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KANSAS CITY REVIEW 


OF 


SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 


EDITED BY 


THEO. 8S. CASE. 


VO Va ioo2-3- 


aaa niae MO.: 
& 


Sy 


Astronomy, 14, 113, 239, 312, 335, 389, 465, 
579, 660, 697 

Auroraot April WG) L882 i... scenccccselc eau 20 

Aurora, Coincidence of Sun-Spots and.... 17 


Auroral Phenomena, Sept. 12, 1881......... 14 | 


Aztec Remains in Colorado.......:...ssecsees 442 
Bacillus Tuberculosis the cause of Tuber- 
cle... 5001 PAS) 
Berthoud, an} Aun West Tndian ‘Geographi- 
cal Notes Nr a neal gatee ae eee Renew tease 
Berthoud, E. L., Climate of Paris in Pre- 
EN StORT CMM CSiaeecancnuaueoeen Caron ce eteatcs 104 
Berthoud, E. L., Cabot’s Map of the 


AVVOnl etcee teen Nome ream vacosnenner ein ancectian 218 | 


1] 
J: 

Merial NAVIGATION . 2.2.0.0. cen sesentes 347, 557 | Billings, Melvin O., Ancient Remains in 
Affinities between Ancient Customs in all Marion Co., Tee Ch ae ey en eRe PAUL 

WO ota MES ae css ci daciinsssie seveseeeoSecans sees 363 | Biology of American Mollusks.....see+se 351 
African Exploration. ........0....sseeeseseeeees 606 | Bitumen in the Ohio Shales, Source of ...349 
Aicoholvyand its Witects......c-cscsscossasvesess 274 | Bolivia a New Source of Rubber.........+.- 496 
Alexander, W. W., Transit of Venus, Dec. Bolivian Indians, Dialects of............---+- 679 

(5, TUS a'S ada siete aaa SB ERR EOS Reds un aaerearaD 508 | Book Notices...56, 115, 189, 252, 314, 380, 
American Association, 3lst Annual Meet- "447, 503, 595, 668, 733 

TIDE @Medecdags aboncooencen beose aco BEE aCe EOUaceEn ZAR ab Obetiygeereo see siete secaaeen see ecco 413, 551, 648 
Analysis ofevead valle Ores-......<<..02+--e. 110°) Bottom: of the Oceans. <---2..--cnsecrce= neers 626 
Anatomy and Physiology.............0...s00 471 | Broadhead, G. C., Geological Notes on 
Ancient Cemetery at Madisonville, O.... .529 Southeastern Kansas...........-s.e-e2+-eee- 172 
Ancient Man of Calaveras.........cesse-.seees 453 Bugpdheees G. C., Jura-Trias in Colora- 
Ancient Mississippi and its Tributaries...615 | d0........eccess ce senese sonseceeececens scosteneeees 534 
Ancient Remains, Marion Co., Kansas....211] Bigaahead, G. C., “North Park in Colora- 
Amerent Romans; Coims:....-.s.cs-esc0+ cee-<s-ns 62 (Mgoaaananceceosoasssdooko xs Badsod cncuddcedssoEdosed Oe 
Animals and their Diet......  ......c00..e00 403-| Brock, F. B., Recent Improvements iim 
Annual Growth of Trees............06-sesccees 490 Mechanic Arts... 60, 121, 257, 384, 450, 
-Anthropology...9, 102, 131, 261, 343, 458, 628 509, "605 
Anthropology, NE Schemetots Ge ues, 355 | Brown, R. Wood, Teeth and Brain......... AT1 
PAC HEE OLOGY spas ciscecie sess ae sae 208, 442, 523, 731 Browne, In Vive The Aurora of April 16, 
Arrival of Man in Hurope.....-...0sss0e..e008 9 Teka ds ehanenecsounonebouceenes pdduadocECoCceC 
AUSITITGIEN| LSVTITIETEScc6 oococsnog cococ se0e succnd acecCS 317 | Brush, Geo. J., Retiring Address before 
Aiiiiiera WE rAtlONs cc. .cnsesscderssieacane sess 61 American Association for the Advance- 
Amiiieral’ @uinines.-sc.ccscc-sees ook sage ueosss 319 MAGIA Olt SEUNG nosccboscedoouasaada Gca0uacnce 330 
Astronomical Discoveries, Announce- Cabot’s Map of the World............---..-.+. 218 

EAI) Olle Saar ceo aassoo) Coe aaade a ea seeseebednded 699 | Case, Theo. S., Human Foot-Prints in 
Astronomical Notes for May, 35, June....113 RolideRgckoea oak kai Gueen lnc 464 


Case, Theo. S., Kansas City Theadea of 


Science........0 673 
Case, Theo. is Kansas City, Institute. walowe 674 
Case, Theo. S., ” Leadville and Vicinity ...225 
Case, Theo. gi Machine Science ............ 715 
Case, Theo. S., Mining Prospects in Colo- 

mado ton ISSO sake eens 48 


Case, Theo. §., Report of the 31st Annual 
Meeting of the American Association 


for the Advancement of Science.......... 320 
Case, Theo. S., The Jeannette and Her 
Survivors SoM PUR a Ven aa ae Nae Py Ci: Sie 


Case. Theo. S., What Geological Surveys 
Have Accomplished.........00.s:.cscseceeees 671 


II INDEX. 


Causes and Conditions of Knowledge...... 175 
Chief Deities in American Religion........ 399 
GhenarcalgWiteratunescccsssconenccs: 344, 433 
Glremmcall Stoviestyussceeosecceeescseeeecasces 194 
(CING@ITATEIN PY cadeo andadoceoonsanaqosuEane 274, 344, 433 
Child, Dr. A. L., Annual Growth of Trees.490 
Cliff-Dwellers of New Mexican Cafions...636 


Climate of Parisin Pre-Historic Times...104 
Coal Mines of Bates Co., Mo.......... .....- 567 
CoalProblem aes: secseelorcesescueeecesocsetsen 306 
Coal, Tertiary Noes Gunnison Co., 

Olloas opoosas0009sqbs0asG0DdeseosoDoGG0Gb0E GUD nODE 688 
(Clollore 1silltira slaves oooocosscasoocosonas6eces sas008e60 343 
Colorado, Artesian Wells in................. 303 
Colorado, Bullion Product of.............. 108 
ColoradoiCoal cess Meee eeu aren 569 
@ollorado, “Times Of. <..2.20-..-00-0-- eeeesessena: 301 
Colorado erosperity toleseccscaecerscsee es 108 
Colorado, Taxation of Mines of........ 659 
(Clowoavelin, “Wit SenncascochecenocacaosséesogooKeod0 451 
Comet B, Observations Of.........0...cseeeeees 465 
Wonme fsaeee node se ere suses acini css avccuuenccaeeemeee 23 
Comets and Meteors ........0-+..secsese-ceeeeee 660 
Comets, Wlecunedy and the Phenomena 

Ole roeen ieee aeticat becsdicuaecaeeeues sean 397 
Comets, Facts and Fancies Concerning... 28 
Comets, Speculations upon...- . .......... 394 
Comparative Zoology, A Lesson in......... 408 
Copper Mines in Missouri... --304 


Correspondence..94, 180, 249, 285, “417, ‘541, 
656, 703 

Corrosion of Iron Sa 8 Steam Pressures 820 

Cost of and Maintenance of Streets in 


IRENE nodooadodo aopadpaotiacdes, cHosgEmaeRnoOsKEKeC 123 
Crops of 1879, 1881 and 1882.. ...............563 
Wrosspand) Crucwiixcnce.ceunsse see ccceqsencdser es 357 
(Wire ode nSacedeneaccanacancoces ianeacersorccundc ian 610 
Cyclone at Brownsville, Mo., April 18. 

PISS P ere ese ae Ew doewclal tae tciice Savane 245 
Warwamb CO bial eshte 2s occe cee nstaseneates 193 
Davenport Academy of Sciencer nsec. 732 


Dawson, J. W., Inaugural Address before 
the American Association for the Ad- 


vancement of Sclence ....:..:..4.:0s.. 5-024" 326 
Dawson, William, A New Star and the 
Sta olebethilelvenie sen sseussc--erteoeecees 697 
Dawson, William, Meteoric Shower of 
PNM MIStRlO OS SZ serach tendecuenss saa ec: 312 
WeDWcadeninesSoumdsa incest ese eee sseeeccases 194 
\ DeLong and his Men, How Buried......... 499 
| Denver Exposition, Molecules from the..249 
Daw ills Thies mim Nexceisoccco,. des cecdocsasoboneaee 540 
Dialects of Bolivian Indians.................. 679 
IOenione Skea es soanesazanseqoousces soe, osHbonoact 343 
Dimension for Brick Piers in Buildings. 125 
Diphtheria, Treatment of..................06 574 
Eccentricity and Idiosyncrasy............... 476 


Eccles, David, The Problem of Life....... 119 
Eccles, Robert G., Reviews of Stallo’s 
“Concepts of Physics ” 
Economie Science and Statistics............ 370 
Editorial Notes.......64, 128, 195, 258, 322 
386, 451, 515, 612, 677, 740 


_ Geology .. 


BG a Cations oes ee ee ee ee 707 


Electric Railway in Berlin.......-......---.. 124 
Electricity, A Thames. Launch Propelled 
DYicsecuevedecewiasces anteedseset nes <scciiaeeeanee eee 560 


Electr olysis, Extraction of Metals by, 437,486 


Engineering and Mining .........219, 288, "663 
Engineering: Past and Present ..seosen2 288 
Evolution, Is it Godless ? . cuban Seas ee AS 
Evolution of the Harth...............02+0..00- 838 
Evolution, Prof. Meehan Upon.............. 654 
Hxcursionlito Ottawanescreteesessseeeeeeeee 376: 
Excursion to Quebec...............eeeeeesees: 3738, 


False Notions Regarding the Weather... 87 
Finley, J. P., Tornado Studies for 1882... 76 
Finley, J. P., Tornados: Their Character- 


istics and (Wamp enssyc-c)cscstadoreraaeee 144 
Geographical Notes on the West Indies.. 46 
Geosnaphityeacccooessessteseteseeee aoe 37, 496 
Geological Society, A New....00...--..20004+.d00 
Geological Notes on Southeastern Kan- 

REIS) Goapscoosanocdasouba Go08s. iscodntes CdoDDSSOd paoooS 172 
Geological Surveys of Kansas and Mis- 

SOUNIZ iiarcdaicdensscet seeseee erences 592, 621, 671 


172, 197, 349, 492, 534, 615, 688 
Geology and Mineralogy of the Pacific 
States... cece. ceeessseeeee ceeereesereeeeeees 349 


Gold and Silver Be for 385 Years... 54 
Etavlvandprlanlstomestsrcsssateeteceee 431, 487 
Hallowell, Jno. K., Supposed Jura-Trias 
of the Front Range of Colorado.......... 492 
Hallowell, Jno. K., Tertiary Coal Meas- 
ures in Gunnison County, Colo.......... 688 
Heath, Edwin R., Dialects of Bolivian 


Hilder, F. F., Ancient Roman Coins 62 


Hilder, F. F., The Tablet of the Cross.....212 
Hilder, F. F., Who were the Mound- 
Builders i.n2 ious weds, feces ue n eee eee 261 
listonical@Notessensse-esseeteee eee ee 188, 215 
Horse, The Original Home of the.......... 127 
House-Fly, The, as a Carrier of Poison 
Geminis’) acs hog eee ee 366. 


Human Foot- Prints j in Solid Rock...442, 464 
Human Remains in the Loess of the Mase 


sour Rivers. <ceces aera eee eee 461 
Improvement of the Missouri and Missis 
sisippl IREVers:...ce 798 bose ae i eeaeeeee 219 
Indian Migrations as Evidenced. by Lan- 
DUAL! aac dans phd esas cata enos semeeenee sees 002 
Indian Pictographs i TOI SOWA oss o 208 
Indo-Chinese Civilization .......0........000+ 102 
Induction in Science................26-... . -700 
IndiustritalNotesiee-sec-esssceemeteeece eeeee ee 563. 
Instrument for Finding Bullets in. the . 
Eumiani Body tetenns coer ses eee eeeee eee O41 
Iroquois Indians, Beliefs and Supersti- 
THOMS OTE EN esoe se Ne ee a eee ee 360: 
Jeannette, The, and Her Survivors......... 27 
Jones, John P., Treaties with Indian 
Tribes for Land in Missonrt............... 184 
Jones, John P., Penaloza’s Expedition to 
QuUaVIT aye eo a Asa erp 216 


INDEX. III 


Jura-Trias, Supposed, of the Front Range 

OO OUOMAG Ose.sanceats ste cecs care ecece-0e 492, 534 
Kansas Academy of Science..................900 
Kansas City Academy of Science ........... 673 
Kansas City Hospital College Commenc- 


MITE MA GUN a a Se ec leaics'sis edauslbicisccslecisesecsls 724 
Izpaiseis) (Omi 1botetmninbtts). sesecnonsoadonnbe seasecos 674 
Kansas City Medical College Commenc- 

MBIETM bs ssdodgondod badragdasoododucdaEEUsoeoucsEsaLoge 707 
Kansas City Stock Yards Reportver esc: o-- 508 
Reis a sprmMliyS Ola ce cecsacshoa. waeacesen sean cards 183 


Kansas Weather Service...8, 93, 171, 248, 
321, 379, 4382, 489, 579, Ob; "729, 729 


Kindred of Man, The.. --628 
Kitchen Middings of Maine... useeun aa eee sit 523 
Larkin, Edgar Te Coincidence of Sun- 

Spots and Auroral Display steccs senses ie 
Larkin, Edgar L , Facts and Fancies Re- 

mane lines (CHGS Fbeccnu seaneebade aEeeooEeORoS 28 
Larkin, Edgar L., How to Find the Dis- 

(NTSD TIE (HOVE FSWWINS cucosonocesaueso- Sdedccoodenoe 239 
Larkin, Edgar L., Solar Upheaval and 

Magnetic SiGe raves ee lle eee ea ae on 510 
Larkin, Edgar L., Transit of Venus, Dec. 

6, TUES wa Ue a a a 519 
Lay,Torpedo, INGE soStas ssoannnatae aboneomnactc 125 
Weadvallievand WVicinitys.-ccssechen-eceecsce 225 
Letter from Schliemann...................0.0:. 705 
Liberty Enlightening the World............ 600 
Lignified Snake of Brazil..................... 525 
MOTT eaav Sole OW, CLOTS aren cel ree wee eisleninceinissleonienier 385 
Locomotive without a Smoke: Stack........ 562 
Loring, R. P., Loyola and the Early Je- 

SUITS Waceantsce Sects wasebene cuses, Soaps. sessaecnsen 98 
Loup Fork Group of Kiamsasssccesence 205 
Low Grade Stamp-Mill......................-. 47 


Lovewell, J. T., Kansas Weather Service. 
8, 93, 171, 248, 321, 379, 432, 489, 579, 
585, 729, 729 


Loyola and the Early Jesuits.. .............. 98 
Lykins, W. H. R., The Thunder-Bird.....192 
Milaic hin eM SClen Cerne scecssincceeescicicneces=scceeete 715 
Man’s Zoégenetic Lineage.........-sscceeeees 131 
Mastodon Remains in New Jersey......... 350 
Maxwell, S. A., Precipitation and Tem- 
Bena iumerolaMan ch esc oc ek ses ons cccsceman 7 


Maxwell, S. A., Weather Prognostics......428 
McCarty, R. J., Causes and Conditions of 


Keniomplledioeaneesnassmemeeseerae cacccnevsssaensd 175 
McCarty, ia JE Comietsennserrecac secs easee: 23 
Mead, J. R., iRarmeae f haved L7AeKa emer eee grea ee 183 
Measurement OLBVWiateray scoceadse eases Boe 


Mechanic Arts, Some Recent -Improve- 

ments in.....60, 121, 257, 384, 450, 509, 605 
Mechanical Science, Importance of Ex- 

perimental Research in...........00--....0 345 
Medicine and (ely eiene....... 22.6 .05.ccece eee 571 
Medical Department, University of Kan- 

sas City 
Metals, Seen of by Electrolysis.437, 436 
Meteoric Shower of August 10, 1882....... 312 
Meteorological Factors “and Phenomena. 421 


Meteorological Inferences from  Tree- 


Gro withst.y ans <ccweeecuitneasaasscesscescocctecers 92 
Meteorological Sub-Conditions .............. 1 
Meteorological Summary for 1882......... 576 
Meteorology. 1, 76, 144, 245, 379, 487, 576, 729 
Meteors and Comets...cc....-cecesccssssseeseeee 660 
Michaeli Aneel ona jagssccetcseceeeaceneraeeee 607 
Microscopy and Histology............0....0 366 
Migrations of Birds of Prey...............++. 308 


Mining and Metallurgy .. ..47, 108, 483 
Mining Prospects in Colorado for 1882... 48 


Mining News from Colorado.. ........ 111, 483 
Missouri, PXsmeCONG WiE)9) Olt psonoogaonsecd: Gosace 731 
MissoumileAtc hee ollo oases eee cere 104 
Missouri Copper Mines ................0...0008 304 
Moaya tipo esilner cecnuscessseccen ccacteetaee 641 
Moon, Voleanic Formations in the.........467 
Motive Power, The Coming .................. 561 
Mound-Builders in California............... 270 
Mound-Builders? Who were the............ 261 
Mount) Adtnayliivine mpom.. | esas 114 
Natural Science and Psychology............ 707 
Nature, Some of the Wastes of.............. 413 
Nature, Treatment of, by Poets............. 602 
Nipher, F. E., Hail and Hailstones........ 487 
Noni Park) Colorad oes sec eee 197 
Noyes, I. P., False Notions Regarding 
the Weathers!) Snipe nat aie emia ccaall 87 
Noyes. I. P., Meteorological Factors and 
Phenomena... 2421 
Opening of Peter Redpath Museum... SoTL 
Origin and Development of the Existing 
TEIOUSES eensn secre sateea cates ee eee ea 67 
Origin of Matter and Indestructibility of 
VIR TN CLES iene Bereetac sie ke A an eon a eae oe 443 
Origin as a Species, Our cn ees 544 
Origin and Characteristics of Precious 
Stones a Sosy abet cheraex eaten RCH ag 696 
Paleozoic Floras of Eastern North Amer- 
TCA nC Se AREAS aad oa Seainege ny 300 
Parker, J. D., Letter from Texas............ 703 
Parker, J. D., Remoteness of the Final 
@atastrophe cate eee ao hee eee 398 
Parker, J. IDE, Aine Dewey PM Sesto apnooecn.- 540 
Penal: za’s Expedition to Quivira........... 915 


Periodicals, Items from the... 66, 260, 324, 
387, 452, 517, 613, 678, hes 


| FLING) Keres, spscoseneonccetes ean aSmercactarn Abels: 

Philosophy... V5, 229, 443, 544, 700, 707, 
71a, 705 

Physical Characteristics of Native Tribes 
Git Oahmeysle) Cossdaccs hoo dssoaanobcseosne enor tn ben 343 
JeaEKOOA\ ace) seonsc apagoatcnnocee dosbelleis 274 
RINSE) 65 650 oncoccoss bocoocodd doandader 339, 438, 557 
JOSIE, ITAA NAWICINOIN Ts soooasereonscoonne oases 339 


Precious Stones, Origin and Characteris- 


PU CSEO LM yeeseccecawei manson crennieine sk Gere es 696 
Precipitation and Temperature of March — 

HOT Bip WE ATS cess ceetea een aes eee eee eras 7 
Pre-Historic Relics, Some Rare............. 459 
Problem’ ofguitie tcctetecescesesscc encase ane ace 119 


Proceedings of Societies.................325 


IV 


Railway Construction in the U. S. for 
ASSO Re wean iae omascas colaedeoluenveseeeddc a eaeewea 560 
Redding, R. P., Benevolence for Science.. 97 
Reid, H. A.. Man’s Zodgenetic Lineage...131 
Reid, H. A., Some Rare Pre-Historic Re- 
CS RRNA eMC ck clainele ee aimeinchla cle anemene 459 
Remoteness of the Final Catastrophe...... 398 
Review of Stallo’s “Concepts of Physices’’.229 


Roberts, Rev. J. E., Science and Senti- 
TTOVETT ALAA Ba WRN MURR op Leh ue NE 725 
Sampson, F. A., Distribution of Shells...554 
Science and Sentiment Lon AR SSE IE Crea NU 725 
Science, Benevolence for........024,..seeeceees 97 

Science Letter from Paris.....94, 180, 285, 
“ANT, BAI, 1656 


Scientific Miscellany.....60, 119, 192, 257, 
Bi, 450, ’509, 600, 671, 737 


Their Pragemray tion aad Cromntina 


Seeds : 


Sewer Gas and its Dangers to Health... 
Shakespeare, Was Lord Bacon the Auth- 

One Gut Tams EEN Soqnossdodacedad anboon saosou debe: 675 
Shakespeare, The Meteorology of.......... 580 
Shakespeare Craze, The Bacon-.. 130 
Shaw, C. A., Meteorological Sub- Condi- 

TAK NS adensacecedsescodaatiasaon GosdaodaUsbheesuaesce 1 
Shells, The Distribution of.. .................d51 
Smith, H.S. 8., Induction in Science...... 700 
Smith, H.S. S., Observations of Comet 

B, URINE eis P80 RE 465 
Smith, H.S.S., The Coming Transit of- 

Case aM Ce iieaohs ik CLL ae 389 
Smith, T. Berry, The Comet............ ~....461 

- Snake, The Lignified, of Brazil.............. 555 
Snow, F. H., Kansas Weather Summary, 
OP sae as enue Onn Npccceenisecadorod Gocco. Copasaasn 576 


Snyder, J. F., The Stone Age in Africa...137 
Snyder, J. F., The Mound-Builders, Who 


\Weree Amey consodonsnaseqonodsoqn005000p000C008 261 
Solar Eclipse of May 6, 1883................. 739 
Solar Upheaval and Magnetic Storm...... 510 
Some of the Wastes of Nature............0. 413 
Speculations about Comets.............::s000 394 
Spencer, J. W., The Ancient Mississippi 

and its Tributaries........ccccsesssseessoes- 615 
Star of Bethlehem, A New Star and the..697 
Stars for February... LePage coe OOO 
Sternberg, C. H , The Loup Fork Group 

CIMACT S ASE sae cuissoacnuedeue ane eee eetanee amet 205 
Stevens, Mrs. F. E., Aztec Remains in 

ClollorearglOsaossacnacbooes sqanoces: scaseanas 90000000 442 


Stevens, Mrs. F. E., A Low Grade Stamp 
Mill 
Stevens, Mrs. F. E., Molecules from the 
Denver Exposition 
Stevens, Mrs. F. E., Taxation of Colorado 
Mines 
Stevens, Wm., Origin of Matter and the 
Indestructibility ie WWGhaCetonede wide codons 443 | 


8+ seco oc eeaes mecese oecensce~ coors oecess sooene 


eee cece ecetees ween: wees 


INDEX, 


StonewAise limi Adisicaleereesesssscsee eee eames 137 
Stoney Grave agli imorsty-ecs4- ce eee eee eee 308 
Stone Graven) Oreson..-....../2-1ee eel 
Stone Graves of Brentwood, Tenn...........526 


Stout, A. B., Indo-Chinese Civilization...102 
Sun, How to Tell the Distance of the......239 
Superstitions of Iroquois Indians.. ........360 


Tablet of the Cross............ 142, 212, 218, 269 
Veethvand) Bratmisn.. co eseses sss e eee AT1 
Telegraphing without Wires.. ... ....... A438 


Telephone and Electric Light in Egypt..319 
Templin, L. J., Aleohol and its Effects...274 
Templin, L. am Some of the Wastes of 
INGibM rel sie samede schon: sence aceeenaaeen enema seer 413 
Templin, L. J., Seeds: Their Preserva- 
tlonpand)sGexmuinabiomperssseenecteeseeeeet 648 
Teubner, Charles, Indian Pictographs in 
Mass onmiiti5.i sctsseaeten os cten sceeeens cob Ng Sa, 208 
Thames Launch Propelled by Electricity.560 
Thompson, Rey. C. L., Natural Science 


and) Psychology, jcm.ceocs. sce seine eee 716 
The Thunder Birdiy. ss. :<c.0) se-eeeeeeeee 192 
Tornadoes: Special Characteristics and 

Dangers... ccrcecsbisoan aeeceeh ee eee 144 
Horniado Studies dor) W882 oa see-seuenersweekee 76 
Aor WeGloy, Ways IGEN pooccassdossecco 65800 Sc0ce: ono LS 
(Dearne, ot Weintistscoooascooc 335, 389, 508, 519 
Treaties with Indian Tribes for Land in 

MUSSO Ura Ss. dep cc cue toeuidesctasneaeeaece renee 184 


Tree-Growths, Meteorological Inferences 
from . 

Trowbridge, SEL Geological ‘Survey. of 
IMETSSOU TE eae aha acne oe aeee eee eee 

Tubercle, The Bacillus Tuberculosis sie 
Cause Ope. i 

Tunnels in general “anal he St. Gomera 
in Danton lar de csdie AUER Saar ose eee 663 

University of Kansas City... 2 

VanHorn, kh. T., Improvement of the 
Missouri and Mississippi RIVES ecucesee 219 

VanHorn, R.T., Speculations about Com- 


Clic Naincsaasonucesssacbonsde. ui oeld dentate oaaaene pe O94 
Velocity of Projectiles. s2tevesseeeeee 500. 
Volcanic Formations in the Moon......... 467 
Watson, Warren, The Tablet of the Cross. 

142, 269 

Weather, False Notions Regarding the... 87 

Weather iPro omosticss.--cassssseee te eens 428 
West, E. P., Human Remains in the Loess 

olthey Missouri Fiver cecsseeeeeee esses 46 1 


Williams, W. H., The Cyclone at Browns- 


Wille: Mio. .ccacwsessusteooacs soa cgansicinetadceeee 245 
Will =@-the= Wasps sea see sine arctic eee ae 279 
Wiggins’ Storm of March 9, 1883........... 673 
Wortman, J. L., igi and Development 

of Existing lorseste wae 3 (ON 
WACO O¥er cecee cou besdaneqoconsco Aa yagabone 308, 403, ‘BBL 
Zoblogy, A Lesson in Comparative. ngponcoos 408 


KANSAS CITY 


REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 


A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 


SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 


VOL. VI. MAY, 1882. Rano 


METE @ROLOGY. 


METEOROLOGICAL SUB-CONDITIONS. 
BY C. A. SHAW, MADISON, WIS. 


It seems to be more and more apparent that meteorology belongs to that 
order of experimental science which depends upon a calculation of contingencies. 
It resembles medical practice in the fact that for every individual case the treat- 
ment must be modified. General principles exist, are to be known, but the em- 
pirical practitioner is sometimes more successful in the cure of special diseases. It 
is hardly possible that in the future it can be safely said: ‘‘ Two years from date 
such an epidemic will prevail and such a treatment of all attacked must be resort- 
edto.” Even if the first statement was acceded to the second would not be re- 
ceived without opposition. In fact, the difference between a scientific practi- 
tioner and the reverse is that the first is not so certain of fixed remedies. He ac- 
cepts once for all the dictum that ‘‘circumstance alter cases,’’ and that ‘‘ good 
sense is something that all science needs to make any remedy successful.”’ 

In meteorology what is known bears a very small ratio to what is unknown, 
and the final ‘‘ why is it,” is still less definite than the general term ‘‘it may be 
expected.” Even in civil engineering, field-practice modifies a good many 
theories of the school-room, and the text-book is found lamentably deficient in 
those details called practical, which are the frequent obsticles that inexperience 


Vi-1 


2 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


stumbles over in attempting to use astronomical formulas where a rule-of-thumb 
fits so nicely. 

That water runs down hill, that winds blow because mechanical pressure 
makes them, that clouds change from local conditions, these seem trifling axioms 
to the too-far-come-seeking meteorologists of some reports, official and otherwise, 
and yet it can hardly be doubted that the final causes of many atmospheric 
phenomena are by no means very remote and recondite, but on the contrary 
near at hand, and having similitudes in everyday and trifling experiences. 

There is really wanted a well-edited meteorological journal—exclusively 
meteorological—for every special science needs a special treatment. The habits 
of mind of all classes of specialists take a peculiar tone from their occupation. 
As in art, landscape and genera artists agree as to general principles, but differ 
wldely in their methods of handling and treatment of subject, as in music instru- 
mentalists and vocalists are each bound to special qualities of excellence, so in 
science, meteorologists cannot move quite easily with naturalists, botanists, arche- 
ologists, though there is really more sympathy than divergence between them. 

However that may be, the study of meteorology seems now to be, as at first 
stated, a calculation of contingencies. The atmosphere seems to be a particu- 
larly unstable medium. It is exceptionally in extremes, now of heat and cold, 
now of greater or less pressure, and now of moisture or of dryness. Because it 
is of one nature to-day we may expect the opposite soon. When the barmometer 
is high it presages the coming of that which is termed a low. If the track of 
an area of small pressure is exceptionally out of its normal course it seems to 
take more time for nature to get back to her established routine, and meanwhile 
extravagance is the order of her motions. 

All this is rather that of a philosophy which deals in chances than with 
exact science. Is it not possible that for a few years this will have to content 
us? although we have something fairly certain to goupon. For example, the 
following is a table of tracks of low barometers during March, from the point 
of view of a resident of Madison, Wisconsin. 

If we were to put in brief form a general statement of weather conditions, 
it would be something in this form, taking the above table as a text or reference 


sheet. Taking for example, 
GENERAL CONDITIONS OF STORM AREAS. 


A difficult problem in modern meteorological science is the discovery of a 
reason for the variation of these almost periodic low barometer tracks. That 
there are normal directions corresponding to the several seasons of the year, is 
certain, and also that there are divergencies frequent enough to be expected, 
though when and where still eludes accurate formulating. If it be true, as those 
who favor the mechanical or theory of vortices believe, that there is a permanent 
northwesterly current north of us and a permanent south and southeast current 
south to southeast of us, and that their meeting and conflict, now to the partial 
advantage of the one and now to the partial advantage of the other, produces 


METEOROLOGICAL SUB-CONDITIONS. 


NHN HN S| & & CO 
SS Ses SS 
Even esters 3 || (Byavills, 
42422,nHN% | General Direction of Wind Preceeding 
ass mas ie oles Low Barometer. 
83S3SS93% 
On ub od woot | Barometer Reading before Storm. 
mo oon uUIUIsTUIST / 
SaROO oMN oS | Average Velocity of Wind before Storm 
n nN General Direction of Wind during Fall 
Oma ae of Barometer. 
Qh wo OR SRS | Maximum Velocity of Wind during Fall. 
Ge eS ole |photall Wind during; Malli)(24° hours). 
WAW COR YN OO 
SSSSSEESs 
Cis DU DO ora ce | Lowest Barometer Reading. 
WO CW COO Af Co 
2282222809 | Average Fall per hour. (Gradient). 
oe eee . Total Rain-fall during Fall of Barom- 
- Seb OWU 
C0 ORM ADE eter. 
Z 24 5,424n pret iek ; 
Z General Direction of Wind after Storm. 
44443333 
bp ywwyanuwnp | Maximum Velocity of Wind during 
Nhat la nari Rise of Barometer. 
“APES SOES | Total Wind during 24 hours Rise. 
BRUOW OO ONOMN 
SECSSSSSS 
RECS Re aaa aa tee eas Barometer Reading after Storm, 
omooomnr0 Oo 
SLSEQLLSE | Average Rise. (Gradient per hour). 
mpi icitle Total Rain-fall during Rise of Barom- 
oSokAohko| eter. 


Direction from which Storm Approach- 
ed, 


Passed Madison to the North, South, or 
Centrally. 


Direction after Passing. 


“EQQ1 ‘HOUVW ONIVAC SVAUV UTLAWOUVA MOT HO ATAVL HAILVAVdNOOD V 


4 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


In effect, this is nearly the same as the following table, which possibly the 
editor will omit. 


WEATHER REPORT—-LOCAL SUMMARY FOR MARCH, 1882. 


SIGNAL SERVICE U. S. A., Mapison, APRIL 1. 


eho (S es 
z Ss i ; ‘ x = 
re ees oles Bilan’ e | § 
g gq || 3 bp = 3 a 
9 5 o 2S a 3 5 eas 6 
a a a oo ol ) a o 5 
oo aa) a Q 7 Qu a a ° o 
ie ee | Seg we einai Ibi 
ee ee we ee ee 
S @eleg| @.|-3 1 8 |ee4 28 
p4 eB 2 Pi | o MW] > S Su | B+ 
<< o o © = = aS of Ss 3 a O° oa 
= = = Ay fae) x 4 4 = ic 
I |29.779| 47-7 | W_ | 29.70} 62 37 18 213 
2 |30.110] 453 | NW R 61 37 20 175 
3 |30.318] 40.3 | NE | 30.37] 50 34 13 188 
4 |29 937| 33.3 | E 29.68| 43 | 33 58 | 33 | 519 
5 |29 827) 35.7| SW |] R 43 Bio eis) 25 385 
6 |30 218] 25.3 | W SPE ee Laka? 23 | ——| 22 356 
7 |30.620] 22.0 | NE | 30.65 | 29 15 — 17 249 
8 |30.357| 30.0 | E F 36 23 13 13 211 
9 |29.903] 26.7 | N_ | 29.75] 30 25 66 | 34 | 484 
10 |30.270| 29.7 | NW | 30.30] 35 25 — 16 257 
II |30.160} 29.3 | SW F 33 26 05 12 181 
I2 |29.935| 26.7 | W 29.87} 33 22 OI 24 301 
13 |30.162} 25.7 | NW R 34 17 — 18 278 
14 |30 129] 32.3 | SE F 39 27 25 21 274 
15 |30.052] 34.7 | N R By 32 .05 16 218 
16 |30.302] 35.7 | E 30.36] 40 31) |) ———| 20 184 
17 |29.911) 36.7 | E F 38 | 34 | -32 | 25 | 449 
18 |29.870] 39 0 | NW | 20.67] 49 35 | .08 22 270) 
19 |30.174] 39.0 | N 30.25 | 48 30 | —— | 12 158 
20 |29.734| 38.7 | E B 43 SN sores 28 418 
21 |20.722| 24.3 | W 29.56] 39 19 .07 32 503 
22 |30.328| 29.7 | NW | 30.38] 39 22 — 25 372 
23 +|30.200] 34.0| NW | F R 49 221 ee AO 445 
24 130 401] 23.7 | N High | 35 Asser crea aed 276 
25 |29.916] 36.0 | SE F 43 3I 35 25 326 
26 |29.586| 39.7 | N 29.39} 49 35 95 12 118 
27 |29.761| 36.7 | NW | R 43 33 | -49 25 415 
280205032427 F 50 32 66 P28 Bie 
29 |29.793| 45.0 | W R 58 36 - | 28 514 
30 |30.431) 32.3 | NW | 30.48] 41 27 25 307 
31 /30-213] 43.3 | S F 57 31 : 
S’m | 4.73 9732 


NW ES Go YU AAR | ABOU, 6 6 21 314 


these cyclonic nuclei which express themselves as storm centers; or whether it 
be that there are, perhaps, stationary heapings of atmosphere along certain 
latitudes which push shoulder to shoulder, like two athletes, and mutually strug- 


gle to encroach and prevent encroachment; or whether local influences, varia- 
a 


METEOROLOGICAL SUB-CONDITIONS. 5 


tions in the distribution of heat, either of territorial action, or from equinoctial 
shiftings or other suppositions, none can be applied with a dominant purpose 
of practical utility. 

Of the immediate effect, however, of the passage of one of these areas of 
lower pressures the conditions follow very regularly. As the depression ap- 
proaches from the west or southwest, the wind begins to blow from the southeast 
to east, increasing in force as the greatest gradient is reached. If the area passes 
south of a station, the wind follows it round from the northeast to north and 
northwest. If it passes to the north of the station, the wind takes a reverse 
direction from the southeast to south and southwest, the velocity of the following 
wind being dependent upon similar differences of pressure as that which acted 
during its approach. 

The rainfall, it is to be noticed, depends rather upon local conditions, as 
the greater or less humidity which the winds possess from passing over areas of 
snow or bodies of water. It frequently happens that a wind partially saturated 
receives sufficient additional moisture to produce precipitation over a damp dis- 
trict, which would be inoperative over a dry one. 

The normal action of an area of low barometers seems to depend upon its free 
passage in the line of its natural direction. If this course is interrupted, as by 
the opposition of a body of air of greater pressure, so that its movement is 
delayed or wholly arrested, the tendency is to narrow its dimensions, sometimes 
to turn it aside, and generally to increase its destructive cyclonic tendencies, 
while not infrequently a second area is developed at some distance to the south, 
which moves obliquely to join it. The contrary effect of a dissipation of a 
marked area results when opposition to its movements becomes removed. Its 
force is then expended in a lateral expansion. 

Perhaps this dissipation is the result of a secondary formation, which causes 
a transference of direction of pressure, for if we look at the line of a track of 
low barometer we cannot fail to be struck by its valley-like line. It is as if it 
were the track of a marble among shifting elevations of an agitated soil. 

Whatever electrical influences may accompany the passage of a storm area 
their accessory nature seems quite well proven. Their intensity is certainly 
associated with peculiar conditions of the atmosphere rather than with variations 
in its pressure, as indicated by the barometer, and if it can be shown that the 
mechanical action of the winds is the chief element of these disturbances there 
will be renewed the extraneous and conflicting theories which now distant the 
gathered facts and prevent accurate formulating of simple mechanical causes for 
their results. 


6 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


WEATHER REPORT FOR APRIL, 1882. 


FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT LAWRENCE, KANSAS, BY PROF. F. H. SNOW, OF 
THE STATE UNIVERSITY. 


During this month the temperature and cloudiness were above the average, 
while the rainfall and wind velocity were nearly normal. The cold week, from 
gth to 16th, produced only harmless ‘‘ white frost,” so that the immense fruit 
crops have escaped entirely uninjured. There was a brilliant auroral display on 
the night of the 16th, and a curious storm of almost impalpable dust on the 18th 
from 5 to 5:30 p. m. 

Mean Temperature—56.83°, which is 3.02° above the average April temper- 
ature of the fourteen preceding years. The highest temperature was 88°, on 
the 1st and 21st; the lowest was 35°, on the 11th; monthly range, 53°. Mean 
Fie Ff Bs Wy Hewes B GE ATO, Wey ORaghs” & 2b @) D> Ml, FAwe. 

Rainfall—3.20 inches, which is 0.17 inches above the April average. Rain 
fellon nine days. There was no snow. ‘There were five thunder showers, of 
which four were accompanied by hail. : The entire rainfall for the four months 
of 1882 now completed, has been 7.18 inches, which is 0.62 inch below the 
average for the same period in the fourteen preceding years. 

Mean Cloudiness—s51.77 per cent of the sky, the month being 3.06 per cent 
cloudier than the average. Number of clear days, 12, (entirely clear, 4); half 
clear, 6; cloudy, 12, (entirely cloudy, 6). Mean cloudiness at 7 a. m., 57.33 
per cent; at 2 p. m., 55.33 per cent; at 9 p. m., 42.66 per cent. 

Wind—Southwest, 21 times; southeast, 17 times; northeast, 15 times; 
south, 9 times; north, 9 times; northwest, 8 times; west, 6 times; east, 5 times. 
The entire distance travelled by the wind was 14,226 miles, which gives a mean 
daily velocity of 474.20 miles, and a mean hourly velocity of 19.76 miles. The 
highest velocity was 40 miles an hour, from 2 to 4 p. m. on the 17th. 

Mean Fleight 0f Barometer—29.032 inches; at 7 a. m., 29.065 inches; at 2 
p. m., 29.006 inches; at 9 p. m., 29.027 inches; maximum, 29.449 inches, 
on the 29th; minimum, 28.542 inches, on the 21st; monthly range, 0.907 
inches. 

Relative Humidity—Mean for month, 61.7; at 7 a. m., 69.8; at 2p.m., 
48.7; at 9 p. m., 66.8; greatest, roo, on the 22d; least, 21.3; on the 3oth: 
There was no fog during the month. 

The following table furnishes a comparison with preceding Aprils : 


PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE AT MORRISON, ILL. 7 


Maximum Temperature. 
Minimum Temperature. 


Mean Temperature. 
Rain, Inches. 


APRIL. 

Mean Cloudiness 

Miles Wind. 
Mean Humidity 


| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 


1868 49.65 83.0 25.0 2.95 52.00 


1869 51.44 87.0 18.0 2.43 51.00 4 72.1 
1870 56.84 g1.0 19.0 1.08 AOE SC ee tetewe: 54:7 
1871 57-90 92.0 30.5 2.38 HN Uaioe sn aa 53-5 


1872 56.42 85.0 30.0 4.74 Isis a ead 56.5 
1873 48.85 88.0 26.0 4.42 55-89 | 18.371 | 63-4 
1874 48.77 83.0 Pn 2.86 siete |p aiZls grey Wy NGS) 
1875 49.70 ALO) i WRK 2.54 48.22 | 14.144] 57.6 
1876 55.60 87.5 30.0 3.38 44.78 | 14.442 | 59.6 
1877 53-90 81.0 25.0 Bee 53-00 | 11.976 | 64.9 
1878 58.60 82.0 36.0 5-48 Bosca | VERA | COs 
1879 56.40 84.0 20.0 4.18 AGO || UMSARQIUE || Oia 

I 

I 

3 


1880 56.92 93.0 31.0 otis aya: |) 1. G/CG) |) 5 e571 
1881 52.47 84.0 1256) 2 51.78 | 14.495 | 67.6 
1882 56.83 88.0 BIER .20 SoG | UALeAS |. Oia’ 


Mean of 


15 Aprils.| 54.01 86.0 25.5 3.04 48°91 | 14.184] 60.7 


PRECIPITATION AND AVERAGE TEMPERATURE FOR MARCH, 
FOR EIGHT YEARS AT MORRISON, ILLINOIS. 


S. A. MAXWELL, VOL. OBS. U. S. SIG. SERV. 


YEAR. PRECIPITATION, TEMPERATURE. 
1875 1.00 Inches. 29.09° 
1876 SHG 0 31.58 

1877 ' CeO iience 26.70 

1878 atl eee 48.05 

1879 2.40 7 39-57 

1880 PA Selena 36.37 

1881 Beco 9 Oe 28.88 

1882 Cees hints 37-37 


Means) eG . Bes eunelies: Bulg IO" 


8 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 
WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 


BY PROF. J. T. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 


Highest barometer during month 29.29, on the 30th. Lowest barometer 
during month 28.56, on the 2oth. 

Highest temperature during month 87°, on the znd. Lowest temperature 
during month 4°, on the rath. 

Highest velocity of wind during month 60 miles, on the 25th. 

The usual summary by decades is given below. 


a 


ar. 20th Apr. Ist Apr. 10th 


Mean. 
TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. to Apr. Ist.| tooth. to 20th. wen 
MIN. AND MAx. AVERAGES. 

IVD IN yaa To gratin pyre niles el ive gta sits 29.0 49.4 33-5 37S 
Max. . .e- eee eee ee ee 62.0 75-5 52.3 63.3 
Wikia, aya) MIR 5° GotG 5 6 0 6 0 o 45:5 62.4 43.0 50.3 
IREWNAS! 4.6 savaee Talco aor on an 34.0 26.1 19.1 26.4 
TRI-DAILY OBSERVATIONS. 
F lo Te o a8 000 0 6 0 6-0 0.0 39.9 57.6 43.4 47.0 
Pi NAN sigs ratio et Wao) ai (ay etyeeriately Conltee 61.1 69.9 55-3 62.1 
Yael eae ys foe sta tegtn ies oo Ulett, Reames 47.0 59.0 47-4 51.1 
IVS ATR pe cle Natalee aero! teh el onto Pe 49.0 60.6 48.3 55-9 
RELATIVE HUMIDITY. 
MOT sree fai aeheiy |-sca cee es 78 78 .72 76 
BMD erie asve hss haste co er lea) ao leetenne 43 58 61 54 
O}.FOys 10 (UN ote ea nM eee ates ate Feces 60 -76 77 7I 
WMIGEH EB aoa aL at upiewtee lalenees 60 -70 -70 67 
PRESSURE AS OBSERVED, 
Ppa VMLey iia ss ah cho heen SPN lay eallesuitee me 29,01 28.87 28.96 28.95 
2 BDepUe Wer eiMef lotta etlcues ean st een 28.99 28.86 28.91 28.92 
OMP ME hren Carede weet y sna omen see 28.99 28.86 28.89 28.91 
MVS crn Ae So se) haere ties p es RSet 29.00 28.86 28.92 28.93 
MILEs PER HouR OF WIND. 
7] Bo: TNs 616g Blow 6 OG) Go 6 6.10 19.0 15.9 14.1 16.3 
QB eRe sie Kike atrial er alte athcaNite Ree 23.7 26.2 19.1 24.7 
OMPEMUA Gey icn alka) wSntees |=) eliel ce eced ie 21.3 15.6 15.0 17.4 

Motalamillesiys sncpos isa enei eee 6616 5035 4099 15750 
CLOUDING BY TENTHS. 

PT ECUSBERY otic ing huss lah gh vera No lena ee uate pirates 3.4 5-6 5.2 4.7 

PTT Come eR OMEeR URE sate Rain ce Ale te 3.1 5-9 6.2 5.1 

UD ERED yc oN meshes ov ete war cae bans 1.7 5-0 4.9 3-9 
RAIN. 


THE ARRIVAL OF MAN IN EUROPE, 9 


THE ARRIVAL OF MAN IN EUROPE. 
BY JOHN FISKE. 


Toward the close of the Pleistocene age, the general outlines of the Euro- 
pean continent had assumed very much their present appearance everywhere 
except in the northwest. The British Islands still remained joined to one an- 
other and to the Gaulish mainland, and occupied the greater part of the area of 
the German Ocean. According to Mr James Geikie, the connection with Nor- 
way again became complete, and the Atlantic ridge was again so far elevated as 
to bring Scotland into connection with Greenland through the Faroe Islands and 
Iceland. .The whole of Britain stood at an average elevation of from 600 to 1000 
feet above its present level. The Thames, Humber, Tyne, and Forth, must all 
have flowed into the Rhine, which emptied itself into the North Sea beyond the 
latitude of the Shetlands. The glaciers of Europe had retreated within the Arctic 
Circle, or up to the higher valleys of the great mountain ranges; and the climate 
was beginning to assume its present temperate and equable character. 

At this remote epoch Europe had already been inhabited by human beings 
during several thousand years. How long before the beginning of the Pleisto- 
cene period man had arrived in Europe is still open to questi: n; but there is no 
doubt whatever that he lived in Gaul and Britain as a contemporary of the big- 
nosed rhinocerous, and before the arrival of the Arctic mammalia which were 
driven from the north as the glacial cold set in. This race of man—described 
by Mr. Boyd Dawkins as the ‘‘ River-Drift-Man’”’—is probably now as extinet as 
the cave-bear or the mammoth. Late in the Pleistocene period it disappeared 
from Europe, and was replaced by a new race, coming from the northeast, along 
with the musk-sheep and reindeer, and called by the same eminent writer the 
“*Cave-Man.”’ Both the Cave-Men and the Red-Drift men were in the stage of 
culture known as the Paleolithic, or Old Stone Age; that is, they used only stone 
implements, and these implements were never polished or ground to a fine edge, 
but were only roughly chipped into shape, and were very rude and irregular in 
contour. The Palzolithic Age, referring as the phrase does to a stage of cul- 
ture, and not to any chronological period, is something which has come and 
gone at very different dates in different parts of the world. It may be conven- 
ient to remember that in northwestern Europe it seems to have very nearly coin 
cided with the Pleistocene period, provided we also bear in mind that the coin- 
cidence is purely fortuitous. 

The implements of the River-drift men, found in Pleistocene river-beds, are 
very rude, and imply a social condition at least as low as that of the Australian 
savages of the present day. ‘‘ They consist,” says Mr. Dawkins, ‘‘of the flake ; 
the chopper or pebble roughly chipped to an edge on one side; the Aéche or oval- 
pointed implement, intended for use without a handle; an oval or rounded form 


10 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


with a cutting edge all round, which may have been used in a handle; a scraper 
for preparing skins; and pointed flints used for boring.” Man did not then seek 
for the materials out of which to make these weapons or tools, but ‘‘ merely 
fashioned the stones which happened to be within his reach—flint, quartzite, or 
chert—in the shallows of the rivers, as they were wanted, throwing them away 
after they had been used.” No pottery of any sort has been found in association 
with these implements, nor were there at that period any domesticated animals. 
The River-drift men were evidently no tillers of the ground, neither were they 
herdsmen or shepherds ; but they gained a precarious subsistence by hunting the 
great elk and other deer, and contendede with packs of hyenas for the caves 
which might serve for shelter against the storm. As to what may have been the 
social organization of these primeval savages, nothing whatever is known. They 
were a wide-spread race. Their implements have been found, in more or less 
abundance, in Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Northern Africa, 
Palestine, and Hindustan. Their bones have been found in the valleys of the 
Rhine, the Seine, the Somme, and the Vezére, in sufficient numbers to show 
that they were dolicocephalic or long-headed race, with prominent jaws, but no 
complete skeleton has as yet been discovered. 

These River-drift men, as already observed, belonged to the southern fauna 
which inhabited Europe before the approach of the glacial cold. As the climate 
of Europe became arctic and temperate by turns, the River-drift men appear to 
have by turns retreated southward to Italy and Africa, and advanced northward 
into Britain, along with the leopards, hyzenas, and elephants, with which they 
were contemporary. But after several such migrations they returned no more, 
but instead of them we find plentiful traces of the Cave men, —a race apparently 
more limited in its range, and clearly belonging to a sub-arctic fauna. The 
bones and implements of the Cave-men are found in ,association with remains of | 
_ the reindeer and bison, the arctic fox, the mammoth, "and the woolly rhinoceros. 
They are found in great abundance in southern and central England, in Belgium, 
Germany, and Switzerland, and in every part of France; but nowhere as yet have 
their remains been discovered south of the Alps and Pyrenees. A diligent ex- 
ploration of the Pleistocene caves of England and France, during the past twenty 
years, has thrown some light upon their mode of life. Not a trace of pottery 
has been found anywhere associated with their remains, so that it is quite clear 
that the Cave-men did not make earthenware vessels. Burnt clay is a peculiarly 
indestructible material, and where it has once been in existence it is sure to leave 
plentiful traces of itself. Meat was baked in the caves by contact with hot stones, 
or roasted before the blazing fire. Fire may have been obtained by friction be- 
tween two pieces of wood, or between bits of flint and iron pyrites. 

Clothes were made of the furs of bisons, reindeer, bears, and other animals, 
rudely sewn together with threads of reindeer sinew. Even long fur gloves were 
used, and necklaces of shells and of bear’s and lion’s teeth. The stone tools and 
weapons were far finer in appearance than those of the River-drift-men, though 
they were still chipped, and not ground. ‘They made borers and saws as well as 


THE ARRIVAL OF MAN IN EUROPE. - 11 


spears and arrow-heads; and besides these stone implements they used spears 
and arrows headed with bone, and daggers of reindeer antler. The reindeer, 
which thus supplied them with clothes and weapons, was also slain for food; and, 
besides, they slew whales and seals on the coast of the Bay of Biscay, and in the 
rivers they speared salmon, trout, and pike. ‘They also appear to have eaten, as 
well as to have been eaten by, the cave-lion and cave-bear. Many details of 
their life are preserved to us through their extraordinary taste for engraving and 
carving. Sketches of reindeer, mammoths, horses, cave-bears, pike and seals, 
and hunting scenes have been found by the hundred, incised upon antlers or 
bones, or sometimes upon stone ; and the artistic skill which they show is really 
astonishing. Most savages can make rude drawings of objects in which they feel 
a familiar interest, but such drawings are usually excessively grotesque, like a 
child’s attempt to depict a man as a sort of figure eight, with four straight lines 
standing forth from lower half to represent the arms and legs. But the Cave- 
men, with a piece of sharp-pointed flint, would engrave, on a reindeer antler, an 
outline of a urus so accurately that it can be clearly distinguished from an ox or 
a bison. And their drawings are remarkable not only for their accuracy, but 
often equally so for the taste and vigor with which the subject is treated. 

Among uncivilized races of men now living, there are none which possess 
this remarkable artistic talent save the Eskimos; and in this respect there is com- 
plete similarity between the Eskimos and the Cave-men. But this is by no 
means the only point of agreement between the Eskimos and the Cave-men. Be- 
tween the sets of tools and weapons used by the one and by the other the agree- 
ment is also complete. The stone spears and arrow-heads, the sewing-needles 
and skin-scrapers, used by the Eskimos are exactly like the similar implements 
found in the Pleistocene caves of Franceand England. The necklaces and amu- 
lets of cut teeth and the daggers made from antler, show an equally close corres- 
pondence. ‘The resemblances are not merely general, but extend so far into de- 
tails that if modern Eskimo remains were to be put into European caves they 
would be indistinguishable in appearance from the remains of the Cave-men 
which are now found there. Now, when these facts are taken in connection 
with the facts that the Cavemen were an arctic race, and especially that the 
musk-sheep, which accompanied the advance of the Cave-men into Europe, is now 
found only in the country of the Eskimos, though its fossil remains are scattered 
in abundance all along a line stretching from the Pyrenees through Germany, 
Russia, and Siberia,—when these facts are taken in connection, the opinion of 
Mr. Dawkins, that the Cave-men were actually identical with the Eskimos, seems © 
highly plausible. Nothing can be more probable than that, in early or middle 
Pleistocene times, the Eskimos lived all about the Arctic Circle, in Siberia and 
northern Europe as well as in North America; that during the coldest portion of 
the Glacial period they found their way as far south as the Pyrenees, along with 
the rest of the sub-arctic mammalian fauna to which they belonged; and that, as 
the climate grew warmer again, and vigorous enemies from the south began to 
press into Europe and compete with them, they gradually fell back to the north- 


12 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


ward, leaving behind them the innumerable relics of their former presence, which 
we find in the late Pleistocene caves of France and England. The Eskimos, then, 
are probably the sole survivors of the Cave-men of the Pleistocene period: among 
the present people of Europe the Cave men have left no representatives what- 
ever. 

With the passing away of Pleistocene times, further considerable changes 
occurred in the geography of Europe and its population. Early in the Recent 
perjod the British Islands had become detached from each other and from the 
continent, and the North Sea and the English and Irish Channels had assumed 
very nearly their present sizes and shapes. The contour of the Mediterranean, 
also, had become nearly what it is now; and in general such changes as have oc- 
curred in the physical structure of Europe during the Recent period have been 
comparatively slight. Of the mammalia living at the beginning of this period, 
only one species, the Irish elk, has become extinct. The gigantic Cave-bear, the 
cave-lion, the mammoth, and the woolly rhinoceros had all become extinct at the 
close of the Pleistocene period, and the elephants and hyzenas had finally retreat- 
ed into Africa. In Europe were now to be found the brown and grizzly bears, 
the elk and reindeer, the wild boar, the urus or wild ox, the wolf and fox, the 
rabbit and hare, and the badger; and along with these there came those harbing- 
ers of the dawn of civilization,—the dog and horse, the domestic ox and pig, with 
the sheep and goat. A new race of men, also, the tamers and owners of these 
domestic animals, had appeared on the scene. These new men could build rude 
huts of oak logs and rough planks, made by splitting the tree trunks with wedges. 
Such work was not done with chipped flint-flakes. The men of the early Recent 
period had the grindstone, and used it to put a fine edge on their stone hatchets 
and adzes ; so that their appearance marks the beginning of a new era in culture. 
The sharp and accurate edge of the axe, unattainable save by grinding, is the 
symbol of this new era, which is known to archeologists as the Neolithic, or 
New Stone Age. 

The huts of the Neolithic farmers and shepherds were built in clusters, and 
defended by stockades. Wheat and flax were raised, and linen garments were 
added to those of fur. The distaff and loom, in rude shape, were in use, and 
grain was pounded in the mortar with a pestle. Rude earthenware vessels were 
made, sometimes ornamented with patterns. Canoes were also in use. The 
dead were buried in long barrows, and from the almost constant presence of ar- 
row-heads, pottery, or trinkets in these tombs it has been inferred that the Neo- 
lithic men had some idea of a future life, and buried these objects for the use of 
the departed spirits, as is the custom among most savage races at the present 
time 

The celebrated lake-villages of Switzerland belong to the Neolithic or early 
Recent period; and the remains of their cattle and of their cultivated seeds and 
fruits have thrown light upon the origin of the Neolithic civilization. It is cer- 
tain that the domestic animals did not originate in Europe, but were domesticat- 
ed in Central Asia, which was the home of their wild ancestors; and, moreover, - 


THE ARRIVAL OF MAN IN EUROPE, ' 13 


they were not introduced into Europe gradually and one by one, but suddenly 
and en masse. It is clear, therefore, that they must have been brought in from 
Asia by the Neolithic men; and the same is true of the four kinds of wheat, two 
of barley, the millet, peas, poppies, apples, pears, plums, and flax, which grew 
in the gardens and orchards of Neolithic Switzerland. 

This rudimentary Neolithic civilization was spread all over Europe, with the 
exception of the northern parts of Russia and Scandinavia; and there can be no 
doubt that it lasted for a great many centuries. It certainly lingered in Gaul 
and Britain long after the valley of the Nile had become the seat of a mighty 
empire ; perhaps even after the Akkadian power had established itself at the mouth 
the of Euphrates, and ‘‘ Ur of the Chaldees” had become a name famous in the 
world. Still more, it is clear that the Neolithic population has never been swept 
out of Europe, like the Cave-men and the River-drift men who had preceded it, 
but has remained there, in a certain sense, to this day, and constitutes a very 
important portion of our ancestry. 

So many skeletons have been obtained of the men and women of the Neo- 
lithic period that we can say, with some confidence, that the whole of Europe 
was inhabited by one homogeneous population, uniform in physical appearance. 
The stature was small, averaging 5 feet 4 inches for the men, and 4 feet 11 inches 
for the women; and the figure was slight. The skulls were ‘‘ dolicocephalic,” 
or long and narrow; but the jaws were small, the eyebrows and cheek-bones 
were not very prominent, the nose was aquiline, and the general outline of the 
face oval and probably handsome. In all these points the men of the Neolithic 
age agree exactly with the Basks of northern Spain, the remnant of a population 
which at the dawn of history still maintained an independent existence in many 
parts of Europe. By their conquerors, the Kelts, who led the van of the great 
Aryan invasion of Europe, these small-statured Basks were known as “‘ Iberians ”’ 
or ‘‘ westerners’? (Gael zver, Sanskr. avara, ‘‘ western”), and ‘‘ Iberian” is now 
generally adopted as the name of the race which possessed the whole of Europe 
in the Neolithic age and until the Aryan invasions, and which still preserves its 
integrity in the little territory between the Pyrenees and the Bay of Biscay. The 
Iberian complexion is a dark olive, with black eyes and black hair; so that we 
may figure to ourselves with some completeness how the prehistoric inhabitants of 
Europe looked. 

It is probable that in Neolithic times this Iberian population was spread not 
only all over Europe, but also over Africa north of the Desert of Sahara; so that 
the Moorish and Berber peoples are simply Iberians, with more or less infusion 
of blood from the Arabs, who conquered them at the end of the seventh century 
after Christ. And it is also probable that the Silures of ancient Britain, the Lig- 
urians of southern Gaul and northern Italy, and the rich and powerful Etruskans 
all belonged to the Iberian race. 

In very recent times—probably not more than twenty centuries before Christ 
—Europe was invaded by a new race of men, coming from central Asia. These 
were the Aryans, a race tall and massive in stature (the men averaging at least 5 


14 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


feet 8 inches, and the women 5 feet 3 inches), with ‘‘ brachycephalic” or round 
and broad skulls, with powerful jaws and prominent eyebrows, with faces rather 
square or angular than oval, with fair, ruddy complexions and blue eyes, and 
red or flaxen hair. Of these, the earliest that came may perhaps have been the 
Latin tribes, with the Dorians and Ionians; but the first that made their way 
through western Europe to the shores of the Atlantic were the Gael, or true Kelts. 
After these came the Kymry; then the Teutons; and finally—in very recent 
times, near the beginning of the Christian era—the Slavs. These Aryan invaders 
were further advanced in civilization that the Iberians, who had so long inhabited 
Europe. They understood the arts which the latter understood, and besides all 
this, they had learned how to work metals; and their invasion of Europe 
marks the beginning of what archzeologists call the Bronze Age, when tools and 
weapons were no longer made of polished stones, but were wrought from an 
alloy of copper and tin. The great Blonde’ Ayrans everywhere overcame the 
small brunette Iberians, but, instead of one race exterminating or expelling the 
other, the two races everywhere became commingled in various proportions. In 
Greece, southern Italy, Spain, and southern France, where the Iberians were 
most numerous as compared with the Aryan invaders, the people are still mainly 
small in stature and dark in complexion. In Russia and Scandinavia, where 
there were few Iberians, the people show the purity of their Aryan descent in 
their fair complexion and large stature. While in northern Italy and northern 
France, in Germany and the British Islands, in Iberian and Aryan statures and 
complexions are intermingled in endless variety. 6 ** i — Atlantic 
Monthly. 


INSIDE OUN OUMING 


AURORAL PHENOMENA ON THE EVENING OF SEPT. 12, 1881. 
BY E. A. ENGLER, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, 8ST. LOUIS. 


As an addition to data from which a more complete knowledge of certain 
celestial phenomena now unexplained may in future be derived, it may not 
be out of place to record a description of a peculiar and interesting phenomenon 
seen by the writer and others at sea off the coast of Newfoundland. 

On September 12th, 1881, after a nine days’ voyage on the Atlantic from 
London towards Halifax, N. S., Cape Race was sighted about noon. Our 
course after noon was about southwest; at eight o’clock in the evening (ship’s 
time) our position—estimated roughly by the course and speed of the ship—was 
Lat. 46° N., Long. 55° W. The sky was partly clear in the north and west and 
overhead, but hazy and in places cloudy in the south and east. The aurora was 


AURORAL PHENOMENA ON THE EVENING OF SEPT. QT SIS Te 15 


clearly to be seen in the northern sky, sometimes shooting up streamers of light 
nearly to the zenith, and varying continually in form and brightness; this display, 
however, was no more brilliant or interesting than many similar ones seen on 
other nights, and deserves mention only to be distinguished from the following. 
But in the southeast sky, about 30 or 35 degrees above the horizon, there appeared 
two horizontal streaks of light—about five 5 degrees apart and 15 or 20 degrees in 
length—which at the time I took to be two clouds highly charged with electricity. 
The accompanying sketch (Fig. 1) will be of service in describing the appearance, 
but must not be taken as accurate in any detail, being made after some months 
and from memory; moreover, the entire phenomenon was continually changing. 
Both streaks were luminous, with a pale hazy light very similar to moonlight. 
From the upper of the two were suspended by small cords of light a number of 
balls, brighter than either of the streaks, which were continually jumping up and 
down in vertical lines, much after the manner of pith-balls when charged with 
electricity. Above the upper streak there was a bright space, whose sides were 
convergent at about the angle shown in the sketch, which seemed to be compos- 
ed of streamers of light, gauzy in appearance and decreasing in brightness from 
the streak outwards. From the lower streak a similar mass of light extended. 
The only difference noticed in the two streams of light was that the inclination 
of the lower was greater than that of the upper. 


_ BORLINGHAUS 


(Fic. No. 1.) 

I appeared on the scene about fifteen or twenty minutes after the beginning 
‘when the brilliancy of the display was approaching a maximum. Soon after it 
began to fade, the balls and cords first gradually disappearing, then the streamers 
-of light on both sides, and finally the two horizontal streaks—the whole being 
lost to sight in the darkness in the course of about fifteen minutes. 


16 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


When first seen the phenomenon had the appearance shown in the sketch 
(Fig. 2.), kindly furnished me by Prof. Halsey C. Ives, who had the good fortune 
to see the display at the beginning, but lost the latter part of it. The sketch gives 
an idea of what he saw only in general form. He says that it did not seem to 
him that there were clouds, but rather a space between clouds through which 
light was streaming; the upper luminous appearance seemed to him to be an in- 
verted reflection of the lower one. The position remained unchanged during 
the whole time. 

No explanation of the phenomenon is offered. 

The matter may have a wider interest when it is remembered that on the 
evening of September 12th, at the fame hour, a most remarkable band of white 
light was seen at Albany, N. Y., Utica, N. Y., Hanover, N. H., Boston, Mass., 
and elsewhere in the North Atlantic States, spanning the heavens from east to 
west near the zenith. The following account of the phenomenon seen at Albany, 
given by an assistant at the Observatory, is taken from the Albany Argus : 


BORLINGHAUS=U ST.L. 


(Fic. No. 2.) 


‘* At eight o’clock I first saw it, and its effect was absolutely startling. It 
spanned the heavens from east to west, and seemeed of very nearly equal breadth 
the whole distance. It was sharply defined. At its southern edge it extended 
from the horizon through Zeta and Delta Bootis; thence through Nu Pi Hercules, 
to and through Alpha Lyra. From that point it extended to the south of the 
Great Square in Pegasus. The northern branch in the east extended up through 
the head of Draco, and there seemed to be a strong ray of light, very marked, 
continuing from Gamma Bootis, while around to the north there were several 
parallel streaks inclined at an angle of fifty degrees with the general motion of 
the phenomenon. ‘Three or four of these were noticed near the head of Draco. 
‘At 8:30 it was observed to clear away on the zenith. The eastern portion now 
consisted of a narrow strip, very bright, clearly marked at the edges, extending 
from Gamma Pisces through Alpha Lyra, and at the same time seeming to be 


COINCIDENCE OF SUN SPOTS AND AURORAL DISPLAYS, 17 


moving southwest, it being about thirty degrees from he zenith and appearing to 
roll like columns of smoke spirally towards the west. At 8:33, in the east were 
two parallel streaks, the northern the heavier and the southern throwing out 
diverging lines of light that seemed to gradually curve as they approached the 
zenith. At 8:35 o’clock the main branches had separated at the zenith, while the 
western One was very narrow, extending through the Northern crown. A small 
line of light now extended from a point about three degrees north of Alpha Lyra 
to a point about seven degrees from Eta Ursa Major. At 8:39 a brighter streak 
appeared between Alpha Lyra and Ursa Major, while that over the Crown was 
broken up into a series of parallel, smaller and fainter streaks. The eastern 
branch was now very faint and narrow, and extended nearly from Pi Pisces to 
Alpha Lyra, while all along the northern horizon was a bright rosy glow like the 
Northern Lights, but brightest toward the west. At 8:45 the phenomenon pre- 
sented a faint, yet beautiful appearance, and 8:55 it had vanished.” 

In the Kansas City REVIEW oF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, November, 1881,. 
Prof. S. A. Maxwell, Morrison, Ills., remarks: 


‘The mysterious band of light seen at Albany was probably, what I have 
stated, a mere auroral arch, but, appearing as it did in the zenith, more nearly 
resembled a band than an arch. ‘The same viewed from a lower latitude would 
have presented an arch-like appearance, similar to those often seen by us in the 
distant north; and these latter would present to an observer beneath them the 
same band-like appearance seen at Albany.” 


My point of observation was north and east of any I have seen mentioned ; 
some other explanation is needed for the appearance there presented.— Z7ansac- 
tions St. Louis Academy of Science. 


COINCIDENCE OF SUN SPOTS AND AURORAL DISPLAYS. 
PROF. EDGAR L, LARKIN. 


Sunday, April 16th, will pass into the history of astronomy as an eventful 
day. From morning to night the solar surface was in violent agitation, while- 
colossal centers of cyclonic activity were clearly seen in telescope. There were 
IIr spots seen during the day, the largest being 67,000 miles in length and 48,- 
ooo miles in width. These were arranged in ten clusters, none being far from 
the equator of the sun. ‘Thirty-four spots was the largest number seen in any 
cluster. Each aggregation of spots had one or two very large, the remainder 
varying in size from medium to small. The large spot was seen at this Observa- 
tory at8 A. M. April 15, already advanced on the eastern edge of the sun 15 
degrees. Throughout the 15th it did not display unusual turbulence, but during 
Saturday night activity set in, for on Sunday morning its appearance and internal 
structure had materially changed. {t was cut into four portions by what was 

Vi—2 


18 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


termed ‘‘bridges” of fire. But these bridges did not maintain the same position 
an hour. They were widening, contracting, or bending into ever-changing 
forms. They were white-hot; that is, whiter than the solar disc,—presumably 
hotter. One could not see them move any more than the hour-hand of a clock 
can be seen in motion, but on returning to the telescope after an interval of half 
an hour, displacement could be detected. Atg A. M. two tongues of fire were 
pointing toward each other from opposite sides of the abyss, and at 12:30 P. M. 
P. M. passed, leaving quite a space between. Shortly after they began a curva- 
ture, which, at 2 P. M., formed a circle, clearly a case of solar cyclone. . 

A sun-spot is composed of two portions, the umbra and penumbra. ‘The 
umbra is the dark central portion, while the penumbra or border is many shades 
lighter, yet, much darker than the disc of the sun. The penumbral fringe 
looks like a down-rush of matter into or upon the umbra; its sides are 
inclined, and are striated throughout, the strie having the appearance of 
willow leaves laid on the incline, parallel to one another, their small 
ends projecting over the back umbra, giving the edge of the penumbra 
a serrated form, like saw-teethe When many of these projections join 
and receive an impulse, they pass entirely across the umbra, forming 
an incandescent bridge. And Sunday every large spot had bridges complete 
or in the process of formation. In the large chasm, at about 4:30 in the after- 
noon, one of the bridges split lengthwise, the separation requiring more than two 
hours, while the ends of several jets were tufted and tasseled with filaments of 
white hot matter, which coinciding near the center of one of the largest divisions, 
presented the appearance of the whirlpool rapids below Niagara, should that frenzy 
of water be instantly rendered motionless. We have no spectroscope, but with 
one of good dispersion we should have been able without doubt to behold move- 
ment in the troubled mass; or, at all events, the displacement of hydrogen lines in 
the spectrum of the seething vortex. Neither have we a micrometer ; hence were 
not able to arrive at accurate measurement. But the results above, 67,000 miles 
in length and 48,000 miles in breadth, are within 2,000 miles of the truth. The 
width given is that at the maximum point; the spot, contracting somewhat toward 
the solar equator, gives it the shape of a rude triangle. Calculating its area, we 
found that thirty worlds like the earth, side by side, could plunge at once into 
the mighty gulf and be destroyed in a moment. Measurement was made by 
time of transit of longest diameter of spot over central wire in eye-piece, the time 
being ten seconds. But one second of time of the earth’s rotation equals fifteen 
seconds of arc, celestial space. One second of space on the sun is 450 miles, 
and the diameter of the spot being 15,000 seconds arc, made 67,500 miles. Several 
spots beside had diameters of from 5,000 to 10,000 miles, which, forming centers 
of clusters, gave the solar disc an impressive aspect. There were three faculz 
also on the sun—brilliant spaces much brighter than the general surface. The 
terrestrial atmosphere being in fine condition for telescopic manipulation, the 
‘‘rice-grains,’”’ granulations and pores all over the sun could be distinctly seen. 
Altogether the day was one of moment in the means offered of studying solar 


COINCIDENCE OF SUN SPOTS AND AURORAL DISPLAYS. ils) 


phenomena, and we shall be impatient until Prof. C. A. Young makes a report of 
his observations with the diffraction spectroscope, scarcely daring to think even of 
a possibility of clouds hanging over Princeton, N. J. We watched the sun the 
entire day, and when it disappeared in the west, wished the day might be longer, 
but night brought still other wonders in the heavens. 

At g P. M., while viewing Wells’ comet, it waned and disappeared. Look- 
ing out to learn the cause, its obscuration was found to come from the rising arc 
of an aurora. The advancing phenomenon presented a yellowish-green are of a 
circle, whose altitude was eighteen degrees--nearly half way to Polaris—and 
whose ends rested on the eastern and western horizon. The thickness of the 
light was five degrees, clear sky showing the stars in Cassiopeia, being between it 
_and the horizon. - The center of the auroral arc did not appear to be on aline 
below the pole star, so we proceeded to measure its displacement with the decli- 
nation circle on the telescopic axis. The eastern termination of the arc was only 
fifteen degrees north of the equator, while the western was twenty-five degrees, 
the center, therefore, being ten degrees east of the pole of the heavens. For 
nearly an hour the apparition developed no sign of coming grandeur, but at 10 
P. M., three pillars of crimson light shot up to an altitude of forty degrees from 
the western extremity of the arc, a few yellowish streamers ascending in the east. 
These outbursts seemed to be a preconcerted signal with the celestial pyrotech- 
nists, for within two minutes the whole arch flashed and trembled, and then 
expanded, ascending eight degrees. A halt was made, which lasted, however, 
not more than one minute, when two flashes in rapid succession were seen 
throughout the widened arc now twenty degrees broad. A mighty upheaval fol- 
lowed, the apex of the band at once rose to Polaris, filling the northern heavens 
with supernal light brilliant enough to read by; but the terminal points on the 
horizon, east and west, did not draw nearer the earth’s equator. The altitude of 
the pole at this place is forty-one degrees, and as there was open sky under the 
band ten degrees wide the belt was thirty degrees broad. The great aurora 
reserved its forces a few moments and then discharged simultaneously hundreds 
of columns of scarlet, violet, and light yellow flames, instantly converging at the 
zenith. 

This display waned only to make way for another more magnificent ; and so 
the whole night passed, outbursts succeeding in rapid movement. From mid- 
night to 1 A. M. the phenomena was at its heighth, the whole northern heavens 
from the horizon to the equator being striped and banded with varying streamers. 
‘Flashes were incessant. A wave of light would appear in the northern horizon, 
and instantly rush to the zenith, producing curvature in the straight columns, 
which at once resumed their original position when the wave subsided, only to be 
wrought again within a few seconds. The whole northern hemisphere quaked 
with the rapidity of lightning without cessation during the hour succeeding mid- 
night, each outburst of energy impelled light-emitting matter directly to the zenith, 
when it was no longer subject to upheaval, but floated slowly south. Much of 
this actually descended as far as Scorpio, thirty degrees south of the equator, so 


20 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


that nearly the entire celestial vault was filled with corruscation. This unparalled 
display of auroral activity was still in motion at 4:30 A. M., when the solar rays 
obscured the scene. The sun-spot maximum occurs at periods of eleven years, 
and we are now in the midst of one of these ; but it is now known that auroral 
displays and secular disturbance of the earth’s currents of magnetic energy, as 
indicated by diurnal oscillation in declination of the needle, also have eleven years 
as their periodic time of maximum, and behold both epochs are coincident with 
the maximum solar period of upheaval. When the sun’s surface is in agitation 
we have auroras and large vibration in the magnetograph following terrestrial 
magnetic storms. 

A remarkable solar phenomenon occurred on the sun Sept. 1, 1869, and was 
seen by two observers at the Kew Observatory in England. ‘Two jets of the most 
brilliant light burst from the solar surface just preceeding a large spot. These 
remained in view five minutes and moved 33,700 miles. The time of the occur- 
rence was noted, and then the self registering magnetographs were examined, 
and, to the astronomer’s surprise, were found to have been in great agitation at 
the precise time of the outburst, showing that magnetic force, whatever it may 
be, does not require time to traverse the distance of the sun, while light con- 
sumes eight minutes in the journey. In sixteen hours the earth suffered a magnetic 
disturbance, telegraph offices were set on fire, and an aurora was seen in the even- 
ing. [See Chambers’ Astronomy, pp. 22—-3.] These facts show that there ex- 
ists a magnetic relation between the sun and earth, whose nature cannot be sur- 
mised, and auroral displays are doubtless electric or magnetic; yet this branch of 
science is so barren of facts that an opinion, even, on these topics cannot be 
formed. | 

The perpetual flashing of the aurora, Sunday night, was its most noteworthy 
feature, and seemed to clearly indicate its electric character. Polariscopic re- 
search into the nature of the light might be of service, while it is to be hoped 
spectra of the last display were closely examined. Study was made of auroral 
phenomena during the last maximum, 1870-3, but spectroscopes of such 
power were not then in use as may now be obtained. Anybody with a smoked 
glass can now see the great spot on the sun with no other optical aid. It will be 
well to deposit the carbon film on the glass with varying degrees of thickness. 
The solar turbulence, the aurora, and Well’s comet are making lively astronom- 
ical times Oe 


THE AURORA OF APRIL 16, 1882. 


NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS BY A. W. BROWNE, OF THE U. S. SIGNAL SERVICE, 
LEAVENWORTH, KANSAS. 


The Aurora Polaris is a luminous appearance frequently seen near the hori- 
zon as a diffuse light like the morning twilight, whence the title ‘‘aurora.’’ In 
this hemisphere it is usually termed ‘‘ Aurora Borealis,” on account of being seen 


THE AURORA OF APRIL 16, 1882, 21 


chiefly in the north. Its congener when seen in the southern hemisphere, is call- 
ed ‘‘ Aurora Australis ;”’ both may be more pertinently classed ‘‘ aurora polaris,” 
or polar light. 

At 9 o’clock Sunday night a horizontal light, similar to the morning aurora 
or break of day, was observed along the northern horizon; gradually but steadily 
it extended in length and height, and after a lapse of fifteen minutes several ver- 
tical, luminous beams of a pale yellowish tint, and extending to from 30 to 40 
degrees above the horizon, appeared, thus presenting unmistakable evidence of 
the appearance within our visual range of that beautiful and sublime phenomenon, 
the ‘‘ Aurora Polaris.”. A 9:20 these beams vanished, and were immediately 
followed by several faint arches appearing simultaneously and parallel; they were 
arcs of small circles, our meridian bisecting the uppermost one at a point 30 de- 
grees above the horizon. Beams similar to but more numerous than the primary 
ones shot up from these arches, while a dark segment obscured that portion of 
the heavens nearest the horizon, and continued throughout the successive recur- 
rences. A more decidedly active phase of the display developed at 10 P. M., 
when a column of a rosy hue shot up from the horizon, at a point west of north, 
and quickly deepened to almost a blood red; as if by preconcertion a series of sim- 
ilar columns appeared in rapid succession to the right of it. They were of less 
width, but of greater altitude, some reaching to as high as eighty degrees above 
the visible horizon, and extending from north to nearly dueeast. This first began 
to wane at 10:20, and fifteen minutes later only a faint trace of the display could 
be seen. ‘Traces of diminished activity continued until shortly after midnight, 
when an almost identical recurrence of the last active display took place. De- 
tails are therefore unnecessary. It was, however, of greater extent, as the space 
along the horizon from 45 degrees west of north to due east, or in all 135 degrees 
of the celestial vault was almost simultaneously covered with auroral light, many 
of the columns going as high as the ‘‘ Zenith.” This spectacle lasted about 
twenty minutes, and then the usual faint trace of diminished activity ensued un- 
til 3:10 Monday A. M., when a reaction took place, and the grandest display of 
the night was presented by the appearance of the ‘‘ merry dancers.” The space 
over which they frolicked was not so extended as that occupied by the previous 
display, 60 degrees of the horizon would embrace its eastern and western limits, 
the ‘‘ polar star” was observed to be in the exact center of this group of lumin- 
ous beams which were arranged very closely and though slender, presented un- 
broken outlines as they reached up to zenith, where they seemed to converge 
as if forming the ribs of a great dome; along the base of these columns was a 
dark slate colored segment which terminated at 150° above the horizon; from 
behind this segment horizontal flashes of light rolled up in rapid and successive 
waves along the luminous beams; these were the ‘‘ merry dancers.” The ‘polar 
star” was noted again and none of these waves were seen to pass it, most 
of them vanished when within 10 degrees of it. This, the grandest display of 
series of the late phenomenon was of about the same duration as the others, 
again came the usual familiar sky, and shortly afterwards the twilight arc pro- 


22 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


claimed that the orb of day was approaching, before whose light all luminaries 
should pale, and so ended the auroral display of that night, but not until a fitting 
finale” was had by a merry dance. The basis of the auroral light is electrici- 
ty, in fact it may be considered an electric light. True, it is not so brilliant as 
the light of the same name as that produced by mechanical appliances. This is 
owing to the diffusion of electricity over a space of great extent, while in the 
case of the artificial light the electricity is concentrated and the arc of light in- 
stead of being diffused is made to flash from one point. ‘That the air is highly 
charged with electricity during the existence of auroral displays, has been amply 
verified by the difficulty experienced during Sunday by telegraphers. The dis- 
patches traversed the wires during the active displays in a confused and unintelli- 
gible manner, and at times the magnets were almost solely under the influence of 
nature’s great electric battery the ‘‘ Aurora Polaris.” 


VARIETIES OF AURORA. 
¥ 


Auroras exhibit an infinite variety of appearances, but they may generally 
be referred to one of the following: 

First—A horizontal aurora or break of day. The polar light may be dis- 
tinguished from the true dawn by its position in the heavens, since in the United 
States it always appears in the northern quarter. 

Second—An arch of light somewhat in the form of a rainbow. ‘This arch 
frequently extends entirely across the heavens from east to west, and cuts the 
magnetic meridian nearly at right angles. This arch does not long remain sta- 
tionary, but frequently rises and falls; and when the aurora exhibits great splen- 
dor several parallel arches are often seen at the same time, appearing as broad 
belts of light stretching from the eastern to the western horizon. 

Third—Slender luminous beams or columns, well-defined and often of a 
bright light. These beams rise to various heights in the heavens, sometimes, 
though rarely, passing the zenith. Frequently they last but a few minutes some- 
times they continue a quarter of an hour, a half hour, or even a whole hour— 
sometimes they remain at rest, and sometimes they have a quick, lateral motion. 

Fourth—The corone luminous sometimes shoot up simultaneously from near- 
ly every part of the horizon and converge to a point a little south of the zenith, 
forming a quivering canopy of flame, which is called the corona. The sky now 
resembles a fiery dome, and the crown appears to rest upon variegated fiery pil- 
lars which are frequently traversed by waves or flames of light. ‘This may be 
called a complete aurora, and comprehends most of the peculiarities of the other 
varieties. The corona seldom continues complete longer than an hour. . The 
streamers then become fewer and less intensely colored; the luminous arches 
break up, while a dark segment is still visible near the northern horizon, and at 
last nothing remains but masses of cirro-cumulus clouds. 

Fifth—Waves or flashes of light. The luminous sometimes appear to shake 
with a tremulous motion ; flashes like waves of light roll up toward the zenith, 
and sometimes travel along the line of an auroral arch. Sometimes the beams 


COMETS. ' fans} 


have a slow lateral motion from east to west. These sudden flashes of auroral 
light are known by the name of the ‘‘Merry Dancers,” and form an important 
feature of nearly every splendid aurora. 

The color of the aurora is very variable. If the aurora be faint its light is 
usually white, or a pale yellow. When the aurora is brilliant, the sky exhibits at 
the same time a great variety of tints; some portions of the sky are nearly white, 
but with a tinge of emerald green; other portions are of a pale yellow or straw 
color; others are tinged with a rosy hue, while others have a crimson hue, which 
sometimes, but rarely, deepens to a blood red. These colors are ever varying in 
position and intensity. 

There was another display on Thursday morning ult., lasting from after mid- 
night until daybreak, with recurring fits of activity, but not so brilliant or extend- 
ing over so much of the heavens as that of Sunday night. Although somewhat 
similar, with the exception that the phenomenon of the ‘‘Merry Dancers” did not 
occur during the display. 

A remarkable and very rare phenomenon occurred during this display, viz: 
The sky became obscured and a light shower of rain fell from 1:35 a. M. to 1:45 
A. M., Shortly afterwards the sky became clear, and disclosed auroral activity 
simi ar to that of Sunday night, but not extending to so high an altitude. The 
highest beams did not reach above 60°, nor were the colors as brilliant or so well 
defined. 


COMETS. 
R. J. M’CARTY, KANSAS CITY, MO. 


Such is the magnificent aspect of comets, such their shape, so remarkable 
the contrast between them and the surrounding stars, so capricious do they seem 
in their movements, so seldom do they appear and so quickly do they vanish, 
that it is by no means strange that their appearance should fill the ignorant with 
alarm and the wise with admiration and curiosity. 

_ Previous to the apparition of the celebrated comet of 1685, we may say 
nothing was known of the motions of these extraordinary bodies, except that they 
had been observed to make their appearance among the stars, approach the sun 
for a certain time, and then recede until lost in the depths of space. 

In elaborating the principle of gravitation, Sir Isaac Newton had demon- 
strated that any body revolving about the sun under the dominion of that princi- 
ple must describe some one of the conic sections, with the sun at its focus, and 
that the particular conic described would be determined solely by the velocity of 
the body at any given point of its orbit. I have here a cone so cut as to show 
the curves alluded to. 

A body moving with a velocity equal to that which it would acquire by fall- 
ing directly to the center of the sun (supposing the attraction of the sun for the 


24 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


body not to vary as the distance diminished) will move in a parabolic orbit. If 
the orbital velocity be less than this, the body will move in an ellipse. If it be 
greater, the orbit will be an hyperbola, the sun in every instance being situated at 
the focus. 

For that portion of this theorem relating to elliptical orbits Sir Isaac Newton 
found immediate application in our planetary system, and his wonderful sagacity 
had anticipated that its more general application would be found in the motions 
of comets. The appearance of the great comet of 1680 afforded him a most 
excellent opportunity. He found this comet to move in an orbit which, if an 
ellipse, was so greatly elongated as to be undistinguishable from a parabola. The 
period of this comet is estimated at 575 years, and it is supposed to be identical 
with the comet of 1194 B. C.; with that of 618 B. C.; with that of 43 B. C., 
which was supposed to be the soul of Czesar taking its place in heaven; with that 
of A. D. 575, which was seen at noonday close to the sun; and with the mag- 
ficent comet of A. D. 1105. 

Applying the above theorem to the comet of 1682, Sir Edmund Halley was 
led to predict its reappearance in 1759—a prediction fully justified by the event. 
This comet again appeared in 1835, and is again due at its perihelion in 1910. 

Since the year 1680 several comets have appeared which were found to move 
in hyperbolic orbits, viz: those of 1723, 1771, and the second comet of 1818. 

Now, since the parabola and hyperbola are curves of infinite length, it is. 
evident that comets moving in either of these could never before have visited 
our system, nor is it possible that they should ever return. Again, it is found 
that while all the planets revolve around the sun in the same direction and nearly 
in the same plane, comefs move in any direction and in planes greatly inclined to 
each other, which shows that they cannot be regarded as permament members of 
our system. 

It is interesting to speculate upon the career of a comet which moves in an 
orbit of infinite length. We cannot but think, as it has visited us on one 
branch of such a curve to retire on the other, that at some time in the past it 
must have swept around some fixed star or sun, whose distance can be measured 
by no means at our disposal, and that on its outward journey it will reach a point 
at which the attraction of some other fixed star will predominate and cause the 
comet to visit it, just as it did our sun. And as these comets may thus in time 
traverse the utmost bounds of space in search of equilibrium, so may, and so 
does, our ponderous sun himself obey the same law and traverse space about 
some unknown center of force; and thus is it possible that he may now be 
moving in a cometary orbit, from which he will ultimately be deflected into a 
planetary by some sun mightier than he, and by the process of cooling and per- 
turbation be reduced to the state of a planet, while the planets of his own system 
will become his satellites. If such a speculation be admissible, it is easy to see 
that in time all matter would be caused to revolve around a common center, and 
all systems would be reduced to one. 


COMETS. 25 


The motion of a comet as it recedes from the sun becomes slower and 
slower, so that comets of parabolic or hyperbolic orbits may reach such a great 
distance that their motion may be but a few feet per second. Now, such is the 
immense distance of the fixed stars that such a velocity may obtain before any one 
of them would exert a predominant influence upon the motion of the comet; and 
this, it is reasonable to suppose, is generally the case. 

If, now, we remember that the form of orbit is determined by the Tansey 
we are led to suspect that, generally, comets leaving our system on hyperbolic or 
parabolic orbits will visit other systems on ellipses, and that comets leaving other 
systems on these infinite curves would be most apt to visit us in ellipses. This 
may explain why so few of the comets which approach the sun move in hyper- 
bolic orbits. | Since there can be but one velocity which gives a parabolic orbit, 
while an increase or diminution of same would give either an hyperbola or an 
ellipse, we may assume that few if any comets ever moved in strictly parabolic 
orbits. And should a comet at any time move on a parabola, it would soon be 
forced to abandon it for either an ellipse or hyperbola by the attractions of other 
bodies. 

There is great difficulty in determining the exact orbits of comets: First, 
because (as will be shown further on) comets are very light bodies, and therefore 
their motions are subject to great derangements from the attractions of the 
planets. Second, because in most cases they can be observed while traversing 
only a small portion of their orbits. By lengthening out an ellipse it may be made 
to approach more and more nearly to the form of a parabola, so that if the two be 
placed with their vertices touching, they may be made to coincide for a greater 
and greater distance. It will be seen, therefore, that if a comet can be ob- 
served only while it is within the limits of this coincidence (which is always the 
case with comets of so-called parabolic orbits), it is impossible to determine the 
orbit beyond. A good illustration of this is afforded in the theory of projectiles. 
We are taught that, neglecting the resistance of the air and the motion of the 
earth, a body projected in any direction except vertically will describe a parabola. 
Now, in order that a body so projected should describe this curve, it must be 
given a velocity equal to that which it would acquire by falling to the center of 
the earth, supposing all the matter in the earth collected at that point, and the - 
acceleration to be constantly equal to 32.2 feet per second. ‘This would be about 
seven miles per second; and since no such velocity can be given to a projectile, 
it is evident that they all move in ellipses so very much elongated that there is no 
objection to regarding them as parabolas. 

The difficulty, therefore, in calculating the orbits of comets is not caused by 
any defect in theory, is not because these bodies refuse to obey the same laws 
which control the motion of all matter; but simply because it is not always pos- 
sible to obtain sufficient data. While science has thus reached the motions of 
comets, and shown them to consist of inert matter, obeying the general laws of 
motion, it has been able to postulate little with regard to their physical constitution. 

Situated in the head of a comet is a bright nucleus like a star; next this and 


26 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


surrounding it is a comparatively dark substance, and next this last is a bright 
envelope which covers the head of the comet on the side next the sun, and trails 
off into space forming that remarkable appendage which renders these bodies so 
conspicuous. This train or tail is in some instances projected to the most enor- 
mous distances—that of the comet of 1680 attaining the length of 123,000,000 
miles—a distance much exceeding that from the earth to the sun. 

The process of forming the nebulous envelopes and the tail often results in 
giving to comets the most gigantic dimensions—the volume of the great comet of 
1843, for instance, including, of course, its tail, being at one time more than three 
times that of the sun. This immense size indicates either a vast amount or an 
extreme tenuity of cometic matter. That these bodies contain but a small quan- 
tity of matter was shown in the case of Lexell’s comet of 1770. Lexell had cal- 
culated the period of this comet to be about five and one-half years, yet the 
comet has never since been seen. 

In seeking for the cause of its failure to appear as expected, it was found 
that on the occasion of its first return in 1776 it was completely hidden by the 
rays of the sun, and that in 1779 it approached so near the giant planet Jupiter 
as to become, as it were, entangled among his moons, the effect of which ren- 
contre was to deflect the comet entirely out of its orbit, so that it either no longer 
moves around the sun in an ellipse, or 1f so, does not approach sufficiently near 
to become visible to us. While the comet was so remarkably affected there was 
not the slightest visible change produced in the motions of any of Jupiter's satel- 
lites, which must have resulted had the mass of the comet been at all comparable 
with that of those small bodies. 

We have seen that the volume of the great comet of 1843 was more than 
three times that of the sun. 

Now the earth is about 5,000 times as dense as ordinary air and the sun 
about one-quarter the density of the earth but contains about 314,000 times as 
much matter—so that if the great comet of 1843 had been of the mean density of 
ordinary air it would have contained nearly 1,000 times as much matter as the 
earth. Now if this comet was at all analogous to that of Lexell, and there is 
every reason to believe so, it could not have contained the 5,45 part of the mass 
of the earth, so that its mean density probably did not exceed the +, 523575 Of the 
density of the air we breathe. 

Comets being thus known to be bodies of small mass and great size it is 
natural to suspect them to consist principally if not entirely of gas. There is 
some question, however, as to whether a body composed entirely of gas could 
exist In outer space: some holding that the repulsive properties of such a state 
of matter would dissipate it indefinitely, to be disrupted and appropriated by bodies 
more dense and rigid. Against this it may be said that ‘‘ Marriotte’s Law of the 
Compression of Gases” indicates that the expansive force of a gas diminishes as 
the cube of the distance between its particles increases, while the gravitation of 
these particles toward each other is known to diminish as the sguare of their dis- 
pances from each other increases. So that the expansion of a gaseous body in 


COMETS. F 27 


outer space would be arrested within finite Jimits by the gravitation of its particles. 

I am led to present the two sides of this question from a remark in a very 
able and interesting essay on Comets by Professor Lewis Boss, of the Dudley Ob- 
servatory, published in the April number of the Kansas City REVIEW OF SCIENCE 
AND INDUSTRY, mers he states that ‘‘It is certain that no body entirely Baseoue 
could exist in space.” 

With all due respect to the learned Professor I will say that science seems to 
answer the question differently. It is, however, generally conceded that while 
they are not composed entirely of gaseous matter, to some degree gas is present 
in cometary structures. Again it has been ascertained that comets shine in some 
degree by native and in some degree by reflected light, and the weight of scien- 
tific opinion is in favor of regarding the bright nucleus as a solid or liquid body 
in an incandescent state. Therefore, if we, for instance, suppose a comet freed 
from that influence which produces its tail we would have a body consisting of a 
glowing mass at the centre and surrounded by a highly attenuated substance shin- 
ing partly by reflected light. 

This is in fact the shape to which comets generally approach as they recede 
from the sun; in which, it is believed, lies the agency which produces the tail. A 
total eclipse of the sun reveals that he is surrounded by a luminous envelope, to 
which the name of ‘‘ corona” has been given, which has been perceptible for a 
distance of 850,000 miles from his surface. In addition to this, luminous stream- 
ers have been observed proceeding in directions perpendicular to the surface of 
the sun to a distance of nearly 2,000,000 miles, as if expelled by some active 
force. Both corona and streamers have been found to shine partly by reflected 
light. 

Taking this view of the sun we find it to consist of a glowing mass surround- 
ed by an apparently gaseous substance shining in part by reflected light. This is 
precisely the condition to which we reduced the comet by freeing it from the 
agency which generates the tail. We may then reasonably carry the analogy 
further and conclude that the nucleus of a comet corresponds to the photosphere 
of the sun and that the nebulous envelope corresponds to the corona observed in 
eclipses. Also that as the phenomena of sun-spots indicate that within the shin- 
ing photosphere of the sun is a darker mass which is in some manner protected 
from intense heat, so there may be within the bright nucleus of a comet a similar 
mass similarly situated and protected. 

. When it is remembered that the great comet of 1680 was subjected to a tem- 
perature of more than 2,000 times that of red-hot iron, a temperature capable of 
dissipating any known substance, this supposition does not seem unreasonable. 
Again, it is believed that the photosphere of the sun is composed of gas. If, then, 
the bright nucleus of a comet is analogous to it, the latter must be inconceivably 
less dense than the former, owing to the vast difference between the mass of the 
stun and that of a comet, and this may explain why the nuclei of some comets 
are transparent, and why they diminish in size with an increase of telescopic 
power. Again, it is as yet a unanswered question as to what maintains the heat 


28 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


“a 


of the sun, and if the nuclei of comets are glowing masses, the question is more 
pressing owing to the small quantity of matter which they contain. Moreover, 
the luminous streamers from the sun alluded to above would seem to indicate the 
presence of that agency which produces the tails of comets, and also would seem 
to explain some phenomena exhibited in the heads of comets. 

There are are other analogies between the sun and comets which could be 
cited, but I think enough has been said to show it probable that comets are sim1- 
lar to the sun in physical composition. We will now give back to the comet its 
tail and briefly consider the cause of that wonderful phenomenon. , 

There seems to be no room for doubt that the agency which generates the 
tail of a comet must be sought in the sun, and that it consists of a repulsive force 
exerted by that luminary upon the nebulous envelope of the comet. ‘This is sup- 
ported in some cases by calculation. The tail of Donati’s Comet of 1858 having 
been found to be nearly the shape which it would have taken under the operation 
of a repulsive force exerted by the sun. 

Now, as this repulsion begins to act, assuming the nebulous matter of the 
comet spherical to begin with, it would naturally cause this substance to bank up 
between the nucleus and the sun, thus increasing its temperature and density 
and making it more luminous than any portion of the comet except the nucleus: 
thus forming what is called the nebulous envelopes. This repulsive force may 
be electrical, as has often been supposed, or it may be that same force which pro- 
jects the luminous streamers from the surface of the sun, but whatever it is, it is 
impossible that it alone could produce all the phenomena which are presented in 
the tails of comets; because, generally, while the tail of a comet is single—it is 
turned directly from the sun and slightly curved toward that region of space 
which the comet has just left, and while its magnitude is greatest when its dis- 
tance from the sun is least—there are exceptions to every one of these 
particulars. 

The analogy between the physical constitution of our sun and that of comets, 
which I have endeavored to establish, would indicate that the same agencies 
eXist in comets that exists in the sun and that it is to the conflicting or co-oper- 
ation of these forces, to the different modes and directions of their action, that 
we owe the variety of phenomena presented by different comets and by the same 
comet at different times. 


FACTS AND FANCY CONCERNING COMETS. 
BY PROF. E. L. LARKIN. 


At intervals of considerable regularity the press is burdened with accounts 
of impending disaster. Some dire astronomical event is always about to occur that 
will annihilate the human species. A Chicago writer, oblivious of the laws of gray- 
ity and motion, predicted evil to the earth to fall on June 19, 1881, and published 
a diagram of the solar system as it would appear on the eventful day. The earth 


FACTS AND FANCY CONCERNING COMETS. 29 


was to suffer because it would be on one side of the sun, while the large planets 
on the opposite would so attract our world as to attract earthquakes, pestilence 
and death. So dense was the ignorance of the alarmist, that he actually dia- 
gramed Venus on the wrong side of a sun, in a position in which it would not 
arrive for more than six months. June 19 came and was all serene, but we read 
of some being rendered insane by these publications. And now it is sought 
again to awaken fear by the formulation of predictions of appalling heat that is 
to reach the earth, because the great comet that illuminated the circumpolar 
heavens last summer passed perihelion at a point close to the sun. The scheme 
to destroy mankind is that the comet on its return in 1897, will suffer sufficient 
retardation in passing through the gases constituting the corona of the sun to 
cause it to fall. Inconceivable heat will be generated from the arrested motion, 
and waves of it will surge against the earth, literally burning humanity alive. 
All such doctrines are without the slightest grounds in reason or scientific deduc- 
tion, and the mystery is why any man pretending to astronomical or mathemati- 
cal acquirements will print such dogmas. 

If we raise a mass weighing 772 pounds 1 foot, and then let it fall, the pre- 
cise amount of power required to raise it will be restored, and will appear iz the 
form of heat, at the instant of impact of the mass on the earth. And, as has 
been proven, the amount of heat generated is just enough to raise the tempera- 
ture of 1 pound of water 1° F. But the heat evolved by the fall of 772 pounds 
1 foot is equal to that developed by the fall of 1:pound 772 feet. A mass weigh- 
ing 1 pound that has fallen 772 feet has motion sufficient to conserve heat enough 
to heat 1 pound of water 1°; or r pound of water falling 772 feet generates 1° 
of heat throughout its mass. This .is termed Joule’s heat equivalent, and is a 
valuable element of human knowledge. It is a postulate of recent science that 
when one mode of force vanishes, another of equal intensity takes its place. 
Force cannot be increased or diminished ; it is one of nature’s constants. Motion 
is a mode of energy, and, invariably, when it terminates, heat—another form of 
force—appears. 

Now, what possibly can be of greater moment than to learn how much 
motion is required to evolve 1° of heat. We know how great a weight, and how 
much space; but now comes the question, how rapid must be the motion? The 
velocity acquired by a falling body at any instant of its fall is equal to the square 
root of the product of twice the force of gravity and the space fallen through. If 
a body be let fall, it will be found by delicate instruments to be moving, at the 
close of 1 second, with a velocity of 32.2078 feet per second. - And this velocity 
is an expression for the force of gravity exerted by the mass of the earth on bod- 
ies near its surface. By the rule, 32.2078 multiplied by 2 equals 64.4156, and 
this multiplied by 772 equals 49,729 feet, whose square root is 223. Of all num- 
bers known to man for purposes of physical research, this 223 is the most im- 
portant ; for we now know that 1 pound of matter moving with velocity of 223 
feet per second generates heat enough, when its motion ends, to heat 1 pound of 
water 1°. That is, this velocity represents 1 pound-degree of heat, or simply 1°, 


30 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


water being unity. With this magic number, all depths of space may be explor- 
ed, and it can at once be told how much heat will be evolved by the cessation of 
motion of any cosmical body, as soon as it is learned how fast it is moving. 

Having now the heat unit of the universe refined down to definite velocity, 
we are ready to launch into interstellar space, to learn first the velocities of bodies 
moving therein, and, secondly, to calculate the intensity of heat capable of being 
developed if the motion should be brought to a rest. The rule for finding the 
amount of heat evolved by the termination of motion is: Multiply the square of 
the velocity in feet per second by the reciprocal of the square of 223, or 
.00002010899. 

If a mass of matter fall from an infinite distance, with unimpeded motion, 
and strike the earth, its velocity at the ins‘ant of impact is equal to the square 
root of the product of twice the intensity of gravity multiplied by the length of 
the radius of the earth. And this motion at the moment of collision must be 
found in feet per second, because the unit of measurement is 223 feet per second. 
Twice the force of gravity is 64.4156, and the mean equatorial radius of the earth 
is 20,923,161 feet. The square root of the product of these numbers is 36,645 
feet, or 6.94034 miles per second, velocity acquired by a mass falling on the earth 
from a distance that is infinite. The force of gravity on the surface of the sun is 
27.696 times stronger than on the earth’s surface while the radius of the sun is 
108.5113 times greater than that of the earth. Therefore, by the law of gravity, 
the velocity of impact of cosmic matter on the sun must be 54.8208 times more 
rapid than on the earth. ‘This is known, because the square root of the product 
of 27.696 and 108.5113 is 54.8208, whence 36,645 multiplied by 54.8208 gives 
2,008,908 feet, or 380.0962 miles per second velocity with which a mass would 
strike the sun after falling from an infinite distance. And this inconceivable 
motion must all be converted into heat at the instant of collision. Now, square 
2,008,908, multiply the product by .oo002010899, and we have the appalling heat 
of 81,154,081° F. as the intensity generated by cometary or other cosmic bom- 
bardment of the sun by masses that fall from infinite distances. Some sensa- 
tional writers, having heard of this, at once seek to alarm all timid people by 
printing outrageous accounts of the impending destruction of man. Such publi- 
cations are little better than criminal. . 

What we have said relates to bodies making impact on the sun after reaching 
it from distances that are infinite; now; how great velocity will be imparted to 
masses falling from distances that are finite, and capable of being handled by 
figures? Distance in relation to solar gravity has peculiar properties, thus: The 
nearest sun to Ours 1s 20,000 000,000,000 miles away ; let us go out into space 
half way, or 10,000,000,000,000 miles, and make computation, seeking to learn 
with what velocity a mass beginning to fall from that point will finally strike the 
sun. ‘The velocity, 2,008,908 feet per second, is called the solar constant of 
velocity, and many complicated problems wherein gravity and motion are factors, 
can be solved in a few minutes by its use. Employing it in a calculation for a | 
radius 10,000,000,000,000 miles, and carrying out the work into minute decimals, 


! 


FACTS AND FANCY CONCERNING COMETS, 31 


we shall be surprised to find that the velocity of impact on the sun, by a mass 
falling that distance, is only one-fourth of an inch less per second than if it came 
from an infinite distance, or, what is the same thing, had been falling forever! 
Surprise will wane, however, when it is remembered that gravity varies as dis- 
tance squared inversely, and at an infinite distance must be infinitely weak, and 
the motion it can impart infinitely slow. Hence, 10,000,000,000,000 miles has 
nearly the same relations to solar gravity that infinite space has. Drawing near- 
er the sun, let us halt at the orbit of Neptune, 2,780,000,000 miles distant, and 
again apply the formula; when behold, if a mass fall through the distance of 
Neptune, it will reach the sun with only 155 feet per second less velocity than 
if it had been falling throughout all duration of time. Still nearer, we come to 
the orbit of the earth, 92,000,000 miles from the sun’s center, and, again com- 
puting, find that final velocity of impact on the solar globe of matter from terres- 
tial distance, would be but 2,411 feet per second less than if it arrived from in- 
finite space. By the use of this important number, 2,008,908, it can at once be 
told what is the velocity of any cosmical mass at any point in its flight to the sun. 
Calculating for the earth’s distance, it is found that a body passing our world on 
its way to the sun has a velocity of twenty-six miles per second, which is the 
greatest velocity with which anything can strike the earth. Arriving at the orbit 
of Mercury and again calculating, we find that a mass beginning to fall from that 
distance, 36,000,000 miles, will impinge on the sun with a rate of motion only 
5,706 feet per second less than if it had been falling forever. Hence, terminal 
velocities lies within small limits of variation. Here is a table of velocities 
in feet per second of bodies making impact on the sun, falling different distances: 


From infinite distance, maximum ... . . . 2,c08,908 
TOMMINE UMN Meme we Aten Neate erste i es a 2 OOO GS 
rome Miatsotrer ohms ein Mere pte a2 "OO 7.20 
Bronte kanthes esa. 4% We AU ania ote sel OO ON AO 7 
ER OieN ler Cuny Amie erat ce th ces Petr aa 2 COR .2O2 
IsieGian AeCncoroye) MmmullSs, jaMiuaNTObO Ne a ala, Be Wy episig 


It is'seen that interstellar matter, whether colliding with the sun from infinite 
fall, or from Mercury, has 5,706 feet, a trifle over 1 mile per second difference in 
final velocity, variation being within the limits of 1-380 of the whole. ‘The rate 
of the motion in the last line of the table is that attained by a mass falling on 
the sun from a distance equal to the solar radius, 430,000 miles, as we can not 
imagine that any cosmic matter will begin to fall from a less-distance. There- 
fore, the least velocity of impact is 1,420,513 feet, or 269 miles, per second, and 
this least motion multiplied by 1.414213 equals 2,008,908, the greatest, hence 
the maximum and minimum velocities are to each other as 1 is to the square root 
of 2, or aS I is to 1.414213. 

If we square 1,420,513 and multiply the reciprocal of the square of Joule’s 
equivalent, as above, we obtain the least heat possible, or 40,577,090° F. What 
astonishing results are brought to light by these researches. Incredible intensity 


a 


32 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


of heat, the highest being 80,000,000° and the least 40,000,000°! What effect 
will such outbursts of thermal energy have on the earth? Will the heat vaporize 
the oceans, parch the land, and consume all organisms? Let us see. First, we 
must find the relations between velocity, heat and mass. Take any mass at 
random, say 52 pounds, and give it any velocity, say 892 feet per second, how 
intense will be the heat evolved when its motion ends? By analysis, 1 pound 
moving 223 feet per second has a motion sufficient to generate heat enough to 
increase the temperature of 1 pound of matter of the density of water 1°, hence 
if it moves 4 times as fast, or 892 feet, it has motion able to develop heat 16 
times more intense, or 16°, because the square of 4 is 16 times greater than the 
square of 1, the ratios of their velocities. 

If a mass weighing 1 pound, moving 892 feet per second, generates on im- 
pact 16°, fifty-two pounds will evolve fifty-two times that amount, or 832°, but the 
heat will still have the same intensity. By thermometer the mass will indicate 
only 16°,—that is, fifty-two pounds moving &g2 feet per second can generate 
heat enough to heat one pound of water 832 degrees, 832 pounds r°, or fifty-two 
pounds 16°. Now double the mass, by making it 104 pounds, the velocity re- 
maining the same, and we double the quantity of heat and will have 1,664°; still 
the thermometer reads 16 degrees. ‘The 1,664°, being distributed through twice 
the mass, can have no greater intensity than that conserved from its velocity. 
Therefore : 


t. Increase of mass does not increase the intensity of heat. If we double 
velocity instead of mass the heat is quadrupled in intensity, thus: 892 multiplied 
by 2 equals 1,784, and the square of two is four times greater than the square of 
one; and since heat of impact is proportional in intensity to squares of velocities, 
we have four times the heat energy, or 3,328° degrees in amount, and four times 
the intensity or 64°. This is because four times the heat raises the temperature 
of fifty-two pounds four times 16°, or 64°, the3,328° degrees being able to warm 
3,328 pounds 1°, one pound 3,328°, or fifty-two pounds 64°. Whence: 

2. Heat depends for intensity on velocity, and not on mass. Let one 
pound of matter strike the sun, and whether it fall from an infinite distance or 
from the distance of any planet its motion will develop on collision, in round 
numbers, 80,000,000°; let a mass of two pounds impinge, and double the 
amount of heat will appear, but its intensity will be the same, since the final ve- 
locity cannot be more than 380.0962, nor less than 379.3943 miles per second. 
Thence: : 

3. A comet of great mass colliding with the sun will produce no greater 
intensity of heat on the sun or earth than one of small mass. Velocities of 
impact mentioned are those of interstellar masses falling on the sun with unim- 
peded motion on straight lines. Any comet that can make impact must move 
around the sun many times before it can collide, its perihelion at each circuit 
approaching, until finally it is so far retarded by gases in the vicinity of the sun 
that its orbit comes to almost coincide with the solar surface. Then, if the nucleus 
is solid, it will ricochet like a cannon-ball, and surrender portions of its heat at 


FACTS AND FANCY CONCERNING COMETS. 33 


each impact, nothing like 80,000,000 degrees being developed at any point. 
When: 

4. Maximum heat can not appear unless cosmic matter fall on right lines to 
the sun, and not on curves. Heat is now known to be a mode of atomic motion; 
the greater the rapidity of atomic oscillation the more intense the heat. The 
reason why a mass on collision evolves heat is because the motion of the whole 
mass through space is instantly arrested, and massive motion becomes atomic. 
When the body is moving, each atom in it maintains constant relation to all the 
others, and no heat is developed. Let the mass strike a solid and each atom 
begins motion in relation with every other, the instant translation through space 
ends. If the velocity of impact is great, atomic motion is most rapid, and the 
heat intense. If the collision is not powerful enough to cause every atom to shift 
position, all the heat possible will not appear. Let a rifle ball strike a rock, every 
atom of the lead changes location, the ball is flattened, and, if velocity is suffic- 
ient, melted. But if it strike a mass of cork, resistance being so slight, the lead 
atoms will not shift nor heat appear. Behold the sun; its density is only 1.44, 
that of water being one, or about the consistency of calcimine applied to our ceil- 
ings. A comet would plunge thousands of miles beneath the liquid surface of the 
sun, and the heat would slowly radiate away, benefitting man instead of destroy- 
ing him. Therefore: 

5. Highty million degrees of heat can not develop unless the sun becomes 
rigid as platinum and cometary nuclei solid. But it is not on these arguments 
that we rely. We will grant that comets can fall upon the sun, developing maxi- 
mum heat, allowing alarmists the worst, and then demonstrate that such impact 
can not affect the earth in any way except for good. If we burn fifty pounds of 
coal in one hour it will radiate genial heat, and an iron bar suspended, say, at a 
distance of four feet from the fire will be warmed through, supposing it to be an 
inch in thickness. Now, put on a blast and consume the coal in one minute; 
the bar ‘will not be warmed throughout. Consume the coal in one second, and 
the surface only of the bar next the fire will be warmed. Burn the coal in the 
millionth part of a second, the same amount of heat will be given out as when 
one hour was occupied in the combustion, but the human hand could be held in 
place of the bar and not feel pain. The heat would be intense, but of such incon- 
ceivably short duration that it would not destroy the structure of one’s hand. 
Whence time is a factor in all problems where the action of heat is concerned. 
Now, let a mass in motion at the rate of one foot per second collide with the sun, 
and we say the time consumed in impact is such a part of a second; but let it 
move 2,008,908 feet per second, the time of collision is 2,008,908 times shorter, 
and the heat that many times more intense, the intensity of the heat depending 
ing solely on the tine of impact, and the time directly on velocity. Hence: 

6. The intensity of 80,000,000 degrees exists less than the 1-2,008,908 part 
of a second, and the heat-wave that can strike the earth will have the same dura- 
tion. Heat, light, or any other energy emanating from a center varies in the 

vI—3 


B4.. 8). 92%. . KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


inverse ratio of the square of the distance. The éarth is 92,000,000 miles feom : 
the sun, but to arrive at results, a ratio must first be deduced. Suppose that above-~ = 


where the comet strikes we place a flat surface ata distance of 100,000 miles, and 
admit that the radiation of heat hereon from the disintegrated comet would be 
80,000,000 degrees. Of course it would not be that intense, for of such intensity 
is the heat 100,000 miles below; but allow that it would be, then how intense will 
be the heat reaching the earth? The quotient of 92,000,000 divided by 100,000 
is 920, and the square of this number is 846,400. Then, the heat falling on the 
earth is 846,400 times less than that radiating on a surface 100,000 miles from the 
scene of collision. Dividing 80,000,000 degrees by 846,400 we find the inten- 
sity of a heat-wave that can reach the earth from the disruption of any comet 
large or small on the sunto be 94 degrees. Take a hot day with the thermometer 
at 94 degrees, double the heat for the 1-2,008,908 part of a second, or indeed for 
half a minute, and observe the effect on the human species. Really the only way 
to detect the arrival of the wave would be to turn a large telescope on the sun just 
before the comet fell, and place in the focus one of Prof. Langley’s balometers 
capable of measuring the 1-50,000 degree of heat, and look intently on the index 
with a microscope. Even then it is doubtful if movement of the delicate balance 
could be seen. We should be pleased to have our telescope set upon the precise 

point of impact at the time the comet falls to see what would take place. It is 
scarcely possible that a movement so rapid would make impression on the retina. 

And high magnifying powers would have to be used, since one second of arc on 
the solar disc is.in linear dimensions 450 miles, and is as small an object as can 
be seen in a telescope on the sun. But the comet of 1811 had for what was sup- 
posed to be a solid nucleus a diameter of 428 miles—less than one second of angu- 
lar measurement when at the sun’s distance; hence the final plunge of.a comet into 

the solar flames could only be seen in good telescopes under favorable circum- 
stances. But a tele-spectroscope of powerful dispersive powers set on the spot 
after irapact might in the spectrum produced exhibit slight disturbance, such as 

displacement of the lines caused by outbursts of hydrogen and other gases. 

Hence: 

7. The effect of cometary precipitation on the sun can not be detected on 
earth save by the most powerful instruments. What is the sun? It is a colossal 
ball 860,000 miles in‘diameter, whose mighty mass is 331,654 times greater than 
that of the earth: -What is a comet falling into this awful furnace? Nothing but 
as one firebrand in the conflagration of Chicago. Explosions are always taking 
place on the sun, causing greater upheaval than the downrush of a dozen comets. 
Can cometary collision on the sun injure man? Indeed, such impact serves to 
keep him alive. The sun does not radiate too much heat now, and astronomers 
are agreed that part of the present supply is kept up by cosmical bombardment. 
We are flung away in some nook of the universe chained to an expiring world— 
a home that is already suffering encroachment of polar ice. We exist only by the 
heat of the sun. The real danger lies not in cometary downrush, but in the fear 
that not enough meteors and comets will gravitate into solar fires. The longer 


ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR MAY, 1882. 30 


comets continue to strike the sun, the longer can man inhabit the earth. We 
thought it the province of science to dispel superstition and fear; and least of all 
did we think that astronomy would be made use of as an engine of terror. We 
put in a plea for pure astronomy, and urge that its truths be not tampered with’ by 
sensationalists. Interstellar matter perpetually bombards the sun, each collision 
of meteoric hail sending to earth life-sustaining heat. We trust this cosmic war 
will not cease, and that at least one comet per week will dash on the sun during 
the next ten thousand years. 


ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR MAY, 1882. 


BY W. W. ALEXANDER, KANSAS CITY, MO. 


THE SUN. 

Date. Right Ascension. Declination N. Equation of Time. 
Ist. 2h. 35m. oe Die 3m. 04s. — 
5th. 2 5O nr Bi 220 

roth. 3 09 17 43 3 48 

15th. 2 AO ms) 5) oe Re 

2oth. BANG) 20 03 3. 42 

25th. 4 09 2 Ol BRI ANS) 

BEsts 4 33 21 58 Zoe 

Apparent semi-diameter on the 1st, 15’ 54”; on the 31st, 15’ 48”. 
THE MOON. 

Date. Right Ascension. Declination S. Semi-Diameter. 
rst. 13h. 30m. 02° Aiey ti Go)" 
5th. 174-05 hs 15 43 

roth. Ba TG Tana 1 OR 

15th. A NO 16) ou IN: 16 00 

2oth. i C2 18 54 is, velit 

25th. LOW 57 OF] 14 49 

3 Ist. Te BS ZONPOOLS: is ee 

MERCURY. 

Date. Right Ascension. Declination N. M. T. of Transit. 
Ist. 2h. 4om. Tay 1th. 58m. A.M. 
5th. 3 06 UGE IS) T2, a eeeivie 

roth. Ba eAG Ait We 35 

15th. 42 23. «50 58 

2oth. 5 10 22 ee 0) 

25th. 54s 2a i) SX) 

31st. Ob G5 2 5elO ie Xa) 


Apparent diameter on the 1st, 5”; on the 31st, 8”. 


36 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


By the end of the month it will be near its greatest elongation East, and 
will be visible in the West after sunset for rh. 30m. 


VENUS. 
Date. Right Ascension. Declination N. M. T. of Transit. 
Ste 3h. 46m. 20° 06' Tm, @yAene Jey 
toth. A 32 22 mer iy oro 
2oth. i ee 2A re ene 
25th. Be ot 24 36 ESS 
BS: 283 24 42 Teeny 
MARS. 
Date. Right Ascension. Declination N. M. T. of Meridian Transit. 
Ist. 7h. 55m. 23° An! 5h. 17m. P. M. 
roth. 8) 21 36 Fanos 
2oth. oy B39) Xe) 102 4 44 
31st. 9 OI TiaelOeey 4 26 
Apparent diameter on the 1st, 6.2”; on the 31st, 5.4”. 
JUPITER. 
Date. Right Ascension. Declination N. M. T. of Transit. 
Ist. 4h. orm. 20° 00’ lis Bein, JE, Wi 
roth. 4 og ZOnnZ4 o 56 
15th. Aurel 2 ZOOM Oy Ait 
2oth. A TS) XO) 5S) S 26 
25th. Ay BR Bi OF Oia 
Busts An 210 21 26 11 57 A. M. 
Apparent semi-diameter on the rst, 15.8”; on the 31st, 15.5”. 
SATURN. 
Date. Right Ascension. Declination N. M. T. of Transit. 
Ist. Alls GADD Ae oh, 15min eae 
roth. 2 Bo) 14 43 Tr Ay ASME 
20th. BIO? TOA it OF 
31st. 2 OF : 15 27 Io 629 
. Apparent semi-diameter on the 15th, 7.7”. 
URANUS. 
Date, Right Ascension. Declination N. M. T. of Meridian Transit. 
Ist. realy one 6° 48' 8h. 25m. P. M. 
16th. ni Omsa AO 
31st. ii 6 50 Oo By 
NEPTUNE 


16th. 2h. 58m. 1S? ithe) rth. 18m. A. M. 


THE JEANNETTE AND HER SURVIVORS, 37 


PHENOMENA. 


On the 2d, at th. oom. A. M., conjunction of Mercury and the Sun 
superior. 

On the 4th, at rh. oom. A. M., conjunction of Mercury and Saturn. Mer- 
cury north, 2° 22’. 

On the 5th, at th. com. A. M., conjunction of Venus and Jupiter. Jupiter 
south, 2° 16’. 

On the 18th, Mars in Preesepe. 

On the 18th, at 7h. o4m. P. M., conjunction of Venus and the Moon. 
Venus north, 2° 45’. 

On the 22d, at ooh. oom., Neptune stationary. 

On the 22d, at 7h. 14m. P. M., conjunction of Mars and the Moon. Mars 
north, 6° 46’ 

On the 31st, evening, conjunction of Mercury and Venus. Mercury west 


northwest, 1° 43’. 


CZOGn Ar rye 


THE JEANNETTE AND HER SURVIVORS. 


The following account of the preparation, voyage and loss of the Jeannette 
and the subsequent wanderings and sufferings of her survivors has been compiled 
from various authentic sources, and is believed to include all of the more import- 
ant events of the expedition up to the present time.—|Ed. REviEw: 


That part of Siberia extending from the Taimur Peninsula to Behring’s straits 
is universally conceded to be one of the most desolated, frigid, and worthless 
sections of country that can be imagined, and one that is wholly devoid of any- 
thing to sustain life, except from the precarious supplies of fish and sea animals 
found in the Arctic Sea. Consequently, except for a few brief weeks in summer, 
even the iron-framed nomads of that region, Samoides, Ostiaks and Tongoose, 
all leave the sea coast and seek in the wooded tracts hundreds of miles from the 
sea that protection and that relief which the intense cold requires in the long, cold 
Siberian winter. 

From about 1620 until a very recent date in this country the Russians have 
sent scores of expeditions to survey and examine those gloomy, cold, inhospitable 
regions of the ‘‘Summa Arctus,” which, to this day, is yet what Pliny and Pom- 
ponius Mela 1,600 years ago said it was: ‘‘Beyond the Caspian Sea and the 
coast of the Scythian Ocean the land projects to the east. The first part of this 
coast from the Scythian Promontory (Taimur) is not habitable for the snows. 
The land next adjoining is uncultivated from the ferocity ofits inhabitants. These 
are Scythian anthropophagi and the Sacae. Near them are vast solitudes and 


38 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


multitudes of wild beasts. Everything here is ferocious, beginning with man. 
Beyond these solitudes are deserts, peopled with wild beasts, as far as a ridge or 
mountain hanging over the sea, which is called. Tabin (probably East Cape.) ” 

In 1735 an experienced and energetic officer, Lieut. Wasili Proutscheschew, 
was sent to survey the Promontory of Taimur and the Siberian coasts near the 
mouth of the Lena. This was completed in part in 1736, but on his return in the 
fall, Proutscheschew fell sick at Olenek, a Russian village on the shore of the 
Arctic Ocean, and died from grief and disappointment at his non-success. His 
wife, who had heroically followed him, died some few days after. 

In 1738 Lieut. Chariton Laptiew took the place of Proutscheschew, but was 
not able any more than his predecessor to finish the survey between the Lena and 
the Yenesei. By sea the work was finished by a land party with full success. 

To survey east of the Lena, Lieut. Lassennis and fifty-two men sailed in 1735 
from Jakutzsk. He went that year along the coast to a small river between the 
Lena and Juna. There he wintered with his vessel, sending six men with dis- 
patches to Jakutzsk. In that terrible winter thirty-seven men died of scurvy of 
the forty-six men left. When in June, 1736, assistance reached Lassennis, he 
and all his men were dead. 

After this failure Lt. Dimitri Laptiew continued the survey from the Lena 
east, and examined the coast to the Kolyma River, and, as some claim, he finish- 
ed a complete examination of the Siberian coast to East Cape and the Anadyr 
River, at the Anadirskoi Ostrog, but this has been denied, and that the Lieuten- 
ant made his examination of the route to Anadirskoi by land. 

In 1760 ’65 Shalauroff, an enterprising Russian, attempted to finish in per- 
son the exploration ended by Laptiew at the Kolyma River. He penetrated by 
following the coast to Tschaoon Bay, some 300 miles east. In 1764 in no man- 
ner daunted, Shalauroff again attempted to reach East Cape. He proceeded this 
time, it seems, from the inhabitable Lena. , This expedition was never afterward 
heard from, except from rumors obtained from the Tchutzki, which was that 
Shalauroff and his men had all died near Cape Barannoi Kamen of starvation. 
Wrangell afterward substantiated this fact, as some huts were found where the 
unfortunate explorers had all died. 

In the first portion of this century Baron Von Wrangell and Lieut. Anjew, 
both Russian officers, explored the coast from the Lena to near Cape Sendze 
Kamen, on the Arctic Sea, but did not succeed in rounding East Cape by water, 
which feat, since the passage of Deschnew and of Tara Staduchein in the 17th 
century, has not been done until 1878-’79, when it was completed by Professor 
Nordenskiold in the steamer Vega, who rounded.the whole of Russia and Siberia 
from North Cape to Behrings Strait. 

The Liakoff Islands were discovered in the last century by Sergeant Andreef 
in 1770, and by a merchant Liakoff in 1770, who followed the back trail of a 
herd of reindeer that had crossed from these islands to the main land of Siberia. 
Liakoff in 1773 repeated his trip and wintered there, gathering fossil ivory, some 
of the tusks measuring seven seven-twelfths feet long and weighing 115 pounds. 


—* 


THE JEANNETTE AND HER SURVIVORS, : 39 


In 1806 one Sanikof, besides exploring the islands of Liakoff, also discover- 
ed Sanikoff Island, and what is now known as New Siberia. The Russian gov- 
ernment, interested in these discoveries, deputed a savant naméd Hedenstrom, a 
Siberian, to make a report and more detailed examinations. In 1810 Henden- 
strom went out north from the mouth of the River Jana and explored the coast 
250 miles until he arrived at its eastern extremity. Hedenstrom thought that 
this was a prolongation of the American continent. 

Omitting mention of numerous explorations in other portions of the arctic 
regions, we will take up only those of the more immediate predecessors of De- 
Long in the United States. The disaster which overtook the expedition of Sir 
John Franklin in 1847-8 gave a new impetus to Arctic adventure, and some of 
the most chivalric deeds which the historian of modern times has been called 
upon to chronicle are connected with the Polar voyages of the navigators dis- 
patched to ascertain the fate of that gallant commander. The story of the perils 
through which these brave men pass, the sufferings they endured and obstacles 
they overcame, reads like a romance. 

In 1850 no less than eleven separate expeditions were engaged in the search 
for the missing explorer, and in this year Henry Grinnell, of New York City, in 
conjunction with the Government, fitted out the first American expedition sent 
to the Arctic region, and under the command of Lieutenants Griffith and De- 
Harten the United States brigs ‘‘ Advance” and ‘‘ Rescue” carried the stars and 
stripes well into the regions of perpetual snow. The results attained by these 
various expeditions, however, were meager in the extreme, and science profited 
little from the vast expenditure of money and occasional loss of life. In 1855 
the ‘‘ Advance,” under the command of Dr. Kane, made a second voyage to the 
Arctic Seas, but beyond a delightful narrative, as fascinating in style as it was 
graphic in description, which the accomplished explorer left behind him, the 
voyage was productive of little real benefit to the scanty fund of knowledge re- 
garding the mysteries which surround the earth’s apex. 

In 1850-1 Captain McClure, sailing eastward through Behrings Straits, de- 
monstrated the fact of a northwest passage, and although compelled to abandon 
his vessel, succeeded in passing through to Baffin’s Bay with his crew—they be- 
ing the first explorers that ever passed from ocean to ocean. In 1871, Capt. 
Hall, who had previously made several Arctic voyages, and had lived amongst 
the Esquimaux for several years, and become thoroughly acquainted with their 
language and customs, sailed in the steamer ‘‘ Polaris,’? determined to unravel 
the mystery of the open Polar Sea, in the existence of which he was a firm be- 
liever. So sanguine was he of success that a short time before his departure he 
stated in a public address, delivered before the Chamber of Commerce in his 
native city, Cincinnati, that, acclimated as he was to the Arctic winter, he felt no 
hesitation about going back again, and that he proposed to plant his foot upon 
the North Pole before he died. Capt. Hall succeeded in reaching the highest 
latitude ever attained with his vessel—viz: 82° 16’, while with a sledge party he 
went as far north as 84°, or within 360 miles of the goal of his heart’s desire. 


40 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Unfortunately, however, he fell a victim to dissensions among his own crew, and 
died under circumstances which gave rise to the rumor that he had been poisoned. 
After the death of Capt. Hall, and the consequent failure of the Polaris expedi- 
tion, the American people have taken little interest in Arctic exploration. 

In 1873 the Navy Department, incited by popular inquiry as to the fate of 
the Polaris, decided to send a vessel to the Greenland coast in search of her, or, 
if she was lost, to obtain tidings of her survivors. The United States steamer 
Juniata was selected for the purpose, Commander Braine, U. S. N., was in com- 
mand, and Lieut. Geo. W. De Long was on board as Lieutenant and navigator. 
The Juniata sailed from New York in June, 1873, and proceded as far north as 
Upernavik, the most northerly settlement of Greenland. Beyond this point, 
which was reached in August, it was not deemed safe to proceed with the steamer. 
After a brief consultation it was decided to fit out the steam launch and send 
her into the recesses of Melville Bay, to discover, if possible, some traces of the 
missing vessel or her crew. The launch, which, since that voyage, is known as 
the Little Juniata, was thirty-two feet two inches in length} over all; eight feet 
four inches beam, and four feet eight inches deep. She was rigged with one 
‘mast anda jib and mainsail, and her propeller was so guarded by an iron frame- 
work that little danger was to be feared from contact with floating ice. At his 
urgent request, Lieut. De Long was placed in command, with the following as a 
volunteer crew: Lieut. C. W. Chipp, present executive officer of the Jeannette ; 
Ensign Sidney H. May, H. W. Dodge, ice pilot; Francis Hamilton, machinist . 
Wm. King, fireman; Street and Meagher, seamen, and a New York Herald cor- 
respondent. To their number was added an Esquimaux pilot. 

The Little Juniata steamed boldly away from the parent ship on the morning 
of the 31st of August, with coal for fifteen days and provisions for sixty days in 
case of emergency, but the orders of Commander Braine to Lieut. De Long were 
not to extend the voyage beyond eight, or at the utmost ten days. After a most 
dangerous and profitless exploration they returned to the Juniata in safety after an 
absence of eleven days. Lieut. De Long desired to make another attempt, but 
Commander Braine did not consider the facilities at hand sufficient to warrant the 
undertaking, and so declined to grant his request. 

From their cruise in the Little Juniata, Lieut. De Long may be said to have 
imbibed his love for Arctic adventure. Soon after his return to New York he 
was thrown into the society of Mr. James Gordon-Bennett, proprietor of the 
fZerald. Stanley had just succeeded in penetrating the wilds of Africa and meet- 
ing with Dr. Livingstone, had astonished the world by showing what the enter- 
prise of a private individual can accomplish when backed by capital and brains. 

De Long felt an ardent longing to distinguish himself by rendering similar 
services to science, and urged upon Mr. Bennett the undertaking. After repeat- 
ed consultations, during which the cost of the expedition and its probable results 
were freely debated, Mr. Bennett finally told Lieut. De Long to go ahead; pur- 
chase a vessel, provision her and make an attempt to find the North Pole. — 


THE JEANETTE AND HER SURVIVORS, 41 


While this consultation was going on, Lieut. De Long made a trip to New 
Bedford, where he passed several weeks in the society of the whaling captains 
who are to be found there in large numbers. From conversation with them he 
was convinced that the Behring’s Straits route was the ‘‘ Down Hill”’ route and 
determined to try it. The more he studied over it and examined the charts as to 
the winds and currents, the more he was convinced that the whalemen were right. 
He imparted to Mr. Bennett the result of his conclusion, and it was decided to 
try it. After examining a large number of vessels, it was finally agreed to pur- 
chase the Pandora, which was lying in the dock at London at the time, having 
but lately returned from a cruise to the Arctic, which proved barren of results. 

An act was passed by Congress allowing Pandora’s name to be changed to 
Jeannette—in honor of Mrs. Bennett’s only sister—to be enrolled as an American 
vessel, and to be officered by officers of the American navy, Lieut. De Long and 
the officers under him being assigned to duty on her for the purpose of the 
expedition. 

All the expenses of every kind and nature have, however, been borne by 
Mr. Bennett, and when she sailed, she left our shores as a national expe- 
dition, as that gentleman desired his country to reap the honor of discovery, and 
has at all times discouraged the association of his name with the expedition, desir- 
ing it to be known only as ‘‘ The American Arctic Expedition.”’ 

The Jeannette was a Bark-rigged screw steamer of four hundred and twenty 
tons burden, and eighty-horse power nominal. She was built at the Pembroke 
Dock Yard in England, in 1864, and designed for a naval dispatch boat. She 
was subsequently soldto Sir Allen Young. She made three voyages to the Arctic. 
First to King William’s Land in 1873, again to King William’s Land in 1874, and 
the third time to carry mails to the Alert at Peel’s Sound in 1875. She was built 
of Dantzic oak, and was especially strong in the hull. She had a sharp, wedge. 
shaped floor, which, in case she was ‘‘ nipped,” was to lift her on the ice, instead 
of allowing her to be crushed between the floes. Her bow was filled in solid, 
and was protected on the outside by thick iron straps, to protect her timbers when 
cutting a channel through the ice. She was extra planked on her bottom and 
bilges, and her frames and beams were of heavy timber. Her hull was further 
strengthened while she was at Mare Island, three double-trusses and hanging- 
knees, each beam ten by twelve inches, with a large stanchion in the center, 
being put in. 

In addition to arms, food, cooking apparatus and clothing, the expedition 
was especially well provided with scientific instruments, and there was every rea- 
son to believe that the world would be greatly enriched by the stock of knowl- 
edge with which it would return. A complete set of photographic apparatus was 
taken, together with thirty dozen dry plates for views. There was a portable ob- 
servatory and a large-sized telescope for taking astronomical observations. 
Whenever a landing was effected experiments was made with a pendulum and 
the vibrations noted, so that when the pole was approached the degree of flatness 
of the earth’s surface would be detected. Accurate surveys of all lands were 


42 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


made and soundings taken of all harbors. Two hundred miles of telegraph wire 
were placed on board and constant telephonic communication was to be kept up 
with parties on shore at a distance from the ship. Last, but not least, the expe- 
dition was provided with an electric light of immense power, presented by Edi- 
son. Mr. Collins, the scientist of the expedition, gave a good deal of attention 
to the study of the winds and currents and hoped to be enabled on his return, as ~ 
the result of his observation, to solve some knotty problems which have hereto- 
fore perplexed our meteorologists. 

The Jeannette had on board thirty-three souls—twenty-five forward and eight 
aft. The commander, George W. DeLong, was a mana little above the medium 
height, well-built, active in his movements, and thirty-five years of age. He was 
born in New York City, and graduated at the Naval Academy in 1865. He was 
married, his wife being a daughter of Capt. James A. Wotten, an old steamship 
commander and formerly superintendent and part owner of the famous New York 
and Havre Line of Steamships. Mrs. DeLong accompanied her husband in the 
Jeannette from Havre to San Francisco, a voyage which lasted 165 days, and 
afterward in a trip overland to New York and back to San Francisco. 

Lieut. Charles W. Chipp, U. S N., the executive officer of the Jeannette, 
was born in Kingston, N. Y.; thirty years of age and unmarried. He was with 
Capt. DeLong in the Little Juniata. | 

Lieut. John W. Danenhauer, U.S. N., was the Pvigator of the expedition. 
He was born in Chicago, IIl.; thirty years of age and unmarried. 

Passed Assistant Surgeon James M. M. Ambler, U. S. N., was the surgeon. 
He was born in Fauquier County, Va.; thirty-one years of age and unmarried, 

Chief Engineer George W. Melville, U. S N., the engineer of the Jeannette, 
was born in New York City, 1841. He has a wife and three children living in 
New York. 

Jerome J. Collins, the scientist of the expedition, was a native of Ireland 
and thirty-eight years of age. He is an accomplished engineer, and thoroughly 
versed in astronomy, botany and the kindred sciences; unmarried. 

Raymond L. Newcomb was a native of Salem, Mass.; twenty-nine years of 
age and unmarried. He was the naturalist and taxidermist of the expedition. 

William Dunbar, the ice-pilot, was a native of New London, Conn., and 
forty-five years age. 

The Jeannette left San Francisco July 8, 1879. She was heard of twice 
through the Hera/d correspondent on board, who wrote long and interesting let- 
ters from Ilholionk Station, in the harbor of Oonalaska, and St. Lawrence Bay, 
detailing the doings of the party up to August 27th of that year. In 1880, ac- 
cording to Danish authority, a steamer’s smoke was seen near the mouth of the 
Lena River by the Yakuts living there, but in the transmission of this story from 
tribe to tribe, from the mouth of the Lena west to the Kara Sea, where the wal- 
rus hunters heard it, it was no doubt somewhat changed. Nothing further was 
heard of the Jeannette for a year and a half, but no grave apprehensions were en- 
tertained until the spring of last year. Then there began to be much anxiety, — 


THE JEANETTE AND HER SURVIVORS. 43 


and finally a bili was presented and passed Congress for the fitting out of an 
Arctic expedition in search of the Jeannette. The Rogers was purchased and 
started out last summer in its search. Its plan was to proceed along the coast of 
Siberia, which was a correct theory, but recent dispatches give information of her 
destruction by fire. Five other expeditions have attempted to gain some inform- 
ation concerning the Jeannette, but without success. They were fitted out by 
private persons and had other objects as well as searching for the Jeannette. 

It appears that the Jeannette, after passing through Behring Strait, took a 
northeasterly course, passing through an unexplored region. 

Several letters from different members of the party have been Sanieled but 
none differ from the official report of Chief Engineer Melville, except in minor 
points. Hesays: ‘‘ We arrived in the Harbor of Lutke, Bay of St. Lawrence 
on the 25th day of August, and on the 27th completed our supply of stores from 
the schooner and sailed for the Arctic Ocean, to visit Koliutschin Bay to search 
for Nordenskiold, and then to continue our voyage of discovery. We arrived at 
Koliutschin Bay on August 31st, and having found satisfactory proof of the safe- 
ty of Nordenskiold we continued our voyage to the northward. 

‘¢On September 3rd came up with the ice and on the 4th sighted Herald 
Island. Continued to work through the ice until the 6th day of September when 
we became firmly fixed in the ice. On September 13th an attempt was made 
to land on Herald Island, but it was unsuccessful, and the traveling party re- 
turned 1o the ship on the 14th. We continued to drift with the ice toward the 
northwest, and on October 21st sighted Wrangell Land, bearing south. We con- 
tinued fast in close packed ice until November 25th, when, after several days 
severe crushing of the ice and nipping of the ship, she was forced into open water 
and drifted northwest without control until the evening of the same day, when 
we brought up against a solid floe piece and made fast, where we again froze in 
and remained until the vessel was eventually destroyed. 

‘Long and dreary months of close confinement to the ship and anxiety for 
her safety continued until May 17, 1881, when we were enlivened by our first 
sight of land since March, 1880, when we lost sight of Wrangell Land, and as no 
land was laid down in any chart in our possession, we concluded it to be a new 
island. ‘This island was seen when we were in latitude 76° 43’ 20” north, longi- 
tude 161° east. The island was named Jeannette Island, though not landed 
upon. Its position was latitude 76° 47’ north, longitude 158° 56’ east. 

The ship and ice continued to drift to the west and northwest, the whole ice 
field being broken up in all directions. On the night of June roth several severe 
shocks were felt and the ship was found to have raised several inches in her bed. 
There was evidence of an approaching break-up of our friendly floe piece. At 
ten minutes past twelve A. M., June 11th, the ice suddenly opened alongside 
the ship, completely freeing her, and she floated on an even keel for the first 
time in many months. 

‘‘The ice continued in motion, but no serious injury occurred to the ship 
until the morning of the 12th, when the ice commenced to pack together, bring- 


44 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ing a tremendous strain on the ship, heeling her over to starboard and forcing 
the deck seams open. This continued during the day at intervals until evening, 
when it was evident the ship cou'd not much longer hold together. The boats 
were lowered on the ice, and provisions, arms, tents, alcohol, sledges and al 
necessary equipment for a retreat securely placed on the floe. By 6 P. M. the 
ship had entirely filled with water and lay-over at an angle of about twenty-two 
degrees being kept from sinking by the opposing. edges of the floe. On the 
morning of the 13th day of June, about 4 o’clock, the ice opened and the ship 
went down with colors flying at the masthead. Latitude 77° 15’ north, longitude 
157° east. 

‘‘We remained six days on the ice organizing our system and the line of 
march south, during which time we had resumed a rapid drift to the northwest. 
On June 24th having marched south one week and obtained observations for posi- 
tion, we found we had drifted to latitude 74° 32’ north, a loss of twenty-four 
miles northwest. 

‘We continued our march south and west and finally landed on Bennett 
Island July 29th. Hoisted the national flag and took possession of the island. 
It is located in north latitude 76° 38’, east longitude 150° 30’. We traversed 
the eastern end of the island. 

‘‘Left it August 6th, and sighted the north side of Thaddeus (Faddeyev) 
Island, one of the New Siberia group, and remained there ten days ice bound. 
Landed on the south side of Thaddeus Island August 31st. Left south end of 
Kotelnoi Island September 6th. Camped in sight of Stolhoi Island September 
7th. Landed on Simonaski Island September roth. 

‘* We left for Barkin, at the Lena’s mouth, September 12th. Separated by 
a gale of wind the same night.” 

The list of people in the boats as follows. 

First Cutter.—Lieutenant DeLong, Dr. Ambler, Jerome J. Collins, Wil- 
ham Nindeman, Louis Norris, Hans Erikson, Henry Knack, Adolf Bressler, 
Carl Gortz, Walter Lee, Neils Ivorson, George Boyd, Alexia, Ah Lorn. 

Second Cutter.—Lieutenant Chipp, Captain Dunbar, Alfred Sweetman, 
Henry Waxen, Peter Johnson, Edward Star, Shawell, Albert Kaihne. 

Whale Boat.—Engineer Melville, Lieutenant Danenhauer, Jack Cole, James 
Bartlett, Raymond Newcomb, Herbert Leach, George Landentach, Henry Wil- 
son, Manson, Aniquin, Long. : 

Fifty miles from the mouth of the Lena they lost sight of each other during 
a violent gale and dense fog. Boat No. 3, under command of Engineer Melville, 
reached the eastern mouth of the Lena on the 29th day of September, and was 
stopped by icebergs near the hamlet of Idolaciro-Idolatre on the 29th day of Oc- 
tober. There also arrived at Bolonenga boat No. 1, with the sailors, Nindeman 
and Norris. ‘They brought the information that Lieutenant DeLong, Dr. Amb- 
ler, and a dozen other survivors, had landed at the northern mouth of the Lena, 
where they were in a most distressing state, many having their limbs frozen. 

Lieut. Danenhauer, who was in the Melville party, says in one of his letters 


THE JEANETTE AND HER SURVIVORS. | 45 


that they had to travel 700 miles over the ice from the ship to the mouth of the 
Lena. They landed in shoal water and were compelled to wade two miles to 
land. They were forced to travel too miles further before they reached shelter, 
and he says he was up five days and four nights without sleep or rest. He also 
gives the following points of scientific interest : 

‘«The result of the drift for the first five months was forty miles. There was 
a cycloidal movement of the ice. The drift tor the last six months was very 
rapid, and soundings pretty even. ‘There were eighteen fathoms near Wrangell 
Land, which was often visible seventy-five miles distant. The greatest depth 
found was eighty fathoms, and the average thirty-five; the bottom, blue mud. 
Shrimps and plenty of algological specimens were brought from the bottom. The 
surface of the water had a temperature of 20° above zero. The extremes of tem- 
perature of air were: greatest cold, 58° below zero, and greatest heat 44° above 
zero. ‘The first winter mean temperature was 33° below zero; the second winter 
39° below zero. The first summer the mean temperature was 40° above zero. 
The heaviest gale showed a velocity about fifty miles an hour; such gales were 
not frequent. Barometric and thermometric fluctuations not great. There were 
disturbances of the needle coincident with auroras. Winter growth of ice eight 
feet; heaviest ice seen, twenty-three feet. Engineer Schock’s heavy truss saved 
the ship on November 21st from being crushed. Telephone wires were broken 
by a movement of the ice. The photographic collection was lost with the ship. 
Lieut. Chipp’s 2,000 auroral observations were also lost. The naturalist’s notes 
were saved. Jeannette Island was discovered May 16th, in latitude 76° 47’ 
north, and longitude 158° 56’ east. It was small and rocky, and we did not 
visit it. Henrietta Island was discovered and visited May 24th, latitude 77° 8’ 
north, longitude 157° 32’ east. It is an extensive island. Animals scarce; 
glaciers plenty. Bennett Island lies in latitude 76° 37’ north, longitude 148° 20! 
east. Itis very large. On it we found many birds, old horns, driftwood and 
coal, but no seal or walrus. A great tidal action was observed. The coast is 
bold and rocky. ‘The cape on south coast was named Cape Emma. Nothing 
has been heard from Lieut. Chipp’s party. It is more than probable that they 
are all lost.” 

As soon as Engineer Melville learned of the landing of Lieut. DeLong he 
organized a search for the party, turning back to Belun and subsequently to the 
mouth of the River Lena at the coast. Various records and articles of personal 
and goveryment property were found. -The latest written bulletin by DeLong 
was delivered to Melville by a Yokut hunter, and was dated October 1, 1881, 
annoucing his intention to cross to the west side of the Lena and proceed south 
to the settlements. The party had suffered terribly and had but two days provi- 
sions left. 

After waiting a day or two for the Lena, upon which they were to pass, to 
freeze over sufficiently to bear their weight, they crossed it to proceed up the 
west bank of the stream toward Yakutsk. They hoped to find game for food. 
The latest information indicates that they entered a wilderness destitute of habita- 


46 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


tions or game, and soon began to experience the direst hardships. Quite likely 
they have all perished long before this—a sad reduplication of the fate of Sir 
John Franklin and his command, under almost the same circumstances, on the 
American instead of the Asiatic continent. 

In the meantime the Russian Government has taken an active interest in 
the matter. M. Siberiakoff, himself an experienced arctic explorer, has tendered 
the use of his vessel, the Lena: James Gordon Bennett has ordered and provid- 
ed means for the most energetic efforts and our own Government has sent out 
Lieut. Harber and Master Scheutze of the U. S. Navy, both of whom have ar- 
rived before this time at Irkutzk, to assist in the search. If Lieut. DeLong has 
been found and is in condition to do so, he will take command of the new expe- 
dition, otherwise, Lieut. Harber, who is next in rank, will assume command. 
Engineer Melville in his official dispatches assumes a cheerful tone and says that 
he has every reason to hope to find DeLong and his party, but in his private let- 
ters to his wife he holds out no hope whatever. 

There is hardly a possibility that one of the wanderers will be found alive. 
As late as the middle of January, DeLong’s party, which had been lost in a wild- 
erness for many weeks, was still untraced. Only by a miracle can any of its 
members have survived the winter. It is not unlikely that the searchers will 
come across successive graves, and a last unburied body, but even this satisfac- 
tion may fail to be attained. There is less probability that the fate of Chipp’s 
company will ever be known.* 


WEST INDIAN GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 
BY CAPTAIN E. L. BERTHOUD. 


Mr. Alphonso Pirrard, a French savan in a late trip in the West Indies, has 
visited Saint Domingo. Here he ascertained that the remains of Christopher 
Columbus discovered in the cathedral in 1877, are the true remains; and that 
the bones transported to the Havana in 1755 are not those of the celebrated nav- 
igator, but are those of his grandson, which were lying in a contiguous vault. 

After some interesting researches at Samana Bay, which furnished him a 
skull and the incomplete skeleton of one of the aboriginal inhabitants of Hayti, 
he also found a series of Indian inscriptions in the grottoes of the coast. 

Proceeding to the Havana, Mr. Pirrard found in the Archives of Cuba, sev- 
eral articles of high interest, elucidating the geographical discoveries of the last 
century in the range of the Rocky Mountains. One of these is the journal of the 
French Canadian Jacques L’ Eglise, who discovered the sources of the Missouri, 
and who relates that a short distance west of the head waters of the Missouri 
another stream took its origin, which from the account of the Indians finally emp_ 
ties into the Pacific Ocean.—| Zranslated from l’ Exploration. | 


* Dispatches just received from Melville announce the finding of DeLong and party, all dead, at the 
Lena Delta, about March 24th. His books and papers were all found.—[Ep. REviEw. 


A LOW-GRADE STAMP MILL. 47 


Note By TRANSLATOR.—We think that L’ Eglise undoubtedly alluded to the 
Reynolds and Henry Passes of the Rocky Mountains, where the head sources of 


_ Jefferson and Madison Forks are not over one and one-half miles from Henry’s 


Lake, the main head of Lewis’ Fork of the Columbia. I have surveyed and ex- 
amined that locality personally. 


IMGUNTUNIG, UND Ua eI IEG Ne: 


A LOW-GRADE STAMP MILL. 
MRS. FLORA ELLICE STEVENS. 


The low grade ores are distinguished from those of the higher class, as in 
the former instance there is less of the precious metals to the quantity of ore than 
in the latter, and consequently the method of treating the low, or poor grade must 
be different from that acceptably employed for the richer mineral; for it is far too 
expensive to use the same means of treatment with that running fifteen or twenty 
ounces to the ton, as would pay well in the ore running several hundreds. Of 
course it must be remembered, that I am speaking of silver ores, as the barest 
trace of gold will always pay for working. 

But in a general silver region, particularly where the ore is found in the 
level ground, instead of among the mountains, there are a great many claims, 
which would pay well if they were worked by an inexpensive method of treat- 
ment. A stamp mill built to meet this exigency, I had the pleasure of visiting, 
a description of which | will endeavor to give, though it will necessarily be less 
full and complete than I would desire, as it has been a year since I examined the 
mill, and most of my notes made at the time have been lost. 

The mill is built upon the side of the hill, as by this means an advantage 
will be gained in the distance the ore cars are to be raised. About five hundred 
yards away is the mine. A tramway, perhaps a foot and a half wide, connects 
the two, along which iron cars carry the ore, drawn by horses a da tandem. The 
cars run directly on to the elevator, and are hoisted to the ore or quartz house, 
which is the very highest division of the mill. This room is 16 by 75 feet. 

The ore is ‘‘dumped” over iron screens, the fine ore dropping down to the 
bins, and the coarse ore falling on to the breakers, just above these, for crush- 
ing. The breakers in this mill were Blake’s improved, with a capacity of a 100 
tons per day. As the next step, the ore is taken from the chutes to the self-feeders, 
which are fed automatically by the dropping of the battery. The battery room 
is 36 by 75 feet, and the building increases in width as we go down in about the 
same ratio, to make room for the machinery, which now becomes necessary. 


2 


48 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


This battery is a knee battery of forty stamps, makes ninety-five drops per 
minute, and is capable of crushing 124 tons every twenty-four hours. 

From the battery the sand, as it has now become, is run into settling sand 
tanks, there settled, and shuffled into pans for amalgamating. 

These pans, often erroneously called tubs, are placed in rows, in what is 
known as the pan room. There were in this instance twenty combination amal- 
gamating pans employed, of two tons capacity to the change; and with ten set- 
tlers capacity for the pans. From the settler bowls quicksilver is taken in 
pipes to the strainers; from the strainer safes, again in pipes to the reservoir of 
the quicksilver elevators, and to the pan floor into another receiver. From this 
it is taken in pipes to the bowls on the pans. Down from these bowls the quick- 
silver is let by charges into the pans, as needed to charge them—these contain 
the ore now reduced to a fine mass-—for amalgamating. 

The ore, now called amalgam, is ready for retorting. After retorting the 
crude bullion is hauled on to an iron plate, broken up, put into crucibles, and 
smelted into bars, generally a foot and a half long, and eight inches thick. All 
that remains is to ship it to the mints. 

In the mill visited the engine was 24 by 48 inches, of 250 horse power, the main 
belt thirty-six inches in width, while the main driving pulley of the fly-wheel had 
a capacity of 39,000 pounds. The boilers, four in number, were fifty-six inches 
by sixteen feet in diameter, of 250 horse power capacity. This is what termed 
the ‘‘ wet’ process, as the roasting does not do for poor grade ores. In the mill 
described, ores have been worked for less than $5 per ton. 

Were I a practical miner, I would be able to enlarge upon these details, and 
give them with more force and clearness than I have done. As I am not, I may 
only submit them as the skeleton of a description, trusting that those who read 
it, may gain from it a slight idea of a model low-grade stamp mill. 


MINING PROSPECTS IN COLORADO FOR 1882. 


From an average production of only three or four millions, Colorado has 
suddenly risen to the first rank as a producer of the precious metals among the 
States and Territories for gold and silver combined ; as for silver alone, it ranks 
first, while for gold it holds the fourth rank. In the relation of production to 
area, it holds the first rank, likewise, for gold and silver combined and for silver 
alone, and the third for gold alone. In the relation of production to population, 
however, it ranks only third for gold and silver together, second for silver alone, 
and sixth for gold alone. The total value of its product during the census year 
in gold and silver was, in round numbers, nineteen and a quarter million dollars, 
and if we add to this the value of lead and copper in crude metal produced, we 
have a total value of metallic product of twenty-two and three quarters million 
dollars. 


MINING PROSPECTS IN COLORADO FOR 17882. 49 


From all sections of the State, reports received indicate hartne coming season 
will be the liveliest in mining operations ever recorded in the history of Colorado. 
Not only are the Leadville and other mining districts flourishing, but, through- 
out the State, innumerable small camps are springing up, many of which, it is 
expected, will be heard from before the end of the year. Of course, active 
mining operations, in many places, will be retarded for a time yet by snow; but 
preparations are making to resume work as soon as the weather will permit, on 
claims that have long lain idle. 


CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 


At Dumont, the Albro mine is shipping ore to the smelting-works at Golden. 
The Unadilla Company is taking the average quantity of ore from the Eagle 
mine, and is actively engaged in developing the mine by running levels and 
cross-cuts, and in sinking the main shaft. A drift running on the vein from the 
cross-cut in the Syndicate mine is in 124 feet, and exposes a vein about eighteen 
inches thick of solid ore upon the hanging-wall. 

At Montezuma, the Silver King concentrator is running steadily, working 
about five tons per day. The Silver King mine is reported as looking excellent, 
and is employing a force of twenty men. Connection was recently made be- 
tween the first and second levels, by a winze. The Little Helen Mining Com- 
pany is driving a cross-cut tunnel to the Hidden Treasure lode. The various 
mines of less importance in the vicinity of Montezuma are reported as looking 
very well. 

According to the census reports, this county produced during the year end- 
ing May 31, 1880, $376,041 in gold and $1,954,547 in silver, assay value. 

GILPIN COUNTY. 

The mill of the California Mining Company at Black Hawk will start up in a 
short time on ore from the California mine. ‘The mine is yielding a fair amount 
of mill-dirt and smelting ore. A good body of ore was recently encountered in 
driving the 150-foot level of the Mountain City, west from the working-shaft. 
Twenty-five stamps of the New York mill are dropping on ore from the United 
Gregory lode. The other fifty stamps are working ore from the Cotton and other 
lodes. The Quartz Hill Company is meeting with fair success in the develop- 
ment of its mine, and expects in a short time to have the mill running. 

The more prominent mines in the vicinity of Central City continue as at last 
report, and the mills are kept busy crushing the product. The California Con- 
solidated Mining Company, which recently purchased the Standley-California 
mine, has begun work on the mine, and expects to have the fifty-stamp mill in 
operation in a few weeks. 7 

Production for the census year $2,012,134 in gold, $674,727 in silver. 


THE SAN JUAN REGION. 


The San Juan region has always been understood to comprise Ouray, Do- 


lores, Hinsdale, La Plata, San Juan and Rio Grande, and in it are the well- 
pyiend 


50 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


w 
known rich mining districts, having each its own particular town or outlet as 


follows: Ouray, having the Sneffels, Uncompahgre, Bear Creek, Red Mountain 
Gulch and Poughkeepsie Gulch mines tributary to it; Lake City, having the rich 
mines of Hensen Creek, Engineer Mountain, and a large number immediately 
around the town itself; San Miguel, haying the celebrated gold and silver mines 
of Marshall Basin, Ingram Basin, Bear Creek, Turkey Creek, and twenty miles 
of placer Claims on the San Miguel River; Ophir, having its own rich mines all 
around it; Rico, being the center of all the mines of Dolores County, and hav- 
ing an outlet by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad near Durango, and at a dis- 
tance of about twenty-eight miles. With the exception of the latter, all these are 
tributaries to the main line of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Silverton has 
‘tributary to some remarkably good mines immediately around the town, and 
those of Cunningham Gulch, Eureka Gulch and Animas Forks, and has its out- 
let, as aforesaid, by the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, now under construction 
from Durango to Silverton. Production for this region in 1880, $891,042. 


JEFFERSON COUNTY. 


The smelting-works at Golden are worked to their full capacity. The mines 
of Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties are sending them large quantities of ore, 
and there is received from the Robert E. Lee mine, of Leadville, one car of ore 
per day, which yields from $100 to $600 per ton. 


LAKE COUNTY. 


The mines in and around Leadville continue in the flourishing condition 
noted for sometime past. The roads which at this season of the year are generally 
impassable on account of the melting snow, are reported in excellent shape, and 
the large shipments from the mines are maintained. 

The report of the smelters for the quarter ended March 31st is a gratifying 
one, showing the aggregate product to have been $4,031,433, as against $3,097,- 
820 for the same last year—an increase of nearly one million dollars thus far this 
year. This shipment is the largest ever made by the mines during the same 
length of time; and as the smelters have large quantities of ore on hand, and 
the mines are increasing their output, it may be taken as an indication that the 
product of the Leadville mines for 1882 will largely exceed that of any previous 
year. The mines are in good condition, and the shipments large and steady. 

One of the most convincing indications of Leadville’s prosperity is the large 
stocks on hand at the smelters, which, although working to their utmost capacity, 
can not treat all the ore they receive, and are accumulating large quantities in 
their bins and yards. The mines of Fryer Hill continue to be the leading fea- 
tures of interest, though there is a large increase in the output of the Carbonate 
Hill mines. Production for the census year, $82,687 in gold, $13,226,999 in 


silver. 


MINING PROSPECTS IN COLORADO FOR 1882. dl 


PITKIN COUNTY. 


This is a new county, lying westwardly from and adjoining Lake County. 
Its county-seat is Aspen, some thirty-five miles from Leadville. Among its best 
known mining camps is the Independence District where gold is the most abun- 
dant metal. The Farwell Consolidation with the well-known J. V. Farwell, of 
Chicago, at its head is in the lead of all, and so rich are its mines and well man- 
aged its affairs that its five dollar shares are said to be in demand at eighty dol- 
lars each. Their mines have netted about $40,000 per month, for the past three 
months. . 

The Independence mine, the Last Dollar, the Choler, Mammoth, Dolly Var- 
den, Lincoln, Pacific and Sheba, the Minnie, Legal Tender, Bennington and 
Climax, are all now the property of the Farwell Company, besides the valuable 
properties known as the Tam O’Shanter and Brown tunnel sites. The former is 
now in 170 feet and the latter 500 feet. This large array of valuable mines does 
not comprise all the property of the company, however. The Johnson placer 
and many others, which are not fully developed, are owned by the company. 

A good idea can be had of the extent and importance of the developments 
on these claims by starting from the Minnie’s workings. At this mine a tunnel 
has been run in about thirty feet to strike the vein. The mineral varies from a 
foot to two feet in thickness, and is composed of honeycombed quartz, inter- 
persed with iron and copper pyrites. Rich specimens of free gold are often en- 
countered in these workings. ‘The outcrop of the vein is about sixty feet above 
where the vein has been cut. 

Many other good mines have been opened and are now being worked in 
this district, among which are the Lake George and Sunrise: also those of the 
Hamilton Mining Company. August Schott, an old prospector and experienced 
miner, writes as follows: 

‘‘T have just returned from a trip over the county picking up such knowl- 
edge as is necessary for my business. ‘There is a great rush for the lower end 
of this county, but the snow is so deep that no prospecting can be done by 
strangers. ‘The first hoisting engine has arrived in the gulch. It is for the Min- 
nehaha mine, a claim situated between the Farwell property and that of the 
Hamilton Company, and joining both. ‘There is a large body of mineral there, 
but it lies deep. A seventy-five foot shaft has failed to reach it, but the boys are 
determined to go down to it.”’ 

*¢ Four men have been working all winter on the Mt. Hope mine, driving a 
tunnel to cut the vein. At the intersection it was only six inches thick, but it 
soon widened to six feet solid qnartz, which yielded $25 in gold per ton under 
the stamps, while the tailings are worth $5 per ton. ‘The great cry is ‘a custom 
mill’ and this will be the leading gold camp in Colorado.” 


52 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


THE PRECIOUS METALS. 


The Census Bureau has engaged Mr. Clarence King, who was recently at 
the head of the scientific survey, to collect the statistics of the production of 
the precious metals. Mr. King is well fitted for this work by his former studies 
and investigations, and has made a valuable report. The following table shows 
the aggregate production of the precious metals for the year ending March 31, 


1880: 


Deep Mines, Placer Mines. 

Alabama. . a 1,301 Santee 
Alaska . Ave Base ae $ 6,002 
Arizona. . 2,507,534 30,256 
Calbriormeay sla Yee ale 9,652,575 8,649,253 
Colorado . 19,146,066 103,106 
Dakotale eae 3,325,547 51,109 
Georgia. . 14,166 67,195 
Idaho. . 1,049,510 894,684 
Maine . 10,199 
Michigan . 25,858 : 
Montana . 3,539,730 1,171,105 
Nevada. . sais 17,268,482 50,427 
New Hampshire . 26,999 
INK? MIGSICO5 5 5 441,691 = Ss 
North Carolina. . . 114, 367 4,726 
Oregon . 190,172 934,522 
South Carolina. . 6,499 6,597 
shennmessecr a aaae 1,998 
Witahi 5,014,503 20,171 
Virginia. . Qa2r : 
Washington . 16, 800 1 2O), OO 
Wyoming. 17,321 

Motalar . $62,381,448 $12,109,172 

ALL MINES. 
Gold. Silver. 

Alabama me 1,301 ayes 
Alaska. . 5,951 51 
Arizona . 211,965 222i O25 
California . 17,150,941 1,150,887 
Colorado. . 2,699,898 16,549,274 
Dakota . 3,305,843 70,818 
Georgia . 81,029 332 
Idaho. . 1,479,653 464,530 


THE PRECIOUS METALS. 53 

Maine . 2,999 7,200 
Michigan beret EES 25,858 
Montana. . 1,805,767 2,905,068 
Nevada . 4,888,242 12,430,667 
New Hampshire 16,999 16,000 
New Mexico. . 49,354 392,337 
North Carolina. 113,953 T40 
Oregon . 1,097,701 arTOs 
South Carolina . 13,040 56 
Tennessee . 1,998 2a arte 
Utah . 291,587 4,743,087 
Virginia . O, 321 
Washington 135,800 1,019 
Wyoming . PG Qe 

otal y ems) en ie tp 3an 370,003 $41,110,957 


It will be seen by this table that California produces in value a little more 
gold than Colorado does of Silver. The deep mines in California, particularly in 
the Bodie district, have produced more gold than the auriferous gravel which 
seems to be fast becoming exhausted.: The Nevada mines, which produced such 
quantities of precious metals from 1871 to 1879, show a notable falling off, due 
in large part to the diminution of the Comstock lode. Nevada also lacks water 
to work her gravel deposits. The Utah mines give a very steady production of 
the precious metals. The mines of Arizona are of recent development, and full 
statistics have not been collected. ‘There are large mining regions in Alaska, 
New Mexico, Idaho, Montana, Dakota and Washington Territory that have 
hardly yet been examined. 

The total production of gold and silver for the year 1880 was about $74,- 
500,000, while the out-put in 1881 was nearly $77,000,000. It is a noticeable 
feature in mining operations that the production of gold mines in this country 
and other lands is gradually falling off, indicating that gold mines are becoming 
exhausted. 

There may still be rich gold fields in the northern part of the North Ameri- 
can Continent as indicated by the glaciers which have dropped gold all along 
their course in Indiana and other States. Prospecting for the precious metals 
ought not to be left entirely to private enterprise, but it could be incorporated in 
the scientific survey, and thus be fostered by the government. Great losses are 
often entailed by individuals and companies which a little scientific knowledge 
would have prevented. Every government certainly has the right to develop its 
natural resources.— Kansas City Journal. 


54 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


THE PRODUCT OF GOLD AND SILVER FOR 385 YEARS. 


Dr. Adolph Soetbeer publishes a report upon the precious metals, taking the 
year 1493 as the starting date in his computations, claiming that the modern his- 
tory of gold and silver begins with the return of Columbus from his first voyage 
to the New World. Towards the end of the fifteenth century, before the treas- 
ures of America were unlocked, the supply of the precious metals in civilized 
countries had fallen far below the requirements of trade. Mr. Jacobs’ conjecture 
in regard to the specie which was available for the exchanges of Europe in 1492, 
rates the total sum at no more than $165,000,000. Since then the mines of the 
world have furnished over fourteen and a half billions in silver and gold. We 
present below a valuation of the weights tabulated by Dr. Soetbeer, for three 
hundred and eighty-two years, from 1493 to 1875, supplemented by an estimate 
of the production for the three years 1875 to 1878, uncovered by his table: 


Production of precious metals 
from 1493 to 1878. 


COS ioec Gg ole oa eB ab oo alo) 5 WO,OTA, 108,087 
SUMS. soars oh ait | lode etisehs ton eiah ce ehetae eet cher tae Sen OW OA ZO HO2O 
APOtal 2. Soph et gelortete ee he Mee al en DUT CORO ONOOT 


We desire at present to direct attention to the steady increase in the supply 
of the precious metals from century to century, and especially to the enormous 
figures of the gold production during the last twenty-eight years. That the position 
may be seen at a glance, we have prepared tables of the annual average supply 
for each of the precious metals by decades or double-decades from 1493 to the 
end of last year. The production of each century is summarized and averaged 
by itself. Our readers will do well to preserve the tables for reference. Aver- 
age annual production : . 


SIXTEENTH CENTURY. 


Years. Gold. Silver. 
TKO) KO) SACO) GG Golo & 6 4 6 oHEpSSOyS7G. GY e.0ns. 125 
SOI NEG) SUG SANG AB GN iu 6 to 6. dle PGS SO) 3,867,325 
WSUS) TEKS) ol ahGi/b edo) 6! SyORRS AO 13,359,950 
MATION SO.5 DG te ao arono 6) hy GAR COA 12,841,062 
TMS SHTP HOY WOOK) A Sr Bi SIS SAA 1b Ay OOA, TANS 17,960, 337 


The total production in the one hundred and eight years, from 1493 to 1600, 
amounted to $501,693,248 gold, an average of $4,645,307 per annum; and 
$976,024,900 in silver, an average of $9,065,045. 


THE PRODUCT OF GOLD AND SILVER FOR 385 YEARS. 


SEVENTEENTH CENTURY. 


Years. 
1601 to 1620. 
1621 tO 1640. . 
1641 to 1660. . 
1661 to 1680. . 
1681 tO 1700 . 


Gold. 


. $5,662,392 


5,516,180 
4,828,542 
6,154,196 
7,154,419 


Silver 
$18,134,837 
16,875,600 
15,705,112 
14,448,875 
14,658,962 


59 


The total auction in tne. one nindied years, from 1601 to 1700, amount- 


ed to $606,3 


14,580 gold, an average of $6,063,145 per annum; 
407,750 silver, an average of $15,964,077. 


EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 


Years. 
OU 160) nye) oc 
M72 yt ON 7 AON 
1741 to 1760 . 
1761 to He : 
1781 to;1800 


Gold. 


DORMS Out 2 


12,680,568 
16,355,806 
13,700,543 
MIPOZe nay 


and 


Silver. 
$15,246,350 
18,487,700 
22,858,591 
27,986,227 
27,689,697 


$1,596,- 


In the hundred years, 1701 to 71396. the production aggregated $1, 262, 806,- 
4oo gold, an average of $12,628,064; and $2,445 371,337 silver, an average of 


$24,154,713. 


NINETEENTH CENTURY. 


Years. 
1801 to 1810. . 
Ta WO) LEA) G 
1g2r to 1830. 
1831 to 1840. 
1841 to 1850. 
1851 to 1860. 
1861 to 1870. 
1871 to 1878. 


Gold. 


DIL OLS 25.5 


7,606, 347 
9,447-953 
13,484,060 
36, 392,831 
134,107,307 
125,284,742 
112,081,628 


Silver. 
$38,336,681 
23,185,513 
19,746,510 
25,572,793 
33,460, 293 
38, 396,813 
52,312,537 
82,400,000 


In the seventy-eight years, 1801 to 1878, the production aggregated $4, 278, - 
938,135 gold, an average of $54,846,642 per annum; and $2,969, 306,913 silver, 


an average of $38,068,037 per annum. 


56 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


IBOOK INOTICES. 


A History or THE St. Louis Bripcr. By C. M. Woodward, Professor of 
Mathematics and Applied Mechanics, and Dean of the Polytechnic School 
of Washington University. 4to, pp 400. Illustrated. G. I. Jones & Co., 


St. Louis, Publishers. 

Long before the St. Louis Bridge was completed, Captain Eads, its illustrious 
builder, closed a report to the Board of Directors with the following statement : 
‘¢ When all of the many difficulties that have retarded this great work shall have at 
last been surmounted and the Bridge becomes an accomplished fact, it will be 
found unequaled in the important qualities of strength, durability, capacity and 
magnitude by any similar structure in the world.” : 

That the bridge has become an accomplished fact and stands without a rival 
in the world everybody knows; but of the difficulties upon whose solution the 
success of the bridge as a work of engineering depended, there is very little 
knowledge. Doubtless in every great work new questions come up which have 
never before presented themselves for practical answers ;, but it is doubtful if any 
other work transcended experience at so many points. Of all these difficulties, 
of the various attempts both successful and unsuccessful to overcome them, and 
of the construction and erection of the bridge in every detail, Prof. Woodward 
gives an account which cannot fail to meet the demands both of the professional 
and non-professional reader ; the happy combination of a plain statement of facts 
with an interesting story of events makes the work altogether sud generis. It is 
complete, clear, concise and entertaining. The book is really much more than a 
history of the St. Louis Bridge; its principal claim to a high place among books 
which last for all time is, that it has put together a great mass of experience in 
engineering work which would otherwise have remained scattered and useless, be- 
cause inaccessible, and these he has placed in form ready for use by all the world 
whenever wanted. By a judicious arrangement of subjects and indices, the read- 
er is enabled to find just what he may want without reading over much which he 
may not want, so that the book must prove invaluable to engineers and scientists 
as a work of reference. As a record of the planning and erection of a structure 
which required at times consummate skill both of a head and hand and not un- 
frequently demanded immediate answers to questions upon which experience was 
dumb, the book contains many chapters which would be valuable additions to 
scientific literature if published separately. Some of these are deserving of special 
mention. : 

The sinking of the piers was itself a great scientific work. When it is re- 
membered that, owing to the treacherous nature of the river, which at times 
cours its bed of the sediment which it had deposited years before, the great piers 


BOOK NOTICES. 57 


of masonry had to be sunk to the bed rock of the river, the magnitude of this un- 
dertaking, upon which the ultimate success of the entire work depended, will at 
once appear. The deepest of the piers went down tro feet below the surface of 
the water and of this distance more than two-thirds was below the bottom of the 
river. Caissons of iron were used in sinking the piers, and the weight of the 
masonry furnished the pressure for sinking the caissons. The special peculiarities 
consist of the magnitude of the masses of material handled and the number of 
special devices which the needs of the moment only could suggest. It does not 
seem probable that any large bridge will in future be built upon piers before its 
engineer has carefully studied the methods employed in sinking the piers of the 
St. Louis bridge, and for this reason the value of the chapters devoted to this 
subject cannot at present be fully estimated. 

The sinking of the piers afforded exceptional opportunities not easily repro- 
duced for the study of the ‘‘ Physiological effects of Compressed Air.” | Under this 
title Prof. Woodward gives a resumé of the experiences of the men who were em- 
ployed in in the caisson and an exhaustive discussion of the subject from a scien- 
tific standpoint. The explanations here given of phenomena, no doubt observed 
before, are, so far as we know, quite new and have been endorsed by some of the 
best physicians in the country. 

The special features in the manufacture of materials for the superstructure of 
the bridge will be well shown by the following quotation from the book itself: 

‘¢No sooner were preparations made for the construction of the arches than 
practical difficulties appeared. It is true many of them had been anticipated, 
but it is equally true that the difficulties actually met surpassed the shrewdest 
conjecture. The steel makers found that their facilities were inadequate to the 
magnitude of the work undertaken; their workmen were unskilled; and their 
foremen without experience in working steel in such large masses. 

‘¢Both iron and steel makers were unaccustomed to the rigid tests required. 
The insertion into specifications of the items of elastic limit and modulus of elas- 
ticity was a new feature in bridge contracts. Moreover, the detail drawings and 
specifications indicated a grade of workmanship altogether exceptional. To be 
sure they involved nothing, as regarded accuracy, either impossible or even diffi- 
cult, but they were unusual and of course expensive. All these things now add 
to the value and fame of the great work; without them this bridge would be 
merely one of a thousand bridges, and this history never would have been writ- 
ten; but in 1871, ’72 and ’73, the fame of the bridge had little weight with a 
contractor or with a stockholder. 

‘Most of the real difficulties were actually overcome; and through the influ- 
ence of Mr. Eads’s specifications the standard of good workmanship was raised 
throughout the world. In the construction of the St. Louis bricge, engineering 
made progress. Let me quote on this point from so eminent an authority as 
London Engineering: Im its issue of October 10, 1873, the editor said: ‘ Our 
present requirement being to select some example of the most highly developed 
type of bridge-building of the present day, we have no difficulty in passing be. 


58 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


fore ourselves in mental review the different works now in progress thoughout the 
world, and we have still less difficulty in electing as our example the magnificent 
arched bridge now almost completed by Capt. Eads, at St. Louis. In that work 
the alliance between the theorist and the practical man is complete. The highest 
powers of modern analysis have been called into requisition for the determination 
of the strains, the resources of the manufacturer have been taxed to the utmost 
in production of material and perfection of ‘workmanship, and the ingenuity of 
the builder has been alike taxed to put the unprecedented mass into place. In 
short, brain power has been called into action in every department. a as 

*k? 

Thus wrote the accomplished critic, unmindful for the time of the perplexi- 
ties of the manufacturer, the misgivings of the contractor, the anxieties of the 
capitalist, and the trials of the engineer. Each in his place was abundantly ex- 
ercised. When cross examined before the tribunal of actual work, the steel and 
iron makers who had given such repeated assurance of their ability to construct 
all that was required, confessed themselves less confident and sometimes com- 
pletely at loss, and more than all, after careful study of the drawings and speci- 
fications, even when numerous changes had been made with a view to lessening 
the cost of construction, the contractors claimed that the quality of workman- 
ship required was far beyond their expectation and that on many points Mr. 
Eads demanded impossibilities. Every detail was sharply discussed, and agree- 
ments were reached at the expense of time and generally of money. 

A complete account of all these difficulties, and of the ways in which some 
were overcome and others avoided, makes of these chapters a standard author- 
ity on the manufacture of iron and steel in large pieces; in the same way the 
records of the tests of materials, and methods and machines used in testing, have 
a value far beyond that of showing the care and precision with which every part 
of the work was constucted. 

The chapter on ‘‘ The Theory of the Ribbed Arch” is also deserving of 
special mention; the subject has never been more beautifully and satisfactorily 
discussed. All the mathematical calculations used are given in detail. 

The book is a quarto of nearly 400 pages, and is as well printed as any book we 
have ever seen. It is illustrated by thirty-nine large plates of drawings, showing 
accurately every detail of the bridge. The drawings were made by Wm. Ger- 
hardt, of St. Louis, and photo-lithographed by Julius Bien, of New York. They 
are unsurpassed. ‘There are also eleven artotype plates, made by R. Benecke, 
of St. Louis, giving excellent views of the bridge in process of erection, and 
seventy-two diagrams illustrating special points. 

The book has received the highest endorsement from professional engineers. 


BOOK NOTICES. 


Birps-Nestinc. By Ernest Ingersoll, 12mo. pp. 110. Salem, Mass., Geo. 

A. Bates, 1882, $1.00. For sale by the Nauralist’s Bureau. 

This little volume, made up from a series of articles by the prolific and al- 
ways entertaining and instructive author, first published in the columns of Sczence 
News, is intended for a hand book of instruction in gathering and presuming the 
nests and eggs of birds for the purposes of study. 

The topics are Field Work, in which instructions are given for discovering 
nests, on the habits of birds, naming eggs, etc. ; Preparation of Specimens, in- 
cluding descriptions and illustrations of the various implements used; How to 
construct and arrange the Cabinet ; Lists of birds whose nidification is unknown; 
Bird architecture; the whole concluding with a full index. 

To amateur collectors, or even to experts, this book will be found eminently 
useful, while to the casual reader it will be found to possess much of interest. 


Joun INGLESANT, a Romance. By J. Henry Shorthouse, 12mo. pp. 445: Mac- 
Millan & Co., New York, 1882. For sale by M. H. Dickinson, $1.00. 
This might just as well be termed a historical novel, but since the author 

prefers to call it a philosophical romance, the reader may take his choice, but 

under either title he will find it an unusually attractive story, not only from its 
historical truthfulness, its skillful management of characters and plot, but also 
from the strictness with which the philosophical element is kept in view at all 
times. The author says on this point, ‘‘ In books where fiction is used dnly to 
introduce philosophy, I believe that that it is not to be expected, that human life 
is to be described simply as such. ‘The characters are, so to speak, sublimated, 
they are only introduced for a set purpose and having fulfilled this purpose— 
were it only to speak half a dozen words—they vanish from the stage.” If this 
be his only purpose, he has succeeded admirably in masking his object with an ac- 
curacy of description, a selection of important and thrilling events in history and 

a fascinating style of writing, so that many if not most readers will find the 

romance er se rather than the philosophical lesson the prominent feature. 


First Lessons IN GeEoLocy. By Prof. A. S. Packard, Jr., Brown University. 

Octavo, pp. 128, illustrated. Providence Lithograph Co., Providence, R. 

Ie ESA 

This is a text book to accompany a series of lithographic charts known as the 
Chautauqua Scientific Diagrams, Series No. 1. Geology. It is written in a clear 
and popular style, while Professor Packard’s connection with it guarantees its cor- 
rectness beyond question. The charts are of large size, fairly executed and a 
very excellent aid to a lecturer or teacher in illustrating his subject. There are 
ten in number, beginning with the Action of Water, including glaciers, cafions, 
etc., then the Action of Heat including volcanoes, geysers, earthquakes, etc. 
America during the silurian, devonian, carboniferous, triassic and jurassic, cre- 


60 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


taceous, tertiary, pre-glacial and glacial periods. They will make a useful addi- 
tion to our school literature. 


THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE ACADEMY OF ScIENCE, OF ST. Louis; Vol. IV, No. 
2, octavo pp. 394. Published by the Secretary, $2.00. 
This handsomely printed volume contains important papers by Dr. G. Sey- 
tiarth, “Profs. C. V. Riley, “FE. Nipherm, © Ay diodd:) He Ss PritchettaGcar 
Engelmann and E. A. Engler. We reprint one of these papers in the present 


issue of the Review, and shall present others to our readers in the future as may 
seem appropriate. 


OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 


Commercial Relations of the United States, Nos. 13, 14, 15, from Hon. R. 
T. Van Horn; Transactions of the Seismological Society of Japan, Vol. II, from 
Prof. H. M. Paul; Bulletin of the U. S. National Museum, No. 22; Little 
known Facts about well known Animals, from Prof. C. V. Riley; Medicinal 
Flora of Kansas, by Robt. J. Brown, Leavenworth, Kansas; Time-Keeping in 
Paris, by Edmund A. Engler, St. Louis, Mo.; Report of the standing commit- 
tee on water on the Impurity of the Water Supply of Boston, with the report of 
Prof. fra Remsen, on the subject ; Directions for Collecting and Preserving In- 
sects, by Prof. A. S. Packard, Jr., M. D.; Retarded Development in Insects, by 
Prof. C. V. Riley; the Paleolithic Implements of the Valley of the Delaware; 
What is Anthropology? a lecture by Prof. Otis T. Mason; The 17th Annual Cat- 
alogue of Officers and Students of the Massachusetts Trctiewe of Technology, 
1881-2 ; Catalogue of Officers and Students of Marietta College, Ohio, 1881-2; 
Hints for Painters, Industrial Publication Co., N. Y., 25c; The Silk-Worm, a 
Manual of Instruction for the Production of Silk, by Prof. C. V. Riley; The 
Pacific Northwest, Oregon and Washington Territory, from A. L. Maxwell. 


SClaIN WWE WSC IAIN Y, 


SOME RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANIC ARTS. 
BY F. B. BROCK, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


AUTOMATIC CASH SYSTEM. 
A novel apparatus, designed to take the place of cash-boys in large stores, 
provides a cash-box, detachably secured to an endless cord by a spring-actuated 
clamping-lever. The box rests on a grooved track, and is stopped by coming in 


SOME RECENT IMPROVEMENTS 1N THE MECHANIC ARTS, 61 


contact with projections on the under side of a cover of a trough fixed to the 
track, into which the cash-box enters. The box is unclamped from the endless 
cord by a clamping-lever, and a projection on the box bearing against two spring- 
guides on the under side of the trough ‘cover. Raising the cover of the trough 
removes the spring-guides and the stops on the trough-cover from the cash-box, 
which is then engaged with and carried forward by the endless cord. 


COMPRESSING AND COOLING AIR. 


This novel improvement consists in providing the cylinder of an air-compres- 
sor with two independent water-chambers arranged respectively upon the opposite 
ends or heads of the cylinder, and through which a current of cold water is con- 
tinually flowing. A third water-chamber surrounds the body of the cylinder. 
This latter chamber is divided into two compartments, each of which is supplied 
with cold water near the ends of the cylinder; but they have a common outlet 
through an annular passage arranged between them. 


MAKING BREAD BY MACHINERY. 


The bakers’ fraternity, realizing the importance of making and baking bread 
which shall offer serious competition to what is properly called home-made bread, 
have made quite a number of improvements. It is of importance in bread-mak- 
ing that the fibre of the dough be as nearly continuous as possible on the outside, 
so that the loaves may appear white and flaky where they break apart, and also to 
prevent them from drying out toorapidly. In making bread by hand conformity 
to these conditions is easy. By the use of machinery, however, the dough is 
cut into loaves by sharp knives, thus leaving the ends and sides without the fib- 
rous covering, causing them to break badly. By the use of a novel bread-mak- 
ing machine this difficulty is said to be entirely obviated. This machine presses 
rather than cuts the dough apart, so that the fibre of the of the grain shall be pre- 
served continuous. ‘This object is accomplished by using in the cutting-machine 
thick knives which are rounded instead of sharp. 


