Re: USAGE: Dinos and dragons

On Fri, 13 Oct 2000, Lars Henrik Mathiesen wrote:

> When reading statements like this, I always wonder how the author
> imagines such a tradition to have been transmitted.
Of course you are perfectly correct.

> Of course the Chinese might have found dinosaur bones themselves,
> thousands of years ago. But as far as I know there's no record of such
> finds, so that would be quite a leap of faith to make.
It is interesting to note, however, that fossilized bones have been quite
well-known in China for centuries, and indeed are usually labeled "dragon bone",
as they have uses in traditional Chinese medicine.  IIRC, the first evidence
of Homo erectus in China before the Zhoukoudien finds (now lost) was
in an apothecary's shop.

But realizing that (some of) the bones found were actually those of
flying reptiles, no, I can't swallow that either.

--
John Cowan                                   cowan@ccil.org
One art/there is/no less/no more/All things/to do/with sparks/galore
        --Douglas Hofstadter