was really from the prehistoric 388 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:03,800 Speaker 1: way genus Basilosaurus, and the one hundred and fourteen foot 389 00:25:03,880 --> 00:25:07,440 Speaker 1: long skeleton that he created probably included the bones from 390 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:11,159 Speaker 1: at least three animals. Because of his earlier work with 391 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:15,400 Speaker 1: the Missouri Leviathan, a lot of palaeontologists and other experts 392 00:25:15,480 --> 00:25:17,959 Speaker 1: just started out from the point of view that this 393 00:25:18,240 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 1: was definitely a hoax. But Cock once again went on 394 00:25:22,760 --> 00:25:25,520 Speaker 1: tour with this skeleton, with one of the people who 395 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:28,920 Speaker 1: saw it being Edward Drinker Cope, who would later become 396 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:33,080 Speaker 1: notorious for his involvement in a feud with Ovnil Charles 397 00:25:33,119 --> 00:25:36,800 Speaker 1: Marsh that is known today as the Bone Wars. We 398 00:25:37,160 --> 00:25:40,960 Speaker 1: just ran that as a Saturday classic. Kok and the 399 00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:44,760 Speaker 1: Hydrarchus wound up at the Leipzig Fair in eighteen forty seven, 400 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:48,480 Speaker 1: and Friedrich Wilhelm, the fourth King of Prussia, bought it, 401 00:25:48,920 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 1: placing it on display in Berlin's Royal Anatomical Museum. The 402 00:25:53,440 --> 00:25:57,200 Speaker 1: king gave Kock an annual lifelong stipend of a thousand 403 00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:01,200 Speaker 1: Reich dollars. It's possible that various sources are conflating this 404 00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:04,479 Speaker 1: with what Richard Owen paid him for the Leviathan in 405 00:26:04,520 --> 00:26:09,160 Speaker 1: eighteen forty four. Yeah, I had trouble really confirming whether 406 00:26:09,320 --> 00:26:14,920 Speaker 1: he was getting two different annual stipends in the amount 407 00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:19,199 Speaker 1: of a thousand of something, or whether they kind of 408 00:26:19,359 --> 00:26:24,640 Speaker 1: melded together in retelling. Even though his work with this 409 00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: quote Sea Serpent had already been widely discredited, Cock published 410 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:33,160 Speaker 1: a booklet on it in Dresden in eighteen fifty. This title, 411 00:26:33,240 --> 00:26:37,280 Speaker 1: which I just ran through Google Translate from German, was 412 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 1: remarks on the family of hydros, which consists of several species, 413 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: the largest and most powerful predatory animals in the prehistoric world. 414 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:48,960 Speaker 1: In addition to a few words about the discovery of 415 00:26:49,080 --> 00:26:54,760 Speaker 1: the large Zugludon macro Spondulis Muller, which belongs to that family, 416 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: which was found by the author in Alabama in eighteen 417 00:26:57,680 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 1: forty eight, and from then first was brought to Dresden, 418 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,600 Speaker 1: with a second section containing some battle scenes of the 419 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:09,800 Speaker 1: Indians and the white settlers of America, told as briefly 420 00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:15,199 Speaker 1: as possible. Uh This booklet totaled thirty two pages, The 421 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,879 Speaker 1: first seventeen were the title Feels Like It Back in 422 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:25,280 Speaker 1: the US. Physician and archaeologist Montroval Wilson Dickson commissioned John L. 423 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:29,600 Speaker 1: Egan to create a panoramic painting to accompany his lectures, 424 00:27:30,000 --> 00:27:32,720 Speaker 1: one that could be wound onto two big rollers that 425 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:36,800 Speaker 1: changed the scene behind him as he spoke. This twenty 426 00:27:36,800 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 1: five panel panorama depicted things like Mississippi Valley wildlife, indigenous peoples, 427 00:27:43,040 --> 00:27:48,359 Speaker 1: warfare between those peoples and Europeans, steamboats, excavations of indigenous 428 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:53,880 Speaker 1: burial mounds, and Cock's discovery and excavation of the Missouri Leviathan. 