COMBINED MUFF AND LUNCH RECEPTACLE, 


A novel lunch-receptacle and muff consists of two covered receptacles joined 
at their upper and lower extremities, leaving an intermediate padded space in 
which the hands are placed. The outside of this combined receptacle and muff, 
is highly finished and ornamented, so as to adapt it for street wear. 


IMPROVED PIPE-JOINT COUPLING. 


A late improvement consists of a pipe-joint for coupling pipes at any angle 
with each other. The coupling proper consists of two hemispherical shells fitting 
each other with an annular overlap joint. Each half shell has a pipe opening 
suitably screw-threaded, to receive the adjacent ends of the pipes. In order to 
keep the hemispherical shells in place and steam or water-tight, a central bolt is 
provided, passng through the shells, when it is desired to set the pipe-joint at a 
certain angle this bolt is loosened and the shells adjusted, after which the thread- 
ed bolt is again tightened. 


62 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


SIGNALING BY ELECTRICITY. 


This electric-signaling apparatus consists of a relay having a movable arma- 
ture and retractor anda device for alternately breaking and closing the circuit there- 
of, combined with a local battery and circuit for operating registering apparatus, 
the terminals of which are controlled by the said relay-armature, whereby the 
condition of the local circuit is changed both at the movement of the relay-arma- 
ture from and at its movement toward the poles of its magnet. A record is thus 
made both at the opening and closure of the main or relay circuit. 

MACHINERY FOR WAXING PAPER. 


This novel paper-waxing apparatus comprises a heated waxing-pan having a 
bar beneath its surface under which the paper is required to pass. The paper is 
then led to a pair of distributing, compressing, and calender rolls, located above 
or nearly over said pan, and an independent smoothing and cleaning device is 
located on the delivery side of said rollers. 

DESULPHURIZING FURNACE. 


A late and new process for desulphurizing ores consists of the following suc- 
cessive steps: first, drying the ore; second, subjecting the dried ore in a close 
chamber to thorough agitation; third, subjecting the ore to the action of heat ; 
and, fourth, injecting hot air which has been dehydrated or deprived of its moist- 
ure. The air, before being admitted to the roasting-chamber, is dehydrated by 
being forced through a body of common salt. 


ARTIFICIAL FILTRATION. 


As illustrations of the process of filtration on a large scale, nothing better can 
be had, perhaps, than the filter-beds of the London Water Companies. They 
cover altogether close upon eighty-four acres of ground; and though they vary 
very greatly in their composition, the principle on which they are constructed is 
the same in all cases, and any one of them may be taken to exemplify the opera- 
tion. In practice, all the companies requiring to filter their water do so by al- 
lowing it to stand in huge reservoirs, the bottoms of which are porous, and sup- 
ported on brick &’rches, which at once form the base of the filter-beds, and the 
roof of a water-tank, from which the purified water is pumped up into the mains. 
The composition of the filter-beds varies with each company. The New River 
Company, the largest of them all, make their filters of two feet three inches of 
sand, underneath which are three feet of gravel, increasing in coarseness toward 
the bottom. Others are more elaborate. ‘The Grand Junction Waterworks Com- 
pany, for instance, make their filters by first depositing one foot of boulders, 
over which are nine inches of coarse gravel, then nine inches of fine gravel, six 
inches of hoggin, and two feet six inches of Harwich sand. The Lambeth and 
the Chelsea Companies, again, construct their beds of shells, as well as sand and 
gravel, though in different proportions, one having altogether eight feet of filter- 


ANCIENT ROMAN COIN. 63 


ing material, the other only seven feet. The object of all of them, however, is 
to make a porous bed through which the water will percolate slowly enough to 
insure efficient purification, but yet not so slowly as to make the process too 
tedious and expensive. As to what should be the rate at which the process may 
be carried on to be effective, is a point upon which authorities differ somewhat. 
Dr. Tidy considers that it should be as nearly as possible two gallons per square 
foot per hour; Colonel Frank Bolton, the Water Examiner under the Metropoli- 
tan Act of 1871, thinks it may be two and a half gallons. All agree, however, 
that it must not be too rapid. 

Such filter-beds as those of the London companies are only modifications of 
the natural process of filtration up through beds of gravel and sand, from which 
the best of spring water flows. Authorities say that the sand not only acts asa 
strainer, but it performs the office of the rock in bringing every particle of the 
water into close contact with the air. The sand, they tell us, is but a vast col- 
lection of minute rocks; and every grain of sand is a particle of rock, incased in 
a film of air. 


ANCIENT ROMAN COIN. 


St. Louis, April 27, 1882. 


Epitor Kansas City Review :—The following account of an ancient coin 
found in Illinois will without doubt be interesting to your readers. A few weeks 
since Dr. J. F. Snyder of Virginia, Cass Co., Illinios, wrote tome: ‘A rural 
friend in this county some time ago found on his farm a curious bronze coin or 
ornament, which he requested me to send to St. Louis or elsewhere for identifi- 
cation. Supposing that you are a numismatician as well as an archeologist, I 
will send it to you for your opinion.” 

Upon examination I identified it as a coin of Antiochus IV., surnamed Epi- 
phanes, one of the kings of Syria, of the family of the Seleucidz, who reigned 
from 175 B. C. to 164 B. C., and who is mentioned in the Bible (first book of 
Maccabees, chapter 1, verse 10) as a cruel persecutor of the Jews. 

The coin bears on one side a finely executed head of the King, and on the 
obverse a sitting figure of Jupiter, bearing in his extended right hand a small figure 
of Victory and in his left a wand or sceptre, with an inscription in ancient Greek 
characters—BASILEOS, ANTIOCHOU, EPIPHANOUS, and another word partly defaced 
which I believed to be NIKEPHOROU ; the translation of which is King Antiochus, 
Epiphanes (Illustrious), the Victorious. When found it was very much black- 
ened and corroded from long exposure, but when cleaned it appeared in a fine 
state of preservation and but little worn. 


Yours truly, ES BTL DER. 


64 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


2 DEPORT A INC iis! 


IN commencing the Sixth Volume of the 
REVIEW we are gratified to be able to state 
that it has continued to receive flattering 
commendations from all sources on the im- 
provements made in its appearance within 
the past year and upon the popular character 
and good quality of the articles published. 
One of the most frequent comments of East- 
ern writers is surprise that the people of the 
West, where money making is supposed to 
be the chief object of life, should continue 
to support a magazine of its grade and pur- 
pose. They forget or overlook the fact that 
in the West liberality goes with money mak- 
ing and that many persons, who have little 
time to read the REVIEW, think it worthy of 
support and have it sent to distant friends 
as an evidence of the progress Kansas City 
is making as a centre of intelligence and 
knowledge as well as a commercial empo- 
Numerous instances can be given 
where this kind of patronage has resulted to 
the advantage of the whole community ata 
very small cost to the individual. As has 
several times been stated, the publication of 
the REVIEW is a labor of love with its pro- 
prietor, who can only devoie his evenings to 
the work and who has no expectation that it 
will ever be a source of profit, but who feels 
that it is an enterprise that should be foster- 
ed by all good citizens, not only for the good 
it may do in their own families, where it 
will pay for itself many times over every 
year,—but also because it helps to round out 
the city in those features which make it a 
desirable and attractive residence for the 
best classes of people. 


rium. 


ALL subscribers wishing back numbers of 
the REVIEW bound can have it done in hand- 
some half morocco and cloth for $1.00 per 
volume by leaving them at this office. 


THE Sixth Annual Meeting of the Kansas. 
City Academy of Science will be held at ‘the 
First Baptist Church, corner of 12th street 
and Baltimore Ave., on the last Tuesday of 
this month. The annual address will be de- 
livered by Rev. Alex. Proctor. The exer- 
cises are open to the public. 


THE Signal Service Bureau has published 
the Report of Sergeant J. P. Finley, on the 
Tornadoes of May 29 and 30, 1879, in Kan- 
sas and Missouri, and No. 4 of its Profession- 
al Papers. It is a comprehensive account, 
statistical, descriptive and theoretical, of the 
whole subject, which we shall take occasion 
to notice fully hereafter. Mr. Finley or 
some other officer of the Signal Corps will be 
sent out soon to investigate the tornadoes of 
last month, in which case we are expecting a 
synopsis of his report in advance. 


Pror. Wm. Dawson, the Quaker shoe- 
maker astronomer, of Spiceland, Indiana, 
says of the REVIEW in a recent letter, ‘I 
count it among the very choice part of my 
magazine literature, and hope to long receive 
Tig? 


THE Twenty-First Annual Session of the 
Missouri State Teachers’ Association will be 
held at Sweet Springs, (Brownsville) Saline 
County, Missouri, June 20, 21 and 22, 1882. 
Every friend of education is requested to en- 
courage, by his presence, the objects of the 
Association. 


THIS number of the REVIEW has been great- 
ly delayed awaiting the receipt of the cuts 
for the completion of Mr. Wortman’s artic'e 
on the ‘‘Origin and Development of Exists 
ing Horses.”’ When they did finally arrive 
mistakes were discovered necessitating the 
omission of the article and the substitution of 
another. 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 69 


THE committee appointed by the National 
Academy of Science to investigate and re- 
port upon the sorghum-sugar industry, de- 
clares sorghum to be the best sugar produc- 
ing plant next to the sugar cane of Louis- 
iana, and that it has a continental spread of 
variableness and adaptation to various soils 
and climates of the United States. 


ABOUT two years ago Mr. Leigh Smith, an 
English gentleman, sailed in=his own yacht 
to penetrate the ice-barriers of the Polar Sea, 
since when he has not been heard of. The 
Geographical Society of England is going to 
send a search expedition out after him. 


De LzEsseps has recently celebrated his 
seventy-seventh birth day anniversary, at 
which time he announced that the Panama 
Canal would be completed by 1888, and that 
he expected to be at hand onthe occasion of 
formally opening it. 


PROF. TROWBRIDGE, of Glasgow, will give 
up teaching at the end of the present session 
and devote himself for a year to collectiag 
specimens of natural history. He already has 
a very large collection which he wishes to 
dispose of to some western institution, but 
if he does not succeed in this it will go to 
some eastern museum. No better opportun- 
ity can be found for purchasing a first-class 
collection. 


GENERAL HAZEN, Chief Signal Officer U. 
S. Army, promises to furnish the REVIEW 
with information, reports, etc., from the two 
Arctic stations, Lady Franklin Bay and Point 
Barrow, when received, probably in Septem- 
ber or October. 


THE number of distinguished scientists 
and literary men who have died during the 
present year is quite unusual. Draper, Dar- 
win, Thomson, Longfellow and Emerson, 
were all men of world-wide reputations, 
though but one or two of them had reach- 
ed much beyond sixty years of age. In our 
own State, Prof. J. T. Hodgen, of St. Louis, 
who died last week was a most skillful sur- 
geon and able writer. 


ProF. REID, of BesMoines, Iowa, in offer- 
cole I 
can in this way aid you in your arduous en- 
terprise I wish to do it, for I know right 
well how difficult it is to keep up sucha 


ing an article for publication says: 


magazine as you are publishing, in this in- 
tensely business-ridden country.” 


Pror. C. A. YOUNG, the astronomer at 
Princeton College, took occasion in a recent 
pulpit lecture, to correct Maedler’s theory of 
a central sun about which ours and all other 
solar systems are revolving as a common 
center. 


THE Signal Service officers are collecting 
data for a comprehensive report upon the 
late flood in the Mississippi River which will 
be published as soon as practicable. 


Dr. R. J. BRown’s report upon the Medi- 
cinal Plants of Kansas gives evidence of a 
great amount of careful and well directed 
personal labor which will be of especial im- 
portance to the State as the subject is still 
further developed. 


Pror, G. C. BROADHEAD says of the wood 
being used in paving Wyandotte Street in 
this city: ‘*It seems to be the kind used 
for telegraph poles, sometimes called white 
cedar, In Prof. Sargent’s catalogue of ‘North 
American Forest Trees,’ he includes Chame- 
cyparis Spherotdea : wood reddish, light, soft, 
easily split and worked, and very durable. 
Still it seems too soft for my idea of paving- 
blocks. I don’t like it. Use granite—Mis- 
souri Granite—and you will have a solid, 
good street.” 


Hon. D. C. ALLEN, of Liberty, Mo., calls 
the attention of archzologists to certain an- 
cient earthworks that he has observed in this 
portion of the State; the first in Cass County 
about half way between Strasburg and Gunn 
City and the other in DeKalb County, about 
three miles from Maysville on the road to- 
ward Cameron. Weshall be glad to publish 


a full account of them in a future number, 


66 


THE U. 5. Steamer Rodgers, which went 
to the Arctic regions last year in search of 
the Jeanette, was destroyed by fire near the 
coast of eastern Siberia January 1, 1882. 
The Steamer Corwin has been ordered to the 
relief of her officers and crew. 


Tue First Annual Exposition of the Na- 
tional Mining and Industrial Association 
will be held at Denver, commencing August 
ist. It is intended to be the most complete 
and extensive exhibit of agricultural and 
and mineral products ever made in the west. 


ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS. 


Tue April number of the Wzzeteenth Cen- 
tury contains an article on the subject of 
quieting the stormy waves of the ocean by 
the use of oil. Many cases are cited where 
this means has resulted successfully. 


No. 31 of the well-known Humboldt Li- 
brary, published by J. Fitzgerald & Co., No. 
30 Lafayette Place, New York, consists of 
Part II of Richard Chevenix French’s Study 
of Words. It is most curious, interesting 
and valuable. Price for the two parts, 120 
pages, 30 cents. 


AmonG the best articles in Harper's Month- 
ly for May, aside from the excellent stories, 
are: Spanish Vistas, by Geo. P. Lathrop. 
Pennybacker’s appreciative sketch of the 
Life and Work of David Rittenhouse, one of 
the earlier American Scientists, and F. John- 
son’s description of ‘‘The Upper Peninsula 
of Michigan.” 


THE Atlantic Monthly for May, 1882, pre- 
sents the following table of contents: Two 
ona Tower, I.-IV., Thomas Hardy; Mad 
River, in the White Mountains, Henry Wads- 
worth Longfellow; The Arrival of Man in 
Europe, John Fiske; Aunty Lane, H. H.; 
Old Fort Chartres, Edward G. Mason; Doc- 
tor Zay, III.-V, Elizabeth Stewart Phelps. 
‘Sage or Poet, Edith M. Thomas; Progress 
in Agriculture by Education and Govern- 
ment Aid, II, Eugene W. Hilgard; The 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


House of a Merchant Prince, VIII, IX, Wil- 
liam Henry Bishop; Studies in the South, 
III; Evolution in Magic, Elizabeth Robins ; 
The French Panic, J. Lawrence Laughlin; 
The Divine Right of Kings, Mary W. Plum- 
mer; Renan’s Marcus Aurelius; The Con- 
tributors’ Club; Books of the Month. 


THE Missourz Statesman, the best weekly 
paper in Central Missouri, is making con- 
stant improvements in matter and manner 
and is entitled to full credit for its enterprise. 


WE find in the Popular Sctence Monthly, 
for May, the following: Methodsand Profit 
of Tree-Planting, by N. H. Egleston; Pro- 
fessor Goldwin Smith as a Critic, by Herbert 
Spencer; Monkeys, by Alfred Russell Wal- 


| lace; The Development of the Senses, by 


Robert W. Lovett; The Stereoscope, I, by 
W. Le Conte Stevens, (Illustrated); Meas- 
urements of Men, by Francis Galton, F. R. 
S.; Liberty of Thought, by Rev. E. Wood- 
ward Brown; A Reply to Miss Hardaker on 
the Woman Question, by Nina Morais; The 
Genesis of the Sword, (illustrated); On the 
Diffusion of Odors, by R. C. Rutherford ; 
Color-Blindness and Color-Perception, by 
Swan M. Burnett, M. D.; Stallo’s ‘“‘ Concepts 
of Modern Physics,” by W. D. Le Sueur; 
The Tree that Bears Quinine, by O. R. Bach- 
eler, M. D.; Sketch of Sir John Lubbock, 
Bart., M. P. (with portrait); Entertaining 
Varieties: The Mountains of the Moon: The 


' Chronicle of Hakim Ben Sheytan, etc.; Cor- 


respondence; Editor’s Table: Science and 
Culture; Literary Notices; Popular Miscel- 
lany and Notes. 


SUBSCRIBERS to the REVIEW can obtain 
all other magazines and books published in 


| this country or England at from 15 to 20 per 


cent discount from the regular prices. 
8 


Tue Kansas City REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND 
INDUSTRY is the most valuable periodical, 
devoted to science, published in the West, 
and indeed fills a place not occupied by any 
other magazine in the country.—C/znion 
(Wis.) Herald. 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 67 


THE Worth American Review for May con- Two murderers, named respectively Baber 
tains several valuable contributions by distin- and Ward, were hung in St. Louis a short 
guished writers; notably Party Schisms and | time ago. Immediately after the drop the 
Future Problems, by Hon. Carl Schurtz; pulse of each was counted up to the moment 
Days with Longfellow, by Samue: Ward; | of death, with the following result ; Ward’s 
The Navy, by Lieut. Commander Gorringe; | pulse was forty for the first minute. The 
The Spent Bullet, by Gail Hamilton. That third minute it was fifty-seven. After that 


there was a gradual decline, and in five 


last named has probably attracted as much 
attention as any of them though by no means 
the most deserving. It is a ‘‘smart’’ spe- | For the first half minute Baber’s pulse was 
cious, womanish essay, but as a just, critical normal, the next half it was thirty per min- 
review of President Garfield’s case it is ute. The second minute there was thirty- 
not entitled to any consideration. Its state- six strokes; third, sixty; fourth, seventy ; 
ments of fact are unfair and garbled; even | fifth, seventy-six ; sixth, fifty-eight; seventh, 
the conclusions drawn from them, as stated, seventy ; eighth, sixty-eight; ninth, forty- 
are illogical and unwarranted; the handling | six; tenth, forty-eight. At the close of the 
eleventh minute his pulse ceased, 


and a half minutes the pulse ceased to beat. 


of the sctentific questions involved is utterly 
unscientific; the discussion of the religious | 
points is flippant and irreverent. | 


Oilice of the Review ci Science and Industry. 


KANSAS CITY, MO.; May 1, 1882. 


The Sixth Volume of this popular Magazine begins with the May number, 
1882. It has attained a wide circulation among Teachers, Professional Men, 
Manufacturers, Miners and the best families of Missouri, Kansas, Colorado and 
the West generally. 

64 pages, Octavo, Monthly; $2.50 per annum. 

Clubs of four or more are allowed a discount of 25 per cent. 


ADDRESS, 


WisGeiO), “Ss iS leh 


Kansas City, Missouri. 


5 ts oe ei oe a <a a 


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REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 


A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 


SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 


WOE. MAR JUNE, 1882. NO. 2. 


PAIL AnOIN OMG, 


ON THE ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXISTING 
HORSES. 


BY JACOB L. WORTMAN. 
(Contenued from page 726, Vol. V.) 


The genus Ayracotherium, Owen, presents us with the next step in the direct 
line of ancestry. The dental formula is the same asin Phenacodus. A superior 
molar, Fig. 4,% shows the elements as seen in the corresponding tooth of Phena- 


LNGS. Fe 
Fig. 7.—Skull of Hyracotherixm venticolum, Cope. One-half natural size, after Cope. 
* Page 720, Vol. V. 
V1—5d 


68 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


point observable in some species of this genus, probably represents it, however. 
The anterior lobe x is strong. The four principal cusps ae, pe, az and fz are 
more elevated and conic, giving to the intervening spaces or valleys, greater 
depth. The cross crests acc and fcc assume more distinct proportions and tend 
to connect the internal with the external cusps. In the inferior molars the four 
principal lobes are higher and are connected by cross crests. The antero-poster- 
ior crest z passing from the postero-external to the antero-internal cusps is much 
better.developed. The antero-internal cusp is slightly bifid at its extremity and 
is traversed by a vertical groove on its inner side. A well-marked ridge & de- 
scends from the antero-external cusp ae, and becomes continuous with the cin- 
gulum below. This ridge is absent in Phenacodus. 

The feet (Fig. 8 and 9) show a reduction of one digit from the anterior and two 
from the posterior limbs. This genus is found in the lower Eocene, but a closely 
allied form is found in the upper Eocene beds. 


Fics. 8 AND 9. 


Left fore and hind feet of Hyracotherium venticolum, Cope. One-half natural size, from Cope. 
The next step in specialization we observe in the teeth of Chalicotheruda, a 


family in which the antero- and postero-external cusps of the superior molars are 
separated by an external vertical ridge (Fig. ro) y. The inferior molars Fig. 11 


ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXISTING HORSES. 69 


exhibit a still more complicated pattern, and furnish a complete transition between 
the inferior molars of yracothertum and the double crescents of the true Palec- 
theroid type. ‘This condition is accomplished by the greater development of 
the antero-posterior crest z, and the higher cross crests, connecting the external 
with the internal cusps as shown in the cut. The antero internal lobe az is di- 
vided into two distinct tubercles az and az’. The tidge & is strong and prominent. 
It is important to notice in this connection that while the teeth of the lower 
Eocene genera of this family (Lamébdotherium and Oligotomus, Cope) resemble very 
strongly the teeth of the lower forms of the Lophiodonts in the shortness 
of their crowns and approach to the Bunodont type, the latter genera possess 
more lengthened cusps and simulate the selenodont forms in the crescentic 
section of some of them. The connections 
between the Chalicotheritde and Lophiodon- 
tid@ are so close that it is indeed difficult to 
draw the dividing line between them. It 
has been constructed, however, upon the 
presence or absence of the external vertical 
rib of the superior molars, as already men- FIG. to. Fic. 1. 
tioned, but it is questionable whether this Fig. 10.—Right sup. molar of a species of Lamé- 
character is of true family significance or 7“? nat 8ize, (after Cope), 

: Fig. 11.—Lastinf. molar of left side of same, nat. 
not. The feet as far as known do not differ size, (after Cope). : 
from those of Lophiodontide. 


From this family, we pass to a consideration of the remaining links between 
them and the horses proper, which is afforded by the Puleotheritde. Here the 
premolars become more complicated and assume the same structure as the molars, 
while the anterior limbs suffer a still further reduction of digits, leaving three upon 
each, with the outer ones still more reduced (Fig. 14). In one genus, however, 
(Mesohippus, Marsh), the anterior limbs still retain a rudiment of the fifth meta- 
podal. The structure of the true molars in the lower forms of the Paleotheriide 
is very little different from the higher genera of the Chalicothertide and in point 
of dental specialization, the increased complexity of the premolars forms the only 
marked difference. 

_ A superior molar of Anchitherium is shown in Fig. 12. The four principal 
cusps ae, pe, a7 and fz, are considerably lengthened and are connected by high 
ridges acc and gcc, passing in an oblique direction across the crown. The eleva- 
tion of the cusps and crests gives increased depth to the valleys. The anterior 
basal lobe is reduced and the external rib y is strong. The crown is further com- 
plicated by the addition of the lobe /. 

In the inferior molars (Fig. 13) the two crescents are complete and their 
vertical dimentions augmented. The antero-internal lobe shows stronger separa- 
tion, forming the lobe az’, and the anterior ridge & is well produced. 


70 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


In all the preceding 
animals, the tibia and 
fibula are strong and 
distinct. The ulna and 
radius are also separate 
and the humerus pre- 
sents a single groove 
for the passage of the 
tendon of the biceps 
muscle, which latter fact 
is likewise true of An- 
chitherium. But in this 


Fic. 12. Fre. 13. f 
Fig. 12 —Left sup. molar of anchitherium Azveléense, nat. size, (after animal the fibula be- 
Gaudry). The letters pcc and acc should be made to change places. comes slender and its 
Fig. 13.--Left inferior molar of same, nat. size, (after Gaudry. distal extremity adheres 


closely to the tibia. The ulna is also reduced and shows a tendency to coéssifi- 
cation with the radius; and the skull in its general appearance is decidedly equine. 
The Paleotheritde range as far back as the middle Eocene, 
but the genus Anchitherium has not been found in any 
other strata than the lower and middle Miocene. 

Following close in geologic succession, we meet with 
another genus of this family, which, as we should antici- 
pate, departs more widely from the primitive ancestral 
type and approaches more closely to the modern horses. 
This is the genus Aippotherium, Kaup. ‘The outer toes 
are so much reduced as to have been practically function- 
less to the animal. The fibula is incomplete in the middle 
portion of its shaft, and its distal extremity is codssified 
with the tibia, while the ulna is firmly anchylosed with 
the radius but is still distinguishable throughout its whole 
extent. The bicipital groove of the humerus is double as 
in the existing horses, and with the teeth resemble those 
of the horses very strongly. The valleys are deepened 
by the lengthening of the cusps and ridges and are filled 
by a thick deposit of cementum. The crowns of the in- 
cisors also show that peculiar invagination seen in the i Et Siem 
incisors of the horse. The homologies of the various size, (after Gaudry. 
parts of the molars are seen in Fig. 15, a tooth in which the cementum has been 
removed, and the points of the cusps and ridges remain undisturbed by wear. 

It is noticeable that the four principal lobes ae, pe, ai and pz hold about the 
same relation to each other. ‘The cross crests acc and pcc have their obliquities 
increased, and the anterior bends around on the inner portion of the face and 


Fic. 14. 


ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXISTING HORSES. al 


becomes confluent with the posterior ridge gcc. The lobe / which was conic in 
ancitherium is elongated in a transverse direction 
| to the crown so as to close in the posterior valley 
and join the posterior external cusp fe with the 
posterior crest fcc. Additional vertical pillars are 
developed on the cross-ridges. In the inferior 
molars (Fig. 16) the lobe a’ is now completely 
separated and the ridge & rises to a level with the 
other cusps. The heel ” is also elevated and 
connected by a strong ridge. The filling up of 

Ret tnedcecien cfascccieser ip. tne valleys by" 2! deposit of cementum and the 
fotherium with cementum removed. For consequent attrition in mastication produce a 


worn condition’ of same see Fig. 17, nat. marked change in appearance from that seen in 


Ancitherium but by close observation the strictest homology is seen to exist. 

Figs. 17 and 18 represent an under and upper view of the cranium of //7p- 
potherium speciosum, Leidy, from Nebraska. 

But one other genus remains between Aippothe. 
vium and Lguus. This is the genus Protohippus, 
Leidy. The only character in which it differs from 
Hippothertum is found in the superior molars. Here 
the anterior internal lobe az is confluent with the an- 
terior cross crest acc as in the present horse. This Fic. 16. 
lobe in Avppotherium remains distinct. The feet of ete ees fe 
the two genera do not differ. Figs. 19 and 20 show (after Gaudry). 
two views of a skull of this animal. Fig. 21 represents a right posterior foot of 


the same individual. 


FTG) £7). 


Fig. 17.—Cranium of Hippotherium speciosum, under view, (after Cope). 

We come next to the Zguede containing one extinct genus, Wippidium, Owen, 
and one living, Zguus or horse. The outer toes are still further abbreviated and 
the metapodals terminate in imperfect distal extremities constituting the so- 
called ‘‘splint bones” (Fig. 22). The fibula is not distinguishable at its distal 


G2, KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


end and the ulna is so intimately blended with the radius as to completely dis- 
appear in the lower half of its extent. The internal lobes of the superior molars 
ai and fi, are connected with the cross-ridges acc and fcc (Fig. 23). The only 


nue, 1B. 


weit 
Ws HAN: \ \ 
au ik i 


l\ 


EiG. 19. : 
Skull of Profohippus sezunctus, (afier Cope). 


Fic. 20. 


Under view of same, (after Cope). 
diffe sce of generic value between Avppedium and Eguus is seen in the relative. 
of the antero- and postero-internal lobes az and gz. In Aguus the anterior az 


ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXISTING HORSES. 73 


is greatly enlarged and somewhat flattened while in Aippidium they are almost 
equal. 

It should be here remarked that the genus 
which holds direct antecedent relation to Hippother- 
tum is Paloplotherium, Owen. Here the anterior 
internal lobes of the superior molars are distinct and 
there is a slight deposit of cementum in the valleys. 
The additional lobe represented by / in Fig. 12, 
however, is very rudimentary if not in some instances 
entirely wanting. The ancestral line of Protohippus 
on the other hand is indicated by AM/esohippus and 
Anchithertum, i which the inner lobes of the superior 
molar are connected with the anterior and posterior 
cross-crests. 

Some species of A/ippotherium exhibit an enlarge- 
ment of the antero-internal lobes of the upper molars 
almost equal to that of Aguus with a marked tend- 
ency to confluence. A new species from the Loup 
Fork beds of Oregon which may be called Aippo- 
thertum stnclairt, exhibits these characters of the 
superior molars in common with AZ. occidentale. It 
may be distinguished from the species, however, by 
its small size and the less marked concavity of the 
inner contour of the antero internal lobe. This 
character reaches its maximum development in Zguus 
(Fig. 23 az). An arrangement of some of the 
species of “/zppotherium to show the extremes with 
reference to their approach or departure from the 
Fic. at. typical Hguus caballus in their characters would be 


Right posterior foot of Proftohippus AS follows : 
sejunctus, Cope ; one-half nat, size. f7. Pantense.—Anterior internal lobe cylindric 
and equal in size to posterior internal lobe. Plications of the enamel borders 
of the valleys few. 

FZ, seversum.— Anterior internal lobe pear-shaped with anterior angle bent 
inward to meet corresponding fold on cross-crest. Antero and postero-internal 
lobes sub-equal. 

ff. sinclairi.—Antero-internal lobe slightly concave on its inner border, and 
elongated fore and aft; much larger than posterior internal lobe. 

7. occidentale.—Species large. Enamel plications many. Anterior internal 
lobe greatly elongated fore and aft, crescentoid in section with concavity directed 
inward. Anterior cross-crest throws out one and sometimes two folds toward 
this lobe which almost connect it with cross crest. 


74 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


From these facts it is obvious that the Hippotheroid line terminated in Hguus 
while the Erotohippoid division terminated in Aippzdzum, and is extinct. 


Left fore foot of 
Equus cabalius, one- 
fifth nat. size, (after 
Gaudry). 


I have now made clear, I trust, the successive steps in mod1- 
fication of limb and dental structure from the five-toed semi- 
plantigrade bunadont /Phenacodus to the one-toed digitigrade 
selenodont Aguwus as exhibited in time by the different geologic 
horizons. It now remains to inquire into the causes that have 
led to these changes. Have they been the result of natural or 
physical forces, that are in operation around us today, as well 
as in the remote past, or have they been produced by supernat- 
ural influence in successive creations, as opposed to the conti- 
nuity of natural law, and by methods unknown? If this latter 
proposition be true we should find important breaks, sharply de- 
fining each new creation in the line of succession. But as I 
have attempted to show, the transition has been a gradual one 
and that each succeeding form in the ancestral line is distin- 
guished only by the intensity of its modification in a given di- 
rection, the weight of opinion must rest with the former. I 
dare say that if all the intervening individuals between /ena- 
codus and Lguus could be produced classification would be ut 
terly impossible, so insensible would be the gradation. Consid- 
ering the unfavorable conditions for their preservation, and the 
fractional part possible to examine in comparison to the whole 
area of deposit, the most remarkable fact is that paleontology 
can present such an array of evidence as it does. 

When we speak of physical methods much is implied; but 
if we seek for adequate causes to explain these changes, no field 


offers more conclusive results than the ordinary me- 

chanical uses of certain organs, as affecting their 
metamorphoses. Inregard to tooth structure gen- 
erally, Mr. J. A. Ryder has given us a most excel- 
lent treatise, ‘‘On the Mechanical Genesis of Tooth 
forms,”**in which heshows that the jaw movements 
of animals are intimately related to the modifica. 
tion of the component lobes, crests, and ridges of 
the crowns of the molar teeth. Healso points out 
that the restricted jaw-movements in which the 

mouth was simply opened and closed, is associated 
with the bunadont molar. That the various kinds 
of excursive mandibular movements have been de- 


Fic. 23. 


Left superior molar of a species of 
Equus ; natural size. 


veloped progressively. ‘‘ That as these excursive movements have increased in 
complexity there has been increase in the complexity of the enamel foldings.” 


* Proceedings Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, 1878. 


ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE EXISTING HORSES. 79 


If we attempt to apply these facts to the ancestry of the horse, it is by no 
means difficult to perceive that gradual change of habitat, causing a correspond- 
ing change in diet as already indicated, would also compel greater and greater 
mobility of the mandibular articulation for proper trituration of the new food. The 
excursions of the lower jaw in these animals have assumed a lateral direction 
which affords, as I believe, a sufficient explanation for the broadening of the crowns 
and the lateral flattening of the cusps. The obvious effect of force continually 
applied in this direction would be to wrinkle the enamel covering of the cusps 
and ridges, thereby producing the accessory pillars seen in the higher types. By 
this method, I apprehend, a more and more complex grinding surface has been 
produced. 

As to the causes of digital reduction, I have already assigned a primary 
reason. Prof. Cope has shown,* that in plantigrade quadrupeds the extremities 
of the toes are arranged in a semi-circle, when they are all applied to the ground. 
In the act of running the heel and wrist are raised, throwing the weight of the 
body upon the median digits. An infinite repetition of this posture in digitigrade 
creatures unable to withstand the attacks of their enemies and whose only escape 
was in flight, the strengthening of the median digits, and the consequent reduc- 
tion of the outer ones, would follow according to the Jaw of use and disuse of 
parts. This subtraction of toes has progressed step by step, until the modern one- 
toed horse has been reached. 

In conclusion I may say that by resort to natural methods for explanation 
of these modifications we at once bring the subject within the compass of rational 
understanding, but, if on the other hand we invoke supernatural influence, we im- 
mediately step into a realm about which the science of paleontology knows abso- 
lutely nothing and one which is diametrically opposed to the spirit of modern 
scientific research. 


The English have admitted the success of the electric light. Lamp posts 
have been erected in Bristol. The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company 
illuminate their station platforms with it and regard it cheaper than gas. Aln- 
wick Castle, the seat of the Duke of Northumberland, has also been illuminated. 
‘The library, a very large apartment, is lighted by three lamps, and the effect is 
reported superior to any light before used. 


* <¢On the Origin of Foot Structures in the Ungulates,’’ American Naturalist, April, 1881. 


76 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


MDE OimOlm@Eve 


TORNADO STUDIES FOR 1882. 
BY JOHN P. FINLEY, U. S. SIGNAL CORPS. 


Without speaking too positively about the future, but unreservedly concern- 
ing the past, I can venture to say that the year before us will probably be a re- 
markable one in the chronology of its tornado season. Already and unusually 
early has the dreaded work commenced, and evidences are rife of unexampled 
fury coupled with those unmistakable signs which characterize the manifestations 
of the funnel-shaped cloud, never to be forgotten when once experienced. 

Michigan was visited on the 6th day of April by remarkably violent tor- 
nadoes, especially the one which passed across the southern portion of the State, 
giving evidence of its wonderful power in VanBuren, Allegan, Kalamazoo, Barry, 
Eaton, Ingham, Livingston, and Oakland counties. This unfortunate and dis- 
astrous visitation upon the people of the Peninsula State was in part, but to a less 
degree, realized throughout portions of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois, on 
the same day and during the same afternoon. 

Within the extensive barometric trough which consumated its energy on 
that fatal day, whose major axis extended southwestward from the Upper Lake 
Region to northern Texas and its minor axis from the Mississippi and Ohio riv- 
ers northwestward to central Minnesota and southern Dakota, there appeared 
three points of local atmospheric intensity, viz: central Kansas, northeastern 
Missouri and the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. At the places here indicated 
the violence of atmospheric changes resulted in the formation of tornadoes. 

The work of investigation in Michigan has to a certain extent been completed, 
at least so far, so that it has been possible for me to accomplish the removal of 
my headquarters to Kansas City, Mo., where under special instructions from the 
Chief Signal Officer, I shall prosecute the work of investigation in the Lower Mis- 
sourl Valley. 

This region of country embraces the States of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri 
and Iowa, and can literally be termed the battle ground of tornadoes. It is here 
that this class of violent wind storms occur with the greatest frequency, the most 
unexampled violence, the most marked regularity, and with the most complete 
manifestation of their peculiar characteristics. Continuing my labors until the 
expiration of the tornado season, I shall, aside from the examination of any par- 
ticular tornado, with a view to gain new and important truths, give special atten- 
tion to the following important features of this class of violent wind-storms, viz : . 


TORNADO STUDIES FOR 1882. 77 


more definite information concerning the conditions precedent and favorable to 
the formation of tornadoes in general; the phenomena and laws of cloud develop- 
ment; the velocity and power of centripetal currents within the cloud vortex ; 
additional statistics respecting the tornadoes of former years; the arrangement 
and perfection of an acceptable scheme whereby reliable warnings can be sent to 
certain communities in advance of the tornado, announcing that conditions are 
favorable to its formation; and lastly, to prepare and disseminate such information 
as will direct people how to act in defense of their lives, and to a certain extent 
of their property, during the approach and passage of a tornado. In the accom- 
plishment of these momentous results or in bringing to light new points of value, 
I am desirous to enlist the active support of every intelligent person throughout 
the Lower Missouri Valley or elsewhere. There are not a few ways in which even 
the humblest can assist. If you cannot give any facts concerning a tornado of 
recent date write me what you &zow about one or more whose dates of occurrence 
number many years past. In every description of the tornado conform as nearly 
as possible to the character of the questions propounded in the accompanying 
circulars. Perhaps you can send me some article or publication bearing upon the 
climatology or meteorology of your State, or some portion of it. Photographs, 
sketches or printed cuts of the effects of the violence of any particular tornado, 
no matter what date, would be very valuable and thankfully received. 

As it will probably be impossible (owing to press of other work) for me 
to visit and conduct a personal examination in the case of every tornado that 
may occur in the Lower Missouri Valley or in adjoining States during the year, 
I will deem it a great favor, and it will certainly be a matter of most valuable ser- 
vice, if some one in the vicinity of a tornado’s path will kindly undertake to 
furnish me (at his earliest convenience after the tornado’s occurrence) with a 
complete history of its entire track. In performing this task, be careful to state 
as accurately as possible the place of beginning. This location is not necessarily 
where the tornado cloud frst descended to the ear¢h, although it may be, but 
more truly and hence more accurately, it is that particular spot or portion of coun- 
try over which (perhaps at a great height above the earth) the funnel-shaped 
cloud was first seen to form. 

Upon determining the place of commencement, carefully ascertain all the pre- 
liminary conditions of atmospheric changes existing prior to the development of 
the tornado cloud. In conducting the examination along the track and on both 
sides of it, make use of the questions and remarks contained in the respective 
circulars, according as one or the other is required. In determining the exact 
locality of final disappearance, exercise no inconsiderable vigilance, for you may 
most easily be deceived. It is a characteristic feature of the tornado cloud to 
rise suddenly from the earth and, continuing its northeastward course in the lower 
regions of the atmosphere, again reach ¢erra firma after an interval of several 
miles. You may find a number of these gaps along the tornado track you are ex- 
amining, but do not mistake them for points of termination ; rather look upon their 
existence as indubitable evidences of tornado (latent) activity, a sign of reappear- 


78 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ance rather than dispapearance. If these gaps occur in consecutive order as to 
time and place, pursuing when taken together, a northeastward trend, and the 
difference in time of disappearance and reappearance at each interval accounting 
for the passage of that interval, there can be no doubt of their forming disconnect- 
ed parts of one and the same tornadotrack. ‘The invariable accompaniment of the 
tornado, the hailstorm, precedes the first appearance of its terrible companion 
and succeeds its final disappearance. This characteristic should be carefully 
watched for and any peculiarity minutely recorded. If any one in the prosecu- 
tion of this particular work should need a quantity of circulars, the same will be 
mailed to them immediately, upon my receiving word as to how many of each 
kind they desire. 

In the fulfillment of my mission I have no pet theories to advance or sup- 
port, neither have I the time to speculate much or discuss the respective merits 
of uncertain or untenable positions, but I am prepared for the reception of facts, 
without measure. With regard to suggestions, I shall be a most willing recipient 
and I trust that no one, feeling a desire in this direction will hesitate to communi- 
cate with me at his earliest convenience. This is emphatically a public enter- 
prise and not the effort or exclusive pride of an individual. 

It is absolutely necessary and most invaluable, when a variety of people are 
called upon to contribute in aid of a work like this, that they should know pre- 
cisely what information is most desired. 

With a view to cultivate familiarity respecting the character of the data re- 
quired, I append herewith the following list of questions and remarks: Circular 
No. 1 contains a list of inquiries which are to be referred in all cases to persons 
who on the day of the storm were situated zfhout the tornado’s path, (to the N. 
or S of it) on its immediate edge or from one to ten miles distant. In brief this 
is a circular for oudszders only. 

Circular No. 2 contains a list of inquiries which are to be referred in all cases 
to persons situated zzshin the tornado’s path. In brief this is a circular for z- 
siders only. The information called for in each circular is in the main entirely 
distinct, but nevertheless equally important in conducting a careful analysis of 
the phenomena of this class of violent wind storms. I urgently solicit replies, on 
every hand and from every quarter, concerning the matter hereinafter set forth : 


CIRCULAR NO. I.—QUESTIONS AND REMARKS. 


t. How far and in what direction are you situated from the centre of the 
path of destruction ? 

2. The time of day that the tornado cloud passed. 

3. The direction of the wind while the tornado cloud was approaching. 

4. The direction of the wind while the tornado cloud was passing. 

5. The direction of the wind after the tornado cloud passed. 

6. The direction of the wind during the fore part of the day and up to 
the time of the first threatening appearance in the heavens. 

7. The prevailing direction of the wind at this season of the year. 


TORNADO STUDIES FOR 1882. 79 


8. Any hail, and did it fall before or after (how long) the tornado cloud 
passed ? 

9g. Were the hailstones large or small, of peculiar shape, and few or many 
in number ? 

to. Did you examine the interior of any of the hailstones, and if so, how 
were they formed and what did they contain? 

t1. If hail fell at intervals through the day, state the times of beginning and 
ending of each precipitation separately. 

12. Any rain, and did it fall before or after (how long) the tornado cloud 
passed ? 

13. Any peculiarity in the size or shape of the rain drops, or in the quantity 
which fell? 

14. The direction of the wind at the time of the hail, and also at the time 
of the rain. 

15. If rain fell at intervals through the day, state the times of beginning and 
ending of each precipitation separately. 

16. What time of day did threatening appearances commence, in what por- 
tion of the horizon, and at what time were they the most decided ? 

17. Describe the character and motion of the surrounding clouds before, 
during and after the tornado cloud passed. 

18. Give the time of day at which the light or dark irregular clouds sur- 
rounding the tornado cloud were in the greatest confusion, and describe the scene. 

19. If you saw the tornado cloud, describe or sketch it, and note particu- 
larly any change in motion or the successive stages of development during the 
time of observation. 

20. Give the direction of the whirl of the tornado cloud, as against or with 
the hands of a watch. 

21. Give all the motions of the tornado cloud which you observed, or which 
you heard that others had witnessed, as for example: rising and falling, swaying 
from side to side or whirling about a central axis, etc., etc. 

22. Thunder or lightning, in what portion of the horizon, at what time of 
the day and whether violent or otherwise. 

23. Was lightning seen in the funnel-shaped tornado cloud, or in the dark, 
heavy clouds surrounding it to the N. and W? 

24. Was the day unusually warm and sultry? Give the maximum temper- 
ature if possible and state the hour at which it was observed, together with the 
direction of the wind and the state of the sky existing at the time. 

25. Condition of the temperature after the tornado cloud passed. Did the 
air suddenly or gradually grow colder ? 

26. What had been about the average daily temperature, together with the 
accompanying direction of the wind, for eight or ten days previous to the occur- 
rence of the tornado ? 


80 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


27. Give the direction of the course pursued by the tornado cloud along its 
path of destruction in your locality, as for example: N 70° E; E 30° N or E 20° 
Siaeteenenc. 

28. Give the maximum and minimum width, in yards or rods, of the path 
of destruction in your vicinity, and state, if you can, whether in examining that 
path, it was found that on the S. side of the centre the sweep of destruction was 
broader and more irregular than on the N. side, or if any other difference existed 
between the two sides. 

29. If you, or any of your neighbors, have meteorological instruments, give 
the readings of the thermometer and barometer, direction of the wind and the 


hour of observation, for two days before, the day of the storm, and for two days 
thereafter, viz: on the 


30. If you recall the occurrence, in times past, of any other tornado in your 
State, give year, month, day of month, hour of day, the direction of the course 
of the path of destruction as pursued by the tornado cloud, its length in miles, 
average width of destructive path in yards or rods, maximim width, minimum 


width, and if possible, the hour of beginning and hour of disappearing of the tor- 
nado cloud. 


When I ask for direction of wind, I mean direction of motion of the sur- 
rounding air currents, independent of the course or motion of the tornado cloud. 

When time of day is asked, give the same in hours and minutes, and state 
whether it is local or railroad time, and by what standard, viz: Chicago, Detroit, 
Columbus, St. Louis, etc., etc. 

In giving your distance from the center of the path of destruction, indicate 
the same in miles and parts of miles or rods, stating the amount in northing and 
easting, northing and westing, southing and easting, or southing and westing, 
estimated along section or township lines. 

If not individually prepared to answer any or all of the above questions, 
please call to your aid such persons as may, in your judgment, be able to render 
you assistance. 

If possible, try to represent the tornado cloud by a rough sketch, as also the 
dark and irregular clouds surrounding it. 

In describing the path of destruction, be careful to note where the tornado 
cloud left the ground, where it again descended, the length of the interval and 
the topography of the earth at the points of ascension and descension. 

Send any newspaper article concerning the storm which you may have or 
can obtain without inconvenience, 


Give name and address of any one in your State who is in the habit of keep- 
ing a meteorological record. 

If possible, try and secure the codperation of some intelligent person, who, 
at the time of its occurrence, was situated either in the path of the tornado or on 


the outer edge of it, and who will be willing to furnish me a narrativeo the result 
of his observations. 


TORNADO STUDIES FOR 1882. 81 


In all descriptions of the tornado’s path; in giving any particular destruction 
in it, or in detailing your experience while the tornado cloud was passing, be 
careful to state on which side of the centre (to the N. or to the S. and how far) 
the damage occurred or you were situated while a witness of the scene. 


CIRCULAR NO. II.—QUESTIONS AND REMARKS. 


1. What day of the month and at what time of the day did the tornado 
cloud pass? ‘Take great care in giving the exact time. Perhaps you watched 
your clock or noted the approach or passage of a railroad train. 

2. Give the position of your house with respect to the nearest Post Office, 
indicating the same in miles and parts of miles or rods; state the distance in 
northing and easting, northing and westing, southing and easting and southing 
and westing, commnted along section and township lines. 

3. How far and in what direction is your house situated from Tne centre 
of the path of destruction ? 

4. Give the direction and distance from your house to your various farm 
buildings, if possible drawing a plan of the same and indicating the points of the 
compass. ‘This plan need only be a rough sketch. 

5. Give the dimensions of your buildings and state the character of each 
as to whether they are log, frame, stone or brick and weak or strong. 

6. In drawing a plan of your buildings, indicate the position of the tor- 
nado’s path with respect to each of them and the direction in which the tornado 
cloud moved. 

7. State in detail and separately the damage to each building; what por- 
tion or portions were taken away or injured; how far and in what direction were 
they moved bodily ; what portion of each was first struck by the wind, and how 
far and in what direction was the debris carried? Be very careful to give the 
exact position and peculiarities of structure of buildings which were not damaged 
although standing near those which were destroyed. 

8. In the damage or destruction of each or any building, state particularly 
how far and in what direction any portion of them was carried a considerable 
distance. 

g. If any object has been carried a long distance by the force of the wind, 
state where and what it came from; its dimensions; its shape; probable height to 
which transported in the air; whether driven into the ground or not, how far and 
into what kind of earth. 

ro. State whether articles of clothing, fowls or animals were carried into 
the air, to what height, to what horizontal distance and in what direction. 

11. Give detailed destruction of furniture contained in the house and of 
farming implements in or about the barns. 

12. State the number, kind and in what manner, stock were killed or injured 
and whether at the time of the storm they were in or without buildings. Also 
narrate any miraculous escapes of life. 


82 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


13. With respect to your family, give the whereabouts and condition of 
each person on the approach of the tornado, and also after the tornado cloud 
passed. Give age and sex of each person and particularize the character and 
extent of injuries to each. State very carefully the distance and direction in 
which any of the persons were carried, and also narrate any miraculous escapes 
of life. 

14. Be particular to note any evidence of the wind’s extreme violence, as in 
the lifting of heavy objects; the twisting of trees or heavy pieces of timber; pull- 
ing up of fence posts; removing heavy stones, etc., etc. 

15. In describing the injury to any person, animal or object, never fail to 
give the distance and direction of such person, animal or object from the centre 
of the path of destruction at the time the tornado cloud passed. 

16. With regard to destruction ia orchards, among shade trees and in for- 
ests, be particular to give the direction in which the trees lie; how they lie on the 
two sides with regard to each other and to the centre of the path of destruction; any 
special acts of violence in the twisting, uprooting or breaking off of heavy timber ; 
give circumference of large trees, height above ground where broken off and di- 
mensions of earth and roots where notably large trees were overthrown. 

17. In general, when giving the position of any person or thing with regard 
to the centre of the path of destruction, state the distance in feet or rods and the 
direction as N. or S. 

18. Give the maximum and minimum width, in yards or rods, of the path 
of destruction in your locality. 

19. How many funnel-shaped clouds did you see? Describe each, giving 
their relative sizes, shapes and positions, and if possible a rough sketch of each. 

20. Did you hear a roaring noise on the approach of the storm, and if so, 
state the intensity or any accompanying peculiarity. 

21. Did you notice any peculiarity with the manner in which small objects 
were suddenly removed from around about buildings as if sucked in by the ad- 
vancing cloud? 

22. Did you notice any peculiarity in the falling of trees as the tornado 
cloud advanced upon them? Were they whipped about and bent to fro as in a 
heavy wind or were they drawn steadily inward toward the centre on both sides, 
as if by some mysterious but irresistible force ? 

23. How many rods of fencing (stating kind) did you have blown down; 
in what direction were the N. and S. fences carried; what was the direction in 
which the E. and W. fences were carried ? 

24. Give an estimate in money value of the loss to your property occasion- 
ed by the tornado, the number of acres of timber you had destroyed, and the 
number-of fruit trees you had uprooted or broken off. 

25. Be particular to give the exact position, also the dimensions and _ prob- 
able strength and weight of small objects which were not moved from about large 
buildings, although the latter were entirely destroyed. 


TORNADO STUDIES FOR 1882. $3 


26. Give the direction of the wind while the tornado cloud was approach- 
ing, while the tornado cloud was passing and after the tornado cloud passed. 

27. The direction of the wind during the fore part of the day and up to the 
time of the first threatening appearance in the heavens. 

28. The prevailing direction of the wind at this season of the year. 

29. In asking for the direction of wind, I mean direction of motion of the 
surrounding air currents, independent of the course or motion of the tornado 
cloud. 

30. Any hail, and did it fall before or after (how long) the tornado cloud 
passed P 

31. Were the hailstones large or small, of peculiar shape, and few or many 
in number? Give exact size and weight of the largest. 

32. On which side of the tornado’s path (to the N or to the S.) cal the 
hailstones appear to fall in the greatest quantity ? 

33. Did you examine the interior of any of the hailstones, and if so, how 
were they formed and what did they contain? 

34. If hail fell at intervals through the day, state the times of beginning and 
ending of each precipitation separately, together with the direction of the wind at 
€ach occurrence. 

35. Any rain, and did it fall before or after (how long) the tornado cloud 
passed ? 

36. On which side of the tornado’s path (to the N. or to the S.) was the 
rainfall the heaviest P 

37- Any peculiarity in the size or shape of the rain-drops, or in the quanti- 
ty which fell ? 

38. If rain fell at intervals through the day, state the times of beginning 
and ending of each precipitation separately, together with the direction of the 
wind at each occurrence. 

39. What time of day did threatening appearances commence, in what por- 
tion of the horizon, and at what time were they the most decided ? 

40. Describe the character and motion of the surrounding clouds before, 
during and after the tornado cloud passed. 

4t. Give the general atmospheric conditions of temperature, wind direc- 
tion, humidity and clouds, for from ten to fifteen days previous to the occurrence 
of the tornado and from three to five days thereafter. 

42. Give the time of day at which the light or dark irregular clouds sur- 
rounding the tornado cloud were in the greatest confusion, and describe the 
scene. 

43. Describe any particular change or motion in the tornado cloud and the 
successive stages of development during the time of observation. 

44. Give the direction of the whirl of the tornado cloud, as against or with 
the hands of a watch. 


Vi—6 


84 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


45. Describe minutely the manner in which objects were carried inward, 
upward and about in the whirling vortex of the tornado cloud; how thrown 
outward and from what portion of the cloud. 

46. Describe the color of the tornado cloud; its density; how and when 
changes in color and density occur; the color and density of the bottom of the 
cloud as compared with the top; the existence of light and peculiar fleecy clouds 
over and about the upper portion. 

47. Give the comparative size of top and bottom of tornado cloud; note 
particularly and describe minutely any change in form when the bottom or tail 
reaches the surface of the ground. 

48. Did the tornado cloud remain in a vertical position as it traveled for- 
ward or was the tail of it inclined; in what direction and how many degrees from 
the perpendicular ? 

49. Give all the motions of the tornado cloud which you observed, or which 
you heard that others had witnessed, as for example: rising and falling, swaying 
from side to side or whirling about a central axis, etc., etc. 

50. In examining the path of destruction, did you find any difference be- 
tween the N. and S. sides of it? Which side was the widest; which the cleanest 
cut; which the most irregular and jagged along its outer edge; on which side 
. were narrow paths of destruction cut inward toward the centre ? 

51. Thunder or lightning, in what portion of the horizon, at what time of 
the day, and whether violent or otherwise. 

52. Was lightning or any manifestation of electricity witnessed in the fun- 
nel-shaped tornado cloud as it approached or passed? If so, describe the ap- 
pearance minutely. 


53. Was lightning seen in the dark, heavy clouds surrounding the tornado 
cloud to the N. and W ? 

54. Was the day unusually warm and sultry? Give the maximum temper- 
ature if possible, and state the hour at which it was observed, together. with the 
direction of the wind and the state of the sky existing at the time. 

55. What was the condition of the temperature after the tornado cloud 
passed? Did the air suddenly or gradually grow colder? Give the minimum 
temperature for that afternoon and evening, and during the night, with direction 
of the wind. 

56. What had been about the average daily temperature, also the maximum 
and minimum, together with the accompanying direction of the wind, for eight 
or ten days previous to the occurrence of the tornado and for three days succeed- 
ing its appearance ? 3 

57. Give the direction, in degrees, of the course pursued by the tornado 
cloud along its path of destruction in your locality, as for example: N. 70° E.; 
eon Nees MeL 

58. If you, or any of your neighbors, have meteorological instruments, give 
the readings of the thermometer and barometer, direction of the wind and the 


TORNADO STUDIES FOR 1882. ; 85 


hour of observation, for two days before, the day of the storm, and for two days 
Bhi egeolcchamZOMmC eas wkend ume eR yd ae eee 

59. When the time of day is asked, give the same in hours and minutes, 
and state whether it is local or railroad time, and by what standard, viz: Chicago, 
Detroit, Columbus, St. Louis, etc., etc. 

60. If possible, try to represent the tornado cloud by a rough sketch, as 
also the dark and irregular clouds surrounding it. 

61. In describing the path of destruction, be careful to note where the 
tornado cloud left the ground, where it again descended, the length of the interval 
and the topography of the earth at the points of ascension and descension. Also 
state whether the hail and rain continued to fall after the tornado cloud rose from 
the earth and disappeared in the overhanging clouds. 

62. Send any newspaper article concerning the storm which you may have, 
or can obtain without inconvenience. 

63. Give name and address of any one in your State who is in the habit of 
keeping a meteorological record or who desires to keep one and would like in- 
structions. 

64. If possible, try and secure the codperation of some intelligent person, 
who, at the time of its occurence, was situated either in the path of the tornado 
or on the outer edge of it, and who will be willing to furnish me a narrative of the 
result of his observations. 

65. In all descriptions of the tornado’s path; in giving any particular de- 
struction in it, or in detailing your experience while the tornado cloud was passing, 
be careful to state on which side of the centre (to the N. or S. and how far) the 
damage occurred or you were situated while a witness of the scene. 

66. Give an estimate of what you consider the progressive velocity of the 
tornado cloud; how many miles per hour. Give the data upon which you make 
the estimate, and why you believe your estimate to be reliable. 

67. What evidence can you give of the existence of upward and whirling 
currents of air within the central portion of the tornado cloud? 

68. Estimate the time in minutes or seconds during whicl the tornado 
cloud was committing the destruction at your buildings or in passing them at a 
safe distance. 

69. As the tornado cloud approached from what direction came the wind 
you first experienced, whether against your body or against the building within 
which you were situated at the time ? 

70. Did you notice any peculiar odor in the atmosphere during the passage 
of the tornado cloud, and what was it like? 

71. Do you know of any one who made observations on the presence of 
ozone in the atmosphere on the day of the storm? If so, send me his address 
or give the result of the observations. 

72. Do you know of any one who made observations with the galvanometer 
or compass concerning the deflection of the needle during the day of the storm, 


86 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


especially while the tornado cloud was passing a given point? If so, send me 


his address or give the result of the observations. 
73. Try and give an estimate of what you consider the wind’s velocity with- 


in the central whirl of the tornado cloud and also the data upon which you base 
this estimate. 

74. In the destruction of your buildings, did you notice anything in the 
disposition of the debris after the tornado cloud passed that would indicate the 
effect of an explosion, as for example, the sides and the ends of a building being 
thrown outward and the roof carried off or let down upon the floor? 

75. In the passage of the tornado cloud over a pond, lake, or river, care- 
fully describe every particular in the disturbance of the water ; how high into the 
air any portion of it was carried; if any fish, shells, stones or the like were car- 
ried out and in what direction. Also state the exact position of the person or 
persons who witnessed the scene. 

76. Was mud, bits of leaves, straw, grass or the like thrown against your 
buildings? If so, state on what particular portion or portions, and whether ap- 
parently thrown thereon with great force. If thrown upon the bodies of persons 
or animals carefully state the circumstances. 

77. Sketches of clouds, of peculiar destructive effects, of hailstones, of any- 
thing that will illustrate any distinguishing feature of the storm’s violence are 
very desirable. 

78. If you recall the occurrence, in times past, of any violent hailstorm in 
your State, give the place, year, month, day of month, hour of day, direction of 
of the storm, maximum and minimum width of path in rods or miles, size and 
shape of hailstones, and a narration of the destructive effects. 

79. If you recall the occurrence, in times past, of any other tornado in your 
State, give year, month, day of month, hour of day, the direction of the course 
of the path of destruction as pursued by the tornado cloud, its length in miles, 
average width of destructive path in yards or rods, maximum width, minimum 
width, and if possible, the hour of beginning and hour of disappearing of the 
tornado cloud. 

My report upon the tornadoes of 1882 will be published in book form and 
can be obtained free of cost by applying through your Congressman, to W. B. 
Hazen, Brig. and Bvt Major General, Chief Signal Officer, U. S. A., Washing- 
ton, D. C. My report upon the tornadoes of 1879, now ready in book form, as 
also another publication, ‘‘ Facts about Tornadoes,” the latter of which contains 
practical rules showing how to avoid the violence of tornadoes, can be obtained 
in the same manner. 

My office will be at Kansas City for the next two or three months, where I 
shall hope to see or hear from all persons interested in this subject. 


FALSE NOTIONS I1N REGARD TO THE WEATAZER. 87 


FALSE NOTIONS IN REGARD TO THE WEATHER. 


BY ISAAC P. NOYES, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


The weather is one of the oldest, if not the oldest scientific subjects before 
the world. The world thought about it, talked about it, wrote about it, and per- 
haps wondered why it did not know more about a subject that was ever-present 
with it. 

Nothing tangible presented itself whereby to understand this most common 
of all subjects. Many of the more sensible people acknowledged that they knew 
little or nothing about it and became incredulous to all pretended knowledge and 
sayings in regard to this branch of human science. A few here and there kept a 
record of it, in hopes, perhaps, that something favorable would thereby grow out 
of their labors. 

Under these circumstances it is not surprising that a great many absurd and 
false notions were entertained and handed down from generation to generation. 
For example, the influence of the planets and the moon—the instinct of animals 
in regard to foretelling the weather—the manner in which a storm clears off and 
notions that time, as to night or day, made a great difference in the clearing off 
of a storm. Men wrote whole books of hundreds of pages to prove something 
they knew little or nothing about. They thought that the different quarters of 
the moon must have some effect upon the weather. They also thought the weath- 
er must repeat itself. They kept statistics. Through this process they imagined 
that they saw certain resemblances between years, certain regular and irregular 
periods. From this a/ter-knowledge they conceived the idea of fore-knowledge and 
attempted the role of prophets. The wiser ones soon discovered that this would 
not do, that it was a difficult thing to ascertain what nature was going to do in 
advance. ‘They could not understand the reason why, still they had sense enough 
to see the impossibility of such fore-knowledge being acquired. Nature, they 
saw, did not repeat herself—she did not move in regular grooves. Notwithstand- 
ing this a few continued to imagine that by some superior mathematics or better 
reading of statistics, they could do what the rest of the world had failed to accom- 
plish. 

After many years men became more and more interested in electricity; they 
discovered more and more new properties pertaining to it. The years went by, 
electricity came to the front and in the form of the telegraph became the chief 
medium of news—indeed, the only medium of rapid news, far outstripping all 
other mediums. Still the years went by—the old men continued to keep their 
meteorological tables. ‘Through this medium a few general facts were ascertain- 
ed in regard to the weather, and that is all. It was too slow for gathering the 
important facts in this department. But one thing was ascertained, and that was 
that storms—at least some storms, travel in general lines from the west toward. 
the east. 


88 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


This being the case the idea now occurred to use the telegraph to report the 
storm in order that the people in the east might the better know when to expect 
it and thus be fore-warned. This at first was commenced on a small scale, and 
it was not, until 1870, that Prof. Abbe was established in Washington with the 
full power of the Government back of him and with authority to gather and report 
the news in regard to the storm. Little by little the facts came in. A weather- 
map began to appear—its first editions were quite rude affairs beside the complete 
ones of 1882. Improvements still go on. Not so rapidly as at first, yet all the 
while there is a steady advancement in this department. There are points where 
it would seem that this bureau could advance with more honor to itself; for 
example, more stations in the west would add much to the perfection of the pre- 
sent admirable system and comparatively would not add much to the cost. 

Little by little meteorology has advanced. For centuries it made little prog- 
ress-—it was all the while waiting for developments in other branches. It could 
advance no further until the chapter on Telegraphy was worked up by the great 
author. ‘Then it took a start and within the past twelve years it has advanced 
most rapidly. By the aid of the telegraph we now every morning have the geog- 
raphy of the atmosphere of the United States spread out before us—it is as if we 
were taken upon a high pinnacle or balloon where we could survey the whole 
country. We see the storm on our western borders; we trace it in its course; we 
see that it takes geweral lines toward the east, never twice alike—sometimes on 
one line, sometimes on another, and sometimes apparently defying all law—mov- 
ing north, south, and even west, yet all the while obeying the immutable laws of 
this department of Nature. 

Upon the present time few even of the more intelligent people of the land 
have become interested in this new and true knowledge of the weather system. 
Few know or seem to care what a weather-map is. Under the circumstances it 
is not surprising that men still attempt to continue the old practice, especially so 
when they can make much money out of their pretended wisdom in this line. 
The people at large, and even the most intelligent know nothing of the Weather- 
Map and its revelations—indeed, not one in a thousand has ever seen a weather- 
map or has any conception of what it is, and thousands who are so favorably sit- 
uated as to see them daily, know no more about them than they do of the hiero- 
glyphics on the Egyptian obelisks. Yet these maps are full of interest and can 
easily be read at a glance, and afford a great amount of satisfaction if one will but 
give them a little study. They have revolutionized the weather knowledge of 
the world, and many a pet theory and absurd notion must, through them, be 
buried in the oblivion of the past. 

Yet men continue to write and advocate their antediluvian notions and they 
still retain much faith in themselves. But this is simply for the reason that the 
weather-map is still unappreciated. The more this map becomes appreciated the 
less and less will be the appreciation for the absurd and false ideas of the past 
and for the men who still endeavor to profit by them instead of advancing to the. 
higher knowledge revealed by this wonderful map. 


FALSE NOTIONS IN REGARD TO THE WEATHER. 89 


In this connection I would respectfully call the reader’s attention to the fact 
that although the laws revealed by this beautiful map may appear new, it is only 
the revelation that is new, the laws themselves are old and date from eternity, and 
are therefore much older than all the absurd and false notions that have from 
time to time, through want of proper information been held by the world. The 
weather-map has revealed the information and therefore we are no longer in the 
dark, but stand face to face with the eternal laws that have governed, do, and will 
forever govern the meteorological economy of the world. 

The cycle and mathematical notions in regard to the weather, have been and 
are still very generally believed in, and that too by men eminent in science. 
Likewise the notion that the other planets, together with the moon, must have a 
powerful influence upon our weather system, is still held by a large class of intel- 
ligent persons. Before the advent of the weather-map this was no more surpris- 
ing than that before the age of geography men should have had the queer notions 
they did of the grouping of the land and water of the globe. One of the best 
representations of these notions some time since appeared in one of the Washing- 
ton papers. The author strongly advocated the theory that the weather repeats 
itself in cycles of nineteen years, for the reason that the earth, the sun, and the 
moon occupy the same relative position very nearly every nineteen years, and 
the author of this idea attempts to prove it by what the weather has in some 
respects appeared to him. Yet such important things as drouths seem to be an 
exception. But in all such ingenious and unfounded theories the advocate there- 
of has a ready excuse for exceptions. In this case it was the disturbing element 
of the sun, moon and planets, and it would seem from his ideas, and others of 
his class, that if we only had our mathematics perfected, or understood better how 
to apply them to this subject, we might make weather prognostications a very 
easy thing. 

This gentleman says, ‘‘If the sun and moon cause ever varying tidal waves 
in the great ocean of waters they must produce similar but far greater and more 
striking results on the still water and more flexible ocean of the earth’s atmos- 
phere. Nor can it be reasonably doubted that the attracting power of the larger 
planets must exert a sensible effect on the great atmospheric ocean, though their 
influence be entirely unappreciable on the watery one.” 

This may appear like good reasoning to people not familiar with the subject ; 
for, through the influence of old-time notions and old almanacs, they have grown 
up with the idea of ‘‘cycles”’ and that by the aid of some mysterious mathemat- 
ics these ‘‘ cycles” and influences could be determined quite accurately, and that 
complete accuracy could be arrived at when the higher mathematical key was 
found, and through mathematics they have believed that the world would be- 
come profoundly weather-wise. 

Before the era of the weather-map, which daily reproduces the geography of 
the atmosphere, these notions could not well have been contradicted even by the 
wisest. They may not have believed them, but they had no facts by which to 
disprove them. The weather-map reveals to us the impossibility of the weather 


90 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


repeating itself and that the changes which nature can produce are infinite, and 
that there are no mathematics by which they can be determined; indeed, it is: 
not within the province of mathematics. Might as well, by mathematics, attempt 
to determine what our life will be on the morrow, or what will be the character 
of the next person whom we will meet on the street. The influence of the meon 
on the weather has already been treated at length in these pages, so I will simply 
call the reader’s attention to the general fact that every night when the moon is 
shining it shines over all sorts of weather from cold to warm and from cloudy and 
stormy to clear and pleasant. ‘Those who believe in the influence of the moon 
never seem to think of this, and that the moon’s influence, if it has any, should 
on the same night produce such different results—drive clouds away in one place, 
collect them in another, etc. 

The old notion about rain was that it was from clouds that were formed over 
some large expanse of water, that these clouds were carried by the wind toward 
some high mountain range and that in passing over the tops of these mountains 
the clouds were condensed, precipitating rain over the country! ‘This idea shows 
that if man knows not of any good and perfect reason for a cause or phenomenon 
—his ‘‘ causality ”’ will invent one in accordance with his knowledge. The author 
of this idea never seems to have followed it out to its logical sequence; if he had, 
he would have discovered it to be necessary to have mountain ranges and large seas 
alternately pretty well distributed and that near the mountains they would have 
much rain, while at a distance therefrom they would have little or none. Practicaily 
the mountain ranges are few and far between, while the great bodies of land and 
water are by themselves, and we have just as much rain away from the mountains 
as near them. Clouds are found everywhere when there is sufficient moisture. 
‘‘Low,” herein so frequently spoken of, is the agent which generates the wind 
which gathers the clouds. The movement of ‘‘ Low”’ across the country gathers 
the clouds and carries them with it, and precipitation takes place along the track 
Cig leOwend 

Another common idea is that the rain must turn a certain way in order that 
we should have a ‘‘ good clear-off.”” Many such ideas, which, however, are not 
of much account, had a reasonable origin, and though in one sense absurd, may 
be excused in those who know nothing of the movements of storms. The origin 
of this idea was this: In the winter and spring many of our storms travel on a 
low line of latitude and pass us to the southward. In this case the turn of the 
rain will be from the NE. to the NW., whereas, later in the season when ‘‘ Low ” 
gets up on a high line the turn will be the reverse, from the SE. to the SW. 

Then there is the notion that the different names, tornado, hurricane and 
cyclone, etc., must indicate different conditions. Before the age of the weather- 
map—before we knew what a storm was and what produces these conditions, it 
was not surprising that these different terms were invented to designate supposed 
different forces. The weather-map reveals to us that all these terms essentially 
represent one and the same thing. All our storms come and can only come 
through the agent ‘‘ Low” (low barometer). Tornadoes, hurricanes, cyclones, call 


FALSE NOTIONS IN REGARD TO THE WEATAZER. Sill 


them what we will, all come from this cause, and whenever a ‘‘ Low” passes we 
- are liable to have the terrific wind-storm, but fortunately for us the conditions are 
not always favorable; if they were, we, in the United States, would have one 
every three or four days; for about every three or four days the storm-centre 
‘Low ”’ passes over our territory. 

There is a notion that a storm may last two and even three weeks. Before 
we had the weather-map we were unable to know when one storm ended and 
another began. Now, we see that it is impossible for ove storm to last more than 
two or three days at the furthermost, and that when a stormy season is extended 
into weeks it is a succession of storms and not all one storm. 

The storm-centre ‘‘ Low” is continually on the move, on general lines from 
the west toward the east. During the early part of the season his course is such 
as to pass immediately over or near us, say on a line from Texas or Kansas to 
New England, later in the season he works further to the north, and passes up 
into Canada. He keeps up his regular passage across the country but goes so 
far to the north as to cause little or no precipitation south of the ‘‘ Lake region.” 

To enumerate all the little absurd and false notions of the weather and to 
comment upon them would require more time and space than I can at least at 
present command. If the reader will take note of all the notions of the weather, 
absurd or sensible, that present themselves to him, and will then familiarize him- 
self with the weather-map he will see wherein they are absurd or reasonable. 
He will understand them better than ever before and will perceive whether or 
not they may have some origin in fact or are the mere whim of some ignorant 
person. 

Without regard to the movement or location of the planets, whether in op- 
position, conjunction, in one part of the ecliptic or another, whether the moon be 
large or small, new, half, full or old, whether or not there be icebergs off our 
coast—whether the sun, moon or stars are in eclipse, comets visible or not visible 
in our sky, old ‘‘ Low” keeps on his way; ever on such lines as he pleases, or 
perhaps better, as the sun dictates. ‘‘ Low,’ in connection with ‘‘ High” ac- 
counts for all the changes not accounted for by the position of the sun in the 
ecliptic—only through this system can the meteorology of our globe be understood 
and explained. 

The weather-map reveals to us the fact that the sun, through his enormous 
heating power, is the cause, and the only cause, of our daily changes as well as 
being our great agent of light and heat. ‘These changes come and can only come 
through heat and through the power of ‘‘ Low” as generated by thesun. As for the 
moon, her heat and therefore her influence, is too contemptible to speak of. As 
for the planets, they have about as much influence on the weather as a diamond 
in a lady’s finger ring. } 

Now that we have something tangible, reliable and instructive in the weath- 
er-map, something which brings us face to face with nature, common sense bids 
us direct our intelligence to it, and to waste no time on ‘‘ mathematics,” ‘‘ cycles” 
or even ‘‘ weather-prophets,” for they are of no value. The intelligence of the 


92 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


world has ever been interested in and striving for that which is true. Especially 
is this so in regard to science. Men whose moral character is such as to make 
them indifferent to many other truths have demanded and earnestly sought for 
truth in the scientific fields. 

The mere love for truth has sometimes not prompted this so much as the 
skeptical nature we often see in the purely scientific mind. The wholly scientific 
mind is skeptical and will not believe that which appears at all doubtful to it, 
and it is prone to reject that which does not appear reasonable. 

The world contains ‘‘many men of many minds,” yet all intelligent minds 
from one source or another are interested in truth. We cannot have truth in 
scientific matters before we have enlightenment. 

Before we had the weather-map we were as much in the dark as to our at- 
mospheric conditions as before the days of discovery, before theworld had been 
circumnavigated and mapped by intelligent men, we were in the dark as to the 
geography of the earth. Now we have the daily atmospheric conditions revealed 
to us—there is no longer any excuse for ignorance in this line. There is no 
longer any excuse for entertaining and upholding that which is false. That which 
is true has been presented to us—it brings us face to face with Nature and re- 
veals the great face of Nature to usas never before. Its glory, beauty and power 
are revealed to us, and in it we see Wisdom, Power and Harmony. 


METEOROLOGICAL INFERENCES FROM TREE-GROWTHS. 
BY) ROBD, Ey Co SRPARINS PHes iD: 


Any one who has taken the trouble to examine the annual growths, or width 
of the annual rings in trees, has at once perceived a great difference in their thick- 
ness in the same tree. If we may assume (leaving out young trees) that this 
variation is principally due to the amount or quantity of the rainfall, and that 
rings which exhibit maximum thickness have followed in their growth seasons of 
maximum rainfall, and the thinner rings are consequently the result of the influ- 
ence of seasons of a less or minimum rainfall, we may also assume that if, on a 
given date, numerous trees were felled so that we could have transverse sections 
of all of the principal species, such trees being located at various points in the 
State and great care being taken that the trees so selected should have been sub- 
ject, as nearly as possible, to the same environmental conditions, we might ob- 
tain an aggregation of data of sufficient volume to render a deduction therefrom 
of great value, as to the meteorology of the Pacific Coast. We might find so 
close a parallelism between rings of maximum thickness and seasons of maximum 
rainfall, that we should be justified in regarding this parallelism as something more 
than a series of coincidences merely, by finding these coincidences so persistent 
as to prove a correlation; and we could, perhaps, base our weather prognostica- 
tions upon something more than a guess, and learn whether or not there is a _ 
periodicity or cyclical terms of wet and dry years. 3 a ck a 


THE KANSAS WEATHER SERVICE. — 93 


REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 
WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 


BY PROF. J. T. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 


Highest barometer during month 29.34, on the 30th of April. Lowest 
barometer during month 28.41, on the 7th. 

Highest temperature during month 88°, on the 5th of May. Lowest tem- 
perature during month 37°, on the rath. 

Highest velocity of wind during month 50 miles per hour, on the oth. 

The usual summary by decades is given below. 


Apr. 21st May Ist May t1oth Mean 

TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. to May Ist.| tooth. to 20th. | 
MIN. AND MAx. AVERAGES. ea Vo 

MUA 7504 Dies a Neneee NeeNae Ener ae 44.9 48.4 44.5 45-9 

INUepxaremars east terest at! fac xtiah et May dieteai ls 68.3 71.8 65.1 68.4 

INDY. eumnel Wikbe GG o'o Wooo td lo J 56.0 60 I 54-9 56.7 

NANT Cy eelys eu cies ea vei talas need won 24.1 23.4 20.4 22.6 
TRI-DAILY OBSERVATIONS. 

7] Blo, TENG: bie GMeuie. cy een Re a ae A 50.4 56.5 52.0 53 0 

DBT MBI pesieiyouiiey yay (gohilian Mroliates | al Mel Noon 64.8 69.1 62.2 65.4 

@) FD6 ATS GSE ae ae io SER Ss 56.2 59.8 56.8 B78 

IMIG Aabewiiag ete ciciekiss aie: rece Mo ates 56.4 60.3 57.2 538.0 
RELATIVE HUMIDITY. 

Fo, Bhs y "LUO a emer ce any | mer ee EN INES HAR SRD Te Wal 85 ofa .80 

2.Doi Tine Sh conboahnsecaboye Bmne Marae cman eae 57 387/ 64 59 

Oe terete icker civ) quest oniteds 65 81 70 72 

Ile ayes eine ee evince Mieee repre .67 74 70 70 
PRESSURE AS OBSERVED. 

MANBIL woe bek hee sikeltcti tes ua) J. Meili tetas 2350 2)0 | 28.78 29.00 28.90 

2). Do: WG GiB HO ONO a OMEN DE TOME eta 28 88 28.73 29 00 28.87 

GO) Do WSs sige Waa carers Nee S lie Mig 28.91 28.74 29.00 28.88 

Wicanwa tr Pn rh ie neice. a ete el 28.90 28.75 29.00 28.88 
MILES PER Hour oF WIND. 

even otiretanan vulsicisinvee) jepyemulsagisy ii 13.8 15.2 16.0 15.0 

TEIN ake MST US iia! RecA AL Reg A 17.2 21.5 Wey7 19.5 

@)Jdo WO 0 6 6 obo me eye tot 14.2 17.3 11.7 21.1 

iiotalbmplestesw ees eileiie cuss 4017 3965 3740 1722 
CLOUDING BY TENTHS. 

Gf] Gr SUG trae oy a Meiweneceeatic. “ous Uns Wiese 5.6 6.4 6.0 6.0 

2p.m 5.8 6.7 8.0 6.8 

©) [Dah Bos Ce) cre POM ae Celine ese at Mee 4.8 7-5 3.4 5.2 
RAIN. 

INGLIS ior deer rone Seals ict ERo EE 65 76 oigts 3.19 


94 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


CORRES PON MN Cis: 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 


Paris, April 3, 1882. 


The Chemin de fer du Nord, has been since some time occupied to discover 
an electric lamp for its locomotives, capable of lighting the line some 330 yards 
ahead. The difficulty to surmount consisted to find a lamp that would not be- 
come extinguished by the continued trepidations of the engine. The fixity of 
the electric light depends upon the uniformly maintained distance between the two 
sticks of carbon, in the middle of which flashes the electric arc. Now the jerky 
motion of the locomotive tends to break this arc. Messrs. Sedloczek & Wiku- 
lith have combined a very simple lamp, suited to the special necessity in ques- 
tion. The mechanism is briefly this: Two parallel vertical tubes, of unequal 
diameter, united below by a horizontal tube in the form of a U; in the tubes, 
glycerine, and above, floating on the liquid, a piston; each piston has a stem, 
from each stem branches a splint of carbon, one above the other, but in the 
same vertical line. It follows as a matter of course, that any shock which pushes 
up one of the pistons acts similarly on the other, so that the space between the 
carbon sticks is maintained, the glycerine also tends to deaden the trepidations. 
A cock placed in the horizontal tube, that opens or shuts by the electric current, 
keeps the pistons and their carbon points in their respective positions, pending 
the combustion. 

The lamp has been satisfactorily tested; it is fed by a Schuchert dynamo- 
electric machine installed on the platform of the engine, the current being gener- 
ated by a Brotherhood motor of three cylinders, representing a three-horse pow- 
er. When the locomotive was running at forty-five miles an hour, the light 
remained steady, and lit up objects 500 yards ahead, and the line guards were 
able to discern objects at a distance of 880 yards; the light did not affect the 
distinctive colors of the signals, nor were the drivers of the engine when cross- 
ing, dazzled by excess of light. The results of the experiments justify the adop- 
tion of electricity for the reflecting lamp of locomotives, suspended at a height 
of fifteen feet. 


In the elevated regions of the Cordilleras, doctors and travellers have drawn 
attention to the accidents resulting from asphyxia, to which newly arrived Euro- 
peans are exposed. Even domestic animals do not escape. The Indians and 
wild animals occupying the high points, are exempt from the dangers of the rare- 
fied air, but the inhabitants of the plains faint away from the repeated muscular 
efforts to breathe. It is a disease not unlike ‘‘ Mountain Sickness” in Europe, 


SCIENCE IEE MIDE Ky LOM (PARTS, & 95 


impossible to run without immediately stopping to take breath, the oppression is 
so acute as to produce fainting. The cause is attributed to the diluted state of 
the air, which does not permit of a sufficiency of oxygen being absorbed to meet 
the expenditure of muscular force. But how do the natives of the elevated Ada- 
teaux escape? Why does the oxygen enter in their blood in sufficient quantity to 
augment combustion and produce the requisite strength? Perhaps their blood is 
composed a little different from ours, and capable of absorbing, in a given time, 
more oxygen than the inhabitants of the plain. To solve the question, M. Paul 
Bert demanded that samples of the blood of animals normally living more than 
4,400 yards above the level of the sea, be sent to him for examination. He re- 
ceived some, of several species of animals, and in a very putrified state, but M. 
Jolyet has demonstrated that blood in that condition absorbs just as much oxygen 
as when fresh. 
In France, the blood of herbivorous animals absorbs from four to five per 
cent cubic inches of oxygen, and that of man six per cent ; now in the Cordilleras, 
_the blood of the lama absorbs nine cubic inches, the vigoque, seven and one-half, 
the alpaca, seven; the guinea-pig, six; the hen, seven and one-half; the domestic 
pig, nine, and the sheep, seven per cent. These results would indicate greater 
absorptive power on the part of the local animals; but it has yet to be shown, 
that such utilize the oxygen as we do, and that their weight of blood is the same. 


The Academy of Science has been called upon to give an opinion upon the 
subject of quarantines and particularly of that in connection with the Suez Canal. 
M. de Lesseps complains bitterly of such restrictions, as simply fettering com- 
merce, and failing to protect public health. Dr. Tholozan, physician to the Shah 
of Persia, and author of authoritative works on oriental cholera and plagues, is an 
opponent of quarantines, which no nation besides, practices alike. M. Bonley, 
the head inspector of veterinary colleges in France, asserted that since these sani- 
tary restrictions were imposed on Egypt, either for pilgrims or ships passing 
through her territory, Europe has been spared from the periodical plague of 
cholera. 

The Academy has named a commission to study the climatic changes ex- 
perienced in France where winter tends to be merged into spring. M. Blarier 
attributes the change to an alteration in the direction of the Gulf stream, which 
has already destroyed the sardine fisheries on the coast of Britany. 


The nervous system continues to attract much popular, as well as scientific, 
attention. Well studied, the subject is certainly calculated, as Brown Sequard 
has shown, to throw much light on ecstacy, hypnotism and kindred phenomena. 
The Brothers Weber have shown that the nerves do not always act as ‘‘ exciters,”’ 
but in addition, as ‘‘ breaks ” or ‘‘ checks.” The pneumo-gastric nerve, if it be 
irritated, can stop the beatings of the heart; profound moral emotion can pre- 
vent the contraction of the muscles, so that the arms fall powerless; a rapid im- 
pression on the skin can bring about the stoppage of respiration: these actions 


96 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


not only arrest movements, but also the secretions, as of the saliva, etc. M. 
Brown Sequard affirms, that under influences of various natures, the normal 
properties of nerves and muscles can be affected: in one sense, abolished, that is 
to say, suspended; in the other, intensified, to an incredible degree. In other 
words, under the influence of an irritation, external or direct, certain’ parts of 
the nervous system gain or lose functional energy. What is the source of these 
sudden variations, whose rapidity is next to electricity? We know nothing, or 
rather we know, they are independent of a flux and reflux of the blood, and con- 
sequently a local nutrition, exaggerated or reduced. 

Generally when there is an increase of energy on one side, there is a diminu- 
tion on the other; this special activity arises suddenly, without any ordinary 
chemical work and without combustion. Brown Sequard states there is in real- 
ity no transport of force from one point to another at all, while the mechanism of 
the effects remains not the least obscure. When the skin of certain nervous re- 
gions is irritated, its nervous power is ten times more exaggerated than in the 
normal state. In the case of a dog, the sensibility can be so affected as to cause 
the respiratory movements to augment from 15 to 180 per minute. As during 
life, so in case of death, the same changes are observable, in the latter, the 
cadaverous rigidity quickly ensues, to be speedily followed by putrefaction where 
there is a diminution of nervous energy in the muscles, the contrary being the 
result where there is an excess. The augmentation of power in the spinal mar- 
row, is notorious in the condition of ecstacy. In the case of an individual in 
the hypnotised state, the nervous energy of the hearing power can be so aug- 
mented, that the ticking of a watch can be distinguished at thirteen yards, while 
the ordinary distance is but one yard; similarly, the sensation of smell can detect 
the odor of a rose at sixteen yards, and the heat of the breath at thirty three 
yards. In extreme excitability, the hypnotised can suddenly fall into a condi- 
tion of muscular rigidity and absolute torpor. Feeling is so abolished, that the 
subject fails to hear when a pistol is fired off close to the ear; he experiences no 
sensation of odor, of heat or of cold; he is insensible, even when pricked with a 
pin or galvanized. But when the slightest current of air is passed over any or- 
gan having been deprived of its normal activity, it will instantly recover not only 
its insensibility, but be followed by so intense an excitability, as to cause the ri- 
gidity of the neighboring muscles to cease. Dr. Dumontpollier has illustrated 
this by his ‘‘ bellows’? blowing on hypnotic patients; the ear that was dead to a 
pistol shot, when it receives a slight current of air, perceives the most delicate 
noise; a rose, assafcetida, ammonia, that produced hitherto no effect, can be 
felt at a distance of sixteen yards after a current of air has blown into the nostrils; 
similarly a whiff of air restores perception to the eye. The movements of respi- 
ration, of the heart ; the faculty of speech, of memory, can be made to rapidly 
disappear and as rapidly return. These experiences are produced daily in the 
hospitals of Paris, and in part by professional magnetisers. M. Dumontpollier 
has also shown, that the artificial suspension of the senses, due to physical action 


BENEVOLENCE FOR SCIENCE, 97 


as light, sound, air, etc., will be destroyed by the prolongation of that same 
action. 


M. Dumas, corroborates the conclusions of M. Moillefer relative to the ac- 
tion of ozone on the salts of silver, nickel, manganese, lead, etc. It was hitherto 
considered that the blackening of silver was due to the action of organic matters. 
It is the action of ozone that effects the change, and which produces also the vio- 
let color of manganic acid, hitherto a mystery. 


-M. Clemandeau successfully tempers steel, by subjecting iron heated to a 
cherry redness, to enormous pressure in a mould. ‘The steel is employed for fine 
tools and telephones. 


BENEVOLENCE FOR SCIENCE. 
BY B. P. REDDING. 


Epitor Kansas City REVIEW: 


Please correct the error contained in your magazine of April, page 734, in 
the article headed ‘‘ Benevolence for Science.” The $20,000 presented to the 
California Academy of Sciences, as a permanent fund, the interest of which is to 
be applied to aid students in original investigations in all branches of Science in 
California, Nevada, Oregon, and Arizona, was the gift of Mr. Charles Crocker, 
President of the Southern Pacific Railroad Company. My only connection with 
the subject was the pleasant duty of announcing the gift to the Academy. 

I may add as a matter of information that since Mr. Crocker made this 
handsome present, to aid scientific investigation, he and Ex-Governor Leland 
Stanford, President of the Central Pacific Railroad Company, have jointly pur- 
chased from Mr. Ward of Rochester, N. Y., at a cost of $16,coo, a scientifically 
labeled and arrayed collection of more than 7,000 specimens in Palzeontology, 
Zodlogy and Geology. This collection these gentlemen have also presented to 
our Academy of Sciences. It is now on exhibition in this city and during the 
first week was visited by more than 30,000 pupils of the public schools. 

We have no doubt that through the generosity of these gentlemen and other 
wealthy and public-spirited citizens, our Academy of Sciences will be enabled to 
enter upon a new career of usefulness in promoting the higher education by 
scientific investigation. San Francisco has many wealthy citizens who believe, 
with Lord Bacon, that, while scientific investigation rarely adds to the worldly 
wealth of its votaries, yet the wealth and comfort of the whole community ap- 
pear to increase in proportion to the increase in number of the students of 
nature. 


SAN Francisco, Cau., May 3, 1882. 


98 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


UES OvVRIC ANE,  INOWUIES, 


LOYOLA AND THE EARLY JESUITS. 
BY R. P. LORING, M. D. 


The 15th Century was the turning point in the history of the Romish church. 
The warmth and light of reviving learning had commenced to penetrate and dis- 
pel the dark clouds of ignorance and superstition which had hung over Europe 
for nearly athousand years. Already Wycliffe in England, and Huss and Jerome 
in Bohemia, had been awakening slumbering Europe with their demands for free 
thought and liberty of conscience, and the printing press—that great enemy of 
Rome—had commenced its work. A few thoughtful men were beginning to see 
through the veneering which had so long covered the enormities of Popery, and 
a moral and intellectual opposition to its long imposed yoke was quietly generat- 
ing, until, later, Tetzel—the friar—with his indulgences, caused the indignation 
of Luther to culminate in open insurrection. Papal bulls of excommunication 
and the inquisition were of no avail. The Gordian knot had been severed, and 
Rome felt that the bonds with which she had so long fettered civilization, were 
being loosened. What a struggle was this. The human heart and intellect were 
trying to free themselves from the despotic form and precedent of a thousand 
years. 

This was the condition of Europe when Loyola came to the front and infus- 
ed that element which has modernized and saved the church of Rome, up to the 
present time. Jesuitism was evolved from the brain of Loyola, and in order 
that its characteristics may be comprehended, it will be necessary to review some 
of the events in the life of its illustrous founder. Loyola was of noble family, and 
had been educated at the Spanish Court in all subjects necessary to the training 
of a knight. Even while a young man, he had gained a reputation for bravery 
and high military ability. All biographers speak of his ardent nature as being 
filled, at this time, with those romantic sentiments of knight-errantry which still 
lingered in Spain, until a little later, ‘‘ Cervantes smiled Spain’s chivalry away.” 
While defending a garrison against an invasion of the French, in the year 1521, 
he was severely wounded and taken prisoner. Seven months of confinement 
and suffering followed, during which time he read the lives and adventures of 
many Christian saints and martyrs. One can easily understand how the enthus- 
iastic and intensified imagination of the sick soldier could have been excited by 
these narratives; how the heroic in his own nature sympathized with the suffer - 
ings of these holy men, and how he realized the contrast between their lives and 
and his own. He was filled with a burning desire to emulate their example, and 


LOYOLA AND THE EARLY JESUITS. 99 


here the Jesuit was born. ‘This was no transient, evanescent effect. For as soon 
as his wounds permitted, Loyola travelled to the shrine of ‘‘ one lady of Monser- 
rato,’’ and, after laying aside his knightly costume and placing his sword and 
dagger by the side of the ‘‘ Virgin Mother’s image,” he assumed the sack-cloth, 
the rope-girdle and the sandals. In this more fitting garb of humility, our ro- 
mantic enthusiast watched through the long hours of the night. He pledged 
himself to chastity, to a life of humility ; pledged himself to the ‘‘ mother” of the 
““Qne” whose name he afterward connected with the most artfully planned of 
human organizations. Soon after, this brilliant soldier, who has had all avenues 
to earthly ambition and happiness opened to him, is seen limping painfully by the 
gates of the paternal castle, begging alms; the hair-shirt, the bare head and feet, the 
emaciated form, bearing witness to the severity of his self-humiliation. This was 
something more than mere fanatic enthusiasm. We believe that there must have 
been a strong conviction of duty here. The contrast between the stately knight 
and the mendicant was wide indeed, but Lazarus was trying to realize a nobility 
of which Dives had known nothing. Was this Loyola insane? Only in the 
degree that the whole Romish organization was insane. For the Church taught 
the body was an enemy to the soul; that spiritual growth could only come as the 
body was whipped, torn, bruised and subdued; that humility came with physi- 
cal abasement and suffering; and, that temptation could be escaped by flight and 
self-isolation. We wonder at and pity the self-inflicted tortures of one who de- 
sired, in those days, to live a holy life, but we admire the devotion of this Loyola. 
Was he not right in a certain degree? We sympathize with any attempt at self- 
growth and government, although we may think the methods absurd. Loyola 
was filled with an intense desire for something better. The Church taught and 
the people believed that certain forms of self-humiliation materially aided in bring- 
ing about this desired result. Loyola accepted this method as the best he knew, 
and followed it unsparingly. He retired into solitude, fasted, prayed, and scourg- 
himself, lived by charity and meditated on holy things. 

As a result of these experiences, he, about this time, composed his ‘‘ Spiritual 
Exercises.” These teach nothing of the duties of social or domestic life, but 
refer entirely to the discipline and meditations of those who are undergoing a life 
of asceticism. Later, Loyola made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with the desire of 
converting the followers of Mahomet to the true religion, but he met with so much 
opposition that he finally turned his back on the Holy City, and wandered again 
to Spain, still enthusiastic and determined. ‘The better to prepare himself for 
the work of saving souls, he now resolved to undergo a long course of 
study, and journeyed to Paris for that purpose. While in the Parisian Universi- 
ty, his power of attracting and compelling minds had commenced to manifest 
itself. It has been said that Loyola had the power of communicating motion to 
to the minds of others. Whatever this charm was, it existed in him in a remark- 
able degree, because the men whom he influenced and became his disciples were, 
all of them, more than ordinary in intellect and attainments. Loyola had long 


VI—7 


100 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


meditated the formation of a religious order, and while in Paris he commenced 
to express his intentions to others. Never did a politician act more shrewdly 
than did this Spaniard. He sounded his friends and carefully studied their char- 
acteristics. He broached a little of his plan to this one, a little to that; securing 
the devotion of one by his piety ; appealing successfully to the ambition of anoth- 
er; and, so great was his knowledge of men and so seductive his methods, that 
even the brilliant and haughty Xavier at last was won. A solemn vow was taken 
and so the germ of the society was organized. Their intention was to go to Jerusa- 
lem to convert the Mohammedans, or, if unsuccessful, to offer themselves to the 
Pope: So in pilgrim garb they journeyed, on foot, toward Italy, living by alms; 
performing the ‘‘ Spiritual Exercises,” preaching vigorously on all occasions, 
especially against these new Lutheran doctrines; making many converts and re- 
lieving suffering, as they tarried by the way. On reaching Italy it was found to 
be impossible to proceed to Jerusalem, and the journey was continued to Rome. 
Paul III, the Pope, was looking on with anger and dismay as he saw England 
slipping away, Germany half Protestant, and the new heresy encroaching on Italy 
itself. The Jesuits, in Rome, soon distinguished themselves as successful oppo- 
nents to Protestantism, and were favorably received by the Pope as the best an- 
tagonists to Luther. It was not long before the devotion and success of this new 
society had gained the confidence of Paul III, and the Jesuits were formally re- 
cognized as an order of the Church and Loyola was elected ‘‘ General.” 

The professed number of the first organization was sixty, but it was afterward 
increased and its growth was favored by the removal of certain civil ecclesiastic and 
restrictions. Its members were divided into four classes, viz: 1st. The Novices, 
who were simply candididates undergoing two years probation. 2d. The Schol- 

-ars, whose position in relation to the society was to be determined by individual 
ability. 3d. The Coadjutors, who may be either priests or laymen, but who aid 
in carrying out the interests of the order. 4th. The Professed, who have bound 
themselves by vows of chastity, of poverty, of obedience to the will of the Gen- 
eral, of perfect submission to the Pope in respect to missionary enterprises. ‘The 
remaining years of Loyola’s life were spent in perfecting the ‘‘ Constitution ’’—or 
rules of government of the Society—in arranging missions, in founding charitable 
institutions and the celebrated Jesuit College at Rome, in preaching and prosely- 
ting. This remarkable man died in the year 1556, in the sixty-sixth year of his 
age. 

The Church of Rome has canonized Loyola. His name is considered sacred 
in Catholic countries, and the relics of his early life, in Spain, are objects of ven- 
eration. On the other hand, he had been villified as much as he has been adored. 
Almost the whole vocabulary of abusive epithets has been applied to him, occa- 
sionally by Catholic and frequently by Protestant. But, there is something won- 
derful in the history of the man who has stamped himself so indelibly on a system 
that his influence has been projected through three centuries. How shall we 
defend this character? As a young man, ardent, chivalrous. By a sudden and 
natural transition he becomes an enthusiastic and devoted proselyte of the re- 


LOYOLA AND THE EARLY JESUITS. . 101 


ceived religious ideas of his time. He seems to have acted sincerely on his con- 
victions at this period. But experience subdues the romantic in his nature. To 
his devotion and enthusiasm is added a polished artfulness, and Loyola crystal- 
lizes into the Jesnit. Ambitious and filled with concentrated enthusiam; hav- 
ing a profound knowledge of the weakness and strength of human nature; know- 
ing perfectly how to turn virtue, vice or ambition to the advantage of the church; 
possessed of a finesse, a flexibility, a duplicity, a dexterity in management almost 
Machiavellian, preferring truth and gentle procedure—if convenient—but capa- 
ple of black deception and pitiless cruelty, if necessary ; believing the doctrines 
of the church verbatim et literatim, and devoted heart and soul to its interests. 
This was Loyola, and such is Jesuitism. In this organization the result of Loy- 
ola’s early military education is seen, in the strict code of discipline; in the de- 
pendence on and allegiance to the head, or general, who, in his turn, acknowl- 
edges the Pope as his director; and, in the sharp distinctions between the differ- 
ent grades. 

So skilfully has Loyola managed his ‘‘ Constitutions,” and so carefully is the 
discipline applied to the Novices, that none but the most capable can reach the 
highest and most influential grades, and all lose in the course of their training 
their influentiality—becoming automatoa—guided only by the will of the ‘‘Sup- 
erlor.”” ‘The vows of poverty and obedience wean them from the world and make 
them devoted to the order. The discipline and instruction of the Society teach 
them that the highest duty lies in working for the church. 

So in the 16th century, when the Romish organization was losing its power, 
was staggering from blow after blow from Lutherism, the Jesuit force came for- 
ward, instituted itself as a prop under the tottering edifice and gave a vitality to 
the diseased Church, which has continued to this day. The missionary enter- 
prise and flexible adaptability of the Jesuits, have largely caused the growth 
and spread of the Church power in all directions and under adverse circum- 
stances. From the days of Xavier, to the present, the Jesuit missionaries have 
displayed heroic enterprise and energy. Most romantic are some of their histor- 
ies; leaving civilization behind, crossing pathless oceans, fearless of death, plung- 
ing into unknown lands, they have penetrated everywhere; and to-night, the 
vesper melody from the Jesuit Mission bell floats out on the air in every clime. 
Truly these men deserve respect, for their undying devotion! But, it is in the 
courts, in the centres of civilization, that the Jesuits have fought their most de- 
termined battles and have applied all their arts. Striving with something more 
than energy, with hope against hope; now controlling kings and being the 
power behind the throne; plotting, deceiving, committing black crimes; losing 
ground, being expelled v7 ef arms, struggling back again into power; again shak- 
en off, and finally trodden under foot; never destroyed, but appearing again in a 
new phase, relentless and almost resistless. 

What a wondrous history, theirs! Animated, as it is, by the soul of one, 
Ignatius Loyola, who died three centuries ago. 


102 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


AN Tinh O@r@r@ Gx 


INDO-CHINESE CIVILIZATION. 
EON, 5 SOUT, Ni, Ww) 


[Read before the Academy of Sciences, San Francisco, Cal.| 


At the last meeting of the Indo-Chinese Academic Society, of Paris, the 
Marquis de Crozier announced the return of Lieutenant Delaporte of the French 
Navy, member of the Society and principal officer of the Archzeological Commis- 
sion of Cambodia, who has just arrived at Toulon on the Government transport, 
the Tonquin, and publishes the principal results derived from the Commission. 

M. Delaporte, accompanied by a part of his staff, departed from Marseilles 
on the 3rd day of October, 1881. On his arrival at Saigon, he was received with 
the utmost hospitality by M. Le Myre de Vilers, Governor of Cochin China, who 
immediately placed a steamer at his disposal and accorded to him, through the 
Colonial Council, an appropriation of 8000 francs for the initiatory expenses of 
his journey. The important navigation company, ‘‘ Roque,” offered him their 
steam cutters, proposing to transport gratuitously his staff and material during 
the entire continuance of his explorations. L. Fourés, temporary representative 
of the French Protectorate of Cambodia during the absence of M. Aymonier, oc- 
cupied himself sedulously in facilitating the final equipment of the explorers. 

From Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, M. Delaporte went directly to 
the ruins of Angkor. There he was enabled finally to solve the difficult problem 
of the destination of the religious edifices of that ancient metropolis of Indo- 
Chinese civilization. His discoveries have warranted him the conclusion, both 
interesting and unexpected, that the ancient Khmer temples were dedicated to 
Brahmanism. In his explorations at Angkor-Vat, he exposed on its eminences 
the chefs d’ euvres of Cambodian sculpture of bas-reliefs, formerly brilliantly gild- 
ed pediments and entablatures, all the designs of which, as well as those which 
decorated the most interior sanctuary, are consecrated to the exploits of Rama 
and to the glory of Vichnu. To these gods then was Angkor-Vat dedicated. At 
Angkor-Tom new monuments were found, the most of which presented in the 
principal entablatures the exploits of Rama and of Vichnu. He there verified 
the presence of the emblem of Siva—the linga or phallus of the ancients. He 
excavated and removed the debris from the ancient palace of the Khmer kings, 
and thus brought to light the most grandiose and marvelous sculpture; terraces 
superposed on each other, decorated with superb compositions in bas-relief. The 
tricephalic elephant Iravalti is there enthroned in all the places of honor, and, 
also, in the angles of all the gates of the city, where he appears mounted by the 


INDO-CHINESE CIVILIZATION. 108 


god Indra, accompanied by the two Apsaras, or celestial dancers of his paradise. 
M. Delaporte had succeeded in collecting 300 photographs, forty casts in plaster 
and a small number of original pieces of great value, when, on the ist day of 
January he, as well as his second in staff, M. Farut, engineer, and one of his 
draftsmen, M. Tille, were compelled to yield to the fever of the country and re- 
turn to Saigon and enter the hospital, thence to embark on the first transport for 
France. Although much reduced in strength, he was enabled to endure the 
voyage, and is now a convalescent. 

The Commission, notwithstanding the departure of the chief officer, still con- 
tinues its work. M. Delaporte delegated his command with his instructions to 
Dr. Ernawhit, physician in the navy, assisted by M. Ghilardi, in charge of the 
castings, and M. Laedhric, draughtsman and photographer. 

At the date of the 16th day of January the investigation of these poe 
was in active operation. The party, reduced to three Europeans, accompanied 
by two interpreters, twelve native soldiers and several Cambodian and Siamese 
mandarins, took the route of Batta-Bong, whence the party was shortly to embark 
upon the frigate placed at his service by M. Le Myre de Vilers, its destination 
being to reach the ruins northeast and to visit, afterward, the monuments situated 
on the banks of the Mé-kong. The operations may be continued until the mid- 
dle of March, when the heat will become too intense and the weather too stormy 
to permit Europeans to endure the severities of the climate. The Commission 
will probably return to France by the end of April or the beginning of May. 

We hope that the entire recovery of M. Delaporte will soon permit him to 
present, in person the results of his mission to the Socioty. At the same meet- 
ing the Society received a very interesting communication from M. Lion Dru, 
engineer, upon the opening of the Isthmus of Krou and the Peninsula of Malac- 
ca. The Indo-Chinese Academic Society, desiring to assure to itself the neces- 
sary aid in the explorations which it proposes to undertake in the Philippines, 
Carolines and the Marianne Islands, as well as the researches which it is prose- 
cuting in the archives and libraries of Spain, has solicited the patronage of H. M. 
Alphonso XII, begging him to to take an interest in its proceedings, and to ac- 
cept the title of High Protector. A member of the Council, Count Alphonso 
Dilkan, has repaired to Madrid to present to the King a collection of the pro- 
ceedings and a diploma of membership in the Society. His Majesty promptly 
accorded to him the kindest reception, accepting the title thus presented him. 
The King promised to the members of the Society his most cordial aid in its ex- 
plorations in Spanish Malasia, and in their researches in the archives and the 
libraries of his kingdom. 


104 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


THE CLIMATE OF PARIS IN PREHISTORIC TIME. 
BY CAPTAIN E. L. BERTHOUD. 


There is no reason to doubt that for a long time in the past, Paris and its 
neighborhood enjoyed a tropical climate, where dwelt the elephant and rhinocer- 
os, animals fond of heat; then, that at other epochs this country was subjected 
to glacial periods, which numerous relics of reindeer prove beyond doubt. 

We have new facts proving this: Mr. G. Vasseur has placed in the hands of 
Prof. A. Gaudry, the famous paleeontogical professor of the Museum, numerous 
relics obtained on the heights of Montreuil in the environs of Paris at an altitude 
of 326 feet above the sea. 

These fragments are of the quaternary period and consist of portions of the 
skeletons of bisons, elephants, and especially of reindeer, which latter, however, 
do not belong to that period of prehistoric time known as the ‘‘ Reindeer Age”’; 
for the erosion of the bed of the Seine, which at a latter age took a very large 
extension, had not then taken place. 

Thanks to this last discovery at Montreuil we can divide the Quaternary pe- 
riod into six prominent intervals each characterized by alternations of cold and 
warm climate, realizing the extreme conditions ‘‘ enter se” of glacial, temperate 
warm and torrid. ‘To each of these corresponds a fauna and flora of special dis- 
tinctions. 

In this tropical locality of Montreuil, be it well marked, not a vestage or 


indication of man has been found anywhere.— Translated from l Exploration, Feb. 
22, 1382. 


MISSOURI ARCHASOLOGY. 


BY O. W. COLLETT, ST. LOUIS, MO. 


[Read before the Missoure Historical Soctety, February 22, 1882.| 


On April 14th last, I took the afternoon train to Kirkwood, and thence afoot 
went down to Fenton, stopping by the way a little while at the Cerre Sulphur 
Spring. I slept at the village, and next morning, which was Good Friday, re- 
traced my steps as far as the Spring, and there and in the neighborhood spent 
the forenoon. 

The day is fixed forever in my memory, for I do not remember ever to have 
experienced the like of it, or an occasion on which the aspects of nature impress- 
ed themselves so vividly on my imagination. The transparent atmosphere was 
the special charm. 

Cerre Spring is in fact two separate fountains, one impregnated with sulphur, 
the other with salt, whose waters have been united and gush forth as one stream. — 
It is situated one and one-fourth miles from Fenton, about the centre of a piece of 


MISSOURI ARCHAZOLOGY. ; 105 


level land three or four acres in extent, and which is the mouth or junction with the 
second bottom of the Meramec, of a small valley through which a rivulet meand- 
ers. The Spring is a hundred paces west of a hill, and discharges its waters 
about a foot below the surface of the earth into a deep trench. It appears to 
flow beneath a small marsh, and it ray be that excavations of sufficient depth, 
made thereabouts, would bring to light animal remains. 

The second bottom, or valley proper, of the Meramec, is hereabouts near a 
mile wide. Benches or terraces, more or less inclining, but much higher than 
the alley, jut out from the hillsides to the westward. The present valley was 
once, perhaps far back in quaternary times, the bed of an immense lake or river, 
and the terraces may then have corresponded to what is now the second bottom. 

The locality around Cerre Spring once abounded in archeological objects; 
but sixty years ago people began to carry away the ‘‘Indian curiosities.’”’ As 
they were called, found there, and as they have continued to do so until the 
present time the supply is well nigh exhausted. On the flat land near the Spring 
arrow points are found occasionally, and directly opposite westwardly, about one 
hundred yards distant, the plateau is strewn with fragments of thick pottery, 
which was probably made, and certainly used on the spot. On the same ground 
also some noteworthy implements have been picked up. The potsherds vary in 
size from quite small pieces to six inches square and in thickness from half an 
inch to one anda quarter inches; they appear to be of the same composition as to 
material, as what is usually designated Mound-Builders’ pottery, loam, with a 
small portion of pounded shells intermixed. Some of the fragments at least are 
of vessels that could have held thirty gallons, and were ornamented near the rim 
with cross-lines, or simple indentations, or finished plain, probably according to 
the fancy of the maker. In form they were wide shallow pots. No whole ves- 
sel or a large piece of one of this class of pottery I believe has ever been found. 
Similar pottery has frequently been discovered in the immediate vicinity of Salt 
Springs, but I am informed nowhere else. These two facts seem to justify us in 
determining its use and giving to it the name by which it is commonly known, 
salt kettle pottery. For the most part it has been well fired. I have never seen 
a fragment which showed salt glaze; nor do I know of a single instance of salt 
having been found in a mound or burial place. It is possible that the water was 
evaporated only so far as to produce concentrated brine, or that evaporation was 
produced by the heat of the sun. 

It is certain that white men did not make this pottery; and it appears that 
the Indians before Europeans came among them did not use salt; besides, it is 
impossible that Indians could have made such large vessels without our having 
certain knowledge of the fact. I am inclined to think that the makers of this 
pottery, the constructors of the stone graves, and the builders of the mounds were 
one and the same people. ‘The implements referred to just now were picked up 
by myself. One is a fragment of limestone about five-eights of an inch thick, in 
form an size much like the blade of an iron hatchet broken off below the swell of 
the eye, and ground at the cutting line three-quarters of an inch wide on both 


106 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


sides to an edge; the other a triangular or canoe-shaped flint seven inches long, 
one inch broad on the face, tapering to a point at one end and nearly so at the 
other, the apex of all the angles ground off, and the less pointed end somewhat 
rounded by the same process. I cannot conjecture the use of these implements. 
I have since obtained from Mr. Wm. Kaut a fragment picked up in Fenton of 
what seems to have been a precisely similar implement, but ground all over. 

Between the pottery ground and the hill, but at some little distance from the 
former, many potsherds of the usual thickness are found; and in one spot, on a 
previous occasion, a companion (Dr. Chas. D. Stevens) and I dug into a deposit 
of muscle shells, perhaps half a bushel. Iam inclined to think ordinary pottery 
was manufactured hereabouts. For some distance up the little valley already 
mentioned, flint lances are thrown out by the plow, though rarely a fine specimen, 
and once in a great while a small axe. 

On the terrace which extends around the hill to the west of the Spring and 
on the hill itself, were once altogether five or six burial places; groups of stone 
graves, each grave formed by placing flat stones edgewise in the earth as has 
often been described. All that were situated on the terrace have been rooted 
out long ago, and their stones used to build the foundations and chimneys of 
neighboring farm houses. The burial place on the hill still remains, but every 
grave has been opened. Mr. Wickersham, a grandson of Jacob Wickersham, 
who settled on the Meramec in Spanish times, informed me on my way from 
Fenton that there was still one undisturbed cyst, and described the exact spot 
where it could be found. Toward noon I turned my back upon the valley and 
set out to follow up Mr. Wickersham’s directions, though with strong misgivings 
of the trustworthiness of his information. On entering the woods a rabbit started 
under my feet, bounded away a few paces and then stopped and took a delib- 
erate look at me. A little farther on my attention was attracted by a bright white 
flower, peeping out from between the roots of a tree, the first greeting of spring, 
its beauty greatly enhanced, like a maiden’s in a locality where marriageable girls 
are few, there being none others to be seen. I stooped down and plucked it, 
and even brought it home pressed in my note book; it was the blood root, but I 
admired it none the less. Next day many were seen, and on Sunday they were 
abundantly common. Having gained the top of the hill and being well acquaint- 
ed with the locality, I had no difficulty in finding the spot to which I had been 
directed ; but the grave was not an exception to the others. Presently I sat down 
upon aslab, which had served as the cover of a cyst, surveyed the country around, 
watched the movements of the clouds and mused. Around me were the ves- 
tiges of ancient peoples—of men whose coming, whose sojourn, whose departure 
are problems unsolved—the dead records of a past and almost its only records, 
still, awaiting an interpreter. My foot rested upon a fragment of limestone, 
in which were imbedded a number of fossils. I took out the hammer and broke 
off several, which, on my return to town, I gave to Dr. Hamback. Overhead 
was a gourd depending upon a dead vine. I reached out and plucked it. This 
species and others are indigenous. They grew in the days.of the pottery makers 


MISSOURI ARCHAOLOGY. 107 


and appear to have served as the models of some of their vessels. In many of 
their pots there is an imitative resemblance to gourd forms, and occasionally so 
exact that one would imagine the clay had been dexterously built up around the 
fruit and the latter subsequently removed by the burning process. But this 
could scarcely have been, as the plastic material would have cracked in drying, 
had its contraction been resisted by a rigid substance within. 

Fenton is an old place. Long before the Fenton of to-day, the locality was 
a rendezvous of the Indian and before him the site of a town, probably coeval 
with the Mound-Builders, whose population disappeared centuries ago. The 
locality early attracted attention from the fact of its being a vast graveyard, and 
the river just there affording the first convenient ford above its junction with the 
Mississippi. Lieut. Long describes it in 1819, and Beck’s Gazetteer in 1823 speaks 
of ruins supposed to be of a prehistoric fort. In 1818 people began to open the 
graves. They found to be twenty-five to fifty inches in length. Mr. Roessel in- 
formed me that not long ago (within three years) he had discovered a cyst at 
Fenton not over sixteen inches long. It was imagined by many that they were 
the tombs of a race of pigmies, and a spirited contest arose, conducted in the 
columns of the MZssourt Gazette. It need not be said that the notion of a race 
of dwarfs was unfounded. None of those receptacles of the dead are now in ex- 
istence; they were destroyed by degrees by curiosity-hunters, in the building of 
the town and cultivating the adjoining fields. The ruins of the fort, or of what- 
ever it may have been, have also disappeared. All that remain of the ancient 
necropolis and the people who dwelt thereabouts are three mounds on the river’s 
bank, innumerable potsherds and fragments of flint littering the earth. Some 
whole vessels, many flint implements, a few axes and perhaps other objects of 
stone found in times past, have been taken away and are now scattered over the 
country. I, myself, have collected some specimens on the spot, and from time 
to time obtained others which had been found there, though few that are note- 
worthy by reason of their form or workmanship. 

On the top of the hill at which the upper end of the village abuts, there are 
several stone heaps which may be artificial, and at short distance below Fenton, 
on a hill also, as I am informed, there is a shell heap. 

Southeastwardly, about three miles distant from the village, is Clamorgan’s 
salt spring, the site of the first salt works erected west of the Mississippi. There 
is of record a document which gives us an authentic account of this primitive es- 
tablishment. The factory, situated within fifty paces of the spring, was forty feet 
long, twenty feet wide and built of posts planted upright in the ground, after the 
manner of all the wooden houses of the time. The furnace, which was con- 
structed of stone, was as long as the building, and its equipments consisted of 
forty-four square cast-iron cauldrons two feet two inches by two feet two inches, 
weighing 200 pounds each, and eight lead cauldrons two feet nine inches by two 
feet three inches and eleven inches deep. In September, 1792, the establish- 
ment, brand new, and unused, was rented to Thomas Tyler, together with the 
following implements, slaves and outhouses: A new ox-cart and two yoke of 


108 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


cattle; four negroes, Charles, twenty-five years of age, worth $600, Sam, twenty 
years of age and George fourteen years, worth $500 each; and James, thirty years 
old worth $400, and their clothing; and four little cabins near by. The lessee 
was authorized to cut as much wood as he needed on the premises. Clamorgan 
was to receive thirty (minots) bushels of measured dry salt as the monthly rent, 
and in case of any failure $6 for every bushel of salt not delivered according to 
contract, and besides, if any kettle were broken, Tyler was to pay five pounds of 
lead for each pound of iron in the broken cauldron, that being the price it had 
cost. We have here an apt illustration of the value of old documents. I have 
just been quoting from a legal instrument executed nearly one hundred years ago, 
a paper in which one would scarcely expect to find anything that would interest 
us to-day, and it furnishes a definite account of the construction, extent, and 
equipment of the first salt works in Missouri; the price of men, farm slaves, and’ 
the relative value of several articles of merchandise at that date (archive 2,893). 

In the immediate vicinity of the Spring there are several groups of stone 
graves; but every cyst has been opened and its contents disturbed. I have never 
heard of any thick or salt-kettle pottery having been found in the neighborhood 
of the Spring. | 

Beyond Fenton, in the direction of Meramec Station, I discovered several 
localities where spear-heads can be found, which I examined carefully ; but al- 
though my searches were rewarded with finds, there was not a single fine speci- 
men among them. 


MINING AND METALEURNGY: 


THE SUBSTANTIAL PROSPERITY OF COLORADO. 
BY HON. THOS. M. PATTERSON. 


ai ci 08 For the twenty-seven years beginning with 1850, the 
money invested, the labor expended and material used in mining for precious 
metals in the United States, are fairly estimated at $709,000,000, while the money 
returns therefrom, and created values in mines and mills, amount to $2, 200,000,- 
000, giving to the investors more than 200 per cent as actual profit. Within the 
last twelve years the mining States and Territories have produced more than 
$875,000,000 of gold and silver bullion—the highest value of any of the years 
being $95,000,000 and the lowest being $52,000,000. 

For the same period of twelve years the struggle for the supremacy in the 
contest of precious metals had been with California and Nevada. Like well- 
matched athletes, now one seemed to prevail and now the other. 

Colorado, though robust and aspiring, seemed a pigmy beside these giants, 
but in 1879 she took up the gauntlet, and from a product of $8,000,000 the pre- 


THE SUBSTANTIAL PROSPERITY OF COLORADO. 109 


ceding year, that year came to the front with more than $17,000,000. California 
gave to the world the same year $18,000,000, and Nevada contributed nearly 
$22,000,000. But their insignificant triumph of that year was their last. The 
infant had grown into a man, aye, it became a giant, for in 1880 Colorado, from 
its river beds and mountains made the world the richer $23,000,000, while Cali- 
fornia and Nevada followed in the rear, the one with $19,000,000 and the other 
with but $15,000,000. 

But unapproachable as is our State in the production of the royal metals, ex- 
ploration and experiment have shown that States gray with age and decorated 
with a century’s industrial badges for achievements in the arts where coal and 
iron are used, have just reason to fear the rivalry of this youngest of the sister- 
hood in all branches of mechanical industry where the intervention of the humble 
metals is invoked. Colorado, while it leads the van in furnishing the material 
for the world’s money—the metals of which crowns are made, and flashing coro- 
nets and tinsel, and fashion’s baubles, is equally in the front with vast stores of 
what commerce terms the baser metals, but which in their universality of use and 
adaptability to every phase and necessity of a world’s rugged and healthful wants 
are im fact by far the nobler. 

The age of gold and silver in Colorado has been supplemented by the age of 
iron and coal. Pennsylvania through its blast furnaces and coal beds has become 
the second State in the Union, both in wealth and population. California, from its 
golden sands, has wrought itself into a giant commonwealth, the gateway to the 
Union for the commerce of the Pacific Islands, and 400,000,000 of Asiatic peo- 
ple. Colorado has within her borders the metals and minerals of both these 
great States in equal degree. While she has outstripped the one in the joint pro- 
duction of gold and silver, she has of iron and coal, that which ere a generation 
passes, will make her the rival of the other in that vast net-work of mechanical 
devices fashioned from them, which are so interwoven with human life that they 
form a part of its warp and woof. Every quarter and section of the State is 
pregnant with the wealth which forms the sum of its greatness. The golden 
fissures of Gilpin and Boulder, the silver fissures of Clear Creek, Summit, Custer, 
the Gunnison and San Juan, are reservoirs of the two metals which will not be ex- 
hausted until the primeval curse dooming man to labor shall be revoked. The 
coal beds of Las Animas, Fremont and Gunnison, the iron joined in nature’s wed- 
lock to them, the clays, silicates, timber, grasses, soils in every section of the 
State where the sun shines and the winds blow, make up a grand total of material 
elements which invites capital to profitable investment and labor to generous re- 
muneration. 

The world recognizes that Leadville is the most magical city of the age. 
From its mines and smelters more silver annually flows into the arteries of the 
world’s commerce than is supplied by any entire State or foreignland. In Pueblo, 
with its vast steel works and iron furnaces, its product of Bessemer and pig, its 
proximity to vast beds of coal and iron, its railroad facilities and geographical 
position, we but anticipate the future Birmingham or Pittsburg of the great and 


110 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


growing West. In Denver we behold the Queen City of the mountains and the 
plains. For five hundred miles north, south, and west, the continent pays con- 
stant tribute. ‘Twelve lines of railway, which are still stretching out their iron 
arms to encircle new possessions, carry in and out the moving multitudes and 
distribute the contents of her warehouses and the products of her shops. She is 
without a rival, and envy has been silenced in her presence. * *k * — 


La Plata Miner. 


ANALYSIS OF LEADVILLE ORES. 
BY D. BAUMAN. 


As a fair average of Leadville ores I give the analysis of lots stored at our 
smelters, from all divisions of the camp: 


SILVER. LEAD. SILICA. MET. IRON. 


LOTS NO. TONS. 
OZS. PER TON.| PER CENT. | PER CENT. | PER CENT. 
LO boheme ae ike 200 35 35 15 18 
OD Sale alle 200 35 40 12 23 
ahah aac 5 300 18 II- 18 
AN Sarat se) 100 7 12 20 
Boo 9 odo 20 35 10 30 20 
Green sta! | 3 140 6 62 4 
Gilets Roe | 5 200 2 50 4% 
See facrcec: 5 80 44 12 2 
OMe nhc: 400 75 35 AI 5 
LOM pene ss | 550 85 44 30 5 
ILTESwgsavioh peo 400 1oo 22 24 28 
TO stole tae 50 55 AG] Ly dlls 10 
ete Nowatiedee ie) 45 28 18 30 
HEA aun poles =, 82 200 80 30 22 16 
TAG Mesa ish aes 300 48 18 ° 24 
HO? cata WON 200 48 22 16% 28 
1 Seber akan 260 75 42% 14% i's 
MO Mawr yEHe 10 800 2 66 5 
MOMs He chs 50 80 16 18 10 
EXO) EA SENG. oe 3 2,000 3 65 4 
BUNA Mersey iis 30 ie) 29% 20 18 
DG) si ames aes 30 20 61% 4 5 
DBRS eS) alse 15 520 6 40 10 
2 Sal Se ee 24 68 33 12 15 
ENS 5 NT eReMey Fe 50 57 46 25 8 
ZO we sene sale be 13 153 18 30 40 
Dio een tea | A] 424 54 ie) 15 
ORS ain alate Hae 35 140 42 16 2 
ZOW viens pens | 30 104 48 10 16 


GENERAL MINING NEWS FROM COLORADO. 111 


GENERAL MINING NEWS FROM COLORADO. 


PITKIN COUNTY. 


The Farwell Consolidated Mines embrace rg claims in and about Independ- 
ence or Farwell Pitkin County, Colorado. The following are the most exten 
sively worked: The Independence, Last Dollar, Mammoth and Mount Hope. 
The first two have been worked about 300 feet on the veins, with some stoping ; 
tunnels are driven to reach the vein at a considerable depth, and are within 40 feet 
of the ore-bodies. In March, the average yield of gold ore was $26; in April, 
$32 per ton. The company operates its own mill of 50 stamps, 30 of which 
have been running all winter. ‘The mill is wet crushing, amalgamation process ; 
the concentrates are caught on blankets and buddled. The following statement 
is the quarterly output: January, $25,000; February, $29,000; March, $38,- 
ooo; to April 15th, $19,500. 

The Hamilton Company has finished the survey of its placer and lode 
claims, and will receive a patent for them from the Government in a short time. 
This property, adjoining as it does the Farwell, is known to be very rich and the 
Company is doing a wise thing to obtain ownership of the land before develop- 
ing the mines. 

CHAFFEE COUNTY. 


The mines of the Chalk Creek District, including the Alpine, St. Elmo and 
Hancock mines, are getting into shape, preparatory to an early resumption of 
active mining. At Alpine the Diamond Queen Company is developing its prop- 
erty, consisting of several lodes, the most important of which, the Diamond 
Queen, is opened by an incline of 135 feet, from which a drift has been run 
north and south about 25 feet each way. Some good ore is reported to be ex- 
posed in the workings, and the company propose, during the coming season, to 
erect machinery and ship ore to the Buena Vista sampling works. The grade of 
the ore from the Kerber Creek mines is said to be improving, some of it showing 
a net gain of 50 per cent in value. 


GILPIN COUNTY. 


The numerous claims in the vicinity of Central City, many of which are 
worked by private parties on leases, continue, as at last report, shipping consid- 
erable quantities of ore. The Wyandotte Consolidated Company is pushing ex- 
plorations on the west lower level from the working shaft on the Wyandotte vein. 
The Cameron Consolidated Company is meeting with a fair degree of success in 
the operation of its properties. 


GRAND COUNTY. 


One of the properties in the North Park that is reported showing up ex- 
tremely well for the amount of work performed on it is the Wolverine. There 


112 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, — 


are five feet of good mineral in the breast of the lower tunnel and nearly 600 
tons of ore on the dump. 
GUNNISON COUNTY. 


Tomichi District, in this county, is a section which gives promise of becom- 
ing one of the most important mining districts in the State. In Buckhorn Gulch, 
which forms a portion of the district, the quartz carries sulphurets and, in some 
places, wire silver. Several new and important strikes have been reported dur- 
ing the last few weeks. 

CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 


The mines of this county, particularly those in the immediate vicinity of 
Georgetown, continue to make large shipments of ore that averages about 200 
ounces of silver to the ton. Several of the leading Georgetown mines are ship- 
ping small lots of ore, some of which runs as high as 1,000 ounces to the ton. 
The Red Elephant Company is reported to have a good vein of ore exposed in 
the eighth level that mills from 50 to 150 ounces. At Idaho Springs, the mining 
interests are reported to be prosperous. When the Freeland resumes operations, 
which it is said will soon be done, this section will be one of the busiest in the 
State. At Dumont, the Unadilla Mining Company is taking some good smelting 
ore from its Eagle lode. The Albro Company has exposed a vein of good ore 
between four and five feet wide, fifteen inches of which is smelting ore that 
yields $109 a ton, net, the rest being concentrating and milling ore. The mill 
treats about twelve tons every twenty-four hours, and a weekly shipment of one 
car load of smelting ore is made to the Argo works. 


LAKE COUNTY. 


The mining interests of the Carbonate camp continue in the prosperous 
condition that has been noted for some time past. ‘The large output of the mines 
is maintained, and there are unmistakable signs that, unless some unusual inter- 
ruption should occur, the product of the mines for the current year will be larger 
than ever before, surpassing even the best days of the Little Pittsburg, Chrysolite 
and Little Chief. While the large output is maintained, prospecting work is still 
carried on with great diligence, particularly in the mines located on Fryer Hill. 
The Amie strike, concerning the value of which considerable doubt was at first 
expressed, is said to be showing up better than ever, some of the ore extracted 
netting $400 to the ton. The new manager of the Chrysolite has taken charge 
of the mine, and is starting considerable prospect work. The Climax has given 
two more leases on sections of the mine. The Robert E. Lee Company is meet- 
ing with renewed success in the development of its mine, large bodies of ore be- 
ing reported exposed. The little Chief is doing poorly ; it is said that there will 
shortly be a change made in the mine management. ‘There is considerable work 
doing on the Big Pittsburg property, and the prospects are a little brighter. 

PUEBLO COUNTY. 


The first steel rail ever produced in Colorado was turned out the Pueblo 
works at about four o’clock on the 11th day of April, 1882. This marks a new 


era iu the history of Colorado’s industries. 


ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR JUNE, 7882. 


ant stepping stones to a greatness which 1s already astonishing the world. 


Date. 
rst. 
5th. 

roth. 

15th. 
2oth. 
25th. 
30th. 


Date. 
rst. 
5th. 

roth. 

15th. 
2oth. 
25th. 
30th. 

Semi-diameter on the 1st, 4”; on the zoth, 5.8”. 


Date. 


Ist. 


5th. 
toth. 
15th. 
2oth. 
25th. 
30th. 
Semi-diameter on the 1st, 5.8”; on the 30th, 6.5”. 


SVL OUN OMI NG 


ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR JUNE, 1882. 


BY W. W. ALEXANDER, KANSAS CITY, MO. 


THE SUN. 
Right Ascension, Declination N. 
4h. 37m. Zan On 
4 54 2250135 
ish et 23 02 
5) 65) 23 20 
5 56 23 27 
On BR BE 
Gras 23 09 
MERCURY. 


Right Ascension. 


6h. 20m. aie 
6 34 24 
6 45 22 
6 48 21 
6 44 20 
OD 85 19 
6 18 18 


Right Ascension. 


6h. 29m. 
GF FO 
Gh ie He) 
7 42 
8 08 
8 33 
8.57 


VENUS. 


24° 
24 
23 
23 
21 
20 


r9 


Declination N. 


or 


13 
58 
37 
19 

18 
40 


Declination N. 


4i’ 


23 


M. T. of Transit. 


113 


It is one of the State’s most import- 


Equation of Time. 


2m. 


oO N & © O FH 


24S. 
46 
50 


12 + 


18 
21 
22 


M. T. of Transit. 
th. 39m. P.M. 


= © O 4 He 


28 
29 
32 
48 
18 
40 


th. 48m. P. M. 


N Ny NY NY WN 2 


54 
00 


06 
12 
18 
22 


114 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


MARS. 
Date. Right Ascension, Declination N. M. T. of Transit. 
1st. gh. 03m. we Wop! 4h. 23m. Pave 
roth. 9 24 16 40 4 09 
2oth. 9 46 T4 42 Bone 
30th. IO 09g 12 ie BUS 
JUPITER. 
Date. Right Ascension. Declination N. M. T. of Transit. 
Ist. 4h. 30m. 2 wuLO) 1th. 48m. A. M. 
15th. 4 44 wait ila) TOs) 
30th. sO 227 Mts! 10. 16 


Semi-diameter on the 1st, 15.5”; on the 3oth, 15.7”. 
It is visible as morning star in the constellation Taurus, and too near the 
Sun for its satellites to be observed. 


SATURN. 
Date. Right Ascension. Declination N. M. T. of Transit. 
Ist. 3h. o8m. 1s? BG) TOh: 25m Aa vie 
15th. Sits 15 155 By 
3oth. Gh Bi 16 19 Ald 


Semi-diameter on the 1st, 7.7”, on the 30th 8”. 

It is west of the Sun and will rise about 2h. before the dawn of morn. Ap- 
parent elements of its ring: Outer Major Axis 37.3”; Minor Axis 14.3”; Inclin- 
ation of northern Semi-Minor Axis to circle of declination from north to east, 1° 
32’; elevation of the Earth above the plane of the ring, 22° 37’; elevation of the 
Sun, 21° 40’; Earth’s longitude from Saturn counted on plane of ring from the 
ring’s ascending node on Equator, 102° 31’; Ecliptic, 59° 26’. 


URANUS. 
Date. Right Ascension. Declination N. M. T. of Transit. 
1st. rth. 03m. 6° 50’ 6h. 23m. P. M. 
3oth. II 06 G BS Adie 


It is in the constellation Leo about 15° east of Regulus, the brightest star. 


LIVING ON MOUNT ATNA. 


Hitherto the hospice of the great St. Bernard, which stands 8,200 feet above 
the level of the sea, has enjoyed the distinction of being the most elevated inhab- 
ited building in Europe. ‘This honor it can now no longer claim. During the 
past year the city authorities of Catania, in Sicily, have caused to be erected near 
the summit of the great volcano, Mount A‘tna, an astronomical observatory 
which stands 2,943 meters above the sea level, or fully 1,000 feet higher than the 
hospice of St. Bernard. The structure is nine meters in height, and covers an 


BOOK NOTICES. ; 115 


area of 200 square meters. It consists of an upper and a lower story, and is 
built in a circular form. In the lower story there rises a massive pillar, upon 
which is placed the great refracting telescope. The lower story is divided into a 
dining-room, kitchen and storerooms. In the upper story there are three bed- 
rooms intended for the accommodation of astronomers and tourists visiting the 
establishment. The roof consists of a movable cupola or dome. From the bal- 
conies of the upper story a prospect of vast extent and grandeur is presented. 
The spectator is able to see over half the island of Sicily, the Island of Malta, 
the Lipari Isles, and the province of Calabria, on the mainland of Italy. The 
observatory is erected upon a small cone, which will, in the case of eruption, 
protect it completely from the lava stream, which always flows down on.the op- 
posite side of the volcano. 


BOOM AINOWUC!2S:. 


HANDBOOK OF INVERTEBRATE Zo6éLocy. By W. K. Brooks, Ph. D. Octavo, 
pp. 392. Boston: S. E. Cassino, 1882. For sale by M. H. Dickinson, 
$3.00. 

This work, which is most handsomely presented by the publisher, is a care- 
ful and minute description of some typical forms of the invertebrata, with cuts, 
mostly made for the purpose, and many of them drawn by the author himself, 
illustrating every essential point in their structure. 

To students intending to prosecute their researches no handbook could be 
used more likely to thoroughly prepare them. ‘The author says: ‘‘In the 
treatment of each type I have not attempted to make an exhaustive monograph 
for the use of specialists, or to present all that is known about it; but simply to 
call the attention of the beginner to the structural features which he can readily 
observe for himself.”” This he has done most minutely with the Protozoa, 
taking as examples the shapeless Amceba and the more advanced Infusorians, as 
the Vorticella, the Calcareous Sponges and the Hydroida; the Radiata, including 
the Medusz, the Star Fish and the Sea Urchin; the Articulata, typified by the 
Earthworm and the Leech; the Crustacea, including the common Crab, the 
Crayfish and Lobster and the Cyclops; the Mollusca, represented by the bivalve 
Mussel and the Squid. 

In each of these classes a careful description is given of the development, 
anatomy, external and internal structure, and metamorphoses of each example, 
and nothing seems to have been left undone that is necessary for the information 
of the student. For instance, thirty-two pages are devoted to the grasshopper, 
including full details of the hard parts and its internal conformation, twenty to 
the earthworm, etc. The illustrations are very well executed. The work will 


rank among the best of the present day for the use either of teachers or students. 
vi-8 


116 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ATLANTIS, THE ANTEDILUVIAN Wor.LpD. By Ignatius Donnelly. Illustrated; 
r2mo. pp. 490. New York: Harper & Brothers, 13882. For sale by M. H. 


Dickinson, $2.00. 

Whether we adopt the conclusions of the author or not, we must certainly 
give him credit for sustaining them creditably with facts, arguments and plausible 
theories, and no one who commences to read it will fail to finish it and to be 
surprised at the number of authors drawn upon and the wide scope of research 
manifested, as well as the cumulative evidence thus secured. 

To give an adequate idea of the purpose of the work, we quote from the 
first chapter: ‘*‘ This book is an attempt to prove several distinct and novel 
propositions. These are, (1) That there once existed in the Atlantic Ocean, op- 
posite the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, a large island, which was the remnant 
of an Atlantic continent and known to the ancient world as Atlantis. (2) That 
the description of this island given by Plato is not, as has long been supposed, 
fable, but veritable history. (3) That Atlantis was the region where man first rose 
from a state of barbarism to civilization. (4) That it became, in the course of 
ages, a populous and mighty nation, from whose overflowing the shores of the 
Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River, the Amazon, the Pacific coast of South 
America, the Mediterranean, the West coast of Europe and Africa, the Baltic, 
the Black Sea and the Caspian were populated by civilized nations. (5) That it 
was the true Antediluvian World, the Garden of Eden, the Gardens of the Hes- 
perides, the Elysian Fields, the Gardens of Alcinous, the Mesomphalos, the 
Olympos, the Asgard of the traditions of ancient nations, representing a univer- 
sal memory of a great land where early mankind dwelt for ages in peace and 
happiness. (6) That the gods and goddesses of the Ancient Greeks, the Pheeni- 
cians, the Hindoos and the Scandinavians, were simply the kings, queens and 
heroes of Atlantis; and the acts attributed to them in Mythology are a confused 
recollection of real historical events. (7) That the Mythology of Egypt and 
Peru represented the original language of Atlantis, which was sun-worship. (8) 
That the oldest colony formed by the Atlanteans was probably in Egypt, whose 
civilization was a reproduction of the Atlantic island. (9) That the implements 
of the Bronze Age of Europe were derived from Atlantis. The Atlanteans were 
also the first manufacturers of iron. (to) That the Phoenician alphabet, purest 
of all the European alphabets, was derived from an Atlantean alphabet, which 
was also conveyed from Atlantis to the Mayas of Central America. (11) That 
Atlantis was the original seat of the Aryan or Indo-European family of nations 
as well asthe Semitic peoples, and possibly also of the Turanian races. (12) 
That Atlantis perished in a terrible convulsion of nature in which the whole 
island sunk into the ocean with nearly all its inhabitants. (13) That a few per- 
sons escaped in ships and on rafts and carried to the nations east and west the 
tidings of the appalling catastrophe, which has survived to our own time in 
the Flood and Deluge legends of the different nations of the Old and New 
Worlds.” 


BOOK NOTICES. ; 17 


Every point of the above is supported more or less strongly; maps showing 
an extensive shoal in the Atlantic, demonstrated by the soundings of the Chal- 
lenger, the Dolphin and other exploring vessels are given; ethnological illustra- 
tions are presented, etc. In short, is a most fascinating book, and it will un- 
doubtedly arouse much interest in the subject. 


ZELL’S CONDENSED CycLop@pi1a. By L. Colange, LL. D. One volume, octa- 
vo: pp. 984; Philadelphia. T. Ellwood Zell, 1882. For sale by H. C. 
Train, Agent; $7.50. 

This volume contains in a condensed form a general fund of critical and 
practical information upon every branch of knowledge that is at all likely to be 
required by ordinary readers or in the family circle. It is corrected and perfect- 
ed down to the present day, and is copiously illustrated with maps and engrav- 
ings. No work of the kind furnishes at so low a price the same amount of val- 
uable and useful reading in so convenient a shape. 


Morocco: Irs People AND Paces. By Edmond De Amicis. Octavo: pp. 
374. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York. For sale by M. H. Dickinson; $2. 
This is another of the wonderfully brilliant and enthusing books which have 

brought Signor de Amicis to the front as one of the best travel-book writers of 

the present day. His description of persons and places have a life-likeness about 
them which few writers can equal, while his grouping of salient points either in 
history or philosophy is skillful and artistic. 

The subject of this volume is one little known at the present day and it will 
therefore create a double interest in the minds of his readers. In his treatment 
of it he will bear comparison with our own Irving, whose style is somewhat sim- 
ilar, though less sparkling and vivacious. The titles of the chapters alone will 
arouse interest, which will by no means decrease on perusal. They are as fol- 
lows: Tangiers, Mahomet, Had-el-Garbia, Alkagar-el-Kebir, Ben-Auda, Beni- 
Hassan, Fez, Arzilla, etc., etc. The illustrations are good and the make-up of 
the book is first-class. 


Tuomas CarRLyLe. By James Anthony Froude, M. A. Two volumes in one; 
12mo.: pp. 280; New York; Harper & Bros., 1882. For sale by the Kan- 
sas City Book and News Co.; $1.00. 

Carlyle, during his lifetime, frequently expressed the wish that no biography 
of him should be published, but, becoming convinced that such a wish was in 
vain, turned his journals, correspondence, one or two autobiographies and a 
memoir of Mrs. Carlyle, to be used as he pleased. From these materials the 
present volumes have been made up. ‘They include his life from infancy to forty 
years of age, and necessarily present him in his natural and normal character, 


118 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


whether as to his associations or literary tendencies and occupations, though he 
had not by any means reached the acme of his fame at that time. 

His life was in most respects an exemplary one, for though hasty in temper 
and sometimes rough in speech, he was industrious, affectionate and just. His 
biographer says ‘‘ When the Devil’s advocate has said his worst against Carlyle, 
he leaves a figure still of unblemished integrity, purity, loftiness of purpose and 
inflexible resolution to do right, as of a man living consciously under his Maker’s 
eye and with his thoughts fixed on the account which he would have to render 
of his talent.’”” The book is a cheap but well printed edition, illustrated with por- 
traits and representations of localities. 


GARFIELD’S Piace IN History. By Henry C. Pedder. Octavo: pp. 104. G. 
P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1882. For sale by M. H. Dickinson; $1.25. 
This essay is a careful analysis of the character of the late President and a 

faithful comparyison of his position when assassinated with that of Mr. Lincoln and 

other rulers under similar circumstances, taking into account the status of the 

Government at the different times. 

In comparing Mr. Garfield with his predecessors he says, ‘‘ In order of Prov- 
idence, Washington represefited national independence; Lincoln national unity 
and Garfield national independence and unity, made stronger and more beautiful 
for the force of his intellectual grasp, his nobleness of life and his breadth of cult- 
ure.” As an orator and scholar, he justly places him in the foremost rank of 
Americans and properly holds him up as an example to American worth. 

It is a well written essay and the future historian will doubtless justify many 
of the author’s conclusions. 


OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 


The Inception, Organization and Management of Training Schools for 
Nurses, from the Bureau of Education; Third Annual Report of the Archzologi- 
cal Institute of America; Official Army Register for 1882; Journal of the Ameri- 
can Agricultural Association; The Currents and Temperatures of Behring Sea, 
(Appendix 16 to U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey for 1880), by W. H. Dall; 
Centennial History of Licking County, Ohio, by Isaac Smucker; The Opium 
Habit, Its Successful Treatment by the Avena Sativa, by E. H. M. Sell, A. M., 
M. D., New York; Zhe Millstone, April, 1882, Indianapolis, $1.00 per annum; 
The Death-Rate of Memphis, by Geo. E. Waring, Jr., Newport, R. I.; The Ed- 
ucation of the Blind, a historical sketch by M. Anagnos, Boston; Soils and To- 
bacco Lands of Missouri, by G. C. Swallow, LL.D.; Money and Its Substitutes, 
by Horace White, New York; Imports, Exports and the French Treaty by J. K. 
Cross, Esq., M. P., London, England; Creation or Evolution, Geo. C. Swallow, 
LL. D., Columbia, Mo.; Johns Hopkins University Circular, No. 13, Proceed- 


THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 119 


ings of University Societies and Objects of Important Papers read at recent meet- 
ings; Notes on the Mineralogy of Missouri, by Prof. Alex. V. Leonhard, Wash- 
ington University, St. Louis, Mo. 


SCIUBIN TIC IMLS Ca EIN SC 


THE PROBLEM OF LIFE. 
BY DAVID ECCLES. 


Out on a boundless, surging sea, 
With unknown port or destiny, 

Our feeble lives are thrown; 
Against life’s breakers dark we toil 
And struggle through the dread turmoil 

With many a weary groan. 


From whence we came, no man can say— 
We know but this: we’re here to-day 
A transient life to run; 
In vain we try to recollect 
Our being’s dreamy retrospect 
Beyond mind’s horizon. 


Such as we’ve been, we yet must be, 
Still changing through eternity 
And toiling to attain 
A mirage happiness in view, 
And which we franticly pursue 
O’er life’s tempestuous main. 


Above, around, beneath, within, 
We hear the surge’s awful din 
In elemental strife ; 
To seize the reins of ruling power— 
This the vast problem of the hour— 
The problem of our life. 


For this we toil, for this we wait, 
For this unite or segregate, 

Through life’s tumultuous course ; 
The moral laws we frame to bind 


120 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


The promptings of the uncurbed mind, 


Express, alas! but force. 


Adjustments to surroundings change, 
And vice, with transformation strange, 
To virtue turns betimes ; 
E’en Love, emotion sacred, bless’d ! 
Fixed on some being prepossessed 
We number with the crimes. 


Up through the swaying, toiling throng, 
Scarce knowing right or knowing wrong, 


All blindly do we press; 


Around us sink, with dying wail, 
The friendless, ignorant and frail, 
And few relieve distress. 


We cry for justice through our tears, 
But no responsive being hears 


Our heart-sore lamentation ; 


E’en when we fain would share alike, 
No human power, for us, can strike 


The infinite equation. 


Each ego-seat—that unseen thing— 
For greater power is centering, 


And by accretions rise ; 


The atoms coalesce, and then 
The molecules, then cells, then men, 
Up through the boundless skies. 


For power alone, for this they strive! 
The greatest unions men contrive 


Have only this in view: 


Some mightier grasp on life to take, 
Some mightier destiny to make, 


Nor knowing whereunto. 
*k *K * * * 


The heart desponds. This dreary theme 
Shuts out e’en Hope’s inspiring beam 


That buoys us o’er life’s storms ; 


Yet see! an inspiration bright 
Illuminates our darkened sight, 


And all the scene transforms ! 


SOME RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANIC ARTS. 121 


Still persevere, ye toiling throng ! 
But know, the strength for which you long, 
Is safe in Wisdom’s power ! 
You glean but fragments, while the pure , 
Discern this truth, eternal! sure! 
With Justice dwelleth Power! 


Into this central truth doth fate 
Make every purpose gravitate, 
And work for good alone ; 
Far, far beyond man’s feeble will 
Abides a Power that guideth still— 
Unmeasurable, unknown! 


Each selfish thought, by law, must tend 
Unto the universal end, 

And for the common weal ; 
Dependencies with power increase, 
And thus all tyranny must cease 

When other’s ills we feel. 


Hope on! for Time will lift Death’s veil, 

And solve life’s problem, though men fail ; 
And might and right unite; 

We’re building higher than we know, 

And safe are we, where’er we go, 
Throughout the infinite. 


Kansas City, March 27th, 1882. 


SOME RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANIC ARTS. 
BY F. B. BROCK, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


TELEPHONE MouTH-Pirc—E—This improved telephone is provided with the 
usual diaphragm. A magnet in the shape of a split ring is bolted to the casing, 
the ends of the split ring constituting the poles of the magnet. Upon one end 
of this magnet is wound a helix looped into the main telephone wire in the usual 
way. ‘The other pole carries an arm resting in contact with the diaphragm. It 
is asserted that the most delicate shades of articulate speech can be received and 
transmitted by this instrument. 

NoveEL BELT-TIGHTENER—In this improved device the tightening pulley is 


carried by a hinged frame. Pivoted to the frame, so as to lie about at right 
angles thereto, is a rack passing through a standard provided with a pinion en- 


122 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, - 


gaging the rack. A stop panel is provided for securing the proper adjustment of 
the tightening pulley. 


Process OF MANUFACTURING Gas—A late improved process for generating 
gas consists, first, in subjecting bituminous coal to the direct heat, by contact; 
secondly, evolving, by means of a mass of incandescent fuel, the gaseous vapor 
from the former, and at the same time decomposing steam by injecting it into the 
incandescent mass of coke or fuel, and conducting the resulting hot products, 
hydrogen and carbonic oxide, through the distilling mass of bituminous coal for 
taking up the heavy tarry vapors therefrom; thirdly, carbureting the mixed 
gases and vapor thus formed, while hot, in a separate chamber; and finally, 
combining the carbureted mixture into a fixed gas by bringing it into contact 
with a mass of highly heated refractory material in a separate chamber. 


CaBLE RAILROAD—This improvement is designed to be used on a railroad 
where the cars are propelled by a moving cable. It relates to a method of accel- 
erating or increasing the speed of the car or train, which consists in so combining 
One or more pairs of the wheels that support the car on the track with rolling 
sheaves that grasp the cable, so that the friction of the wheels upon the track 
shall serve as a driving agent to set in motion the rolling sheaves to increase the 
speed of the car. 


MACHINERY FOR REDUCING ORES—This improved apparatus combines a 
series of concentrically arranged troughs or vessels for receiving the material to 
be ground or crushed. They are provided with a series of traveling, grinding 
or crushing rollers or wheels arranged in the troughs. An elevated mechanism 
travels in one of the troughs and follows the rollers, by means of which the ma- 
terial is carried upward from said trough. A screen or sieve moves with the 
elevating mechanism and is arranged to receive the material therefrom. A chute 
or conveyer is located beneath the screen, and arranged to discharge the material 
from the inner into the outer adjacent trough. 


Nove. TELEPHONE—This invention provides, in combination with a dia- 
phragm, of a sound augmenter box having an opening at which the mouth or ear 
may be applied. It is provided with a number of resonant wires, under tension, 
secured within the box between the opening and diaphragm. Each wire is 
capable of independent adjustment, and a device is employed whereby all the 
wires may be adjusted at once. 


WatTCHMAN’s TimE DETEcTOR—In this improvement a time-movement car- 
ries a drum or carrier having a strip of paper or other material surrounding or 
facing the same. The device is placed in a case, the body of which is provided 
with a lock, and the lid of which is provided with a hasp. A perforating or 
marking device for the paper, is arranged within the body of the case adjacent 


to the lock, and is adapted to be operated by said hasp in opening or closing the 
lid. 


COST AND MAINTENANCE OF THE STREETS OF PARIS. 123 


LupRIcaTING STEAM CueEsts or Encines—In this device, by the opening of 
a valve, the steam enters and forces the lubricant out of the cup at side, down 
through a glass tube into the valve chamber, and delivers the lubricant at the 
back of the valve which regulates the supply of lubricant passing into the steam 
chest. 


COST AND MAINTENANCE OF THE STREETS IN PARIS. 


For cleaning streets, machine sweepers are employed drawn by a single 
horse, cleaning about 5,000 square meters an hour (1.46 square yards 1 meter). 

The cost of keeping in repair is quite different for the different avenues; for 
the Rue Lafayette it is 16.08 francs (about $2.09 per square yard). ; 

The asphalt roadways have a joint area of 225,120 square meters, to which 
should be added about 34,000 square meters for the walks through the Macadam- 
ized streets. The price of construction varies from twelve to fifteen francs per 
square meter ($1.56 to $1.95 per square yard). 

The repairing is done by contract for 1.10 francs per square meter per year 
for the roadways, and 1.70 francs for the walks. 

The mean cost of repairing roadways in Paris, which was 1.08 francs in 
1870, has been reduced to o.82 francs. ‘This reduction is due especially to a 
change in many places from Macadam to paved roadways. ‘The mean cost of 
repairing pavement never exceeds 0.60 francs, while Macadam roadways cost 
1.80 francs per square meter. The latter should therefore be replaced, except 
where they serve as promenades and ornaments, as in the boulevards and 
avenues. 

The following estimates are extracted from a recent report to the Municipal 
Council of Paris by M. Watel. 

The number of vehicles which pass daily through some of the principal 
thoroughfares of the city have been ascertained to be as follows: 


In@iulleveieal Ge Sebasieaols Gk 2s sh lo BS 6 COR 
AWwenlen@desmChampsullysees ye. 5 wise ee nil L734 
SURG eV RAVOlM LA natin Canis ae ie R Ia, OOS 
IRIS TRO WSS Walley MA Nn ee RUEN re heiaR On Ama AAP isha doe a 7 
BomlevandadessCapucines memes ue. ernst ieee) O02 


The paved roadways have an aggregate total area of 5,458,000 square 
meters ; their maintenance requires the constant service of 431 men (canfonniers). 
‘The cost per square meter varies from 15.90 francs to 20.40 francs according to 
the gauge (.1o to .16 meter) ($2.07 to $2.65 per square yard). 

The cost on hand labor in keeping the pavements in order is 0.154 francs 
per square meter (about .2 of a cent per square yard). 

The Macadamized roadways cover an area which, although less than in 
1870, is still 1,900,000 square meters. The number of cantonniers required for 
their maintenance is 965. 


124 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


The steam rollers employed weigh about thirty tons each. The rolling is 
generally completed in a single night.— Van WVostrand’s Magazine. 


BERLIN’S ELECTRIC RAILWAY. 


Our Berlin correspondent, describing the new electric railway there, already 
referred to in a telegram, says that the system, which has been in use in Berlin 
for more than a year, has not proved a financial success. It has also been found 
that there is some inconvenience attending the transmission of the electric current 
through rails. A horse, while crossing this line, striking it with his shoe, re- 
ceived a severe shock. It is impossible, moreover, to repair or remove the rails 
without the suspension of traffic over the entire route, since such removal inter- 
rupts the current. Herr Siemens, to meet these and other objections, devised 
his new system, which is far more practicable than the first. Over the entire 
line two cables are suspended parallel to and about twelve inches from each oth- 
er, on poles approximately sixteen feet above the ground. Along these cables a 
system of wheels passes, connecting with the tram car by another cable, which 
can be detached from the car at pleasure. The cables are charged with electric- 
ity, which is generated at a station about the middle of the route, and which is 
taken up by the apparatus as it runs over them. It then passes through the con- 
necting cable, down beneath the tram car over a system of drums which unites 
with the running gear. The apparatus passing along the suspended cables either 
precedes or follows the car. The speed of the vehicle is regulated by a crank, 
and a complete stop can be made as readily as if it be drawn by horses. On 
Saturday, during the trial, two cars were run, first separately and afterward to- 
gether. In the first case two distinct connecting cables are necessary, while in 
the second one answers the same purpose, the electricity passing through the 
car couplings, the only difference being a diminution of velocity owing to the ad- 
ditional weight. ‘The length of the route run over on the trial trip is about three 
miles, a portion of the distance being up hill, an inclination of 1° to 28°. A car 
can be run up the grade at the rate of from fifteen to twenty miles an hour, while 
on a leoel it will make thirty miles to the hour. After having thoroughly tested 
the working of the railway, visitors were driven to the country to witness the 
operation of a car which Herr Siemens has invented. It also is propelled by 
electricity on the same principles as those described for the tram cars. It runs as 
smoothly as a common carriage, and is perfectly manageable. It is directed by 
the driver, who sits in front, by turning a wheel very similar to those used in 
steering ships, and is started or stopped by a simple pressure made upon a lever. 
This car is intended to run between towns whose populations are too small to make 
a railway profitable pecuniarily. ‘‘It appears to me,” adds our correspondent, 
“‘calculated to meet this end when once the question of its economy over the 
running of stage coaches has been demonstrated.” —London Daily News. 


THE PROPER DIMENSIONS FOR BRICK PIERS 1N BUILDINGS. 125 


THE PROPER DIMENSIONS FOR BRICK PIERS IN BUILDINGS. 


The committee of architects appointed by Kraft, Holmes & Co. to inves- 
tigate the fall of the building lately occupied by them, in St. Louis, have made 
their report. It is made on calculations based on standard authorities, and reads 
as follows: 

1. A floor, such as the floor of the building now under consideration, com- 
posed of 3x16-inch joists, nineteen feet long, and placed twelve inches from cen- 
tre, will carry 1,914 pounds per square foot as a breaking load; and if we take 
one-sixth of this as a safe load we will have 319 pounds per square foot as a safe 
load to place upon these floors. In order to be within the most reasonable 
bounds we will throw off the nineteen pounds and call the load 300 pounds per 
square foot, and base the following calculations on that amount: The joists be- 
ing nineteen feet long and the space between the posts being thirteen feet, as 
they are in this building, there will be supported by each post and the correspond- 
‘ing girder tgx13 equal to 247 square feet of floor surface, which, if loaded as per 
above calculations, will give a probable load of 247x300, equal to 74,100 pounds 
on each floor space throughout the building. 

2. The girders, which are made of two pieces of 5x16-inch white pine tim- 
ber and one piece of wrought iron 4 x16-inch, will carry 200 pounds, 860 pounds 
as a breaking load, and taking one-sixth of this, as above, we will have as a safe 
load 33,476 pounds. If this iscompared with the load found above as the amount 
the joists were reasonably calculated to carry, which is 74,100 pounds, it will be 
seen that the girders were not proportioned to the same load as the joists, and 
would carry only about one-half as much. 

3. The load imposed on one of the 12x12 oak posts in the second story, 
which are 1rox11 feet long, will be the same as on the girder multiplied by three. 
There are being that many floors above it, also the roof, the weight of which 
must be added to it, which gives 74, 100x3, equal 222,300 pounds, the roof-space, 
247X30, equals 7,410 pounds; these amounts added will give 229,710 pounds, 
which will be about 114 tons. The crushing load of an oak post of this size is 
432 tons, and taking one-sixth of this as the safe load we will have 72 tons. This 
will be seen by comparing it with the above load to be but little over one-half 
what the post might have imposed upon it. 

4. The iron posts having shown no defects, we omitted to compute their 
strength. 

5. The brick piers in the basement will have to carry the load of all the 
floors and roof added. This will be 74,100x5, equal to 370,500, to which add 
7,410, and will have 377,910 pounds, which is 189 tons. 

The dimension of the brick piers being one foot ten inches by two feet five 
inches, will give four and one-half square feet as the area of each pier. The 
average crushing load of first-class hard brick work laid in cement mortar is about 


126 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


sixty tons per square foot, and again taking one-sixth asa factor of safety, we will 
have ten tons per square foot as the safe load, and if each pier has four and one- 
half square feet, it will give forty-five tons as the safe load to be imposed upon 
piers of this size. 

It will be seen from this that the load of 189 tons was four and one-quarter 
times as great as the pier was reasonably able to carry. It is therefore evident 
that the brick piers, being the weakest part of the structure, had to give way first, 
and they caused the disaster. 

While the above calculations are based upon brick piers of the very best 
quality of workmanship and materials, the piers in this building were not a fair 
average of work. 

The side walls of the building are of the regular thickness, and strong 
enough for all practical purposes. The workmanship and material are of average 
quality. 

(Signed), CHARLES R. RAMSEY, 
THomMas B. AMAN, 
F. W. RAEDER. 


THE LAY TORPEDO: 


The most successful type of the moveable torpedo is found in the invention 
of Mr. John L. Lay, of Buffalo, New York, who has heretofore been mentioned 
as associated with Chief-Engineer Wood in the invention of the torpedo used by 
Cushing. As excellent as the Lay undoubtedly is, it still has the same defect as 
others, namely, want of sufficient speed; this, however, does not seem to be an 
insuperable obstacle, and with each successive construction a greater speed is 
obtained. The boat is always under the control of the operator, who can stop or 
start it, steer to either one side or the other or fire the charge whenever he pleas- 
es. All these things are of course extremely advantageous, and greatly enhance 
the value of the weapon. ‘The motive power is carbonic acid gas. This gas (as 
is well known) becomes liquified under a pressure of forty atmospheres, and in 
this state it is stored in a flask in the boat. When the valve closing this flask is 
open, vaporization ensues, and the gas is taken to the engine, first passing an 
automatically acting reducing valve, so that the pressure will not be too great. 
As the liquid expands, great cold is produced, and trouble is experienced from 
its use as a motor; this, however, is not a serious difficulty, and remedy will 
doubtless be found. The explosive chamber, containing five hundred pounds of 
material, is at the bow, and is so constructed that on contact with a vessel it is 
disengaged from its resting-place, and drops several feet, the idea being that an 
explosion in that position will do more damage than at the water-line. In one 
compartment of the boat is a drum, from which is paid out the cable through 
which the electric current passes. A suitable arrangement of magnets opens a 
valve which allows gas to enter a cylinder, the piston in which causes the helm 


THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE HORSE, 17 


to be put in the desired direction; and a similar arrangement causes the throttle 
of the engine to open or close. The explosion is caused on contact if it is desired, 
or it may always be kept under the operator’s control. Some of these boats have 
but one wire in the cable, over which the various functions are caused to operate, 
others have a multiple cable, with a wire for each thing required to be done. 
Over a mile and a half of wire is carried, so that the effective range becomes very 
much greater than that of any of its rivals. Mr. Lay is constantly at work intro- 
ducing improvements, all of which are protected by numerous patents. His sys- 
tem has been definitely adopted by Russia after a satisfactory trial of ten of the 
boats built for her. A factory has been established, and is proposed to use them 
very extensively in any future war.—Harger's Magazine for June. 


THE ORIGINAL HOME OF THE HORSE. 


There is no doubt that the original home of the horse is not Europe, but 
Central Asia; for since the horse in its natural state depends upon grass for its 
nourishment and fleetness for its weapon, it could not in the beginning have 
thriven and multiplied in the thick forest-grown territory of Europe. Much 
rather should its place of propagation be sought in those steppes where it still 
roams about in a wild state. Here, too, arose the first nations of riders of which 
we have historic knowledge, the Mongolians and the Turks, whose existence 
even at this day, is as it were, combined with that of the horse. From these 
regions the horse spread in all directions, especially into the steppes of Southern 
and Southeastern Russia and into Thrace, until it finally found entrance into the 
other parts of Europe, but not until after the immigration of the people. This 
assumption is, at least, strongly favored by the fact that the farther a district of 
Europe is from those Asiatic steppes, 1. e., from the original home of the horse, 
the later does the tamed horse seem to have made its historic appearance in it. 
The supposition is further confirmed by the fact that horse-raising among almost 
every tribe appears as an art derived from neighboring tribes in the East or 
Northeast. Even in Homer the ox appears exclusively as the draught-animal in 
land operations at home and in the field, while the horse was used for purposes 
of war only. Its employment in military operations was determined by swiftness 
alone. ‘That the value of the horse must originally have depended on its fleet- 
ness, can easily be inferred from the name which is repeated in all the branches 
of the Indo-European language, and signifies nearly ‘‘hastening,” ‘‘ quick.” 
The same fact is exemplified by the descriptions of the oldest poets, who, next 
to its courage, speak most of its swiftness. — Popular Science Monthly for June. 


A meteorological observatory has been built on the summit of the Pic du 
Midi in the French Pyrenees. Preparations are now being made for the next 
six months’ blockade by the snowstorms. 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


THE BACILLUS TUBERCULOSIS THE CAUSE OF TUBERCLE. 


The important investigation of Koch on the bacillus tuberculosis, are attract- 
ing considerable attention in professional and lay circles. 

Koch has examined for dacz//z the expectoration of people suffering from pul- 
monary phthisis, and has found them in great abundance. Such a. sputum, 
when injected into the circulation of an animal, quickly produced tubercular 
disease. The expectoration, on the other hand, of non-phthisical individuals 
contained no éaci/, and did not injure the health of an animal inoculated with it. 
Another point of considerable interest for the practitioner is, that the dacidl do 
not lose their vitality when dried; for phthisical sputum which had been kept dry 
for two, four, or eight weeks, was as capable as ever of producing tubercle in ani- 
mals into which it had been injected. Koch’s observations are, therefore, of the 
greatest value; and with the precise knowledge of the contagium of tubercle which 
he has placed at our disposal, if fully confirmed, we will be warranted in believing 
that we are within measureable distance of preventing and arresting one of the 
most fatal maladies to which the human race is subject. 

Other dacillé succumb to the toxic action of many of the.antiseptics; the 
bacilt of tubercle will doubtless prove no exception. ‘The main difficulty will lie 
with the impermeability of the non-vascular tubercular nodule, in which the daca 
are embedded, to the antiseptics. With a sufficiently volatic and diffusive anti- 
septic this difficulty may be overcome, and tubercle be placed among the more 
curable diseases. 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 


THE Seventh Anniversary Meeting of the 
Kansas City Academy of Science was held 
at the First Baptist Church on the evening 
of the 30th ult. The Annual Address by Rev: 
Alexander Proctor was listened to by a large 
and attentive audience. The principal points 
made were as follows: 

1. The two great problems presented al- 
ways and everywhere to the human mind for 
solution, viz: Nature and the Life of Man, 
or Matter and Spirit. 2. The reason why 
these problems have been so hard how to solve 
lies in the universal presence of superstition. 
3. This rendered necessary some allusion 
to its history showing what forms these prob- 
lems have opened from time to time in its 


history. 4. It still persists in the most ad- 
vanced forms of thought in the most advanc- 
ed civilizations, making the necessity for the 
continuance of the struggle as great as ever. 
5. Specific instances of its presence in the 
best forms of our scientific and religious 
thought. 6, The study and practical culti- 
vation of the natural sciences the only means 
of its removal. 

After the address, which will probably be 
published in full next month, a business 
meeting was held at which the Annual Re- 
ports of the various officers were made and 
the following officers elected for the ensuing 
year: Hon. R. T. VanHorn, President; W. 
H. Miller, Vice-President; J. D. Parker, Re- © 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 


cording Secretary; Theo. S. Case, Corre- 
sponding Secretary; Dr. S. D. Bowker, Treas- 
urer; S. J. Hare, Librarian and Curator; Dr. 
T. J. Eaton, Member of the Executive Com- 
mittee. -A very considerable increase in the 
library and museum was reported and the 
prospect for rapid advancement in the future 
is very good. 


Mr, J. R. MEAD, of Wichita, Kan., writes 
“‘T value the REvIEW highly, 
The 
articles relating to the early explorations of 
the Missouri Valley, its various tribes, and 
the discoveries of remains of extinct people, 
are very interesting to me.” 


as follows: 
read it carefully, and wish it long life. 


ProFr, ALEXANDER WINCHELL, of the Uni- 
versity of Michigan, says of the REVIEW: 
«7 was unexpectedly gratified to find it 
filled with matter of so substantial char- 
acter. fos # The REVIEW and your 
Academy of Science have my sympathy, and 
both deserve the encouragement and support 
ou the population amongst whom they exist. 
te rs ‘ Mr. Wortman’s article on 
the Origin and Development of the Existing 
Horses, is one of high scientific merit, and 
might well have been written by Professor 
Cope himself. It isa resumé which might 
advantageously receive the attention of the 
professionally scientific and implies an ad- 
vanced intelligence of the readers of the 
REVIEW.” 


WE call especial attention to all western 
readers of the REVIEW to the article upon 
“Tornado Studies for 1882” on page 76. 
It has been carefully prepared by Mr. Fin- 
ley, of the U. S. Signal Corps, in the hope 
and belief that the resulting replies when 
thoroughly arranged and digested, will en- 
able him to understand the laws governing 
such storms and to formulate rules by the 
observance of which some of the most serious 
effects may be avoided. It is a matter of 
vital importance to us all, and no one should 
fail to aid him in every possible way. 


THE annual meeting of the Kansas Phar- 
maceutil Association will be held at Topeka, 


129 


June 7th, 1882, at 2p.m. The programme 
will be the reading of answers to queries, 
and papers on Pharmacy and its branches, 
the election of officers for the ensuing year, 
framing a law to regulate the practice of 
Pharmacy, and such action as may be deem- 
ed necessary for the protection of the drug 
trade under the prohibitory law. 


Drs. HEATH & FETTERMAN recently put 
on exhibition at Wyandotte, Kansas, for the 
benefit of a benevolent association, a large 
portion of their South American curiosities, 
consisting of minerals, fossils, Indian cloth- 
ing, arms, birds and fishes, 
numbering nearly two hundred rare speci- 
mens. 


etc., insects, 


It was a rare treat to appreciative 
visitors, 


THE Thirty-First Annual Meeting of the 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Science will be held at Montreal, Canada, 
commencing at 10 o’clock A. M., on Wed- 
nesday the 23rd day of August, 1882; under 
the presidency of J. W. Dawson, LL. D., F. 
R. S., principal of McGill University, Mont- 
real. Special invitations have been sent by 
the Local Committee to distinguished scien- 
tists abroad and it is believed that several 
will be present. The headquarters of the 
Association will be at McGill University, 
where members will register as soon as possi- 
ble after arrival. The hotel headquarters 
will be at the Windsor. The offices of the 
Local Committee and of the permanent Sec- 
retary will be at the University. The Gen- 
eral Sessions and the meetings of the Sections 
and Committees will all be held in the Uni- 
versity buildings. The particular rooms will 
be designated on the programme for Wed- 
nesday. Members expecting to attend the 
meeting are particularly requested to notify 
the Local Secretaries, S. C. Stevenson and 
Frank W. Hicks, the earliest moment possi- 
ble. The address of the Permanent Secre- 
tary, Prof. F. W. Putnam, will be Salem, 
Mass., until August 17th; after that time 
and until the meeting has adjourned, his ad- 
dress will be Windsor Hotel, Montreal, Can- 
ada. 


130 


THE Tenth Commencement Exercises of 
the University of Kansas, to be held at 
Lawrence, June 2d to 7th, will be as follows: 
' May 2oth to June Ist (inclusive), Annual 
Examinations, June 2d, 8 p. m., Anniver- 
sary Exercises of the Oread Literary Society. 
June 3d, 8 p. m., Anniversary Exercises of 
the Normal Literary Society. June 4th, 8 
p. m., Baccalaureate Address by Rev. F. T. 
Ingalls, of Atchison, Kansas. June 5th, 
9:30 a. m., Prize Declamations; $ p. m., 
Anniversary Exercises of the Orophilian Lit- 
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Day Exercises; 8 p. m., Annual Address 
before the United Literary Societies, by 
Prof. John C. Ridpath, A. M., LL.D., of 
Greencastle, Ind. June 7th, 9:30 a. m., 
Exercises of the Graduating Classes of the 
Law, Normal and Collegiate Departments ; 
Master’s Oration; and Distribution of Di- 
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from Hon. D. J. Brewer, of Leavenworth, 
Kas., Prof. P. J. Williams, D. D., and Chan- 
cellor James Marvin. Reduced rates on the 
railroads and at the hotels have been secured 
for visitors. 


THE 13th Annual Commencement exercises 
of the Kansas State Agricultural College 
will be held at Manhattan, from June 4th to 
7th, 1882, Order of exercises : 

Sunday, June 4th, 3 p. m., Baccalaureate 
Sermon, by the President. Monday, June 
5th, 7:30 p. m., Undergraduates’ Exhibition. 
Tuesday, June 6th, 8 p. m., Annual Address, 
<¢ Work and Wages,” by Rev. E. B. Fair- 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


field, LL.D., Chancellor of Nebraska Uni- 
versity. Commencement Day, Wednesday, 
June 7th, 1o a. m., Exercises of the Gradua- 
ting Class and Master’s Oration. 
and evening, Alumni Reunion. 


Afternoon 
The annual 
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6th, in the several class rooms and shops 
from 7:40 a. m. to 12:20 p. m. of each day. 


WE will pay 25 cents each for copies of 
No. 10, Vol. 3, Feb., 1880, of the REVIEW. 


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The committee is composed as follows; 
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John RR: Proctor, Frankfort, (Kyi: 
Williams, Utica, N. Y.; John Collett, Indi- 
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Mo.; W. J. Davis, Louisville, Ky.; S. A. 
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THE Boston /ournal of Commerce, which is 
one of the very best papers for manufact- 
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try, has recently adopted the quarto shape 
and now presents ten large pages of solid 
reading matter and six pages of advertise- 
ments. It is fully illustrated, ably edited 
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REVIEW OF SCHENCE AND INDUSTRY, 


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VOL. V\. TUE S82: NO. 3 


PINT el IR Our OlLOG 


MAN’S ZOOGENETIC LINEAGE. 
BY H. A. REID, SEC Y ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, DE MOINES, IOWA. 


About twenty-five years ago appeared Nott and Gliddon’s two great works, 
‘*Types of Mankind,” and ‘‘Indigenous Races of the Earth,” to which Prof. 
Agassiz was a contributor, and in which the doctrine that different types or races 
of men originated at different periods of geologic time and in different parts of 
the earth was ably and learnedly maintained. I once heard a bevy of clergymen 
at a Harvard Alumni dinner joking the great professor about his having taken 
their ‘‘ father Adam” away from them. Next came Darwin’s ‘‘ Origin of Spe- 
cies,” and about the same time Lyell’s ‘‘ Antiquity of Man.” This was soon fol- 
lowed by Darwin’s ‘‘ Descent of Man,” and Huxley’s ‘‘ Man’s Place in Nature.” 
And now within a few years Quatrefages’ ‘‘ Human Species’ —Vol. XXVII Ap- 
pleton’s International Series)—Haeckel’s ‘‘ Evolution of Man,’’ and Winchell’s 
‘¢Preadamites’’ have appeared; besides Prof. Whitney’s recently restated and 
reinforced proofs that man existed in our Pacific Coast region as low down in 
the geological scale as the Tertiary age. (See Geological Chart in the Review, 
Vol. V, No. 3, July, 1881.) 

Prof. Haeckel’s work on ‘‘The Evolution of Man,” strikes the deepest of 
anything yet brought out on the subject, and bids fair in its essential principles 


vI—9 


182 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


to eventually sweep the field. I will therefore trace the zoogenetic lineage of 
man after Haeckel’s' schedule, as concisely as possible. 

The studies and researches in the science of embryology for more than two 
hundred years past, by De Graaf (1672), Leuwenhock (Spermatazoa, 1674), Pur- 
kinge, Von Baer, Agassiz, and many others, had wrought out the fact or general 
law that the embryo of each species of animals passes through stages and forms of 
structure simulating successively the typical forms that are below it in the scale 
of animal progress; and Man is no exception to the rule. Haeckel verifies this 
general law, but brings out some new and important points or theories with re- 
gard to this law of ontogenesis in general, and to the case of Man in particular. 
He traces the line of genetic succession, or the ‘‘ connecting links,” systematical- 
ly down through all the geological ages, to the uttermost primordial inception of 
organic matter in the lurid and steaming muddy ooze of the pristine seas. 

Scientists are now fairly agreed that protoplasm is the primordial form or 
condition of all organic matter, whether animal or vegetable; and Haeckel uses. 
the term moner, to designate the ultimate particles of organic matter, as distin- 
guished from afom the ultimate particle of inorganic matter. Eight genera of 
moners are now known and classified—and of course others may yet be dis- 
covered. Some of them are animal moners, some vegetable, and some neu- 
tral. A moner, then, is the last term, the absolute lowest, the very uttermost 
primordial form of organic matter. All embryos, all living creatures start 
here. So he calls the ‘‘Moner” stage of life s¢age one in the creational line 
which ultimates in Man—both as to the individual man born to-day, and as to 
the species Man in geological time. For the law of evolution, the law of heredi- 
ty, and the law of embryology all converge into this one zodgenetic rule :—The 
growth-history and experiences of the individual of any species is in a general 
way the history and experience of the species to which that individual belongs. 

From this first stage, or animal moner, comes the form of life called Amada, 
which is merely an aggregation or community of animal moners. You will find 
the amcebee described in any of our recent text-books on zodlogy; and they are 
generally regarded as the lowest form of animal life. It is a very minute or mi- 
croscopic creature; and if you should look at it through a good microscope you 
would see at first what seemed to be only a bit of jelly, or slimy substance, of no 
certain form, and apparently inanimate. But presently at some part of its surface 
it begins to bulge, and it keeps on bulging until a rude sort of finger has been 
protruded. Perhaps it will touch some particle that may serve it as nourishment; 
then that bulged finger will bend a little and hug or clasp the nutrient particle to 
the body, and there it is dissolved, absorbed and assimilated into the substance 
of the creature, and the finger having, done its work, melts back into the general 
body again. The amceba has no mouth, no nose, no eye, ear, heart, stomach 
or bowels; no head or tail, no arms, legs or fins, it is simply a speck of animated 
jelly or slime-hke mucos matter, sometimes called also savcode, that improvises 
an arm or finger and a stomach at any part of its surface where occasion for it 


MAN’S ZOOGENETIC LINEAGE. 138 


happens to arise. It is for this reason also called pseudopoda—that is, false-footed, 
or not-to-be-depended-on footed. 

There are many different species of amcebe, and here the differentiation or 
divergence of specializing lines of animal structure already commences. And 
the next advance stage of animal life is the Protozoa, of which Professor Tenney, 
‘‘Klements of Zodlogy,” says: ‘‘ The protozoans are probably more numerous 
than all other animals of the globe. * che a Rocky strata, hundreds 
of feet in thickness are wholly made up of their remains.” 

From the protozoan stage branched out many divergent forms, but the main 
trunk of the tree of life, according to Haeckel, kept on steadily toward Man. 
The third stage he calls Syvameéa, or synthesized or compound amceba. The 
fourth stage is Planzada, a form of animal life corresponding to what is familiar to 
well-educated physicians as the blastosphere stage of embryonic development—a 
hollow sphere with walls composed of a single layer of cells. The fifth stage is 
Gastreada, or the stomach-animal —a specialized digestive sac, with one opening 
to serve at once as mouth and ventrum. Its walls are composed of two cellular 
layers instead of one; and it is laid down as an established law of embryology 
that in all animal embryos at this stage, it is from the outer layer or exoderm that 
are developed the outer skin, hair, nails, feathers, scales, horns, hoofs, and all 
the organs of locomotion and external sensation; but from the inner layer, or 
entoderm, are developed the inner lining of the entire cavity of the body, also 
the glands and organs of nutrition, and the lungs, liver, heart, etc. Haeckel 
holds that as low down in the geological scale as the Laurentian period (see Geo- 
logical Chart as above referred to) this form of animal must have existed quite 
extensively, as a free inhabitant of the yet simmering seas; but it had no hard 
parts of bone or shell or strong incasement, and therefore left no relic of its form 
or locality. The nearest living representatives of this hypothetical Gastreeada are 
the larval forms of what are called in zodlogy ascidians or tunicata—a class of 
animals composed simply of a tunic or sac. They are sometimes called salps, or 
salpidee, and you will find them described and figured in any recent good text 
book of zodlogy. 

The next or sixth stage is called Arvchelminthes, or the primordial worm. The 
sac has become annulated or ring like, and has developed an intermediate layer 
of cells between the outer and inner layers of the gastrula stage. This vermi- 
form stage is found in all higher animal embryos, and is represented by the 
zoological order of worms called Zurbellariaz. The seventh stage is a very 
slight modification of the last, and is called Scolecida, which is a general term 
for a large class of worms, some of them, like the Zwrdellaria themselves, being 
composed .of only one joint or ring, and others of more; and here the pig- 
ment spots or rudimentary eyes are first detected. From the Svolecida stage 
of paleozoic life, as Haeckel thinks, branched off the line that developed the 
articulata—that is, all jointed animals, like crabs, lobsters, spiders, scorpions, 
bugs, ants, and insects of every sort; and also the line that developed the 
whole vast realm of molluscan life. But the main trunk of the tree of life 


134 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


pushed on upward toward Man. And the eighth stage Haeckel calls the Chor- 
donium—that is, when in the developing embryo (human) the first faint inklings 
of a dorsal chord begin to appear. This stage is represented in modern zoology 
by animals called Appendicularia, which are in appearance precisely like the em- 
bryo at this stage. 

The ninth stage is called Acrania, or headless animal, and is the primordial 
vertebrate—the backbone, though merely rudimentary, being now distinctly indi- 
cated. This stage is represented by the animal called lancelet or Amphioxus, 
which Haeckel, himself, first demonstrated to be a true vertebrate and the transi- 
tional form or connecting link between the worm class and the vertebrate class. 
He thinks, at one period in the world’s history animals of this type predominated 
and were the highest forms yet brought forth ; but because of their having no hard 
parts their remains are not found in the rocks. 

The tenth stage is the Monorhina, meaning that the mouth and nostrils are 
one—the nearest rudimentary development toward a specialized head; and this 
stage is now represented by the lamprey eel and the hag-fish or Myxine. The 
eleventh stage is Amphirhina, or mouth and nostrils differentiated. This stage 
is represented by the Selachian group of fishes, the remains of which are found 
certainly as low down as the Upper Silurian rocks, and they are the primordial 
type of fishes. These fishes had only a cartilaginous skeleton and not a true 
vertebral column or backbone; but their brain and nervous system, as also the 
heart and the organs of the senses were more highly developed than in the true 
bony fishes even of the present time; and their embryos showed a decided ap- 
proach toward the amphibians. The modern rays, sharks, and some others, be- 
long to this class of fishes. At this stage in the zod-geological scale, according to 
Haeckel, the line of the bony fishes branched orf, while the upward line develop- 
ed into the twelfth stage, called Dzpnewsta—that is, double-breathers (having gills 
and lungs both), a type which is now represented by the animal called Lepidosi- 
ren. Prof. Nicholson, whose ‘‘ Manual ot Zodlogy” is a standard text-book in 
Scotland, the United States and Canada, says of this animal: ‘‘ It exhibits a dis- 
tinct transition between the fishes and the amphibia,”’ (p. 399.) Andagain: ‘‘It 
may justly be looked upon as a connecting link or transitional form between the 
two great divisions of the fishes and the amphibians,” (p. 4or). 

The next or thirteenth stage is c lled Sozobranchia, which means that they 
retain their gills through life although they cease to use them. The modern Pvo- 
teus, the Szven, and the Menobranchs represent this stage. The fourteenth is the 
Sozura—that is, retaining the tail through life, and which type is represented now 
by the Tritons and Salamanders. From this stage the Batrachian class branched 
off, as represented by the gigantic extinct labyrinthodonts and the modern toads, 
frogs and salamanders. 

Fifteenth is the Profamnion—a supposed animal in which a foetal membrane 
first began to be developed, instead of the spawning process of the amphibian and 
lower forms. This stage is located as probably in the Permian period of geology, 
which was a great revolutionary or transitional epoch, a sort of interspaced 


MAN’S ZOOGENETI(C LINEAGE. 135 


tumultuous and convulsional epoch of geological phenomena, between what is 
called Paleozoic and Mesozoic time. Its fossils are few, and it is therefore, call- 
ed a ‘‘lost record” period of Prof. LeConte and others. ‘The precursors of the 
Dinosauria or great biped reptiles, belong to this period; and it is specially 
noteworthy that the Cheivotherium, or ‘‘hand-beast’’ is frst found here, for 
this is the first appearance on the earth of any form of anatomical structure 
which became ultimately a distinctive characteristic of Man and his zoologi- 
cal congeners; and this fact is certainly favorable to the supposed line of Man’s 
evolution which I am now tracing through. It is from this stage that Prof. 
Haeckel thinks branched off the whole race of true reptiles—or the progress 
from spawners to egg-layers, (like turtles, alligators, etc.) and from this latter 
class ultimately came the birds, as shown by the researches and discoveries of 
Huxley, Marsh, Cope, and others. 

But the anthropogenetic line moved on into its sixteenth stage, the Promam- 
mali, or primordial mammal type, which is now represented by a class of anoma- 
lous animals called monotremata, with a combination of bird, reptile and mammal 
features in their anatomical structure, and of which the Ornithorhyncus and Echidna 
are the only living examples. And from this class or type the line of progress 
passed into its seventeenth stage, or the Marsupialia, representing a still nearer 
approach toward the true mammal. It is interesting to note here that some of 
the Dinosaurs (biped reptiles) were marsupial in their maternal characteristics. 
From this stage branched off one form of placental structure and habit called /n- 
deciduata, or the placenta not falling off, and this divergence ultimated in the ce- 
tacean, the edentate and the ungulate families; while another branch called Zono- 
placentalia ultimated in the carnivorous class, such as wolves, hyznas and dogs, 
besides cats, tigers and lions, and the great family of pinnipeda or seals. But 
another line called Dectdwata—that is, the placenta ripening and falling away at 
parturition—continued on toward Man. 

