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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1973)
THE BATTALION Wednesday, January 17, 1973 Page 4 College Station, Texas A&M Receives Valuable Fossil Slides The A&M Anthropology/Paly- nology Laboratory has been given the complete collection of copro- litic reference materials owned (by the late Dr. Eric O. Callen of McGill University in Canada. Dr. Vaughn M. Bryant Jr. of the Sociology and Anthropology Department said the Callen collec tion includes several thousand microscope slides, an assortment of prehistoric human coprolites ranging in age from 1,000 to 125,- 000 years and related reference material. Bryant said the Callen collec tion is the “finest of its type in North America and probably in the world.” The coprolitic field involves analysis of fossil excrement sam ples of feces, noted the TAMU professor who has been conduct ing such research for the past five years. “In recent years the recovery and analysis of fossil human feces from archeological sites has been encouraged by archeologists be cause of the wealth of data cop rolites can provide,” Dr. Bryant noted. “When properly and thoroughly analyzed,” he continued, “human coprolites can yield important data about health, economy and diet of prehistoric man, as well as pro vide information concerning pat terns of site occupancy and the conditions of the paleoenviron- ment.” Dr. Callen, who died in 1970, compiled the collection over a 15- year period while on the faculty of McDonald College, part of McGill University. In addition to being the world’s leading authoority in the field of coprolitic research, Dr. Callen was widely known as a plant path ologist. His widow and McDonald Col lege jointly gave the collection to TAMU because of Dr. Bryant’s specialization in coprolitic re search. “It was Dr. Callen’s wish that this collection of his work be kept together for research and refer ence purposes,” Bryant pointed out. “We have complied with his wish and will offer the use of the collection free of charge to any serious student or researcher.” Dr. Bryant said a doctoral stu dent at Carleton University in Ottawa has already inquired about coming to TAMU this sum mer to use the collection in con junction with his studies. American POWs May Remain A Few Months NEW YORK (^—Provisions of the Vietnam draft peace agree ment, reported by South Vietnam ese sources, would require Hanoi to release some American prison ers the day after signing and the rest “within the first few months,” CBS News said Tuesday. An earlier agreement draft by Dr. Henry A. Kissinger and North Vietnam’s Le Due Tho in October is said to have required the re patriation of all prisoners of war within 60 days after signing. The new draft “doesn’t give a specific time limit, perhaps be cause some of the prisoners are in camps spread around North Vietnam, which simply may take them a while to get them to Ha noi so that they can be evacuat ed,” CBS newsman Don Webster said from Saigon. “At any rate, the draft agree ment is quite clear that the pris oners will be coming home,” he said. CBS pointed out that the in formation it has on the agree ment “has not been confirmed, it has not been elaborated by any official source.” The network said its bureau in Saigon gained access to portions of the draft and that its informa tion “came from usually reliable sources inside South Vietnam’s presidential palace.” Webster said the draft possi bly will be released “within the next week or so, if in fact ‘peace is at hand.’ ” But he indicated that the South Vietnamese still hope for changes in some parts of the document. Improve Your Children’s Reading Skills At The Reading Improvement Center 846-3812 . * / * bargain BARGAIN M BARGAIN .niiiwinniHllmlHIlliiiHinHiiimw... SKAGGS ALBERTSONS DRUGS 8 FOODS UNIVERSITY AT COLLEGE l