429 00:27:55,119 --> 00:27:58,240 Speaker 2: After returning to the US again, Cock became an active 430 00:27:58,359 --> 00:28:01,320 Speaker 2: member of the Academy of Science in Saint Louis and 431 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:04,960 Speaker 2: was elected to membership of that body on April twenty first, 432 00:28:04,960 --> 00:28:09,400 Speaker 2: eighteen fifty six. At some point he assembled another sea 433 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:13,359 Speaker 2: serpent skeleton, this one ninety six feet long. This was 434 00:28:13,440 --> 00:28:17,000 Speaker 2: known as the Great Zuglidon. He sold this to E. L. 435 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:20,120 Speaker 2: Wood for his museum in Chicago. 436 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:25,119 Speaker 1: And during his later years, Cox's ideas on humankind living 437 00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:30,639 Speaker 1: alongside extinct megafauna became the subject of contentious debate. He 438 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: published work on this in the Transactions of the Academy 439 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,800 Speaker 1: of Science of Saint Louis in eighteen fifty nine, writing quote, 440 00:28:37,160 --> 00:28:40,080 Speaker 1: I will state then that in the year eighteen fifty nine, 441 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: I discovered and disinterred in Gasconade County, Missouri, bones of 442 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:48,880 Speaker 1: the above named animals. The bones were sufficiently well preserved 443 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 1: for me to decide positively that they belonged to Mastodon gigantius. 444 00:28:54,440 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 1: Some remarkable portion bones had been more or less burned 445 00:28:57,480 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: by fire. The fire had extended but a few feet 446 00:29:00,920 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: beyond the space occupied by the animal before its destruction, 447 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:07,840 Speaker 1: and there was more than sufficient evidence on the spot 448 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:10,720 Speaker 1: that the fire had not been an accidental one, but 449 00:29:10,840 --> 00:29:15,160 Speaker 1: on the contrary, that it had been kindled by human agency, and, 450 00:29:15,280 --> 00:29:18,240 Speaker 1: according to all appearance, with the design of killing the 451 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:22,360 Speaker 1: huge creature. Cook also wrote that he had found stones 452 00:29:22,360 --> 00:29:28,080 Speaker 1: in the area, including throwing stones, projectile points, spearheads, axes, etc. 453 00:29:29,080 --> 00:29:33,520 Speaker 1: To him, this represented irrefutable proof that humans had hunted 454 00:29:33,520 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: these animals as we know today. Kok was correct. 455 00:29:40,080 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 2: Some of the responses to his work that were published 456 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:46,120 Speaker 2: from the eighteen fifties through the eighteen seventies and beyond 457 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:51,080 Speaker 2: thought that it was possible that humans and Macedons had 458 00:29:51,120 --> 00:29:55,080 Speaker 2: lived at the same time in North America, but many 459 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:58,360 Speaker 2: of them argued that the evidence Cock was presenting to 460 00:29:58,480 --> 00:30:02,120 Speaker 2: support this was not enough to prove it. This was 461 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:07,480 Speaker 2: actually also correct. These Macedons became extinct roughly thirteen thousand 462 00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:11,320 Speaker 2: years ago, and subsequent radiocarbon dating has shown that a 463 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 2: lot of the projectile points and other human made objects 464 00:30:15,000 --> 00:30:18,440 Speaker 2: that were found around these bones are a lot more 465 00:30:18,520 --> 00:30:23,600 Speaker 2: recent than that I would say radiocarbon dating. Like other 466 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:28,240 Speaker 2: studies like Okay, these these projectile points are not from 467 00:30:28,320 --> 00:30:33,000 Speaker 2: the period that the Macedons were living. It's likely that 468 00:30:33,240 --> 00:30:36,320 Speaker 2: the presence of these objects in the same springs and 469 00:30:36,400 --> 00:30:40,600 Speaker 2: other waterways where the bones are common comes from religious 470 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 2: rituals other observations that were carried out by indigenous peoples 471 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:48,240 Speaker 2: in more recent centuries. That is definitely not the case 472 00:30:48,320 --> 00:30:53,000 Speaker 2: for every human made object found near Macedon bones. Though 473 00:30:53,640 --> 00:30:57,040 Speaker 2: in a twenty twenty three installment of Unearthed, we talked 474 00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,960 Speaker 2: about a projectile point that had been made from Macedon 475 00:31:00,160 --> 00:31:05,880 Speaker 2: bone embedded in another Masdon bone, and that discovery was 476 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:11,240 Speaker 2: described as the oldest direct evidence of humans hunting Masdons. 