The next stage, eighteenth, is called Prosémie, or primordial ape-like animal. 
It is most nearly represented now by the lemurs; and from this stage branched 
off lines leading to the rodents, the bats and the insectivorous mammals, all of 
which have a discoid attachment of the placenta and also the ripening and drop- 
ping away of the placenta, the same as in Man. 

The nineteenth stage is Brachytars7, or short-footed ; the MJacrotarst or long- 
footed type having branched off into the insectivora, like ant-eaters, armadillos, 
etc. The twentieth stage is Anthropoidii, or the man-precursor type of anatomical 
structure and physiological function ; and from this stage, and partly also from the 
one below it, branched off the line which ultimated in the true Swe or anthropoid 
apes—the gibbon, the orang, the chimpanzee, and the gorilla. Haeckel dissents 
from Darwin and Huxley’s theory that man is derived from the apes. He shows 
physiological and embryological reasons why that cannot be the line of Man’s 
evolution—but that the Szmade or ape type branched off, specialized, culminated 
in the modern great apes, and could develop no further; hence they are a closed 
type, and will remain at their present status until they become extinct, while the 


136 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


human type is in the embryonic line and still goes on toward higher develop- 
ments. 

The twenty-first stage Haeckel calls Alalus Erectz, or speechless man, (Péthe- 
canthropus is another name for the same stage). And the twenty-second stage is 
Homo Sapiens, or true Man in the zoological and anatomical sense—the ‘‘ carnal 
man” of the Bible as distinguished from its ‘‘ spiritual man.” 

Of course I have had to run hastily over this consecutive chain of the great 
typical stages of the ascent of life from the moner up to Man, and omit the ample 
details of fact and reason, and known laws of life which Prof. Haeckel gives at 
every step toshow on what scientific and philosophical data he bases each point or 
stage in the ascending scale. Every human being born into the world has passed 
through these successive transformations in his own embryonic development from 
the moner or primordial ovulum and its conjunctive spermatozoa, up to the per- 
fected physical form of man. This is a settled truth of embryology, familiar to 
every cultured physician or physiologist. And whether Prof. Haeckel’s localiza- 
tion of the corresponding stages in zoological evolution and geological time be 
literally correct or not, it makes a most valuable working hypothesis, around 
which to gather new facts and discoveries and prove or disprove any particular 
point in the schedule. 

Then, animal man (the ‘‘ carnal man” of the Bible) had come into existence 
by this long line of creational stages and processes; and each real or supposed 
change from any one stage up to the next higher one was in no case a greater 
variance or transmutation, either mentally, functionally or structurally, than are 
known to occur within human observation. And, as Haeckel well shows, there 
were constantly branching off lines of brute-life, thus eliminating out of the man- 
preparing line those grosser elements which produce shells, scales, fins, and armor- 
plates—pachydermatous skins, horns, hoofs, tusks, hair, wool, feathers, beaks, 
claws, and the like. All these elements had been diverted, drawn off, eliminated, 
strained out into diverging streams of animal nature and structure, before a kind 
of being was produced by this refining process which was sufficiently fine in qual- 
ity of texture, and sufficiently complete in its coaptiveness of functional capabili- 
ties both mental and physical, so that God could make it into his own image— 
could breathe into its nostrils the spirit of life and make it a living or self-con- 
scious soul. It is an old theological doctrine that Man was potentially in the 
Creator’s mind and purpose from the first; and this Haeckelian schedule shows 
in a rational and tenable way how all the long slow processes of zoélogical evolu- 
tion and geological time steadily worked toward the one grand purpose—the 
creation of Man as a finite intelligent being, and therefore an image or likeness 
of the Infinite intelligent Being. 


STONE AGE IN AFRICA. 137 


THE STONE AGE IN AFRICA. 
BY J. F. SNYDER, M. D. 


A time undoubtedly existed in the early history of many primitive peoples 
when the appliances man brought to his aid, in the struggle for life, were such 
only as he readily found at hand convenient in form to meet his necessities, as 
sticks, shells and stones; and that in course of time experience suggested modifi- 
cations of these natural objects, and he gradually learned to shape them, by 
breaking and grinding, into serviceable weapons and tools. When stone consti- 
tuted the chief and best material for such implements that his ingenuity could 
discover, man is said to have lived inthe ‘‘Stone Age.” From wrought stones he 
learned the secret of reducing and combining in certain definite proportions the 
ores of copper and tin, making a compound, termed é7onze, in many respects 
superior for his purposes to stone, and by its adoption attained the ‘‘ Age of 
Bronze; ” and, finally, in the discovery of iron, he began the ‘‘Iron Age” and 
his wonderful civilization. 

The different eras of man’s advancement indicated by these ‘‘ Ages;”’ or, 
more properly, sages, of intellectual development, were not, as some are led to 
suppose, sharply defined measures of time during which the-entire population of 
a continent or country simultaneously employed the use of stone, bronze or iron 
exclusively; but in each ‘‘ Age” all substances previously found serviceable were 
of course retained in use; and a people in one locality may have known the art 
of utilizing metals at the same time another people occupying contiguous territory 
were ignorant of any better material than wood or stone. 

These so-called ‘‘ Ages,” marking at the time the highest limit of a people’s 
material culture, and not chronological periods, have come and passed in differ- 
ent parts of the world at different times, and now, at the present day, when the 
iron age is almost universal, tribes of degraded savages are known to be still des- 
titute of all metals. 

In considering the growth of mechanical ideas—constituting the basis and 
origin of civilization—this inquiry arises: have a// primitive peoples, in emerging 
from the lower status of human life, passed through these grades of advancement 
in regular sequence, as pupils in our schools proceed from the elementary to the 
higher branches? Have wood and stone zmvariably constituted the alphabet and 
grammar, so to speak, of human skill in mechanism, necessary to be mastered 
before gaining knowledge of bronze and then of iron? 

In reading reports of African explorations we are surprised to learn that 
some degraded savage tribes of the interior, who apparently had never before 
come in contact with civilization, were found to be supplied with not only beau- 
tifully wrought implements of wood and ivory, but also of iron produced from 
native ores and forged by native artisans. Their adroitness in smelting hematite 


138 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


and working the metal is amazing. Another curious feature of that curious re- 
gion arrests the attention; neither Livingston, Baker, Barth, Stanley, Speke, or 
other traveler, so far as my reading extends, ever mentions having seen there a 
wrought stone implement; and Dr. Livingston, in his last journal, remarks as a 
strange fact, that in all his wanderings in Africa he had never found or seen a 
stone artificially fashioned into a tool or weapon. 

Travelers and other writers of first-class respectability have asserted that no 
stone age proper ever existed in Africa; some maintaining that its first inhabitants 
were exotics who carried with them from their starting place the knowledge of 
using iron, and others believing that the first negroes were autochthons who 
learned at once to smelt hematite, because they found that ore was the most 
abundant material and easiest of adaptation to their mechanical wants that their 
country produced. 

In the course of certain investigations, relative to this subject, which for 
some time have engaged my attention, I addressed one of several notes of inquiry 
to Sir Samuel W. Baker, the renowned traveler and soldier, to which he prompt- 
ly sent me the following courteous and characteristic answer : 


SANDFORD ORLEIGH, Newton Abbott, Dec. 25, 1881. 

My Dear Sir,—‘‘In regard to your questions respecting a ‘Stone Age’ in 
Central Africa, I have never seen any stone that has been chiseled or worked in 
any manner of masonry. No vestiges of ancient masonry have ever been discov- 
ered among the purely negro tribes, nor do I believe that negroes, either in an- 
cient days, or in their present savage state, were in the habit of shaping stones 
for dwellings. A stone age will only be represented in savage countries where 
stones suitable for cutting purposes exist. Flints, obsidian, quartz, but especially 
those which upon cleavage produce a cutting edge, are always adapted to the 
points and heads of weapons, should they be present upon the locality. But in 
some countries where such stones do not exist there never was (in my opinion) 
and never would be a ‘Stone Age.’ 

‘‘T have seen vast districts of alluvial soil in Africa where no stone, neither 
any metal could be found. In those localities there never was either a ‘Stone’ 
or an ‘Iron Age,’ but there was a ‘ Wooden Age’ existing at the period of my 
experience, as their weapons were clubs, and spears, and arrows pointed with an 
exceedingly hard wood. 

‘“Three or four hundred miles south of these districts the natives were good 
blacksmiths because hematite iron ore abounded upon the surface. 

‘“ These blacksmiths worked upon an anvil of a smooth block of hornblende 
and they used a hammer of the same stone. 

‘‘T never saw a stone weapon in Africa, neither did I see any other tools of 
stone except those I have described. 

‘‘There might be a ‘Stone Age,’ an ‘Iron Age,’ and a ‘Wooden Age’ ex- 
isting at the same period within a few hundred miles of each other in any savage 
country where communication was difficuit and the peculiar conditions of the va- 


STONE ACE INVAFRICA. 139 


rious localities supplied a particular material in the absence all others; but I do 
not think a vestige of the so-called ‘Stone Age’ has been found in Central Africa. 

‘¢ Trusting that this short opinion may be sufficient in reply to your note, I 
am Truly yours, etc., 


SAMUEL W. BakKER.” 


There has certainly so fuv been discovered not the least trace of a stone age 
in the interior of Africa; yet, no one has gone there purposely to look for it. 
While the observations and opinions of Sir Samuel W. Baker, (in many respects 
one of the most remarkable of living men), must be accepted as the highest au- 
thority in matters pertaining to his sphere of labors, it must be borne in mind that 
neither he, or any other intrepid men of education who have penetrated the 
depths of that strange continent, were especially devoted to the solution of its 
archeological or anthropological problems. 

Vestiges of a stone age have been found in several parts of Africa bordering 
upon the coast; but so singularly limited in the number of objects discovered, 
when compared to the great profusion of lithic remains collected in the other con- 
tinents, as to strengthen the impression that they may have been of extraneous 
and intrusive origin. 

A few chipped flint weapons and neolithic polished celts from Algeria are in 
the museums of France, presumed to be relics of the Iberians, who crossed the 
Mediterranean about the close of the Pleistocene Age, and settling on the Barbary 
coast became the progenitors of the "erber and Moorish peoples. 

A flint arrow-head is reported to have been found in Sierra Leone; and Mr. 
John Evans, F. R. S., F. S. A., mentions in his great work on ‘‘ The Ancient 
Stone Implements of Great Britain,” a celt, a hammer-stone, pestles, and some 
other articles of stone, in the Blackmore Museum, collected in the neighborhood 
of the Cape of Good Hope. ‘The same author states that flint flakes are of fre- 
quent occurrence in the diamond diggings, and have been noticed in many dif- 
ferent parts of the continent from the Cape to Tripoll. 

In the African department of the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, 
were several palzolithic cutting implements of stone which the attendant in 
charge informed me were found not far from the coast in the vicinity of Port 
Beaufort. They were merely flat, irregularly round water-worn pebbles, of dark 
trap or hornblende, as large across as the palm of the hand, averaging three- 
fourths of an inch in thickness and ground down at one side to a sharp cutting 
edge. Neolithic stone implements have frequently been recovered from the old 
Egyptian tombs, and their manner of use is historical. Herodotus and Diodorus 
Siculus tell us that in the ancient rite of embalming, the body was always cut 
open with these sharp stone instruments, but the brain was extracted with a crook- 
iron. Recently, however, another class of stone implements have been found, 
deep below the surface of the ground, in the valley of the Nile, which Prof. 
Henry W. Haynes, who went to Cairo purposely to investigate them, after criti- 
cal examination and comparisons, pronounces unquestionably paleeolithic, of the 


140 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


true St. Acheul class, and of course antedating by a vast lapse of time the earliest 
Egyptian civilization. From Herodotus we also learn that in the army of Xerxes, 
(B. C. 480), the arrows of some of the Ethiopian contingents were pointed with 
stone. 

And this meagre record comprises almost the entire sum of our present 
knowledge concerning the employment of stone for implements on the African 
continent. 

We can readily understand that primitive man, when completely isolated by 
natural barriers, could have learned to utilize only such materials as his habitat 
supplied; but on continents where his energies and movements were unrestrained 
by impassable limits, he must have been devoid of intelligence and capacity to 
progress if, in time, he did not become acquainted, either by migration, or bar- 
ter, or reprisals in war, with the best substances attainable to serve his wants. 
Thus, the savages of the Pacific Islands, when first visited by Europeans, were 
dressed in garments made of the bark of their native trees, and armed with wea- 
pons made of wood and stones, and ornamented with sea shells indigenous to their 
shores. They could, unaided by visitors from other lands, never have done bet- 
ter; for their islands contained no metal-yielded minerals, or other materials than 
those they had learned to use. But in Europe and America the diverse peoples, 
restricted in freedom of range only by perpetual mutual enmities, learned the 
arts from one another and laid regions widely separated tribute to their needs. 

The Indians of the Mississippi delta and Gulf coast, a vast tract of low alluvial 
country destitute of rock, were when first seen by the whites by no means in the 
simplicity of a wooden age, but were well supplied with implements of stone, includ- 
ing hornstone from Ohio, obsidian from New Mexico, and mica mirrors from North 
Carolina, and sported ornaments of copper from Isle Royale. During the stay of 
Cabeca de Vaca, for six years, upon the rockless shore of eastern Texas, he made 
several journeys far into the interior for supplies of flint for which he bartered 
the products of the coast; and the mounds of Wisconsin and Illinois, a thousand 
miles from the ocean, contain beads and drinking cups made of marine shells. 

There is no reason to believe that the Indians of the Mississippi Valley, who 
built the mounds, and carved the hardest stones into pipes and images of admira- 
ble proportions and beauty, were in point of intelligence, mechanical skill, or in 
any other respect inferior to the iron-working savages of Central Africa; yet they 
dwelt for centuries upon and around the mountains of bare iron ore in southeastern 
Missouri and east Tennessee and elsewhere, surrounded with forests of fuel, with- 
out gaining a higher knowledge of the mineral than to use it as a common stone. 
They mined native copper with stone mawls and wooden shovels, by the aid of fire 
and water, and used the glittering metal only asa malleable rock. The outcrops of 
coal were their favorite haunts, but they never knew that the black diamond was 
combustible. They camped for generations on veins of galena without discovering 
that fire would melt it. With these minerals in the greatest abundance they had 
no better implements than those made of stone; and with deposits of ores the 
most readily fused and manipulated protending from the surface all around them, 


STONE AGE IN AFRICA. ! 141 


profoundly ignorant of their properties, they journeyed hundreds of miles, brav- 
ing the gravest dangers and hardships, to procure flint. As clubs and arrows 
they employed wood for weapons where flint and iron ore was as easy of access. 
The historians of De Soto’s expedition recount the wounding of one of Mocoso’s 
men, in western Arkansas, as the tattered cavalcade was returning from the plains 
to the great river, by an Indian in ambush, who sped an arrow that pierced the 
soldier’s iron mail, passed through the muscles of the thigh, penetrated the saddle, 
and entered the horse’s body, nailing the rider fast to his steed. On cutting and 
extracting the arrow they were astonished to find that it was merely a reed with 
the end hardened by fire. 

After carefully sifting the glowing romances of Cortez and Bernal Diez, with 
the embellishments added by almost every historian in that field for the last three 
and a half centuries, it appears that the Pueblo Aztecs whose communal adobe 
houses were huddled together in the Mexican lagoon, were yet only in the stone 
age, possessing no better implements than those made of wood, flint and obsidian, 
and without knowledge of metals save ornaments of hammered copper and gold. 
The few objects of bronze; the unique and grotesque sculpturing, and splendid 
pottery of prehistoric Anahuac are the remains of a more advanced southern 
people conquered and displaced by the Pueblo horde that swept down upon them 
from the north, as the Vandals inundated Rome, destroying a culture which they 
had not the capacity to adopt or imitate. 

Africa presents to the scientists many surprises, and among them possibly the 
amazing anomaly of a primitive savage people attaining at one bound the stage of 
development in mechanical arts gained by all other races of mankind, by slow 
degrees through ages of time and experience. The adoption of mechanical aids 
and appliances has been the outgrowth of man’s necessities and environments, 
and the evolution of all his arts has been effected by gradual increments suggested 
by his increasing wants and expanding intellect. To this law Africa may present 
startling exceptions. As yet its interior is a éerra incognita and its ethnography an 
unsolved enigma. Patient and careful research may in future be rewarded with 
some knowledge of the origin and migrations of its native races. Until exhaust- 
ive search for archaic remains has been instituted throughout its entire extent we 
are not warranted in assuming that any of its tribes, because of convenience 
of hematite, have suddenly sprung from Simian savagery to proficiency in black- 
smithing. If after thorough search no tracesof a stone age are found we must 
suppose that the aboriginal negroes had not advanced beyond the use of sticks 
and unwrotght stones when the reduction of iron ore was introduced among 
them by Asiatic wanderers. 


VirGinia, Cass Co., Ills., June 10, 1882. 


142 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ASOD, Woe) Ole IWs03, CROSS. 
BY WARREN WATSON. 


An interesting and ingenious article appeared in the Century Magazine for 
December, 1881, on ‘‘ The Hieroglyphics of Central America,” a subject which 
has attracted the labors of many savanzs and the curiosity of the civilized World. 
Hitherto the inscriptions upon the mysterious ruins of Copan and Palenque have 
proved inscrutable; and the mossy records of a forgotten American civilization, 
preserved for posterity with such laborious care, are ‘‘sermons in stones’’ that 
none may read or expound. For a time it was supposed that a key had been 
discovered in the ‘‘ Relaczon” of Bishop Lauda, which contains what purports to 
be a Maya alphabet with an awkward explanation of the mode in which the let- 
ters were combined into words. But all efforts to decipher the inscriptions by its 
aid have thus far been fruitless. 

In the article referred to, Mr. Edward S. Holden gives the result of his re- 
searches, in this field, with so much ec/a¢ that the reader is almost ready to admit 
his claim as discoverer of a clue to the difficult problem. ‘This clue is the result 
of the study of a segment of hieroglyphs from the celebrated ‘Tablet of the 
Cross’? at Palenque; and this being the fact a grave doubt arises as to the value 
of his discovery. 

The ‘‘ Tablet of the Cross,’’ when zz setu, occupied the south wall of the inner 
sanctuary of a small temple at Palenque. It consisted of a centre-piece, which 
contained the famous cross, on each side whereof was an inscription in hiero- 
glyphics. The cross was embellished with the most bewildering arabesques and 
bore, perched on its top a grotesque bird; it rested on a hideous caricature of the 
human face. On the west side of the cross stood the figure of a priestess, per- 
haps, and on the east side a priest was making an offering to the bird. ‘To the 
east of the priest were six perpendicular rows of hieroglyphics, there being seven- 
teen in each row; and a similar inscription appeared to the west of the priestess. 
That the whole tablet, as thus described, is a genuine antique there is no sort of 
doubt; the difficulty lies in accepting the authenticity of the east inscription as 
given by Mr. Holden. 

He states that ‘‘the cuts which accompany the present article are all copied 
from those given by Stephens, except the few which have been taken direct from 
Mr. Bancroft’s ‘‘ Native Races of the Pacific States ” and from monographs for 
comparison. Turn to the cut given by Mr. Stephens of the Tablet of the Cross, 
(Cent. Am., Vol. II, p. 345,) and it will be found that only the centre and the 
west inscription are represented ; and (on page 346) Mr. Stephens states: ‘‘ The 
stone on the right (east) is broken, and unfortunately altogether destroyed.” In 
Mr. Holden’s cut the tablet is given entire with both inscriptions ; that part, how- 
ever, drawn by Mr. Catherwood, for Stephens’ work, is reproduced exactly with 


HIELE, TAURIEIB IT (OME JC tell (EL OSS, 143 


his signature, while, joined to this part in a clumsy fashion, the east inscription 
also appears bearing the signature ‘‘C. F. Trill.” From this fact we are assured 
that Mr. Holden’s cut is a piece of patchwork; and the assertion of Mr. Stephens’ 
that at the time of his visit this inscription was ‘‘altogether destroyed” forces us 
to seek the source of Mr. Trills’ drawing in the works of earlier explorers. 

Calderon surveyed the ruins of Palenque in 1764, and was the first to make: 
drawings of its antiquities; but his drawings were never published and are proba- 
bly lost. In 1786 Del Rio made a very thorough exploration of the ruins. His 
report was published snd translated into English, and the translation contains a 
drawing of the Cross Tablet ; but only the centre is given, both inscriptions being 
omitted. Dupaix was the next to explore and depict the ruins; and he had am- 
ple time (from 1805 to 1808) and the fullest means and opportunities to do his 
work thoroughly. His picture of the Tablet contains only the central stone with 
a row of eight fanciful hieroglyphs on each side. In 1831 Galindo described the 
ruins and made some sketches; but these have not been published and it is not 
known whether the Tablet of the Cross was among them. In 1832, Waldeck, 
who had engraved the plates for the English translation of Del Rio’s report, visit- 
ed the ruins and devoted two years to their examination. His drawings are the 
most careful, complete and beautiful that antiquarian zeal could produce, but the 
Tablet, as depicted by him, contains only the centre piece and the west inscrip- 
tion ; that is it is precisely similar to Mr. Catherward’s picture. Then came the 
visit of Stephens and Catherwood in 1840. Since that time M. Charnay has 
photographed the Tablet, but strangely enough, his plate contains the central 
stone alone. Other drawings are said to exist in various Spanish, Mexican, and 
Central American collections but none, other than those mentioned, have been 
given to the world in any publication accessible to students. The east inscription 
does not appear in the admirable compilation of Bancroft, in Shoot’s ‘* North 
Americans of Antiquity, or in any monagraph by original explorers that I have 
been able to find. 

Now where did Mr. Holden get his authority to complete Mr. Catherwood’s 
drawing by adding to it the east inscription? If the restoration of the Tablet, 
thus made, is authentic, he has performed a service of great value to American 
antiquarians (less favored with means of obtaining information) whether his exe- 
getical speculations merit the claim he so enthusiastically makes for them or not; 
and it is hoped that the authenticity of his cut can be established. In the mean- 
time, it seems a waste of leisure to attempt the interpretation of these baffling in- 
scriptions, by means of a clue deduced from the stone so mysteriously recovered 
from the fragments found by Mr. Stephens, around the doors and corridors of 
the Temple of the Cross. 


144 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


MET ZORRO @ GN 


TORNADOES: THEIR SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS AND DANGERS. 
BY JOHN P. FINLEY, U. S. SIGNAL CORPS. 


Having in a previous article touched upon the method of investigation, 
the importance and necessity of careful preparation and exact work, and portray- 
ed at some considerable length the character and extent of the data required, I 
will now consider some of the practical results of such methods of labor. In 
other words I will, as far as present advance in this work will permit, answer the 
oft repeated questions on every hand: ‘‘ What is the object of all this systematic 
labor under Government authority? How is it possible for the people to derive 
any benefit from that which appears to be conducted for the advantage of scien- 
tists only 2?” 

In the first place we are starting out to discuss what? The cyclone? No. 
The tornado? Yes. Let us commence then by a use of the mgftname. Ac- 
quire the habit of calling things by their 7/gh¢ names if you know them or have the 
means of information, and you will thereby avoid confusion of terms. Very likely 
you will save yourself many a fruitless search and not a few misemployed hours of 
study. The terms cyclone and tornado are constantly interchanged in their use 
and, in the minds of nine-tenths of the people who have occasion to use them, 
mean one and the same thing. ‘This is not altogether surprising when we consid- 
er the meagre possessions of the most of mankind in regard to accurate meteoro- 
logical knowledge and the general disposition of intelligent minds to speculate 
about the weather. ‘There is, perhaps, no branch of science where a field for 
the roving and unsettled theorist is more opportune or more completely at his 
mercy. Discreet thinkers and careful observers everywhere, should grasp the 
importance of this situation and actively extend their sympathy and support in 
favor of mature considerations of well known principles. They should cheerfully 
assist in dredging the channels of human thought and clear away the feeling of 
mystery, even superstition, making common and useful one of the most impor- 
tant of all subjects, bearing upon the welfare of mankind. 

Those atmospheric disturbances properly classed under the head of Wind 
Storms may be designated as follows: Cyclones, tornadoes, hurricanes, whirl- 
winds, waterspouts, hailstorms and thunderstorms. 

CycLones.—<A cyclone is not a tornado and it never can be. The two 
storms are essentially different. ‘The former possesses the following characteris- 
tics: ‘The path of the storm is a paradolic curve. It trends northwestward trom 
the West Indies until it reaches parallel 30° N. when it curves to the NE. and 
continues in that direction, either at some distance off the Atlantic Coast, on its 
immediate border or a short distance inland. The storm finally disappears ocean- 


TORNADOES. 145 


ward in the vicinity of parallel 50° N. The diameter of the storm’s path varies 
from several hundred to over one thousand miles. At the immediate centre of the 
storm there is a dead calm, a most fatal place for ships to be caught. At no 
point without the storm’s centre does the air actually move or whirl in a circle, 
but there is a cyclonic tendency of the atmosphere about the region of barometric 
minima, viz: where the barometer is the lowest. Upon taking a number of 
points, located here and there in the four quadrants of the meteoric disturbance, 
it will be found that in the northeast quadrant the winds are from southeast to 
northeast; in the northwest quadrant, from northeast to northwest; in the south- 
west quadrant from northwest to southwest, and in the southeast quadrant, from 
southwest to southeast. 

Again I repeat, a cyclonic ¢endency only. The barometer is a very impor- 
tant factor in all calculations bearing upon a determination of the character and 
approach of the cyclone at any point in the parabolic course of the storm. The 
wind very rarely reaches either an estimated or measured velocity of 100 miles 
per hour. The maximum velocity generally ranges from sixty to eighty miles 
per hour. As arule there is no sudden, overwhelming dash of the wind, but a 
gradual approach or increase of movement which eventually culminates in a fierce 
intensity sufficiently powerful at times to destroy buildings or sink the largest 
ships. Cyclones occur most frequently in the months from August to November. 
In the China and Japan Seas this class of wind storms are called typhoons. In 
general, as to their place of origin, cyclones form south of the Tropic of Cancer, 
between the belt of calms and the southern limit of the trade winds; say briefly, 
in the vicinity of 10° N., 50° W. This region coincides with the zone of con- 
stant rainfall, where evaporation is very rapid, cloud formation exceedingly brisk, 
the air almost constantly saturated with moisture, and heavy condensation a regu- 
lar feature of the day. Typhoons form south of the Tropic of Cancer and in the 
vicinity of the Philippine Islands, moving thence northwestward to the Asiatic 
Coast and then curving to the northeast over the adjacent seas and islands. As 
to the character of the region in which they form the same remarks apply as in 
the case of cyclones. 

TorNADOES.—Comparing with the tornado which is truly and invariably a 
land storm, we find this peculiar atmospheric phenomenon possessed of the fol- 
lowing prominent characteristics: A path varying in width from a few yards to 
eighty rods. The general direction of movement of the tornado cloud is invaria- 
bly from a point in the southwest quadrant to a point in the northeast quadrant. 
The tornado cloud assumes the form of a funnel, the small end drawing near 
to or resting upon the earth. This cloud or the moving air of which it is. 
the embodiment, revolves about a central, vertical axis, with inconceivable 
rapidity, and always in a direction contrary to the movement of the hands of a 
watch. ‘The destructive violence of the storm is sometimes confined to the imme- 
diate path of the cloud, as when the small or tail end just touches the earth. 
_ While on the other hand as the body of the cloud lowers, more of it rests upon 
earth, the violence increases and the path widens to the extreme limit. The 


146 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


tornado with hardly an exception occurs in the afternoon, just after the hottest 
part of the day and generally disappears before the going down of the sun. The 
hour of greatest frequency is between three and four P. M. A tornado very 
rarely, if ever, begins after six P. M. Understand me, a tornado commencing 
about five P. M. may continue its characteristic violence until nearly eight P. M. 
which only means that the tornado cloud may be /vaveling after six P. M. or after 
seven P. M., but it does not develop, that is, make its appearance, for the first 
time after those hours. Without the path of destruction, even to the shortest 
distances, at times even along the immediate edge, the smallest objects often re 
main undisturbed although a few yards distant the largest and strongest buildings 
are crushed to atoms. At any point along the storm’s path, where there is oppor- 
tunity afforded the tornado cloud to display its power, the disposition of the debris 
presents unmistakable signs of the revolving right to left action of the wind. The 
violence and intensity of the destructive power increases directly as you pass from 
the circumference of the storm to its centre. 

Observations with the barometer are of little practical value at any one point, 
whether made before or after the tornado cloud has formed or while it is ap- 
proaching. Such observations will not indicate its approach however near 
the position of the instrument to the point of the cloud’s inception. The torna- 
do season is embraced between the 1st of April and the 1st of September, 
although it can be considered unusual to record their appearance at any time 
in the former month. The months of greatest frequency are June and July. 
There are exceptional instances in a long series of years where tornadoes have 
been reported in every month of the year. They may, and sometimes do occur 
in some of the Southern States during the winter and spring months. ‘Taking the 
whole United States together and averaging the dates of occurrence for a long 
series of years (nearly go) it is found that the region of greatest frequency is the 
Lower Missouri Valley, embracing the States of Kansas, Nebraska, Missouri and 
Iowa. Of all the States in the Union, Kansas ranks the highest in regard to fre- 
quency. 

Hurricanes —Although it seems hardly necessary to define the hurricane, 
it will perhaps be well to state that as here considered it means a straight wind of 
extraordinary velocity. They may and frequently do occur without the accom. 
paniment of any precipitation. On the summit of Mount Washington, White 
Mountains, New Hampshire, a measured velocity of nearly two hundred miles 
per hour has been recorded. On the summit of Pike’s Peak, Rocky Mountains, 
Colorado, a measured velocity has several times exceeded one hundred miles per 
hour. On the coast of the Carolinas maximum measured velocities have ranged 
from seventy-five to one hundred and sixty miles per hour. In the Eastern Rocky 
Mountain Slope and in the Lake Region measured velocities are sometimes re- 
corded ranging between sixty and eighty miles per hour. This storm may be 
known as the Blizzard of the Northwest, the Chinook of the Northern Plateau, 
the Norther of the Southern Slope and Texas, or the Simoon of the Desert. 
Hurricanes may occur at any hour of the day or night and in any month of the 


TORNADOES. hat 147 


year. The most violent, however, take place during the spring and autumn. 
The width of the path of the storm is very irregular and may vary from many 
rods to many miles. In either case the velocity at all points within the storm’s 
path is not necessarily the same; in fact such a conditon never occurs. The dura- 
tion of the storm is also extremely variable, it may continue for only a few min- 
utes or for several hours, although in the latter case the maximum velocity is not 
maintained throughout the entire period. On the contrary there are periods of 
recurrence alternating with decided diminutions of the highest activity. There 
are perhaps but few portions of the country altogether free from the possibility of 
their occurrence. In the low table lands of mountainous regions where most of 
the country is extremely broken, the habitable portions are shielded from the 
power of violent wind storms. No surface currents can attain any great velocity 
in such regions although on the mountain peaks and elevated plateaus dangerous 
hurricanes at times prevail. . 

Wuirtwinps. —In defining these disturbances it will be best perhaps that you 
should be asked to recall the occurrence, ona warm, dry day, of the formation of a 
dust-whirl as it suddenly bursts upon you in the open street, fairly enveloping your 
body with fine particles of dirt, straw, leaves and the like. Whirlwinds suddenly 
start up from some barren, sandy spot unduly exposed to the direct rays of the 
sun. Over a small surface thus exposed the air rapidly rarifies and ascensional 
currents form which move spirally inward and upward, carrying dust, leaves, 
straws and sometimes objects of considerable weight. The air within the whirl 
moves either from left to right or in the contrary direction. The whirlwind’s path 
has a diameter of several feet (sometimes rods) and the direction of its course of 
movement is decidedly irregular, possibly moving toward any point in the com- 
pass. On the sandy plains of Arizona, Southern California and Nevada these 
phenomena occur with great frequency during the summer months. Columns of 
whirling sand, sometimes several in a group, move rapidly over the surface. 
Whirlwinds are harmless and generally of but a few moments duration. In 
comparison with the tornado let it be born in mind that the former starts from 

the earth’s surface, extends upward and moves onward, not leaving the earth, 
_ being solely confined to the region of surface currents. The tornado forms near 
the superior limit of the lower regions of the atmosphere and between the upper 
and lower sets of currents or the currents prevailing in the upper and lower re- 
gions of the atmosphere. The former currents are indicated by the appearance 
of the fine cirrus clouds and the latter by the heavy cumulous formations. 
From this lofty seat of origin the tornado cloud gradually descends to the earth’s 
surface increasing rapidly in size and augmenting in power. 

WaTERSpPouTS. —These disturbances generally form at a considerable height 
in the air, although at times they seem to ascend from the water’s surface; that is 
to say, there is no visible agent influencing the ascension of the water, but of 
course in every instance the causative power is from above and in the latter case 
near the water’s surface. When I speak of the formation of the waterspout at a 


considerable height in the air, I mean that the embodiment of the whirl or the re- 
VI—10 


148 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


volving current of air, first appears as a dark cloud of minutely divided particles of 
water, the result of rapid condensation, of course in the air and therefore above the 
water. The swift passage of the air in a spirally upward motion over the surface 
of the water raises it in the form of spray and carries it upward in the centre of 
the whirling cloud, which then presents the appearance of a densely opaque body 
and conveys an impression to the eye of the observer, that a huge column of water 
is ascending in the form of a long spout, widening gradually toward the top. 
There are instances, however, where the force manifested was sufficient to raise 
a considerable quantity of water several hundred feet in the air. Waterspouts 
form during periods of excessive heat, generally in the afternoon and at or 
near the hottest part of the day. Inthe temperate zone they only occur during 
summer months. 

They are of most frequent occurrence in the region of calms between the 
Tropics, but are not altogether strange sights in the Gulf of Mexico and 
along the Gulf stream south of parallel 40° N. In regard to motions they possess 
both a rotary and progressive action, but in neither do they manifest a perma- 
nency of direction. Waterspouts cannot be considered as altogether harmless for 
there are instances where vessels have been wrecked by them. 

HaILtstTorMS—Are peculiar atmospheric disturbances which, in regard to the 
dimensions of their paths, are next to the tornado the most circumscribed of all 
storms save the whirlwind. ‘They are characterized by a strange cloud formation 
and a peculiarity of precipitation unlike any other phenomena in the category of 
storms. The cloud from which the hail falls is basket-shaped with a dark and 
portentous exterior, a ragged and ominous looking opening at the bottom, and 
within, a whirling conglomeration of snow-flakes, pellets of snow and ice, partly 
formed and perfect hailstones, the latter of an almost infinite variety of shapes. 
The hail cloud forms between the currents of the upper and lower regions of the 
atmosphere and moves forward in the plane of these currents, either within or 
just above the upper limit of the lower atmospheric regions, where it finally dis- 
appears and the deposition of hail ceases. The path of the storm as indicated by 
the distribution of the hailstones is at times very narrow, although the range of 
width is decidedly inconstant, varying from one to fifteen miles. The hailstorm 
travels quite rapidly, from thirty to fifty miles per hour, and the length of its path 
is even more variable than the diameter, ranginy as it does from ten miles to two. 
or more hundred. The direction of the course pursued by the storm is always 
from some point west to some point east. It may be from northwest to southeast 
or from southwest to northeast. Hailstorms may occur at any time of the day or 
night, although they are most frequent in the afternoon, just after or near the 
hottest part of the day. 

‘They are most prevalent in that region of country embraced between the 
parallels of 30° and 50° N. South of parallel 30° N. hailstorms are of rare oc- 
currence at the level of the sea, but at the height of one or two hundred feet they 
occur more frequently, and in the mountains of British India they are very com- 
mon, the hai stones being usually of large size. Hailstorms are not necessarily 


TORNADOES. 149 


confined to the land areas, but may and frequently do occur over large and small 
bodies of water. 

THUNDER-STORMS.—These phenomena are atmospheric disturbances of great 
variability of extent and power. ‘They are invariably accompanied by such man- 
ifestations of the presence of electricity as are ordinarily termed thunder and 
lightning, the former being entirely consequent upon the existence of the latter. 
Thunder is but the reverberations of the concussion produced by the inconceiva- 
bly rapid propulsion through the air of that physical element we are pleased to 
term electricity. Thunder-storms may be a few miles or several hundred in ex- 
tent, and their length of duration is quite as uncertain, viz: from a few hours to: 
one or more days. There is no regular time of day for their occurrence, al- 
though they are perhaps more frequent in the afternoon. However, they may 
occur at any time during the day or night. As to the season of year, summer is 
the period of greatest prevalency. ‘There is no month of the year entirely free 
from them. Whether the precipitation be rain or snow the presence of electricity 
has still been manifested in the usual form. With the former character of con- 
densation of vapor, the evidence of electricity is most common, while with the 
latter it is the rare exception. 

As regards geographical distribution, thunder-storms are most frequent be- 
tween the equator and parallel 40° N. and from thence to parallel 70° N. the 
average frequency diminishes with considerable rapidity. In the vicinity of par- 
allel 80° N. it is believed they never occur, although this in the main is mere 
supposition. There are certain portions of the United States where thunder- 
storms are unusually frequent as compared with other parts. They seldom occur 
in the Pacific Coast States, especially California, and are most frequent and violent 
in the Eastern Rocky Mountain Slope, the Lower Missouri Valley and in the 
Lake Region. 

Having briefly outlined the characteristics of the various classes of storms we 
will now proceed to consider more in detail the most important (at least in certain 
respects) of all atmospheric disturbances. At this stage of our inquiry in regard 
to the character and classes of storms, I presume it will be admitted, that no two 
of the several storms defined, at least appear to be alike. There are, however, 
points of resemblance and in some, these features are stronger than in others. As 
each is studied more carefully, the essential points of difference will be more 
clearly contrasted. It is not within the province of this memoir to discuss at 
length the points of difference or harmony nor enter into an intricate analysis of 
meteorological phenomena and the multiform operations of atmospheric changes 
attending the origin, development and complete formation of these disturbances. 
On the contrary it is my desire to make this publication, in gemeral,a brief but 
comprehensive veswmé of the leading features of storms, as known at least in the 
United States, if not in North America, and in particular, to present rather a 
minute consideration of the peculiarities of tornadoes, with a view to place at the 
disposal of the people most interested, the facts and practical results of past and 


150 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


present investigations of this most terrible and yet most wonderful and interest- 
ing of storms, the dreaded tornado. 


THE TORNADO. 


What is a tornado? In defining this storm it would seem almost a necessity 
to rehearse its long line of striking characteristics, but this in the common ac- 
ceptation of the term would not strictly be a definition. At the sacrifice perhaps 
of clearness, but for the sake of brevity, we will state that the tornado is that 
form of atmospheric disturbance which takes the outward, visible fashion or fig- 
ure of a funnel-shaped cloud, revolving about a vertical axis from right to left 
with an inconceivably rapid movement and an immensity of power almost be- 
yond calculation. 

ConpDITIONS OF ForMaTIoNn.—These may be divided into classes. First, 
those within the reach of and which may be known or investigated by an isolated 
observer. Second, those conditions only to be witnessed and analyzed by the 
intelligent and practiced eye of the student of the Weather Map. To the single 
observer, located mayhap at his farm home, the work-shop or the store, there 
are important atmospheric conditions which he may carefully watch and study 
with profit, viz: the gradual setting in and prolonged movement of the air from 
the north and south points; the gradual but continued fa of the thermometer 
with a prevalence of the former currents, and a 7zse with the predominence of the 
latter. If the northerly currents are the prevailing air movements at your place of 
observation, the atmospheric disturbance is forming to the southward, but 
to the northward of your location, if the prevailing air currents are from the 
south. Carefully study cloud development, color as well as form, also manner 
and direction of approach. The approach of the cirrus cloud (perhaps at a height 
of six to eight miles) from the southwest is very significant and is the first evi- 
dence of the gradual, but certain advance of the upper southwest current which 
eventually plays so important a part in the development of the tornado cloud. 
Clouds are but the embodiment of air currents, yet they are full of meaning. A 
study of the upper currents of the atmosphere would be impossible without their 
manifestations and that tooin a variety of forms. Dispense with cloud formation, 
the face of the sky would become a blank, and intelligent reas ning thereof a 
superhuman task 

Wind direction, temperature and clouds are the proper subjects of observa- 
tion and thought by the isolated observer. The barometer is of little if any im- 
portance in this line of inquiry. If you cannot compare your barometric obser- 
vations with those taken at near or distant points and at the same moment of actual 
time, they are of no practical moment, even though your instrument is a standard 
one and your corrections for temperature and elevation carefully applied. The 
storm you are watching for (the tornado) is an extremely local affair, whereas the 
barometer indicates general changes, affecting a large extent of country. Your 
instrument, if a standard, does not lack the possession of a delicate sensitive- 
ness requisite for all the purposes of its construction. But if it were placed in 


TORNADOES. 151 


the immediate track of the tornado cloud, it would not indicate its presence until 
the crash of the storm was upon the instrument, when of course it would be 
too late and at best rather injudicious, to weather the fury of the storm for the 
sake of noting the rise or fall of the mercury. Barometrical observations appear 
to advantage and are absolutely necessary to a successful consideration of the 
meteorological conditions of tornadoes from the standpoint of the Weather Map 
From this panoramic view of the situation a vast extent of country can be most 
carefully watched from hour to hour, for days, weeks or months. Atmospheric 
conditions on opposite sides of the probable course of the storm can be watch- 
ed from their inception and any relation easily detected and analyzed. From a 
study of the Weather Map it has been found that the formation of what is termed 
a barometric trough or elongated area of low pressure (where the barometer 
stands below the normal for that region at the hour of observation) precedes the 
occurrence of tornadoes in the Lower Missouri Valley or adjoining States to the 
south and east. This low pressure area assumes the form of an elipse and 
generally extends from southwest to northeast between northern Texas and the 
Upper Lake Region. Such a depression may lie between the Central Missis- 
sippi Valley and the Lower Lake Region, trending northeastward just south 
of Michigan and over the Ohio Valley. The major axis of either of these de- 
pressions is easily estimated, while the minor axis may be stated as generally vary- 
ing from three to five hundred miles. To the north of the major axis, even 
toa distance of several hundred miles, the winds are found to proceed from any 
or all points between northeast and northwest with comparatively low temper- 
atures accompanied sometimes by a cold rain or even snow. South of the 
major axis and generally to a greater distance, the winds come from any or all 
points between southeast and southwest, accompanied by comparatively high 
temperatures, high humidity and often dashes of quite heavy rain. 

As these conditions continue to prevail there is a growing contrast of temper- 
ature to the north and south of the major axis, owing to the long continued 
movement of the atmosphere from opposite directions, such movement eventually 
affecting the disposition of air in the warmer regions of the extreme south and 
likewise the colder regions of the extreme north. The contrast of temperature 
now naturally increases with marked rapidity and the formation of clouds com- 
mences in earnest. Huge masses of dark and portentous appearance bank up in 
the northwest and southwest with amazing rapidity and soon the scene becomes 
one of awful grandeur. The struggle for mastery in the opposing currents is thus 
indicated by the gathering cloud formations. The condensation of vapor from the 
extremely humid southerly currents by contact with the augmenting cold of their 
struggling opponents continues. Itincreasesrapidly. Finaily, when the tenacious 
hold upon a stable equilibrium can no longer be maintained (which is controlled 
by the rapidity and extent of condensation,) the opposing forces are, as it were, 
broken asunder, followed by the upward rush of huge volumes of air. ‘The out- 
ward indication of this event is first shown in the whirling, dashing clouds over 
the broken surface of the heavy bank of condensed vapor, forming the back- 


152 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ground. A scene not easily depicted or realized by one who has not witnessed it, 
but never to be effaced from the memory of the actual observer. ‘There is an 
awful terror in the majesty of the power here represented, and in the unnatural 
movement of the clouds, which affects animals as well as human beings. The 
next stage in the further development of this atmospheric disturbance is the grad- 
ual descent of the funnel-shaped cloud from a point apparently just beneath the 
position of the enactment of the first scene. The tornado is now before us, not 
fully developed, but soon to acquire that condition, when the terrible violence of 
its power will make the earth tremble, animals terrified, and men’s hearts quake 
with fear. 

PREMONITORY SiGns.—On the day of the storm and for several hours pre- 
vious to the appearance of the tornado cloud, what indications of its probable 
formation and approach are within the comprehension of any ordinary observer 
and can readily be detected by him? A sultry, oppressive condition of the at- 
mosphere thus described by various observers as follows: ‘‘I really experienced 
a sickly sensation under the influence of the sun’s rays.” ‘‘I was compelled to 
stop work on account of the peculiar exhaustion experienced from physical exer- 
tion.”” ‘‘It seemed as if the lightest garments that I could put on were a burden 
tome.” ‘‘ There was not a breath of air stirring.” <‘‘ The air at times came in 
puffs as from a heated furnace.” ‘‘I felt a want of breath, the air frequently ap- 
pearing too rarified to breathe freely.” ‘<I was startled at the sudden and con- 
tinued rise in the thermometer, especially at this season of the year.” ‘‘In the 
forenoon I actually wore an overcoat, but shortly after dinner I put on my straw 
hat and worked in my shirt sleeves.” ‘‘I noticed a remarkable change in the 
temperature, many of the neighbors spoke about it and said that there was 
peculiar feeling about the heat, something they had not before experienced in 
years.” ‘It was terribly oppressive; it seemed as if the atmosphere was unus- 
ually heavy and pressing down on me with a great weight.” 

Enough examples have now been cited to clearly indicate the character of 
this peculiar sultriness. Other signs equally important and reliable may be found 
in the development and peculiar formation of the clouds in the western horizon. 
Sometimes these peculiar clouds extend from the southwest through the west by 
the north to the northeast. More frequently, however, they form in the north- 
west and southwest, sometimes commencing, first in the former quarter and then 
again in the latter, but in either case they are equally significant. The marked 
peculiarity of the clouds is found to occur not only in the form but in the color 
and character of development. 

The sudden appearance of ominous clouds, first in the southwest and then 
almost immediately in the northwest or northeast (perhaps the reverse in the 
order of their appearance) generally attracts the attention of the most casual ob- 
server and frequently overcomes him with astonishment. In almost all cases 
these premonitory clouds are unlike any ordinary and usual formation. If they 
are light, their appearance resembles smoke issuing from a burning building or 
straw stack, rolling upward in fantastic shapes to great heights. Again, like. 


TORNADOES. 153 


a fine mist or quite white like fog or steam. Some persons describe these light 
clouds as at times apparently irridescent or glowing as if from their irregular sur- 
faces a pale, whitish light was cast. 

The dark clouds at times present a deep greenish hue, which fairly forebodes 
the greatest evil and leaves one to imagine quite freely of dire possibilities. 
Again, they appear jet black from centre to circumference, or in a change of 
form, this deep set color may only appear at the centre, gradually diminishing in 
intensity as the outer edges of the cloud or bank of clouds are approached. 
Sometimes these dark clouds, instead of appearing in solid and heavy masses, 
roll up lightly, but still intensely black like the smoke from an engine or loco- 
motive burning soft coal. They have been described as of a purple or bluish 
tinge, or at times possessed of a strange lividness. Frequently dark green, again 
an inky blackness that fairly startles you with its intensity. Many observers 
are at a loss for words in which to give an adequate description of the terrible 
scenes and simply say: ‘‘ They were the worst looking clouds I ever saw, per- 
fectly awful.”” Said one observer, ‘‘The clouds seemed to be boiling up like 
muddy water, the upper surface of the cloud reminding me of the incessant eddies 
or whirls seen in the muddiest portions of the Missouri River.” Other observers 
as follows: ‘‘I saw two whirling circles of lightish gray clouds in the west; 
they were acting independent of each other and moved slowly inward toward 
each other from opposite directions. The clouds were very low; seemed to be 
on the earth, the wind in contrary directions across the face of the western 
sky and surrounding clouds in great confusion.” ‘‘Observed clouds moving 
in all directions, some of a dark green color, others white as steam.” ‘‘The 
lower end of the cloud was very white like fog.” ‘‘I saw a great smoke, and 
supposed at first it was a fire.” ‘‘I saw aterrible cloud of a dark purplish 
color.” ‘‘ There was a peculiar and terrifying look to the clouds.” ‘‘I saw 
a green looking cloud in the northwest surrounded by others not so deep set 
in color. Under the cloud from the southwest, there came a large number 
of little thunder-heads, some very dark but others as white as steam. They 
seemed to be separated and running very low. I never saw clouds so low be- 
fore. Pretty soon they began to go in all directions, some up, some down, 
right and left, backwards and forwards. I next saw a cloud that looked even all 
over in color and very white, the edges pretty even. It moved remarkably 
steady and seemed to be right under the edge of the cloud from the south- 
west.” ‘The clouds looked as if a mosquito net had been spread out over 
the sky.” ‘‘I saw clouds tumbling over and over in terrible confusion.” ‘‘I 
noticed a strange action in the clouds and saw a cloud rolling on the ground 
coming from the southwest.” <‘‘The ground was covered with white steamy 
looking clouds that prevented one from seeing any distance.” ‘‘ Two clouds, 
one from the northwest and the other from the southwest seemed to meet, and 
after meeting passed still lower. Above their place of meeting black smoke ap- 
peared in very peculiar shape.” ‘‘ The air presented a very peculiar appearance, 
it seemed to be in different shaded strata and quite marked.” ‘‘ At the bottom 


154 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


of the cloud a hazy appearance rose up, obstructing the view.” ‘‘ Two clouds 
came together, one from the southwest and the other from the northwest; the 
latter was the highest, and the former the heaviest and looked the worst.” ‘A 
heavy cloud spread out before us to a width of about six hundred feet, and as 
black as night.” 

The peculiar action of the clouds while they are forming is another interest- 
ing and significant feature which should be carefully watched. Under ordinary 
circumustances clouds form, move about and disappear without causing the 
slightest remark or perhaps thought, from the casual or even the interested ob- 
server. In the event of a thunder-storm or hailstorm the movement and disposi- 
tion of the clouds are not looked upon with fear or as possibly possessed of a power 
to create great havoc. But on the occasion of a tornado the formation and move- 
ment of the clouds strike most persons almost dumb with fear. There seems to 
be some strange connection between the almost simultaneous appearance of clouds 
in the southwest and northwest, possessing as they do, such unusually threaten- 
ing forms. 

As they approach from opposite directions they are suddenly thrown into 
the greatest confusion, breaking up as it were, into small portions which dash 
pell mell over each other and in every direction, now darting toward the earth, 
now rushing upward to considerable heights like the ascension of a sky-rocket, or 
at moderate elevations rolling over each other in a well developed whirl. An 
observer in describing the approach of the clouds from the southwest and north- 
west stated that they ‘‘came together with a terrific crash as if thrown from the 
mouths of cannons.”’ Generally, following closely upon the existence of this con-. 
dition, the funnel-shaped tornado cloud appears against the western sky, moving 
boldly to the front from without this confused mass of flying clouds. As the tor- 
nado cloud advances these scuds continue to play about its top and sides, consti- 
tuting a characteristic feature of the scene. ° 

Another and invariable sign of the tornado’s approach is a heavy roaring 
noise which augments in intensity as the tornado cloud advances. This roar- 
ing is compared to the passage of a heavily loaded freight train moving over a 
bridge or through a deep pass or tunnel. To the roaring of a railroad train such 
as is heard on damp mornings when the sound is very clear and loud. It is also 
likened to the rumbling of a long train of empty freight cars. The sound coming 
from the rapid movement of a large number of empty box cars is accounted 
rather peculiar and quite noticeable. 

At times the roaring has been so violent that persons have compared it to 
the simultaneous ‘‘ rush of 10,000 trains of cars.”” Of course there is no import 
ance to be attached to the exact muméer here given, it being used in a figurative 
sense and is quite likely exaggerated. Again, the roaring is likened to the low 
rumbling of distant thunder. The varying intensity of the roar as here represent- 
ed is, in the main, due to the lack of uniformity in the positions of the various 
observers with respect to the advancing tornado cloud. Those situated nearest 
the cloud, other things being equal, experience the loudest roar, while to those 


~ 


TORNADOES. 152 


at greater distances the noise is proportionally weaker. In any event, however, 
the noise is sufficiently peculiar and distinct to create alarm and as a means of 
warning should not be overlooked under any pretext. 

How To BENEFIT By SicNns.—In order to be prepared for the possible ap- 
pearance of a tornado, so far at least as the above indications are concerned, let 
every person situated in those regions of country where the tornado is of yearly 
occurrence commence (to-day is none too soon) to carefully observe and record the 
daily changes in the face of the sky, the variations of temperature, the direction 
of the wind and the character and development of clouds. I do not mean that 
any person should devote all or most of his time to this work of observation, 
and possibly not even all of his spare time. For the sake of regularity and uni- 
formity I will suggest certain hours for regular work of this nature, viz: 7 A. M. 
z2andg9 P.M. ‘These hours are not altogether arbitrary, for there is a reasonable 
amount of prudence in their selection, looking to a proper and successful use of 
the results of your labor. 

Should the violence of a storm be unusually marked during either the hours 
of the forenoon or afternoon, or even in the night, it would be advisable to in- 
crease the number of hours for observation and record, possibly making them 
every hour or half hour, or even at shorter intervals, as the importance of the 
case demands. By this means of frequent observation every feature of the storm 
would become the subject of inquiry and quite probably the most important re- 
sults attained. For purposes of investigation of this class of storms your observa- 
tions need not continue throughout the entire year, at least in the Northern and 
Western States, although such a length of record would by no means fall amiss of 
much value. Yearly records will pay. However, observations without fail, 
should commence by the rst of April and continue unremittingly until at least 
the rst of September. Observations through the autumn can be maintained with 
profit. It will be a valuable adjunct to this work of regular hour records if a 
summary of miscellaneous phenomena is kept. Hnter the dates of occurrence 
and important particulars of such phenomena as auroras, mirage, meteors, lunar 
and solar halos, prairie and forest fires, the migration of birds and insects, the 
leafing and blossoming of trees, flowers and shrubs, droughts, excessive rainfalls, 
earthquakes, zodiacal light, frosts and the formation of ice. Blank record sheets, 
upon which such observations can be entered to advantage may be obtained free 
of cost on application to the Chief Signal Officer U. S. Army, Washington, D. 
C., provided, however, that a duplicate of each month’s work, for which suff- 
cient blanks and stamped envelopes will be forwarded, shall be mailed on or near 
the first day of each succeeding month, to the office of the Chief Signal Officer, 
U.S. Army. All such observers under the title of Voluntary Observers, Signal 
Service, U. S. A., in view of their labors in the interests of the Signal Service, 
will be entitled to and receive a copy of the Annual Report of the Chief Signal 
Officer, for that year within which they make the observations, and also a copy, 
(monthly) of another publication of the Signal Service called the ‘‘ Monthly 
Weather Review,” a most valuable journal of between twenty and thirty pages. 


156 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


CHARACTER OF TORNADO CLOUD AND ATTENDING Motions.—The tornado 
cloud is, generally speaking, funnel-shaped, that is to say, it tapers from the top 
downward, not always in the same degree with every appearance of the cloud, 
but the lower end of it (the part nearest the earth) is invariably the smallest. 
Whatever the inclination of the major axis of the cloud to the perpendicular, 
the lower end is the narrowest and nearest the earth. As seen in different posi- 
tions and stages of development by various observers, located differently, the tor- 
nado cloud has been called: ‘‘balloon-shaped”; ‘‘ basket-shaped’’; ‘‘ egg- 
shaped”; ‘‘ trailing on the ground like the tail of an enormous kite”; of ‘‘ bulb- 
ous form”; ‘‘like an elephant’s trunk,” etc., etc. In the majority of instances 
however, observers describe the cloud as appearing like an upright funnel. When 
the tip end of the cloud reaches the earth, the violence of its whirl creates a powerful 
suction over a small portion of the surface and immediately thereupon a peculiarly 
formed cloud of dust, and finely divided debris, around which there plays small 
gatherings of condensed vapor, is formed. To all appearances now, the tornado 
cloud has two heads, one on the surface of the earth and the other in the sky, 
the bodies of each joining in mid-air and tapering both ways with the smallest 
diameter at their junction. In other words, the cloud now assumes the shape of 
an hour-glass and the lower portion, or that assuming the form of an inverted 
funnel, displays an extraordinary violence. The extreme fury of the tremendous 
power of the tornado cloud is now experienced and nothing is able to stay the 
force of its awful march. This last and most fatal form of the tornado cloud is 
fortunately not a constant feature of the storm. The tornado cloud is constantly 
changing from the hour-glass form to that of the upright funnel or some other in- 
termediate shape previously referred to. 

The various gradations of form, not any of which however, affect the stereo- 
typed relation between the size of top and bottom, number some twenty-five or 
thirty, so far as I have been able to gather information upon this point. These 
variations of form are quite important in a critical study of the tornado. They 
depend upon the peculiar movements of the whirling currents of air within and 
about the cloud vortex, the direction of the currents being outlined to the eye by 
the singular disposition of the rapidly condensing masses of vapor. The charac- 
teristic motions of the tornado cloud number four and are described as follows: 

No. I. is called the whzrling or gyratory motion of the tornado cloud, which is 
invariably from right to left or against the course of the sun. From the peculiar 
character of the formation of the tornado cloud, this motion is in all probability 
the first evidence of the existence of the cloud and should therefore be placed first 
in order of consideration. Of all other motions, this is attended with the greatest 
violence and its velocity of movement is far in excess of any one of the others. 
This gyratory motion forms what is termed the vortex of the tornado cloud, within 
which the velocity of the centripetal currents of air is almost beyond conception. 
Many efforts have been made, but most of them altogether fruitless, to estimate 
the rate of progress of these currents and velocities ranging from 100 to 800 and 
even 1,000 miles per hour, have been approximated. The two latter are the ex- 


TORNADOES. 157 


tremes that have been ventured upon and of course are not reliable, while in the 
majority of instances more trustworthy determinations have ranged between 100 
and 500 miles per hour. 

The uncertainty arising on this point of ascertaining the velocity of centri- 
petal currents, depends upon or is rather an outcome of the difficulty attending 
the acquirement of the requisite (absolutely) reliable data. In all carefully 
conducted investigations heretofore made, there has unfortunately occurred such 
a long interval between the happening of the storm and the arrival of the person 
authorized to commence the work, that valuable and satisfactory results in this 
direction were precluded. It is always of prime importance to ascertain definite- 
ly, what portion of a building or other object was first struck by the wind in order 
to determine the configuration and inclination of the exposed surface. Asa rule 
such examination is rendered next to impossible by the rapidity with which de- 
vastated districts recover from the violence of the storm. This statement is a 
most praiseworthy and well deserved commentary on the exemplary industry and 
determined spirit of the people of the Lower Missouri Valley. With the gyratory 
motion of the tornado cloud, objects are drawn inward to the centre of the storm 
and then carried violently upward by a spirally inward and upward motion 
which fairly crushes and grinds into pieces buildings, trees and whatever else falls 
in the line of the advancing cloud. The spirally upward motion throws the as- 
cending debris in a circular manner, outward at the top of the tornado cloud. 
This debris when beyond the central whirl of the cloud, falls to the earth, but in 
such a manner and so disposed as to indicate the character of the force which 
acted upon it. 

No. II. is called the progresseve motion of the tornado cloud, the motion 
which determines the cloud’s progress from one point to another. ‘The rate of 
progressive velocity ranks next in order to the velocity of motion No. I. 
although it is certainly at all times far below the high degree of the latter. 

The rate of progress of the tornado cloud is subject to great variability 
throughout the path of any one storm, although on the average tornado clouds 
possess a moderately uniform velocity of progression. Some observers have in- 
dicated the movement by the following expressions: ‘‘Allin an instant.” ‘‘Gone 
ina moment.” ‘‘Quicker than thought.” <‘‘Without a moment’s warning.” ‘‘It 
moved no faster than a horse gently galloping.” ‘‘I just saw what it was, and then 
all was over.” ‘‘Before I had time to turn about in my tracks it flashed by me.” 
“It seemed to remain almost motionless, as if held to the ground by some myste- 
rious force;” ‘‘I shuddered, held my breath, and the monster had vanished.” ‘‘It 
seemed to move no faster than I could run.” 

These estimations of velocity are not to be taken altogether literally. The 
circumstances under which the impressions were received must be considered, 
viz: undue excitement or abject terror. However, the comparative results are 
important, and to a certain extent reliable. Through them, you will at least not 
be led astray in your conceptions of the awful grandeur of the panorama, or fall 


158 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


into the fatal mistake of encouraging a belief that the tornado is not what the 
united experience of all observers has portrayed it. 

This data will not answer however, to figure on very closely, but the factors, 
average diameter of cloud, actual time (local or standard) and measured dis- 
tances, must be carefully obtained before an approach to accurate calculations 
can be secured. Reliable data are very difficult to obtain, especially time. This 
fact should be thoroughly appreciated by observers and every reasonable effort 
made by them to examine their clocks or watches upon the approach and passage 
of the tornado cloud. Generally speaking, it is a good habit to form, of jotting 
down in some place of ready reference the hour, day, month and year of notable 
events. 

In regard to this matter of time, so far as past determinations can be 
valued, the progressive velocity of the tornado cloud is variously estimated at 
from twenty-five to seventy miles per hour. The former is perhaps too low and 
the latter quite likely too high, and although in both instances they represent the 
extremes, yet either of the above velocities may have existed for short intervals. 
The true average is probably about forty miles per hour. 

No. III. is termed the 7vzsémg and falling motion of the tornado cloud, the 
character of which finds definition in the following expressions from various wit- 
nesses: ‘‘The top of the cloud seemed to pop up and down, and then to rush 
forward.” ‘‘It bounded over the ground like a ball.” ‘‘It was the strangest 
jumping and flopping object I ever saw.” ‘‘At times it seemed to lash the earth 
in terrific fury with its huge tail.” ‘‘It came along, popping up and down in a 
most fantastic way.” ‘‘Rising up like the uncoiling of a huge rope, it cut loose 
from the earth and passed over us with a horribly whizzing sound.” ‘‘Ever and 
anon it would shoot directly upward from the earth, sometimes with great rapidity, 
and then again quite slowly, each time dashing to the surface with apparently 
renewed vigor.’”’ 

It is perhaps clearly, seen that this a distinct motion with striking pe- 
culiarities which define its character. Sometimes, upon the lifting of the tor- 
nado cloud from the earth, it does not again descend fora distance of sever- 
al miles, at times making the return movement or descension twenty or thirty 
miles distant, the intervening space proving a complete blank in its track. 
More frequently, however, these gaps are from one to five miles in length. 

While the tornado cloud is traversing the atmosphere at some considerable dis- 
tance above the earth, it may reach down so low as to just skim over the tops of 
the highest trees; descend to a level with the roofs of buildings, simply scaling 
off the shingles in spots or entirely on one side, leaving the roof-boards and 
rafters unmoved; removing the tops of chimneys; taking out all the fans in the 
wheel of a wind-mill and leaving every portion (even the tail) of the remainder of 
the mill unharmed; take off the cornice without disturbing the remainder of 
the roof; removing simply the top board of a five-board fence, or one or two 
of the top rails of an ordinary rail fence. 


TORNADOES. 159 


The tornado cloud may, however, remain at a perfectly safe distance through- 
out its aerial course and where it may be seen at a great height, moving solitary 
and alone, like a huge balloon. While in this condition it has, not a few times 
been unwittingly taken for the latter object, but the mystery and sensation was 
entirely dispelled when the news came in from the surrounding country of the 
frightful power of this now silent monster. 

There is still another condition, which the fearful aeronaut may assume in his 
flighty movements. Upon rising from the earth and passing through a few un- 
certain struggles, apparently to decide as to whether the final direction shall be 
up or down, the tornado cloud is ultimately lost sight of in the surrounding clouds, 
and reappears suddenly again at its point of descension, or perhaps only to 
remain at a safe distance. 

No. IV. is called the zigzag motion, or swaying from side to side of the 
central line of cloud movement. This motion is sometimes quite suddenly per- 
formed, but generally it is a moderately slow movement and one that can be 
attached and easily identified. It seems to occur most frequently just as the 
tornado cloud touches the earth in completing the last act of motion No. III. 
In completing the extent of a single act of this motion, the tornado cloud will 
diverge about an equal distance on either side of the central line of movement, 
though these tangents to the major axis are not necessarily of equal length. 

At the commencement of this motion the tornado cloud, always moves first to 
the left (N. N. E.) and then to the right (E. S. E) forming an obtuse angle on the 
north side of the major axis. On the return movement, the cloud may or may 
not cross the major axis (to E.S. E.). If it does, it will then form a similar 
obtuse angle on the south side of the major axis. This zigzag movement, first 
from one side and then from the other of the central line of progressive action, 
may continue for several miles, or it may cut short its existence after the first few 
moves. 

The regularity of this pecular action appears to depend upon indraughts 
from the south side of the major axis, of violent currents of air, which fre- 
quently advance (only from the left side) and give evidence of their exist- 
ence by swaths or narrow paths of destruction (alternating with spaces of no 
damage) cut inward toward and joining with the central line or track. The 
tornado cloud may, upon the return movement, whether executed upon the north 
or south side of the major axis, it matters not, fail to cross it, but upon reaching 
it continue onward in the central line of movement to the northeast. 

The distance traveled by the tornado cloud in departing from the major 
axis, either to the north or south, is generally subject to considerable variability, 
ranging from forty to fifty yards to nearly as many rods. While executing this 
zigzag motion it very frequently happens that the tornado cloud simply skims 
over the earth without manifesting its extreme violence. 

Buitpine Spots.—In regard to the matter of buildings, the question may be 
asked whether there is not some choice in a building spot, with a view to safety 
from the violence of the tornado cloud. Many persons have thought that if their 


160 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


house or barn was perched upon some high ‘‘ divide” or on the brow of a steep 
decline, in fact upon any marked rise above the surrounding level, the tornado 
cloud by reason of some mysterious effort of clemency would rise from the 
earth and pass over them. This is a careless and unreasonable supposition when 
the facts are known. It does not seem to occur to the mind of an observer that 
there is no reason why the tornado cloud should not follow the rolling surface as 
well as the plain. 

The tornado cloud pursues a general course to the northeast without regard 
to the character of the earth’s surface and if your buildings are in the line of its 
destructive path, whether upon a hill, in a valley or within a ravine they are sub- 
ject to its violence. Western towns as a rule are not built upon high ‘ divides” 
but more frequently sheltered between neighboring hills. The same may be said 
of farm buildings, it being the prevailing custom to select building spots along the 
low bottoms of a stream for convenience to water and timber, and for protection 
from the continued heavy winds that break over the open prairies. 

From the above facts it will be seen, that there is very little opportunity of- 
fered the tornado cloud to display its violence on the hill-tops, even though it 
were so diposed. Repeated investigations have shown that buildings were de- 
stroyed with as great violence and completeness upon high lands as upon low 
lands, but the largest number in valleys because of the facts above cited In 
many instances the funnel-cloud has passed from one ridge to another, doing 
damage on both, but skipping the intervening depression. Again it has followed 
high ‘‘ divides” for several miles when they coincided with its general course of 
movement. Ridges and valleys are almost invariably crossed at right angles 
when their courses are from northwest to southeast. 

ELecrricitry—The rain and hail which sometimes precedes and at other times 
follows the tornado cloud, but always accompanies the heavy clouds which form 
in the north and west is not always but generally attended by lightning; some- 
times most violent manifestations and then again but occasional flashes. The 
most terrific displays are reported during the heavy precipitation which often 
occurs after the tornado cloud has passed, some ten to twenty minutes. Very 
often its darting flash is observed in the dark clouds which begin to rise above the 
western horizon an hour or more before the storm. 

What relation has electricity to the formation and power of the tornado 
cloud? Most persons are utterly at a loss to account for the terrible manifesta- 
tions of the prodigious power presented to them by the destructive effects of the 
wonderful cloud formation. If they make the least attempt to philosophize upon 
the subject, they are determined to assign the cause to some mysterious interfer- 
ence of electrical force. Whenever a piece of iron is bent, broken, twisted or 
carried a considerable distance, a tree torn up by the roots, or clothing snatched 
from the body, it is attributed to electricity. The fact that it does not appear in 
the funnel-cioud is explained away by supposing that its subtle presence produces 
powerful effects through some incomprehensible modification of its usual charac- 
ter. There is a dogmatic predisposition to attribute everything, the result of un- 


TORNADOES. 16] 


usual power in the operation of the tornado cloud, to this one member of the 
category of physical forces. Of course it is the easiest way to get rid in a difficult 
problem. 

If a hurricane did similar work I dare say that the electrical (final and all- 
satisfying) cause would not be thought of. It being generally accepted that little 
is yet known of the peculiar nature of electricity, there would be comparative 
safety in assigning the cause of a strange atmospherical disturbance to its wonder- 
range of power, feeling satisfied, that for a considerable time at least, there would 
be no probability of a decided advance into the analysis of such a relation. The 
funnel-cloud isa mere collection of clouds of the same rarity as the mass from whence 
they are drawn. Its descent is evidently the mechanical effect of the whirling 
currents of air accompanied by the rapid condensation of vapor. Even if elec- 
tricity is present there is no requirement of its intervention to produce the force 
required. It is plainly evident that the movement of a current of air at the rate 
of from 200 to 500 miles per hour is sufficiently powerful to demolish the strongest 
buildings, lift a piece of iron or if necessary distort its shape. This subject is 
considered more at length in my published Report of the Tornadoes of 1879. 

MEANS OF PROTECTION.-—First in regard to life. How can you save your 
lives or avoid the terrible injuries that often fail to result in death, but from which 
there is no respite while life hangs on? Much will be offered you in the solution 
of this vital problem from the results already permitted in a careful analysis of 
the facts now at hand. Perhaps it is more than you expect, perhaps it is less, 
but at least it is all that past or present investigation will sustain. In regard to 
this question much, if not everything, depends upon the manner and in what 
direction a person moves, together with the distance of the tornado cloud, its di- 
rection and the kind of motion prevailing at the zmstan¢ you determine upon chang- 
ing your position. 

We will now suppose the various conditions and proceed to point out the 
necessary action in each instance. In all cases it is granted for sake of con- 
venience in illustration, that you are in front of or situated directly in the 
line of the advancing tornado cloud. Under these circumstances if No. II or 
the progressive motion of the cloud is prevailing and your distance from it is say, 
eighty rods or more, move directly and with all possible dispatch to the orth. 
Whenever this motion is prevailing a/ways run to the zorth, unless in so doing 
you would be obliged to cross the evézve path of the storm. A sharp glance to 
the westward will tell you whether you are about on the southern edge of the 
probable path of the tornado cloud, or more to the worth. If in the centre 
or halfway between the centre and the southern edge, your chances are best in a 
direct course to the zorth. If further to the south, move directly and very rapidly 
to the south, bearing slightly east. In mo event should you ever run directly to the 
east or northeast. Suppose the tornado cloud to be distant from you (W. or 
SW.) eighty rods and its progressive velocity sixty miles per hour, it would follow 
that one mile is passed in sixty seconds or eighty rods in fifteen seconds. As- 
suming the average width of the destructive path of the tornado cloud to be forty 


162 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


rods and your position at the centre of that path, it will be seen that you have 
fifteen seconds in which to reach the outer edge of the path to the orth (a dis- 
tance of twenty rods) before the tornado cloud could arrive at your location. 

I have taken an extreme case in every particular. Most persons first see the 
tornado cloud at a much greater distance, from one to three miles, sometimes 
five and ten miles on the prairies. Of course at the unusual distance of five or 
ten miles you could not determine very satisfactorily its probable course, espe- 
cially with regard to your buildings or the safety of your own location. Watch- 
ing the approach of the tornado cloud closely at a distance of ten miles and from 
that position on and on in its eastward course until it came within a mile or so 
of your point of observation, would give you sufficient opportunity to predict its 
probable course in regard to your Jocation. When that matter is settled satisfac- 
torily to your judgment, move immediately and without further hesitation. If 
you wait until the tornado cloud is distant one mile you have at least sixty sec- 
onds in which to run a distance of thirty rods, supposing that you are obliged to 
cover more than half of the destructive path of the storm. In an average case 
you will probably have between eighty and ninety seconds in which to run a 
distance of twenty rods. In either case I am supposing that you are prepared in 
every particular to move at the very zustant of timely warning. Further, I am 
supposing that you have been watching the weather of the day and understand 
that a terrible storm is imminent. There is, under ordinary circumstances, 
no reason why you should not be so informed. A tornado cloud does not come 
out of a clear sky, and there are many and ample signs of its approach. 

What has been said in regard to the a@rections in which persons should move 
when the progressive motion is prevailing, will for all practical purposes apply to 
motions Nos. I and III. With respect to motion No. IV, (the zzgzag) the follow- 
ing preliminary remarks should be most carefully considered. Remember that 
while possessed of this motion the tornado cloud crosses from one side of the 
central line of movement or major axis to the other. That this peculiar motion 
most frequently occurs just after the termination of the vzszmg and faliimg motion 
(No. III) so that when you see the tornado cloud descending to the earth from 
one of its aerial flights you may expect (not absolutely) the zzgzag motion to fol- 
low. That the first departure of the tornado cloud from the major axis is to the 
left or on the zorth side of the path. That all departures from the major axis, 
whether forward or return movements of the tornado cloud are invariably execut- 
ed to the eastward. There is no backward movement to the west. That the 
tornado cloud never continues to move in the direction of any zamgend/ to the 
major axis but in the event of any departure it ultimately returns to the central 
line of movement. Having these points well in mind you are quite satisfactorily 
prepared to act when the exigency occurs. When the departure of the tornado | 
cloud is to the /ef¢ and your position is at any point in the central line of move- 
ment (better near the centre of the path) move directly xorth with the utmost 
rapidity, even if the cloud is at a long distance from you. Should it chance that 
your distance from the cloud is reduced to from twenty to forty rods, run in- 


TORNADOES. 163 


stantly to the south, bearing slowly west. This movement will take you away 
from the forward and return action of the tornado cloud. Another case, suppose 
your position to be the same as just given, viz: at any point in the central line of 
movement, but that the tornado cloud had just crossed over that line to the souz¢h- 
ward. In this event you should move instantly and directly to the orth bearing 
slowly west. This movement will also, as in the case previously cited, take you 
away from the forward and return action of the tornado cloud. 

To recapitulate in regard to tornado cloud motions and the manner of move- 
ment with respect to them. Remember, that under no circumstances, should you 
move to the zortheast, cast or southeast. Never wait until the tornado cloud is 
almost upon you before you move. When watching the cloud in order to deter- 
mine the course of its movement and decide upon the manner in which you will 
act in regard to its motions, place yourself directly in front of and as nearly as 
possible in a direct line with the advancing cloud. By thus selecting your posi- 
tion for observation you can determine more easily than in any other way the 
prevalence of characteristic motions, the change from one to the other and the 
most desirable zoment in which to act in regard to any motion. 

How To Act on Its Formation.—The following remarks apply to your 
manner of action when the evidences of the existence of the tornado cloud are 
undeniable. At this juncture the actual tornado cloud is not yet in sight but 
other infallible signs (heretofore given) of its formation and probable approach 
from a point possibly below your horizon, are present Act immediately, judi- 
ciously and with the utmost rapidity, but never for one instant allow yourself to 
become excited or reckless in anything. Take the situation as calmly as possi- 
ble, knowing as you ought (or probably will) the terrible power you have to deal 
with. Do not with an over-weening sense of fancied security or an inclination 
to a superstitious feeling that your life is mysteriously over-shadowed by a pecu- 
liarly beneficent power, think and act leisurely about the matter of self-protection. 
A tornado cloud never sends forward a flag of truce or even solicits the « right 
of way.” There are certain indications which we have heretofore spoken of that 
frequently, if not always, manifest themselves from half an hour to two or three 
hours in advance of the tornado cloud. Do not wait to make sure of the exist- 
ence of the cloud or call into play a telescope to detect the charateristic outlines 
of the intruder and see if he corresponds with the regulation standard. It will 
pay you to run the chance of being trifled with, or disappointed if you so prefer 
to call it, several times rather than be compelled (when the opportunity to relieve 
yourself was once within your grasp) to weather a storm of this character. Of 
course you may get through alive, but then it is not such a change of scene and 
situation, so unusual and delightfully frisky in its nature, that you will needs pass 
through life with a stinging regret that you might have actually experienced 
this chief of ‘‘twisters.” Even though you may feel an uncontrollable desire to 
serve the interests of science and those of the United States Weather Bureau, cast 
such ambitious and patriotic thoughts aside and prepare to flee, your back to 


the foe. Many foolhardy acts have been committed (perhaps through fear and 
Vi-1 


164 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


excitement or positive ignorance) by persons, which have resulted in death or 
dreadful injuries, because they tried to run in front of the tornado cloud, thinking 
they could outstrip it in such a race. Others have attempted to cross the path 
just ahead of the advancing cloud feeling that they could reach a safe distance on 
the opposite side before the funnel shaped monster passed. In one of our late 
storms a person essayed this trip with two horses and a lumber wagon, confident 
that he could at least rush his horses across the apparently narrow path of a storm 
which seemed to progress within such circumscribed limits. Not so. He was 
instantly killed, one of his horses dreadfully msngled, the other seriously injured 
and the wagon a total wreck. The work of an instant. An ignorant, reckless 
rush into eternity. 

Had I the space I could enumerate many similar instances to show the folly 
and ignorance of people, and the importance of looking at this matter (the pro- 
gress and power of the tornado cloud) as one of life and death. The second and 
last question arising under this heading (Means of Protection) pertains to the 
protection of property. What can be done to in any way lessen the actual 
damage (present or prospective) to property, especially buildings? In the first 
place it is utterly impossible to move your building or buildings from the path of 
the advancing tornado cloud. Secondly, it is positively impossible to stop the 
tornado cloud after it has started on its course of death and destruction or in any 
way prevent its formation. ‘Thirdly, it is impossible to construct any building 
strong enough to completely resist the extraordinary violence of the tornado 
cloud. To sum up, this is all equivalent to saying that you can never expect to 
save your buildings. ‘This is the truth as 1 comprehend it and it is that to which 
all thought upon the subject will sooner or later conform. It is advisible that, 
under all circumstances, you should avoid any labor especzally directed to the con- 
struction of any building whatsoever, for the express purpose of resisting the 
violence of the tornado cloud. Build your houses, barns and stores as you 
would without the kvowledge of atornado. Other things being equal, a frame 
building is better than a d7zck or stone one. The former will hold together long- 
er, is more elastic (if you will permit the term) and persons seeking refuge within 
its walls are much less liable to injury. There has at times been evidence to 
show, that of all frame buildings, those constructed with a hip-roof and a story 
and a half in height were the best able to resist the violence of the tornado. 
But where there are cases reported of this class of, buildings being saved there are 
as many, if not more, where they were destroyed precisely as any other frame 
building would have been under similar circumstances. 

It matters not how you construct or of what material, if your building rises 
above the surface of the earth (which it must necessarily do) it thereby offers ob- 
struction to the advance of the tornado cloud and it will go, either from the 
foundation, or into kindling-wood and a distracted mass of bricks and mortar, in 
spite of the propagation of any theory or the possibilities of architectural skill. 
In conclusion I would finally say, that you must take every precaution to avotd 
or remove from, rather than’ attempt to fight against or in any way resist the power 


TORNADOES. 165 


of this formidable adversary. The question now suggests itself, what can be 
done? That which remains to be done can be accomplished in an unostenta- 
tious and quiet, but secure manner. Every man can and should construct a ‘‘ dug- 
out” at some suitable point, within a convenient distance of his house. If a 
person is situated within a town or city let him select some portion of his yard 
for the purpose, but if residing in the country he will not be confined to narrow 
limits in the selection of a desirable location. Where a person living in the vil- 
lage has no yard, he must, if he has a cellar, construct a cellar-cave, to be describ- 
ed furtheron. With respect to the ‘‘dug-out,” in no event should the roof be other 
than level with the surface of the earth, in fact it is highly desirable that the re- 
treat should be so constructed that the ordinary surface of the earth would form 
the roof or covering and that all preparation of the domicile proceed by way of 
excavations and supports from beneath. As to location there is not much to be 
said, the most important points being convenient distance, a high, dry place, and 
possible opportunities to excavate into the northern or eastern slope of a knoll or 
hill. In the latter instance the entrance way would suffer less from the violence 
of the storm providing, perhaps, that it did not entirely envelop your retreat, 
for in that event, in the whirl of the flying debris, all sides alike would be at the 
mercy of the winds. Having decided upon the location, as regards your house or 
other buildings, prepare to sink a shaft, say four to six feet square, the entire 
depth of your ‘‘ dug-out.”” From either the northern or eastern (better the former) 
wall of this shaft cut out a stairway leading upward tothe surface of the earth, for 
purposes of ingress and egress. On the side of the shaft opposite the stairway 
commence the excavation for the enclosed retreat. The size of the room will 
of course depend upon how much you may at any time wish to secure from in- 
jury. Better have the excavation too large than not large enough. The slight 
difference in the expense of time and labor may, perhaps, be the means of saving 
you a great deal when you least expect it. The entire room should be below the 
surface of the ground, a distance of at least three feet and the overhanging roof of 
earth should be supported from beneath by heavy timbers, to provide against any 
emergency like the dashing of heavy debris upon it or the tramping of horses and 
cattle. 

In the event of a tornado your retreat (‘‘dug-out’’) may be entirely buried be- 
neath huge piles of debris. Everything must be made as secure as possible. The 
entrance door should be made of the heaviest timbers and supported between cas- 
ings of similar strength of construction. Arrangements should be made to secure 
the door by heavy fastenings. {n order that ventilation may be provided for, a 
box spout, squaring eight inches, should be let through the roof. The top of this 
spout must be level with the surface of the ground and protected by iron gratings. 
Ventilation may be provided for by openings through the upper portion of the 
door, but these also should be protected by iron gratings. 

The ‘‘dug-out” should be large enough to contain your family and remove there- 
to, such of your personal effects as are considered most valuable, viz: important 
papers, trunks of clothing, books, dishes, silverware, costly pieces of furniture, 


166 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


anything of special value in this class of property. There are many instances 
where persons have lost the most valuable articles, even large sums of money, 
from supposing that if such things were placed in securely bound trunks or boxes 
they would be perfectly safe. There are cases where iron-bound trunks and even 
iron chests (not the regular merchant’s safe) especially made to secure valuable 
articles, have been crushed or torn to pieces and the contents scattered to the 
winds. You might consider it advisable to purchase a heavy merchant’s safe in 
which to lock your valuables. I would not advise you to the contrary, although 
it is a costly expenditure. It might resist the force of the wind to the extent that it 
would not be broken open, but if the tornado cloud possesses sufficient power 
(which it does)to remove loaded railroad cars from the track or overturn huge 
locomotives weighing tons, it will be seen that your safe will not very likely re- 
main in its original position throughout the storm. Safes are not safe in a tornado. 
They may cost you several hundred dollars and even then you must prepare the 
‘¢dug-out” for your family. Why not expend this money or that portion of it 
which is found necessary, in preparing not only a secure refuge for your family but 
sufficient room for your valuables? ‘This ‘‘ dug-out”’ need not prove a worthless 
investment even though you do not experience a tornado. On the principle alone 
that ‘‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,” the outlay cannot be 
considered a failure. It may be used for various purposes as an out-door cellar. 
If it prove the means of saving a life once in five years (and that, perhaps, your 
own) you would hardly regret the expenditure. 

There is still another kind of underground protection which can be prepared 
to advantage if you are provided with a cellar, either under your house or store. 
Having the cellar, cut an opening (say six feet high and four feet wide) into the wes 
wall. Carry the excavation to such an extent underground as to provide sufh- 
cient room for your family and valuable personal effects. The roof of this cellar- 
cave should be composed of at least three feet (in depth) of the undisturbed sur- 
face earth, and supported from beneath by heavy timbers. In every way it 
should be made as secure as the ‘‘dug-out.’’ The provisions for ventilation may 
be made through the roof or entrance door, but in either case well protected by 
iron grating. 

PROTECTION IN CASES OF EMERGENCY.—In the event that you are not pos- 
sessed of the dug-out or cellar-cave your best plan is to move from your house or 
wherever you may be at the zzs¢ant stationed, as directed in regard to the various 
motions ot the tornado cloud. If not able to benefit by these directions retreat 
instantly to your cellar and place yourself, face forward, against the west wall. 
This is the best position in any cellar. If, for any reason you cannot get to the 
west wall take your position (the next best) face forward against the sou¢h wall, 
but as near the southwest corner as possible. In these positions the building, if 
removed from the foundation, will always be carried above and over you, or if 
torn to pieces, the debris will be instantly removed to the eastward. Under no 
circumstances, whether tn a building or a cellar, ever take a position in a northeast 
room, in a northeast corner, in an east room or against an east wall. Remember. 


TORNADOES. 167 


that the tornado cloud invariably moves in a northeasterly direction. I have not 
space here in which to relate to you how many and in what manner persons have 
been instantly killed or terribly crippled, for no other reason than that they ig- 
norantly threw themselves in the very grasp of the monster cloud. The lives of 
nineteen-twentieths, if not more, of the people destroyed in tornadoes can be 
saved by a clear understanding and a strict adherence to the simple rules herein 
set forth. 

The rule regarding the movement to the mortheast must be obeyed. The 
northeast quarter is a fatal position and I care not what you may tell me about 
destruction to life or property in any other. If you can get out of your house 
never remain in it or any other building that is at all likely to be torn down or 
removed from its foundation. If through some misfortune you are ‘‘ close press- 
ed” by the advancing cloud never remain standing and attempt to weather the 
storm, but throw yourself prone (face downward) upon the ground, head to the 
east and arms thrown over the head to protect it. If you should chance to be 
near a large stone or stump, or some heavy object low down and firmly imbed- 
ded in the ground, take a position directly to the east of it, lying prone upon the 
earth, head toward the object, protecting the former with your folded arms. This 
advice is given in the event of extreme exigencies where other and better oppor- 
tunities have been forfeited. It is better, if possible, never to trust yourself be- 
hind or about any object located within the centre of the storm’s path; by all 
means not a tree or any object that rises some distance above the surface of the 
ground. If forced to remain in your house and where you have no cellar, always 
take a position against the west or south wall (better the former) either prone (face 
downward) upon the floor or standing with your back to the wall. 

In any building always take your final position on the first or ground floor. 
Never stand or lie in front of a door or window; near a stove or heavy piece of 
furniture. Make every effort to get into the west room and if possible before the 
onslaught remove therefrom all furniture, at least from the western portion. 
Always shut tightly every window and door in your house or other building in 
which you may be located at the time of the storm. You should never let doors 
and windows remain open during any violent storm. Never take refuge in a 
forest, in a small grove of trees, in an orchard, or near a fence of any kind, 
unless all these obstructions are entirely out of the line of the storm. 

If possible always open your buildings and let your stock out, driving them 
to the orth. In this matter of caring for stock (which should not be neglected 
if otherwise possible) always drive them from your buildings to the (as a rule) 
northward. Try and perform this duty on the first indications of the character of 
the storm, though not until you have assured yourself of the probable course of 
the tornado cloud. Of course it is quite possible that the tornado cloud may pass 
to the north of your buildings, in that event your stock should be driven south- 
ward, and vice versa. 

With regard to the protection of life and property in the many small towns, 
and even cities, liabie to be visited by the devastating tornado cloud, what has 


168 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


already been suggested in the manner of zorth and south movements, dug-outs and 
cellar-caves will, of course, apply here. Where, as in a village or city a large 
number of persons are congregated, each intent upon his particular business, it is 
hardly to be expected that perhaps any perso.: would find the time or think of giving 
any attention to the face of the sky. Should it chance that any person watched 
the changes of atmospheric phenomena and received indications of the approach 
of a tornado cloud he might not think it his duty (probably forget it in his excite- 
ment) to warn others of the impending danger, or provide for more than the 
safety of his own family. 

Of course in any event it is natural to suppose that he would first secure his. 
own household. This supposed case is a very probable one; at least nine times. 
out of ten we find that towns are devastated without apparent warning and the 
unfortunate people startled from their imagined security, are killed in their strug- 
gling efforts for escape. Some provision should be made for the mass of inhabit- 
ants who are performing their various duties in and out of doors, and who by 
reason of their peculiar situation or labor could not, if they would, ascertain the 
prognostics of the sky. 

With regard to this matter I will offer a few suggestions which may not be 
amiss. On any day when there is presaged in the weather conditions evidence 
of the probable approach of a violent wind storm, it should be the duty of those 
in authority to deputize certain intelligent persons, one or more in each ward, the 
number depending up the size of the town, to watch the character and approach 
of the storm, and if a tornado, to yive timely warning of its advance to the var- 
ious families in their respective wards, and take charge of the removal of persons 
and property to places of safety. In the matter of warning the various portions 
of the town, it would probably be to advantage to make use of the church and 
school bells by ringing them perhaps in a peculiar manner, the character of which 
to be decided upon by previous arrangement and generally understood. It 
should be generally known that the persons above referred to, give them what 
rank, title or emoluments you may, are possessed of special authority while per- 
forming their duties. They should be cool, brave, active and judicious men. 
They should completely understand the situation, know precisely what is needed 
and how to supply it. All pers .ns should at the proper time appreciate the situa- 
tion of these men and avoid confusion by a strict compliance with orders. I 
think that it will be clearly comprehended at this juncture, without resort to un- 
necessary recapitulation, that it will not be necessary for these persons so deputized 
by the proper authority, to be adepts in the science of meteorology or to take 
their posts of duty on the 1st of April and without removing their eves from 
the heavens (except in the event of a tornado) gaze thereon until the 1st of Sep- 
tember. 

The signs (as before described) of tornado cloud formation and approach are 
distinct and sufficiently suggestive to afford opportunity for timely and concerted 
action. The time for action will necessarily be limited and the watch need not 
commence until there is every reason to believe that such a course is absolutely 


TORNADOES. 169 


necessary. Some persons may be disposed smile at the novelty and minuteness 
of this arrangement, or at the idea of employing weather guards at western towns. 
I will venture to say that these smiles will not appear on the faces of persons who 
have experienced the irresistible and overwhelming violence of a tornado. I 
have never detected many smiles among those who were left to tell the tale of dis- 
tress in any of the many almost annihilated towns of the West. You may smile or 
wonder at the thought of hardy, brave men who have, without flinching and in 
support of their country’s honor, faced the red-hot belchings of a score of batteries, 
who now at the sight of a threatening cloud or the experience of a brisk wind 
make a bold dash for places of safety or throwing themselves upon the ground 
clutch at the first object within reach. Such is the abject terror which possesses 
all alike after the experience of a tornado. ‘The character and extent of your 
smile is but the measure of your blissful ignorance, and it should not be consider- 
ed a misfortune to be compelled thus to remain without possession of the truth. 

Immediately following (and for some weeks thereafter) the occurrence in 
Kansas and Missouri of the violent tornadoes of 1879 hundreds of people along 
the tracks and in the vicinity of the storms, hardly went to bed, but remained 
dressed and, with their lanterns trimmed and burning, watched intently every 
foreboding appearance of the sky. Every dark cloud or sudden increase of the 
wind was calculated to affect them with an indescribable terror which could not 
be allayed until every vestige of the supposed danger had vanished. This is not 
the pitiful tale alone of Kansas and Missouri sufferers, but wherever the dreaded 
tornado makes its way, be it in Michigan, in Mississippi, in Georgia, In Massa- 
chusetts or in Minnesota, the awful roar and power of its march strike all life 
dumb with fear. A great deal can be accomplished towards allaying this fear by 
a dissemination of practical knowledge concerning storms and by a general effort 
among intelligent people to appreciate such information. All intelligent persons 
can and should become familiar with the various classes of storms and be quali- 
fied to detect their formation and approach. The work of investigation is not 
yet finished. Much remains to beaccomplished. We have yet a great desidera- 
tum probably within our reach, but not without careful preparation in the study 
of local and general atmospheric conditions. It is, that we shall be able to furn- 
ish timely and reliable warnings to certain communities, announcing conditions 
favorable to the formation of tornadoes. We shall then, with the knowledge now 
in our possession and in yours, be able to understand and act in regard to this 
wonder'ul storm in a manner quite satisfactory and little dreamed of a few years 
ago. 

In a previous article (Tornado Studies for 1882) I have directed attention 
to the urgent necessity and the undeniable obligation resting upon every person 
who can, to furnish all the information within his power toward rendering the 
repeated investigations of tornadoes under the direction of the Chief Signal Off- 
cer, of the utmost value. The well organized State Weather Services of Kansas, 
Nebraska, Missouri and Iowa, under the efficient supervision of their several Di- 
rectors, are doing most excellent general meteorological work. They should re- 


170 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


ceive the hearty aid and appreciation of the people, and of the legislatures ot 
their respective States. Every State should have a Weather Service, every town- 
ship an observer and every chief observer at the county seat authorized to receive 
monthly reports from the various observers within his jurisdiction and forward 
the same monthly to the State Director of such Service. Each Director should 
have the time and force at his disposal to thoroughly digest the meteorological 
conditions of each and every month throughout the year, preparing and publish- 
ing at the termination of each twelve-month a general summary of atmospheric 
phenomena coupled with the evidence of earnest and well directed efforts toward 
comparative study and practical results. 

Such funds as would be necessary to carry forward a work of this kind should 
yearly be appropriated by the State Legislature. Asso organized and in work- 
ing order each State Weather Service should codperate with the United States 
Weather Service, at Washington, and thus complete.a system of meteorological 
work without parallel in the nations of the World, which would effect a marvelous 
advance in the study of this most important science, and develop rapidly and 
with practical results the meterological conditions of this great country. I can 
here give but the merest outlines of a subject with regard to which I have given 
much thought. 

There is no country on the face of the globe where meteorology can be 
studied with so much advantage practically and scientifically as in North Ameri- 
ca. The elementary principles of meteorology, especially in regard to storms, 
should be taught in every school, country, town and city. In the colleges and 
universities an advanced course should be prescribed. Speculation regarding 
the weather is exceedingy rife, affecting every branch of the science and in a man- 
ner quite without precedent in the line of methodical knowledge. In view of this 
fact and the scarcity and uncertainty of desirable text books, facts and prencéples 
should alone be considered in administering the prescribed course of any educa- 
tional institution, from the lowest to the highest grade. 

The American people as a rule are too much in haste for the solution of 
meteorological problems. They perhaps divine the benefits in store for them 
from those already received and cannot wait for a judicious presentation of them, 
but the law is in patience, possess ye your souls. ‘Truth comes slowly but it is 
worth the waiting. I do not consider that in this short presentation of most im- 
portant facts, I have altogether met the supreme desire, or perhaps, the hope of 
the people interested in the subject of tornadoes. Such desires or hopes may 
never be realized, at least not until the investigation and analysis of these phe- 
nomena have been perfected, yet you have before you in very brief form the 
results of over five years of labor and an examination of over 600 tornadoes. 

I urgently request all persons who can give me any information on the sub- 
ject of storms in general or of tornadoes in particular, to communicate with me 
at their earliest convenience. Specially prepared circulars, on what facts to 


furnish in tornado investigations, will be sent to any person whose address I can 
obtain. 


THE KANSAS WEATHER SERVICE. 


ital 


REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 


WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 


BY PROF. J. T. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 


Highest barometer during month 29.52, on the 22nd. 


during month 28.59, on the 17th. 


Highest temperature during month 89°, 


during month 37°, on the 26th. 


on the 18th. 


The usual summary by decades is given below. 


a —. 


May. 20th 
‘TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. to June Ist. 
MIN. AND MAx. AVERAGES. 
Niner eelts. Vyas hie) sek fight 49.6 
Max. Sy Sen RN cme MN chee iG 66.7 
Min. and Max eat 56.3 
fain Gefen is: (sd osm epee uel a lis > 6 20.7 
TRI-DAILY OBSERVATIONS 
WY Bo TDA ao & G6 O16 ae Nol aie Nae 53-7 
1B): 188g Lee hella eh sone Gon ec ie 63.1 
ORPemM sieve ee isyete: Gane! ot Yeu. 57-6 
INICRID G? GAlBis OG Wig Meaee won salon ovr 58.3 
RELATIVE HUMIDITY 
Flo Bo Bib 6 6 BE abt ake neha bette 89 
2p.m.. eee ee Se kena oie Be 75 
ORI ese cence no ey yen tot ie 84 
MCAT EM ER eRe ith Leste he Rees 83 
‘PRESSURE AS OBSERVED. 
Gf Bis TENG ios! i to ete Ad me Cae anne ie 28.97 
ZT eMINMED REL exon) ust “ge atures Monkees 28.93 
QBPreIN Kjnsug st (evs lew es are 28.94 
IMG Anwar en tr tile tele arson 28.95 
MILES PER Hour OF WIND. 
G1 Gly TING) BUG LANCE AN: cae Baoan Rete 13.3 
2M Deca TIM eae oth oleate ki etauyaj ie cier Liery con icy visi fev 16.1 
OPPs Ml sinentn rt serie) shui ess ee 8.5 
MO talemilEs awh eis} me ate os 3334 
CLOUDING BY TENTHS 
Gp Eley WN eo ee dear te as eed are ME Re 6.7 
DED ewUnl-wnrereacatcnsem evict teh feuwesltips’ bey: 7.1 
ORDERS ee eich inetiaforesisiciotlion oldie aie hs 6.5 
RAIN. 


Lowest barometer 


Lowest temperature 


June Ist June Ioth 
to 10th. to 20th. 
52.9 59.9 
75.6 81.0 
64.2 70.4 
22.6 20.9 
61.3 66.8 
74.2 79.1 
63.9 70.1 
65.8 71.5 
81 85 
57 .66 
59/3 .90 
.69 .80 
28.95 28.87 
28.91 28.84 
28.91 28.85 
28.92 28.85, 
8.7 
14.2 
12.4 
3.9 6.1 
4.9 3:4 
1.9 4.2 
.98 2.90 


Mean. 


54.1 
74-4 
63.6 
21.1 


60.6 
72.1 


63.9 
65.2 


85 
82 
77 
23.93 
28 89 


28.90 
28.91 


5.83 


172 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


G BORON 


GEOLOGICAL NOTES ON A PART OF SOUTHEAST KANSAS. 
BY PROF. G. C. BROADHEAD. 


We find well exposed, below Iola at Humboldt in Allen County, about twen- 
ty feet of a whitish or light gray limestone, often cellular, with the cells ferrugin- 
ous stained; it also often shows numerous facets of limpid calcspar. A similar 
rock occupies the bank of the Neosho River at Neosho Falls, also cropping out 
low in the hills at Chanute and is also found at Galesburg in Neosho County. 
At Galesburg we find a succession of strata, including a few feet of rough ash- 
gray limestone on hill-top, then twenty feet of calcareous shales and thin rough 
layers of limestone containing Athyris, Sutbtilita, Producius splendens, P. praiten- 
ianus, Bryozoa, etc. Below this we find beds of pure whitish and gray limestone, 
ferruginous tinged and containing Bryozoa, Spirtferlineatus, etc., and with much 
crystallized calcite. This last limestone I regard as equivalent to the whitish 
limestone of Humboldt, and from its associated beds I would, in the absence of 
better evidence to the contrary, refer it to the age of a similar limestone very 
well exposed on the hill tops a few miles south of Ft. Scott and named by Prof. 
Swallow in his Geological Section of Southeastern Kansas, as the ‘‘ Pawnee Lime- 
stone.”? We would also recommend a comparison of this limestone with another 
known limestone of Bates County, Missouri, occurring there less than twenty 
feet below the Mulberry coal, and described in Mo. Geol. Rep. 1874. 

The occurrence of this limestone at Iola, Humboldt, Chanute and Galesburg 
would indicate a southerly dip. From Iola there is also a regular northern and 
western dip. : 

A half mile south of Galesburg we find twenty-five feet of sandstone and 
shales reaching to the bed of the creek. The connection of these with the Gales- 
burg limestones was not seen and I was disposed to assign the sandstone to a 
lower horizon. But it may be possible that it is higher in the series and have a 
southern dip which has brought it into its present position. No local dip was. 
observed, but if there is, it is then the equivalent of the Thayer flagstones. It is 
flaggy at both places 

Sandstones do occur about forty feet below as well as thirty-five feet above 
the white limestone. At the railroad quarry, two miles north of Chanute, we find 
on the hill-top a bluish gray limestone. The sandstone below shows an outcrop 
of twenty-three feet including layers of good building stone. Three miles east 
and across the Neosho River the sandstone extends to the hill-top, and at the 
base of the hill we find the white limestone. There must, therefore, be about 
fifty feet of this sandstone in this vicinity. At the head of Chetopah Creek, half 


GEOLOGICAL NOTES ON A PART OF SOUTHEAST KANSAS. 173 


way from Chanute to Thayer the sandstone crops out in thick beds. A similar 
sandstone has also been extensively quarried at Neodesha in Wilson County 
where it shows on the surface some remarkably interesting fucoids. 

From this general view of the Neosho Valley rocks we pass to a special de- 
scription of the Thayer coal. 

The town of Thayer, Neosho County, is situated on the summit of a gently 
sloping ridge, descending eastwardly to a valley by a long and gentle slope, the 
same ridge descending more abruptly to the west. The highest rock at Thayer 
is a sandstone in flag-like layers. From the hill-top to the coal is fifty feet, the 
lower twenty feet of which is occupied by thinly bedded sandstone, the layers be- 
coming much thinner near the coal and also more argillaceous. 

The coal in the shaft is, when drifted on, from fourteen to eighteen inches 
thick. In some places the overlying sandy shales rest directly on the coal. 
When these shales are free from sand they often abound in fossil leaves of various. 
plants, chiefly of ferns, some of them in an excellent state of preservation. 

The coal is mined two to four miles south of Thayer, just west and northwest 
and six miles west, or over an area of about six miles square, employing in De- 
cember, 1881, about 100 miners. 

At Dickson’s shaft the coal rests on four feet of underclay, below which the 
miners report a thin limestone layer resting on about twenty feet of clay shales. 
A half mile down the creek I observed a disintegrating limestone at six feet below 
coal. For two miles west I observed no marked change but observed a limestone 
in bed of creek at thirty feet below the coal. On the bluffs of the Little Cheto- 
pah Creek, in Wilson County, four miles southwest of Thayer, we find the coal 
separated by aclay band. Above the coal there is twenty-five feet of sandstone 
—the upper in thick brown beds, the lower in thin blue lamine. 

The coal is here divided thus: 


10 inches—Coal. 
6 inches—Blue clay shale. 
6 inches—Coal. 


The blue shale contains knife edges of coal. At Babcock’s, six miles west and 
one mile south of the Thayer road, the coal is still divided, thus: 


Thick bedded sandstone. 

15 feet thin bedded sandstone. 

5 inches coal. 

r inch laminated clay. 

8 inches coal. 

6 inches laminated clay. 

6 inches coal. 

t inch black laminated coaly shale. 
4 inches coal. 

Fire clay. 


OS MI DAARY NS o 


| 


174 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Further in the drift we observed : 


Coal, 6 inches. 
Clay, 1 foot. 
Coal, 10 inches. 


One and a half miles north the coal is separated by five inches of blue clay 
shales, and a thin limestone band is insinuated in the overlying clay shales. 
Sandstone crops out above. Twenty-five feet below the coal we here observed 
layers of ferruginous limestone conglomerated in three layers of 6 inches, 4 
inches and 8 inches with 4 feet of clay shales beneath. One mile still further 
north the coal and its associated rocks appear thus: 


1. Thin layers of deep blue limestone. 

2. 2 inches roughly bedded limestone. 

3. 1 foot of drab calcareous shales. 

4. 20 inches of deep ash-blue pyritiferous limestone, containing re- 
mains of cvimozdee including fragments of Zeacrinus microspinus. 

5. 2 to 6 inches brown calcareous shale. 

6. 10 inches coal. 

7. 4 inches blue laminated shales. 

8. g inches coal. 

9. 2 feet fire-clay. 


A quarter of a mile west observed as follows: 


4 feet blue clay shales. 

6 inches blue limestone. 

6 inches brownish gray calcareous shales. 

4 inches of limestone—No. 4 of last section. 
5 inches brown shale. 

9 inches coal with thin coal seams. 

4 inches blue clay. 

5 inches coal. 


COM DAU Pw NH 


A quarter of a mile northwest we still find some changes with the following 
section : 


1. 2 feet brown and drab limestone. 
2. 6 feet of dark shale, the lower 114 feet thinly laminated bitumin- 
ous shales. 

3. 0 to 1 foot blue concretionary limestone. 

4. 10 inches thinly laminated calcareous shales and concretionary 
limestone. 

3 feet sandy and clay shales. 

6 inches blue clay shales. 

ro inches coal. 

4% inches clay. 

6 inches coal. 


© OI AM 


THE CAUSES AND CONDITIONS OF KNOWLEDGE. 175 


We thus find that in passing west, the coal is divided by clay bands, and 
that beds of limestone become insinuated in the superincumbent shale beds. But 
the total thickness of the coal does not diminish. The fossil flora formed in the 
shales near the coal is peculiarly interesting including, as it does 

Calamites—2 species. Lepidodendron brittsit. Lx. Sigillaria. Neuropteris 
2 or 3 species, probably J. loschi, NV. hirsuta, NV. rarinerois, N. angustifolia, 
Sphenopteris, tridactyltes, alethopteris, serlu.  Pecopteris squamosa.  Annularia 
longifolia. Stigmaria, ete. 

In the sandstones above, good specimens can also sometimes be obtained of 
ferns, Lepidodendron, Calamites and Sigillaria. From the railroad we can see 
three noted mounds about seven miles northwest from Thayer. The highest is 
_ about 12s feet above the adjacent plain and ridge on which Thayer is situated, 
and is capped by broken layers of limestone. Other mounds can also be seen in 
the distance. 


PLEASANT HILL, Mo., May, 1882. 


IP BU LOSOIISING 


THE CAUSES AND CONDITIONS OF KNOWLEDGE. 
BY R. J. M’CARTY. 


There is a difference between the cause of a thing and the conditions which 
make it possible. Thus time and space are two of the conditions which make 
existence possible, yet they do not cause it. Therefore, when we have treated of 
a subject with reference to its causes, up to a point beyond which the human 
mind is incapable of proceeding, we may still inquire into its conditions. 

The object of this paper is to treat of knowledge in this manner, viz: 


To define the limits within which it may be treated as the effect of some 
cause. 

To treat of the conditions of its possibility—conditions without which there 
could be no such thing as knowledge and which obtaining make all knowledge 
possible—and to show that neither the causes so far as traceable nor the condi- 
tions as developed indicate that any of our knowledge is innate. 

Truth is possibility. Fact is possibility realized. Idea is a modification of 
mind produced in any manner whatever. Object is anything capable of produc- 
ing idea. The act of consciousness is the culmination of mental effort. 

Knowledge cannot be defined, for to do so would require a state of mind 
superior to that produced by its acquisition. 

The utmost effort to discover the causes of knowledge must conclude that it 
results from an inexplicable operation of the mind called the act of consciousness, 


176 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


(inexplicable because it lies above knowledge), by which the object producing 
an idea is recognized in its ¢rve relation to the nature of things. Therefore the 
act of consciousness marks the limit beyond which we may not proceed in in- 
quiring after the causes of our knowledge The conditions necessary to the 
proper operation of this act of consciousness will therefore be the conditions 
necessary to the possibility of knowledge. 

Now it is evident that no knowledge would be possible without the condi_ 
tions of Fact or Truth, Mind, Idea and Consciousness: but these are not all the 
conditions necessary. There can be no knowledge without conviction, for no 
man can know a truth and not believe it, and if he fail to believe truth it is be- 
cause he does not know it. 

Still there may be conviction without knowledge—for instance, for a long 
time men believed that the earth stood still and that the stars revolved around it, 
and their conviction was as firmly established as if such had actually been the 
case. They certainly did not vow that the earth moved, nor did they know that 
it stood still, for it did not. Therefore they knew nothing whatever about it. 
They were mistaken. Hence, we may say that conviction, without knowledge is 
error. 

Again, the knowledge of no man is superior to his conviction nor is there 
any difference between the processes by which knowledge is gained and convic- 
tion established, because no man will investigate what seems to be a truth, fur- 
ther than to establish his conviction concerning it. If he stops short of convic- 
tion he will confess that he has gained no knowledge, but if he reaches it, it will 
be impossible to get him to proceed with his investigation until his conviction is 
shaken. And, furthermore, every man’s conviction, though wrong, is the same 
to him as knowledge until he has found his error. From which it must follow 
that conviction results from the same act of the mind as that producing knowl- 
edge, with the difference, however, that the object producing an idea is recog- 
nized in a particular relation to the nature of things, which relation may be true 
or false. It is evident then that knowledge is impossible without ¢vwe conviction. 

Again, should the contemplation of different objects produce the same idea, 
we should not be able to distinguish one object from another, and should an ob- 
ject at one time produce an idea different from that produced at another, we 
should not be able to recognize it. So that in order for knowledge to be possible 
it is necessary that each object should always produce in the mind a particular 
idea and no other, and that this idea should be different from that produced by 
any other object whatever. ‘This is the well known condition of Identity and 
Diversity of Idea, which involves both mind and object, and renders necessary 
an adaptation of the one to the other. | 

It will be seen that this condition does not require that the idea should rep- 
resent the object just as it is—that is, the condition of Identity and Diversity 
will be fulfilled if the idea be either a symbol, or an image of the object, and 
hence arise those numerous disputes about the doctrine uf perception into which 
philosophers enter by contradicting each other—seldom carry far without contra- 


THE CAUSES AND CONDITIONS OF KNOWLEDGE. 177 


dicting themselves and which often end in useless wars over the meaning of 
words. 

But to proceed—knowledge in general may be divided under three heads, 
Knowledge of Fact; Knowledge of Law and Knowledge of Necessity. Knowl- 
edge of Fact arises from the consciousness of those ideas produced in the mind 
by perception. Such knowledge is possible with the conditions of Fact, Mind, 
Idea, Identity and Diversity of Idea, the act of consciousness, and true con- 
viction. 

Knowledge of Law arises from a consciousness of the relations between facts 
and involves an action of the mindabout its Knowledge of Fact which action, not 
being spontaneous, must be determined by something. 

Now everything of which we are sensible must, we are compelled to think, 
be the effect of some particular cause or causes. This is called the Notion of 
Causality and is what prompts the mind to seek for the Knowledge of Law. 

The process of reducing cause to effect must stop at a point immediately 
beyond which lies the absolute or unknowable, which has been demonstrated to 
be the one and indivisible cause of all that is. What the nature and attributes of 
the absolute may be is a theological question which does not concern this paper 
other than that it is the creator of law and the author of existence. 

Now, whether this first cause may or may not be capricious we have no 
means of knowing and thus it happens that Knowledge of Law having for its 
basis the arbitrary will of the Absolute is colored with a feeling of dependence 
upon that will for its persistence. The conviction accompanying such knowledge 
is based upon the known constancy of this will in the past, but can never be 
pure unless we could know that this constancy could extend to all future time. 
And thus it happens that we are able to conceive all Knowledge of Fact, and 
with it all Knowledge of Law to become void. Hence those sciences which 
have the Knowledge of Fact for their basis, and which are but the Knowledge 
of Law systematized, such as mechanics, natural philosophy, chemistry, etc., 
are all dependent upon the uniformity and persistence of natural law. We see 
therefore that in addition to those conditions necessary to a Knowledge of Fact, 
a Knowledge of Law could not be but for the Notion of Causality and would 
be impossible unless nature is uniform. 

We now come the Knowledge of Necessity. Necessity is that which must 
be and which being it is impossible should not be. It must, therefore, be inde- 
pendent of fact and (so far as we can know) independent of the will of the Abso- 
lute, and must persist if persistence is possible. 

Now propositions which are independent of phenomenal existence are true if 
they are possible. Their truth determined renders their falsity impossible, and we 
cannot conceive them to be dependent upon any contingency for their persistence. 
Take the proposition ‘‘ things which are an equal to the same thing, are equal to 
each other.” While the practical application of this truth depends upon existence, 
the truth itself does not, nor can we conceive it possible that the universe could 
be wiped out and rcreated without this proposition reasserting itself. 


178 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


The case is different with natural law. For instance, the law of gravitation 
would vanish with matter but need not reappear with it. 

Propositions which are independent of existence, in the sense just illustrated, 
are therefore emblems of necessity, and our knowledge of necessity must result 
from the determination of the truth or falsity, or what is the same thing, the possi- 
bility or impossibility of them. Now these propositions are of two kinds: know- 
able and unknowable. It will, therefore. be necessary to distinguish them. 

No one can conceive of an impossible thing, and whosoever thinks he can 
will find by reflection that his conception is of something which is not, in his 
opinion, likely to happen. For instance we can conceive of the Gorgon’s head, 
the winged horse and the golden fleece and such things are possible, but by 
no means probable. Still, possibility is not limited by conception. 

Take the proposition ‘‘space is limited.” We cannot conceive of a limit to 
space without conceiving of space beyond that limit. We cannot conceive of 
space as boundless, for we cannot conceive of infinity. Yet we know that space 
is either limited or it is not. The proposition is unknowable, and so is amy propo- 
sition neither extreme of which is conceivable. Again, these propositions, being 
either true or false, there cannot be one of which both extremes are conceivable 
because one must be impossible. The only propositions, therefore, which are 
knowable are those of which one extreme is conceivable, the other not. 

(This is substantially the Principle of the Conditioned as enunciated by Sir 
William Hamilton. ) 

Knowable propositions are of two kinds, self-evident and demonstrable, or 
to be less general, axioms and theorems. Axioms are called self-evident be. 
cause the mind comes by the knowledge of them apparently without effort. 

Now since these propositions, as well as the human mind, may be regarded 
as independent of phenomenal existence, it was thought necessary by many phi- 
losophers to account for the knowledge of necessity as it obtains with us, just as 
they would, did there exist nothing but mind and truth. This view, of course, 
necessitated a relation between mind and truth which would be independent of 
fact, and as it was impossib!e to see how the mind could be affected by abstract 
truth except through the medium of fact, many philosophers got rid of the diffi- 
culty by assuming the ideas of axioms to be innate. But it would do just as well 
to assume that these propositions in some unknown way affected the mind and 
it would be more philosophical. 

Still, in either case, more would be assumed than could ever be proven. To 
deal with this question it must be treated just as it is presented to us, and in this 
aspect we will endeavor to find the conditions of the possibility of necessary knowl. 
edge. It cannot be denied that we could gain the knowledge of axioms just as 
we do the knowledge of law. Nor can it be denied that we get the knowledge 
theorems by reasoning from axioms in precisely the same manner that we get the 
knowledge of law by reasoning from fact. 

Moreover, the notion of causality is as necessary to the knowledge of theo. 
rems as it is to the knowledge of law. So that if we for convenience deprive 


THE CAUSES AND CONDITIONS OF KNOWLEDGE. 179 


axioms of their attribute of necessity (which will in no way invalidate our reason- 
ing) and place them in the category of natural laws where, in fact, they would 
then belong, knowledge of law and knowledge of necessity would become identi- 
cal and the conditions of the one would become the conditions of the other. 
This shows that the knowledge of law and the knowledge of necessity may be 
obtained under the same conditions, and that since no one ever held the ideas. 
produced by facts to be innate, those produced by axioms should not be so con- 
sidered. | 

The only objection to this conclusion would be that in order to reach it it 
was necessary to reduce axioms to the category of natural laws, where they do 
not belong and that if we restore their attributes of necessity we would get a 
knowledge different from the knowledge of law. This is true, but by what is the 
difference determined? The answer is by a difference of conviction alone. 

Giving back to axioms their attributes of necessity and we find the only ef- 
fect is to strengthen our conviction of their truth so as not to be shaken by 
anything of which we can conceive. It only remains to account for the manner 
in which the mind becomes possessed of this distinctive conviction. We have 
shown that a proposition to be knowable must have one of its extremes conceiva. 
ble, the other not. 

Now the question ‘‘Is a proposition knowable?”’ is as important as the question 


‘* Is it true?’ for our criterion of truth cannot be higher than our criterion of the 
limits within which truth may be investigated. 


Whence the following enunciation: When the mind can conceive of the 


possibility of a proposition which is independent of existence and cannot con- 


ceive of its impossibility, the proposition is knowable and possible and true. This 


then is the mind’s criterion of truth. But since we may imagine ourselves to con- 


ceive when we do not and fail to conceive when we can, the following is also 
true: When the mind has apparently conceived of the possibility of such a propo- 
sition and apparently cannot conceive of its impossibility, the proposition may be 
knowable or unknowable possible or impossible, true or false Knowable, possible 
and true if the conception is real, unknowable or irmpossible and false if the con- 
ception is imaginary. From which it wou!'d seem that the criterion enunciated is. 
of little value. 

But granting it to be fallible, it is still sufficient to establish in the mind that 
peculiar conviction which accompanies the knowledge of necessity and by which 
alone such knowledge is distinguished. Because necessary propositions are such 
that their possibility determines their truth. So that whosoever conceives the one 
must conceive the other, and no man can conceive such a proposition to be 
true and not believe it—and moreover he cannot then conceive the proposition 
to be false. It is thus therefore that the mind gets its distinctive conviction of 
necessary truth. It is by this conviction that knowledge of necessity is recog- 
nized as such, so that without it all our knowledge would be as of one kind. 

In support of what has been said can be cited the credulity of the untrained 


mind which often accepts as truth the uttermost absurdity. 


The caution of the: 
VI—12 


180 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


trained intelligence which often runs to extreme skepticism, and the fact that none 
of the results of reasoning from either axioms or facts can ever be entirely eman- 
cipated from the probability of error. All of which while pointing to the fallibili- 
ty of the raind’s criterion of truth indicates its nature. 

It therefore seems reasonable to conclude that the mind gets its ideas of 
necessary truths through the medium of fact somewhat as it gets its idea of a true 
through the medium of light, and as the sense of touch would prove the true to 
exist in the absence of light, so the criterion laid down would prove truth to per- 
sist in the absence of fact; that the knowledge of necessity is known only as such 
by the peculiar conviction accompanying it; that this conviction is a condition of 
the knowledge of necessity being recognized as such but is not a condition of its 
possibility ; and that innate ideas are not to be found among the causes and con- 
ditions of knowledge, and, hence, do not exist. 


CORRESPONDENCE: 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 


PARIS, | June 35) 0as2. 


M. Loyet has published a very remarkable work on the Health and Disease 
of the Peasantry, contrasting those of France with the rural populations of other 
countries. The author commences by studying the influence of soil and the na- 
ture of land. Marshy districts play the most important role in the question, and 
are of three classes: those connected with the seaside, the offspring of rivers, or 
inland lakes. On the shore of the Mediterranean, from Nigues-Mortes to Per- 
piguan, the death rate is very high; there are localities where the mean average 
of life hardly attains the two-thirds of the total rate for all France, namely :—24 
instead of 36 years. There are also some agricultural industries which necessitate 
veritable marshes, such as the cultivation of rice, and the steeping of flax and 
hemp. These bring about an alteration of water and air. 

On the west coast of France, there are extensive salt marshes to the delete- 
rious influences of which the population has to submit. Then there are also ex- 
tensive bogs. In the country, the inhabitants are more affected by the influences 
of the soil than in the case of towns; in the latter, the state interferes to connect 
the insolubrity and encourages hygiene. The dwellings of the peasantry are a 
fruitful source of disease ; in the most smiling districts of France, where vegeta- 
tion is most vigorous, the peasants’ houses will ever be found to be next to buried 
in the soil, and deprived of almost openings. It is the same picture for all 
France ; the rooms serve for every usage, and between the accommodation for 
the inhabitants and the domestic animals, the separation is but slight. 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS.. 181 


In the mountainous regions of the Alps and the Iura, the cottages are miser- 
able, they are constructed in wood, covered with green turf, with an aperture at 
the top for chimney and ventilator. The residents live in an atmosphere of 
smoke. At the sides of the hut are annexes filled with dry leaves or maize straw; 
these form the bed-rooms. On an opposite side, the domestic animals are housed, 
but only for the night. M. Loyet attributes the principal cause of the insolubrity 
of rural habitations to their defective walls, which permit humidity toenter. The 
thatched roof he admits may be thick and solid, but it rots quickly, and is the 
refuge for horrible worms. ‘The earthen floor is objectionable, and wherever one 
in wood, tiles, or flags can be laid down, it ought first to have a sub-stratum of 
broken stones and mortar, a concrete bed in fact. 

The dwellings are invariably overcrowded, and the rarity of windows is the 
natural consequence of the baneful tax on doors and windows. ‘The average 
“‘openings” per each house-occupant, is for fifty-three more than the one-half of 
the departments of France, a little above one, and, as this sad condition exists 
chiefly in the rural districts, disease follows regularly in the wake of habitations 
so constructed. Respecting manure heaps and fcecal drainage, it is the old story. 
As to the dietary of the peasants, it is very defective; the bread is too often 
mouldy; but then there are localities where it is baked for months in advance. 
Ordinarily the regimen is maize, oat meal, buckwheat and millet, and consumed 
in the form of porridge. When the grain is diseased, as in the case of ergot rye, 
the consequences can but be deplorable, but damaged maize produces the malady 
of pellagre, only second in point of disaster, as Lombardy and Venetia can testify. 
In reference to pel/agre, misery is not the cause of the scourge, but rather a favora- 
ble medium for its development. It is unknown among the poor of Ireland and 
Silesia, and is due, according to Professor Lombraso, to degeneracy of the grain, 
caused by parasitical mushrooms, and that induce the formation of a toxical alka- 
loid. 


Being rather accustomed of late to the visits of comets, may explain why no 
very marked interest is taken in the present visitor. It travels at the daily rate 
of three millions of miles, nearly double that of our earth’s diurnal rotation round 
the Sun. Its tail, always foremost, turned toward the Sun, like every comet’s, 
presents the form of a plume of feathers, and is estimated to be 600,000 miles in 
length. Other comets have had tails from 120,000 to 240,000 mileslong. However, 
the tails are only rays of light, transparentandimponderable. Spectral analysis has 
shown that carbon and hydrogen are the predominating elements of such luminous 
volumes; were they to affect the constitution of our atmosphere, the result would 
be grave ; a diminution in the proportion of oxygen, would plunge us into a state 
of heaviness and lethargy, while an augmentation would bring about a condi- 
tion of exhilaration and nervous excitement, caused by the rapid combustion of 
the blood in the lungs and arteries, not less fatal. No fear is to be apprehended 
under the head of a collision, the comet is not a ‘‘star of terror.” Sorne comets 
have attained one million and a half miles in diameter; that of 1811 had a tail 


182 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


“ 


one hundred and thirty-two millions of miles. But density is wanting, and so 
they could not make an incursion into our atmosphere. However, they have 
been launched with such a formidable velocity, and their temperature is so ele- 
vated, since their elements are in a state of incandescence, that some of their 
noyaux, or kernels, have appeared composed of an aggregation of aérolites im- 
mersed in a burning gas. If a rencontre took place, though it would not be 
mortal, it would certainly not be inoffensive. 

The role of comets in the universe is still an enigma; they seem to be an ex- 
ception in the general harmony of the movements of the heavenly bodies. Do 
they voyage from one star to another, or do they circulate from systems to sys- 
tems? Some in traversing our planetary system have been attracted by the power 
of Jupiter. Saturn and Uranus remained captive, a permanent addition to our 
solar world. Ifa comet escapes the sphere of planetary influence, it will travel 
during eternity in the void of ether. It is presumed that comets are some nebu- 
losities abandoned at the commencement of the solar world, some external scraps 
of that primitive nebulosity of which the sun, the earth, and planets are the con- 
densations. The central-fire of our system attracts them, they flit round it as 
moths around a flame. Other comets may have originated from other systems, 
ruins, representatives of ‘‘ the wreck of matter and the crush of worlds.” Kepler 
believed, that comets were as numerous as the fish of the sea. Analysis of cometic 
light reveals it to. be analogous to that of the flame of alcohol, that is to say, con- 
tains the elements,carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, the primordial constituents of 
organic life. If the comet has come from the nearest star, that represents a 
traveled distance of twenty-four thousand millions of miles. 


The angry discussion taking place respecting the addition of alcohol and 
sugar to wine, presents so many scientific features, as to merit examination. The 
wines produced in many regions of France, and notably the south, are liable on 
account of the large quantity of sugar they contain, to undergo after being placed 
in hogshead, to a new fermentation, which profoundly alters their character. 
The additionfoffalcohol stops this fermentation, and so enables the wine to be ex- 
ported to distantfcountries. In the preparation of artificial wines and liquors the 
fermentation’ of the must is stopped, in order to conserve the natural sugar of the 
grape; thenfalcohol is added to impart body. Nota few vineyard proprietors em- 
ploy sulphur for this process but it is less efficacious and unhealthy. The 
addition of sugars to the must, augments the alcoholic richness of the wine, since 
fermentation®of the sugar yields the spirit. Increasing the alcoholic strength of 
wine not alone imparts to it the qualities of generosity and conservation, the pro- 
cess diminishes;also the acidity of the wine. Tartaric is the dominant acid in 
wine, but it is combined with potash, under the form of bitartrate, and which is 
precipitated in the form of crystals on the sides of the hogsheads. Now the solu- 
bility of that acid in wine, diminishes in proportion with the quantity of alcohol 
present. Further,"as the coloring matters of wine are more soluble in alcohol 
than in water, the addition of alcohol develops the color of wines. 


KANSAS IN 1786. 183 


But this important point must be kept in view; if it be intended to add sugar 
to a must poor in that substance, the sugar ought to be of the same nature as that 
peculiar to the grape. Now, crystallized beat-sugar supplies this want. In a 
year when the sun’s heat and light are defective, the grape is deficient in sugar 
but rich in acid; hence, the addition of beet or cane sugars supplements an ab- 
sent sun; that sugar ferments in the same conditions and produces the same alco- 
hol as the natural sugar of the fermenting fruit. Glucose, that is syrup prepared 
from maize or wheat, is wholly unsuitable. 

After a first fermentation, and a drawing off of the wine so resulting if more 
sugar be added to the contents of the vat, an excellent second, and even a third 
small wine can be prepared, called pzguetfe. Vineyard proprietors with good 
brands assert, the wine industry of France will lose its reputation, and will cease 
to be remunerative, if facilities are afforded to manufacture wines, by conceding 
latitude to add alcohol directly, or indirectly by the use of sugar to induce extra 
alcoholic fermentations. 


EWS TOuRIC Au, INOS; 


KANSAS IN 1786. 
BY J. R. MEAD. 


Any facts bearing upon the early exploration, or history of Kansas or the 
Missouri Valley, should be carefully collected and preserved in some form acces- 
sible to the future historian; I therefore give the REVIEW an item which possibly 
may be of interest. 

In the spring of 1860 I was in camp upon the north bank of the Smoky Hill — 
River, about two miles east of Cedar Bluff as then known in what is now the 
county of Ellsworth, and some forty miles west of Salina, Kansas. The south bank 
of the river was a steep bluff of sandstone from the summit of which the table land 
extended back to the divide. While hunting buffalo upon this table-land I noticed 
quite a deep ravine extending a mile or more back, with a number of lateral 
branches, and apparently emptying into the river nearly opposite my camp. Not 
having noticed any opening in the bluff I concluded to follow the ravine to its 
outlet, and, to my surprise found it ended in a cave about two hundred feet from 
the river which was as far back as the sandstoneextended. Onentering this cave 
I found it had been formed by a small stream of water running from the table- 
land over the bluff, and in time cutting a narrow, crooked channel from one to 
two feet in width down to the level of the river, and in course of ages it had wid- 
ened out at the bottom into considerable chambers, and the soil from the ravine 
had washed through it into the river. 


184 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


As soon as my eyes became accustomed to the imperfect light of the cave 
I discovered its walls were covered with hieroglyphics and representations of all 
the animals common on the plains, and others to me unknown, also battle scenes 
and figures of men with an arrow across the body. The figures of men were 
made with a triangle for the head, and another for the body. These figures ap- 
pearec of great age, many of them overgrown with moss, and were ruder and 

‘different from the representations of men and animals made by the wild tribes of 
the plains at that time. 

While studying these interesting characters, to my surprise I saw letters 
in a language I could understand, and on rubbing off the moss there stood re- 
vealed, carved by the hand evidently of an educated man, the name and date 
“TVREDO, 1786.” The letters and figures were about an inch in height, 
of beautiful proportions, and of uniform size and slope. I could discover no 
other evidence of civilized man having visited the spot. 

A careful examination of the cave at this spot satisfied me that the walls had 
remained in the form I then saw them unchanged, perhaps, for centuries. On 
going around to the river outlet of the cave, I found the walls covered with 
hieroglyphics, but not in so perfect a state of preservation. I intended to make 
a sketch of the representations on the walls and to explore further in the dark and 
crooked recesses of the cave, but on the second night we heard the distant sound 
of drums up the river, and on going to the top of Cedar Bluff saw the valley 
lighted by the camp-fires of the wild Indians. Hastily gathering up our effects we 
drove rapidly down the river, and I have not visited the place since. 

Will some tell us who Mr. ‘‘TV REDO” was and what he was doing in 
the heart of Kansas in the year 1786. 


TREATIES WITH INDIAN TRIBES FOR LAND IN MISSOURI. 
BY JOHN P. JONES, KEYTESVILLE, MO. 


Within a year after the treaty of peace with Great Britain in 1783, our Goy- 
ernment began a system of treaties with the various Indian tribes living in its ter- 
ritory with a view of definitely locating the districts in which they should be al. 
lowed to live and hunt unmolested, and rendering them a compensation for the 
territory which they relinquished to the whites. After the acquisition of the 
Louisiana purchase in 1803, a part of the area of which, is embraced in the 
State of Missouri, the Government continued its treaties with the Indian tribes 
claiming rights and privileges therein, realizing that it owed a duty to the hardy 
spirits who were pushing across the Mississippi, to bring to their firesides as much 
as possible, a seuse of security from Indian attacks, that they might be the better 
enabled to prosecute the development of the newly acquired country. 

Our State historians have universally omitted any reference to these treaties 
by the Government for the friendship of the Indians, and the extinguishment of 


TREATIES WITH INDIAN TRIBES FOR LAND IN MISSOURL 185 


their claims on our lands, though they were of first importance to our pioneers, 
securing to them, as they did in a great measure, immunity from midnight as- 
saults and depredations, and the restoration of friends held as captives, and prop- 
erty previously stolen. 

Were it not for benefits of this nature there would be something ludicrous in 
our Government solemnly treating with the tribes that it did, for that portion of 
our State lying north of the Missouri River. They had driven the Missouris, 
lately scourged by an epidemic, from their homes, and were claiming the country 
from their ability to hunt over it and raid through it, owing to the near location 
of their villages to its borders. This claim, however, was prudently acknowledg- 
ed and treated for by the Government on three different occasions. The first 
treaty for any part of our State north of the Missouri River, was negotiated at 
St. Louis, Nov. 3, 1804, by Wm. H: Harrison, Governor of the Territory of 
Indiana and superintendent of the Indian affairs for that territory and the district 
of Louisiana, on the part of the United States and five chiefs of the Sac and Fox 
Indians for their tribes. The second article of this treaty stipulates that ‘‘ the 
general boundary line between the lands of the United States and of said Indian 
tribes shall be as follows, to-wit: beginning at a point on the Missouri River op- 
posite to the mouth of the Gasconade River, thence in a direct line so as to strike 
the river Jeffreon at a distance of thirty miles from its mouth and down the said 
Jeffreon to the Mississippi, thence up the Mississippi to the mouth of the Wiscon- 
sin River, and up the same to a point which shall be thirty-six miles in a direct 
line from the mouth of the said river, thence by a direct line to Fox River branch 
of the Illinois, thence down Fox River to the Illinois, and down the same to the 
Mississippi.” 

By this treaty the Government acquired the eastern portion of the State lying 
north of the Missouri River, the northwestern part of Illinois and the southwest- 
ern part of Wisconsin. The consideration paid was $2,234.50 in goods paid 
down, and the promise of $1,000 worth to be-delivered at St. Louis, yearly. 
Among the chiefs who signed this treaty were Jumping Fish, Sun Fish and Bear. 
This treaty was assented to or re-ratified at Portage des Sioux, St. Charles Co., 
Missouri, on the 13th day of September, 1815, William Clark, Ninian Edwards 
and Auguste Chouteau acting as commissioners for the Government and thirty-four 
Sac and Fox chiefs on the part of these tribes, among them Big Eagle, Sturgeon, 
The Devil, and He-that-Stands-by-the-Tree, of the Sacs, and Sur, Quick Riser, 
Scenting Fox, White Skin and others of the Foxes. The object of this ratification 
was to re-establish the peaceful relations existing between the parties thereto, prior 
to the war of 1812, which had been disturbed by emissaries of Great Britain. 

The Sacs and Foxes who had been parties to this treaty and to its subse- 
quent ratification were a division of these tribes that had removed from Wiscon- 
sin, across the Mississippi and hunted from that river to the Missouri. On the 
13th day of May, 1816, the Sacs and Foxes of Rock River, Wisconsin, entered 
into a treaty of assent and ratification of the treaty of 1804 at St. Louis, Mo., 
confirming that and all other contracts and agreements heretofore made between 


186 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


the tribes and the United States. Messrs. Clark, Edwards and Chouteau were 
the commissioners for the Government, and the Indians were represented by 
The-One-Who-Speaks, Jumping Sturgeon, Bad Axe, Bad Weather, Swan-Whose- 
Wings-Crack-When-He-Flies, and others. No consideration was expressed in 
the terms of this ratification and none paid except presents to the chiefs who 
were parties to it. 

The treaty of 1804 and its subsequent ratifications contributed with other 
causes, to bring on the Black Hawk War. That warrior contending that the chiefs 
who were parties to it in 1804 had separated from the nation and consequently 
were without authority to act, and that those who ratified it in 1816 received no 
compensation and their assent to it was obtained while they were under the influ- 
ence of liquor. 

Eight years after this last ratification a party of Sac and Fox chiefs and head 
men fully deputized to act for and in behalf of their said nations, visited Wash- 
ington, D. C., in company with deputations from other tribes and negotiated 
another treaty with the Government represented by William Clark, Superintend- 
ent of Indian Affairs. 

Article first stipulated that the Sac and Fox tribes cede, relinquish and forever 
quit claim unto the United States all right, title, interest and claim to the lands 
which the said Sac and Fox tribes have or claim without limits in the State of 
Missouri which are situated lying and being between the Mississippi and Missouri 
Rivers, and a linerunning from the Missouri at the entrance of the Kansas River, 
north one hundred miles to the northwest corner of the State of Missouri, and 
from thence east to the Mississippi. 

This conveyance it will be seen includes all the territory of the present State 
of Missouri, north of the Missouri River, and the Government agreed to pay asa 
consideration fifteen hundred dollars in cash, and one thousand dollars for ten 
years. Among the chiefs who were parties to this treaty were All Fish, Crouch- 
ing Eagle, Wrathful Fox, Rising Cloud and White Nosed Fox. 

This treaty ended the dealings of the Government with the Sacs and Foxes 
for Missouri territory, and when we consider the slight claims they had to the 
country conveyed, we cannot help concluding that the consideration paid was more 
in the nature of a bribe to induce good behavior than for value received. These 
Indians were interlopers on any territory west of the Mississippi, they being of 
Algonquin stock and had made their home for centuries about the great lakes. 
When first known to the whites their home was near Lake Erie on the Canada side. 
About the year 1650 they moved west and located near Lake Michigan, finally 
settling on Fox River and its tributaries in Wisconsin, where they remained for a 
century and a half. Here they were found in 1670 by Father Allonez, the Jesuit 
missionary, who says in his relation of that year, ‘‘ The 16th day of April I embark- 
ed to go and commence the mission of the Outagamies (Foxes) a people well 
known in all these parts. The 17th we went up the river St. Francis, and after 
having advanced four leagues we found the village of the Indians named Saky 
(Sacs). The 2oth we arrived in a river that came from a lake of wild rice which 


TREATIES WITH INDIAN TRIBES FOR LAND IN MISSOURI. 187 


we came into and at the head of whicli we found the river which leads to the 
Outagamies.”” Father Allonez found the Indians very much dejected on account 
of the loss of several of their families who had been captured near Lake Michigan 
by a party of Iroquois warriors. 

From this date these Indians are freqently mentioned by the early explorers 
of the lake country. In 1671 their chiefs were present at the congress of tribes 
at Mackinaw when St. Lusson took possession of the west in the name of the 
French king. In October, 1679, Hennipin and LaSalle met a party of them on 
the south shore of Lake Michigan, and two years later Hennnpin passed through 
their villages on Fox River, when returning from captivity among the Sioux. 
LaSalle visited their villages in 1681 in search of his men who had been driven 
from the Illinois country by the Iroquois, and heard from them of the safety of 
Tonty and the others. Father Charlevoix, the celebrated Jesuit who traveled 
through Louisiana in 1720-1, spent some time with the missionaries among these 
Indians in 1721, and urged the Sacs to greater respect for their Missionary if 
they hoped to retain the favor of the French King. Jona Carver the first promi- 
nent native American traveler in the west, was among these Indians in 1766 and 
mentions that one village of the Sacs could furnish three hundred warriors. 

There was nothing in the character of the Sacs and Foxes in any way differ- 
ing from the other Indians of the west and in an intercourse of one hundred and 
fifty years with the whites, Black Hawk is their only warrior that has won dis- 
tinction. 

But the Sacs and Foxes were not the only Indians who claimed an owner- 
ship in Missouri. The Ioways put forward a claim to the country and on the 
Ath day of August, 1824, the Government entered into a treaty with them at 
Washington, D. C., by which it was agreed that the Ioways cede forever quit 
claim and relinquish to the United States all the right, title, interest and claim to 
the lands which the said Ioway tribe have or claim within the State of Miss6uri 
and situated between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and a line, which has 
been run and marked by Colonel Sullivan, running from the Missouri, at the 
mouth or entrance of the Kansas River, north one hundred miles, to the north- 
west corner of the limits of the State of Missouri, and from thence, east to the 
Mississippi. The consideration paid the loways was five hundred dollars in cash 
and the promise of five hundred dollars to be paid annually for ten years. They 
were represented by Mah hos-kah, or White Cloud, and Mah-ne-hah-nah, or 
Great Walker, and this was the first treaty with the tribe in which they disposed 
of any land. 

This tribe had more right to treat for the disposal of Missouri territory than 
the Sacs and Foxes. ‘Their hunting-grounds were on the water-courses that 
flowed to the Missouri River and they frequently made incursions into the terri- 
tory when the Missouris held sway there, they were of the great Dacotah family 
whose natural home was west of the Mississippi, and they assisted in driving away 


the remnant of Missouris, hence their claims may be said to have had some 
foundation. 


188 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Of the many perversions and changes that have taken place in the names of 
our Indian tribes, that of Ioway, (or Iowa, as now spelled), is not more marked 
than that of many others but an explanation of this instance will serve as an index 
to the many errors with which our Indian nomenclature is crowded. The word 
Ioway has been made up from the Dacotah designation of the tribe, Ayuliapa, by 
taking the first two syllables Ayu, and adding to it one of the common French 
terminations to tribal names, either vozs, vats, or owez, as this was the manner in 
which the name first appears in early French annals. For instance in LaHarpe’s. 
narrative of LaSuer’s expedition to the Blue Earth region in 1700, they are men- 
tioned as Ayavois; in Penicant’s narrative of the same expedition they are called 
Aiavos. Charlevoix in his History of New France, 1722, speaks of them as 
Aiouez. On the map of De Lisle, published at Paris, 1703, in what is now the 
State of Iowa, on a small stream an Indian camp is represented with the follow- 
ing legend, ‘‘ Village des Aiaoues on Pantez.”” One hundred years later Lewis 
and Clark mention them as Ayauways. Lieut. Z. M. Pike who ascended the 
Mississippi in 1805, mentions that the Aiowais were called Nez Perce by the 
French, which means pierced noses, but why he does not state, nor is it true 
that this tribe were more in the habit of wearing ornaments in their nose than 
others. 

The name which the Ioways gave themselves is Pa-hutchae, which means. 
dusty heads. ‘The prefix ‘*‘ Pa” anciently signified head, and the origin of the 
name is accounted in the fact that they lived for many years on the Upper Mis-- 
souri and were accustomed to bathe in its yellow muddy water, and when they 
dried off after coming out, the sediment of the water remained on their heads. 
making them look dusty and gray. 

The first mention of the tribe is found on Marquette’s map drawn in 1673. 
where under the name Pahutet they are located as living on the Missouri above: 
the Omahas and Otoes, and which was their location until the establishment of 
French posts on the lakes and near the Mississippi drew them east for the pur- 
pose of trade. 

The friendly relations existing between the Sacs and Foxes and Iowas at the 
beginning of the present century did not date back to the time when the tribes. 
first became known to the French. Under date of July 10, 1700, Father Marest 
of the Jesuit Mission on the Illinois, wrote to Le Suer as follows: ‘‘I have the 
honor to write in order to inform you that the Sauks (Sacs) have been defeated. 
by the Sioux and Ayavois. These people have formed an alliance with the Kick- 
apoos, Mecoutins, Foxes and Metsegamies and have gone to revenge themselves, 
not on the Sioux for they are too powerful, but perhaps on the Ayavois, or more 
probably upon the Osages who suspect nothing. 


BOOK NOTICES. 189 


DOODIENOMIC Hs: 


APPLETON’s ANNUAL CycLope#p1A. Vol. XXI, 1881. Octavo, pp. 905; cloth, 
$s. For sale by L. B. Bailey, General Agent, Kansas City, Mo. 

This is the sixth volume of the new series, and the twenty-first of the whole 
series. The publishers truthfully and aptly say, ‘‘It has grown in size to meet 
the increased activity in human affairs and to present the interesting public ques- 
tions and scientific developments which have arisen and the discussion of their 
principles.” . 

Among the historical subjects presented, none is more interesting at the pre- 
sent time than the summary of the Garfield assassination ; the trial of Guiteau; 
the discussion of the insanity question; the history of the treatment of the Presi- 
dent’s case, etc. All of the stirring events in South America, Russia, Germany, 
France, Italy and Spain, are carefully summarized under proper heads by the 
most competent writers. 

The progress of science is given with unusual minuteness and accuracy, 
whether in chemistry, philosophy, engineering, electricity, physics or zoology. 

The results of the 10th Census are given a large space and illustrated with 
reduced copies of the maps showing density of population, native, colored and 
foreign. 

Four fine steel portraits, as usual, embellish the volume, viz: Longfellow, 
Blaine, President Arthur and Gambetta, in addition to which are numerous maps 
and other illustrations. 

No book or publication of any house in the United States equals this in value 
or importance to the reading public. Each volume brings the world’s. history 
forward in a convenient, comprehensive and strictly reliable form and at a price 
within the reach of all classes. 


GATEWAYS To THE Poe. By Silas Bent. 8vo. pp. 40; R. P. Studley & Co., 

St. Louis. 

This address was delivered before the St. Louis Mercantile Library Associa- 
tion upon the thermal paths to the pole, or the currents of the ocean, and shows 
the influence of the latter upon the climates of the world. The author speaks of 
the currents of the ocean with all the naturalness and vividness of a voyager, and 
the reader can almost see them pouring their mighty floods toward the Pole. The 
address gives a valuable sketch of the explorations and discoveries made in the 
Arctic Seas since 1868. The main object of the lecture is to show that the ocean 
currents open the natural highways to the Poles, and should be followed by the 
Arctic explorers if they would attain any substantial results. The theory is well 


190 _ KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


expressed in the closing paragraph as follows, where the author says: ‘That the 
Gulf Stream and Kur-Siwo are the prime and only cause of the open sea about 
the Pole, with its temperature so much above that due to the latitude; that the 
only practical avenues by which ships can reach that sea, and thence to the Pole, 
is by following the warm waters of these streams into that sea; that to find and 
follow these streams, the water thermometer is the only guide, and that for this 
reason they may be justly termed the ‘‘ Thermometric Gateways to the Pole.” 


Worms anp CrusracEa. By Alpheus Hyatt; pp. 68. Ginn, Heath & Co., 

Boston, Mass, 1882. 

This is one of the publications of the Boston Society of Natural History de- 
signed to supplement lectures given to teachers of the public schools of Boston. 

This is the eighth number of a series of ten publications or pamphlets on 
scientific studies designed for teachers. Besides simple illustrations and instruc- 
tions as to the modes of presentation and study, there are, in each pamphlet, 
hints which will be found useful in preserving, preparing, collecting and purchas- 
ing specimens. These publications ought to be in the hands of every teacher 
who loves nature, and if one does not love and study nature, is he fit to teach? 


WaANDERINGS IN SoUTH AMERICA. By Charles Waterton, 8vo. pp. 64. Mac- 

Millan & Co., London, 1882. 

In this publication we have the wanderings of a naturalist in South America, 
the northwest of the United States and the Antilles, in the years 1812, 1816, 1820 
and 1824 with original instructions for the preservation of birds, etc , for cabinets 
of natural history. 

There is a biography of the author by the Rev. J. G. Wood, and an explana- 
tory index by the same. This publication is chiefly valuable as a work of history. - 
In the last fifty years there has been much progress in natural science. The 
narrative is quite interesting to the reader. 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. Part 
I, January to April, 1882. 8vo. pp. 104. 


This publication contains fifty-six papers, illustrated by several charts. The 
papers are thoroughly scientific in character and very valuable. 


Horses’ TEETH. By William H. Clarke. 12mo. pp. 262; New York, 1880. $r. 

This is a treatise upon the teeth of horses, their mode of development, phy- 
siological relations, anatomy, microscopical character and pathology, made up 
from the works of Profs. Owen, Huxley, John Hunter, Dunglison, Youatt, Chau- 


BOOK NOTICES. 191 


- yeau, Percivall, Tomes, Gamgee, Leidy and others, and will be found a very 
useful and readable compilation of authorities upon all the topics above named. 
It is also valuable for its practical suggestions concerning various diseases of 
horses’ mouths and teeth, and especially for a vocabulary of thirty pages defining 
all the technical terms ordinarily used in scientific works upon the subjects treated. 

The student of comparative anatomy, as well as the veterinary surgeon, will 
find much of interest to him in this work and will be put upon the track of much 
more by the copious quotations from notes and references to the noted authors 
named above and many more of equal standing. 


OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 


The Reduction of Air-Pressure to Sea Level, at Elevated Stations West of 
the Mississippi River, by Henry A. Hazen, from Signal Bureau; Publication No. 
5. by Samuel Gaty, Missouri Historical Society ; Chemical Review and Journal, 
Chicago; Zhe Peorta Medical Monthly; Catalogue of Missouri University for 
and 1881-2; Annual Report and statistics of the Meteorology of the City of Oak- 
land, Cal., for 1881, by J. B. Trembly ; Notes on the Mineralogy of Missouri, by 
Alexander V. Leonhard; Wovthern Jndiansz School Journal for June, 1882, Valpa- 
raiso, Ind., $1.25 per annum; Hints for Painters Decorators and Paper-Hangers, 
New York Inaustrial Publication Co.; Publication No. VI, Archzoloogy of Mis- 
souri, by F. F. Hilder, Missouri Historical Society; Hereditary Traits and other 
Essays, by R. A. Proctor, Humboldt Library, New York; Vignettes from Nature, 
by Grant Allen, New York; The Kansas Kikkabe, 1882, Lawrence, Kansas; 
The Kansas Review, June, 1882, Lawrence, Kansas; A New Method of Bright- 
Wire Illumination for Position Micrometers, by S. W. Burnham, Esq.; Catalogue 
of the Univerisity of New Mexico, 1881, Santa Fe, N. M.; Catalogue ot the Book- 
walter Engine, New York. 


Prof. Morangoni shows by a conclusive set of experiments that moist air is 
not a conductor of electricity. He proves that the loss of current in telegraph 
wires and the want of action in electrical machines during misty or wet weather 
is due to the condensation of moisture, carbonaceous deposits, adherent dust, 
spiders’ webs or the contact of branches of trees. 


The silk industry is reviving in Louisiana, the news of this spring’s hatching 
being very encouraging. Interest in the culture is growing, and inducements 
are offered to silk workers to come from France and engage in the business. 
The first exports of silk from Louisiana were made as far back as 1718. The 
culture of silk is also being revived in South Carolina and Georgia. 


192 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


SOUMAIN IVGC WI SCISIL LAIN VW, 


THE THUNDER-BIRD. 
AN INDIAN LEGEND, BY WM. H. R. LYKINS. 


It is believed by some of the Indian tribes that thunder is caused by a great 
bird, which has its home in the skies. The sound, they say, is caused by the 
flapping of its wings as it revels in the storm cloud sweeping over the earth. In 
connection with this bird they tell the following story: 

An Indian hunter was one day returning from a visit to his traps. On his 
back he carried two beavers which he had taken, tied together with strings of 
bark. In his hand he carried a long hunting spear. As he was walking quietly 
along something like a dark cloud suddenly over-shadowed him, and looking up 
he saw an enormous bird swooping down upon him. Before he could place him- 
self in an attitude of defense, he was grasped in its talons and borne rapidly up- 
ward. Soon the tall trees dwindled into shrubs, next the high hills faded away, 
and finally the whole earth disappeared. Upward and onward through space the 
bird carried him until there appeared far in the west a long range of lofty and 
precipitous cliffs. Toward these cliffs the bird directed its flight, and having 
reached them, sailed slow and heavily along their sides. At times she would 
dash the hunter violently against the rocks, but with his spear which he still re- 
tained, he warded off the blows and escaped unharmed. 

At last they arrived at the mouth of a great cavern into which the bird threw 
the hunter and disappeared. He lay stunned by the fall until aroused by an 
unearthly shriek, and lifting his head he saw in one corner of cavern a young 
thunder-bird which was now clamoring for itsnoonday meal. Hastily untying the 
beavers from his back he threw them to the bird which swallowed each one of them 
at a gulp, then quietly settled back in its nest. The hunter now took a view of his 
situation. .The floor was strewn with the bones of deer, wolves and great ser- 
pents, with here and there a grinning human skull which seemed to mock his 
helplessness and remind him of the terrible death which awaited him. He ap- 
proached the mouth of the cavern and looked out. Far away on either hand 
stretched that wall of rock, lonely and desolate. Not even a blade of grass could 
find a resting-place on its steep and sterile sides; not even the hum of an insect 
or the chirp or a desert cricket broke the oppressive silence. Above and below 
were the awful depths of blue. 

There seemed to be but little chance for an escape from such a place but the 
hunter was one of the bravest of his tribe; tried in many times of danger and not 
one to despair while life remained. Approaching the young bird which was now 


CHARLES DARWIN. 193 


quietly sleeping after its lunch of beaver, he plunged his keen hunting-knife into 
its throat, killing it instantly. Then making an incison in its breast he carefully 
drew through it the body and thighs, leaving the skin intact. Next he stretched 
the wings out to their full length and in this position bound them firmly to the 
shaft of his spear with the strings which had held his beavers. His arrangements 
were now complete, and dragging the skin to the mouth of the cave he crawled 
into it leaving his head protruding from the hole in its breast and boldly leaped 
off into space. His project was a complete success, and to his great delight he 
found himself slowly descending in graceful circles toward the earth. He alight- 
ed in safety and taking two of the feathers of the bird—as much as he could carry 
—he started homeward, and on the evening of the third day after his capture he 
was seated before his lodge relating to his friends his wonderful adventure. 

Often as the traveler journeys over the western plains he will see a tall col- 
umn of dust suddenly rise and after whirling along a short distance as suddenly 
disappear. ‘This the Indians say is caused by the ‘‘ Thunder-Bird,” who, when 
she descends to snatch a serpent for her young thus conceals herself from mortal 
sight. And sometimes when the air is pure and the skies are clear the Indian 
thinks that far away in the western sky he can see that place to which the hunter 
was borne and from which he so miraculously escaped—perhaps some summer 
cloud which lies weltering upon the horizon which his ‘‘untutored mind” im- 
agines is the rocky home of the ‘‘ Thunder-Bird.” 


CHARLES DARWIN. 
BY JOHN FISKE. 


It is fitting that in the great Abbey, where rests the ashes of England’s 
noblest heroes, the place of the discoverer of natural selection should be near 
that of Sir Isaac Newton. Since the publication of the immortal Principia, no 
scientific book has so widened the mental horizon of mankind as the Origin of 
Species. Mr. Darwin, like Newton, was a very young man when his great dis- 
covery suggested itself to him. Like Newton, he waited many years before 
publishing it to the world. Like Newton, he lived to see it become part and 
parcel of the mental equipment of all men of science. The theological objection 
urged against the Newtonian theory by Leibnitz, that it substituted the action ot 
natural causes for the immediate action of the Deity, was also urged against the 
Darwinian theory by Agassiz; and the same objection will doubtless continue to 
be urged against scientific explanations of natural phenomena so long as there 
are men who fail to comprehend the profoundly theistic and religious truth that 
the action of natural causes js in itself the immediate action of the Deity. It is 
interesting, however, to see that, as theologians are no longer frightened by the 
doctrine of gravitation, so they are already outgrowing their dread of the doctrine 
of natural selection. On the Sunday following Mr. Darwin’s death, Canon 


194 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


Liddon, at St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Canons Barry and Prothero, at Westminster 
Abbey, agreed in referring to the Darwinian theory as ‘‘ not necessarily hostile 
to the fundamental truths of religion.” The effect of Mr. Darwin’s work has 
been, however, to remodel the theological conceptions of the origin and destiny 
of man which were current in former times. In this respect it has wrought a 
revolution as great as that which Copernicus inaugurated and Newton completed, | 
and of very much the same kind. Again has man been rudely unseated from 
his imaginary throne in the center of the universe, but only that he may learn to 
see in the universe and in human life a richer and deeper meaning than he had 
before suspected. Truly, he who unfolds to us the way in which God works 
through the world of phenomena may well be called the best of religious teach- 
ers. In the study of the organic world, no less than in the study of the starry 
heavens, is it true that ‘‘day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night 
showeth knowledge.” —/une Atlantic. 


A CHEMICAL STOVE. 


An alleged improvement by a Dresden chemist, Herr Nieski, in the new 
method of heating with acetate of soda, consists in mixing hyposulphate of soda 
with the acetate. The former melts more quickly than the latter, and retards 
crystallization in cooling. Herr Nieski uses one volume of acetate with ten of 
hyposulphate. The cases are filled to the extent of three-fourths, hermetically 
closed, and kept in hot water till one no longer hears a sound from crystals with- 
in on shaking. The cases will then give an equable heat from ten to fifteen hours 
according to size. A room-stove acting on this principle is described by Herr 
Nieski in the Deutsche Ind, Zeitung. It consists of an inner and outer cylinder, 
the latter having numerous small holes. In the space between the two stand 
three of the heating cases. These can beeasily lifted out by the handles and put 
into water in the central cylinder, which can be heated in position by means of a 
burner below (or removed to be heated elsewhere). This done, the cases are 
lifted into their places in the circular space. The stove runs on castors and has 
a cover. ‘The water in the inner cylinder furnishes, by evaporation, a wholesome 
degree of moisture. —Boston Journal of Cummerce. 


DEADENING SOUNDS. 


A new plan to deaden floors has been patented, and is being tested in a new 
building at Philadelphia. A 6x3 plank is inserted between each joist two inches 
from the bottom of the joists, and projecting four inches beneath. Underneath 
the intervening planks the ceiling boards are nailed and the space filled with saw- 
dust to within one inch of the joists. By this method the waves of sound are 


carried off, and it is claimed that the most vigorous hammering cannot be heard 
in the story beneath. 


EDITORIAL MOTES. 


PDIMORDAL NOTES: 


WE have given considerable space in this 
number of the REVIEW to the article on 
“Tornadoes,” by Sergeant John P. Finley, 
of the U. S. Signal Service, for two reasons: 
The paper is extremely opportune in view of 
the great number and violence of the torna- 
does this year, nine tornadoes having already 
occurred. It is also a valuable contribution 
to science, and probably contains more scien- 
tific and practical information on this subject 
than can be found in any other similar pub- 
lication. Under the direction of the Signal 
Service Bureau, Sergt. Finley has devoted 
five years to the special study of tornadoes. 
He has carefully gathered on the field the 
data of between six and seven hundred tor- 
nadoes, using pen and pencil in making up 
his note-books. Sometimes he has followed 
in the path of the tornado five and six hun- 
dred miles carefully placing on record the 
reports of all ocular observers, and has put 
himself in correspondence with thousands of 
observers of tornadoes in various portions of 
the country. This immense mass of material 
has been digested, and the substance has 
been compacted in this valuable paper. 


In the death of Henry W. Longfellow, 
America has lost a poet who takes very high 
rank in the republic of letters. His death 
marks the close of the first important epoch in 
American literature. The life of literature, 
like all other kinds of life, is one of pulsa- 
tion; it has its ebbs and flows, its seasons of 
activity and inactivity. Chaucer and Gower 
were identified with the first forceful throb 
in English literature, after which came a 
barren epoch which was completely extin- 
guished by the glory of the Elizabethan Age. 
Seldom does a nation experience more than 
one grand era in its history of literature. 
Such an epoch results from the crystallization 
of a nation’s thought, and when the material 
is exhausted there must be time for the nation 


to gather new material, and receive new in- 

spiration. When Bacon, Shakespeare and 

their contemporaries had passed from the 

scene the harvest had been gathered, and 

the nation’s intellectual life was marked by 

feeble pulsations. Before the time of Bryant, 

Holmes, Whittier, Motley, Bancroft, Prescott 
and Irving, American literature can hardly be 

said to have demonstrated its own existence, 

or to have any real character. Of all writers 
of his age, and ot all ages, Longfellow is dis- 
tinguished for his purity of thought and 

beauty of diction. If poetry is the apprehen- 

sion and expression of the esthetical, Long- 

fellow ranks among the best poets of this or 
of any past age. Longfellow was a man of 
the greatest personal worth, he was fairly 
womanly in the refinement of his sensibilities, 

his whole nature was as bright and joyous as 
a morning in May, and his inner being re- 
sponded with youthful enthusiasm to every- 
thing beautiful or true in Art or Nature, 
His life was rounded out to the full period al- 
lotted to man on the earth, and the celebra- 
tion all through New England and elsewhere 
of his seventieth birth-day was a golden frui- 
tion seldom accorded to the most favored ones 
ofearth. Weare painfully reminded that the 
golden era in American letters has closed, 

and we do not know how long it may be be- 
fore the Nation may come to another fruit- 
age. 

By the death of Charles Darwin natural 
science has lost its best observer. No work 
in science has been written about so much, 
or called forth so much criticism as the 
*¢ Origin of Species.”” That work was writ- 
ten twenty-three years ago, and the effect of 
the new theory of evolution was prodigious, 
Many editions of the work in England and 
America have been published, and transla- 
tions into all the chief foreign languages 
A catalogue was published 


have been made. 


196 


in Germany a few years ago giving the ‘* Lit- 
erature of Darwinism,” which covered thirty- 
six pages, with the names of several hun- 
dred authors who have written on evolution. 
Charles Darwin was born in 1800, and was 
educated at Christ College, Cambridge. 
Soon after taking his degree he set out ona 
tour of the world in the ship ‘‘ Beagle.”” The 
trip lasted five years during which he made 
vast collections in natural science, a part of 
which was published in 1839 in a three-vol- 
ume narrative of the expedition. In the 
course of twenty years half a dozen other 
volumes were published whose foundations 
were laid during the voyage of the ‘‘ Beagle.” 
The result of these works has produced a 
marked modification of scientific belief, many 
of the best Christian scientists now believing 
in a species of theoristic evolution. It wasa 
fitting token of honor that the great scientist 
should be buried in Westminister Abbey, by 
the side of royalty. Perhaps Mr. Darwin 
has given the best definition ever written of 
the theory of evolution in the following sen- 
tence: ‘Those who hold the theory of evo- 
lution conceive that there are grounds for 
believing that the present conformation and 
composition of the earth’s crust, the distri- 
bution of land and water, and the infinitely 
diversified forms of animals and plants 
which constitute its present population, are 
merely the final terms in an immense series 
of changes which have been brought about, 
in the course of immeasurable time, by the 
operation of causes more or less similar to 
those which are at work at the present day.” 


WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, at St. Louis, 
closed in June of this year one of its most 
successful years of work. In all departments 
of the University were enrolled about 1,400 
students. This includes the Law School, the 
Undergraduate Department, the Manual 
Training School, the Smith Academy and 
Mary Institute for Girls and the Art School. 
At the annual meeting of the Board of Di- 
rectors reports were received from the differ- 
ent departments. The Art School shows a 
large attendance and presents an urgent re- 
quest for greatermeans. The Manual Train- 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ing School is filled to its utmost capacity and 
during the present summer a large addition 
is being built. From the Director of the Ob- 
servatory a report of the Extension Time Ser- 
vice of the Observatory was made and an 
urgent request for a few thousand dollars to 
to be spent in the way of fitting up the Ob- 
servatory was presented. It was determined 
to raise three thousand dollars for this pur- 
pose. In view of the rapid growth of the 
various departments of the University, a res- 
olution was passed that one million dollars 
additional endowment shall be raised within 
the next five years to place the University in 
proper shape for its work, It is confidently 
expected that this sum shall be raised within 
five years. On Friday evening, June oth, oc- 
curred the exhibition of the Art School. 
The commencement of the Manual Training 
School and the Mary Institute occurred on 
Wednesday morning, June 14th, and the 
commencement of the Undergraduate De- 
partment and Law School was held in Me- 
morial Hall on Thursday evening, June 15th. 
Besides a large law class three received the 
degree of B. A., three the degree of Engineer 
of Mines and one that of Civil Engineer. 
Upon Judge John R. Shipley was conferred 
the degree of LL. D., and upon Prof. C. M. 
Woodward, of Washington University, the 
degree of Ph. D., these being respectively 
the second arid third honorary degrees ever 
conferred by the University. 


THE Kansas Editorial Convention met in 
Lawrence, June 5th, and was largely attend- 
ed, The sessions were held in Liberty Hall. 
Mayor J. D. Bowersock and Judge S. O. 
Thacher gave welcoming addresses to which 
Capt. Henry King returned the thanks of 
the Convention in his usually felicitous man- 
ner, The address of O. H. Rothacker, of 
Denver, (in his absence) was read by W. H. 
Rossington, of Topeka. After the meeting 
at Lawrence adjourned, the members visited 
the State Institutions. The convention was 
very enjoyable, the programme being carried 
out for the excursion under the excellent 
management of Col. S. S. Prouty, to the 
complete satisfaction of the whole party. 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 


PRoF. WILLIAM B. RoGeErs, of the Insti- 
tute of Technology, at Boston, died very 
suddenly, May 30th, while delivering a lec- 
ture at the Institute. His funeral drew a 
large number of scientists and scholars, and 
was largely attended by citizens. Professor 
Rogers was President of the National Acade- 
my of Science which is an office for life, the 
previous occupants having been Profs. Bache 
and Henry. In the death of Professor Rog- 
ers science has suffered a great loss. 


WASHBURN COLLEGE, at Topeka, held its 
annual commencement beginning with the 
Baccalaureate Sermon, delivered by Presi- 
dent McVicar, Sunday evening, June 1Ith. 
The Annual Address was delivered by James 
G. Dougherty, Monday evening, June 12th, 
the subject being ‘‘ Orthodoxy.” On Wed- 
nesday the commencement exercises proper, 
were held in the Congregational Church 
with a large audience. The college year 
has been one of unusual prosperity, and the 
. College is growing and doing a good work. 


THE Western Academy of Homeopathy 
held a convention in Kansas City, beginning 
June 2oth, and lasting twodays. There was 
a good attendance of members, and much 
interest manifested. A number of valuable 
papers were read and the subjects discuss- 
ed. The next meeting will be held in St. 
Louis, 


THE National Academy of Sciences was an 
outgrowth of the American Association for 
Advancement of Science. It is composed of 
the magnates of science in this country, and 
takes rank with the leading scientific asso- 
ciations in Europe. The Presidency is a life 
office and has had but three occupants, Profs. 
Bache, Henry and Rogers, The Academy 
consists of ninety-five members and four hon- 
orary members—ninety-nine in all. Thirty- 
four live in New England, seventeen in Mas- 
sachusetts alone, and nine in the west—one 


197 


in Ohio, one in Kentucky, one in Illinois, 
two in Missouriand four in California. For- 
ty-three represent the mathematical sciences, 
as pure mathematics, astronomy, geodesy, en- 
gineering, physics, etc. Twelve represent 
chemistry ; sixteen represent the geological 
sciences ; twenty-four represent biological sci- 
ences and four are unclassified. Prof. James 
C. Watson, the astronomer, left about $50,- 
ooo, the bulk of his property, to this Acade- 
my. 


THE Kansas University held its commence- 
ment exercises June 6th. The attendance 
was unusually large, many being present 
from various portions of the State as well as 
a delegation of Kansas editors who were at- 
tending the Editorial Convention. Nothing 
transpired to mar the exercises which passed 
off pleasantly, the graduates doing them- 
The University is receiving a 
vigorous and substantial growth. 


selves credit. 


WE have received a hatchet from Mr. Teub- 


ner which has been forwarded to Prof. Put. 


nam, of Salem, Mass. We shall be glad to 
hear from Prof. Putnam in regard to it, in 
due time. 


THE storm of June 16th was remarkable 
for its violence, its brevity and the wide area 
over which it extended. Its intensity was 
greatest at certain points in eastern Kansas 
and western Missouri. At Kansas City one 
man lost his life by the falling of a building, 
and property was destroyed estimated at over 
$150,000, At Leavenworth four girls were 
killed at St. Mary’s Academy, and the city 
received considerable damage. The storm 
occurred between twelve and one o’clock at 
night. It was not a tornado, but a hurricane. 
The wind at Kansas City was estimated at 
between sixty and seventy miles an hour, at 
Leavenworth it reached at its maximum over 
seventy miles an hour. 


Washinoton University, 


St. Lowis, Mo., 


——4 COMPRISES THE FOLLOWING DEPARTMENTS: }—— 


I. SMITH ACADEMY: DernHam ARNOLD, Principal. A Preparatory — 
School, for Coilege, Polytechnic School and Business. Enrollment, 374 pupils. 

II. MANUAL TRAINING SCHOOL: C. M. Woopwarp, Director. 
This is a School for Boys not less than Fourteen Years Old. The Course of In- 
struction runs through Three Years. Branches Taught are Mathematics, History, 
Physics, English Language and Literature, Drawing and the Use of Tools; the 
last named includes Carpentry, Pattern-Making, Blacksmithing, Machine Work, 
and the management of the Engine. Enrollment, 102 pupils. 

III. MARY INSTITUTE: C. S. PENNELL, Principal. A Completely 
Equipped School for Girls and Young Ladies. Enrollment, 420 pupils. 

IV. THE COLLEGE: M. S. Snow, Dean. DrGREEsS—1. Bachelor of 
Arts. 2. Bachelorof Philosophy. 3. Master of Arts. 4. Doctor of Philosophy. 


V. POLYTECHNIC SCHOOL: C. M. Woopwarp, Dean. DEGREEs. 
—1. Civil Engineer. 2. Mechanical Engineer. 3. Chemist. 4. Engineer of 
Mines. 5. Architect. 6. Master of Science. 7. Doctor of Philosophy. 


VI. ST. LOUIS SCHOOL OF FINE ARTS: Hatsey C. Ives, Director. 
VII. ST. LOUIS LAW SCHOOL: W. G. Hammonp, LL. D., Dean. 


Standards of attainment are high in all departments, and promotions are 
made only on merit. Every department is in a high state of efficiency, and the 
best of discipline is maintained. 

In the Undergraduate Departments, comprising the College and Polytechnic 
School, all facilities for the best education, Library, Apparatus, Laboratories, 
Assay Rooms, Gymnasium, Etc., are adequately supplied. All undergradutes 
have free admission to work-shop instruction in the Manual Training School. 

In all the Secondary Schools the classes are generally full and applications 
should be made early. 

Good board, with lodging, including fire and light, can be obtained at con- 
venient places in the neighborhood for $20 per month and upward. 

A dining-room or private restaurant has been opened near by where full 
board can be obtained at $3 per week, and single meals at proportionate rates. 

For conditions of admission, or further information, apply to the Officers 
named above. 


W. G. ELIOT, Chancellor. 


FOAIN SAS Clay 


REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, 


A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 


SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 


VO VI. AUGUST, 1882. NO. 4. 


CHORE 


NORTH PARK, COLORADO. 
G. C. BROADHEAD. 


On the 15th day of June, 1881, we passed west from Omaha, gradually as- 
cending the mountain slopes. Approaching Sherman we observed the geological 
features to be very similar to those observed the year previous near Las Vegas, 
New Mexico, evidence of the extension of the same geological uplift. The red 
beds are seen and the ‘‘ Hog-back” also seen at Las Vegas; and at Sherman the 
red granite is boldly prominent. — 

Between Sherman and Laramie City, in the distance, are seen remarkable 
weathering of columns of red beds capped with harder projecting strata, and away 
up the Laramie plains, twenty-five miles south of Laramie City, are seen the bold’ 
escarpments of red strata with the snow-capped Medicine Bow range beyond. 

Laramie City, Wyoming Territory, a town of 3,000 inhabitants, is pleasantly 
situated on Laramie plains,near Laramie River,at an elevation of 7,126 feet above 
the sea. The Laramie plains are for about sixty by thirty miles nearly level and 
only interrupted by occasional dry valleys, and covered with sand having a scant 
growth of grass and some other plants. 

From Laramie City to North Park our road will take us southwest, up Lara- 
mie valley and around the base of Jelm Mountain to Cummins City, or else our 

VI—13 


198 y KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


route would cross the Laramie River three miles further up stream. By the 
former route we would pass through fifteen to eighteen miles of good pineries, 
(the Pinus Contoria) across the Medicine Bow Mountains and six miles further to 
Berry’s at the entrance to North Park. Following the road by the Upper Ford 
we pass over a well-worn road through more open woods. On this route the 
stratified rocks present a fine section as we leave the plains, of which the follow- 
ing is an approximation : 


200 feet of white beds crowning the hill-top. 

1000 feet of red beds. 

36 feet of white gypsum with occasional crystallized laminee. 
too feet of yellow beds. 

too feet of red and grayish beds. 


Mm fb WN 4 


The gypsum beds above named would be exceedingly valuable if nearer 
market. 

Our route across the Medicine Bow Mountains is at an elevation of probably 
8000 to gooo feet above the sea, and of easy grade. ‘The prevailing rock is a 
red granite, sometimes schistose and sometimes graphic, but on a part of the 
route is very much decomposed and at one place there is apparently a broad vein 
of white quartz. The approach to North Park is by a long sloping valley, along 
which flows a clear stream. At the entrance to the North Park is a gray banded 
gneiss traversed by occasional quartz veins. ‘These rocks are seen for three miles 
along the valley from the granite of the mountains to North Park. 

North Park is about fifty miles north and south, by thirty miles wide, east and 
west, and entirely surrounded by mountains. Southwardly over the Park we 
‘cross several good-sized clear streams of water, including the Canadian, Michigan 
and Jack’s Creeks. Illinois Creek lies just west of the last and they all are con- 
fluents of the North Platte, which stream they join in the northern portion of the 
Park near Independence Mountain. 

The exposed rocks in North Park are chiefly stratified sandstone and shales 
of recent age, probably none are older than the cretaceous. Owl Mountain isa 
high ridge of chiefly such rocks, projecting northwestwardly into the Park from 
the east and resting against the igneous rocks in the rear. 

The Medicine Bow Mountains extend from about 100 miles north, passing 
southwest for one-half their extent, then trending nearly south to a point east of 
Teller City (the chief mining town located at the southeast corner of North Park) 
where they connect with the ‘‘ Continental Divide” which trends off west to- 
ward Muddy Pass, forming the southern rim of the Park. ‘They then pass off 
northwardly forming its western rim. 

Spurs of these Mountains approach the North Fork of Platte River, north of 
the Park, and the Medicine Bow range approaches it on the east. 

The Park is about fifty miles long thirty wide, and, according to Clarence 
King, has an average elevation of 8,500 feet above the sea. Itis nearly surrounds 


NORTH PARK, COLORADO. : 199 


ed by lofty mountains, reaching up 3,000 feet above the inclosed valley. It is 
covered chiefly with a dense growth of wild sage (Artemisia). 

On our route from any point we can see snow-clad mountains on nearly 
every side. ‘These snowy peaks impart a pleasant coolness to the various waters 
flowing through the valley. The water power of the streams flowing out from the 
mountains is sometimes great, that of Jack’s Creek especially so. Its width fifteen 
to twenty-five and thirty feet, flowing very rapidly, falling in many places five to 
ten feet per 100 feet or 200 to 300 feet per mile on its mountain course. Strange 
as it may appear these streams contain but few fish, but just across the ‘‘ Conti- 
nental Divide” fish are abundant. 


GENERAL GEOLOGY. 


The Colorado Range and the Black Hills are archean. The Medicine Bow 
Mountains and the main Continental Divide are also archean. ‘Through these 
archean rocks, igneous rocks of volcanic origin have pushed themselves up. 
Clarence King informs us (in Geol. Survey of 4oth Parallel) that those on the 
south rim of the Park are trachytic, those flanking the western slope of the arch- 
ean on the heads of Michigan River and Jack’s Creek, he terms ‘‘ Rhyolite,” and 
further says: ‘‘ From the meridian of 114 W. to California the Rhyolitic rocks 
‘cover a greater area than any other of the volcanic family, and in age are Post- 
‘“miocene, and were characteristic of the opening of the Pliocene.” Mr. King 
defines Rhyolite as ‘‘a ground mass of fine-grained mingling of fragmentary crys- 
‘tals of Sanidin (glassy feldspar) and crystalline grains of dark quartz, the color 
‘generally dark. At the head of the Illinois Creek the ground mass is lighter, 
‘and includes larger crystals of feldspar and fragments of quartz. Hornblende 
‘also occurs in small crystals. The middle of the ridge south of North Park is 
‘of Trachyte, which Zirkel calls a granite-pbhorphyry. ‘The east wall of the Park 
‘is lined with Rhyolite. Basalts occur west of the Trachyte. Rabbit’s Ear Moun- 
‘tain and Buffalo Peak are of Basalt.”—King, goth Parallel Survey. 

King refers the chief formations of the North Park basin to the Tertiary, 
leaving exposed at several places near the outer rim the underlying cretaceous. 

The above, from King’s Report, includes about all that has been written con- 
cerning the geology of this interesting region. Other surveys seem to have pass- 
ed it by, but we infer that there were great disturbances and eruptions during 
the development of these trachytes. — 

Mt. Richthofen (probably the same as Lead Mt.) stands at the point of 
meeting of two distinct trends of the Rocky Mountain archean rocks. Within 
this angle occurs an extensive outpouring of rhyolite rocks; they flank the base 
of the archean for twenty-five miles, rising highest against Mt. Richthofen, when 
the volume of eruption was the greatest. In this vicinity the granitoid rocks are 
deluged by dark colored rhyolites. 

Virginia City, Nevada, and the adjacent mines are on or near the extreme 
western extension of the great Rhyolite overflow; the southern and southeast 


200 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


portions of the North Park lie along its eastern limit and just here there have 
been many mines opened within the past two years. 

The line of junction of the Archean (granite, gneiss and mica schist) rocks 
with the volcanic (rhyolites and trachytic porphyries) rocks is about north and 
south, and near this junction are occasionally seen dolerytic dykes, whose strike 
is also north and south. ‘The principal veins also extend in a north and south 
line parallel with the strike of these rocks, and they are nearly everywhere ore- 
bearing, and in some places rich in silver ore. The minerals in these veins as 
found may include: Sulphuret of silver; Ruby silver and other silver ores ;: 
Copper and iron pyrites; Oxide of copper and of iron. 

Complete analysis may result in the discovery of other interesting ores and 
minerals. Calcite, Dolomite, Fluorite and Quartz are found at most of the mines. 
The veins vary from one foot to twenty feet in width, but those worked on are 
generally from two to five feet wide. 

Passing up Jack’s Creek from Teller, we find at Teller a dark trachytic por- 
phyry traversed by doleryte dykes, having a north and south strike, but dipping 
to the west at an angle of 60 degrees. Similar rocks are found as we pass up the 
creek for three miles generally presenting the general appearance of metamorphic 
porphyries, but some have a decided schistose character. Beautifully banded 
and contorted gray gneiss is found a little way up from Teller. 

At the ‘‘ Gaslight’ mine work was done on a coarse, gray porphyry twenty- 
five feet wide. Porphyry walls appear on the west with dolerite on the east. 
The gangue rock shows quartz in drusy cavities, with sulphuret of iron dissemin- 
ated in the veinstone of quartzose rock. Both calcite and dolomite occur here 
in crystals. 

The adjacent porphyry here is a gray with rather large light gray crystals. 
This mine was discovered in June, 1879, by Jno. and A. Lefevre, formerly from 
Missouri. It was the first mine struck on Jack’s Creek and when sixteen feet 
down was sold for $20,000. In 1882 it was again sold when sixty-five feet down 
at quite an advance. 

Above the ‘‘ Gaslight” dolerite extends for a mile or more to the ,Pennsyl- 
vania mine, and the New El Dorado. At the ‘‘Yellow Jacket” mine the work 
was prosecuted on dolerite with poor success. White and green fluor and pyrites 
occur on the wall rock. At the ‘‘ Pennsylvania” mine at forks of Jack’s Creek, the 
walls are still dolerytic, with streaks of pyrites, carbonate and fluorate of lime and 
quartz and some silver. 

The next mine, just above the last, is the ‘‘ New El Dorado.” It lies directly 
on line of contact of the volcanic rhyolites and dolerites with the gneissoid ‘and 
schistose rocks. ‘The vein, four and one-half feet wide, bears north and south, 
dipping a very little to the east and with ore well disseminated in quartz. {| Its 
east wall is dolerite, the west is quartz. Some galena has been obtained®here. 

The ‘‘ Constellation ” due north of the last and across Jack’s Creek, high up 
the mountain, is supposed to be a continuation of the New El Dorado. , The rocks 


NORTH PARK, COLORADO, ; 20 


are similar. Ores from this mine are a dark gray with sulphurets evidently rich in 
silver. 

From the New El Dorado to the Josephine the gneissic rocks show numer- 
ous beautiful foldings with bands of light and dark laminz, and between these 
two lobes these rocks can be continuously seen. These gneisses were also found 
to abound in red garnets. 

The ‘‘ Josephine” is probably a continuation of the ‘‘ Endomile,” but they 
are 1,000 feet apart and the former several hundred feet higher on. the mountain. 

The ‘‘ Endomile”’ appeared to be the richest vein and information since re- 
ceived confirms the opinion then advanced. The course of the vein is north and 
south, depth worked June, 1881, was thirty-five feet, and width at that depth 
four and one-half feet dipping slightly to the east. [Recent letters give a width 
of forty-five feet to the lode at 300 feet depth with distinct walls and rich ore]. 

At the centre of the vein asoft opening appeared, six inches to one foot wide, 
and carrying ore. A soft ore yielded by assay $217.80 per ton. West of the 
centre the ore-mass does not appear rich, but contains a good deal of pyrites. 
East of the centre the gangue is rich in sulphurets for two and one-half feet, the 
richer portion carrying ruby silver. 

Fluor spar, both of violet and green tint, is abundant in the vein, occurring 
in vertical vein masses. Where the fluor chiefly abounds the ore is not so rich. 
A mass of ore thirteen inches wide shows fifty per cent. of ore thickly disseminat- 
ed, yielding probably ten per cent. of ore which would assay over $400 per ton. 
A banded schist appears on the eastern wall, the western wall including much 
pyrites. Assays from this vein range all the way from $80 to $800 per ton. 
{The assays were made by Devlin and Shelton]. 

A number of other less important mines were visited, but the work was yet 
in its infancy. No smelting or machinery then. The deeper the rock has ex- 
tended on the Endomile, the richer the ore has appeared. The geological rela- 
tion of the rocks seems favorable, the strike and course of veins about the same, 
nearly north and south. The Endomile, the Constellation and Gaslight and some 
others show evidence of being true fissure veins. We need look here for no car- 
bonates. Most of the mines are owned by the North Park and Vandalia Mining 
Company, Dr. G. W. Bassett, of Vandalia, Illinois, being President, and D. C. 
‘Holcombe, of Peoria, Illinois, Secretary. 

About the year 1870 some mining was done on Independence Mountain by 
Jno. Lefevre and others, probably forty to fifty men in all. The Utes notified 
them to leave and not to remain over two sleeps; Lefevre and one other left, 
the others remaining were all killed. The Indians resided in the Park until 1878. 
In 1879 Antelope and his band were in the Park, remaining but a short time, but 
did not come up into the mountains where the miners were. They burnt the 
woods, doing great damage. | 

The first ranch started in North Park was Pinkham’s in 1876, Walden’s next, 
on Michigan River, in 1879, and Mendenhall’s on the Canadian in 1880. In 1881 
there were fifty or sixty ranches in the Park. 


202 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


The first mines in the Teller District were discovered in 1879, and for a 
while there was a rush of miners, but most of them soon left and in part of 1879 
and 1880 there were only five miners on Jack’s Creek. These were Lefevre, Pay- 
son, Halstead, Latham and Fuller. The first house was built at the mines in 
1879 and first house in Teller City in May, 1880. In June, 1881, Teller City 
had a population of about six hundred and one newspaper. Charles Smith was 
the discoverer of the ‘‘Endomile.’’ Discoveries have been made all the way 
from Rabbit’s Ear Mountain to Illinois Creek, but no real mining except on the 
east side of the Park. Mining has been done all the way from 9,000 feet eleva- 
tion near Teller, up to the snow line, chiefly under the shadow of the thickly 
timbered mountain sides. 

The wild game is fast leaving. In 1880 elk, antelope and black-tailed deer 
were continually seen. In 1881 the antelope could be commonly seen in the 
Park but were getting shy. The others had retreated to the mountains. 

The Medicine Bow Mountains and those east and south of the Park are gen- 
erally clothed with a dense pine growth (/inus contorta). In many places the 
ground is covered with masses of fallen dead timber, sometimes even equaling 
one-fourth as many trees as those remaining erect, and making the way entirely 
impassable. Fires are sometimes very destructive. ‘Three years ago the Utes 
set fire to the woods and thousands of acres of good timber were destroyed. Sev- 
eral times I saw as much as a thousand acres of dead standing trees, which gave 
a very desolate appearance to the landscape. 

