Clarence entered Magnus' house with a bouquet of flowers. Magnus was seething, "What are you doing here and what is this!?"

"Relax, old friend. I came here to give you the last good thing you'll ever see," Clarence grinned. He then threw the flowers at Magnus and handed him a piece of paper.

"What is this?"

"Tell me, my dear Magnus, do you know of Robert Hooke?"

"Who on earth is that fool?"

Clarence took a bite of chocolate. "You see," he chewed it while talking, "he was a smart man but...was a rival to Isaac Newton. So Mr. Newton sought to destroy him. Not only did he erase every achievement of Hooke, but he also burned the only portrait of the man. He erased him from history. And my dear friend Magnus, I'm about to erase you from history."

Magnus read the paper and nearly had a heart attack. The paper exposed how he mistreated his students, didn't pay his employees, took credit for other people's work, and cheated on all his wives. But only one thing hurt Magnus, and that was that under a new law which Clarence himself signed, every fossil discovered in America belongs to the Museum of Paleontology, of which Clerance had recently become the chief. What's more is that every stolen fossil was to be turned into the museum as well. Most of Magnus' fossils were stolen, and the ones which weren't would still be confiscated due to his bad reputation.

Magnus had only one choice.

He spent every last penny to hire a private investigator who exposed Clarence for the same mistreatment and felonies that Magnus had committed. The bone war ended in 1892 when both men were left penniless.

Who won this war?

Clarence named 80 new species while Magnus named 56. However, Magnus claimed to have won the moral victory. On his deathbed, Magnus coughed. His seventh wife lay beside him. Magnus spoke, "When I die, I want my brain to be donated to science so that it can be scientifically proven that I am smarter than Clarence!"

He died in 1897.

Clarence, showing restraint for the first time in his life declined the challange, he spent his last years feeding ducks on the pond and entering chess tournaments. He would pass away in 1899.

The real winner of the bone war was...paleontology (albeit with a few scars). These two men brought paleontology to the mainstream. They made the science resonate with the general public, capturing their minds with prehistoric beasts. So many new species were discovered by the two of them. So much of the prehistoric climate, land, and behavior was learned. The popularity of their rivalry inspired many to look for fossils. Many became interested in prehistoric animals. Before them, most considered paleontologists as manchildren digging in the mud. But with their discoveries, they opened the Pandora's box, and humanity was able to catch a glimpse of what existed millions of years in the past. And many knew that we might find clues on how we came into existence.

Dinosaurs were my favorite as a child, and still, I admire them. I went from seeing them as monsters to now understanding them as animals. Amazing animals of an old world whose time was cut short. The two of them made dinosaurs just a little less misunderstood. Wherever you two are, I hope you're happy and getting along.