477 00:31:12,360 --> 00:31:14,959 Speaker 2: That just wasn't the case with these specific objects that 478 00:31:15,040 --> 00:31:17,160 Speaker 2: Kok was using to support his idea. 479 00:31:17,240 --> 00:31:21,920 Speaker 1: Though. Although Cok did have some partial support for his ideas, 480 00:31:22,040 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: a lot of the response was scathing. Doctor P. R. Hoy, 481 00:31:26,360 --> 00:31:30,040 Speaker 1: writing in The American Naturalist in eighteen seventy one, called 482 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:35,560 Speaker 1: Cock's account quote unreliable in every particular saving locality. Hoy 483 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:38,560 Speaker 1: went on to say, quote the doctor certainly exercised a 484 00:31:38,600 --> 00:31:42,280 Speaker 1: lively imagination when he stated that the bones were found 485 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:44,680 Speaker 1: in a layer of vegetable mold which was covered by 486 00:31:44,680 --> 00:31:48,040 Speaker 1: twenty feet in thickness of alternate layers of sand, clay, 487 00:31:48,040 --> 00:31:52,040 Speaker 1: and gravel, and that under this extensive stratification he found 488 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:55,600 Speaker 1: the identical flint arrowhead that the mound builders used in 489 00:31:55,680 --> 00:31:59,160 Speaker 1: slaying this giant of past ages. Taking advantage of his 490 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:08,400 Speaker 1: helplessness being mired hopelessly that ends with three consecutive exclamation points. 491 00:32:09,080 --> 00:32:11,680 Speaker 1: Hoi went on to write, quote, I am pained to 492 00:32:11,760 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: record this evidence of doctor Cox's want of accuracy in 493 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,440 Speaker 1: this matter, but the cause of science seems to demand 494 00:32:18,600 --> 00:32:22,800 Speaker 1: the truth. Doctor Cox's report has been quoted in proof 495 00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 1: of the antiquity of man. The position and state of 496 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:28,840 Speaker 1: the bones rather go to show that the Macedon lived 497 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: in an age not so remote as usually supposed. I 498 00:32:31,920 --> 00:32:34,680 Speaker 1: should not be surprised if the evidence were speedily found 499 00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:37,600 Speaker 1: to prove that man was contemporaneous with the Macedon, but 500 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:44,160 Speaker 1: certainly the missourium affords none. By the time Hoy's article 501 00:32:44,280 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 1: was published, Cock had died. After his trips back and 502 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:50,360 Speaker 1: forth between the US and Europe, he returned to the 503 00:32:50,480 --> 00:32:53,600 Speaker 1: US for good, this time bringing his family with him. 504 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:56,840 Speaker 1: They lived in Saint Louis for a while before moving 505 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:01,160 Speaker 1: to Gauconda, Illinois, where his brother Lewis lived. Albert Kock 506 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,760 Speaker 1: died on December eighteenth, eighteen sixty seven, which means the 507 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:08,560 Speaker 1: King of Prussia wound up paying about twenty thousand Reichs 508 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,760 Speaker 1: dollars for his prehistoric whalebones. If there was also a 509 00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:16,160 Speaker 1: one thousand dollars annual payment from the British Museum. Then 510 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:20,560 Speaker 1: that one totaled about twenty two thousand dollars. The inscription 511 00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:24,360 Speaker 1: on Cox's tombstone, written in Latin read quote, he dug 512 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:28,160 Speaker 1: up hidden hydras, a titan, and a bore, immense things 513 00:33:28,240 --> 00:33:32,480 Speaker 1: buried in the earth, which now survive as monuments. About 514 00:33:32,480 --> 00:33:35,680 Speaker 1: a decade before his death, Kock acknowledged that his Missouri 515 00:33:35,760 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 1: Lefiathan had been made from the bones of an American mastodon. 