At one place I observed the pathway of a former snowslide. The avalanche 
had swept every tree even from its roots in its pathway from mountain top to 
valley, and was apparently not less than a quarter of a mile wide. 

The pineries atford the material of which the houses are built, the shafts 
cribbed and long straight poles are hauled out fifteen to twenty-five miles into the 
park and used for fencing the ranches. 

In Wet Mountain valley the aspen (opulus tremuloides) abounds and_ affords 
excellent fuel. Ascending the mountains over 9,009 feet elevation, the pine gives 
place to the spruce and fir, the Picea engelmanus being abundant. These grow 
to a large size and stand thick on the mountain sides. With these, and reaching 
high up the mountains, we find a dwarf huckleberry (Vaccinnum myrtillus). 
Around Teller we observed the strawberry, raspberry and currant. The wild sage 
(Artemisia frigida) and greasewood stand thickly over the North Park and abound 
‘on the Laramie plains. Several species of native grass, some very much resem- 
bling our blue grass, are abundant in the Park and on Laramie plains. 

Of plants common to either Missouri or Kansas, I observed not over a dozen, 
including a Delphinum, the strawberry, Cleome integrifolia, Malvastum coccinneum, 
Oxytropus lambertit, Dodecatheon meadea, Sysirhynchium bermudiana, Allium juncus, 
and Triticum repens. There may be a few more. 

Fremont in his second Report Across the Plains and Mountains in 1843 speaks 
glowingly of the flora in crossing the Laramie Plains and Medicine Bow Moun- 
tains. And he spoke the entire truth, for it is of remarkable beauty. The Del- 


NORTH PARK, COLORADO. 203: 


phinum, Dodecatheon and Oxytropus on the Laramie Plains and in the Park, the 
beautiful blushing Zez7sta and the Ocerothera Marginata with its large white 
petals, the Gla aggregata and others of the Medicine Bow range are very beau- 
tiful. Several species of Psoralea, the Oxytropus and others were very prominent 
in the North Park, and the plants in the caves and on the mountain sides are 
very interesting. Among the latter the Agudlegia Cerulea is most prominent, tall 
and very showy, and of the purest white and azure blue. 

The Berberis repens, with its holly-like leaf and red berry is abundant in pine 
woods, and is said to afford the berry of which the ‘‘ Vinegar Bitters” is made. 
The TZhlaspi alpestris and Trollius laxus were found blooming beside the snow 
banks. The Cleome integrifolia very abundant in Kansas and Nebraska, also 
found on the Laramie plains but not in North Park. The Primula parryi, a very 
handsome plant, was found at the edge of a stream at 9,000 feet elevation. 

The following is a partial list of plants observed and collected hurriedly. 
Many of them were collected at a moment’s stop on a trip of fifty miles per day. 
[For their determination I am under many obligations to Dr. George Engelman 
of St. Louis. | 


LIST OF PLANTS. 


of ui va : 4 
By Sela en eet tras 2 & 
qo o= C2) 3 A 
re oO om PY a) i= a4 Su. 
NAME. 2 FA g ere ir 5 3 e REMARKS, 
iS) - & : 
3 = 3 5 = | 62 
S 2 = | ao 
Ranuculus Cymbalaria. * 
Trollius laxus. ? r To snow line. 


Aquilegia cerulea. 
Delphinum. % * * te Several sp. 
Berberis repens. = 

Corydalis Montana. 
Arabis retrofracta, te = High up. 
Vesicaria ludoviciana. * 
Vesicaria Montana. 
Cardannia cordifolia, 
Erycimum asperum. 


Thlaspe alpestre. ? i s High altitude. 
Cleome integrifolia. ? * In Kan. to E. line. 
Viola : 3 

Arenaria fendleri. i ? 

Calandrina pygmea. 

Malvastrum coccinneum. a In Kan. & N. Mex. 


Linum perenne, 
Geranium fremonti. 
Geranium richardsoni, 
Thermopsis Montana. 
Trifolium longipes, 


Trifolium parryi. # High altitude, 
Oxytropus lamberti. * % 

Rubus : * 

Geum triflorum, & % 

Fragaria Virginiana, Rs Common in Mo. 


Potentilla fruticosa. 
Potentilla anserina. 


204 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


NAME. 


Rosa avicularis. 
Saxifraga bronchialis, 
Sedum rhadiola. 

S. stenopetalum. 
Lewisia rediviva. 
Epilobium angustifolium. 
Oenothera marginata. 
Mammillaria vivipara. 
Lonicera involucrata. 
Sambucus pubens. 
Erigeron trifidum. 
Helianthus. 

Chenactis douglasii. 
Artemisia frigida. 
Pencedamum. 
Vaccinnum myrtillus. 
Arctostaphilos uva-ursi. 
Primula parryi. 
Androsace septentrionalis. 
Dodecatheon meadea. 
Pentstemon humilis. 

P. glaucus. 

Castilleea pallida. 

. Mertensia lanceolata. 
Eritrichium glomeratum. 
Phacelia sericea. 

Phlox coespitosa. 

Gillia aggregata. 
Eriogonum umbellatum. 
Rumex venosus. 
Polygonum bistortum. 
Alnus viridis var. alpinum. 
Pinus contorta. 


Picea engelmanni. 
Abies c 


Juniperis communis var, alp- 


ina, 
Sysyrhynchium bermudiana. 
Veratrum album. 
Streptopus amplexifolius, 
Allium, 
Allium. 
Juncus baticus, 
Elymus sitarion. 
Triticum repens, 
Stipa spartea. 


Cheyenne to 
Sherman. 


GY) 


* 


* 
* 


“a 
= 
ae 

= a 

a 

bol 

fas] 

4 

x 

CS 

* 

i 

* 


un 
_— 
ne 
1 So 
-_ 
aA 
S 
* 
* 
te 
* 


od 
MM 
a 
Au e 
iol 
a Oo 
= = 
° ar) 
vA aa 
* 
* 
* 
* 
% 
* 
* 
* 
% 
* 
* * 
* 
* 
* 
% 
4% 
* 
5 
we 


a 

bal 
ns 
aeied 
4 
Sie 
of 
= 


REMAKKS, 


Hills of N. Park. 


High up. 


Found in Mo. & Ill, 


Common in Mo. 


Common in Kan. 


as 


PLEASANT Hitt, Mo., June, 1882. 


THE LOUP FORK GROUP OF RANSAS. 


1) 
S 
Ct 


THE LOUP FORK GROUP OF KANSAS: 
CHAS. H. STERNBERG. 


This formation received its name from the Loup Fork of the Platte River, 
Nebraska, where it was first studied by Dr. Hayden, the eminent United States 
geologist. ‘The rocks in Kansas consist chiefly of hard gray sandstone, or pud- 
ding-stone conglomerate, with beds between of loose, yellowish sand, or soft gray 
marl, the lime of which appears to be a sulphate, and was doubtless derived from 
the chalk of the Niobrara Cretaceous, that lies beneath. The experiment has 
often been made of burning this marl for building purposes, resulting invariably 
in various colored slags. There are also found beds of red clay and silica. Near 
Fort Wallace the hills are topped with thick masses of dendrite, the upper surface 
consisting often of chalcedony or ‘‘ moss-agate.” 

Near Colyer, on the U. P. R’y (K. D.) on the high divide between the 
smoky Hill and Saline Rivers, Mr. Joseph Savage, of Lawrence, has discovered 
quarries of red, yellow and ribboned jasper belonging to this formation. At 
South Benner, in Rawlins County, are beds several feet thick, of fine silica, hav- 
ing a satin-like lustre. I had supposed from the exceeding fineness of the dust, 
and from the fact that it polishes the metals, that it was diatomaceous earth, but 
the microscope fails to show anything organic in it, only angular scales of trans- 
parent quartz. 

My party left Buffalo Park, Gove Co., on the 2oth day of July, 1881, and 
reached the fossil beds of Decatur Co. on the 23rd inst. Our first camp was on 
South Sapper Creek, ten miles southwest of Oberlin. Here we were very fortu- 
nate, obtaining a great many specimens of mammalian vertebrates in the soft 
beds of marl, sand and gravel. They occupied the spaces between the compact 
strata of sandstone and conglomerate. From two localities half a mile apart, we 
procured a number of bones and teeth of rhinoceroses, horses, mastodons, etc. 
One perfect skull of a rhinoceros was found with under-jaw and atlas vertebra 
in position. The rest of the skeleton had been dug out, evidently by other ex- 
plorers, judging by the number of broken ribs that lay on and through a great 
pile of debris, near the bank in which we found our specimen. I suppose, as is 
common with explorers, that they took the long bones, vertebrae and arches. 
This skull was preserved in grayish sand, that could be easily removed with a 
knife. When it was a quicksand bog along the borders of the great Loup Fork 
Lake, the huge animals, with many others, became entangled, and dying left their 
skeletons which have been preserved so many ages, hidden from the sight of the 
denizens of that country who never supposed that they had repeatedly walked 
over the remains of these tropical beasts. 

We found in the same locality in a space six feet wide, and about fifty feet 
long, a number of other specimens, including jaws with teeth, and bones of two 
species of rhinoceros, bones and teeth of horse and mastodon. 


206 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


Four species of the rhinoceros have been described by Prof. E. D. Cope 
from the Loup Fork Group of Colorado and Kansas under the genetic name of 
Aphelops. 1 quote from the Bulletin of U. S. Survey: ‘‘ The dental formula is, 
Incisors 24, Canines +, Premolars #33, Molars 3, Digits 3-3. Nasal bones with 
persistent suture, weak—not supporting horn. This genus occupies a position 
intermediate between Aceratherium, Kauf., and Rhinoceros, Linn. It agrees with 
the former in the presence of incisor and canine teeth, and in the absence of in- 
dication of nasal horn, but differs from it in lacking the fifth digit of the anterior 
foot. In the last respect it is identical with AAznoceros, differing from it in char- 
acters already mentioned.” We procured specimens of the Polydactyle horse in 
this locality, as well as part of the lower jaw of a Mastodon. It resembles Prof. 
Cope’s M. Productus, described in Lt. Wheeler’s reporc as from the Loup Fork 
Group of New Mexico. ‘‘In this species the underjaws are prolonged into a 
beak, which bears two powerful tusks.” I imagine that they might have been 
used by the animal for digging up succulent roots, in the vast swamps through 
which he wandered. Although mastodons have been described in Europe with 
inferior tusks they are certainly unique. 

In the vicinity of our first camp, we worked several days and procured about 
two hundred teeth, a number of perfect bones from various species and individ- 
uals. In one place the bones and teeth were scattered and evidently worked in 
by a stream, as they were packed in between pebbles in a kind of mortar, the 
bed resembling the so called ‘‘concrete’’ of the west. Many of the bones were 
water-worn, and they lay through the matrix without any system. A rhinoceros 
tooth often close to that of a horse, or of some other species and bones of 
different species, are indiscriminately mixed. These animals had doubtless died 
on the shore and high water had rolled the bones along with pebbles; the water 
holding in solution chalk and sand that had cemented them together, when they 
found a resting place in the deep waters of the lake. The specimens were often 
so closely wedged in between the pebbles that it was hard work to get them out 
without breaking them. 

Another camp was made on Beaver Creek near Cedar Bluffs, north of Ober- 
lin, where some beautiful collections were made of bones and teeth of the horse, 
camel (?), rhinoceros anda carnivore. One set of underjaws of a horse had most 
of the teeth in position. The canines were about the size of a small goose-quill. 
We got also three perfect toes, z. ¢., the metatarsals, of one limb. The central 
one was twice as large as the lateral ones. A number of small bones, and teeth 
of various species were washed out of a denuded knoll, the material of which 
seemed to be composed largely of chalk. The bones were white, and the teeth 
showed the plications of the colored enamel. Near this camp we found the un- 
der-jaws of a young mastodon, showing the milk dentition. It was in loose soil, 
grass-roots penetrated the specimen in various directions, consequently it was im- 
possible to save them in perfect shape. 

On South Beaver, Rawlins County, we found.a locality (through the kind- 
ness of the surveyor of the county) rich in fossil land turtles. We collected about 


THE LOUP FORK GROUP OF KANSAS, ° 207 


twenty specimens representing different stages of growth; some quite small, show- 
ing the elegant markings of the shells, ridges and grooves following the outlines 
of the plastron plates. Some specimens were nearly perfect, lacking, however, 
the skull, A number of nearly perfect limbs and arches were obtained. They 
were found in a narrow gulch where the water had cut through twelve or fifteen 
feet of white sandy marl. The specimens were sticking out on either side of the 
perpendicular banks. During October, at the Museum of Comparative Zodlogy, 
Cambridge, I was able to get some of the specimens into very respectable shape, 
though the specimens have still fragments with them, and it requires time and 
patience to fully restore them. I believe they have been described by Prof. 
Cope under the name of Xerobates cyclopogius. ‘They are but little petrified, 
which is the case with all the Loup Fork fossils. I have always found that fos- 
sils partake largely of the characters of the rocks in which they are preserved. 
If it is hard and dry the specimens are well preserved and the breaks are usually 
angular and rarely mended. Specimens are generally well preserved in loose, 
dry sand, in chalk, and in hard clay concretions. ‘The older the formation the 
more perfect is the petrifaction. In some cases the bone is entirely replaced by 
silica. Where the matrix is largely composed of clay it cracks and crumbles on 
exposure to the atmosphere and it is very difficult to save the specimens unless 
they are preserved in concretions impregnated with iron. In recent formations, 
unless the bones are perfectly dry, they usually crumble easily, and it is hard to 
mend the fragments, the cement used is apt to tear loose and take part of the 
bone (especially spongy bone) with it. Further, if any fragments have been left 
in the field the difficulties of restoring the specimen are greatly augmented. 

One trouble the explorer meets with in northwestern Kansas is from the fact 
that so few fossil beds are exposed, the slopes of the hills are so gradual that the 
greater part of the country is covered with grass and soil. The south sides of 
streams are the ones usually denuded. I suppose this is because the streams, 
flowing as they do in a northeasterly direction, cut the southern sides, and in ad- 
dition the higher bluffs protect that side from the south wind and the sun so that 
snow and moisture remain there longer, giving Jack Frost a chance to break off 
great masses of rock which, rolling down the bluffs, cover their sides and prevent 
the growth of grass to some extent. On the southern sides of the Sappa and 
Beaver Creek are often seen bluffs a hundred feet or more*in’-height with: bold 
escarpments rising one above the other, while between them are beds slanting 
backward of the soft fossiliferous marls. Where the marls are perpendicular caves 
are often cut in them by rain finding a crevice in the hard cap above, to Se 
through and wash away the softer rock. 

In one of these caves Mr. Wright of my party found where an Indian had 
been buried and took away a few glass beads. He found it rather dangerous 
work getting down from the over-hanging rocks into the mouth of the cave and 
still harder to get back again. I believe I may take to myself the credit of being 
the first to explore these beds in northwest Kansas. For, though collections of 
mammalian bones had been found by Profs. Marsh, Mudge and others in the con- 


208 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


glomerate beds lying above the chalk along the Saline and Smoky Hill, thus in- 
dicating what would likely be the result of an exploration in these beds, those 
gentlemen were too much interested in the Niobrara reptiles and birds to spare 
the time for extended explorations in a formation where at best it was uncertain 
whether any very valuable or new material would be found. While exploring 
the Niobrara of the Smoky Hill in 1877 an old-time hunter named Abernathy 
(who was kiJled by the Indians on the Sappa in 1878) told me of a large masto- 
don skull that he had seen projecting from a ledge of rocks on Sappa Creek. I 
had little faith at first in what he told me, but at last becoming more convinced 
by his oft repeated assertions I followed his lead, and after traveling seventy-five 
miles I found by his directions the mastodon skull, which proved to be a large 
land turtle shell. I remained sometime and collected eighty land and fresh water 
turtles, besides some valuable bones of mammals, which are in the hands of Prof. 
E. D. Cope, of Philadelphia. 


JIC Ia Ad OIL OIG. 


INDIAN PICTOGRAPHS IN MISSOURI. 
CHAS. TEUBNER, JEFFERSON CITY, MO. 


During a visit to Columbia, Boone Co., Mo., last fall, I learned that the 
bluffs on the Missouri River below Rocheport, which is situated in the extreme 
southwest corner of the same county, contained a number of pictures painted in 
red on the face of the cliffs, the supposed work of Indians. Trustworthy inform- 
ants assured me that these figures were known to the oldest inhabitants, and I 
found several who saw them thirty five or forty years ago. Lately, in passing 
through Rocheport, I concluded to take a look at them, and therefore made my way 
to the farm of Mr. L. Torbett, about four miles east of Rocheport, where, as I 
was informed, they were located. Mr. Torbett’s farm also contains eight or nine 
mounds, some of large size. His house is built on one of them, the smokehouse. 
on another, and there are two more in the rear and to the right of the house. 
The site of the house is a commanding one, and affords a fine view of the sur- 
rounding country, while at the same time the neat cottage, with its sloping lawn 
dotted over with stately forest trees and the green mounds in close proximity to 
the house, present a pleasing appearance from tne road. 

Receiving a hearty welcome from Mr. Torbett and his excellent wife, and 
after refreshing the inner man with a substantial dinner, I was supplied with a 
guide in the person of L. Torbett, Jr., a bright little lad, and together we wended 
our way eastward from the house, hundred yards or more, and then turned south 
through a small corn field, at the edge of which a short path led down a steep 


209 


INDIAN PICTOGRAPHS IN MISSOURI. 


| On GHnoé¢D 


[1 Ofy Gnosg, 


210 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ravine, densely overgrown with trees and vines, from which we soon emerged to 
_find ourselves on the banks of the great turbid river. Following the banks a 
distance of one hundred yards down stream we came upon a spring, which made 
its appearance some thirty feet above the surface of the river, at the head of the 
alluvial and cliff deposit, lying in a steep slant against the cliffs. Coming out of 
a cave-like opening, it rushes in a series of zigzag leaps over moss-covered rocks 
into the river. The volume of water is large enough to drive a good sized flour- 
ing mill. The face of the cliff from the outlet of this spring extends upward near- 
ly one hundred feet, the top overhanging six or eight feet, giving the whole a 
concave appearance, which accounts for the preservation of the pictographs. At 
the height of forty-five feet, immediately over the spring, is the largest group of 
pictographs (No. I). About five feet beneath the figures a narrow ledge extends 
along the cliff which served as a foothold for the artists. The ledge is accessible 
from points east and west of the pictographs, but it requires a person of no ordi- 
nary nerve to climb up to it. 

The relative position of the figures in group 1 corresponds with those on the 
cliff. 

This group seems to indicate the record of some important event, as the hu- 
man figures express wonder, though the other figures are such as to leave one in 
doubt as to their significance. Commencing at the west end of group 1 we come 
to Fig. 1, of oval shape, 8x1o inches in diameter, surrounded by Fig. 2, a semi- 
circle, which measures 14 inches across the ends, and is 2 inches wide. Fig. 3 
somewhat resembling an Australian boomerang, measures 15 inches across the 
end and is one and one-half inches wide near the angle; the dot above it meas- 
ures a little more than an inch; Fig. 4, length 13 inches; Fig. 5, length 25 inches; 
Fig. 6, diam. 4 inches; Fig. 7, length 6 inches; Fig. 8, diam. of circles 4 inches, 
distance apart 8 inches; Figs. 9 and 10, diameter 2% inches, 6 inches apart. 
There are several more figures to the right of and belonging to this group, but 
they were grown over with American ivy (Ampelopsis Quinquefolia) to such an 
extent that I found it useless to try to sketch them. 

A few rods west we find group No. II at about the same altitude containing 
two very striking figures. Fig. 11 is very distinct, about 7 feet above a ledge 
easy of access, and measures 13 inches each way. Fig. 12 represents a man, 
with an ornamental head dress and frog-like extremities, also expressing surprise. 
Some 300 yards up the river group No. III is located, with three more figures, 
one being nearly obliterated ; of the remaining two, Fig. 13 is a good representa- 
tion of a turkey almost life size. The other, Fig. 14, is a circle of 16 inches in 
diameter. These last figures are fifteen to twenty feet above any foot-hold, and 
could not have been reached without the aid of a ladder. The paint used was 
the so-called ‘‘keel,’’ which had been ground up and mixed with water or fat, 
and applied with the fingers, or a rude brush. 


ANCIENT REMAINS 1N MARION COUNTY, KANSAS. 211 


ANCIENT REMAINS IN MARION COUNTY, KANSAS. 
MELVIN O. BILLINGS. 


Marion, Kansas, is situated on the northwest quarter of Section five, Town- 
ship twenty, Range four, east of the sixth principal meridian, near the confluence 
of the Cottonwood River and Muddy Creek, a portion being in the valley be- 
tween the streams and a portion on the hill east of the Muddy. 

That this was at some time a far more densely populated city, is evidenced 
by the fact that in excavating almost every well, cellar or cistern, relics of an 
ancient inhabitancy are found and we are honoring this ‘‘ Buried Race” by 
building our prominent buildings, churches, schoolhouses and best residences, 
near and over their principal monuments, their mounds. The relics of aboriginal 
inhabitancy may be divided into three classes, Mound-Builders, Crematers and 
Modern Indians. Of the first class only it is our intention now to write. 

The mounds from which we denominate this class ‘‘ Mound-Builders” are 
situated on high ground around the junctions of streams adjacent, in irregular 
groups averaging eight mounds to the group. Inside of three miles each way 
from Marion there are five of these groups. These mounds measure from ten to 
sixty feet in diameter and from one to three and one-half feet in height. In none 
so far examined have been found human remains. ‘The larger ones consist of 
earth, stones, pebbles, broken implements and utensils of all kinds, shells and 
scraps of bone, all of which seem to indicate that they are only heaps of kitchen 
scraps and camp debris. The smaller mounds seem to be the remains of adobe 
huts or wigwams, mostly of clay which bear the appearance of having been partly 
burned; in these are found ashes, charcoal, broken pottery and a few broken 
bones, but they do not contain the profusion of articles which the large ones do. 
Some of these small mounds, after being subject to the plow and weather, are 
covered with flint chippings and and broken flint implements, showing that they 
were the workshops of arrow makers or the place where the refuse of this charac- 
ter alone was deposited. All mounds contain more or less shells, quartz, pebbles, 
concretions and peculiar little stones that to-day would interest a boy as being 
‘‘funny.”? ‘The small mounds are circular while the large ones have on the south- 
east side a spur about one-fifth the size of the mound. This is not the exception 
but the rule. As to the use of these large mounds with their spurs we have no 
theory. We are simply stating the facts as they are. 

The fire beds, so named for want of evidence of their being graves, are relics 
of the same people, which is clearly proven by their contents being identical. 
One of these beds is described by Judge West in this Review, No. 2, Vol. IV. 
Another found three-quarters of a mile above the junction of the Cottonwood 
and Muddy Creeks, on the creek bank exposed by gullying, is of the same 
shape as the one described by the Judge, z. ¢., conical, and measured in depth six 


212 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SC/ENCE. 


feet— width, where clay and soil meet, three feet nine inches: from bottom to 
where clay and soil meet, three feet—width, at bottom, five feet one inch; con- 
tents: flint chips, broken pottery, worked bone, shells, pebbles, ashes, charcoal 
and a fine arrow point, the only whole instrument found. 

Other remains of these people are found in cellars, wells and cisterns as be- 
for stated. These are not graves, as no human bones are found therein. They 
are small masses of debris from camp, apparently, with occasionally broken im- 
plements and rarely whole ones. In excavating a cellar in Marion east of Muddy, 
at a depth of two and one-half feet one of these ‘‘places” was found. About 
thirty five feet west in digging a kitchen foundation, at a depth of ten inches 
another was found; both containing broken pottery, flints, etc., and the first 
charred corn. In digging a cistern between the kitchen foundation trenches and 
at a depth of eleven inches red clay was struck, which had no appearance of 
having been disturbed. ‘Twenty-six inches of this undisturbed clay was gone 
through when a darker clay of the same quality was found, also undisturbed to a 
depth of twenty-eight inches, when a few bits of charcoal and a small amount of 
ashes were found. This was followed twelve inches, where upon a bed of ashes 
were found a rub-stone, a fine flint knife, some fragments of pottery, a beaver’s 
tooth and a peculiar stone tablet. 

Taking these and the ashes away they were found to have been in a bowl 

* artificially hollowed from the natural limestone formation. Depth of bowl, bed 
of ashes and relics, nine inches; making a total distance from surface to bottom 
of bowl, seven feet two inches. 


THE TABLET OF THE CROSS. 
F. F. HILDER. 


In the July number of the REviEw which I have just received there is an 
article by Mr, Warren Watson on ‘‘ The Tablet of the Cross,” which contains 
some errors that 1 am tempted to reply to. ‘The purpose of the article appears 
to be a criticism on the value of Prof. E. S. Holden’s researches in the extremely 
interesting field of ‘‘ The Hieroglyphics of Central America,’’ which that gentle- 
man has been pursuing with commendable earnestness and with promising results. 
The critic refers to an article on the subject written by Prof. Holden which ap- 
peared in the Century Magazine for December, 1881. He says: ‘‘In the article 
referred to Mr. Edward S. Holden gives the result of his researches in this field, 
with so much ec/a¢ that the reader is almost ready to admit his claim as discover- 
er of a clue to the difficult problem. This clue is the result of the study of a 
segment of hieroglyphs from the celebrated ‘‘ Tablet of the Cross” at Palenque, 
and this being the fact a grave doubt arises as to the value of his discovery.” 

Mr. Watson then refers to Stephens’ well known work and quotes from it, 
that the right or east slab of the three which formed the tablet ‘‘is broken, and. 
unfortunately altogether destroyed.”’ 


HIB, UBUSLIGH: OUR WiEls, (GIROSS, 213 


He also states that Prof. Holden gives a cut of the entire tablet, the east 
portion bearing the signature of C. F. Trill, calls the cut a piece of patchwork 
and says it forces him to seek the source of Mr. Trill’s drawings in the works of 
earlier explorers. 

I can assure Mr. Watson that he need not seek so far for it, and that he has 
wasted considerable Jabor in making a list of such early explorers, as he can see 
the veritable missing east or right stone of the Palenque tablet by traveling to 
Washington, D. C., where it is safely deposited in the National Museum, also 
that Prof. Holden did not use in that part of his work the drawings of either ear- 
lier or later explorers, but had the stone itself under his inspection, with a pho- 
tograph of it for use in the study. 

Further on Mr. Watson says ‘‘ other drawings are said to exist in various 
Spanish, Mexican, and Central American collections; but none, other than those 
mentioned, have been given to the world in any publication accessible to stu- 
Glemicseu, 

This statement is certainly erroneous, as a very excellent work on the ‘‘ Pal- 
enque Tablet,” written by Prof. Chas. Rau, was published by the Smithsonian 
Institution in 1879, in which is given a very fine illustration of the whole tablet 
as restored, and a photograph of the east or right slab taken from the stone 
itself. 

To this book I beg to refer Mr. Watson for a full history of the whole tablet 
and an account of the manner in which the right or east slab reached the Nation- 
al Museum, where it has been since 1858. I also refer him to the “‘ First Annual 
Report of the Bureau of Ethnology 1879-80,” published at Washington, D. C., 
1881, in which Prof. Holden givesa very full and lucid account of his labors and 
the sources from which he obtained the necessary data. I think that before Mr. 
Watson attempted to criticise work done by such a thorough scholar as Prof. 
Holden he should have made himself more thoroughly acquainted with the cur- 
rent literature on the subject. 


LEE TABE ET OE DAE GROSS: 
PROF. OTIS T. MASON, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


EDITOR OF THE Kansas City REVIEW: 


Dear Sir,—A short article in the July number of the Review affords me the 
opportunity of renewing our acquaintance too long neglected. I have had the 
pleasure of reading Professor Holden’s article in the Century Magazine; but, if he 
is correctly and fully reported by Mr. Warren Watson, he has done great injust- 
ice to the Smithsonian Institution, to Dr. Charles Rau, and to the talented artist 
Nie Cae. Trill. 

In 1879, the Smithsonian Institution issued No. 331 of its Contributions to. 


Knowledge, entitled ‘‘ The Palenque Tablet in the United States National Mus-. 
Vi—14 


214 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


eum, Washington, D. C., by Charles Rau.’?’ Among the many useful illustra- 
tions in that volume is a reconstruction of the Palenque Group by Mr. Trill, done 
under the eye and by the direction of Dr. Rau. From this restoration, doubtless, 
Professor Holden has drawn his material. 

Now for the ‘‘ east inscription, joined to Mr. Catherwood’s in a clumsy fash- 
ion.” I will quote from Dr. Rau: ‘‘ Among the objects of archzeological inter- 
est transferred to the Smithsonian Institution, in 1858, from the United States 
Patent Office, were several fragments composing a large rectangular stone slab, 
covered with glyphic designs in bas-relief, which had been presented to the 
National Institute by Mr. Charles Russell, Consul of the United States at Lajuna, 
on the Island of Carmen, State of Campeche, Mexico. The fragments had been 

‘obtained at Palenque, and reached Washington in 1842, a * Eo 
The National Institute received at the same time a letter from Mr. Russell, dated 
Lajuna, March 18, 1842, in which he stated he had sent to the National Institute 
per ship ‘‘ Eliza and Susan,” fragments of a tablet from the ruins of Palenque, 
and by the ‘‘ Gil Blas” other pieces of the same tablet which made it complete ” 

Mr. Titian R. Peale asseris that the pieces exactly fitted, and had a cast 
made of them in 1848, for Baron von Gerolt, Prussian Minister, by Clark Mills. 
In 1863, Professor Henry charged Dr. George A. Matile to make a new mould, 
in order to obtain a perfect cast. While thus engaged, Dr. Matile recognized 
the Smithsonian tablet as one of the three stone slabs which, placed together, 
bore on their surface the sculpture of the famous Group of the Cross. as ote 
*  . The middle slab and that originally joining it on the left have been des- 
cribed and figured by late explorers, but the one which completed the sculptured 
group, and is now preserved in the Smithsonian building, probably was already 
broken into fragments before 1832, when Waldeck explored the ruins of Palenque. 

Stephens, who was there eight years afterward, certainly noticed its scattered 
pieces. It has not, therefore, been represented by either of them; but Del Rio 
and Dupaix, to whom we are indebted for the earliest reports on the ruins of Pa- 
lenque still saw it in its proper place.” I shall not follow all the incidents in the 
history of the slab. Dr. Valentini, in 1873, on receipt of a photograph, redis- 
covered the fact that the Smithsonian slab completed the Group of the Cross, 
never having heard of Dr. Matile. Finally Dr. Rau conceived the idea and exe- 
cuted it in 1879, of presenting the celebrated bas-relief in its original complete- 
ness. 

Dr. Rau in his succeeding chapters discusses Explorations of Palenque, the 
Temple of the Cross, the Group of the Cross, Aboriginal writings in Mexico, Yuca- 
tan, and Central America, and closes with notes on the ruins of Yucatan and 
Central America. Finally the work is published under the acknowledgement of 
5) be Elaven) and ‘el. Hi. Bancroft: 

I would say, in conclusion, that I watched Mr. Trill, day after day, carefully 
bring out his drawing, and so far from exhibiting any clumsiness, I think it was 
the one thing needful to justify the ingenious conceptions of Dr. Matile and Dr. 
Valentini. 


PENALOZA’S EXPEDITION TO QUIVIRA. 215 


Dr. Rau’s work has been translated into other languages, notably into Span- 
ish, by the Museo Nacional de Mexico, together with a fac-simile of Trill’s re- 


production. 
Note.—We have also received notes from Dr, Rau and Prof, F. W. Putnam confirming the above.—[Ep. 
REVIEW. 


ELL STOIC ANE, INIA aS). 


PENALOZA’S EXPEDITION TO QUIVIRA. 
JOHN P. JONES. 


The recent publication of a translation from the Spanish, with notes, of 
Father Freytas’ narrative of Penaloza’s expedition from Santa Fe, to the rivers 
Mischipi and Quivirai n 1662,* has added new material to the history of the val- 
ley of the Missouri, and renewed the oft discussed question as to the location 
of Quivira. 

Among the subjects for investigation, especially interesting to the students of 
history who are investigating that of the Missouri Valley, which this narrative 
suggests are the following: Did the expedition reach the Mississippi River? If 
so, at what point? Was the Quivira of Coronado the same as that of Penaloza, 
and did both expeditions reach the same locality? Did the Province of Quivira 
lie east of the Missouri River? Who were the people of Quivira, and what In- 
dians are referred to as Escanxaques? How did the word Quivira originate ? 

As to the point reached by the expedition, the translator of the narrative 
says in a note to the writer of this article, that he makes a conjecture, and hopes 
the Missouri antiquarians will be able to determine it. His conjecture is as fol- 
lows: ‘‘The short distance advanced along the river after the bend and the fact 
‘that the town was on a river entering the Missouri from the east seems tc 
‘point to the rich lands on the Platte. The high ridge would be the line of bluffs 
‘enclosing the bottom lands along the Missouri.” 

It is possible this conjecture is right, but there are difficulties in the way of 
endorsing it as the true solution of the problem. The expedition consisted of 
eighty soldiers with officers, and one thousand Indians, well armed and equipped 
for peace and war, with a train of thirty-six carts well provided with provisions 
and munitions, a large coach, a litter, two portable chairs, six three-pounders, 
eleven hundred horses and mules. If weare to believe that the narrator has truly 
stated the magnitude of the Penaloza’s force and accompanying train, we are 
bound to assume that a journey from Santa Fe to the junction of the Platte and 
Missouri, would be one of serious difficulty for it to accomplish in the spring of 
the year, when the rivers on the route would be swollen with their annual snow- 


* The expedition of Don Diego Diunisio De Penaloza, governor of New Mexico, from Santa Fe to the 
Mischipi in 1662, as described by Father Nicholas de Freytas, etc., by John Gilmary Shea, New York, 1882. 


> 


216 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


flows. None are mentioned however, and the journey is described as one of 
pleasure and delight. Their route lay eastward for two hundred leagues, through 
pleasing, peaceful and most fertile fields, without hill or range, which finally 
ended at a very high and insuperable ridge, near the sea, eight leagues beyond 
the great city of Quivira. Through these pleasant and most fertile fields we 
marched, says Father Freytas, during the months of March, April, May and the 
kalends of June, and arrived at a large river which they call Mischipi, where we 
saw the first Indians of the Escanxaques nation. 

If the expedition had really arrived at the Mississippi, it would be another 
link in the accumulating evidence, which is tending to show that the river was 
quite well known before LaSalle explored it, but that they were far from reaching 
it, we believe the narrative itself shows. The Spaniards probably knew by report 
that there was a large river called Mississippi, running north and south two or 
three hundred leagues east of Santa Fe, and consequently were prepared, after 
traveling as far as they had, to call the first great river they came to by that 
name. By holding a course eastward from Santa Fe they had probably rambled 
among the tributaries of the Arkansas, until they reached the parent stem, not far 
from where the Verdigris and its several branches enter from the north and east. 
That it was the Arkansas rather than the Mississippi or Missouri, several state- 
ments in the narrative tend to prove. 

The most positive that can be quoted is probably that in which the narrator 
says they forded it in the night. After having been joined by the Escanxaques 
who numbered 3,000 warriors (probably 300) they marched along the river for 
two days and camped opposite the city of Quivira. During the night the Escan- 
xaques slipped off and attacked the city, upon learning which Don Diego ordered 
the army to cross the river which they did by fording. That this could not take 
place on the Mississippi, nor on the Missouri near the mouth of the Platte in the 
month of June, I think no one will deny, while it might have taken place on the 
Arkansas. 

The palatable plums and large, fine grapes ot extremely good flavor, are 
fruit much more likely to be found south of the Arkansas in early summer than 
in the vicinity of the Platte, while the planting of their fields twice a year as men- - 
tioned by Father Freytas, their houses of cane covered with straw, their gifts of 
Indian corn, beans and pumpkins, all indicate a climate like the region of the 
Arkansas River in the month of June, rather than the Platte. The very high 
and insuperable ridge, which ran along the right side of the city toward the north, 
might have been one of the hill ranges of the Ozark mountains. The very deep 
rivers of Quivira which the Father describes as suitable to run canals for irrigation 
are more likely to be found in some of the branches of the Arkansas with their 
deep cafions, than in the broad but shallow streams-of the more northern prairies. 

Dr. Shea quotes Father Escalante, a missionary explorer of the last century 
as expressing the belief that Quivira was the country of the Pawnees. This view 
is not inconsistent with the theory that Penaloza’s expedition found the province 
on the waters of the Arkansas. To the Spaniards, Quivira was the unknown 


PENALOZA’S EXPEDITION TO QUIVARA. 217 


country, to be sought after by exploring expeditions, and if we accept the theory 
that the expedition of Coronado in 1542 found it near the 4oth degree of latitude, 
it does not follow that Penaloza, one hundred and twenty years later, found it in 
the same locality. There is nothing to warrant the belief that any special coun- 
try, located with boundaries, had ever received the designation of Quivira. It 
was the unknown, which lay beyond the country inhabited by the Indians that 
visited Santa Fe, and one locality was as likely to be so designated as another; 
but admit that it was the country of the Pawnees. Coronado describes the 
people inhabiting the villages which he visited, as living in huts of hides 
and willows, and says they changed their abode with the, buffalo. This 
is a correct description of the nomadic tribes of the Platte country, but does 
not agree with the customs of the people inhabiting the Quivira of Penaloza, yet I 
have no doubt that they were different branches of the same tribe. Mar- 
quette on his map of 1674 locates one village of the Pawnees southwest of the 
Arkansas and another south of the Missouri. DeLisle on his map of Mexico, 
1703, has the tribe located on two streams entering the Arkansas from the south. 
On his map of Louisiana, 1718, he has Pawnee villages scattered from the Arkan- 
sas in the south, to the region of the Platte in the north. Upon the advent of 
the French into the valley of the Mississippi the Pawnees were the frontier tribe, 
that is, they occupied the most advanced locations on the waters that flowed 
east to the lower Missouri and the Arkansas. One of their villages near the Ar- 
kansas was visited by M. Dutisne, of Kashaskia, in 1719. It containedone hun- 
dred and thirty cabins, was situated upon a hill shut in by a prairie, by the banks 
of a stream. From there, it was fifteen days journey to the Padoucas which 
tribe they fought to the death. There were other villages of Pawnees north and 
west of the one visited by M. Dutisne. 

From the views that I have expressed it will be seen that I do not believe 
that Penaloza reached the Mississippi, or that the Quivira of Penaloza was the 
same as that of Coronado, in other words that the former did not reach the vicini- 
ty of the Platte River, as conjectured by Dr. Shea. Also that the Quivira of 
Penaloza was not east of the Missouri River, but on the Arkansas. I do be- 
lieve the people of Quivira, found by Coronado and Penaloza both, were Paw- 
nees, and that the Escanxaques were the Padoucah’s of the French or Comanches 
of the Spaniards, though there is a suggestion of the Algonquin A-Kan Sea in 
Escanxaques. 


KEYTESVILLE, Mo., July 10, 1882. 


218 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


CABOT’S MAP OF THE WORLD. 
CAPT. E. L. BERTHOUD. 


(Zranslated from No, 251, June 12, 1552. of L’ Exploration.) 


Twenty years ago my learned and venerable friend Mr. Ferdinand Denis, 
my father and myself, had with a genuine geographical appetite of choice selec- 
tion, studied closely the great world map of the National Library. We had al- 
ready finished a commentary of it, when we resolved not to pass over one line of 
a very long ‘‘ Legend” which accompanies this map. Suddenly one of us cried 
out, a discovery! that is no longer doubtful. Effectively we read in the first col- 
umn on the left, Note 8, thus written: 


“¢This land was discovered by John Cabot, a Venetian, and Sebastian Cabot, 
his son, in the year of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, MCCCCXCIV (1494), 
the 24th day of June, at 5 o’clock in the morning. To this land has been given 
the name of ‘ First Land Seen,’ and to a big island near the said land, has been 
given the name of ‘Saint John,’ for having been discovered that same day. 


” 


Thus we see, only two years after the discovery of Columbus, in 1494, and 
not in 1497, that John and Sebastian Cabot, had reached ¢ervva firma at the north- 
east. extremity of the New World, not far from the Tierra de los Baccalaos (Land 
of codfish, New Foundland.) 

We did not make much of a fuss over our little discovery ; we did not think 
there was great glory in reading and interpreting a legend that many others could 
have known also. We, however, communicated our discovery to a savant of 
the French Institute, who a little less modest than ourselves, took the honor of 
the discovery upon himself. 

Sebastian Cabot’s map merits a more critical and deeper study. The date 
of its publication reaches back to the year 1544. The contour of South America 
is almost wholly shown, except a portion of Western Patagonia, and the south — 
shore of Tierra del Fuego, whose name is not indicated. The eastern shore of 
America is pretty well drawn; the western shore stops at California. 

The discoveries gathered up in the several expeditions of John and Sebastian 
Cabot are well indicated in this world chart, which was in course of preparation 
for many years, and which was given to the engraver only about 1541. 

The first expedition of Cabot (after several failures) dates thus: the 24th day 
of June, 1494. The second one of 1497 was a 300 league cruise along the east 
coast of North America, that from the region first seen, ‘‘ Tierra Prima Vista ” 
in the first voyage, to the end of that sea ‘‘ Mar descubierta par Yngleses”’ whose 
littoral was not landed upon. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSOURI AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS, 219 


The third expedition due exclusively to Sebastian Cabot, mentions the en- 
counter of icebergs in Lat. 56° to 58° North, in the month of July, 1498, then a 
landing afterward on New Foundland. 

The fourth voyage, undertaken by Sebastian Cabot alone, mentions his reach- 
ing the Latitude of 67° 30’ N. on the date of June 11, 1517, probably in Baffins 
Bay? 


RICHARD CORTAMBERT, 
Librarian of the National Library, Paris. 


Nore. — Capt. Berthoud informs us that he owns Sebastian Cabot’s map 
with the ‘‘ Phrima Vista Land” marked upon it.—[Ep. REviEw. 


ENGINEERING AND MINING. 


THE IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSOURI AND MISSISSIPPI 
RIVERS. 


HON. Re T. VAN HORN, M. C. 


(Extracts from Speech delivered in the House, June 15, 1882.) 


*K *k *k * * *k ok *k 


The problem of the improvement of the navigation of the great rivers of the 
United States is one involving elements as various as the character of the rivers them- 
selves. What is suited to one is not adapted to another, and the obstacles in one 
differ from those in another. For example, let us take the Mississippi and its two 
great tributaries—the Missouri and the Ohio. What is adapted for the Missouri 
is not applicable to the Upper Mississippi and the Ohio. And when I refer to 
“¢ Upper Mississippi” I mean above the mouth of the Ohio, and the ‘‘ Lower 
Mississippi’ that portion below that point. And what is practicable for the Up- 
per Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Ohio is not so for the Lower Mississippi. 
In the former the difficulty is not enough water for continuous and permanent 
navigation ; in the lower river there is too much water. 

The different methods demanded is from the differing characters of the rivers. 
In the Ohio and Upper Mississippi the beds of the rivers are rocky and gravelly 
the shoal places being unchangeable from that fact. The problem is to remove 
these rocky and gravelly shoals and to concentrate the water of the river in de- 
fined and permanent channels. The banks, too, are permanent, owing to the 
tenacity of the soil, and but little subject to abrasion. This is demonstrated in 
the navigation of those rivers by the fact that pilots run their boats by landmarks 
from year to year; while in the Missouri they run by the surface indications and 
bends of the river, landmarks being unknown. The Missouri, from the Yellow- 


220 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


stone to the mouth, is an inclined plane of sand, not a rock or gravel shoal in 
the entire distance, nor a rapid. Its banks are for the entire distance alluvial 
and are abraded with the smallest force of current and rapidly dissolved. The 
problem, from this fact, is not to deepen the channel by removing bats, rocks, or 
deepening shoals after the method in the other rivers, but to prevent abrasion 
and confine the waters at given points to a narrower channel, when it deepens 
itself. 4 

It is not my purpose to be tedious as to the characteristics of the river, only 
to state them broadly, so as to show the methods to be employed. The same 
plan of appropriations that is employed in the Ohio and Upper Mississippi, is not, 
for this reason, applicable to the Missouri. In the former given points are selected 
and appropriations made foreach. The same plan has been adopted heretofore 
in the Missouri, and no good results have followed. The present bill is the first 
that recognized the true method, and I take this occasion to thank the Committee 
on Commerce for its wise and statesmanlike action. The appropriation isin bulk, 
to be applied continuously, so as each year to complete a section of the river in a 
permanent manner. 

Allow me, Mr. Chairman, to briefly sketch the character of the Missouri 
River. From its sandy bed and the alluvial character of great valley through 
which it flows its course is serpentine, from bluff to bluff. When the current 
strikes a bluff, where it meets the rocky barriers that underlie all the bluff forma- 
tions of that valley, it shoots off by a sharp curve across the alluvial bottom-lands 
until it impinges on the opposite bluff, to repeat the same indefinitely. 

Now, the fact is, that where the river washes the base of a bluff it is narrow 
and deep, with abundance of water in the channel for the heaviest transportation 
possible to the business to be done. But when it leaves a bluff to cross the bot- 
tom to another bluff, by the abrasion of the banks it is widened, sometimes from 
1,200 to 1,500 feet under the bluff toa mile anda half on bottoms. The enlarge- 
ment of the channel retards the current, creates eddies by the friction interposed 
by the shoaling process, precipitating the sand and soil held in suspension, and 
bars and shallows are the result. It is a curious fact that this law of the river re- 
sults in giving to the river one general feature that characterizes its centre course. 
This is a succession of pools along the bluffs, with shallower channels connecting 
these pools, the pools overlapping, or extending uniformly above the point of con- 
nection with the cross channels. 

Now, the problem is to*prevent the excessive widening of these cross-chan- 
nels, or to confine the abrasion within limits that will produce a depth of channel 
adequate to the demands of navigation. For example: If the pools have at 
low water a depth of 20 to 30 feet, as they have as a rule, with a width of 1,500 
feet, by confining the cross channel of a mile or a mile and a half with four feet 
of water to half a mile, we have a channel of 12 feet—the problem is solved. I 
use these figures as comparative. 


IMPROVEMENT OF THE MISSOURI AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS. 221 


Now, can this be done? The engineering skill of the country says it can, 
and the practical experience and observation of river men agree with the en- 
gineers. In fact they see it done in detail every year. 

The real facts whichcall for theimprovement of the river arise from the irreg- 
ular operation of the same principle. If the snags, steamboat wrecks, and other 
obstructions in the channel of the Missouri had been methodically deposited they 
would have solved the problem long ago, and to-day we would have had deep 
and permanent navigation in the river. ‘That this is not overstating the case 
scores of examples exist along its course where a lodged tree or a sunken boat 
has radically changed the course and character of the river for miles, in instances 
improving the navigation of the river exactly as the engineers now propose to do, 
but when the elements were adverse, carrying destruction and devastation in 
their wake. In fact it is the accumulated evidence afforded by these accidental 
obstructions upon which the engineers have based their p an of improvement. 

There is only one thing to doto prevent the unnecessary washing of the banks 
at these points of crossing referred to, and the river will take care of itself. If the 
banks of Missouri were of the character of those of the Ohio, with its bed of sand, 
it would have always been the finest navigable river of the continent. Facts ex- 
ist all along its course for a thousand miles that demonstrate that even its deér7s, 
where lodged favorably by accident, has done just what it is proposed to do under 
this appropriation. I cannot state it more simply or more forcibly than by say- 
ing that it is proposed to follow the example of the river itself in these improve- 
ments. There are places in the river to-day that if the snags in one bend were 
deposited systematically along a few hundred feet of cross channel, boats for fifty 
miles would find at all seasons a depth of water ample for all purposes of naviga- 
tion. 

I think I have stated the elements of the problem involved in the improve- 
ment of the Missouri River sufficiently broadly to give the h use an idea of the 
plan, and why the appropriation asked for has been given in bulk to be expend- 
ed, not in removing bars, rocks or shoals from the channel, but in controlling 
the vagaries of the current or the waters, and allow them to do at exceptional 
points exactly what they do in the general channel of the river. There is not a 
single feature of the river proper to be changed, no interference with its Jaws or 
any of its peculiar characteristics. It simply is proposed to leave it as nature 
would have it if its banks had been less alluvial or capable of a little more resist- 
ance to the abrading force of its waters. 

The problem, as an engineering one, is based upon the true principle of aid- 
ing nature, rather than resisting her forces. It is proposed to let the river take 
care of its own improvement. Its waters are the force employed. It is not pro- 
posed to provide new banks or confine its waters within mud walls—only to con- 
-centrate at the exceptional points its waters, that the volume may as elsewhere 
deepen their own channel. 

* * * * 2 a 


222 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


I now come to the second problem in the great river system—the Lower 
Mississippi. I favor the amendment providing for an outlet, and regret that the 
committee have not incorporated it in their bill. 

I regret also, Mr. Speaker, that this question has been allowed to drift into 
an antagonism that demands the sacrifice of one or the other plan. There is no 
necessity for this, but on the contrary there is every reason why both should go: 
together. 

I have shown that the problem of the upper river was too little water; that 
of the lower is too much water. Is it not a common-sense proposition that you 
cannot treat these two problems by the one method? In the one case you have 
to control the water within the river banks so as to provide at shoal places a 
deeper channel. In the other it is to get the superabuncant waters within the 
river banks. Will the plan of the one answer for the other? It is simply impos- 
sible, because the trouble is in the two cases directly opposite in character. 

*k * * *K *K *k 

We know that the money already appropriated has not been expended be- 
cause the flood-waters have been in the way. Now, we contend that if the river 
had had more discharging capacity the waters would have been within the 
banks and that money have been expended for the use intended. And why not 
open more discharging capacity? What is the cause of the overflows of the 
Lower Mississippi? It is, stating it broadly, because the mouths of the river are 
not big enough. This fact comes from two causes, the slow current near the 
sea, and the consequent precipitation of sand and mud held in suspension. 
These causes result in narrowing the channel as it approaches the sea. The fact 
that by actual measurement the inflow at average floods at Cairo is 1,475,000 
cubic feet of water per second, and that after receiving the waters of all rivers 
below, the flow at New Orleans is only 1,100,000 cubic feet per second, tells the 
story of the disastrous annual overflows. This surplus water must go somewhere, 
and the only place for it is to overflow the adjacent country. To confine this. 
immense flood within artificial walls, built of the mud the river takes up and car- 
ries down to choke up its own discharge, is, I submit, one of those stupendous 
follies which sometimes fascinate men merely from the fact of their magnitude 
and from the vast sums of money involved. 

That new mouths will draw off the water just in ratio with their capacity is. 
as plain a propositton as that a barrel of water will be depleted by opening the 
bung-hole. The river below New Orleans, with a fall of one and one-half inches 
to the mile, has a flow of six feet in a second. The proposed Lake Borgne out- 
let, with a fall of two and three-fifths feet to the mile, would have a correspond- 
ing increase of current and consequent discharging capacity. But only calculat- 
ing the flow at ten feet per second, with a width of one mile and ten feet deep, 
its discharge would be 528,210 cubic feet of water per second, or one-third of the 
whole inflow at Cairo. But the current would be more than twenty feet per sec- 
ond, or a capacity nearly equal to the whole river at Cairo. The mere statement 


TMPROVEMENT Of THE MISSOURI! AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS. 223 


of the figures shows the ample character of the proposed outlet for the drainage 
of the highest floed ever known. 

Why then is this self evident plan opposed? It is upon the assumption that 
if you Jet the water out through these new mouths the channel will be shoaled. 
No other objection having any practical bearing can be made, or can be urged to 
stand a moment, in view of the difference in cost—the outlet being estimated at 
$250,000, the other plan at $50,000,000. Is the objection a valid one? 

I contend that it is not only without support in fact, but is based upon a false 
assumption as to what the outlet plan is. These outlets only propose to drain 
the flood-waters, not to make new river channels. When the river is within its 
banks now, navigation is just as desired. All the outlets propose is to keep the 
water from overflowing the banks. How, then, when the river is within its banks, 
or bank-full, in October, and at its maximum excellence for navigation, can it be 
destructive to navigation when in precisely the same condition, in March or 
July? That is all the outlets propose to do—to keep the river at this maximum 
at all seasons. They are not deep enough, and cannot be made deep enough, to 
affect the normal channel of the river, or the quantity of water in it. Or in other 
words, the channel of the outlet is ten feet deep, while the river channel at the 
outlet is 100 feet deep. How is this outlet to drain the river dry, or shoal it ? 

- It simply draws off the flood-waters, leaving the normal channel unaffected. But 
we are not left to theory. The United States topographical engineers by measure- 
ment at crevasses have demonstrated that the operation of these openings actual- 
ly deepens the channel below tlie point of outlet. And this is exactly what is 
claimed for its effect—that the river confined within its banks by its increased 
current deepens its channel. ; 

It is upon this theory that the Missouri River improvement is based, and I 
am not illogical enough to deny the operation of the same law in the Lower Mis- 
sissipp1 that obtains in the Missouri. But it is upon this very fact that the im- 
provement of the navigation of the Lower Mississippi is based. It is claimed at 
points where bars interfere, that by works which will confine the waters to lesser 
space the channel will be deepened. Now, if the water confined to the normal 
width of the channel on a bar deepens the water, why not the channel be deep- 
ened and improved when the whole river is confined within its banks? The 
statement is the answer. It is the object of all our appropriations, of all our sur- 
veys, of all our plans, to keep the river within its banks, natural or artificial. 
If, as is contended, when we build the banks higher in order to confine the water, 
it will deepen the channel, will not the same effect result if the waters are confin- 
ed within the natural banks? It needs no argument; its demonstration is a fact 
known to every practical navigator of the great rivers of the West. 

* ok * * *K *s 

I beg the House to remember one fact, that the advocates of the outlet sys- 
tem have only assumed one thing—the mere cost of making it. Every other fact 
connected with it is from the highest engineering authority ever known in this 
country; is copied from the official report of the board of engineers of the Army 


224 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


of surveys and investigations made under the authority of Congress during a pro- 
tracted period of ten years, embracing everything connected with the river at 
high and low water, as to levees and embankments, navigation, currents, the 
bed of the river, its floods, and all phenomena. We assume nothing; we have 
no theories, no experiments, no hypotheses; simply the fact that water runs down 
hill, that it is not compressible; these re-inforced as to results by ascertained facts 
by the most thoroughly applied scientific methods. 

And what is the plan here proposed? Let me state it simply. As now, the 
river has below New Orleans a current that moves over a bed with a fall of one 
and one-half inches per mile. The distance is 120 miles. Ten miles below New 
Orleans the Gulf of Mexico approaches to within five miles of the Mississippi by 
an arm known as Lake Borgne. ‘The river thus reaches the Gulf level at a 
point 110 miles less than now, or in five miles we reach the same level that the 
river now does in 110 miles. Gentlemen can discount the drainage capacity of 
thirteen feet fall in five miles in the one case, and the same fall in 110 miles as 
now, in the discharge of these surplus waters. That is all there is to the proposed 
Lake Borgne outlet. 

Now, the fact to be ascertained is, will it prevent overflow to be restrained 
or confined by artificial banks? The plan has been tried, and has failed. By 
both experience and theory it will require artificial banks to be constructed from 
four to ten feet high for a thousand miles. Is it practicable as to money cost? 
and if so, will it hold the water? Both must be answered in the negative. We 
have found that it is difficult to confine even canal waters by artificial banks. 
How, then, the mighty floods of the Mississippi P 

Again, the experience of the ages is that just as you raise the banks of a river 
you decrease the force of its current, until, as in the case of the river Po, in Italy, 
the river bed is above the level of adjoining lands. ‘That river, after centuries of 
leveeing, now runs across the low lands on a ridge. But keeping a river 
within its natural banks deepens its channel, cutting out its bed to the proper 
angle of fall to the sea. It requires no science to know this; every washout in 
the farmer’s field illustrates and demonstrates it. The only question of a practi- 
cal nature in this connection is, can you get outlet enough? I have shown that 
you can. 

* *k * *k * * 

It has been shown by facts, in plain measured feet, that the proposed outlet 
cannot affect the river channel. Why not make it? It will be observed, Mr. 
Chairman, that these objections to the outlet are not made as formal engineering 
ones: they are the mere advocate arguments before the committee: there is an- 
other one used among members, but carefully kept from the record. This 
argument is that the outlet would injure the jetties. This is so new and novel 
that it is done in a whisper. The old soothsayers were said to laugh in each 
other’s faces when alone. The habit did not die with the soothsayers. 

Now, I can speak on this subject without fear of criticism, for from the be- 


' ZADVILLE AND VICINITY. 225 


ginning I favored the jetties, and have not changed. They do not need this dis- 
ingenuous argument, nor, even if they did, are they sacred or of more importance 
than the valley of the river. Let us look at this fora moment. It is shown that 
the river is a hundred feet deeper than the outlet at the point of junction. As the 
jetties are only twenty-four feet deep there is abundant water for them. We have 
shown that 1,100,000 cubic feet of water per second pass the point of the pro 
posed outlet. The same high engineering authority tells us that only 83,000 
cubic feet per second enters the pass in which the jetties are. So that there is all 
the jetty pass can carry and a million cubic feet to spare. No wonder this ob- 
jection passes by a breath and is carefully kept from paper. It is not discourt- 
eous to say the objection is not an honest one. !t either reflects upon the intelli- 
gence of the person to whom it is made, or upon the candor of the one who 
makes it. No friend of the jetties will put the objection on that ground, for it at 
once raises the question of good faith and of their utility. 

To set this objection at rest, let us refer to the facts upon which the jetty 
legislation was based and those alone upon which the annual drain for keep- 
ing them open is made upon the Treasury. The jetties are based upon the 
simple fact that water is incompressible; that if you confine a stream of flow- 
ing water, of say half a mile wide, so as to make it pass between walls a 
quarter of a mile apart, the water will find room for its volume by cutting down 
its bed. That is all there is to the jetties. If the bed is of soft material, like 
sand or mud, it will cut it out. If it is hard clay or rock it won’t, and then it 
makes a dam. Now the best advice I can give those who urge this objection 
against the outlet is to be very careful how they handle the subject, for if they 
once let go the theory cn which they got the money to build the jetties, they turn 
them into a dam, and Congress may discover that a dam raises the flood-line of 
of the river, and vote money for the outlet to carry off the surplus waters. 

* * x x * 


LEADVILLE AND VICINITY. 


A recent trip to Lake and Pitkin Counties in Colorado, and a summary in- 
spection of the wonderful mining regions included in them, especially in the vicin- 
ity of Leadville, east of, and in the Independence District, west of the Sawatch 
Range or Continental Divide, leads me to give your readers a brief description 
of them, although the former, at least, has been the theme of hundreds of writers . 
within the past three or four years. 

Leadville is situated in Latitude 39° 15’, Longitude 105° 17’, on the eastern 
side of the Arkansas Valley, between the Mosquito Range and the Continental 
Divide, at an elevation of 10,025 feet above the sea at the court house door. 
The first discovery of ore was made in 1860 in California Gulch, and for several 
_ years placer mining was carried on quite successfully, not less than $5,000,000 
of gold having been taken out up to 1878. At the time of the Hayden Report 


226 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


6 


of 1873 several valuable lode claims were being worked for gold, while carbon_ 
antes of lead and copper, iron pyrites, zinc blende, etc., were found. A vast 
body of iron ore was also reported by Hayden, ‘‘ carrying gold enough to pay 
moderately,” also, ‘‘ excellent galena carrying silver in the quartzites near the iron 
vein.” No indication, apparently, was observed of the vast quantities of silver ore 
that have within four years brought the district to the position of the richest min- 
ing camp in the world and caused Leadville to leap from a grubbing town of two 
or three hundred people to a thriving city of nearly 20,000. At that time two 
mines, the ‘‘ Printer Boy” and the ‘‘ Pilot” were yielding less than $50,000 per 
annum, now more than thirty mines are being worked, producing $13,170,576 in 
1881. 

The geology of this region is quite difficult to understand except by the most 
extensive generalization, as will be seen from the following description by Dr. 
Hayden: ‘‘On the summit between Mosquito, Bird’s Eye and Evans Gulches 
broken masses of the quartzites and trachytes seem to have moved down a con- 
siderable distance from their places and are deposited in the form of windrows as 
if there had been glacier movements there. “ 1s i One of 
the peculiar geological features in this range is the trachytic beds, which appear 
to be interstratified with the older sedimentary rocks. These igneous layers vary 
much in thickness, and appear and disappear, reach a tnickness of 1,000 feet or 
more, and diminish in a short distance to a few feet or disappear entirely. And 
yet upon the outcropping of the great uplifted ridges, or in the deep gulches 
where not unfrequently 2,000 vertical feet of rocks are shown in their order of 
superposition, these trachytes seem to have flowed out over the surface of the Si- 
lurian quartzites or, in other words, are interstratified among the old silurian 
limestones and quartzites 2s if they might be of the same age and have been ele- 
vated with them.”’ 

S. F. Emmons, Geologist in charge of the Rocky Mountain Division U. S. 
Geological Survey, in his ‘‘ Abstract of a Report upon the Geology and Mining 
Industry of Leadville, 1881,” describes more minutely the peculiar geological 
features immediately about Leadville, as condensed by the American Journal of 
Science for July. 

‘‘The Paleozoic rocks of the Mosquito Range have a thickness of 4,050 to 
5,600 feet and are more or less folded and faulted. They comprise (1) 200 feet 
of Cambrian or Primordial, chiefly quartzites; (2) over these, 200 of Silurian 
(white or dolomitic hmestone and quartzite); and (3) 3700 to 4200 of Carbonifer- 
ous, which last have 200 feet of limestone, called the 4/ve limestone, at base and 
1,000 to 1,500 at top (Upper Measures), with grits (Weber grits), sandstones 
and shales, partly calcareous, between. In the Kanab section on the Colorado, 
the Paleozoic has about the same thickness (85 feet of it referred to the Permian); 
but in the Wahsatch section cited, the thickness is 30,000 feet, 12,000 referred to 


the Cambrian, 3400 to the Silurian and Devonian, 15,000 to the Carboniferous 
and 650 to the Permian. 


LEADVILLE AND VICINITY. 227 


. Besides these there are eruptive rocks—porphyries and diorytes—mostly 
Mesozoic in age. The common kind is the white porphyry, an evenly granular 
rock, consisting of quartz (70 per cent.), feldspar (the latter occasionally in small 
rectangular crystals), black mica or biotite, and some muscovite. The rock is 
partly decomposed, and the muscovite ‘‘is the result of the decomposition of the 
feldspar.” Other kinds of porphyry, more granite-like, consist of quartz, two 
feldspars and biotite, and in one variety horn-blende is present. The dioryte is a 
porphyritic crystalline-granular variety. The white porphyry occurs to the south 
of an east and west line through Leadville, and the other kind north of this line. 
The main sheet of the former which lies upon the surface of the blue limestone 
forms, at the Four-Mile Creek where is its principal vent, the larger portion of a 
hill 2,000 feet high, and thence spreads southward reaching nearly to Buffalo 
Peaks. On Iron and Carbonate Hills it has a possible thickness of over 1,000 
feet; but along Evan’s Gulch it will scarcely average 100, and even thins out en- 
tirely. Other sheets occur between lower strata, and there is a local sheet in the 
lower quartzite or Cambrian. The intrusive masses of the other porphyries have 
a wider vertical distribution, ‘‘extending up to the Jurassic and possibly even to 
the Cretaceous.” <A single section exhibits ‘‘ fifteen sheets, many several hundred 
feet thick, between the blue limestone and the top of the Carboniferous.” The 
various sheets of porphyry form an integral part of the sedimentary series; they 
never reached the surface, but were spread out and cooled between deep-lying 
strata—laccolith-like, before the mountain-building epoch at the close of the Cre- 
taceous, and therefore before the associated strata were folded or faulted. Ar- 
chean rocks make large parts of the Sawatch Range on the west, and of the Front 
Range on the east, and their areas must have been great islands in the Paleozoic 
seas. ‘‘The Paleozoicand Mesozoic beds are a littoral deposit around the Sawatch 
Archeean Island and were consequently formed in comparatively shallow waters.” 
Of later formations, the region contains only the Quaternary; what have ex- 
isted of Mesozoic strata—probably not less than 10,000 feet—having been re- 
moved by erosion and abrasion. 

Several faults occur, the more prominent of which have the strike of the 
rocks, or about N. 60° W. and the upthrow on the east side; and, of these, the 
Mosquito fault, west of the main crest of the Mosquito Range, amounts on the 
north to 5,000 feet or more. Besides these there are many cross faults.” 

On the Pacific side of the Continental Divide the geological formations are 
similar, but the mountain sides are more precipitous and more heavily covered 
with loose material of every possible variety, while the upheaval and displacement 
have been even more complete. ‘The ores so far discovered are principally gold 
in fissure veins rather than in pockets, but as comparatively little work has been 
done yet all may take a different phase after more complete development. 

The ore of Leadville is described by Mr. Emmons (condensed as before by 
the American Journal of Science) as principally argentiferous galena and its second- 
ary products lead carbonate, silver chloride, and, less abundantly, lead sulphate 
or anglesite, pyromorphite, minium, zinc blende and calamine. The gangue, or 


228 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


material mixed with or holding the ore, consists of hydrated iron oxides or man- 
ganese oxides, silica and clay, all secondary products, the clay coming from the 
decomposed porphyry. The cavities in the limestone were made by the eroding 
solutions which introduce the ores ; the action commenced at the top of the lime- 
stone adjoining the sheet of porphyry, and from this plane worked downward 
into the limestone. The materials of the ores were taken from ‘‘ circulating 
waters, which, in their passage through the various bodies of eruptive rocks, took 
up certain metals in solution, and, concentratinz along bedding planes, by a 
metamorphic or pseudomorphic action ot replacement, deposited these metals as 
sulphides along the contact or upper surface, and to greater or less depth below 
that surface, of beds generally of limestone or dolomite but sometimes also of 
siliceous rocks.”’ Dikes intersecting the ore-bearing formation “‘seem to favor 
the concentration of rich ore-bodies or bonanzas in their vicinity ;”’ but the planes 
of faults afford no deposits of importance, and evidently for the reason that 
‘¢their origin is later than that of the original ore-deposits.” Thus the intrusion 
of the igneous sheets preceded the production of tie ore-deposits and of the cavi- 
ties containing them; and the production of the ores antedated the era of great 
disturbance which closed the Lignitic period or the Cretaceous, and which has 
continued to be followed by feebie movements until the present time, even since 
the opening, according to some evidence, of the Leadville mines. 

These ores occur, according to the same authority, underneath a porphyry 
sheet and chiefly in cavities penetrating the lowest member of the carboniferous 
formation, the d/we limestone—but occasionally also underneath the same porphy- 
ry in the wAzfe or silurian limestone and the Cambrian quartzite. -The ore de- 
posits penetrate into the limestone to varying depths from its plane of contact 
with the overlying ignecus rock, sometimes following courses of natural joints or 
cleavage planes. 

The product of the Leadville mines for the past six months has been about 
$7,815,000, which if kept up for the whole year will exceed that for 1881. Even 
this showing would be larger had it not been for the burning of the Grant smelter 
in June, which necessitated the sending of large quantities of ore to Pueblo and 
Denver, the returns for which had not been received when the above statement 
was given out. 

The mines over the Range in Pitkin County are being actively worked and 
the prospect is that the Farwell Company at Independence will find abundant 
work for both stamp mills from their own mines, as they are driving the Dicker- 
man Tunnel with all the men they can work, are also developing the Mt. Hope 
Mine and have their larger mill full of ore now; while those of Ide, the Hamilton 
Company and others promise well. The last named company are not at work on 
theirs at present, but are securing patents to their placer and lode claims, after 
which they propose to resume active operations. C 


SAL AIEION-S 3 (COI CVEIEIOS, (QU NH OMDID IRIN, V2la! \ASHOS,, 229 


UW SNe lal, 


REVIEW OK STALLO'’S ““CONCEPRES OF MODERN PHYSICS.” 
DR. ROBERT G. ECCLES. 


The thirty-eighth volume of the International Scientific Series is a statement 
in excellent form of the weak points of Modern Physics. Following the volumes 
by Cooke, Stewart, Lommel, Lockyer, Wurtz and Young, nothing could be more 
opportune or better calculated to display the spirit of fairness of the managers 
and publishers of the Series. The true spirit of science refuses to shield any 
theory from attack, and firmly believes in the final triumph of the best. The 
projectors of this literary enterprise have shown, from first to last, a keen appre- 
ciation of this spirit and a determination, as far as they could, to foster it. Stal- 
lo’s ‘‘Concepts of Modern Physics” is a further guarantee on their part that they 
will be impartial to the last while giving the public the best thoughts of the best 
thinkers concerning the meaning of our multitudinous experiences, common and 
scientific. The author hews with his axe at the very root of the philosophic side 
of science. He looks into the minds of scientific philosophers and claims to dis- 
cover there sources of illusion woven into the structure of the intellect itself. He 
points out four fundamental assumptions as the byways from the true path into 
which they tend to turn and lose themselves. These are: 


1. ‘* That every concept is the counterpart of a distinct objective reality, 
and that hence there are as many things, or natural classes of things, as there are 
concepts or notions, 

2. ‘That the more general or extensive concepts and the realities corre- 
sponding to them pre-exist to the less general, more comprehensive concepts and 
their corresponding realities; and that the latter concepts and realities are derived 
from the former, either by a successive addition of attributes or properties, or by 
a process of evolution, the attributes or properties of the former being taken as 
implications of those of the latter. 

3. ‘* That the order of the genesis of concepts is identical with the order of. 
the genesis of things. 

4. ‘*That things exist independently of and antecedently to their relations ; 
that all relations are between absolute terms; and that therefore whatever reality 
belongs to the properties of things is distinct from that of the things themselves.’” 
(pp. 137 and 138). 

In illustration of the first and second false assumptions he mentions the con- 
troversy between the champions of the corpuscular and dynamical theories of mat- 
ter. The one side insists upon it that mass or inertia is the counterpart of an ob- 

VI-15 


230 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


jective reality and as it is one of our most extensive concepts all material being 
has come therefrom. ‘The other side, reasoning with Faraday asks: ‘‘ What do 
we know of the atom apart from its forces?” Since we know nothing of matter 
save through force, they hold forth the view that force is an entity and from it every- 
thing has come. Our author tells us that ‘‘ force is nothing without mass and 
mass is nothing without force.” (p. 161.) He denies that either is a fact in itself 
and declares both ‘‘ conceptual integrants of matter.” ‘‘In both cases products 
of abstraction are mistaken for kinds of reality.” To clearly understand the exact 
nature of this controversy requires careful thought. Judge Stallo’s view of this 
warfare between the great thinkers of the world is one which I fear can never be- 
come universal. Although it is certain that one or both sides may be wrong, yet 
it is hard to believe that the object sought after by each and which one side im- 
agines it has found in force and the other in mass is totally delusive. That bodies 
exist, as such, in virtue of their relations is quite conceivable, but to say that they 
exist ‘‘so/ely in virtue of their relations” sounds to me like utter nonsense. That 
‘¢ things are known to us solely through their properties; and the properties of 
things are nothing else than their interactions and mutual relations”’ as affecting 
our consciousness, is quite true. 

To tell us that ‘‘ the annihilation of all bodies but one would not only destroy 
the motion of this one, as Prof. Neumann sees, but would also destroy its very 
exisfence and bring it to maught,” taxes our credulity somewhat. If we believe in 
the impact theory of attraction we might see in the annihilation of all bodies, 
save one the perfect solution of that one, but by accepting the \counter-theory 
even this difficulty would disappear. Here is the basis of his charge of the 
fourth metaphysical assumption. Men of science entertain the view that behind 
such relations as we are cognizant of lies a something so related. What meaning 
can we attach to the fact of relation unless there is something related? If no 
one thing exist without the total that one must be the total. On what ground 
can we claim that a finite total, of any size, is impossible ? 

Prof. Wm. James, of Cambridge, Mass., in ‘‘ Mind,” April number, 1882, p. 
196, in an article entitled ‘‘On some Hegelisms,” presents the position of our 
author. He is showing the difference between Hume’s Empiricism and Hegel’s 
‘Ontological Reveries,” (as the judge calls them,) on the principle of totality. 
«‘ But Hegelism dogmatically denies all this to be possible. In the first place it 
says there are no intrinsic natures that may change; in the second it says there 
are no adventitious relations. When the relations of what we call a thing are 
told, no caput mortuum of intrinsicality, no ‘nature’ is left. Zhe relations soak 
up all there is of the thing; the ‘items’ of the world are but /ocz of relation with 
other foci of relation And all the relations are necessary. The unity of the world 
has nothing to do with any ‘matrix.’ The matrix and the items, each with all, 
make a unity, simply because each in truth zs all the rest.’’ Does not this sound 
very like our author’s position? Is it quite certain that the present work is en- 
tirely free from the effects of the spell which held him in 1848 when ‘‘ The Phil- 
osophy of Nature ” was published ? 


STALLO’S ** CONCEPTS OF MODERN PHYSICS.” 231 


If we study a piece of matter, say sodium, we find it in possession of certain 
properties or attributes by virtue of its relations. It has weight, color, affinity, 
ductility, malleability, inertia, motion, size, etc. Take it away from the earth and 
the farther we go the less its weight becomes. Put it in the dark and it has no 
color. Keep it from oxygen and such other substances as it unites with chemi- 
cally and it has no affinity. Vaporize it and it has no ductility nor malleability. 
Its size is great or small as it is expanded into steam or contracted to a solid. 
O r judgment of its motion depends upon a relatively stationary standard from 
which to compare it. As we now view it scientifically the conditions which give 
it weight, color, affinity, etc , are conditions of motion. Remove one by one 
the conditions which give bodies their properties and what is left when every con- 
dition has been removed? We perceive no substance perv se. All manifestations 
are those of inertia and motion. ‘These are themselves but conditions or relations. 
The corpuscular theorists, we are told, upon this final analysis, choose mass or 
inertia, and the dynamical theorists motion or force. 

Our author says that bodies come to naught when thus treated. He sees re- 
lations only. But relations of what? Here is a house. It has windows, doors, 
floors, walls, roof, stairs, rooms, etc. All these together forma house. We can- 
not conceive of any less than walls and ground floor as a house. Suppose two 
men should contend with each other as to which of these two final terms was 
really the house. Let a third come in and show them that walls could not stand 
on nothing for a support and that bare ground was not a house, then we would 
have a fair illustration of the question. Matter is the house. Inertia jis the 
ground floor. Motion is the walls. A certain set of relations form a house. 
Relations of what? Matter, of course! Not relations of the last two conditions 
constituting a house either together as Stallo has it nor apart as those he wars 
with have it. It is not motion and inertia, motion alone, nor inertia alone. 
At present it is useless to give it a name other than the unknown. To call it by 
any term of either matter or motion is as senseless as to call matter in our house 
relations by the name ground, wall, floor or any other term denoting part of a 
house. 

Our order of symbols fail to describe the real whose relations form matter. 
Faraday perceives that the real is not motion, hence he speaks of it as force, 
talks of lines of force and makes a guasz-material of it. The antagonistic school 
speaks of ,it as inert mass and not mere inertia. Both sides look beyond the at- 
tribute to a something, they know not what. They mean the same but do not 
know it, because their points of view differ materially. This common something 
Mr. Herbert Spencer calls the unknowable. Nature presents itself to us in all 
its dimensions only by viewing it from opposite sides. I cannot see all of a chair 
or table, tree or house, even externally, but by viewing from diametrically oppo- 
site points. Inertia and motion are the vanishing points of all objectivity. To 
objective sense here end our symbols. Physical science must stick to inertia 
and motion because it can go no deeper. Ontology may guess at the unknown 
beyond but without hope of ever reaching it. Psychology is the only hope and 


232 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENEE: 


and it may forever fail. External nature we see mediately through the senses. 
Sensations are immediate possessions. Only the immediateisreal. The mediate 
is composed of a series of transmutable symbols. A common symbol may change 
into two or more utterly uncontrastable one, as when we feel a moving tuning fork 
and hear a sound. One and the same external condition gave me through differ- 
ent channels two sensations as unlike as a sensation of a spiral motion, (to bor- 
row Tyndall’s illustration), is unlike the sensation love. It is justi{as hard to be- 
lieve that the sensation vibration and the sensation sound are the same as to be- 
lieve that the sensation motion and the sensation love are the same. In the first 
case we have some show of proof, in the second none has been had. 

In psychology as in physics two contending schools are struggling for the 
mastery. Monists claim that chemical changes or rhythms of some sort in brain 
substance constitute sensation and thought. Dualists declare that mind itself is 
totally aloof from matter and merely connected to it™much as a player is to a 
piano. Both await the proofs of future investigation and speculation. If Dual- 
ism is true there is no hope of our ever being able to acquire any knowledge of 
what lies beyond the vanishing point of matter. If Monism is true we may never 
be any better off, but it gives a solitary ray of hope that its disciples will use all 
effort to brighten as ages roll past. According to the latter doctrine every sensa 
tion produces or is produced by some mode of motion. A better way of stating 
it is, that our immediate and real perception is the sensation, and the mediate, 
and consequently symbolic, way of perceiving it, is as a mode of motion. It is. 
supposed from what we already know of objective things that if I could look into 
my neighbor’s brain when he is thinking, a definite-set of movements would ap- 
pear, ultra-microscopic perhaps, yet movements. Every time he thinks the same 
thought, the same movements occur. 

Now these movements reach me through ether, optic instruments, nerve- 
threads and gray matter. Each change alters it. When it reaches me through 
these mediums it is transmuted just as the vibrations of a tuning-fork are transmuted 
into sound. As sound in no way resembles a vibrating fork, so vibrating brain 
matter in no way resembles thought. That which totally altered vibrations and 
changed them into a musical note, totally altered thought and changed it into the 
symbol of moving matter. The thought with its constituent sensation was the 
real mode and substance, the motion with the matter it shook was the illusion. 
The first must be the real. Thought and sensation are immediate. All subjec- 
tive sensation is immediate. Objective sensation is always mediately derived 
and necessarily changed by the transmitting medium or mediums. All we 
know of nature external to ourselves must necessarily be merely symbolic 
on this account, wnt we discover some method of interpreting our symbols into 
terms of the real. Only with the vibrations of brain stuff have we suc- 
ceeded in making this interpretation. The thought is first visible perhaps. 
as the black characters on a page of paper. These being read aloud, 
are transmuted into a different set of symbols known as air waves or vibra- 
tions, these are finally transmuted into sounds of words and _ sentences. 


SLALLICOOPS, 88 COMCIBIZIOS (O17 NMOIDIETEIS, THANG MOS 233 


Now the magician Mind does his work. He takes hold of these sym- 
bolic sounds and interprets them into ideas in thought, and the same thoughts 
with the same feelings as they started. Here we are able to take hold of the im- 
mediate state of objective things by becoming able magically to transmute the 
symbols into terms of the real. From set to set of totally different symbols it 
traveled to be at last correctly interpreted. Shall we ever be able to do with 
our eyes resting on a human brain what we now can do with our ears turned to 
the human lips? It does not look probable that such a consummation can be ever 
reached. Yet who dare say ‘‘ never” ? 

Brain and vibrations, lips and vibrations are all symbols. Our bodies are 
masses of symbolic relations. AJl of animate and inanimate(?) nature is the same. 
We discover a common symbol in them all. Everywhere our mediate percep- 
tion gives us matter and motion in time and space A few isolated specks called 
human brains have only just begun to give us light of what this common symbol 
means. Sensation looks as if there was a possibility that it gave as its objective 
symbol inertia, and modes of sensation and thought look as if they gave as theirs, 
modes of motion. Motion and mass are both mere sense illusions, if this is true, 
and mind only constitutes the all. Matter and mind cannot even be two sides of 
a common unity as many persons are pleased to view it. ‘‘ Death is swallowed 
up of life.” Matter is a mere set of objective relations that are absolutely noth- 
ing in themselves only as they stand for thoughts and feelings. What a task is 
before the psychology of the future? To it is bequeathed the work of reading 
the subjective meaning, first, of brain movements and finally those of all being. 
If monism proves false then it surely looks dark for the discovery of what it is 
whose relations as symbols we know. If we cannot get into things through our 
symbols we are helpless. From the symbolic without we can gain no steps be- 
yond inertia and motion. ‘The noumena must remain an eternal unknowable. 

The Judge’s special illustrations of his third metaphysical error of science are 
first the atomic theory and second gravity. The order of experience with matter 
in a growing child is first the solid and last the gas.. His concepts therefore de- 
velop in this order. The true order according to our authoris the reverse of this. 
“< All evolution proceeds from the relatively Indeterminate to the relatively De- 
terminate, and from the comparatively Simple to the comparatively Complex.” 
(p. 172) The gas he claims is not only comparatively indeterminate but is also 
the most simple form of matter. He concludes from this, and probably correctly, 
that we should seek to explain the solid by the gas, rather than the gas by the 
solid. If we admit molecules at all they should be soft, expansive and contractile 
ones rather than hard, inelastic ones. When, however, from this ground he rea- 
sons that gravity is action at a distance, his positions are utterly untenable. 
Gravity so far from being indeterminate is the most determinate form of energy 
we know and instead of being comparatively simple is so complex that theory 
after theory has failed in attempting to explain it. His attempt to clear himself 
from Mill’s objections to action at a distance clearly shows the complexity of the 
problem, even on that assumption. Hesays: ‘‘This inability results from the 


934 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


inconsistency of this concept with the prevailing notions respecting material pres- 
ence. If we reverse the proposition that a body acts where it is, and say that a 
body is where it acts, the inconceivability disappears at once.” (p. 145). 

The sun then is where the earth is and the earth where the sunis. They envelop 
each other or are parts of one another, we willsuppose he means. Now on either 
assumption how can gravity be conceived unless by some mechanical theory 
of relations of one to the other or of parts toa whole. With the theory of the 
continuity of the total we still require to know how gravity causes a body to move. 
Is the space between two bodies like a piece of elastic rubber but unlike rubber 
pulling harder the less it is stretched. Jf @ bedy ts where tt acts then there is after 
all no action at a distance. He denies impact and yet reduces his own theory to 
one of impact. He solves the problem by giving it up. By his own showing 
then he is guilty of the very metaphysical error he charges upon his opponents. 
But this abuse of the word metaphysical—this casting it about as a term of oppro- 
brium is useless and vicious. What is gained by telling our opponents that they 
demand ‘‘ that the first rudimentary and unreasoned impressions of the untutored 
savage shall stand forever as the basis of all possible science? Did the savage 
have no correct notions of nature? Were not his experiences and some of his 
inferences as sound as the best of ours? Why should these not stand forever as 
the basis of all possible science? Shall we reject a truth because it was so 
patent that even primitive savages saw it ? 

There is really no difference between Hobb’s statement that ‘‘there can be 
no cause of motion except in a body contiguous and moved,” and that of Stallo 
that ‘‘a body is where it acts.’ It is different ways they have of putting it. 
Gravity is a property of matter resulting from mutual interaction and relations. 
Color, sound, size and shape are the same. With one and all what we seek to 
know is the exact character of the relations which give rise to them. To assert 
that ‘‘all attempts to reduce gravitation or chemical action to mere impact are 
aimless and absurd,” (p. 163,) is in substance to assert that it is an absolute and 
insoluble fact instead of a condition outwrought by mutual relations. If gravity 
is produced by relations we want to know what these relations are. As yet no 
theory of gravity has been propounded that meets all the conditions of the law. 
Action at a distance is nonsense, as the Judge virtually concedes. Should we 
see a tug-boat ahead of a ship pulling it, with neither hawser nor chain between 
them, common sense would reject with contempt an acfio in distans explanation 
from any one. When the valve of a pump becomes the means of raising water 
from a deep well, we explain it by atmospheric pressure in the water below. 
How much easier it would have been to call it actzo zn distans—the valve attracts 
the water because it is where it acts or attracts—z. ¢. on the water and the water 
in it. This would have been a far easier way of disposing of it, although scarcely 
as conceivable as nature’s abhorrence of a vacuum. 

That not one only but several theories of gravity might be framed answering 
to the conditions of the law so far as these conditions are yet known is quite pos- 
sible. Although such a theory may be of little practical utility and perhaps be 


SM aVEILO’S SO (OMMEIRTA IOS (U)/eh MMOIDIT IRIN, VIEL NGS CHSS © 235 


merely a fiction of the imagination, still the presentation of one can do no possi- 
ble harm and will do some good by tending to keep the distant action philosophers 
from saying things they may ere long be heartily ashamed of. Mr.Wm. B. Taylor, 
of Washington, in the Smithsonian Report for 1876, pp. 205 to 282, gives brief 
descriptions of the Kinetic theories of Newton, Hooke, Villemot, Bernoulli, Ze 
Sage, Euler, Herapath, Guyot, Faraday, Sequin, Bouchepom, Lami, Waterson, 
Challis, Glennie, Keller, Tait, Saigey, Croll, Leray, Boisbaudron, Guthrie and 
Crookes. None of these answer the conditions. Mr. Taylor resorts to actio in 
distans. On page 211 he gives the six following conditions to which a theory of 
gravity must correspond or be rejected at once: 


rst. ‘‘Its wrection is radial toward the acting mass, or rectilinear—indefi- 
nitely. This rectilinear traction is incapable of deflection by any intermediate 
force. It suffers neither disturbance nor interference from any multiplication of 
similar lines of action, and admits neither of reflection, refraction, nor of compo- 
sition. 

2. ‘‘Its guantity is exactly proportional to the acting mass—indefinitely. 
Corollary: hence, 2b. Its zw¢egrity of action is complete with every accumulation 
of additional demand—indefinitely ; that is to say, no multiplication of duty in 
the slightest degree impairs its previous tensions. 

3.  ‘‘Its zzfenszty is diminished by recession, in proportion to the square of 
the distance through which it acts—indefinitely ; in a manner somewhat analozous 
to—but (as modified by the second condition,) radically different from—the action 
of light. 

4. ‘Its “ime of action is instantaneous throughout all ascertained distances, 
and therefore presumably—indefinitely. Corollary: hence, 4b. Its vate of ac- 
tion (if the expression may be tolerated) is precisely the same on bodies at all 
velocities—indefinitely. It no more lags on a comet approaching the sun, at the 
inconceivable speed of 200 miles in one second than on a body at the lowest rate 
of motion, or than on the same comet receding from the sun at the same velocity. 

5. ‘Its guality is invariable under all circumstances—indefinitely. It is 
entirely unaffected by the interposition of any material screen, whatever its char- 
acter or extent; or in other words it can neither be checked by any insulator nor 
retarded by any obstruction. 

6. ‘‘Its energy is unchangeable in time, certainly for the past 2000 years; 
presumably—indefinitely. Corollary: hence, 6b. Its actéaty is incessant and 
inexhaustible—indefinitely ; the ceaseless fall of planets from their tangential 
impulses involving no dynamic expenditure in the sun or in other known matter.”’ 


True to the mechanical theory the explanation about to be offered begins with 
atoms. These atoms, however, are very active little things and not at all hard. 
They were first introduced to the world as probably performing some such func- 
tion, by Prof. Sir Wm. Thompson, of Glasgow, Scotland. They are the vortex 
atoms that we heard so much about a few years ago. Helmholtz has shown that 
vortices in a perfectly frictionless fluid would be eternal. Thompson experiment- 


236 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ing with vortices shows that they possess just such qualities as we demand of an 
atom to have it explain some of the principal properties of matter. When we 
form vortices in air and make them visible with smoke, it becomes possible for 
us to see and study their actions. Without the visible smoke they are still there 
and subject to exactly the same strictures as our author puts upon the hypotheti- 
cal ones (pp. 43, 44), but ignoring such logic they still swing. 

Our frictionless fluid is neither destitute nor incapable of difference. It can 
have various sizes and shapes of vortices and these are all the differences needed. 
Relation after relation in time and space can be built up hypothetically among 
them. Here we have the universal fluid as mass and the vortex as motion. The 
motion is of the fluid and not of itself. Inertia is potential in every vortex be- 
cause of the presence of mass. ‘They are in space flying in all directions. By 
beginning with such a fluid and such atoms we explain the solid by the gas as our 
author declares we should. But even this is subject to his censure. We have 
here relations of something and he wishes the relations themselves to be every- 
thing. Now such atoms do not gravitate. Let us hypothetically build up from 
these a gravific molecule. These vortices if suppesed to be clashing against each 
other and rebounding with perfect elasticity will be all that is needed. Preston’s 
modification of LeSage’s theory (Phil. Mag. Ser. 5, Vol. 4, pp. 364, 375,) will 
give us some idea of what would happen under such conditions. We need no 
such long free paths as he calls for however. They can be comparatively very 
minute. A number, anywhere from three up, of the largest of our vortices 
shield each other from the cannonading of myriads of small ones. The shielded 
faces necessarily rush together. ‘Their elasticity makesthem rebound. Back and 
forth they rush. Natural selection brings from chaos order. Molecules are 
evolved from rushing atoms in this manner. Myriads of centres of our large 
atoms are formed having an indefinite permanency because of the orderly rush. 
We have then molecules that rapidly change from expansion of their substance to 
contraction of the same in incessant rhythm. Their balanced constraint by the 
rush of small atoms gives them tangible inertia in every direction. It tends to 
keep them as a whole in the condition of rest or motion in which they happen to 
be found. 

Such are the gravific molecules demanded by a Kinetic theory of gravity, 
They are rapidly expanding and contracting pieces whose movements resemble 
somewhat that of a cosmic system according to the nebular hypothesis, but, while 
the system requires untold ages to undergo its changes, our molecules pass through 
theirs in inconceivably minute periods of time. Surrounding these molecules on 
every side is found the smaller sized atoms in differentiated arrangements totally 
unknown. ‘These we will suppose constitute the universal ether. Now what 
would happen to such expanding and contracting molecules pressed in upon every 
side by walls of rushing ether particles? All those having a common time of 
change. would necessarily be driven together by their own pulsations. Systems 
of waves would go out from all to all and these waves would be in unison with 
the molecular beats they came in contact with. A’s waves would keep time with 


SIAILILO} SS COU VRIPE TS (OLB NA QU ETQINM, SATE GSIMUOSS 


B’s rhythms in size and B’s waves with A’srhythms. When Ais in the crest of B’s 
wave it rapidly expands into the sinus and when in the sinus it contracts into the 
crest. B does the same by A’s wave. What happens? Let a body rapidly ex- 
pand from a dense toward a rare medium and it will necessarily leap forward to- 
ward the rare one. As it contracts in going into the dense one again it does 
not lose the ground gained. ‘The ether contractions and expansions for waves 
must of course be of different atoms from the little ones forming the molecule 
by their rush.. We need in other words two ethers, one for undulations and a 
finer one for the cohesive force of our molecules. 

Many known facts in science constrain us to believe in two ethers aside {rom 
this theory. When a swimmer turns the narrow part of his hand to the water 
in his cut stroke and the palm in his back push he does virtually what we imagine 
our gravific molecules do. When fish with fins and tails and birds with wings 
propel themselves by presenting a narrow surface forward .and a broad one in 
the back push, they do the same. Our molecules by their movements can go in 
but one direction and that in an exactly straight line to the source of radiation. 
Could the first condition of a good theory of gravity be better filled? ‘‘ Its direc- 
tion is radical toward the acting mass’ As the source of power is in the mole- 
cule itself, exactly as you increase the number of such molecules so you will in- 
crease the power. It exactly fills the second condition and its corollary. ‘‘Its 
quantity is exactly proportional to the acting mass.’”’ ‘‘ No multiplication of duty 
in the slightest degree impairs its previous tensions.”’ All radiation obeys the 
law of inverse squares. The crests and sinuses on which the reaction of our 
molecules depend vary in their power of reaction inversely as the square of the 
distance from their source. ‘The third condition of the problem here meets a re- 
markable agreement. ‘‘Its intensity is diminished by recession, in proportion to 
the square of the distance through which it acts.” The source of action being in 
the molecule itself no time whatever is necessary for its manifestation. It is im- 
mediate— instantaneous in its power, for all places. On this fourth condition 
every other kinetic theory hitherto advanced has broken down. 

In seeking for the action outside the molecule time was necessary to carry 
the effects across space. -By seeking it within the molecule and giving to all mat- 
ter a common time of rhythm ‘‘its time of action is instantaneous.” As the wave 
determines the acceleration of a falling body ‘‘its vate of action is precisely the 
same on bodies at all velocities. 

Such molecules as we have depicted are kept saturated with energy in rela- 
tion to each other. No sooner have they by the outward rush upon the ether 
sent forth waves at the expense of their energy than it is re-supplied. They re- 
ceive from the minutest of our ether atoms by clash and give to the larger ones 
by rebound. They absorb no radiant energy that reaches them, but add more to 
it. A world of such molecules put between a sun and moon of them would be 
absolutely transparent. It would not abstract a particle from the radiant force 
but would add to it in exact proportion to its size. Thus is the fifth condition 
satisfied. ‘Its quality is invariable under all circumstances.” ‘The fact that the 


238 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


universal ether appears to have no specific heat may be owing to some such con- 
dition of things as is here pointed out. ‘The state of things which makes possible 
the fifth condition, as before explained, gives us also the sixth and last. ‘Its 
energy is unchangeable in time. S as i Its activity is incessant and 
inexhaustible.’’ One difficulty that has beset the undulatory theory of light has 
been the supposed resistance to planetary motion it would produce. The condi- 
tions of our theory of gravity are such that there could not possibly be any re- 
sistance to a falling body by its presence for the simple reason that the body could 
not fall without it. A balloon is not resisted in its rise by the atmosphere. It 
would not be able to rise without it. The resistance of ether is in a direction 
opposite to gravity. 

This guess at the cause of gravity you will perceive meets one after another 
of the difficulties hitherto experienced by kinetic theories, but you are not on this 
account to imagine that the true solution is found. Many a mere fiction has not 
only answered to known conditions of an order of phenomenal manifestations, as 
this does, but has also become a successful working hypothesis, which this has not. 
Such theories if used properly, however, are often excellent scaffolds for the mind 
to scale upon and build to the true. 

In consonance with the philosophic part of this book the author attacks phys- 
ical science in nearly every one of its great theories. Chemistry and molecular 
physics suffer the severest at his hands. Jn the concluding chapter he denies 
holding the metaphysical belief of the absolute continuity of matter, yet most of 
the work is taken up with an endeavor to overcome the common idea of its dis- 
crete nature. His attack upon hard, inelastic atoms is well timed and sound, but 
when he from this ground battles Avogadro’s Law, Cauchy’s finite spaces, Max- 
well’s kinetic theory of gases and Tyndall’s atomic cause of light undulations, it 
appears as if he stretched his points and made our ignorance do service for 
knowledge. No living being can frame a theory that will not constantly be seen 
in new lights with every progress of knowledge. No matter how perfect it may 
be it is constantly subject to new strains and new explanations because of new and 
unlooked for relations. ‘Time after time they all must be challenged. It does 
not therefore follow that if a theory appears to fail at some one point because we 
have not all the facts, the theory is false. Take the Judge’s objections to 
Avogadro’s law for example, and we will see that they are founded entirely on 
our lack of knowledge of the facts upon which alone a true conclusion can be 
built. It demands atoms with different qualities, he tells us, while all material 
atoms, if the foundation of mechanics on which we build is true, should be exact - 
ly alike. But these may be evolved articles, we answer. That they cannot be, he 
says, because of their specific heats. Again, we answer that they may be saturat- 
ed with energy. Who knows? (Such molecules as we demand for our theory of 
gravity would completely upset such an objection). We cannot find out. Shall 
we, therefore, cast aside this law and leave the myriads of facts it has been the 
means of discovering in utter chaos? False theories have aided prevision to 
some extent, but only because of the elements of truth attached to them. 


ASTRONOMY. 239 


A theory that gives prevision in so many directions must be almost or alto- 
gether true. Cauchy’s explanation of the uneven refraction of all colors of light 
was a nearer approach to a complete solution of the myriad changes wrung upon 
waves by varying conditions but as it is strong evidence in favor of the discrete 
character of matter of course it is objected to. New facts in the case have arisen 
for explanation. These show that some of us have overestimated the amount of 
delay in ether and underestimated it in transparent, dense bodies. What of it? 
Who pretends to have solved the problem of transparency? Is it utterly improb- 
able that the molecules of a piece of glass or of some bisulphide of carbon take 
part themselves in the undulations going through them? We know they delay 
light far more than ether does. 

Give us the finite intervals and attractions in air, glass, and transparent 
bodies generally and have them conduct light upon their own substance instead 
of through their pores and the problem is solved. Can Judge Stallo or any other 
person say that these are not facts in transparency? The Judge says that if 
sounds of all pitches did not travel in air with equal speed music at a distance 
could not be heard as such, but would reach our ears as a gamut. Does he not 
know that with waves of sound as large as we know they are and with molecules 
of air as small as we know they must be, we would have to hear the music at 
a practically infinite distance for such a phenomenon to manifest itself? Cauchy 
has proven that if light is undulatory finite intervals are the conditions upon 
which the colors of the rain-bow depend. Light must be either undulatory or 
corpuscular. We know it is not corpuscular. Maxwell's Electro-Magnetic 
theory though altering our views on some points must nevertheless be undulatory 
and depend on finite intervals for its explanation of the spectrum. 


INS IIR OUN OuviNG, 


HOW TO TELL THE DISTANCE OF THE SUN.—THE TRANSIT OF 
VENUS, DECEMBER 6, 1882. 


EDGAR L. LARKIN. 


RUDIMENTARY PrINCIPLES.—If we divide a semi-circle by its radius the 
quotient will be 3.1415926535. But in a semi-circumference there are: 


160 Degrees, divided by 3.1415926535== 57-2957795139 
10,800 Minutes, ce he ma = 3:437-74677 
648,000 Seconds, ‘<< ie s —=206, 264.80625 


That is, a radius of any circle contains in terms of the circumference in round 
numbers 57 degrees, 3437 minutes, or 206,264 seconds. These are among the 


240 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


most important numbers known to mathematicians, and should be committed 
to memory by all who would learn astronomy or know how celestial measure- 
ments are determined. Let us examine this matter closely Take a ball one 
foot in diameter, place it on a standard in front of a telescope provided with a 
micrometer, and the globe will subtend a certain number of degrees angular meas- 
urement which, let us assume is four degrees. Now move the standard on 
a right line away from the telescope, and soon the sphere will only subtend 
three degrees, then two degrees, until finally its distance becomes so great 
that its angular diameter shrinks to one degree. An important circumstance 
follows—we know that the ball is precisely 57.295795139 feet distant from 
the focus of the objective, because we have seen that radius contain that many 
circular units. Again, move the standard until the angular diameter of the ball 
shrinks to one minute, and it is at once known that the globe is distant 3437.- 
73677 feet. Still bear the sphere away until its diameter subtends one second, a 
space only visible in a powerful telescope, and we likewise know that the ball is 
in distance 206,264.80625 feet or 39.0653 miles. 

This is the process of measuring the distance of an object when its linear 
diameter is known. ‘To reverse the case we will suppose that we have a globe 
whose diameter is one foot placed on a standard. Let an observer with a tele- 
scope retire and view the ball at a distance, and telephone to an assistant at the 
sphere its angular diameter. Then the party at the standard can tell the distance 
of the telescope. If the message received is:—the apparent diameter is one min- 
ute, of course the distance traversed is 3,437 feet, if two minutes half that dis- 
tance. But to avoid calculation sines, cosines and tangents of all angles are made 
use of to abridge the work. If we divide: 


3-1415926535 by 180 the quotient is .0174532925 
3-1415926535 by 10,800 the quotient is .0002088820867 
3.1415926535 by 648,000 the quotient is .00000484813681 


which decimals are ratios of the units of the circumference in terms of the radius, 
for degree, minute and second respectively, and are termed sines. To determine 
distances all that is necessary is to use the sines in simple multiplication and di- 
vision. Thus the diameter of the ball is one foot, and since the observer saw it 
as one minute, we divide 1 by .c0029088820867 having for a quotient 3437.74677 
feet distance. 


THE DISTANCE OF THE SUN. 


If the Sun subtended an angle of one second we have seen how many times 
greater its distance would be, than its diameter, but the actual angular diameter of 
the Sun as obtained by many measures is 1924 seconds. ‘Therefore 296,264.- 
80625 divided by 1924 equals 107.20624 which we positively know is the num- 
ber of times the distance of the Sun exceeds its diameter. But this gives us no 
clue to the distance in miles, because we have not yet learned the diameter of 
the Sun in miles. We know its angular diameter to be 1924 seconds of arc, 


ASTRONOMY. 241 


whence it is clear that if the number of miles in one second is known, the diam- 
eter of the Sun in miles and its distance can be told by simple arithmetic. 

But men have been striving for 2000 years to find the linear value of one 
second at the Sun’s distance. Really it is the greatest problem ever undertaken 
by the human mind, it has become of world wide importance, while the nations of 
earth have taken up the question, organizing expeditions to send to the bounds 
of the world. As we write, every civilized people is making up parties to 
journey throughout the earth to make accurate measurement of the transit of 
Venus across the solar disc on December 6th, next. 

Forty expeditions are already announced, while those contemplated by the 
United States, Italy and Austria have not yet been published. France will send 
out eight fully equipped parties, four south and four north of the Equator. The 
United States will have six groups of astronomers in the central line of the trans- 
it, while all the permanent observatories in the country will make close watch ° 
of the phenomenon. ‘The occasion is worthy the combined effort of mankind, 
because soun as the precise distance of the Sun is known, the dimensions of the 
universe become known, for the solar distance is the measuring line used by as- 
tronomers to let fall in unheard of solitudes of space. 

THe TRaNnsIT or VENuS.—The sole object in measuring the displacement on 
the solar disc, of the planet Venus in transit, is to find the number of miles in 
one second of angular measure at the distance of the Sun. 

In other words how large does the earth look if seen by an observer stand- 
ing on the Sun, and what is its apparent angular diameter. The diameter of the earth 
in miles is known with great precision, the probable error being within 200 feet. 
It is self evident that if it can be ascertained how great an angle the radius of the 
earth subtends if viewed from the Sun, we shall at once know the value of one 
second of arc in miles. The method made use of is as follows: Let the line A 
B be a wall, C and D observers having telescopes, and V a ball resting on a sup- 
port. Now let C rest his glass on V and he will see it in apparent projection on 
the wall at B, while D will see V at A. 


A 
C 


1) 
IB 


But the distance from C to D is known, therefore the distance from C and D 
to V and to the wall can be told in feet providing we know the 7e/atve distance. 
The relative distances between the Sun and planets have been known since 
the time of Kepler, while the real distance is what men are now searching after 


242 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


with enthusiasm. The relative distances of the planets from the Sun and from 

each other, are found by measuring the angles described in a specified time by 
the exterior planets at times of opposition, and those of interior, by the angles 
presented at elongations. For two centuries it has been known that if we cail 
the distance from the earth to the Sun 1 that of Venus is .723; then the distance 

of Venus from the earth is of course .277. Now in the diagram the wall is the 
Sun, V Venus, C an observatory on one side of the earth and D another on the 
opposite, near as can be. And it is endeavored to have C and D at the extrem- 
ities of a diameter of the earth that is perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic. 

As the latitude and longitude of C and D are known, the arc of the great circle 
a circumference of the earth passing through them being interrupted thereby, is 
known. Having the arc we know its chord in miles, which is none other than 

the straight line through the earth, joining each station. The first step of each 

party on arriving at their destination is to find their precise latitude by direct obser- 
vation on fixed stars. Then the longitude is determined by chronometers in con- 
junction with transits of fundamental stars. At length the eventful moment ar- 
rives, the instruments are all in adjustment, and Venus, a black ball, just cuts off 
a ray of light from the eastern limb of the Sun. The absolute instant of contact 

in Greenwich time is noted and recorded, the exact point of ingress on the solar 

edge measured from the north point is also recorded and the transit progresses. 

This same observation is made from all the stations, accurate results being saved 

at each for reference. 

The precise time of disappearance of Venus from the western limb is also 
noted, as well as the exact point of departure. Upon reaching home the 
results are compared. ‘Those observers who were stationed south of the earth’s 
equator will all bring in reports saying that they saw Venus make ingress and 
egress at points further north on the solar disc than did those remaining at obser- 
vatories in north latitude. 

Thus—if an astronomer at Washington compares notes with the one who 
went to Santiago, he will find that the southern observer has record of contacts 
at points farther toward the north point of the Sun than he has. Since these 
places of contact are accurately measured, the distance asunder of the chords A 
and B becomes known in seconds of arc. Venus appears to all observers wheth- 
er north or south of the equator, to traverse straight lines from east to west across 
the Sun, but these lines are chords of arcs whose sines are found in any table. 
But the space between the chords corresponds to a known difference in position 
of observers on the earth, depending directly on the length of the straight line 
through the earth connecting any two observing stations. Then: 


Fs OPS 523 8:3 It BY BeO Ie 


That is, the ratio of the distance of Venus from the earth is to its distance 
from the Sun as 1 to 2.61. Hence the space between the chords on the Sun is 
to space between two stations on the earth in the same ratio or as 2.61 is to 1. 
In other words the distance apart of the chords is 2.61 times greater than the 


ASTRONOMY. 243 


diameter of the earth. What we are searching for is the meaning equatorial hori- 
zontal parallax of the Sun, or what is the same thing, the angle that would be sub- 
tended by the mean equatorial radius of the earth if viewed by a micrometer 
placed on the Sun. Radii drawn from all the observing stations to the centre of 
the earth of course are not equatorial, since observers are placed in all latitudes, 
hence they must be expressed in terms of equatorial radii by computation. 

Again, the mean distance of the earth from the Sun is equal to 1, but at the 
time of the last transit, December 9, 1874, and at the next December 6, 1882, 
the earth was not, and will not be at mean distance; being near perihelion, with 
distance less than unity. And due allowance must be made for this fact in cal- 
culating parallax, also an allowance must be noted arising from the motions of 
the earth and Venus during the time of transit, which complicate matters, making 
it necessary to introduce algebraic formulas wholly inconsistent with a note like 
this, only intended to give general ideas. However, when all corrections are 
made, it is found that at transits of Venus under refined micrometrical manipula- 
tion, the space between the chords on the solar disc corresponding to a distance 
on the earth equal to its mean equatorial radius, is 22.96 seconds of arc. But 
we have seen that this is 2.61 times greater than the line that would be subtended 
by the semi-diameter of the earth at the same distance. Whence 22.96 divided 
by 2.16 equals 8.8 seconds, the long sought number, the parallax of the Sun. 
That is if we stand on the Sun and look this way with a powerful telescope and 
micrometer, the earth will appear as a little ball whose radius subtends an angle 
of only 8.8 seconds. 

Now since the mean equatorial radius of the earth is known to be 3962.72 
miles we are nearing the end of a search kept up for centuries, and will soon know 
the value of 1 second in miles, at the earth’s distance from the Sun. Dividing 
3962 72 by 8.8 gives a quotient of 450.30909 the number of miles in one second 
of arc subtended on the circumference of a circle whose radius is the distance 
separating the earth and Sun. 

But we saw that the sine of 1 second is .00000484813681, which multiplied 
by 8.8 equals .000042663603928 the sine of 8.8 seconds, since the sines of min- 
ute arcs vary directly with the arcs themselves. 

In any triangle the sides are in the ratio of the sines of opposite angles; 
therefore 3962.72 divided by .000042663603928 equals 92,882,917 the number of 
miles from the centre of the earth to the centre of the Sun. Or the result may 
be thus obtained: 1 divided by 000042663603928 equals 23,439. 18253337 which 
is the number of times the distance of the Sun is greater than the mean equatorial 
semi-diameter of the earth, and being multiplied by 3962.72 gives 92,882,917, as 
before. If this is not clear to beginners, the case may be presented in a still 
more elementary form. For when we know the value of 1 second, the circum- 
ference can be found by multiplying the value by the number of seconds in a 
circle. Thus: 450.30909 multiplied by 1,296,000 equals 583,600,580 miles in 
the orbit of the earth which divided by 6.283185307 the ratio of a circumference 
to its radius gives as in other methods,—g2, 882,917. 


244 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


It may be asked, since we know the distance of the sun, why send expedi- 
tions to observe the coming transit. The answer is the precise parallax is not 
known, it being still uncertain within a few hundredths of a second. We do not 
know whether it is 8.79, 8.8 or 8.81 seconds. ‘The rays of the Sun heat the at- 
mosphere of the earth and produce a tremulous motion in the focus of a tele- 
scope just where the micrometer is, and another trouble is that Venus has an at- 
mosphere which refracts a ray of light somewhat rendering uncertain the exact 
instant of contact with the solar limb. And it is to determine these corrections 
to the last transit, and also to verify the measures of 1874 with improved instru- 
ments that so much time, labor and skill are to be expended. And there is also 
a higher aim than this, and that is to leave to future astronomers who will behold 
the next transit, June 8, 2004, all the data possible for the mathematically exact 
determination of the great problem. 

One method of observing the transit 1s to photograph Venus while on the 
Sun and then make computation at leisure; a method radically different from that 
of measuring directly with a micrometer at the time of transit. 

A brisk controversy 1s now being held by astronomers as to which plan has 
the least objections, the apparent majority as the case now stands being opposed to. 
photography. ‘The British photographic results were conflicting in 1874, the de- 
ductions being, Airy 8.79, Tupman 8.81 and Stone 8.88. Other values deduced 
by direct measures range from 8.78 to 8 84 seconds. From a careful comp rison 
of all available records of the problem the writer is convinced that the parallax of 
the Sun is 8.8 seconds. 

There are a number of ways of determining this constant in nature without 


resorting to transits of Venus, the most important being based on the velocity of 


light and the law of gravity. And these confirm the best results of transits in 
placing the parallax at 8.8. 

This is the most valuable number known to man, since it enables him to 
measure the distances, diameters, volumes, weights and densities of all bodies in 
the solar system ; and when he has weighed all these, to soar away into the in- 
finitude of space and weigh other suns than ours and tell their distances. 

In conclusion we will endeavor to show with what refinement measurement 
is expected to be made next December. 

Thus: by taking the parallax to be 8.8 seconds, the distance of the Sun be- 
comes 92,882,917 miles. Now if we assume it to be 8.81 then the Sun’s distance 
will be 92,777,488 miles or 105,429 miles nearer, that is a hundredth of a second 
of parallax equals 105,429 miles in the length of a line reaching from the earth to 
the Sun. But the hundredth of a second is the equivalent to the angle subtended 
by the diameter of a hair placed at a distance of 800 feet. Young, The Sun, 
[Ds Bee 

The observers must have micrometers delicate enough to measure these excess- 
ively minute distances with precision, or we shall not derive benefit from the 
transit. However, the Clarks with their elegant telescopes and micrometers will 


prove equal to the occasion. Such precision would not be necessary were it not: 


THE CYCLONE AT BROWNSVILLE, MO., APRIL 78, 1882. 245 


for the fact that the distance to the Sun is the line that is made use of to measure 
all others in celestial space. And even an error of 100,0oco miles would not be 
of such moment if we used the solar distance but once ina calculation. But in 
most physical researches, it is involved in the ratio of its cube. Thus, if we raise 
for instance, 3 to its cube we have 27, but if we raise 3.25 to a cube the product 
is 34.328 an error far too large to be admitted. It is seen then that the minute 
error of 100,000 miles when cubed becomes formidable. 

Thus, we cannot tell the distance of Jupiter, nor its weight, size or density, 
unless we know just how far it is from the earth to the Sun. Kepler’s third 
Law says: that, the squares of the times of revolution of all the planets are in the 
ratio of the cubes of their mean distances from the Sun. Wecanall see how long 
it takes Jupiter to go around the Sun; then all we have to do is to square this 
time and extract the cube root, and we have its mean distance. Thus: the earth 
revolves around the Sun in a time equal to 1; and we observe that Jupiter makes 
circuit in a period equal to 11.86. ‘The square of 11.86 is 140.66 whose cube 
root 1s 5.203, hence we are assured that whatever is the distance of the earth 
from the Sun, that of Jupiter is 5.203 times greater. Knowing its distance, its. 
mass and volume are revealed by the law of attraction. 

It is well then that observers equipped by the Nations of the earth engage in 
this the most sublime of problems. The transit will begin on December 6th at 
8:40 A. M. and pass off at 3:14 P. M. Washington mean time. We have no 
longitude of Kansas City but making a guess from an ordinary map conclude that 
it is 18 degrees or 1 hour and 12 minutes from Washington, hence the transit 
will begin there at 7:28 A. M. the Sun rising at 7:02. This observatory is in 
preparation to observe the phenomenon. Anybody can see Venus on the Sun 
with a smoked glass. 


New WIinbsor (ILLINOIS) OBSERVATORY, July 17, 1882. 


IMUE ITE Ole OuLOG Ne 


THE CYCLONE AT BROWNSVILLE, MO., APRIL 18, 1882. 
W. H. WILLIAMS. 


The terrible agent of destruction which visited Brownsville on the afternoon: 
of the memorable day above named was, perhaps, in some respects, the most 
peculiar of any one of its kind ever seen or felt by the people in this latitude. 

During the entire day clouds were seen in all directions in the sky ; but they 
were only light, fragmentary ones, the feathery appearance of which did not at- 
tract more than a glance. It was not until 3:45 that the overcast of the heavens, 


began to signal the approach of a storm of great violence. 
VI-16 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


At that hour the whole surrounding atmosphere began to assume a dull, 
heavy color and then change to an orange tint, very unnatural and peculiar. For 
a few moments all objects appeared as if seen through stained glass. Toward 
the southwest a very dark, heavy, green looking cloud was seen rising just above 
the tree tops. This cloud was compact in shape, solid in surface and seemed to 
overspread about two or three hundred acres of land. 

The outer edges appeared to be thin and vapory, while the space below the 
cloud was filled with a kind of light, waving substance, resembling a morning 
mist. This was constantly in motion, and as the cloud moved toward us this 
stringy, root-like mass of mist was whirling and twirling in rows about as wide 
as the compact surface of the cloud. This singular tube like formation and 
motion was what first created in our mind the alarming impression that the 
dreaded cyclone was approaching us. The phenomenon was more like water 
running through glass tubes, than anything to which we can compare it. 

It was truly a beautiful sight; yet, no artist could in safety to his life, stop 
long to study its beautiful conformation. From the center of this collection of 
revolving streamers there came a balloon-shaped, green-looking cloud, or rather 
crooked, smoky column, which extended about one hundred feet in the air—this 
is the cyclone proper. 

It kept constantly changing its position, motion and shape; at no time did 
it look the same as at another ; sometimes funnel-shaped, larger at the top, then 
inverted and larger at the bottom. It came wriggling, jumping, whirling and 
twisting like a great, green snake, darting out a score of glistening fangs. These 
antennee-shaped things were bright and clear, but in a few moments went out of 
sight behind the enveloping clouds, which were struggling to embrace the cyclone. 
There had been very little lightning and only a few low rumblings of thunder. 
Scarcely enough rain fell, from first to last, to lay the dust, and no rain at all 
during the cyclone. The cyclone was right on us before we noticed any unusual 
force of wind. The wind had been blowing as much from one point as another. 
When this cloud had come out clearly to view and transformed itself, as we 
have related, another cloud, not so large and in no way, save color, like the first, 
was seen moving from a point far south of west. 

The two were approaching with astonishing rapidity. Presently they seemed 
to be converging, and in a few minutes they met. Before they met the lightning 
played from the back of one to the other, like fiery serpents. After they met 
all definite shape was lost. The color of the whole mass was a little darker, and 
all the clouds and parts of clouds were jumbled up together, and rolling and 
boiling around in the sky. In a few moments two of the most vivid flashes of 
lightning I ever beheld descended from mid-sky to the earth. These strokes 
were about one hundred yards apart, and were simultaneous. 

Not until those strokes did the terrible roaring of the cyclone commence. 
There had been from the first a low rumbling and muttering, but no well-defined 
roar. ‘This increased for perhaps one and one-half minutes, until it was a 
deafening sound, something that made by freight trains crossing bridges, only 


THE CYCLONE AT BROWNSVILLE, MO., APRIL 18, 1882. 24 


~I 


a little sharper. The wind began then to blow very hard, and from the 
west, but nothing very firm was moved until the cjclone had spun and buzzed 
over the hill to the southwest of the town, and all at once, whirling and bound- 
ing, sprang into the midst of the streets. 

After it had passed over and through the streets, indeed, before force of it 
reached us, and while it was in the midst of the buildings, there was a still darker 
and greener-colored atmosphere lit up continually by tinges of orange and gleams 
of red. 

Many can testify to the singular appearance of the light emitted from be- 
neath, above and from within the folds of the cyclone. 

_ Houses and fences were not blown down, it is true; some of them were, but 
in general they were drawn up and twisted around, and then fell back on their 
foundations. There was not much evidence of any great force of straight wind ; 
only here and there were objects found pointing the same way. As much debris 
was found thrown in one direction as another. 

The path of the cyclone was nearly northeast, and was about two hundred 
yards wide. 

When within one mile of Brownsville it came in a zig-zag course, but before 
that its main course was northeast, and this direction it kept up until it was 
scattered. The time of its passage over the city was, perhaps, three-quarters of 
a minute or more. Its velocity in coming from Montrose to Brownsville—a dis- 
tance of sixty-two miles—was one and eleven-twentieth miles per minute. Brick 
houses were seen to rise two feet from the ground and then fall back on their 
stone foundations, scattering the debris in all directions. 

Houses were found twisted at opposite points, strong fences were drawn 
down in shape of square and triangles; boards, posts, gates, scantlings and 
stringers were found hundreds of yards off, thrown at all possible angles. 

Hardware stores, blacksmith shops, plow-rooms and display houses, were to- 
tally demolished, showing no signs of being blown. A safe belonging to George 
W. Smith was found some forty or fifty feet from where it stood in his office. 
There were strong currents of attraction towards this cyclone. 

Places were found where trees one and on-half feet in diameter were drawn 
out of the ground, roots and all, while not ten feet away frame shanties remained 
standing. Scantlings and fence-rails, after whirling around in the air, were 
thrown off at a tangent and flew like darts through frame buildings, and in some 
places were found sticking to the depth of two feet in the ground. A flock of 
geese was drawn up into the cyclone, whirled around, and picked clean of 
feathers, then scattered in pieces almost everywhere. Plank, grass, shingles, 
brick bats, dust, feathers, branches of trees, bark, fence-rails, animals, etc., were 
seen whirling and twisting in the air above the cyclone, as it came down Black- 
water and passed over us. In some places large trees were peeled from top to 
bottom. The cyclone was seen to jump and spin around on the prairies near 
Brownsville, then rise, whirling and rolling in the air, throwing out those glisten- 
ing tongues, and coming down again hundreds of yards off. 


248 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


Wherever it bounded on the ground nothing remained intact. Such are 
some of the peculiarities of this cyclone. 


REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 
WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 


BY PROF. J. T. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 


Below will be found tabular results of observations: 


— —~ 


June 21st July tst July toth Mean 

TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. to July Ist.| to roth. to 20th. Like: 
MIN. AND MAX. AVERAGES. 

IM (Ghat Ss a 'eay connate OMpeMoeL Oc omidg ial oa 0 70.5 66.8 58 1 65.1 

NIG eertas ieee ide yioniak seen areata 90.3 84.0 80.8 81.7 

Mii, @inGl WEIR 5 G60 6 6 0 6 0 9 80.4 75.4 69.1 75.0 

Nav ekrsainaatcdte es Cuevas (iclueselet aera 20. Bod 228 21.5 
TRI-DAILY CBSERVATIONS. 

OP @a hehe sete Cones eabece he ee lah lo, el 77.8 70.2 66.1 71 4 

DWe NG ists Ure a ker hd ue Qo Sls Oi Oh 99.3 85.2 W297] 83.1 

G) Do Mile 6 joo 6 0 6/9 pd) oO 'a\G) 6 aaa 75.0 69.0 73.9 

IVS CG aie necator elseretcis iret trainees US 80.9 “Oss” 68.1 75-3 
RELATIVE HUMIDITY. 

ingae sIln vale 6 Be ea eens oe .87 86 .80 .84 

2) F0)o, LO ene et a ine Nee aeN Ay soi es ls 66 57 63 62 

9 p.m : 87 .76 77 80 

Wieai . 6 G0 6 Bara CMT TOC A Pe 80 78 73 75 
PRESSURE AS OBSERVED. 

7 a.m Ser mene SGM IB LS le 28.93 28.91 29.09 28.98 

2B eeitllan cece soncirsake ihe someieerh emer jake 28.90 28.92 29.05 28 96 

gp m igs 28.91 28.87 290.14 28.97 

ean Berets el tras Gen hee Mees 28.91 28.90 29.0 28. 

MILES PER Hour oF WIND q 2 rie a 

Ch CNA onan vane R Rus erat Malta. : 7.8 

ZUP IMAI sihrey! Tassie ol, esha olaatliay iatpatits aes RDS 14.0 

GURNEE Cath Sy ks sea NEN oo) apy Nl mca ee meus 8.8 

Motalemilesrcrae suc cw ames ah mins 2715 
CLOUDING BY TENTHS. 

7am... . 4.0 5-4 3-9 4-3 

PAO Inte NEC D Laem EET ADM GPR hes, 4.3 93 4.7 B37) 

@) Do WN Shoe eon o Gre (dio Ses 3.0 io 3.8 2.8 
RAIN. 

MIN GIES Aidan ne hae eal ele ee damon ts 20 —_ -40 2.64 3.04 


The report here furnished may be divided into two distinct periods as re- 
gards temperature. The hot, dry weather continued till July 4th, no rain having 
fallen in the last decade of June and the temperature reached its highest point, 
05° on July 3rd. 

The tornadoes which caused such destruction in Iowa did no marked dam- 
age at this station. On the night of June 17th, at about midnight, a violent gale 
struck Topeka and blew off our anemometer cups before any good record had 
been left of its velocity. Another storm struck us a little after noon July 11th, 
and for more than ten minutes the velocity of the wind was seventy-two miles — 


MOLECULES FROM THE DENVER MINING EXPOSITION. 249 


per hour. At 6 P. M. the same‘day the rain fell in torrents, and many of the 
storms have been accompanied by vivid lightning and heavy thunder. 

The lowest temperature was 50°, on the 13th. 

Highest barometer on the 2oth inst. 29.222; corrected for temperature and 
elevation, 30.178. Lowest barometer on the 7th inst. 28.750; corrected for tem- 
perature and elevation, 29.659. 

On the evening of the 5th, at 9:30, a very brilliant meteor fell in the west, 
starting from-about the tail of Leo and moving vertically toward the horizon. It 
was ten times the size of Jupiter and burned with a greenish-yellow light and 
with a luminous train. 

There was a remarkable rainbow on the 15th, lasting from haif an hour be- 
fore sunset till several minutes after the Sun was below our horizon. Both pri- 
mary and secondary bows were visible and presented a magnificent spectacle on 
the ground of dark clouds from the retreating storm. 


COIRIRIZSJ ON ID Ia IN Gla, 


MOLECULES FROM THE DENVER MINING EXPOSITION. 
MRS FLORA ELLICE STEVENS. 


By the time this number of the Review is published, the National Mining 
and Industrial Exposition will have been opened at Denver to the world, and 
that brave, bragging and bonanza young city have arrived at the utmost pitch of 
delight. 

And I do not greatly blame her, she has a right royal reason for being in- 
sanely ecstatic. I have always ‘laid that flattering unction to my soul,” that I 
had every faith in Denver’s and Colorado’s possibilities and capabilities, but I 
confess I was most unprepared for the magnificent, massive buildings erected for 
the exhibition, and the comprehensive plan upon which this is to be worked. 
The brain and the purse have found here one of those rare occasions in which 
they may labor in sympathetic and perfect fellowship; as to the results achieved 
if questioned I give the laconic answer, ‘‘come and see.” We have a right to 
a large amount of pride in this wonderful West of ours, when the youngest State 
in the Union will not merely conceive the idea of a National Mining and Indus- 
trial Exposition, but put it into such execution that one will only blush through 
pardonable pleasure. 

The money for the buildings has been entirely subscribed by Colorado citi- 
zens ; so let us see what these are like, and we shall know how to gauge the lib- 
erality displayed. The main hall is 500 feet long, and 310 feet wide, with four 
wings, each 21ofeet square. It isof brick of the very best character. A magnifi- 


250 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


cent dome surmounts the centre of the building, while two graceful towers finish 
each wing. Within, the sides are fairly honey-combed with galleries, but the 
main space of the ground floor is left free for the exhibit of ores and machinery. 
The buildings have cost $300,000, and an annex is now in process of erection 
for the agricultural exhibit. This is the “stuff”” western men are made of. 

The grounds devoted to the exposition consist of forty acres at the southern 
terminus of Broadway, Denver’s most fashionable driving street; a smooth, level 
and wide thoroughfare leading all the way from the city out to the grounds, 
which have a lovely view to the west, of the Rocky Mountains, whose foot-hills 
are but fifteen miles away. A narrow-gauge railway, with easy, delightful coach- 
es runs from Curtis Street—in the heart of the city—to the grounds, and one 
can go there for the ‘‘ widow’s mite” of our times—a nickel. Both the Denver 
and New Orleans, and the Denver and Rio Grande Railroads run near the Ex- 
position place, so that the traveller from the east, if he comes up the southern 
way, has a comprehensive sweeping view of the whole structure before he has 
fairly entered the city. 

With so much said in regard to the breadth and enterprise of spirit which 
has conceived the idea of and completed the erection of buildings which would 
be noticeable anywhere on the continent, but which are absolutely wonderful in 
this the newest of the States, one’s attention is naturally called to the causes 
which led to the exhibition, and the character of the exhibits. 

The principal cause for this movement, I gather from the circular issued by 
the executive committee, to have been a desire to remove the ignorance concern- 
ing the resources of the western country, that yet prevails to a considerable ex- 
tent in the east; to stimulate invention, and bring capital more directly than it 
possibly has been face to face with opportunities for investment, and with skilled 
labor in the several provinces of industry to which the exhibition will be devoted. 

The area of the Western territory directly interested in mining aggregates 
1,196,084 square miles, almost one-third the area of the whole United States, 
together with Alaska; therefore it is pertinent that mining, its ores and machinery, 
and the sciences directly connected with it, hold the primary place in the exhibits. 

Nothing perhaps will be of greater interest than the immense masses of ores 
to be exhibited. The largest single mass will come from Arizona; it is of native 
silver, and weighs seven tons. A mass of soda will be sent from Wyoming, 
weighing five tons, which will be even greater than the one shown from the same 
mine at the Centennial. A silver specimen of 2500 pounds, comes from Pitkin, 
Colorado, and three lumps from San Juan county, Colorado, will average the same. 
A gold cube also will come from a Pitkin County mine, worth $150,000. New 
Mexico will send several ‘‘ chunks” of silver ore of 2,500 pounds; while from the 
Wood River district of Idaho, probably a dozen will be shipped, averaging 1,000 
pounds. The Robert E. Lee, of Leadville, will place on exhibition a mass of 
horn silver of 166 pounds, which is a great curiosity aside from its intrinsic value. 
The Horn Silver mine of Frisco, Utah, will also furnish an immense mass, but 


MOLECULES FROM THE DENVER MINING EXPOSITION. 251 


its definite size is not yet ascertained. The cost of getting out of the mine of a 
single mass to be exhibited from Gunnison county, Colorado, will be $500. 

It must be borne in mind too, that these are merely samples, selected to give 
an idea of the ore to be shown in bulk, and they are but a small part of the great 
and interesting masses to be seen at the buildings during the next two months. 

California will exhibit a great many specimens of gold ores; copper and 
silver will come from the new discoveries of the Corriza mines near Hl Paso, 
Texas ; Utah has en route three car loads of mineral exhibits; Gunnison county, 
Colorado, will send specimens of anthracite coal equal to any in Pennsylvania, 
and the same county has for exhibition some very fine specimens of marble. 
Wyoming will do her ‘‘level best” with a copper display. 

Exhibits too are promised from all the mineral producing Eastern States. 
Indeed, so wide is the interest excited in the scheme, that thirty states and terri- 
tories, and it may be even more, will be represented either by their ores, their 
agriculture, or their manufactures. 

In Power hall there will be three lines of shaftings, one for light machinery 
2, inches in diameter, with 150 revolutions per minute; the others 213 inches 
in diameter, with 200 revolutions. For the machinery exhibited will be in active 
operation, so that a person may learn here in three days more of the practical 
workings of a mine, reduction of ore, etc., than he would gain perhaps in going 
about among them for a month. 

Quartz mills, air compressors, drills, retorts, reverberatory roasting furnaces, 
reverberatory smelting furnaces, pans and settlers for amalgamating, concentrators, 
etc., all in active operation, will be in the hall; in fact everything necessary to 
convert the ore into bullion, whether it be of the free or refractory character. 

Choice specimens, in cases, of a geological, metallurgical or other scientific 
nature are promised, and many at the time of writing have already arrived from 
some of the most eminent scientists in the country, and will form one of the 
valuable features of the display. 

The agricultural exhibit will consist principally of contributions from the 
western states and territories, and will no doubt be worthy of the rest of the 
exposition. 

The Fine Art gallery is one-third of a mile in extent. It is under the charge 
of the president of the Denver Art School, himself an artist, an excellent critic 
and one of the best engravers in the country, J. Harrison Mills. Applications 
for space here have been made from the leading artists of the United States, while 
a number of pictures will come from abroad. Keramics will be liberally consid- 
ered in this department, the Cincinnati and other schools furnishing fine contri- 
butions, Miss Louise McLaughlin and other eminent designs also to be represent- 
ed. So that this department is not to be lightly considered, but promises to be 
one of interest and beauty, much beyond all that it had been imagined possible 
to gather together so far west. 

The industrial exhibit will have the character of all such exhibitions, with 
perhaps a leaning to machinery and implements used in mining. Space has 


252 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


been secured for hundreds of rare, useful and costly manufactured articles, of 
which one could not give half the names, or they would fill the pages of this mag- 
azine. 

It is not a scientific fact, nor an industrial fact, nor an agricultural fact, un- 
less we may be permitted a pun, and count it as an attraction hard to dee¢ that 
President Arthur, the Marquis of Lorne and Princess Louise, and a host of other 
notables are coming; and I hope many readers of the RrEviEw, who will see 
that we have reason to be properly ecstatic. 


ISOS INO TICES. 


KyicuT’s New MecuanicaL Dicrionary ; Edward H. Knight, A. M., LL.D. 
In four parts, 240 pages each; 2,500 illustrations. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
Boston. $2.00 for each part. 

This is intended as a supplement to Knight’s American Mechanical Diction- 
ary, published five years ago, which was pronounced by all the students of 
technology or mechanics the most perfect work of the kind ever issued, and 
covers the period from 1877 to 1882. During this period the progress made in 
the development of the mechanic arts is unprecedented in the history of the 
world. Not only in such striking and wonderful achievements as relate to the 
telephone, phonograph and electric light, toward which popular attention is ratu- 
rally drawn, but in every department of applied mechanics, there has been de- 
veloped a fertility of resource in the adaptation of means to ends quite as marvel- 
ous and equally important in practical results. Achievement has outrun the 
most sanguine expectation, and with such rapidity that even the most recent 
records are found to be very deficient in supplying the special information most 
desired. 

The two great exhibitions, at Philadelphia and Paris, with each of which the 
aythor was officially connected as delegate or commissioner, and asa member of 
the respective juries, have brought forward a world of new matter; and the 
records of our own patent office, as well as the testimony of our technical jour- 
nals, bear witness to the fact that at no period has invention been more fertile, 
more brilliant, or more important. 

This fact and the success that the former volumes met with in all parts of the 
world, has induced the publishers to issue another volume, thus continuing the 
record from the date at which the former work went to press, but carefully avoid- 
ing repetition, and aiming to furnish not only a satisfactory supplement to the 
original work, but a book which shall have an individual and separate value as a 
complete record of half a decade iu the history of invention. From this fact it 
is evident that this volume forms an indispensable supplement to all works of 


BOOK NOTICES. 203 


reference upon mechanics now extant, as none of them cover the period men- 
tioned. 

The description of tools, instruments, mechanics, processes, engineering 
devices, etc., are fuil and exact, more so than ordinary, from the fact that the 
author was formerly an examiner in the U. S. Patent Office, and thus acquired a 
critical habit of looking into the mechanism and merits of devices presented for 
patenting. 

The same method has been adopted in dealing with the subject matter in both 
works. First, each article appears in its proper alphabetical place, thus falfilling 
the function of a dictionary in affording direct response to inquiry. Second, 
the items of information thus distributed throughout the work are classified in 
special indexes of the art, profession, or manufacture to which they pertain. 
The book thus fulfills the function of a Cyclopedia, which is a collection of 
treatises. 

‘“ An index to a dictionary’ may seem a novelty or even a superfluity to the 
reader of this notice, but when he comes to examine this work he will find that 
the value of a work of reference depends largely upon its index Doctor Knight 
has invented a system of what he terms ‘‘ Specific Indexes,’’ by the use of which 
the inquirer is guided straight to the information he is in quest of, even though 
he may be entirely ignorant of the name of a thing, and have but the most vague 
and general notion of its use. This is accomplished by grouping under the gen- 
eral title of each Science, Art, Trade or Profession a list or ‘‘ Specific Index ” of 
every article in the book bearing any relation to the subject in question. The 
titles of these Indexes are in turn grouped at the beginning of the book, so that 
by a glance one may determine which clew to follow. 

Besides the use above mentioned, these Specific Indexes afford the reader 
an excellent opportunity for investigating thoroughly all that pertains directly or 
indirectly to any special subject, by using the index under the title of that sub- 
ject as a sort of starting point, and following out its various branches through all 
their ramifications. 

Special attention is called to a new and valuable feature in the work, by 
means of which exhaustive information upon any subject is placed within easy 
reach. The author has made a complete Index to Technical Literature, covering a 
period of five years, and embracing all English and American technical journals 
published from 1876 to 1880 inclusive. Under title of each subject may be found 
a complete list of every article which has apppeared during this period in the 
columns of these periodicals, and as every subject of importance has been thor- 
oughly discussed therein, it is evident that the whole range of recent investigation 
is placed at easy command. This Index cannot fail to meet with the heartiest ap- 
preciation among those who have experienced the labor and difficulty attending 
an exhaustive search upon any line of inquiry. 

The work treats of many thousand subjects, and is illustrated with over 
2,500 carefully prepared engravings and numerous full-page plates, and for gen- 
eral typographical excellence, quality of paper and printing it is unsurpassed. It 


254 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


may be bound uniform with any edition of the Knight’s American Mechanical 
Dictionery, or with any Cyclopzedia or other book of reference of the usual size 
and shape. So!d only by subscription in four sections, containing 240 pages 
each. 


ORIENT SUNBEAMS, or FROM THE PoRTE TO THE PyRaMIDs; by Samuel S. Cox, 

12 mo pp. 407, G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1882. For sale by M. 

H. Dickinson, $2.00. 

All of Mr. Cox’s books are readable and instructive, combining humor and 
solid information to an unusual degree, though, perhaps, not remarkable for 
either quality. He has been a considerable traveler and has had many years of 
literary experience, so that his volumes hit the average taste very happily ; much 
more so than those written solely to amuse or only to inform the reader. 

From his earlier life, when he acquired the soudriguet of “Sunset” from an 
exceedingly glowing and fervent description of an evening sky in a daily paper, 
where such articles were phenomenal, to the present time he has had a kind of 
Persian tendency to sun-worship, as the titles of his books, ‘‘ Winter Sunbeams,” 
‘¢ Arctic Sunbeams,”’ ‘‘ Orient Sunbeams”’ show. The present volume is a com- 
panion volume to ‘‘ Arctic Sunbeams,”’ and is, in fact, a continuation of his ac- 
count of the same trip, beginning at the Bosphorus, where the other left him, 
and describing his journey ‘‘from the Porte to the Pyramids, by way of Palestine.” 
To use the words of the author, it takes the reader through the holy places of 
Mohammedan, Hebrew and Christian to that land of old renown, Egypt. It 
indulges in observations upon the present condition of the empire of Othman 
and its principal and most interesting dependencies. Within this shining crescent 
of travel, Ephesus, Damascus and Jerusalem are, of course, included. All this 
is done ina skillful, piquant manner, and many of the scenes described are 
handsomely illustrated. 


CELEBRATED AMERICAN Caverns; by Horace C. Hovey, with maps and illustra- 
tions. Octavo, pp, 228. Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati, 1882. $2.00. 
This volume will carry with it some additional interest to many of the older 

residents of Kansas City from the fact that the author, Rev. Mr. Hovey, formerly 

lived and preached here, but aside from any such local effect it will be received 
with enthusiasm by all who take an interest in the wonders of nature. For 
years past Mr. Hovey has devoted his leisure time to exploring the great Ameri- 
can caves of Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia and New York, and the pages of 

Scribner, Harper’s Monthly the Scientific American, &c., have been illumined (so 

to speak), with numerous articles on the Mammoth, Wyandotte and Luray caves 

from his graphic pen. 
This handsome volume contains not only the most complete descriptions of 
all of these that we have ever seen, but also of numerous other caverns in the 


BOOK NOTICES. 255 


United States, together with chapters upon the structure, varieties and contents of 
caverns, followed by a condensed account of cave dwellings, sepulchers and 
temples all over the world. The illustrations are excellent, and the book is- 
certain of an extensive sale. 


MaEGREAT PYRAMID= by S. Hs Ford) D: D., LiL. Ds ramo: pp. 208; /St- 

Louis, 1882. 

The great pyramid of Ghizeh has, from the days of Herodotus to the present 
time, furni hed matter of interest for travelers, poets, astronomers, architects, divines, 
archzologists and engineeers. In modern times many attempts have been made 
to give the dimensions, attitude, openings, internal arrangements, and even the 
geographical position of the Great Pyramid, peculiar symbolical meanings, though 
Birch, who is regarded as the greatest of living English Egyptologers, says that 
‘‘ these ideas do not appear to have entered into the minds of the constructors of 
the pyramids,” and Rawlinson thinks that their builders ‘‘ employed the measures 
known to them for their symmetrical construction, but had no theories as to meas- 
ure itself and sloped their passages at such angles as were most convenient, with- 
out any thought of the part of the heavens whereto they would happen to point.” 

Dr. Ford, however, has given the subject a vast deal of study, and is en- 
titled to the credit of having, at least, worked out an ingenious theory and of sup- 
porting it with earnestness and plausibility. In addition to the astronomical and 
chronological facts indicated by various external and internal measurements, he 
believes and essays to prove that the designers of this especial pyramid were di- 
vinely guided to erect a structure which in every part symbolizes some great 
feature in the Christian religion. Whether we admit his conclusions or not, we 
cannot fail to be impressed with his earnestness, the logical bearings of the facts 
and arguments he adduces, and the fitting adaptiveness of the scriptural quota- 
tions and illustrations that he brings forward. Scarcely any reader who examines 
with any care his facts, biblical comparisons, etc., will fail to partake of his en- 
thusiasm. The work is embellished with numerous illustrations, and is appropri- 
ately dedicated to the author’s wife, Mrs. Sallie Rochester Ford, who has been 
intimately associated with the Doctor in all his investigations of the subject. 


ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST AND Lirzg AMONG THE Mormons. By Mrs. C. V. 

Waite; 12mo. pp. 311. C. V. Waite & Co., Chicago: 1882. $1.0c. 

This is a narrative of actual experience in crossing the plains in 1862, when 
it required a whole season to accomplish it, and of life among the Mormons for 
a number of years. Mrs. Waite is a careful and accurate observer and wields a 
skillful pen. Her book is attractively written and at the same time gives a great 
deal of information in regard tothe Mormon habits, customs, rules of life, religious 
rites, etc., that isnot readily found elsewhere. The chapters upon Mormon Myste- 
ries, The History of Woman, An Inside View of the Peculiar Institution and The 


256 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


Secret Orders, are especially rich in this respect. Mrs. Waite is the wife of the 
author of ‘‘ A History of the Christian Religion to A. D. 200,” that has attracted 
a great deal of attention, and is a writer of taste besides possessing keen 
powers of observation. 


Tue PrEsENT RELIGIOUS Crisis. By Augustus Blauvelt; r2mo. pp. 196. G. 

P. Putnam’s Sons, New York. $1.00. 

A graduate of Rutgers College at New Brunswick, N. J., and of Hertzog 
Theological Seminary, connected with the same institution, the author of this 
book took up the study of the Bible for the purpose of vindicating the traditional 
Protestant conceptions about it and religion against all the assaults of modern un- 
believers. Unfortunately he undertook to do this by merely invoking ordinary 
evidence and reasoning, and the result was thus: ‘‘ He has come more and more 
distinctly to perceive that the traditional Protestant conceptions about both the 
Bible and religion, instead of being scientifically defensible even down to details, 
require a revision and restatement of the most revolutionary nature.” These he 
attempts in the present volume, which is but the first of a series, the second of 
which will be called the ‘‘ Religion of the Jesus,”” and the third ‘‘ Supernatural 
Religion.”” How well he may succeed is for the reader to judge. For our part 
we neither like the tone of the writers, his manner of stating his case nor his line 
of argument, although he makes a show of exceeding liberality and draws largely 
upon other writer for his facts and illustrations. 


OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 


THE ELEMENTS OF Forestry, by Franklin B. Hough, Ph. D. Kin and 
Clan, a lecture before the Historical Society of New Mexico, by Prof. A. E. 
Bandelier. The ecord, a monthly magazine devoted to classical literature and 
historical criticism, C. V. Waite & Co., Chicago, Ill. The Grazz Cleaner, month- 
ly, Clifford F. Hall, Moline Ill., Vol. V, No. 5. The Isthmian Canal, by L. U. 
Reavis, with an introductory letter by Capt. Silas Bent, St. Louis, Mo. First 
Annual Report of the Committee of the Archeological Institute of America, on 
the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. Notes on the Habits of 
Some Western Snakes, by H. A. Brous, M. A, M. D. The Journal of Compar- 
ative Medicine and Surgery, a quarterly journal of the anatomy, pathology and 
therapeutics of the lower animals, Vol. III, No. 3, W. L. Hyde & Co., New 
York, $2.00. Natural History of Pettis County, Mo., pp. 19, by F. A. Samp- 
son, Sedalia, Mo. General Notes on Anthropology, Prof. Otis T. Mason. A 
Science Based on Assumptions, pp. 16, Hon. W. D. Kelley. Second Annual 
Report of the Astronomer in charge of the Horological and Thermometric Bureaus 
in the Observatory at Yale College, 1881-82, by Leonard Waldo. 


SOME RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANIC AXKTS. 


bo 
On 
J 


SCIVEIN IONS UCIMOES Eis Gy AINE 


SOME RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANIC ARTS. 
BY F. B. BROCK, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


NovEL REVERSIBLE WINDow.—A recent invention provides a window, the 
sash of which slides up and down in the usual way with counterweights passing 
over pulleys. A portion of the length of the window jambs is a pivoted swing- 
ing frame, so that both sashes may be run up into the frame, and swing out 
horizontally or reversed, as desired. ‘The swinging frames are mounted on hol 
low pivots provided with cross-pintles and rollers, over which the sash-cords pass. 
A spring catch in one of the side frames, operated by a lug on a rod, engages a 
notch in the sashes. The cords have an apertured plate to prevent twisting. 
The swinging frames are grooved to receive the sashes. 


Frre-Proor Curtain FoR. THEATRES.—A recent German invention has 
been gotten up by Herr Von Falkenhausen, for separating the stage from the audi- 
torium in theatres in the event of the breaking out of a fire. The curtain, which 
is closed at the sides and open at the bottom, is secured at the upper end toa 
perforated water-pipe. The other end is rolled upon a roller stationed above and 
in front of the water pipe, so that when the water is turned on the weight of the 
wet curtain nearest the water-pipe will tend to unroll the curtain until it falls 
down. 

Evectric Fiat-Iron.—This novel flat iron is chambered out near its smooth- 
ing face, forming a cavity for the reception of an electrical resistance, the latter 
being connected by suitable wires with a galvanic battery. The face of the flat- 
iron is heated by the radiation from the electrical resistance. A layer of non-heat- 
conducting material is placed above the cavity in the iron to confine the heat to 
the face of the iron. 


Woop-PrESERVING ComposiTION —A late invention mixes in the following 
proportions, viz: Linseed oil, one gallon; common salt, four ounces; saltpetre, 
two ounces; turpentine, one pint, and applies while hot. It is used for oiling 
fellies, and at the same time producing tightly-fitting tires. May also be applied 
to buckets or casks which are to stand in the sun, to prevent shrinkage or warp- 
iba 

Evecrric INCANDESCENT Lamp.—This invenuon consists in a novel mode 
of affixing and sealing luminant carbon loops and their circuit wires vacuum-tight 
in the globes of electric lamps viz: first, immersing the tubes and wires in molt- 
en metal, and causing the same to rise in the tubes and around the wires; second, 
retaining the column of metal in said tubes and raising them out of the molten 
mass; and finally allowing the charge in the tubes to solidify. 


258 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


1 DYGMOVEVUAIL; IN OMIES. 


THE session of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, at Montreal, 
commencing August 23d, will be unusually 
interesting from the fact that several eminent 
scientific men from abroad are expected to be 
present, among whom are Dr. Wm. B. 
Carpenter, Mr. Herbert Spencer and Moncure 
D. Conway, of London; Dr. Samuel Haugh- 
ton, of Dublin; Prof. H. Renard, of Brus- 
Prof. J. Szabo, of Buda-Pesth, and 

Prof. Stephanesco, of Bucharest. Excursions 
~to Ottawa and Quebec, Lake Memphremagog 
and Newport, Vt., besides numerous social 


sels; 


entertainments, will be given to the members. 


WE observe frequent references in the daily 
papers to the propriety and importance of 
filling the office of State Superintendent of 
Public Schools by the election of Prof. J. 
M. Greenwood, of this city, and we unhesi- 
tatingly state that in our judgment no better 
selection could be made, whether scholarship, 
experience or ability is needed. 


PROFESSOR OTis T. Mason, of Columbian 
College, Washington, D. C., the Secretary 
of the Authropological Section of the 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Science, is desirous of receiving communi- 
cations and papers upon the subject, in- 
cluding inquiries into the origin, antiquity 
and primitive condition of man, his zoologic 
characteristics and relationships, arts and 
zesthetic customs, sociology and religion, to 
be presented to the Association at the Mon- 
treal meeting, this month. 


Dr. Cuas. H. STERNBERG, who has con- 
tributed to the REVIEW a number of articles 
on the Geology and Paleontology of the 
Western States and Territories, has recently 
returned to Cambridge from an exploring 
tour in Texas, and is now engaged in pre- 


paring the specimens secured for the Peabody 
Museum, at Harvard College. 


GEN. JNO. A. HALDERMAN, of Kansas, U. 
S. Minister to Siam, has recently placed the 
Kansas City Academy of Science under 
obligations by sending to its library a full set 
of the Consular Commercial Reports. 


WE have received from Prof. E. T. Nelson, 
of the Ohio Wesleyan University, a copy of 
the Third Annual Report of the Museum, by 
which it appears that it is in a flourishing 
condition, In such hands it cannot fail to 
become in a short time a very valuable 
collection. 


A GOop, soft coal, smoke-consuming fur- 
nace for heating residences, churches, stores, 
&c., is one of the great desiderata of the 
West, and it is becoming quite certain that 
Mr. C. C. Hare, of this city, has met the 
IeGhove ? “Aha 
principles involved in its construction are 
undoubtedly correct, and he claims that its 
economy, cleanliness and efficiency have 


want in his ‘* Bituminous 


been fully proven. 


GEN. HARTRANFT proposes to construct an 
electric railway in Fairmount Park, Phila- 
delphia, after the plan of that now in success- 
ful operation in Berlin. * 


TEN prizes of $1200 cach are offered by the 
Agricultural Bureau at Washington, for the 
best results reported by manufacturers of 
Sorghum sugar, and two of the same amount 
for similar reports by manufacturers of beet 
sugar. 


C. F. McGLasHAN, of Santa Barbara, 
California, has invented a system of railroad 
telegraphy by which moving trains can keep 
in constant communication with each other 


EDITORIAL NOLES. 


and with stations. Two wires are used in 
transmitting the electric current, instead of 
one. Wheels or brushes attached to the 
moving train touch these wires carrying the 
current from one wire to an instrument in the 
car and returning it to the other wire, along 
which it passes until its destination is reached, 
when it is connected with a ground wire and 
completes the circuit through the earth. 
Its advantages are obvious, but if none were 
assured except that of lessening the danger of 
accidents, its adoption by railroad companies 
should be only a question of how soon it 
could be done. 


WE have examined an invention by H. C. 
Train, of Kansas City, for separating gold 
from dirt in placer mines, and also to work 
at the tail of a quartzmill. It consists of an 
improvement in dry placer amalgamators, 
and its claims are set forth in the following 
specification: ‘‘ My invention relates to im- 
provements in machines for washing and ex- 
tracting gold from auriferous deposits and 
crushed quartz, and separating the dirt from 
water after the gold has been extracted; and 
the objects of my invention are, first, to pro- 
vide a means by which all the fine as well as 
the coarse gold can be brought in contact 
with amalgam-plates and saved; second, to 
separate the dirt from the water in which it 
has been washed, so that the same water may 
be used over and over again, with little or no 
waste, in places where sufficient water for 
sluice-washing cannot be had; third, to 
operate the whole mechanism by one shaft 
and the same motive power.” The tnven- 
tion has been examined carefully by practical 
miners, and has been pronounced successful 
in its operations. 


£ 

THE manufacture of water pipes was com- 
menced on the froth ult., at the Kansas City 
Pipe Works, about two miles below the city. 
These pipes are made on mandrels of different 
sizes, from three to twenty inches in diameter, 
by rolling around them sheets of iron heavily 
coated within and without with melted 
asphalt. When cool these pipes, now about 
half an inch thick, will bear a pressure of 


259 


350 pounds to the square inch, and the 
material of which they are composed being 
practically indestructible, they seem to pre- 
sent a cheap and effective substitute for the 
ordinary iron pipes. 


THE Pharmacists of Kansas, at their late 
meeting in Topeka, elected the following 
officers for the ensuing year: President, F. 
E. Halliday; First Vice President, W. C. 
Johnson; Second Vice President, Geo. Slos- 
son; Secretary, A. E. Barnes; Assistant 
Secretary, Frank Frisby; Treasurer, W. A. 
Stamford. Papers were read by Dr. R. J. 
Brown, F. Frisby, H. W. Spangler and 
Prof. G. E. Patrick. 


THE Archeological Institute of America 
has, in imitation of France and Germany, 
established an American school of Classical 
Literature, Art and Antiquities at Athens, 
Greece. This enterprise has received the 
support of all the principal eastern universi- 
ties and colleges, and Prof. W. W. Goodwin, 
of Harvard University, has been appointed 
Director for the first year, which commences 
October 2, 1882. It is hoped that through 
the co-operation of these colleges with the 
Institute, much practical benefit will be 
rendered to students in the above named 
subjects. 


ITEMS FROM THE PERIODICALS. 


It is gratifying to learn that the Saturday 
flerald, the best society paper in the State, is 
gaining strength steadily, as it deserves to do, 
from the earnest devotion of its faithful 
editress to the objects of its publication. 


THE Milwaukee Sunday Telegraph, of June 
Iith, contains an extended account of the 
principal instruments of the Washburn 
Observatory at Madison, Wis, 


AT most of the mining camps in Colorado 
extensive preparations are being made for a 
full representation of their respective ores 
and minerals at the Denver Exposition this 
month. 


260 


THE Popular Science Monthly for August 
presents a feast for all classes of readers, as 
the following table of contents shows: The 
Physiology of Exercise—II., by Emil du 
Bois-Reymond; National Necessities and 
National Education, by Benjamin Ward 
Richardson, M:- D., FH. Ro S:5 Acoustic 
Architecture, by William W. Jacques, Ph. D., 
Progress of the Germ Theory of Disease, by 
Prof. Tyndall; A Gigantic Fossil Bi.d, by 
Stanislas Meunier, (illustrated) ; The Book- 
Men, by Hon, T. Wharton Collens; About 
Elephants, by Dr. Andrew Wilson, (illus- 
trated); The Chemistry of Sugar, by Prof. 
Harvey W. Wiley ; Transcendental Geometry; 
by Alfred C. Lane; My Spider, by W. H. 
T. Winter; Sudden Whitening of the Hair; 
How Plants Resist Decay, by W. O. Focke; 
The Topmost Country of the Earth, by 
Lieut. G. Kreitler; Sketch of Baron Adolf 


Eric Nordenskiold, (with portrait); Enter- | 


taining Varieties, Editor’s Table, Literary 
Notices, Popular Miscellany and Notes. 


PROFESSORS JOSEPH LE CONTEand W. B 
Rising, of the University of California, have 
been during the past six years investigating 
the alleged present formation of metailiferous 
veins in progress at Steamoat Springs, in 
Nevada, and at Sulphur bank, California, 
and are now publishing their conclusions in 
the American Journal of Science. That for 
July, 1882, contains article second of the 
preliminary discussion, and the final result is 
promised in a later number. 


Mr. G. H. KINOHAN, in the London 
Monthly Journal of Science for July, antago- 
nizes Mr. Darwin’s ‘‘ Vegetable Mould and 
Earthworms,”’ by attempting to show that 
several influences are more effectual than 
worms in heaping up earth and mould upon 
surface stones, viz.: ants, winds, vegetable 
growth, etc. 


AMONG the most interesting articles in 
Van Nostrand’s Engineering Mugazine for 
July, is one upon The Problem of Aerial 
Navigation as affected by recent mechanical 
improvements, by Wm. Pole, F. R. S., the 


EVM SHS. (CHIEVE RIBOSE GY (Ol?  SCHIEIN C13 


conclusion being that ‘* manageable balloons. 
may form a feasible and useful addition to 
the present means of transport and are there- 
fore worthy of the attention of the engineer.’”” 


Flarpers Magazine for August isa brilliant 
number. It opens with a fine frontispiece, a. 
full page illu-tration by Abbey, engraved by 
Closson. We note especially two bright 
Summer articles—both splendidly illustrated 
—‘*Some Western Resorts,” by John A. 
Butler, and ‘‘ The Cruise of the ‘Nameless,’ ”’ 
by Barnet Phillips. For hot weather reading 
the description by Capt. J. W. Shackford, of 
the ‘‘Icebergs and fogs in the Noth 


Atlantic,”’ will be found decidedly cooling. 


THE American Antiquarian 1s now in its 
fourth volume and is, both from the fasci- 
nating subjects treated of and the skillful 
management of its editor, b:coming more 
widely known and better sustained with each 
volume. 


From the catalogue of the University of 
the State of Missouri for the year ending in 
June, 1882, we learn that there were five 
hundred and ninety-one students in attend- 
ance and seventy-seven graduates from the 
Academic, Law, Engineering, Mining, Agrt- 
cultural, Normal and Medical Departments 
—the targest number of graduates ever sent 
forth from the University in one year, and 
the largest whole number of students fora sy 
year except the one preceding. 


Jno. K. HALLOWELL, formerly of this city, 
who recently published a very careful and 
complete acccunt of the mining and other 
resources of Boulder county, Colorado, is 
now in the Gunnison couatry, exploring and 
writing it up fur the Denver Republican. 


THE August Atlantic Monthly has two 
features which will specially commend it to 
general attention, namely, a fine new steel 
portrait of Mr, Emerson, which is remarkably 
Satisfactory, and which is accompanied by an 
admirable article by W. T. Harris, of Con- 
cord, Mass. ; and a Supplement containing a 


EEA SA0S (Cia nye 


REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, 


A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 


SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 


NO. 5 


VOLE VI. SEPTEMBER, 1882. 


ANTHROPOLOGY. 


WHO WERE THE MOUND-BUILDERS? 
F. F. HILDER. 


The March number of the Kansas City REvirw contains an article by Dr. 
J. F. Snyder, under the above head, which commences with the following para- 
graph: 

‘The conviction is daily gaining strength that the race of Indians found in 
occupancy of this country when it was discovered by Europeans were the people, 
or the immediate descendants of the people, who built the mounds; and students 
of American Archzology now agree that mound-building was practiced by some 
of the tribes down to a comparatively recent date.”’ 

This statement is very indefinite, so much so, that asa student of archeolozy 
I cannot accept it without considerable qualification. The ancient people or 
tribes who for want of a better name have been styled the mound-builders, have 
left traces of their occupation on a vast expanse of territory, extending from 
Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Alleghany Mountains to the 
country west of the Mississippi. Webster gives the definition of the word 


Face, ‘‘ A family, tribe, people, or nation believed or presumed to belong to the 
same stock.” 


And in a foot note says, ‘‘ The American or red race containing the Indians 


of North and South America.” This all-embracing definition is probably the 
Wists 


262 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


sense in which Dr. Snyder uses the word. If so, he will doubtless find few arch- 
eeologists to differ with him. 

‘Whatever may have been the origin of the mound-building people, there is 
very little doubt that they were distinctively American in form and feature. Al- 
though the color of the skin varies considerably, as must be the case on a conti- 
nent extending through one hundred and twenty degrees of latitude, physical 
peculiarities exist from which it may be inferred that all the peoples of America 
belong to a single race bearing some resemblance to the Mongolian nations of the 
Old World; but that race is and has been divided into so many nations and 
tribes, exhibiting such striking contrasts and wide disparities, that the term race 
as applied to the successive occupants of any particular territory becomes alto- 
gether too vague to be of any special significance. Prof. J. W. Powell says*: 
‘When America was discovered by Europeans it was inhabited by great numbers 
of distinct tribes, diverse in languages, institutions and customs. ‘This fact has 
never been fully recognized, and writers have too often spoken of the North 
American Indians as a body, supposing that statements made of one tribe would 
apply to all. This fundamental error in the treatment of the subject has led to 
great confusion.” ; 

So far as the term ‘‘race’’ is used in its widest sense I agree with Dr. Snyd- 
er, but I contend that the ancient people who built the gigantic mounds and 
earthworks of the Mississippi Valley, and who left behind them so many evidences 
of their skill and taste, although they too were probably divided into several tribes, 
were a very different people from the barbarous hunters and warriors who lived 
on the shores of Lake Superior or who ranged through the forests and prairies of 
that part of the continent which we now call Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, and 
Missouri, when first visited by European explorers. Dr. Snyder must, to some 
extent at least believe this to be the case as he uses as illustrations of the condi- 
tion of the Indian tribes at that date, the Mandans, Choctaws, and Natchez, all 
of which, but more particularly the two last named, were far in advance of the 
barbarous tribes by whom they were surrounded and who are supposed by most 
ethnologists to represent descendants of remnants of the mound-building nations. 
Therefore, if Dr. Snyder means that the nomadic hunting tribes who occupied 
the territory above named when discovered by Europeans were the direct or im- 
mediate descendants of the people who built the great mounds I certainly differ 
with him. It is true, as he states, that mere opinions in matters of science are 
not sufficient to influence the convictions of thinking men, but the conclusions of 
careful students are always acceptable as exemplifying the effect produced on 
different minds by the same evidence; however much we may at times differ from 
them they are always entitled to respect as honest expressions of opinion. I have 
therefore selected the following extracts from the published writings of some of 
the gentlemen who are named by Dr. Snyder as supporting his views: 

Squier and Davis say,! ‘‘The earthworks and the mounds and their con- 


* First Annual Report Bureau of Ethnology, page 74. 
1 Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley, page 273. 


” 


WHO WERE THE MOUND-BUILDERS ? 263 


tents certainly indicate that, prior to the occupation of the Mississippi Valley by the 
more recent tribes of Indians there existed here a numerous population, agricul- 
tural in their habits, considerably advanced in the arts, and undoubtedly in all re- 
spects much superior to their successors.”’ 

Also,?, ‘‘We may venture to assert that the facts thus far collected point to 
a connection more or less intimate between the races of the mounds and the semi- 
civilized nations which formerly had their seats among the Sierras of Mexico and 
upon the plains of Central America and Peru.” 

Lewis H. Morgan says*?: ‘‘The mound-builders had disappeared at the 
epoch of the European discovery and cannot be classed with any known Indian 
SOG 

Also,* ‘‘ From the absence of traditionary knowledge of the mound-build- 
ers among the tribes found east of the Mississippi an inference arises that the 
period of their occupation was ancient. ‘Their withdrawal was probably gradual, 
and completed before the advent of the ancestors of the present tribes or simul- 
taneous with their arrival.” 

Dr. Joseph Jones says,® ‘‘ The most important inference appears to be that 
the mound-builders and stone grave races of the Mississippi Valley had a com- 
mon origin or near affinity with the aboriginal inhabitants of Mexico and Central 
America. 

Also,® ‘‘It is impossible to assign the monumental remains of Tennessee to 
any specific date or to any known nation of North American Indians.” 

C. C. Jones, Jr., says,7 in speakingof mounds in Georgia: ‘‘ The location 
and physical peculiarities of some tumuli and enclosures, the character of the re- : 
mains found in and near them, the presence of stone idols and metallic ornaments 
and the traditions of modern Indians, who regard them with commingled igno- 
rance and wonder, unite in claiming for them not only a marked antiquity, but 
also, a striking resemblance to the monuments of the Mississippi Valley.” | 
_ Also,’ in speaking of a great mound on the Etowah River: <‘‘To the eye 
of the observer as it rests for the first time upon its towering form, it seems a 
monument of the past ages, venerable in its antiquity, solemn, silent, and yet not 
voiceless, a remarkable exhibition of the power and industry of a former race. 
With its erection the modern hunter tribes, so far as our information extends, 
had naught to do.” 

Also,® <‘‘ The fact has been distinctly attested by early travellers that the 
Indians of this region never worshiped idols. We have further testimony that 
they not only never manufactured these symbols of pagan worship, but emphati- 
cally disclaimed all knowledge of the people by whom they were made. Who, 
RR Anccuontonuments of the Mississippi Valley, page 301. 

3 Houses and House Life of the American Aborigines, page 193. 

4 Houses and House Life of the American Aborigines, page 219. 

5 Explorations of the Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, page 78. 

6 Explorations of the Aboriginal Remains of Tennessee, page 157. 

7 Antiquities of the Southern Indians, page 184. 


8 Antiquities of the Southern Indians, 137. 
9 Antiquities of the Southern Indians, 146. 


264 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


then, were these mound-builders, and who the artificers that chiselled these rude 
stone images, which did not fall down from Jupiter? 

I think after a careful perusal of the above quotations it will be admitted that 
the writers do not arrive at exactly the same conclusions as Dr. Snyder respecting 
the connection between the mound-builders and the modern tribes of Indians. 

With respect to the building of burial mounds by the modern Indians, there is 
no disputing the fact that it has been practiced by some of the tribes down to a 
comparatively recent date, and I do not know that any archzeologist of repute 
has ever doubted or denied it. 

E. G. Squier says,® ‘It is certain that the existing tribes of Indians often 
buried in the ancient tumuli, and occasionally erected mounds.” 

I do not think Dr. Snyder arrives at correct conclusions respecting Mr. 
Squier’s report on the Aboriginal Monuments of New York, in the second volume 
of ‘‘ Contributions to Knowledge,” of the Smithsonian Institution. Dr. Snyder 
says: ‘‘Mr. Squier describes mounds and earthworks extending from Canada 
to the Susquehanna which were found to contain ornamental pottery, pipes, 
stone axes, hammers and discs, and other stone-age implements, identical in 
shape and materials with similar specimens found by him in the Ohio mounds, 
and bone-awls and needles, together with iron axes, glass beads, cast copper 
hatchets, kettles of iron, brass, and copper, and other articles of European man- 
ufacture.” 

I find that Mr. Squier selects only four examples out of all the collection he 
made from the above mounds as resembling those found in Ohio and these are 
such that they might have been common to any people who used stone imple- 
ments. 

Further on Dr.,Snyder says, ‘‘ The building of these mounds he was 
forced to assign to the Iroquois within comparatively recent dates; though in 
every essential particular they were exactly like the older mounds in central 
Ohio.”’ 

For the sake of comparison I will quote a few paragraphs from the work in 
question. 

Mr. Squier says,! ‘‘ We have no satisfactory evidence that the race of the, 
mounds passed over the Alleghanies, the existence therefore of a few tumuli to 
the east of these mountains, unless in connection with other and extensive works 
such as seem to have marked every step of the progress of that race, is of little 
importance, as it will hardly be denied that the existing races of Indians did and 
do still occasionally construct mounds of small size.” 

Also,? ‘‘The ancient remains of western New York except so far as they 
throw light upon the system of defence practiced by the aboriginal inhabitants. 
and tend to show that they were to a degree fixed and agricultural in their habits, 


0 American Archeological Researches, page 185, 
1 Aboriginal Monuments of New York, page 107. 
2 Aboriginal Monuments of New York, page 10. 


WHO WERE THE MOUND-BUILDERS ? 265 


have slight bearing upon the grand ethnological and archeological questions in- 
volved in the ante-Columbian history of this continent.” 

Also,* ‘‘ Misled by statements which no opportunity was offered of verify- 
ing I have elsewhere though in a guarded manner, ventured the opinion that the 
ancient remains of western New York belonged to the same system with those of 
Ohio and the west generally ” 

I do not find in any of the above paragraphs evidence that Mr. Squier en- 
deavors to convey the impression that he considered a similarity to exist between 
the ancient mounds of Ohio and the New York works, but on the contrary their 
tendency is toward an opposite conclusion. 

Fully admitting that modern tribes of Indians erected burial mounds I can 
see no connection between the erection of a few insignificant tumuli such as that 
- described by Catlin over the remains of the Omaha chief and his horse, and the 
_ building of a great truncated pyramid like that at Cahokia, covering acres of 
ground and containing, as has been estimated twenty millions of cubic feet of 
earth, or the construction of the wonderful series of earth-works in Ohio with 
their regular outlines, true circles and accurate squares. The one is just such a 
memorial as might be raised by the rudest tribe of savages in honor of a deceased 
chief; the others must have been the work of a people essentially different in 
their habits and existing in a widely dissimilar condition of society. 

Dr. Snyder says, ‘‘ The mounds of the Mississippi basin are in no essential 
particular different from those seen on the plains of Europe or the steppes of 
Asia.” 

The definition of the word mound is, ‘‘ An artificial hill or elevation of the 
earth,”’ consequently in such simple structures there can be no essential difference 
wherever they may exist, but the term is a misnomer when applied to such struct- 
ures as the great truncated pyramids of Cahokia and Seltzertown and many others 
of their class, with their graded avenues, terraces and regularity of form, .to the 
so-called sacrificial mounds, or to the wonderful earth-works of Ohio; these struct- 
ures are not only essentially different from the tumuli so profusely scattered over 
Europe and Asia, but they serve to distinguish the ancient people of the Missis- 
sippi Valley from all others on this continent. 

Professor D. Wilson says, ‘‘ The so-called sacrificial mounds are a class of 
ancient monuments altogether peculiar to the New World and highly illustrative 
of the rites and customs of the ancient races of the mounds.” 

It is unfortunate that the name mound-builders has been applied to these 
ancient people, as it is apt to create a false impression with respect to the distinc- 
tive character of their works, and to add to the confusion which exists in so many 
minds on all subjects appertaining to the aborigines of America. 

I think that Dr. Snyder in his efforts to prove that the ancient people were 
mere barbarians, makes some assertions that are open to criticism; he says, 
“The builders of the mounds knew nothing of astronomy or mathematics,’”’ also 
“« They lived in temporary huts of frail, perishable materials and had not advanced 


3 Aboriginal Monuments of New York, page 11. 


266 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


to the art of constructing stationary abodes of clay or stone.” While we have no 
evidence either affirmative or negative respecting their knowledge of astronomy, I 
think there is strong presumptive proof that they had made considerable ad- 
vance in the direction of mathematics. In speaking of the Ohio earth-works 
Squier and Davis say,* ‘‘ There is one deduction to be drawn from the fact that 
the figures entering into these works are of uniform dimensions which is of con- 
siderable importance in its bearings upon the stock of knowledge among the 
people who erected them. It is that the builders possessed a standard of meas- 
urement and had some means of determining angles. The most skillful engineer 
of the day would find it difficult without the aid of instruments to lay down an 
accurate square of the great dimensions of those above represented measuring as 
they do more than four-fifths of a mile in circumference. We do not only find 
accurate squares and perfect circles, but also as we have seen, octagons of great ~ 
dimensions.” 

These remarks apply to a series of works in Ross County, Ohio, which are 
in sets of one square and two circles, each side of every square measuring 1,080 
feet and the diameter of each circle 1,780 feet, all of them accurate mathematical 
figures. It will be very difficult to explain how these works could have been 
erected unless the builders possessed some mathematical knowledge. Stoddard, 
in speaking of one of the Ohio works says,® ‘‘ This work manifests a degree of 
mathematical skill not possessed by the aborigines and by few only of those 
deemed intelligent whites. To suppose it the invention of any other than a 
skillful mathematician requires a greater extent of credulity than is allowable 
among men of sense and reflection.” 

I think the characterizing their dwellings as ‘‘ temporary huts of frail perish- 
able materials” is an error, as there are still existing in many places in Missouri 
traces of towns and settlements where the vestiges of their habitations may be 
seen by hundreds, while in very many instances, without doubt, similar remains 
have been obliterated by modern agriculture. There are now no traces existing 
of ancient habitations in the neighborhood of the great Cahokia mound in Illinois, 
but Brackenridge who visited it in the year 1811 found them in abundance; he 
says,® ‘‘T everywhere observed a great number of small elevations of earth to the 
height of a few feet, at regular distances from each other and which appeared to 
observe some order; near them I also observed pieces of flint and fragments of 
earthen vessels. I concluded that a populous town had once existed here, simi- 
lar to those of Mexico described by the first conquerors.’’? Such traces certainly 
indicate that the dwellings were not temporary huts of frail, perishable materials, 
but they are exactly such remains as would exist, of houses built of adobe or sun-. 
dried brick, after exposure to the rains and frosts of centuries in our variable cli- 
mate; that they used such bricks I am in a position to prove, as in exploring an 
ancient town site in Scott County, Missouri, I exhumed a large quantity of frag- 


4 Ancient Monuments, page 61. 
5 Stoddard Sketches of Louisiana, page 347. 
6 Brackenridge—Views of Louisiana, page 174. 


WHO WERE THE MOUND-BUILDERS ? 267 


ments of them, made of well-tempered clay, bearing impressions of the straw or 
wild hay with which they had been mixed. 

I speaking of the great mound at Seltzertown, Dr. Dickeson, who is quoted 
by Squier and Davis,7 alludes to the use of sun-dried bricks’ in its construction : 
‘«The north side of the mound is supported by a wall of sun-dried bricks, two 
feet thick, filled with grass, rushes and leaves. Angular tumuli mark the corners 
which were formed of large bricks retaining the impression of human hands.” 

Dr. Foster also alludes to the use of clay for building,® ‘‘ Professor Swallow 
has observed the imprint of human hands in the clay which enters into some of 
the ancient structures in the region of New Madrid.” 

Dr. Snyder says that ‘‘there is no foundation for a belief that they lived 
under any form of political government or had any formulated mode of worship, 
or entertained religious sentiments more elevated than the grossest superstition ;” 
and adds ‘‘ This summary sketch accurately depicts the status of the mound- 
builders, and is a correct representation of the condition of the southern Indians 
when first discovered.” From all that I have been able to glean by personal re- 
search and from writers on the subject, I think he has been too hasty in arriving 
at such conclusions respecting both the mound-builders and the southern Indians. 

C. C. Jones, Jr., says,® ‘‘ Among the Natchez the machinery of temples, 
idols, priests, keepers of sacred things, and sundry religious festivals was most 
elaborate. The preservation of the eternal fire engaged their utmost solicitude. 
The Sun (chief) ruled with despotic power and served in his person to unite the 
privileges of king and high-priest. There were observed more emphatically than 
_ among any other southern tribes, the distinctions of rank. The common people 
were to the last degree submissive to the nobility consisting of Suns, nobles and 
men of rank.”’ 

This is certainly an opposite condition to living ‘‘ without any form of polit- 
ical government or formtlated mode of worship,’’ and this is one of the nations 
or tribes that Dr. Snyder himself puts on a level with the ancient mound-builders, 
and I think with some degree of reason, as I believe it quite possible that some 
of their descendants may have existed among these and other southern peoples. 

Dr. Snyder concludes his article with a quotation from the ‘‘ Ancient Cop- 
per Mines of Isle Royale,” by Prof. N. H. Winchell. As that paper has been 
answered by Mr. J. P. Maclean in ‘‘ The American Antiquarian,”’ who says ‘‘ It 
is remarkable for its erroneous statements and its misapprehension of facts;” I 
shall,merely notice a few inaccuracies that have escaped Mr. Maclean’s notice 
which afford additional evidence of its unreliability as an authority. 

Prof. Winchell devotes more space to the question of the identity of the 
mound-builders, than to the ancient copper mines, and uses the same line of argu- 
ment as Dr. Snyder relating to the building of mounds by modern Indians; mak- 
ing quotations from several authors to support his position, one of which reads as 


7 Ancient Monuments, pages 117-118. 
8 Pre-Historic Races, page 113. 
9 Antiquities of Southern Indians, page 22. 


268 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


follows, ‘‘ Beck’s Gazetteer” (page 308) states that ‘‘a mound of the largest di- 

mensions has been thrown up, within a few years, in Illinois, over the remains of 

an eminent chief.” When a writer gives the name of a book and the number of 

the page, and uses inverted commas, it is generally supposed that within those 

quotation marks he uses the exact language of his authority ; how Prof. Winchell 

has followed this rule is best exemplified by giving the correct quotation, which 

reads thus: ‘‘ Beck’s Gazetteer,” (page 308),—‘‘ One of the largest mounds in 

this country has been thrown up on this stream, within the last thirty or forty 

years, by the Osages, near the great Osage village, in honor of one of their de- 

ceased chiefs.” The stream referred to by Beck is the Osage River, which is 

n Missouri, not in Illinois. Beck says it was erected thirty or forty years ago, 

and as his ‘‘ Gazetteer ” was published fifty-nine years ago, this would make the 

age of the mound nearly a century, instead of a few years. The 4uotation as 

made by Prof. Winchell is therefore totally at variance with the book quoted. 

Even if it had been correct, Beck is known to be very unreliable as an authority, © 
which is proved in this instance by the fact that in the hope of finding ‘‘ one of © 
the largest mounds in this country”’ as described by him; Mr. O. W. Collett, of 
the Missouri Historical Society, some time since, thoroughly searched the banks 
of the Osage River for miles, in the neighborhood designated by Beck, without 
being able to find the slightest evidence that any such mound ever existed. 

Prof. Winchell devotes considerable space to prove that the Indian tribes, 
at the time of their first contact with white men, made use of copper, a fact which 
no one has denied, and makes a number of quotations and references, as he says, 
‘in regard to the use of copper and the mzning of it by American aborigines.” 
I have read the quotations carefully, but without finding a word in any of them 
respecting mining. 

Again at page 614, he says, ‘‘ Thus ata distance of from 800 to 1,000 miles 
from its origin, Cartier in 1555, and Champlain in 1610, encountered Indians 
who informed them of the manner of mining and of manufacturing copper imple- 
ments.” Neither Cartier or Champlain, in their narratives say anything about 
‘the manner of mining,” on the contrary they say the Indians told them they 
gathered the copper in lumps. 

Col. Whittlesey says,® ‘‘ Detached and water-worn lumps of copper have 
been found in great numbers in the gravel, clay, and loose materials that cover 
the rocks, from the days of the Catholic fathers to this time, not only in the min- 
eral regions but over a large space, to the southward of it.” Pieces of, drift 
copper have been found in many places in Wisconsin, and one weighing five or 
six pounds is recorded as having been found in the drift gravel in Medina Coun- 
ty, Ohio. It was from such sources that the modern Indian tribes obtained their 
supplies of copper, there is not a particle of evidence to connect them with the 
ancient mining operations, or to prove that they had any knowledge or tradition 
concerning them. Col. Whittlesey states that all the evidences prove that the 


0 Ancient Mining on the Shores of Lake Superior, page 1. 


THE TABLET OF THE CROSS. 269 


ancient mines had been abandoned hundreds of years before the French became 
acquainted with the northern tribes. 

The problems that American archeologists and ethnologists have before them 
for solution, are so many and so difficult, and the amount of work to be done 
is so large, before they can unravel the mysteries of pre-historic life on this con- 
tinent, that it is very unfortunate that the clouds of misapprehension and error 
should be rendered more dense by careless and incorrect quotations and unsup- 
ported statements. In some quarters there is a disposition to over-rate the culture 
and conditions of social life among the ancient inhabitants of the Mississippi Val- 
ley, while in others there is a tendency to err in the opposite direction. Both 
parties in their desire to maintain their favorite theories are only too apt to ignore 
many difficulties and to attempt to settle disputed points by baseless assumptions. 
It is only by preserving a middle course between these extremes and by devoting 
our energies to arrive at the truth, irrespective of preconceived opinions, that 
any work can be done that will yield scientific results worth preserving, or that 


‘will aid us in giving an intelligent answer to the question ‘‘ Who were the Mound- 
Builders ?” 


THE TABLET OF THE CROSS. 
WARREN WATSON. 


Epitor Kansas City REVIEW: 


In the August number of the REviEw Prof. Mason and Mr. Hilder take me 
to task for presuming to doubt the views of Messrs. Rau and Holden on the 
Smithsonian Tablet; and, if I permitted their articles to pass without some re- 
joinder, their courteous strictures would go far to convict me of inexcusable ig- 
norance concerning the subject. 

I desire to say, then, that the learned and valuable speculations of Dr. Rau 
are quite familiar to me; that they render extremely probable the prior views of 
Matile and Valentini; but that they identify beyond a doubt the Smithsonian 
Tablet as the right lateral slab of the Cross group I must respectfully deny. The 
fact is the restoration of the complete Tablet as set forth by Dr. Rau would not 
be received in court as evidence without further proof of its authenticity. Who 
procured the Smithsonian fragments? From what portion of the ruins were they 
taken? Did all the fragments come from the same locality? When were they 
procured? How and when did they come into the possession of Mr. Russell ? 
‘These questions seem to be pertinent to the inquiry, yet none of them are answer- 
ed by Dr. Rau except in a rather perfunctory manner. He finds the Tablet at 
Washington; he discovers that in 1842 it was consigned to the Patent Office as 
“the fragments of a Tablet. from the ruins of Palenque;” that it bears a striking 
resemblance to the right portion of the Kingsborough’s plate of the complete 
Tablet and that it fits almost exactly the center stone as pictured by Waldeck, 


270 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Stephens and Charnay. ‘These are strong facts, but our information regarding 
the genuine Tablet is of such a nature that these facts, instead of deciding the 
question, entangle us all the more hopelessly. Waldeck (1832) intimates that 
the Tablet was entire when he visited the ruins, but he only depicted the central 
stone and the right lateral slab; but it was certainly complete at the earlier visit 
(1831) of Galindo. Stephens (1840) states that ‘‘ the stone on the right is brok- 
en and, unfortunately, altogether destroyed ; most of the fragments have disappear- 
ea ;” and he goes on to say that ‘‘from the few” fragments found he did not 
coubt it contained a similar inscription to that on the left. Charney (1858) found 
the two lateral slabs containing hieroglyphics ‘‘z place in the sanctuary of the 
temple ;” reiterating this statement twice with a circumstantiality of description 
that bewilders one who has just read the testimony of Stephens or been told that. 
‘‘by travelling to Washington” he may see one of these identical slabs. It 
cannot be possible that Stephens, Charnay and Rau are all correct. It might be 
possible that the missing slab was not so completely destroyed as Stephens 
thought and that the fragments seen by him in 1840 were gathered up in 1842 
and shipped to Washington; but in coming to this conclusion we must ignore his. 
statement that ‘‘most of the fragments ” had disappeared. 

Between Charnay and Rau there is a gulf that no suppositions can cross un- 
less we conceive that some Central American Antiquarian has duplicated Dr. 
Rau’s restoration by the help of other ‘‘ fragments of a Tablet from. the ruins of 
Palenque.” 


RELICS OF A RACE OF MOUND-BUILDERS IN CALIFORNIA. 


With the exception of those who have made the subject an especial study, 
but few people are aware of how thickly the relics and traces of former habitations 
of a long-forgotten and prehistoric race are scattered all over the Pacific coast. 
For archeologists the subject is a decidedly interesting one, furnishing as it does 
an endless field for investigation and speculation. These traces are particularly 
numerous in the southern portion of our State, and in that section the researches 
of scientific men have met with an especially rich reward. Numerous parties, 
under the auspices of various organizations, have at various times gone over por- 
tions of the field and made many and important discoveries. But to the careful 
searcher there is yet a large and unexplored region which will amply repay any 
labor expended in that direction. On the borders of the Colorado Desert traces: 
of former habitations are to be found in the presence of enormous heaps of 
broken crockery, and trails worn so deep in the solid rock that thousands of feet 
continually passing to and fro must have consumed ages before the pathways as- 
sumed their present form, and many other indications may be seen going to show 
that at some remote period that now desert waste must have sustained a vast 
population. 


RELICS OF A RACE OF MOUND-BUILDERS IN CALIFORNIA. DIM 


One locality in particular on the Mojave desert deserves especial mention. 
In an utterly dry and desolate section, far from any apparent inducements for 
the settlement of even the wandering desert Indians, are twelve mounds or cairns. 
of loose rock, piled up to an elevation of some five or six feet. The rocks of 
which these mounds are composed must have been carried for a great distance, 
as none like them are to be found in that neighborhood, and a vast amount of 
time and labor must have been consumed in the apparently useless task. What 
these monuments represent, or what may be concealed beneath them, is entirely a 
matter of conjecture, and no doubt a thorough prospecting of them would amply 
repay any curious scientist. Their remoteness of location has, so far, prevented 
any one from making any thorough examination of these interesting relics of the 
past. The Indians of that desert claim to have no knowledge of the purpose or 
origin of these cairns, but say they have always been there, and that their fore~ 
fathers knew as little about them as they themselves. 

The researches so far made into the remains of this prehistoric people have 
been almost entirely confined to the southern seacoast and the islands off the 
shore. Of these islands, San Nicolas, Santa Cruz and San Miguel have proved 
especially rich in relics. Many tons of stone implements, knives, lances, arrow- 
heads, bowls, mortars, etc., have been excavated and sent to museums in various 
portions of the world. All these islands—Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel, 
San Nicholas and Anacapa—bear traces of having at some distant day been 
densely populated, though what manner of men they were and what their history 
is entirely a matter of conjecture, since, as far as known, no traces of any at- 
‘tempt at carving or writing by means of hieroglyphics have ever been discovered. 

At Point Duma, in the extreme south western part of Ventura County, the 
traces of a large settlement are to be seen. Here the debris from the ancient 
dwellings has formed a large and deep deposit, covering a great extent of ground. 
The burial places of the former inhabitants have been discovered, and in many 
places excavated, and large quantities of the stone implements therein found have 
been taken away by enthusiastic and professional relic hunters. Coming further 
up the coast, at Point Rincon, nearly on the boundary line between Ventura and 
Santa Barbara Counties, are to be found perhaps the most extensive evidences of 
a former settlement that exist anywhere in this State. Here, for a space of up- 
ward of two hundred acres, the entire surface of the ground is covered with a 
deposit of refuse left by the former inhabitants, varying in depth from two to 
fifteen feet. This debris is composed of powdered shells, bones of all sorts of 
animals, mostly in a calcined condition, the remains of former fire-places, and by 
no means the least, vast quantities of human remains. In the entire section it 1s 
almost impossible to dig to any depth without striking human remains in more or 
less quantity, and all bearing evidence of having been interred for an incalculable 
period, many of the bones crumbling to pieces on being touched, while others are 
in a fair state of preservation. 

The locality of some of the graves is marked by rocks or whalebones, and 
some sort of care was evidently taken in the burial of the occupants, in some in- 


272 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


stances a sort of rude box of large flat stone being made to do duty as a coffin. 
It is in these more methodical ‘tombs that the richest deposits of stone relics are 
found. In the majority of cases, however, the dead seem to have been thrown 
promiscuously into the ground, though in one locality the singular circumstance 
was observed that the bones of children were invariably accompanied by those of 
an adult, a fact fruitful of speculation. One interesting fact connected with these 
remains is the regularity and remarkable state af preservation of the teeth found, 
and also the somewhat singular circumstance that these teeth are almost invaria- 
bly worn smooth on their upper surface, thus proving that their possessors must 
have been compelled to eat much more than the traditional ‘‘ peck of dirt” in 
order to have produced such a uniformity of surface. It was at this place that 
sometime since a farmer plowed up a relic which to all appearances would seem 
to have been intended as a tombstone, with an inscription upon it. This con- 
sisted of a large flat bone of a whale. Portions of the surface had been hollowed 
out and these excavations filled with asphaltum, with which the coast abounds. 
In this asphaltum, when soft, the tiniest white shells had been imbedded in va- 
rious patterns, and with such method as to warrant the supposition that some 
meaning was sought to be conveyed. Unfortunately the bone wasin such a state 
of decay that it fell to pieces, and no effort was made to save more than one or 
two of the larger fragments. 

Acting on the supposition that this was probably the headstone of some im- 
portant personage, and that a rich deposit would reward the discoverer of his 
resting-place, many excavations were made in the locality, but nothing of inter- 
est was found, the bones having, in all probability, been shifted a considerable 
distance from its original locality in the course of ages. Numerous parties have, 
at different times, made the deposit at Point Rincon the scene of their researches, 
and in nearly every instance have been well repaid. Asa matter of course the 
age of this deposit can only be conjectured, but every indication points to the 
belief that the race who inhabited the coast antedate all other inhabitants of this 
continent. One remarkable fact has been noticed, and that is the entire absence 
of any metallic objects, or any signs of any having been used, showing these 
aborigines to have been in ignorance of anything of the sort. 

At a point on the coast about thirty miles north of Point Rincon, and near 
the little village of Goleta, is a place called More’s Island. This is an elevated 
plateau, surrounded by lowlands, and which, at no distant period, was an island. 
Here it had been long known that there were traces of former inhabitants, but no 
systematic search was ever made until the Wheeler expedition paid that place a 
visit a few years since, when, in a short time, they exhumed and forwarded to 
the Smithsonian Institution no less than ten tons of relics of all kinds. 

Crossing the Santa Ynez range at Santa Barbara, a region is reached where 
no one would expect to find evidences of any former population, as the country 
is as wild, unproductive and inhospitable as can well be imagined. Yet, in some 
of the remote cafions of the mountain range, and in places almost impossible of 
access, extensive burial places and remains have been found and many valuable 


RELICS OF A RACE OF MOUND-BUILDERS I1N CALIFORNIA, 


bo 
“J 
ies) 


relics unearthed. At the San Marcos Hot Springs, at the northern base of the 
Santa Ynez Mountains, are also extensive remains, and excavations made there 
have been well rewarded. Continuing on through the northern portion of Santa 
Barbara County may be found many traces of this long-obliterated race, and 
many places with good indications may be found which have never, as yet, been 

subjected to an investigation. Notably is this the case in the Santa Maria Valley, 
and in some portions of San Luis Obispo County. 

One interesting fact concerning the implements found is the extreme hard- 
ness of the material used, and the almost utter impossibility of working it with 
even modern stone-cutting tools. Many large bowls and mortars have been found 
which have been worked from a solid block by some unknown means to an even 
thickness all through, and of so perfect a regularity of outline as to excite the 
wonder and admiration of all, When it is borne in mind that the material of these 
bowls is of the hardest and flintiest description, the perseverance and skill of the 
savage artificer, as well as the means used, are a wonder. Quite a profitable 
business is now and has been for years done by various parties in prospecting the 
country for these aboriginal relics, as such things find a ready sale at the various 
museums, as well as with many private collectors of antique objects. 

In connection with this subject some mention of the famous ‘‘ Painted Cave’’ 
at Santa Barbara may not be out of place. An old Indian trail across the Santa 
Ynez Mountains leads up the mountain side from one of the oldest of the settle- 
ments of the padres—the Indian orchard. Some bee-hunters, several years since, 
discovered not far from this trail an aperture in the rocks, which could only be 
reached by clambering down a rope suspended from the rocky ledge above. 
However, the cave was reached, and found to be a hollow in the rocks of con- 
siderable size, with a sandy floor. But the most remarkable thing was the pres- 
ence of a variety of inscriptions painted upon the rocky sides of the cavern, and 
which have given rise to all manner of conjectures as to their meaning and origin. 
So far, however, no satisfactory clew to their meaning has ever been found.— 
San Francisco Chronicle. 


Sir Walter Armstrong, at Craigside, near Newcastle, England, has utilized a 
brook to run a dynamo-electro machine by means of a turbine water-wheel, and 
sO manages to secure electricity enough to keep thirty-seven Swan lamps in a 
state of incandescence in his house. In this case the motive power costs noth- 
ing, and electric lighting in this way is an exceptional luxury. 


Mr. Buttgenbach, of the Lintorf lead mines, near Dusseldorf, has devised a 
‘disintegrator which separates zinc blende and pyrites ore with great nicety. By 
specific gravity this can not be effected, but the difference in the cohesive force 
of the two minerals enables Mr. Buttgenbach to crush the zinc ore to a fine 
sand and leave the pyrites in its original volume, so that they can be separated 
by a sieve. : 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


b> 
~I 
as 


OeVA MOISE CAIN ID) Ele SMO WO. 


ALCOHOL AND ITS EFFECTS. 
REV. L. J. TEMPLIN. 


The earliest authentic account we have of the use of intoxicating liquors as 
beverages is in the case of Noah, who, it is said, planted a vineyard and became 
drunken on the wine made from the fruit thereof. From that time down we 
have frequent accounts of the use and effects of various kinds of intoxicating 
liquors among many nations and tribes of people. The most common source of 
these drinks in ancient times was the grape; but the palm tree, pomegranate, and 
melon have been extensively employed for this purpose in both ancient and mod- 
ern times. In recent times the various cereals have come into very general use 
for this purpose. Various other substances, as fruits, milk, etc., are frequently 
employed for the manufacture of intoxicating drinks. It is only by a process 
of fermentation that the intoxicating principle is generated, as none of it is 
ever found in any living substance. In the process of decomposition of any 
organic substance containing sugar in the presence of water, it passes through 
three distinct stages ; the alcoholic, the acetic, and the putrefactive. It is the 
business of the brewer and distiller to check the process when it has reached the 
first stage, and so manipulate their liquor as to prevent any further fermentation. 
Intoxicating drinks were in use many centuries before any correct knowledge of 
the true nature of the intoxicating principle was obtained. 

The Arabian alchemists discovered that if wine was kept at the boiling point 
for a few minutes it lost its intoxicating power. The intoxicating principle, 
whatever that was, had escaped. But this powerful agent was invisible, hence 
it was regarded as a spirit—the spirit of wine. 

About the middle of the eleventh century Avicena caught this subtle agent 
and gave it a visible, bodily form. Chemists called it ‘‘alcohol.’’ This term 
comes from two Arabic words, Al the, and Kahol, a fine, impalpable powder. 
The ladies of the east were accustomed to employ such powders at their toilet. 
The term ‘‘ alcohol” seems to have been applied to any powerful, subtle agent, 
but its modern use is confined to the intoxicating principle or strong drinks—the 
spirit of wine. The process by which this agent is developed is now quite well 
understood. If starch be moistened with water in which alittle ferment, as yeast, — 
has been dissolved, and subjected to a temperature of one hundred degrees of 
heat it will be changed to grape sugar. But if the temperature be maintained in 
the presence of a ferment it will be decomposed and its elements separated into 
carbonic anhydride and alcohol. The gas speedily escapes into the air and the 


ALCOHOL AND ITS EFFECTS. . 275 


alcohol remains dissolved into the water. By distillation this is separated from 
the principal part of the water, the remainder of which may be removed by cer- 
tain chemical processes and absolute alcohol obtained. It was once believed 
that alcohol was the product of distillation, but it is now known that this process 
only separates the alcohol that has already been generated by fermentation. The 
alcohol in general use contains from seven to fifteen per cent of water. Pure 
alcohol is a transparent fluid having a specific gravity of 796, water being r1ooo. 
It has a very pungent taste, boils at 170° and has never been frozen. It inflames 
at 300°, burning with a pale blue flame, emitting no smoke, little hght but much 
heat. “This agent is a powerful solvent, readily dissolving most of the resinous 
gums and vegetable extracts. Chemically, alcohol is composed of three gases in 
the following proportions : 

(CNT SOLE Si Hii ah ite MO anemia, Riel aeenes ao TPE MONA LRP aI Feo} 3 

Heby GOS CTE Me LY adToeeal sda us hthi) a hhtt Gyee vel etn, TOTO 

Oxon ay Myon ei Uas Ee AS Uee ee a Gal bass. G 2A Ale 


100. 


The amount of alcohol that is found in the different kinds of intoxicating 
drinks varies with the different classes and kinds of liquors. The following ex; 
hibits the proportion of alcohol and proof spirits found in the different kinds of 
fermented liquors. 


ALCOHOL. PROOF SPIRITS. 
ROnEN VIC amr sulew es 23 ie npel Cente 46 per cent. 
IMademcat aes Sl hare ot 24 oe 
Sherry... .-. .19 iS 38 x 
Champagne iain slimes 25 ee 
Cider) Pera NOR ek ng a 14 ot 
IROGLCT) onian cape cane etn eouaunn ns Sie 6 
UENeee Wren sia: Wray (NREL OLS Mes ek 13 uC 
SiidalllB ee tara) mw eum lal Ateonn Dp OL 


From this it will be seen that these drinks contain from one fortieth to near- 
ly one-half of proof spirits. The proportion of alcohol found in the various 
_ kinds of distilled liquors is— 


IBKAMG yawn aN teei cma igbitehe te sno aca OeDeT Celts 
TRUVEO Ie Dibaba RL Une a  AUaOmeatie, AL ER Ua Nite 304 6) Ge 
Giner common Ses MA ty ec GO ue 
Grol ms eh Weis tbatyh ek ae ON i eae ef 


Scovel wWihiskey fue Mame OU. cA nda ae 
AiriShe WN MSlavaMi Meira talets) aa ak ee loa cements A710 ef 
CommoniWihisk yw Me Ms aay er BOG 


Of this class of liquors we find from over two-fifths to nearly three-fourths to 
consist of alcohol. Besides the water mingled with the alcohol there are other 


276 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ingredients found, especially in the fermented liquors, as the hops in beer, juni- 
per in ale, acids in wine and cider, etc. It is a common opinion that the effects 
of these various drinks on the human system are modified by the presence of 
these foreign substances ; but it is quite doubtful whether these extraneous sub- 
stances in the quantities in which they are used, ever have any marked effect on 
the system. The various effects resulting from the use of the different kinds of 
drinks is more likely the result of the different degrees of dilution with water that 
characterize them, or of the manner in which they are taken. If taken in con- 
siderable quantities at once the effect will necessarily be more marked than if the 
same quantity is taken gradually so that it may be gradually taken up and dis- 
posed of by the system. In treating of the effect of alcohol on the human system 
no distinction will be made as to the kinds of liquors which contain the alcohol 
used. These effects are produced by two different processes, a chemical and a 
physiological one. Its most important chemical property is to arrest and prevent 
decomposition in all organic bodies, whether animal or vegetable. For this rea- 
son it is largely used for the purpose of preserving natural history specimens in 
the cabinets of scientists. In its antiseptic properties it is excelled only by creo- 
sote, carbolic acid and arseniate of soda; but it has advantages over all these and 
is more generally used. When taken into the stomach with food it prevents the 
decomposition of the food under the action of the gastric juices, and hence it 
tends to retard digestion and is detrimental to health. 

But as digestion must proceed that life may be preserved, this evil power 
must be disposed of in some way. It is a well established fact that the digestive 
powers of the stomach have no control over this powerful agent. Asit cannot be 
digested and as the digestion of food cannot proceed in its presence nature pro 
ceeds at once to banish the unwholesome intruder. 

Instead of being digested, alcohol is taken up by absorption by the capillary 
vessels of the stomach and introduced directly into the blood by which it is car- 
ried to all parts of the system. It is evident therefore that alcohol cannot be re 
garded as food in the ordinary use of the term. But it has been observed that if 
a portion of alcohol be taken at regular and frequent intervals the weight of the 
body will be increased. Numerous carefully conducted experiments prove this 
to be true. This fact has led many eminent physicians to believe that alcohol 
when taken into the stomach acts as a food. But this phenomenon may be ac- 
counted for in more strict accordance with the facts without giving it this inter- 
pretation. In order to a full understanding of this point it is necessary that we 
turn-aside a little and inquire into the manner in which food is made beneficial to 
the system. Every organized being is composed of innumerable minute vesicles. 
termed ‘‘cells.’”’ These cells are constantly dying and being conveyed from the 
system while their places are being supplied by others formed from material de- 
rived from the food eaten. ‘This process of composition and decomposition, of 
birth and death, is constantly going on in all parts of the physical system. When 
a particle of material has served its purpose in the system it loses its power to 
further serve the purposes of the system, and its further presence is detrimental 


ALCOHOE AND TTS ELPEFECTRS. 277 


to health. The highest state of health is secured only by the prompt removal of 
this effete matter. Thus it appears that we live only by a constant process of 
dying. Alcohol in the living system, as everywhere else, antagonizes the natural 
tendency to decomposition. Hence the dead matter that, under the healthy ac- 
tion of the system, would be speedily excreted from the system, is retained longer 
than it should be. The result is the weight is increased, but it is by the retention 
of the old matter that should be cast off and not by the addition of new material 
obtained from the alcohol. Another argument in favor of the nutritious nature 
of alcohol is based on the nature of this substance. All forms of food substances 
may be arranged in two general classes, viz: nitrogenous and carbonaceous. 
The former of these goes to make up the various tissues of the animal system, 
and the latter results in the development of animal heat and carbonic anhydride. 
Now as alcohol contains so large a proportion of carbon it was placed at the head 
of the list of respiratory food substances, 

This theory, advanced by so high an authority as Baron Liebig, and look- 
ing so plausible on its face, gained at once general acceptance. But it was not 
long tiJl Dr. Prout demonstrated by experiment that the amount of carbonic acid 
exhaled from the lungs was directly diminished by the presence of alcohol. Dr. 
Davis, of Chicago, next took up the question of the development of animal heat 
from alcohol, and by carefully conducted experiments he demonstrated the fact 
that so far from the heat of the system being increased under the influence of 
alcohol it was actually diminished. After taking nutritious food into the stomach 
the temperature of the body is increased, but after taking alcohol in any form or 
mixture the temperature soon begins to fall and continues depressed one to two 
degrees below normal for two or three hours, the extent and duration of this de- 
pression being in exact proportion to the amount taken. The world has long 
labored under the delusion that both the temperature and strength of the body 
were increased by the presence of alcohol in the system. Dr. Davis’s experi- 
ments with a very delicate thermometer proved the first a mistake, and an appli- 
cation of the dynamometer showed the last to be an error. The common error 
on this subject arises from the state of perverted sensibility resulting from the 
alcohol that has been imbibed. 

The individual will assert with great positiveness that he is warmer or stronger 
while under its influence than at other times, but an application of the proper 
tests proves hismistake. But itis this appeal to his sensibilities that has misled the 
world on this subject for generations. In order toa full understanding of this 
matter it is necessary to inquire more particularly into the effects of alcohol on 
the human system. 

If an application of alcohol be made to any part of the body and continued 
for sometime it will be found that the sensibility of that part has been diminished. 
The nerves with which the poison comes in contact are paralyzed to some extent, 
thus reducing their sensibility. And this leads us to inquire more fully into the 
real nature of alcohol. The almost universal opinion is that alcohol is a stimulant 


Vi—18 


278 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


and the exhilaration resulting from its use is offered as a proof of this view. 
What is a stimulant? ‘There are three classes of medicinal agents that produce 
different chemical changes in the system and so sustain a different relation to the 
production and expenditure of vital force. One class operates to produce an 
increased expenditure of vital force without in any way affecting the supply of 
that force. ‘These are called stimulants. Of this class cayenne pepper, ammonia 
and guaiacum will serve as examples. A second class increases both the amount 
of the vital force and its expenditure; these are termed tonics. Iron, quinine, 
and the active principle of the barks of poplar, willow and dogwood, and of tea 
and coffee may be taken as samples of this class. A third class retards the chem- 
ical changes of the system and so reduces both the production and expenditure 
of vital force. Dullness, stupor, impaired sensibility and unconsciousness are 
the results of this class. It is evident that alcohol belongs to this last group 

The narcotic or aneesthetic effect of alcohol on the nerves and brain renders the 
individual less sensible of all outward impressions. This diminished susceptibili- 
ty renders the patient less sensible of heat and cold, weariness and pain. 

It has long been noticed as a paradox of human action that the same person 
will claim that the same alcoholic drink will warm him when cold, cool him when 
hot, rest him when weary and sooth him when afflicted. It has long been claim- 
ed that when a person becomes weary a portion of alcohol will renew his vigor 
and remove all sense of weariness. If exposed to heat or cold he feels the ef- 
fects of these extremes less acutely if he has imbibed a portion of alcoholic 
liquors. Now this sense of weariness, the pain felt in the presence of heat or 
cold are but sen.inels that nature has kindly placed to warn us of the vital powers 
by these adverse conditions. - 

When alcohol is taken under such circumstances it adds nothing to the 
strength or the resisting power of the system; simply renders it less sensible to 
the evil that is going on—it bribes the sentinel, so to speak, to give no farther 
warning while the ruin of the system is wrought. The sense of weariness is taken 
away but the exhaustion goes on all the same. ‘The sense of cold or heat is re- 
moved, but this does not prevent the individual from dying with sunstroke on 
the one hand or freezing on the other; but these fatal results are only hastened. 

‘¢ But,” it may be asked, ‘‘if alcohol is not a stimulant why is a man often 
excited to great nervous and mental activity while under its influence?” 

This follows from the aneesthetic nature of the poison. When taken into the 
stornach, as stated above, the alcohol is taken up at once and conveyed unchang- 
ed to all parts of the system. Its first effects are felt at the extremities of the 
nervous system. These nerve extremities under the paralyzing effects of this 
narcotic poison lose their power of action and become inert. ‘The vital force 
that has been sent out from the great nerve-centre—the brain—to be expended at 
these extremities, finding the nerve fibers inactive—the wires down—is returned . 
toward the nerve-centre, producing increased activity in that organ, resulting in 
exhilaration and increased nervous activity there. As the effects of the poison 
move back along the nerve fibers, approaching nearer and nearer the brain, this 


THE WILL-O-THE-WISP. 279 


exhilaration increases till in many cases it becomes uncontrollable mental excite- 
ment. But after a time if the dose has been sufficiently large, when all the out- 
posts have been taken, the enemy enters the very citadel of the mind and lays 
its paralyzing touch on the brain itself. This high state of mental excitement is 
quickly changed to one of stupidity and sottishness. ‘Thus the very symptoms 
relied on to prove that alcohol is a stimulant, when correctly interpreted, only 
prove it to be a deadly narcotic. ‘The delusions in regard to the true character 
of alcohol and its effects upon the system, that has prevailed not only among the 
common people but also among physicians and physiologists has led to errors in 
practice that have been fraught with unmeasured woe to our race, and has been 
asad commentary on the declaration of the wise man that ‘‘ Wine is a Mocker.” 
But with the increase of light on this subject may we not hope the evils resulting 
from the misuse of this powerful narcotic poison will speedily cease to afflict 
mankind. 


HuTCHISON, Kansas. 


THE WILL-O’-THE-WISP. 


Not often has ‘‘ dry ”’ Physical Science to do deal with the phenomena which 
figure in folk-lore. Such an exceptional case is afforded by the nocturnal occur- 
rence known to the learned as /ugis fatuus, and to the unlearned in different coun- 
tries as Jack-o’-Lantern, Will-o’-the-Wisp, Wild- (or rather World-?) fire, Friar’s- 
Lantern, Meu Follet, Heerwisch, &c. ‘The exception deserves the more notice as 
modern chemistry and physics have by no means succeeded in finding a satisfac- 
tory explanation of the facts. Facts they undoubtedly are. The zgnis fatuus, 
though by no means common, has still from time to time been observed by com- 
petent witnesses, and occasionally by several persons in company. Nor is such 
evidence disputed: let any man of sober habits and ordinary truthfulness state 
that he saw a Will o’-the-Wisp at such and such a time and place, and the most 
skeptical of our orthodox savan¢s will listen with calm interest, and, though he 
may question the narrator closely as tothe circumstances of the case, he will by 
no means proclaim it @ prior7 impossible, or throw out any insinuations concern- 
ing ‘‘ dominant ideas.” 

If we examine and compare the most recent and trustworthy records of -this 
phenomenon, we find it described as a light which appears in calm, mild nights, 
chiefly in summer or autumn. It is most commonly observed in swampy or 
marshy places, or where much organic matter is undergoing decomposition. Dr. 
Phipson! describes it as most common in England, ‘‘in the peaty districts around 
Port Carlisle, in Cumberland,” on the Continent ‘‘in the damp valleys between 
the pretty little university town of Marburg and that of Cassell, and more certain- 
ly still in the graveyards outside the town of Gibraltar.” The light in question 
is generally single, though sometimes two wisps are said to have been seen to- 


1 Familar Letters onthe Mysteries of Nature. London: Sampson Low & Co. 


280 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


gether. It glides or bounds along at a variable speed, sometimes maintaining 
the same vertical level, but at other times rising, falling, and overleaping hedges, 
trees, etc., and may often be tracked to a distance of a couple of hundred yards 
from the spot where it originates, or rather where it is first observed. It is re- 
corded as in many cases moving /oward a pool or swamp, and there disappearing. 
The light is said to be sometimes globular, spheroidally elongated, or pear-shaped, 
about the size of ‘‘two fists,’’ and varying in color and brilliance, being some- 
times visible even in the light of a full moon. 

So much for points authenticated by the accordant testimony of trustworthy 
observers. Popular tradition adds much more. The spectators are said to have 
sometimes received sudden blows or shocks, According to an old German story, 
some village children having irritated a Wisp by crying out— 

‘* Heerwisch ho, ho, ho! 
brennst wie Hafer stroh!” 

it pursued them into the house, and stunned every person present by blows with 
its fiery wings. Folk-lore, indeed, distinctly personifies the Wisp, and ascribes 
to it the intention to mislead the solitary traveller and entice him into a swamp or 
pond.2 ‘This view or superstition is by no means extinct, as will appear from 
the following extract from ‘‘ Light” (June 24th, 1882, p. 296). A contributor : 
of that journal, who uses the om de plume ‘‘ Miror,” gives the following account 
as narrated to him by an old cottager:— 

«¢¢ When I was a ploughboy, at Purbeck, I was sent to the blacksmith, who 
lived some distance off, with some harness to be mended. The blacksmith was 
at chapel; this delayed the work, and it was not till half-past nine in the evening 
that I could start for home. It was pitch dark, and as I went along a Jack-o’- 
Lantern came hopping before me. It was not above the sizeof yourtwofists. I 
was quite aware that Jack-o’-Lanterns came to lead you out of your path, so I 
kept my foot in the rut all along the country road, till #e, the Jack-o’-Lantern, 
hopped over a gate where there was a pond close by, and tried to entice me 
there.” 

‘¢ At the above very evident testimony of evil intention the boy was over- 
whelmed with fright, and taking to his heels rushed, he knew not where, till he 
came toa house. ‘There they took him in, and one of the inmates accompanied 
him over the fields, and put him on his way home. 

«¢¢] had not gone far,’ continued the old man, ‘ before another Jack-o’-Lan- 
tern came hopping before me, and tried to entice me to a swamp which lay on 
one side of my way; but I knew where I was, and went straight for home, half 
dead with fear. Never again would I go to that blacksmith’s of an evening.’ 

“‘<¢Tf he had not kept his foot in the rut,’ broke in the old woman, his wife, 
‘it might have been all over with him. When a Jack-o’-Lantern gets you in the 


water, then he sniggers; he laughs, you know. [ve heard my father say that 
scores of times.’ 


2 We cannot help here remarking that medieval tradition personified certain phases of the nightmare, 
as the terms Incubus and Succuba sufficiently testify. ; 


THE WILL-O-THE- WISP. | 281 


‘¢Thus we see the old woman brought forward the testimony of her father 
also, with respect to the traditional shady character of the Jack-o’-Lantern, or 
Will-o’-the-Wisp, or /gnis fatuus. 

“‘ You call the Jack-o’-Lantern fe,’ I said. ‘You talk as if you thought it 
knew what it was about; and by luring you into danger it had an object in view, 
and not a good one.’ ‘‘Just so,” said the old man. I said I was inclined to 
agree with him. 

‘¢On the man’s assenting to the woman’s assertion that ‘when a Jack-o’- 
Lantern gets you into the water, then he laughs,’ I pressed the question, ‘Do 
you really mean to say that they are really heard to laugh—that they make the 
noise of laughter?’ ‘Yes,’ was the reply. ‘But how,’ I rejoined, ‘can people 
know that they laugh when those who are led by them get drowned, and do not 
invertor tell ite?” 

It is curious that ‘‘ Miror”’ speaks of this his own objection—fatal, as it ap- 
pears to us—as ‘‘rather lame special pleading on my part.” It must not be for- 
gotten that the occurrence is said to have taken place at Purbeck. Now in the 
counties of Dorset and Wilts the tendency to personification is very strong, and 
the country people speak of many things as ‘‘he” which in the Metropolitan 
District and the Northern Counties are always referred to as “it.” 

A very full and definite account of the appearance of an Jens fatuus is to be 
_met with in a modern work® reviewed in our current issue. Some passages of 

') White’s narrative we quote. The inhabitants of Itapua, a small town in the 
/ Plata States, situate on the River Parana, were during the author’s stay 
armed by ‘‘ a mysterious light that appeared almost every night in the second 
plaza, situated on the high river banks, but where, nevertheless, the ground was 
in some parts a temporary swamp, from the rains settled in the hollows. In this 
plaza were posted the line soldiers’ barracks; and to the guard bivouacking round 
their fire at night it first manifested itself. My friend Lieut. Morcillo, the officer 
in command, soon got to hear of it, and, scenting trickery, issued notice that he 
had given his soldiers orders to fire upon it whenever and wherever it became 
visible. The soldiers, as they became more accustomed to the /enzs fatuus, be- 
gan to style it the “Plazera.”’ Singular to relate, no sooner did the light burst 
forth than it was heralded throughout the town by a universal chorus of howls 
from the mangy curs in Itapua. In order to elucidate the mystery Lieut. Mor- 
cillo and myself visited the plaza for several nights in succession, accompanied 
by three or four soldiers with loaded rifles and ourselves armed with revolvers. 
The military were posted round the square, and we waited from ten o’clock till 
twelve or one in an atmosphere bathed in the brilliancy of a full moon. Only 
twice was it seen by me, but then very distinctly; the first time some little dis- 
tance off, but the second quite close. On the first occasion the light started up 
from the ground with the brightness and speed of a rocket, and then again de- 
scended to the earth with equal velocity but less splendor: on the second we 


3 Cameos from the Silver Land, by E. W. White, F. Z.S. London: Van Voorst, Vol. ii., p. 447. 


282 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


caught sight of it as it directly, but gently, approached along the road, upon 
which, running to intercept it, and stumbling at every step over rough and 
swampy ground, we managed to arrive within three yards of the glowing vision 
as it slowly glided on at a level of about five feet from the earth. It presented 
a globular form of bluish light, so intense that we could scarcely look at it, but 
emitted no rays and cast no shadows; and when about actually to grasp the in- 
candescent nothingness, suddenly elongating into a pear-shape tapering to the 
ground, it instantly vanished; but on looking round up it rose again within fifty 
yards, but this time we could not overtake it, as it bounded over a hedge, then 
over trees, and finally disappeared in an impenetrableswamp. According to the 
testimony of the soldiers, on another occasion, they beheld it rise from the swamp 
and perch for some minutes on the top of the roof of a neighboring rancho with- © 
out walls, after which it pierced the roof and subsided in the ground beneath; 
but in our case there was no deception, and moreover we noticed that it never 
appeared on a windy night nor after rain.” The author adds, in comment, ‘‘ Al- 
though the marsh-gas theory presented itself to my unwilling mind, it would have 
to be strained considerably to be able to account for all the attendant circum- 
stances.” 

We will now attempt an examination of the various hypotheses proposed for 
the explanation of the Wisp. 

' Trickery may at once be set aside as out of the question. The movement 
of the light is totally unlike that of aman carrying a lantern. It is at times mur ~ 
swifter, overleaps objects which a man could not surmount, and plays often ov. 
water, and at heights of from twenty to fifty feet in the air. Neither can we con 
sider that it is produc ed by the reflection of a light thrown from some neighbor- 
ing house. Fire-works are equally out of the question. Not to speak of the 
slowly progressive movements of the Wisp sometimes observed, it is in the high- 
est degree improbable that any trickster would convey a quantity of pyrotechnica] 
appliances into solitary moorlands, woods, and peat-bogs, in order to alarm some 
stray traveller. 

Another hypothesis, advanced by certain very learned authors, such as Ray, 
Willoughby, Kirby, and Spence,—ascribes the Wisp to luminous insects. Dr. 
Dereham and Dr. Phipson combat this view on the ground that such insects 
‘‘rise far higher in the air than does the Wisp, and present the appearance of 
hundreds of little specks of light.” This argument seems scarcely valid; lumin- 
ous insects are in all probability more numerous than is ordinarily supposed, and 
vary considerably in their habits. Not all are high flyers, nor are they all grega- — 
rious. ‘The apparent size of the light may be considered a fatal obstacle, since 
‘no known English insect emits a light of the size of ‘‘two fists.” But a light 
seen on a dark night by a superstitious and terrified ploughboy will very naturally 
be described—and that without any conscious or intentional exaggeration—as much 
larger than it really was. The circumstances that the Wisp is chiefly seen in calm 
weather and during the summer season are in favor of this supposition. But we 
have some positive testimony to advance. The Rev. Dr. Sutton, of Norwich, 


THE WILL-O’-THE-WISP. 283 


informed Dr. Kirby that when he was curate of Ickleton, in Cambridgeshire, in 
1780, a farmer of that place, of the name Simpringham, brought him a mole- 
cricket (Grylletalpa vulgaris), and told him that one of his people, seeing a /ack- 
o’-Lantern, struck at it and knocked it down, when it proved to be the insect in 
question. Mr. Main (‘‘ Mag. of Natural History,” n. s., i., p. 549) was told by 
a farmer that he had encountered and knocked down the luminous object, which 
he described as being exactly like a ‘‘ maggy longlegs”’ (Zipula oleracea), an in- 
sect, we must add, especially abundant in boggy and marshy lands. Dr. Dere- 
ham, the opponent of the insect theory (‘‘ Phil. Trans.,” 1729, p. 204), describes 
an Lents fatuus which he had personally witnessed as flitting about a thistle—a 
very likely action for an insect, though unlikely for a volume of inflammable gas 
or for an evil spirit. Mr. Sheppard informed Dr. Kirby that when travelling one 
night from Stamford to Grantham, on the top of a stage-coach, he observed ‘‘ for 
more than ten minutes a very large /gmzs fatuus in the low marshy grounds, which 
had the same motions as a Zzfula, flying upward and downward, backward and 
forward, sometimes as settled, and sometimes as hovering in the air.” It is 
remarked that in this case the wind was very high, so that a vapor would have 
been carried forward in a straight line, which was not the case. We are well 
aware that the insect-theory is not free from difficulties. Thus the question at 
once arises, Why is this phenomenon so rare? It is also to be asked whether the 
light given off by insects is sufficiently strong to be visible at such distances as the 
Wisp is said to have been? 

The orthodox theory at the present day—that of spontaneously inflammable 
gases, hydrogen phosphide, marsh-gas, and possibly hydrocarbons given off by 
decomposing animal or vegetable matter, is open to even more formidable objec- 
tions. The presence of the spontaneously inflammable variety of hydrogen phos- 
phide has never yet, we believe, been analytically demonstrated among the gas- 
eous matter given off from marshes, pools, and cemeteries. 

In Brande’s ‘‘ Dictionary of Science, Literature, and Art,” (il., p. 191), the 
Wisp is ascribed to ‘‘the issue of marsh-gas from the earth. This gas, being 
ignited either accidentally or intentionally, continues to burn with a flame suff- 
ciently luminous to be well seen at night.” The writer admits, at the same time, 
that no natural production of spontaneously inflammable gas has ever been ob- 
served. Dr. Phipson gets over the difficulty of ignition by assuming that the gas 
given off consists of marsh-gas through which a small proportion of hydrogen 
phosphide is diffused. But an emission of inflammable gases from the earth or 
the water, however ignited and however composed, will not account for the phe- 
nomena in the majority of cases on record. In proof of this let any one perform 
the simple experiment of stirring up the mud at the bottom of a dirty ditch or 
pond, and ignite the marsh-gas given off by means, say, of a piece of taper fixed 
at the end of a fishing-rod. The gas will burn immediately over the surface of 
the ditch or swamp, but the flame will not travel away for considerable distances, 
overleaping hedges, stiles, trees, or buildings, or playing over thistles. Further, 
it is found that the Wisp is most common in calm, fine weather, when the barom. 


284 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


eter is high. But gases pent up in the soil, in marshes, etc., will be most readily 
evolved when the barometer is low! Rainy and windy weather is not unfre- 
quently foretokened by the rise of bubbles of gas from the bottom of ponds and 
marshes. We can readily understand, however, that a light produced by inflam- 
mable gas might, if the supply was large and constant, hover over an extensive 
marsh or graveyard. But in such cases it would not be one and the same por- 
tion of luminous matter flitting up and down, but a succession of fresh bubbles, 
jets, or puffs of gas becoming ignited in turn. This accords ill with the facts as 
reported by observers; they generally speak of a single continuing light. 

Another hypothesis refers the phenomenon to electricity. We always find 
that the less any person knows about electricity the more easy he finds it to ac- 
count for any unexplained facts by its agency. Luminous appearances of electric 
origin are certainly well known, such as the ‘‘ Castor and Pollux,” which appears” 
at the extremities of the masts of ships during stormy weather. Similar lights 
have been noticed, especially in mountainous regions, attaching themselves to 
umbrellas, lances, alpenstocks, etc. But these phenomena seem essentially dis- 
tinct from the true Jgnzs fatuus, which, as we have already said, is characteristic 
of fine weather, and moves about instead of attaching itself to pointed objects. 

In all probability several distinct phenomena have been confounded under 
the name of /gnzs fatuus, and further careful observation is required for their re- 
spective discrimination. Those persons who live in or visit regions where the 
Wisp occurs might do good service by noting all the circumstances of each case 
at the earliest possible opportunity. The nature of the soil, the barometric pres- 
sure, temperature, the wind, and in short the entire character of the weather, 
should be recorded, and an attempt should be made to take the spectrum of the 
light. 

It appears that the medizval and popular notion of the Wisp—a conscious 
and evil-disposed being—is again brought forward by persons of education. 
‘¢Miror,” whom we have already quoted, whilst accepting the hydrogen phos- 
phide hypothesis, asks further—‘‘ May not, however, Spirits of a low and mali- 
cious order, bent on mischief, when they find a natural medium in the dark, un- 
der circumstances favorable to their malice, make use of this gas, found in marshy 
places, to suit their purpose? Or may not an evil Spirit, fond of marshy places, 
have the power to turn an /enzs fatuus, that has its rise from natural causes, into 
a devious course for an evil purpose?’’ We reply that there is no satisfactory 


evidence of purposiveness, good or evil, in the movements of the Wisp.—London 
Journal of Science. 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 


bo 
(ee) 
or 


CORRESPONDENCE: 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 


Paris, July 29, 1882. 


Laennec observed, ‘‘the curability of consumption is not above nature, but art 
“possesses no means as yet to arrive at that end.” It is to nature that those af- 
‘flicted with tubercular consumption, or predisposed to that malady turn for relief 
by seeking for an air of the greatest purity. Where find that genial atmosphere ? 
The doctors prescribe several health stations, and though differing in respect to 
‘situation, agree that the main conditions are purity and uniformity. Indeed the 
best means to oppose to the terrible malady, consist in a residence on the borders 
of the sea, in a mild climate, practicing a generous regimen, and taking every 
precaution against chills and coughs. 

At present the assistance of nature is demanded under the form of a resi- 
dence on high mountains; by this is not necessarily meant excessive altitudes, 
for immunity against phthisis can be secured at altitudes the most various. Al- 
titude also varies with latitude; for example:—in the Andes, consumptive pa- 
tients are ordered to stations 3,500 yards above the level of the sea, while at 
Mexico, invalids are sent to reside at similar heights. Consumption is extremely 
rare in the Pyrenees; in Switzerland it is never met with above an altitude of 
1,100 yards; in the Hartz and the Black Forest, it is next to unknown at a height 
of 560 yards. Exemption is here due perhaps more to the kind of life led by 
the natives than to elevation. Altitude cannot alone be the cause, for phthisis 
is common at Andermatt and Splugen, in Switzerland, while it is unknown at 
Klosters, which has about the same height. 

Again, many consumptive patients find relief in sea voyages; now if the 
level of the sea and elevated health stations produce the same beneficial effects, it 
is due to these extremes having a common trait—great purity of the air. There 
is absent what exists in centres of populations so prejudicial to delicate lungs, for 
where phthisis is not exempt from bad sanitary influences, there its ravages will 
be most terrible. A pure atmosphere, dry, and protected as much as possible 
from winds; a dry soil and a sparse population, these are the conditions sought 
by the consumptive, and which exist in the Upper Engadine and in the Davos 
Valley. The latter is the first favorite and resembles much the health resorts in 
the Andes. Saint Moritz is less in request. Davos, from being a pretty village 
has become a leading winter residence, has about the same altitude as the Miirren 
so well known to Interlaken tourists—about 2,000 yards; it owes its reputation 
to the remarkable tranquillity of its atmosphere. The climate resembles a good 


286 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


deal that of the Pontresina—in the neighboring valley; but when the mountains 
become covered with snow, generally in November, ‘new conditions come into 
play, modifying in a remarkable manner winter. Thus, the sky is cloudless, the 
sun’s rays powerful, though unable to melt the snow; there are no warm currents. 
of air, and the valley being well protected against winds, a uniform calm reigns 
till spring. It is being superiorly protected against sweeping winds, that gives 
Davos the advantage over Engadine; there are no glaciers in the vicinity as at 
Pontresina, and it is warmer than the valley of the Inn. At the end of Decem- 
ber at Davos, when the snow ceases to fall, the atmosphere becomes still, cold, 
dry, and tonic. In the night, when the stars shine so brightly, the temperature 
falls several degrees below freezing point; during the day the sun’s rays are so in- 
tense, that patients can remain several hours outside, but must at once return to 
their apartments the moment the sun commences to set. The only drawback 
against Davos is its drainage, that the local authorities will find it their interest to 
remedy. An invalid after wintering in the mountains, cannot at once, when 
spring arrives, descend into the plains; a residence at an intermediary station 
will be necessary. It is well to add, that the wintering in the mountains does 
not suit many cases of well-defined consumption; the remedy is admirable for in- 
dividuals suffering from some accidental affection of the lungs, but in other re- 
spects possessing a good constitution; it is also excellent for persons with heredi- 
tary predisposition to phthisis, but with whom the disease has not yet appeared ; 
for those even in the preliminary stages of the malady. But under no circum- 
stance ought patients to be sent to this winter station who labor under the fever, 
and who are of a nervous and excitable temperament. Davos suits chronic 
bronchitis in children, nervous asthma, anemia, and nervous fatigue generally. 
As further proof that altitude has not in itself anything curative, the Russians 
send their pulmonic patients to the Steppes. Arcachon, near Bordeaux, on the 
borders of the Bay of Biscay, has a well deserved reputation as a winter health 
resort. Uniformity of temperature even is not a safeguard, for in Ceylon, which 
possesses a climate remarkably uniform, consumption largely exists. _ 


At the present moment astronomers are much puzzled at a red spot on the 
disk of Jupiter, it remains fixed since the three years that it has been observed ; 
the spot is four times longer than the length of the earth, is of a pale brick red, 
upon a luminous white ground, terminating in a point east and west. Jupiter 
possesses a very extensive atmosphere, for thespots, very varied, that are perceived 
on his disk, disappear a long time before arriving at the border where the revolu- 
tion of the planet carries them. Spectrum analysis also confirm the presence of 
an atmosphere. ‘The pressure is so great on the surface of Jupiter, as to resemble 
what our air would be if liquified. Perhaps when the red spot in question goes 
away, it may reveal a little of the real aspect of Jupiter. 


M. Faye maintains that comets’ tails consist of matter driven from the sub- 
stance of the comet itself, like smoke. M. Flammarion replies that such is con- 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. ° 287 


trary to the observed laws of gravitation. Comets, he thinks, are bodies which 
become highly electrified on approaching the sun; their substance becomes dif- 
fused, producing the phenomenon upon space, and opposite to the sun, of great 
luminous excitability, so as to extend millions upon millions of leagues but with- 
out involving any loss of the comet’s substance. The same authority again ex- 
pounds his views on the habitability of planets. Our planet, remarks M. Flam- 
marion, resembles a cup, too small to contain life, which manifests itself in all 
imaginable and unimaginable conditions, even developing to its own detriment, 
as in the case of parasitical life. The soil, water, air, all is full of being, of em- 
bryos, germs, and fecundity. Life literally overflows everywhere, transforming 
its manifestations, following time and place, seeking ever new theatres of action. 
Why then ought planets not be such theatres? Mars for instance, has many 
analogies with the earth; it possesses an atmosphere, thick it is true, containing, 
as ours, watery vapor in suspension; it has polar snows, continents, seas ; seasons 
akin to ours, but double their duration. But the planet Mars appears to have 
neither great oceans nor great continents; it has rugged coasts, complicated by 
inland seas, islands, peninsulas, straits, capes, gulfs and canals. It may be in- 
ferred too, that comparatively, there is less water on Mars than the earth. 


M. Bonley does not deny that cold kills trichines in hams, but some acade- 
micians still hesitate as to using such affected meat. As a general remark, meat 
submitted to cold preservation is not consequently bad, and does not possess the 
objections incident to raw meat so much prescribed for weakly children. Re- 
specting this latter subject, Dr. Vulpian remarks, it is sanctioned by experience, 
though incapable of scientific demonstration. Pounded raw meat then, favors 
digestion and restores strength. 


Monsieur Cadet has measured the number of red and white globules in our 
blood; the average number in the one twenty-sixth of a cubic inch, is 5,200,000; 
it can reach as high as nearly 7,000,000; the number of white is 8,000 or one for 
every 650red globules. In the blood of adults the red globules are regular in 
_form and nearly equal in diameter; rarely are small globules found, as is the case 
with the blood of new born infants and giants; the blood of the new born is rich- 
er in red globules than that of adults. Eating and digestion augment the number 
of white globules; fasting increases the red, not in the absolute sense, but by in- 
ducing a greater concentration of red globules in the liquid of the blood. 


The Academy of Sciences has been occupied with the fractional differences 
existing as to the exact position of the axis of the earth, and the consequent dif- 
ference in position of the stars as determined by astronomers from different 
standpoints. Messrs. Faye and Folie consider that these problems are intimate- 
ly associated with the constitution of the globe. Is the latter a crust, covering a 
centre of liquid fire; is it a perfectly solid mass; or, has the globe a kernel of 
solid matter, bathed in a fluid substance, the latter in turn being surrounded by 
a crust P 


288 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


M. Callas has examined the properties of the new drug zesorczne, proclaimed 
to be a sovereign remedy for rheumatism. It possesses the same properties as 
phenic and salycilic acids; it is less toxical than the former, and is a stimulant 
for the central nervous system. As an anti-rheumatic, it presents no special 
claims. 


Madam Dr. Schipiloff attributes cadaverific rigidity to the acidification of the 
fibre of muscles. This opinion, at one time current, is now abandoned, since 
alkaline injections, that ought to neutralize acids, do not prevent that rigidity. 


MINING AND] ENGINE E RING: 


ENGINEERING: PAST AND PRESENT. 
ADDRESS OF ASHBEL WELCH, 


President of the American Society of Civil Engineers, at the Annual Convention at Washington, 
D. C., May 716, 1882. 

I do not propose this evening to undertake any general survey of the eng1- 
neering field. For such a survey, I refer you back to Mr. Chanute’s address of 
two years ago. I shall not attempt to glean after him. But I shall speak of 
several disconnected subjects of present interest, and give some reminiscences 
showing the contrasts between the past and the present; and in such reminiscences 
I shall disinter the buried memories of some of the great engineers of the past. 

When we look around on the engineering works recently completed, or now 
in progress or in contemplation, the first thing that strikes us is their extraordinary 
magnitude. 

Prominent among them is the St. Gothard tunnel, passing for 48,900 feet, or 
more than nine and a quarter miles, through the base of the great Alpine chain 
which has hitherto been so formidable a barrier between southern and central 
Europe, a thousand feet below the vale of Urseren and the villages of Andermatt 
and Hospenthal, and 6,500 feet, or a mile and a quarter, below the eternal snows 
that cover the crest of the mountain. The cost was about $12,000,000, or nearly 
$250 per foot lineal. This tunnel is nearly 9,000 feet, or a mile and two-thirds 
longer than the Mt. Cenis tunnel, by far the longest previously built. 

Such stupendous works have been made practically possible by the com- 
pressed air drill, and the high explosives now used. In my active engineering 
days, rocks were drilled for blasting only by the power of human muscle, either 
by one or two men churning a hole in the rock with a heavy rod some six feet 
long, or by one man holding and slowly turning a short drill, and another man 
driving it into the rock with a sledge hammer. ‘Then came the steam rock drill, 
then the compressed air drill. The compressed air not only does the work, but 


ENGINEERING. 289 


it ventilates, and its sudden expansion cools the tunnel or the mine where it is 
used. 

The first, or one of the first tunnels in this country in which the rock was 
drilled by compressed air, was Nesquehoning, by Mr. J. Dutton Steele. Since 
then many have been made by the same means, one of the most memorable of 
which is the Musconetcong tunnel, a mile long, made under the direction of Mr. 
Robert H. Sayre. This difficult work gave occasion for the valuable treatise on 
tunnels by Mr. Drinker, who was in immediate engineering charge of it. The 
Hoosac tunnel, 24,000 feet long, after a long continued struggle, was completed 
several years ago, and is now in use. 

Among the tunnels now being constructed is one half a mile long under the 
plateau of West Point, and another 4,000 feet long through the hard trap rock of 
Bergen Ridge, at Weehawken; both on the line of the road now in construction 
on the west shore of the Hudson. Nearly all the debris from the latter is raised 
through shafts. 

The project is now under serious consideration of making a tunnel some 
twenty-one miles long under the Straits of Dover. A few years ago such a pro. 
ject would have received only a laugh of incredulity. 

The admiration of the world has not yet abated for the boldest of arched 
bridges yet built, that over the Mississippi at St. Louis, with its steel arches of 
500 feet span, its piers of heavy masonry sunk to solid rock more than a hundred 
and thirty feet below the high water surface of the river, through shifting sands, 
and during the most fearful floods. 

The Brooklyn bridge, 1,595 feet, or nearly a third of a mile long, over an 
arm of the sea more crowded with commerce than any other in America, and 
high enough to allow a line of battle ship to sail under it—is drawing to comple- 
tion, and will be (though perhaps only for a few years, ’till something more stu- 
pendous comes), one of the wonders of the world. 

Probably the boldest plan for a bridge ever proposed, is that now in contem- 
plation over the Forth at Edinburgh, but of which it is yet premature to speak. 

Many very long spans and important bridges are now in progress in this 
country, such as the one over the Missouri by Mr. Morrison, but time does not 
permit even a glance at them. 

We are now so familiar with the success of suspension bridges for railroads, 
that we can hardly realize the almost universal disbelief in that success before 
they were tried. The late John A. Roebling told me before his bridge was fin- 
ished, that Robert Stephenson had said to him, ‘‘If your bridge succeeds, mine 
is a magnificent blunder.” And yet, unexpectedly to the best engineers in the 
world, the suspension bridge over the Niagara answers the purpose quite as well 
as the tubular bridge over the St. Lawrence. 

The mention of the St. Lawrence reminds us of the great and interesting 
improvement of that river now going on under the direction of Mr. Kennedy. 
The original low water channel between Quebec and Montreal, had, in places, a 
depth of only eleven feet. Now they are increasing the low water depth to twen- 


290 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ty-five feet with a width of 300 feet. The work is done with bucket and chain 
dredges, exceedingly well adapted to the purpose. Some of the buckets are 
armed with great steel teeth which excavate the solid rock (geologically, Utica 
slate, but compact rather than slaty in its structure), detaching and bringing up 
blocks sometimes containing several cubic feet. 

If anything of the kind could astonish us in this fast moving age, it would be 
the rapidity with which, during the past half dozen years, the construction of 
elevated railroads in New York, and to some extent elsewhere, has gone on. It 
is of little use to find their aggregate length, for in a few weeks any such estimate 
must be corrected. ‘There may now be about thirty-three miles of such roads, 
all double track. The average cost, including stations and equipment, has been 
about $800,000 per mile. 

One of the cases in which a new contrivance effects a great revolution, is 
that of the elevator. This has been in use for perhaps a quarter of a century at 
the Continental Hotel in Philadelphia, and in a few other places, but is now 
coming into general use, and is revolutionizing the mode of building in our great 
cities, especially in New York. A block of buildings is not now extended along 
a street as formerly, but is set up on end, and a highway to the different houses 
or parts of the block, is not horizontally along the sidewalk, but vertically through 
the elevator shaft. Sky-room is cheaper than earth-room. It is said that a lot 
on the corner of Wall and Broad streets was recently sold for over $320 per square 
foot, or at the rate of $14,000,000 per acre! Equal to the surface covered with 
silver dollars five deep. These stupendous buildings will give engineers and 

architects much to look after in the way of foundations. 

This reminds us of the Holly plan, in limited use elsewhere for several years, 
now going into extensive use in the city of New York, of dispensing with private 
fires for heating, and private boilers for generating steam; and furnishing 
heat and steam power for a considerable district from one great central set of 
boilers, piled boiler over boiler, tier on tier, for 120 feet in height. This is one 
of the operations most characteristic of the present time. Nothing is to be done 
now by the individual, but everything by some institution, or corporation, or 
central power, or great firm. Man has ceased to be a unit, and become only an 
atom of a mass. With the disappearance of the things themselves, the dear old 
phrases ‘‘ family fireside,” and ‘‘ domestic hearth,” are rapidly disappearing. 

Mr. Shinn and the engineer, Mr. Emery, have kindly given me some par- 
ticulars respecting this transportation of heat and power, but I can only refer to 
one or two points. The first and most obvious necessity 1s to prevent the escape 
of the heat. This is done by enclosing the steam-carrying pipe in a small brick 
tunnel, with a flat cover on the top; and filling the space around the pipe, from 
the bottom of the tunnel to the flat covering above, with mineral wool, which is 
found to be an excellent non-conductor. It is made by blowing a jet of steam 
into a stream or jet of melted furnace slag. The arch and covering of the tunnel 
are plastered over with asphaltum, to exclude all moisture. The loss of heat is 
said to be very small. One of the great difficulties comes from the expansion ~ 


ENGINEERING. ? 291 


and contraction of the pipes, the range being more than an inch in a hundred 
feet. This is provided for by making the end of each section, of about 80 or 100 
feet, terminate in very flexible diaphragms of thin copper, the diaphragms being 
supported by stiff iron ribs. 

Among the great enterprises in contemplation, is the interoceanic canal, or 
the interoceanic railroad for large ships. This is not the occasion for expressing 
any opinion on any of the competing projects. I will only say that if the world 
is determined to have a sea level canal, it makes a great mistake in not getting 
fuller information about the San Blas route. 

Many things that have been done by this generation seemed beforehand far 
less possible than the successful working of the ship railway proposed by Captain 
Eads. The difficulties are certainly very great, but we can see how they may be 
overcome. The real question is, whether taking into account the expense of 
overcoming those difficulties, the construction and operation of sich railway will 
be more economical in the end than the construction and operation of some one 
of the proposed canals. 

The last year has been one of intense activity, particularly in railroad con- 
struction. A year or two ago money was so abundant, and, therefore, interest 
so low, and so many capitalists, great and small, were tired of letting their money 
lie idle, that new enterprises of many kids were started, especially new railroads, 
and enlargements of capacity of those already in use. As the money market has 
approached its normal condition, some of the new projects have been dropped. 

It is instructive to look back and trace the connection between the progress 
of railroads and the financial condition of the country. 

The railroads opened in the United States, January 1, 1880, aggregated 86, - 
500 miles in length, being 4o per cent of all the railroad mileage of the world. 
Last year we had 93,600 miles, and this year we have just about 100,000 miles. 
But mere length is a very inadequate measure of their magnitude. ‘The terminal 
mile of some roads has probably cost as much as five hundred miles of some other 
roads. At one time, and possibly now, the cost per ton taken, on the first two 
miles of the road from New York to Pittsburg, was more than the cost of carry- 
ing that ton over the next two hundred miles. The increase in aggregate magni- 
tude of all the roads may be almost as much in the enlargement without increase 
in length of the old, as in the extension of the new. We hear in more than one 
case of thirty miles of additional terminal tracks being laid at one point. 

The diminished plethora of money, and the greater caution now apparent, 
will, it is to be hoped, moderate the increase of the means of aay and 
transportation, so as to prevent another stagnation. 

The investment in railroad property in the United States is set down at about 
$5,000,000,000, perhaps about one-eighth of the value of all the property of the 
country, real and personal. 

When we speak of the extraordinary magnitude of the engineering works of 
the present day, we do not forget the pyramids, temples, and fortifications of 


292 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Egypt and Chaldea. Some of them exceeded in magnitude anything that has 
been made since. What makes it more strange is, that the force that produced 
them was almost entirely human muscle, while now the work is done largely by 
steam directed by human brain. Two contrasts strike us as we look at the an- 
cient and modern: the one was executed by slaves and conscripts, with little or 
no compensation; the other by free men, glad to work for the compensation of- 
fered. The old was for the glorification of the few; the modern for the use of 
the many. 

The stagnation that followed the breakdown of 1873, and the consequent low 
rates of transportation, compelled the managers of railroads to reduce the cost to: 
a point previously thought unattainable, by increasing the power of the engines 


and the weight of trains, by more convenient arrangements, by more service of 


the machinery, by cheaper construction and repairs, by better machinery and or- 
ganizations of labor, and many improved appliances for handling, and by the 
stoppage of leaks generally. 

American engineers and managers have often shown that poverty is the moth- 
er of invention. For example, they used cross-ties as a temporary substitute be- 
cause too poor to buy stone blocks, and so made good roads because they were 
not rich enough to make bad ones. American engineers are, or at any rate, 
were trained on short allowance of money. As that is the best engineering 
which accomplishes the purpose at the least cost in the long run, American en- 
gineering ought to be of the best. 

It is doubtless the fertility of resource coming from the necessity of effecting 
much with little means, which has created a demand for American engineers in 
other parts of the world. A few years ago the Government of British India sent 


for an American engineer, and the first thing they asked him to do was to report. 


on their railroads from the American point of view. Our lamented past presi- 
dent, W. Milnor Roberts, was employed by the Government of Brazil, as I judge 
from what happened after he went there, to train their engineers, educated in Eu- 
ropean schools, in American modes and ideas. 

_Though canal engineering is a thing of the past, its history is instructive. In 
England it commenced 120 years ago, the first engineer being James Brindley, a 
millwright. He seems to have known little of what had been done before, and 
his plans were evidently original. When he proposed to build an aqueduct across 
the Irwell for the Duke of Bridgewater’s canal, his critics said they had often 
heard of castles in the air, but they never heard before where they were to be 
put. Brindley built several canals, on one of which was a tunnel a mile and a 
third in length. 

He was succeeded in canal making by such men as Telford and Smeaton and 
Rennie. Though uneducated, he gained the admiration of scientific as well as 
practical men. When he wished to study a subject thoroughly, he ‘‘ laid in bed 
to contrive,”’ as he expressed it. The secret of his success, therefore, evidently 


ENGINEERING. 293 


lay in concentration of attention on the subject in hand, and he kept out of the 
way of anything that could distract his attention. 

The era of canal building in England was rather less than seventy years: 
between 1760 and 1830. 

During the last decade of the last century, several efforts were made to con- 
nect the detached navigable reaches of some of the rivers in this country, by 
means of short canals and locks. One of these was undertaken at Richmond 
under the inspiration of General Washington. Another was at Philadelphia, 
around the Falls of Schuylkill. But the one of special interest in the history of 
engineering, was at Little Falls on the Mohawk. 

The great thoroughfares between the City of New York and the west and 
northwest was up the Hudson and through the valley of the Mohawk. - The 
transportation through that valley was partly by three, five, or seven-horse teams 
over the Genessee Turnpike,! and partly by boats on the river. Those boats 
were like what on the Delaware we used to call Durham boats, which were eight 
feet wide and sixty feet long, drawing, when loaded, a foot or two, and carrying 
from ten to twenty tons. They were pushed up stream by two or four men, with 
setting-poles held on their course by the captain with a long steering-oar. 

At Little Falls the descent of river is over forty feet, and, of course, the boats 
could not pass, but their cargo was carried by the portage of two miles, to other 
boats zbove or below. To avoid this canal and locks were built. They were 
finished in 1794. Jedediah Morse (father of S. F. B. Morse’ of telegraphic fame) 
published his great standard American Gazetteer a few years later, and in it he 
quotes the following expression of the public sentiment of the time: ‘‘ The open- 
ing of this navigation is a vast acquisition to the commerce of this State.” It was 
conjectured that these locks (which a man could almost jump across), and similar 
“great works”’ west of them, might soon make the little town of Albany the 

capital of a great empire. 

The Mohawk continued to be the principal artery of commerce from New 
York to the interior, until the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. 

Mr. Weston, ‘‘that haughty British engineer,” as an old gazetteer calls him, 
was brought over from England to build the locks at Little Falls and elsewhere. 
One of his assistants was a land surveyor of Rome, New York, named Benjamin 
Wright, or Judge Wright, as he was called. When, years afterward, it was de- 
cided to build the Erie Canal, Judge Wright, though having only the slender ex- 
perience he had acquired under Weston, was appointed chief engineer. The 
skill and good judgment which was shown by this father of American engineer- 
ing, the few errors into which he and his still more inexperienced assistants fell, 
the great effects produced by them with the means at their command, and the 


1 The migration to the West, (which then meant the Genessee country) was over this turnpike in horse 
Or ox teams; the patriarch of the family and his wife having on their shoulders the same black and white 
coverlet, and the big brass kettle full of dishes hanging under the hinder axletree of the wagon. Some oftheir 
grandchildren now sit in the high places of the Nation. 


VI—19 


294 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


adaptation of their works to the circumstances of the time, are absolutely won- 
derful. 

One of Judge Wright’s principal assistants was Canvass White. His skill 
early brought him into notice, and he was sent by the State of New York to En 
gland to learn what he could, especially about hydraulic cement. Despairing of 
getting it at any reasonable price, and of making it stand the voyage, then from 
four to ten weeks, he set himself on his return to finding or making a substitute 
for European cement. . 

Led partially by the geological position of the hydraulic limes in England, 
and partly by what was known of their composition, he explored and tested cer- 
tain rocks of western New York, and made the first discovery of hydraulic cement 
in America. The State of New York gave him $10,000 for his discovery. Subse- 
quently he discovered or recognized cement rock in Pennsylvania in the way till 
then unknown, but now so familiar, by the contact of limestone and slate. 

And yet how soon those men, once so widely known, are forgotten. An 
eminent and excellent engineer, who had paid especial attention to cement, lately 
told me he never heard of Canvass White. 

One of Judge Wright’s assistants, but much younger than Canvass White, 
was John B. Jervis, whose name to-day is one of the most honored on the rolls of 
this society. 

Many of the distinctive characteristics of American engineering originated 
with those Erie Canal engineers. We practice their methods to-day, though most 
of their very names are forgotten. As a class, they wrote little. There were 
then no engineering papers prepared, and no engineering societies to perpetuate 
them, if they had been prepared. They were not scientific men, but knew by in- 
tuition what other men knew by calculation. Judge Wright’s counsel was ‘as if 
a man had inquired at the oracle of God.’’ What science they had, they knew 
well how to apply to the best advantage. few men have ever accomplished so 
much with so little means. 

The mention of cement reminds us of quite a new use of it, lately, under the 
direction of Mr. Chanute. The Erie road crosses the Genesee River by a high 
viaduct just above a fall. The bed of the river was wearing away, and would 
soon destroy the viaduct. An artificial bottom of cement has stopped the wear. 

The Erie Canal was opened in 1825. Governor Clinton passed through ina 
boat on one corner of the deck of which stood a cask of water from Lake Hrie, 
on another corner a cask of water of the Hudson. Gov. Clinton limped from 
the boat to the public halls, and speeches were made by and to him; and it was a 
great glorification. The result justified the public expectation. It built up the 
City of New York, and settled the question of commercial supremacy between 
that city and Philadelphia. ? 

The success of the Erie Canal soon brought about the construction of many 
others. They were thought to afford the most economical means of transporta- 


2 An old pilot once told me that in his younger days there were three or four ships out of Philadelphia 
to one out of New York. ; i 


ENGINEERING, 295 


tion, and railroads were made, not to carry goods to the final destination, but to 
a canal or other navigation. After the success of the Liverpool and Manchester 
Railway in 1830, this opinion was seriously shaken, and in a short time canal 
construction mostly ceased. Its era in this country was scarcely a quarter of a 
century, between 1817 and 1835. 

Canals to be successful now must be capable of passing vessels of large ca- 
pacity, must not have too much lockage, and the locks must be worked by steam 
or water-power ; the boats must be moved by steam, either on board, when the 
vessels are large enough, or, when the vessels are smaller, by locomotive on the 
bank, or by cable at the bottom, and then the locks must be large enough to hold 
the fleet taken by one locomotive or cable power; there must be plenty of water, 
and the canal must connect harbors or navigable waters. 

I tried towing by locomotive on the canal bank more than forty years ago. 
There is, of course, no difficulty in one engine towing several boats, but if the 
locks are not large enough to pass the whole fleet at once, the delay of all the 
fleet till each boat is passed separately, counterbalances the economy of steam in- 
stead of horse-power. ‘The speed even for light boats cannot be increased to 
more than five or six miles per hour on account of the wave. 

Cable-towing, notwithstanding the reported failure on the Erie Canal, can, 
with proper boats and apparatus, and with experienced men, be easily performed 
on the crookedest canal in America, as it is now done in Belgium. 

Canal engineering does not avail itself of the engineering resources of the 
age. Little improvement is made in it: mainly, I suppose, because it is not con- 
sidered worth improving. 

The most remarkable early river improvement in this country was that of the 
Lehigh. About the year 1817, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard commenced the 
improvement of this river, and made other preparations to inaugurate the anthra- 
cite coal trade. In 1820 they sent to market 365 tons, which was the beginning 
of the regular anthracite coal trade of America. Now the annual amount will 
soon reach 30,000,000 of tons. 

The descending navigation they made consisted, first, in clearing the chan- 
nel of rocks and confining the water in the rapids, when low, to that narrow chan- 
nel by boulder wing dams; second, when the fall was too great for this, in build- 
ing dams with bear-trap locks; and third, in storing the water in pools, and let- 
ting it run only when the coal arks were running. 

The bear-traps locks have given the hint for several devices since used, and 
are well worthy of examination. Near each end of the lock was a pair of gates, 
each gate reaching across the lock and to the back of the recess on each side, 
which gates, when not damming back the water, lay flat on the bottom of the 
lock. The lower gate could be made to revolve through an arc of somewhere 
about 40 degrees around a horizontal axis coincident with its down-stream edge. 
The upper gate of the pair, when laid flat, lapped over about half of the width of 
the lower gate, and revolved through a similar arc around its up-stream edge. 
When laid flat, the water, of course, ran freely over them. They were raised by 


296 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


admitting the water to them from the pool above head of the lock, through the side 
wall, when the pressure of the water pressed them up. ‘They were prevented 
from going too far by shoulders in the recesses. The gates then came within 10 
or 15 degrees of being at right angles to each other, the under side of the up- 
stream gate resting on the upstream edge of the downstream gate. They could 
be held in any position, so as to hold back the water entirely, or let it run over 
with more or less volume, as required. ‘The arks containing the coal were com- 
monly shot through over the partly raised gates as over so many dams. 

Such locks, copied from those on the Lehigh, are now in use on the Ottawa, 
at the Canadian capital. Many of us at our last convention were shot through 
them on rafts. 

It is well worth inquiry whether these bear-trap gates would not be the best 
possible, and possibly the cheapest, for letting the water rapidly out of a reservoir 
for scouring purposes. A full stream could be set running in a few seconds, and 
the flow could be regulated with perfect ease, and stopped at any moment. 

In many rivers it is desirable to dam the stream back at low water, and let 
it run freely at high water In Belgium, on the Meuse, they use needle dams 
for this purpose. Another probably better adjustable dam is in use in France. 
The bear-trap gates, with proper appliances, on a solid platform at the bo.tom of 
a river, would enable a man on shore to raise a dam across that river, or if raised, 
to lower it to the bottom, in a few minutes. 

I have used this contrivance for a fish sluice in a permanent dam, by which 
the water ran freely through the sluices when necessary, and at other times was 
retained at full height. 

The coal, on the descending navigation of the Lehigh, was sent to market in 
arks consisting of six boxes, sixteen feet square and twenty inches deep, coupled 
by hinges, the whole carrying about too tons. 

* *k *K *K *k * 

About fifty years ago, Professor Henry made a series of brilliant discoveries 
in electro magnetism, one of which was, that by means of a current through a 
wire, a signal could be made and information given (by ringing a bell, for ex- 
ample), a long distance off. Years afterward, Steinheil, Morse, Wheatstone and 
others, applied Henry’s discovery to the actual conveyance of information; 
Morse’s apparatus, as it seems to us Americans, being by far the best. The wonder 
to us now is, why Henry himself did not apply his discovery, and why others did 
not sooner do so. The answer is found in a very important phase of human 
mind. The habit of mind into which the scientist is hable, perhaps likely, to 
fall, is to look at scientific result as his ultimate end. Such result arrived at, the 
same habit of mind is to use it only to attain further scientific result. Hence, 
men of science so rarely are benefited pecuniarily by their own researches. 
Hence, also, it frequently happens that engineers who have kept at their studies 
without practice till too late in life, are so often less successful than those of far 
less science, and, perhaps, less intellect, but who have been early trained to ap- 
ply to practical use what science they have. 


ENGINEERING. 297 


Iron ship-building has had almost its entire growth within the last forty years. 

In the spring of 1845, I visited a small iron ship-yard, then quite a new 
thing, at Birkenhead, on the south side of the Mersey. The proprietor, in his 
green flannel roundabout, showed his modest establishment, and explained some 
of the processes. ‘That proprietor became afterward well known to the world as 
Sir John Laird, the great iron ship-builder, and especially to this country as the 
builder of the Alabama. ‘The operations of that enterprising craft came near in- 
volving us and our cousins across the water in a very serious conflict. This was 
averted by the moral courage and enlightened patriotism of Grant and Hamilton 
Fish on this side, and Gladstone and Clarendon on the other, who, not having 
the fear of demagogues before their eyes, agreed upon arbitration instead of 
war. All honor to the statesmen who took this great step in Christian civiliza- 
tion. 

They were just beginning to build the first dock wall on the red sandstone 
bed rock of the Mersey ; now they have 159 acres of dock-room enclosed. Then 
Birkenhead was a small village; now it has more than 100,000 inhabitants. 
America is not the only country that moves. 

Mr. Chanute, in his annual address, two years ago, spoke of the first pro- 
peller boat used in America. That propeller fell into my hands; and I towed 
the first fleet of boats ever towed by a propeller tug on this side of the Atlantic, 
from Philadelphia to Bordentown, in October, 1839. Now, our harbors are full 
of them. The first propellers ever built in this country, and, as far as I know, 
the first iron hulls, were the Anthracite and the Black Diamond, built on the plans 
of Captain Ericsson, and employed in carrying coal through the Delaware and 
Raritan Canal. The first sea-going propeller built in this country was the frigate 
Princeton, built on Captain Ericsson’s designs, under the direction of Captain 
Stockton. It was a full rigged sailing ship, the intention being to use steam only 
as auxiliary. 

It should not be forgotten that John Stevens, almost dich year ago, built 
a small propeller boat, with two propellers, or ‘‘circular sculls,” as he called 
them, and ran it about the harbor of New York. It is wonderful how near his 
blades approach the angle which experience has shown to be the best. He used 
a small locomotive boiler, as it would now be called, such as was reinvented “by 
Booth, a quarter of a century later, at Liverpool. 

The rapid progress of the country, and the activity of the age, are more 
strikingly shown by the records of the Post Office Department, than by the in- 
crease of population—from three to fifty millions since the revolution—or than 
by any other statistics I know of. During several years of the time that Benja- 
min Franklin was Postmaster-General, he personally kept the whole accounts of 
the department, and all in one small book, and settled with the postmasters and 
mail carriers. There were then about, perhaps, twenty or thirty dead letters a 
year, now there are four millions. It now takes eight clerks constantly employed 
to open them, and I remember that it takes fifty clerks to take charge of one class 
of them. Franklin kept one small book, which lasted three years, now there are 


298 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


150 or 200 books, each half a dozen times as large, filled each year. Then the 
work was done by Franklin for $600 a year, now by 700 clerks, for, perhaps, a 
million a year. 

Within my memory, some of the sciences with which engineers have spe- 
cially to do, have grown from infancy into at least adolescence. 

For example, geology was a collection of interesting but isolated facts, and 
unverified theories, now it isa science. It used to be considered terribly hetero- 
dox, and a young man who cared to stand well with good people found it safest 
to say nothing about it. To read geology was next to reading Tom Paine. A 
learned and excellent divine once confidently informed me that all the supposed 
plants and animals found in the rocks were merely stones that happened to come 
out in that shape. Now geology has an important connection with the instruc- 
tion in theological seminaries. 

Business and population depend on geology. A geological map of England 
enables one to locate its occupations and the denser populations. An outcrop of 
gneiss, extending southwest from New York, forms the limit of tide in the rivers, 
and fixes the location of Trenton, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore, George- 
town, Richmond and other cities to the southwest. 

When I studied chemistry at school the components of compound bodies 
were given in percentages. For example, limestone was 48 per cent., oxygen 12 
per cent. carbon and 4o per cent. calcium. Of course, nobody could remember 
such proportions. Nor did it give the proximate elements of the compound. 
The atomic theory, as it was called, was known, but chemists were cautious. 
about accepting it. They had not yet learned to distinguish between the ¢heory 
of atoms, and the fac? of equivalents. 

One of the most surprising feats of modern science is seen in the daily pre- 
dictions we have of the morrow’s weather. ‘Time was, and many of us remember 
back to it, when predictions were made, and by intelligent people, too, from the 
phases of the moon, from weather breeders, from the weather on certain anniver- 
saries, and the like. 

More than a century ago Franklin pointed out the fact that northeast storms 
begin in the southwest, two or three days earlier at New Orleans than at Phila- 
delphia. Much information was afterward accumulated, and scientific investiga- 
tions were from time to time made by many able men. About forty years ago 
Prof. Espy, of Philadelphia, announced his theory, that rain is caused by the 
rarefaction and consequent upper movement of the mixed air and vapor into a 
colder region, where the vapor is condensed and falls into rain, and that this 
rarefaction produced by the heated surface of the earth, or by fire or otherwise, 
causes the denser air to flow in from every side, so that the wind blows toward 
the rain. All this has been since verified. But this sanguine philosopher did 
not get the credit he really deserved, but drew upon himself the ridicule of the 
world, by claiming for his discovery more than it could accomplish, especially 
by proposing to raise the Mississippi by setting fire to the woods on the Alleghany 
Mountains, when the hygrometer showed much moisture, and so getting the up- 


ENGINEERING. 299 


ward current required to make it rain, just as it commonly rains after any great 
fire, or the eruption of a volcano, or a battle. 

Espy visited Princeton to confer with Prof. Henry. I was present at the 
interview. Henry, while he thought Espy’s main principle quite correct, got 
very much out of patience with him for several hasty conclusions from statements 
which, to Henry’s cautious, scientific mind, did not seem at all conclusive. } 
After he was gone, Henry chalked out the plan which he afterward, with the co- 
operation of Guyot and other able men, so successfully carried into execution, of 
simultaneous observations all over the country, and a daily chart of highest and 
lowest pressures, and other things about which my memory is less distinct. As 
everybody knows now, it is the traveling of these lines from west to east, at an 
average of about thirty miles an hour, that enables the weather predictions to be 
made. 

Our rapid progress involves the frequent undoing of what has only recently 
been done in the most costly manner. We have seen expensive buildings erected 
in the City of New York, and then in two or three years torn down to give way 
to something greater or different. The Alleghany Portage Railroad, of which 
my brother, Sylvester Welch, was chief engineer, W. Milnor Roberts being one 
of his assistants, was considered for some years one of the wonders of the world ; 
the improvements in the locomotive and the increased strength of the rails after- 
ward enabled engines to cross the Alleghany without the inclined planes used on 
that road, and that splendid work, on which so much thought had been expend- 
ed, was torn up. It is folly to build for the far future. 

This reminds me that in a paper written 1829, read before this society two or 
three years ago. Mr. Moncure Robinson estimated that the tonnage over the Al- 
leghany Mountains at that point might in time reach 30,000 tons per annum. I 
suppose that the tonnage now over the mountain, on the Pennsylvania railroad, 
exceeds six millions. 

One of the bold and remarkable works of the day is the submarine sewer at 
Boston, to carry the sewage under an arm of the harbor and across an island far 
to the seaward. They have discovered, what unfortunately many others have 
not, that little is gained by emptying sewage into a harbor or into a small river, 
and so transferring the nuisance from one point to another, or distributing it all 
over. 

Sanitary engineers have been contending each for his own favorite system of 
sewering and draining cities. Mr. Hering, in his paper read at the convention 
at Montreal, impressed upon us that no one system is absolutely good or bad, 
but either is good when adapted to the circumstances, and bad when it is not. 
Municipal corporations often think that the remedy for unhealthiness is, of course, 
sewerage, just as some doctors in old times gave their patients calomel without 

1 My attention, was drawn to this subject by the conference between Espy and Henry, and while travel- 
ling in Ireland, I asked my very bright, and on the subjects within his range, intelligent car driver, which way 
the storms there came from? Evidently he had never thought on that subject, but, adopting on the instant a 


meteorological creed, answered quick asthought: ‘* The storms, sir, come from which ever way the Lord Al- 
mighty chooses to send them.” 


300 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


regard to what was the matter with them, or what kind of constitutions they had. 

One of the startling propositions of the day is to bring the waters of Lake 
George and the upper Hudson by an open canal tosupply the City of New York. 
When somebody asked Brindley what rivers were made for, he said: ‘‘ To feed 
navigable canals.” The answer now would be: = ‘‘ To supply great cities with 
water.”’ 

Among the subjects to which the attention of the society is now especially 
turned are Standard Time and the Preservation of Timber. As we expect reports 
on these, I shall not further refer to them. 

One of the most remarkable of modern implements, one whose powers seem 
almost miraculous, is the diamond drill, which bores into the hardest quartz con- 
glomerate and even into chilled iron. It seems to be capable of much wider ap- 
plication than it has yet had. 

The attachment of a car to a moving wire rope, in the way proposed by Col. 
Paine, without injury to the rope or risk to the car, will probably revolutionize 
the mode of traction in very many cases. 

Within the last year or two the load on each wheel of a freight car has been 
increased from 5,000 pounds to 8,ooo pounds, an increase of 60 per cent. Ac- 
cording to Dr. Dudley’s observations on the Pennsylvania Railroad, an increase 
of 60 per cent. on a wheel made an increase in wear per million of tons of a lit- 
tle over 30 per cent. We may expect'that this recent increase will increase the 
wear at least 30 per cent.; that is, the rails on a heavy traffic road that would 
have lasted with the old machinery ten years, will now last 7.7 years. But with 
the heavier weight on a wheel, the residuary part of the rail after it is worn 
down to the limit of safety, must be much stronger than formerly required, in 
order to bear the heavier weight. Suppose the diminution of the consumable 
part of the rail on this account to be 20 per cent. (which would be only 4 or 5 
per cent. increase on the whole rail) it reduces the duration to 6.16 years with 
the same traffic. But as the traffic has increased much more rapidly than was ex- 
pected, it is now probable that the rails on our heavy traffic roads will not last 
half as long as they were expected to last three or four years ago. If a rail will 
last a dozen years where actually used, it would not pay to add more than about 
30 per cent. to its cost to make it last two dozen years, but it would pay to add 45 
per cent. to its cost to prevent its duration from coming down froma dozen to half a 
dozen years. Steel rails were made fifteen years ago with twice the endurance of 
those made now. Under the new circumstances, it is probable that it will before 
long be economy for roads with the heaviest traffic to pay the railmakers a price 
that will enable them to make rails as durable as the best ever made. 

kK * * *K * *k 

The subject of tests for large members of metallic structures is now receiving 
our earnest attention. If I should speak of its necessity it would only be to re- 
peat what is said in our memorial to Congress. I will only again call attention to 
one point; that is, that the process of manufacture of a large piece of iron or steel 
may be so different from that of a small piece, and therefore the quality of the 


COLORADO MINES, ; 301 


“two be so different, though both may be made from the same stock, that the 
strength of the larger cannot be inferred, but only guessed at, from the known 
strength of the smaller. In the larger there is more likely to be permanent op- 
posing strains that destroy a large percentage of its strength. A remarkable in- 
‘stance of opposing strains, caused by treatment in manufacture, was pointed out 
some time ago by Colonel Paine. He found that wire coiled before it was set 
could not be even straightened without straining the sides beyond the limits of 
elasticity, and that such wire had nothing near the strength of that coiled straight. 
As the strength of a large metallic member of a structure cannot be tested by any 
machine within the reach of individual means, and as to obtain the best results 
requires the combined skill of several classes of experts, the aid of Congress is in- 
voked to provide a suitable machine, and to create a board of experts whose va- 
ried skill shall plan the best experiments. 

* *k *K *K * * 

Undoubtedly the progress of the age, which is so largely engineering prog- 
ress, does on the whole greatly increase the welfare of mankind. By making 
the forces of nature do the hard work, the labors of the toiling millions are light- 
ened many fold. The laboring man now works with brain and eye more than 
with muscle, and his business is now to apply some principle of science. This 
raises him intellectually. He now has time for improvement. Comfort and re- 
finement, and even luxury, are brought within his reach. The forces of nature 
having become obedient to the will of man, they are made to produce for him 
not only plenty, but conveniences and luxuries formerly undreamt of. By the 
present facilities the races of men are brought into contact with each other. 
Those races are being assimilated, and the prejudices and hatreds of the past are 
fading away. Supreme power among men is more than ever in the hands of the 
most enlightened, and they are sending civilization and Christianity into the re- 
gions most benighted. The light of Heaven is beginning to shine into the Harem 
and the Zenana. And the time seems to be hastening when there shall universally 
prevail ‘‘ peace on earth’”’ and ‘‘ good will toward man.”— Van Jostrand’s Mag- 
azine. 


COLORADO MINES. 


LEADVILLE SMELTERS.—The production of the Leadville smelters, during 
the month of July, shows 3,604 tons of base bullion, which, after deducting for 
dross and the precious metals contained in the same, would leave at least 3,500 
tons of lead. Every month so far this year has shown a gain over the corre- 
sponding period of last year. During the fore part of the year, one month showed 
a product of 4,000 tons, the output of the Leadville reduction-works. There is 
now very little question but that the product for the year will aggregate between 
40,000 and 43,000 tons. The shipments of lead during the first six months 
amounted to 21,898 tons, and up to date to 25,500 tons. There have also been 


302 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


shipped to Pueblo, Kansas City, and other smelting centers more than 30,000 
tons of ore to date, this year. At an average of 10 per cent of lead in these 
ores we have a grand total production of lead of 28,500 tons. How long this. 
production will be maintained, it is difficult to predict. It shows, however, 
the important part Colorado, and particularly Leadville and its tributary camps, 
occupy in the mining world, in the production of lead, at the present time. | 

LirtLe PirrspurG.—The official report for the week ended July 31st shows: 
Ore shipped, 112 tons; settled for, 719 tons; balance shipped and unsettled for, 
git tons. During the month of July, 522 tons of ore were shipped and 719 tons 
settled for. 


* MONARCH DISTRICT. 


From the Leadville Herald we take the following notes on this district: The 
Madonna smelter is running very successfully, and turning out a car-load of bull- 
ion daily. The smelter is using only the ore from the Monarch Company’s 
mines, which produces a moderate grade of bullion, but will increase the grade 
by mixing in ore from the Monarch and other high-grade mines. It is the inten- 
tion of General Tuttle, manager of the company, to increase the capacity of the 
smelter by the addition of two fifty-ton stacks in the fall. The company’s mines 
are looking exceedingly well. The main drift, which has been run to connect 
with the upper workings, shows ore all the way, and it is estimated that the 
ore-reserves are sufficient to furnish the smelter with a two years’ supply of ore. 

The Fairplay, located just above the Madonna smelter, has developed a body 
of high-grade sulphuret ore, the extent of which has not been defined. The 
Eclipse has during the past week caught ore in the tunnel which has been run to 
tap the ore-body about 250 feet below the upper workings, and about fifteen tons 
of ore have been taken out in driving the tunnel. The main shaft, now at a 
depth of about 185 feet, also shows good ore in the bottom. The ore-bodies pre- 
viously developed on the forty-five-foot level are still untouched. 

Several new and promising discoveries have been made on Limestone Moun- 
tain, to the west of the Madonna group; but as yet their extent is not definitely 
known. The district generally shows considerable activity, and the indications 
are, that it will assume a prominent place as a producer. 


MOSQUITO DISTRICT. 


Sunny SourH.—Ore of remarkable richness has been discovered since the 
recent reported strike. This property is developed by a tunnel which has been 
run in on the lead for a distance of 70 feet. At 65 feet, an inch streak of ore 
was cut, which rapidly widened, and on sinking on it for a depth of six feet, the 
pay-streak increased to two feet of solid ore. During the sinking, twenty-eight 
sacks of ore was taken out, which, on being tested at the London mine, the 
native silver being thrown out, yielded returns of 385 ounces in silver and 20 per 
cent in lead. 


ARTESIAN WELLS IN COLORADO, - 303 


PITKIN COUNTY. 


INDEPENDENCE District.—This camp is only thirty-five miles from Leadville 
on the opposite side of the Continental Divide, and at about the same elevation. 
The discoveries already made and the geological features of the region give prom- 
ise of similar results. The Farwell Company has stamp mills full of ore and is 
making some excellent strikes on the Mt. Hope side of the gulch. The Minne- 
haha Company has made a very rich strike between the Farwell mines and the 
Hamilton Company’s lands. The Hamilton Company is still delayed by conflict- 
ing surveys, but as soon as these points are settled and the property actually pat- 
ented, active operations will be commenced and heavy work done all through the 
winter. 


PUEBLO COUNTY. 


CoLorRaDO CoaL AND IRon Company.—This Company is now turning out 
125 tons of Bessemer steel rails per day on a contract made last year for 30,000 
tons, the contract price being $70 per ton for a part and $65 a ton for heavy sec- 
tions. It is expected that the product will soon be increased to 150 tons per 
day. 


SUMMIT COUNTY. 


RosINson CONSOLIDATED.—A dispatch dated August gth says: Work was 
begun to-day on the Robinson Consolidated mine. ‘Three great pumps are hand- 
ling the water splendidly. 


ARTESIAN WELLS IN COLORADO. 


Commissioner Horace Burch, who was appointed by the Agricultural De- 
partment, at Washington, to select the sites for two experimental borings for ar- 
tesian wells in Colorado, made a trip to the prairie land in the eastern portion of 
the State to-day. He was accompanied by Senator Hill, the originator of the 
artesian well bill, and several railroad officials. The party went to the plateau 
divide between the headwaters of the Republican River and the South Platte, 112 
miles from the city, on the line of the C., B. &. Q. Railroad. . The geologist com- 
missioner of last year reported this section of country as giving the most promising 
indications of a high-water strata. One well will be sunk about a mile from Akron, 
in a country heretofore dry and arid. Contracts will be immediately let for 2,500 
feet. It is thought that a strong flow will be tapped within 1,000 feet. The 
second well will probably be located near Kit Carson, on the Kansas Pacific 
Road. The contracts on both wells will have been completed by snow fall. 

It will be remembered that the original $30,000 appropriations for artesian 
well explorations in Colorado was squandered under LeDuc’s management. He 
started a well near Fort Lyon, and paid a heavy royalty to experiment in sinking 
with a diamond drill. When a depth of only 800 feet had been reached by the 


304 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


bore the appropriation was exhausted. It was estimated that the same result 
could have been had under contract for $1,500. Senator Hill obtained the last 
appropriation from the agricultural fund, and is confident of discovering the 
flowing well belt. If successful a vast expanse of country now barren and unin-’ 
habitable will be converted into lands for agriculture and stock raising. 


MISSOURI COPPER MINES. 


We have frequently had occasion to refer to the great mineral resources of 
this State, which as yet have attracted comparatively little attention abroad. For 
years Missouri’s iron, coal, lead and zinc mines have been worked in a quiet sort 
of a way, but with great profit. Three mining regions only have been brought 
prominently into notice since mining first assumed the proportions of an industry, 
namely, the Rich Hill coal fields, the Joplin lead and zinc mines, and the iron 
ore beds in central and southeast Missouri. But the growth of mining has been 
steady, if not rapid, and every new development encourages the hope that Mis- 
souri will finally rank head and shoulders above any other State in the Mississippi - 
Valley as a producer of the useful metals. Coal, zinc, lead and iron have been 
mined on a large scale for years, and copper, in small quantities, in different 
parts of the State. Now, however, appearances would seem to indicate that the 
mining of copper, so long neglected, will ultimately assume a magnitude that will 
place Missouri among the leading copper-producing States of the Union. The 
richest and most promising copper fields at this time are located in St. Genevieve 
County, south of St. Louis. In presenting a brief history and description of 
these mines we are indebted for data to a report of Prof. W. B. Potter, of the 
firm of Potter & Riggs, engineers, on the principal mine in the county—the Corn- 
wall—and to a paper presented by Mr. Frank Nicholson, M. E., to the Ameri- 
can Institute of Mining Engineers. 

Copper ore was first noticed in St. Genevieve County in 1863, but it was 
not until 1868 that explorations were begun, Mr. Harris being the leading spirit. 
After considerable prospecting on the section where the outcroppings had been 
noticed the work was abandoned without result. In 1872 Messrs. Harris, Rozier 
& Co. obtained a lease on the Grass mining property for twenty-five years, pay- 
ing 10 per cent royalty. In 1876 a Chicago firm, Hitchcock, Wilson & Co., 
began work on a hill opposite that on which copper was first discovered and after 
a year’s fruitless labor the firm failed. The Chicago company’s mine was bought 
in by O. D. Harris, who now owns the Grass and Chicago mines and operates 
them under the name of the Cornwall Copper Mines. In 1880 the Cornwall 
mines erected works for making raw mattes and in 188r refining works were 
added. From 1876 to 1879 two other mines were opened in the neighborhood 
of the Cornwall mines, Swansea Copper Mine and the Herzog Copper Mine. 
These three mines all belong to the same formation, and a study of one reveals 
the characteristics of all. 


MISSOURI COPPER MINES. 305 


The Cornwall mines are located ten miles from the town of St. Genevieve, 
and the ore occurs in two nearly horizontal sheet deposits, in what is pronounced 
by Mr. Nicholson to be the second of the magnesian limestone of the Lower Si- 
lurian formation. The principal developments in the Cornwall have been made 
in the upper deposit, while the lower level is chiefly worked at the Swansea mines. 
Still, the limited amount of prospecting done -makes it possible that there are 
other levels. . 

Mr. Potter says: ‘‘ The upper sheet-deposit seems to follow very nearly the 
bedding of the limestone, and varies in thickness from a few inches to three or 
four feet. Though varying greatly in thickness, the ore-sheet is remarkably con- 
tinuous. Occasionally it is wanting in a very small area; but such barren ground 
is easily worked around, and may be utilized for pillars in the support of the 
roof. A layer of sandstone, quite thin and irregular, seems to be in most places 
the immediate associate of the ore, and this at times is found to be altered toa 
hard ferruginous quartzite, carrying more or less copper. Layers and nodules of 
chert occur in the limestone at times, making the ground a little hard; but as a 
rule the latter rock is easy to mine. It is worked out to the parting at the top of 
the course, which gives an easy plane to break to. This makes the drifts (vary- 
ing with the position of the ore-sheet in the course) from three and one-half to 
six and one-half feet high, the average being about five feet. 

‘<The ore itself consists essentially of the sulphurets, copper pyrites and a 
small amount of the richer ‘purple copper.’ These minerals have in the upper 
deposit been somewhat decomposed by the action of percolating surface waters. 
There is in this deposit a remarkable absence of iron pyrites, which in the other 
mines is so common an associate of copper pyrites. This must be regarded as a 
very favorable circumstance, since iron pyrites degrades copper ore not only in 
richness but in purity, arsenic, antimony, nickel and cobalt being (one or more 
of them) always found to some extent in this mineral. The ore is in fact re- 
markably pure.” 

Prof. Potter, in discussing the question to what extent these deposits can be 
- relied upon to supply ore in the future, states that, though they are not fissure 
veins, they are sometimes, like the St. Joe and Desloge deposits, of very great 
extent, and developments already made on the upper Cornwall deposits present 
evidence enough to show that ‘‘the ore extends over a very wide area, and is 
safe to hold out with any demand likely to be made upon it for a long time to 
come.” 

Concerning the cost of mining and treating the ore and the profits of the 
business, Prof. Potter presents some instructive figures : 


Five tons of dressed ore at furnace . . . ...... . $105 55 
Smelting the*same and producing refined copper . . . . 65 62 


Motall costs permitonsreimed| copper wy .wey essa hae D7 


306 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Or per pound of refined copper : CENTS. 
Mining, dressing and transportation) 2 5)... . 5). 2 2) 5:23 
Smelting and mefimin gs 5) keenly edb) aiincliielate fle) ae ennene see 

Total! cost per pound wretined copper ys.) - 4) hese 
Value’ of refined copper in st Wowisem ue lls ao nL OROS 
Net profit, per pound. scappemarmuy ei) lene 


The value of refined copper has averaged over 18 cents for the past year or 
so, but 16 cents has been taken as a satisfactory average in the estimate above. 

The ore taken from these mines runs about 20 per cent copper, according to 
Prof. Potter, and about 18 per cent according to Mr. Nicholson.—Age of Steel. 


A COAL PROBLEM. 


The production of anthracite coal last year reached about 28,500,000 tons. 
This amount is something above the average, but will, in turn, be surpassed by 
the output this year. It is estimated that not less than 30,000,000 tons will be 
mined before next January, and the annual production hereafter, under ordinary 
circumstances, is not likely to fall below that amount. These figures are more 
significant than they appear to be at first sight. 

It is not too much to say that the exhaustion of the anthracite coal-fields of 
this country is in sight. There are deposits in Rhode Island and Virginia, and 
small quantities elsewhere ; but by far the largest part of the anthracite beds lies 
in seven counties of Pennsylvania. Four great fields are recognized, their re- 
spective areas being 159, 92, 194 and 38 square miles—total 483. To this limit- 
ed tract the United States looks for its anthracite coal. How much was there in 
it when mining began, scarcely sixty years ago? How much has already been 
consumed? How long will what remains last? 

The thickness of the beds ranges from thirty to sixty, or perhaps seventy-five 
feet. But the coal measures are not consecutive or of equal value. Some of 
them are so thin as to be at this stage valueless. Faults are numerous. The 
gigantic crushing powers which nature exerted while the coal was forming squeez- 
ed some veins out of existence. Others can be mined only with great difficulty. 
Taking it for granted that the coal land in all underland with workable seams, 
and knowing the number of tons per foot thickness per square mile, the original 
contents of the fields may be calculated. It approximated 9,800,000,000 tons. 
But it must be remembered, not only that much of this coal is not available, but 
also that the present methods of mining are very wasteful. Even from the rich- 
est mines only a small part of the coal is taken. Much of that left behind can 
never be secured hereafter, no matter how high the price may become. 

A writer in the New York Sun, who has investigated the subject with some 
care, says that the best engineering science assumes that only one-third of the coal 
in first-class seams—the deepest and most faultless—only one-fourth of that in’ 


A COAL PROBLEM. ; 307 


second-class seams, can be sent tomarket. But making the most liberal estimate 
possible, and taking the product of all the fields, as it has been actually worked 
out, at 151,000 tons per foot thickness of seams per square mile, the marketable 
contents of all the Pennsylvania anthracite fields when mining began did not ex- 
ceed 3,275,000,000 tons. The Coal Trade Journal two years ago stated the 
amount of anthracite marketed to the close of 1878 at 307,000,000 tons. The 
output of the last three years brings the total close on to 400,000,000 tons, or 
one-eighth of all the coal originally at hand. 

In determining how long the remainder will last, the annual consumption, 
and the possibility of greater economy of production, must be taken into account. 
In 1820 there was used 365 tons, or barely one ton a day for the United States. 
The next year the consumption reached 1,000 tons, in 1822 it amounted to 3,700, 
and so on. In 1829 100,000 tons was passed, the sales that year reaching 112,- 
000; in 1842, 1,000,000 was for the first time exceeded, and in 1864, 10,000,000 
tons. Taking 30,000,000 tons for the annual consumption hereafter—and that 
amount will doubtless be exceeded—the various fields will hold out as follows, 
allowing each the present proportionate output: Southern or Schuylkill basin, 204 
years; Shamokin, 141 years; Mahanoy, 75 years; Wyoming, 70 years; Lacka- 
wanna, 64 years; Lehigh, 23 years. ‘‘In less than forty years,” says the Suz 
writer, ‘‘if coal be produced at the rate of 30,000,000 tons per annum, anthra- 
cite will be an article of luxury, and the price it will bring in the markets will ex- 
clude the poor people of this country from the use of this best of fuels.” 

It is hardly too much to say that the waste which characterizes the methods 
of mining now pursued is outrageous. In England and other European countries 
every pound of coal is taken from the seam, as surely as gold miners take out 
every particle of quartz within reach. The Pennsylvania system of “‘ pillar and 
breast”? mining, long ago discarded abroad, takes out a cube of coal, and leaves 
the next cube to support the rock overhead. In many cases half of the contents 
of the vein is thus™abandoned. Waste in other ways reduces the yield of the 
seam still further to not over one-third of its contents. When coal grows scarcer 
mere selfishness, even if no considerations of the public good, will occasion closer 
work, and thus put off the day of the consumption of Pennsylvania’s last pound 
of anthracite. But while waste of bituminous coal is bad enough, that of anthra- 
cite is inexcusable. — Globe- Democrat. 


Thousands of persons assembled at the termini of the St. Gothard tunnel to 
witness the inauguration of one of the most splendid and universally beneficial 
engineering achievements of this century. This tunnel is about nine and a quar- 
ter miles long, being about one and two-thirds miles longer than that of Mt. 
Cenis. It runs in a straight line from the village of Goschnen, on the Swiss side, 
to the Italian frontier locality of Afrolo, thus placing Lucerne and Milan in com- 
munication by rail. 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ise) 
S 
ice) 


ZOOLOGY 


MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS OF PREY. 
WILLIAM HOSEA BALLOU. 


The question has been broached in the American Field concerning the migra~ 
tions of hawks in flocks. It would seem to be a mooted point, if the variety of 
opinions of correspondents are to be taken into consideration. So far as my own 
investigations extend, the matter has never been broached in books, and there- 
fore offers a wide field for study. The question of the certainty of the migration 
of hawks in flocks was established in my mind in 1874. I was then a resident of 
the village of Mexico, New York. The village is situated in Oswego County, 400 
feet above, and several miles distant from Lake Ontario. Along the shores of 
Mexico Bay is a great wooded tract in which are swamps, outlets of streams, and 
occasionally a wide sand beach, or high bluff. In the winter it is the most pro- 
lific resort of the snowy and great horned owls I ever visited. Of the first men- 
tioned species I captured fifteen alive in traps during the winter of 1874-5, and a. 
number of the second mentioned. In the spring time I have spent hours along 
the shore watching the return of birds. First came the crows in literal thousands, 
taking in the whole range of the shore-line in their noisy efforts to find a cross- 
ing-place. Then the ice broke up; great banks disappeared slowly in the sand, 
and the huge cakes, acres in size, were drawn into the broad mouth of the St. 
Lawrence. And then—well, one day I sat by the blue waters watching the sub- 
lime in nature, and the return of spring. There was a sudden sound that seemed 
to come from the clouds. The eye was no match for the distance. ‘The sound 
was multiplied to many cries, whistles, and noises. Slowly a picturesque scene 
burst upon the view. Away up, just at the limit of vision, was a great moving 
maelstrom of winged creatures, wheeling, gyrating, crying, and slowly settling. 
As they came down I recognized among the assemblage of thousands, many 
species of hawks. I hid in the brush and waited developments. As soon as they 
came within range, I made an onslaught with my double-barrel breech-loader, 
firing rapidly, and with terrible effect. The birds seemed powerless to resist, 
famished with fatigue and hunger. Many settled on the trees, and others con- 
tinued their slow flight in both directions along the shore, like their predecessors, 
the crows, in search of a crossing-place. It was three days before all had gone 
except those destined to remain and breed. On examination of my bag, I found 
the sharp-shinned, coopers, sparrow, red-tailed, red-shouldered and broad-winged 
hawks. They were thin in flesh, and looked very much reduced by long flight. 
Since that time, I have been the witness every spring of a similar spectacle at: 
some point along the lakes, though never of such magnitude. 


MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS OF PREY. — : 309 


The next scene takes us westward along the Freshwater System to Evanston, 
Illinois, on the shore of Lake Michigan. At that place the shore projects out 
into the lake for some distance, terminating in Gross Point. Here are heavily 
wooded groves of oaks and a natural rendezvous for all kinds of birds. Last fall 
there were heavy fogs. Late in October, I noticed the presence of many hawks 
in the vicinity. They followed the pigeons there and began accumulating. They 
were so shy that I only secured a half dozen, among which were a pair of duck 
hawks. One afternoon the fog cleared away, the sun dried the trees and the 
earth, and madeiall nature beautiful. About three o’clock that afternoon, I was 
attracted by the screams of many hawks. ‘They began wheeling over Gross Point, 
circling around, and gradually passed upward untill not less than 500 formed in 
the ring. It was a clear day, and my vision was unobstructed. When they had 
attained a great elevation, there was a sudden halt, and then began a rapid flight 
to the southwest, evidently toward the Mississippi by way of some river route. 

The above furnishes satisfactory evidence of migration of hawks in flocks, 
and the method of the same. A number of instances have been furnished by the 
patrons of the American Field substantiating the data presented. 

Northern hawks migrate south in the winter and southern species come north 
in the summer. The Swallow-Tail Kite migrates north—well into this State in 
chase of grasshoppers. Near Cairo 1 have watched several of them for hours, 
descending from their lofty gyrations to chase the insect and after obtaining a full 
craw return to the clouds as if to digest their booty. The Mississippi Kite also 
makes summer journeys northward. 

The instances above related seem to demand some explanation. I therefore 
present the following table of migrating birds! of prey and quasi migrants, as a 
basis of discussion : 

REAL MIGRANTS. 


PIGEON HAWK, “salon columbarius. 
SPARROW HAWK, Zinnunculus sparverius. 
OrspreEy, Fandion hallietus carolinensis. 
CooPpER HAWK, <Accépiler coopert. 

SHARP SHINNED HAWK, Accipiler fuscus. 
RED-TAILED HAWK, Luteo borealis. 
WESTERN RED-TAIL, Suteo calurus. 
RED-SHOULDERED HAWK, Suteo lineatus. 
BROAD-WING HAWK, Buteo Fennsylvanicus. 


QUASI MIGRANTS. 
GREAT GRAY OWL, Ulula cinerea. 
Snowy oOwL, Vyctea scandica. 
Hawk oOwL, Surivia funerea. 
AMERICAN GOSHAWK, Aster atricapillus. 


1 The nomenclature adopted is after Prof. Robert Ridgway in his new catalogue of North American 
Birds, published by the National Museum at Washington. 


V1—20 


310 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Duck HAWK, falco peregrinus nevius. 

CARACARA EAGLE, Folyborus chertway. 

WHITE-TAILED KITE, lanus glaucus. 

SWALLOW-TAILED KITE, Llanoides forjicatus. 

MISSISSIPPI KITE, /ctinia subcerulea. 

ROUGH LEGGED BUZZARD, Archbuteo lagopus sancti-johannis. 
BALD EAGLE, Aalletus leucocephalus. 

MEXICAN GOSHAWK, Asturina nitida plagita. 


The first table includes hawks which regularly and annually migrate, never 
remaining far north save in exceptional cases. The second table comprises ir- 
regular or quasi migrants, which journey north in summer from their southern 
limit, or south in winter from their northern habitat. The first series of birds are 
compelled to migrate. They live more or less on small birds, reptiles, frogs, etc. 
The reptiles and frogs hibernate, and the small birds migrate south, compelling 
the hawks to follow them to obtain a subsistence. It was intimated above that 
they follow the pigeons in their migrations south. Such, indeed, is the case, 
and many an unwary bird falls prey to their voracity. The principal rendezvous 
in the United States of their flocking for migration south, I have reason to be- 
lieve, is at Point aux Pelee, Canada. This point extends perhaps fifteen miles 
into Lake Erie. _ Just a short distance out in the lake is Point aux Pelee Island, 
extending several miles toward the American shore; next beyond, in the same 
direction, is Gull Island, then Middle Island, then the large Kelly’s Island, and 
finally a long point running out from the western side of Sandusky Bay. Along- 
side of this north and south range is another comprising the East Sister, Old 
Hen and Chickens, and the three Bass Islands. Here, then, is a double range 
extending across Lake Erie, terminating at Point aux Pelee and forming the most 
accessible route south for all migrants. As the myriads of small birds congregate 
at Point aux Pelee to effect a crossing of a great body of water, we find every 
species of the regular migrating hawks mentioned above, on hand, ready to 
snatch a helpless booty and slaughter a vast number of victims. At this remark- 
able location I camped a month with the United States corps of engineers, in the 
fall of 1876, and spent hours—I may say days—watching with an awe which only 
a lover of nature can feel, the long line of birds passing on to the States. As well 
think of counting the sands of the sea as those birds; day and night, through 
storm and calm, the armies swept on in almost endless train. I pause in the hur- 
ry of business at times ; and the memory of such a scene carries me, in imagina- 
tion, back to the lonely, uninhabited and desolate point of sand, miles from civ- 
ilization, where, in solitude, and alone with the infinite, Isaw His creatures pass 
like swarms of insects, obeying His eternal laws. 

It seems pertinent at this time to follow the birds of prey on their southern 
flight and examine their conduct south. I was enabled to accomplish this essen- 
tial journey. The Corps of Engineers were ordered south on the Mississippi 
River. We camped at Cairo and surveyed a great area around, including the 


MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS OF PREY. 311 


bottom lands of Kentucky and Missouri. Here over one hundred species of 
small birds wintered. Here, too, were immense robin roosts, the extent of 
which can only be realized by actual observation. The bottom lands along the 
Mississippi and Ohio Rivers are green in winter with canes. Among these the 
robins settle at night, in numbers beyond estimation. The roosts afford a plenti- 
ful living for birds of prey which fill the woods day and night with discordant 
cries and owlish hoots. So far, the migration of regular migrating hawks is ac- 
counted for on a food basis. 

The regular journeys of these birds may now be considered. The owls men- 
tioned in the list, come down from the north to get their share of the rabbits. The 
snowy owls live principally in winter on the little grey rabbit. The latter spend 
their nights in traversing frozen swamps for wild berries which grow there and re- 
main in a frozen state during the cold weather, and for the soft bark of alders. I 
find that rabbits and hares are more abroad nights than days, and consequently af- 
ford an easy victim for the owl. The snowy owl is also fond of fish and greedily 
devours the carcasses found on the lake shoresin winter. This species is shot from 
the piers in the city of Chicago where it watches for such prey, floating on the. 
surface or cast upon the shore. ; 

The bald eagle is included in this catalogue on account of its following a 
steady course for prey half the length of the continent. They are especially found 
following large streams in winter for fish, and I have known one to ride on a 
single cake of ice on the Mississippi River a full hundred miles, snatching up 
whatever fishes came in his way. These migrations are wonderful on account 
of the great distances traversed, and the apparent ease with which the flight is 
made. 

All south-moving migrants of the birds of prey are destroyers of game. 
They gorge on quails and prairie hens, which huddle together in the extreme cold 
for mutual warmth. They snatch the unwary duck, exhausted in its weary 
search for wild rice and mollusks. They fearlessly enter the barnyards, and bear 
away the poultry, fattening on well provided grain. They know no heights, no 
distances, no mountains, no obstacles, and everything that hath flesh, powerless 

for defense, they boldly seize as lawful prey. — 

All north-moving hawks in summer generally prey upon larger insects, main- 
ly grasshoppers and locusts. They include the kites, of Southern United States, 
and goshawks. ‘The exception is the caracara eagle, which has a fondness for 
carrion and fish. For perhaps two weeks in summer the kites may be seen in 
Southern Illinois in lofty aérial flight, making an occasional descent upon the 
grasshopper. 

The conclusions which may safely be drawn from this article are: That cer- 
tain hawks mentioned migrate in flocks at great elevations. That such migra- 
tions have escaped naturalists heretofore on account of the elevations. 

That certain birds of prey mentioned are quasi migrants on account of the 
irregularity with which they migrate, and their doubtful movements at such 
times. 


312 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


That most birds of prey are destructive to game birds, songsters and certain 
game mammals. 

And finally, that all migrations of all migratory birds of prey are conducted 
on a basis of food supply and not from any insufficiency of feathering or delicacy 
of structure.—American Field. 


ASITMNOIN ©OMNG 


METEORIC SHOWER OF AUGUST to, 1882. 
WILLIAM DAWSON. 


It is believed by those who make a study of the matter, that about the roth 
day of August the earth passes through a body, or stream, of meteoric matter by 
which an unusual number of meteors are then developed. Sol kept watch most 
of the time from 8:30 to near midnight to see what for a show of meteors would 
be visible. In the three hours near eighty ‘‘ falling stars” were seen. Making 
allowance for intervals used in recording the time, position, magnitude, e.c. I 
have no doubt that one hundred or more were developed in the region observed, 
which was the southeastern part of the sky, including probably one-eighth of the 
entire hemisphere. It seems likely that they were as numerous in one part of the 
sky as another. Then, perhaps, eight hundred meteors—all large enough to be 
easily seen—made their appearance in the upper, or visible, half of the heavens. 
Applying this calculation to the other half—below my horizon—we get 1,600 for 
the probable number of meteors developed in three hours. 

It is believed that the earth was about two days in passing through the meteor 
stream. But the outer parts of it are probably thinner than the central—which I 
suppose was the part traversed by the earth during the roth. But we-will aim to 
stay within bounds, and suppose the earth to occupy twenty-four hours—say 
from noon of roth to noon of 11th—1in traversing the main, or average part of 
the meteoric body. Then we have eight times the number in three hours, equal 
to 12,800 for the number of meteors which the earth encounters while going 
through this body of meteoric matter. It may be observed that in twenty-four — 
hours the earth travels 1,600,000 miles. 

Some fifteen or more of the meteors observed on the 1oth were as bright as 
stars of the first magnitude, all having trails of light behind them. <A few indeed 
were much brighter—nearly as bright as Venus; making their sudden appearance 
and flashy trails almost startling. The direction of their motion was generally 
south to southwest. One or two, however, moved in the opposite direction, and 
soon after another had gone south. ‘Two or three moved across the other tracks 
nearly at right angles. The motion of nearly all was quite rapid, and the paths. 


METEORIC SHOWER OF AUGUST zo, 1882. 313 


were short say from 5° to 20° in length. Occasionally a bright one appeared 
soon after another one, and nearly in the same place. Watch was kept 
on the rith till near 11:00 P. M.; but the show was much less interesting than on 
the night previous. Near twenty meteors were seen, nearly all of inferior bright- 
ness, though four or five were bright enough to have dim trails behind them. 

So far as yet developed, the current year is the epoch of sun-spot maximum 
for the current period: and April 17th probably the day on which the greatest 
number of spots were visible. On that day I counted 175 spots on the Sun. 
The night previous will be remembered as the time of the great aurora, so ele- 
gantly written up, and published in the Review, by Prof. E. L. Larkin, of New 
Windsor, Ill. On the 16th I counted 160 spots in eight groups; but the air was 
not so good as the 17th, which doubtless prevented several of the least. ones 
from being seen. I did not make repeated observations through the day— 
the 16th—and thus missed seeing the phenomena of most interest. But I con- 
gratulate friend Larkin, whose energy was crowned with such grand success. In 
January (this year) I only observed the Sun on five days. ‘The spots were pretty 
well distributed through the month, and no indication of any great show was 
seen. The greatest number was fifty-seven in five groups, on the 30th. In view- 
ing the Sun I nearly always use a magnifying power of 100 with reflecting-prism- 
eyepiece, on 4.6-inch objective by A. Clark & Sons. I generally observe about 
eight or nine o’clock in the morning. 

In the fore part of February, about thirty spots were visible. On the 8th I 
counted 100; most of them in SW. quadrant. After the middle of the month 
they waned a good deal, and only seven were seen on the first of March. They 
increased to about seventy-five on the 19th; then fell off to thirty by the last of 
the month. April soon developed great solar activity. On the 14th seventy-five 
’ spots were counted through very poor air. My record says: ‘‘ Four spots quite 
large; many others very prominent.” Then came the outburst alluded to above, 
when one or two spots were easily visible without any telescope. And yet this 
show—especially in number of spots—is small as compared with the preceding 
sun-spot maximum, in 1870. For, on August 27th that year, I counted 640 sun- 
spots with the 100 eye-piece and 950 with a power of 200; and through a rather 
poor air at that. On April 30th eighteen little spots constituted the show, with 
pretty good air. Next day a large spot appeared at the east edge. The Sun’s 
rotation made it appear to move across the solar disc and disappear at the west 
edge in twelve days. May 17th, 150 spots, one of them 10,000 miles in diame- 
ter, and visible to the naked eye. Two weeks later oniy three spots visible. 
Another fortnight brought on seventy-five—all in one group SW. of centre, except 
ten. The show held on pretty well till about the 9th day of July, when four “tle 
spots were all that marred a clear whiteness of the Sun’s face. But in six days a 
number of zew spots had formed, making a row of four groups across the Sun. 
Quite a show continued for three weeks. But on the 7th day of August (inst.) 
only three /#//e spots lingered very close to the west edge of the Sun. As they 
would pass the Sun’s margin by the morrow, there was a fair prospect of August 


314 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


8th being clear of sun-spots. But a small one had on the east edge; and in forty 
hours two large spots had developed near the center of the solar disc; which in- 
dicates unusual solar activity. The Northern, or Polar Light, may always be 
iooked for soon after an outbreak of this kind—although it was much less in ex- 
tent than some others which have occurred at different times. So, on the night 
of the 11th an aurora appeared in the north. About this time another good-sized 
spot had come on at the east edge of the Sun. On the 13th it had grown to 
large dimensions, but on the 15th, had broken up into five smaller ones. 


SPICELAND, IND., August 17th. 


BOOK NOMIC s: 


THE ELEMENTS OF ForRESTRY: By Franklin B. Hough, Ph. D.; large 12mo. pp. - 

381. Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati, O., 1882. $2.00. 

For a number of years Doctor Hough has occupied the position of Chief of 
the Forestry Division in the Department of Agriculture, at Washington, and has 
consequently had excellent opportunities for familiarizing himself with the subject 
of his book, even if he had not had an especial fitness for the work before his 
appointment. He has undertaken to give in a plain and concise manner practi- 
cal information concerning the planting and care of forest trees for ornament or 
profit, also suggestions regarding the creation and care of woodlands with especial 
adaptation to the wants and conditions of the United States. 

The work is admirably illustrated on all points, and the order of ‘hs chapters 
is natural and logical. Beginning with definitions of technical and scientific 
terms, he takes up in turn Soils and their preparation; Effects of slope and aspect ; 
Climate and meteorological influences; Reproduction from seed; The various 
modes of propagation of forest trees; The structure and functions of various parts 
of growing trees; General views in regard to forestry; Acts of Congress relating 
to timber rights; European plans of forest management; Ornamental planting . 
Hedges, screens and shelter belts; Cutting and seasoning of wood; Fuel charcoal 
and wood gas; Causes and prevention of forest fires; Protection from other in- 
juries ; Insect ravages; Processes for increasing the durability of timber and im- 
proving its quality, etc., etc., closing with a valuable chapter upon Tree-planting 
in Kansas and Nebraska. 

To this latter subject the author has given particular attention, having spent 
<onsiderable time in the west a few years since studying the meteorology, climate 
and soil of those States. 

We regard the book as eminently practical and valuable to the people of the 
prairie regions west of the Mississippi where it should and doubtless will have a 
wide circulation. 


BOOK NOTICES. 315 


NaTIONAL RELIGIONS AND UNIVERSAL RELIGIons: By A. Kuenen, LL. D., 

D.D.; 12mo. pp. 365. New York, Chas. Scribner's Sons. For sale by M. 

H. Dickinson. $1.50. 

Works upon religious subjects have become within the past few years very 
attractive and salable, which is due largely to the discussions between theologians 
and scientists, causing a popular demand for more light upon this and all kindred 
topics. Darwinism has extended to all branches of science, including the science 
_ of religion, and while not all students regard the religious history of the world as 

the ‘‘ expression ” of a natural process of development ‘‘ yet there are many who 
do so regard it and who are finding evolution everywhere. 

Dr. Kuenen is a Professor of Theology at Liden who was requested to de- 
liver the Hibbert Lectures for 1882, at London and Oxford, and whose work has 
been put into English by Rev. Ph. H. Wicksteed in a manner creditable to himself 

_and satisfactory to the author. 

The general tenor of the book is to show that the spread of any form of re- 
ligion beyond the limits of a single people and over many and diverse nations 
gives it the character of universality as opposed to a national religion. His class 
of universal religions comprises Christianity, Buddhism and Islamism, though 
some writers exclude the last named. In discussing the subject he begins with 
Islam; concerning the origin of which we are best informed and of which we 
have the most accurate and complete records He admits that the Koran (or 
Qoran as he spells it) clearly shows what Islam is, but asserts that Mohammed’s 
development of it is confused and obscure; that Mohammed proclaimed the one 
Allah, thus combating the polytheism of the great majority of the people of his 
day, but that aside from this Islam was largely the individuality of Mohammed 
modified by his contact with Judaism ; that the prophet of Allah isa reproduction 
of Israel’s great leaders and the Qoran a counterpart of ‘‘the book” or finally, 
that Islam was the ‘‘ kernel of Judaism transplanted to Arabian soil.” As to its 
universality he asserts that despite the fact that it spread all over Arabia, then 
over a territory surpassing the Roman Empire in extent and still holds a certain 
sway OVer 175,000,000 people, it lacks depth, elasticity, comprehensiveness, it is 
but a side-branch of Judaism, made by an Arab for Arabians, levelled to their 
capacity and adulterated by national elements calculated to facilitate their recep- 
tion of it. 

We have thus given a meagre outline of the author’s manner of treating this 
branch of the subject. ‘The remainder of the book is given to a similar consider- 
ation of the popular religion of Israel, the priests and prophets of Yahwch; the 
universalism of the prophets; the establishment of Judaism; Judaism and Chris- 
tianity ; Buddhism with a concluding comparison of the three religions of the 
world as respects their universalism, the mutability of the Christianity as its com- 
mendation and the future of Christianity. 

Ne work of recent date covers so much ground so thoroughly, none mani- . 
fests more minute and accurate knowledge Of the subject and none is presented 


316 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


in more readable and fascinating style. Dr. Kuenen is especially fortunate in 
his translator. 


ANNUAL REPORT OF THE REGENTS OF THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION FOR 1880: 

Octavo, pp. 772. Government Printing Office, 1881. 

As heretofore, the Report is a careful and detailed account of the operations, 
expenditures, and condition of the Institution for the year 1880, prepared by the 
Secretary who is also Chief Director. This occupies one hundred and eighty 
pages and is followed by an appendix comprising five hundred and sixty pages 
devoted to a record of scientific progress. The introduction to this is by Prof. 
Baird; the chapter upon Astronomy by Prof. E. S. Holden; those on Geology 
and Mineralogy by Prof. G. W. Hawes; Physics and Chemistry by Prof. G. F. 
Barker; Botany by Prof. W. G. Farlow; Zodlogy by Prof. Theo. Gill; Anthro- 
pology by Prof. O. T. Mason. ‘These papers are very complete and valuable, 
and most of them have been published in pamphlet form and distributed long 
since. 

The remainder of the volume is made up of miscellaneous papers on various 
subjects. Among them is a very interesting account of the Luray Cavern in 
Page County, Virginia, fully illustrated. | 

The paper, print, and general make-up of the volume are better than usual, 
and if the Reports could by any possibility be published promptly, instead of two 
years after date, they would be warmly welcomed by the scientific public. 


REPORT Upon THE U. S. GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS WEST OF THE ONE Hun- 
_ DREDTH MERIDIAN: By Capt. Geo. M. Wheeler, U.S. A.; quarto, pp. 420. 

Government Printing Office, 1881. 

The volume in hand is the third—supplement—Geology, and is an exceed- 
ingly handsome book, well printed and illustrated. The writer is Prof. John J. 
Stevenson, Ph. D., and the immediate subject of the report is geological exami- 
nations in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico during the years 1878-9. 
To this is added an appendix upon the Corboniferous Invertebrate fossils of New 
Mexico prepared by C. A. White, M. D. 


OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 


Proceedings of the Ohio Mechanics’ Institute, Vol. I, No. 3, July, 1882; 
quarterly, $1.00 per annum. Report of the Commissioners of the gth Cincinnati 
Industrial Exposition. The Change of Life in Health and Disease, P. Blakiston 
& Son, Philadelphia, Pa.; 75c. Proceedings of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science, 30th meetin’, August, 1881. The Leading Industries 
of Kansas City, pp. 192, octavo. The Peorta Medical Monthly, Aug. 1882 ; $1 per 


ARTIFICIAL BUTTER, 317 


annum. Knight’s New American Mechanical Dictionary, Part I, $2. Profession- 
al Papers of the Signal Service, viz: No. I, Total Eclipse of the Sun, July, 1878, 
by Prof. Cleveland Abbe; No. II, Isothermical Lines of the United States, 1871 
to 1880, by Lieut. A. W. Greeley; No. III, Chronological List of Auroras from 
1870 to 1879, by Lieut. A. W. Greeley, U. S. A.; No. 1V, Tornadoes of May 
29th and z3oth, 1879, by John P. Finley, U. S. A.; No. V, Information Relative 
to Construction and Maintenance of Time Balls, compiled by Winslow Upton; 
No. VI, Reduction of Air-Pressure to Sea Level at Elevated Stations West of the 
Mississippi River, by Henry A. Hazen, A. M. The Palenque Tablet (Smithson- 
ian contribution 331), by Dr. Chas. Rau. Report of the Chief Signal Officer, 
U.S. A., 1879. The Isthmian Passage via the Tehuantepec Route, by L. U. 
Reavis, with an Introductory Letter by Capt. Silas Bent. Proceedings of a Con- 
vention of Agriculturists, January 10 to 18, 1882, at Agricultural Department, 
Washington, D.C. Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, 
Vol. III, Part 2, 1882. Commercial Report of Consuls of the U. S., No. Ma 
May, 1882. Bulletin of the Essex Institute, Vol. XIV, Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4, 5, 6 
Articles upon Anthropological subjects contributed to the Smithsonian epONIS 
from 1863 to 1877, by Chas. Rau, M. D. 


Nore.—Several of the above will be fully noticed hereafter.—[ Ep. 


SWINGIN Wile UC IMCS CIE AUN Ne 


ARTIFICIAL BUTTER. 
GEO. LANZENDOERFER. 


I noticed in your Saturday’s edition an article about artificial butter. Allow 
me a few lines of explanation as a chemist and one who, in his native country, 
has had frequent opportunities for an insight into the manufacture of artificial 
butter. The idea of finding a cheap substitute for butter without reducing its 
value as an article of food was started by Napoleon III, who intended in the first 
plan to help the working classes of Paris, for even then the price of butter had 
advanced two to four francs a pound. He invited Mege-Mouries, a chemist, to 
make a trial.in that direction, who succeeded so well that in 1869 the first artifi- 
cial butter factory was started at Poissy. ‘The Franco-German war stopped oper- 
ations for awhile, but in 1872 the Societe Anonyme d’ Alimentation was started 
with a capital of 800,000 francs, to take hold of Mr. Mege-Mouries’ discoveries. 
This concern started factories in Paris and Nancy, the former producing to-day 
120,000 pounds of artificial butter daily. Other factories started in Munich, 
Frankfort-on-the-Main, Dresden, Berlin, Vienna, etc. 


318 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


The United States have been particularly successful in this branch of indus- 
try. The factories here not alone supply the domestic wants, but also govern 
prices to a great extent of the European, particularly the English markets. Fa- 
vored by a cheap and excellent raw material the American manufacturers are en- 
abled to produce an article in the way of artificial butter which excels all other in 
quality, taste, etc. As a general rule, any fat and oil will produce butter; that 
is, all fats may be, by different manipulations and chemical agencies, so prepared 
that they will appear like butter in taste and flavor, and be suitable for food. 

Naturally, and in the first line, beef tallow, coming from the same animal as. 
butter, will be used. Of the beef tallow, that which is found near the kidneys 
and lungs is the most desirable, which, after being carefully freed from all fleshy 
particles (of course, only fresh tallow is used), is washed in clean water until the 
water drains off perfectly clear. Hereafter the fat is chopped fine and afterward. 
melted and crystallized. This done to separate the stearine from the fat, as oth- 
erwise the butter would be too hard. We now have a beautiful, clear oil, which 
is churned with milk. In the whole process cleanliness is to be strictly observed, 
for otherwise the butter, when ready, would not keep. The painstaking cleanli- 
ness with which this artificial butter has to be prepared, apart from that it con- 
tains nothing injurious, recommends it for an article of food. All particles of 
milk must be carefully removed from the finished butter by washing and 
kneeding, and to save this labor manufacturers prefer to use milk already freed 
from caseine. After the butter is ready thus far it is colored with annatto, to 
which are added certain chemicals to give it the flavor and taste of butter. Fhe 
fat of an ox of average size will produce forty-five to fifty pounds of butter. 

There are many articles of our daily food, such as conserves, mustard, cat- 
sup, fruit butter, mince meat, etc., which certainly are not prepared in a cleaner, 
if in as clean a way. Yet they are in daily use without any scruple. As I re- 
marked above, any oil or fat will produce artificial butter, provided it is free from 
strong smell and taste. Besides tallow, lard, olive oil, poppyseed oil, etc., may 
be used, but as these oils are dearer than tallow they have not taken its place, 
particularly as the operations to make the oils into a consistency of fat is very 
troublesome and expensive. Some months ago, however, I made trials with 
cottonseed oil, in which I succeeded very well, so that I hope to see it used ex- 
tensively very soon in the artificial butter manufacture. 

Last year I analyzed several lots of dairy butter which contained so much 
foreign fats as to convince me that they were artificial butter. I must admit, 
- however, that the taste as well as the odor were excellent, and not to be distin- 
guished from genuine butter; and although it was midsummer and very hot, the 
butter was compact and firm and well made. The manufacturing, therefore, 
must have been done very carefully and cleanly. 

I hope that the above may assist in dispelling the aversion of our people 
against an article destined by its cheapness and wholesomeness for a valuable 
substitute of one of our most needed articles of food.—Philadelphia Times. 


ARTIFICIAL QUININE. 319 


THE TELEGRAPH AND ELECTRIC LIGHT IN EGYPT. 


The mounted portions of the telegraph troop Royal Engineers, consisting of 
about seven officers, one hundred and eighty-four non-commissioned officers and 
men, and sixty-five horses, with two field-telegraph equipments complete, and the 
field-pack of the Royal Engineers, including one officer, thirty-three non- 
commissioned officers and men, and twenty-six horses, under the command of 
Major Sir A. Mackworth, marched from Aldershot on Saturday last (August 5th, ) 
en route to the Southwest India Docks, London, where they will embark to-mor- 
row (August 13th,) in the steamer Oxemholme for conveyance to the east. 

The telegraph steamer, John Pender, which arrived at Alexandria with a suf- 
ficient supply of cable on board for the projected line between Suez, Port Said, 
and Alexandria, was recently engaged in important work for the Eastern Tele- 
graph Company between Lisbon and Land’s End. Immediately on the decision 
of the Government, and from the urgency of the case, she was ordered to Alex- 
andria. 

A portable steam-engine has just come out for working an electric machine. 

Izzet Effendi, Director of the Telegraphs, sent a staff of employes on the 
3rd inst. to lay and open a cable between Jeddah and Souakim. 

The Suferb used her electric light on the night of the gth inst. from where 
she lies, off Count Zizinia’s house, but whether it was an advantage or otherwise 
is an open question. From the distance she had to throw the rays it was impos- 
sible for those on board to use the light so as to be of the greatest assistance to 
our sentries. The officer in charge of the picket said that several times the elec- 
tric light was thrown on his own men, who thus were themselves exposed to view, 
and at the same time were unable to penetrate the darkness beyond. This is 
manifestly turning a valuable appliance into a source of danger, and it shows the 
jnutility and even peril of using the electric light indiscriminately. Arrangements 
have been completed for throwing the electric light over the enemy’s lines from 
Ramleh.—Lilectric Review. 


ARTIFICIAL QUININE. 


The progress of organic chemistry has been rapid of late. To artificial indi- 
go and citric acid is now added artificial quinine. The sulphate of this alkaloid 
is in enormous demand, especially in tropical climates, but its enormous cost, we 
believe about 16s. an ounce, is a barrier to its extended use. The announcement, 
therefore, that M. Maumené has discovered a means of effecting its synthesis is 
one of great importance. The alkaloid (CyH,,N,O,) is said by the author to be 
obtained in a very pure state by a simple process, in which the newly discovered 
H,N is employed. Full details of the operation are promised in a short time.— 
Mechanical World. 


& 
320 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


Says the Boston /ournal of Chemistry: ‘‘ Mr. Poirot, having observed that 
the immense tracts of worm-wood (sage brush) upon the American plains are 
free from insects of every description, in experimenting with the plant as a 
preventive of phylloxera. He finds no difficulty in cultivating the worm-wood, 
and he proposes to mix the stalks with manure, or simply bury them in the 
ground in the neighborhood of the vines. His suggestions have been sent to the 

Phylloxera Committee of the French Academy.” 


CORROSION OF IRON UNDER STEAM PRESSURE. 


An occurrence not uncommon in steam engines, is the destruction of the 
cast-iron directly exposed to the action of the steam, so that it can be readily cut 
with a knife, like black lead. This destruction is not confined to cast-iron alone, 
but to wrought-iron also, for many through bolts, such as follower bolts in pistons, 
are eaten away to such an extent that it seems as though they had been exposed ~ 
to the action of acids. 

The cause of the troubles noticed, which are not mentioned as any recent 
discovery, is generally attributed to the lubricating oils, or the tallow used for 
lubrication. It is asserted that the methods of refining these’ leaves a residue of 
free acid that in time acts as above stated, and the remedies urged are the sub- 
stitution of pure fat, such as suet in a natural state without having been ren- 
dered. 

As a matter of fact, all true animal fats—solid fats—contain three acids, 
margaric, stearic and oleic, and these are active, so far as regards their acid con- 
stituents at ordinary temperatures. Every engineer is aware that the mere pres- 
ence of cold tallow, on brass work for instance, turns green, from the deposi- 
tion of verdigris—which is the “‘rust of brass”——upon it. This free acid theory 
is an assumption of our own, for chemists do not recognize the existence of the 
free acids named, in fats, but assert that they are only liberated in the process of 
soap-making or saponification of the fats by contact with an alkali. However 
this may be, it is difficult to account for the destruction of metal surfaces in the 
manner named, and the prompt action of animal grease upon copper or brass, 
unless free acid is present, for it presents all the appearance of it. 

It would seem, therefore, that the methods of preparing lubricating com- 
pounds are not directly at fault, but that under certain conditions, such as heat 
and moisture, decomposition of the structure may be set up with injurious effect. 
These conditions are present in the steam engine. Ata pressure of seventy-five 
pounds—not at all uncommon nowadays—the temperature is 308°, which, if not 
enough to set up destructive distillation completely, may partially effect it or in 
such degree that the surfaces of iron are attacked. 

It has been found that pure suet unrendered causes as much injury as com- 
mercially prepared fats, though all irons are not as readily corroded as others; 
some escape entirely. 


THE KANSAS WEATHER SUBIR IONE, 321 


Recent practice substitutes mineral oils properly prepared for animal fats, 
and though it would seem that in them not enough body existed to properly lubri- 
cate surfaces under heat and friction, they are found to answer well and stop cor- 
rosion. ‘This result is probably assisted by the judicious admixture of a certain 
proportion of animal fat with the mineral oil. However this may be, it is certain 
that reliable testimony points to the success of properly prepared mineral oils, 
for cylinder use, and so far as testimony can go, the fact is established.—J/- 
chanical Engineer. 


REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 
WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 


BY PROF. J. T. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 


Below will be found tabular results of observations: 


July 20th Aug. Ist Aug. roth 


TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. to July 31st.} to roth. to 20th. Maleem. 
Min. AND MAX. AVERAGES. 
IMINI. 5 9.) Ga aa NMOS NOMS sa CaecR mina tic 62.0 61.8 61.6 61.8 
IIe" 6) Gi Foon ON rom RON ORG fos Ronee 83.2 82.4 86.7 84.1 
IMbin, mel WEES 6 Go 6 416 616 0 72.5 71.6 71.9 72.0 
RAINES o gid 58 6 10.0.0 pb 696 21.2 21.1 24.0 22.1 
TRI-DAILY OBSERVATIONS. 
PA VMBULM eM Neate (Sila avetll ieee veilica)) ieee 69.0 66.6 68.3 68.0 
UPTIME Mar se Nenaes itches Nal feist: 2 80.6 78.9 86.2 81.9 
@) Do TDs 5 56 6 6.006 4 0.0 6 0,6 72.1 69.0 72.0 71.0 
IMIGEYS, oS. 16h ONhib domes scptvid oe 73.5 71.1 74.1 73.0 
RELATIVE HUMIDITY. 
Fo Ely TOS SYP ay cote WOE ect to goto ican 
DMR eal kasi sv cy evel lee Ne herve 
@) JBo TNS o ofS Vac laos? Vo! olan deco ° 
Wigan a) Qu ee 6s Sab setri t wa ade 
PRESSURE AS OBSERVED. . 
FB ile, Gb Hid Sho ca Roney RCC enuEe 29.10 29.04 29.06 29.07 
BOs 16 ade Oo \OuOla oa olo yo 29.09 29.04 29.03 29 05 
9p.m Sits 29.05 29.03 29.04 29.04 
WMIGRD ob 6. ot Soe AON welt 29.08 29.04 29.05 29.06 
MILES PER HOUR OF WIND. 
Ghigky TINGE AA OO, Sete es hel Poti ikea y 5-7 6.6 6.8 6.4 
23, Do TING ict levleoh ko \uOuOnGn Inch Cuca Si 9.7 13.6 14.0 12.4 
G). fo} S001 | esa Wes lie rachl Kare a ie 9.2 8.5 9.8 9.2 
Detail wallese io G66 ob BE : 2490 2211 2202 6903 
CLOUDING BY TENTHS. 
FTeRIMN eMeS eIeY cfial to Nein aienedh vel iied) Vania s 4.8 4.5 17] 3.7 
ZED WEN trols ciilieute§ st-uolp'o, je eklra vant soiaee hye 3.9 3.8 2.9 3.5 
G) Do Tere Senso ened pyiaeTiee ee, CAS 4.3 G5) 1.2 2.7 
RAIN. 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


MEASUREMENT OF WATER. 


To measure water roughly in an open stream, take from four to twelve dif- 
ferent points in a straight line across the stream, and measure the depth at each 
of these points, and adding them all together, divide by the number of measure- 
This quotient will give you the average depth which should be 
measured in feet. Multiply this average depth in feet by the width in feet, and 
this will give you the square feet of cross-section of the stream. Multiply this by 
the velocity of stream in feet per minute, and you will have the cubic feet per 
minute of the stream. The velocity of the stream can be found by laying off roo 
feet on the bank, and then throwing a board into the stream at the middle, note 
the time passing over the hundred feet, and dividing the 1oo feet by the time and 
multiplying by sixty gives the velocity in feet per minute at the surface. The 
velocity at the center is only eighty-three per cent of that at the surface, and so 
only eighty-three per cent should be calculated. For example, suppose the float 
passes 100 feet in ten seconds, then divided by ten and multiplied by sixty (sec- 
onds in the minute) gives 600 feet per minute, as the velocity and eighty-three 
per cent of this gives 498 feet per minute, as the velocity of the stream at the 
center, and the area of the cross-section multiplied by this will give you the num- 
ber of cubic feet per minute in the stream. This, of course, is only a rough way 
of calculating, but it is often used, and is a good and simple way to obtain data 
to select a wheel by.—Cvaig Ridgway & Son. 


ments taken. 


& 


OVIPOMUME, INOS, 


Pror, W. J. McGEE has contributed a val- 
uable paper to be read at the meeting of the 
American Association for the Advancement 
of Science. The object of this paper is to 
show in the language of a writer who gives 


ature 56.5; in latitude 50°, temperature 41.7, 
it would be 1,733 miles; in latitude 60°, 
temperature 30.2, 1,103 miles; and so on, 
until in latitude 90°, temperature 2.3, the 
thickness of ice would be but .315 of a mile. 


a digest of it, that, to whatever latitude a 
polar ice-field may extend, precipitation can 
take place only along its outer margin, and 
that the temperature of its central portions 
must sink too low to sustain appreciable 
quantities of aqueous vapor. By an ingen- 
ious system of calculations, he finds that the 
accumulation of ice is in proportion to the 
vapor tension, and that, if the thickness of 
ice at any latitude is known, that at all other 
latitudes can be readily computed. For in- 
stance, if it be assumed that in latitude qo° 
the ice be three miles thick, with the temper- 


There can, therefore, be little or no ice at 
the pole. If it were not for this law, if the 
law were inversed, that the ice-cap should be 
thickest at the pole, it might be sufficient to 
displace seriously the earth’s centre of gravi- 
ty. Ice-streams have motion, as rivers of 
water have. When the slope of the channel 
increases, the depth decreases and the motion 
is more rapid at the surface than at the 
bottom. The velocity decreases in propor- 
tion to depth; that is, the shallower the ice-. 
stream the more rapidly it descends, Ice 
may be bent to any shape by gradual pres- 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 328 


sure, as a hot iron bar; but breaks, with a 
clean fracture, when sudden weight is ap- 
plied. When, therefore, a plate of iron or 
a stone is placed on ice, it sinks in, and the 
ice, by the pressure, rises over and covers it, 
as if the ice were so much pitch. A volume 
of ice can thus be pressed forward by the 
simple weight behind it, though the outer 
line of the ice-stream may be on a level, and 
the upper portion be pushed on faster than 
the bottom, which is kept back somewhat by 
friction against the earth. The great forces 
producing glacier motion are gravitation, in 
the passage down slopes, and heat, which, 
by varying the size of the ice crystals, makes 
a greater pressure on those portions which 
absorb the most heat. The surface receives 
more heat than its base. 


JupcE E, P. West has been making a 


scientific excursion up the Missouri River, 
and in a recent communication speaks of an 
important discovery at Weston, Mo, He 
says: 

‘¢QOn the 8th day of September, 1875, Dr. 
Parr opened one of the numerous mounds near 
Weston, and was rewarded by finding in it 
a human skeleton buried horizontally at full 
length, and near the head a vase or vessel of 
antique pottery of the capacity of about one 


gallon. The vessel contained within it the 
bones of a fish and some shell beads. It was 
broken in several places, but remained 


around the cast of clay within, and with 
great patience and skill was reconstructed by 
Dr, Parr, and it now exhibits its original 
form and markings as distinctly as if it had 
never been broken, It is what is known as 
the basket type of pottery, z. ¢, the marking 
on the outer surface has the appearance of 
the vessel having been molded in a basket 
made of grass or small willow twigs for that 
purpose; and from this fact it has been in- 
ferred that pottery of this type was so fash- 
ioned ; but, from an examination of numerous 
Specimens of this class, and especially from 
the vase found by Dr. Parr, I have reason to 
believe that this style of pottery was not so 
molded, and that the surface marking is only 
one mode of ornamentation, traced with great 


patience upon the vessel. The frontal bone | 
of the individual found by Dr, Parr is of the 
true type of others I have found in the Mis- 
souri bluff mounds and described in former 
articles. It is a type well and strongly mark- 
ed, and not to be mistaken by those who have 
once seen it, But what gives to Dr. Parr’s 
find its chief interest is the fish bones found 
in the vase.”’ o ‘« It has been the 
custom of barbarous and semi-barbarous peo- 
ple to inter with their dead the means of 
subsistance on their tong journey to their 
supposed future abode in another state of 
being ; and they select for this purpose those 
articles of food they are habitually accustom- 
ed to using. The accustomed food of such 
a people is that which is most accessible to 
them. During the lacustrine time fish was 
more accessible than terrestrial animals, for 
the former must have been very abundant 
while the latter was probably very scarce, 
Time moved on, the lacustrine era ended, 
conditions changed, and terrestrial animals 
became more plentiful, and more accessible 
than fish, and, consequently, became the ac- 
customed food of our modern tribes, as fish 
had been the principal food of the lake shore 
dwellers, or mound-builders of the Missouri 
River bluffs. Our modern tribes would nev- 
er have thought of burying a fish with their 
dead, and itis probable that the older lake 
shore dwellers rarely, if ever, used terrestrial 
animals for this purpose.”’ 


THE American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science held its annual meeting this 
year in Montreal, Canada. This Associa- 
tion holds the same position to science in 
this country as the British Congress of Sci- 
ence does in England. The meeting for this 
year was an important one, and the next 
number of the REVIEW will contain a full 
digest of the proceedings and papers. 


THE Germans will send out four parties to 
observe the transit of Venus over the Sun’s 
disc, December 6, 1882. This transit will 
be visible in a greater or less degree to a 
large part of the world, except to Eastern 
Europe, and to Asia, and wholly visible to 


324 


the eastern portion of North America and to 
South America. The observers sent out by 
the German Government will be stationed 
at Hartford, Conn.; Aiken, S. C.; Bahia 
Blanca, in the Argentine Republic, and Punta 
Arenas, on the Straits of Magellan. They 
will not use photography, but will observe the 
contacts, while their main dependence will 
be upon heliometer measures of the place of 
the planet upon the Sun’s disc during the 
transit. The heliometers used are the same 
employed in 1874, having an aperture of 
about three inches. 


ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS. 


THE Worth American Review for September 
has the following table of contents: Political 
Assessments, Oaths in Legal Proceedings, 
Tornadoes and Their Causes, Architecture 
in America, Constitutional Protection of 
Property Rights, Earth-Burial and Crema- 
tion, and The Geneva Award and the Ship- 
Owners. The articles for this number are 
thoughtful, and some of them possess unus- 
ual merit. The article on Political Assess- 
ments will be widely read and do good, as it 
brings to light the nefarious workings of this 
drag-net thrown out from Washington. The 
paper on Tornadoes and Their Causes con- 
tains some valuable matter, but fails to give 
the causes as fully as the reader would like. 
Sergeant John P, Finley, who has done more 
than any other living author in investigating 
these fearful meteors, is not even alluded to 
in the article. This REVIEW holds on its 
even way through the years always occupy- 
ing a high plane of thought. 


Harper's Magazine for September contains 
the following articles: A Summer at York, 
The Weibertrene, The Visit of the Vikings, 
In Surrey, Spanish Vistas, Love Will Find 
Out the Way, Some Recollections of Ralph 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Waldo Emerson, A Doctor: Spoiled, Marit 
and I, The Mississippi River Problem, A. 
Garden Secret, Shandon Bells, with the usual 
departments and other matter. The number 
is good as usual, and thearticleson Emerson 
and the Mississippi River are noteworthy. 


THE Atlantic Monthly for September has 
the following articles: Two on a Tower,. 
Darkness, American History on the Stage, 
Evil in Greek Mythology, Doctor Zay, A 
Geological Ramble on the Weald, Studies in. 
the South, Tears of Isis, The Nation of the 
Willows, The House of a Merchant Prince, 
The Last Chance of the Confederacy, William 
Rufus, Mozley’s Reminiscences, Lecky’s. 
England in the Eighteenth Century, Leland 
on the Gypsies, Political Science, Mrs. Kem- 
ble’s Memoirs and the Contributor’s Club, 
with Book Notices. The Atlantic has lost 
something of its ancient prestige, on account. 
of enterprising rivals. The present number 
is quite full, and the table of contents is very 
good. The article entitled “Studies in the 
South” gives some valuable information of 
the present condition of that portion of the 
country. The articles, ‘‘ American History 
on the Stage”’ and ‘‘ A Geological Ramble 
on the Weald,” are interesting. 


THE Century Magazine for August has a. 
full table of contents which is exceedingly 
rich and varied. This magazine lies on a 
high plane of thought, and is very stimu- 
lating to all who are engaged in intellectual 
pursuits. The articles are generally written 
by experts in their several departments, and 
form valuable contributions to the subject. 
The illustrations are in the best style of art, 
and are generally well selected. The num- 
ber for August is called the Mid-Summer 
Holiday Number and will be a treat enjoyed 
by all who love good things, in the way of 
literature and art, 


KANSAS CITY 


REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, 


A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 


SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 


e 
th 


vole Vi" ; OCTOBER, 1882. NO. 6 


PIROGII ID ING S Ol SOC Ia I eS. 


‘THE THIRTY-FIRST ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN ASSO- 
CIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 


‘The Montreal meeting of this Association was a remarkably successful one 
for several reasons, among which were the large number of members present, the 
unusual attendance of distinguished scientists from abroad, the unaccustomed 
surroundings of the old French city and its sisters of Quebec and Ottawa and the 
charming hospitality and attentions of their citizens. The trip thither and the 
excursions subsequently tendered were by no means the least attractions of the 
session and were thoroughly enjoyed by all. 

While it may be out of place to describe the beauties of the majestic St. 
Lawrence, whose lovely islands, calm and peaceful meadows and farm lands and 
rather monotonous scenery call up vividly the Acadian pictures of Longfellow, 
and while the exciting and thrilling shooting of the rapids of the Long Sault and 
of Lachine, and the charms of the Falls of Montmorency, of Rideau and of Chau- 
diere, and even the unequaled view from Mount Royal (Monge Real,) itself, may 
be better adapted to the letter-book and the sketch-block of the tourist, one 
cannot resist saying that science could hardly have been evolved and promulgated 
among ‘more delightful environments. Scientifically speaking, the choice of Mon- 
treal was a good one, for, aside from the fact that just twenty-five years ago the 
Association met there and the retrospect was fitting and flattering to the 
older members, the geological and mineralogical features of the region are most 


V1—21 


326 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


interesting, the buildings where the sessions were held, McGill College, most 
spacious and suitable, and finally, Principal Dawson himself, the President of the 
Association, is one of the most distinguished savas of the age. 

The formal opening of the session took place at William Molson Hall of 
McGill University, on Wednesday, August 26th. 

The commodious hall was crowded to overflowing with the members and 
their friends, among whom were a large number of ladies. Shortly after ten 
o’clock the officers of the Association entered the hall amidst the applause of the 
audience, and took their seats upon the platform. Prof. George J. Brush, of 
New Haven, Conn., the retiring President of the Association, took the Chair, 
and among those on the platform were:—Dr. J. W. Dawson, the incoming 
President; Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, Chairman of the Local Committee; Mayor 
Beaudry, Bishop Bond, Peter Redpath, Dr. W. B. Carpenter, London, Eng.; 
Dr. Kowaleskwy, Moscow; Prof. Szabo, Hungary ; Hon. Justice Charles Dewey 
Day, Chancellor of the University; Rev. Canon Henderson, Rev. Principal 
MacVicar, Sandford Fleming, Rev. Dr. Haughton, Dublin; Mr. Ormsby, Dr. 
John Rae, Dr. W. H. Hingston, Dr. Thorburn, Rev. Canon Baldwin and many 


others. 
Prof. Brush called the meeting to order, and introduced the honored Presi- 


dent, Dr. Dawson. 
Principal J. W. Dawson, F. R. S., F. G. S., C. M. G., then took the Chair 


amid applause, and spoke as follows: 


Ladies and Gentlemen of the Assoctation : 

I need hardly say how highly I esteem the honor you have done me in my 
election as your President for the present meeting. The unanimous election of 
a body like this to such an office is, in my judgment, the greatest distinction to 
which any scientific man on this continent can aspire, and I value it accordingly. 

I have no doubt, however, that in the present case, the choice was in some 
degree determined by the wish to do honor to Canada, and to give to this meet- 
ing a character as thoroughly international as possible. 

But this view of the reasons for the election by no means detracts from its 
value. On the contrary, it places the presidency of this Association on a broad- 
er basis than that of any other office extending over all this wide continent, and 
thus including all that belongs to the powers that reign both at Washington and 
Ottawa. Science from her serene height thus overlooks all national boundaries 
and comprehends this whole world in her scope of vision. 

It becomes your office, therefore, for the time being, to merge the character 
of citizens of the United States or Canada in that of cosmopolitan men of science. 
This is what I propose to attempt in endeavoring to perform the duties to which 
you have called me; and you will, therefore, kindly regard me as not a Canadian, 
nor an American, in the narrower sense of that term, but as the President of a 
society which, in meeting here, assumes a continental and international char- 


acter. 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 327 


The Lord Bishop of Montreal was then called upon to ask the Divine bless- 
ing upon the Association’s meetings. 

Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, Montreal, Chairman of the Local Committee, then rose 
and addressed the assembly, welcoming, on behalf of the Local Committee, all 
those present to the city of Montreal. On this occasion there arose before them 
many interesting memories of the past. Some five-and-twenty years had now 
passed away since the American Association for the Advancement of Science had 
held their first meeting in Canada, in this very city of Montreal. Of the mem- 
bers of the then Local Committee only three were with them to-day,—their new 
President, Dr. J. W. Dawson, Dr. W. H. Hingston, and the speaker. Looking 
back that time seemed a day of small things. Those whosaw Montreal then saw 
a little city of 50,000 to 60,000 souls ; to-day His Worship the Mayor held juris- 
diction over some 150,000 persons. The Association then numbered about 4oo 
members; to-day it had no less than 2,000 members, so that it would be perceived 
that the Association and the city had grown together, and the infant college of 
which Dr. Dawson had then just assumed the helm, had grown to be a great 
and noble university. Its museum and rare collections, then so small, now 
required a separate structure to themselves. The Association which held 
session to-day was popular, and justly so, for it went from city to city diffusing 
its knowledge broadcast throughout the land irrespective of race or nation- 
ality. After referring to the German Society the speaker went on to speak 
-of the British Association, which last year celebrated its fiftieth anniversary under 
the Presidency of Sir John Lubbock. The American Society came after those 
two in point of age, and after it followed the French Association now about ten 
years old, and which last year met away out in the heart of Africa, where it num- 
bered upward of a thousand members. Our own American Association began as 
an association of geologists and naturalists in 1842, the speaker joined it in 1845. 
Its inception was thus independent of the British Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, but the leaders of the latter body led the American scientists to 
recast their association and give it the name it now holds. This was done at 
Philadelphia in 1848, and he boasted of one of the earliest members forming it, 
of which so few were spared to be with them to-day, and yet it was only thirty- 
four years ago. ‘There had been an interruption during the civil war, so the So- 
ciety only counted this as its thirty-first anniversary. The United States and 
Canada were counted in the great work of science as one. At the time of the 
Geological Survey many scientific men were attracted to Canada from the other 
side of line 45°. Prof. Hall had been much associated with the Survey and it was 
judged proper, in 1857, to have the meeting at Montreal. The late Sir Wm. 
Logan, then Chief of the work, was Chairman of the Local Committee, and he 
(Dr. Hunt) acted as Secretary. It was a matter of regret that the duties of the 
present director of the Survey required his presence,in our far western Province. 
The citizens would be proud to show their guests the Mountain and Island Parks, 
the Churches, Museum and other points of interest. The Canadian Pacific Rail- 
way would convey such as wished to visit Ottawa on Saturday next, where the 


328 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. — 


Geological Survey and other points of interest could be seen. The Richelieu & 
Ontario Navigation Company’s steamers would take others to Quebec, and on 
‘Thursday, the 31st, the South-Eastern Railway would take such as desired to go 
to Lake Memphremagog. He concluded by saying that their only wish was that 
all the members of the Association might carry away with them the impression 
that the citizens of Montreal, one and all, felt the high honor of their visit to 
the city and would do everything to make their stay in the city as pleasant as 
possible. avi 

| Mayor Beaudry was then introduced and extended the welcome of the city 
to the members of the Association in graceful and appropriate words. 

Dr. Thorburn, of Ottawa, said that a public meeting had been held in that 
city, and means taken to give a proper welcome to the members of the Associa- 
tion. The capital had many attractions, and he was sure the members would be 
pleased with their visit. 

Dr. Dawson then said,—lIt falls to me, gentlemen, to acknowledge on behalf 
of the Association, the welcome with which you have given it. In doing so, I 
have the advantage of knowing from personal observation the zeal and energy 
which have been displayed by the members of the local committee, and the enthusi- 
asm kindled by the occasion in the minds of the citizens generally. The occa- 

‘sion is undoubtedly one worthy of the interest it has excited, not only in this and 

neighboring cities, but in Canada generally. By its selection for the meeting of 
this Association, Montreal becomes for the time the scientific capital of North 
‘America, from which will go forth decrees more potent than those of parliaments, 
and to which will be turned the eyes of all interested in the progress of Science 
and the Scientific Arts. You do well to esteem highly the position thus confer- 
red and to sustain it in the future by the actions of your own local institutions. 

The fact that we can congratulate ourselves on this occasion in the presence 

‘of so many and so eminent men of science from the other side of the Atlantic is 
due to the exertions of the Local Committee and to the liberality of the citizens 
of Montreal. I had the honor in 1856 to be the spokesman of a delegation which 
went to Albany to invite this Association to hold the meeting in Montreal in 
1857, which has been referred to. That meeting was a most successful one, 
though, no doubt, far inferior in numbers to the present. It benefited this Asso- 
ciation and the interests of science and gave a stimulus to the cause of scientific 
education and research in Montreal, the effects of which still remain. May the 
present meeting be still more agreeable and useful. Of the leading men of 
science who took part in the meeting of 1857 many have passed away; Henry, 
Logan, Bache, Pierce, Munro, Billings and Morgan are among these. But 
many of the men who then stood high in science are with us to-day, and you now 
welcome a large number of men who have since that time risen into eminence, 
and of still younger men whose names will yet be widely known. To such young 
and rising men you should, and I know do, extend a welcome as hearty as to 
those who are their seniors and are better known to you. You welcome here to- 
day a much larger body than that which you received in 1857. This is evidenc- 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 329 


ed not only by the larger number of members, but by the increased number of 
sections. In 1857 there were two sections and a sub-section. Now there 
were no less than nine sections meeting simultaneously. I have only to add, 
on behalf of the Association, that the ordinary meetings of the sections, and 
those evening meeting addresses which will be advertised, are open to all who 
may desire to benefit by them; and that the membership of the Association is 
open to all suitable applicants on very easy terms. Such entertainments and 
excursions as have been provided by the Local Committee or by local institutions 
and private individuals, are of course limited by the invitations they may issue, 
but I have no doubt they will be made as extensive as the Circumstances will 
permit. Dr. Dawson also read a letter from His Excellency the Governor- 
General regretting his absence. 

The Permanent Secretary, Prof. F. W. Putnam, stated that the fi iancial re- 
port of the year had been printed. A large number of donations had come in 
for reprinting volumes of the past proceedings of the Association, among others 
one from Gen. William Lilly of $1,000 toward the expense of reprinting Volume 
XXVI of the Proceedings, and since he had come to Montreal he had received 
another contribution of $150 for the same purpose. Some 160 papers had al- 
ready been entered for this meeting and referred to the various sections. A 

Dr. Hunt announced that the promenade in the Art Gallery would take 
place on Monday evening, after Prof. Bell’s lecture, instead of on Tuesday even- 
ing as announced. He expressed regret at the absence of the Hon. Justice Mack- ~ 
ay, President of the Art Association. - 


DECEASED MEMBERS. 


Prof. Putnam then read the following list of members reported deceased 
since the last meeting of the Association, viz:—Zachari Allen, Providence, R. I.; 
J. G. Barnard, New York City; Geo. L. Blackie, Nashville, Tenn.; Albert H. 
Briggs, Springfield, Mass.; Mrs. Mary H. Campbell, Crawfordshire, Ind.; Fred- 
erick Collins, Washington, D. C.; J. M. Crank, Wolfeville, N. C.; Charles F. 
Crocker, Lawrence, Mass.; E. A. Dalrymple, Baltimore, Md.; Caleb G. Fors- 
slier, New Orleans, La.; J. Goldsmark, New York; Geo. W. Hawes, Washing- 
ton, D. C.; Thos. Potts James, Cambridge, Mass.; Lewis H. Morgan, Rochester, 
N. Y.; Chas. H. Payne, Saratoga Springs; J. Duncan Putnam, Davenport, Ia.; 
W. B. Rogers, Boston, Mass.; E. Root, Amherst, Mass.;. W. Sheppard, Drum- 
mondville P. QO.; David P. Smith, Springfield, Mass.; Chas. Spenzig, St. Louis, 
Mo.; A. R. Thompson, New York; W. S. Vaux, Philadelphia; J. C. Watson, 
Ann Arbor, Mich.; Mrs. G. O. Welch, Lynn, Mass. 


NEW MEMBERS, 


The General Secretary, Mr. W. Saunders, then announced that the Stand- 
ing Committee recommended for membership the gentlemen forming the Local 
Committee and 169 other applicants, who, on motion, were duly elected mem- 
bers of the Association. 


330 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


On the suggestion of the President, the English and European scieutists at- 
tending the meeting were elected members of the Association. 

President Dawson announced that the annual meeting of the British Science 
Association opened on the same day as this meeting, and suggested that a mes- 
sage of greeting and congratulation should be cabled to it from the American As- 
sociation, a suggestion that met with the approval of those present. 

The meeting was then declared adjourned, and the Association resolved it- 
self into the various sections which met in their respective apartments for organ- 
ization. The proceedings were the same in all of these sections, and consisted 
of the election of one Fellow from each section to represent it on the Standing 
Committee during the ensuing year; also, the election of the Sectional Commit- 
tees, which are composed of three Fellows from each section together with the 
Vice-President and Secretary, and which select the papers to be read and make 
other arrangements for the meetings of the sections respectively ; the election of 
the Nominating Committee, composed of one member or Fellow from each section ; 
the election of three members or Fellows from each section, to act with the Vice- 
President and Secretary of that section as a sub-committee to recommend to the 
Nominating Committee, the Vice-President and Secretary of such section re- 
spectively for the next meeting of the Association. 


EVENING PROCEEDINGS.—THE RETIRING PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS. 


Notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather the spacious Queen’s Hall 
was completely filled on the occasion of the public address of the retiring Presi- 
dent of the Association, Prof. George J. Brush, of New Haven, Conn. Among 
the audience was a large representation of the e/##e of Montreal. The new Presi- 
dent, Dr. Dawson, occupied the chair, and on the platform were the past Presi- 
dents, the present Vice-Presidents and invited guests. 


PROGRESS OF AMERICAN MINERALOGY. 


Prof. Brush’s address consisted of a sketch of the progress of American Min- 
eralogy, of which the following is a condensed report: 

After remarking that the change in the constitution of the Association effect- 
ed at its last meeting had relieved the retiring President from attempting a gener- 
al review of the progress of science during the past year, he said: During the 
last quarter of the eighteenth century, while great activity existed and rapid ad- 
vance was made in the study of chemistry and mineralogy in Europe, almost 
nothing was accomplished in this new country. It is true that students in other 
departments of science, especially members of the medical profession, in the 
cities of Philadelphia, New York and Boston, attempted to arouse an interest in 
mineralogy, believing that the diffusion of a knowledge of this science would be 
of the utmost importance in the material development of the country. There 
were, however, no text books to aid the inquirer. There were no collections of 
minerals to stimulate the student. In the absence of these it was almost impossi- 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 331 


ble that an interest in this science should be fostered, or that a spirit of investiga- 
tion should be awakened. 

As the first distinct beginning of the science, I may mention an association 
formed in 1798 in the City of New York, which assumed, as they ex- 
pressed it, ‘‘the name and style of the American Mineralogical Society.” It an- 
nounced as its object ‘‘ the investigation of the Mineral and Fossil bodies which 
compose the Fabric of the Globe, and more especially for the Natural and Chem- 
ical History of the Minerals and Fossils of the United States.” The distinguished 
Dr. Samuel Latham Mitchell, who’seems to have been a man of universal genius, 
was at once its first President, its Librarian, and its Cabinet-keeper. The com- 
mittee of the society issued a circular in gvhich, while expressing themselves, 
‘desirous of obtaining and diffusing by every means in their power a correct and 
extensive knowledge of the mineral treasures of their country, they earnestly so- 
licited their fellow citizens to communicate to them on all mineralogical subjects, 
but especially on the following, viz: 

1. ‘Concerning the stones suitable to be manufactured into gua-fints ; 
where are they found? and in what quantity? 2. Concerning mative brimstone 
or sulphur or the waters or minerals whence it may be extracted? 3. Concern 
ing saltpetre: where (if at all) found native? or the soils which produce it in the 
United States? 4. Concerning mines and ores of ad: in what places? the sit- 
uation ? how wide the vein? in what kind of rock it is bedded.” 

This warlike demand seems to call more for the discovery of the materials 
for national defense than for the advancement of science, and besides being a 
commentary on the spirit of the times, gives a rather humorous impression of 
their strangely inadequate conception of the science of mineralogy, and its possi- 
ble bearings on practical life. But in justice to them I should add that it is fur- 
ther announced that ‘‘specimens of ores, metals, coals, spars, gypsums, crystals, 
petrifactions, stones, earths, slates, clays, chalks, limestones, marbles, and every 
fossil substance that may be discovered or fall in the way of a traveller, which 
can throw light on the mineralogical history of America, will be examined and 
analyzed without cost; sufficient pieces, with the owner’s leave, being reserved 
for placing in the society’s collection.’’ I have quoted the circular almost ver- 
batim to give you some idea of the genuine though crude longing for knowledge 
felt by our early mineralogists, and also of the generous spirit in which they 
worked. 

A still more forcible picture of the ignorance of the time is given by the elder. 
Professor Silliman in 1818. ‘‘ Notwithstanding the laudable efforts of a few gen- 
tlemen,”’ he says, ‘‘ to excite some taste for mineralogy, so little had been done 
in forming collections, in kindling curiosity and diffusing information, that only 
fifteen years since (1803) it was a matter of extreme difficulty to obtain among 
ourselves even the names of the most common stones and minerals.” 

Such, then, was the state of knowledge in mineralogy here at the commence- 
ment of the century. A few American minerals, collected by travelers from 
time to time, had before this been taken to Europe for identification, but among 


332 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


these were discovered only two minerals new to science. The Moravian mis- 
sionaries found at St. Paul, in Labrador, the beautiful species of feldspar called 
by Werner /aérador-stein, which in more modern times we know under the name 
of labradorite. Klaproth, the most eminent analytical chemist of his time, dis- 
covered that the so-called fibrous barytes from Pennsylvania was the sulphate of 
the then newly-discovered earth strontia. Hethus, for the first time, identified 
the mineral species ce/estite which, was subsequently found in various localities in 
Europe. 

Although little had been accomplished in America previous to 1800, the 
first quarter of the new century was destined to show great development here in 
the study of mineralogy. During the early years of this quarter several collections 
of European minerals were-brought to this country by American gentlemen who 
had availed themselves during a residence in Europe of the best opportunities 
for acquiring a knowledge of the science from the great masters of the subject in 
Germany and France. About this time also several colleges in the country had 
instituted chairs of chemistry and mineralogy, and a commencement was thus 
made in teaching these sciences in the higher schools. As the result of these 
influences the number of persons interested in mineralogy was largely increased, 
and an active search for minerals was initiated throughout all of the older United 
States and to a considerable extent also in Canada. 

So energetically were these explorations followed up that in 1825 a catalogue 
of American minerals was published by Dr. Samuel Robinson, with their locali- 
ties arranged geographically, and giving only such as were known to exist in the 
United States and the British Provinces. It formed an octavo volume of over 
three hundred pages. : 

That much credit was due to many workers during this period, both in the 
field and in the laboratory, there can.be no question, but among them all I find 
four men standing forth so prominently as leaders, that I have thought it would 
be well for us to recall briefly something of the character of these men and their 
labors for the advancement in mineralogy in this country. These mineralogists 
were Dr. Archibald Bruce, who was born in New York in 1777 and graduated at 
Columbia College; Colonel George Gibbs, of Rhode Island; Professor Parker 
Cleveland, of Bowdoin College, and Professor Benjamin Silliman, late Professor 
- of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geology in Yale College. After sketching the 
labors in this branch of science of these eminent pioneers, the lecturer went on to 
say that it will be inferred that the developments and discoveries of minerals, 
during the first twenty-five years of the century, were due entirely to individual 
enthusiasm and private enterprise. Up to this time no aid had been received 
from either State or National governments, and in looking over the work accom- 
plished during this period we are filled with wonder and admiration at the energy 
and rare devotion to science exhibited. The larger portion of the continent was 
an unbroken wilderness, and the facilities of communication even in the settled 
parts of the country were of the most primitive character. Yet at the present 


‘PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION. 303 


day, with our means of rapid transportation, many naturalists would hesitate to 
undertake the long journeys then made for purely scientific purposes. 

The public mind was finally awakened to the importance of the work which 
these explorers and investigators had carried on single-handed. Government 
now came to the aid of Science. In 1824, one State Legislature, that of North 
‘Carolina, authorized a geological survey to be made. This example was tollowed 
iin 1830 by Massachusetts and soon after by New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia 
and other States, and also by the national Government, until as is now well 
‘known, the whole territory of the United States and Canada, either has been or 
ds In the process of being surveyed. Several of the State surveys published inde- 
jpendent volumes on the mineralogy of their respective States, and these surveys . 
have been a powerful auxiliary in extending our knowledge of the occurrence of 


‘minerals on this continent. The opening of mines and quarries throughout the es 


country has also furnished abundant material for study. _ 

Proceeding to call attention to some of the developments made in the field 
‘in which American mineralogists have worked, he said: It was thought by many 
‘scientists in the first half of this century that our rocks seemed likely to afford 
‘less variety of mineral contents than the rocks of Europe. Further study, how- 
‘ever, and more careful and extended observations encourage us to believe that 
-our mineral riches, even in variety of species, will compare favorably with those 
-of other continents. Already fully one-half of the known mineral species have 
been found here. The present number of known minerals is variously estimated 
‘to be from seven hundred to one thousand. There have been described, as oc- 
-curring here, nearly three hundred supposed new American minerals. Of these, 
perhaps one-quarter are new to science and the remainder have either been proved 
‘to be indentical with species already described, or their characters are so imper- 
ifectly given that further investigation is needed to ascertain what they are. 

After speaking particularly of some of these new minerals of most interest to 
science, he observed :—While the service done for mineralogy by our geological — 
surveys is gratefully acknowledged, we feel we bave a right to demand much 
more from them in the future. Mineralogy has been too largely looked upon as 
a guide to the discovery of useful ores and minerals and not as a matter for scien- 
tific study ; fortunately during the past decade the discoveries i in optical mineral- 
‘ogy, and their importance in the determination of the constituent minerals of the 
crystalline rocks, have led many geologists to again recognize the desirability of 
a knowledge of our science. Much will be accomplished if those in charge of — 
geological surveys will direct competent persons to make observations, not only 
on the main mineral constituents of rocks but also on the manner of occurrence 
of individual minerals. The careful inspection of quarries and mines is greatly 
‘to be desired. 

It is too true that many of the most interesting discoveries Seeds recorded 
‘seem to have been due more to the result of fortunate accident than of systematic 
and intelligent exploration. If our trained mineralogists, instead of devoting 
anost of their attention to the examination of specimens in cabinets collected by 


304 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


others, would give more time to personal observation in the field in the study of 
the order and manner of occurrence of mineral species in place, our knowledge 
would doubtless be greatly promoted. Again, if our wealthy amateurs could be 
induced to spend their money as freely in the exploration of promising American 
localities as in the importation of costly European specimens, we might hope for 
many important discoveries, and they could have the satisfaction not only of 
gaining novelties for their collections, but incidentally they would do much to 
foster science. 

‘In order to keep pace with the progress of the science, we need many more 
workers who will devote themselves especially to mineralogical research, and we 
need more of the spirit of the early workers. It is my belief that the number of 
persons at present interested in the study here, either as amateurs or investiga- 
tors is relatively less than in 1825. The mineralogy of to-day is a very different 
subject from the mineralogy of the commencement of the period over which we 
have so hastily glanced. 


ORGAN RECITAL. 


Immediately after the close of the address Dr. Davies gave an organ recital 
that had the effect of detaining a large number of musically inclined persons in 
their seats. The following programme was rendered in masterly style: 


1—Romansa, for violin and organ . . 2 Oo ete ee Bee thtenzenie 
2—Andante Cantabile from Concerto Op. que. wim eo el . aMendelssojam 
3—Selection from ‘‘Carmen”’ . Sec stb daeae ae ve IZere 
4—Andante and Scherzo ‘‘ Reformation ” Sy ME an RCT es 5 . Mendelssohn. 
5—March et Cortege, ‘‘Irene” . SRR De rarer. (COON OCL. 


At the conclusion, by general request, Dr. Davies played a selection of na- 
tional airs, winding up with God Save the Queen. 


THE RECEPTION. 


In the meantime the delegates, and such as had received cards of invitation, 
flocked into the assembly room, to attend the reception extended to the members 
of the Association by the local committee. Across the end of the spacious apart- 
ment was extended a refreshment table, where cooling ices and lemonade were 
dispensed by active waiters. The lamps were draped with rose-colored shades, 
softening the glare and adding to the general effect. There were a large number 
of ladies present in elegant costumes, most of the citizens present having brought 
their wives, and for a while introductions were going on in every part of the 
room. As soon as the ice was broken, the hum of conversation, continually 
broken by gay laughter, was incessant, and abstruse subjects seemed for a while 
to be abandoned for the novelty of trivial tropics. 

Among the citizens present were Sir Francis Hincks, W. S. Consul-General 
Stearns, Reverend Principal Henderson, Dr. Howard, Aldermen Mooney and 
Kennedy, G. W. Stephens, Dean Baldwin, Canon Ellegood, Rev. Robert Camp- 
bell, Peter Redpath, D. A. Ansell, Louis Lesage, John Stirling, J. H. Joseph, 
Thomas Workman, T Sterry Hunt, Professor Johnson, Rev. Dr. Stevenson, Dr. 


TRANSIT OF VENUS. ; 335 


Hingston, S. E. Dawson, Alex. Buntin, G. A. Drummond, Dr. Scott, John 
Kennedy, Hugh McLennan, W. B. Lewis, J. J. Maclaren, Q. C., John Lovell, 
Richard White, W. O’Brien, D. Morrice, R. A. Ramsay, W. Angus, G. B. Bur- 
land, J. A. U. Baudry, T. Foster Bateman, W. Taylor, T. D. King, Dr. Tren- 
holme, Dr. Turgeon and. others. 

The reception lasted about an hour, after which the company began to dis- 
perse. 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE SECTIONS. 


We are gratified to be able to give to our readers in the following pages a 
very full report of the proceedings of the several sections, with pretty complete 
and accurate abstracts of many of the best papers read, an’account of the excur- 
sions participated in by the members, and many other items of interest that will 
probably not be found in any other journal of this class. 

We are indebted to Professors Putnam, Mason, Lovewell, Bassett and Ward, 
Rev. H. C. Hovey and to. Mr. Cook of the Montreal Star, for material furnished 
and attentions rendered, and we shall remember with pleasure the brief personal 
intercourse had with Principal Dawson, of McGill University, Dr. John Rae, of 
London, Prof. H. C. Bolton, of Hartford, and others who had in the past con- 
tributed articles to the REVIEW, but whom we had never met before. 


INS TI OI OUMNE 


TRANSIT OF VENUS. 


Section A met in the Wm. Molson Hall, to hear the reading of a paper 
on ‘‘The Transit of Venus,” by Prof. J. R. Eastman. The author of the 
paper is Mr. Wm. Harkness, the Chairman of the Section, who was unavoidably 
detained at Washington on important business. The paper went on to say 
that transits of Venus usually occur in pairs, the two transits of a pair be 
ing separated by only eight years, but between the nearest transits of consecutive 
pairs more than a century elapses. We are now on the eve of the second transit 
of a pair, after which none other will occur till the twenty-first century of our 
era has dawned upon the earth, and the June flowers are blooming in A. D. 2004. 
When the last transit season occurred, the intellectual world was awakening from 
the slumber of ages, and that wondrous scientific activity which has led to our 
present advanced knowledge was just beginning. What will be the state of 
science when the next transit season arrives, God only knows. Not even our 
children’s children will live to take part in the study of the astronomy of that 


336 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


day. The scientific history of past transits was then noticed at length. When 
the Ptolemaic theory of the solar system was in vogue, astronomers correctly be- 
lieved Venus and Mercury to be situated between the earth and Sun, but as these 
planets were supposed to shine by their own light, there was no reason to antici- 
pate that they would be visible during a transit, if indeed a transit should occur. 
Vet singularly enough, so far back as 807, Mercury is recorded to have been seen 
as a dark spot upon the face of the Sun. ae 

We now know that it is much too small to be visible to the naked eye in that 
position, and the object observed could have been nothing less than a large Sun- 
spot. Upon the establishment of the Copernican theory it was immediately per- 
ceived that transits of the inferior planets across the face of the Sun must occur, 
and the recognition of the value of transits of Venus for determining the solar 
parallax was not long in following. The idea of utilizing such transits for this 
purpose seems to have been vaguely conceived by James Gregory or perhaps . 
even by Horrocks, but Halley was first to work it out completely, and to him is 
usually assigned the honor of the invention. His paper published in 1716 was 
mainly instrumental in inducing the Governments of Europe to undertake the 
observations of the transit of Venus in 1761 and 1769, from which our first accu- 
rate knowledge of the Sun’s distance was obtained. When Kepler had finished 
his Rudolphine tables, they furnished the means of predicting the places of the 
planets with some approach to accuracy, and in 1627 he announced that Mercury 
would cross the face of the Sun on November 7, 1631, and Venus on December 
6th of the same year. The intense interest with which Gassendi prepared to ob- 
serve these transits can be imagined when it is remembered that hitherto no sich _ 
phenomena had ever greeted mortal eye. He was destitute of what would now 
be regarded as the commonest instruments. The invention of telescopes was 
only twenty years old and a reasonably good clock had never been constructed. 
His observatory was situated in Paris and his appliances were of the most primi- 
tive kind. By admitting the solar rays into a darkened room through a small 
round hole, an image of the Sun nine or ten inches in diameter was obtained up- 
on a white screen. For the measurement of position angles a carefully divided 
circle was traced upon this screen and the whole was so arranged that the circle 
could be made to coincide accurately with the Sun. To determine the times of 
ingress and egress, an assistant was stationed outside with a large quadrant, and 
he was instructed to observe the attitude of the Sun whenever Gassendi stamped 
upon the floor. Modern astronomical predictions can be trusted within a minute 
or two, but so great did the uncertainty of Kepler’s tables seem to Gassendi, that 
he began to watch for the expected transit of Mercury two whole days before the 
time set for its occurrence. On the 5th of November it rained, and on the 6th 
clouds covered the sky almost all day. On the 7th toward nine o’clock the Sun 
because distinctly visible, and turning to its image on the screen the astronomer ob- 
served a small black spot upon it. Heat first took it to bea Sun-spot, and shortly 
he was surprised to see it hadsuddenly disappeared. After continued observation 
Gassendi concluded, as he saw the spot on the Sun move, that it was really the 


TRANSIT OF VENUS. 337 


planet, and he called upon his assistant to mark the Sun’s attitude, but that indi- 
vidual had deserted his post, and it was only within a few minutes before its go- 
ing down, and in spite of the unfortunate circumstances, that an important addi- 
tion was made to our knowledge of the motions of the innermcst planet of the 
solar system. Although successful in observing Mercury Gassendi was deprived 
of the pleasure of seeing the transit of Venus, as it took place in the night. 
Transits of Venus can occur only in June and December, and as the two transits. 
of a pair always happen in the same month, if we start from a June transit the 
intervals between consecutive transits will be eight years, one hundred and five 
and a half years; eight years, one hundred and twenty-one and a half years; eight 
years, one hundred and five and a half years, and soon. This is the order which 
exists now. The path of Venus across the Sun is not the same in the two transits 
of a pair. For a pair of June transits, the path at the second one is sensibly par- 
allel to, and about twenty minutes north of, that at the first, while for a pair of 
December transits the parallelism still holds, but: the path of the second one is 
about twenty-five minutes south of that of the first. The paper went on relating 
all the efforts made by Lansberg, the Belgian astronomer, and others, and the 
fact that about the most valuable information on the subject had been discovered 
by Horrocks, a young curate of twenty, who resided near Liverpool in 1631. 
The years sped rapidly by, and as the transit of 1761 approached, Halley’s paper 
of 1716 was not forgotten, but his plans were taken up and discussed. Delisle 
was the first to point out the exact conditions of the transit and the circumstances 
upon which the success of the observations would depend. The Sun causes 
Venus to cast a shadow which has the form of a gigantic cone, its apex resting 
upon the planet and its diameter continually increasing as it recedes into space. 
All the phenomena of transits are produced by the passage of this shadow cone 
over the earth, and as each point of the cone corresponds to a particular phase of 
a transit, any given phase of a transit will encounter the earth and first become 
visible at some point where the Sun is just setting, and will leave the earth and 
therefore be last visible at some point where the Sun is just rising. Between 
these two points it will traverse nearly half the earth’s circumference and in so 
doing will consume about twenty minutes. The transit of 1761 was visible 
throughout Europe and was well observed by astronomers. England sent expe- 
ditions to St. Helena and to the Cape of Good Hope; and English astronomers 
‘observed at Madras and Calcutta. French astronomers went to Tobolsk, Rodrig- 
uez and Pondicherry, and Russians to Tartary and China, and Swedes to Lap- 
land. No less than 117 stations were occupied by 176 observers, and of these. 
137 published their observations. The various experiences of several astrono- 
mers were then fully discussed and the transit of 1882 was referred to. Astrono- 
mers met in Paris last year from Europe, and after discussion the system of photog- 
raphy, which had been suggested, was condemned as being useless. The United 
States were not represented at this conference and therefore the experience from 
America was not obtained. He then referred to the efforts which were being 
-made by the United States Transit of Venus Commission in this regard, and. 


338 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


thought that they favored the photographic system. He hoped that the astrono- 
mers in America would do all their duty in the matter in the interests of posterity. 


EVOLUTION OF THE EARTH. 


Rev. Samuel Haughton, D. D., Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, read a 
paper Monday morning in Section A on ‘‘ New Views of Mr. George H. Dar- 
win’s Theory of the Evolution of the Earth,—Moon System, considered as to its 
Bearing on the Question of the Duration of Geological Time.” He said: It has 
been tacitly assumed, even so far back as the times of Newton and Clairvant, 
that the earth and planets have passed through a liquid condition (owing to form- 
er great heat) before assuming this solid condition which some (at least) of them 
now possess. 

Laplace, in his nebular hypothesis, also assumes the former existence of this 
liquid condition, and it is openly assumed by all geologists who believe that the 
earth consists of a solid crust (more or less thick) reposing upon a fluid or viscous 
nucleus. 

It has been asserted by Sir William Thompson, following out the views of 
the late Mr. Hopkins, that the present condition of the earth taken as a whole, is 
such that it must be regarded as being more rigid than glass or steel, probably 
more rigid than any terrestrial substance under the surface conditions of pres- 
sure. The following conditions show that it may be fairly douted whether the 
earth or any planet ever existed in liquid conditions. 

1. The possibility of the equilibrium of the rings of Saturn, on the supposi- 
tion that they are either solid or liquid has been more than doubted, and the 
most prbable hypothesis respecting them is that they consist of swarms of discrete 
meteoric stones. ; : 

2. It is difficult to understand the low specific gravity of Jupiter and the 
other outer planets, on the supposition that they are either solid or liquid, for we 
know of no substance light enough to form them. The force of this argument 
could not be felt before the revelations of the spectroscope, because at that 
time there was no proof that the whole universe was composed of the same simple 
substances, and those very limited in number. If the outer planets consist of dis- 
crete meteoric stones, moving around a solid or liquid nucleus, the difficulty re- 
specting their specific gravity would disappear. 

3. The recent researches connecting the November, the August and the 
other periodic swarms of shooting stars with comets tend in the direction of show- 
ing that comets in cooling break up into discrete solid particles, each no doubt 
having passed through the liquid condition , and that probably the solar nebula 
cooled in like manner into separate fiery stars, which soon solidified by radiation 
into the cold of space. 

4. Mr. Higgins’ recent comparisons of the spectroscopic appearances of 
comets and incandescent portions of meteoric stones, showing the presence in 


INSTRUCTION IN PHYSICS. 339 


both of hydro-carbon and nitrogen compounds, confirm the conclusions drawn 
from the identity of the paths of comets and meteoric-periodic shooting stars. 

5. Mr. H. A. Newton, in a remarkable paper read before the Sheffield 
meeting of the British Association, 1879, showed the possibility (if not the prob- 
ability) of the asteroids being extinct comets, captured and brought into the 
solar system by the attraction of some one or other of the outer large planets, 
and permanently confined in the space between Mars and Jupiter, which is the 
only prison cell in the solar system large enough to hold permanently such dis- 
orderly wanderers. 

In the same paper, Prof. Newton threw out the idea that some of the satel- 
lites of the large planets might also be of cometary origin. From all these and 
other considerations, it is therefore allowable to suppose that the earth and moon 
when they separated from the solar nebula, did so as.a swarm of solid meteoric 
stones, each of them showing the temperature of interstellar space; 4. e., some- 
thing not much warmer than 460° F. below the freezing point of water. 

Mr. George H. Darwin has shown admirably how the earth-moon system 
may have been developed from the time when the earth-moon formed one planet, 
revolving on its axis in a few hours to the present time, when the earth and 
moon (in consequence of tidal friction) have pushed each other asunder to a distance 
of sixty times the radius of the earth. Dr. Haughton then entered into a lengthy 
and most careful study of his paper, and iliustrated it on the blackboard. He 
concluded by saying that the remarkable expression found by Mr. Darwin is not 
peculiar to his special hypothesis of a viscous earth, but can be deducted equally 
well from the totally distinct hypothesis of an absolutely rigid earth retarded by 
the tidal action of a liquid ocean. 


: PPYSics: 


INSTRUCTION IN PHYSICS. 


a 


In this section Vice-President Mendenhall read a paper on ‘‘ Instruction in 
Physics,”’ of which the following is.a synopsis: 

Out of respect for sciences as old as science itself, we have freely accorded 
the first rank, as far as a designating letter may be able to imply it, to our vet- 
eran co-laborers, the mathematicians and astronomers. This separation of physics 
from astronomy and mathematics, as well as from chemistry, mechanics, etc., 
must be considered as temporarily convenient for the purpose of specializing the 
powers of the Association. We were mistaken in supposing that science had 
only advanced through contributions—the result of original research in our lab- 
oratories and libraries; even were so narrow a view taken, the existence of such 


340 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


an atmosphere would in itself be a blessing, as fostering a love for research: 
whereby talent was fostered. . . 