516 00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:45,959 Speaker 1: Another amateur paleontologist, C. W. Beeler, did further excavations at 517 00:33:45,960 --> 00:33:48,760 Speaker 1: the Kimswick site where Cock had excavated some of his 518 00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:53,160 Speaker 1: masted on bones. Bhler exhibited these bones as well, including 519 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:56,520 Speaker 1: during the nineteen oh four World's Fair in Saint Louis. 520 00:33:56,640 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 1: An organization formed to try to protect these bone beds 521 00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:04,480 Speaker 1: during the construction of Interstate fifty five, and eventually the 522 00:34:04,520 --> 00:34:08,120 Speaker 1: Missouri Department of Natural Resources bought four hundred and eighteen 523 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:10,600 Speaker 1: acres of land in the area and added that to 524 00:34:10,640 --> 00:34:15,239 Speaker 1: the state park system. Today, this area is massedon State 525 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,120 Speaker 1: Historic Site and the bone bed was placed on the 526 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:22,400 Speaker 1: National Register of Historic Places on April fourteenth, nineteen eighty seven. 527 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:26,319 Speaker 1: Some of the other sites that Cock excavated are no 528 00:34:26,400 --> 00:34:31,680 Speaker 1: longer accessible. They were flooded following the construction of a dam, 529 00:34:32,160 --> 00:34:35,360 Speaker 1: So overall, Cock seems like kind of a mixed bag. 530 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:40,280 Speaker 1: His Missouri Leviathan and Hydrarchis skeletons definitely did not represent 531 00:34:40,640 --> 00:34:44,239 Speaker 1: the real skeletons of real animals that really existed in 532 00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:47,480 Speaker 1: the ancient past. But it's clear he had a genuine 533 00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: fascination for fossils. Some of his journeys to excavate bones 534 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,439 Speaker 1: were arduous and difficult, and at least once he set 535 00:34:54,480 --> 00:34:57,319 Speaker 1: out while sick with agu because he was afraid of 536 00:34:57,360 --> 00:34:59,880 Speaker 1: missing out on the bones if he didn't. But it's 537 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:02,440 Speaker 1: not as clear whether he was trying to deceive people 538 00:35:02,480 --> 00:35:04,839 Speaker 1: with the skeletons he made from the fossils he loved 539 00:35:04,880 --> 00:35:06,840 Speaker 1: so much, or if he kind of just didn't know 540 00:35:06,880 --> 00:35:09,680 Speaker 1: what he was doing and was maybe bubbling. But he 541 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:13,319 Speaker 1: did contribute to the preservation of these and other specimens, 542 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:17,240 Speaker 1: although possibly also to the loss or scattering of William 543 00:35:17,239 --> 00:35:20,720 Speaker 1: Clark's collection of items that had belonged to indigenous people. 544 00:35:21,600 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 1: Of Cox's three most famous massive skeletons, so the Missouri Leviathan, 545 00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:31,000 Speaker 1: the Hydraucos and the Great Zuglidan. Only the Leviathan survives, although, 546 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:35,960 Speaker 1: as we said earlier, disassembled and rearticulated as the mastodon 547 00:35:36,120 --> 00:35:40,319 Speaker 1: that it was. The Zuglidon was destroyed during the Great 548 00:35:40,400 --> 00:35:44,000 Speaker 1: Chicago Fire in eighteen seventy one, and most of the 549 00:35:44,040 --> 00:35:47,759 Speaker 1: bones from the Hydracos were destroyed during World War Two. 550 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,920 Speaker 1: If there's an afterlife, I'm fascinated by the thought of 551 00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:56,799 Speaker 1: what he thinks of how people perceive him today. Yeah. 552 00:35:57,080 --> 00:35:59,080 Speaker 2: When I put this on the list, I was like, 553 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:01,160 Speaker 2: this was such a big hoax, And then I was like, 554 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,520 Speaker 2: I'm actually not fully convinced that it was a hoax, 555 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:07,880 Speaker 2: because there's also the possibility that you just didn't know 556 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:12,600 Speaker 2: what you were doing. Yeah, I have listener Maile from 557 00:36:12,760 --> 00:36:19,720 Speaker 2: Kirsten Fabulous. Kirsten wrote about our recent Saturday classic about 558 00:36:19,760 --> 00:36:22,440 Speaker 2: Spam and said, Hello, I'm a longtime listener as I 559 00:36:22,560 --> 00:36:25,400 Speaker 2: sew at work and have lots of listening time. I 560 00:36:25,440 --> 00:36:28,200 Speaker 2: was catching up on back episodes and heard your episode 561 00:36:28,200 --> 00:36:31,040 Speaker 2: about Spam and