It was desirable to bring about a more accurate knowledge concerning the 
elementary principles and propositions of the science of physics for general diffu- 
sion among the masses of educated people; this diffusion was not now taking 
place to any great extent. The subject, considered as a whole, naturally divided. 
itself into two parts, pertaining respectively to higher, and elementary instruc-- 
tion. A few keen-sighted men, combining in themselves happily the student and 
the teacher, recognized the fact that thorough instruction in physics demanded 
the use of labora.ory methods, such as had been utilized’ for some years in chem- 
istry, and were rapidly coming into prominence in every department of natural: 
science. Among these was notable that of Professor Pickering, whose establish- 
ment for purposes of instruction at Boston must be regarded as an epoch in the 
history of this progress. With that also might be linked, though coming at a. 
little later date, the well known establishment of Professor Mayer at Hoboken. 
A report on the teaching of Chemistry and Physics in the United States by Pro- 
fessor Clarke, of Cincinnati University, was recommended to all interested in the 
study of the present condition of this work. Professor Clarke classified the various 
courses as follows:—rst. Full course, including higher mathematical physics, ad- 
vanced laboratory work and research. 2d. Full course, with mathematical phys- 
ics and elementary laboratory work. 3d. Course in general physics, involving. 
a previous knowledge of trigonometry and including laboratory work. 

The other courses, ten in number, are elementary. 

The report contained statistics from nearly four hundred universities, col- 
leges, agricultural colleges, and schools, scientific or otherwise; out of the whole 
number, there were thirty-three institutions where the instruction in physics fell 
within the limits established above. Of these, four were of the first rank, two of 
the second, and twenty-seven of the third. 

A great teacher has told us that we studied nature in books, and when we 
met her face she passed unrecognized. There sprang up a new method, the use 
of the text book fell into disrepute, it was as if all men were to cast aside their 
maps, globes, histories, books of travel, etc., and start out to obtain a knowledge 
of the world by visiting its different portions. The underlying principle of the 
new method was correct, but it was a mistake to give it unrestricted application. 

The course of study in physics for the undergraduate collegian should in- 
clude a sufficient training in mathematics to enable him to apply his knowledge 
with ease and facility to the more common physical problems; a thorough and 
exacting course of text book and lecture work, to be supplemented by a course 
in the laboratory in which gréater attention should be paid to the quality rather 
than quantity of the work done. There was great need of reform regarding in- 
struction in physics in the school; although American text books were numerous, 
none have properly combined in their making the experience of the class-room 
with the critical knowledge of the scholar; text books, it was true, might be im 
ported from Europe, and they in the main were vastly superior to our own, but 


PHYSICS. 341 


even these failed to supply the need; co-operation was required, this might be 
accomplished through the National Educational Association. 


PROF. BELL’S INSTRUMENT FOR DETERMINING THE LOCATION 
OF BULLETS IN THE HUMAN BODY. 


Section B held its meeting this morning in the William Molson Hall, the 
large room being taxed to its utmost capacity with members of the Association 
eager to hear Prof. Alex. Graham Bell’s paper upon the:electrical experiments to 
determine the location of the bullet in the body of the late President Garfield ; 
and upon a successful form of inductive balance for the painless detection of me- 
tallic masses imbedded in the human body. Prof. Bell being introduced to the 
mee ing said that the subject he had chosen for his paper recalled the time of ex- 
citement and painful suspense attending the time when the chief executive of the 
United States lay nobly bearing prolonged suffering, and all the world watched 
by his bed, and hoped and feared. In cases similar to that of the late President, 
the great object was to find the location of the bullet. In the past the only way 
in searching out a bullet was by probing with the knife and lance among tender 
tissues and in fatal points. Science in the position it held at the present day 
could surely do something to replace these barbarous operations, and to see if 
something could not be done to prevent this dangerous system of ,roping among 
quivering muscles he applied himself to work. 

The same problem had been considered by Professors Newcomb and Hop- 
kins. It was perhaps natural for him as an electrician to attempt to apply elec- 
tricity to the solution of the problem and for him personally to resort to the tele- 
phone. The idea he had was that the question could be satisfactorily solved by 
the joint use of the telephone and the mduction balance. At the time he set to 
work on this problem he had in his mind the result of some investigations he had 
conducted in England. He exhibited several modifications of the induction 
balance, which he described as two electric coils connected and at some distance 
apart. He read in the newspapers of some experiments which had been made 
by several electricians to determine the presence of the metals, the results of 
which were that it was found that a magnetic needle in motion is retarded in its 
rotation by being passed over copper bodies. When the President was shot he 
immediately opened a series of investigations with the magnetic needle, and he 
found that a disc of lead brought under a revolving magnetic needle caused a de- 
viation of it. A bullet, however, had no noticeable effect on the needle. His 
Investigations in that way were consequently given up and he set to work with 
the induction balance. He connected a telephone with one pole of an induction 
balance and when the other came in contact with or near to a metallic body, a 
perfect battery being formed, an electric current was sent through the connec- 
tions, and a noise could be heard in the telephone. The difficulty was to give 


VI—22 


342 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


the greatest hearing distance to the telephone, to find an instrument which would 
cause a sound at the greatest distance possible from the induction balance. He 
tried several experiments to find a solution to this difficulty, and telegraphed for 
the advice of scientific friends, both in America and England, but was unable to 
make an instrument which would pronounce an audible sound with the metal 
bodies sought for, further than one and a half inches from the induction balance. 

He succeeded in perfecting an instrument which allowed a distance be- 
tween the metal and the balance of five centimetres. In this instrument the pri- 
mary coil was of a conical shape and the secondary coil fastened on the apex. 
A very considerable improvement was discovered soon afterward, when, at 
the suggestion of Professor Rowland, he applied a condenser in the primary 
circuit. The result was wonderful. On bringing a bullet near the induc- 
tor, the telephone emitted a sound resembling a high, shrill whistle; in fact, 
the condenser appeared to act as a resonator. It was with the instrument 
in this condition that he made the first experiment with the late President’s 
wound, the result of which had never been published. The instrument on the 
occasion was out of order, and emitted an uncertain spluttering sound which 
they could not stop, and consequently the experiment was a failure. He then 
turned his attention to another system of induction balance consisting of two 
round plates, one placed over the other and in a wooden case. It was with this 
instrument that he made the second experiment with General Garfield on August 
ist. The trouble with this instrument was that the slightest motion caused a 
deflection in the plates, giving a continuous sound in the telephone. The instru- 
ment was so delicate also that the chandeliers and iron fire-place in the room affect- 
ed it. On passing the instrument over a portion of the body above the thigh a 
distinct sound was heard, and although the instrument was raised a foot above 
this area it was affected, although not the same extent as when it was closer to 
the body. Subsequent events proved that the bullet was not lodged in that area 
and he could only account for the action of the instrument by the fact that the 
patient lay on a steel wire bed. The difficulty in the instrument of the move- 
ment of the plates was effectively removed by imbedding them in a mass of par- 
affine, and this is the instrument as perfected and with which the bullet was discov- 
ered in the body of civil war veteran. He was still pursuing his investigations 
and hoped yet to bring the instrument to a much greater state of efficiency. 

A modification of the instrument, in which the plates were in a hoop large 
enough to pass over the limbs for determining the location of bullets lodged in 
the extremities, he exhibited. In concluding, he said that lead was the metal of 
all for acting with electric apparatus and warmly expressed the wish that in future 
bullets should be made of silver or iron. His work in this direction had been 
purely a labor of love, and he could not have had a higher inducement than 
working to alleviate sufferings. 


THE DIATONIC SCALES. 343 


COLOR BLINDNESS. 


Prof. E. L. Nichols, of Richmond, Ky., read a paper on the duration of 
color impression upon the retinr. The essayist, by a modification of the method 
of Plateau, had determined for six different portions of the spectrum, the rate of 
revolution which must be imparted to a disc, with several narrow open sectors, 
in order to produce an unbroken visual image of the spectral region viewed 
through the disc. ‘The rate of revolution which may be taken as a measure of 
persistence of vision was found to be a fraction of the wavy length, and of the 
intensity of the ray. The results of the experiment described may be represent- 
ed by a series of curves with wave lengths as apeses and duration of the impres- 
sion upon the retina as ordinates. These curves show a certain vision flance to 
the curves for the relative luminosity of the different spectral regions, as meas- 
ured by Francis Hofer, Herordt and Hood. The way in which the two curves 
differ is such 2s to suggest that these measurements are not efficient to prove that 
perhaps the duration of impression is inversely proportioned to the luminosity. 
The difference between the curves was in the higher values for the more refrang- 
ible rays; in the curve for the duration of impression. This curve corresponds 
of necessity to a very faint spectrum. The change which the curve for luminos- 
ity would undergo, were the intensity of the ray decreased, would, owing to the 
greater activity of the violet nerves of the eye at less intensities, cause that curve 
to approach much more nearly, if it did not coincide with, the curve for dura- 
tion of impression. It was also found that the curve differed greatly in the case 
of different observers, and to a less degree from time to time for the same eye. 
. The interval of darkness which may be allowed to intervene between exposures 
of a given duration, without interfering with the apparent continuity of vision, 
and its variation when the length of exposure varied, was also determined. The 
exposure varied from 12-1000 second to 786-1000 second, and the interval of 
darkness was found to vary, but in less degree. 

Prof. Stevens said that the results of Prof. Nichol’s investigation were of the 
greatest importance, as the scientific men of the world who have so long been 
anxious to form a theory on the question of color blindness have by it been di- 
rected to a course of investigation which promised to settle the question. 


THE DIATONIC SCALES. 


The next paper was by Dr. P. H. Vander Weyde, on the diatonic scale, ob- 
tained in the chromatic scales of equal temperament of 12, 19 and 31 tones in 
the octaves with exhibition of novel scale indicators and correcting key-board, 
seemed to be of the greatest interest to the ladies present. The essayist main- 
tained that in our common tonal system of twelve tones in the octave for the so- 


344 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


called chromatic scales of seven tones fitted into the diatonic scale, and from 
sensitiveness, one between each of the whole tones, the fifths are impure, being a 
little too low, but the thirds are much out of time, being considerably too high. 
Another system is possible of nineteen tones in the octave, thus giving besides. 
the seven tones of the diatonic scale twelve other tones, of which two fit between. 
each of the five whole tones and one between each of. the two semi-tones. This 
system gives, however, results inferior to that in use by calculation. When, 
however, we divide the octave into thirty-one equal parts we obtain four tones 
between each of the five whole tones and two between each of the two semi-tones, 
which gives with the seven tones of the diatonic scale thirty-one tones. This. 
system will give also pure thirds and also fits exactly in the adopted system of 
rotation. 


ClsGs MOTB 


CHEMICAL LITERATURE. 


Chemical Literature, by Dr. H. C: Bolton. He traced the history of chem- 
ical literature from the earliest known manuscripts to the beginning of this cen- 
tury, described the characteristics of minor works at different epochs, the discov- 
eries they chronicled and their influence on contemporaneous science. 

He dwelt briefly upon the chief works of the Arabians, who a thousand 
years ago defined chemistry as ‘“‘ the science of combustion, the science of weight 
and the science of the balance.” 

In the middle ages literature and science were cast in an ecclesiastical mould. 
Scientific treatises were the production of monks, and emanated from cloisters. 
Among the distinguished philosophers who mastered widely separated branches 
of learning and wrote treatises which 300 years ago were regarded as masterpieces 
of science, and formed the text books of students of alchemy, should be named 
Alain de Little, Roger Bacon, Raymond Lally and Albertus Magnus. The col- 
lected works of the last named fill twenty-one folio volumes. In the sixteenth 
century alchemists began to publish the results of their study and industry, with 
the natural consequence that in the succeeding century a prodigious number of 
alchemical works were issued in Germany, France and England; some recorded 
valuable experiments, but the majority contained ‘‘a crude mass of incoherent 
propositions and wild assertions, a mixture of poesy and insanity,” all combined 
to produce literary monstrosities as fascinating to the student of chemical history 
as they were profitless to the practical worker in modern science. After noticing 
a large number of works on chemistry and kindred subjects published between 
the years 1600 and 1700, the opening of a public laboratory for instruction at 
Altdorf, Bavaria, under the direction of Prof. J. H. Hoffmann, and in the same 


MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 345 


year a similar institution at Stockholm under the guidance of Urban Hiurne, 
were referred to. Lexicons and dictionaries early became a feature of chemical 
literature, the early Greek MSS. contained ‘‘ vocabularies of the sacred art.” 
The dissemination of the views of Lord Bacon about the middle of the seven- 
teenth century, gave a great impulse to scientific investigation and the ‘‘ splendid 
fiction of the new Atlantis,’ was practically realized in the foundation of the 
*¢ Royal Society for improving natural knowledge.” After referring to the learn- 
‘ed men who, in 1645 forced from London to.Oxford by civil war, there laid the 
foundations of an edifice destined to rise higher, endure longer and to shelter a 
nobler offspring than the most.sanguine could have foreseen, mention was made 
-of some of the earliest periodicals devoted to chemistry. 

The modern period of chemistry was characterized by the opposing forces, a 
tendency to dispersal and an effort to collect the widely scattered publications. 
‘On the other hand, laborious authors collected and set in order this dispersed ma- 
terial forming massive hand-books too wieldy for use. In this connection he 
wanted to bring a matter of the utmost importance to the attention of the meet- 
ing. It wasthe question of compiling an index of the various works of chemistry, 
tracing its course from its rise in Egypt to the present day. He had attempted to 
show in his address how interesting a study the history of chemistry was to the . 
students of the science and in fact that it was absolutely necessary that the thor- 
ough chemist should have a knowledge of it and be familiar with the theories 
which were discussed centuries ago. Time and time again the necessity of pre- 
paring an index had been discussed, but nothing done. 

The applause with which the address was received having subsided, Prof. 
Arthur Elliott, of Columbia College, suggested that immediate action should be 
taken, as the matter was of the utmost importance. He consequently moved, 
and it was unanimously resolved by the meeting, that the Chairman should ap- 
point two of the members to act with himself as a committee to discuss the feasi- 
bility of preparing an index. 


VME Cin ANG AL SCiEIN|C i. 


THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH IN MECHAN- 
TONES ClLENGE 


Prof. W. P. Trowbridge, the Chairman, took for the subject of his annual 
address ‘‘ The Importance of Experimental Research in Mechanical Science.” 
He maintained that when Mechanical Science is divested of the subjects in it 
which have given rise to so much discussion, it is considered by many to have 
resolved itself into only a few axioms and theorems. So many of the disputed 
theories being now disproved, and no controversy over the science now going 


546 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


on, we can hardly help regarding mechanical science as completely understood 
in all of its? branches; and as there is no bright prospect of brilliant discoveries: 
regarding long disputed questions opened out to the young student of Mechani- 
cal Science, he does not pursue his investigations with the energy and persever- 
ance which ,characterized his predecessors. ‘This is not as it should be. The 
truth is,’Mechanical Science is only now beginning to offer itself to men in a 
state from which they can work with prospects of success, it having had torn 
from it all of the mistaken theories which hid it from them, and prevented them 
from putting it to much use. The epoch in which we live has shown marvelous 
and unexpected results, but there is still open a very wide and promising field of 
research for the student of Mechanical Science, in the wide range of the arts and 
engineering. In these days of engineering achievements safety and cost both 
depend on the knowledge gained by experimental research. He thought it very 
humiliating for American engineers that in their calculations they had to work on 
data derived from abroad. Besides this being calculated to bring discredit on 
America for the want of scientific energy, it was likely to be disastrous in its re- 
sults in another way. The very condition of things on this continent are differ- 
ent from those abroad, and the material connot be the same, so that the calcula- 
tions are really made out on wrong hypotheses. This want of experimental re- 
search in America should not be charged to the engineers, as they do not possess 
the necessary and expensive appliances and cannot afford to buy them, besides 
wanting the requisite time, At any rate he did not very highly estimate re- 
searches by private institutions, and he thought it was a reproof to the Govern- 
ments that they had not taken the matter in hand. All of the data at the disposal 
of the engineers is half a century old, and they had no accurate data for deter- 
mining the strength of the new irons and steels, a matter of the utmost impor- 
tance, when iron is being so largely introduced into the construction of buildings. 
He considered that the Governments were acting unfairly to the engineers. 
These gentlemen cannot design without relying on the data they are in possession 
of as to experimental researches, and although they use their own experience, he 
expressed the fear that some day some of them would be led astray in their cal- 
culations by incorrect data, and bring on themselves ruin. Now steam and hot 
air were being used so much for heating purposes, he thought it absolutely nec- 
essary that there should be some data regarding the capacity of iron piping, but 
no experiments have been made, and disastrous results may be expected. The 
world in its march onward will soon demand, in fact, is demanding that some- 
thing should be done in this direction. There is a movement in the world to 
overcome all of the obstacles in the way of general progress, and public opinion 
will have to be accommodated. Stronger ships with machinery that will make 
them fairly fly through the water will have to be built, powerful engines will have 
to be designed, which will rush trains along at a speed not now imagined possible, 
and that over bridges constructed with the least possible expense. This will in 

crease the risks and responsibilities of the engineers, and they will be compelled 
to ask for public aid. A great work has lately been done by science in sanitary 


AEKIAL NAVIGATION. 347 


matters, but most of the investigations have been carried on out of America. He 
would suggest that the Government should be asked to inaugurate a thorough 
series of experiments. There would undoubtedly be great trouble in obtaining 
the services of the right men for the work, as it is on them that the success of the 
undertaking would depend. Prof. Trowbridge concluded with a highly eulogistic ~ 
reference to the scientific investigations carried on by Dr. Haughton, of Dublin 
College, present at the meeting. 


. 


AERIAL NAVIGATION PRACTICABLE. 


Mr. Joseph L’Etoile, of the Department of the Interior, Ottawa, read 
a paper on ‘‘A Review of the Subject of Atmospheric Current, Electricity and 
Gases, with a view to Practical Aérial Navigation by means of Balloons.” The 
paper was illustrated with a proposed balloon of fish-like form with a screw at 
one end and a rudder at the other end. He said that the system of practical 
. ballooning means that a balloon should ascend without loss of ballast and should 
descend without waste of gas. The balloon of the future should be given the 
‘shape of a fish provided with a propeller, a rudder, with gas and air pumps and 
three gasometers, one for gas, one for air and one for making the change of tem- 
perature in the balloon caused by the solar warmth, or moisture in the air, so that 
by these means the balloonist or aéronaut can control his air-vessel as easily as 
the engineer his steamboat or locomotive. It is well known that when a bal- 
loon shoots up, the gas dilates, the gasometers or gauges tell the changes, and 
the balloonist adjusts to circumstances. A balloon built on this new plan can 
ascend or descend slowly, thus giving time to meteorological instruments to mark 
accurate changes. Charts could be made, and balloonists would know the 
routes of travel in the air, day and night, at any season of the year. To give an 
idea of the possibility of establishing those charts, the following may be apropos. 
For instance, a balloon sailing from America to Europe should keep within the 
lower region, when sailing from Europe to America, it should sail in the high re- 
gion. Whyso? The reason is that cold air is heavier than warm air, conse- 
quently the cold Arctic currents prevail in high altitudes especially in the north- 
ern Europe and America. 

Prof. J. Burkitt gave some explanation as to a new invention which was 
made in the shape of a steam engine indicator. 


AERIAL NAVIGATION. 


In section D, Mr. W. H. Lynch read a paper on ‘‘ The Future of the Balloon 
as a Practical Means of Aérial travel.” He said that the two systems of aérial 
navigation, by utilizing the flying principle, are quite opposed to each other. In 
the flying machine the wings or propellers are required to act upon the air to at 


348 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


once lift the dead weight ‘of the machine, and to propel it or direct its course. 
The balloon on the contrary, is itself a lifting power, lifting itself and carrying 
foreign weight that may be a force to direct or propel it. To make fly a machine 
that is heavier than the air there is needed to merely lift it a greater part, if not 
all, that it can carry of the weight of force necessary to affect or effect its motion. 
A machine that is lighter than the air will at least rise of itself and carry more or 
less surplus weight of force that may be required to make it do something more 
than merely rise. We do not forget that the self-lifting machine is in one respect 
at a disadvantage with the inert or dead weight machine. To be lighter than air 
means to be bulky and to offer in motion great resistance to the air, while what 
is heavier than air is more compact and its motion more easily caused or directed. 
This one advantage of the flying machine over the balloon counts, however, but 
little, so long as it cannot both lift itself and carry the little extra weight of the 
force required to propel it. The balloon will carry no mean weight besides its 
own, possibly passenger or freight weight, and the extra weight of a force that 
may direct or even propel the whole. Strange to say, the principle of the flying 
machine that has never given any practical results in aerostation, and indeed has 
given little or no promise of future practical results, seems for some years to have 
been more in favor of scientists than has been the balloon principle, from which 
most important, not to say exceedingly promising results have been obtained. 
When it comes to serious suggestions of possible means of future aérial travel, 
confidence in science, inventive talent and mechanical skill is lost, and he who 
is sanguine of the future is by many of the good and wise looked upon as a fit 
subject for mild ridicule. In answer to the question, from which principle may 
the best results be expected? we may note that the dead weight principle has 
given no promise that we shall get from it, alone at least, any practical result. 
The balloon principle has already given us so much that no one may positively 
negative the opinion of Glaisher, that it is the ‘‘ first principle of some aérial 
machine that remains to be suggested.” 

The peculiar disadvantage of the balloon, that of bulkiness, may be mini- 
mized, and the flying principle itself may doubtless be utilized to its full value in 
its application to the direction or propulsion of the balloon. There has been al- 
most no progress lately in this matter. The fact that little has been accomplished 
here, while there has been great advance elsewhere, is taken as a proof that little 
may be looked for, but we think this a mistaken supposition. The growing in- 
terest and faith in the future of aérial travel is well seen by the attention paid 
lately by scientific journals to the question. As societies for the advancement of 
aéronautics have been established in Britain, America, France and other coun- 
tries, there is reason to believe that our knowledge of this most difficult depart 
ment of science will be more extensive in the near future, and he believed 
that aérial navigation would yet become a success. 


SOURCE OF BITUMEN IN THE OHIO SHALE. 349 


CEOrOGYe AND GROGRAP EY: 


REPORA OF PROM, (Ey de COX 


Prof. E. T. Cox, Vice President of the section, was formerly Professor of 
“Geology in the State University of Indiana, and removed to San Francisco four 
-years ago, since which he has traveled and made extensive explorations in’ Ari- 
zona, and latterly in Senora, Mexico. 

Prof. Cox stated to the section that the labor he had been engaged in during 
the past four years had been of a character to take him away from practical geo- 
logical work. For the last year he had been a portion of the time in Mexico, out 
-of reach of all scientific journals and libraries from which to obtain the necessary 
‘information to make a regular address such as would represent the progress of 
geology during the present year, but at the request of the members present he 
gave them a familiar ex-tempore address on the general character of the geology 
of the Pacific States the mineral deposits of the region, placer gold mining, and 
gave some account of the anthracite coal field which exists 120 miles east of 
-Guymas, on the Zaqui River, in Sonora, Mexico. 


BITUMEN IN THE OHIO SHALE. 


Prof. Edward Orton, of Columbus, Ohio, read a paper entitled ‘‘ A Source 
-of the Bituminous Matter in the Ohio Black Shale.”’ Dr. Orton said that the 
three beds of bituminous shale of Huron, Cleveland and Newbury have many 
points of structure and history in common. They are all marine in origin, and 
they were all formed in quiet waters, and not upon shore lines. They carry from 
8 to 22 per cent of organic matter, and this gives them their color and renders 
them combustible to a more or less degree. There is scarcely a summer in 
‘which some of the shale banks of southern Ohio do not take fire. It is this same 
‘organic matter obviously to which they owe their character as oil producing 
‘shales. They have already been turned to account for the production of oil, 
and it is scarcely to be doubted that the great stock of carbon which they con- 
tain will at some time be utilized by man. This organic matter has been referred 
both to animal and vegetable sources for its origin, and both of these divisions of 
the living world have certainly contributed to it. He considered this accumula- 
tion of bituminous matter as the result of the growth of sea-weeds in marine ba- 
‘sins. In examining in a microscope some borings from a well he found at depths 
‘of 996, 1016 and 1044 feet, a number of minute translucent discs, resinous in ap- 
‘pearance and unmistakably organic in origin. On examining the black shale 


300 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


from Columbus, he also found it charged with forms similar, or perhaps identical. 
with these. A number of other organic forms are associated with the spores in 
the black shale. In fact a flora and fauna of considerable interest are coming to- 
light in these hitherto neglected strata. - 

After a lengthy discussion the section adjourned. 


GEOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY. 


The first paper was by Principal Dawson, President of the American Asso- 
ciation for the Advancement of Science, on ‘‘ The Successive Palzozoic Floras 0 
Eastern North America, and more especially of Canada.” The paper gave a 
sketch of the characteristic species of plants of the Permo-carboniferous, coal 
measures, millstone grit and lower carboniferous, and of the upper, middle and 
lower Erian (Devonian), with special reference to ‘the collections made by the 
author from these several formations; and discussed, also, the remains of plants 
found in the Siberian and older formations. 

Remarks were made upon the subject by Dr. Newberry and Prof. White. 

Prof. J. W. Whiteaves followed with a note on the occurrence of Szphonotre- 
ta Scotica in the Utica formation, near Ottawa, after which Mr. Samuel Lock- 
wood read a paper on ‘‘ A Mastodon Americanus, found ina Beaver Dam near 
Freehold, N. J.” The author gave an account of his finding and exhuming the 
remains of a mastodon in the peat of a meadow, which he conjectured might have 
been the bed of an ancient beaver dam; in fact, beaver sticks were found overly- 
ing the skeleton, indicating that the dam was made after the death of the masto- 
ton. The tusks of the animal crumbled on approach to the air; he supposed 
them to weigh about 4oo pounds. It was thus shown that this mastodon was. 
contemporary with the modern beaver, also with the autochthonic man. Mr. 
Lockwood though this particular animal was geologically quite modern. He 
described three special finds of mastodon remains within a few miles of each 
other, on the New Jersey coast—one from a drift-covered swamp close to the sea, 
and two other instances of relics obtained out to sea. These he adduced as pe- 
culiar evidence that the shore of a portion at least of the New Jersey coast had 
subsided, and from it he inferred that the subsidence had encroached some miles. 
upon the land. . 


A NEW GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 


Immediately following the adjournment of section ‘‘ KE” a meeting of geolo-. 
gists was held, to consider among themselves the organization of an Ameri- 
can Geological Society, in no way to conflict with the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, and to hear correspondence from emi- 
nent men throughout the country on the subject. The Committee, which had 
been formed about a year ago, submitted its report, which consisted of a series of 


BIOLOGY OF AMERICAN MOLLUSKS. dol 


communications from leading scientific men, almost all strongly advocating the 
scheme, particularly that portion of it relating to the publication of a geological 
magazine. After some discussion, principally of a nature favorable to the under- 
taking, it was decided to adjourn to the Molson Hall, as the room then being used 
was required for other purposes.. This was accordingly done and a private ses- 
sion was held. 


BIONI@E 


BIOLOGY OF AMERICAN MOLLUSKS. 


The Vice-President, Prof. Wm. H. Dall, read his opening address, taking 
for his subject the ‘‘ Biology of American Mollusks” and what knowledge has 
been acquired regarding them. The study of mollusks, he first remarked, was 
at first esthetic rather than scientific, and to this day its popularity is chiefly fos- 
tered by the satisfaction of the sense of beauty derived from a contemplation of 
the exquisite shells produced by some members of this branch of the animal king- 
dom. The almost purely artificial classification of shell-bearing mollusks by Lin- 
neeus was so convenient that later on great difficulty was experienced in chang- 
ing it, and confusion in the nomenclature yet puzzles the student. Thos. Say 
was the pioneer conchologist of America, and in 1816 published the first scien- 
tific article upon the shells of the country. For many years American students of 
conchology were occupied in the description and iconography of our native mol- 
lusks as an inevitable preliminary to the study of geographical distribution and 
other more philosophical branches of the subject. The molluscan fauna of the 
land and fresh water shells of North America is now very well known, although 
something yet remains to be done in the Southern States. With marine forms 
the case is different. The fauna of Canada and of the eastern coast of the United 
States had been worked very thoroughly by resident naturalists, and Carpenter, 
Cooper, Gabb, Hemphill and others had given a pretty good knowledge of the 
western coast, except the Alaskan coast. The mollusk fauna of the Arctic Coast | 
is also well known. On the southern coast, especially about the Gulf of Califor- 
nia, the knowledge is by no means thorough. 

The speaker then referred to the rich finds of shells, recent and fossil, made 
in Colorado, Nicaragua, Laramie and elsewhere, and drew attention to the im- 
portance of the discoveries in the recent deep sea dredging. The anatomical 
features of the adult mollusks, except in a few groups, have been much neglected 
and are of no first importance. The soft parts of even our common oyster are 
differently described by different naturalists, and monographed by none. ‘The 
instinctive and mental phenomena which may be exhibited by living mollusks 
have not yet been subjected to an investigation. A few persons merely had de- 


“359 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


-scribed actions which, on mature consideration, might be held to exhibit mental 
processes of a certain kind. 

The speaker had lately put on record certain observations which seem to 
indicate the possession by some species of the genus Helix, of the power to rec- 
ognize a call or sound and distinguish it from other calls or sounds of a similar 
-character, and since then he has received several less exact communications seeming 
to confirm this conclusion. It can hardly be doubted that in a group contain- 
ing so many animals of a high degree of organization, such as the cuttles and 
‘squids, for instance, mental processes of a tolerably complex nature must be car- 
ried on in many cases. This subject has, as yet, received no attention. Anoth- 
-er important branch of the subject is the modification of organic life by physical 
-causes and the perpetuation of modifications by natural and sexual selection. 
Mollusks occupy the middle ground between the higher groups of life, where 
natural selection has its freest play, and ‘those lower categories where its opera- 
‘tions are veiled or inefficient. Investigation of the laws of variation among mol- 
lusks is therefore especially desirable. 

The influences of natural selection are most evident, as they should be, in 
‘those mollusks which, by their terrestrial habitat, are brought into the closest 
-contact with enemies of relatively high intelligence, such as birds and other ver- 
‘tebrata. The selected characteristics are chiefly of color. The grey and dull ap- 
.pearance of species inhabiting arid regions is well known. The speaker then de- 
‘scribed many of the shells noticeable for their varieties and complexities of color, 
-and the causes of these differences, as far as known. Among marine forms, the 
struggle for existence, after the embryonic stages are past, is much less violent. 
‘This arises partly from the much more uniform conditions of life in the sea, part- 
ly from the general abundance of food contained in the sea water, and partly 
‘from the lesser intelligence of enemies which are chiefly fishes and predacious 
mollusks. Food has without question great importance, especially in determin- 
ing certain tints of color. The speaker gave instances of the effect upon shells, 
in modifications upon them. Certain shells, said he, pick up and attach to their 
‘upper surfaces bits of dead coral, stones and fragments of shell, until they 
were entirely covered. Viewed from above, as they must be for the most part, 
‘by fishes and carnivorous mollusks, nothing but dead and refuse material is 
visible. It is evident that this system of clothing themselves by shells must be 
a great protection, both from enemies, which would pass them by, and from 
accidental concussions. This must be confirmed as a habit by natural selection. 
The character and disposition of the load has become so uniform in many Cases, 
as almost to take rank as specific characters. 


PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NATIVE FRIBES.OF CANADA. 353 


JIN Sli QuelOlsOG 


| SOME PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NATIVE TRIBES OF 
CANADA. 


The address of the Vice-President of the Anthropological Section, Dr. Dan- 
iel Wilson, F.R.S.E., was read in his absence in Germany, by Prof. Otis Mason, 
of Washington, the Secretary. The subject was ‘‘Some Physical Characteristics 
of Native Tribes of Canada.” The following is a summary: 

In inviting attention to some of the physical characteristics which distinguish 
certain native races of the Dominion, and especially to the significance of certain: 
typical head-forms it is important to keep in view the prevalence throughout the 
American continent of various artificial modifications of skull-forms. This strange 
custom is probably at the present time carried on more systematically among the 
different tribes of Flathead Indians of British Columbia than in any other region. 
The practice of moulding the human head into abnormal forms has been found 
alike amon§ the civilized races of Peru, the ancient lettered architects of Central 
America and Mexico, and among barbarous tribes both to the east and west of 
the Rocky Mountains. Among the Chinooks and other Flathead tribes of this. 
continent, and also, I believe among the ancient builder-races of Yucatan and 
Peru, certain head-forms were recognized as an attribute of the ruling cast. One 
of the first examples of medizeval compressed crania, which attracted special at- 
tention in Europe was a skull found, in the year 1820, at Fuersbrunn, in Austria. 
The well known traveler, Dr. Tschudi, conceived that the skull was brought to 
Europe as a curiosity, and then thrown aside. 

It thus appears that the practice of artificially compressing crania belongs 
both to the Old and New World. It is now recognized that the artificial head- 
forms characteristic of divers tribes of North and South America vary greatly. 
The predominant natural form of the more southern tribes of North America ap- 
pears to have been globular. The type of head-form of the Indians of Hochela- 
ga, first met by Jacques Cartier in 1535, we can judge from the crania recovered 
from their cemeteries. The palisaded Indian town of Hochelaga occupied, in 
the 16th century, the site where we are now assembled, and in the museum of 
McGill College may be seen examples of the crania. It is a noticeable fact in 
reference to the entire population of the western hemisphere that the ethnical di- 
versities are slight when compared with those which pertain to the older conti- 
nents. Great as is the superficial resemblance which seems to pervade the di- 
verse tribes of the American continents some of the underlying differences are 
noted from the first. Columbus failed not to note the marked distinction between 
the fair complexion of the Guanches and the reddish olive of the ferocious Caribs. 


& 


354 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


While it is interesting to notice that the aborigines of Canada differ in cer- 
tain physical characteristics from those especially of the Southern States it is true 
that the tribes of North and South America approximate in many characteristics. 
Humbolt remarked that ‘‘the nations of America, except those which border the 
polar circle, form a single race, characterized by the formation of the skull, the 
color of the skin, the extreme thinness of the beard, and the straight, glossy hair,” 
and until very recent years this was accepted by every one. Among typical 
Canadian skulls, those of the Hurons of the region lying around Georgian Bay 
have a special value. The race was exterminated, or driven out of the country 
by their Iroquois foes, in 1649, the crania recovered from their old cemeteries 
giving a fair illustration of the physical characteristics of the race. 

Of all known races of the New World, the Eskimos alone presented, at first, 
a seemingly marked diversity from the other aborigines, traceable far more to 
Arctic conditions of life than to any ethnical peculiarities assigned to them. 
Malte Brun, Robertson, Humboldt, Morton, Meigs, Gliddon and Agassiz all con- 
cur in excepting the polar tribes, or Eskimos, from the assumed Ametican race 
peculiar to this continent. Latham says of the Eskimos :—‘‘ Physically, he is a 
Mongol and Asiatic; philologically, he is American, at least in respect to the 
principles upon which his speech is constructed.” One branch of them, the 
Labrador Eskimos borders on our own eastern settlements on the St. Lawrence. 
Then there are the East and West Greenlanders, and to the north ef them are 
the Eskimos, of the west coast, north of Melville Bay, styled by Sir John Ross 
the ‘‘ Arctic Highlanders.” This widely scattered race is broken up into small 
tribes and isolated bands, dispersed for the most part over a coast line extending 
from Labrador to Behring Strait, upward of 5,000 miles. They are hunters and 
fishers. The deer, polar bear, wild goose, swan, and other birds are alike ob- 
jects of the chase, but they primarily depend on seals and cretaceous animals. 
The Eskimos in one respect, occupy a peculiar position on this Continent. 
They are the only race common to the Old and New World, and if we accept 
the conclusion arrived at by the author of ‘‘ Early Man in Britain,” they consti- 
tuted an Old World race to all appearance before the New World had come into 
existence. 

Prof. Boyd Dawkins has reviewed the manners and habits of the Eskimos, 
a race of hunters, fishers, and fowlers, comparing their habits to those of the cave_ 
men of ancient Europe. ‘The implements and weapons of both prove that their 
manner of life was the same, and what strikes him as the most astonishing bond 
of union between the cave-men and Eskimos, is the art of representing animals, 
and after noting those familiar to both, he says, ‘‘all these points of connection 
between the cave-men and the Eskimos can, in my opinion, be explained only 
on the hypothesis that they belong to the same race. The Eskimo’s phisiognomy 
is of a poor Mongolian type. The nose is flat and cheek bones are very promi- 
nent, the tendency in the skull is narrow and long.’’ The reasonable limits of an 
address to this section of anthropology are exceeded, and the various points of 
differences to the aborigines of the Dominion illustrative alike of the physical . 


A SCHEME OF ANTHROPOLOGY. | 305 


characteristics of our native Canadian tribes, and of some special points of signifi- 
cance in relation to their arts are only glanced at. One deduction, however, 
may be worthy of future consideration. If it be a fact borne out by much in- 
-dependent evidence that from the,extremest northern range of the Arctic Eski- 
mo, southward to the Great Lakes, and beyond this, especially to the east of the 
Alleghany Mountains, amid considerable diversity of ethnical characteristics, the 
-dolichocephalic type of head prevailed; whereas among more southern tribes, 
such as the Osages, Ottoes, Missouris, Dacotas, Cherokees, Seminoles, Creeks, 
and many others, including the Florida Indians, the short, rounded, or brachy- 
cephalic head appears to have been universal; this seems to point to a converg- 
ence of two distinct ethnical lines of migration from opposite centres. In this as 
I believe, the evidence thus derived from physical characteristics confirms what 
is indicated by wholly independent evidence of language, traditional customs, 
and native arts. 


A SCHEME OF ANTHROPOLOGY. 


Prof. Alex. Winchell, of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 
presided. There was a large attendance of members. 

The first paper read at the morning session of this section was by Professor 
‘Otis T. Mason, of the Columbian University, Washington, U. S., on ‘‘ A Scheme 
-of Anthropology,” of which the following is a summary : 


Science progresses by observation, by the classification of phenomena, by 
the deduction of the laws of nature, and by inquiring into the origin and correla- 
tions of its objects. The amount of progress at any moment is indicated by the 
condition of the nomenclature. In every department of knowledge it is now 
deemed necessary to investigate origins. or beginnings. The science of man must 
have its three stages of development—description, science, and law. These three 
Stages are (1) the phenomenal, observational, descriptive ; (2) the classifying, dis- 
criminating, analytical; (3) the synthetic, deductive, predictive stage. No branch 
-of study is altogether worthy of the name of a science that has not passed through 
these three steps. The natural history of man, as a whole, will be divided into 
four parts; the first relating to the origin of man. Whatever view we take of 
man’s origin in the first being, it is probable there existed in embryo the promise 
and potency of his future. The second part is the descriptive, including facts 
and objects necessary to correct inferences. The third part embraces all that 
has gone before, and finally all attempts to study the phenomena of human prog- 
ress must end in understanding the law of that movement, so that it may be 
useful to the man of action in the future. 

The gathering of crania, skeletons, implements of stone, bone, clay, shell, 
etc., the consideration of their position and the truthful report of what is observ- 
ed constitutes the first lesson in priscan history. The pursuit, however, has little 
claim to be called a science as yet. There are hundreds of men and women, 


356 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


archzeomaniacs, ransacking the earth and wasting fortunes merely to satisfy a. 
morbid desire for collecting. The work was, however, by a few done well. 
Time has dealt rudely with ancient man and his works. In the study of arche- 
ology, anthropology is involved. The anthropology of the present commences 
with the study of man as a member of the animal kingdom. It is only since the 
publication of Mr. Darwin’s Origin of Species that diligent inquiries have been 
made into the method of man’s origination. We must measure, weigh, scrutinize, 
dissect men ere we can arrive at any safe deductions regarding their animal na- 
ture. Then, we consider the science of mind. The observation of human 
thought, the careful collection of facts gathered from all races and ranks of men, 
are essential to a wide psychology. The consideration of language, the instru- 
ment of precision by which thought is gaugéd, the vehicle of thought between 
mind and mind. The process of thinking is double, consisting first in the crea- 
tion of thought and second in the expression, expenditure, transfer, commerce of 
ideas and judgments. The expression and interchange of thought has been the 
subject of curiosity and research. ‘The science of chronology, the indiscrimina- 
tion of these characteristics which form the natural barriers between kindreds, 
tongues, peoples and nationalities. 

Out of these studies of race, religion, etc., are to come forth the laws which 
are of the profoundest importance to the statesman and philanthropist. On this 
subject of race Lord Beaconsfield was ever dwelling. The sentence in Endy- 
mion, which declares that language and religion do not make race is fine writing, 
but not good ethnology. The next department for consideration is human in- 
dustry. The happiness of man seems linked with the most perfect conquest of 
nature. Then we come to the study of the fundamental laws of the various oc- 
cupations of men, how they grow, relate themselves to races, times and areas. 
After this, sociology. Companionship is the necessary condition of civilization, 
co-operation is the constant factor in this variable equation. To properly classify 
the phenomena of the family, the community, the state, it is necessary that the 
children should be impartially scrutinized and described. Finally, we are brought 
face to face with the spirit world, leading us to consider the conceptions of different 
peoples regarding the unseen causes of phenomena, the organization of society, 
the acts and ceremonies growing out of the ideas and social classes, the symbols 
and implements of worship. A science in which every human being is a constit- 
uent element will continue to take a deeper hold upon the intelligence of thought- 
ful people. It will be a sufficient reward for this humble undertaking if it adds 
anything whatever towards a just, and comprehensive view of anthropology as 
a whole, and of the varied studies which enter into its prosecution. 

The Chairman suggested the application of the word theology to the science 
of religion as regarded by anthropologists, but Mr. Mason replied that the word 
was already too much occupied. After some remarks by Mr. C. Roosvelt, of 
New York, Mrs. Erminnie Smith, of Jersey City, N. J., defended the conduct 
of those so called archeomaniacs, who, she thought, had been somewhat 


THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX, _ 307 


rudely handled. The Indians themselves had made good collections which 
would be of value. 


THE CROSS AND THE CRUCIFIX. 


The next paper was read by Prof. Mason on behalf of Col. Chas. Whittle- 
sey, who could not be present. 

The following is asummary: ‘The object of the paper is to call attention to 
the difference between the cross and the Roman crucifix. Figures, having the 
general name of crosses, are quite diverse, and are widely dispersed. The sym- 
bol adopted by the early Christian churches had an upright part extending above 
the cross-piece. Among the Greeks the four arms were of nearly equal length. 
St. Anthony’s cross resembles a capital T with a short horizontal part. The 
Maltese is so much distorted that it nearly loses its right to the name. It has 
frequently been asserted that the T form was derived from the ancient Phallic 
worship long before the Christian era, intended as a mitigated expression of an 
indelicate symbolism. Whatever value should be placed upon this interpretation, 
neither the form nor the association can be properly connected with the Roman 
crucifixes, which, like our rope and scaffold, was merely the machinery of execu- 
tions. A figure precisely in the shape of the Roman cross might be found and 
not have any religious meaning whatever.. On nearly all inscribed rocks of the 
United States there are characters or figures that closely resemble some of the 
forms of the cross. In most cases these inscriptions represent the work of the 
red man Little reliance can be placed on the interpretations, as they are so 
varied. Whatever they mean we cannot determine their value until there are 
translations covering not merely symbols and words but well determined senten- 
ces having relation to each other. 

The Chairman said he understood the gist of the matter to be that the infer- 
ence held by some that the symbol of Christianity proper existed in prehistoric 
times. There was no discussion. 

Prof. G. H. Perkins, Burlington, Vt., gave a description of a collection of 
Sioux weapons and articles of dress in the possession of the University of Vermont, 
and invited members to inspect them. 

The same gentleman afterward delivered an address on some ‘‘ Recent Arch- 
zological Discoveries in Vermont.” The following is a brief summary: In the 
locality of Monkton very many hammer stones made of quartz pebbles. Hun- 
dreds of these have been found. The great mass of specimens found are of a 
grey quartzite flaked into knives. Hatchets, hoes, spades, spear-points and other 
implements. Pestles of very diverse forms of fine work have been found. Celts, 
amulets, gouges and other fine specimens have been found. Chips and flakes 
in immense quantities. Cart loads of such flakes exist over perhaps an hundred 
acres of a farm. These must have been brought to the place as no such rocks 


exist in places near the locality. 
V1—23 


358 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Dr. McGuire, Ellicott City, Indiana, said he had endeavored to discover 
how the hammers were grooved, and had been successful. 


A STONE GRAVE IN ILLINOIS. 


The session resumed at 2:30 o’clock P. M. The first paper read was by Mr. 
Charles Rau, Washington, U. S., on ‘‘ A Stone Grave in Illinois,” the following 
being a brief summary: There seems to be a general impression that the so- 
called stone graves, so frequent in some States of the Mississippi Valley, belong 
to a remote period, at least to a time long anteceding the arrival of the whites 
in North America. In 1861} while engaged in the investigations into stone 
graves, he visited the farm of Dr. Shoemaker, near Columbus, Illinoes. There 
he saw an empty stone grave. until lately the last resting place of a Kickapoo In- 
dian. He could assert that the grave differed in no way from others seen by 
him in the neighborhood. In the early part of this century, the Kickapoos in- 
habited the country bordering on the central waters of the Illinois, but they 
roamed over the whole territory now forming that State and far beyond it. Mr. 
John D. Hunter, who lived many years among the Kickapoos, says burial is per- 
formed differently, not only by different tribes, but by the individuals of the same 
tribe. The body is sometimes placed on the surface of the ground, between flat 
stones set edge upwards, and then covered over, first by similar stones, and then 
with earth brought a short distance. It appears to me that the stone graves owe 
their origin to the race inhabiting within historical times, or even earlier, the dis- 
tricts where they are found. The method of burial, very simple in itself, was ~ 
suggested by the facility of obtaining flag-stones suitable for the construction of 
these primitive coffins, which protected the dead most effectually from the attack 
of wild beasts. If, finally, due consideration is given to the circumstance that 
the articles found in the graves in question evince no higher skill than that at- 
tained by the more advanced of the historically known tribes of North American 
Indian, there hardly remains any reasonable ground for not ascribing to such 
tribes the humbler mortuary receptacles treated in this hasty sketch. 

Mr. Hardy, of Indiana, described a mound which had been opened in his 
neighborhood. 

Prof. Townshend, of Columbus, Ohio, mentioned the fact that an old grave 
had been opened in Ohio. The skeletons of a male and female were in it. Un- 
der the head of the male was a stone disc which identified the skeleton with an- 
other race of people. It is about fifteen inches in diameter, made of limestone, 
and thoroughly figured on one side with littie squares. 

Rev. Joshua Anderson, of Waterbury, Conn., said there was no reason to 
suppose that the American Indians did not extend back a good many hundred 
years. 

The Chairman said it was not wise to come to hasty conclusions in this mat- 


CHIEF DEITIES [N AMERICAN RELIGION. 309 


ter. In the question touching the identity of peoples who have lived in the dif- 
ferent ages, more than the evidence of archeology was required. What the peo- 
ples were is shown by that which remains of them, the skeleton, jaws, and bones. 
The Peruvian skull is distinct from the skull of the North American Indian, and 
it seemed incredible that the two races represented should have been zodlogically 
the same. 


CHIEF DEITIES IN AMERICAN RELIGION. 


The first paper was read by Mr. A. S. Gatschet, the subject being the ‘‘ Chief 
Deities in American Religion.” He said, ‘“‘ The religions of all tribes discovered 
in North and South America belong to the category of spirit worship mixed with 
some lower or higher degree of anthropomorphism. ‘Their deities are clearly 
nature gods, their worship is not a cw/¢ intended for merely improving the wor- 
shiper, but is propitiation, and propitiation is only another form of human 
egotism. The majority of these gods are austere, cruel and remorseless for their 
present objects and powers of nature, and like these they show no moral or sen- 
timental aspects like monotheistic deities. At the time of their discovery, and a 
long time after it, many American tribes, although possessed of religion, seem to 
have had no priest, no ceremonial rites, no religious festivals, sacrifices or tem- 
ples, and this induced some travelers who were unable to communicate in their 
own language and had not remained long enough to study their customs and 
ideas with becoming thoroughness to deny the existence of any sort of religion 
among them. Had they enquired for these burial customs they would at once 
have detected a belief in a future life, and such a belief is inseparable from 
religious ideas. A close examination of the initiation rights would have reveal- 
ed the fact that most of these customs are of a religious character, the term re- 
ligious to be understood, of course, in a more comprehensive sense than the one 
the Christian attaches to it. 

The best term to depict the real essence or quality of American religion is 
not that of polytheism, but the one of polydaimonism, which means the worship of 
many spirits. In the motley crowd of ancient and new gods in American relig- 
ions, a few only rise to general prominence, and among these few one is con- 
sidered as the principal deity. The chief god is not always the most popular 
deity among men, but he is regarded as the most powerful among the gods, many 
of whom are found to be antagonistic to his rule. Chief deities represent a com- 
bination of several powers of nature united into one body. In the mythic stories 
of the people, this chief god is sometimes the most frequently spoken of; at other 
times he is placed in the background by one or two more brilliant, and therefore 
more popular creations of the aboriginal mind, and if his obnoxious or terrific 
qualities make him less attractive to man, his irresistible power will leave him the 
object of intense dread.” The paper proceeded to investigate the chief duties of 


360 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, — 


South, Central and North America, of which we have any knowledge that is 
more than superficial. Among them may be mentioned the-Botchika of the 
Muisca people, U. S. ef Columbia, the Viracocha or ‘‘ water-foam ” and the Inti 
of the Peruvians, the Tezcatlipoca or the ‘‘ shining mirror” of the Aztecs of Mex 
ico, the Amotkan of the Selish, of Washington Territory and British Columbia, 
the Manibozko among the Ojibbeways. These gods were all found to be solar 
gods, while other deities of the same nations appearing in their mythology as 
rivals to the sun-gods or lunar-gods, the most conspicuous of them being Quetzal- 
coatl of the Aztecs. In looking over the large number. of native American sun 
myths, investigators are induced to prove the opinion of the Jesuit Father Lafitau, 
who wrote in 1724:—‘‘ The sun is the divinity of the nations of America, without 
excepting any of those with whom we are acquainted. ‘The more tribes we ex- 
plore, the more we increase the number of men known to be sun worshipers, 
but through this inquiry another important result may be gathered with the majori- 
ty of all tribes worshiping the sun, regarding the sun deity as their chief deity.” 

This the author of the paper claims to be the principal and highly important 
conclusion derived from his researches on the subject, and it is only the imperfect 
state in which tribal mythology is generally brought to our knowledge that hinders. 
us from pushing on our enquiries in this direction. The only mode of getting at 
the real meaning of*Indian myths, is to take them down from the myth tellers in 
their Indian language, and obtain a careful translation of their texts. 

Discussion of the paper was adjourned until after the reading of the paper 
by Mrs. Erminnie Smith, of New Jersey. 


BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS OF THE IROQUOIS INDIANS. 


Who can say that the first religious lesson (in embryo) received by primitive 
man may not have been received from the stern teacher, Death, and that a life- 
less body did not first force upon him the conception of a spirit and spirits. 

If so, the road must have been a long and painful one, from this first form- 
less antecedent of a religious conviction to the complex system of the religions of 
civilized man. 

But even a belief in spirits does not necessarily imply a worship of spirits or 
a conviction of their everlasting existence. 

What stage in religious evolution had the Iroquois attained when first found 
upon this continent, and what is their religious state to-day. 

Strange as it may appear, it is perhaps easier at this distance in time, with 
the accumulation of experiences, the better knowledge of their language and 
methods of thought, and the light gained through their folk-lore and traditions to 
judge of their past condition than it was for the pioneer who labored under the 
disadvantages and immense difficulties of deciphering a language so different 
from any written tongue, with all the invaluable scientific aids of comparative 
mythology and philology, contributed as they are to-day by every civilized nation, 
upon the globe. 


BELIEFS AND SUPERSTITIONS, OF THE TROQUOIS INDIANS. 361 


Up to within a half century to present a myth acceptably to the reading 
world, it must first be divested of its aboriginal setting, invested with a hero and 
heroine, have a plot and counterplot, or, if its kernel admitted, endowed with a 
great moral lesson laden with some proof of a universal deluge, or Hiawatha-like 
teach the doctrine of atonement, and repeat the story of the Ascension. The 
pagan Iroquois of to-day—and there are many—will tell you that his ancestors 
worshiped, as he continues to do, the ‘‘Great Spirit,” and that they like himself 
held feasts and dances in his honor. But a careful study of their mythology 
proves clearly that in the place of one prevailing ‘‘Great Spirit,” the Indian’s 
earliest conception of the white man’s God—the Iroquois gods were numerous, 
for all that which with them inspired reverence, awe, terror or gratitude became 
deities or human beings endowed with supernatural attributes. ‘‘ Hih-Nun,’” 
the beneficent Thunder God of the Ueigquieus compares most favorably with the 
same God as worshiped by other races. 

Among the supernatural beings corresponding to good and evil genii, we 
find the Great Heads with ever watchful argus eyes, and long hair which served ~ 
as wings to bear them on missions of mercy or of destruction. hy 

The only word for heaven in the different dialects is evidently a literal trans- 
lation of the Christian idea and signifies ‘‘in the sky.” The medicine man with 
his supernatural endowments, worked for the good of the Indian, and it is claimed 
foretold the coming of white man, but the idea of evil spirits inhabiting living 
forms only came © with the white man and his teachings of literal heaven, hell and 
devils! 

Among the highly civilized Chaldeans, Egyptians and Greeks the success of 
magic depended upon the ignorance of the masses. The Iroquois witch stories 
would alone fill a volume. Gifted as are their narratives with such scopeless im- 
aginative powers, and free from the trammels of adapting these stories to any 
standard of possibility, their absurdity might to the pale face seem incomprehensi- 
ble were not the atrocities of Salem still fresh in his memory. And the same 
holds true regarding their stories, explaining to their entire satisfaction the various 
phenomena of nature many of which are the ‘‘ burning questions” of the scientific 
world to-day. But how recently were we all content with solutions now consid- 
ered untenable. Let us then accept these oral traditions reverently as the stirrings 
of the infant human mind, in its search after the ‘‘ unknowable” containing per- 
haps the germ of a belief, certainly revealing that inherent ‘‘something” in man 
which pre-supposes the existence of the hidden forces, powers, or beings in na- 
ture. At first this may be but a mere blind feeling, butas man develops it be- 
comes an idea, then a recognized possibility, finally an article of religious faith. 


362 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


INDIAN MIGRATIONS AS EVIDENCED BY LANGUAGE. 
BY HON. HORATIO HALE, 


In this paper the author undertook to trace by the evidence of language, 
verified to some extent by that of tradition, the course of migration which has 
been followed by the tribes belonging to some of the leading linguistic stocks of 
North America. The Cherokees were shown to belong to the Huron-Iroquois 
stock, but to have received accessions to their vocabulary from some other source. 
The Huron language was shown to be the oldest in form among the languages of 
this stock. The migration of the Huron-Cherokee tribes was traced in a course 
leading from the northeast to the southwest, that is, from the lower St. Lawrence 
to northern Alabama. 

The Dakota stock was next considered. The Tuteloes of Virginia and 
North Carolina were shown to belong to this stock and to speak a language 
which is older in its forms than the language of the western Dakota tribes. The 
Algonkin tribes and languages were next examined, and the evidence was ex- 
hibited which shows that their migration probably flowed from Hudson’s Bay and 
Labrador towards the south and west. The tribes of the Chahta-Muskoki family 
were noticed, and the fact was pointed out that their language, like that of the 
Cherokees, has apparently received accession from some alien speech. Some 
reasons were given for supposing that this speech was that of the mound-builders 
of the Ohio Valley. Traditionary and linguistic evidence was adduced to show 
that the mound-builders were conquered and partly exterminated by the Iroquois 
and Algonkins, and that the survivors, mingling with the Cherokees and Choc. 
taws, caused great changes in the languages of these nations. 

The fact that the course of migration seems to have been from the Atlantic 
coast towards the interior was regarded as evidence that the ancestors of our In- 
dian tribes were emigrants from Europe. In support of this opinion, reference 
was made to the close resemblance in structure between the Barnque and Indian 
languages. It was further suggested that if the Aryan intruders, entering Europe 
from the east, encountered and absorbed a population resembling the American 
aborigines, this fact would account for the great changes which the Aryan speech 
underwent in central and western Europe. It would also account for a very re- 
markable change which took place in the character of the intruding race. The 
Aryans, who in the east have always been a submissive and contemplative race, 
devoid of the idea of popular government, became in Europe a high-spirited, 
practical nations and liberty-loving people. The conclusion is that the of mod- 
ern Hurope are a people of mixed race, forming a transition, in physical and 
mental traits, between the eastern Aryans and the aboriginal Americans. 


ANTHROPOLOGY. 363 


SOME HITHERTO UNNOTICED AFFINITIES BETWEEN ANCIENT 
CUSTOMS IN AMERICA AND OTHER CONTINENTS. 


DR. J. W. PHENE, F.S.A, F.R.G.S., F.G.S., OF LONDON. 


‘The author of this paper explained that as one of the great problems to be 
worked out, or which at least it is desired should be worked out, by all who have 
given any attention to the subject, is that of the races and civilizations which once 
flourished at the southern end of the northern continent of America, and which 
had evident connections with the more northern parts of what are now the United 
States, through those great ducts, the Mississippi and other vast river valleys, tend- 
ing to the latter direction, he had devoted many years to the investigation of the 
subject. He had read papers upon certain particulars of this subject in the capi- 
tals of those countries in which he had found corresponding remains, so far as 
those particulars applied respectively to such countries. Great difficulty, he said, 
existed through absence of literary records, possibly lost in the destruction of 
such evidence by the conquerors of Mexico, the only city and country in which 
civilization with rude but graphic literature and illustration existed on the face of 
this vast continent. And the difficulty was increased from the fact that, rude as 
it was, civilization had then reached a point at which literature became essential, 
and though now, to a great extent, lost had then actually taken root. Arrested 
by such barriers, any information which bears on the subject was important, the 
more so if, as in the present case, such information had been carefully collected 
by the devotion of years of personal investigation and travel to its acquirement. 

The customs which are shown to have existed in the great river valleys of 
America, though read with difficulty by the light of the strange monuments still 
existing there, seemed to the author to have had parallel existences on the other 
continents. In evidence of this he gave illustrations, by drawings and diagrams, 
of many earthworks and stone constructions which had been examined by him in 
company with a large number of scientific men, and which agreed in the method 
of executing the earthworks, of arranging the plans and designs, and in the evi- 
dently similar purposes for which they were designed, and to which they had 
been devoted. It was his intention to avoid all theories whether his own or 
others, upon the origin of the monuments, the nationalities of their constructors, 
or their special purposes, though the latter in most cases were apparent. Nor 
should he in this paper give any account of the American earthworks, except 
where comparisons with others became necessary, as the whole subject of the 
American works had been so ably brought before the public by such eminent 
men as the late Mr. Squire and Messrs. Lapham and Davis in the Svuthsonian 
Contributions to Knowledge and other works published under authority at Wash- 
ington. 


364 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


The points on which he rested his argument for the affinity of the American 
mounds and earthworks, and, necessarily, the customs with which they were 
connected, with those of Great Britain and a large number of similar works in 
France, Spain; Greece, Asia Minor, Persia and China, were, in the first instance, 
the existence of relationship to each other, always in the vicinity of rivers, of 
mounds representing animal forms, and—with some special. exceptions—the close 
proximity of vast works of camps for defense, huge enclosures or oppida for civil 
occupation, and other evidently sacred enclosures for solemn rites, worship and 
sepulture. In America these evidences went no further, but in the vicinity of 
the mounds he had traced in Western and Eastern Europe, and in Asia Minor, 
and still further East, not only were all these features attendant but the localities 
also abounded with mythological and traditionaty legends, and the retention of 
strange and weird ceremonies to the present day. / 

He selected as illustrations of the American mounds, those in the forms of 
serpents, the alligator (or mythical dragon), and the human form. ‘The serpent 
was shown, by the late Mr. Squire, to have been executed in two ways, viz:—by 
the solid continuous serpentine form, and by a series of symmetrical mounds uni- 
formly placed in curves. The reader gave examples of each of these, on dia-- 
grams, and explained that they existed in large numbers in Great Britain, similar 
in proportions and construction to those of the American mounds, which were 
kindred in form, and accompanying these were, he stated, in every case, exten- 
sive areas occupied by similar camps and enclosures for civil occupation, or op- 
pida, and also separate enclosures for worship and sepulture. The characteristic 
physical, natural and art features were also curiously persistent in each case, a 
triple imagery having been in very many instances studiously represented, both 
by places of selection, as the vicinity of triple peaked mountains, and in con. 
struction, by triangular chambers and triangular enclosures in or about the head 
of the animal forms, as well in the American as in other similar mounds. Since 
his arrival at Montreal he had heard of indications of this having been an Indian 
burying ground. They appeared often to have selected places of previous occu- 
pation, as in the mounds; and the triple hill and triangular piece of land at its 
base were significant. The works in Great Britain, Spain, France, etc., were 
found to contain chambers filled with cremative matter, and had studied arrange- 
ments for preserving the outlines of the animal forms, as shown in the diagrams, 
and were generally surrounded with vast lithic arrangements, and each, asa rule, 
was in the centre of an extensive necropolis of the primitive inhabitants The 
legends and traditions clustering about these places were always of the same 
class in the other continents, and almost always had reference to man as the 
possessor and the serpent or dragon as the persecutor or destroyer, and this 
whether the tradition was one of uncultured and primitive existence, or of the 
highest classical art ages and localities; and though such traditions did not exist 
in America, yet not only did their huge mounds simulate these forms, but there 
had been dug up from their mounds rude sculptured figures of the human form 
and also of entwined or coiled serpents, showing that in their construction the 


ANTHROPOLOGY. 365 


same ideas, if not similar legends and traditions, had existed, as those which origi- 
nated the gigantomxia of Pergamos. 

Amongst their numerous and striking examples of these forms in Great Brit- 
ain, corresponding with the animal and human forms in America, were some very 
remarkable and yet but little-known representations of the human form belonging 
to a rude and unlettered age, perhaps corresponding to that of the semi-barbarous 
age of Mexico, which are found on the coasts of Devonshire and South Wales 
sculptured in stone, a very remarkable example of which also existed near West 
Hoathly, in Sussex, which was traditionally stated to have been worshiped as a 
potent deity (the Goddess Andras) by the early Keltic inhabitants. In the vicin- 
ity of these rude figures in the western and eastern extremities of the South of 
England, were two enormous /aglio representations of the human form, corre- 
sponding to the intaglio forms at Milwaukee, in Wisconsin, only one of which had 
been mentioned, and that in a very cursory manner, by writers on the compari- 
son of these works with those of America, while their surroundings had been 
completely overlooked. The one not referred to was by far the more important, 
both in size and similarity, being in the exact attitude of the mounds in the hu- 
man form of the American mound-builders. About midway between these two 
figures was an equally enormous and well-known representation by zntaglio of a 
horse. 

These figures were all cut in the chalk hills, and might be said to be protect- 
ing deities of the three localities in England most abounding in remarkable and 
vast areas of camps, oppida or settlements, and places of worship. The whole 
district from Dorsetshire to Land’s End being commanded by the gigantic form 
in Dorsetshire ; that of the miles of stone avenues on both sides of the Medway 
in Kent, terminated by Kit’s Coity House at one end, sev=ral aleés couverts at the 
other, with the huge stone figure at West Hoathley and the wood of Anderida to 
the south, were commanded by the similar gigantic zwtagho figure in Sussex ; and 
the central and more important districts of Stonehenge, with the primitive and 
stupendous temple of Avebury, its sinuous avenues of stone, and extensive earth 
embankments, the great tumulus of Silbury Hill, the avenues of stones near 
Amesbury, in the style of those at Carnac in Brittany, the large number of camps, 
the trilithon called the ‘‘ Devil’s Den,’”’ and the great dolmen known as ‘‘ Wey- 
land Smith’s Cave,’”’ appear under the protection of the ‘* White Horse.” 

Metallurgy, a great feature with the mound-builders of the Mississippi, was 
also the peculiar occupation of one, if not of two, of these three districts of 
southern England and of many of the other localities in which similar works were 
found in Europe and Asia. And such metallurgy was for all utilitarian purposes 
-confined in every such country in which these works exist to the two metals—tin 
and copper—and analysis showed the proportions in the amalgamation of those 
metals to have approximated in America, Europe and Asia. The parallelism 
went further and was continuous in its track eastward. Brittany, Spain and 
France on each side of the Pyrenees, and so on to Asia Minor had the same com- 
bined features. In the valley of the Meander in Lydia, the vast figure of ‘‘ Ni- 


366 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


obe,” mentioned by Homer, still existed, sculptured on the side of Mount Tmo-- 
lus, and, as well as that of ‘‘ Sesostris” in an adjacent valley, also so sculptured, . 
overlooked the district in which are the multitudinous tumuli near the Gygean 

Lake; and the fortifications and camps of the acropolis of Sardis corresponded 

with those already referred to in position and design; and the same features were- 
found at Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamos in a striking degree, and extended, as. 
shown by careful drawings and diagrams, onwards eastward as far as China. 

Considering the skill and thought required to plan such enormous figures with 
any regard to proportion, and seeing that,all the figures had similar accompani- 
ments, the author concluded by observing that they seemed to him to have been 

the result of a practice and culture transmitted with concurrent customs by way 
of the Pacific from one continent to another. 


MICR@SCORY: 


HISTOLOGY AND MICROSCOPY. 


Prof. Tuttle presided and read his opening address. He referred toa little: 
sub-section of the annual meeting of the American Science Association at its an- 
nual meeting in 1869. This was the first organization of such a section. Little 
was then known of microscopy compared with what is known now. Microscopy 
was then almost in its childhood. In those days any one who wanted to buy a 
microscope had to hunt for it. ‘The speaker traced the growth of the section and. 
of microscopy in importance. The work of the section had contributed to vastly 
increase the knowledge of microscopy in the United States and led to the estab- 
lishment of an American society of microscopists which promises to do much 
good. He stated the arguments in favor of the establishment of a separate sec- 
tion of microscopy. 

The section then proceeded to organize. Dr. R. H. Ward was elected Fel- 
low of the General Standing Committee, Dr. A. B. Hervey, Dr. L. Elsberg and 
Prof. R. Hitchcock, members of the Sectional Committee, Prof. J. D. Hyatt, 
the Fellow of the Nominating Committee and G. D. Mitchell, Prof. T. J. Burrell, 
and C. C. Merriman, members of the Sub-Sectional Committee, to nominate the 
Vice-President and Secretary for next meeting. 

The Chairman then introduced Dr. Wm. B. Carpenter, of London, and an- 
nounced that Dr. Carpenter would contribute a paper or two for the section. 


THE HOUSE-FLY AS A CARRIER OF POISON GERMS. 367 


THE HOUSE-FLY AS A CARRIER OF POISON GERMS. 
THOMAS TAYLOR, MICROSCOPIST DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 


About eighteen months ago, while dissecting the head of a common house- 
fly, I observed a very minute, snake-like animal, a species of auguilula, moving 
out of the posterior end of its proboscis, which was ruptured. It measured about 
eighty-one hundredths of an inch in length by about two one-thousandths of an. 
inch in diameter. Subsequently .I determined to ascertain the interior dimen- 
sions of the suction tube, or proboscis, of the house-fly, for the purpose of com- 
paring it with the diameter of this parasite. Placing a fly which I had asphyx- 
lated with naphthaline on a glass slide, and securing it on its back by means of 
thick gum, I was able to measure the parts and observe all the movements of its 
proboscis, and found its suction tube to be of sufficient diameter to admit of 
taking up the spores of cryptogams, trichinz, the eggs of auguilula, or even the 
auguilule themselves. 

Noticing a violent commotion in the abdomen of the fly thus anerited on, I 
became convinced that one or more of the auguilulee were present in the cTbalo. 
men, and were the cause of the unusual movements observed. On removing the 
head of the fly, a lively auguilula was seen moving out from one of the ruptured 
ends of the cesophagus. The animal was quickly secured, and placed under a 
glass cover in a drop of water, where it exhibited very eel like or snake-like mo- 
tions. Shortly a second appeared, when all commotion in the abdomen ceased. 

Of the genus auguilula there are upwards of one hundred known species. 
They abound in the mosses, in damp earth, and on the green alge found growing 
on the walls of moss-covered flower-pots. Auguilule are very numerous about 
the roots of vines, plants, and grasses, and are generally found on decaying moist 
grain—as wheat—on the bark of trees, and sometimes within fruit while growing. 
One species of them is found in very large numbers in vinegar. The species I 
have found in the house-fly exhibits different internal structure, in some respects, 
from any others that I have yet examined.. Whether it is identical with that ob- 
served in India by Dr. Carter, and more recently by Dr. Leidy, of Philadelphia, 
to which the name of filaria muscz, and also by Cabold, the name auguilula 
muscz has been applied, I cannot determine in the absence of detailed descrip- 
tions and drawings representing members of that species. 

The facts above stated suggested to my mind the importance of instituting a 
series of experiments to ascertain whether house-flies might not be carriers and 
distributors of germinal virus. I have found in the proboscis of a single house- 
fly thirteen of the animals already mentioned in a perfectly developed condition, 
and on the thorax of another I have found sixteen living parasites of the genus 
acarus. It therefore seems quite possible that ‘other microscopic organisms might 
be taken up by the house-fly, and again deposited where they might prove dan- 
gerous to man. This might easily happen in the case of trichine, as trichnosed 


368 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


cut meat is frequently exposed for sale in our markets, where fliesabound. Con- 
sidering the habits and habitats of the house-fly, it will appear evident that should 
it prove to be a carrier of poisonous bodies, its powers to distribute them, in hu- 
man habitations is greater than that of any other known insect. Under our sys- 
tem of public travel, the common house-fly may be transported from one end of 
the continent to the other. It may feast to-day in the markets of Washington, and 
to-morrow in those of New York, and in a like manner it may be transported 
from a hospital for contagious or infectious diseases to homes in the vicinity, or 
even in remote localities. It may also be taken from one hospital to another, or 
‘rom one ward to another within the same hospital, and may plant the germs of 
disease in exposed wounds, or deposit them in food, or liberate them in the at- 
mosphere breathed by patients affected by diseases of a different class. 

Many of the germs of putrefaction—spherical bacteria, for example—are in 

dividually not larger than one forty-thousandth part of an inch in diameter, and 
Over 30,000,000 of thesein astateof aggregation could pass through the eye of the 
finest needle ; and owing to their minuteness, millions of such germs could easily 
be carried to a distant city by a single fly. Weshould take into consideration also 
the rapidity with which such forms of bacteria multiply. A bacterium which 
will reproduce by fission (the one dividing into two) in one hour may in twenty- 
four hours have a posterity of 33,000,000, for a geometrical progression of twen- 
ty-four terms, with one for its first term and two for its common ratio, has 33,- 
554,432 for its twenty-fourth term. 
_ To test practically the question whether flies may become the carriers of 
contagious germs, I instituted a series of experiments. Ina glass receiver having 
a capacity of about five gallons of air, I placed several hundred house flies which 
had been caught in an ordinary fly-trap. Within the receiver was placed a quanti- 
ty of the spores of the red rust of grasses, (tricholoma rubra-vera). The flies at 
first did not seem to esteem the spores as suitable food, but on the morning of 
the third day I found that the rust was replaced by larvee and remains of eggs of 
the common house-fly. 

The eggs were deposited and hatched between Saturday noon and the fol- 
lowing Monday morning, g o’clock, or in about forty-eight hours On the fol- 
lowing day I placed in the receiver about a quarter of an ounce of the same de- 
scription of spores combined with sugar. The flies partook of this confection, 
consuming the sugar and most of the spores. In about twenty-four hours after 
the flies had partaken of this mixture I killed and dissected a number of them, 
and found the small intestines intensely colored, of a deep reddish orange shade, 
representing the digested spores of tricholoma. I observed in the contents a few 
well-defined orange spores, but none of them appeared to have germinated. 

Fastened between the hairs on the limbs of each of the flies examined I 
found a number of the spores, and the efforts of the fly to get rid of them only re- 
sulted in attaching them more firmly to it. They might, however, be brushed 
-off by objects with which they were brought in contact, while their germinating 
powers would long outlast the life of the insect itself. It was evident from this 


THE HOUSE-FLY AS A CARRIER OF POISON GERMS. 36 9 


experiment that fli¢és were capable of conveying such spores to plants and other 
bodies. On the other hand, the fact that by far the greater part of the spores 
were consumed, in the one case by the larvee of the fly and in the other (j. ¢., 
when mixed with sugar,) by the fly itself, shows that this insect may destroy 
microscopic germs as well as disseminate them, and indicates that in some cases 
its agency in keeping down their number may more than counterbalance its ac- 
tion in contributing to. their dissemination. 

In another experiment a quantity of yeast was mixed in water and placed 
under a glass receiver into which the fly-trap had previously been emptied. The 
flies partook sparingly of the yeast fungus, and after the lapse of forty-eight hours 
several of them were found dead, but the rest, amounting to several hundreds, 
appeared wholly unaffected. On examining the abdomens of the dead flies I 
found them congested and cheesy; and when the intestinal contents were mixed 
with pure water, a drop placed under the microscope was found to be strongly 
charged with both spherical and rod-bacteria and with several kinds of spores, 
but very few spores of the yeast-plant were seen. Several flies, which were im- 
mersed for a moment in yeast water, died in about twelve hours after immersion, 
while those not so treated sustained no apparent injury, though confined several 
days in the same chamber. But I do not consider the experiment conclusive as 
to the injurious effects of the external application of yeast on flies. I propose to 
test this question more fully at a future time. 

The odors of the yeast on the fourth and fifth days, although very obnoxious 
to the human olfactories, did not seem to affect the health of the flies. In my 
next experiment, several hundred flies were confined in a glass receiver as before, 
in which was placed about an ounce of fresh beef thinly cut. A small quantity 
of pure water was also supplied in a watch-glass. The flies for a while enjoyed 
the beef andthe water. Their consumption of the beef was proved by well defined 
cavities which they made in it, and the fact that solid tissue was thus consumed 
by the flies affords another evidence of the facility with which the eggs of augui- 
lulz, including those of trichinz, if present in meat partaken of by them, might 
be passed through their proboscis along with food. 

On the fifth day of their confinement I observed that a number of the flies 
died within the chamber. By this time the meat was in a state of advanced de- 
composition, and its odors were very offensive. 

In comparing the results of this experiment with those of the one last de- 
scribed, it appears that the odors emitted from decomposing beef were much 
more hurtful to the flies than those proceeding from decomposing yeast. I re- 
moved with a knife all the soft surface portions of the beef which were exposed to 
the flies my object being in part to ascertain whether any auguilule had been de- 
posited on the beef by the flies. I also examined the water for auguilule, but failed 
to find any in either case. On two occasions I have observed an auguilula bore 
through the membrane of the anterior portion of the proboscis of the fly and 
emerge from the hole thus made. In using a power of about 500 diameters un- 
der: favorable conditions it will be seen that these animals are armed with a bor- 


370 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ing apparatus, consisting of from three to four projections, situated on the an- 
terior portion or mouth parts of the animal. The precise form of the mouth 
parts is not easily defined, and its ascertainment is rendered more difficult by the 
great tendency of these animals to shrink and become distorted in most of the 
mounting fluids, or to become too transparent in others. Under a power of 
seventy-five diameters the general structure is very well defined, but a one-tenth 
immersion is required to give proper defination of the nervous system. In prac- 
tice I find that a strong solution of pure white glucose serves the purpose of a 
mounting fluid better than any of the mounting fluids in general use. 


ECON@MIC *SCrEING ID 


ECONOMIC SCIENCE AND STATISTICS. 


The economic science and statistical section met at half past two to hear the - 
address of its Vice-President, Mr. E. B. Elliott, of the Treasury Department, at 
Washington, U.S. There was a good attendance of members. Mr. Elliott 
said:—In 1857, at the former meeting held in Montreal, I had the honor of read- 
ing a paper on the mortality statistics of the State of Massachusetts. A resolution 
was presented at that meeting inviting Congress to commence a registry of births, 
deaths and marriages. A committee was appointed to report on the various reg- 
istration systems and what was desirable in order to come to some practical end. 
At the last session of Congress a resolution was introduced into the Senate re- 
quiring the bringing abcut of a co-operation of the General Government with the 
several State Governments to secure some uniformity. The Cherokee Indians 
had made a very full census, and the conclusion arrived at was that we might 
have full tables from them before we had them from some of our own States. 

This section enters on its separate action this year. Economic Science and 
statistics, economics relating to man and his welfare, man, what he is, what he 
controls, and the surroundings over which he has little or no control. ‘The sub- 
jects of this section are scientific, they had to deal with facts. They might, how- 
ever, attain to questions to which statistical methods are adapted. Facts sus- 
ceptible of numerical statement and of arrangement into groups, numerical laws 
based upon and eliciting facts which will admit of, and offering facilities for their 
trustworthy production in the future, as, for example, the construction of life and 
annuity tables, and the financial condition of communities. It may be desirable, 
at some not very distant date. to organize a sub-section to consider the applica- 
tion of the mathematical doctrine of probabilities to statistics. One of the sub- 
jects pertaining to this section is that of standard time. Man, until a few years 
ago, might be considered as stationary, of late moving. There are more than 
seventy different standards of railway time in this country, and these might be re- 


OPENING OF THE REDPATH MUSEUM. 371 


- duced to one, or at any rate, three. The study of the laws of trade was another 

-subject worth attention. The construction of life and annuity tables, the ques- 
tion of finances, and the divisions of time were all belonging to this section. 
When the Julian Calendar was changed to the Gregorian a very important change 
was made, but there might still something be done, as for example equalizing the 
months as near as possible. These were a few topics which might be brought 
before the section. 


IMEUSIC Je IB SUN IONS: ITE MCS. 


OPENING OF THE REDPATH MUSEUM. 


On Wednesday evening the formal opening of the Peter Redpath Museum 
took place, and the occasion was embraced by Principal and Mrs. Dawson to 
hold a reception of the members of the Science Association. Shortly after eight 
o’clock guests began to arrive, and for an hour and a half carriages were rolling 
up the University drive to the Museum. Guests were received by Dr. and Mrs. 
Dawson in the large hall. ‘The number present would be about six hundred, of 
whom half were ladies. Among the guests were nearly all the principal savans 
attending the Meeting and also the ete of Canadian society. From the gallery 
spectators had a fine view of the brilliant scene below them. 

By nine o’clock the various rooms presented quite an animated appearance, 
the various objects in the Museum being well inspected. Here and there in a 
-quiet corner might be seen some old gentleman who had found a treasure enjoy- 
ing his intellectual treat. Dr. W. B. Carpenter, of London, exhibited some 
_ photographs taken from figures of the Hozoon Canadensis which were highly ap- 
preciated. The general appearance and arrangement of the building gave great 
-satisfaction, one gentleman being overheard to say that he had seen almost all the 
principal museums in the States, but no one could boast of a home as good as 
this. About half past nine the ceremony of presenting the deed of gift took place, 
Upon a raised platform at one end of the Hall, Principal Dawson took his stand, 
-and with him were Chancellor Day, Mr. Peter Redpath, Mr. W. C. Baynes, 
Registrar, and Mr. R. A. Ramsay, Treasurer of the University, also Dr. Car- 
penter, of London, and Professor Hall, of Albany. 

The Chairman briefly introduced to the gathering the benefactor of the 
‘museum. 

Mr. Redpath said: Mr. Chancellor,—I would fain have had ceremony dis- 
-pensed with on this occasion, but as some ceremony seems to be demanded I 
am here by invitation for the purpose of transferring to you as the representative 
-of McGill University, in the presence of this distinguished company, all my right, 
‘title and interest in the building in which we are assembled. The conveyance 


372 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


without other condition than that the building shall be maintained for the pur- 
pose for which it has been erected, will be found in the document which I now 
place in your hands. The undertaking was not begun without deliberation, and 
now that we have come to the end under such happy auspices, I see no reason 
to regret what has been done. I trust that the benefits which it was intended to 
confer will be realized. 

Chancellor Day then said: Mr. Redpath,—({t is my good fortune, as Chan- 
cellor of McGill University, to be its mouthpiece on this auspicious occasion. In. 
the name and on behalf of that institution, I accept the gift of the Peter Redpath 
Museum, now formally conveyed to it. It is a difficult task to express in fitting 
words our sense of the obligation under which you have laid, not only this Uni- 
versity, but also the friends of education, in the interesting and important de- 
partment of science which your liberality is intendedto promote. The architect. 
ural beauty of this edifice in which we are assembled—its classic design—the 
elegance and completeness of its finish, make it of itself an education of no small. 
value; while, joined to these excellences, its ample proportions and perfect adap- 
tation to its destined uses indicate the munificence and wisdom of its founder. 
We trust it will remain for future generations what it now is, a majestic monu- 
ment, bearing the honored name of him in whom the power of riches has been 
added to the better gift of a disposition to distribute them with a bountiful hand 
for the welfare of mankind. Reference was then made to the collection which 
Dr: Dawson had presented, and the Chancellor proceeded. 

The prodigious growth of material prosperity in our age, the marvelous crea- 
tions of art and industry which cover the face of the civilized world, and the con- 
sequent increase in dangerous luxury have in them a voice of warning. History 
tells us what they mean if left to themselves, without the restraining and elevat- 
ing agencies which build upon them a true and permanent civilization. We ac- 
cept this hall of science as a noble contribution to those higher agencies, and 
now before this assembly, made august by the presence of our distinguished 
guests, true kings of the realm of thought; their presence, and in the presence of 
the benefactors of this University, enlightened men, and not less sympathetic 
and generous women. We dedicate the Peter Redpath Museum to the study of 
the varied and wonderful manifestations of God’s creation, and emphatically we 
dedicate it to the use of the earnest student, who in reverent questioning of the 
works of living nature, and in their records upon the stony tabiets of a dead and 
buried world, seeks that vital truth which, above all other things, it imports the 
immortal spirit of man to know. 

Dr. Carpenter was then called upon to say a few words. He said when he 
received the invitation to take part in the meeting he felt that he could not refuse, 
because he wished to give expression to the very strong and earnest interest he 
felt in this beautiful city. Nothing had been of greater interest to him since he 
had been in the city than to be accosted on all sides as the brovher of Philip Car- 
penter. Every citizen of Montreal seemed to have known and honored and 
loved him. All honor was due to the donor of that building. Reference was. 


TTS REEL Os OLB C. : 373 


made to the remarkable collection of fossils, termed eozoon canadense, and to the: 
numerous opportunities afforded to students to acquire knowledge now as compared 

with the opportunities which existed when he was a young man. He rejoiced at 

the thought that natural science: was now fairly on its legs, and he was confident 

that it would keep pace with all the great departments of physical science, and 

concluded with a eulogy upon science as a means of disciplining the mind. 

Professor Hall entered into a brief description of the collections. He said 
they had been placed in order to allow the study of them from the earliest to the 
most recent geological period. All that was required now was a staff of teachers 
which would render available all these valuable objects, instead of permitting 
them to lie idly upon their shelves. The building was in itself a beautiful object 
of art, adapted for the work in its systematic arrangement. 

Dr. Dawson briefly acknowledged on behalf of the Association the great 
benefits that had resulted to science from this benefaction, and the meeting sepa- 
rated, many to see the exhibition of photographs of American caverns, with ex- 
planatory lecture by the Rev. H. C. Hovey, New Haven, Conn., others to still 
further examine the valuable collections in the Museum. 

During the evening choice selections of music were rendered by the band of 
the 6th Fusiliers. 


Wes; INS? IO)! QW BaHC- 


Quebec and its neighborhood are so rich in historic associations, so full of 
interest to the student of science, that the large number of those who took 
advantage of the opportunity to visit the ancient Capital, is not surprising. 
The excursionists left by the steamer Canada, which had been placed at 
their disposal by the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company, shortly after 
half-past seven o’clock on Friday evening. In the morning, people began to 
throng around the sides of the boat to catch the first glimpse of the ‘‘ Gibraltar of 
America.” Shortly before eight o’clock the Canada hove to at the Richelieu 
Company’s wharf and the coming of the Committee of Reception was awaited. 

Punctually at a quarter to nine His Worship the Mayor the Hon. F. Lange 
lier, together with several members of the City Council and local committee of 
reception, came on board and were received and introduced by Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, 
Professor Mendenhall, Dr. George Cooke, Professor Eastman, Dr. Proudfoot, 
Mr. J. S. Shearer, Major Huguet-Latour, Professor Harrison and Professor 
Trowbridge. After a short time spent in introductions and conversation the 
whole party left the boat and wended their way to Dufferin Terrace, where the 
formal welcome was to take place 

From the Terrace the party made their way to the Citadel, the Mayor acting 
as cicerone to the leading group of savants. ‘lhe whole of the fortress was, through 
the kindness of Lieutenant-Colonel Irwin, thrown open to visitors who showed 


VI—24 


374 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. . 


the greatest interest in everything they saw, wandered from the sally-port to the 
King’s Bastion whence they gazed in admiration on the magnificent view obtain- 
able from that lofty point, and having feasted their eyes on a panorama of coun- 
try unsurpassed in this country, visited in turn the different points of interest 
within its walls. 

Laval University was the next point to which the visitors were conducted. 
Here they were most courteously received by the Rector, the Rev. Mr. Hamel. 
Guided by that gentleman, Dr. T. Sterry Hunt, and still by Mayor Langelier, who 
is a distinguished graduate of the University, and holds the professorship of Civil 
and Public Law, the party inspected the class-rooms and museum and picture 
gallery. Leaving the quiet of this abode of learning, to which the busy hum of 
the wharves, the next destination of the visitors, presented a strong contrast, the 
steamer Canada was again reached. 

At one o’clock the steamer started for an excursion around the harbor, visit- 
ing St. Romauld, the graving dock at St. Joseph de Levis, the Falls of Montmo- 
renci and the new harbor improvements at the mouth of the St. Charles. Lunch 
was next in order. ‘The bill of fare was somewhat a curiosity in its way, and 
copies were eagerly sought for as souvenirs. We subjoin it for the benefit of 
those who failed to obtain it on board. The compiler, we are informed, was a 
gentleman named Bazerque: 


MENU. 
PIECES MONTEES. 
Les Aiguilles de Cleopatre a la Mariette-Bay. LeCosmos de Leibnitz. 
HORS-D’OUVRE. 


Sardines d’Archimede, et Thales. Olives en postulatum d’Euclide. 
Croque en bouche Apollonius. Beurre de Copernic et Pascal. 
Theoremes algebriques de Diophanie. Viete et Dawson. 
Geometrie descriptive de Monge. Calculs Trignometriques d’ Hipparque. 
Sinus d’Euler et Descartes. Pendule d’Ebn Ionis. 


POTAGE GEOLOGIQUE. 


Eli de Beaumont, Lavoisier, Bernard Palissy, Huygens. 
Werner, Logan, Hunt. 


Lyell et Brongniard. Scipion de Breslack. 
ENTREES. 


Filets d’Aristote et de Cuvier. 
L’Homme de Platon, emince a la mode d’Aristote. 
Jambons du Chimborazo a la Humboldt. 
Vibrations de Canard a la Galvani, Bunsen et Volta. 
Les Cotelettes d’Agneau a la Tycho-Brahe. 
Galantine de Volaille a la Franklin. 
Langues a la Cuvier Newton. Gibier a Oersted, Jamin, Dana, Mayer, 
Aspics de Cleopatre a la Gullieb, Haller, Halley. 
Milne Edwards, de Magendie. 


THE TRIP TO QUEBEC. 375, 


ROTIS. 
Le Canards a la Darwin, Littre, Lockyer, Langley et Maury. 
Les Roastbeef a l’Hoppocrate et Bichat. 


La Tete de Veau braisee a la Lavater. 
Logarithmes de Monton a la John V1 per. 


Bombe Glacee au Magnetisme terrestre de General Sabine. 
i.volutions de Faisan a la Galilee. 
DESSERT, 
Eclairs Edison. Peches de Monge et Agassiz. 
Amades Laplace et Lacondamine. Raisins Wurtz et Arago. 


Abricots Champollion. Prunes Gallien. 
Noix Boussingault, Bertrand, Keenig. 


Claret Punch Jules Verne et Flammarion. 


On the return trip the visitors were asked to assemble in the main cabin, and 
the Mayor, ascending the upper gallery, proposed the first of the toasts, that of 
‘« Her Majesty the Queen.” The sentiment met with a hearty and generous re- 
sponse, and amid cheers the band played the National Anhem. ‘‘ The President 
of the United States” followed, accompanied by the inspiring strains of ‘‘ Yankee 
Doodle” and an outburst of cheering. Mr. Wasson, the American Consul, re- 
sponded in an exceeding happy manner. ‘‘The Governor-General and Her 
Royal Highness the Princess Louise” having been honored loyally, ‘Our 
Guests ’’ was given, the band playing ‘‘ The Star Spangled Banner.”’ 

Dr. Sterry Hunt being loudly called for, replied. Dr. Hunt alluded to his 
long connection with the Association, spoke of its international character and the 
progress of the work it had in hand; referred to its previous visit to Quebec, and 
in closing, described some of the interesting features of Quebec, both from a 
geological and historical standpoint. 


Dr. Barker also replied appropriately. 
The Hon. D. A. Ross then introduced Mr. J. M. Lemoine, F.R.C.S., who 


gave a brief but very interesting sketch of Quebec history. Mr. Lemoine had 
also prepared some memorabilia for the information of the visitors, which were 
printed and distributed amongst those on board. 

The business of speech-making being concluded, the Canada, a few moments 
afterward reached the wharf again, and the passengers, bidding adieu to their 
Quebec hosts, landed and made their way to the North Shore Railway station. 

At a quarter to seven the homeward bound train, placed at their disposal by 
the North Shore Company, moved out of the station. 

To Mr. J. S. Shearer and Dr. Proudfoot, of the Montreal Committee, credit 
is due for their untiring efforts to promote the comfort and pleasure of the 
visitors. Mr. Shearer especially deserves the thanks of one and all for his un- 
failing courtesy, and his excellent management in the face of considerable difficulty 
and discouragement. To him the excursionists were certainly largely indebted. 


376 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


THE EXCURSION TO OTTAWA. 


On Saturday, the 26th, a large number of the members visited Ottawa, hav- 
ing with them a goodly gathering of their lady relations. In the programme of 
the convention the day had been set apart for excursion trips, of which the mem- 
bers had the choice of two, the one to Quebec and the other to Ottawa. The 
start was made from Hochelaga at 7:30, where a train of parlor cars was in wait- 
ing for the excursionists. The varied views along the road were the continual 
theme of admiration from the party, particularly along the upper portion of the 
route where the rapids are to be seen crossing the bridge at Buckingham, the 
pretty views about Montebello, Papineauville, Gatineau and other stations highly 
appreciated. ‘There was a general sense of surprise, not only at the natural at- 
tractions of the route, but at the agricultural state of the country through which 
the road ran. At Buckingham the lumber yards were a source of astonishment 
to many who had never been through such huge wood yards before. ‘This’ 
brought the party also into the phosphate region and to the gentlemen who took an 
interest in geology, the many cars of ore along-side the track awaiting shipment 
afforded subject for keen investigation. A stay of a few moments enabled sev- 
eral of the party to fill their packs with rocks, all glad to have secured specimens 
of the article from the home of its birth. At E&st Templeton the quantity of iron 
ore awaiting shipment there was also the subject of comment, and the view of the 
material itself opened to many of the gentlemen new ideas of the value of the 
country through which they were traveling. At several places some members of 
the botanical section of the party might be seen gathering specimens. 

At Montebello the special met the regular down train from Ottawa to Mont- 
real and took on board Mr. W. P. Anderson, Secretary of the Ottawa Reception 
Committee. That gentleman brought with him copies of the address of welcome 
to be read to the party on their arrival in the city, cards of invitation to the 
luncheon to be tendered them and ‘‘a souvenir of Ottawa.”” ‘These were rapidly | 
distributed to all on board by Mr. Anderson, Dr. Baptie and Dr. Thornburn. 
The souvenir was in great demand among the excursionists and after a glance at. 
it many were the requests made to the Secretary for additional copies to send to 
friends at a distance, requests which he complied with as far as he could. 

The souvenir consisted of a neatly gotten up pamphlet of convenient pocket 
size of some twenty pages of reading matter, giving the programme laid out for 
the day, the names of the members of the General Reception Committee, the 
special committees and other officers, together with a succinct statistical and de- 
scriptive account of the expenditure by the city for public improvements since 
confederation, notes as to the churches, geological museum, the Rideau Canal, 
the Parliament Buildings, Rideau Hall, the public schools, waterworks, the tim- 
ber trade and the mineral and other resources of the district. It contained also- 
several well executed lithographic views of the principal points of interest about. 


-_THE EXCURSION TO OTTAWA, 377 


the city, and several pages of blank paper for the use of those who wished to 
make notes. The train rushed onat arapid rate, and shortly before reaching Hull 
the first view of Ottawa was had. No stoppage was made%at Hull, and the train 
swept on to the long bridge over the Ottawa River. The view from this struct- 
ure delighted all, and the only expression of regret was and it was a universal 
one—that there was not longer time to enjoy it. Looking up the stream was the 
pretty panorama of the many picturesque islands which stud the water, the chan- 
nels sprinkled with floating cribs and logs, and further up the rapids of the Little 
Chaudier and the waters of Deschesne Lake. On the other side of the town, be- 
low the bridge, could be seen the spray rising from the “‘ Big Kettle,”’ into which 
the gigantic mass of water seemed to silently disappear, for the loud roar of the 
«fall? was lost in the rumble of the wheels, and before and behind was spread 
the vast array of lumber mills and the yards and the factories which have been 
created about the Chaudiere and which are justly the wonder of all visitors to the 
Capital of the Dominion. 

From the Chaudiere the party proceeded via Duke Street to the central part 
of the city, passing ez route the waterworks. Here the full force of the pumps had 
been put on and a grand jet was thrown up from the yard in front of the pump- 
house. Both the water and waterworks at Ottawa are unsurpassed in this coun- 
try. 

The Parliament buildings were reached after a rapid drive along Wellington 
Street. The carriages entered the grounds at the western entrance, passing up 
along the Supreme Court buildings and between the conservatory and the western 
facade of the west block and thence to the summer-house west of the Parliament 
buildings. At this point all alighted and viewed the surrounding scenery. The 
magnificent panorama drew enthusiastic remarks from all as a view of extraordi- 
mary beauty. 

The Library was next visited, and the opinion expressed by all was that it 
was the finest structure of the kind on the continent. The busts of the various 
statesmen about it were curiously scanned; none more attentively than that of 
Sir William Logan. The House of Commons and the Senate Chamber were also 
_ visited, but owing to the repairs now going on in the former and in the main en- 
trance, and the Senate Chamber being covered up, the rooms could not be seen 
to fair advantage. After inspecting the buildings the carriages were again taken 
to the Drill Hall, where luncheon was prepared. ‘The hall had been very taste- 
fully decorated for the occasion. The walls were handsomely draped with bunt- 
ing and military trophies and decorated with shields bearing the coats of arms of 
the provinces and chief cities of the Dominion. 

Midway along the western hall a stand had been provided for the few dis- 
tinguished gentlemen who were expected to say a few words on the occasion, and 
for the representatives of the city appointed to receive them. The little party on 
the platform consisted of Dr. Dawson, President of the Association, Dr. Gray, of 


378 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Cambridge, Mass., the oldest ex-President of the Association, Dr. Newberry, of 
N. Y., Dr. Carpenter, of London, England, Dr. Szabo, of Hungary, Dr. Gilbert, 
of Rotherham, England, Dr. Rae, the celebrated explorer, of London, England, 
His Worship the Mayor, Dr. St. Jean, Mr. C. H. Mackintosh, M. P. for Otta- 
wa, and Dr. Sweetland. Besides the excursionists there were present large num- 
bers of citizens too numerous to mention, including the best representatives of 
the profession and commercial sections of the city. Mr. Mackintosh, member 
for the city, briefly said he was happy to be present at the assembly and asked 
His Worship the Mayor to take the chair. Dr. St. Jean at once complied and 
then read a warm address of welcome. 

He then requested the company to proceed to lunch, which all were > ready 
for. after the long journey. | 

The committee deserves the greatest credit for the lavish entertainment. 
Of everything on the menu card there was abundance and to spare. The attend- 
ance was also excellent and ample. After luncheon the chairman said that it. 
would afford great pleasure to hear a few of the gentlemen present. _ 

Mr. Dawson, of McGill College, Montreal, in reply, said that he had very 
much pleasure, on behalf of the association of which he was president, to return 
the society’s hearty thanks for the cordial greeting which had been extended 
them by the citizens of Ottawa, and much more of appropriate character. ; 

Dr. Carpenter, on behalf of his fellow countrymen and himself, was happy 
to say that there was never a more delightful meeting of the association, and he 
would beg to return their most cordial thanks to the citizens of Ottawa for the 
fine reception which had been accorded them, which he could assure them was 
thoroughly appreciated by them. 

Prof. Asa Gray, Dr. Jno. Rea, Mr. Perley, Prof. Newberry and Dr. Grant 
followed with similar remarks. , 

Three cheers for the Queen terminated this part of the programme. 

After the speeches the party dispersed in various directions, many going to 
Rideau Hall, Beechwood and other-places. All rendezvoused at the Union Sta- 
tion at six o’clock and discovered that the train would not leave till eight o’clock. 
In consequence of the unexpected delay many of the party were the welcome 
transient guests of several who had gone to the station to see them off. Our 
own personal thanks for courteous attentions are due to Mr. and Mrs. McLeod 
Stewart. 


On Sunday, August 27th, the annual prayer meeting, inaugurated at the 
Saratoga meeting, was lield and was participated in by Principal Dawson, Prof. 
H. C. Hovey, Prof. Lovewell, Prof. Bassett, Rev. Dr. Mathewson, Rev. James 
McCaul, Rev. Mr. Hungerford, Prof. C. W. Hall and others. 


NoTE,—An account of later proceedings will be given hereafter with full report or co- 
pious abstracts of some of the more important papers, especially one on Anthropology by 
Prof. F. W. Putnam.—[Ep. 


THE KANSAS WEATHER SERVICE. 379 


Mit 2 Orn OLOGY: 


REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 
WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 


BY PROF. J. T. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 


Highest barometer during month 29.24, on the 5th of September. Lowest 
barometer during month 28.78, on the 17th. 

Highest temperature during month 104°, on the 13th. 
during month 46°. on the 2oth. 

Highest velocity of wind during month 33 miles per hour, on the rgth. 


The usual summary by decades is given below. 


Lowest temperature 


. 


——— as — 


Aug, 2Ist Sept. Ist | Sept. roth Mean 

TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. to Sept. Ist.| to roth. to 20th. 
MIN. AND Max. AVERAGES. 

MURA) oy 9! Gan vial Serna ena Sapam aon 62.2 53-9 62.3 59.4 

I iteasxervated er aer ae cel (iat eovel ios wid te ual La 83.8 81.2 92.6 87.5 

Whim, amG@lWles< 696669 4 6) o ole 75-3 67.5 Pols 73-4 

IREVAGXS 635 3H Wane oh aepies pr seieras tebe 26.6 27.3 30.3 28.1 
TRI-DAILY CBSERVATIONS. i 

MEME ee cue ctlvspiseel" te Dies yauiianl hls. 5 65.0 60.3 69.4 64.9 

9 JB) TEI se al Ae ern eee ee 82.0 82.0 89.0 84.3 

©) JBN TD) hat oe WEA Gli a Pen 78.0 68.0 73.0 70.3 

IVI Atay ya tepals ee 2) 3! pia Toh aie \ onthe 72.0 69 Oo 76.2 72.1 
RELATIVE HUMIDITY. 

POM Rah sktes whet tek Lea 86 82 .83 84 

2EDemIMnab ine Siva ta leai | Pye beck seepcieqedge vite 51 45 50 48 

ORD MEIN Wevas ta Nearer swat Kode Xe .80 n78 75 .76 

WIC ATIRMEEC EES nat Gh oC Reet ten a re 71 .66 .69 .72 
PRESSURE AS OBSERVED. 

G]. Clg SPOS TS GN) cl GLO eee me ene 29,06 29.11 28.97 29.04 

F3, Do Tatler woken ae ee ae ener A eh 29.03 29.07 28.95 29 O1 

Oj eme ee 29.03 29.07 28.98 29.02 

Mean GO At Ban Feo LORRI ea 29.04 29.08 28.97 29.03 
MILES PER HouR OF WIND 

GF ho: oa Wis ecard Ee par hc areh dy eRe Se 7.0 4.1 15.1 8.7 

B:\Do' Wily 5/69 Gk Aloo Oe ToT Ee 13.4 10.0 26.9 16.8 

ORD pe Ulegemesrey recsnel tae bse isles) fey ya 7.8 9.7 19.0 12,1 

MNO talemuilestine yy. oh) 2 seen de 2396 5168 ° 
CLOUDING By TENTHS, 

Gf Goh oe 2.5 B57 3.3 3.1 

DBD a so MMI ole ee eke tan aes | pk 5-4 4.3 1.9 3.8 

OR ERE he Aeron SS ied aren pou patie es By I.1 1.5 1.8 
RAIN. 

Inichesiaemeis .0O oo 12 T2s) 


380 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


BOOK NOTICES 


REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION FOR 1880. Hon. John Eaton, 

Commissioner ; 8vo. pp. 914. 

The eleventh annual report of the Commissioner of Education, covering the 
year 1880, has been received. © 

We learn from it that the present year has been marked by a great increase in 
the amount and value of the information received at the office with reference to the 
conduct of education in our own and in foreign countries, and by a correspond- 
ing increase in the public demand for the distribution of information. The means 
allowed the Office for carrying on the interchange of intelligence are entirely in- 
adequate, whether regard be had to specific inquiries or to information which 
should be published in the general interest of this department of public affairs. 

Seven circulars of information and six bulletins have been published during 
the year, comprising among others the following subjects: College libraries as 
aids to instruction; rural school architecture, with illustrations; English rural 
schools, with illustrations; a report on the teaching of chemistry and physics in 
the United States; vacation colonies for sickly school children; the Indian School 
at Carlisle Barracks; industrial education in Europe; medical colleges in the 
United States. 

The number of American correspondents of the Office, including officers of 
State and local systems and institutions of learning, is 8,231, or more than four 
times the number at the beginning of the present decade. To the material derived 
from these sources must be added the foreign matter, reports and periodicals, all of 
which must be examined and summarized for the report. 

In introducing the statistical summary the Commissioner explains the scope 
and value of a perfect system of tabularization and points out some of the defi- 
ciencies in the plans pursued in various States and localities. Great improve- 
ment in this respect is noticeable in the returns and reports received at the Office, 
and every year increases the value of the figures for purposes of study and gener- 
alization. So far as practicable the statistics in the present report include a com- 
parative view of education for the decade ending 1879-80. 

The total school population in the States for 1880 is 15,351,875; number en- 
rolled in public schools, 9,680,403; average daily attendance, 5,744,188, four 
States not reporting. The school population of the Territories is 184,405, Idaho 
and Wyoming not reporting; enrollment in public schools, 101,118; average 
daily attendance 61,154, two Territories not reporting. The percentages of en- 


rollment and average daily attendance are highest in Massachusetts and lowest in 
Louisiana. 


BOOK NOTICES. 381 


We select a few points of interest regarding our own immediate region. In 
“Missouri growth meets us for both 1879-80 and for the decade which then 
‘closed, the enrollment in the public schools in 1879-80 exceeding by 26,594 that 
-of the year before and by 5,263 the increase of youth entitled to free schooling, 
while 11,710 more children were in average attendance daily in 546 more schools, 
‘under teachers better trained and changed less frequently than in former years. 
Permanent school funds increased by $1,408,580, though school property was 
irated $1,646,599 less in value and current school income fell off $62,671. 

For the whole decade there was great advance at every point, the additional 
jpublic school enrollment including at the close 57,265 more youths than had 
‘meantime come of school age, making thus a deep inroad into the mass of the 
jprevious illiteracy, while an average of 32,108 more of the enrolled were in the 
schools.each day. ‘This, with an increase of 1,699 public schools, of 1,631 
teachers for them, of $2,333,2g7 in receipts for schools, and of $4,261,383 in 
‘the permanent funds for the support of them, is a record of which the State may 
well be proud. 

In Kansas, —progress at almost all points marks 1879-80 as compared with 
the preceding year: 28,416 more persons of school age, 23,000 more in the State 
schools, and 13,952 more in daily attendance, with provision for this increase in 
310 more school-houses. There were 858 more teachers engaged at somewhat 
higher pay and an addition of $291,944 to the current school revenue. Still 
further evidence of progress appears in 163 more districts with uniform text 
‘books, 673 more with graded courses of study, and a rise of $225,908 in the 
‘valuation of school property. 

This Report is a work upon which a vast amount of labor has been expended 
-and from which all teachers and others interested in education can obtain in- 
‘formation on all appropriate points. 


‘Sparks From a Gronocist’s Hammer. By Alexander Winchell, LL.D., Sec- 
ond edition, 12mo. pp. 400. S. C. Griggs & Co., Chicago; $2.00. 

The first thing that attracts attention upon picking up this book is its ex- 
‘tremely tasteful binding and the general excellence of its make up. After that 
the contents engage the reader’s mind and hold it continuously till the last page 
is reached. As long ago as 1870 the writer purchased a copy of this author’s 
«« Sketches of Creation” and found it most fascinating and suggestive reading. 
~ ince then he has hastened to obtain copies of each successive work by Professor 
‘Winchell, including ‘‘ The Preadamites,” and now the volume under consideration. 
dn all the same accuracy of expression, the same wide range of information and 
thought and the same scholarly though popular manner prevail, so that it is adapt- 
‘ed to all classes of intelligent readers, from professor to pupil. 

The present volume is devoted to a variety of topics, descriptions, essays, 
-and discussions of scientific subjects which are classified as Aisthetic, Chronologi- 


382 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


al, Climatic, Historical and Philosophical. Under each of these heads are 
several appropriate chapters, such as a description of Mont Blanc and the Mer de 
Glace, The Old Age of Continents, A Grasp at Geologic Time, Geological Sea- 
sons, A Remarkable Maori Manuscript, The Genealogy of Ships, Grounds and 
Consequences of Evolution, etc. All of these are treated in an attractive manner, 
popular, but at the same time comprehensive and practical. No reader having 
bought a copy of this book will regret it nor will he fail to read it more than once 
if he has any real desire to acquire the most advanced ideas and the most reliable 
information on the subjects treated. 


THE Covers Cueck List or NortTH AMERICAN Birps. Second edition; 8vo. 
pp. 144. By Elliott Coues, M. D., U. S. Army. Estes & Lauriat, Boston, 
1882. For sale by M. H. Dickinson; $2.00. 

The original of this work, which now assumes the character or position of a 
dictionary of the etymology, orthography and orthoépy of the scientific names of 
birds in addition to its former character of a catalogue of such names, was pub- 
lished in 1870 and seemed to cover the necessities of ornithologists at that time. 
But so rapidly has the science advanced that revision has been rendered ee 
and a large number of new names has been added. 

The most interesting portion of the work to the ordinary reader will ee the 
chapter entitled ‘‘ Remarks upon the Use of Names.” In this a full account of 
the derivation of the technical terms used by ornithologists is given, also of the 
rules for the proper spelling and pronunciation of such words. These rules are 
not applicable solely to ornithological terms and names, but are of general appli- 
cation and may be beneficially studied by all. 

The great bulk of the work is devoted to a revised check list of the birds of 
this continent and a list of the author’s works upon the subject. A very useful 
feature of the former is the accent marks showing the proper pronunciation of 
all names. Nothing so thorough has ever been published so far as we know. 


FLoatinc MATTER oF THE AiR. By John Tyndall, F. R. S.; r2mo pp. 338.. 
D. Appleton & Co., N. Y. For sale by the Kansas City Book & News Co.,, 
$2.00. 

The object of this work is to demonstrate the existence of germs in the at- 
mosphere which produce and spread dangerous and fatal diseases, with numerous. 
accounts of interesting experiments made by the author and other scientists, both 
as to their existence in the air and their non-production in the absence of atmos-. 
pheric air; the triumphs of the antiseptic system of surgery and the vital impor- 
tance of pure air and pure water as sanitary agents. The most valuable chapters, 
are those upon Dust and Disease, The Optical Deportment of the Atmosphere in, 
Relation to Putrefaction and Infection, Researches on the Deportment and V1- 


BOOK NOTICES. 383 


tality of Putrefactive Organisms, Fermentation and its Bearings upon Surgery and 
Medicine, and Spontaneous Generation. 

It is a deeply interesting book, with a practical bearing which affects the wel- 
fare of mankind, combined with a broad philosophical treatment adapted to the 
most advanced thinkers and humanitarians of the age. ee 


CoLLET’s HisvoricaL Recorp. By Oscar W. Collet; 2 Vols. 8vo., St. Louis, 

Mo.; $10.00. 

Mr. Oscar W. Collet, of St. Louis, is receiving subscriptions for a work to 
be entitled, ‘‘ The Historical Record,” a compilation of all documents, wherever 
preserved, containing historical facts relating to St. Louis, the State of Missouri 
and regions adjoining, including Louisiana and New Mexico, of which copies 
have been, or can be procured. The publication will comprise unpublished offi- 
cial documents (including many from abroad), and some already in print. but not 
accessible; statements found in depositions on file in different offices of record ; 
manuscripts, embracing journals, narratives and letters; some pamphlets out of 
print and very scarce; a few old maps and plats; also, genealogies, with a few 
brief sketches (not biographies) of some of the members of families to which the 
genealogies relate. 

Translations of French, Spanish and Italian documents will be ives in par- 
allel columns with the originals. 

Although the work does not embrace archeology, as such, it will contain 
many pages interesting to archeological students; such as artotype representa- 
tions of some unique, or typical objects, utensils and implements, discovered in 
Missour1; also, reproductions of unpublished plats, and descriptions, some dating 
sixty years ago, of important ancient earthworks. The accuracy of such plats, 
etc. as represent remains still in existence has been verified PRY, explorations 
specially undertaken for the purpose. 

The work will be enriched with numerous notes, not only by the compiler, 
but by several of the first historical writers of the day. 

The price, considering the nature and magnitude of the work and the large 
expense attending its production, seems to indicate that the compilation and pub- 
lication of the ‘‘ Record” have been undertaken rather as a labor of love than. 
for gain. 

Mr. Collet’s work is the most important of its class ever attempted in this 
State? and it may well be hoped that the effort to produce an historical monu- 
ment of such enduring value will meet with general practical encouragement. 
The announcement of this contemplated publication has called forth many warm 
approvals from different parts of the country as well as Missouri; and, among 
others, the following interesting letter from the veteran historian of the West: 

| ELIZABETH, N. J., 1882. 

Mr. Collet i is doing a grand work: he is redeeming the United States as fast 

as he can, from one of its greatest sins. It was its bounden duty on acquiring 


384 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Louisiana, Florida, Texas, New Mexico and California, to take and preserve the 
ancient archives of those provinces, rich in documents and well preserved till 
then. Where are they now? Our government took no steps to preserve them 
at all; it left everything to decay and destruction, and in New Mexico, as though 
theft and carelessness did not work quick enough, one of the wretched beings 
sent there as governors actually sold great quantities of the ancient archives for 
waste-paper, destroying documents that can never be replaced. 

Mr. Collet’s noble volume will after great toil and labor bring together much 
relating to the early history of Upper Louisiana, and the public will owe him a 
great debt which I hope it will appreciate, I shall not only be among the sub 
scribers for the ‘‘ Historical Record,”’ but shall take occasion to call the attention 
-of scholars to the work to add a few more. 

JouHN GILMARY SHEA. 


The work will be printed in first-class style and as the edition will be limited 
‘to 500 copies, subscriptions should be sent in without delay. 


OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 


Report of the Chief Signal Officer, U. S. Army, for 1879; Report of the U. 
S. Commission on Fish and Fisheries, for 1879; Aumboldt Library, No. 36, 
Lectures on Evolution, by Thomas H. Huxley, 15c; The Consulting Engineer of 
Canada, Vol. I, No. 1, monthly, Toronto, $1.00; Washington University, 25th 
Anniversary, An Address by Chancellor W. G. Eliot; Knowledge, Part X, Vol. 
II, London, edited by Prof. R. A. Proctor, Weekly, tos. rod. per annum; 
Report on the Character of 600 Tornadoes, John P. Finley, Signal Corps, U. S. 
A.; The Poultry Review and Stock Journal, Monthly, Washington, D. C., $1.00 
per annum. Annual Report of the Kansas City Public Schools, 1881-2, Prof. J. 
M. Greenwood. 


SOMENTIUEIC MISCELLANY. 


” 


+ 


SOME RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANIC ARTS. 
BY F. B. BROCK, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


NovEL STEAMsHIP.—In the construction of this improved steamship the hull 
is made to curve inwardly above the water-line, and an elevated cabin is support- 
ed above and is of less width than the hull, whereby the waves are caused to act 
with less force upon the vessel, and the tendency to tip or roll is diminished. 


LIME vs. POWDER, 385: 


Intermediate tubular stanchions or columns pass from the emigrant cabin to a 
point above the elevated cabin, and are adapted to support the elevated cabin 
and serve as ventilating shafts for the emigrant quarters. 


RooFInc-TILE OR PLATE.—In this invention the tiles are provided with 
plain lap-borders, the remainder of their surface having parallel corrugations or 
ribs rising in relief above the plane of the plain borders, whereby a uniform bear- 
ing surface is provided. The corrugations are arranged in the direction of the 
slant of the roof. 


STEAM-ENGINE RECORDER.—A novel improvement provides a rotary paper 
carrier, with mechanism for moving it, and a marker with means for imparting to: 
such marker in a given period upward movements corresponding in number to: 
that of the strokes of a steam-engine piston during such period, in order that 
marks indicative of the number of the strokes may be made by the marker on a 
sheet of paper moved as described. ‘The paper carrier is capable of being used 
for varying pressure of the steam during a stroke of a steam-engine piston and 
for registering the speed of the engine or number of strokes of its piston in a 
given time. 


ELEctric BURGLAR ALARM.—This novel burglar alarm is so arranged that 
the opening of a door or window breaks a primary circuit and closes a secondary 
one. ‘The alarm is kept sounding by the current through the secondary circuit,. 
and cannot be stopped by closing the door or window. 


Nove. Fire-EscapE —An ingenious inventor has provided a flexible chute 
which, when in use is adapted to be anchored at its lower end out in the street 
by cords so as to make an inclined covered way for the purpose of escaping from. 
the burning building. Weights on the cords which are attached to the upper 
end of the chute, pull it open when released. When not in use the chute is in- 
closed in a case in the window-sill, which is held closed by a latch in the window- 
sash. When the sash is raised it strikes an alarm. 


DEVICE FOR HANGING VENETIAN BLINDs.—lIn this invention, to the ends 
of the heavy top slats are affixed castings with an irregular angular opening in 
each which governs the position and operation of the blind. The shade, by 
means of these, may be, with all its attachments, lifted off or placed upon sup- 
porting pins in the jambs of the window. | 


LIME vs. POWDER. 


On Monday a series of interesting experiments took place in the workings of 
the Wharncliffe Silkstone Colliery, near Sheffield, the object being to test the new 
method of winning coal by the use of compressed lime instead of blasting-powder.. 
These.collieries, which are amongst the largest in South Yorkshire, employing 
over 600 hands, were opened in 1854, and. have been. remarkably free from ex- 


386 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
plosions, though gas is met with in the workings. The experiments, which were 
witnessed by the officials of this and other collieries, took place in the Parkgate 
seam. A hole about three inches in diameter and four feet deep was drilled 
through the solid coal, and cleaned out. A perforated iron tube was then in- 
serted, and the lime cartridge, three inches long, put in When the lime had 
been rammed home and the hole made up a force-pump was used to inject water 
into the bottom of the tube around the cartridge. Simultaneously with the in- 
jection of the water the rending process began, and in thirty minutes about ten 
tons of coal came down almost in an unbroken mass, one piece being nine feet 
long. Of the whole of the fall.not more than 6 per cent of the coal was ‘‘ small,” 
a much smaller percentage than under the old system. A second trial was 
made in another part of the pit, and the result was exceedingly satisfactory to the 
colliery officials. It is anticipated that compressed lime will eventually supersede 
the use of blasting powder, and thus revolutionize the system of winning coal.— 
Oldham Chronicle. 


PDMOR TAL AN @imzs: 


THE large amount of space given to the 
Proceedings of the American Association at 
Montreal in this number of the REVIEW, will 
be found well appropriated by every person 
who takes the pains to read the account 
given. Itis only intended as a popular re- 
port and contains much of a personal charac- 
ter that will not appear elsewhere. Our ex- 
periences were exceedingly pleasant, from the 
rushing, rapid trip over the Wabash, the Great 
Western of Canada and the Rome, Water- 
town & Ogdensburg R. R. to the quiet but 
charming sail down the St. Lawrence. We 
made the three thousand mile trip, including 
the excursions, without an unpleasant ad- 
venture, and returned home with nothing 
but the most agreeable recollections of the 
whole affair. The only regret felt is that we 
could not have spared two whole weeks for it 
instead of crowding so much into eleven 


days. 


ONE of the most interesting and valuakle 
exhibits at the Montreal meeting was that by 
Prof. Bassett, of Crawfordsville, Indiana. It 
c nsisted of several slabs of limestone cover- 


ed with crinoids of the most perfect and 
beautiful forms. These slabs varied in size 
from two to six square feet and the crinoids, 
worked out with the utmost care and delica- 
cy by the Professor’s own hand, andm ~ — 
ing from a few inches to several feo 1 
length, lay in great profusion and in all de- 
grees of entanglement all over them. ©ro- 
fessor Bassett has purchased the quarry c .1- 
taining them, said to be almost the only one 
known in the country and will give his atten_ 
tion to taking them out for the supplying of 
museums and private collections. He has 
made some very interesting discoveries con- 
cerning the habits of these curious. animals 
which he proposes to communicate to the 
public soon, through the columns of the RE- 
VIEW. 


PROFESSOR YOUNG, of Princeton College, 
will use the new telescope, for the present, 


| mainly in stellar spectroscopy, a department 


of research which promises interesting re- 
sults and requires powerful telescopes. The 
Princeton telescope ranks second in the Un- 
ited States and fourth in the world. 


¢ 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 


MR. JOHN ADAms, of Boston, has taken 
out a patent for a device intended to be used 
as a brake on steam vessels for the prevention 
of collisions. It is modeled after the pector- 
al fins of a fish and has been tested with 
complete success on a ocean steamer, stop- 
ping her within ten feet several times when 
sailing twelve miles an hour. 


THE transit of Venus in December is now 
‘filling the minds of the scientific men of the 
whole world. Every civilized government is 
extending aid, and simultaneous observations 
will be taken from every available portion of 
the globe. As this phenomenon will not 
again occur fur one hundred and twenty-two 
years the astronomers of the present day will 
make the most of it. 


ProFESsOR J. D. PARKER, who has fre- 
-quently assisted us in the preparation of the 
REVIEW, has received the appointment of 
Post Chaplain in the U.S, Army, and has 
left Kansas City to assume its duties at San 
Ant. vo, Texas, It is a good selection and 
Professor Parker hes the ability to fill the 
position admirably. 


24acyu 


SIXt ottest September day on record in 


*Syicinity was the 12th, when the mercury 


rvached 104° at Kansas City, 105° at Law- | 
rence, Kansas, 100° at St. Louis, and about | 


th same at all neighboring points, and was 
accompanied by a fierce hot wind that scorch- 
-ed vegetation like a flame and filled the air 
with clouds of suffocating dust. On the 
18th, after nearly two month’s drouth, a 
‘severe rain storm, amounting to over two 
inches, as reported to us, occured, doing 
much damage in this city and vicinity. 


Dr. D. G. BRINTON, of Philadelphia, is 
-about to commence the publication of a se- 
ries of works under the general title of Li- 
brary of Aboriginal Literature. These 
works will be published in the original 
‘tongues with English translations and notes. 
The first of the series will be ‘‘The Maya 
Chronicles.”” The price of each volume will 
ibe $3.00. 


387 


THE Edison incandescent light in New 
York City seems to be regarded now as a 
success. New burners can not be put up fast 
enough to supply the demand, and there is 
no prospect of a return to gas in the build- 
ings now illuminaed by electricity. This 
means that the new light is more agreeable 
than gas, and cheaper. 


Pror, A. N, LEONHARD, of St. Louis, has 
recently published a very full list of the 
minerals of Missouri, with the localities 
where found, etc. As Prof. Leonhard was 
formerly connected with the State Geologi- 
cal Survey and is now in charge of the de- 
partment of Mining and Metallurgy in the 
Washington University, this list may be re- 
lied upon as very accurate and complete. 


Two comets are now engaging the attention 
of astronomers, One was discovered first by 
E. E, Barnard, of Nashville, on the morning 
of Sept, 14, and is consequently called the 
Comet Barnard, It is only to be seen by the 
use of the telescope, and according to the 
Boston Sczence Observer, its orbit does not 
bear any resemblance to that of any known 
comet. The other was discovered first by 
Mr Cruls, at, Rio Janeiro, Sept. 11; and on 
the 18th by C.C. Miller, of Leon, Kansas. It 
is a very prominent object in the eastern sky, 
on any clear morning, at about 4:30. The nu- 

cleus appears to be heading directly towards 
the sun, while the tail lies to the westward. 


P. BLAKISTON SON & Co, announce a hand- 
some edition of Harley’s Diseases of the Liv- 
er, to be ready in October. It will be an 
octavo volume, illustrated with colored plates 
and wood engravings. It is offered as the 
only thorough book on the subject now be- 
fore the profession. 


ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS. 
THE contents of the Fofular Science Month- 
ly for October are as follows: Massage: Its 
Mode of Application and Effects, Douglas 
Graham, M. D ; Literature and Science, by 
Matthew Arnold ; What are Clouds? by C. 


388 


Morfit; The Past and Present of the Cuttle- 
Fishes, by Dr. Andrew Wilson (illustrated); 
Mozley on Evolution, by Herbert Spencer; 
Explosions and Explosives, by Allan D. 
Brown; The Utility of Drunkenness, by W. 
Mattieu Williams; Delusions of Doubt, by 
M. B. Bill; The Progress of American Min- 
eralogy, by Professor G. J. Brush; Industrial 
Education in the Public Schools, by Profes- 
sor H, H. Straight; Physiognomic Curiosi- 
ties, by Felix L. Oswald, M. D.; The Forma- 
tion of Saline Mineral Waters, by M. Dieul- 
afait; A Partnership of Animal and Plant 
life, by K. Brandt; Sketch of Professor Ru- 
dolf Virchow, (with Portrait); Editor’s Ta- 
ble: Matthew Arnold on Literature and 
Science—The Montreal Scientific Meeting; 
Literary Notes; Popular Miscellany; Notes. 


THE Atlantic Monthly for October contains 
the following attractive articles: Twoona 
Tower, XXVIII—XXXII, Thomas Hardy ; 
Among the Sabine Hills, Harriet W. Preston ; 
Storm on Lake Asquam, John Greenleaf 
Whittier; An English Interpreter, Horace 
E. Scudder; Cicada, John McCarty Pleas- 
ants; Studies in the South, VIII; And Mrs. 
Somersham, Agnes Paton; Fallow, Lucy 
Larcom; University Administration, W. T. 
Hewett; Pilgrim’s Isle, Thomas Williams 
Passons; The House of a Merchant Prince, 
XIX., XX, William Henry Bishop; The Na- 
tion of the Willows, II, F. H. Cushing; A 
Shadow Boat, Arlo Bates; The Red Man and 
the White. Man; The Salon of Madame 
Necker; The Contributors’ Club; Books of 
the Month. 


THE Worth American Review for October 


opens with an article on ‘‘ The Coming Rev- 
olution in England,” by H. M. Hyndman, 
the English radical leader. O. B. Frothing- 
ham writes of ‘* The Objectionable in Liter- 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCLENCE. 


ature.””? Dr. Henry Schliemann tells the in- 
teresting story of one year’s ‘‘ Discoveries at 
Troy.”? Senator John I. Mitchell, of Penn- 
sylvania, treats of the rise and progress of 
the rule of ‘‘ Political Bosses.” Professor 
George L. Vose, of the Massachusetts Insti- 
tute of Technology, contributes an article of 
exceptional value on ‘‘Safety in Railway 
Travel,’”’ and Prof. Charles S$. Sargent, of 
the Harvard College Arboretum, contributes 
an instructive essay on ‘‘ The Protection of 
Forests.” The fevzew is sold by booksel-. 
sellers and newsdealers generally. 


THE Oéserver, Falls City, Nebraska, says- 
of the REVIEw: ‘This excellent monthly 
is continually growing in favor. It is fresh 
and original and numbers some of the ablest 
contributors on the continent.” 


THE Wichita Zagle says: ‘*The Kansas. 
City REviEw should reach the table of every 
professional, literary and scientifically in- 
clined man in Kansas. It isasplendid pub- 
lication, full of matter pertaining to the 
formation and wonders of the trans-Missis-— 
sippi country and general scientific papers of 
great worth and absorbing interest. Two 
dollars and fifty cents per annum is wonder- 
fully cheap for a magazine of such size and 
worth, and which is published by Hon. Theo. 
S. Case, not for the money there might bein 
such a publication, but for his love of the 
work.” 


As usual, the REVIEw is full of interesting 
reading matter. The original articles are on 
subjects that interest most readers and search- 
ers after knowledge. This work is a credit 
to the intelligent forces of the West andi 
should be liberally supported. In the East 


it is looked upon as authority.— Herald. 


FOL NSAS “OME ye 


REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 


A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 


SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 


VOLE. VI. NOVEMBER, 1882. NONS72 


INS IE IEVYOUN OUMING 


THE COMING TRANSIT OF VENUS. 
PROF. H. S. S. SMITH, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS. 


The distance between the Earth and Sun is the astronomer’s foot rule. With 
it he measures distances in the solar system and even reaches out and spans the 
almost endless spaces between the stars. It is, then, of prime importance to him 
that he know the exact measure of this, his measuring rod. 

Ever since the time when Kepler proved and refined the Copernican theory, 
this problem has been one of the most important and, at the same time, one of 
the most diffcult with which astronomy has had to deal. It has called into exer- 
cise the highest powers of mathematical genius, has demanded and obtained, de- 
cided improvements in astronomical instruments and methods of observation, and 
has received more pecuniary aid than any other purely scientific problem. 

There are several methods available for the determination of this measure. 
Among them may be mentioned that by the parallax of Mars and of the minor 
planets, that by the velocity of light, that by inequalities in the motion of the — 
Moon, and that by the variation of the attraction of the earth on her sister planets. 
Of these, the first three, in order to be eminently successful, require an accuracy 
of observation not yet obtained, and the last, while certainly the most reliable of 
all in its fina] result, asks for at least five centuries more in which to makea good 


determination of the distance. In the meantime, the method by observations of 
VI—25 


390 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


the transit of Venus over the face of the Sun is certainly the most celebrated, 
and, while lacking some elements of accuracy, and requiring a considerable ex- 
penditure of time and money, is a method not to be despised.) 

Such a transit will take place on the 6th day of next December, and it may 
be interesting to know beforehand what to expect and when. This phenomenon 
recurs regularly four times every 243 years, at intervals of 8 years, 105% years, 
8 years, and 121% years. Here are the dates for four centuries: 


GSI oo 4 oe o JOS Sn, S2ZOOAN Eien nen UIMVeMS thas 
US) co 9 6 0 JME Brol WOU 5 6 5 6 5 US Cia 
1874 . . December oth. 2117. . December 11th. 
TOO2ie = eDecemibers eh 21 215 December Sth: 


From this we see that, if the coming transit is not watched, it will be as im- 
possible for one of us to see the phenomenon again as it is to examine the geolog- 
ical structure of the other side of the moon. The next transit will be reserved for 
the third generation to come. 

It is not a difficult matter to understand the outline of the method that de- 
duces the distance between the Earth and Sun from the observations of a transit. 
Suppose two observers, one at New York and the other at Cape Horn, and each 
provided with the necessary instruments. Since Venus is between the Sun and 
the Earth, it is evident that the path of the planet across the Sun’s disc, as seen 
by the observer in New York, will be nearer the southern edge of the Sun, and 
therefore shorter, than the similar path as seen by the observer at Cape Horn. 
Knowing the time that it takes Venus to travel each of these apparent paths, the 
rate with which the planet moves with reference to the Sun, and the apparent 
size of the Sun, the lengths of these two apparent paths and their distance apart 
are readily found. All these measurements are, of course, in seconds of arc. 
Now the distance between the two paths is, also, 2.61 times the distance be- 
tween New York and Cape Horn, since Venus is 0.723 of the Earth’s distance 
from the Sun. Knowing, then, the length of a certain line on the Sun both in 
seconds of arc and in miles, the distance between the Sun and the Earth is the 
immediate result. Previous to 1874 but three transits had been observed, and 
the results were far from satisfactory. The uncertainty of the result, as estimated 
at the time, was only nine-tenths of one per cent, and though this amount of 
error is comparatively small, it really means about 840,000 miles. Combining 
the results from the transit of Venus in 1874 with the best results from the other 
methods the probable error is reduced to one tenth of one per cent, but even 
this small fraction amounts to more than go,ooo-miles. This amount of uncer- 
tainty will, for instance, produce an uncertainty of 20,000,000 miles in our estimate 
of the distance of the nearest fixed star. With this comparatively small but es- 
sentially great error still connected with the fundamental unit, it behooves the as- 
tronomer to improve his methods and make the determination more exact. 

In 1874, neither labor nor expense were spared to make the work as thorough 
as possible. In that year the transit could be seen only from places in the eastern 


THE COMING TRANSIT OF VENUS. © 391 


part of Asia and on the islands of the Southern Pacific, and the expense of fitting 
out expeditions to go to these distant places was large. Germany alone spent 
$150,000 on her share of the work. ‘This year the work will be far less expen- 
sive because the transit can be seen from all the eastern part of North America 
and from all of South America, so that it will not be necessary to send out as 
many parties as in 1874. The observatories already in active operation in 
this country, South America, Africa and Australia, can be utilized to their full 
extent. And then the direct outlay will be less because the instruments prepared 
for the last transit can be utilized for the coming one. 

England, France, Germany and the United States have already sent out 
their expeditions. The English will occupy thirteen stations, viz:—Jamaica, 
Barbados, Bermuda, Cape Colony (3), Madagascar, Natal, Mauritius, New Zea- 
land, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney. France sends out six parties; to Guad- 
elope or Martinique, Cuba, Florida, Coast of Mexico, Rio Negro and Santa Cruz. 
Germany has chosen four stations; at Hartford, Conn., Aiken, S.C., Bahia 
Blanca and Punta Arenas. 

Parties from the United States will be stationed at the following places: 
Santa Cruz, Santiago, New Zealand, aud Cape of Good Hope. The principal 
stations in this country will be Cedar Keys, Fla.; San Antonio, Texas; Fort 
Thorn, N. M. 

_ The endeavor has been made to choose the places so that the observations to 
be made may be the most useful in the final solution of the problem. At the 
same time it has been necesSary to take into account the meteorological condi- 
tions of the several places and to so arrange the several stations that the probabil- 
ity of unfavorable weather at all the places in any one region may be the least 
possible. This was done at the International Conference on the approaching 
transit of Venus held in Paris from the 5th to the 13th of October, 1881. It is 
of course, necessary that the stations be widely separated from one another in 
order that the two apparent paths of Venus across the Sun’s face may be as far 
apart as possible and render any small error in the observations as harmless as 
may be. ‘The work itself.is of extreme delicacy. Equal to that, for instance, in 
the case where a surveyor would be required to find the exact distance of an ob- 
ject six miles away, while not allowed to move his instruments more than three 
feet in any direction. When such exact work as this is required, it is not strange 
that particular attention should be paid to the selection of proper stations. 
There seems to be considerable difference of opinion among the four nations 

as regards the best methods of observing the transits. There are three essential- 
dy different ways of attacking the problem: 1. By observation of the time of ex- 
ternal and internal contacts at ingress and egress; 2. By making direct meas- 
ures of the distance between the centre of Venus and the edge of the Sun; 3. 
By photographing Venus and the Sun, and measuring their relative positions after- 
ward. 

The English are the advocates of the first method, the Germans of the second, 
and the Americans of the third. Although the method by contact is apparently 


392 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


very simple and easy, there are some decided drawbacks to its successful prose- 
cution. It is comparatively easy to determine the time of external contact both 
when Venus enters and when she leaves the disc of the Sun. But to determine 
the exact time when the body of the planet has just fully entered the disc, and 
when it is just about to begin its passage across the edge at egress is an entirely 
different matter. The dense atmosphere of Venus surrounds the planet with a 
rim of hazy light and: this, with the defraction and irradiation necessary under 
the circumstances, renders the determination of the exact time of geometrical 
contact impossible. So great is the effect of these causes that two observers, us- 
ing similar instruments, and watching side by side, may differ as much as a min- 
ute in their estimate of the time of the occurrence. The one redeeming feature 
of the method is that it requires a difference of two seconds of time to make an 
error of so much as one-tenth of a second of arc in the measurement, so slow is 
the motion of Venus across the face of the Sun. And it may be that, by proper- 
ly training the observers and instructing them carefully about the appearances to 
be seen, the method may be made to yield satisfactory results. It would seem, 
then, that the English, with their large outlay, are running considerable risk in 
trusting entirely to this one method. 

The second method is essentially German in its history and use. The in- 
strument—the heliometer,—with which alone the measurements can be satisfac- 
torily made, has done its best work in German hands, and it is but right and 
natural that they should use it to its full capacity. They do not, however, in- 
tend to confine themselves to this one method but will also take observations of 
the times of contacts. 

In the photographic method the observations are made almost entirely by 
mechanical means and thus the personal equation, that fertile source of discrep- 
ancies, is almost entirely obliterated. The instruments required, though expen- 
sive and delicate, are not cumbrous, the work itself is not essentially difficult, 
and there is the decided advantage of a permanent record that can be referred to 
at any time. It is claimed that the collodion films of the photographic plates are 
liable to slip and render the record worthless; but, as it seems, this statement has 
yet to be proved. The principal reason why this method is not to be used more 
generally at the coming transit is said to be that, because the photographic ok- 
servations made in 1874 have not yet been completely reduced and their worth 
fully shown, European astronomers do not wish to try an improved method but 
prefer to use those whose errors they know. Be this as it may, the results al- | 
ready obtained from a partial discussion of the observations show a probable er- 
ror far less than those obtained by any of the other processes. May it not be 
that our cousins of England and Germany are just a little chagrined about the 
fact that their photographic work of eight years ago was decidedly inferior to 
that done by the Americans? As the case stands at present, the greatest diffi- 
culty in the way of a successful result of the labors of the present year is the lack 
of harmony between the masters of the science as to best methods of observation. 
Even if advisable, it is a difficult matter to combine the results found by different 


THE COMING TRANSIT OF VENUS. . 393 


methods, andit may be that this disagreement will render the final determination 
far less satisfactory than it would have been if the several parties had acted in 
concert. | 

While the astronomers are using all the refinements of science to make their 
observations as accurate as possible, it may be that some people who are not fol- 
lowing this special line of work and who, it may be, are not particularly interest- 
ed in the advancement of science, will find an interest in watching a transaction 
that cannot occur again before the expiration of one hundred and twenty years. 
Unfortunately, these random observations cannot be of use in making the final 
determination of the distance of the Sun more accurate, but there is, neverthe- 
less, a feeling of interest in knowing that one is looking sunward in common 
with a large part of the civilized world. Adapting the data given in the Ameri- 
can Ephemeris to the latitude and longitude of the University Observatory at Law- 
rence, the times of the four principal phases of the transit are found to be as fol- 
lows, expressed in Lawrence mean time: 


MransityDesdnsaey eect okeiierrs rarer eer lee qin At IVin 
imternalvcontact at ingress) sys). sale 8 3 me 
imtennalWcontactwat, egressi-a aan |r 2O lt). win 
sRransitrendspatesprts sasha Se adnate ean ix arta 48 ce 


We see that it will take Venus about twenty minutes to pass over the edge 
of the Sun and that more than six hours will elapse between the beginning and 
ending of the transit. To change these times so as to accommodate them to 
other localities in Kansas and Missouri, the only difference to be allowed for is 
that caused by a difference of longitude. Thus: the map gives a difference in 
longitude of thirty-five minutes of arc between Lawrence and Kansas City, and 
this means that the phases of the transit will occur a little more than two minutes 
later by Kansas City mean time than by Lawrence mean time. For those places 
Usine the time furmished by the Av) dT. & S. F. or Ke P- Division: R- R-’s) it 
will be sufficient to add fourteen minutes to the times given above. 

And now some one may ask how to see it. A person provided with good 
eyes and a uniformly smoked piece of glass can see the whole transit. Venus 
will appear as a very small black dot on the surface of the Sun, and will appear 
to have an exceedingly slow motion from east to west. If, however, a person 
has a telescope or opera-glass, the observations can be made much more easily 
and satisfactorily. To the eye end of the telescope, and about a foot from it, 
fasten a piece of stiff white cardboard nine or ten inches square to serve as a 
screen. This can be most easily done with pieces of stiff wire tied to the tele- 
scope. Then fasten around the object end of the telescope a shield to protect 
this screen from the direct rays of the Sun. Place the telescope on some con- 
venient rest, point the telescope toward the Sun, and pull out the eye-piece (or 
lengthen the tube) a little until the image of the Sun on the screen is distinct. 
With this arrangement half a dozen persons can see the transit at once with com- 
fort and without any danger of injury to the eye. It may be of service to know 


394 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


that Venus will begin her transit at a point 60° from the south point measured 
toward the east, and will pass off the Sun at a point 61° from the south point 
measured toward the west, that is, in the upper half of the southeast and south- 
west quarters respectively. 


UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, October 10, 1882. 


SPECULATIONS ABOUT COMETS. 


The present brilliant comet has been the theme of all sorts of speculation, 
and scientists seem to be at fault equally with the amateur. In fact, as they 
know nothing definite about comets, those outside the chnamne! circle may be 
pardoned if they, too, indulge in speculation. 

What seems to us inconsistent in these scientific theories is that, first assum- 
ing comets to be composed of the same substance as all other planetary and stel- 
lar objects, they disregard the laws of matter. For example, we are told that the 
comet has passed so near the Sun as to be torn into several fragments that can 
now be seen with powerful telescopes. On the other hand, the comet of last 
year, we were advised, was in danger of coming within the attractive sphere of 
the Sun and convulsing that orb by dropping into it such an addition to its fuel as. 
possibly to burn up our world, or at least be fatal to many forms of life upon it. 
But this fuel theory has by the same scientists been dissipated by the present 
comet, which has actually, despite the telescopists, telescoped with the Sun, like 
two railway trains, and bounded off into space again, minus a few splinters—and 
even the splinters refusing to fall into the Sun. How are we non-scientific peo- 
ple to gather wisdom from these contradictory hypotheses? Both cannot be 
true. - 

As cometary bodies of long periods do not belong to the solar system, it is a 
question whether they ever really enter it. The Sun’s distance from our earth 
was never known until the parallax was calculated from the transit of Venus in 
1761. No cometary parallax is possible and the conjecture that comets enter the 
solar system at all is not demonstrated. We mean that they never enter the 
sphere of the attractive force of the solar system. If they did, like asteroids and 
meteoric matter, they would remain, and from the law of attraction would fall in- 
to the Sun did they collide with that orb as the present one is held to have 
done. 

From the very theory of the solar system and the hypothesis that it is but 
one of a universe of systems of suns and planets, we must conclude that these 
systems constitute separate spheres of attractive force, and that while they meet, 
they never commingle—else harmony would be destroyed and chaos reign where 
order is the first law. Their presence then, as is held, within the attractive force 
of the solar system is only apparent. The peculiar appearance of comets and the 
change noted in their aspects can all be explained by the law of optics when we 


SPECULATIONS ABOUT COMETS. . . 395 


consider the spheres of different densities that intervene in our solar system es 
tween the eye and comet beyond the ‘confines of that system. 

We have not the space here to elaborate this hypothesis, and can only sug- 
gest it by the statement that a body like that of a comet, when approaching the 
boundary of its own system, and subject to the attractive force of the solar sys- 
tem, would invariably be an elongated body—the length of its tail being in ratio 
with its size and the forces operating upon it. Comets must obey and be con- 
trolled by the central forces of the system to which they belong, and when they 
approach near or come in contact with our system, they must from the law refer- 
red to, have tails. ? 

The effect of the earth sphere and other spheres of the solar system upon the 
appearance of a comet must differ with the position of the comet itself. Suppose 
the sphere of the attractive force of the solar system to be convex. The light 
projected on this convex surface would be to expand it. But when we view it 
from the earth, with nothing but the earth sphere between, the effect is that of a 
convex lens, and the comet will appear smaller and present a more natural ap- 
pearance than under the other conditions. If dense strata or the sphere of an- 
other planet lie between the eye and the comet the appearance will greatly differ, 
as the comet would then project itself upon the convex surface of that interven- 
ing sphere. 

The intervention of this sphere as related to the eye of the observer is both 
concave and convex, and of necessity affects the image seen through it. But 
even this fact is not all, for we know that the planetary spheres are more dense 
than the sphere of the system, and light from the comet projected upon such 
sphere is not so freely transmitted, and will be reflected back upon the outer or par- 
ent sphere, which from one point of view is convex—thus PESSELLINE toy theleye 
a distorted image of the comet. 

Taking these well known facts in optics into consideration, and noting the 
other fact that in the position of the present comet we see it not only through the 
sphere of the solar system, but through that of other planetary spheres, the ob- 
server may readily be misled to the conclusion that the comet and Sun have been 
in actual contact, the former appearing by its reflected light to have been so near 
the latter. But it will be noted that no one observed the comet in conjunction, 
either inferior or superior, which would have been the case had it been within 
the solar system, for it was first observed so near to the Sun as to preclude the 
possibility of its escaping the close search of the astronomers when it was on the 
other limb of that orb, as it must have been to pass around and come in contact 
with it. And particularly if it has been broken into so many pieces by the col- 
lision it must have been much larger when intact, and more readily observable. 
And as the tail is in proportion to the size of the nucleus it would have been a 
much more conspicuous object before than after the catastrophe. These facts 
can only be-explainable upon the hypothesis suggested above. And this can be 
more readily admitted when we know that the direction of the tail often changes, 


396 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


and itis lengthened enormously or lost entirely within a few days, which could not 
be from any other than an optical cause. 

Comets, we are told, have been calculated as to their orbits, but we have the 
additional fact that no return of a calculated comet has ever been known to ap- 

"pear under the same circumstances, a fact that suggests of itself that they are not 
within the solar system, either in whole or in part, but that it is the position of 
the bodies composing the solar system and their spheres to that of the observer 
on the earth that controls the phenomena attending the appearance of comets. 
In:fact, when we consider that comets are without the solar system and obeying 
the laws of another system entirely beyond ours, about which we cannot know 
anything, the presumption is very strong that observers mistake comets that come 
at or within a few years of calcultated periods for the expectedreturn. There can 
be no certainty, even if we admit that comets do sometimes enter the solar sys- 
tem and leave it again, for in the infinitude of worlds and systems they must 
traverse on such theory, we cannot discount the forces with, which they come in 
contact to retard or accelerate their motion or deflect them from the imaginary 
orbits we prescribe for them. At best the whole comet lore of our astronomers 
is conjectural—guess work and unreliable—and every one is at liberty, as we are, 
to have a theory of his own. 

There is a theory, admitted by all astronomers, which may account for 
comets, and coincides with the assumption that they are outside the solar system. 
It is that our system is but one of thousands of suns and their families, all mov- 
ing around their central body in the same plane. These systems of suns in their 
circles of motion must frequently come in contact or close conjunction, and the 
comets belonging to them become visible or approach so near the attractive 
force of our system as to be influenced in their movements by it. These sister 
systems may not ali be in the advanced state of planetary evolution that we are, 
and these comets, numbering thousands, be visible thousands of years, as the sys- 
tems to which they belong and that to which we belong are performing their evo- 
lutions. 

That the theory we have here outlined has facts to support it we need only 
refer to the appearance of Halley’s comet in 1835. The comet was visible for 
nine months from the earth. Its first appearance was without a tail for two 
months, when a tail began to appear, and rapidly developed until it was twenty 
degrees in length. It then began to shorten, and in twenty days it entirely dis- 
appeared. After its ‘‘ perihelion” it disappeared for two months. On its reap- 
pearance it had no vestige of a tail, and the nucleus appeared surrounded by a 
coma. As the comet receded from the Sun it increased rapidly in dimensions, 
until in one week it was forty times its size the previous week. It continued to 
increase until it actually became invisible from expansion, all except the nucleus, 
which increased in brightness as the envelope dilated and disappeared. At its 
very last observation it appeared as when first seen—a small round nebula with a 
bright point in the center. Can any theory so well account for these rapid 
changes of appearance as the optical one we have alluded to, and which will be 


ELECTRICITY AND THE PHENOMENA OF COMETS. 397 


found to be borne out by the position of the planets at the times noted, showing 
by all analogy that it was the influence of their spheres as related to the position 
of the earth and the observer upon it that produced the changes in the comet’s 
appearance, and not those of the comet itself. 

We might elaborate this beyond the space we have to devote to one article, 
but enough has been said to show that there is more than one side to this ques- 
tion of comets and to demonstrate that the science of comets, as it is termed, is 
yet in its infancy, if it can even claim to be that far advanced. Either astrono- 
mers are guessing about them or the laws governing our solar system are not so 
well understood as we have been led to believe. Either the one or the other of 

these propositions is true, or else comets are but vagrants—emanations amenable 
to no known law, or optical delusions engendered from the solar system itself— 
like fogs or wandering clouds in our own atmosphere. 

But as we know that nothing else in the universe, that comes within our know]- 
edge, is without purpose and use, and that our system is but a speck in the won- 
drous structure of the infinite, we must conclude that they have their uses and 
obey laws as do our planets and their sun, and that our failure to discover 
their secret is from our own inability to read aright the machinery of the creation, 
rather than that some mistake has been made in its adjustment, by reason of 
which these celestial tramps are wandering about responsible to no social law re- 
ognized by the heavenly hosts. —Aansas City Journal, Oct. 22. 


ELECTRICITY AND THE PHENOMENA OF COMETS. 


There seems to be a rapidly growing feeling among physicists that both the 
self light of comets and the phenomena of their tails belong to the order of elec- 
trical phenomena. Those who are disposed to believe that the truth lies in this 
direction differ from each other in the precise modes in which they would apply the 
known laws of electric action to the phenomena of comets. Broadly the different 
applications of the principal of electricity which have been suggested group them- 
- selves about the common idea that great electric disturbances are set up by the 
Sun’s action in connection with the vaporization of some of the matters of the 
nucleus, and that the tail is probably matter carried away, possibly in connection 
with electric discharges, under an electrical influence of repulsion excited by the 
Sun. ‘This view necessitates the supposition that the Sun is strongly electrified, 
either negatively or positively, and, further, that in the processes taking place in 
the comet, either of vaporization or of some other kind, the matter thrown out 
‘by the nucleus has become’strongly electrified in the same way as the Sun, 7 ¢., 
negatively if the Sun’s electricity is negative, cr positively: if the Sun’s is positive. 
The enormous disturbances which the spectroscope shows to be always at work 
in the Sun must be accompanied by electrical changes of equal magnitude, but - 
we know nothing as to how far these are all, or the great majority of them in one 
direction, so as to cause the Sun to maintain permanently a high electrical state, 


398 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


whether positive or negative. Unless some such a state of things exists, Sir John 
Herschel’s statement, ‘‘ that this force cannot be of the nature of electric or mag- 
netic forces,” must be accepted, for, as he points out, ‘‘the center of gravity (of 
each particle) would not be affected. The attraction on one of its sides would 
precisely equal the repulsion on the other.” Repulsion of the cometary matter 
could only take place if this matter, after it has been driven off from the nucleus, 
and the Sun, have both high electric potentials of the same kind. Further, it is 
suggested that the luminous jets, streams, ‘halos and envelopes belong to the same 
order of phenomena as the aurora, the electrical brush and the stratified dis- 
charges of exhausted tubes. Views resting more or less on this basis have been 
put-forward by several physicists, and in particular by the late Prof. Zollner, 
who endeavored to show that on certain assumed data, which appeared to him to: 
be highly probable, the known laws of electricity are fully adequate to explain 
the phenomena of comets.— Zhe (Vineteenth Century. 


GEOLOGY: 


REMOTENESS OF THE FINAL CATASTROPHE. 
je Dy DARI, We Ss AS 


Geology teaches that transitions have occurred in the Earth’s crust from the 
earliest geological times. The larger part probably were operative over long 
periods and effected slow changes in the ocean level, but produced more or less. 
exterminations among living species. Thus in passing from layer to layer in the 
rocks one or more species became extinct with a corresponding introduction of 
new species. At the opening of an epoch many new species would appear, and 
at the commencement of a period a whole fauna. Creations and extinctions | 
have thus been going on through the whole course of geological history. 

But at longer intervals greater convulsions have occurred in nature. The 
course of nature seems at times to have completed a cycle terminating in a catas- 
trophe. A catastrophe (a term which may be retained in geology when properly 
defined) is not really a retrogression, but a new birth, a more violent transition 
or unfolding by internal forces, an extermination of life, perhaps an extinction of 
former races, but an introduction of higher and better forms of life. Such tran- 
sitions have always resulted in an improved condition of things on the earth, high- 
er and more perfect organizations having sprung into being. Geological history 
has thus been a pervodical unfolding from the lower, more elementary and imper- 
fect toward the higher forms of being. Now if nature does not retrograde, or if 
the law of progress shall remain in force, may we not reason by analogy that in 


REMOTENESS OF THE FINAL CATASTROPHE, - 39 9) 


o 


fullness of time will come the final catastorophe that will introduce an economy 
of life far transcending all that has preceded it—in a word, the Golden Age of 
all the Earth’s History? Such seems to be general teaching of Science and Rev- 
elation. 


It is the purpose of this article to show the remoteness in time of this final 
catastrophe. 

Three violent transitions or catastrophes are revealed as having taken place 
in geological history. The first transpired at the close of the Azoic Age. From 
a probable state of fusion the earth cooled down, the vaporous atmosphere was. 
precipitated and gathered into seas, in which depositions took place forming sed- 
imentary rocks over immense continental areas. The beds were spread out hort- 
zontal, or nearly so, indicating that it was a period of tranquillity. In all the 
foldings of the Azoic beds there is always a marked conformability of the various. 
strata. But the close of this period of tranquillity was strongly marked in geo- 
logical history. There was a general upturning of sedimentary rocks, a profound 
heaving and displacement, a folding, crystallization and metamorphosing, a devel- 
opment of mountain ranges, and a probable extermination of vegetable life. A 
complete revolution took place, the features of the globe were changed, and a 
new order of things was introduced over the whole earth. And now followed the 
ages of mollusks, fishes and coal plants, during which the seas swarmed with life, 
and the continents were covered with new and higher forms of vegetation. 

At the close of Paleozoic time occurred the second violent transition or 
catastrophe during which there was a very general extermination of existing life. 
The Earth puts on a new aspect, and there is a new economy of life over the 
whole globe. The animals of the Reptilian Age far surpass in the scale of being 
those of preceding ages. Several great Paleozoic races became extinct ; paleo- 
zoic formations in many regions were folded and crystallized, and prominent 
_ mountain ranges were developed. New and higher forms of vegetation sprang 
into life, and the whole earth put on an improved appearance. 

The third and last violent transition or catastrophe occurred at the close of 
Mesozoic Time when there was again a very general extermination of life. The 
_beds of the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, the Reptilian Age, seem to have 
been deposited during a tranquil period, as they are for the most part conforma- 
ble. True, there were slight elevations and depressions, and evidences of varia- 
tions in the ocean level resulting from gentle heaving of the Earth’s crust, but the 
the age was one of comparative quietness. But at the close of the Cretaceous. 
Period, there were profound geological movements, a great displacement of ear- 
lier rocks, and an extermination of species probably as complete as that closing 
the palzeozoic era. The globe puts on a new garb, and mammals appear, the 
forerunners of the age of man and of the age of mind. ; 

In the consummation of all things earthly the globe seems now to be await- 
ing the final catastrophe to usher in the Golden Age. Does science cast any 


light upon the time when the Earth shall advance throws the last transition to 
new and higher forms of being ? 


400 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


If we take the time-ratios of the rocks we shall find that they point forward 
like silent indices to a time for the close of this period that is very distant in the 
future. Adopting the estimates generally employed by geologists, considering 
that limestones increase with extrerne slowness compared with fragmental depos- 
its, not more than one foot of limestone being deposited while five feet of frag- 
mental rocks accumulate, the duration of the Cenozoic, Mesozoic and Paleozoic 
will probably stand related as 1, 2 and 4. And when we compare the Cenozoic 
to the Azoic it is lost as a drop in the ocean. But the Cenozoic, or present age, 
is the most important one in the Earth’s history. It is the age of mammals; it is 
the age of man; it is the age of mind. All preceding ages find in it their devel- 
opment and fulfillment on the earth. It gives significance in our earthly devel- 
opment to all the immense eons of geological history. It is the age that embraces 
the human period, the crown and glory of the whole creation. Can any species 
of analogy reduce this age to a comparative insignificance in the time-ratios, 
while the preceding ages of preparation are drawn out and occupy such immense 
periods? Rhetorically speaking, is the order of creation anti-climatic? As crea- 
tion advances to higher and better forms of being, shall things become ephem- 
eral? When everything begins to assume value and importance in creation, when 
they begin to have real significance, and arrive at a point where we would natur- 
ally reason they should have some solidity and permanence, shall we there find 
that the natural analogical order of creatiog breaks down, and shall the creation 
as we find it on the Earth prove a comparative failure? After immense periods, 
almost infinitudes of time, when we reach the substance of things, shall it sudden- 
ly crumble beneath our touch, and disappear to our view? Orshall we not more 
rationally conclude that the present Age reaches forward to its fair analogical pro- 
portions until the human period shall have its natural development and fulfillment, 
until mankind in all the races, the seething populations of the globe, shall be car- 
ried forward, and developed, in a word, redeemed and prepared for the higher 
and better order of things, the Golden Age of all the Earth’s history ? 

As voices reéchoing in a mighty cafion indicate its amplitude, so there are 
many voices sounding through the corridors of time which prophesy its immense 
duration. If we take the coal-fields for example we find fuel stored up in the 
earth practically in unlimited quantities. But coal is made to burn, was created 
for the use of man, and it is fair to conclude that man is destined to use it, not in 
infinitesimal quantities, but the supply and demand are to be somewhat in pro- 
portion. The law of supply and demand is more perfectly observed in nature 
than in human affairs. Now there is one coal-field, the Western Interior Area, 
covering part of Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Northern 
Texas, which would supply all the accumulating population of the globe for a 
million years. And what shall we say of other coal-fields, many of which in 
polar regions have not been developed, and of the unlimited areas of coal be- 
neath the ocean much of which will probably in future ages, by the absorption of 
fluids by the solid portion of the earth, be rendered accessible? Should a man 
be ten years in erecting a mansion with all the elaboration of modern architec- 


REMOTENESS OF THE FINAL CATASTROPHE. 401, 


ture, and put enough coal in the basement to last half a century, and then delib- 
erately destroy his house the next day, would he be considered a wise man? 
Will He who made the house in which we live show less wisdom ?P 

There are certain movements in the solar system which by a species of ana- 
logical reasoning have left a deep impression on thoughtful minds. The force of 
this logic is derived from the analogical relation of one part to another or to the 
whole. In the light of this method of reasoning there is a deep significance in 
the slow movements of the solar system. The pole of the equinoctial, for exam- 
ple has a slow movement around the pole of the ecliptic completing its orbit in 
25,868 years. If we should find a chronometer constructed of an unknown sub- 
stance with a wheel that made one revolution in a thousand years we would nat- | 
urally infer that that instrument was intended torunalongtime. The Moon in its 
orbit beats through different forms of the ellipse, requiring according to Professor 
Mitchell, five or six million years to complete its circuit. If we found another 
wheel in the chronometer just spoken of which made a revolution in a million 
years our conception of the time the instrument was intended to run would be 
proportionately enlarged, and the whole instrument would be judged by the slower 
movement of the wheel. It is conceded that the whole solar system has a movement 
in spaces, a movement of great velocity, but carried forward over such immense 
space that thousands of years elapsed before the best astronomers detected it. 
Now whatever relates to the solar system as a whole relates to the individual parts, 
relates of course to the Earth. The argument tends to prove the permanency of 
the solar system and of the Earth. And this permanency of the Earth resolves it- 
self naturally into immense periods such as we find in geological history. And 
as the Earth is carried forward with the solar system in its onward movement, 
made sensible by :he apparent opening and closing of stars in opposite portions 
of the heavens, as these infinitudes of space break over us through which the 
Earth circles in its onward flight who dare limit the corresponding times during 
which it makes its passage? Whocan set bounds to the present period which gives 
significance to all these immense cycles of revolution, and for which all forego- 
ing periods have been merely preparatory ? 

The argument derived from the physical system might be elaborated, but 
the whole tendency is in the direction of giving a great duration to the present 
period. The drift of the moral argument is in the same direction. If we take 
the human period and give it as great an antiquity as we please, and look at the 
development of the human race we find it only in its infancy. When we speak 
of the noontide glory of the nineteenth century, our language, stripped of hyper- . 
bole, means simply that some portions of the earth are lighter than others. The 
great masses of populations of the globe still lie in the grossest degradation and 
darkness. When will the moral regenefation of the populations of the world be 
accomplished? ‘The difficulties in the way are almost insuperable when we con- 
sider the false philosophies, false religions, the spirit of caste, different languages, 
hostile governments, polygamy and a multitude of social evils, things whose roots 
have gone way down into the hearts of the nations so deep that it seems almost 


402 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


impossible to eradicate them. The actual work of regenerating the world as a 
matter of fact has been wonderfully slow, and missionaries are beginning the 
work over again in the same places where the gospel was first preached. A rail- 
road can be pushed through a mountain range, but it is difficult to push it over 
a continent covered with mountain ranges. The mechanical powers seem to be 
in the infancy of their development. Weare just beginning tosee the fore-gleams. 
of those things which are to illuminate the world. And yet we have the promise 
in our sacred books of the Golden Age. 

If this argument is met by conflicting interpretations of prophecy we simply 
answer that prophecy is not read forward but backward. ‘‘ And now I have 
told you before it come to pass,” says the Great Teacher, ‘‘that when it is come 
to pass ye might believe.” It is true that coming events cast their shadows be- 
fore, for ‘‘ When the branch of the fig-tree is tender and putteth forth leaves, we 
know that summer is nigh.” ‘To deny that we have fore-gleams of great events 
would be to deny the very validity of the argument of the present article. But 
the interpretation of prophecy is the most uncertain portion of hermeneutics. 
If a day is a year, as many suppose, a thousand years would be three hundred 
and sixty-five thousand years for the millennium, which probably is nearer the 
truth. We cannot see how it is possible to reconcile with infinite benevolence 
the advent of the Son of Man, unless the Logos was incarnated as near the be- 
ginning of human history as possible, as soon as all things were ready. We may 
not be able to measure the distance of a fixed star from the Earth, as the diameter 
of the Earth’s orbit gives no sensible parallax. So the final catastrophe is so re- 
mote that the parallax seems to be formed of lines that run out almost parallel 
through the coming ages. Modern astronomy has revealed to us the immensity 
of space. Two thousand nebule, like our Milky-Way, which contains a hundred 
million suns with all their mighty trains, probably a thousand million worlds, 
have been catalogued, and as our telescopes are increased in power new nebule 
keep trooping up out-of the misty depths of space. In a similar way geology is 
revealing to us the immensity of time. As the infinitudes of time break over 
the student of science, of the present period, he seems to be launched on an al- 
most boundless ocean into which flow the confluent streams of all the past ages. 
He sees deep currents all around him which bear him onward beneath brighter 
skies and into fairer climes. In his onward course new constellations arise from 
the mighty ocean, and a deeper glow tinges the cerulean heavens. He hears in- 
spiring voices by day and voices by night from the sounding sea. All things 
around him and above him are full of marvels, but that which awes him most is 
the awful grandeur of the limitless ocean on which he is voyaging, for he hears 
no waves breaking on the distant shores. 

If the argument of this article is well founded this subject has important ap- 
plications in every-day life: : 


t. It enlarges our view of the creation, of the importance of man in the 
divine economy, and exalts our conceptions of the Creator. 


ANIMALS AND THEIR DIET. 403 


2. If the human period is only in fact just begun, if the morning shadows 
‘have just fallen on the Earth, we are working on the foundations of human so- 
‘ciety. In laying foundations we ought to take the greatest care to do our work 
well. : | 

3. The remoteness of the final catastrophe removes the foundations of be- 
lief of a certain religious society who are constantly fixing days for its occurrence. 
These predictions have failed so often that now they cause more amusement than 
alarm. Even the ox, which a man in New York has impoverished his family for 
ten years to fatten, to regale the elect on that occasion, has gone the way of all 
the Earth. Although the subject is serious we cannot forbear a smile at the 
homely suggestion of a western stockman who said if that ox must be kept until 
the final catastrophe, it would be safer to kill him and ‘‘jerk the meat.” 


¢ 


But however remote the final catastrophe may be, it is always well to re- 
member that the Son of Man cometh to each one of us at an hour we know not, 
and we should heed his admonition when he says, ‘“ Be ye also ready.’’ 


* 


ZOOLOGY: 


ANIMALS AND THEIR DIET. 


Certain facts which have recently come before the public are drawing atten- 
tion to the question “How did animals first become carnivorous ?”—a subject 
which is the more interesting as it naturally blends with the so-called ‘‘ Vegeta- 
rian” movement. In taking the matter into consideration we must first cast 
aside two words which enable men to mystify themselves and their fellows. I 
refer in the first place to the term ‘‘ carnivorous.” This word is sometimes ap- 
plied to beings which feed on animal matter in general, but it is, perhaps, oftener 
restricted to such as prey upon the larger animals. Thus some persons would 
assert that a creature which devours merely worms, snails, insects, etc., is not 
carnivorous, and in fact zodlogical systematists have given the names Insectivora 
and Carnivora to two distinct mammalian orders. Others would maintain that an’ 
animal which feeds upon the eggs of birds is not on that account carnivorous, 
since eggs are not flesh. To get rid of all this confusion we must for once ‘‘do 
the thing our soul hates,” and propose a new word. Let uscall creatures which 
feed upon animal matter, of whatever kind, zodphagous. With the vegetable 
feeders there is a somewhat similar confusion. It is not strictly accurate, e. g., 
to call a being which lives on fruits or seeds ‘‘herbivorous.” Hence it is the 
safest to speak of all animals which feed upon vegetable matter as phytophagous 
—a term already in use. 

This being then understood, we turn to the subject itself. If, as every one 
must admit, plants came into being upon our globe earlier than animals, then, as 


404 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Mr. Allinson contends, the first forms of animal life must have nourished them- 
selves upon vegetable matter. Hence the question when and how animals be- 
came zodphagous is perfectly legitimate. 

But at the same time we must recognize that among vertebrate animals, and 
especially among Mammalia, the earliest forms seem to have been zodéphagous. 
Among fishes, amphibians, and reptiles, even in the earlier geological epochs, 
the vegetable feeders are found in a minority. The earliest birds, such as Avche- 
opteryx, fLesperornis, Lchthyornis, and Apatornis, which approach nearest to rep- 
tiles, and which were probably all armed with teeth—were plainly fitted for a 
predatory life. Among mammals the lowest and earliest forms are decidedly 
zoophagous. ‘This is the case with the monotrematous genera Zchidna and Or- 
nithorhynchus, and also with not a few of the marsupials, both recent and fossil. 
The oldest of the true placental mammals are the Insectivora, including the hedg- 
hog, the shrews, moles, etc. Yet few of these animals partake of vegetable food, 
save under the pressure of necessity. Nor do they by any means confine their 
depredations to insects. The hedgehog merits the favoring notice of man as be- 
ing a destroyer of vipers, but at the same time it excites the wrath of the sport- 
ing world by its raids upon the eggs of the pheasant and partridge, and even upon 
the young birds and upon leverets, and is, for his size, as clearly a beast of prey 
as is the tiger. 

It may even be permissible to ask whether among the mammals the purely 
phytophagous forms have not been developed from a zodphagous, or at least 
from an omnivorous, stock? ‘The only large group which, according to our pre- 
sent knowledge, contains no zodphagous or omnivorous members, is the old order 
Ruminantia. Now this sub-order, which is first traced in the Eocene Tertiaries, 
is characterized by its complicated and highly specialized digestive organs, evi- 
dently modified from the normal mammalian type, so as to be adapted to a pure- 
ly vegetable diet. This same structure, or at least one highly similar, is met 
with again among the sloths, the only phytophagous section of the Edentata. 

The next consideration is that numerous animals which are zodphagous at 
one epoch of their life may be phytophagous at another, whether earlier or later. 
This change is not accidental or compulsory, but ensues naturally and normally 
in every individual of the species in question. Thus all mammalian animals, 
whatever may be their future diet, begin life as zoophagous beings so long as they 
are nourished on their moth’s milk. Indeed it is fully proved that e. g., the hu- 
man infant is for some time incapable of digesting vegetable matter. 

Among birds we meet with the same fact. Setting aside the many groups 
which are zoophagous throughout life, we find that, as a rule, the young of the 
seed- and fruit-eating species require an exclusively animal diet, consisting of in- 
sects, worms, etc. In other cases they are fed with half-digested food disgorged 
from the crop of their parents. There are few, if any, cases where a bird when 
just hatched is able to feed on crude vegetable matter. 

Among insects many similar changes take place. The robber-flies of the 
genus “vax, which in their adult state destroy numbers of hive-bees, feed when 


ANIMALS AND THEIR DIET. 405 


larvee upon vegetable matter. Not a few butterflies will sip the juices of dead 
‘animals, though in their caterpillar stage they are purely phytophagous. The 
larvze of the hive-bee are fed upon honey and pollen, without any accompaniment 
of animal matter. But when mature they may be styled omnivorous, as, in ad- 
dition to honey and juices of fruits, they are found to lick meat in butcher’s 
shops, and even, according to Fritz Miiller, to imbibe excrementitious liquids, 
as do also the butterflies. 

Changes arising from a scarcity of food, or from caprice, are also on record. 
The two Carnivora which have become domesticated often partake of vegetable 
matter. The cat is even known tosteal raisins and dried plums, and, according to 
Mr. Bates, in Brazil it goes into the woods to eat the fruit of the Tucuma palm. 
But amongst wild animals a change of diet, when it occurs, is almost invariably in 
the opposite direction, z. ¢., from vegetable to animal matter. Under this head 
must figure the well-known case of the sheep-eating parrot of New Zealand, the 
outbreak of cannibalism in an aviary of parrots recorded by Dr. Buller, and the 
zodphagous tastes recently developed by baboons in South Africa, who, accord- 
ing to Mrs. Caréy-Hobson,! sometimes kill and devour sheep. These instances 
show that the habits of animals are not so fixed as was formerly imagined. They 
have their preferences, and their digestive organs may be better adapted for one 
kind of food than for another. But with few exceptions they will not starve, 
and if what may be called their natural food is wanting, or is scarce, they take 
any substitute which presents itself. Curiously enough, when any species has 
thus adopted a new diet, it shows a disinclination to return to its former food. 

We have next to consider that the majority of warm-blooded animals are 
omnivorous, in so far that they consume both animal and vegetable food. 

Thus, beginning with the Primates, itis a great mistake to assert that the 
apes and monkeys are purely vegetarian in their diet. They never omit an op- 
portunity of robbing a bird’s nest, and they feed with avidity upon a great varie- 
ty of insects, from fleas upwards. The lemurs are, if anything, a shade more in- 
clined to animal food than the true monkeys. Even amongst the Carnivora we 
find not a few which vary their diet more or less with vegetable matter. Thus 
the bears and their allies, with the exception of the so-called Polar bear, seem to 
prefer fruits, roots, honey, insects, and even grain before it is quite ripe and 
hardened. The Viverridez also include some fruit-eating members, such as the 
civet-cat. There is no satisfactory evidence that any of the cats in a wild state 
will consume vegetable matter, but at least two groups of the Canide—the foxes 
and the jackals—are not averse to fruit. 

Among the Rodents an omnivorous character is becoming more and more 
fully established. The squirrels, in addition to fruits, nuts, and grain, greedily 
devour eggs, nestling birds, and insects; the hamster, the so-called Norwegian 
rat (Waterton’s Hanoverian, but which might be better styled the Russian), even 
the common mouse, and indeed all the true Muridz, are omnivorous. We have 


1 Knowledge, March 17, 1832. 
VI—26 


A406 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


little doubt but when the habits of the remaining Rodent groups are thoroughly 
known, it will be found that they all, in addition to their vegetable diet, prey 
upon insects, worms, and mollusks, if not upon more highly organized animals. 

Among bats the majority appear .o be purely insectivorous, but the so-called 
fruit-eating bats—the Pteropide or flying-foxes—although provided with a com- 
plex stomach and voluminous intestines, feed also upon such small birds and 
mammals as they can capture. ait 

The Proboscideans, of which the elephants of India and Africa are the sole 
surviving representatives, are purely phytophagous. 

Of the three divisions of the great order of the Ungulata, two—the Solidun- 
gula and Ruminantia—are as far as we know, strict vegetarians; but among the 
Pachydermata we find the swine, which may be regarded as the most typically 
omnivorous mammals, and the hippopotamus. All the species of swine are eager 
for animal food. When grubbing in the earth they snap up rats, mice, snakes, 
insects, etc,, and when opportunity offers they have been known not merely to 
attack but to devour much larger animals. A horse left tied to a tree, in La 
Plata, has been known to be killed and eaten by a herd of peccaries. The feral 
swine of North America have contributed much to the extirpation of the rattle- 
snake, and the common English pig often contrives to catch and eat up domestic 
poultry which stray into his sty. 

Among the birds we find a very similar state of things. The number of 
purely phytophagous species is relatively smaller, that of the exclusively zodphag- 
ous larger, and that of the forms recognized as omnivorous is increasing as our 
knowledge of their habits extends. Who, for instance, would, either from the 
morphology or from the general propensities of vultures, have predicted what 
has been observed by Mr. Bates, that these unclean birds devour eagerly the 
fruit of the pupunha or ‘‘ peach-palm” (Gulelmia speciosa), and ‘‘come in quar- 
relsome flocks to the trees when it 1s ripe’”’? The common peacock is called a 
granivorous and fruit-eating bird; so it is, but at the same time a zealous and ef- 
ficient destroyer of young death-snakes. Hence the way in which it is shot down 
by certain blundering sportsmen in India is nothing short of a public calamity. 
The pheasant is such an eager devourer of wireworms, grasshoppers, and the 
like, that his extirpation, as threatened by blundering ‘‘anti-sportsmen,”—if we 
may coin the term,—would be a very doubtful benefit to the farmer. 

The Merulidee—the thrush, blackbird, feldfare, and their allies—occasionally 
evince predatory habits, especially in severe weather. The most purely phyto- 
phagous birds are the finches (many of which, however, feed their young upon 
insects) and the doves. 

We now see that the zodphagous and phytophagous forms of animal life are 
not separated from each other by any sharply-marked characters, but are connect- 
ed by a multitude of creatures intermediate in their organizations, and conse- 
quently adapted for a mixed diet. We see that animal food is regularly. and in 
considerable proportion, eaten by species not constructed on the typical zoophag- — 


4 


ANIMALS AND THEIR DIET. — 407 


ous type as witnessed in the tiger or the polecat. Yet such species, as we may 
infer from the very fact of their existence, are not thereby injured. 

We know that the greatest mass of vegetables, especially the leaves, stalks, 
and even the roots and the fleshy part of the fruits, are less nutritious than is or- 
dinary animal matter. ‘To this rule the seeds of a number of plants, such as the 
legumens and the various kinds of grain, form an exception, though even here it 
would appear that a part of the nitrogenous matter is not present in a state suita- 
ble for assimilation. In other words, it exists not entirely in an albuminoid but 
in an amidic state. Hence we must conclude that an animal which is to exist 
entirely upon a vegetable diet must have larger digestive organs, so as to operate 
upon the greatest quantity of matter at once. On the other hand, purely zoo- 
phagous species require, or at least can exist with, a smaller and simpler digestive 
apparatus. We may go a step further: of all nutriment the poorest—z. ¢., that 
which contains the smallest quantity of blood-forming matter—consists of leaves 
and stalks. Accordingly the Ruminants, which feed upon leaves and stalks, 
have the largest and most complicated stomachs. In the Solidungula, of which 
the horse and ass are typical specimens, the diet is the same as that of the Rum- 
inants, but the stomach is simple, and digestion is in consequence far less per- 
fectly performed, as an inspection of the respective excrements of the horse and 
the ox will readily show. May it not be that we have here the reason why the 
Solidungula as a sub-order are so far less rich in forms and less widely distribut- 
ed? We come now to such animals as the swine. Here the divisions of the 
stomach occurring in the Rumimants are but faintly marked out, to suit a richer 
diet, composed largely of roots mixed with no inconsiderable proportion of ani- 
mal matter. A step further we find the apes feeding on fruits and nuts, with the 
addition of eggs, larvee, etc. Here the stomach is simple, and the whole diges- 
tive apparatus lighter in proportion to the entire body than that of the swine. 
Lastly, in the true Carnivora, where the diet is most concentrated, we find the 
digestive canal shortest, and the relative weight of the stomach and its append- 
ages smallest. 

Another point of difference between animal and vegetable matters is that 
the former require less preparation before they can be assimilated. Hence we 
find that the teeth of the dog or cat, besides their action in seizing and killing 
the prey, need merely to tear it into lumps of a convenient size for swallowing. 
When this is once done digestion is not difficult. Vegetable food, on the other 
hand, requires to be ground to a pulp, so that the saliva and the gastric and pan- 
creatic secretions may act upon its smallest particles. Hence true molar teeth 
are required, destined not to cut, but to pulverize. We see an approach to this 
structure even in the bears. But for the poorest kinds of vegetable food this ar- 
rangement is not sufficient; the leaves and stalks eaten, consisting as they do 
largely of cellulose,—which man cannot digest at all,—have to go through that 
double preparation commonly known as chewing the cud. 

We may now venture to assign a reason why it is easier for a phytophagous 
animal to turn zodphagous, than for a zodphagous creature to become phytopha- 


408 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


gous. A lion, or even an ape or a man, could not take into his stomach so 
much grass as would afford him sufficient nourishment. Not having the teeth of 
the ox or the sheep, and not being able to ruminate, he would fail to digest the 
grass in any degree even approaching to perfection, and he would soon perish 
from hunger, as not a few men have done who in times of famine have tried to 
support themselves upon grass and leaves. 

But an ape, a rat, or a swine experiences no difficulty in digesting animal 
food. 

Man approaches at least as near—probably nearer—to the pure zoophagous 
type as do the rodents and the swine. . He has three kinds of teeth completely 
covered with enamel; his digestive apparatus weighs less in proportion to his 
entire body than does that of the swine, thus pointing to a more concentrated 
diet. Hence we should be inclined to consider that man is at least as naturally 
and originally omnivorous as the Rodents or the Suid. It has been contended - 
that his ‘‘ carnivorous practices have not yet changed his nature.’”’ Why should 
they more than has been the case in other omnivorous forms? If sharp nails, 
projecting canines, and a rough tongue would have given man any advantage in 
the struggle for existence, doubtless they would have been evolved. But these 
points do not in the least tell upon his power to assimilate animal matter. His 
intestine, though of greater relative weight than that of the pure zoophagous 
' species, is evidently required for his present mixed diet, and hence it persists.— 
London Journal of Science. 


A LESSON IN COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 


HUBBARD W. MITCHELL, M. D. 


Having entered the wide field of Zodlogy, we see before us a multitude of 
animals of different forms, sizes, colors and habits. At first view there does not 
seem to be the least similarity between any two of them. All appear totally dif- 
ferent and distinct. 

Here the naturalist and the comparative anatomist step in, and begin to 
study this great mass of animal life, and see upon what plan, if any, it is formed. 

He begins by comparison. He compares one frm with another, and sees if 
any two or more animals have any qualities in common. If so, he assigns them 
to some order and species, and in this way he simplifies their study. 

Let us apply this principle of comparison in practice. | Suppose we see to- 
gether for instance the following : 


AYP ie, Vapir, (Peccany, elephant awe sane 
AS Hion,) diger,, Panther sGat ec ea yyw eke 
AS, Dog, Wolf, i ox;) jackalivi ase eae er 

A Goat, Deer, Ox, Sheep, Camel. . Nieto te: 
Asldorse}! “Ass; Zebra: igi Sorta seem h eee, ele 


Om BOW NN 4 


A LESSON ‘N COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 409 


How shall we compare them, in order to find feature common to any two or 
more of them ? 

Perhaps the feature that strikes us first would be the horns in the ox and the 
deer. Can we associate these with any of the others ? 

If we examine the teeth of all the animals in the first, second and third lines, 
except the elephant, we shall find them sharp and cutting, with long canine or 
prehensile teeth, admirably adapted for seizing and holding living prey, and for 
cutting and tearing it. We should, therefore, call these animals carnivorous. If 
we examined the teeth of the animals in the fourth and fifth lines, we shall see 
that they have large flat surfaces well adapted to chewing and grinding, and as 
they live on vegetable substances, we shall call these animals herbivorous. 

Comparing still further, we find that in the horse and the ox, both herbivore, 
the horse has incisor teeth in the upper and the lower jaw, while in the ox there 

are incisors in the lower jaw only, and this arrangement of teeth has a direct re- 
lation to the different structures of the stomach in the two animals, the ox hav- 
ing a complicated stomach with four pouches adapted to a mode of digestion by 
which the food is prepared for a second mode of mastication. This order of 
animals, those in the fourth line, are called ruminants. 

The animals in the fifth line have simple stomachs, and do not ruminate. 

If we again. compare the ox, this time with the deer, we shall find that while 
both are herbivorous ruminants, and both have horns, in the ox the horn is hol- 
low and remains firmly attached to the animal’s head through life; in the deer it 
is solid and is shed every year. ; 

Upon looking further we find that the pig, tapir and peccary, carnivorous 
animals, have a cloven foot like the herbivorous animals in the fourth line, and 
those last again, are different from the herbivorous animals in the fifth line, which 
have a solid hoof or foot. 

These comparative studies will enable us to classify animals into different 
orders and species. 

Naturalists tell us that certain animals sprang from a common stock, and the 
differences between them are the results of modifications of structure gradually 
occurring during long periods of time. Thus the pig has a stout rounded. body 
and a mobile nose. ‘The peccary is a step higher. Then in the tapir, the body 
is about the same, but the nose is decidedly more developed. The rhinoceros 
comes in next with the same form of body, and his nose modified and turned up- 
ward into one or two horns, and lastly the elephant, with his long mobile nose or 
trunk, is the highest expression of this common stock. 

The order Felidze, or cats, are almost precisely alike, the differences being 
chiefly of size, color, and growth of hair. The lion, tiger, panther, leopard, 
puma, and cat certainly sprang from a common stock, the domestic cat, per- 
haps, having the highest development, from the fact of its ability to rotate the 
radius upon the ulna, a motion the larger cats do not have. We see the grace of 
this motion when our cats play with a mouse or a ball of yarn. 


410 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


The same fact is seen in the Canide, or dogs. They came from a common 
stock also. The wolf, jackal, dog and fox are of the same species, and have the 
same structure. 

In the Graminivorous Ruminants, the origin from a common stock is appar- 
ent. The sheep, with its woolly coat and curved horn, undergoes a slight 
modification, and we have the goat, also with a curved horn and woolly hair. 
A further development gives us the deer, and further still the ox. Then comes 
the camel, and lastly the camelopard, or giraffe. . 

As an interesting instance of the structure of animals conforming to their 
modes of life, the giraffe may be mentioned. This animal feeds upon the foliage 
of trees. Upon his head he has tufted sensitive horns that he may /ee/ his food 
as he passes along. His elongated neck enables him to reach it easily, and in 
order that he may be on the lookout for his enemies, the crouching lion being 
his most dreaded enemy, while his head is so high above the ground his eyes are 
set so that he can see above, below, forwards or behind without moving his head. 

The complicated digestive apparatus of ruminants has some relation to their 
methods of escape from danger. As their food consists principally of vegetable 
substances, little nutritious and demanded in large quantities, and as they are in 
turn food for the ferocious carnivorous animals, their only means of safety is in 
flight, while mastication is a work of time. 

‘They are therefore, obliged to graze rapidly, fill their lar ae stomach reservoir 
with unchewed food, and then retire to place of safety, where they can remasti- 
cate it at leisure. 

The horse, ass, zebra and other animals of this order sprang also from a 
common stock. 

We have now seen that by comparing animals with each other we are able to 
classify them into order and species, each order and species having some distinc- 
tive character entitling them to a fixed and permanent place in zodlogical classes. 

If now we examine all the forms of animal life on the earth, the fauna, or 
the animal kingdom, we shall find that they can be comprised under four great 
heads—namely, Vertebrates, Articulates, Mollusks, Radiates. 

It is with the first of these only that this paper will deal. 

As we saw that animals were classified under several heads by examining 
them externally and internally to a limited extent, and this classification gave us 
Carnivore, Herbivore, etc., so now if we examine this immense order of Verte- 
brates by the study of their bony frame-work, or osteology, we shall find that all, 
from an eel up to man, are constructed upon one single plan. 

Beginning with man and descending in the scale, we will briefly examine 
this bony frame-work, or skeleton, and see what this plan is upon which such a 
vast part of the animal world has been constructed. 

First we find a skull, rounded in shape, hollow, having apertures for the 
eyes, mouth, etc., jaws set with teeth, and articulated upon the first of a series of 
bones, or vertebrze. These vertebrae joined together by ligaments so as to form 


A LESSON IN COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 411 


a continuous column, or backbone, mark the distinctive features of the whole 
order—viz , Vertebrates. 

From the upper part of this spinal column are given off twelve pairs of ribs, 
which, nearly meeting in front, form a bony cage containing the heart and lungs. 

The upper extremities are formed by a scapula and a clavicle, a humerus, 
radius, ulna, carpus, metacarpus and phalanges. 

At the lower end of the spinal column is the pelvis, from which is given off 
the femur, the tibia and fibula, the tarsus, metatarsus and phalanges to form the 
lower extremities. | 

This briefly is man. 

In the Simidz, or monkeys, the facial angle is a little greater, the humerus, 
the radius and ulna a little longer, the tarsus slightly modified, and in some spe- 
cies the vertebre are extended into a tail. These are monkeys, modified a_little 
from man. 