the Horrmale Company. While I'm not an 562 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:34,719 Speaker 2: avid eater, i am a former Drum Corps International participant 563 00:36:34,800 --> 00:36:38,439 Speaker 2: and have a historical tidbit I thought you'd enjoy as 564 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:39,120 Speaker 2: well as. 565 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,680 Speaker 1: Their touring girl troops. Horrmale also had an all female 566 00:36:42,840 --> 00:36:46,000 Speaker 1: drum corps. They lasted for the better part of a decade, 567 00:36:46,120 --> 00:36:49,160 Speaker 1: wore panty hose to every rehearsal, and were reportedly a 568 00:36:49,200 --> 00:36:52,160 Speaker 1: fan favorite. I'm attaching an article about them, and Jay 569 00:36:52,200 --> 00:36:54,719 Speaker 1: Store has a couple articles about them as well. I 570 00:36:54,800 --> 00:36:57,960 Speaker 1: never thought Hormale and DCI would overlap, but throw in 571 00:36:58,040 --> 00:37:00,880 Speaker 1: some wonderful feminism and it sounds like a great recipe. 572 00:37:01,200 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: And there's a link to a block about these this 573 00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:08,239 Speaker 1: drum corps, including pet tax of my four dogs. I'm 574 00:37:08,280 --> 00:37:10,880 Speaker 1: part of a blended family, so i have two poodle mixes, 575 00:37:10,960 --> 00:37:14,200 Speaker 1: Annie and Charger, and my partner has the two Brittany mixes, 576 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:17,200 Speaker 1: Sam and Louis. Thank you for your wonderful and educational 577 00:37:17,239 --> 00:37:21,480 Speaker 1: content that always helps me feel productive. And then we have, 578 00:37:21,719 --> 00:37:27,360 Speaker 1: oh my goodness, just four of the cutest, sweetest dog faces. Listen. 579 00:37:27,400 --> 00:37:31,080 Speaker 1: I said it recently before. I have poodle fever right now. Yeah, 580 00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:33,239 Speaker 1: so if you send me pictures of poodles, I'm gonna 581 00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:35,560 Speaker 1: screech over them. You're just gonna be the time for 582 00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:39,280 Speaker 1: time for a poodle to come home with me. Uh 583 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:43,880 Speaker 1: so I meant to reply to Kirsten and say, Kirsten, 584 00:37:44,239 --> 00:37:49,479 Speaker 1: Carolina Crown nineteen ninety two, which which drum corps were 585 00:37:49,480 --> 00:37:49,839 Speaker 1: you in? 586 00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:55,439 Speaker 2: I also technically Carolina Crown nineteen ninety three. I did 587 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,160 Speaker 2: not actually make it into the performing season that year 588 00:37:58,280 --> 00:38:04,480 Speaker 2: for reasons reasons including having contracted minoonucleosis the year before, 589 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:08,840 Speaker 2: I was not well enough to do it. I also 590 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:14,399 Speaker 2: had personal reasons involved with just being a teenager. So 591 00:38:14,400 --> 00:38:17,720 Speaker 2: so thank you so much. I had no idea about 592 00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:22,200 Speaker 2: you know this all women's drum Corps. I started thinking 593 00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:25,160 Speaker 2: about whether did they ever feed us any spam while 594 00:38:25,160 --> 00:38:27,399 Speaker 2: we were on tour with the drum Corps. I don't 595 00:38:27,400 --> 00:38:31,040 Speaker 2: think they did, but I wouldn't have put it past them. 596 00:38:31,760 --> 00:38:33,440 Speaker 2: I might have balked at that as a teenager, I 597 00:38:33,440 --> 00:38:35,839 Speaker 2: would not balk at it today. Thank you so much 598 00:38:35,880 --> 00:38:39,240 Speaker 2: for this email and for just such the cutest, cutest 599 00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:42,719 Speaker 2: dog pictures. If you would like to send us some 600 00:38:42,760 --> 00:38:45,440 Speaker 2: notes about this or any other podcast or a history 601 00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:49,200 Speaker 2: podcasts at iHeartRadio dot com and we are on social 602 00:38:49,239 --> 00:38:53,240 Speaker 2: media as miss and History. That's where you'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, 603 00:38:53,320 --> 00:38:57,120 Speaker 2: and Instagram, and you can subscribe to our show on 604 00:38:57,239 --> 00:38:59,480 Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, or wherever else you'd like to get 605 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:07,239 Speaker 2: your podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 606 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:11,680 Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the 607 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:15,200 Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 608 00:39:15,200 --> 00:39:15,920 Speaker 2: favorite shows.