In the Felide and the Canide, the facial angle is still greater, the teeth sharp 
and cutting, with well developed canines, the upright position is changed to a hori- 
zontal posture, the upper extremities are now fore limbs, bones modified in shape, 
species mostly digitigrade. The bears all plantigrade. 

General plan same as man. 

In the remaining members of the Carnivore, as the sea lion, seal and wal- 
rus, the fore limbs are modified into paddles, while the hind limbs are less de- 
veloped. In the walrus the lower incisors and canines are absent, while the up- 
per incisors are elongated into tusks. 

General plan same as man. 

In the Bovide, beginning with the camels and running through the llama, 
giraffe, ox, bison, yak, goat, zebu, gazelle, gemsbok, sheep, antelope and deer, 
we have an elongated skull, modified bones of the fore and hind limbs, and a 
modification also of the carpus and metacarpus, the tarsus and metatarsus, where- 
by the foot is cloven, owing to consolidation of some of these bones. In some of 
the members of this order we have the horn, either deciduous or permanent, and 
in all the cauda. In some, also, we have a longer scapular and longer spinous 
processes. This affords greater attachments to the nuchal ligaments and muscles 
for those animals with heavy heads and horns. In the giraffe this is especially 
noticeable. The shoulders are so high that it makes the fore legs seem 
higher than the hind legs. This is due to the lengthened scapula and spinous 
processes. The heads of the femur and humerus are on the same leve. 

In all other respects, the general plan is the same as man. 

In the Cetacea, as the porpoise, dolphin and whale, the skeleton is the same, 
except the hind limbs are modified into complete or rudimentary fins. 

In the extensive orders of Insectivora, Rodentia, Edentata and Marsupiala, 
the general plan is that of the higher animals and of man, modified to meet the 
requirements of its mode of life. 

In the enormous class of Aves, or birds, beginning with the robin and end- 
ing with the penguin, we have the elongated skull ending in a beak or bill, light 


% 


412 _ KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


porous hones, an extensive sternum, clavicles united to support the wings, var- 
ious modifications of the humerus, radius, ulna, and the carpus, metacarpus) and 
the phalanges, as in, the bats, etc. 

In all the species of birds, the general plan is the same as man. 

The same is true of the class Reptiliaand Amphibia. In some of the snakes 
the legs are rudimentary, in others the ribs serve as legs. In the sharks the fins 
take the place of the fore and hind limbs. 

In the class Pisces, or fishes, through the whole series down to the eel, we 
have the skull, vertebre and ribs, and the bones of the fore and hind limbs are 
more or less perfectly represented by the fins. The pelvis in fishes is rudiment- 
ary, Or wanting. 

This brief sketch of the Vertebrata, from man to the lowly eel, shows that 
the whole sub-kingdom is formed upon a single plan, and that any variations are 
but simple modifications designed to meet some special requirement. The study 
of osteology shows us that in this long line of animals—the Vertebrates—the 
distinctive feature is the spinal column, and it is astonishing, as well as interest- 
ing, to observe how little difference there really is between the backbones of any 
two members of the whole series. The chief differences are in the structure of 
the head and limbs. 

If we compare the anterior limbs of some of the lower animals with the arms 
of man, we shall see that bone for bone is present, from the humerus to the 
phalanges. For instance, take the anterior limb of, say, an ape, a bat, a dog, a 
mole, a deer, a whale, a seal;.a tortoise, a fish, or a bird. In each we can dis- 
tinctly trace the humerus, the radius and ulna, the small bones of the carpus and 
the metacarpus, and the phalanges. 

The differences of shape in each animal are simply modifications of the same 
bone to adapt it to its individual mode of life. 

The intelligence of animals, no doubt, resides in the brain, and it is believed 
that the amount of the reasoning power, or faculty, is in some way proportioned 
the quantity of gvay matter of the brain. 

In connection with the reasoning power of animals, depending on brain ac- 
tion, may be mentioned a provision of nature for the safety, which—although it 
has nothing to do with reason—acts in connection with it. 

This is the mmécry of animals, or the adaption of the color of an animal to 
that of surrounding objects in its native wilds. 

Nature excites our wonder by her wisdom of this curious and interesting pro- 
vision. 

Thus the tiger, so beautifully decorated with black stripes upon a ground of 
reddish-yellow fur, tending to white below, living in the long jungle grass of 
Southern Asia, with the color of which its stripes so closely assimilate, it is im- 
possible for an unpracticed eye to discern it even at a short distance. This mim- 


icry not only protects the animal’s satety, but enables it to steal unseen upon its 
unsuspecting prey. 


g 
SOME OF THE WASTES OF NATURE. - - 413 


The uniform dun color of the puma gives it a mimicry for its safety and at- 
tack, while crouching upon the branches of trees. 

The dark circular spots upon the skin of the leopard give it a mimicry that 
utterly deceives, as it conceals itself among the leaves of bushes and trees. 

The giraffe has, perhaps, the most astonishing mimicry of any animal. In- 
habiting as it does the forests of Africa and feeding upon the boughs of trees, its 
great size makes it a most conspicuous object. Its most dreaded enemies are the 
stealthy lion and man. In the regions it most frequents are many dead and 
blasted trunks of trees, and its mimicry is such that the most practiced eye has 
failed to distinguish a tree trunk from the giraffe, or a giraffe from a tree trunk. 

Reliable accounts have reached us where lions have gazed long and earnest- 
ly at a motionless giraffe, and being in doubt whether it was a tree or not, have 
actually turned and skulked away.—/Journal of Comparative Medicine aad Surgery. 


BOI AINE, 


SOME OF THE WASTES OF NATURE. 
RIB We Jo AM AIMNRILION, 


If we take a view of Nature from a utilitarian standpoint, we find that, 
though exceedingly parsimonious in many things, still in others she is lavishly 
prodigal and wasteful. 

A brief review of some of her wasteful doings may not be without interest to 
the readers of this Journal. We will draw our first illustration from the vegeta- 
ble world. The profusion of vegetable organisms seems, from our point of view 
to be out of all proportion to the uses and needs of the case. Look, for instance, 
at the wasteful extravagance of plant life on the prairies of North America, the 
llanos and pampas of South America and the steppes of Northern Asia, where 
millions of square miles have for inconceivable ages been clothed with a luxuriant 
growth of grass and other plants, that through all these years have flourished, 
apparently only to perish and decay. The proportion of these almost limitless 
productions that serve any apparently useful purpose is so infinitesimally small 
that it would seem that these profuse productions were only the resu!t of Nature’s 
restless tendency to change. 

The same may be said with regard to the vast forests of arboreous produc- 
tions that have for countless ages covered large portions of the various grand di- 
visions of the earth. But when we take a closer view of Nature’s processes in 
the vegetable kingdom we find this spirit of prodigality carried into her minuter 
operations in this field. It is a well known fact that in order to the production 
of mature seed the flower must be fertilized with the fine pollen dust produced 


414 KANSAS CITY REVIEW Of SCIENCE: 


for that purpose. ‘There are three different methods by which this fertilization 
takes place. . 

Flowers are composed of two sets of organs—stamens and pistils. These 
answer to the male and female organs in animals. The stamens produce the pol- 
len that must come in contact with the pistils through which the ovules or rudi- 
mentary seeds are reached and fertilized. In the first method by which fertiliza- 
tion takes place both sets of organs are arranged in the same flower. These are 
termed perfect or hermaphrodite flowers. In some cases the stamens of these 
flowers are placed in direct contact with the stigma of the pistil so that fertiliza- 
tion takes place by contact ; in others the pollen falls or is thrown upon it; whilein 
still others the organs are so arranged with reference to each other that the insects 
that visit the flowers for their nectar carry the pollen from one flower and deposit 
it on the pistil of another. But in whatever way this result is brought about 
there is always a large surplus of pollen produced that answers no useful purpose. 
Of this class of plants the rose family and most garden plants are examples. 

In the second or monececious class the different organs of the plant are ar- 
ranged in different flowers on the same plant. Here the pollen must be convey- 
ed from the staminate to the pistillate flowers by the agency of gravitation, winds. 
or insects. In this process of course a very large proportion of the pollen is lost. 
We have examples of this class in the walnut, squash andcorn. In the third and 
last class, called the dicecious, the different organs grow upon entirely different 
plants. The poplars, mulberry and hemp are illustrations of this mode of fertil- 
‘ization. In this case it often happens that the plants bearing the male organs 

are at a long distance—even some miles-——from those that bear the female flowers. 
Here the agency of winds and insects must be employed in conveying the fertiliz- 
‘ing elements from the one to the other. In all these different cases the amount 
of pollen that is actually employed in fertilizing the flowers of the various plants 
is but a very small part of all that is produced. Inmany cases, probably not one- 
thousandth, if indeed it is above one-millionth part of that which bas been pro- 
duced. Let any one pass through a field of corn at the time the pollen is mostly 
fallen from the tassels and if it be a dry time he will find the whole surface of the: 
ground literally covered with the shed pollen. Why this great waste? It may 
be answered that under the circumstances this great surplus is necessary to insure 
perfect fertilization. But it may be answered that any system that requires such 
a waste of materials to accomplish the desired end certainly has the appearance 
of being a very prodigal and imperfect one. 

Still another example of wasteful prodigality in the vegetable kingdom is seen 
in the superfluous amount of seeds that are constantly produced above that 
which can by any possibility serve any useful purpose. Ido not forget, nor 
would I overlook the fact, that a large part of the grains and seeds annually pro- 
duced are used for food by man, beast and bird; but aside from this a large pro- 
portion of that which is produced from year to year fails to meet any want in 
either the animal or vegetable kingdom so far as we'are able to discover. To 
impress this fact on the mind let us use a simple illustration.. Let us take the 


SOME OF THE WASTES OF NATURE. 415 


surface of the earth and see how long it will take for the progeny of a single plant 

to completely cover it with vegetation. The land portion of the earth’s surface 

contains about 47,000,000 square miles. Reduced, this gives us 1,310, 284, 800,- 

000,000 square feet. Now let us take a plant that will average 500 seeds a year, 

which is a very low estimate, as many produce several thousands of seeds annual- 

ly. Now suppose every seed should be preserved and grown for seven years 

and the product for the last year would be 7,812,500,000,000,000,000 plants, 

which would be equal to 5,962 for every square foot of land on the earth’s sur- 

face. But if we estimate the annual increase at only 1oo-fold, then in nine years. 
the product would give 763 plants to each square foot of surface, which, even at. 
this low estimate, will be seen to be many times as much as could possibly grow 

on the given space; and this makes no allowance for deserts or barren mountains, 

which occupy no inconsiderable portion of the earth’s surface. This proves that 

a very large proportion of the annual production of seeds perish without having 
served any apparently useful purpose in the economy of nature. 

In the employment of-the forces of nature there seems to be a vast expendi- 
ture of energy the utility of which we are unable to discover. A forcible illustra- 
tion of this waste of energy is found in the force that is constantly employed in 
lifting the waters of the earth to the aérial regions where they are formed into 
clouds and afterward precipitated in rain, hail and snow. The amount of water 
thus lifted up by evaporation to an average height of three and one-half miles is 
equal to 2,000,000,000 tons per minute. This would be equal to the continued 
exercise of the combined strength of more than 2,239,000,000,000 horses. Of 
the vast energy with which this force operates we have an example in some por- 
‘tions of the Indian Ocean, particularly the Bay of Bengal, where at times the 
evaporation is as much as from twenty to thirty inches in depth over the whole 
surface in twenty-four hours. Not only is this vast volume of water elevated to 
this great height but it is conveyed to great distances, frequently hundreds of 
miles, where it is poured down in rain or snow. It should be remembered that 
when this vast amount of vapor has been elevated to this great altitude it con- 
tains a latent energy equal to that which has been exerted in lifting it to its pres- 
ent position. And in returning to the level of the ocean, as it all does eventual- 
ly, it gives out this latent energy. Every drop of water that falls gives up in its 
descent an amount of energy just equivalent to that which was expended in lifting 
it up to its highest altitude. Every stream that flows is evolving this energy thus. 
stored up in its waters. 

This evolution of energy is constantly going on before our eyes in the va- 
rious rivers that flow by us on their way to their ocean home. 

The amount of power that is continually going to waste in the rivers of the 
Earth is entirely beyond our calculation. Take a single instance—that of the 
Falls of Niagara, 100,000,000 tons of water plunge over that precipice every 
hour. Here we have a loss of not less than 56,000 horse-power every minute ;. 
about three and a half times the amount of power developed by burning all the 
coal dug from all the mines in the world. But this great cataract represents. 


416 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


but an infinitesimal part of the energy that is constantly being dissipated by the 
flowing waters of the rivers of the globe. We may safely admit that a large 
amount of water is constantly needed to water the earth and cause it to bring 
forth its various vegetable productions for the use of man and beast, but to assert © 
that the larger part of it is ever so utilized is to claim what is not borne out by 
the facts before us. We are compelled to admit that a large proportion of the 
force expended in lifting up the waters that form the clouds and that is given out 
again in the return of these waters to the ocean, sérves no practically useful pur- 
pose in the world, but must be set down asa great and useless waste in the econo- 
my of nature. 

A like waste of energy is in the movements of the waters of the ocean. This 
vast collection of water is lifted up on its surface, from a few inches in some local- 
ities to as much as seventy feet in others, twice in the course of every twenty- 
four hours. This in mid-ocean is a simple vertical oscillation of the waters 
through a greater or less space according to the relation of the locality to the 
position of the: Moon. But where it comes in contact with the shores of conti- 
nents it is greatly modified according to the configuration of the shore line. This 
variation reaches its maximum in the Bay of Fundy, where the rise and fall often 
reach from sixty-five to seventy feet. 

Where the shore is low the tide flows out over the land till arrested by the 
higher ground. At the mouths of rivers it enters and flows back until it has 
reached its level. ‘The rise and fall, the flow and ebb of these tides are attended 
with an expenditure of force that is beyond all computation. But notwithstand- 
ing the immense amount of force involved in the motions of the tides it is almost 
all uselessly expended so far as appears from a practical standpoint. But the 
force of waves and currents is not confined to waters of the globe. The great 
ocean of air that surrounds and envelopes the Earth partakes of like motion and 
is governed by similar laws. ‘The atmosphere is in almost constant motion. I 
need not stop here to either prove the fact or to explain the reason. On each 
side of the Equator for a distance of twenty-five or thirty miles the trade winds 
blow almost constantly with a velocity of from fifteen to eighteen miles per hour. 
In other extensive regions there are winds that blow regularly for from six to ten 
months in the year, while in most other places they are quite variable, but blow 
from some quarter a considerable part of the time. 

Taking it altogether it is probable the winds that blow over the surface of 
Earth would equal an average of twenty-five miles an hour constantly over one- 
half of the earth’s surface.. A wind blowing with this velocity exerts a pressure 
of about three pounds per square foot. We know only too well the irresistible 
energy of the cyclone, the tornado and the hurricane. Nearly all this illimitable 
force is a useless waste so far as appears to the merely practical mind. 

The last but not least waste of energy to be noted is that which is constantiy 
emanating from the Sun in the form of light and heat. Careful experiment led 
Sir John Herschel to the conclusion that the heat of the Sun that falls on the 
Earth is sufficient to melt 26,000 tons of ice per hour for every square mile. 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARTS. 417 


And it has been estimated by very high authority that if a column of solid ice 
forty-five miles square and of indefinite length were shot toward the Sun with the 
velocity of a ray of light, and could all the heat of the Sun be concentrated on 
the end of that approaching column of ice it would not only melt it but boil it to 
steam and dissipate it in invisible vapor as fast as it could approach even at the 
enormous velocity supposed. The amount of heat at the surface of the Sun must 
be equal to what would be produced by the consumption of not less than 11, 600,- 
000,000,000,000 tons of coal every second of time. This is about equal to the 
consumption of six tons of coal for every square yard of surface per hour. All 
the coal known to exist in the Earth would suffice to keep up this heat about one- 
eighth of a second. Now what proportion of this vast energy serves any useful 
purpose? We know not that any part of it does except that which falls on the 
Earth. That a large part of this is practically useless is evident from the fact that 
this is the power that is concerned in the elevation of the vast quantities of water 
from the Earth’s surface noticed above, while much of it falls on deserts and 
mountains where it is inevitably lost. But suppose all that falls on the surface of 
the Earth answers some useful purpose, a simple calculation shows that only one 
part in 2,000,000,000 of the Sun’s light and heat falls on this globe. And if we 
assume that all that is intercepted by all the planets of the solar system is 
usefully employed it amounts to only 1-227,000,000 part of the whole. All the 
remainder is waste so far as we are able to see. And it be true that the stars are 
all suns this waste is to be multiplied by their number and magnitude. From this 
brief review it ‘appears that in both her materials and forces nature is exceedingly 
prodigal. ‘True, I have looked at this subject only from a practical, utilitarian 
standpoint. Had it been viewed from the position of a scientist, a philosopher 
or a theologian, the conclusion might and probably would have been different. 
Some of the forces named will doubtless be partially or wholly utilized in the 
future, but some of them must always remain as apparent examples of dissipation 
of energy without any compensation. 


HutTcuHison, Kansas. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 


Paris, September 23, 1882. 


Paris is a beautiful capital, but it is not at all salubrious; this drawback is 
due, not to its site, but to its sewerage, though the latter is most remarkable and 
in many respects fairly provided for. The houses are very substantially built, of 
excellent stone and iron—wood being expensive and not sufficiently durable—and 


418 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


on an average are expected to last three centuries. It is only in the edifices con- 
structed within the last quarter of a century, that any attempts to remedy the 
abominable system of so-called water-closets, have been made. In some hospi- 
tals the Ja¢rines are horrible: no seats, no water to flush, but a hole sunk in ‘the 
ground the approaches to these dens constituting for the patients a wading through a 
cloaca maxima. In the dwelling houses, the garrets are occupied by the domes- 
tics, and the common water-closet is the same receptacle arrangment peculiar to 
hospitals, railway stations, and several public establishments. Of course there are 
private water-closets in these places exempt from the foregoing objections. The 
plan of running off the foecal matters directly from houses into a street-sewer, 
may be regarded as unknown in Paris. The Lyons system of emptying the col- 
lectors by means of a pneumatic arrangement has just been tried, and found to 
be impossible, owing to the expense. The divisewr plan is the best that exists; 
cylindrical ¢ze/tes receive the foecal matters; a kind of grating apparatus divides or 
separates the solid from the liquid dejections—the latter being run off into the 
sewers. At stated periods dustmen replace the full by empty /cze/fes or even 
barrels; the contents are conveyed to works outside the city—dépéts, mixed with 
charcoal and other pulverulent substances; then dried, and ground into poudretie 
for which there is a ready sale. The dominating, and old plan, consists of a res- 
ervoir in the courtyard, into which the contents of all the water-closets flow down 
an enormous common pipe, which, open at the top, at the roof of the house, acts 
as.a ventilator for the reservoir; the atmosphere of Paris is thus permanently 
polluted. For successful house and city drainage, the first requisite is a liberal 
supply of water for flushing the closets, and acting as an extra guard over’ the 
piston valve; next, an unvarying flow in the city sewers, as in Brussels, to carry 
away to a distant out-fall, the foecal matters. The danger to guard against is, the 
entry, up sewer or pipes, of the toxical’ gases or fermentable substances. The 
latter, according to the delicate experiments of Tyndall, can remain for an indefi- 
ite period undecomposed, wherever the air remains stationary. 


The blood being life, it is not surprising the extraordinary attention physiol- 
ogists are at present devoting to its study. Borden described blood as flowing 
flesh; rolling incessantly through several thousands of channels in the middle of 
the celloles of our organs, the fertilizing torrent brings with it nutritive matters. 
It is the source of life. Cut a member, electrify it; the muscles will not contract ; 
but if blood be injected by the artery, the muscular contractibility will reappear. 
Hence the curious experiment of Brown-Sequard, of a dead head on a living 
body ; if the ligature be removed which prevents the flow of blood to the brain 
the animal will revive. The blood not only brings the nutritive principles to the 
organs, but it carries away the products of combustion which have become use- 
less for life. Its function becomes interrupted when it cannot obtain the mate- 
rials of nutrition, in a pure atmosphere and suitable food, and also when the or- 
gans destined to carry off the detritus, work imperfectly. Thus all alterations of 
the organs act on the blood, as the latter re-acts on the organs that it nourishes.: 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. i 419 


Normally speaking, the blood is rarely primitively diseased; it becomes altered, 
_ however, as the materials which produce and feed it, become deranged. Blood 

has no malady peculiar to itself, but it is the mirror which reflects all diseases of 
the organs. 

Blood is the vehicle of irrigation and excretion; when drawn from a vein 
it rapidly separates into a white, solid part, the clot or fibrine, and a liquid part, 
consisting of red and white globules, and the serum itself composed of albumen, 
salts, and a multitude of organic substances and gas soluble in water. But they 
are the red globules which attract most attention; they are composed of a kind 
of white envelope, called globuline, a substance resembling fibrine, and a red 
coloring matter designated hemaglobine. ‘The mission of this latter substance 
is to unite with the oxygen of the air when it arrives in the sanguinary vessels of 
the lungs. The red globules are thus the principal agents of the phenomena of 
ccombustion—the process that sustains life. Experiments attest, that the more 
the globules contain of the red material, the more capable is their vo/e of nutri- 
tion. Formerly these red globules were counted, to determine the richness of 
the blood; that process is now superseded by the test of the power of the coloring 
matter to absorb oxygen. Hitherto bleeding was the grand panacea for all dis. 
eases. Botelli laid down, the more water we draw from a well the more that 
which follows will be pure. ‘This figure was the theory perhaps of Sangrado in 
Gil Blas, who maintained, ‘‘ one has ever cnough of blood to live.” 

Professor Hayem has demonstrated that blood cannot be taken from the 
body with impunity; repeated bleedings beget chronic anemia, the blood be- 
comes diluted, the number of red globules diminish, require a long time to re- 
form, and contain less of the important red coloring substance, that is to say, of 
life. Thus the majority of the organic combustions get weaker; less oxygen is 
absorbed, less carbonic acid eliminated, fat augments, owing to the work of dis- 
assimilation being impeded. Atthe same time the assimilation of nitrogenous 
substances by the cells ceases ; these substances are destroyed in the nourishing 
fluids, even without filling the office of nutrition, and the residue, such as urea, 
augments; hence, gout, rheumatism, diabetes, etc. Similar trouble ensues in 
the assimilation of phosphoric acid, which forms an integral part of all living 
cells. . 

It was once held, that the more blood extracted, the more blood would be 
re-made; similarly as the more an infant suckled its nurse, the more the milk 
would be abundant. But there is a limit to the re-formation of the blood. As 
bleedings weaken the system, if the blood happens to contain any poisonous ele- 
ment, as an infection of purulent nature, the less the constitution can struggle 
against the disease. However, bleeding is excellent in the case of asphyxia or 
derangements of the nervous system. Indeed, bleeding is not sufficiently resort- 
ed to in the treatment of apoplexy and convulsions as the consequence of ac- 
-couchment ; extracting under such circumstances say seven ounces of blood, acts 
_as a fillip on the circulation. Professor Hayem has obtained very important re- 
-sults from the transfusion of blood, but that process must be supplemented by 


420 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


iron preparations. Iron exists in our food, in our body, and most largely in the 
red coloring substance of the blood. Now this coloring matter or hemaglobine 
and iron, diminish when the number of globules grow less, or even where their 
state has become altered, though plentiful in point of numbers. This is the case 
in chlorosis, where the iron in the blood is reduced by one-half. Preparations of 
iron are naturally administered for this disease, but the efficacy of the medica- 
ment does not lie in exciting the functions of nutrition. The iron has an action 
special in the formation of the red globules, and that action must be sustained 
by curing the stomach and stimulating nutrition by baths. The globules are not 
solely composed of iron, but of nitrogenous and fatty substances also, hence 
why a meat diet, tempered with fatty matters, such as cod-liver oil, favor the 
regeneration of red globules. 


The French Association for the Advancement of Science, has held its meet- 
ing this year at Rochelle. The inaugural address was delivered by M. Janssen, 
director of the Observatory at Meudon. Among other interesting points he stat- 
ed that it was not Galileo who discovered the first spots on the Sun, but one 
Fabricius, in 1610. He showed the spots were upon the Sun itself, and not as 
was then believed, due to the interposition of small planets. Spectral analysis 
reveals that not only the suns and stars visible to us, but those so distant that 
the most powerful telescopes are incapable to assign them a sensible diameter ; nay 
more, those nebulz which appear to the best instruments as only faint rays of 
light, have been seized by chemistry, by spectral analysis, and shown to be com- 
posed of the same matter as our own planets, of the same as we ourselves are 
formed. Also, that despite the fabulous distances of the nebulz, chemistry dem- 
onstrates that they are subject to the laws of gravitation. When Newton decom- 
posed a ray of white light and thus laid the basis of the theory of the spectre, he 
little thought his law of gravitation would there find wings to carry it to regions. 
where all measurement ceases and all calculation is powerless. 

By spectral analysis and photography, the Sun’s atmosphere has no longer ~ 
mysteries forus; round the central kernel is a luminous envelope—photosphere, 
formed of incandescent hydrogen, traversed by eruptions of metallic vapors, so- 
dium, magnesium, calcium, etc. This photospere is itself surrounded by another 
atmosphere, very profound and very rarified. Hurricanes of the most frightful 
nature occurin the photosphere, which disturb the repose of matter, forming 
globules of light. The substance of the Sun, as the blood of animals, owes its 
force then, to globules. 


METEOROLOGICAL FACTORS AND PHENOMENA. 421 


METEOROLOGY. 


METEOROLOGICAL FACTORS AND PHENOMENA. 
ISAAC P. NOYES. 


The Factors which produce our meteorological phenomena are very few, 
and may, like all other branches of science, be divided and sub-divided into pos- 
itive and negative, or active and passive. To enumerate them in exact order 
may be difficult and unimportant. 

It matters not whether for the first of our two grand factors we take the Sun 
or the Earth, for without them both we could not have our peculiar existence or 
our present meteorological system. 

The Sun as the active agent of heat, the generator and sustainer of life, is 
the active or positive factor, while the Earth is the passive or negative one, yet 
both are equally important, and in many respects both positive and negative. 

But the mere presence of heat or sunshine upon a planetary body will not 
produce meteorological phenomena. The body must itself be in condition and 
have certain combinations of elements in order to produce the effect. The heat 
of a hundred suns concentrated on a non-aqueous body like the Moon would 
not produce the necessary combinations. In combination with heat we must 
have water. Such a body as the Moon may, and undoubtedly does have com- 
motions of atmosphere, such as they are, but then all these commotions would 
not be like those on a body like our earth where water is abundant. 

If satellites like the Moon have storms they must be what we would term 
dry storms. The concentrations of heat on certain parts of the Moon must create 
some disturbance there, but owing to the absence of water whereby an atmos- 
phere is created, the element surrounding the Moon, (ether, if we may so term 
it—being so subtle and transparent)—though it cause a disturbance, what it may 
create is not visible to us 240,000 miles away. If there are any storms on the 
surface of the Moon they must be the result of the movement of dry ether or very 
light air. There must necessarily be some concentration of heat; some parts of 
the moon must be hotter than others, and having no moisture to retain heat they 
must heat and cool rapidly ;.and it would seem that the points of concentration of 
heat must change from place to place, at least that the atmosphere, such as itis, of 
the cooler reverse side must be moved toward those portions where the heat of 
the Sun is concentrated and that this must establish currents from the cold to the 
hot and from the hot to the cold. 

This idea assumes that the Moon must have an atmosphere, while science 

VI—27 


4992 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


tells us that the Moon has no atmosphere, but it would seem before we decide 
the point that we must first determine what atmosphere is. Itis not necessary that 
the Moon have an atmosphere like the earth in order to be recognized as having 
an atmosphere. 

But for the presence of water the Earth would have no more atmosphere 
than the Moon, so atmosphere in the sense as generally understood must be the 
product of moisture or something resulting therefrom. These remarks about the 
moon may seem a little of a digression, yet they naturally follow when we come to | 
speak of atmosphere. 

In this connection some may wonder why the planets and Moon are not 
considered as factors in our meteorological economy—for the simple reason that 
they have not the least bearing in the case and therefore are not factors. Noth- 
ing but concentration of heat effects the meteorology of the earth, and only the 
Sun has power in this direction. There is no heat from the stars, therefore no 
effect. ‘‘ How aboutvattraction?” some may ask. ‘The reply to this is, no one 
who would study the weather-map for a season and see for themselves how storms 
travel would be apt to put any dependence upon the accidental relative position 
of the stars or other heavenly bodies than the Sun. The storms come from the 
development and concentration of the clouds and movement of the atmosphere, 
and neither the stars, planets, nor even the Moon, have any power over this de- 
partment. The earth is beholden to the Sun and only to the Sun for its meteor- 
ological phenomena; it alone is the major factor—the great positive, active 
force, while the earth in relation to it is the minor-negative, passive power. 

The next great factor, or better, factors, for they are really distinctive and 
peculiar in their results, is the combinations of motions of the earth in space; its 
daily motion on its axis—its yearly motion about the Sun, and the gradual oscil- 
ating motion of its axis which exposes different parts of the Earth’s polar axis 
more directly to the influence of the Sun. 

The daily motion of the Earth on its axis exposing every twenty-four hours 
the surface of the Earth to the heat of the Sun is the factor of all the daily changes; 
the yearly motion of the Earth about the Sun is combination with the parallelism 
- of the Earth’s axis is the factor of the yearly orseasonchanges. The common no- 
tion is that the yearly motion of the Earth about the Sun in the only and sole 
cause of the changes of the seasons, yet but for what science terms the “‘ parallel- 
ism of the Earth’s axis”’ in connection there with these changes would not take 
place, for the Sun shining perpendicular to the Equator would produce a same- 
ness and no variety—all our months would be alike and the habitable portions of 
the globe would be much reduced, at least for such organisms as at present 
flourish upon it. 

It is said that we are sometimes nearer to the Sun than at others, but the 
distance is comparatively so infinitesimal that it amounts to little or nothing, and 
practically would not be noticed. The third motion, the gradual change in the 
angle of the inclination of the Earth’s axis, the oscillation of the poles, whereby 
the polar axis describes a circle in the heavens of some 25,000 years, is the factor 


METEOROLOGICAL FACTORS AND PHENOMENA. 423 


of decades or cycles, or the changes which are the result of vast periods of time 
—producing these, at present, gradual climatic changes which cause the surface 
of the earth near the poles to be more directly exposed to the rays of the Sun. 

These last three factors are the general results of the three motions of the 
Earth in connection with the heat of the Sun. The third motion of the Earth, 
however, seems to be very little regarded, yet it is as important as the other two 
which cause the daily and yearly changes of the seasons. The three motions of — 
the earth are best represented by the spinning top, including the state known as 
‘«dying out.” . It has one (first) motion on its axis; one (the second), along the 
ground ; another (the third) back and forth, which in combination with its rotary 
motion causes the upper part, which would correspond to the polar axis of the 
Earth, to describe a circle in the space above it. This third motion of the Earth 
at present is very gradual, yet there may have been a time when the change was 
very sudden, and nothing it would seem would so well account for these pecu- 
liar and rapid climatic changes of past periods of the Earth’s history, when the 
features of the present torrid zone prevailed as far north as Siberia, and were 
changed so rapidly as to entomb alive the huge mammoth, nothing it would 
seem would so well account for this phenomenon as a:sudden change in the in- 
clination of the Earth’s axis. 

The next great factor in our meteorological economy is the concentration of 
the Sun’s rays along certain paths of the Earth’s surface. These concentrations 
are always on general lines from the west toward the east and are termed areas of 
low barometer—z. ¢., the heat of the Sun concentrating on certain points pro- 
duces there a rarification of the air, or would-be vacuum which is the agent to 
establish a current of air toward this point. The water present on the Earth is a 
latent factor in the case; it not only provides moisture to immediate surroundings 
but furnishes the material for clouds which are simply suspended moisture and 
which are ever ready, when formed, for transportation to wherever the prevail- 
ing winds may dictate. The concentration of the Sun’s rays producing the area 
of low-barometer, technically termed ‘‘low,’’ is the agent or power that creates 
the winds. 

All these factors, winds, clouds, motion, conditions for existence, all come 
through that great agent of heat, the Sun. The minor factors though great in 
themselves, all depend upon are subordinate to the Sun; and it is only when we 
come to understand the importance of these minor factors that we can by compar- 
ison begin to comprehend the greatness of the major factor and the infinite wis- 
dom that established all the beautiful mechanism of our terrestial system. 

On the surface of the Earth we have the factors high and low thermometer 
and high and low barometer. The thermometer we know is the register of the 

eat, and other things being equal, it will be hottest where the Earth receives 
e most direct influence from the Sun. The belt comprising the torrid zones is 
‘armer than the temperate, and the temperate warmer than the frigid, and it 
\uld seem that there would be no exceptions—it would seem at least in the im- 

iate vicinity of the Equator it should be warmer than half way from there to 


424 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


the poles. It is generally or more extensively warmer as we approach the Equa- 
tor; notwithstanding this, even as far north as 45° there are points where at 
times it is full as hot as on the Equator and even more disagreeably hot. Gener- 
al, broad-spread temperature, though a powerful factor in our meteorological sys- 
tem, causing vegetation to grow and the Earth to be fruitful, is not a power for 
the distribution of heat and productiveness. If heat had no other peculiarity 
than that indicated by the thermometer the Earth would not support such beings. 
as we much beyond the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn. But the meterological 
facts of late years have thrown much light upon this department. It has shown 
to us that what we term the area of ‘‘ low-barometer,” technically called ‘‘Low,” 
and caused by the concentration of the Sun’s rays, has the power to and does. 
continually travel around the world, on general lines, from the west toward the 
east. Many people ask, why this is so? Enquiring minds always desire to know 
the ‘‘cause,” and it is well they should, but when they will not take the trouble 
to enquire into the .other important causes, in this department, that lead up to: 
and explain this, it does not become them to simply demand the cause of only 
this prominent phenomenon of meteorology. In all departments of nature we 
are repeatedly lead up to a first cause, every department has its frst cause, which. 
is established as a fact—a fact that we know as well as we know that the Earth is. 
suspended and moves in space. 

What should cause this condition ‘‘ Low” to obey its peculiar laws? The 
concentration of the Sun’s rays. 

What should cause concentration of the Sun’s rays, particularly at so great a. 
distance from the Equator, and why should it move as it does? It is easier to 
’ explain why it moves, and in other papers (under the ‘‘theory of Low”) this. 
perhaps has been as satisfactorily explained as it is possible to be. But why the 
concentration? Some day, with more facts, there may come an-explanation ; but 
until then we must accept it as a ‘‘ first cause.” Now that it is so, like many 
other laws in nature, we can see the beauty of the law establishing it and the 
wisdom therein; at present it does not seem that we could go further. 

The tracks of ‘‘Low” (low-barometer) are very eccentric—at times they 
take directions toward all points of the compass, but as a whole on general lines 
from the west toward the east or toward the rising Sun. Occasionally, twice 
this year (1882,) ‘‘ Low” has retrograded toward the west; this has been during 
the night. The returning heat in the east the next day soon re-established the 
current toward the orient. ‘‘ Low” is the agent of the storm; no ‘‘ Low”—no 
storm. ‘* Low” is the centre toward which the wind is drawn; and on its power 
of concentration depends the force of the winds. People, intelligent people, even 
those claiming to be whet orelogts and writing upon the subject, repeatedly ignore 
the important factor ‘‘Low.” An article of this kind recently appeared in one 
of the leadine journals of the country—an article on storms—with not a word abou; 
<‘Low.’’ Hurricanes were produced by the coming together of two currents 4 
wind, a warm and a cold current. Now these two currents cannot come toge’ 
er in any other place or at any other time than when ‘‘ Low” is passing, or | 


METEOROLOGICAL FACTORS AND PHENOMENA. 425 


the very centre of ‘‘Low.” As the wind is always toward ‘‘ Low,” it follows 
‘that the winds from all quarters must be toward it. North winds which are cold 
as well as south winds that are hot, and the east and the west winds which com- 
bine and partake of the two. 

The tornado or the hurricane, call it what you will, for it is all one without 
regard to name, is the result of ‘‘ Low” and will always be foufhd in and only in 
the track of ‘‘ Low” ; and every time ‘‘ Low” has passed, and is passing over 
the territory of the United States every three to five days—never regular in time, 
‘speed, or direction—always peculiar and irregular in its qualities of concentra- 
tion, power, speed, spread and direction; every time it passes we are liable 
to have the fierce storm which we term the tornado or hurricane; and for 
the reason that it always occurs in the track of ‘‘ Low” as it passes to the 
eastward, the Sun being the more powerful in this direction as it not only 
has the direct power of ‘‘ Low,” but, so to speak, the momentum of ‘‘ Low” in 
its course to the eastward. But, it may be said, we sometimes have the tornado 
with a north wind, which would seem to contradict this; then in the United States 
it may apparently be so, or locally so, but the power that creates it is the while 
moving to the eastward. Along the Atlantic sea-board, particularly in the vicin- 
ity of Washington, the hurricane will at times occur with a northwest wind for the 
same general reason that water forming the whirlpool does not travel in a straight 
line toward the center, if it did there would be no whirlpool. The waters com- 
ing with force from every direction act and react upon each other; the result is 
to establish a circular motion of the currents; so with the winds toward ‘‘ Low” ; 
they approach ‘‘ Low’”’ from all points of the compass; their action upon each 
other establishes a circular motion to the currents. The circle is large, so not- 
withstanding it may be locally a northwest wind it is really toward the centre, 
“< Low,’’ which has passed the locality to the eastward ; and the wind blowing in 
this manner is what gave rise to the idea that the wind blows, between ‘‘ High”’ 
and ‘‘ Low,” so that if you stand with your right hand toward ‘‘ Low” and left 
hand toward ‘‘High” the wind will be your face. The wind may in some . 
places be in your face, yet it is all the while seeking the centre ‘‘ Low”; not in 
a straight line, but in a grand volute curve. 

I may be wrong, but I cannot see wherein the coming together of the so- 
called warm and cold currents causes the tornado. Ifthe warm and cold cur- 
rents meet (and they do), they are meeting all the time at the very centre of 
“<Low” and not in the track of ‘‘ Low” where the tornado takes place; and if 
they meet all the time it would seem that they should all the time produce the 
same effect and give us the tornado not only every day but every hour of the 
day; but we see that they do not—that a great many ‘‘ Lows”’ pass over the 
country without producing a tornado. The tornado occurs late in the afternoon 
when the Earth has become heated to its maximum point—occurs in warm weath- 
er, and seldom if ever in cold, and only with a /igh ‘‘ Low,” or perhaps better, 
with a “‘ Low” that is traveling on a high line or toward a high line. 

August 26, 1881, a hurricane occurred at Charleston, S. C. The ‘‘ Low” 


426 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


that caused this storm, at the time not being on a very high line, may seem to. 
oppose this idea, but then it must be remembered that this ‘‘ Low” came from 
the south. On the 24th day of August it was reported at St. Thomas. It was 
therefore at the time seeking a high line, and from present knowledge only under 
such conditions would it have produced a hurricane in the latitude it did. 

A ‘‘Low ” 4ravelling across the country on the latitude of Charleston I do 
not think would produce such a storm—it would produce cold, and such a storm 
requires a vast amount of accumulative force developed by heat which can only 
be generated, at least in latitudes embracing the United States, by a high ‘‘ Low ” 
or a ‘‘ Low” traveling for some distance in a northerly direction. 

For years people have been, and are still studying the effects of the tornado 
in its paths of destruction. Many changes are produced, indeed it would be 
difficult to have a sameness in details, yet with all the general effect is the same 
every time. There is no light to be obtained by studying the endless variety of 
detail—it is studying the effects and not the cawse—the cart and not the horse. What 
we want to study is the cause—the power that creates and not the mere effect 
that follows. ‘‘ Low” is the concentration of heat. The tornado is the concen- 
tration of that heat to a narrow limit. 

A tornado track is never very wide—extended width would prevent its pow- 
er. Sometimes it is said to be a mile wide, but generally not more than a quarter 
of a mile or less. For some reason, unknown to us at present, the concentration 
of the heat is so peculiar as to only effect a narrow track—nature become unbal- 
anced. The tornado is the effort on the part of nature to restore that balance— 
it is done in the twinkling of an eye. All sorts of plans have been’ devised 
whereby to give warning of its occurrence. One might as well during a thunder- 
storm undertake to give warning of where the lightning will strike. In years to 
come with more perfect instruments it may be done, but at present it is simply 
impossible. This is the view of the tornado I would present. Let time prove it 
or disprove it, it matters not so long as the truth is at least obtained and under- 
stood. 

In these articles it has been Fagmend said that ‘‘ Low ” is ine agent or 
factor of the phenomenon, ‘‘the storm.” Because of this general statement it 
must not be understood that the phenomenon rain is only the product of the 
factor ‘‘ Low”; for meteorology as well as other departments of science has its. 
exceptions, but the exceptions are too often overlooked. Bear in mind that the 
clouds are all the while being formed everywhere where there is heat and moist- 
ure, and that ‘‘Low”’ is simply the agent that gathers them and carries them. 
from point to point to water the Earth. But there are times when the clouds: 
precipitate in the very centre of ‘‘ High.” 

This prove that the clounds are being formed everywhere, in ‘‘ High” as 
well as in ‘‘Low.” There are times it is generally “High.” Under these con- 
ditions ‘‘ Low”’ is afar off—the clouds the while get heavier and heavier, and 
when they get sufficiently heavy they precipitate, not waitlng for ‘ Low” to: 
come and take them to other localities. 


METEOROLOGICAL FACTORS AND PHENOMENA. 427 


This summer (1882) ‘‘ High” has prevailed over a very extensive portion of 
the United states. The result is pleasant summer weather, and although hot, not 
oppressively so where ‘‘ High” has reigned. In the northeast where they have 
been more under the influence of a Azgh ‘‘ Low” it has been hot and dry. In 
the neighborhood of Washington it has been a most delightful summer and the 
foliage has remained bright and green, with few or no vermin to destroy the 
foliage. So the factor ‘‘ High” it would seem was not favorable tovermin. The 
question is do they exist the same as during the protracted presence of a high 
‘Low ”—are they latent the while, or is it necessary to have the presence of 
‘‘Low” to generate them? This branch of the subject I respectfully refer to the 
entomologists. 

I have spoken of a Azgh ‘‘ Low” etc., I would specially call the readers at- 
tention to these expressions. They may seem paradoxical or ludicrous, but if 
they will pay a little attention to the subject they will readily see the force 
of the expressions. A figh ‘‘Low” will be ‘‘Low” or low-barometer on a 
high line of elatitude, and as the wind blows toward ‘‘ Low” it follows that 
under these conditions we will have the wind from the south and therefore 
it will be very warm. A /ow ‘‘ Low” will be in effect the reverse of this. A 
high ‘‘ High” will be ‘‘High” on a high line of latitude, which will prevent 
the south winds from reaching far to the north, therefore the while it will be 
relatively cool. ‘‘ High” over us keeps our locality cool; the south winds do 
not reach us. A Jow ‘‘ High” will act as a barrier to the south winds—a Argh 
‘‘High” as a barrier to the nerth winds. These factors ‘“‘ High”’ and ‘‘ Low”’ 
in their variety of changes produce the phenomena daily presented to us. Study 
them well—keep their motion, speed, spread and direction in mind as they follow 
each other across the country and we will always be well posted, and as well post- 
ed as possible for the human mind to be in regard to the conditions of the atmos- 
phere about us. The weather-map, the all important agent whereby we may un- 
derstand and keep track of the meteorological phenomena of our country, is, in 
its present shape, quite impractical to those who are beyond its daily reach. If 
in lieu of, or auxiliary to this, we could have skeleton maps in every office and 
even in public places throughout the country, and if people would take the neces- 
sary, yet Uittle trouble to read them, our Weather Bureau might soon become a far 
more important and popular institution than it is at present. By making it still 
more of a necessity to the people it would become more and more popular; and 
worked upon such a basis would soon wield a powerful influence for good. 

Let these skeleton maps be of various sizes, small enough even to appear in 
the columns of a newspaper, and large enough to hang in public places and be 
seen and read a number of. yards away. Have the map of the United States 
divided into sections of any convenient size. These sections to be designated 
by letters or numbers or both. In place of the daily ‘‘ indications” as at present 
let the office telegraph all over the country the location of ‘“‘ High” and ‘‘ Low” 
in such and such squares and on such and such lines, etc. By daylight in the 
morning every city, town and village from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from 


428 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Mexico to Canada could be informed of the situation—of the meteorological con- 
ditions of the whole country. 

The intelligent people of the world at least will readily become familiar with 
‘‘ High” and ‘‘ Low,” and it will afford them an infinite amount of satisfaction and 
be most profitable to them to watch and study the changes of nature, and in 
many ways be of great practical value to them in forewarning and giving them 
timely notice of the changes that are to occur—and as it were taking them up 
into a high mountain and showing them the meteorological conditions of the 
whole country. It would seem that a plan that could easily accomplish this was 
worth putting into execution. Let this be done and the Weather Bureau will no 
longer remain in the background with few to do it reverence. Let it once be 
‘ thus placed in bold-relief before the public and it will take a new lease of life— 
indeed its past will be very tame and quiet beside what its future will be. The 
public will then begin to appreciate the work of this Bureau, and will more readily 
‘lend it a hand” and advocate its claims. 

Bear in mind, the weather-map is the geography of the almosphere. By it we 
have been instructed in the factors and phenomena of meteorology as never before. 
By it we have been brought face to face with the great revelations of nature. 
Present this map every morning to the eyes of the whole country in a form suita- 
ble for practical purposes and the whole country will comprehend its practical 
value and sound forth its praise. : 

Only in a skeleton form can it be made thus valuable and universal. Soon- 
er or later this idea must prevail, and when it does the factors and phenomena 
of meteorology will be more completely revealed, and through this revelation the 
world will the better be enabled to comprehend the mysteries of nature in this 
department and the better understand how to derive practical benefit from its 
meteorological knowledge. 


WasHINGTON, D. C., August 26, 1882. 


WEATHER PROGNOSTICS. 
Ss. A. MAXWELL. 


From time immemorial the people of all countries, savage or civilized, have 
quoted proverbs in relation to the weather whose origin belonged in the dim 
and distant past. 

Some of these can be traced back, and some of them it seems had more than 
one origin, if we may use such a paradoxical expression—the same proverb being 
found current coin in the languages of distinct and widely separated races. When 
this is the case there must be of course more or less truth connected with it. It 
is customary to accept these weather proverbs as facts, never looking carefully 
within to see whether truth or falsehood is clothed with their sober garb. It is 
probable that more than one-half of the trite sayings in regard to the weather are 


WEATHER PROGNOSTICS. 429 


utterly without foundation, and if their origin could be traced it would be found 
the thoughtless utterance of some lunatic or the chance rhyme of a crank who 
‘never had a dozen thoughts in all his life,” and who ‘‘ thinks the visual line that 
girds him round the world’s extreme.”’ 

’ The effort which our Signal Service Bureau is making to collect these pro- 
verbs and have them published will clear up this subject to some extent; will 
doubtless separate the chaff from the wheat, as it were, so that those sayings 
which have a real value may be made to play a part in perfecting our knowledge of 
the science of meteorology. It will have little effect, however, on public opinion. 
Five hundred earnest, educated men may use the most perfect instruments at es- 
tablished stations, and make tri-daily observations of these, record the same, and 
use many thousand miles of telegraph lines almost constantly, thus mutually as- 
sisting one another, and then, the result of their combined labors, under a sys- 
tem the most perfect ever devised, is regarded by millions of our people to be 
less reliable than the ‘‘ probabilities’’ of a medical almanac or the equally value- 
less prognostication of a weather-prophet, so-called. 

But our laborers in the cause of science are producing some aeneee Public 
opinion is slowly changing in their favor. The day is distant but is approaching 
when the people will acknowledge the merits of our Signal Service Bureau and 
the value of the work accomplished by it. 

Some weather proverbs have reference to observed conditions of the atmos- 
phere as, ‘‘ when there’s a fog in the celfar there will be rain;” again,— 


*« An evening red the next morning gray 
Are sure signs of a beautiful day.” 


These sayings have a scientific basis on which to rest, and are therefore to be 
relied on, while some sayings, I think a majority, originate from some chance 
rhyme, and are totally unreliable. 

We will now trace the causes of some of the phenomena which give rise to 
weather prognostics. 

A fog in the cellar results sometimes, on a very warm morning, when the 
air is heavily charged with moisture. It is more likely to be observed in cellars 
where there are openings on opposite sides, permitting a free passage for the air. 
During the past summer I have noticed a fog in the cellar on two occasions and 
were followed within twelve hours by severe rainstorms. Briek pavements have 
been observed to be moist or even wet at mid-day from the condensation of 
vapor, at times when the air was in a condition closely approaching saturation. 
This phenomenon, produced by the same cause as the fog in the cellar, will of 
course indicate a storm in the same manner, or, I might better say it indicates 
such a condition of the atmosphere as almost invariably precedes a storm. Even 
the barometer itself does not indicate, when the mercurial column settles, that a 
storm is’ approaching a certain locality, but simply that the atmospheric condi- 
tions are favorable to the development of storms. On showery days, the bulk 
of the precipitation occurs in parallel belts from ten to fifty miles in width, sepa- 


430 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


rated by tracts of greater or less extent where but little or no rain falls; yet the 
atmospheric conditions are very nearly, or quite the same in both,—the rainy 
belts and the rainless ones. We may see from this how impossible it is, even 
with the best instruments, to foretell absolutely what weather will follow even 
favorable indications of rain. It is not difficult, however, to tell with tolerable 
accuracy, say five times in six, what the weather will be from one to two days in 
advance if one observes closely the various phenomena of the winds and clouds. 
in connection with a reliable barometer. ° 


‘¢ A rainbow in the morning 
Is the sailor’s warning ; 
A rainbow at night 
Is the sailor’s delight.” 


There is some solidity in this old saw about the weather, from the fact when 
a rainbow is seen in the morning it must be in a westerly direction, the one from 
which storms of the temperate zones most frequently approach. Again, whenseen. 
’ in the east, the bow is formed after the storm has passed, and it is but fair to sup- 
pose that pleasant weather will follow. It has also been noticed that the nearer 
sundown the rainbow is formed, the better the prospect for fair weather. This. 
is because such bows are formed, not after the passage of small, local showers, 
but of what we term clearing-up storms or those which are of wide extent. 

Weather-sayings like those already given, having their basis on certain known 
physical facts, and being of themselves the simple statement of such facts, can 
be relied on as true, and when the weather does not accord with them it will 
generally be found that the failure was due to local or latent causes—such as af- 
fect in a greater or less degree the most accurate conclusions of the meteorolo- 
gist. 

In contrast with these is that class of senseless proverbs still passing as cur- 
rent coins of science among the people of even the most enlightened portions of 
our country,—proverbs originating by accident, and perpetuated in their exist- 
ence through ignorance, proverbs whose absurdity and unreliability are observed 
at once by any one who will subject them to the searching light of reason. 
Among this class of absurdities are the following: ‘‘When the Sun sets clear 
on Friday it will rain before Monday;’’ ‘‘ Three frosts and then a rain;’”’? ‘‘ As 
the first three days*of December be, so will the months of winter be;” ‘‘If the 
woodchuck can see his shadow on Candlemas-day he will go into his burrow and 
stay six weeks ;” ‘It will be just as many days before a storm as the number of 
stars within a circle round the moon.” 

Enough! Ye Gods! What a pity that the authors of these sayings are not 
known, for if they were, their sacred names might be handed down through the 
ages, to a remote future, when an appreciative generation would erect to their 
memory an appropriate monument of donkey-skulls as high as the famous spire at 
Cologne. 

There is not a point in one of this class of weather sayings but may at once 


HAIL AND HAILSTONES. .- 431 


be proven absurd by the weakest process of reasoning, so that an attempt to do 
so would be like trying to prove an axiom. 

There is still another class of weather-proverbs having reference to lunar and 
and planetary influence whose truth is not as yet positively ascertained. The 
elder Herschell it is claimed believed that the time of the moon’s changing had 
an effect on climate, but the prevailing opinion now among scientific men is to 
the contrary. Some years ago I believed that the moon influenced the weather 
on our planet and set about the task of preparing a paper to prove the same; 
but the result was, that the investigation of my own meteorological records 
changed my belief, and I think that with the data I have at hand I can prove 
conclusively that terrestrial climate 1s unaffected by lunar or planetary influences. 

Some people plant and harvest when the moon is in the right quarter, and 
think success is assured by so doing, but not one of them can give a good reason, 
unless it be: ‘* As our fathers did before us so do we.” If one would become 
a reformer of these abuses, would try to enlighten the darkness of those about 
him who put their trust in the proverbs and practices of a past and superstitious 
age, he would become discouraged when he discovered the number whose minds 
like that of Hamlet’s mother have been so brazed by custom that they are ‘‘ proof 
and bulwark against sense.” 


Morrison, ILt., September, 1882. 


HAIL AND HAILSTONES. 


The immense magnitude of some hailstones, and the intensity of cold during 
the hottest period of summer requisite to freeze these in their descent to the 
earth, have never been satisfactorily accounted for. ‘An explanation offered is, 
that they must have been originally formed at an altitude in the atmosphere 
where the temperature is greatly below 32°, and that, in consequence of their ex- 
treme coldness, they acquired magnitude during their descent by condensing on 
their respective surfaces the vapors contained in the electrified cloud and atmos- 
phere through which they passed. The difficulty, however, is not altogether ob- 
viated by this conjectural explanation. In this country hail storms seldom assume 
any remarkable appearance, but in some other countries, especially in the south- 
ern districts of France between the Alps and the Pyrenees, hail-storms are so 
violent, and the hailstones so large as frequently to lay waste large districts of 
country. Of late years some very disastrous hail-storms have occurred in por- 
tions of the western United States and Western Ontario. These storms have in- 
variably been accompanied with thunder and a violent squall or whirlwind. In- 
dividual hailstones have been known to weigh as much as five ounces, but there 
are stories in existence of much heavier ones. ‘These large particles of ice are 
seldom globular, but rather of an irregular and angular shape. Hail-storms gen- 
erally occur during the hottest period of the year, and seldom during night or 
winter. : 


432 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 
WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 


BY PROF. J. T. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 


The usual summary by decades is given below. 


Sept. 20th Oct. Ist Oct. roth 

TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. to 30th. to 10th. to 20th. 
MIN. AND MAX. AVERAGES. 

IMT ericss cau Meles, Moira Wo yon Suemeeltop ie 49.6 55.7 42.9 

IVIAIKGe ne tir sh ta teant tora rs Cal tcy Wn eae ma 73.1 73.1 69.1 

MinieaniduMiaxe ines yerr pestis es 61.3 64 4 56.0 

INANE 52g) sae) eae ngleeton cs iorea i c 23.5 17.4 26.2 
TRI-DAILY CBSERVATIONS. 

Ff Oy SING Gh dey Grae LOO ON Ge 8h 56.5 61.1 47.4 

Do Wil 5 6 5 6 6 D'000 00060 73.2 71.1 65.3 

©) {Doutta Wea copa area AO emai LAME IAs 61.0 61.7 52.4 

SATE es wou! ye Ree aiiie ian ena 62.9 63 7 54.3 
RELATIVE HuMIDITY. 

Wo io WM 6 9 6 OC O80 6.0 0 6 2 .84 ep .86 

DG Wily Geeey Sec MCE Ae ny bigs kis .64 .65 51 

Opp OMe Meee eS TAPAS Pankey ce -79 -90 .80 

Wileain 5-5 5 (6! Bea at oS cat ots hehe -76 82 2 
PRESSURE AS OBSERVED, 

OF Ely TOO eis Acme ae ie GA ie EROR EL 29.10 28.09 28.94 

2B DEE wna. e vous cigtasicoba oop om fap cewaeeens 29.06 28.97 28.90 

9p.m 29.03 28.97 28.91 

Mean. . BHA a ini GaE RASS 8c | 29.06 28.98 28.92 
MILES PER Hour oF WIND. 

Ff DO REURR Ne RRM Cece tltgeas waelnsE suns 30 

QU PD aalie teh ee tel a ee ahaa SUR Ne Ree oa 20 

Qypertereyh AiSiy. Ries yi bemacagad cartes ude ee Sips 

UOtell MISS o Sa 6.66 a6 6 3560 3074 3571 
CLOUDING BY TENTHS. 

MAMI, CF 'elihe, Cee aR hrc ea See ete : 

A \Oaatly, g ce Onol G WoNra ab Gt me ° 

(O)-SO) PD UH alee eames ya loc) Maden, Nk : 
RAIN. 

Inches 58 1.49 1.52 


CHEMICAL LITERATURE, . 43 


Oo 


CiaUaIMUCS INR 


CHEMICAL LITERATURE. 
PROF. H. CARRINGTON BOLTON. 


[Zxtract from an Address Delivered at Montreal, August 23, 1882,] 
* * *k * *k *k 

The very earliest information concerning chemical arts comes to us from that 
ancient nation supposed by some to have given its own name to the science it- 
self; not only do the sculptured tombs and temples of Egypt portray with unim- 
peachable authenticity and wonderful accuracy the technical skill of that venerable 
people, but these same monuments are even now relinquishing their hold on 
long-buried treasures in the form of papyri, whose perplexing script no longer con- 
ceals their meaning from the erudition of Egyptologists. 

Of these miraculously preserved papyri the most valuable to chemistry is 

- t discovered by Prof. George Ebers at Thebes in 1872, and named after its 
‘ned discoverer. We have described this elsewhere and shall not here enter 
details. It is the most ancient medical work extant, being assigned to the 
eenth century B. C., and contains a vast amount of information on the med- 
il practice and the pharmaceutical preparations at that remote period. The 
nknown author wrote less obscurely than many of a much later date, and when 
che whole papyrus shall have been deciphered it will prove an invaluable contri- 
bution to chemical history. 

The most ancient manuscript treating exclusively of chemical operations is a 

Greek papyrus of Egyptian origin preserved in the Library of the University of 
- Leyden. Its authorship is unknown, its date is placed by Reuvens in the third 
or fourth century A. D. This MS. consists of a collection of prescriptions and 
receipts for conducting various operations in metallic chemistry, such as the test- 
ing of gold and silver; the purification of lead, of tin and of silver; the hardening . 
of tin and of silver; the albification of copper, etc. {t deals little with alchemy 
though some of the receipts evidently refer to transmutations, as those entitled 
*‘the preparation (artificial ?) of silver;” ‘*the preparation of gold;”’ ‘‘the puri- 
fication of tin by silver,” etc. 

Reference is made to sandarach (realgar), cadmia zinc ore), chrysocolla, cin- 
nabar, natron (soda), mercury and other chemical substances, but no receipts are 
given for their preparation. The author quotes from the Materia Medica of Dio- 
scorides who probably preceded him by about two centuries. It is to be regretted 
that the full text of this ancient manuscript has never been published; the little. 
known of it foreshadows information of great interest. 


434 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


The great libraries of Paris, Rome, Venice, Milan, Escurial, Cracow, Gotha, 
Munich and Cologne preserve a large number of Greek alchemical manuscripts 
of unknown authorship and uncertain date. Hoefer, the French historian of 
of chemistry, refers them to the third and fourth centuries, but other authorities 
with greater probability place them not earlier than the tenth and eleventh. 

The most celebrated of these essays are attributed to Zosimus, of whose his- 
tory nothing is certainly known, and bearthesetitles: ‘On Furnaces and Chem- 
ical Instruments,” ‘ On the Virtue and Composition of Waters,’”’ ‘‘On the Holy 
Water,” ‘‘On the Sacred Art of Making Gold and Silver.” In a treatise attribu- 
ted to Synesius, we find a description of a hydroscopium or hydrometer which 
was rediscovered as long after as the sixteenth century. 

In a treatise attributed to Olympiodorus, he cites as authorities Democritus, 
Anaximander, Zosimus, Pelagius, and Marie, a certain Jewess whom the later Al- 
chemists confounded with Miriam, Moses’ sister. 

In these manuscripts chemistry is called the ‘‘sacred art” and the exceed- 
ingly obscure and figurative language in which they are written, makes it well 
nigh impossible to separate fact from fancy ; Hoefer has indeed attempted to dis- 
cover modern chemical conceptions in the allusions to Egyptian myths and the 
chaotic collections of spagyric arcana. 

Of systematic nomenclature there is absolutely no trace; indeed each author 
seems to have aimed to write treatises intelligible only to eel and we grea '" 
doubt his success in even this respect. ‘‘Cadmia,” we are informed, ‘‘is mi 
nesia,” and ‘‘ magnesia is the female antimony of Macedonia;” ‘‘nitre is wk 
sulphur which produces brass;” equally clear is the statement that the ‘‘a 
spermatism of the dragon is the mercury of cinnabar.” That lexicons were ear 
in demand is not surprising; in fact some of the most ancient MSS. are ‘‘ vocab 
ularies of the sacred art,’’ but even with their assistance it is difficult to form 
satisfactory concepts of contemporazy chemical science. 

Suidas, a Greek lexicographer of the eleventh century, states that Diocletian 
having conquered the rebellious Egyptians (296 A. D.) destroyed their books on 
the preparation of silver and gold, lest becoming rich by the practice of that art 
they might again resist the Romans. Regrets at the wanton acts of this imperial 
biblioclast are tempered by the reflection that modern scholars are spared the 
study of such literary absurdities. 

The Chinese, that curious people who always claim a hearing when the ori- 
gin or antiquity of arts and sciences is under consideration, were acquainted at a 
very remote period with many branches of chemical technology. We do not 
know of any special chemical literature produced by them, but the researches of 
Rev. Jaseph Edkins and of Dr. W. A. P. Martin make it highly probable that 
scholars will yet discover contributions of no small importance to the early history 
of chemistry. Prof. George Gladstone has endeavored to show that the Chinese 
originated the doctrines and pursuit of alchemy and communicated it to the Ara- 
bians by whom it was disseminated throughout Europe. 

The high state of civilization and extraordinary intellectual development of 


CHEMICAL LITERATURE. 435 


the Arabians has left a deep impression on chemical science. Cultivated chiefly 
by physicians, attention was directed to its pharmaceutical applications, and in 

“spite of the prohibitions of the Koran, to the fascinations of alchemy. Of their 
extant writings, preserved in European libraries, only a portion have been edit- 
ed; those best known partake of the poetical imagery and hyperbole characteris- 
tic of the Oriental mind. This is shown to some extent in the singular tities pre- 
fixed to their treatises, e. g., ‘‘ The Rise of the Moon under the Auspices of 
Golden Particles,” by the alchemist Dschildegi; ‘‘ A Poem in the Praise of God, 
of Mahomet and of Alchemy,” by Dul-nun-el-Misr1. 

The well known treatises of Geber, ‘‘Of the Investigation of Perfection,” 
‘¢ Of the Sum of Perfection,” ‘‘ Of the Invention of Verity,” and ‘‘ Of Furnaces,” 
notwithstanding a bewildering style of composition, which seems to confirm Dr. 
Johnson’s derivation of gibberish. from Geber, display very great familiarity with 
a large number of chemical substances and operations. 

Geber’s works are generally assigned to the eighth century and consist chiefly 
of compilations from the ‘‘ Books of the Ancients;” he mentions no author by, 
name. ‘They contain chapters devoted to the seven known metals, to the methods 
of distillation, calcination, cupellation and other operations, to the preparation of 
saline substances and to chemical philosophy. Geber adopted Aristotle’s views 
of the constitution of matter from four principles, the hot and cold, the wet and 
dry, and adds thereto: ‘‘ Mercury and sulphur are the components of metals,” 
a doctrine which with slight modifications prevailed for more than eight centuries, 
Geber describes the preparation of nitric acid, of aqua regia, and of mercuric 
oxide ; he mentions the increase in weight of metals when calcined with sulphur, 
and gives the results of a rude quantitative analysis of crude sulphur. He con- 
stantly maintains the doctrine of transmutation of metals and gives a refutation 
of the ingenious arguments opposed thereto. His remarks on the qualifications 
of a chemist are most intelligent and are not inopportune in modern times; he 
urges the necessity of diligence, patience, learning, a temperate disposition, 
slowness to anger, and a full purse, ‘‘ for this science agrees not well with a man 
poor and indigent,” together with faith in the God who ‘‘ withholds or gives to 
whom he will”’ the secrets of nature, and who will infallibly punish the foolish 
meddler with magical mysteries. 

To detail fully our obligations to Arabian chemists is no part.of our plan. 
They have left an indelible impression on the very language of the science, in the 
words alcohol, alembic, alkali, borax, and many others. All honor to the intel- 
ligent authors who a thousand years ago defined chemistry as the ‘‘ Science of 
Combustion, the Science of Weight, the Science of the Balance! ” 

In the middle ages intellectual activity was confined largely to the clergy, 
who controlled the schools of learning, the libraries, and nearly all sources of knowl- 
edge. University chairs were occupied exclusively by clerical professors, literature 
and science were cast inecclesiastical moulds. Scientific treatises were the produc- 
tion of monks and emanated from cloisters. Many distinguished philosophers 
mastered widely separated branches of learning: among these were Alain de 


® 
436 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Lille (b. 1114), celebrated as a physician, theologian,-poet and historian, who 
filled the episcopal chair at Auxerre; Roger Bacon (b. 1214) an English cordelier ; 
Raymond Lully (b. 1235), a Franciscan friar, and Albertus Magnus (b. 1193), 
Bishop of Ratisbon. The latter, amid the monotonous routine of a Dominican 
monastery, found leisure to distinguish himself in astronomy, medicine, alchemy 
and, according to his enemies, in necromancy. At this remote period, accusa- 
tions of dealing with magic were not unfrequently made against those whose 
learning and skill in experimental sciences excited envy and superstitious zeal. 
* 2 2 xk * * 

Valentine’s celebrated ‘‘Chariot of Antimony,” extolling the medical vir- 
tues of this metal, is perhaps the least obscure of his works; the ‘‘ Twelve Keys 
of Philosophy ” with its singular plates, one of the most unintelligible; yet be- 
neath the extravagant jargon characteristic of the period, glimpses are obtained 
of light and intelligence. The latter work presents clearly the theory that all 
metals are compounded of three principles: fixedness, metallicity and volatility, 
zepresented respectively by salt, mercury and sulphur, an hypothesis which long 
completely controlled chemistry until it gave place to the seductive theory of 
Phhogiston. It is uncertain whether the works ascribed to Valentine were first 
written in Latin or in German; his writings were collected in the seventeenth cen- 
tury and have been through many editions. Several of his treatises have been 
translated into English and into French. 

In the fifteenth century the newly invented printing press was employed in 
the production of few works which can be regarded as chemical, and these were 
chiefly confined to isolated treatises of the ancient philosophers; in the sixteenth 
century the alchemists began to publish the results of their industry and specula- 
tions, and in the succeeding century a prodigious number of alchemical works were 
issued in Germany, France and England, creating literature of an extraordinary 
type. M 

Some of these treatises, which are numbered by thousands, record valuable 
experiments made by enthusiasts seeking the philosopher’s stone, but the majori- 
ty contain ‘‘a crude mass of incoherent propositions and wild assertions, a mix- 
ture of poesy and insanity, in which all logical ideas are lost amidst the stilted 
phraseology, but through which breathed a blind yet fervent faith.” Great ob- 
scurity of style, an enigmatical method of naming chemical substances which 
found its highest development in the use of arbitrary symbols and the pictorial 
representations of alchemical processes, the intimate association with astrology, 
the honest or affected intermingling of pious comment and prayers, the extrava- 
gant claims to interpret the mythology of Egypt and Greece on an alchemical 
basis ; the endeavor to associate the mysteries of Hermes with the sacred truths 
of the Christian religion, all combine to produce literary monstrosities as fasci- 
nating to the student of chemical history as aey are profitless to the practical 
worker in modern science. 

Among the fabulous writings, highly esteemed by the credulous alchemists, 
may be mentioned the celebrated inscription of Hermes Trismegistus upon an 


EXTRACTION OF THE PRECIOUS METALS FROM ORES, ETC. 437 


Emerald Tablet, the Golden Leaves of Abraham, Jew Prince, Priest, Levite, 
Astrologer and Philosopher, which in the hands of Nicholas Flamel yielded such 
a rich harvest, the Practical Chemistry of Miriam the sister of Moses, and a mul- 
titude of grotesque writings ascribed to personages of known reputation. Ray- 
mond Lully is credited with five hundred works; Hermes Trismegistus, the mythi- 
cal Father of Sciences, with several thousand. 


THE EXTRACTION OF THE PRECIOUS METALS FROM ORES BY 
ELECTROLYSIS. 


F 

Mm. Blas and Miest have discovered that if in electrolysis we replace the 
metal of the anode by compressed sulphur-ores these may themselves serve as an 
anode. Further, if we place such anodes in a bath of a suitable electrolytic salt 
having the same metallic base as the metal of the ore, and if we let the electric 
current act in such a bath, the effect is that all the sulphur of the ore is precipitat- 
ed upon the anode and falls to the bottom of the bath. At the same time there 
is formed at the cathode a precipitate or continous deposit’ of metal liberated 
from the salt of which the electrolytic bath consists. The acid of the bath being 
set free appropriates an equivalent proportion of the metal contained in the ore 
placed at the anode. In this manner the neutral electrolytic bath is re-constituted 
without ceasing and serves indefinitely. 


ELECTROLYSIS OF VARIOUS SULPHURETTED Ores. For simple sulphides, 
without gangue, containing only sulphur and a single metal, is exceedingly easy 
and complete. If we have an electrolytic bath containing a soluble salt of the 
same base, ¢. g., a bath of lead nitrate, in case of the treatment of pure galena, 
this ore is placed at the anode, when under the action of the electric current the 
sulphur is deposited at the anode and the lead at the cathode. If the ore con- 
tains in addition to the metal a silicious gangue, the silica is deposited at the 
anode at the same time with the sulphur. But these two substances though mix- 
ed together remain distinct. They fall in part to the bottom of the bath, and it 
is advisable to remove the rest from the anodes by an automatic brushing. 

If there are antimony and arsenic in the ore, which are also precipitated at 
the anode, but chiefly in the state of insoluble oxides, mixed, but not combined 
together, nothing is easier than to separate them again by electrolysis. 

In case of ores containing exceptionally much arsenic, a part of this during 
precipitation at the anode combines with sulphur, producing arsenic bisulphide or 
realgar and the yellow sulphide or orpiment. 

These products are extracted and purified at first by sulphuret of carbon and 
afterwards by separate electrolysis in a bath with a feeble electric current, when 
they yield pure sulphur at the anode and oxides of arsenic and antimony at the 
cathode. 

If we operate electrolytically on sulphides containing several metals, those 

VI—28 


438 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


of the precious metals contained in the sulphur ores, being the most easily precip- 
itated, are thrown down first in the metallic state at the cathode, under the action 
of a moderate current, and consequently the electrolytic bath is regenerated with- 
out ceasing. There is merely one further operation, that of separating afterwards 
those of the metals which have been thrown down together at the cathode. But 
this final separation requires very little electric force, because this mass of metals, 
already previously reduced to the metallic state and purified, when they are placed 
together in another electrolytic bath and are dissolved there under the action of 
the electric current, regenerate the thermic force or thermic work necessary for 
the ulterior precipitation of each metal separately, saving the slight unimportant 
and inevitable losses of thermic or electric action. 

We extract first the sulphur of carbon disulphide used, with or without pres- 
sure. Carbon disulphide dissolves and removes promptly that part of the mixed 
sulphur which is combined neither with silica nor iron. 

On re-distilling the decanted carbon disulphide loaded with dissolved sul- 
phur, the latter is deposited in a state of purity. 

If the electrolysed ore is a multiple sulphide, containing especially much 
iron, we obtain then at the first operation sulphur and iron oxide. If in place of 
then separating these two bodies by one of the methods descsibed above, we 
electrolyse them feebly a second time in a bath composed e. g., of dilute sulphuric 
acid, we obtain then pure sulphur at the anode, and iron as a basic sulphate at 
the cathode. But sulphate of iron is in regular demand and of great use in in- 
dustry. We may otherwise electrolyse it again or use it as an electrolytic salt for 
the extraction of iron. 

In separating the mixture of sulphur and iron oxide there is no outlay of 
work or of thermic power. On the contrary, in this operation there is produc- 
tion of heat, and consequently of work. 

Practically, one and a half horse-power is required to produce electrolytical- 
ly in one hour one kilogramme of copper set free from a sulphuretted copper ore, 
a wonderful result in point of economy.—Les Mondes. 


le lel CSU Sy 


TELEGRAPHING WITHOUT WIRES. 


At the British Association meetings at Southampton, Mr. W. H. Preece, 
electrician at the General Post Office, adverted, in a paper on ‘‘ Telephones,” to 
an experiment he had made of telegraphing from the mainland to the Isle of 
Wight without employing a cable across the intervening space of water. ‘This he 
accomplished by utilizing the property of electricity named induction. ‘The effi- 
ciency of the telephone is frequently interfered with by currents of electricity 


TELEGRAPHING WITHOUT WIRES, 439 


a 


‘being ‘‘induced’’ in the telephone wire by the electricity in telegraph wires, and 
Mr. Preece conceived the idea that as induction takes place sometimes in wires 
which are several miles apart, use might be made of this property to dispense 
with wires in certain cases. The purpose of wires is to carry the electric current, 
but if the current were ready to travel of its own accord without wires the 
saving in maintaining telegraphic communications would be very great. 

This idea, however, is not a novel one. At the meeting of the British Asso- 
ciation, held in Aberdeen, in 1859, the late Mr. J. B. Lindsay, of Dundee, read 
a paper, in which he described experiments almost as extensive and precisely the 
same in their method as that explained by Mr. Preece at Southampton the other 
day, In the days when our achievements with electricity are deemed so consid- 
erable, the humbler efforts of Mr. Lindsay are apt ta be forgotten. There is no 
doubt, however, that he foresaw much that has only been accomplished within 
the last few years. His inventive faculty was keen, and he possessed the energy 
and perseverance, though unfortunately not always the resources, to work out his 
inventions. His studious disposition was remarkable, and if his talents had been 
developed in a sphere more suitable for them than the banks of the Tay, his 
name might have become famous in the annals of science. His prescience is ex- 
hibited in the following paragraph, which is taken from the Dundee Advertiser of 
August 7, 1835. It describes all the virtues of the electric light with as great 
‘completeness as though it had been written of a discovery by Edison or Swan: 

‘Mr. Lindsay, a teacher in town, formerly a lecturer to the Watt Institu- 
tion, succeeded, on the evening of Saturday, the 25th ult., in obtaining a con- 
stant electric light. It is upward of two years since he turned his attention to 
the subject, but much of that time has been devoted to other vocations. The 
light, in beauty, surpasses all others, has no smell, emits no smoke, is incapable 
-of explosion, and not requiring air, can be kept in sealed glass jars. It ignites 
without the aid of a taper, and seems peculiarly adapted for flax houses, spinning. 
mills, and other places containing combustible materials. It can be sent to any 
convenient distance, and the apparatus for producing it may be contained in a 
common chest.” 

In 1836, Mr. Lindsay lectured on the electric light, and state@ that as early 
.as 1831 he had turned his attention to the subject. In a letter published by him 
in 1845 he suggested the possibility of laying an electric cable across the Atlantic, 
.a dozen years before the project was seriously entertained. Afterward he devel- 
oped a scheme for telegraphing across oceans without cables. He lectured at 
Glasgow, in 1853, on his theory of forming an electric communication between 
Great Britain and other countries without the employment of submarine wires, 
and the cost of such communication to America he calculated to be £60,000. 
A patent for his scheme was taken out in 1854, and several experiments were 
made by him at different places. The following paragraph appeared in the Dum- 
dee Advertiser of May 20, 1859: 


‘¢ HLECTRIC TELEGRAPHING ACROSS THE TAY WITHOUT WIRES.—We have 
received the following note from Mr. J. B. Lindsay, reporting progress with his 


440 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


experiments. The results, it will be seen, are highly encouraging: ‘ Yesterday, 
May 17th, I telegraphed successfully across the Tay, opposite to Glencarse,. 
where it is about half a mile broad. The action on the needle was strong, and: 
the same battery power would cross, I think, at Broughty Ferry.’” 


The dock authorities at Liverpool invited him to exhibit his invention on 
the Mersey, but owing to his apparatus having been deranged, his experiment in 
England was not successful. This caused skepticism as to the merits of the dis- 
covery, and he made renewed tests with it on an extended scale on the Tay. These 
fully realized his expectations. The Dundee Advertiser of July 10, 1860, con- 
tained a letter to the editor, in which Mr. Lindsay wrote: 


‘¢ During last week I was engaged in making a telegraphic experiment across 
the Tay below the Earn, at a place where the river is more thana mile broad. The 
experiment was successful, and the needle was strongly moved, but, as I had-no 
person with me capable of sending or reading a message, it was not attempted.” 


Meanwhile he had exhibited his scheme to the savan¢s of the British Asso- 
ciation at the meeting in Aberdeen in 1859. Experiments were made with it 
across the river Dee, and he read a paper describing its theory to the Mathemat- 
ical Section, in the debate on which Lord Rosse, chairman of the section, and 
other leading scientists took part. Before quoting the condensed report of this 
paper, it may be well to quote the ‘passage in Mr. Preece’s paper on ‘‘Tele- 
phones,” read at Southampton last week, in which he adverts to an exper/ment 
exactly on the lines of Mr. Lindsay’s scheme : . 


‘¢Mr. Preece had recently tried an extremely interesting experiment between 
this place (Southampton) and the Isle of Wight—namely, to communicate across. 
seas and channels without the aid of wires at all. Large metal plates were, im- 
mersed in the sea at opposite ends of the Solent—namely, at Portsmouth and 
Ryde, six miles apart, and at Hurst Castle and Sconce Point, one mile apart. 
The Portsmouth and Hurst Castle plates were connected by a wire passing through 
Southampton, and the Ryde and Sconce Point plates by a wire through Newport ; 
the circuit was completed by the sea, and signals were passed easily so as to read 
by the Morse system, but speech was not practicable with the telephone.” 


The following is the report of the paper on ‘‘ Telegraphing without Wires,”’ 
read by Mr. J. B. Lindsay to the Mathematical Section of the British Association, 
at its meeting in Aberdeen, in September, 1859, which appeared in the Dundee 
Advertiser. After relating various minor experiments, he proceeded to describe 
his process, saying: 

‘Recently he had made additional experiments, and succeeded in crossing 
the Tay where it was three-quarters of a mile broad. His method had always. 
been to immerse two plates or sheets of metal on the one side, and connect them 
by a wire passing through a coil to move a needle, and to have on the other side 
two sheets similarly connected, and nearly opposite the two former. Experiments. 
had shown that only a fractional part of the electricity generated goes across, and, 
that the quantity that thus goes across can be increased in four ways: First—by an 


TELEGRAPHING WITHOUT WIRES, 441 


increased battery power; Second—by increasing the surface of the immersed 
‘sheet ; Third—by increasing the coil that moves the receiving needle; and Fourth 
—by increasing the lateral distance. In cases where lateral distance could be 
got he recommended increasing it, as by that means a smaller battery was re- 
quisite. In telegraphing by this method to Ireland or France, abundance of 
lateral distance could be got, but for America the lateral distance in Britain was 
much less than the distance across. In the greater part of his experiments the 
distance at the side had been double the distance across; but in the experiments 
in the Tay the lateral distance was the smaller, being only about half a mile, 
while the distance across was three-quarters of a mile. Of the four elements 
above mentioned, he thought that if any one were doubled the quantity of elec- 
tricity that crossed would also be doubled; and if all the elements were doubled 
the quantity transmitted would be eight times as great. In the experiment across 
the Tay the battery was of four square feet of zinc, the immersed sheets con= 
tained about ninety square feet, the weight of the copper coil was about six 
pounds; the lateral distance was less than the transverse distance, but if it had 
been a mile, and the distance across also a mile, the signal would no doubt have 
been equally distinct. Should the above law (when the lateral distance is equal 
to the transverse) be found correct, the undermentioned table might then be 
formed. 

‘¢‘ But supposing the lateral distance to be only half the transverse, then the 
distance créssed might be 16,000 miles, and if it was only a fourth, then there 
would be 8,000 miles, and thus a greater distance than the breadth of the Atlan- 
tic. Further experiments were, however, necessary to determine the law. Since 
last experiment he had increased the coil, and thought there was power to come 
two miles. According to this calculation, he thought a battery of 130 square 
feet, immersed sheets of 3,000 square feet, a coil of 200 pounds weight were suf- 
ficient to cross the Atlantic with the lateral distance that could be obtained in 
Great Britain.” 

The following is the table above referred to: 


ZINC FOR BATTERY. IMMERSED SHEETS. COIL. DISTANCE CROSSED. 
AUS Gatti go sq. ft. 6 th. 1 mile. 
Sie wc Lo Ounies nee Sian 
BOwe san BA(GyS)) & BAe Guta. 
Be ke 20 a Lies 2 GOs 
G4sn ae Tau oc NO) VE AXOOO Wa 
T2Oc rs os 2ROOO\y a TO ZY an BZ OOho na: 


If Mr. Lindsay’s hopes are to be realized, some great discovery yet remains 
to be made, for, by the laying of the Atlantic telegraph cables, we know that the 
electric current, transmitted across the wide expanse of the Atlantic, must be of 
extraordinary power to be apparent on the other side, even with a cable to lead it, 
Without a cable it would be hopeless to expect to find it, although the best apparatus 
were employed. Telegraphic instruments are greatly improved since Mr. Lind- 


449 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


say worked with them, and as regards batteries and coils/he would find available 
for his purpose all that he could wish. No currents, "however, are in, use which 
would induce another current 2,000 or 3,000 miles away. 7, Still it is within, possi- 
bility that such may be found, and to a Dundonian must bejascribed the honor 
of having: first conceived the scheme of transoceanic telegraph’ communication 
without the aid of cables. — Dundee Advertiser. 


INEUOlal Ad ONL OG NC. 


AZTEC REMAINS IN LA PLATA COUNTY, COLO. 


At the Denver Exposition there were exhibited some Aztec remains from 
Farmington, La Plata County, Colo., of intense interest to the student.”. They 
were found in the ruins of a building several stories high, which had. been erected. 
in the form of a terraced pyramid, near the mouth of the Animas River. 

Nearly all the bones of the human body were discovered in a good state of © 
preservation. Among them were three skulls, two of men and one of a woman. 
The latter was also young, as the distinctness of the suture joints testify; one of 
the male skulls was of a middle-aged person, and the other evidently of an old 
man as the several parts had grown almost solid. All were very thick, show- 
ing characteristics of the semi-barbaric races. The teeth remaining were most- 
ly sound, though one showed marks of an ulceration, and there were several 
empty sockets. 

Besides, there were some fine specimens of Aztec pottery of perfect color, 
parchment, stone implements, etc., from the same vicinity. This section of Col- 
orado has been as yet little explored, but enough has been found to demonstrate 
that it is a region of great value to archeology. BE) Hes: 


HUMAN FOOT-PRINTS FOUND IN SOLID ROCK. 


The Nevada State’s Prison, at Carson, is situated on a sand-stone spur,. 
which runs out from the Pine Nut Mountains into the Carson. Plains, like a great 
promontory. The prison’quarry has uncapped the spur to a depth of from thirty 
to forty feet, and exposed a layer of arenaceous shale. In this shale, and cover- 
ing a space of about an acre and a half, have been found a large number of 
tracks, both of animals and birds, and what are supposed, also, to be human foot- 
prints. Hight great square impressions, twenty by twenty-two inches in size, showing 
stride of four and a half feet, come out from the super-incumbent rock. These 
have been supposed to be the tracks of a mastodon, or mammoth. Tracks of a 
wading bird are also seen along with it. What is more remarkable, however, is. 


ORIGIN OF MATTER AND THE INDESTRUCTIBILTY OF MIND, 448 


that a number of foot prints, such as a giant man would make, if shod with thick- 
soled moccasins or sandals, have been found. There are six series of them, the foot- 
prints numbering from eight to seventeen inches in each. The size of the sandal 
is as follows: nineteen inches in length, eight inches broad at the ball, six inches 
at the heel, having a length of stride two feet three inches. The distance be- 
tween the feet, or straddle, is eighteen inches. Most of them have straight- 
pointed toes, supposed to distinguish the white man of to-day. In no case is the 
naked foot distinctly shown. In all the tracks the toes turn outward. 

This discovery, with that of the Calaveras skull, will, no doubt, be seized 
upon as direct proof that man existed in the Tertiary, as early as the Miocene. 
From these papers it appears that several quite distinct tracks of deer are to be 
seen, some which resemble those of a wolf, and abundant tracks of wading 
birds, which do not differ from those of the same class now living. The rock 
above the tracks is fifteen feet in height, and gives evidence of having been at 
one time the shore of a local or isolated lake. Its level is above that of Lake La 
Hontan, which itself is, as is well known, an ancient basin, now empty, but was, 
in the Pliocene age, the bed of a great lake or fresh-water sea. These tracks 
antedate the present river-system of the Sierras, and must be very old. It seems 
to be uncertain whether the rock belonged to the Quarternary or Tertiary, but it 
is more uncertain whether they are human foot-prints or not. Papers were read 
before the California Academy of Science by Dr. Harkness and Mr. Gibbs, both 
of whom seemed to think that the tracks are doubtless human.— American Antt- 


guarian. 


iP @SOm rv: 


THE ORIGIN OF MATTER AND THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF 
MIND. 


WILLIAM STEVENS. 


At present there are and have been for innumerable cycles of ages two 
great forces in the Universe. One Superior, the great moral force self-existent 
and eternal, and the Inferior, physical force emanating from the great moral force- 
All the mental and moral powers in the Universe have had their origin in this 
great moral force, and are governed, directed and controlled by that great force, 
while the physical forces are rules of action or laws of matter also, an emanation 
from the great moral force and to which their author set bounds at their origin 
for the production, government, direction and control of matter throughout the 
universe ; nor does either act except in its appropriate sphere and each as dis- 
tinct during all these long ages as if the other did not exist. To say the physical 
forces were not perfect and would need revision or supervision would be to im- 


444 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


peach the power and wisdom of the great moral force. These physical forces are 
not matter, are not mind, but are laws enacted by the great force to prepare a place 
for the culture, increase and expansion of mental and moral power to inhabit, the 
moral Universe, which is destined to take the place of the material Universe. 
The physical forces having had a beginning will necessarily have an ending and 
when the laws which originated, governed, directed and controlled matter cease, 
matter must of necessity cease and become entirely extinct and the great moral 
Universe, be inaugurated and naught will exist in that Universe but mental and 
moral power. Then that vast amount of mind which has been in a preparatory 
and tutelary state in the material Universe will be transplanted into the great 
moral Universe to enter on a new state of existence running parallel with eterni- 
ty, increasing and expanding as the cycles of eternity roll on. ; 

In the incomprehensible eternity of the past there must have been a frag- 
mentary part of that eternity when there were no physical forces and consequent- 
ly no matter—nothing but the great moral force. Toargueagainst this hypothe- 
sis is to claim the physical force, the inferior and the creature, the equal of 
the superior. and creator, the great moral and eternal, which is to main- 
tain the eternity of matter, as the physical forces could not have existed with- 
out producing matter governing, directing and controlling it. 

How long these physical forces have existed, or how long they will exist, is 
a secret in the bosom of the great moral force, and can be, under the present lights 
of science, but a matter of conjecture, and as philosophy does not deal in conjec- 
ture we will not attempt to discuss a subject which has no data from which to 
reason. 

Is it insisted that these are assumptions without any authority to sustain 
them? We reply they have a basis as broad as the verdict of the advanced 
thought upon the improvements, discoveries and advancement in scientific knowl- 
edge. We are sustained by the cultured and educated mind, the world over, 
where science is made a study and particularly by the savants, scientists, mathe- 
ticians and chemists, that matter is exclusively governed, directed and controlled 
by fixed laws, the physical forces. 

The astronomer, familiar with the heavenly bodies and with the physical 
forces governing, directing and controlling those bodies, can foretell centuries in 
advance with absolute mathematical precision the very moment when an eclipse 
of the Sun or Moon will begin or go off, when a comet that has not been seen for 
half a century will make its appearance and when it will take its departure, as 
well as other phenomena which are occasionally taking place in the heavens. 
The chemist in his laboratory, from his knowledge of affinities and certain of the 
physical forces, can make compounds with the most implicit confidence as to the 
result. While in another branch of science the age of our planet has been told 
probably with some accuracy, but from the fact that the science in which they have 
made their discoveries and from which they have drawn their data is yet in its 
infancy conclusions are not satisfactory, but vary from two hundred millions of 
years up to six hundred millions—sooner or later more diligent and accurate re- 


ORIGIN OF MATTER AND THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF MIND. 445 


search will enable them to closely approximate its actual age. This then will fix 
the date and age of the physical forces, as the age of our part of the planetary sys- 
tem is about the age of the other planets, the Sun preceding them as they were 
doubtles fragments of the Sun thrown off at different times, while the satellites of 
the different planets are parts of their respective planets and are younger. 

But again the mathematicians have weighed the planets and by calculation 
located undiscovered planets and satellites where the physical forces required they 
should be to keep the different bodies in their orbits directed astronomers to turn 
their telescopes into that portion of the heavens and who found them as located. 
Here is proof positive of government, direction and control of the physical 
forces. But the age of the globe will fix the age of the physical forces, as they 
could not have existed in that portion of space occupied by our system for any 
considerable space of time without producing the matter of which the system is com- 
posed, nor could our system have existed at its origin without these laws any more 
than it could to-day, and without them now there would be an immediate ‘‘ wreck 
of matter and a crush of worlds.” All the different laws governing matter are as 
inflexible and as exact as mathematics and chemistry and they will be so regard- 
ed by the learned as soon as they shall be as well understood and will remain as 
unchangeable as their Author throughout until their appointed time comes 
when they will die and with them matter and time. But it is said matter is in- 
destructible and so says philosophy, that is, however, during the existence of 
those laws that gave it birth and govern it. For during the existence of the phys- 
ical forces as fast as matter in one form dissolves the physical forces take up the 
elements of which it was composed and clothe it in new forms. But when there 
are no physical forces to take care of those elements they too will dissolve with 
the form they composed, and death and not mutation will be written upon every 

form of matter. 

There is now, has been and will continue to be in the material world so long 
as that material world shall remain an inconceivable amount of minor, mental and 
moral forces, emanations from the great moral force and governed, directed and 
controlled by this force, and over which the physical forces have no influence, 
no power, no control, no direction, except incidentally and as the moral and 
mental symphatise with the material as it may be brought under the influence of 
and subjected to the physical forces. 

But man has assumed that he is the highest order of intelligence in the ma- 
terial Universe and being at the head of the animal kingdom he alone will inherit 

the future domain of mind, intelligence and moral force. That he is at the head of 
the animal kingdom and the highest order of intelligence in the material Universe 
is the merest assumption, with no authority in reason or nature and without any 
proof to sustain it. While it is not denied that on this very minute portion called 
the globe he occupies that position, but as to what orders of mind, intelligence 
and moral forces exist in other portions of the physical worlds may be regarded 
as too uncertain for even conjecture, yet it must be considered that somewhere in 
the material Universe there is a very high order of mental and moral force in the 


446 KANSAS (CLD V\RLGVALVUN OF S\CLLAIN CLE: 


shape of beasts, higher than any known to this little mundane sphere. If not, 
from whence came the ‘‘ four beasts in the midst of the throne and around about 
the throne of God who fell down with the four-and-twenty elders and worshipped 
the lamb.” 

He further assumes that the inferior order of organisms, governed, directed 
and moved in all their actions by what he is pleased to call instinct, must forever 
perish and never exist in any form whatever in the great hereafter. And that too. 
after having lived and done many wonderful things to challenge his admiration, 
which he with all his inventive power and boasted reason has failed to duplicate 
or even successfully imitate. But who has analyzed instinct, or what writer or 
thinker has defined the line of demarkation between instlict, and reason or has 
said where the one ends and the other begins. A distinguished mental philoso- 
pher has told us ‘‘the will is the fulcrum, the prop, and the whole moving power 
of the intellect. Upon this and other as good authority we maintain that all or- 
ganisms, from the animalcule to man and in common with him, have more or less 
will power which demonstrates the claim of all animal life to a portion, great or 
small, of mind. The diminutive insect, before it raises its tiny wings at the ap- 
proach of danger and flies away, must first will to do this voluntary act. The 
lowest order of animal life that moves and sustains existence and carries out the 
objects of their being could do none of these things without exercising some will 
power. 

All animal life has the will power necessary for more or less self-preser- 
vation and the perpetuation of their kind, which proves them in possession of 
some mind and an emanation from the great source and fountain of mind and as ~ 
eternal as its source. Nor does it matter whether we find mind in the ponderous 
brains of a Webster or a Cuvier or in the scarcely perceptible nervous centre of 
the lowest order of organism, it is mind according to all rules of logic, and only 
differs in quantity or degree. What then becomes of this vast amount of mind 
when the frail and ephemeral tenements that hold them decay? The indestructi- 
bility of mind is an axiomatic truth, therefore it must exist in some form some- 
where. Does it return to its author to be implanted in a new and improved form 
and returned to its former home and rise by gradual progression? Does it take 
its flight in obedience to some occult law through space to another portion 
of the physical Universe which the great moral force has prepared, an im- 
provement upon this for the culture, education and expansion of these infinitesi- 
mal portions of mind to remain in a state of tutelage, improving and expanding 
for a higher state of existence when he will again transplant it to a still higher - 
sphere and thus educate 1t up by regular gradation until it shall have attained the 
intellectual and moral power of the ‘‘four beasts in and around the throne worship- 
ing the lamb.” Or, is it started at once in its feeble and imperfect condition on a 
career in the great eternity of the future? 

These are questions that do not belong to the domain of reason or philoso- 
phy; nor has revealed revelation thrown any light upon them, and the revela- 
tions of advanced science have as yet failed to make them clear. 


BOOK NOTICES. 447 


It is no part of our purpose in this paper or those that may follow to antag- 
onize true Christianity as it came from the great Teacher and his immediate fol- 
lowers, as we regard true and undefiled Christianity as the grandest civilizer of 
man the world ever saw, and the man who would pull down this form of religion 
is an enemy of his race. 

Man has ever been a worshiping animal, and some form of religion dates 
away beyond the historic period, until it is lost in the mists of fable. We - 
find some form of religion known and practiced, and it is destined to con- 
tinuity the close of time in some form. ‘There is not and has not been a form 
so likely to survive, as the Christian religion, which for nearly twenty one 
centuries has withstood the rude shock of its professed enemies and the still ruder 
shock of its pretended friends. 

Most of the various religions that have prevailed in the world have been 
made up of priest-craft, idolatry, heathen mythology, superstition, error and brute 
force with little or no admixturé of truth and have existed upon the ignorance 
and credulity of the uneducated masses they have oppressed and impoverished. 

When Christianity dawned a new era was rapidly approaching and could it 
have remained in its purity as Christ and his apostles left it, would it not have 
filled the whole earth. But as early as the days of Constantine, courtly favor, 
office and thrift, as reward, followed a profession of Christianity, and multiplied 
thousands flocked to the church, most of whom had never been touched by the 
spirit of the Master, nor is it much better to-day. Priest craft, the traditions of 
churches, some heathen mythology, a large amount of superstition and error has 
crept into. the Christian churches and is multiplying infidelity to an extent be- 
yond the grandest efforts of the most deadly professed enemies of the true faith. 
A large proportion of the best cultured intellect of the world is now combating 
these departures from the faith in its purity. When this is accomplished, which 
is an herculean task, the world will be better. 


BOO IN OT WIE S: | 


THE CURRENTS AND TEMPERATURES OF BERING SEA. Wm. H. Dall, Quarto, 
pp. 46, Illustrated, Washington, 1882. Government Printing Office. 

This is Appendix No. 16 to the Report of the United States Coast and Geo- 
detic Survey for 1880, and is the result of the personal work of Mr. Dall, who 
has been for several years an energetic worker and observer in various fields of 
research on the Pacific Coast. After giving tabular and classified records of tem- 
peratures, in winter and summer, of the Bering Sea and the course, rate of flow and 
temperature of the Kuro Siwo or Japanese Stream with voluminous extracts from 
the log books of numerous whalers and exploring vessels, he arrives at the follow- 


445 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ing conclusions, which will be found at variance with the heretofore accepted 
views regarding the Kuro Siwo: 


«¢The Kuro Siwo compared with the Gulf Stream is cooler, has a much 
smaller volume, and is subject to serious fluctuations, which appear to be due to 
the monsoons. 

‘¢The Kuro Siwo sends no recognizable branch northward, between the 
Aleutians and Kamchatka, nor from any other direction into Bering Sea. 

‘©The chief current of Bering Sea is a motion of cold water southward. This 
has a superficial stratum above it, which has, in summer when not interrupted by 
winds, a northerly motion of translation, but it is not sufficient, either in mass, 
motion, or consistency of direction, to be entitled to take rank as an ocean cur- 
rent. 

‘¢The surface currents of Bering Sea are formed by or chiefly dependent on 
tides, winds, river flows, the southerly motion of cold water, the distribution of 
floating ice, and the northerly motion of slightly warmer surface water, which 
are effective about in the order named. 

‘No warm current from Bering Sea enters Bering Strait, with the exception 
of water from the neighboring rivers or the adjacent sounds. ‘This water owes 
its heat directly to the local action of the Sun’s rays. 

‘¢ The Strait is incapable of carrying a current of warm water of sufficient 
magnitude to have any marked effect on the condition of the Polar basin just north 
of it. 

‘¢ The currents through the State are cool and chiefly tidal, but with a pre- 
ponderating tendency northward, as before fully set forth. 

‘¢The currents in the Arctic, north of the Straits, are largely dependent on 
the winds, but have tendencies in certain recognized directions. Nothing in our 
knowledge of them offers any hope of an easier passage toward the Pole, or, in 
general, northward through their agency. Nothing yet revealed in the investiga- 
tion of the subject in the least tends to support the widely spread but unphilo- 
sophical noHon that in any part of the Polar Sea we may look for large areas free 
from ice.’ 


PUBLICATIONS OF THE WASHBURN OBSERVATORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WIS- 

consin. Vol. I, octavo, pp. 180, Madison, Wis., 1882. 

This report is made by Professor E. S. Holden, ae was selected to fill the 
vacancy caused by the death of the lamented Prof. J. C. Watson, and covers the 
- period of time from the erection of the Observatory by Hon. C. C. Washburn, to 
the 30th day of September, 1881. 

It comprises a description of the building and instruments, with catalogues 
of stars, new nebulz, new double stars, red stars, etc., discovered or observed 
and reduced under the direction of Professor Watson by Mr. G. C. Comstock 
and Mr. L. W. Burnham. The latter has as usual devoted himself to the dis- 
covery and observation of double stars. A very valuable and interesting chapter 


BOOK NOTICES. : 449 


is that upon the great comet of 1881, which is illustrated by twelve drawings. 
The observations were made by Prof. Holden with the fifteen and a half inch 
equatorial and the zone eyepiece. Reports of observations of meteors, auroras 
boreales, the transit of Mercury, etc., are also given. 

The State of Wisconsin is greatly indebted to Governor Washburn for the 
magnificent gift of this Observatory with its valuable instruments and equipments, 
and doubtless the work done in it will perpetuate his name far into the future of 
scientific progress as well as add increased lustre to the fame of Professor Holden. 


Kwnicut’s New MecuanicaL Dictionary. Section II., Octavo, pp. 240; Ed- 
ward H. Knight, A M., LL.D., Boston, 1882. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 
$2.00. 
This is Part II of the work so fully noticed in the August Review. It com- 

mences with Cutting Machines and ends with Hydraulic Force-Pumps and Jacks, 


giving minute descriptions and illustrations of thousands of machines, instruments 
and processes. 


To give an idea of the extent and accuracy of the information furnished we will 
say that about twenty pages are devoted to electrical subjects, including the electri- 
cal diapason, electrical machines, battery, cable, candle, clock, furnace, lights and 
lamps of every description, writing apparatus, telephone, motor, etc. Explosives 
are fully treated, also fire-engines, fireless locomotives, fuel, galvanic apparatus ; 
gas and gas machines to the extent of nearly twenty pages; governors of all kinds, 
grain separators, hand machines, heaters, horse-powers, hot-air engines, hydrau- 
lic machinery, etc. In nearly all cases references to articles upon the different 


subjects are given. This important and valuable work is to be completed in four 
volumes at $2.00 each. 


SLIGHT AILMENTS. By Lionel S. Beale, M. D., F.R.S., octavo, pp. 283, cloth, 
Philadelphia; P. Blakiston, Son & Co., 1882. For sale by M. H. Dickin- 


SOs pi 2i50 

In this work the common diseases known as slight ailments, such as Indi- 
gestion, Constipation, Biliousness, Sick-Headache, Neuralgia, Colds, Sore Throat, 
Diarrhcea, etc., are taken up, their nature explained and proper treatment suggest- 
ed. Professor Beale’s long experience as a practitioner and teacher enables him 
to handle such subjects in an easy and popular manner, and at the same time to 
keep within strictly professional bounds. The work is in its second edition al- 
ready and cannot be excelled in usefulness as a family guide for the management 
of any of the milder diseases such as are referred to above. 


450 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 


Six Lectures on Light, by Prof. John Tyndall, F.R.S., in Aumboldt Library, 
Vol. II, No. 37, 15¢.; Sketch of Hon. Lewis H. Morgan, by F. W. Putnam, pp. 
7; Semi-Annual Report of the Comptroller of the City of Kansas for the six 
months ending June 30, 1882, by N. Grant, Comptroller; Advocacy of the Pro- 
posed Amendment to the Constitution of Missouri concerning the Judicial De- 
partment; The American Journal of Forestry, Vol. 1, No. 1, monthly, devoted to: 
the interests of Forest Tree-Planting, etc., edited by Franklin B. Hough, Ph. D., 
Washington, D. C., $3 per annum; The Coes a moathly journal devoted to 
Natural History, etc., edited by Charles and James Keyes, Des Moines, Iowa, 
soc per annum; The £pztome, a monthly Medical Journal, edited by C. F. Kirk, 
M. D., Meridian, Miss., $2.00 per annum; Signal Service Notes, No. III, to 
Foretell Frost, by Lieut. James Allen, U.S. A., Washington, D. C., 1882 ; Drunk- 
enness a Vice, Not a Disease, by Rev. John E. Todd, Hartford Coane Taylor’s 
Freezing Microtome, by Thomas Taylor, M. D. soni Secon Aguenlentl De- 
partment, Washington, D. C. 


SCWe IN a CC IMS Cie LAIN 


SOME RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANIC ARTS. 
BY F. B. BROCK, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


MecHANICAL TELEPHONE EXCHANGE.—In this novel system of mechanical 
telephone lines, a series of telephones, which are severally connected with the 
several conveying line-wires, are employed. Means are provided for connecting 
therewith an extension-line, and a angle-hanger located centrally with relation to 
said conveying lines and their attached telephones. Two branch lines are ar- 
ranged to connect any two of the telephones through the angle-hanger. These 
branch wires can be attached and detached from any of the telephone line termini, 
and thereby form a circuit with any two of the lines. 


ARTIFICIAL FuEL.—A late invention consists of artificial fuel made out of 
cut straw, chaff or hay, and residuum of petroleum, combined with peat, turf, or 
other like material molded by pressure into suitable blocks. 


PRESERVATION OF Woop.—A recent German invention consists of a process 
for preserving wood, which contemplates exposing timber to a current of steam 
under pressure; then removing the moisture by the production of a vacuum ~ 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 451 


marked on a barometer about equal to a column of mercury of twenty-seven cub- 
ic centimeters; then introducing a solution of sulphate of zinc under pressure 
until the wood is saturated therewith and removing the same by a vacuum; and, 
lastly, introducing a dilute solution of calcium chloride. 

RAILROAD SIGNAL.—In this improvement the rotating shaft of the signal 
operates the gong or bell, and is driven through a spring treadle actuated by the 
flanges of the wheels of the coming train. This spring treadle carries a paiel, 
which acts upon a ratchet-wheel on a shaft, which is geared to other shafts ex- 
tending to the signal device. 


Hypravu.tic ELevator.—A hydraulic elevator is the subject of a recent in- 
vention. It consists of a moveable car or platform and apparatus for raising and 
lowering the same by means of hydraulic pressure acting in a cylinder upon a 
piston. A starting and stopping apparatus is combined therewith, controlled by 
the operator and constructed so as to automatically start the car with a fixed ac- 
celeration and to stop the car with a fixed retardation, independently of the speed 
at which the controlling mechanism is worked by the operator. 


THE COMET. 
T. BERRY SMITH. 


O wanderer, from where dost thou come to my sight, 
And whither art going so radiantly robed? 

Hast been to the uttermost limits of night, 
And far into Nature’s deep mysteries probed ? 


No answer! No speech! O mysterious thing, 
That burneth thy torch in the heavenly spans! 
Far from me my boasting of wisdom I fling, 
And bowing I bury my face in my hands. 


a“ 


BDI ORV NOU mS. 


WE have received quite a number of pleas- 
ant letters and editorial compliments upon 
the October REVIEW, which was almost en- 
tirely given up to our report of the Montreal 
meeting of the American Association for the 
Advancement of Science. This is very grat- 
ifying, as the writing, condensing and ar- 
ranging the matter for publication required 
an expenditure of personal labor and time 


that, coming upon us in the midst of the 


most busy month we have ever had in the 
course of a very busy life, was only to be 
made by sacrificing many hours badly need- 
ed for rest. To this latter fact must be as- 
cribed some errors and omissions that appear 
in the report. 


BROR a We SPENCERS sUMn) Al.) lbh Ds. 
F.R.S., late of King’s University College, 
Windsor, Nova Scotia, has been called to 


4A 52 


and accepted the chair of Geology and Min- 
eralogy at the University of Missouri. He 
also has charge of the branches of Palzontel- 
ogy and Zodlogy. 


THE railroad companies interested in pro- 
tecting the north bank of the Missouri River 
above and opposite this city are taking ad- 
vantage of the unusually favorable fall weath- 
er and low water to riprap it along their lines. 
The Government engineers, into whose hands 
the application of the extremely liberal Con- 
gressicnal appropriation for this purpose has 
been placed, have commenced a preliminary 
inspection of the task before them and it is 
hoped that a good use will be made of the 
money before the high water of next spring 
shall again undo their work and possibly cut 
a channel across the isthmus back of Harlem 
and leave an island in front of Kansas City. 
Prompt and efficient work, such as is amply 
provided for in the appropriation, can pre- 
vent this, but it is highly probable that 
nothing else can. It is a serious matter with 
this city and #f anything can be done to ex- 
pedite action by the Government officials it 
should be attended to at once. 


Mr, W. H. Cory, of Philadelphia, has 
patented a process for the utilization of coal 
dust and slack by converting it into artificial 
fuel. This has been attempted many times 
but has ordinarily failed from the fact that 
_the cost of the process exceeded the value of 
the manufactured article. Mr. Cory, how- 
ever, claims, since his process is a cold one, 
that there is an enormous saving of labor, 
material and expense as compared wiih the 
pitch processes, in which the coal and pitch 
have to be heated. He also claims an ad- 
vantage on account of the facility of his pro- 
duct for stowage, its cleanliness, hardness 
and portability; also as the only process 
known that will effectually hold together 
culm, lignite and the non-coking coals dur- 
ing combustion. An efficient and economi- 
cal process for this purpose is a great desid- 
eratum to all class of consumers and a suita- 
ble machine would undoubtedly meet with 
an extensive sale in the west. 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


If seems that in our abstract of Prof. H.. 
C. Bolton’s paper read at Montreal we mis- 
apprehended the scope of his proposed Index 
of Chemical Literature. He only invites the 
co-operation of chemists in compiling special 
indexes of the literature of the various chem- 
ical elements or some uniform plan, similar 
to those on manganese and ozone, already 
published. Ata meeting of the Chemical 
Section of the A. A. A.S., held August 25th, 
a Committee was appointed ‘‘to devise and 
inaugurate a plan for the proper indexing of 
the literature of the chemical elements, to 
have full power to secure the co-operation of 
volunteets, and to report at the meeting of 
the Chemical Section in 1883.” The Com- 
mittee consisted of Dr, H. C. Bolton, Hart- 
ford, Chaitman, Prof. Ira Remsen, Baltimore, 
Prof, F. W. Clarke, Cincinnati, Prof. A. R. 
Leeds, Hoboken, Dr. A. A. Julien, New 
York. 


Mr. F. W. VOERDE, formerly of this city, 
is now here putting Singer’s Elevator Safety 
Stops upon the elevators of some of the best 
mercantile houses in the city. The device is 
extremely simple and effective, and, in view 
of the numerous elevator accidents that have 
occurred here lately, it would seem advisa- 
ble for every person interested in this direc- 
tion to investigate it carefully at once. 


WORK is actively going forward at the 
new National Museum, and a large force of 
men is very busy in arranging the natural 
history collections, removed from the lower 
floor of the Smithsonian Institution and in 
opening boxes of collections which have 
been kept in store, some of them for years, 
simply because there was no space for exhib- 
ing them in the old building. 


ProF. H. S. PRITCHETT, of Washington 
University, says in a recent letter, inclosing 
a remittance, ‘‘] feel a great interest in the 
success of the REVIEW and recognize very 
fully the service you are doing for science in 
the western country, and appreciate to some 
extent, at least, the difficulties of the posi- 
tion.” 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 


THE action of Dr. John Fee, City Physi- 
cian, in attempting to inaugurate a system 
of interchange of views and co-operation be- 
tween the medical officers of the various 
cities of the west for the prevention and 
management of pestilential and contagious 
diseases is highly commendable. The Na- 
tional Board of Health should have its pow- 
ers and duties enlarged, so as to have di- 
rection and control of sanitary matters of all 
kinds instead of being limited to yellow-fev- 
er, cholera and smail-pox. 


Pror, C. D. ApBey, of Wausau, Wis., in 
sending his annual subscription to the RE- 
VIEW, pleasantly says: ‘‘I consider the RE- 
VIEW a valuable periodical. 
of more use to me and I am a subscriber for 
I must read and must read 


In fact few are 


a large number. 
the best.” 


THE Surgeons-General of the army and 
navy have made a report to Secretary Lin- 
coln, recommending a plat of five acres in 
the southwest corner of Hot Springs Moun- 
tain as a site for the proposed army and navy 
hospital, for the construction of which $800,- 
00 was appropriated at the last session of 
Congress: 


THE Directors of the National Mineral and 
Industrial Exposition, to be held in Nash- 
ville, commencing the first Wednesday in 
September, 1883, have organized, with a 
capital of $300,000. The exposition willem- 
brace displays in every branch of industry in 
the Union, as well as minerals and’ timbers. 
It is also designed to include those from 
Mexico, South America and the West Indies. 


ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS. 
AMonG the original articles in Vax WVos- 
trana’s Engineering Magazine for November, 
is one upon ‘‘ House Drainage and Sanitary 


Plumbing,” by Wm. Paul Gerhard, of New-: 


port, R. I., formerly connected with the City 
Engineer’s Office at St. Louis. Among the 
selected articles we find a very interesting 
Report on the Incandescent Lamps exhibited 


453 


at the International Exposition of Electricity 
at Paris, in 1881, also an article upon ‘‘Sew- 
er-Gas as a Factor in the spread of Epidemic 
Diseases, and on the Direction and Force of 


_ Air Currents in Sewers,’’ and a valuable one 


upon “ The Durability of Building Stones.” 


Amonc the practical articles in the (orth 
American Review for November is one by 
Judge Joseph Neilson upon ‘‘ Disorder in 
Court Rooms” that may be read with profit 
by lawyers and judges all over the country ; 
‘¢A Problem for Sociologists,’ by Dr. Wm. 
A. Hammond; ‘‘Safety in Theatres,” by 
Steele Mackay, and one on ‘‘Suppression of 
Vice,’ by Anthony Comstock, Rev. O. B. 
Frothingham and Dr. J. W. Buckley. © 


THE Popular Science Monthly for Novem- 
ber gives an illustrated account of a phenom- 
enon which has never before been observed 
—that of a snake, having crawled in between 
the bark and wood of a tree and died there, 
becoming lignified, or changed into wood, 
in the same manner as animals become fos 
silized, z. ¢., the cells and fibres of the wood 
have actually taken the place of the organic 
parts of the reptile and left it perfect in shape, 
size and all other details, even to the eye- 
cavities, scales, etc. 


Mr. J. W. Heiss, telegraph operator at 
Watrous, N. M., has invented a modification 
of the telephone which he calls the Vibra- 
phone. From a description of this invention 
given in the Las Vegas Dazly Optic, it ap- 
pears to be more simple and is claimed to 
be fully as effective as the telephone itself. 


Numser 7, Vol. IX of the Art /uterchange, 
published at New York City by Messrs. Tur- 
nure & Whitlock, has been received. It is 
called ‘¢a household journal,” but it is nev- 
ertheless admirably adapted to the wants of 
amateur artists asa guide and a former of 
correct taste. Its editorials are original, 
sensible and practical, as well as appropriate, 
in view of its objects. Its illustrations are 
artistic and well executed and its general 
make-up is tasteful and elegant. Fortnight- 
ly ; $2.00 per annum, 


When Youguemede 
Shopping, 


If You Come in Person, 


You will find in Our House the largest, the best, and in every respect the 
most desirable variety of goods from the medium grades to the finest qualities 
attainable. 

Ladies’ and Children’s Summer Suits and Wraps, Underclothing, Infants’ 
Wear, Hosiery, Silks, Dress Goods, Dress Trimmings, Laces, Gloves, Linens, 
Dressmaking, Gentlemen’s Furnishing Goods, Fine Merchant Tailoring, and 
Shirtmaking,—in short everything usually found in a large first-class Dry Goods 
Establishment. And your are assured of every courtesy and attention. 


If You Order by Letter, 


You can rely upon the most prompt and intelligent attention being paid to 
your wishes. We send without charge or any obligation to purchase, samples of 
the newest Silks, Dress Goods, Etc. We illustrate and give prices of our entire 
Stock in our large Catalogues which we mail free to all who send for them. 

Hundreds of orders are filled daily and Goods sent by Mail and Express to 
all parts of the country with full privilege of return and refund of money if they 
do not suit. By sending to us you can get better Goods for less money than you 
can at home. 


OUR GOODS ARK, RELIABLE, ~ QUR PRICES ARE LOW. 


412, 714 and 716 MAIN STREET, 


KANSAS CITY, stat ge - MISSOURI. 


Dry Goods, Ladies’, Gentlemen’s and Children’s Wear, and Housekeeping 
appointments. 


ELeAIN'S ASC Lie 


REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, 


\ A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 


SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 


VOR eV: DECEMBER, 1882. NOws: 


ONS Ole @ 1 © Eve 


THE ANCIENT MAN OF CALAVERAS. 
W. O. AYRES. 


*In the minds of almost all, the existence of prehistoric man in California is 
associated mainly with the famous ‘‘ Calaveras skull,’’ and inasmuch as doubt has 
been cast on the authenticity of that relic, the whole subject has been badly neg- 
lected, and even by men of science has been unreasonably set aside. We will 
speak of that skull presently, but it is only one of the many evidences to be 
considered, and we will at first put it out of view. We shall find that if it had 
never come to light at all, the proofs that man existed when, or rather before, 
the auriferous gravel was deposited, are so complete that he who doubts them 
would as readily doubt that Napoleon Bonaparte died on the Island of St. Helena. 

The auriferous gravel of the books is the pay-dirt of the miners, and that we 
may know what the existence of man at the time of its deposit means, we must 
endeavor to ascertain how long ago that deposit occurred. If we say to a geolo- 
gist that the gravel is of Pliocene age, he carries back his thoughts over an inter- 
val of which the years reckoned by thousands are never counted, though he 
knows the thousands must be very many. But for those to whom Pliocene and 
Post-Pliocene sound like barbarous terms it may be possible to adduce a form of 
proof which appeals to the eye, and which brings with it therefore, a force which 
all can appreciate. 

ViI—29 


454 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


It is well to state at the outset that the pay-dirt is manifestly all of one forma- 
tion and of one geological age, wherever we find it. Some of itis lying opened 
and exposed; we will let that pass. Some of it is covered by volcanic rock, and 
of course is itself older than the rock; that is, the lava flowed out and covered 
the gravel after the gravel was in its present form and position. That is sure, 
for after the gravel was thus imbedded, it has most certainly never been disturbed 
until within these last few years the miners have dug into it in search of gold. 
To the gravel then below the lava, we will turn our attention. 

Looking out from Carson Hill, in Calaveras County, you see across the 
Stanislas in Tuolumne, a long mountain ridge. It extends down into the plain, 
where it ends very abruptly, while its upper limit is out of sight away among the 
main heights of the Sierra Nevada. It looks like a huge railroad embankment, 
and suggests to you that idea, but men do not make railroad dykes forty miles 
long and 1500 to 3000 feet high. That which gives it its smooth even upper sur- 
face is basalt, that is, ancient lava; the lower part is of looser materials. The 
thickness of the basalt varies at different points, being here and there hundreds 
of feet thicker than it is at other places a mile or two either above or below. 
This is Table Mountain, a name which has been famous in the history of Cali- 
fornia, as we shall see. 

The question occurs tous: How came Table Mountain to exist? That basalt; 
when it was erupted, was fluid like other lava. How could it be piled up so: 
thick and so abrupt (for its sides are often perpendicular) on that high mountain 
ridge, and remain there? Why did it not spread itself out laterally and cover 
the plain? But one answer to these questions can be given: There was no 
plain. 

When that eruption took place and the crater or fissure opened, far up near 
the summit of the Sierra Nevada, it naturally flowed into the bed of the first 
stream which crossed its track. This it filled and followed down until, when 
the eruption ended, the old river bed, away down to the plain, was blocked up 
by the solid volcanic rock, and the waters which should have been there, were — 
finding their way by some other track. 

As time passed on, the side of the mountain range was yielding to at- 
mospheric influences. The flowing water was carrying off the softer material on 
each side of the hard basalt, which had filled and obliterated the old river-bed;. 
the Tuolumne River on the south and the Stanislas on the north, with their tribu- 
taries, were formed, and scooped out their present valleys, and thus Table Moun- 
tain, which had been deposited in the bed of an old mountain torrent, with high 
ridges confining it, became itself a ridge, standing like a wall above all which ad- 
joined it. But beneath the basalt lay the stones and gravel and sand and clay 
which made the bed of thé ancient torrent, as they do of the modern streams. 
And like the modern streams, their predecessor in age, but not in locality, was. 
rich in gold, and thanks to this gold, we know something of the Ancient Manvof 
Calaveras and Tuolumne. We know him because he has left his mark among 
the stones and gravel. 


THE ANCIENT MAN OF CALAVERAS. 455 


In what are called the ‘‘ early days” in ’49 and’5o0, the southern mines were 
especially noted and productive. Don Pedro’s bar and Hawkin’s bar on the 
Tuolumne were crowded with miners, and all the region about Sonora, and Co- 
lumbia, and Shaw’s flat, was swarming like a hive. The gold which was obtain- 
ed had been brought down in company with the gravel from the mountain heights 
far above, by the rush of water, ages before. Wherever an old channel could be 
found in which the flow of water had been confined to narrow limits and to 
whirling eddies, there the gold had been deposited more abundantly, and rich 
strikes were made. While exploring these surface deposits, an old river-bed was 
struck at Shaw’s flat, in 1854, which showed features quite distinct from the 
‘* diggings” adjacent, and in following out this discovery it became manifest that” 
Table Mountain, as already stated, was simply a mass of lava filling an ancient 
torrent cafion, and that the gravel thus buried was in various places most wonder- 
fully rich, This was the beginning of Table Mountain mining. 

The whole matter had very much the character of a lottery, for the expense 
of running a tunnel under the mountain was very great, and the result entirely 
"uncertain, commonly rich to even a fabulous degree, or on the contrary a total 
failure. The failures were many and the losses destructive to the fortunes of the 
men interested, but the wild excitement of golden possibilities lured multitudes 
along, and for years and years in succession Table Mountain was bored and tun- 
neled most completely. Itis not for us now to speak of the triumph or the 
heart-ache which went with the work ; we know well that 

‘¢No minstrel ever sung or told 
A song so sweet as chink of gold,” 
and nowhere, even in that land of enchantment, was the wild and fatal fascina- 
tion of the search more fully felt than at Table Mountain. But that goes by us. 
Out of these tunnels came the tokens of the past, and we see shadowy visions of 
the ancient man looming up. 

But we will first try to measure off the intervals since the Table Mountain 
lava flowed; not that we can specify it in figures, but we may learn enough to 
reverence its extent. We will consider but one feature. This is the magnitude 
of the work which has been done by streams of water since the period of volcanic 
eruption of which mention has been made. 

The western slope of the Sierra Nevada is furrowed with enormous gorges 
reaching from the summit ridges to the plains of the Sacremento and the San 
Joaquim. Any one of them may be taken as a type of all the others. At their 
upper part they are, of course, shallow and narrow ; a few hundred feet deep and a 
quarter to half of a mile wide, more or less, but steadily increasing in both dimen- 
sions. Before they reach their debouchure they are ten to twenty miles wide and 
two to four thousand feet deep. Stand far up among the higher ranges and follow- 
ing with the eye the stupendous furrow through its windings, fifteen, thirty, forty 
miles, till all is lost in the blueness of depth and of distance, one often tries to 
roll back the tide of time and get some glimpse of the days when that plowshare 


456 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


began its work. But the blueness of the chasm is only a faint index of the dim- 
ness which comes across the mental vision. It is idle to suggest to one thus 
standing and looking down the cajion of the Yuba, or the American, or the Tuo- 
lumne, that water can have done that work (and water certainly has done it) 
within an interval which, reckoning years by thousands, must not have written 
against it very, very many. We will not specify how many, but the number sure- 
ly is great. 

And all this scooping out of cafions, this furrowing the western Sierra slope 
into its configuration of the present era, has been done since the Table Mountain 
lava flowed. Of that there can be no question. The evidence is too plain to 
admit a doubt. 

If now we find the remains of man, or works which none but man could 
have made, among the gravel-beds beneath Table Mountain, or in any other 
place amid the undisturbed pay-dirt, we cannot fail to know that human hands 
and human brains had done their work before the immense cafions of the Sierra 
Nevada commenced their formation in the little furrows near the summit down 
which the waters trickled. 

We can take the proof only in brief, and we will take none but those which 
are absolutely established and authentic. 

Dr. Perez Snell, of Sonora, had in his collection (this collection has unfortu- 
nately perished by fire) a human jaw which was brought out in a carload of 
‘‘pay-dirt” from a shaft stretching far in beneath the Table Mountain, and with 
it were several stone implements. Dr. Snell did not himself see this bone in the 
car as it was drawn to the surface, and in the minds of some a doubt might thus 
be thrown on its authenticity. The specimen was given to him by a miner. If 
it were an isolated instance this would be possibly worth considering, but is only 
one of many, and at the same time it is only fair to state that there could not 
well have been found a miner in all that region who would have thought it worth 
his while to attempt a deception, nor even one who had any doubt in his own 
mind as to the point we are considering. They saw the products of man’s work 
come out with the gravel too often to pay commonly any attention tothem. The 
only wonder is that he even took the trouble to pick out the bone at all. There 
can be no question that for one such that has been preserved, dozens and perhaps 
hundreds have gone down in the current of water in the sluice washing. 

In 1857 Col. Hubbs, who was afterward State Superintendent of Instruction, 
found in a load of ‘‘dirt”’ as it came out from his claim under Table Mountain, 
portions of a human skull. He was on the ground himself, and saw the frag- 
ments as they were taken out of the sluice. They had come from a distance of 
180 feet beneath the lava. One of the pieces is now in the collection of the 
Boston Society of Natural History ; the other in that of the Philadelphia Academy. 

Mr..O. W. Stevens certifies that in 1853 he found in a shaft under Table 
Mountain, ‘‘about two hundred feet in,” a relic that resembled a large stone 
bead, of white marble, about an inch and a half long and an inch and a fourth 
in diameter, with a hole through it a fourth of an inch across. 


THE ANCIENT MAN OF CALAVERAS. 457 


Dr. Snell had in his collection a stone muller or pestle which he took with 
his own hands from a car load of ‘‘ dirt” as it came out from under Table Moun- 
tain. 

Mr. Llewellyn Price certifies that in 1862 he dug a stone mortar under 
Table Mountain at a depth of about 200 feet from the surface and about 1800 
feet in from the mouth of the tunnel. 

But why need we specify any further single instances. The witnesses al- 
ready given were all credible and worthy men, they could have had no possible 
collusion, they had no motive for deception, and the circumstances were such 
that they could not well be deceived as to what they stated. If any candid per- 
son will not be convinced by the evidence they give,*he would be equally incred- 
ulous were a hundred more to testify to the same truths. 

And the hundred more could be summoned were it worth the while, for the 
instances in which the products of haman workmanship have been washed out of 
the ‘‘gravel” in searching for gold are altogether too numerous for record. 
Very many of them are now in the Museum of the University of California, and 
very many more were disregarded and lost, for so common did they become dur- 
ing the days of surface mining, that at length the miners paid no attention to 
them, and they simply went in with the refuse of the workings. 

They were almost universally implements of stone, such as mortars, pestles, 
rude vases or platters, that is, articles whicn could be used for grinding food, etc., 
but all rough in workmanship and evidently fabricated by people low in the 
scale of civilization. But such as they are, they show with what appears to be 
conclusive proof, that they were made before Table Mountain lava was erupted, 
and perhaps long before, for they were also surely made before the auriferous 
gravels were deposited. 

One item comes naturally to otir consideration here in the line of confirma- 
tion The auriferous gravels contain abundant remains of plants and animals. 
Mastodons and elephants appear to have specially abounded; in no other part of 
the world have their bones and teeth been found in greaternumbers. Withthem 
were found species of rhinoceros, Elotherium, horse, ox, camel, etc., etc.! But 
all of these were of types long since passed away, and the same can be said of 
the leaves and fossilized wood. Dr. Newberry’s report characterizes them as be- 
ing entirely unlike anything now growing in California, and as belonging to the 
Vertiary age, the later Pliocene. Now we know that the fauna and flora of a 
country cannot be completely changed except through the intervention of a very 
great space in time, or the agency of a sudden cataclysm and reconstruction. 

And shall we now compare them in age with the others which are absolutely 
prehistoric, and which have digturbed the scientific world by their venerable an- 
tiquity. Fierce have been the conflicts waged over the Neanderthal skull, the 
Engis skull, the men of Cro Magnon and the various other relics gathered from 


. 1 We pointed out in the Waturadist for January, 1880, that the occurrence of rhinoceros and Elotherium 
in these beds is impossible, unless transported from a long distance. The Elotherium, especially, could only 
have been bought there by man from Central Oregon or farther off. For camel should be read lama.—Wote 
by Ed. Naturalist. 


458 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


the gravels and bone-breccias of Europe. But their record is dwarfed to com- 
parative insignificance when laid by the side of that to which we have been look- 
ing. The days of Table Mountain had passed off into the dark realm of the for- 
gotten past ages before the drift of the valley of the Somme was deposited or the 
man of the Neanderthal lived. Those European relics have by none been count- 
ed older than the Post-pliocene; these of the Sierra Nevada go back to the Plio- 
cene, and as the ‘‘new world” of modern style was the very oldest in showing 
itself above the waste of waters, so perhaps it was also the first to feel the step of 
man. It is possible that the discoveries of Ribiero in Portugal and of the 
English Geological Survey in India may be found to carry us as far back as the 
times we have been discussing, but they have thus far been strangely ignored. 

What manner of man then was this Ancient Man of Calaveras? Let him 
speak for himself. All notice of the skull described by Professor Whitney has 
been purposely omitted till this moment, because it is by far the most important 
“find” yet made, and it is worthy of being considered by itself and in the pres- 
ent connection. ‘The chief point in estimating its value, is its genuineness. It 
has been the subject of much criticism, and in the minds of very many, its men- 
tion barely recalls Bret Harte’s ridiculous doggerel, 


‘¢ My name it was Brown, and my crust it was busted 
Falling down a shaft in Calaveras County,” 


and the request to send the pieces back to old Mazzoura, has relegated the whole 
matter to the domain of joke. In the belief that Professor Whitney was the vic- 
tim of a se//, the question is often asked whether there is any evidence that the ~ 
skull was actually taken from the shaft to which its discovery is credited. 

Now with all due submission to previous judgment (or misjudgment), | 
maintain that that question is of only secondary importance. The skull speaks for 
itself, and notwithstanding that its lower jaw is gone, it talks good aaelh, what- 
ever its vernacular may have been in the days of the flesh. 

That it came to Professor Whitney from the hands of Mr. Mattison (or as I al- 
ways heard him called, Matthewson), of Angels Camp, iscertain. Where did Mr. 
Matthewson get that skull? I do not know, nor is the precise spot of much con- 
sequence. He says he took it from his shaft near what was then called the Forks 
of the Road, above Angels. Suppose he did, or suppose he foolishly tried to 
humbug the geologist, what does it matter? He got the skull somewhere, and 
wherever it might have been first found, it surely has imbedded in the auriferous 
gravel, and it had become so imbedded at the time the gravel was originally de- 
posited. 

You say, that is a bold assertion; how do you know it? I will tell you; I 
know it, because ¢he skull told me so. I saw it and examined it carefully at the 
time when it first reached Professor Whitney’s hands. It was not only incrusted 
with sand and gravel, but its cavities were crowded with the same material; and 
that material was of a peculiar sort, a sort which I had had occasion to know 
thoroughly. It was the common ‘‘ cement” or ‘‘ dirt” of the miners; that known 


SOME RARE PREHISTORIC RELICS. 459 


in books as the auriferous gravel. This is an article ‘‘ sud generis”; it is not easily 
imitated. No skill possessed by Mr. Matthewson or any one else could have 
been sufficient to give the skull the characters which it had as I saw it. It is 
most certainly no fabrication. 

But it has been said that it is a modern skull which had become incrusted 
after a few years of interment. This assertion, however, is never made by any 
one knowing the region. The gravel has not the slightest tendency toward an 
action of that sort. The skull would either decay and waste away, or it would 
remain unchanged; and added to this comes in the fact that the hollows of the 
skull were crowded with the solidified and cemented sand, in such a way as they | 
could have been only by its being driven into them in a semi-fluid mass, a condi- 
tion which the gravels have never had since they were first laid down. 

No, no! Let the skull tell its own story, and believe what it says, because 
it brings its own proof. Whatever age belongs to the gravel deposit under Table 
Mountain belongs to the Calaveras skull, entirely irrespective of the question of 
honesty or dishonesty in the alleged finder. Wherever he found it, I believe its 
age to be beyond cavil. 

Its degree of fossilization has not been here insisted upon, because that 
change is more rapid in some localities than in others, but it is an interesting fact 
that this Calaveras skull is more thoroughly fossilized, a greater proportion of its 
phosphate of lime has become carbonate, than in either of the European speci- 
mens which were reckoned of the greatest age. 

We seem then fairly entitled to consider the Ancient Man of Calaveras the 
oldest representative of our race to which we can as yet refer; and being such, is 
he of a bestial type? Look for yourself. Figures have been published by Pro- 
fessor Whitney in his work. What is there bestial as shown by them? A single 
skull cannot, of course, speak for a whole race, but so far as this specimen can 
testify, what man is now, man was then. It manifests no sign of inferiority to 
the American race as now existing. Barbarous in habit he doubtless may have 
been. All the relics of workmanship thus far discovered of those coeval with 
him, indicate a low grade of civilization, and yet one not necessarily much, if a 
all, lower than that of most of the Indian tribes which formerly occupied the en- 
tire breadth of the continent. And in intellectual power, judging from his 
cerebral development, he might assuredly have claimed a fair average rank.— 
American Naturalist. 


SOME RARE PRE-HISTORIC RELICS. 


PROF. H. A. REID, DES MOINES, IOWA. 


In the REviEw of February, 1882, I gave a pretty full account of a tiny cop- 
per ax which I had found on the site of an ancient or pre-historic village at Lex- 
dngton, Missouri. Since that time Mr. Charles Teubner has sent me exact natur- 
al size drawings of another such ax, found at the same place, which corresponds 


A60 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


so exactly with my specimen that I cannot doubt they were swedged in the same 
mould. And hereby another mystery is explained. My specimen has a nicely 
shaped edge, with the corners very neatly and artistically formed; then the body 
of the ax appears to have been broken off by an irregular fracture just a little 
below where the crease or groove should have been—but it was noticeable that 
there was not the slightest show of the copper having been bent by the force sup- 
posed to have broken it off. I at first explained this singular fact by supposing 
that the copper had been tempered and made brittle in some way, so that it 
would break off short and sharp without. bending. But Messrs. Carey and 
Bailey, of our Academy of Science, ‘“‘ knocked the stuffing out” of this theory 
by proving by chemical tests that the material was pure, malleable, unalloyed, 
soft native copper. The apparent break had occurred just where there was the 
greatest bulk or thickness of the metal, and hence the perfect non-bentness of 
the whole piece was a phenomenal puzzle unsolved. But when Mr. Teubner’s 
specimen was found, and showed a similar appearance of break in about the 
same place, (although the seeming line of fracture was not exactly the same,) it 
went to prove that neither of them had ever been broken at all; that each speci- 
men as it is comprises all the metal there was in the original piece of native ore, 
and the apparent ‘‘ broken off place” was the irregular and unshaped terminal 
end of the whole piece, the swedge having shaped three edges and left the 
fourth one just as it happened to come out. 

In addition to this second copper ax relic, Mr. Teubner also has a copper 
relic found at the same place, which was a bit of copper about as large around as 
an ordinary lead-pencil, two and a half inches long, and tapering or pointed at 
both ends. After considerable scratching and picking and examination with 
magnifying glasses, it was discovered and demonstrated that this instrument was. 
composed of four small strips of copper cold-welded or swedged together so neat- 
ly and perfectly that the relic had been much handled and several times critically 
examined, before this fact of its quadruplex composition was discovered ; but after 
discovery the four pieces were picked apart at one end and some of the weld- 
lines traced. Well, what was it for? It may have been polished, and twisted 
into the hair as an ornament ; but quite as likely it had no other use than as a 
charm, or fetish, to protect the owner from unseen harms. The small strips. 
were probably made by rubbing or rolling a bit of the native and malleable cop- 
per ore between two heavy, flat stones until it was rolled into a sort of wire, and 
then the four pieces perhaps swedged together in a double mould made in hard. 
stone, and afterward rolled between heavy flat stones. 

In addition to the above, the following extract from the report of a recent 
meeting of the DesMoines Academy of Sciences will be of special interest to those 
whose taste in scientific matters runs to archzology : 


‘¢ An ancient stone ax was exhibited which was different from anything of the 
sort ever seen or heard of before by any of the members. It was nine inches. 
long, and two and five-eighths inches wide. The head is wrought into a peak, flat- 
on two sides and rounded on two sides. There is a large groove worked around . 


HUMAN REMAINS IN THE LOESS OF THE MISSOURI RIVER. 461 


for a handle, and bosses or protuberances are worked above and below the 
groove, two forward, two back, and two on each broadside of the implement. 
The material seems to be an impure grey-stone, rough-finished, and. with a good 
edge that has been worn smooth by use. ‘This unique specimen belongs to Dr. 
A. L. Worden, of DesMoines, and was plowed up on his father’s farm in Michi- 
gan, two or three years ago. Other stone axes brought in for comparison were 
—one by Judge Fulton from Taylor County, Iowa; one by Master Chas. Keyes, 
from Ohio; one by Dr. H. A. Reid, from Missouri, and one by Dr. A. G. Field, 
from North Des Moines. All of these except one showed that the edge was. 
made oblique to the shaft or head of the ax—a fact of strange and curious in- 
terest,” 

The question arises—did the makers of these particular oblique or warp- 
shaped axes have an obliquity of vision or of mental action, so that they could 
not do true, straight work. I had noticed that same peculiarity in several axes 
of stone and hematite in Missouri. And it would be worth while for some one 
who has access to a large collection of these prehistoric axes to examine and see 
what proportion of them have the edge oblique or warp-wise to'the body and 
head; and if one-half or more have that peculiarity, it would seem to give a clue 
for some psychological inquiries. 


HUMAN REMAINS IN THE LOESS OF THE MISSOURI RIVER. 
E. P. WEST. 
PEABODY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ARCHEOLOGY AND ETHNOLOGY. 


HARVARD UNIVERSITY, CAMBRIDGE, Mass., October 3, 1882. 
THEO. S. CasE, Esq:, Kansas City, Mo.: 

Dear Sir,—I enclose a newspaper slip at Mr. Putnam’s request, and he wishes 
me to ask you if there is any foundation for the article. He says if it is a;correct 
statement that some geologist ought to give the place a thorough examination. 
Will you kindly inform him if you have heard anything in regard to it. 

Respectfully yours, J. Smiry, Ass’t. 


Kansas Ciry, Mo., October 15, 1882. 


Respectfully referred to Judge E. P. West for his consideration and action. 
Any communication he may choose to make upon the subject I shall ie glad to 
receive and forward. 

THEO. S. Case, Ed. REVIEW. 


462 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, . 


Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 16, 1882. 
Cou. THEO. S. Case, Ed. Kansas City REVIEW: 


Dear Sir,—Iit is with great pleasure I answer the inquiry of Prof. Putnam 
-addresssd to you through his assistant, Mr. J. Smith, and which you have done 
me the honor to refer to me for a reply. 

The statement of finding the human remains mentioned in the newspaper slip 
referred to is correct. The facts may be briefly stated: Mr. Underwood isa large 
manufacturer of bricks in this city and has an extensive yard near its eastern 
limit. In the latter part of June last some of the men employed by Mr. Under- 
wood, digging clay for the work, found a human skeleton extended in it in a 
horizontal position eighteen feet beneath the surface. The bones were kindly 
given by Mr. Underwood to the Kansas City Institute, and they are now in its 
-collection. I saw the cast of the skeleton and a part of the bones in position in 
‘the clay, and can vouch for the depth at which they were found. 

The important question is: Were they resting in the undisturbed natural 
formation? JI think there can be but one answer to this, and that is that they 
were. In this opinion Mr. Underwood and other gentlemen who examined the 
place concur. The bones were found on a loess hill slope and within 250 
feet of the summit. An obstruction to cause a fill of eighteen feet where they 
were found would seem almost an impossibility. Besides, the clay around and 
immediately above them did not differ in any way from the clay in the very ex- 
tensive excavations made by Mr. Underwood for hundreds of feet around in the 
same hill-side and which unquestionably remained as deposited before the excava- 
‘tions were made. It can hardly be supposed that any people in past or present 
time would inter their dead so deep. All the facts seem to point to the conclu- 
sion that the individual whose remains were so mysteriously enwrapped in their 
mantle of clay, was engulfed in the old lake of the Champlain epoch in which 
the loess formation took place prior to its completion and was slowly covered in 
by the continued super-accumulation of that deposit. At the end of the deposit 
and before the work of attrition began the bones were covered probably to a 
depth of more than fifty feet. If it be objected that human bones would not not 
-endure so long, it may be answered that several varieties of Aelix, in a perfect 
state of preservation, and the teeth and bones of extinct mammals are found — 
under like conditions in the same formation at depths varying from five to more 
than a hundred feet and which, evidently, were buried in by its precipitation. 

During my geological and archeological explorations along the Missouri 
River in July and August last, I gathered other facts sustaining the opinion I 
have here expressed. At White Cloud, Kansas, I was informed by gentlemen 
-of intelligence and unquestioned veracity, that a vase of antique pottery was 
found in a mound standing on the summit of the bluff immediately overlook- 
ing that city, and that another vase precisely similar, was found in a loess hill 
-about a half mile distant from the mound, at a depth of fifteen feet below the 


HUMAN REMAINS IN THE LOESS OF THE MISSOURI RIVER. 463 


natural surface. This, too, was found in a brick yard, and in digging clay for 
‘brick-making. I saw and conversed with the gentleman who found and removed 
the vessel from the clay, and was shown the position where it was found, and I 
-entirely concur in the opinion of the gentlemen of that place, who are conversant 
with the facts, that the vase must have been covered in by the lake deposits of 
the Champlain epoch. 

Dr. Parr, of Weston, Missouri, opened a mound on the summit of the bluffs 
near that place, in which he found an antique vase of the basket type of pottery 
and containing within it fish-bones and shell beads. The Doctor was so good as 
to present to the Institute some of the beads and fish vertebrae, which are now in 
‘its collection in this city. 

The chief importance to be attached to Dr. Parr’s find is-in the contents of 
the vase. It has been the custom of barbarous and semi-barbarous people to 
make provision for the subsistence of their departed friends on their supposed 
long journey to the spirit land. The food provided is that which the people ha- 
bitually use, and such a people invariably use the food which is most accessible 
to them. Hence, our modern tribes, who inhabited fertile districts, such as Mis- 
souri and Kansas, subsisted almost entirely upon terrestrial animals, because such 
food was more accessible to them than any other; and they would never have thought 
of sustaining a departed friend on fish to the land of spirits. But at the close of 
the Loess deposit, prior thereto, and for a considerable time after its completion, 
conditions were different and fish must have been more abundant and more ac- 
cessible than terrestrial animals, hence the subsistence provided for the tenant of 
the Weston mound for his sustenance to the mystic land. If it is true that these 
bones were deposited pending the Loess formation, and it seems difficult to es- 
cape this conclusion, a hundred centuries would be a low estimate for their pro- 
found and mysterious slumber. 

The Loess deposit of Missouri and Kansas rests immediately on the glacial 
drift, nothing whatever intervening between them, so the Loess must have follow- 
ed the drift in immediate succession. 

The same glacial forces which caused the filling up of the old channel of the 
Niagara River, producing obstructions which diverted its course and forced it to 
cut a new one, and in this work to carve out that world’s wonder the ‘‘ Niagara 
Falls,” operated here to produce, and leave as a monument of its power, our 
drift, and to fill the channel of the Missouri River some hundreds of feet, and, 
perhaps, actually to divert, or partially divert, it in some places. 

Since its diversion, the Niagara River has cut its new channel back for a dis- 
ance of seven miles. This work has required more than 36,000 years, according 
to the estimates of Professor Hall and the late Professor Lyell, which Pro- 
fessor Dana thinks very low. 

As the Loess deposit rests upon and immediately succeeds the glacial drift 
here, 26,000 years would be a very large estimate of the time intervening be- 
tween the close of the glacial epoch and the filling of the old Champlain lake 
to the level of where the human remains were found in the Underwood brick- 


464 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


yard. Besides, the finding of the bones of the large extinct mammals in positions 
as high as where the human remains were found would indicate an antiquity 
which a hundred centuries would hardly cover. ~ 

In my limited archeological researches, in Missouri and Kansas, I have ob- 
served and gathered from others hundreds of facts bearing on this subject and all 
pointing to the occupancy of the bluffs bordering the Missouri River valley prior 
to the close of the Champlain era. But it must not be inferred that this was 
man’s first appearance on this vast domain, for it is probable that he and the 
large extinct mammals existed prior to and retired before the advancing glaciers of 
the glacial epoch, to beyond the 40° N. latitude, and, that during the Champlain 
period the large animals became extinct, but that man survived, and advanced 
northward again upon the retiring glaciers. 

I would like to pursue this subject more in detail, but cannot do so without 
trespassing too far on the patience of Professor Putnam. As I have remained, 
for some time past, under a kind of promise to the public to renew the considera- 
tion of this subject, if you will allow me space in the REviEw, and will be so 
kind as to send a number to Professor Putnam, it seems to me pruper to 
answer his inquiry through that channel, more especially so as it would add to 
the public interest to know that so distinguished an antiquarian and profound a 
thinker as Professor Putnam deems the matter of scientific importance. 

With the best wishes for the success of the Review and your noble effort to 
add to the sum of human knowledge, I remain 


Yours most truly, HK. P. West. 


HUMAN FOOT-PRINTS IN SOLID ROCK. 
THEO. S. CASE. 


The discovery of supposed human foot-prints in solid rock near Carson, 
Nevada, leads me to call attention to those discovered by myself in October, 
1880, in the Valley of the Pecos River, near the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe 
R. R., in New Mexico, and referred to in the November number of this REVIEW 
‘in an article entitled ‘‘ An Excursion to the Birth-Place of Montezuma.” 

Our party was crossing the open prairie between Baughl’s Station and the 
old Pecos Church, when we came to a large boulder, or fragment of sand rock, 
of which there were hundreds scattered around. It being a warm afternoon and 
this rock lying under a clump of cedar trees, we naturally stopped to rest in the 
shade. While there our attention was attracted by some very singular markings 
upon the surface of the rock, which was about six by nine feet and about three 
feet high. These markings resembled human foot-prints, each being about thir-. 
teen inches long by four and one-half inches wide and about sixinches apart. The 
cut below gives a very good idea of their appearance except that the drawing is 
rather too smooth and symmetrical. These tracks gave us the suggestion of their 


OBSERVATIONS OF COMET B, 1882. 465 


having been made by a large man in moccasins stepping upon a soft surface and 
slipping forward an inch or so. The impressions are nearly or quite one inch 


deep. 


= 
— 


SE= 


SSS 


There is another rock in the vicinity said to be similarly marked with hu- 
man foot-prints, both of adults and children, also with those of a bear; these, 
however, are believed to have been carved with some tool. Those referred to 
above show no evidence of having been cut or carved, but rather, if not real im- 
pressions of human feet, appear to be the result of accidental scaling off and 
weathering into this peculiar shape. ° 


ASIN ON OMY. 


OBSERVATIONS OF COMET B, 1882. 
yom, il Sy Ss SMMIMEe 


The equipment of this Observatory does not suffice for measures of position, 
or for spectroscopic or photographic investigations. Attention has, therefore, 
been entirely directed to observation of the appearance and changes in the struct- 
ure of the comet. The telescope used is a comet-seeker having an object-glass 
five and five-eighths inches in diameter and a focal length of forty-two inches. 
The tube is bent so that the eye-piece is always horizontal, the reflector being a 


466 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


right angled prism. It was found that the power of fourteen was best suited to» 
show the faint portions, as the prism absorbed so much light that the seeing with 
higher powers was not satisfactory. No attempt was made to study the nucleus. 
or coma critically, as it was evident that the telescopic power was far from sufh- 
cient for the purpose. Chief attention was given to the appearance of the fainter 
portions, and the results seem to repay the labor expended. 

The comet was first seen on the morning of September 26th, when it was 
low down in the horizon but quite brilliant. The nucleus was estimated to be of 
the same brightness as Procyon, and was seen until fifteen minutes before sun- 
rise. The tail was about five and a half degrees long, and ceased to be visible 
twenty minutes before sunrise. 

On October gth the comet presented a truly beautiful appearance. As seen 
with the low power the nucleus appeared slightly granular and elongated in the 
direction of the tail. There was no dark streak in the tail near the nucleus. It 
was on this morning that I first saw a peculiar appearance extending from the 
nucleus toward the Sun. It consisted of two streaks of faint light, one on the 
north and one on the south side of the coma. The one on the north side was. 
between twenty and twenty-five minutes from the nucleus, ran parallel, or nearly 
so, to the centre line of the tail, was quite distinctly bounded on the side away 
from the nucleus, but faded gradually away toward the comet proper. ‘This 
streak extended fully half a degree from the nucleus toward the Sun, and was 
no brighter than the fainter portions of the tail that could be seen through the 
telescope. The streak on the south side was quite similar in general appearance, 
but it was only about fifteen minutes from the nucleus and extended only fifteen 
minutes toward the Sun. Both of these streaks extended westward from the Sun 
until they met the tail where it was broad enough to equal the distance between 
them. ‘The first appearance of dawn was quite sufficient to render these streaks. 
invisible. 

On October 13th, this forward haze was somewhat longer, and of about the 
same breadth. The streaks were united by a faint haze that extended across in 
front of the nucleus and coma. ‘The brighter portion of the tail seemed to be 
enveloped in a thin haze, and the forward haze was but a continuation of this. 
From this time the haze grew larger and brighter until, on October 15th, it was 
fully three degrees long, slightly parabolic in its outlines, (but the end was ill-de- 
fined), and of nearly uniform brightness throughout. It was bright enough to 
be seen with the naked eye on October 14th but it was an unusually clear morn- 
ing. After the 15th the haze began to grow smaller and less brilliant, the de- 
crease in size being very gradual at first. The lessening was first seen in the 
central parts of the haze becoming much fainter than the edges; then the end of 
the haze began to disappear, until, on October 25th, the haze was somewhat 
similar to its appearance when first seen on the gth, but the boundaries were not 
so distinct. 7 

What these appearances mean I do not know. ‘The only case that is at all 
similar that I have met with is that of a comet of 1824 which had a tail seven de- 


ON SOME VOLCANIC FORMATIONS OF THE MOON. 467 


grees, long extending toward the Sun, and a fainter tail three and a half degrees 
in length turned away from the Sun. 


UNIVERSITY oF Kansas, Nov. 6, 1882. 


ON SOME VOLCANIC FORMATIONS IN THE MOON}. 
HERMAN J. KLEIN. 


The numerous circular formations of the Moon enclosing a hollow, in the 
middle of which a group of hills generally rises, are, as is known, designated 
Craters or Ring-mountains. By this, however, it is by no means intended that. 
these formations are to be viewed as analogues of our terrestrial volcanoes; on 
the contrafy, there are not only distinctions in magnitude, but fundamental dif- 
ferences in the entire structural type, which forbid comparison with the volcanoes 
of our world. The true volcanic formations of the Moon, those forms which 
possess the greatest similarity to our terrestrial volcanoes, were not, generally 
speaking, known at all to the earlier selenographers, Schréter, Lohrmann, and 
Madler. 

Neison, in his new work ‘The Moon,’ remarks that the real representatives 
on the Moon of our terrestrial volcanoes are what he terms ‘‘crater-cones.” 
They are those steep or conical hills which vary in size from one-half to two or 
three English miles in diameter, with a precipitous funnel-shaped central hollow 
scarcely half the breadth of the hills themselves. When the Sun stands at a 
great height above them, they are visible through powerful telescopes as very 
minute white spots; and under a moderate elevation of the Sun, the central chasm 
that forms the crater can sometimes be perceived in their middle. But for this, 
a calm clear atmosphere is necessary and a very powerful telescope. Sometimes 
they appear on the summit of a mountain, not rarely also on the plain enclosed 
by. a ring-mountain or on a walled plain, as in Plato and Fracastorius. To this 
kind of forms belongs also the small hill containing a crater which at present 
rises within the at one time large crater Linne, and which can only be seen for a 
short on the terminator. In the time of Lohrmann and Madler, Linne was six 
or seven English miles in diameter, and was at least 1000 feet deep. The filling 
up of this large old crater was remarked by Schmidt in October, 1866; and on 
the 26th day of December of that year he saw for the first time that a low ‘‘ crater- 
cone ” had risen on the new plain, having a central chasm of perhaps 300 metres 
in diameter. I regard this crater, which I have also seen, as a real representa- 
tive on the Moon of our terrestrial volcanoes. Similar forms can be made out in 
great number in the interior of the flat ring-mountain Stadius. 

Madler previously noticed here several tiny little crater-cavities ; and Neison 
mentions thirteen crater-pits on the enclosed plain of Stadius, whiie Schmidt. 
counts fifty of them. None of these observers, however, mention that these tiny 


1 From Peterman’s ‘ Mittheilungen,’ 1882, Heft. vi. (Translation). 


AG8 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


craters lie on the summits of pretty steep cones. When Stadius emerges from 
the lunar night, these ‘‘crater-cones’’ are revealed in immense numbers, like 
thorns stuck in the ground; but as they are all small and low, the shadows quick- 
ly disappear under the ascending Sun, and then the darkness only of the crater 
itself can be seen. 

These formations appear to have a close relationship to our volcanoes; but I 
would, by the way, turn the attention of selenographers, and of geologists also, 
to another class of forms on the Moon’s surface, which appear to me to corre- 
spond in a still greater degree to our volcanic formations, and which up to the 
present time are little known or not at all. The only selenographer who has 
paid attention to these forms is Julius Schmidt in Athens. He first saw some of 
these formations in January and February of 1851. ‘‘ In asouthwesterly direction 
from Theophilus,” he says, in his explanatory volume to his large map of the 
Moon, ‘‘there lie in the Mare two small dark patches, like imperfect half-shaded 
craters ; they remain visible as dark patches under a high altitude of the Sun. 
The western one is the larger.”” This remark dates from January, 1851: on the 
25th day of February of the same year Schmidt perceived close to Copernicus, 
and in a southwesterly direction towards Gambart, ‘‘a bright point surrounded 
by a dark grey nimbus, which lies in the grey plain.” In the year 1873, Schmidt 
returned to these formations and found that there is present in them a white 
cavity, which at times appears like a crater. Among the numerous lunar forms 
which can be descried with the strong telescopes of the present time, and which I 
estimate at 200,000, those described above are so rare that I could only reckon 
five which show the type with certainty and two in which it is also very probably 
present. 

Without being aware of Schmidt’s observations, I had come upon the above 
mentioned very rare formations in the course of my researches on the Moon’s sur- 
face. I perceived that the two objects in the neighborhood of Theophilus are 

craters with clear white cavities, which, at a certain distance on the outside, were 
_ surrounded by a ring of smoky grey material. In the course of my observations 
it gradually became manifest that the larger of the two craters fell away external- 
ly hke an unusually flat cone, so that the base of this cone, which had a very. 
moderate vertical height, yet spread itself several miles wide. Upon the highest 
point of this very flat base stands the precipitous cone of eruption. Radiating 
from the crater numerous hills or folds run out upon the gentle declivity, and be- 
tween them appear tiny little craters which narasitically cover the slopes of the 
base in great numbers. The dark grey material is deposited only in the neigh- 
borhood of the white-colored principal crater, round about its precipitous cone, 
and indeed within a narrow, pretty sharply limited, circular zone. The smaller 
crater to the northwest exhibits similar conditions, yet I have not been able to 
perceive in it the radiating hills and the little parasitic craters. 

Since last autumn these two craters have not generally been so plainly visible 
as in former years; indeed I cannot at present perceive the crater proper, but see 
only a grey patch within the dark ring. In the crater mentioned by Schmidt. 


ON SOME VOLCANIC FORMATIONS OF THE MOON. 469 


-~which lies off in the direction of Gambart, and in a larger one to the north of 
“Copernicus, the circular zone around the central cavity is broader, clearer, and, 
towards the outside, paler. Half a century ago, Gruithuisen discovered and re- 
peatedly observed a similar object southward from the crater Hyginus. In this, 
also, there was to be seen a tiny clear white crater in the middle of a roundish, 
broad, grey patch. This tiny crater is in existence at the present day, and, in- 
-deed, is placed on the flat top of a very low ruined circular wall; but, in the 
twenty years over which my observations have extended, I have never been able 
to see it as a white speck. Neither do I find in Schmidt any mention of this cir- 
-cumstance. Now since Gruithuisen’s observations are indisputable, it must be 
-concluded that that small crater has grown darker in the course of years. From 
the agreement in the cases cited, but specially also from my rigorous examination 
of the larger crater on the southwest of Theophilus, we must conclude that the 
dark material which surrounds the bright shining crater was ejected from it. We 
may look upon it as a species of lava, which becomes bleached in time, and then 
assumes that appearance which we perceive in many so-called ‘‘ light-surrounded ’# 
craters. That the formation of the ring of dark material or, if you will, the 
eruption, together with the aforesaid crater southwest of Theophilus, belong to 
recent times is proved by the circumstance that this dark patch, which is so ob- 
vious, and even appears in one of Rutherfurd’s lunar photographs, was seen 
_ neither by Lohrmann or Madler in the first third of our century. The conclu- 
‘sion that it did not then exist receives complete confirmation from the observa- 
tions of Gruithuisen. I have thoroughly examined the comprehensive journals 
-of this accurate and sharp-eyed selenographer, and have found that, on several 
occasions, he specially explored the locality in which to-day that dark patch is so 
plainly to be seen, without, however, having perceived it, although it was exactly 
such patches that Gruithuisen eagerly sought after. 

The intimate connection between the dark material and the bright crater in 
its middle, as well as the inference that this mass was cast out lava-like from the 
crater at a time long subsequent to its formation, I have proved from several 
years’ study of a similar crater which has been mentioned by no previous observ- 
-er. In this case, thanks to the configuration of the ground, the proof is so con- 
vincing, that it could hardly be greater had it been afforded by a terrestrial vol- 
-cano directly accessible to our ascent. 

The object, concerning which I have now to report, lies in the inside of the 
great walled plain Alphonsus. M/dler has there described, out of several others 
in the neighborhood of the slope of the east wall, a dark triangular spot, which at 
at full Moon, when only little of the walls of Alphonsus is to be seen, stands out 
with uncommon distinctness on account of its dark color and its regular form. 
According to Madler, this spot was only to be seen when the Moon stood high 
over the lunal landscape referred to, and was neither sunk nor raised. The cir- 
cumstance that, during my observations in the interior of this dark spot, I once 
spied a bright point exactly similar to the central craters’'in the above described 


VI—30 


470 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


formations, induced me to devote an accurate search to the object, which grad- 
ually led to the result that this also is in reality a ‘‘ crater-cone ”’ from which the: 
dark material has flowed out. Madler believed from his examination of the dis- 
trict in question that it was neither raised nor sunken. This mistake, originating 
probably from the weakness of his telescope, had previously been partially recog- 
nized by Schmidt, in whose map of the place in question several hills, small cra- 
ters, and fissures in the ground (rills) are marked. 

According to my opinion, the conditions described in the foregoing account 
prove the existence of phenomena on the Moon’s surface which exhibit the great- 
est likeness to the lava-streams of our earthly volcanoes, so that there is no longer 
any doubt of the occurrence of genuine volcanic phenomena on the Moon. 
These phenomena, as far as regards the crater, belong to an epoch when the 
chains of hills in the surrounding district were already formed, so that the effluent 
matter was obliged to follow the slopes of the ground. 

If, in the instances described, all the phenomena point to lava-like currents, it 
may be concluded in another case, although with less certainty, that the ground 
has been covered with masses of stones or ashes. The district referred to lies on 
the Moon in 1° N. Lat. and 47° W. Long. There the grey floor of the level 
Mare, occupied only by very low hills, is marked over with bright streaks of light. 
But when the Sun is low, it is perceived that an oval patch, like dark gauze, 
covers the ground over a surface of several square miles, and that beneath it the 
brighter or darker portions of the ground gleam through. This patch gives to 
the observer the impression that it is transparent, or as if a thin mist covered the 
ground. This last impression is not to be accepted, because the patch is a thor- 
oughly permanent appearance, a modification of the color of the lunar ground. 

Such an appearance must, however, result if the ground, where it is bright 
grey as well as where it is marked across with white stripes, has been covered by 
a very thin layer of stones or ashes. Similar indications are to be found in other 
parts of the Moon’s surface, but they have till now escaped selenographers, be- 
cause these have generally had in their eyes only the more universal and larger 
features of the lunar surface, and the search after detail is, properly speaking, 
only now beginning. 

This detailed survey has already proved that there is a far greater similarity 
between the surface of the Moon and that of our Earth than was formerly be- 
lieved; but the research is only at its commencement and confronts a literally 
endless amount of detail: besides, it is far more difficult and entails a greater 
strain than many other kinds of observation. 

It is greatly to be desired, on the part of geologists, that the lunar formations 
should be submitted to a thorough study founded on eye-scrutiny; the result 
would be remarkable for the better knowledge we should gain of lunar and also- 
of terrestrial formations.— Zhe Odservatory. 


TEETH AND BRAIN. 471 


EEE OMY SAND. PELYSI@m@Gne 


TEETH AND BRAIN. 
R. WOOD BROWN, M. D., D.D.S. 


“*’Tis the sublime of man, 

Our noontide majesty, to know ourselves 

Part and portion of a wondrous whole.”’ 
COLERIDGE. 


Nature does not waste time or material. Nowhere in her wide domains can 
we find anything in the formation of which she has produced an insufficient 
quantity for a purpose, or a surplus of material to effect a certain end. Every- 
thing is so nicely adapted to the wants of the creature that not anything can 
be added or taken away without detriment to life. Nature has a method 
of doing things, of adapting certain things to produce a certain object in a cer- 
tain manner, and there are no deviations. To illustrate what is meant by this 
so called adaptive modification, let me refer to the dentition of the poisonous and 
non-poisonous snakes. The python (non-poisonous) has two rows of well-devel- 
oped teeth in the upper jaw, and no poisonous fang; the next, the cobra, (colu- 
brine, poisonous) has the inner row of superior teeth small and almost useless, 
and an immovable fang; then comes the rattlesnake (viperine, poisonous) has 
only one row of teeth in the upper jaw, but has a large movable fang; the inner 
row of superior teeth have disappeared because not necessary, the movable fang 
taking its place. To illustrate further those birds that nature intended for flight 
have some part of their anatomy especially adapted for it. Take, for instance, 
the pigeon; it has some of its bones hollow, with a connection between them 
and its lungs in such a manner that when the bird is about to take its flight, 
warm air is forced from the lung into the hollow bones, thereby enabling the bird 
to ascend and fly more easily. This arrangement applies to all flying birds ex- 
cept the woodcock. Only such birds as fly have warm air injected into their 
bones, and then only in accordance with their needs. To take a third illustra- 
illustration, those animals that prowl around, seeking food at all times and in all 
places, have the walls of their crania very thick, while man, who is the only 
creature that walks erect, has a very thin skull, comparatively speaking. Here 
again is shown the adaptive modification. Nature at all times, in all places, and 
under all circumstances shows herself to be an astute artisan, never wasting her 
material or energy. ‘This evening I shall prove to you that nature does not waste 
her forces, that she does not put a human tooth into a head with an animal brain, 
nor an animal tooth in a head with a human brain; that as teeth decide the order 


472 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


to which an animal belongs, they do also indicate the intelligence of the posses- 
sor of them. Therefore, the point I shall make is this, that the nearer an ani- 
mal’s tooth approaches the typical human molar tooth, the nearer that animal’s 
brain approaches the human brain, both as to comparative weight and size, also 
as to position, convolutions and depth of sulci. The brain or encephalon is di- 
vided into four parts; the cerebrum, the cerebellum, the pons varolii, and the 
medulla oblongata. For our purpose we shall use only the first two parts. The 
brain structurally is divided into white and gray matter, the white making up the. 
greater part of the whole, the gray being upon the surface and the sulci, and upon 
its amount depends the power either intellectual or animal; the amount of gray being 
augmented by the number of convolutions and the een of sulci. The cerebrum 
controls the intellectual or intelligent, and the cerebellum the animal functions of 
the creature. In the human brain the cerebrum in amount is to the cerebellum 
as nine to one. In the human brain the cerebrum completely covers the cerebel- 
lum when looking from the top of the head. The greater the size of the cerebrum 
and cerebellum, the greater the number of convolutions and depth of sulci, the 
‘greater is the power of intelligence and animal functions respectively. Man, 
from the nature of his construction, needs an intellectual brain, and that intellect- 
ual brain needs a mixed diet upon which its integrity depends, and which it 
cannot get with teeth like the shark, alligator, ox, or dog. Therefore, man has 
teeth for a mixed diet because he needs them, and where there is no such diet 
needed nature does not produce teeth like unto man’s. Reasoning from this 
basis, it is fair to presume that if there is a gradation of intellectual brain-power 
from man down, there must also be gradations of teeth from man down. If we. 
look at the head of a wolf-fish we find the lowest order of brain-power, and a 
very large number of pointed teeth, each tooth the same in shape but varying in 
size, the same as regards the common pike. The character of its teeth wouid in- 
dicate that its aim in life was to satisfy its hunger, which it does by tearing off 
shell-fish from adjacent rocks with its front teeth and crushing them with its back 
ones. The teeth areslightly anchylosed to the jaw as is the case with most fishes. 
In the lizard (varanus Gouldii) we find that the teeth are produced like the alliga- 
tors, but different in shape, being like flattened cones. ‘They are all similar in 
shape but different as regards size. The lizard has a very small brain, is very 
stupid, slow of motion, and like all reptiles, is cold blooded, caused by having 
but three cavities in the heart, one auricle and two ventricles, which causes the 
venous and arterial blood to mix. When we come to examine the ophidian rep- 
tiles (snakes) we find cold-blooded reptiles, with a complicated dental apparatus. 
The teeth are different in size, same in shape. The venomous snakes have a 
poisonous fang, but only one row of teeth in the upper and one row of teeth in 
the lower jaw. The non-venomous snakes have two rows of teeth in the upper 
jaw and one row in the lower, but no poisonous fang. ‘They, like all reptiles, 
have a quadrate bone. The teeth are organs of prehension, as snakes invariably 
swallow their prey whole. When the viperine snake is about to strike the mouth 
is opened, a muscle contracts and moves the quadrate bone forward; this move- 


TEETH AND BRAIN. : 473 


ment causes the partial rotation of the inferior maxilla or lower jaw, and this 
rotation throws the fang into an erect position. - The act of striking causes a 
muscle to contract over the poison sac and the fluid is forced into the wound . 
through the grooved fang. When the fang is withdrawn the mouth shuts and 
the parts return to their first position, and the fang lies upon the roof of the 
mouth in a fold of mucous membrane. We certainly cannot award to this class 
(ophidian reptiles) a very high order of intelligence. 

The alligator or American crocodile is a familiar reptile. It is a native of 
the Lower Mississippi, and its characteristics are well known. The teeth are all 
the same shape and the same number from birth to death, each tooth being re- 
placed by its successor growing inside the old one and causing its absoption, and 
eventually taking its place without making a new socket. The teeth are all 
pointed, far apart, and firmly planted in the socket. The alligator’s brain is non- 
convoluted, perfectly smooth and one ganglion behind the other. Ina head three 
feet long the brain is the size of the thumb. Notice three points here. The 
small size of brain, the smoothness of lobes, and the teeth being the same shape 
and nearly so in size. As regards birds, there is only one authentic specimen 
found with teeth. That was found by the late Professor Mudge, of Kansas, in the 
cretaceous deposits of Colorado, Niobrara group. Its beak is about seven and 
one half inches long by one and a quarter broad. The teeth are arranged in a 
straight line, and about twenty one in each ramus of the lower jaw, and there 
appears to be the same number in the upper jaw. This was supposed to be an 
aquatic bird and used its recurved teeth for securing fish. This fossil is in the 
possession of Professor Marsh. This bird doesnot bear upon our subject only so far 
as birds are the connecting link between the reptilian and mammalian classes. 

‘Tn the elephant we find a very small brain compared to its size, it being one of 
the largest existing mammals. The average weight of the brain is from eight to ten 
pounds. This animal gets its intelligent look from its large frontal sinuses, while in 
reality the animal is not as intelligent as its looks would indicate. The teeth are 
formed for a herbivorous diet. The molars, six in number, grow from above 
downward and outward in continuous plates of enamel, separated by dentine, 
and surrounded by cementum. The first, or baby molar, being the smallest, and 
the last one fifteen inches long. Only one part of the molar is used at a time. 
The tusks correspond to the incisor teeth. Neither is the size of the brain in 
proportion to the size of the body, nor its position, nor do the teeth of the ele- 
phant indicate a high order of intelligence. We will pass by the rodentia or 
gnawing tribe, comprising the mouse, beaver, squirrel, rabbit, etc., and come di- 
rectly to the carnivora, of which the tiger is a typical member. We first notice 

_the immense size of the canines, also the spaces between the front teeth for the 
reception of the lower teeth when the jaws are closed. The molars are made for 
crushing, yet we can see a gradual approximation to the human molar; the sur- 
face is not flat like the elephant’s nor surmounted with cusps like the human’s 
molar. The facial angle is greater in the tiger than in the preceding animal. 
The brain is small, sets far back in the head, and the cerebellum is partially cov- 


474 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ered by the cerebrum. We must now notice, as we ascend the scale, the relation 
of thecerebrum and cerebellum have to the facial angle, for where the angle is in- 
creased, we have an increase of lapping of the cerebrum over the cerebellum. 
This increase of lapping and an approach to right angles is accompanied by an 
increase of resemblance in the teeth to the human molartooth. Inthesame class 
with the tiger, are the lion, cat, etc. We notice that the teeth of the carnivora are 
different in shape and size from the fish and reptile, at the same time we find that, 
while the brains of the two latter are smooth and free from convolutions, the 
brains of carnivora have some convolutions and a certain depth to the sulci. 
Here it is seen that the brain develops toward man, as also do the teeth. The 
average weight of the cat’s brain is one ounce and a drachm. 

The dentition of the dog is similar to that of wolves and foxes, but the dog 
has a larger range of diet owing to the molars being tuberculated in addition to 
the full armament of sharply-pointed teeth. With the tuberculated molars of the 
dog, we have a greater facial angle, consequently more lapping of cerebrum, more 
convolutions and greater depth of sulci, in all of which the dog is superior to 
the preceding animals. In the ox we have a strictly herbivorous animal, belong- 
ing to the class termed Ruminantia, comprising the deer, antelope, camel, sheep, 
giraffe, etc. In the typical Ruminantia, sheep, oxen, etc., there are no incisors 
in the upper jaw and no canines in either. The ox has six molars made up of 
circles of enamel, dentine and cementum. The molar teeth are an improvement 
upon the dog’s, and the brain weigh sixteen ounces and fifteen drachms. 

In the horse we find that there are incisors and molars in both upper and low- 
er jaws; the horse has canines, but the mare has not. The molars are moulded 
upon the same plan as the ox, but the brain case is larger and weighs more in pro- 
portion, twenty-two ounces and fifteen drachms. The facial angle of the horse is 
greater, there are more convolutions and greater depth of sulci. The intelligence 
of a horse above most other animals is a well established fact. 

The Chimpanzee in form and structure exhibits the greatest resemblance to 
man. ‘The Chimpanzee is the highest form of brute, just as the Australian is one 
of the lowest forms of man. The Chimpanzees are gregarious animals; they — 
walk erect with their hands upon their thighs, they are said to build huts and live in 
settlements. ‘The face also resembles man, but the outline is rather concave. 
The facial angle is a low.as 35° but increases when measured over the supercili- 
ary ridge. The proportion of brain to face is very nearly equal, the latter pre- 
ponderating. In no animal do we find so much brain-matter, in proportion to 
the face, as in the Chimpanzee. The dental arrangement of this animal is differ- 
ent from the human species although having the same number of teeth, and the 
molars and bicuspids very similar in shape, yet the canines and incisors are very 
large, with spaces between them for the antagonizing teeth to rest between. The 
cerebrum in the Chimpanzee very nearly covers the cerebellum; more convolutions 
and a greater number of sulci are found. ‘The walls of the brain case are thin- 
ner than the lower brutes, the rule being, the more contracted the brain, the 
thicker the walls of the skull. 


TEETH AND BRAIN. 475 


‘The Chimpanzees belong to the group known as the Anthropoidal or man 
like apes, which includes the Gorilla, Orang and Gibbon. This group have the 
‘same number of teeth as man, the same number of incisors, canines, bicuspids 
and molars, thirty-two teeth in all, while their deciduous or milk-teeth are the 
same as in man, twenty in number. ‘The brain of the man differs far less from 
the brain of this group, than does the brain of some of the lowest animals. The 
‘Gorilla is much heavier than man yet its brain weighs about twenty ounces while 
the smallest, healthy human brain would not be less than thirty-two ounces. The 
size of the Gorilla’s brain is larger than the preceding animals when compared in 
‘size with the weight of the animal. 

There is a vast difference between civilized man and the lowest savage; 
difference in cerebral area, in physiognomy, in regularity of teeth; but however 
vast that might be, it is immaterial as compared to the contrast in these respects 
presented by the lowest form of man and the highest form of brute species. 
The connecting link between the lowest races of man and the highest brutes is 
yet to be found. 

In the Australian we find the lowest order of intellectual ability, especially 
amongst the Papuans. They reckon time by dry or rainy seasons, and number 
only up to ten, they have noreligion, their marriage ceremony consists of each eat- 
ing half a roasted banana. There is a great prominence of the superior maxille, 
with recession of the frontaleminence. The cerebral area is much less than in the 
European, and vastly more than in the Chimpanzee, the facial angle is between 80° 
and 85°, and there is some prominence of the superior canines. What has been 
said of the Australian is true of the African to a great extent, but the Negro is 
superior to the Australian, in cerebral development. 

Man has the straightest form, the only being that walks erect, that has a 
perfect dental arch, no one tooth above its fellow, that has a gradual change from 
‘the cutting tooth (incisors) to the grinding tooth (molar), and that has the cere- 
brum completely covering the cerebellum, also having the largest brain known, 
except the whale and the elephant. Man’s brain averages in weight forty-eight 
and one-half ounces, or a trifle more than three pounds, also a facial angle of 95°; 
the Greeks adopted for their beau ideal of the beautiful and intellectual, a facial 
angle of 100°. 

The preponderance of the brain over the face is very noticeable in the Eu- 
ropean head. In the dog it was about one-third, in the Chimpanzee less than 
one-half, while in the European, the brain occupies by far the largest part of the 
head. In man’s brain the convolutions are numerous and the sulci deep, in ac- 
cordance with the intellectual development; again, see what a subordinate posi- 
tion the animal cerebellum has under the intellectual cerebrum. In animals with 
-carnivorous and herbivorous teeth the cerebellum is the dominating power ; in man, 
with teeth for a mixed diet, the cerebrum holds the sceptre and everything is sub- 
servient to it. 

We have described the skull, brain, and teeth of the human species, also the 
‘same parts of several animals of different orders. We have pen-sketched the pro- 


A476 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


gressive ascent in the scale from the fish to man. We have compared the sepa— 
rate parts of each, showing that the skull, brain and teeth have kept pace each 
with the other in their respective places, no one ahead of the other, but gradually 
ascending in the scale. We have seen how nature improved on her previous ef-- 
forts. We have shown that where an improvement was needed it was made; 
and we can readily see why a fish’s tooth was not placed in man’s head or wice 
versa. We have also demonstrated that the near approach of an animal’s tooth 
to man’s indicated a near approach of that animal’s brain to man’s. We have: 
described the vast differences that exist between different animals, and compara- 
tively with man, and this all shows that the nearer an animal’s tooth approaches: 
to man’s in shape, size, and anatomical construction, the nearer that animal’s 
brain approaches to the brain of man. In closing we cannot do better than to: 
quote from the immortal Agassiz: He says, ‘‘It is evident that there is a mani- 
fest progress in the succession of beings on the surface of the globe. This prog- 
ress consists in an increasing similarity to the living races, and among the verte-- 
brates, especially, in their increasing similarity to man. But this connection is. 
not the consequence of a direct lineage between the races of different ages.” 
Again we quote, ‘‘The link by which they are connected is of a higher-and im- 
material nature; and their connection is to be sought in the view of the Creator 
himself, whose aim in forming the Earth, in allowing it to undergo the successive 
changes which geology has pointed out, and creating successively all the different 
types of animals which have passed away, was to introduce man upon the surface 
of the globe. Man is the end toward which all animal creation has tended, from. 
the first appearance of the first Palzeozic fishes.” 


ECCENTRICITY AND IDIOSYNCRASY.! 
WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, M. D. 


Eccentricity.—Persons whose minds deviate in some one or more notable 
respects from the ordinary standard, but yet whose mental processes are not di- 
rectly at variance with that standard, are said to be eccentric. Eccentricity is: 
generally inherent in the individual, or is gradually developed in him from the 
operation of unrecognized causes as he advances in years. If an original condi- 
tion, it may be shown from a very early period of life, his plays, even, being 
different from those of other children of his age. Doubtless it then depends upom 
some peculiarity of brain structure, which, within the limits of the normal range, 
produces individuality of mental action. 

But eccentricity is not always an original condition, for, under certain cir- 
cumstances, it may be acquired. A person, for instance, meets with some cir- 
cumstance in his life which tends to weaken his confidence in human nature. He 
accordingly shuns mankind, by shutting himself up in his own house and refusing. 


1 An extract from a Treatise on Insanity shortly to be published by D. Appleton & Co. 


ECCENTRICITY AND I[DIOSYNCRASY. 417 


to have any intercourse with the inhabitants of the place in which heresides. In 
carrying out his purpose he proceeds to the most absurd extremes. He speaks 
to no one he meets, returns no salutations, and his relations with the tradesmen 
who supply his daily wants are conducted through gratings in the door of his 
dwelling. He dies, and the wilkwhich he leaves behind him is found to devote 
his entire property for the founding of a hospital for sick and ownerless dogs, 
*‘the most faithful creatures I have ever met, and the only ones in which I have 
any confidence.” 

Such a man is not insane. There is a rational motive for his conduct—one 
which many of us have experienced, and which has, perhaps, prompted us to act. 
in a similar manner, if not to the same extent. 

Another is engaged in vast mercantile transactions, requiring the most thor- 
ough exercise of the best faculties of the mind. He studies the markets of the 
world, and buys and sells with uniform shrewdness and success. In all the rela- 
tions of life he conducts himself with the utmost propriety and consideration for 
the rights and feelings of others. ‘The most complete study of his character and 
acts fails to show the existence of the slightest defect in his mental processes. 
He goes to church regularly every Sunday, but has never been regarded as a par- 
ticularly religious man. Nevertheless, he has one peculiarity. He is a collector 
of Bibles, and has several thousand of all sizes and styles, and in many languages. 
If he hears of a Bible, in any part of the world, different in any respect from 
those he owns, he at once endeavors to obtain it, no matter how difficult the un- 
dertaking, or how much it may cost. Except in the matter of Bibles he is dis- 
posed to be somewhat penurious—although his estate is large—and has been 
known to refuse to have a salad for his dinner on account of the high price of 
good olive-oil. He makes his will, and dies, and then it is found that his whole 
property is left in trust to be employed in the maintenance of his library of Bibles, 
in purchasing others which may become known to the trustees, and in printing 
one copy, for his library, of the book in any language in which it does not already 
exist. A letter which is addressed to his trustees informs them that, when he was- 
a boy, a Bible which he had in the breast-pocket of his coat preserved his life by 
stopping a bullet which another boy had accidentally discharged from a pistol, 
and that he then he had resolved to make the honoring of the Bible the duty of | 
his whole life. 

Neither of these persons can be regarded as insane. Both were the subjects 
of acquired eccentricity, which, in all likelihood, would have ensued in some 
other form, from some other circumstance acting upon brains naturally predis- 
posed to be thus affected. The brain is the soil upon which impressions act dif- 
ferently, according to its character, just as, with the sower casting his seed wheat 
upon different fields, some springs up into a luxuriant crop, some grows sparsely, 
and some, again, takes no root, but rots where it falls. Possibly, if these individ- 
uals had lived a little longer, they might have passed the borderline which sepa- 
rates mental soundness from mental unsoundness ; but certainly, up to the period. 
of their deaths, both would have been pronounced sane by all competent laymen 


AT8 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


and alienists with whom they might have been brought into contact; and the 
contest of their wills, by any heirs-at-law, would assuredly have been a fruitless 
andertaking. 

They chose to have certain ends in view, and to provide the means for the 
accomplishment of those ends. ‘There were no delusions, no emotional disturb- 
ance, no hallucinations or illusions, and the will was normally exercised to the 
extent necessary to secure the objects of their lives. At any time they had it in 
their power to alter their purposes, and in that fact we have an essential point of 
difference between eccentricity and insanity. We may regard their conduct as 
singular, because they made an unusual disposition of their property; but it was 
no more irrational than if the one had left his estate to the ‘‘ Society for the Pre- 
vention of Cruelty to Animals,’”’ and the other had devoted his to sending mis- 
‘sionaries to Central Africa. 

Two distinct forms of eccentricity are recognizable. In the one, the indi- 
vidual sets himself up above the level of the rest of the world, and marking out 
for himself a line of conduct, adheres to it with an astonishing degree of tenacity. 
For him the opinions of mankind in general are of no consequence. He isa law 
unto himself; what he says and does is said and done, not for the purpose of at- 
tracting attention or for obtaining notoriety, but because it is pleasing to himself. 
He does not mean to be singular or original, but he is nevertheless, both. For 
every man is singular and original whose conduct, within the limits of reason and» 
intelligence, differs from that of his fellow-men. He endeavors to carry out cer- 
tain ideas which seem to him to have been overlooked by society to its great dis- 
advantage. Society usually thinks different; but if the promulgator is endowed 
-with sufficient force of character, it generally happens that, eventually, either 
wholly or in part, his views prevail. All great reformers are eccentrics of this 
kind. They are contending for their doctrines, not for themselves. And they 
are not apt to become insane, though sometimes they do. 

The subjects of the other form occupy a lower level! ‘They affect singulari- 
ty for the purpose of attracting attention to themselves, and thus obtaining the 
notoriety which they crave with every breath they inhale. They dress different- 
ly from other people, wearing enormous shirt-collars, or peculiar hats, or oddly 
cut coats of unusual colors, or indulging in some other similar whimsicality of an 
unimportant character, in the expectation that they will thereby attract the atten- 
tion or excite the comments of those they meet. 

Or they build houses upon an idea perhaps correct enough in itself, as, for 
instance, the securing of proper ventilation; but in carrying it out they show such 
defective judgment that the complete integrity of the intellect may, perhaps, be 
a matter of question. Thus, one gentleman of my acquaintance, believing that 
fireplaces were the best ventilators, put four of these openings into every room 
of his house. ‘This, however, was one of the smallest of his eccentricities. He 
‘wore a ventilated hat, his clothing was pierced with holes, as were even his shoes ; 
and no one could be in his company five minutes without having his attention 
directed to these provisions for securing health. 


ECCENTRICITY AND IDIOSYNCRASY. 479 


In addition to these advanced notions on the subject of ventilation, he had 
others equally singular in regard to the arrangement of the furniture in his dwell- 
ing and the care that was to be taken of it. Thus, there was one room called 
the ‘‘apostles’ room.’’ It contained a table that represented Christ, and twelve 
chairs, which were placed around it and typified the twelve apostles; one chair, 
that stood for Judas Iscariot, was covered with black crape. The floor of this 
room was very highly polished, and no one was allowed to enter it without slip- 
ping his shod feet into cloth slippers that were placed at the door ready for use. 
He had a library, tolerably large but of little value, and every book in it which 
contained Judas’s name was bound in black, and black lines were drawn around 
the name wherever it occurred. Such eccentricity as this is not far removed 
from insanity, and is liable at any time, from some cause a little out of the com- 
mon way, to pass over the line. 

Thus, a lady had since her childhood shown a singularity of conduct as re- 
garded her table furniture, which she would have. of no other material than cop- 
per. She carried this fancy to such an extent that even the knives and forks were 
-of copper. People laughed at her, and tried to reason her out of her whim, but 

‘in vain. She was in her element as soon as attention was directed to her fancy 
and arguments against it were addressed to her. She liked nothing better than ° 
to be afforded a full opportunity to discuss with any one the manifold advantages 
which copper possessed as a material to be used in the manufacture of every 
article of table ware. In no other respect was there any evidence of mental 
aberration. She was intelligent, by no means excitable, and in the enjoyment of 
excellent health. She had, moreover, a decided talent for music, and had writ- 
ten several passably good stories for a young ladies’ magazine. An uncle had, 
however, died insane. 

A circumstance, trifling in itself, but one, as it afterward resulted, of great 
importance to her, started in her a new train of thought, and excited emotions 
which she could not control. She read in a morning paper that a Mr. Kopper- 
mann had arrived at one of the hotels, and she announced her determination to 
call upon him, in order, as she said, to ascertain the origin of his name. Her 
friends endeavored to dissuade her, but without avail. She went to the hotel, and 
was told that he had just left for Chicago. Without returning to her home, she 
bought a railway ticket for Chicago, and actually started on the next train for 
that city. The telegraph, however, overtook her, and she was brought back 
from Rochester raving of her love for a man she had never seen, and whose 
name alone had been associated in her mind with her fancy for copper table 
furniture. She died of acute mania within a month. In this case erotic tenden- 
cies, which had never been observed in her before, seemed to have been excited 
by some very indirect and complicated mental process, and these in their tufn 
developed into general derangement of the mind. 

In another case, a young man, a clerk in a city bank, had for several years 
exhibited peculiarities in the keeping of his books. He was exceedingly exact in 
his accounts, but after the bank was closed always remained several hours, dur- 


480 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


ing ich he ornamented each page of his day’s work with arabesques in differ— 
ent colored inks. He was very vain of this accomplishment, and was constantly 
in the habit of calling attention to the manner in which, as he supposed, he had 
beautified what would otherwise have been positively ugly. His fellow-clerks. 
amused themselves at his expense, but his superior officers, knowing his value, 
never interfered with him in his amusement. Gradually, however, he conceived 
the idea that they were displeased with him, and at last the notion became so 
firmly rooted in his mind that he resigned his position, notwithstanding the pro- 
testations of the directors that his idea was erroneous. Delusions of various oth- 
er kinds supervened, and he passed into a condition of chronic insanity, in which 
he still remains. In most of the cases occurring under this head the intellectual 
powers are not of a high order, though there may sometimes be a notable devel- 
opment of some talent, or even a great power for acquiring learning. Painters, 
sculptors, musicians, mathematicians, poets, and men of letters generally, not 
infrequently exhibit eccentricities of dress, conduct, manner, or ideas, which not. 
only merely add to their notoriety, but often make them either the laughing-stocks. 
of their fellow men or objects of fear or disgust to all who are brought into con- 
tact with them. 


IpIosyNCRASY.—By idiosyncrasy we understand a peculiarity of constitution 
by which an individual is affected by external agents in a manner different from 
mankind in general. Thus, some persons cannot eat strawberries without a kind 
of urticaria appearing over the body; others are similarly affected by eating the 
striped bass; others again, faint at the odor of certain flowers, or at the sight of 
blood; and some are attacked with cholera-morbus after eating shell-fish—as 
crabs, lobsters, clams, or mussels. Many other instances might be advanced, 
some of them a very curious character. These several conditions are called 
idiosyncrasies. 

Begin, ? who defines idiosyncrasy as the predominance of an organ, a viscus, 
or a system of organs, has hardly, I think fairly grasped the subject, though his. 
definition has influenced many French writers on the question. It is something 
more than this—something inherent in the organization of the individual, of 
which we only see the manifestation when the proper cause is set in action. We 
cannot attempt to explain why one person should be severely mercurialized by 
one grain of blue mass, and another take daily ten times that quantity for a week 
without the least sign of the peculiar action of mercury being produced. We 
only know that such is the fact; and were we to search for the reason, with all 
the appliances which modern science could bring to our aid, we should be entire- 
ly unsuccessful. According to Begin’s idea, we should expect to see some re- 
m&rkable development of the absorbent system in the one case, with slight de- 
. velopment in the other; but, even were such the case, it would not explain the 
phenomena, for, when ten grains of the preparation in question are taken daily, 
scarcely a day elapses before mercury can be detected in the secretions, and yet 


2 “‘ Physiologie Pathologique,’’ Paris, 1828, t. i., p. 44. 


ECCENTRICITY AND IDIOSYNCRASY. _ 481 


hydrargyriasis is not produced; while when one grain is taken, and this condi- 
tion follows, the most delicate chemical examination fails to discover mercury in 
any of the fluids or tissues of the body. : 

Begin’s definition scarcely separates idiosyncrasy from temperament, where- 
as, according to what would appear to be sound reasoning, based upon an en- 
larged idea of the physiology of the subject, a very material difference exists. 

Idiosyncracies are often hereditary and often acquired. Two or more may 
exist in one person. Thus, there may be an idiosyncrasy connected with the 
digestive system, another with the circulatory system, another with the nervous 
system, and so on. 

An idiosyncrasy may be of such a character as altogether to prevent an indi- 
vidual following a particular occupation. Thus, a person who faints at the sight 
of blood cannot be a surgeon; another, who is seized with nausea and vomiting 
when in the presence of insane persons, cannot be a superintendent of a lunatic 
asylum—not, at least, if he ever expects to see his patients. Idiosyncrasies may, 
however, be overcome, especially those of a mental character. 

Millingen® cites the case of a man who fell into convulsions whenever he 
saw a spider. A waxen one was made, which equally terrified him. When he 
recovered, his error was pointed out to him. ‘The wax figure was put into his 
hand without causing dread, and shortly the living insect no longer disturbed 
him, 

I knew a gentleman who could not eat soft crabs without experiencing an 
attack of diarrhea. Ashe was exceedingly fond of them, he persevered in eating 
them, and finally, after a long struggle, succeeded in conquering the trouble. 

Individuals with idiosyncrasies soon find out their peculiarities, and are en- 
abled to guard against any injurious result to which they would be subjected but 
for the teachings of experierice. 

Idiosyncrasies may be temporary only—that is, due to an existing condition 
of the organism, which, whether natural or morbid, is of a transitory character. 
Such, for instance, are those due to dentition, the commencement or the cessa- 
tion of the menstrual function, pregnancy, etc. These are frequently of a seri- 
ous character, and require careful watching, especially as they may lead to de- 
rangement of the mind. Thus, a lady, Mrs. X, was at one time under my pro- 
fessional care, who, at the beginning of first pregnancy, acquired an overpower~ 
ing aversion to a half breed Indian woman who was employed in the house as a 
servant. Whenever this woman came near her she was at once seized with vio- 
lent trembling, which ended in a few minutes with vomiting and great mental 
and physical prostration, lasting several hours. Her husband would have sent 
the woman away, but Mrs. X insisted on her remaining, as she was a good ser- 
vant, in order that she might overcome what she regarded as an unreasonable 
prejudice. ‘The effort was, however, too much for her, for upon one occasion 
when the woman entered Mrs. X’s apartment rather unexpectedly, the latter be- 
came greatly excited, and jumping from an open window in her fright, broke her 


3 “ Curiosities of Medical Experience,’”’ London, 1837, vol. ii, p. 246. 


482 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


arm, and otherwise injured herself so severely that she was for several weeks: 
confined to her bed. During this period, and for some time afterward, she was. 
almost constantly subject to hallucinations, in which the Indian woman played a 
prominent part. Even after her recovery the mere thought of the woman would 
sometimes bring on a paroxysm of trembling, and it was not till after her confine- 
ment that the antipathy disappeared. 

Millingen* remarks that certain antipathies, which in reality are idiosyncra- 
sies, appear to depend upon peculiarities of the senses. Rather, however, they 
are due to peculiarities of the ideational and emotional centres. The organ of 
sense, in any one case, shows no evidence of disorder; neither does the percep- 
tive ganglion, which simply takes cognizance of the image brought to it. It is. 
higher up that the idiosyncrasy has its seat. In this way we are to explain the 
following cases collected by Millingen : e 


‘¢ Amatus Lusitanus relates the case of a monk who fainted when he beheld 
a rose, and never quited his cell when that flower was blooming. Scaliger men- 
tions one of his relatives who experienced a similar horror when seeing a lily. 
Zimmermann tells us of a lady who could not endure the feeling of silk and satin, 
and shuddered when touching the velvety skin of a peach. Boyle records the 
case of a man who felt a natural abhorrence to honey; without his knowledge 
some honey was introduced in a plaster applied to his foot, and the accidents 
that resulted compelled his attendants to withdraw it. A young man was known 
to faint whenever he heard the servant sweeping. Hippocrates mentions one 
Nicanor, who swooned whenever he heard a flute; even Shakespeare has alluded 
to the effects of the bagpipes.. Julia, daughter of Frederick, King of Naples, 
could not taste meat without serious accidents. Boyle fainted when he heard the 
splashing of water; Scaliger turned pale at the sight of water-cresses; Erasmus: 
experienced febrile symptoms when smelling fish; the Duke d’Epernon swooned 
on beholding a leveret, although a hare did not produce the same effect; Tycho 
Brahe fainted at the sight of a fox; Henry III, of France, at that of a cat; and 
Marshal d’Albret at a pig. The horror that whole families entertain of cheese is 
generally known.” 


He also cites the case of a clergyman who fainted whenever a certain verse 
in Jeremiah was read, and of another who experienced an alarming vertigo and 
dizziness whenever a great height or dizzy precipice was described. Insuchinstances 
the power of association of ideas is probably the most influential agent in bring- 
ing about the climax. There is an obvious relation between the warnings given 
by the prophet in one case, and the well-known sensation produced by looking 
down from a great height in the other, and the effects which followed. 

Our dislikes to certain individuals are often of the nature of idiosyncrasies,. 
which we cannot explain. Martial says: 


4 “ Curiosities of Medical Experience,’’ London, 1837, vol. ii, p. 246. 


GENERAL MINING NEWS OF COLORADO, 483. 


“‘Non amo te, Sabidi, nec possum dicere quare; 
Hoc tantum possum dicere, non amo te;” 


or, in our English version: 


‘« T do not like you, Doctor Fell, 
The reason why I can not tell; 
But this I know and that full well— 
I do not like you, Doctor Fell.” 


‘Some conditions often called idiosyncrasies appear to be, and doubtless are, 
due to disordered intellect. But they should not be confounded with those 
which are inherent in the individual and real in character. Thus, they are fre- 
quently merely imaginary, there being no foundation for them except in the per- 
verted mind of the subject; at other times they are induced by a morbid attention 
being directed continually to some one or more organs or functions. The pro= 
tean forms under which hypochondria appears, and the still more varied mani- 
festations of hysteria, are rather due to the reaction ensuing between mental dis- 
order on the one part and functional disorder on the other, than to that quasi 
normal peculiarity of organization recognized as idiosyncrasy. 

Thus, upon one occasion I was consulted in the case of a lady who it was 
said had an idiosyncrasy that prevented her drinking water. Every time she took 
the smallest quantity of this liquid into her stomach it was at once rejected, with - 
many evident signs of nausea and pain. ‘The patient was strongly hysterical, 
and I soon made up my mind that either the case was one of simple hysterical 
yomiting, or that the alleged inability was assumed. The latter turned out to be 
the truth. I found that she drank in private all the water she wanted, and that 
what she drank publicly she threw up by tickling the fauces with her finger-nail 
when no one was looking. 

The idiosyncrasies of individuals are not matters for ridicule, however ab- 
surd they may appear to be. On the contrary, they deserve, and should receive, 
the careful consideration of the physician, for much is to be learned from them, 
both in preventing and in treating diseases. In psychiatrical medicine they are 
especially to be inquired for. It is not safe to disregard them, as they may influ- 
ence materially the character of mental derangement, and may be brought in as 
efficient agents in the treatment.—/V. Y. Medical Journal. 


MINING AND METALLURGY. 


GENERAL MINING NEWS OF COLORADO. 


The South Pueblo Hvening News makes the following ‘comparison between 
Pueblo and Denver as mineral shipping centers: In 1881, there was shipped 
-from Denver gold and silver bullion, which was supplied from the various miner- 


484 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


al bearing districts, as follows: Argo smelting works, $2,500,000; Gilpin and 
‘Clear Creek Counties, $2,000,000; Boulder County, $1,000,000; Park County, 
‘$1,500,000; total, $7,000,000. The above does not include lead and copper 
bullion. In 1881, there was shipped east from the Pueblos, via the Atchison, 
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad, gold and silver bullion, supplied from the districts 
as follows: Lake County, $12,000,000; Gunnison, $1,000,000; San Juan, $3,- ~ 
000,000; total $16,000,000. This does not include the gold production of Sum- 
* mit County, which at the present time has reached $1,000,000 a month, or $12,- 
000,000 a year, every ounce of which goes east via the Pueblos, and, should we 
add this tothe figures of last year’s shipment, we have a grand total of $28,000,000 
of bullion (gold and silver) going east via the Pueblos yearly, while Denver can 
boast of but one-quarter of that amount. To these figures may be added also at 
least three millions, which come to the Pueblo smelters from Southern Colorado, 
New Mexico, and Arizona, and are there converted into bullion and shipped 
east. 

GRANT SMELTER.—The completion of the Grant Lead Smelting Works at Den- 
ver is near at hand. The main building, 240x100 feet, isall completed. In itare 
eight furnaces, entirely finished, and which are calculated to average a total ca- 
pacity of 300 tons aday. Adjoining the building on the west is the engine-house, 
50 x roo feet, also nearly finished, and containing a 200 horse-power engine, a 

‘large boiler, and three mammoth blowers, besides a full equipment of pumps, 
machinery for generating electricity for lighting the establishment, etc. The 
stack connecting with the dust-chambers will have a height of 165 feet. The re- 
ceipt of ore has already begun, and two thousand tons will be on hand by the rst 
December, when it is expected the works will begin operations. 


LAKE COUNTY. 


The Democrat gives Leadville’s bullion product for the month of August as 
follows: ‘Three thousand six hundred and seventy tons of lead are reported to 
have been produced and shipped by the Leadville smelters during the month of 
August. This shipment contained 522,266 ounces of silver and 1,600 ounces of 
gold. The total value of this shipment was within a few thousand dollars of 
reaching a round million. This, of course, does not include the production of 
the stamp mills and the ores shipped by ore-buyers and the Iron Silver and Rob- 
ert E. Lee mines to Pueblo, Golden and other points. 

GARDEN City Lopr.—Among the new discoveries of ore in paying quan- 
tities, made during the past week, is that. of this lode. This property is situated 
in California Gulch, at the foot of Iron Hill. A year or two ago, a shaft was 
‘sunk on this property, to a depth of about 150 feet,- without disclosing ore in any 
quantity. Recently the property was leased and active operations were com- 
menced. Ata depth of seventy feet, a drift was run to the southward, and a 
fair body of ore was encountered. Drifts were then run in different directions, 
all disclosing evidently the same ore-deposit. A level now driven to the east- 
ward shows the ore for a distance of twenty feet, having a thickness of about 


GENERAL MINING NEWS OF COLORADO, 485 


thirty inches. Assays of the samples give twenty-nine ounces in silver and sixty- 
two per cent in lead, and nineteen ounces silver and twenty-nine per cent in 
lead. The former is a fine gray lead carbonate, while the latter is a hard car- 
bonate ore. 

CHRYSOLITE.—The manager, Mr. N. R. Clark, has shipped several car-loads 
of low-grade ore to Denver, in order to give the concentrating machines now on 
exhibition there a practical test on this class of mineral. The ore which it is de- 
sired to concentrate is the low-grade oxidized iron of Fryer Hill, as well as min- 
eral carrying small percentages of lead carbonates in addition to a minimum quan- 
tity of silver. The latter mineral is about equally divided between sulphurets 
and chlorides of silver, making it a very difficult production to save and concen- 
trate by any machine operated on the specific gravity principle, especially as the 
chlorides almost invariably exist in the low-grade ores in small, thin flakes. The 
manager stated that if machines were found that would do the work required, the 
Chrysolite Company would expend a limited amount of its surplus funds in put- 
ting in concentrating works. Suitabie arrangements can be made with Messrs. 
Cummings & Finn for the old structure formerly inclosing the Raymond & Mc- 
Kay smelter, and the Chrysolite Company already possesses sufficient motive 
power to run such works. 

MatTcuiess.—The new strike recently made was a short distance north of 
the No. 3 shaft, where there is quite an extensive tract of territory yet to be ex- 
plored. The mineral is a silicious dark sand and iron, filled and coated with 
chloride and horn-silver. Up to the latest reports, the ore-body had opened up 
to thirty inches in thickness, and promises to shew to much better advantage 
still, with a few days’ additional work. No assays have yet been made. 

Rogpert E. LEe.—Twenty tons of ore are daily shipped to the Argo smelt- 
ing works, averaging about 300 ounces to the ton. There are now on the dumps 
of the mine from 3000 to 4000 tons of 30 to 4o-ounce dry ore, which eventually 
will be shipped to the Leadville stamp-mills, as it is unsuited for smelting on ac- 
count of the entire absence of lead and the great quantities of silica which it con- 
tains. 

' SHrztps Ming AND Mi_t.—Work has been begun under the direction of 
Col. A. V. Bohn, the former superintendent. Some ore is taken from the upper 
workings, but in the lower levels nothing has as yet been accomplished, and the 
the water still covers the two drifts, extending on the vein, from the incline shaft, 
and some distance below the main tunnel or adit. The mill has been running 
again for a week and has ample work before it to insure its steady employment 
continually. It is now reducing the ores from the Shields, Welsh, Soper, and 
other mines in that section, all of which are showing increased value. 


PITKIN COUNTY. 


The mills and mines in operation in the Gold Belt show that there is great . 
activity in this district. Two ten-stamp mills and one twenty-stamp mill are run- 
ning day and night. 

Vi—31 


‘ 


486 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


The Cummings lode, says the Aspen Sw, has just had a mill-run, at Argo, 
of 48 pounds of ore, which returned 220 ounces of silver and 12 ounces of gold 
to the ton, netting $49.51 for the 48 pounds of ore. 

A mill for the treatment of low-grade refractory silver ores is about complet- 
ed at Pitkin by the Michigan & Colorado Mining Company, of that place, and 
will be ready to start shortly. 

BrittLeE SiLvER.—Active work has again begun at the mine. 

STREB CONSOLIDATED.—The Carbonate Chronicle says that this Company has 
completed the assessment work on all its properties on French Mountain, and 
developed some of the claims quite extensively. The J. J. Streb, Colorow, and 
Silver Spur are all said to show strong ore-bodies ranging in value from 44 to 432 
ounces of silver per ton. ‘The vein was struck near the surface, and in doing 
assessment work widened from one inch toa foot, Parties are figuring for a 
lease of some of this Company’s mines, and propose to work them with a large 
force through the winter. 


SAN JUAN COUNTY. 


The Comstock Sampling-Works have been crowded ever since they began 
running, and we learn enough ore has been contracted for to keep them—in con- 
nection with the North Star ore—busy running pretty nearly all winter. A build- 
ing for a concentrator which will be in running order early next spring is now 
going up. 

Rep MountTaiIn.—The excitement over the discoveries of rich mineral on 
Red Mountain, says the San Juan Hera/d, increases. Notwithstanding the re- 
cent unusually inclement weather, the country in that vicinity is literally covered 
with prospectors.— Engineer.ng and Mining Journal. 


THE EXTRACTION OF THE PRECIOUS METALS FROM ORES BY 
ELECTROLYSIS.—ConcLuDeEb. 


ELECTROLYSIS OF COMPLEX OrEs.—The same process is equally applicable 
to the extraction of the metals contained in the multiple sulphurets. Such sul- 
phurets are in reality merely combinations of single sulphides combined or mixed 
together ; consequently the decomposition of such a multiple ore in the electroly- 
tic bath, instead of yielding merely a single metal to the acid which is set free, 
precipi.ates the precious metals which the ore. contains. 

Thus, if we place at the anode in an electrolytic trough an ore composed of 
a multiple sulphuret and make use of a solution of lead nitrate as the electrolytic 
liquid and let the current act moderately, it will happen that whilst the lead of 
the electrolytic salt is precipitated at the cathode the metals of the ore placed at 
the anode will enter into solution simultaneously just in proportion as the acid of 
the bath is set free, and will ultimately, if easily precipitable, like lead, silver, 
copper, etc., be thrown down together at the cathode. 


HAIL AND HAILSTONES, | 487 


Meanwhile the sulphur, the silica, and other insoluble matter in the gangue 
will be deposited at the anode. 

Suppose that we operate upon a multiple argentiferous sulphide of lead, the 
ore of which contains also iron, copper, and zinc. It may happen that under 
the action of an electric current sufficiently energetic the iron and zinc dissolve 
as rapidly as the other metals, but are not as easily precipitated. In this case 
the electrolytic solution will become gradually saturated with zinc and iron. It 
is then advisable to regulate the galvanic current so that the lead, silver, gold, 
and copper may be precipitated alone upon the cathode, keeping the zinc dis- 
solved in the state of zinc nitrate. 

As the bath becomes saturated with zinc nitrate, the iron nitrate yields the 
precedence, and its base falls to the bottom of the bath in the state of ferric 
oxide. 

Finally, when the bath is almost entirely saturated with zinc nitrate, which 
is kept in a state non-precipitable by regulating the current accordingly, this solu- 
tion of zinc is syphoned off for separate treatment. 

The opportunity is taken to remove the metals, copper, lead, silver, and 
gold, which have been thrown down upon the cathode in the metallic state. The 
ferric oxide at the bottom of the bath is withdrawn separately, and also the su]- 
phur and the silica found at the anode. 

The method of ulterior purification of the sulphur is given above. 

The metallic zinc contained in the liquid syphoned off may then be precipi- 
tated by a more powerful current. If it is desired to collect the zinc in the state 
of oxide it must be precipitated not electrolytically but by means of chemical re- 
actions. 

This separate zinc-bath is treated first with a little zinc oxide, which throws 
down any iron present in the state of insoluble oxide. Then, if needful, the 
liquid is placed in a precipitation bath with a zinc plate for anode. A feeble 
electric current will throw down upon this cathode all the lead, copper, or silver 
which the bath may retain, leaving merely pure zinc nitrate.—Zes Mondes. 


METEOROLOGY. 


HAIL AND HAILSTONES. 
FRANCIS E. NIPHER. 


In his work on Tornadoes and Water-spouts Mr. Ferrel, of *the U. S. Coast 
Survey, has explained the formation of hailstones in an exceedingly satisfactory 
manner. According to Mr. Ferrel, the birth-place of hailstones.is in the vortex 
of the tornado. The tornado is the result of an unstable condition of the air due 


488 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


to differences of temperature. If over a region of country the air be abnormally 
hot, this region then being surrounded by cooler air, the hot air will begin to rise. 
The condition of equilibrium may be reached without the formation of a whirl, 
but if the heated region is large, a whirl will be very likely to form at some point, 
and the hot air will pour up through the vortex formed. The whirl may be the 
result of the meeting of currents of air, and when thus produced may rotate eith- 
er with or opposed to the motion of the hands of a watch. In the former case, 
in the northern hemisphere, the whirl will gradually cease without becoming de- 
structive, as the deflection of all moving bodies to the right in the northern hem- 
isphere (by a force due to the earth’s rotation) causes the wind to rush in more 
and more nearly radially. 

The writer has seen one well-marked case of this kind. If the whirl is start- 
ed in the reverse direction, and the unstable conditions are sufficiently wide- 
spread, the tornado will result. In the latter case the deflection of moving bodies 
to the right in the northern hemisphere will develop the whirl. As the air rises. 
in the vortex, it expands, and cools. Its moisture is condensed to rain and snow. 
This snow is carried upward and outward, and finally falls down into the lower 
winds which feed into the vortex, where it is again carried up, passing first into 
a region where water is condensed upon it, which again freezes at higher alti- 
tudes. This may be repeated many times for some of the hailstones, and they 
thus acquire very large dimensions. Occasionally stones will jostle against each 
other and freeze together, forming large masses. ‘The action of the whirl throws 
the stones into rotation either around the shorter axis of the hailstone, or around 
the centre of the whirl. In general both rotations will exist at the same time, so 
that Ferrel’s explanation fully accounts for the discoidal or lens-like forms so 
common in hailstones, and it also accounts for the fact that hail-storms run in 
narrow belts. 

In the throat of the vortex there may be a large accumulation of water, 
held up by the ascending currents. The amount of water thus held will depend 
upon the humidity of the air. It may be very large indeed, and the dispersion 
of the vortex gives rise to the well-known ‘‘cloud-bursts,” where the water has 
been known to pour down in streams, washing holes several feet in depth into 
the soil. Mr. Ferrel’s paper is largely expressed in mathematical language and 
seems to be somewhat unfamiliar to the general public, but it is certain that it 
explains fully all the phenomena of the tornado and the formation of hail, and is 
not open to any objection. He proves beyond all question that the effect of un- 
equal temperatures is sufficient to account for the results, and this cannot be said 
of any explanation before offered. 


WaAsHINGTON UNIVERSITY, November 23, 1882. 


THE KANSAS WEATHER SERVICE, 


489 


REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 
WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 


BY PROF. J. T. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 


Highest barometer during month, 29.80 on the znd. Lowest barometer 


during month, 28.41 on the 30th. 
Highest ene ratte during month, 78° on the 30th. 


during month, 14° on the 15th. 


Highest velocity of wind, 45 miles per hour. 


-g206 miles. | 
The usual summary by decades is given below. 


——————— 


“TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. 
MIN, AND Max. AVERAGES. 


Max. 


Range 


7a Bo WG Bl G6 B64 bio one oi 


7 a.m, . 


2) Ja itn 


an Ere Sieh jo) Fle) ef tie) fveh erie fel va 


OW OF 8 BOe BOP ORONO § SOMO 2 AOSD SS GPC 


wi el etprepier seme mnie? relate: | ta val live 


Oct. 20th 
to 3Ist. 


38.8 
68.2 
53-5 
29.4 


Novy. Ist 
to 10th. 


Lowest temperature 


Nov. roth 
to 20th. 


24.0 
53-4 
38.7 
29.4 


Total travel during month 


490 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ANNUAL GROWTH OF TREES. 
ING Ih, GUID, Mi, 1D, 


Are the concentric rings of a tree a reliable record of itsage in years? Such 
has been the conception—in fact, the undisputed knowledge—of the world, for 
all time past. I have no recollection of ever having seen or heard the authority 
of this record disputed till Desire Charnay, in his ‘‘ Ruins of Central America,” 
said, when speaking of the age of the ruins as proved by such a record: ‘‘Un- 
fortunately for the argument, it is altogether fallacious and proves nothing, I 
have put the evidence to a test. On examining a slice of wood of a shrub that I 
knew as a fact was only eighteen months old, I found that it had eighteen con- 
centric rings. I thought it was an anomaly, but, in order to convince myself I 
experimented upon trees of all kinds and sizes, and invariably found the like result. 
produced in very nearly like proportions.’’} 

M. Charnay’s statement was, in my estimation, rather loose, and lacking in: 
“the proof of his absolute knowledge of the age of the trees examined; and again, 
‘so far as applicable to the case, was only so in a tropical climate, where the con- 
ditions were entirely different from those surrounding us in a higher latitude, and 
altogether raised but little doubt on the subject. 

In April of 1871 I planted a quantity of the seed of the common red maple 
(Acer rubrum). In transplanting, in 1873, they were placed too near each other, 
and it has become necessary to cut a part of them out. While cutting, I noticed 
that the concentric rings were very distinct, and it reminded me of M. Charnay’s. 
statement. I took sections from the butt-end of each tree (four of them) and 
dressed the ends off at an angle of some 35° with the line of the body, thus. 
largely. increasing the exposure of each ring, and then counted them. 

The situation, exposure, and condition of these four trees were, so far as I 
could see, identical. I had personal and positive knowledge that they had each 
twelve years’ growth upon them, and I could count on each of the different sec- 
tions from thirty-five to forty concentric rings. True, I could select twelve more 
distinct ones between which fainter and narrower, or sub-rings, appeared. Nine 
of these apparently annual rings on one section were peculiarly distinct, much 
more so than any of the sub-rings; yet, of the remaining, it was difficult to decide 
which were annual and which were not. 

The thickness of these annual rings varied from two and one-half millimetres. 
to twenty-eight. This measure, of course, gave more than double the real thick- 
ness ; but was preferable to a right-angled measure, as it gave better facilities for 
exactness, and yet preserved the proportion between the several rings unchanged.. 

Now, to ascertain what relation or connection there might be between the 
meteorology of the several seasons and the growth made during the same, I se- 


1 ‘‘ North American Review,” September, 1881, p. 401. 


ANNUAL GROWTH OF TREES. 


MARCH. APRIL. MAY. 
ile x Slam u lee 8 
A JESIES| SS |] © (25/25) 8 | & JESIES) SE] S 
a UE S| |e ep et areca et WE Se al ce en 
Sizses| £|] 2 |RERe8) §| € |Rses) & | 2 
Deg |Deg| Deg. | In. ||Deg/Deg| Deg. | In. ||/Deg|Deg| Deg. | In. 
iS leooonolloageee 42:80 OIG) Hieooge) Mloansen 59°60 | 1°80 ||...-..].....- 66:80 | 2:40 
1¢33772.llllsooodol|oneon0 BEI) NIAC) Ill coaocollosceoe AG/STO |} 24O |Iocoosol|eaceoe 57°10] 4:40 
1873|| 74 | —4] 3637] -70 |) 78 | 26 | 45-22 | 15-90 || 89 | 41 | 59-11 | 19 oo 
1874|| 60 7] 32°15 | 2°51 || 88 | 12 | 44°65 | 4:09 |) 92 | 38 | 67-48] 3:15 
1875|| 72 | —3/ 29°11 | 3°38 || 84 | 20 | 44°81] 4:62 || 96 | 25 | 71-00] 3:98 
1876|| 60 | —4] 27°92 | 209 || 83 | 30 | 51:12] 5°16 || 88 | 35 | 63-73] 3:10 
1877|| 75 ©} 32°46) I-01 || 79 | 22 | 49°27| 5:88 || 84 | 35 | 59:06] 7°57 
1878) 81 | 19/ 46°74} 3°09 || 83 | 31 | 53.95] 4°01 || 81 | 32 | 57-49] 5°54 
1879)| 85 1/ 40°78 | 2-15 |} 80 | 12 | 52-32 | 2-17 || 91 | 34 | 65°84] 5-94 
1880}|| 82 |—16) 36:42 °56 || 93 | 28 | 52°26 "74 || 94 | 42 | 69-41 | 5°58 
1881|| 58 1] 26-63] 1°31 /| 81 | 4 | 43:70] 4:09 |) 85 | 39 | 67-03 | 6:57 
1882|| 80 2| 39°16 | Itt || 86 | 29 | 50°76! 3:92]! 82 | 34 | 54°85] 4:40 
JUNE. JULY. AUGUST. 
aes y Sila © = eee me 
See eee ae eee sess Ne SS ee 
Pjesssies | © Wes egleo | = ecleslss | 
SSeS Se ie ae Sl as el ee eye: | ie 
Sess) §| 8 fase] §| 2 iSses) §] g 
Deg|Deg| Deg-| In. ||Deg|Deg| Deg. | In. ||Deg|Deg| Deg. | In. 
MO7 Ti see coaiibeeeee WOKS) || 2378X8) MIconcue||ooonee 76:40 | 14°10 ])..... |...... 74:60] 3°30 
Rey aseaeellaeaane FRC | Z1°5XO Ill soonoc||ssa000 PSC MN GIP) HN cooooel| coco 74°53 90 
1873]| 94 | 60 | 75°08} 4°80)/ 96 | 59 | 75°54] 6-40 ||105 | 49 | 77-98] 1-00 
1874|| 94 | 44 | 74°31 | 18-02 |/113 | 55 | 82-35] I-10 jlr11 | 53 | 78-71! 1-40 
1875|| 95 | 43 | 71:20 | 13°58 || 97 | 57 | 74:13 | 6°72 || 86 | 51 | 69:68} 8-40 
1876|| 94 | 44 | 68-63 | 4°58 |) 95 | 54 | 75°71 | 7°44 || 92 | 51 | 74:18] 8-39 
1877|| 90 | 40 | 67°45 | 6°41 || 94 | 48 | 73°34] 2:20 || 94 | 52 | 71°75! 4°56 
1878|/ 86 | 44 | 66°39 | 9°64 || 94 | 55 | 76-91 | 11-61 || 95 | 52 | 75-27) 1°23 
1879]/ 90 | 41 | 70°51 | 5°05 || 94 | 56 | 75°84 | 3°10 ]| 94 | 50 | 73-71] 2-16 
1880] 92 | 45 | 71°80 | 1°57 || 93 | 51 1 75°19] 4°73 || 95 | 41 | 74:00] 5-42 
1881/| 96 | 50 | 73°32] 3°99 || 98 | 54 | 7645] 3°68 ||102 | 58 | 78-90 | 1-42 
1882/| 92 | 43 | 69°23 | 5°77 || 89 | 48 | 68-48 | 4:26 || 88*| 48 | 70:77 | 1-26 
* Only twenty days of August included. 
. Mean tem- : Growth of 
YEAR. perature of poeu ine! wood in 
six months. *| millimetres. 
Deg. Inches. 
LOW Tissescet seat 65 81 24°30 10 
S72 pee ane 55°57 20°70 eo) 
TSB deeaacors 61:00 46°99 12 
EO7A eRe 63°32 30°37 a] 
RS7S rece ees. 63°71 40°68 28 
1876. 60°33 30°76 8 
TS 77h ce 59°c8 27°72 7 
VS TSE ewe 66°33 35°12 4 
MOTB) sondoocsooas 63°18 20°57 3% 
VS SOrs ene. 61°47 18:70 8 
fete Ne poonob eco 61°03 21°04 3 
KOSZeecee eee 56 18 20°81 2 


491 


492 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


lected from my meteorological records the maximum, minimum, and mean tem- 
perature, and the rain-fall, of the six growing months of spring and summer of 
each of the twelve years of growth. These extracts I have tabulated, and have 
also appended to each season the thickness of the ring formed, as measured on 
the oblique cut previously described. 

An examination of this table shows a general relation of cause and effect be- 
tween high temperature and large rain-fall, and greater growth. But it falls very 
short of proving a general law of ‘‘so much heat and so much water during the 
growing season, to produce so much wood.’’ For example, compare the years 
1875 and 1878. The temperature of 1878 for the season is better than 4° in ex- 
cess of the season of 1875, and the rain-fall only a little over four inches less; and 
yet the growth of 1875 is seven ¢imes what it was in 1878. This almost unparal- 
leled growth of 1875—that is, as compared with the other years—cannot be ex- 
plained by the above general law. But I think the May and June record of that 
year throws light upon it. Wesee there a maximum heat in May of 96° (higher 
than I have ever known it in an observation and record of twenty-five years), 
and a mean temperature of the whole month, also unequalled, of 71°; and this 
great heat continued through the month of June, and no cold spells after the heat 
set in sufficient to check the growth. ‘Then, in connection with this heat the 
ground is well saturated with water when this heated term began (May 6th) by 
1°62 inch of rain on the 4th. From this on, to the 26th day June, 15 inches 
more of rain fell, so apportioned over the time as to keep the ground saturat- 
ed. This synchronous excess of heat and water evidently produced the abnormal 
growth. And probably, as this matter is further studied, it will be found that 
these agents, rightly proportioned, operating synchronously, produce these thicker 
rings; while as one or the other is in excess, or absent, the growth is checked, 
and thus has time to condense and harden, and form these sub-rings; and the 


more frequent these alternations, the greater the number of them.—/opular 
Science Monthly, Dec. 1882. 


COMO: 


r) 


SUPPOSED JURA-TRIAS OF THE FRONT RANGE OF COLORADO. 
JOHN K. HALLOWELL, DENVER, COLO. 


I feel that the actual existence of the Jura-Trias in Colorado is so questiona- 
ble, that after giving what authorities I have at hand, I desire to call attention to 
a fact or two; and also record a recent discovery in the sandstones of the St. 
Vrain, Colo., hoping it may lead to the further investigation, by those more able 


SUPPOSED JURA-TRIAS OF THE FRONT RANGE OF COLORADO, 493 


to deal with the uncertainty than I, and perhaps be the starting point of arriving 
at a definite enough knowledge to settle the matter. 

In -‘Hayden’s Geological Report of Colorado, 1876, p. 107,’’ in reviewing 
his labors of previous years, he says: ‘‘ All along the Front Range the Triassic 
“beds occupy prominent similar positions, until toward the south, they no ~ 
“‘longer appear; west of the Front Range they also occur, but not so continu- 
“ous as at the locality first mentioned. It appears that at but very few places 
““the Triassic waters could extend westward of the main axis of the Front Range, 
“but they found ingress at other points. In their lithological character the strata 
“‘of the Triassic formations are very constant; so thoroughly complete is this 
’““constancy that it is no exaggeration to say that the formation can readily be rec- 
“¢ognized at a glance.” 

In ‘‘ Dana’s Geology, p. 406,” occurs the following: ‘‘ There is still some 
““doubt as to the age of the beds of the Rocky Mountains referred to the Triassic 
“‘period. Although very widely distributed over the eastern slope south of the 
‘“¢parallel of 38°, they seldom contain fossils; and the few found—occasional 
«pieces of fossil woods—are not sufficient to settle the question.” 

In a foot-note, page 447, ‘‘ Leconte’s Elements of Geology,” is stated, ‘‘In 
“* Colorado, in strata referred by Marsh to the Wealden or uppermost Jurassic, 
“Dut by Cope to the lower Cretaceous, a number of immense Dinosaurs have 
“recently been found; also, by Marsh a small marsupial mammal allied to the 
“opossum, and about the size of a weasel, which he calls Dyatestes piscus.” 

Now we will go a little farther east and take the Dakota Red Sandstone, 
(No. 1 of the Cretaceous Group), horizon from the Platte River in N ebraska, 
south through Kansas to the Arkansas River. Throughout this section ina near- 
ly north and south line, it is resting the whole length on the last sedimentary 
rocks from the east, viz. the Permian. It must here be noted that the Permo- 
-carboniferous sediments were derived, in a measure, from the wearing away of 
exposed strata to the east; while the Dakota sandstone sediments came from the 
west ; and here two geological sections meet; each having its own types and pe- 
-culiarities. 

Nowhere can I find it recorded that any Jurassic, or Triassic strata appear 
between these two rivers, to the east of the Colorado State-line, but throughout 
‘the Jura- Trias is entirely wanting, and the sandstone of the Cretaceous rests on 
the Permian rocks, and I believe conformably to them also; and these are the 
last of the series of the old Carboniferous group of the east. 

Now if there was no cause in existence to produce a deposition of Jura-Trias 
along this horizon, there certainly was no cause to produce it between the same 
latitudes farther west and have it show, as claimed it does, uptilted along the 
Front Range of Colorado. 

True, it is mentioned in many places in the U. S. Geological Survey of the 
State, that the supposed Jurassic and Triassic strata rest upon Carboniferous 
rocks, and show conformability therewith ; so they do, but the coals below them 
are the coal-beds of the Cretaceous, and not the known coals of the Carboniferous 


494 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


series of the east: a very large point was strained here to make rock series fit I 
think. 

Again, through this Front Range section that I speak of, it was thought that 
one of the sandstones showing was the Dakota sandstone; this must be an error 
as it is not there. 

These matters have troubled me greatly, and it is only by leaving Jurassic 
and Triassic formations entirely out that I could get at any satisfactory solution 
of this rock-structure in the named locality. 

In ‘‘ Hayden’s Report, 1873, p. 136,” is stated, ‘‘ The close proximity of 
‘*the vertical coal-beds to the horizontal beds of Table Mountain, (a basaltic 
‘*mountain) has been taken as representing unconformability between the two, 
“‘though in reality it no more follows from this fact, than would unconformabil- 
‘‘ity in the Triassic from the similar phenomena presented on Coal Creek.” 

On the same page in the paragraph just above the one quoted is stated, ‘‘ A 
‘‘few miles north of Golden City a very remarkable contraction of the series 
‘‘commences, all of the outer ridges bending rapidly westward to form a sort of 
‘‘loop or bay in the rear of Table Mountain near the narrowest point of which 
‘*Golden City is situated. There have been some differing opinions expressed 
‘about the structure of this region, and a section here is one of the most impor- 
““tant of the series.” 

Now let the geologist who wants to find the Jura-Trias go to Golden and 
Table Mountain; he will find the Basalt mountain resting on the Cretaceous: 
shales, with undisturbed strata underneath and east; while west aresthe uptilted 
sedimentary rocks (the supposed Jura-Trias) resting conformably on the coals of 
the Cretaceous, and in some instances almost coming in contact with the foot- mil 
metamorphic rocks. 

Let him examine Table Mountain and it shows a pre-existence to the Rocky 
Mountain elevation, in fact it existed in the earliest Eocene times. Then examine 
the heaviest sandstone beds, and they are fine-grained, banded, red and white 
streaks, or lamine, alternating nearly equally, very homogeneous in material, no 
fossil remains, or evidences of sea-life, and every appearance of being produced 
from one cause, and that cause near by. ” 

The material is volcanic ash, and the cause was just in proximity. The dif- 
ferent bands of sandstone, really give the number of eruptions of this volcano; it. 
was a large one then, and sent out intermittingly for a long time its fine ashes, 
which were blown by the winds over large areas of the surrounding sea, and suf- 
ficient of this material was erupted to make beds many feet thick in localities. 
The variation of thickness was due in a great measure to the unevenness of the 
sea bottom. This material being depositedi ntermittingly, prevented any sea-life 
existing at this place, consequently there are no fossils. 

But this volcano had a period of rest, for the geologist will find on top of 
the first sandstones, a bed of conglomerate ; on examination it appears to be fif- 
teen feet thick, and instead of being quartz pebbles as one would naturally ex- 
pect, it is almost entirely Zeolites; and this shows the long period of rest of this 


SUPPOSED JURA-TRIAS OF THE FRONT RANGE OF COLORADO. 495 


volcano, as the Zeolites to this thickness could only come from the long wearing 
away of the Mountain of Basalt. Our volcano, however, was not dead yet, as. 
following the conglomerate is a thin bed of sandstone, volcanic ash, most beauti- 
fully lined in alternate bands, very fine and thin, and telling us that it was the 
last dying throes of one of Nature’s giants. 

Along the line of this strata it would be quite natural, after what had been done 
by this volcano, to expect a line of weakness, which broke as the Rocky Mountaim 
system arose and madea fault between Table Mountain and the Front Range.. 
Here the sedimentary strata tilted up and the volcanic eruptive record was pre- 
served; but east of Table Mountain the rocks are all eroded out of what is now 
the Platte River basin. I could only get this representative section straightened 
out when I gave up the idea of the Jura-Trias existing here at all. 

Again. Professor Rogers, in his admirable Surveys of Pennsylvania, accounts 
for the depositing of the Triassic of the Atlantic slope, as a deposition of river 
silt, the waters of which were possibly more or less affected by tides; that this 
river extended from the New England States in the north down what is now the 
Atlantic slope to Georgia, the deposit culminating in its greatest thickness in Vir- 
ginia. I cannot find evidence for an analogy to this in the Colorado Front 
Range. 

The characteristic fossil representations of the Trias of the Atlantic slope 
are the foot-prints occurring in the sandstone bordering the Connecticut River of 
which over 12,000 tracks have been found, averaging 100 tracks for each individual 
animal known. Comparative anatomists are agreed, that these are the foot-prints 
principally of reptiles or cold-blooded animals. ‘This fact is used by geologists to- 
illustrate the theory of evolution as evidenced by the geological formations of the 
different periods of the earth. In a lecture in Denver some months ago this sub- 
ject was clearly and beautifully treated by Professor W. D. Gunning, of Boston,. 
(such theories appear to be his strong forte). To the attention of this gentlemen 
I presented a discovery of my own, made a short time before his arrival, in some 
sandstone flagging put down on 16th Street in Denver. ‘The discovery was made 
in April, 1882, and consists of three distinct sets of foot-prints, made evidently 
by three different animals. 

Professor Gunning verified them as foot-prints on the spot, and this I believe 
to be the first recorded discovery of the kind. They are in the sandstones of the: 
St. Vrain quarries of the Front Range of Colorado. 

The largest foot-prints were evidently of an animal going ‘at a leisurely gait 
across the wet sands, leaving a record as distinct and perfect as a fox would un- 
der similar circumstances in a snow-field. One of the smaller sets have the whole 
four feet drawn together, as if the animal had just alighted after a spring, and. 
paused a moment to listen and see if the cause of his alarm still continued. Af-. 
terward, in the stone-yard, I found one large slab with just two tracks upon it,. 
similar to the ones first mentioned, but impressed by an entirely different action. 
Instead of a leisurely trot, he had been in a hurry, and had in his jumps come: 
down upon the wet sand heavily ; as he sprang forward his nails scratéhed deep- 


A496 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


‘ly into the sand and left a record to prove that his age of life was not Triassic, 
but was long after the close of the Cretaceous age. For those are not the tracks 
of cold, but of warm-blooded animals; and my friend was evidently an active 
member of the great family called Camzs. 

I desire to put this discovery, crude as it is, on record, that the attention of 
men of more time and means than myself and be directed to it, and so help settle 
a long-standing doubt, which appears to exist, even in the minds of those who 
found the Triassic formation so constant here in these typical sections ‘‘ that it is 
no exaggeration to say it can readily be recognized at a glance.” 

From the extracts given, and the facts herein noted by myself, I feel that all 
of my readers will recognize the difficulty I had in finding the Jura-Trias when I 
examined the very sections pointed out in the U. S. Reports, and why I had to 
-come to the conclusion that they do not exist at all. 


Gi @ Cis Wa lse 


BOLIVIA A NEW SOURCE FOR RUBBER. 


The principal facts given below were first published in the REVIEW with a 
‘map of the Beni River region explored by Dr. Heath, in the September Number 
-of 1881, in an article entitled ‘‘ Explorations in South America.’”’ Both Dr. E. 
R. Heath and his brother Dr. Ivon D. Heath have contributed to the REviEw arti- 
cles of great value, during the past three years, upon the geography, climate and 
archeology of South America, and we are glad to see that their work is beginning 
to be equally appreciated elsewhere.—Ep. REVIEW. 


Dr. Edwin R. Heath has given a reporter of Zhe World an account of his 
‘recent exploragions of the Beni River, in Bolivia and the adjacent country. 
To Dr. Heath belongs the credit of being the first to make a complete explora- 
tion of the River from its source at La Paz toits junction with the River Mamore. 
‘He has made many discoveries of geographical interest, such as locating the 
mouths of the Madre de Dios and the Orton Rivers. He has collected also much 
material of value to the zodlogist, botanist, and geologist, and a full account of 
his researches will shortly be published by the American Geographical Society 
and the Royal Geographical Society of England. ‘The commercial value of his 
‘discoveries is that he has established the fact that the Beni River is navigable by 
large steamers from its mouth to near Reyes, a distance of 525 miles, and for 300 
milgs further by craft of less than three feet draft. At its mouth the Beni River 
is a little over half a mile wide and 50 feet deep at lowest water. At Reyes it is 
800 feet wide and 30 feet deep. 


BOLIVIA A NEW SOURCE FOR RUBBER. © 497° 


The country adjacent to the lower Beni produces cacao beans, vanilla beans, 
Brazil nuts and many other useful articles of commerce. The waters of the upper 
Beni run through a country that produces Peruvian bark, cacao, coffee, gold, 
silver and copper. 

The commercial product of the country adjacent to the lower Beni, which 
promises the richest development in the future is rubber. ‘‘The supply of rub- 
ber to be obtained in this region,” said Dr. Heath, ‘‘is practically inexhaustible. 
On the north side of the Beni River the forest extends from the water’s edge over 
15° of latitude. I penetrated this dense forest at one place as far as twenty-one 
miles from the river, and the further I went inland I found the rubber trees in- 
crease in size and number. Each square league contains from 300 to 5,000 trees. 
On the south side of the river the forest is only from three to ten miles wide, but 
it abounds in rubber trees.” ; 

Dr. Heath left Reyes for the mouth of the Beni, August 4, 1880, and arriv- 
ed at its junction with the Mamore October 11th. The first part of the voyage 
war made in a canoe propelled by eight Indians, the latter part in a. canoe with 
two Indians. The actual time occupied in paddling down the stream was a little 
over five days, the rest of the time being devoted to an examination of the adja- 
cent country and to collecting and noting objects of interest. On August 7th, Dr. 
Heath was compelled to lie to near a sand-bar on account of what the natives. 
call a south wind, which is similar to the ‘‘norther” of Texas. The journey was 
resumed on the 8th. On either side of the river was found a mass of dense 
foliage extending to the water’s edge, like the forest on the Amazon. At low 
water there are many sand-bars in the river, where turtles deposit their eggs in 
great numbers. They were much relished by the Indians, but Dr. Heath found 
them strong and oily. On the 8th River Tarene was passed and many tigers 
were seen. The favorite food of the voyagers was roast monkey. Dr. Heath 
pronounced the flesh excellent, superior to that of any other animal food. ‘The 
monkeys were found in abundance throughout the voyage. What is called the 
black spider monker is regarded by connoisseurs in monkey flesh as most tempt 
ing to the appetite. The monkey that is to be prepared for the meal is placed 
for a moment over a brush fire. This blisters the skin and the hair is readily 
scraped off. 

On August 14th Cavinas, a small mission station, was reached. Here they 
encountered some Arauna Indians who are reputed cannibals. They are of a 
low order of intelligence, small of stature, with skin dry and wrinkled. Dr. 
Heath was told that one of these Indians in the neighborhood went out hunting, 
and returning empty-handed deliberately killed and cooked his infant child, and 
he and his wife sat down to the repast without any compunctions of conscience. 
These Indians live upon the banks of the Madre de Dios and occasionally make 
excursions to Cavinas, murdering Indians of the Cavinas tribe, presumably eating 
_ eating them afterward. Some hundred miles below Cavinas are found the Paca- 
vara Indians. These Indians are peculiarly well formed, their features being regu- 
lar, and some of the women are deserving of being called beautiful, their complex- 


498 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ion being a light copper-color. In intelligence they are also superior to other 
tribes of Indians found in that region. Alligators of various sizes are found to 
abound on the Ceni River, and they caused much annoyance by frequently steal- 
ing provisions from the boat at night while the exploring party was encamped on 
the bank. Insect pests were numerous. A species of sand-fly called the marnim 
preyed upon them during the day and the mosquitoes stung them at night. ‘They 
were also subject to the attacks of the tabino fly, a species of horse-fly of which 
there are two varieties, one black and the other yellow. They are at about 
latitude 10.50 south. From thence to the Amazon the marnim fly abounds. 

After reaching the Mamore River, October 11th, Dr. Heath ascended that 
‘stream 325 miles to Exaltacion, and from that point crossed the plains to Reyes. 
From thence by rafts he ascended the Beni River to within ninety miles of its 
source at La Paz, and covered the remaining distance on mules. Previous to 
the discovery by Dr. Heath that the river was navigable the products of the re- 
gion were transported to Arica and thence by sea around Cape Horn to Europe, 
or otherwise across the pampas to the Mamore River, thence down the Madeira 
to San Antonio, to which point steamers at present ascend. ‘The Beni has an 
advantage over the Mamore as a highway of commerce in having only one fall, 
while the Mamore has five such obstructions. ‘‘Soon after the results of my ex- 
plorations became known,” said Dr. Heath, ‘‘the tide of commerce began to 
seek the Beni route.” All the commerce of Bolivia must ultimately pass to Eu- 
rope by way of the Amazon and Beni Rivers. 

Dr. Heath said that within four years a railroad would be constructed from 
San Antonio to the Beni River a short distance above its junction with the Ma- 
more River. By this means the falls of the Madeira are avoided. The route 
for commerce will then be from Reyes by steamer to where the railway taps the 
river, then by rail to San Antonio and from that place by steamer down the Ma- 
deira to the Amazon and onward to the sea. ; 

As an instance of the impulse which the opening of the Beni River has given 
to commerce, Dr. Heath mentioned that previous to the discovery that the river 
was navigable 185 men were employed in collecting rubber gum. Soon after the 
discovery was made 644 men speedily found employment at it. The price of the 
gum before the exploration was $16 per roo pounds delivered at Reyes; after the 
exploration it was worth $25.60 at the point of collection. The 185 men collect- 
ed on an average 104,000 pounds of rubber annually. 

‘¢ The supply of rubber,” said Dr. Heath, ‘‘is sufficient to give employment 
to 100,000 men, and as*soon as the chain of communication by steamer and 
railway is completed that number of men will be engaged in that field of 
labor. The rubber, though at present commanding only the same market price, 
is of a slightly finer quality than that obtained at the old established districts be- 
tween the falls and the mouth of the Madeira River and on the River Tapajoz 
and other tributaries of the Amazon near Para. It possesses other more impor- 
tant advantages over the older districts. The climate is healthy. There is an 
abundant supply of cheap labor at hand, the Indians obtained from the depart- 


HOW DE LONG AND HIS MEN WERE BUR/ED. 499 


ment of the Beni, who are practically slaves, working at from $3 to $4 a month, 
equivalent to from $2.40 to $3.20 in American money. 

The abundant supply of palm-nuts which are used in smoking the rubber—a 
necessary process previous to evaporation—enables the collectors to work ten 
’ months out of the twelve, instead of six as in other districts. 


HOW DELONG AND HIS MEN WERE BURIED. 


On the cross is engraved the following inscription, cut in by the search party 
at their house at nights: 


OF 12 OF 
THE 
OFFICERS 
AND 
; MEN 


e 


THE ARCTIC STEAMER “JEANNETTE,” 
WHO DIED OF STARVATION 


IN LENA DELTA, OCTOBER, 1881. 
fo) fe) 


f Lieutenant §@ 

BG. W. DeLonc.f 

Doctor i 

; J. M. Amster. 

J. J. CoLuins. i 
W. LEE. 

A. GORTZ. 

: A, DRESSLER. 


# H. ERICHSEN. 


: G. W. Boyp. | 
4 N. IVERSON. 
H. KNACK. 
ALEXIA. 


AH SAM. 


500 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


It was Chief Melville’s intention to bury the remains upon the bank where 
they were found, but the natives assured him that in all probability any tomb: 
would be washed away, as when the river broke up in the spring there would be 
about four feet of water over the entire delta. He, therefore, had them all re- 
moved to the top of a hill of solid-rock about three hundred feet high, about 
forty versts to the southwest, and there constructed a mausoleum of wood from 
the wreck of the scow near where they were found. First a gigantic cross was. 
hewn out of a solid piece of driftwood and erected on the crest of the hill, and 
around it was built a box six feet wide, two feet deep and twenty-two feet long, 
placed exactly in the magnetic meridian. After the bodies had been placed: 
therein the box was covered with timbers laid side by side and a ridge pole six- 
teen feet long framed into the cross five feet above the lid of the coffin, the ends. 
supported by timbers having the same inwardslant. Against this ridge pole were 
placed timbers side by side until the whole formed a true pyramid, and then 
stones were heaped upon the entire structure, so that it looks like a pyramidal 
mound of stones surmounted by a cross. ‘The cross itself is twenty-two feet high 
from the surface of the rock, is one foot square, and the crossbeam is twelve feet 
long by one foot square. 

Chief Melville has made arrangements to have aie pyramid sodded this. 
spring, under the direction of the commander at “Bulun, in case he has finished 
his search in time to escape before the breaking up of the rivers. The structure 
is a very creditable affair and conspicuous from the river at a distance of twenty 
versts.—Cor. WV. Y. Herald. 


PROCEEDINGS Of SOCl pila 


FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE KANSAS ACADEMY 
OF SCIENCES. 


The Kansas Academy of Science met at Topeka on Thursday, November 
16th, and remained in session until the evening of Saturday, November roth. 
The preliminary meeting was held as usual at the office of Dr. A. H. Thompson, 
Thursday afternoon, where only the ordinary routine business was taken up and 
disposed of. 

The committee on the Mudge monument fund reported the monument com- 
pleted, the grounds in good shape and a surplus left in their hands. It was de- 
cided on motion to use this money to take care of the monument and grounds, 

The committee on a State geological survey made a preliminary report and 
. further discussion and action upon the subject was postponed until Friday. 


A committee was appointed upon the nomination of officers to report 
Friday. 


15TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE KANSAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 501 


In the evening the members were handsomely entertained at the residence 
of Mr. Geo. S. Chase. The beautiful collection of minerals which Mr. Chase 
has gathered attracted no small attention, and the hospitality of the hostess and 
her lady friends were highly appreciated. 


SECOND DAY’S PROCEEDINGS. 


Pursuant to adjournment, the Academy met in the Senate Chamber at nine 
o’clock A. M. Friday. The President, J. T. Lovewell in the chair. 

An election of officers for the coming year was entered into with the follow- 
ing result: President, A. H. Thompson; Vice-Presidents, J. R. Mead and G. 
E. Patrick; Secretary, E. A. Popenoe; Treasurer, R. J. Brown. 

The following committees were appointed: Geology, O. H. St. John, Jos. 
Savage and Rob’t Hay; Mineralogy, Geo. S. Chase, G. E. Patrick, G. H. Fail- 
yer, J. C. Cooper and E. Haworth; Chemistry, G. H. Failyer, G. E. Patrick, J. 
T. Lovewell, R. J. Brown and H. E. Sadler; Physics, J. T. Lovewell, H. S. S. 
Smith and S. D. Graham; Anthropology, A. H. Thompson, F. G. Adams, E. 
P. West, J. D. Parker, W. J. Griffin and H. Inman; Philology, D. H. Robin- 
son, Geo. M. Stearns and Geo. T. Fairchild; Board of Curators, E. A. Popenoe, 
O. H. St. John, J. T. Lovewell and F. H. Snow; Publication Committee, J. T. 
Lovewell, Wm. Sims and E. A. Popenoe. 

Following the election of officers, the Academy took under consideration the 
appointing of a committee to memorialize the Legislature on the subject of a geo- 
logical survey of the State. This committee will have in charge a subject of the 
highest importance, and quite a full discussion ensued, which was participated 
in by Profs. Patrick, Carruth, Lovewell, Goss, and Drs. Brown, Thompson and 
Geo. S. Chase. It was decided to enlarge the committee to five with a further 
advisory committee of ten members, who shall have the matter in charge in va- 
rious parts of the State. The names of this committee will be announced here- 
after. 

A valuable paper upon the ‘‘Coal Fields of Cherokee County, Kansas,” 
was read by Erasmus Haworth, of Empire City, which, showing the careful in- 
vestigations of the subject made by the author, was listened to with close atten- 
tion by the Academy. In this paper Mr. Haworth spoke of the undeveloped 
mineral wealth existing in various localities, and emphasized the importance of a 
geological survey of the State. At the conclusion of the reading of this paper, 
remarks being called for by the chair, an interesting discussion SESE, partici- 
pated in by Prof. Patrick and others. 

Some interesting remarks were made by Prof. J. T. Lovewell on the ‘“ Dif- 
ferences of Temperature due to Local Causes,” that gentleman expressing the 
regret that he had not been able to collect the data necessary for the preparation 
of the paper upon the subject which he had promised the Academy. 

In the absence of Prof. Robt, Hay, of Junction City, an interesting paper 
contributed by that gentleman on ‘‘ Fossil Wood,” was read by the Secretary. 


In this paper the writer spoke of some interesting specimens collected by him on 
VI—32 


502 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


the Saline, in Russell County, and in various parts of the State. The conclusion 
drawn by Mr. Hay was that all his researches ‘‘ pointed one way, namely, to the 
cretaceous origin of most of the specimens of fossil wood found on our prairies.” 

Prof. Patrick exhibited two rare minerals found by him last summer while in 
New Mexico, giving an interesting oral description of the discovery of the same, 
together with the classification of the rare specimens in his collection: The two 
minerals in question are vanadates of lead, containing the rare mineral vanadium. 
One is supposed to be Dechenite. a mineral discovered in Bohemia, and thus far 
hardly ever found elsewhere. The species of the other mineral has not yet been 
determined, as it differs in appearance from all the known vanadates. 

AFTERNOON SESSION.—Academy convened at two o’clock P. M. President 
Thompson in the chair. An increased attendance, including a number of ladies. 

Prof. Carruth gave an interesting account of a recent visit to the southwest- 
ern part of the State in quest of additional botanical specimens. ‘The species of 
flora known to Kansas botanists Mr. Carruth stated to be 1,400, of which 200 
are not found in Wood & Gray’s botany. 

A thoughtful paper upon ‘‘ Kansas Ethnography,” designed as an introduc- 
tory paper, was read by Dr. A. H. Thompson, which was listened to with close 
attention, giving rise to an extended discussion, participated in by Messrs. In- 
man, Snow, and others. 

Professor Snow made some highly interesting remarks upon the ‘‘ New Kan- 
sas Coleoptera,” and presented a list, which called forth an animated discussion. 

A carefully prepared paper upon ‘‘ Are there Igneous Rocks in Kansas?” in 
opposition to the theory, was read by Mr. Erasmus Haworth, which called forth 
an animated discussion, participated in by Messrs. Patrick, Inman, Snow and 
others. 

Mr. Haworth showed some beautiful specimens of the copper ore, ‘‘ Chalco- 
pyrite,”’ found in Cherokee County, which has not before been found in Kansas. 

Professor Snow exhibited a specimen of the Gila monster, Heloderma suspec- 
tum, captured by him last summer while in New Mexico, an animal held in great 
dread by the natives and regarded by them as being highly poisonous, which the 
Professor declared was erronous; giving a humorous account of sundry experi- 
ments which he had made with the animal to test this fact. 

EvENING SEssIon.—A fine audience greeted the Academy in the evening, 
to listen to Professor H. S. S. Smith’s paper on comets. This gentleman’s sub- 
ject was ably and carefully handled. He advanced no new theories, but pre- 
sented seriatim the popular views in relation to comets in the olden time, when 
astronomy was crudely understood, and the most advanced idea of to-day relat- 
ing to these strange celestial visitors. He seemed to argue most favorably for the 
electrical theory, though he admitted that all was conjecture and that nothing 
was known positively of their origin or purpose. The lecture was listened 
to attentively, and at its close provoked some pleasant and instructive discussion 
by several of the members present. [A portion of this paper is presented to the 
readers of the REVIEW on pages 465 to 467 of this number.—EbD. REviEw. 


BOOK NOTICES. . 503 


THIRD Day’s PROocEEDINGS.—Having failed to receive the report for Satur- 
day, we are compelled to go to press without it. The papers read were as fol- 
lows: 

Notes on the Golden Turkey, (Meleagris ocellata Cuv), Prof. Geo. F. Gau- 
mer, Santa Fe, N. M. Preliminary List of the Invertebrate Fossils of Kansas, 
Geo. S. Chase, Topeka. Cremation, Dr. W. S. Newlon, Oswego. New Kan- 
‘sas Coleoptera—chiefly from Douglas County, Prof. F. H. Snow, Lawrence. 
Foot-Printsin the Pleistocene, Henry Inman, Topeka. Las Vegas Mineral Waters, 
Prof. J. T. Lovewell. List of Coleoptera Collected in Gallinas Cafion, N. M., 
in July and August, 1882, Prof. F. H. Snow. List of Lepidoptera Taken in Gal- 
linas Cafion, July and August, 1882, Prof. F. H. Snow. A Plea for Our Little 
Birds, N. S. Goss, Topeka. Protozoan Remains in Kansas Chalk, Prof. G. E. 
Patrick. Standard Time, Prof. H.S. 5. Smith. On Some American Species of 
‘Cyclops, Prof. F. W. Cragin, Topeka. Notes on the Gila Monster, (Heloderma 
suspectum, Corr), Prof. F. H. Snow. Aborigines in Kansas, F. G. Adams, To- 
peka. The Pictured Rocks of Pipe Creek, Silas Mason, Delphos. Observations 
on the Nesting Habits of the Guillemots, etc., at Bird Rock, N. S. Goss, Topeka. 
New Species Added to the List of Kansas Plants, Prof. J. H. Carruth. 

It was voted that in future one of the evening addresses before the Academy 
at its annual meeting be given by the retiring President, also that the chairman 
of each of the Commissions be asked to report to the Academy the progress made 
in his specialty during the year. 


BOGIK INO TUES: 


Manuva. or Biow-Pire Anatysis. By H. B. Cornwall. Illustrated; 8vo. pp. 

308. D. Van Nostrand & Co., New York, 1882. 

Professor Cornwall has charge of the departments of Analytical Chemistry 
and, Mineralogy in the John C. Green School of Science, College of New Jersey, 
where he has had large experience in teaching the use of the blow-pipe as well as 
all other appliances of modern analytical methods. This work contains the prac-— 
tical results of his experience and study and will be found eminently useful both 
to students and instructors. It will also be found of great value to actual work- 
ers In the mining regions of the West where the examination of complex ores and 
new minerals are so frequently necessary and the delay consequent upon sending 
‘specimens to distant chemists and assayers is a serious objection. 

Beginning with directions for self instruction, lists of substances for practice 
and of apparatus for qualitative blow-pipe analysis, the author proceeds to de- 
scribe minutely, with numerous illustrations, the apparatus, reagents and opera- 
tions in ordinary chemical work. After this preliminary chapter he takes up 


504 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


seriatim the special operations and examinations by means of the blow-pipe, 
such as the management of the flame, the blast, the oxidizing flame, the re. 
ducing flame; examinations in closed and open tubes and on charcoal alone; ex- 
aminations for fusibility, alkilinity, flame coloration, with glass fluxes, with soda, 
with cobalt solution, etc.; tables showing the behavior of the alkalies, the earths 
and the metallic oxides. Chapter III is devoted to special tests for the elements 
or their compounds necessary in some combinations, and comprises fifty-five 
pages. Then follow the instructions for systematic blow-pipe examination of sub- 
stances, including the excellent scheme of Prof. Egleston, with explanatory notes. 
and with some alterations by the author; also of metallurgical products and paints.. 
Chapters are also devoted to analysis with the aid of the wet way and spectrum 

analysis. One of the most important chapters in the whole book is that upon 
- Quantitative Blow-Pipe Analysis, or Assaying, in which the subject is fully treat- 
ed, there being directions for the assaying of gold, silver, copper, lead, bismuth, 
tin, cobalt, nickel, and mercury. Chapter VIII comprises descriptions of the 
more important.ores and coals, while the remainder of the work is taken up with 
a treatise upon determinative mineralogy with explanatory remarks upon miner- 
als, formulas, systems of crystallization, cleavage, hardness and tenacity, lustre 
and color, streak, magnetism and pyro-electricity, action of acids, specific gravity, 
fusibility, method of using the determinative tables, etc. His remarks upon clas- 
sifying examination are divided into minerals with metallic or sub-metallic lustre 
and minerals without this lustre, with proper and lucidly explained divisions. All 
the detailed processes are simple, easily understood and readily performed by 
students or others having an elementary knowledge of inorganic chemistry and a 
reasonable degree of expertness in handling apparatus. ‘The indexes are full and 
satisfactory, which is nosmall desideratum in sucha work. We can unhesitating- 
ly recommend it as a reliable guide for all persons who desire practical informa- 
tion and instruction upon the important branches of metallurgical knowledge to 
which it applies. 


Ants, BEES AND Wasps. By Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., LL.D., etc. t12mo. 
pp. 448, Illustrated. D. Appleton & Co.,‘N. Y., 1882. For sale by*the 
Kansas City Book and News Company. $2.00. 

This is the forty-second volume of the International Scientific Series, which 
now comprises some of the very best works in all departments of science ever 
brought together in one continuous set. Several of these have been noticed in 
these pages from time to time and the series has met with a ready sale in this 
community. 

Sir John Lubbock has for a number of years given the study of ants, in par- 
' ticular, a great deal of attention and his articles have been published and copied 
all over the world. In the present work only two chapters are given to bees and 
wasps, since, as he says, he found that ants were more convenient for most exper- 


BOOK NOTICES. 505 


mental purposes, as well as having in his judgment more power and flexibility 
-of mind and a far calmer and less excitable disposition. 

In this work he has reproduced the substance of two Royal Teenie lec- 
‘tures, which include apparently pretty much the whole subject, and much of 
which is founded on actual observations made upon individual members of ants’ 
nests, or communities, followed up in his own room, where these nests were kept 
dn some instances for more than seven years. It will be a kind of revelation to 
some readers to know that he has at this time ants in his possession that are more 
‘than eight years old, amuch greater age than is usually accredited to any insects. 

The author’s high estimation of the intelligence of these insects is still further 

‘shown by the first sentence of his introduction: ‘‘The Anthropoid Apes no 
-doubt approach nearer to man in bodily structure than do any other animals; 
but when we consider the habits of ants, their social organization, their large 
communities and elaborate habitations; their roadways, their possession of do- _ 
mestic animals, and even, in some cases, of slaves, it must be admitted that they 
thave a fair claim to rank next to man in the scale of intelligence.” This seems 
a bold claim, but perhaps no man has a better right to make it, in view of the 
‘time and labor spent by him upon the investigation of the subject. Every branch 
of it from their classification and structure, their food and dwellings, their habits 
- .and characters, to the formation and maintenance of their nests, their relation to 
‘plants and to other animals; their behavior to relations, their recognition of friends, 
their power of communicating ; their senses, general intelligence, with his methods 
-of observation, his experiments on all of the above points and the results thereof, 
is detailed in the most careful, complete and precise manner. 

Nothing can be more interesting to any person having the slightest taste for 
natural history. than this account, and we can recommend the book to all such as 

exceedingly instructive as well as entertaining. 


——. 


‘Tue DIsEAsEs OF THE Liver. By George Harley, M. D., F.R.S. Octavo, 

pp. 751, Illustrated. P. Blakiston, Son & Co., Philadelphia, 1882. $5.00. 

In this work, which has been looked for by the medical profession with much 
‘interest ever since its announcement, the diseases of the liver, with and without 
jaundice, are considered, with the special application of physiological chemistry. to 
their diagnosis and treatment. It is generally believed, though with how much 
basis of fact is doubtful, that diseases of the liver are more prevalent in the West 
than in the older portions of the American Continent. Whether this is so or not 
‘such diseases are sufficiently abundant and little enough understood everywhere 
‘to render such a work invaluable to the general practitioner of medicine, especial- 
ly as it contains a large amount of clinical and scientific data that has never be- 
_ fore been collected together by any author into one volume, and in many instances 
gives a new rendering to old clinical facts by presenting them to the reader in 
the light of modern pathological science. 

The author calls special attention to that portion of the work devoted to the 


506 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


physiological chemistry of the excretions, on the ground that ‘‘ we are entering 
upon the threshold of an important line of medical inquiry which sooner or later 
will be followed by valuable practical results.”’ Of this there can be no doubt, 
and the researches of some of our American physicians show that they are not 
blind to the advantages of this means of investigation. 

One conclusion of Prof. Harley’s will doubtless be read with surprise, if not 
doubt, #. ¢., that mostly all liver diseases are hereditary, even many of those ap- 
parently accidentally acquired, such as gall-stones, being no exception to the rule. 

As this work is intended only for professional men we will not extend this. 
notice, but merely give a synopsis of its contents to show the scope of the work = 

Chemistry, Physics and Physiology of the Liver and its secretions. Etiology 
of Jaundice—different kinds—causes producing them—treatment. Signs and 
Symptoms of Liver Diseases. General remarks on all kinds of Hepatic Reme- 
dies. Special Hepatic Medicines; their modes of action and uses. Mineral Wat- 
ers, Wines and Foods; treatment of Pyrexia, Cerebral complications, etc. Con- 
genital and Hereditary Liver Diseases, Biliousness; Its varieties and treatment. 
Jaundice from Enervatioy all its forms explained and their different treatments. 
Different forms of Inflammation of the Liver and their treatments. Jaundice caused 
by Diseased Germs, Yellow Fevers, Contagious and Epidemic Jaundice, differ- 
ent kinds and their treatments. Jaundice of Pregnancy. Different forms of 
Hepatic Atrophy and Ascites. Biliary Concretious, Inspissated Bile, Gall Stones. 
of every kind and form, direct and indirect effects of; their symptoms and treat- 
ment. Different kinds of Colics, etc. Catarrhal Jaundice.’ Jaundice from 
Poisons. Different kinds of Jaundice from Permanent Obstructions. Physiolog- 
ical Chemistry of the Excretions, Urine and Stools, as a guide to diagnosis and 
treatment. All kinds of Abscess, Tropical, Pyzmic, Metastatic, etc. Different 
kinds of Cancers of the Liver and its Appendages. Hydatid and Cystic Diseases 
of the Liver; Syphilitic and Fibroid Diseases of the Liver. Embolisms, Fatty, - 
Amyloid and other Degenerations of the Liver. Traumatic Diseases of the Liver. 
Diseases of the Gall Bladder. A concluding chapter, entitled Hints on Differ- 
ential Diagnosis. Index. 


THE THEORIES OF Darwin. By Professor Rudolph Schmid; 12mo. pp. 410. 

Jansen, McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1883. For sale by M. H. Dickinson, $2. 

In this work the theories of Darwin and their relation to philosophy, religion 
and morality are so carefully, systematically and learnedly considered, so thor-- 
oughly analyzed and so lucidly set forth, that we regard it as the most satisfactory 
exegesis of the whole subject of evolution and its kindred hypotheses that has. 
ever been presented to the American public. Professor Schmid is President of 
the Theological Seminary at Schénthal, Wiirtemburg, where he wrote the work 
some six years since. It has, however, been recently revised and is now present- 
ed for the first time in the English language, having been translated by authority 


BOOK NOTICES, 507 


of the original publisher, by Rev. G. A. Zimmerman, Ph.D., of Chicago, and put 
forth in elegant shape by Jansen, McClurg & Co. 

The work is divided into two parts, the first of which is devoted to the Dar- 
winian Theories, including the purely scientific theories, their rise, history and 
present state and their philosophic completions and consequences, their naturo- 
philosophic supplement and the metaphysical conclusions drawn from them. 

Part second is devoted to the position of the Darwinian Theories in reference 
to religion and morality, and comprises an historical and critical account of them, 
and an exhaustive analysis of them. In this part the Darwinian Theories are 
taken first in connection with religion, then in connection with morality and con- 
sidered as to the bearings of the descent, evolution and natural selection theories 
upon theism or the theistic view of the world, also upon the creation of the world 
and of man, the primitive condition of man, the hearing of prayer, miracles, etc., 
the effect of Darwinistic naturalism and scientific Darwinism upon moral princi- 
ples and moral life. The whole is summed up in a profound, comprehensive 
and original manner whose fairness and toleration cannot fail to impress all read- 
ers, and, as the translator remarks, ‘‘ must serve an Teanpouen! purpose to the cause 
of religions, nor less than of scientific truth.” 

The Duke of Argyll, in concluding his introduction to the work, says: 
‘« Knowing the author personally, as I have done for many years, I recognize with 
pleasure in his work all the carefulness of inquiry and all the conscientiousness 
of reasoning which belong to a singularly candid and patient mind.”’ 


BeautiruL Housres. By Mrs Haweis; 12mo. pp. 115. Scribner & Welford, 

New York, 1882. For sale by M. 3. Dickinson, $1.50. 

‘‘Fine feathers make fine birds,” and fine bindings, fine paper and ‘ele- 
gant printing go far toward making fine books. At least, one cannot help 
feeling so upon looking over the ‘‘ Parchment Series” and finding such of his 
old, friends and favorites as Shakespeare, Tennyson, Coleridge, Poe, the Ejight- 
eenth Century Essays, English Odes, Imitation of Christ, etc., presented in all 
the attractions of parchment covers, superb hand-made paper and the most per- 
fect typography ; visions of elegance and models in style; tributes to refined in- 
telligence within and to cultivated taste without. 

Taking the volume above named as an illustration, we find it a fitting exem- 
plar of the progress now being made in art in all its branches, while its charming 
author has rendered equally conspicuous the advance of esthetics by her tact in | 
selecting subjects and her skill in describing them. 

The houses described in this book are those of Sir ithedients Leighton, Presi- 
dent of the Royal Academy of Art Mr. William Burgess; Mr. Alma Tadema, 
the artist; the British Embassy at Rome; Mr. Boughton, in London; Mr. Alfred 
Moraison ; the Villa Campagna at Rome, owned by the well known sculptor, Mr. 
Warrington Wood, and occupied by him as a studio; Mr. Reuben Sassoon; Ash- 
ley Park, an old Tudor mansion, now owned by Mr. Sassoon; Mr. William Haz 


508 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


letine’s apartments in the Palazzo Altieriin Rome; Mr. Stevenson’s house, known 
as the ‘‘ Red House,” and Miss Hozier’s Bijou house in London. All of these 
are minutely and graphically portrayed by Mrs. Haweis in her most artistic and 
poetic style, so that after reading one feels that he has actually had an experience. 

It is impossible to convey this experience to these pages and we must refer 
the reader to the book itself, assuring him of a rare literary treat as well as a prob- 
able expansion and enrichment of his ideas upon modern taste and style in 
building, furnishing and decorating houses in cases where, as the author says, 
‘exquisite feeling, devotion and knowledge, with all the skill that money and 
thought conmmand,” are brought into requisition. 


BRACERIDGE HaLit: OLD CuHristMas. From Washington Irving’s Sketch-Book. — 

Quarto, 48 and 36 pp. MacMillan & Co., London, 1882. 6d each. 

The above are excellent reprints of two of the genial Irving’s best stories or 
sketches, and have been brought out in good style by MacMillan & Co. who have 
spared no pains to make them popular. In addition to firstrate typography, the 
publishers have had each volume illustrated with more than one hundred wood 
cuts, which add very materially to their appearance and value. 

It is altogether unnecessary to speak of the literary merits of these works. 
Every American knows and appreciates Irving, who is also a favorite in England, 
where he spent a considerable portion of his life. 


THE DocrRINE OF THE UNKNOWABLE; WITH A SYNTHESIS. By David Eccles, 
,Kansas City, Mo. 1882; octavo, pp. 22. Price roc. 

Mr. David Eccles, of this city, has recently published in pamphlet form his 
lecture delivered last summer before the Kansas Liberal Union at Bismarck Grove. 
It is a bold and somewhat abrupt departure from the beaten track in metaphysics, 
relegating the doctrine of the Unknowable toamuch less prominent position than 
it has occupied since Spencer enunciated it and substituting for it the assumption 
that matter and its states are an illusion, having no existence outside of mind; 
that there is no real of existence besides mind, and that he who knows himself and 
his sensations knows all; all else being a creation of the senses and having no 
actuality whatever. From this starting point he constructs a synthesis whose scope 
includes every mode of matter and motion, giving them corresponding sentiency 
and culminating in perfect adaptation, which can only abide in ‘‘ the Great Cen- 
tral Soul.” While to us this seems like stepping from the Unknowable to the In- 
conceivable, (though we suppose all thought must stop at some final mystery and 
why not as well with Mr. Eccles’ incomprehensible mind as with Spencer’s ficti- 
tious Unknowable, ?) it is the result of a strict metaphysical reasoning and doubt- 
less will satisfy many who have not hitherto been willing to accept the, apparent 
evasions of Spencer in resorting to the Unknowable. It will certainly give Mr. 
Eccles an advanced position among philosophical thinkers. 


LPRANSIT OF VENUS, DECEMBER 6, 1882. 509 


OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 


Frontier Army Sketches, by Capt. James W. Steele, Jansen, McClurg & Co., 
Chicago, $1.50; Jewish Nature Worship, by J. P. MacLean, Robert Clarke & 
‘Co., Cincinnati, Ohio, 25c; Geological Sketches, Archibald Geike, LL.D., F. 
R. S.; Humloldt Library, No. 38, 15c; Paper-Money Inflation in France, by An- 
drew D. White, toc; The Gulf Stream, by Commander J. R. Bartlett, U. S. N.; 
The Change of Life in Health and Disease, by Edward John Tilt, M. D., P. 
Blakiston, Son & Co., 75c; Results of Meteorological Observations made in Hen- 
ry County, Indiana, from 1854 to 1882, by Wm. Dawson. 


SCHEIN TEC MOIS @ 1 EI LyAIN 


TRANSIT OF VENUS, DECEMBER 6, 1882. 
W. W. ALEXANDER, KANSAS CITY. 


The Kansas City mean time of /nternal Contact at ingress, December 6th, 
8h. o4m. A. M. Internal Contact at egress, December 6th, th. 30m. P. M. 
Apparent diameter of Venus 64.6”, of the Sun 1952.4”. 

DETERMINATION OF THE Sun’s Distance.—We all know when Venus crosses 
the Sun’s disc during its transit it appears as a round black spot, (about one-thirtieth 
of the Sun’s diameter). Let us suppose two observers placed at two different 
‘stations on the Earth, properly chosen for observation of the phenomenon; one 
.at a station in the northern hemisphere, another at a station in the southern hem- 
isphere. When Venus is exactly between the Sun and the Earth, the observer at 
the northern station will see her projected on the Sun; the southern observer from 
his lower station will see her projected higher on the disc of the Sun. Now, 
what we require to know, in order to determine the Sun’s distance, is the dis- 
‘tance between the lines ? 

~ If the distance between the two stations is sufficiently great, the nines will 
not appear to enter on the Sun’s disc at the same absolute moment of time at 
the two stations, and therefore the paths traversed, or the ‘‘ chords,” will not be 
the same. Speaking generally, the chords will be of unequal length, so that the 
time of transit at one station will be different from the time at the other. This 
difference will enable. us to determine the difference in length of the chords de- 
‘scribed by the planet, and consequently their respective positions on the solar 
disc, and the amount of their Se aaa Now, this separation is what we want 
to aoe 

We already know the relative distances of Venus from the Earth and Sun; 
they are as 28 to 72 nearly; and whatever the absolute distances may be, the 


510 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


value of the separation of the two chords, in miles, will be the same. It is evi- 
dent, for instance, that if the Sun were exactly as far from Venus on one side 
as we are on the other, and the observers occupied the two poles of the Earth, 
the separation would be equal to the Earth’s diameter; but as the Sun is farther 
from Venus than we are, in the proportion of 72 to 28, if the transit were ob- 
served from two stations, each chosen not too far from the Earth’s poles, the sepa- 
ration of the two chords on the Sun would amount to 18,000 miles; and this pro- 
portion holds good whatever the distance. 

If it were possible to photograph the Sun at the same moment at the two 
stations, the thing would be done; we could at once measure the amount of sepa- 
ration, determine its proportion to the whole diameter of the Sun, and deter- 
mine the size of the Sun, whence its distance would at once follow, as we could 
at once determine how great an angle the Earth’s semi-diameter would subtend 
at that same distance, which, in fact, would be the Sun’s parallax, 

Simultaneous observations, however, are out of the question; so the obser— 
vations will take this form; the moments of ingress and egress are carefully noted: 
at both stations, and the differences between the two chords will show us on what 
part of the Sun they lie; this known, it is easy to determine the separation. 

As the difference between the observed times of transit at the two stations is: 
the quantity which determines the amount of separation, it is important to make 
this difference as great as possible, as then any error bears a smaller proportion to 
the observed amount. 

This is accomplished by carefully choosing the stations, bearing the Earth’s 
rotations well in mind. Let us introduce this consideration, and see not only 
how it modifies the result, but also with what anxious foresight astronomers pre- 
pare for such phenomena, and why it was requisite in 1874, and will be again 
necessary this year to go far from home to observe them. We already know the 
instant and place (true, perhaps, to a second of time and arc)-at which the planet 
will enter and leave the solar disc, in other words we know exactly how the 
Earth will be hanging in space as seen from the Sun—how much the south pole 
will be tipped up—how the axis will lie—how the Earth will be situated at the 
moments of ingress and egress. 

Now if we suppose two planes cutting the centre of the Earth and those 
points of the Sun’s limb at which the planet will enter and leave the solar disc, 
we shall see in a moment that some parts of the Earth will see the planet enter on 
the disc sooner than others. Some parts, on the other hand, will see it leave the 
disc later; in other words, according to the position of a place with reference to 
the place of which we have spoken, both ingress of the planet and its egress will 
appear earlier or later, as the case may be. 


SOLAR UPHEAVAL AND MAGNETIC STORM. 51E 


SOLAR UPHEAVAL AND MAGNETIC STORM. 
EDGAR L. LARKIN, NEW WINDSOR OBSERVATORY. 


The doubts that lingered in the minds of astronomers relating to the sym- 
pathy supposed to exist between solar and terrestrial phenomena wherein mag- 
netic and electrical forces are concerned are in a fair way to be removed. The 
present year has been one of solar upheaval and terrestrial disturbance. On 
April 16th there was an electric storm and an Aurora on the earth, and an ap- 
palling cyclone on the Sun. The great abyss in the solar surface was watched 
at this observatory for a period of ten hours on that eventful day, and all remem- 
ber the auroral display of the evening. And now there is*a repetition of the 
same phenomena, with greater activity. 

The daily press of November 17 was burdened with accounts of widespread 
magnetic disturbance, in some places suspending telegraphic manipulation. 

The area of electric turbulence extended, so far as is reported, from New 
York to Yankton, and from Nashville to Winnepeg. And the Atlantic cable 
was a in state of unrest, so that doubtless the disturbing magnetic waves reached 
Europe. At Milwaukee carbons in an Edison vacuum lamp were rendered incan- 
descent by electric currents flowing in from the atmosphere. At other points switch- 
boards were set on fire and keys melted in telegraph offices, while in Nebraska. 
electric balls were seen on the wires. Auroral displays of great intensity were 
observed at many places separated by wide distances, and by reports from the 
northern portion of the United States one cannot fail being impressed the with 
magnitude and duration of the electric undulations. 

On Wednesday, November 15th, after an interval of cloudy weather; we se- 
cured a view of the Sun at noon. An enormous spot was at once seen already 
advanced on the eastern solar limb twenty-four degrees. It was evidently ina 
state of excessive turbulence, since none of the tongues of fire were straight, all 
were twisted, crossed, and contorted in every conceivable shape. The edges of 
the chasm were notched and indented in all possible forms. The ‘ willow 
leaves ’’—jets of fire assuming leaf-like appearances—seemed to be sliding down- 
ward from the level surface of the sun along inclined planes leading to the black 
edges of the central nuclei, and in many cases projected over them, presenting a. 
scene like fiery streams bending into a cavern of impenetrable darkness. The 
spot was broken by ‘‘ bridges”’ of flame into three divisions, the central one be-- 
ing evidentaly in rotation about an axis—a radius of the Sun prolonged. This. 
belief is sustained because all striz, rifts, and granulations on the penumbra— 
the incline alluded to—were bent about in such direction and in such manner 
as would be caused by centrifugal force. Soon clouds obscured the Sun, termin- 
ating the observation before we had time to measure the length and breadth of 
the troubled region. 


i512 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Seeing at once that the upheaval was on a somewhat larger scale than that 
in April last, we daily expected to hear of peculiar disturbance on the earth. We 
chad not long to wait. The whole heavens were hung with a drapery of clouds 
vuntil Sunday, November 19th, when the sky became clear, remaining so four 
hours, during which the spot was closely observed with high magnifying eye- 
pieces. The disruption was complete; the jet-black portions of the spot had 
broken into five huge masses, and another had developed at some distance, 
‘though partially submerged by fire. 

At 8:30 A. M. two tongues of flame projected two-thirds the distance across 
‘the largest black division, apparently seeking to go across. 

A 9:30 A. M. a jet started out from the opposite side, and eetehided toward 
‘the approaching end of the first. It was quite faint for half an hour, then in- 
‘creased in brilliancy, and extended further toward the first jet, which was also 
drawing nearer. 

At 10:00 A. M. the ends of both flames became very bright and grew larger, 
with only a narrow line of black space between, when an approach and union 
seemed ready to take place at any moment. We watched with intense interest 
to*see them unite, when clouds covered the whole celestial vault and remained all 
‘day, putting an end to astronomical observations. For fear of giving wrong im- 
pressions as to the rapidity of these movements, we will say that the tongues or 
jets of fire moved about as fast in the focus of the telescope as the hour-hand of 
a clock; we cannot see the motion, but after an interval of five minutes one can 
discern displacement. 

But instances are on record in works on-solar physics where the most rapid 
movements have been seen, such as explosions and sudden outbursts of flames. 
On October 7, 1880, Professor C. A. Young saw an outburst which hurled solar 
matter vertically to a height of 350,000 miles. At 10:30 A. M. the jet was 4o,- 
ooo miles high; at 11:00 A. M. 80,000, and at noon the enormous altitude of 
‘more than 250,000 miles was attained, while at 12:30 P. M. the column of fire 
chad subsided back again into the flames of the Sun. The velocity of ascent in 
this case was sixty-six miles per second, although in other cases a velocity of 200 
miles per second has been observed. 

Besides the five divisions in the great spot of November 15-19, 1882, we 
counted 108 in close proximity. Whenever we observe a large spot we are near- 
ly always sure of finding many others around the edges. This great cluster then 
contained 113 distinct black spots, while on other portions of the Sun twenty- 
three more were to be seen. It is one of nature’s mysteries why a solar upheaval 
‘should be followed by unrest upon the earth. Yet since the invention of mag- 
netographs and spectroscopes proof seems conclusive. The magnetic or electric 
impulse requires but little time to traverse the mighty void between the Sun and 
Earth, as almost instantly after an outburst is observed on the Sun with a tele- 
‘spectroscope the instruments in magnetic observatories automatically record vio- 
lent displacement. 

On August 5, 1872, Professor Young beheld a powerful disruption on the 


SOLAR UPHEAVAL AND MAGNETIC STORM. ols: 


Sun that cast up matter with a rate of 120 miles per second. On writing to En-. 
gland he received reply that at the same time the British magnets were in agita-- 
tion. Many theories have been advanced in explanation. One quite ingenious 
was announced by Barlow, who regarded the earth as a helix. He took a wood-- 
en globe and placed it on an axis inclined 2314° from a perpendicular, like the 
axis of the Earth. He passed insulated wires around it in positions in relation 
to latitude that isogonic and isoclinic lines are known to occupy on the real. 
Earth. Above the globe at different places he suspended horizontal and dipping. 
needles and then passed a strong electric current through the encircling: 
wire. The needles behaved with remarkable similarity to those on the Earth, 
dipping and changing declination very much as do actual magnetic needles. He 
thought, therefore, that currents of electricity around the Earth induced terres-- 
trial magnetism. But how magnetic unrest on the Sun affects this earthly current. 
is still unknown. Some think the Earth a vast thermopile, which, when one- 
side is heated by the Sun, produces changes in intensities of earth currents affect-. 
ing the strength of the magnetic induction in such a way that the needles are en-- 
abled to detect it. But no known fact in thermo-electricity substantiates this 
idea. Again, the spectroscope, armed with a bolometer, reveals that sun-spots. 
emit less heat than the solar surface, rendering the theory untenable. The bond: 
of union between auroras and oscillations of the Earth’s magnetism is also unex- 
plained. z 

The whole series of experiments conducted during the last hundred years. 
‘may be summed up into three facts: 1. The sun-spots have a periodic time of 
about eleven years. If we have, say, this year a maximum number of sun-spots,. 
in eleven years another maximum will occur, requiring two years to reach the 
greatest number and two years to decline, the remaining seven years of the eleven 
presenting few periods of agitation on the Sun. 2. The number of auroras is the- 
greatest during the year of sun-spot maximum. 3. At the time of the greatest. 
turbulence on the Sun the most rapid changes in electric force takes place on 
Earth. 

The sun-spot of November 17th, the aurora, and the magnetic storm were- 
among the most remarkable known. 

The present spot is so large that anybody can see it by simply viewing the 
Sun with a smoked glass. 

The history of astronomy presents several such instances. In A. D. 807 a. 
large solar spot was seen by the inhabitants of Europe; Kepler saw one in 16093. 
and that of April 16, 1882, could also be seen without other optical aid than a 
darkened glass. 

We timed the transit of the spot on November roth, the time across central, 
wires being 13 seconds. With a solar parallax on 8.8”, the linear value of 
1 second of arc at the Sun’s distance from the Earth is 450.309 miles. Since: 
1 second of time of*the Earth’s rotary motion is equal to 15 seconds of arc, 


13 seconds is equal to 195 seconds arc in space, which, multiplied by 450.309 
oy 


514 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


gives 87.810 miles as the length of the spot; a length 20,000 miles greater than 
‘that of the spot of April 16th. 

This measurement is that of the extreme length of the cluster including out- 
lying spots and penumbra, and is not nearly as accurate as if made with a micro- 
meter, but is correct, however, within 3,000 miles, 

Study of solar phenomena is one of the most exciting lines of research, and 
‘it is to be hoped that with the powerful tele-spectroscopes, now capable of being 
‘made, together with sensitive instruments for the detection of magnetic pulsations, 
a hitherto unknown law of nature will soon be discovered able to solve the 
smystery. 

NOVEMBER 20, 1882. 


SOME RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANIC ARTS. 
BY F. B. BROCK, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


ELEcTRIc LAmp.—A recent English invention in electric lamps has four mov- 
-able circular carbons which are combined with the usual carbon-holder, gear and 
regulating pinions, frame, armature, and magnet. 


MINING SUBMERGED Rock.—A late inventor has constructed a dredging 
-vessel formed of a rod with two parallel rows of teeth projecting upward and out- 
ward therefrom and provided with closing end-pieces. It is dragged by a bail 
pivoted at the ends to the ends of the rod, and limited in motion by guide-slots 
at the top of the end-pieces. These rows of teeth, or prongs, are symmetrically 
arranged on opposite sides of the rod so that each set in turn operates to gather 
-or retain the deposits as the dredge is drawn back and forth upon its one side, or 
the other, over the surface to be dredged. 


ComBINED Coat—Hop AnpD Strve.—This novel coal-hod is provided with a 
‘removable bottom beneath which is located in horizontal ways a reciprocating 
sieve. When it is desired to sift the ashes gathered in the hod, the bottom %& 
swung out of the way so that the ashes fall upon the sieve. 


ELEcTRIC INCANDESCENT Lamp.—One of Edison’s latest inventions com- 
prises a method of manufacturing incandescent electric lamps, consisting in form- 
ing the enclosing bulb or globe directly from the molten or pot-glass, forming 
separately the supporting tube or neck for the incandescent conductor, sealing 
therein the leading-in wires, attaching the carbon thereto and then hermetically 
uniting the parts by a welding together prior to the exhaustion of the lamp. 


SAFETY-STop FOR ELEvVAToRS.—This elevator has in combination with the 
suspension rope a counter-balance weight at its end and stop mechanism attached 
to the car. A safety-rope is employed having one end connected to the safety- 


EDITORIAL NOTES, 515 


stop mechanism and its free end passes through the counter-balance weight of the 
suspension rope, whereby the safety-rope is adapted to sustain the counter-bal- 
ance weight when the suspension rope breaks and thereby apply the stop mechan- 
ism to arrest the motion of the car. 


STaininc GLass-Winpows.—M. Oudinot, of Paris, has invented a process 
‘of coating stained glass with metal, which consists in first applying over the whole 
surface of the stained glass a coating of metallic powder, flux, and adhesive sub. 
stance. The design is then perfected by removing more or less of the coating 
from some portions and increasing the coating on other portions, and in finally 
firing the glass thus coated. M. Oudinot has also devised a process of ornament- 
ing glass for architectural purposes. This he does by first delineating the out- 
lines of the design upon the glass, then coating such parts of the glass as are not 
included in the design with a mixture of gold powder and a liquid composition of 
ground glass or silex. The design is then covered with enamel of the desired 
colors and finally subjected to the fire. 


PDO REA IN Om=s: 


Mr. FRANK BusH, of Independence, Mo., 
proposes issuing, about the first of this month 
a neat little volume devoted to a description 
of the plants found in this county, under the 
title of ‘*The Flora of Jackson County.” 
Price 25c. It should be purchased by all 
persons interested. 


‘On'the 15th day of November earthquake 
shocks were felt all through the central west- 
ern States; on the 16th a most remarkable 
sun-spot was visible, even to the naked eye 
protected by a smoked glass; on the 17th a 
most notable electric storm that pervaded the 
whole extent of the United States, and on 
ithe night of the 17th a very brilliant auroral 
display. About the same time a severe snow- 
-storm swept over the eastern and New En- 
gland States. 


Pror. D. S. JORDAN, of the Indiana Uni- 
versity, is preparing for a summer tramp 
through Scotland, Norway, Germany, Italy, 


On the 19th of November the first snow- 
‘fall of the season occurred here, lasting an 
hour or more and amounting to less than half 
an inch in depth. Last year our first snow- 
fall occurred November 17th and amounted 
‘to three-quarters of an inch. So far, no ice 
has formed here over one inch in thickness. 


Ir will require $2,500 to satisfactorily com- 
plete the work of the American Archzologi- 
cal Institute at Assos, and the President, 
Prof. Eliot, of Boston, appeals to the friends 
«of Science to come to its aid. 


Switzerland, France and England, in June, 
July and August, 1833. This excursion is 
to be known as the ‘‘Indiana University 
Tramp,” the party is limited to thirty per- 
sons and the expenses of each are not expect- 
ed to exceed $350.00. 


THE University of New Mexico, located at 
Santa Fe, calls upon liberal Chris'ians all 
over the country to contribute to its endow- 
ment and building fund, as the only incor- 
porated Protestant College in the Territory. 
It needs $20,000 for the first named purpose 
this year and $5,000 for the second, 


516 


THE proposed substitution of soft Bessemer 
steel for iron in the manufacture of nails, etc., 
at Wheeling and Pittsburgh will create quite 
a revolution in the iron manufacturing busi- 
ness, inasmuch as it will do away with pud- 
dling and puddlers and thus cheapen the 
cost as well as lessen the dependence on la- 
borers, At a recent meeting of the Tariff 
Commission it was asserted that within five 
years low-grade Bessemer or open-hearth 
steel would take the place of iron for every 
purpose for which it is now used. 


THE new permanent station for the Signal 
Service at Pike’s Peak has at length been 
completed, as well as the construction of a 
telegraph line to connect the station at the 
summit of the mountain with the world be- 
The signal station is 14,000 feet above 
sea level, and 6,000 feet above Colorado 
Springs, and is constructed of granite laid in 
cement to resist the furious storms of that lo- 


low. 


cality. 


THE revelations of the ‘‘ Zodpraxiscope”’ 
in the hands of Mr. Muybridge regarding the 
positions assumed by animals in motion will 
give painters and sculptors several new ideas 
andif heeded will cause great modifications in 
their ordinary representations of horses, dogs 
and other common animais when running, 

- trotting, etc. 


PROFESSOR WILLIAM HARKNESS, of the 
United States Transit of Venus Commission, 
requests the publication of the following: 

‘“«There are many persons scattered over 
the country who have good telescopes, and 
who would be glad to observe contacts dur- 
ing the coming transit of Venus if they had 
any means of obtaining Washington time. 
The Western Union Telegraph Company has 
most generously agreed to give wide distribu- 
tion to noontime signals from the Naval Ob- 
servatory, December 4, 5.6. and 7. As this 
service will be wholly gratuitous on the part 
of the telegraph company, the officers request 
all persons who intend to make accurate ob- 
servations of the transit to immediately notify 
the nearest Western Union Telegraph office, 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


as the transmission of signals will involve the 
use of many thousand miles of wire and the 
making up of many special circuits, all of 
which must be planned beforehand. Furn- 
ishing these signals free of cost to all observ- 
ers is a contribution to science on the part of 
the Western Union Company which will be 
appreciated to every one interested in astron-- 
omy.” 


PROFESSOR SCUDDER is receiving no small) 
amount of ‘‘chaff”’ from the daily papers, 
based upon an article read by him before the 
National Academy of Science, entitled ‘‘ The 
Triassic Insects of the Rocky Mountains,’” 
which he explained to have been largely the 
ancestors of the common cockroach. Sup- 
plementary essays by the reporters are nu- 
merous and some of them quite amusing, it 
evidently being a familiar subject with them. 


PROFESSOR A. V. LEONHARD, late instruct-- | 
or in assaying at Washington University, St. 
Louis, has opened an assay office and labora-- 
tory at 322 Chestnut Street in that city. 


Dr. PHENE, the noted English antiquarian 
and archeologist, has started from St. Louis. 
on his return home. Dr. Phene has visited 
the principal aboriginal monuments yet re- 
maining in this region and the chief collec-. 
tions of antiquities as far north as Lake Su-- 
perior, and doubtless found much to add to 
his already vast stock of antiquarian knowl- 
edge. 


THE Kansas City REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND: 
INDUSTRY is one of the periodicals of which 
we delight to say a word in commendation. 
The REVIEW is chiefly a record of progress. 
in science, although mechanic arts and liter- 
ature are not foreign toitsscope. The large 
work which it entails is to its editor, Mr. 
Theo, S. Case, chiefly a labor of love; but. 
his zeal and public spirit ought not to be put 
to too severe a test. Every student and ey- 
ery person who wishes to keep informed on 
the topics with which it deals ought to bea 
regular reader of this magazine.—/ndustrtal-- 
7st. 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 


Dr, JoHN G. LEMMON has recently return- 
ed to San Francisco from Arizona, where he 
reports having found two or three species of 
potatoes growing wild in the mountain mead- 
ows or parks, probably as much as 6000 feet 
above the sea level. 


ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS. 


THE New Medical Eva and Sanitarian is the 
title of a new medical monthly to be issued 
January 1, 1883, by Dr. A. L. Chapman of 
this city. It will be devoted to medicine and 
sanitary science, will contain fifty octavo 
pages and will be furnished to subscribers at 
the exceedingly low price of $1.50 per an- 
num, Dr. Chapman’s long experience and 
ability will enable him to provide his readers 
with much valuable information. 


Ronewledee says that ‘*The comet which 
came to perihelion on September 17th last, 
seems to be a return of the comet of 1658 
which is probably the same as the comet of 
1843 and the comet of 1880. If so, there 
seems every reason to believe that in a few 
months will see the comet back yet again, 
and that the end will then not be far off,— 
the end of the comet we mean, not the end 
of the earth, as some seem to imagine.” 

Professor H. A. Howe, of Denver, Col., 
arrives at opposite conclusions and says that 
this comet is not the one of 1843, and that 
there is not danger that it will tumble into 
the Sun next year or at any other time. 


THos. PRAY, JR., editor of Cotton, Wool 
and Iron, formerly the Boston Journaé of Com- 
merce, of which we have had frequent occa- 
sion to speak highly as a first-class commer- 
cial and mechanical journal, expects to have 
his work, ‘‘ Twenty Years with the Indica- 
tor,” ready for delivery by January 1, 1883. 
Royal octavo, pp. 144, $1.50. 


WE find in the Missouri Republican of No- 


vember 19th, a report of a very interesting 
lecture by F. F. Hilder before the Century 
Club, upon the ‘‘ Rise, Growth and Decay of 
Ancient Art.” 


517 


THE Atlantic Monthly for 1883 will containg 
in addition to its variety of Serial and Short 
Stories, Essays, Sketches, Poetry, and Criti- 
cism, the following specially attractive fea- 
tures: Oliver Wendell Holmes will write 
frequently and exclusively forit; Henry Wads- 
worth Longfellow left a completed dramatic 
poem entitled ‘‘ Michael Angelo,’”’ which he 
was more than ten years in writing. The 
first installment of the poem, which is in 
three parts, will appear in the January num- 
ber; Nathaniel Hawthorn left among his 
manuscripts the plan and sketches of a novel, 
which will appear in The Atlantic under the 
title, “« The Ancestral Footstep: Outlines of 
an English Romance.” ‘The first portion ap- 
pears in the December number, with an in- 
troduction by Mr. George P. Lathrop. It 
will be continued in the earlier numbers of 
1883; Mr. James will also write a new story 
and some critical and literary papers, such as 
the readers of the magazine have heretofore 
found so admirable; Mr. W. D. Howells, 
author of ‘‘Their Wedding Journey,” etc., 
whose stories and essays haveso often delight- 
ed the readers of Zhe Atlantic, will from time 
to time send to the magazine from Europe 
sketches of travel, character, and literature; 
Mr, Charles Dudley Warner, author of ‘‘ My 
Winter on the Nile,’ ‘“‘My Summer in a 
Garden,” ‘‘ Backlog Studies,”’ etc., promises 
several papers for the coming year. 


Fowler & WELLS are about to publish 
“©A New Theory of Species,’’ by Benj. G. 
Ferris; ‘‘ Traits of Representative Men,” by 
Geo, W. Bungay, and ‘‘ Forty Yearsin Phre- 
nology,’’ by Nelson Sizer. 


THE Boston Literary World, in speaking 
of the REVIEW, says, ‘‘it makes an appeal 
for a more generous support, which it fully 
deserves. In a modest way it is doing a 
good work.” 


THE Jowa State Register of November 16th, 
contains the Proceedings of the DesMoines 
Academy of Science, including an: excellent 
inaugural address by President A. R. Ful- 
ton, 


518 


Harper's Monthly is unusually rich, as its 
December contents show: Decorating the 
Church for Christmas, drawn by F. Dielman, 
(Frontispiece); The Columbia River, Cleve- 
land Rockwell, (with 13 illustrations); Will- 
iam Black at Home, Joseph Hatton, (with 6 
illustrations); Found Drowned—A Poen, Di- 


nah Mulock Craik, (with 1illustration by Ab-. 


bey); The Great Sea-Port of Western France, 
Thomas W. Knox, (with 12 illustrations); 
The Bride-Cake—A Poem, Robert Herrick, 
(illustration by E. A. Abbey); Southern Cal- 
ifornia, III, William Henry Bishop, (with 18 
illustrations); Some Day—A Poem, Isabella 
Grant Meredith; His Poetrie his Pillar—A 
Poem, Robert Herrick, (illustration by E. A. 
Abbey); Cameos of Colonial Carolina, P. D. 
Hay, (with 9g illustrations); The Singular 
Vote of Aut Tilbox, (with 3 illustrations by 
A. B. Frost); Storing Electricity, Henry Mor- 
ton, (with 7 illustrations); For the Major—A 
Novel, Constance Fenimore Woolson, (with 
I illustration); Among the Rose-Roots—A 
Story, A Working-Girl; New England in the 
Colonial Period, John Fiske ; The Two Fleets 
—A Poem, Eugene Bolles; Tom’s Moniment 
—A Story, Susan Hartley Swett; Shandon 
Bells—A Novel, William Black, (with an il- 
lustration by William Small); Editor’s Easy 
Chair; Editor’s Literary Record; Editor’s 
Historical Renord; Editor’s Drawer. 


THE Popular Science Monthly presents the 
following table of contents for December: 
Mr. Goldwin Smith on ‘‘The Data of Ethics,” 
by W. D. Le Sueur, B. A.; Time-Keeping in 
London, 1—by E. A. Engler, (illustrated); 
The Relations of the Natural Sciences, by T. 
Sterry Hunt, F. R. S.; Brain-Weight and 
Brain-Power, by J. P. H. Boileau, M. D.; 
The Cell-State, by Professor Ferdinand Cohn; 
American and Foreign Asphalts, by E. J. 
Hallock, Ph. D.; Speculative Zodlogy, 1—by 
Professor W. K. Brooks; Annual Growth of 
Trees, by A. L. Child, M. D.; Science in Re- 
lation to the Arts, 11—by C. W. Siemens, F. 
R. S.; Musical Sensations, by M. Héricourt; 
Is Fingal’s Cave Artificial ? by F. Cope White- 
house, M. A., etc., (illustrated) ; The Spec- 
troscope and the Weather, by C. Piazzi Smith; 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Criminality in Animals, by A. Lacassagne; 
Sketch of Matthias Jacob Schleiden, (with 
portrait); Entertaining Varieties; Editor’s 
Table: Spencer’s Impressions of America— 
Principle inSmall Things; Literary Notices : 
Popular Miscellany ; Notes. 


IN connection with the first volume of the 
««Surgeon’s Stories ’’—Times of Gustaf Adolf 
—which Jansen, McClurg & Co. will issue in 
a few days, the following from a late number 
of the Mew York Nation will interest our 
readers: } 

‘«A noticeable literary phenomenon is the 
sudden and widespread revival of the ‘Sur- 
geon’s Stories,’ by Prof, Z. Topelius, a trans- 
lation of which is in the pressin this country, 
and will probably also be brought out in 
England. A new translation of them is be- 
ing also made in Germany, and a new edition 
has just appeared in Denmark, published by 
P. G. Philipsen, Copenhagen; the translator 
being Fr. Winkel-Horn. Finally, the Swed- 
ish publisher of Topelius’s works, Albert 
Bonnier, has in preparation a superb illus- 
trated edition, the designs for which are by 
Larsson (the same artist who illustrated Bish- 
op Wallin’s fine poem, ‘The Angel of Death,’) 
and will numker 350, or between fifty and 
sixty for each volume. Few works offer such 
abundant material to the artist. Topelius’s 
tales cannot fail to have a great success in 
all Protestant countries, and Mr. Bonnier in- 
tends issuing an edition of 15,000 copies of 
the new illustrated series, at the same price 
as that of the original edition without illus- 
tration.”’ 


THE New York Observer, pioneer of the re- 
ligious press, enters upon its sixty-first vol- 
ume with the new year. Undenominational, 
unsectarian, evangelical and national, it is 
just the right kind of a newspaper for family 
reading and is a favorite wherever it is taken, 


| $3 15 per annum. 


ProF. GEo. C. SWALLow, for many years 
connected with the University of Missouri, 
and formerly State Geologist, has removed 
to Montana Territory and is now editing the 
Helena /udependent. 


IRCA Sees OULIE ST 
REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, 


A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 


SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 


VOL. VI. JANUARY and FEBRUARY, 1883. NO. 9-10. 


ASTRONOMY. 


TRANSIT OF VENUS, DECEMBER 6rTu, 1882. 
EDGAR L. LARKIN, NEW WINDSOR, ILLINOIS, OBSERVATORY. 


The beginning of the transit was witnessed at this observatory. The sun 
rose clear on that eventful day, and the winds were hushed into a calm, while the 
atmosphere was in fair condition for telescopic manipulation. 

_ The sky at sunrise, 7h. 15m., was clear in all directions, and remained so un- 
til 7h. 30m., when faint tufts of clouds in rapid motion appeared in the north- 
west. A light but cold wind began, and in a few minutes heavier cloud-masses 
appeared—the fore-runners having reached the zenith, moving rapidly eastward. 
At 7h. 5om., a huge bank of lead-colored clouds had attained an altitude of 50 
degrees in the west, and matters assumed a dubious appearance. The hopes and 
expectations cherished from boyhood seemed about to be crushed by overwhelm- 
ing disappointment. 

At 7h. 55m., a cloud detached itself from the rising wall and moved toward 
the sun, obscuring it at 7h. 58m. Surely the times became critical, for the transit 
by computation made for the longitude of New Windsor was to begin at near 8h. 
1m. The cloud must move away in three minutes, or we would fail to behold 
the first contact. 

We remark that five minutes before the calculated time of contact we set the 

VI—33 


> 


520 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


telescope precisely on Venus by means of its computed place in space, as found 
in that admirable work, the ‘‘ American Ephemeris.” To parties not familiar with 
these things, we have to say that of course Venus was invisible, but we placed the 
telescope accurately on the unseen world by the aid of two graduated circles of 
metal called the Right Ascension and Declination circles, which are rigidly 
attached to their respective axes on the equatorial. 

These, in connection with a sidereal c'ock, enable one to set the telescope on 
any invisible celestial object whose position is catalogued. ‘Thus: any star can be 
found at noon, as well as at night, the observer not looking at the sky to find the 
object, but upon the verniers near the ruled edges of the measuring circles. 

By this method the glass was placed on Venus before it came in sight be- 
tween the earth and sun, in order that precious time might not be wasted in ad- 
justment when it made its appearance. 

At 7h. 59m. the sun was still obscured, but the cloud had nearly passed to 
the east, light appearing on its western side with increasing brilliancy, when at 
Sh. the sun burst into view. 

Instantly we began close scrutiny, striving to detect the first indentation on 
the solar edge by the advancing world. A watch regulated with great precision, 
and indicating mean Washington time, was placed on the telescope close to the 
solar eye-piece, so that a reading of its seconds’ hand could be made in an in- 
stant. There were three time-pieces in the observatory, all regulated with care. 
One read sidereal ; another, mean Washington, and the other mean solar time at 
New Windsor. 

Through the kindness of Vice-Admiral Stephen C. Rowan, U. S. N., Super- 
intendent of the Naval Observatory at Washington, and the courtesy of the West- 
ern Union Telegraph Company, we received accurate time by telegraph direct 
from the mean solar clock at the observatory in Washington, hearing its seconds’ 
pendulum beat in New Windsor. These time signals were sent at mean Wash- 
ington noon on December ath, 5th, 6th, and 7th, by direct circuits to receiving 
observatories. This was a work requiring great care and skill on the part of the 
officers, since receiving stations were in all directions from Washington, but 
must receive the signals at the same instant of absolute time from the same 
clock. 

We insert the scheme for the transmission of time, devised by the American 
Transit of Venus Commission, and put into successful exeeution on the days men- 
tioned. We quote from the circular issued by the Commission to observatories : 
‘«The signals to be sent out by the observatory are wholly automatic, and consist 
of a series of short breaks, so made in a closed telegraphic circuit as to represent 
the beats of a mean-time clock, “They begin at 1th. 56m, 30s., and close at 12h. 
om. os., Washington mean time. During the interval there is a break at the be- 
ginning of every second, except that in each minute the breaks corresponding 
to the 29th second, and to the 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th, and 59th, seconds are omit- 
ted. Thus, the first break after the pause of five seconds always marks the be- 
ginning of a minute, and the first break after the pause of one second marks 30 


TRANSIT OF VENUS, DECEMBER 6, 1882. 521 


seconds. At 12h. om. os, there is only a single break, and then the signals 
cease.” At 11 A. M. each day, New Windsor time, we visited the telegraph of- 
fice with two regulated watches: One indicated mean local solar time, and the 
other was wound, but had the balance-wheel stopped by a wedge of paper, the 
hour, minute and second hands being carefully adjusted at 12h. om. os, At toh. 
som. the officers of the telegraph company ordered all business to stop on the 
line leading through New Windsor, and that no key be opened. At a time which 
was Tin. 56 m. 30S. in Washington, we heard the first ‘‘ click”? on the magnet, 
and at the same instant looked at the seconds’ hand of the watch recording local 
time, and behold! it read 11h. 2m. 37s. Therefore the difference in time between 
Washington and New Windsor is 53m. 535. ; or, in other words, the longitude of 
this place is 53m. 53s. west. Here is a record of the time as checked on re- 
eipt : 


WASHINGTON TIMF. New Wixpsor TIME. 
Received. As Noted. 
H. M. S: Jel. M. Sy 
11 56 30 II 2 37 
II 57 — II 3 7 
ae 57 30 ei 3 atl 
11 58 = II 4 7 
II 58 30 II 4 2) 
If a8) Rei Il 5 i 
Il 59) 2 vu 5 37 
12 foXo) feXe) II 6 i 


All the beats and break seconds of the Washington pendulum were distinctly 
heard over the long wire the same as though we had been in the Naval Observa- 
tory; while, in our telegraph office, the regular beating of the clock seemed most 
impressive, At 11h. 59m. 45s. we placed the point of a pen-knife on the paper 
stop in the balance-wheel of the silent watch, to be in readiness for the final beat 
at precisely noon in Washington. In due time it was heard, the wedge was in- 
stantly removed, the tiny balance began pulsation, and we had absolute Govern- 
ment time. This was repeated each day to learn the error in twenty-four hours 
of all the time-pieces. 

This watch, reading Washington time, was placed on the telescope just be- 
fore the time of the transit on December 6th, and we began to look at 8h., re- 
maining motionless, so that vision might not be disturbed. We gazed intently for 
one minute, and no world came in sight. Could we have made an error in cal- 
culating the local time of beginning for this longitude? Another half minute 
passed away and no notch on the sun was seen; then eleven seconds elapsed, 
when, behold! a delicate line of black appeared on the southeastern limb of the 

~sun! It was the ‘transit of Venus! Instantly reading the watch keeping New 
Windsor time, it indicated 8h. 1m. 41s.; and by its side the watch having Wash- 
ington time read 8h. 55m. 34s., the difference in the reading being 53m. 535., as 
learned by telegraph, and also by astronomical methods. 


522 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Since astronomical time begins at noon, and counts to 25 hours, we may say 
that contact I. began December sth, 1882, at 2oh. 55m. 34s., or December 6th, 
1882, at 8h. 55m. 345 , mean Washington, or 20h. rm. 41s., mean local time. 
But all our labors will prove of no value to science, as we are still in doubt as to 
the actual time. We are not sure whether the time was 8h. 1m. 39S., 41S. Or 425., 
all because the cloud was folluwed by a train of vapors that caused the sun to 
“¢ boil” furiously. All the care of the telegraph company, the trouble of regu- 
lating clocks and watches and other labors will be of no real value, we regret to 
say, so far as this observatory is concerned, since there is an uncertainty of three 
seconds—an error that will destroy the result of any delicate astronomical com- 
putation. To telescopists we remark that this vapor mass caused a violent ‘‘ boil- 
ing” of the solar periphery, making it assume the appearance of a seething, tur- 
bulent mass of fire, in such agitation as to preclude anything like accurate deter- 
mination of time of contact. The planet advanced, cutting a deeper and deeper 
curved black space from the solar limb until, when two-thirds on the sun, a most 
beautiful spectacle was seen. This was a semi-circle of light suddenly made vis- 
ible on the external edge of Venus, and was caused by the refraction of the sun’s 
rays by the planetary atmosphere. 

The air on Venus must be deep—much deeper than that on earth; for, near 
as we could judge without micrometrical measurement, we should say that 
the band of light was equal to one-thirtieth the radius of Venus. Some say the 
earth’s atmosphere is 45 miles deep; others think it is a hundred, but one hun- 
dred miles is only the one-tortieth part of its semi-diameter. 

Finally the moving black sphere approached contact II., that is, the exter- 
nal edge came within the solar periphery. 

The vapor in our atmosphere at the time was dense, and the ‘‘ boiling” fu- 
rious; but the time of internal, or contact II., near as possibly could be deter- 
mined, was 8h. 22m. 20s., Venus requiring 20m. 39s. to traverse a distance equal 
to its own diameter, as projected on the sun, and seen from the earth. This time 
would have been much shorter had the earth remained motionless in its orbit, but 
our world moves in the same direction around the sun that Venus does, though 
not so fast, hence the apparent motion of Venus on the sun was what it gained 
on the earth. We saw no ‘‘black-drop,’’ a phenomenon sometimes seen at trans- 
itsof Venus, when a dark band lingers a few moments between the edges of the 
sun and Venus. When the planet was fully on the solar disc, we made. close ex- 
amination, hoping to detect a halo around it caused by its atmosphere, but failed 
to see it, but the seeing was not first-class, owing to the turbulence in the terres- 
trial atmospheric envelope. The angular diameter of the sun is 1,924 seconds of 
arc, and that of Venus at transit was 65, hence the apparent diameter of the sun 
was 29.6 times greater than that of the planet moving across its disc. The scene was 
calculated to impress one’s mind with sublimity, and when we saw the first con- 
tact we could not repress a sense of admiration for those students who made 
known the minute details of that vast mechanism, the solar system, and calcu- 
lated the phenomenon one hundred years ahead—true to less than one minute of 


KITCHEN MIDDINGS OF MAINE, 2 523 


time. ~Contemplation of such magnificent works of nature cannot fail to make 
men desire more knowledge, and to awaken in them a spirit of research into still 
more profound labyrinths. The closing scene then began, the mighty cloud-bank 
drew nearer the sun, and finally put out its light at 9h. 5m., hiding from our eyes 
the glorious view forever, as another transit will not occur until June 8th, 2004. 
An appalling storm raged for thirty hours, the thermometer reaching a depression 
of 13°. below zero. We append a table of results as deduced at this observa- 


tory: 


RESULTS. Civit Time, Dec. 6TH, 1882 
h. m. S. 
Mean local time of contact I . 8 I 41 


Piiemotatncansitacross Solar elimbi.) 4.0%, (.) nbs o6 2 So) ease: 20 39 
Mean local time of contact II . 8 22 20 
Mean Washington time of contact I . 8 ay Bal 
Mean Washington time of contact II. .... Behe fh) 16 13 
Astronomical time of contact I., New Windsor, Dee thy 1882 fo) I 41 
Astronomical time of contact ie Washington, Dec. 5th, 1882 ° 55 34 
Longitude of New Windsor ee — 53 nS 
/HOISEI DIG “Crake 1a” EY Moses tee eo toe she es pene dea — 23 
Latitude of New maison, Ate, 


DECEMBER 20th, 1882. 


IMC lal Zt Qube 


THE KITCHEN MIDDINGS OF MAINE. 
PROF. F. W. PUTNAM. 


During the months of November and December, 1882, Professor Putnam, 
‘Curator of the Peabody Museum of Archeology, delivered a series of five lect- 
ures on ‘American Archeology’? at Cambridge, Mass. These lectures were 
partly in the nature of a report to the subscribers to the fund for such researches 
of his explorations during the past summer, and partly to arouse among others 
an interest in the subject by describing the methods pursued in systematic explo- 
rations, and by exhibiting the results. 

Wecopy from the Boston Transcript a report of the first lecture of the 
course, having the above title. —[Ep. REVIEW. 

““The specimens on the table before you may seem _ insignificant, 
and some of them you may even look upon as ‘scientific dirt,’ but they willserve to 
show you the material of which shell heaps are composed. But first, I will an- 
swer a question which has probably occurred to many of you, and that is, ‘What 


524 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


is a shell heap?’ It is simply the refuse pile of a village, or family, of a large or 
small number of people living for a time at one place. Kitchen-midding is one 
name which has been given to such deposits, and they have received the com- 
mon term of ‘shell heaps’ in this country, simply from the fact that the many and 
often immense banks of shells which occur along our coasts and on our river 
sides were known as shell heaps or shell banks long before it was known that 
they were formed by the hand of man. The specimens in the trays which I have 
passed about were taken from three parts of a large shell heap at Keene’s Point 
on Muscongus Sound. 

‘¢This heap is four or five feet thick on the water edge, and extends several 
hundred feet along the shore and a hundred feet inland. In the upper part of 
the heap, just under the sod, the shells are much broken ; in the central portion 
they are often reduced to a fine powder, and mixed with the ashes found through- 
out the heap; in the lower part the valves of the shells are often whole, and are 
filled with the soil upon which they fell when the refuse pile was started from the 
material thrown aside by the first inhabitants of the place. In this next tray are 
perfect valves of the common clam (Genus AZya), which enters most largely into 
the formation of the heap, of the quahaug (Venus), of the scallop (Fecten), of the 
whelk (Buccinum), and of the cockle (Vaca), The bivalves were, probably, 
commonly opened by roasting, after which the animal was eaten and the shells. 
tossed aside, so that you will seldom find together the two valves belonging to 
the same shell. Some valves of the quahaug and also the shells of the whelk and 
the cockle have been found broken as if by a hammer before cooking. 

‘Tn addition to the shells, bones of animals were obtained in great num- 
ber. Most of these are broken into small pieces, probably for the double purpose 
of getting at the marrow and of reducing them to a size adapted to the ordinary 
cooking pot. Although the bones of mammals were more often those of the 
moose, deer, bear, wolf, fox and beaver, yet there were also found bones of the 
otter, skunk, fishes, coon, woodchuck, seal and porpoise. Bones of several spe_ 
cies of birds occurred, also some bones of the turtle, while fishes were represent- 
ed by the cod, flounder and great goose fish, giving with the mollusks quite an 
extended bill of fare. ‘The bones and shells were broken with hammer-stones, 
which are found scattered through the heap. These stones were probably picked 
up on the seashore and kept about the house or near the fire so as to be handy 
for use in preparing the food. 

‘* Beside these rude stone hammers we find occasionally an implement so: 
rude in character that you might think it to be a stone picked up at random on 
the shore, but on looking more carefully you will see that it is chipped, with the 
evident intention of forming a pointed implement with a cutting edge. I will pass 
about a tray containing other tools and chips of stone, which, though generally 
known as arrow points, I am inclined to believe to be rude knives, which were 
probably set in wooden handles. These little circular pieces of stone, you will 
see, have had from twenty to thirty little chips taken off the thick, rounded edge, 
fitting it for cutting or scraping, and such implements are known as scrapers. So: 


KITCHEN MIDDINGS OF MAINE, 525 


many chips of stone were found in the heap as to lead to the inference that the 
implements were made upon the spot. It is seldom that we find in a shell heap 
anything exhibiting a great amount of labor in its manufacture. From this heap, 
however, I procured one polished celt, which had been carefully chipped and 
pecked, and then rubbed on a coarse stone, like sandstone, to sharpen and polish 
the edge. In the shell heaps of Maine I have found more objects of stone than 
have been found in the explorations of heaps south of this paint, stone imple- 
ments being usually scarce in shell heaps. Implements made of the bones of 
deer and of birds are comparatively common in all heaps, and here I have found 
bone points or perforators and bone spear points in shape like huge crochet nee- 
dles, which is the primitive form of harpoon the world over. Another harpoon 
in bone, the only one of its kind which I have seen from the Atlantic 
coast, but a common form upon the Northwest coast, is this specimen found and 
presented by Mr. A. T. Gamage of Damariscotta. It isa harpoon point having 
a hole in its shank through which a string was passed attaching it loosely to the 
shaft of wood into which it wasinserted. When a fish was speared, the shaft would 
be set free by the struggles of the fish, and floating its line’s length upon the water, 
would guide the fisherman to his prize. The discovery of the art of pottery seems 
to have been made during the immense time these heaps were being formed, as I 
have not found fragments of pottery in the lower portions of the older and larger 
heaps, while such fragments are common in the upper beds and in the more re- 
cent heaps. ‘The specimens from Maine are of a rude type, thick and heavy, 
and composed of a mixture of clay and pounded clam shell. The lines of fract- 
ure show that the pottery was made by the coil method, common not only among 
our Indians, but among the primitive potters in various parts of the world. The 
ornamenta ion is of the rudest character, made up of incised lines or by the im- 
press of twisted cord. The last method is instructive, as it shows that the people 
understood the art of twisting fibres into threads and cords. Few personal orna- 
ments occur in shell heaps, but I hold here a canine tooth, grooved about its 
root as if for suspension as a pendant. 

«While the Keene’s Point shell heap is made up largely of clam shells, othe: 
heaps occur which are composed almost entirely of oyster shells, as, for instance, 
the immense heaps at Damariscotta and Newcastle, situated opposite each other 
on either side of the Damariscotta River. I would call your attention to the 
fact that this is an old-fashioned oyster, for which one might now hunt for days, 
although it was once abundant on the New England coast. It is slender and 
long, many being even fourteen inches in length. Old men at Damariscotta say 
that their fathers have sometimes seen one, but it has probably never been abun- 
dant since the time of the earliest settlement, so that we must believe that these 
great heaps were formed long before that time. 

‘‘Human remains are not common in the shell heaps of the Atlantic 
coast. In Florida, however, Prof. Wyman discovered in the shell heaps masses 
of broken human bones, which are considered to be the remains of a cannibal 
feast. There are some indications that cannibalism existed among the shell-heap 


526 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


people of our northern Atlantic coast, but the evidence is not yet sufficient to jus- 
tify the assumption. In the great shell heap at Newcastle a human skeleton was 
found, a few years since, which was given me by Mr. Charles Metcalf; and in a 
shell heap on Fort Island in the Damariscotta River, Messrs. Gamage and Phelps 
discovered portions of five skeletons, of which these two skulls and these bones 
form apart. The skulls are long, like those of our New England Indians. 

‘¢ For the general consideration of shell heaps, I will refer you to the chapter 
on the ‘ Danish Kjékken-moddings, or Shell Mounds’ in Lubbock’s ‘ Prehistoric 
Times ;’ and for an account of ‘the American deposits, to the memoir by Dr. Jef- 
fries Wyman on the ‘ Fresh Water Shell Mounds of the St. John’s River, Flor- 
ida,’ and to his papers in the American Naturalist, Vol. I, January, 1868, and 
Vol. II, 1868. A sketch of the Atlantic coast shell heaps will also be found in 
Dr. Abbott’s recent work, entitled, ‘ Primitive Industry.’ ”’ 

The second lecture of the course was upon 


THE STONE GRAVES OF BRENTWOOD, TENNESSEE. 


‘¢ Brentwood is situated on the Little Harpeth River, fifteen miles from Nash- 
ville. The central portion of the farm is a natural elevation, surrounded by low 
land running off to the Littie Harpeth. Two very cold springs rise on the side 
of the hill. This beautiful spot was chosen by the Stone-Grave people for a vil- 
lage site. Here they dwelt and cultivated the land, raising corn, squashes and 
beans. ‘The character of their houses is not known, but probably these were 
framed of upright posts, roofed with branches, and covered in with bark or clay. 
Some such structures hive left, by their decay, circular ridges of earth, showing 
the outlines of the houses. “In the Annual Report for 1878 is a diagram of one of 
these towns which I explored and a description of objects found at that time, 
which are of the same character as those found since in this region 

‘‘The distinguishing feature of these people is the burial of their dead in 
stone graves. Stone graves occur from Kentucky to Alabama and Georgia, but 
are more numerous in the Valley of the Cumberland than in any other part of 
that great region. Occasionally similar graves have been found outside of these 
limits, asin Ohio, Illinois, and even in New Jersey, but these isolated cases may or 
may not be of the same people, since similar cists, or stone graves, are also com- 
mon in various parts of the Old World. To open these graves and remove their 
contents may seem like sacrilege, but there is no other way to study the history 
of this people, and again if they were not opened for science, their contents 
would be turned over by the plough, as is now the case every year. From the 
Cumberland Valley there have been brought to the museum the contents of sev- 
eral thousand stone graves, forming by far the largest collection ever brought to- 
gether. On the farm at Brentwood the graves covered a knoll or small hill; up- 
on the top of the hill they were very numerous and close together ; on the sides 
groups of graves were found, or here and there a single grave. 

‘The bottoms of the graves were usually paved with fragments of rude pot- 


STONE GRAVES OF BRENTWOOD, TENN, 527 


tery, or with small, flat stones; the sides and ends formed by great slabs of lime- 
stone, and the whole covered in with one or more slabs of limestone. ‘The aver- 
age length of the large graves is six feet, their width averages about eighteen 
inches and their depth ten inches. The slabs forming the sides and ends are sunk 
a few inches below the level of the bottom of the grave. The covering stones 
sometimes fitted tightly, but often they were laid across and covered by others, 
in one case even tothe number of fifteen. Besides these large graves small graves, 
one to two feet long, occur, insome of which the bones are found out of the 
natural position, as if they had been brought to this place for re-interment; other 
small graves are those of children. In most of the graves only the bones of a 
single skeleton were found, but some contained the remains of two or more bod- 
ies, and in several graves there were skeletons of adults and children. It was 
from finding the bones of children and from the size of the smaller graves that 
there arose in early American archzology the story of a race of pygmies. 

‘¢ From the eighty graves explored at Brentwood I succeeded in removing 
forty skulls and many skeletons One grave five feet nine inches long by two 
feet wide and one foot deep, contained the remainsof five bodies—three of adults 
and two of children. Two of the adult crania have a persistent suture down the 
middle of the frontal bone, which is rare in the crania of barbarous people, so 
that it is rather remarkable to have found two skulls presenting this feature in the 
same grave, A very great intricacy of the sutures of the back of the head is a 
common character among short-headed people, but, besides numerous supernu- 
merary bones in this region, one skull shows a suture across the parietal never 
Lefore seen in our collection. Several other skulls are remarkable, one for the 
great projection of the jaw, another for anchylosis of the skull and first vertebra 
of the neck, greatly impairing the freedom of movement of the head; still anoth- 
er has the two middle incisors set a little apart, while the lateral incisors seem 
never to have developed. In one grave the skull of a very old person was found 
lying on the pelvis of another skeleton, such a mixture of the bones of different 
persons being not uncommon in these graves; often a single bone, the clavicle 
or some limb bone, is found buried with the complete skeleton of another indi- 
vidual. ‘The bones bear mark of accident and suffering such as afflict the people 
of the present time—fracture of the cranium, resulting in death; broken limbs, 
repaired during life; some shinbones curved and others thickened, as if by rheu- 
matism or some other inflammatory process. Anarrow point lodged in a vertebra 
from the middle of the back, between the shoulders, was probably the cause of 
the death of the person. Many of the bones are reduced nearly to dust, and 
others are so very fragile as to prevent our removing them from the graves. 
From this we could infer a great antiquity for these remains had we not learned 
that we cannot compute the length of time which has elapsed since the burial 
by the condition in which the bones are found, for in the matter of time required 
for the decay of bone, there are great individual variations. One condition alone 
serves us for a general test of the antiquity of bones. The black oxide of mang- 
anese, of which there are but minute quantities in the soil covering any buried 


528 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


body on the top of a hill is absorbed by the water percolating through the soil, 
and in solution penetrates the substance of the bone in which it is deposited, giv- 
ing rise to smaller or larger black dots and dendritic forms, such as are seen in 
some of these. bones. When there is considerable of this black dotting we know 
that the bone has been exposed for a considerable time to this slow process. 

‘‘In these graves many objects were placed with the dead, which friends 
may have thought necessary for their future life. It is curious that while upon 
the surface of this region immense numbers of stone implements or weapons of 
good form and finish may be picked up, the stone-grave people seem to have sel- 
dom buried these with ‘heir dead. One celt, a few knives and some chips em- 
brace all the stone objects brought from the stone graves explored this summer. 

‘¢ Food and articles of domestic use, or for personal adornment, make up 
the list of contents of the graves. ‘The broken bones of animals would seem to. 
indicate that cooked meat was placed in the grave, while the shallow dishes com- 
mon in these graves probably contained some soft edible, as spoons were often 
found inthem. ‘These spoons were cut from the right valve of the Uzo or fresh- 
water clam, and often the handle was notched or more elaborately ornamented. 
They are made for use with the right hand. The best pottery of the region is. 
thin and black ; the most common form is that of the small shallow dishes, notched 
about the rim, which have just been mentioned. A dish like a ladle. and one 
like a large cup with a hole on either side just below the rim, for suspension, are 
duplicated in our former collections from stone graves. The most difficult work 
of the potter of this region was probably to mould the heads of animals or the hu- 
man head, as is so commonly done on the upper part of water bottles from this. 
locality. This is similar to the highest order of potter’s work among the mound 
builders of the Ohio Valley, showing a similar stage of development reached by 
these two peoples, for the potter’s art is the key to the attainment in culture of an 
early people. 

‘¢Many little objects of pottery, images and tiny dishes, are, I believe, the 
playthings of the children; for whenever I have removed them from a grave, it 
‘has been either from the grave of a child, or if that of an adult, it is one in which 
a child was buried with the grown person. Coarse pottery in fragments lines 
many of the graves. In one grave there were large potsherds, to the number of 
more than thirty. In another grave there were pieces of burnt clay, in which were 
the impressions of reeds. Here is one pipe of clay, unfortunately somewhat 
broken. 

‘CAs a rule, pipes are very rare in stone graves, not more than ten having 
been found ia the thousands of graves which I have opened. 

‘« Many pottery beads were found of the same shape as the commoner shell 
beads. <A single pearl bead, formed by perforating a larger pearl, was found. 
Near the head of one body lay a long, slender pin of bone. In a grave contain- 
ing a perfect skeleton were found two fragments of a human cranium, which had 
been whittled into their present shape and laid in the grave, but for what purpose 
is unknown. Though former explorations have brought to light quite a number 


ANCIENT CEMETERY AT MADISONVILLE. 529 


of copper articles in stone graves, none were obtained from this particular 
group. 

‘Descriptions of stone graves will be found in C. C. Jones’ ‘ Antiquities of 
Southern Indians,’ chapter 10; in ‘ Explorations of the Aboriginal Remains of 
Tennessee,’ by Dr. Joseph Jones; ‘Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge,’ 
259, 1879, and in the ‘ Eleventh Annual Report of the Peabody Museum.’ ” 

The third lecture was entitled 


THE ANCIENT CEMETERY AT MADISONVILLE AND ITS 
PECULIAR ASH-PITS. 


“Tn the valley of the Little Miami, three or four miles from Madisonville, are: 
extensive woods of oak and walnut, where the hogs were allowed to run wild, and, 
by their rooting, uncovered human bones, stone implements and potsherds. - In 
1878 this attracted the attention of the gentlemen composing the Madisonville 
Literary and Scientific Society, prominently Dr. C. L. Metz and Mr. C. F. Low, 
who caused an exploring trench of some length to be dug, and having thus ascer- 
tained the place to be the site of an ancient cemetery of considerable interest, 
entered at once upon the work of scientific investigation, in which the museum 
has since taken an active part, and the Curator has made two extended explora- 
ations in person. A part of the large number of specimens collected during the 
past season was arranged on the table, 

‘‘ The surface was found to be covered with leaf-mould of an average depth 
of eighteen inches, below which is the hard clay of the region. In the leaf- 
mould and occasionally a few inches in the clay are found the skeletons, some- 
times extended, and sometimes out of the regular position, as if the body had been 
buried in a bundle, or the bones had been brought here for reinterment. The 
burials were made here and there without order, but in great number, about one 
thousand skeletons having been already discovered. Under the leaf-mould many 
round pits, dug in the hard clay. have been found, the object of which is one of 
the great puzzles of American archeology. 

s¢These so called ‘ash pits’ are sometimes isolated, but often in clusters. 
Seven hundred have been found in this cemetery, to which they are, so far as is 
at present known, peculiar. ‘The pits are commonly about three feet in diameter 
by three or four feet deep, and are filled with fine light gray ashes to near the 
mouth, where some sand is mixed with the ashes. Human skeletons have been 
found in two pits, in one instance at the bottom of the pit, and in the other half 
way down. Human bones have also been found in such positions as to show 
that burials had occasionally taken place in the clay before the ash pits were dug, 
while in other cases skeletons in the leaf-mould had been removed in order to dig 
a pit. The plan followed in exploring the cemetery has been to divide it into 
blocks, whose corners were marked by four large trees. In one of these blocks 

_explored this summer were found fourteen ash pits dug in the clay, and six skele- 
tons buried in the leaf-mould. 


530 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


‘<The human bones on the table show usthat the skeletons from the leaf-mould 
are those of people of about the average height. The tallest person of all meas- 
ured five feet eight and a half inches. They were brachycephalia. ‘Their shin- 
bones show a tendency to flattening. At least half of the upper-arm bones are 
perforated at the lower end, a peculiarity not often found among civilized people. 
One femur with its corresponding tibia is thickened by inflammation, while: two 
leg bones show repaired fracture, one near the middle, the other at the lower 
end. 

‘« With one old man were buried a small stone-pipe and a jar. This jar, as 
well as all the pottery from the leaf-mould, is of a lower type than that from Ten- 
ness or Missouri, but it has two distinguishing peculiarities. The dishes have 
broad flat handles, sometimes two, but oftener four, which are wider above at 
the rim and below where they are joined to the dish than in the center. These 
handles are often replaced by the moulded forms of salamanders having the head 
at the rim, or looking into the dish. Besides these peculiar features, the pottery 
is not remarkable in its ornament, being cord-marked or incised. Occasionally 
big lozenge-shaped figures are cut upon it. 

«¢ Stone and bone implements are found buried with the skeletons in the leaf- 
mould, but no implements of copper. Ornaments of copper are not rare. Upon 
the neck bones of a child buried with an adult a lot of cylindrical copper beads 
were found, and with them a cross-shaped pendant. Finger-rings were so. un- 
common in American prehistoric times that, in exploring several thousand graves, 
I have only come upon them in one grave, which was opened this summer in the 
cemetery at Madisonville. The skeletons with which the rings were found was 
that of a woman, and the rings were broad bands of copper, two upon each hand, 
still remaining on the phalanges. 

‘Tn the ashes filling the ash-pits are found the bones of almost every ani- 
mal known to have lived in Ohio, from the size of the buffalo to that of the 
woodchuck, but the most common are those or the deer, wolf, bear and beaver. 
The long bones are broken as if for cooking. Bones of fishes and reptiles gccur, 
and the spurred leg of the wild turkey is often met with among other bird bones. 

‘‘ Bone implements are very common in the ash-pits. One, whose pattern 
is unknown anywhere else in the world, was made out of the leg and foot-bones 
of the deer and elk by cutting a groove along the bone and beveling its edges 
from within, so as to render them quite sharp. ‘This implement we call a scraper. 
As the edge became dull it was probably sharpened again and again, until, with 
continued use and sharpening, it became so thin in the middle as finally to break, 
and so we get great numbers of the ends of such scrapers, as shown by this tray 
full. 

‘« Digging implements, made from the antlers of the deer and elk, some more 
like picks and others more like spades, were probably mounted in handles, and 
may perhaps have served to excavate the pits in which they are found in great 
quantities. It would require many digging implements to make so many of these 
large pits in the hard clay, and it has occurred to me that the massive, perforated 


e 
¢ 


THE STONE AGE IN OREGON. . 531 


shells of the Uxito, so common in these pits, may have been mounted on handles 
and used as scoops. Perforators of bone are common; long, slender needles of 
bone are not rare, while two or three bone comb-like ornaments, having three or 
four teeth, have been found in the pits. 

‘Fragments of pottery are plentiful in the ash-pits, but only. three perfect 
dishes have been found in them. Stone implements are also very common, in- 
cluding hammer stones, celts, scrapers, arrowheads and rude knives. 

‘‘Not far from the cemetery is a large earth mound, and near by the ceme- 
tery are nine earth-circles, which had probably never been disturbed since their 
formation. These earth circles are from forty to sixty feet in diameter, and are 
surrounded by embankments averaging two feet high and nine feet wide, which 
were probably formed by the decay of the walls of the houses of the people form- 
ly living here. Now the embankments are covered with verdure. Within the 
circle the accumulated soil is from seventeen to twenty inches in depth, and on 
removing this we come upon the compact clay with a central pile of ashes over 
burnt clay. Fragments of pottery were found near the ashes in great number, of 
a similar character to those in the cemetery. The singular perforated Uzzo shells 
also occur within the circles, and stone implements. Pieces of cannel coal from 
which jet ornaments were probably cut were also found. These are some of the 
signs of use and habitation which leave, I think, no reason to doubt that the 
earth-circles are the sites of houses. 

‘« For all that has been said before on the subject of this ancient burial spot, 
I refer you to the journey of the Madisonville Literary and Scientific Society ; to 
the Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History Vol. XXI, May 18, 188r, 
and to the Harvard Bulletin, 1881.” 


THE STONE AGE IN OREGON. 


There is a little mine of antiquities of the most interesting kind upon the 
point of land at the junction of the Columbia and Umatilla Rivers. The ancient 
tribes doubtless made this stern and sterile river bank a place of sepulture for 
their dead, and the Umatillas more recently have also buried their dead in the 
same sandy cemetery. Many interesting curiosities from those old, forgotten 
tribes have been discovered by the casual seekers, and doubtless many of equal 
interest and value await the more thorough antiquary who will search patiently 
and systematically the ancient ‘‘ memloose illahee.”’ 

In a few minutes’ search at random along the shore of the Columbia, I have 
found a half dozen relics of the prehistoric Americans of thislocality. Searching 
among the beautiful polished stones along the bank at the east of the Umatilla and 
‘south of the Columbia for suitable stones to be decorated with the typical Mount 
Hood, to grace a writing table or throw at, caterwauling felines, I picked up a 
stone which was remarkably perfect in shape—a perfect circle, polished smoothly, 
and only marred by a hole through its rim. I was about to ‘‘skip it” into the 


532 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


river when the peculiar cutting of the hole, which I at first thought an accident, 
attracted my eyes, and I found the stone was cut by some being human with pains, 
which no one at this day can tell us distinctly of, to be perhaps: the cover of 
some vessel or a weight for a fishing net. But a dozen steps farther on I found 
a stone about the size of a base ball, perfectly round but with a groove half an 
inch deep running around its widest circumference, giving it a singular symmetry. 
This was probably used either for a net-sinker or asort of pestle. A symmetrical 
stone, hard, smooth and shuttle shaped, about two inches in diameter and nine 
inches in length was the next find, and with it an old fragment of granite cut into 
a pestle, which any apothecary of our own day would recognize asa sign manual. 
The granite one was made with a top cut probably to the shape of the hand, with 
a rim to prevent its slipping from the grasp, and a macerating end tapering toa 
larger diameter. I consider this was an ancient relic, because of its chipped 
edges, worn away by grinding in a mortar as hard as itself. 

Bits of bone and small smooth pebbles, nearly of uniform size, a trifle small- 
er than the silver half dimes, lie scattered about in many places among the sage 
brush. Occasionally also a perfect and symmetrical stone head is discovered. 
These three are parts of necklaces, the larger stone beads being worn by the 
warrior as bears’ claws and teeth are now worn by the Sioux and kindred na- 
tions; the smaller bone beads by the women. I saw in a valuable and intensely 
interesting collection of these relics of ancient art, pride and utility, which are in 
the possession of Capt. J. H. Kunzie, three fine complete necklaces of polished 
stone beads, of various symmetrical shapes—found, oblong, cylindrical, square, 
and some of the beads weighing two ounces each. In the same collection are 
also necklaces of long, white, needle like shells, by common appellation ‘‘ wam- 
pum,” the money of the aborigines. | 

Several fine old stone mortars are also in the collection of Capt. Kunzie. 
One is of gray granite, handsomely fluted around its outside surface, a broad 
bead or band as its top, and its bowl symmetrical and smooth. Another, proba- 
bly made from stone which crops out near the place where it was found, was 
probably made by later tribes in imitation of the old vessels, which in nearly 
every case are made from rock which cannot be found upon the banks of the 
Columbia in a thousand miles of travel, and which is not known to our geology 
west of the Blue Mountains, except in such cases as the present, where it has 
been brought to the sand of the Columbia by tribes from the eastward. The 
Umatillas have a tradition that these people were of the Crow nation. In the 
memory of the oldest Umatillas the implements and ornaments mentioned have 
not been used by the tribes on whose lands they are found. The Umatilla, Was- 
co, Klickitat and many other tribes, barter arrows and spear-points of beautifuy 
shapes, and colors to vie with the agate, yet not one of them can tell how or by 
whom they were made, and the art is lost. 

A word about the most wonderful discovery in this ancient Golgotha, which 
was unearthed by the gale of March 28th, and found by Master Seymour Kunzie. 

Upon a first examination it strikes one as an Assyrian or Egyptian carving, 


@ 


1HE STONE AGE IN OREGON, 533 


the features and style of ornament being much nearer those wonderful oriental 
relics of antiquity than our Northwestern Indians would be thought capable of. 
The use of this interesting relic was probably for a grinding bowl, though its 
grand, sphynx-like form suggests a nobler use. It is in nearly every case con- 
jecture, when we speak of the purpose which these ancient vessels were intended 
to serve. ‘This great curiosity is cut from reddish-gray granite, and would re- 
quire a block a foot square for its dimensions. Its front is a human face, dis- 
tinct, dignified, and in some aspects, even grand in outline. It is carved with 
a skill which could have copied nature, yet there is no point of resemblance be- 
tween the face and that of any modern Indians. Its brow is broad and low, and 
the wide curving eyebrows suggest the resemblance to rams’ horns which Assyr- 
ian images have also The nose is almost Grecian, except that the nostrils are 
wider, and the chin and lower jaw are the reverse of Indian physiognomy. Only 
the mouth bears any resemblance to our Indian carving. In this feature there is 
a slight leaning toward the style of some of the Alaska totem faces. On each 
side above and behind the ear is a protuberance like the fold over the old Egyp- 
tian statues, and a claw-like arm extends from the edge of the bowl to the side of 
the throat, its claws being nearly under the chin of the figure. The hair is not 
cut in detail. It seems to be in a straight mass, without braiding or ornament. 
The whole head is well proportioned, and is about full-life size. To me this an- 
cient head has a remarkable fascination and impressiveness. 

The spot where these ancient burials were made is worthy of the sacred use 
the forgotten nations made of it. As I stood there in the March evening, the 
wind from the great plain brought the faint desert odor of the sage brush and 
the rushing sound of the turbulent, swollen Umatilla, singing to itself for very 
loneliness. Before me the grand, noiseless, but irresistible Columbia spread wide, 
golden in the fiery sunset, and rolling silently and mightily, with boiling, writh- 
ing whirls upon its gleaming bosom into the very gate of heaven, it seemed; for 
at the western horizon where it is lost to view it is a score of miles from the Uma- 
tilla, and the low hills are lost in the brightness of the grand sunset light which 
meets the river at the horizon’s verge, and is so wondrously reflected upon its 
level tide that heaven and earth seem one.— Ovegon and Washington Farmer. 


» 


534 KANSAS CITY REVIEW Of SCIEN GE. 


Cue OLOGY 


JURA-TRIAS. 
G. C. BROADHEAD. 


In 1880 we observed the geological structure around Las Vegas, New Mexi- 
co, and in 188r similar rocks were observed in Southern Wyoming. 

Hayden (Colorado and New Mexico, 1869,) speaks of the granites and 
gneisses of I.as Vegas; above these the carboniferous with fifty feet of red sand- 
stone still above and free from fossils which he calls Triassic, and still above he 
assigns over 300 feet of red and gray sandstone to the Jurassic; from the latter 
he obtained only a MMytalus. Still above this, geologically, is the well known 
‘« Hog back ’ of light colored sandstone assigned by Hayden to No. 1 Cretaceous. 

I observed the following: Up the cafion of Gallinas Creek above the Hot 
Springs, the archzean red granite forming the mountain nucleus arises in bold es- 
carpments for over 500 feet, and still further back reaches still higher in the 
mountains. Nearer the Springs we find darkly banded gray gneisses. 

On the south side of the valley the carboniferous limestones rise up for sey- 
eral hundred feet. Their texture and general appearance and fossils are those of 
the lower coal measures of Missouri. Among the fossils I observed Fusulina 
Cylindrica, Chetetes Milleporaceus, Lophophyllum proliferum, Athysts subtilita, Spirifer 
cameratus, Productus longispinus. Higher up on the mountain side, north, I ob- 
tained a fragment of a species of Lepfzdodendron from a coarse sandstone, resem- 
bling a species from lower coal measures of southwest Missouri. 

Passing down the valley of Gallinas Creek we observe red beds similar to those 
Hayden describes, but I obtained no fossils. So I would be slow in offering an ~ 
opinion as to their geological age, but they are certainly of more recent age than 
those carboniferous rocks above named. 

Nearly a half mile below the Springs a beautiful red sandstone very promi- 
nently obstructs the course of the stream. This rock affords the fine building 
stone used extensively at the Springs in constructing the hotel, baths, etc. Pass- 
ing a half mile or more east of the Springs we ascend the famous ‘‘ Hogback ” 
formed of nearly white sandstone on edge and almost obstructing the entrance to 
the valley of the Springs. Eastwardly the rocks gradually become horizontal 
and are certainly cretaceous. The crest of the ‘‘ Hogback,”’ for some distance, 
seems like a marked out road with walls on each side, and from the top a very 
fine view can be obtained of the valley extending toward the old town of Las 
Vegas and beyond, as well as Upper Las Vegas and the Atchison, Topeka & 


JURA-TRTAS. 530 


Santa Fe Railroad. The next hill east of the ‘‘ Hogback” rising nearly 200 
feet high, is covered with rounded boulders of rocks resembling those of the 
Archean above the Springs. 

I observed no fossils in the sandstone forming the ‘‘ Hogback”’; Prof. H. 
assigns it to No. 1 Cretaceous. The rocks next above and on the east are chiefly 
dark shales. The sandstone is also well represented along the valley of the 
Moro on the line of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. 

It may be that Prof. Hayden has traced these socalled Jura-Trias rocks a 
long distance and found fossils in them. 

Bevore reaching Sherman on the Union Pacific Railroad we observe rocks 
resembling those of Las Vegas and they are probably of the sameage. Approach- 
ing Laramie City the Red Buttes are prominent, as are also the red beds to be seen 
twenty-five miles off to the southwest which I noticed in the August number of 
the Kansas City Review. I here produce the section therein: 


I.— 200 feet White beds on hill-top. 
2.—1000 feet of Red beds. 

3-— 36 feet of White gypsum. 
4.— 100 feet of Red and Gray beds. 


In these rocks I observed no fossils. Hayden and most ofthe U. S. Geologists 
speak of these red beds occupying a narrow belt east of the mountains and in 
juxtaposition thereto, extending from north of the Union Pacific Railway 
southwardly into New Mexico. They also call them Jurassic and Triassic or 
Jura-Trias, but find no fossils in the Trias east of the mountains, excepting on 
Gallinas Creek, New Mexico, the Black Hills, mouth of Judith River, heads of 
Yellowstone, Missouri and Wind Rivers. I give the following as the Bibliography 
of the Jura-Trias in the western States and Territories : 

Prof. Jules Marcon was probably the first who spoke of the existence of the 
Jurassic and Triassic in western America. From June, 1853, to March 1854, he 
accompanied Capt. Whipple, U. S. Army, on a tour from Fort Smith, Ark., via 
Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Los Angeles, California. A portion of his route 
was reviewed and published in Pacific Railway Reports. His own work is fully 
detailed in his Geology of North America, Zurich, Switz., 1858. _Accompany- 
ing this we find a Geological Map of North America on which is colored an ex- 
tensive area of New Red and also of Jurassic. A considerable area of this has 
since been referred by American geologists to the Cretaceous. He ‘ncludes 
1500 feet of strata observed on the Llano Estacado as Triassic. ‘This is probably 
the equivalent of Hayden’s Dakotah Group, and may also include part of No. 2 
Cretaceous of Hayden. Prof. Marcon speaks of an extensive development of 
Triassic between Zuni and the Colorado Chiquito inclosing large fossil trees. 

Of the rocks of Pyramid Mount (Lat. 35, Long. 103° 58’) in Llano Estacado, 
he places the lower beds in the New Red, the upper in the Jura. Prof. Marcon 
informs us that he submitted the fossils to European geologists and palzontolo- 
gists‘and they recognized among them Gryphea dilatata and Ostrea Marsha and 

Vi—34 


536 KANSAS CLL, REWLEV (OLS CLEAN Gl 


were therefore Jurassic. Other American geologists assign these rocks to the 
Cretaceous. 

Marcon places the rocks of Pueblo Creek and Zuni River in the Trias. 
Henry Engelmann, in Simpson’s Report, 1859, refers to Meek and Hayden’s 
statement of Jurassic occurring in the Black Hills, and says that he observed in- 
dications of similar rocks in the Uinta and Wahsatch. Engelmann relates that 
he obtained a few Jurassic fossils on North Platte between the Red Buttes and 
the mountains. These beds were overlaid by certain beds of a purple and gray 
gyps ferous sandstone which he called Trias. On the east fork of Weber River 
he obtained Pecten Ostrea and Pentacrinus which he referred to the Jura. This 
volume contains one plate and descriptions of Jurassic fossils by Prof. Meek, em- 
bracing Dentalium, subquadrata, Gryphea calceola, Camptometes bellis mata, Belem- 
nites, Ostrea Engelmanni, and Pentacrinus. These fossils were obtained from 
Red Butte and the west side of the Wasatch, and Mr. Meek says they are clearly 
Jurassic. 

In 1858 Prof. Meek published in Proc. Ac. Nat. Sc., Philadelphia, sections 
on Upper Missouri and says that certain beds at the mouth of Judith River lying 
near the base may be older than the Cretaceous. 

Prof. Jno. S. Newberry in Ives’ Survey of Colorado River speaks of the oc- 
currence of Jurassic and Triassic in Abajo Mountains in southeastern Utah. 
Newberry (1859) in Geology from New Mexico to the Grand and the Green, 
referring to the formation around Santa Fe gives 1500 feet of red beds, noted 
also at Pecas and San Jose with obscure forms of Walchia and a Calamite. 

At Abiquin, New Mexico, Dr. Newberry discovered in the roof-shales 
thousands of impressions chiefly of cycadeous plants clearly referable to Jurassic, 
and three plates are devoted tothe figures. Dr. Newberry also speaks of Triassic 
and Jurassic in the Grand Cafion of the Colorado, and also figures certain Triassic 
fossils from Los Bronces, Sonora. 

McFarlane in his Geological Railway Guide, Art. Colorado—Hayden, says 
Trias or Red Beds occur at Morrison Station sixteen miles from Denver and also 
at Golden. In the same book, Art. Wyoming, A. Hague speaks of Jurassic and 
Triassic at Red Buttes, with Jurassic at Como and Triassic at Iron Point and 
Humboldt, Nevada. 

Messrs. Meek and Hayden, in Paleontology of Upper Missouri, 1864, de- 
vote sixty-two pages to descriptions of Jurassic fossils with three illustrative plates. 
Among the fossils Purtacrinus Astericus was obtained from opposite Red Buttes 
and North Platte, and other fossils from Wind River Valley, southwest of Black 
Hills and Big Horn Mountains. In Geological Report of the Yellowstone and 
Missouri Rivers, 1859, by F. V. Hayden, of Capt. Raynolds’ Exploration, pub- 
lished in 1869, Prof. Hayden says that certain fossils collected, at the head of 
Wind River valley, Lat. 43° 30’, Long. 110° W., also from Big Horn Moun- 
tains, the Black Hills and Red Buttes, present clear affinities to the Jurassic of 
the Old World. This pamphlet of Hayden’s also contains his system of nomen- 
clature of the Cretaceous as well as a geological map of head waters of the Mis- 


J URA-TRIAS, : 537 


souri and country north of Ft. Laramie and eastwardly to the Missouri River. 
Hayden (Colorado and New Mexico, 1859,) speaks of the Triassic and Jurassic 
at Las Vegas, but he only found a AZjdalus. In Geological Report, 1874, he re- 
fers Glen Eyrie and the Garden of the Gods to the Trias. He also speaks of a 
narrow belt of Jurassic from the Union Pacific Railway southwardly into New 
Mexico. 

In the same volume Peale describes certain beds of Triassic and Jurassic on 
the Grand River west of the Rocky Mountains, also on Gunnison River near the 
mouth of Smith’s Fork and on Eagle River. The lower Grand Cafion of the 
Gunnison has been called Unaweep (meaning red earth) by the Indians. In the 
same region Peale assigns nearly a 1000 feet overlying the so-called Trias to the 
age of the Jura—but no fossils. 

In Hayden’s Report, 1870, Meek gives a list of nine species of Jurassic fos- 
sils from Henry's Fork of Green River, Red Buttes, Salinas and Como. In 
Hayden’s Report, 1872, Cinnabar Mountain on the Yellowstone is made to in- 
clude certain strata with Jurassic fossils. Jurassic is also stated to occur on Gal. 
latin River and at the three forks of the Missouri Peale in the same volume 
gives a section at the head of the Gallatin including Cretaceous, Jurassic, ‘Triassic 
and Carboniferous and names four fossils as being certainly Jurassic. In this 
volume Prof. Meek gives a catalogue of twenty two species of Jurassic from near 
the cafion of the Yellowstone; eleven species from Spring Creek, Montana; seven 
from Ft. Hall, Idaho, and eight from Cinnabar Mountain. 

In Hayden’s Report, 1873, Marvin gives sections of Jurassic near Bear’s 
Creek, Big Thompson, near St. Vrain’s, etc., but mentions no fossils. 

Hayden’s Report, 1875: Peale describes the Jurassic and Triassic of Gunni- 
son and Grand Rivers, and furnishes comparative sections from Powell, New- 
berry, Gilbert and Howell. Howell’s section includes four species of Jurassic 
fossils from southern Utah with 2000 feet of Jurassic rocks. He also indicates 
Trias at same place. Powell has over 5000 feet of Jurassic and Trias from 
plateau of southern Utah, and Gilbert has 1800 feet of Trias from Ft. Wingate, 
New Mexico. 

Hayden’s Report, 1876: White speaks of the overlying Jurassic as soft, 
greenish, and reddish and purple sandstone beds with sandy calcareous shales. 
He refers to fossils collected by Major Powell in southern Utah which he regards 
as Triassic, and that the relative position of the shales justifies their reference to 
the Trias but the invertebrate fossils point to a Jurassic age. He therefore calls 
the beds Jura-Trias. Endlich, in the same volume, says that all along the Front 
Range the Trias is prominent, disappearing toward the south. Peale also speaks 
here of the Juras-Trias on Grand River. 

In Hayden’s Report, 1877, Peale gives section of Jura-Trias in southeastern 
Idaho and western Wyoming, 2500 feet of Jurassic and 3000 feet of Triassic. 
The fossils are described by White in Bulletin of Survey, Vol. V, No. 1, and in- 
clude quite a list of fossils: Crinoidee, Cephalopoda and Acephala, etc. Peale also, 
in same Bulletin, enumerates over twenty species from Jura-Trias of southeastern 


\ 


538 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Idaho and western Wyoming and gives 1500 feet of Jura, the upper 700 feet gray 
shales and green sandstone; the lower 800 feet of limestone and shale, below 
which he describes 4000 feet of Trias chiefly red with some calcareous beds with 
some fossils in the lower part. 

In Hayden’s Report, 1878, Dr. White has a special Report on Paleontology 
published in 1880, including two plates of Jurassic and two plates of Triassic 
fossils. In this he speaks of the Jurassic of southern Utah and says the Triassic 
is not recognized by fossils east of the Rocky Mountains. 

In Palaeontology of California, Meek devotes eleven pages and two plates to 
Jurassic fossils, and Gabb has sixteen pages and four plates of Triassic. 

In Jones’ Report on Northwestern Wyoming and Yellowstone Park, 1875, 
Prof. Comstock names the red beds of Deep Creek, Wind River Mountains, and 
calls them Triassic, but says they are devoid of fossils. Over them he found 
1600 feet of Jurassic including eight species of fossils. 

In Ludlow’s Report of Reconnoissance of the Yellowstone Park, 1875, three 
species of Jurassic fossils are figured and described by R. P. Whitfield. These 
were obtained from Bridger Mountains, Montana, on East Gallatin River. Mr. 
E. S. Dana in the Geological Report mentions finding seven species of fossils. In 
Report on Palzontology of the Black Hills, 1880, Prof. R. P. Whitfield has four 
plates of Jurassic fossils, the specimens obtained from the Black Hills and Big 
Horn Mountains. In Bulletin U. S. Geological Survey, 1876, Vol. II, No. 3, 
Hayden gives a section at head waters of the Missouri and Yellowstone showing 
Jurassic overlying the Carboniferous of Gallatin River. 

In Bulletin, Vol. IT], No. 3, 1877, White speaks of the Jurassic ot the 
Rocky Mountains. 

King in the Geological Report of the yoth Parallel devotes forty-six pages to 
the Jurassic and Triassic. He refers to their occurrence on Big Thompson 
River, on the Chugwater-and Brush Creeks. Near the line of Colorado and 
Wyoming, southwest of Laramie, Mr. King gives t200 feet of red beds. King 
mentions the occurrence of Trias in the Uinta range, on Yampa plateau, on Du 
Chesne Creek. He speaks of the occurrence of Pentacrinus Astericus near the 
base of the Jura. In the Western Humboldt range he speaks of a limestone with 
distinct Jurassic fossils which have been described by Meek and Gabb. King 
estimates the Humboldt Jurassic to be 15 to 17000 feet thick. King enumerates 
four species of Jurassic fossils from Como Station, Union Pacific Railway; five 
species from Rawlings Peak in beds below the cretaceous Dakotah. In the Uinta 
Range a number of fossils have been obtained ‘rom the Flaming Gorge. King 
in Vol. IV, goth Parallel Survey, devotes two plates to Triassic fossils and one 
to Jurassic. The fossils are identified and described by R. P. Whitfield, and 
are from Wyoming, Utah and Nevada, chiefly from Augusta Mountains, Nevada, 
and Flaming Gorge, Uinta Range. The Triassic from the Wahsatch and Hum- 
boldt are identified by Meek. 

In Vol. II, of 4oth Parallel Survey by Emmons and Hague, considerable 
space is devoted to the discussion of the Jurassic including strata of the Uinta 


JURA=TRIAS, 539 


Mountains, Augusta Mountains, Black Butte, Como, Eastern Foothills, Eugene 
Mountains, Flaming Gorge, Pah-Ute, Range; Laramie Valley, West Humboldt, 
Montezuma Range, Wahsatch, Yampa River, etc. The generalized section also 
includes Jurassic and Triassic beds, and Trias also occurs at nearly all the above 
named localities. In Geological Report, West of 1coth Meridian of Wheeler, 
Prof. Stevenson speaks. of Trias in Animas Park and says that in Colorado the 
group shows no fossils and no clue can be given to its age except from the strati- 
graphical relation to the Jurassic and Cretaceous. He describes the rocks at 
Cafion City and Colorado Springs. 

In Vol. III, Supplement to Wheeler’s Report, Prof. J. I. Stevenson devotes 
a.short chapter to the Jura-Trias, to which he refers certain beds in northern New 
Mexico between the Carboniferous and the Dakotah Cretaceous, but saw no fos- 
sils. In Vol. 1V, Report West of rooth Meridian, Dr. White says that none of 
the invertebrate fossils of the collection are properly referable to the ‘Triassic, 
but in the collection he refers eight pieces to the Jurassic which were collected at 
widely separated localities in Nevada and Utah. They include one crinoid (Pen- 
tacrinus Astericus) mentioned also in King’s Report, and mollusca. “Cope in the 
same volume speaks of Triassic and Jurassic in New Mexico on Gallinas Creek, 
including Dinosauria and Crocodilia, with five species of Unios described by 
Meek. © 

In Powell’s Survey of the Rocky Mountain Region, G. K. Gilbert, in the 
Geology of the Herry Mountains, says that the sedimentary rocks in that region 
range from the summit of the Cretaceous to the summit of the Carboniferous, and 
refers 2930 feet to the Jura-Trias—lying between the Carboniferous and Cretace- 
ous, and represented by sandstones with shales, colors, purple, red, white and 
buff. Powell, in Geology of the Uinta Mountains, 1878, includes 1200 feet in 
Flaming Gorge as Jurassic and 4oo0 feet of ‘Triassic. 

Dana in his Manual of Geology, 1874, says that the Triassic has been iden- 
tified by fossils in British Columbia, and that Upper Trias occurs at entrance of 
Pavalonk Bay, Alaska, and are by Whitney referred to the Middle Kenper of 
Europe. 

We now turn to the Geological Survey of Canada. In Report, 1872-3, 
Principal J. W. Dawson assigns certain coniferous woods from Nawaimo, Van- 
Couver’s Island, to the Mesozoic age ranging from Jurassic to Upper Cretaceous. 
A plant to which he applies the name Cycadeocarpus he says is from the Lower 
Cretaceous or Jurassic of Skidegate, Queen Charlotte Island. Mr. Jas. Richardson 
same volume gives a section and says the fossils of certain beds are partly Jurassic 
and partly Cretaceous. 

In Geological Survey, Canada, 1875-76, Mr. J. F. Whiteaves gives descrip- 
tions of two Jurassic fossils and one Triassic fossil from Peace River, British 
“America. 

In Canada Geological Survey, 1876-77, Mr. J. F. Whiteaves describes Juras- 
sic fossils from the Coast Range of British Columbia, including twenty-seven 
species of Mollusca and one of Annelida. 


540 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


In Canada Geological Survey, 1887-78, Mr. G. M. Dawson intimates the 
occurrence of Triassic rocks in British Columbia, but he is not specially descrip- 
tive. 
In Canada Geological Report, 1878-79, Mr. G. M. Dawson discusses the 
Triassic of Queen Charlotte Islands, including 500 feet on the shores of Houston 
Stewart Channel, including eight species of fossils synchronous with the so-called 
Alpine Trias of Nevada. Other fossils are from Rose Harbor and Copper Islands 
and Burnaby Strait. Prof. Dawson estimates that the overlying volcanic rocks 
in the neighborhood of Logan Inlet, Island of Moresby, cannot be less than 5000 
or 6000 feet. 

The above is an epitome of Jura-Trias for Western America. Fuller infor- 
mation can be obtained from the books referred to and I hope it may assist those 
who desire to examine the localities referred to. I was glad to see the article of 
my friend Hallowell in the December number of the Review and hope to hear 
from him again. 


PLEASANT Hitt, Mo., Dec. 1882. 


WSUS, IDIBN tis) IT, 
TRS JORO IDs WNRISINIRG Wis Sy ANS 


In Crockett county, Texas, on the divide between Devil’s River ard the Nue- 
ces, there is a cavern in the rocks that.has been named the Devil’s Pit. The di- 
vide at this point is perhaps a thousand feet above the level of the river. The 
cavern in the ground is about eighteen feet across at the top, and has the form of 
an inverted perpendicular cone, being several hundred feet across at the bottom. 
Perhaps a hundred men have gone to the cavern with the purpose of being let 
down into it, but concluded when they saw it that some one else might have the 
glory of explorirg it. Recently a man was found who had the nerve to see if the 
cavern wasrightly named. As he passed down byarope held firmly above, he 
found the bees had made their hives in the sides of the rock. He declared there 
were tons of honey in the cavern. If the air had not been rather cold he could 
not have gone down without being stung. About ninety feet down he found a 
small live oak tree growing on the side of the cavern, the roots fast in the rocks. 

When he had been let down one hundred and eighty feet he came to the top 
of a mountain of rock in the shape of a solid cone—a cone within a hollow in- 
verted cone—with plenty of room between them to explore the cavern. So he let 
go of the rope and went down the sides of this mountain about a hundred feet, 
when he came to a lake of water. This water appeared to be deep, but he had 
no means of measuring its depth. A canteen was let down to him, which he 
filed and brought up. The water was clear and agreeable to the taste. On the 
outside down the hill the water seeps out of the rocks, and people now think it 
is the outlet of the lake in the cavern. Whether the water has gathered in the 


SCIENCE LETRLER PROM PARLS, 541 


cave from the orifice at the top, or a stream flows under ground, it is impossible to 
determine with the present limited observations. 

This cavern is situated about ten miles east from Judge M. D. Kent’s sheep 
ranch, and about forty miles northeast of Fort Clark. This is a very wild region, 
with few inhabitants. Recently a panther was killed in this vicinity which meas- 
ured from tip to tip thirteen feet. ‘his is the sixth panther that has been killed 
in this vicinity within afew months. The Mexican lion, or cougar, is also found 
in this region, and in the jungles of the Rio Grande is found the leopard cat. 

It has not been determined whether the cavern is the result of erosion from 
running water, or was formed by volcanic action. Nothing can be known about 
it scientifically without an examination by a competent geologist. Texas is full of 
interest to the scientist, but almost nothing has been done in this direction. There 
are probably rich mines of coal, silver, lead and tin, and perhaps other metals. 
The State has a full treasury, and all it needs is a wise direction given to produce 
results which would return many times their cost. The flora and fauna are espe- 
cially rich. ‘Taxidermists are frequently sent here to enrich the collections of east- 
ern institutions. 


CORRESPON DENG, 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 


Paris, December 18, 1882. 
SANITARY CONDITION OF EUROPEAN CiTIES—THE CoMET AND PLANeEtTs, Evc. 


The question of questions at the present moment for citizens is that of the 
typhoid fever endemic. The Academy of Sciences is of late wholly occupied 
with that subject, which comes home to the business and bosoms of every resi- 
dent. Paris may be the most beautiful of capitals, but it is beyond doubt next 
to the most insalubrious. It has more than the commencement of an admirable 
system of sewers, but their efficacy is checked by the absence of water for flush 
ing ; hence, in summer, but particularly in autumn, the kennel-mouths of the sew- 
ers are sO many pestilence pipes, as every passer-by but too well knows. __Insuf- 
ficiency of water for flushing purposes in houses as well as in the branch and 
main sewers; uncleanly-kept premises; overcrowded habitations; inadequacy of 
water for domestic wants, and even that supply derived from infected rather than 
impure sources—such are conditions for the plague. 

Dr. De Murry is convinced, the source of typhoid fever, as of cholera, lies 
in the dejections of the patients; hence, the water-closets become the nursery 
-ground for the malady. One ill-kept closet on any story is sufficient to poison 
the entire household. He has but a relative confidence in the statistics of mor- 


542 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


tality; only those can be relied upon which originate from hospital records; the 
information furnished by private practitioners is neither precise nor complete. 

Dr. Rochard, a most eminent navy surgeon, positively dissects the sanitary 
condition of Paris. His demonstrations, mathematically correct, are not at all 
encouraging even to the robust. Uncleanliness and overcrowding are for) Dr. 
Rochard the causes of typhoid fever The barracks illustrate at once the bane 
and the antidote : The buildings and out offices are offensive in point of hygiene; 
there is an absence of ventilation; the men live packed together. An outbreak 
of fever follows, as amatter of course. The men are ordered to live under tents. 
A fortnight elapses, during which the barracks are flushed, aérated, purified ; the 
men return, but in fewer numbers, and the malady does not reappear. Similarly 
on board ship, when continued rough weather compels hatches and windows to 
be closed, and passengers to remain below, fever will soon break out, because the 
germs of the disease were in the air, and only waiting the conditions for their de- 
velopment—their atmospheric fertilizer. Since 1869, typhoid fever, small-pox 
and diphtheria are permanently on the increase here. Taking the two epochs 
1869-1873, and 1879-1881, the victims for every 1,000 inhabitants have been re- 
spectively :—for fever, 48 and 96 victims; diphtheria, 54 and 101; small-pox, 19 
and 74. ‘This is the more strange, as while the fever augments at the rate of roo 
per cent in Paris, the per centage diminishes in every other country. The hospi- 
tal returns attest one decease for every fifteen patients down with typhus. It is 
curious, while not the less remaining a truth, that this increase of fever has fol- 
lowed the augmentation of the population. The occupants of furnished lodgings, 
etc., have more than doubled; where only four were formerly accommodated, 
now the same space is allocated to ten and fifteen persons. And these lodging- 
houses progress in uncleanliness as the tenants increase. 

In a few of the grand arteries of Paris the construction of the sewers, etc., is 
magnificent; but visit the upper and the older quarters of the city, and there the 
sewage system will appear in all its primitive simplicity and horror. A continued 
bed of black, putrid detritus, through which meanders a thread of water, insuffi- 
cient to flush, but adequate to propagate pest. The supply of water is 400,000 
cubic yards for a population of 2,000,000, and even when the promised 150,000 
cubic yards additional are provided, the supply will be still inadequate. The 
drinking-water is mixed with that specially conveyed and that of the Seine. Now 
the latter receives beforehand the waste-water from the great night-soil depot, as 
well as the dejections from suburban villages representing a collective population 
of 120,000 souls! Further, Paris is surrounded by a belt of insalubrious establish- 
ments; there are 305 chemical works authoritatively pronounced deleterious and 
dangerous from their emanations, unhappily too readily recognized; there are 
also 25 depotoirs for working up the night-soil, in addition to the others which re- 
ceive daily 2,0 o tons of household refuse—there being no dust bins attached to 
Paris houses, instead we have horrible night-soil reservoirs—emptied every morn- 
ing into the street to be carted away, and shot down outside the fortifications. 

Brussels is a model in this respect for Paris and perhaps for other cities also. 


“SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. — 543 | 


There every practitioner on recognizing a patient attacked with fever is bound to 
advise the Health Office, which at once sends its inspector to report on the situ- 
ation, with summary powers to carry the patient to the hospital; to disinfect the 
apartment occupied, the bed, clothing, apparel, etc.; to examine the sewage, 
cleanliness of the premises, etc., and to remedy, on the moment, all defects, mak- 
ing the proprietor pay if his responsibility be proved. And the result? A dim- 
inution of 100 per cent in the deaths from zymotic diseases. Up to the present 
it was concluded that a dry season was favorable to an outbreak of typhus. 
Never had an autumn been wetter than the present, and never was the disease 
more prevalent. In some of the city barracks the occupants of one wing of the 
building only were attacked; in the case of another barracks, the cavalry alone 
suffered. The Sanitary Committee of the municipality in its instructions suggest 
that the patients be placed in the middle of the room, and the members of the family 
kept away; that disinfectants be employed, etc. But the fever has its home in 
families that have but one room, and not a farthing to buy medicine or food, let 
alone disinfectants. The 250,000 night-soil reservoirs, as already alluded to, and 
which are presumed to be ‘‘ hermetically closed” till emptied once or twice a 
year, until superseded by some other plan, must remain a permanent nursery for 
the seeds of infectious diseases. 


The early-morn comet that has been our visitor so long, has given birth to a 
daughter, as M. Schmidt, of Athens, has discovered. One morning a little comet 
was observed running alongside the big one—the mother. The little stranger has 
been produced by segmentation; the two stars have the appearance to march to- 
gether, but the mother has changed in form; the noyau from being spherical has 
become elongated. It is not the first occasion that our world has witnessed the 
birth of a star. The Biela comet in 1846 split into two. Discovered in 1826 
by Biela, it returned later, in six years and nine months, as was accurately pre- 
dicted. On the 13th of January, 1846, it opened in two, lengthways, and that 
evening the twius traveled in beauty side by side—two complete comets with inde- 
pendent heads and tails. A few days later they separated, and by the roth of Febru- 
ary they were already 180,o00 miles asunder. One lostits tail rapidly and also its 
brilliancy ; by March both were invisible. In 1852, after a punctual revolution 
of six years and nine months, they reappeared, but distant 1,500,000 miles from 
each other. Since, nothing has been heard of either. However, it is suspected that 
the showers of falling stars that so signally marked the year 1872 were the debris 
of the Biela comets. According to Schiaparelli a swarm of shooting stars follow 
in space orbits identical with comets, and are simply comets reduced to morselse 
by disintegration. 

Other celestial curiosity, the planets Mars and Venus, are those that have the 
greatest degree of relationship with our earth. All planets would seem to pass 
through the same series of transformations, their actual differences being due to 
their state of evolution. Thus Venus would be almost akin, in point of evolu- 
tion, tothe earth; while, on the contrary, Mars would be more advanced. Spec- 


544 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


tral analyses have, within certain limits, confirmed these hypothetical views. 
Following the observations of M. Schiaparelli, the surface of Mars has become 
much modified since three years. Large shady spaces had hitherto been obsery- 
ed, and concluded to be oceans; now dark surfaces have become bright, and 
vice versa. These differences in light and shade may imply modifications in the 
distribution of waters, or variations in vegetation. Stranger still, a number of 
dark lines traverse the continent of Mars, and connect two distant dark spots. 
From the mathematical arrangement of the dark lines, imagination conceives them 
to be canals uniting oceans; but what is puzzling, these lines at certain epochs be- 
come double, in the sense of becoming parallel. There are these second canals, 
alongside one another, that makes us doubt what uses the engineers in Mars can 
destine them for. More likely the phenomena are due to the geographical con- 
struction of the planet—the effect of the shadows of ravines. 


Messrs. Chatriau & Jacobs have made the owners of diamonds tranquil; 
white diamonds sell at about 30,000 f. per ounce; if yellow, at eight times less. 
A diamond merchant having purchased a white diamond, was surprised on wash- 
ing his hands in soap-water to find the stone in his ring turn yellow. This, as M. 
Chevreiul shows, was due to ‘‘complementary,’’ or associated colors, by which 
_union a diffent shade is produced. But the new color is ephemeral—a little rub- 
bing will restore the pristine hue. White diamonds will ever retain their purity, 
_ but as yellow can also be made temporarily white, caution is necessary in pur- 
chasing. Fit Ce 


Je LO SOI aN: 


OW RVORIGUIN ASVASS RE GENS: 
RICHARD OWEN, C.B., F.R.S. 


There seems to be a manifest desire in some quarters to anticipate the looked 
for and, by some, hoped-for proofs of our descent, or rather ascent, from the ape. 

In the September issue of the Fortnightly Review a writer cites, in this rela- 
tion, the ‘‘ Neanderthal skull, which possesses large bosses on the forehead, strik- 
ingly suggestive of those which give the gorilla its peculiarly fierce appearance ;”’ 
and he proceeds: ‘‘ No other human skull presents so utterly bestial a type as 
the Neanderthal fragment. If one cuts a female gorilla-skull in the same fashion, 
the resemblance is truly astonishing, and we may say that the only human feat- 
ure in the skull is its size.’’} - 

In testing the question as between Linneus and Cuvier of the zoological 


1. Grant Alien, ‘‘ On Primitive Mar,” p. 314. 


OUR ORIGIN AS A SPECIES. 545 


value of the differences between lowest man and highest ape, a naturalist. would 
not limit his comparison of a portion of the human skull with the corresponding 
one of a female ape, but would extend it to the young or immature gorilla, and 
also to the adult male; he would then find the generic and specific characters 
summed up, so far, at least, as a portion or ‘‘fragment” of the skull might show 
them. What is posed as the ‘‘ Neanderthal sku!l”’ is the roof of the brain-case, 
or ‘‘calvarium ” of the anatomist, including the pent-house overhanging the eye- 
holes or ‘‘orbits.” There is no other part of the fragment which can be supposed 
to be meant by the ‘‘large bosses” of the above quotation. And, on this as- 
sumption, I have to state that the super-orbital ridge in the calvarium in question 
is but littke more prominent than in certain human skulls of both higher and low- 
er races, and of both the existing and cave-dwelling periods. It is a variable 
cranial character, by no means indicative of race, but rather of sex. 

Limiting the comparison to that on which the writer quoted bases his con- 
clusions—apparently the superficial extent of the roof-plate—its greater extent as. 
compared with that of the gorilla equaling, probably, in weight the entire frame 
of the individual from the Neanderthal cave, is strongly significant of the super- 
iority of size of brain in the cave-dweller. The inner surface moreover indicates. 
the more complex character of the soft organ on which it was moulded; the 
precious ‘‘ gray substance” being multiplied by certain convolutions which are 
absent in the apes. But there is another surface which the unbiased zodlogist 
finds it requisite to compare. In the human ‘‘calvarium” in question, the mid- 
line traced backward from the superorbital ridge runs along a smooth track. In 
the gorilla a ridge is raised from along the major part of that tract to increase the 
surface giving attachment to the biting muscles. Such ridge in this position 

varies only in height in the female and the male adult ape, as the specimens in 
the British Museum demonstrate. In the Neanderthal individual, as in the rest 
of mankind, the corresponding muscles do not extend their origins to the upper 
surface of the cranium, but stop short at the sides forming the inner wall or 
boundary of what are called the ‘‘ temples,” defined by Johnson as the ‘‘ upper 
part of the sides of the head,” whence our ‘‘biting muscles’”’ are called ‘‘ tem- 
poral,” as the side-bones of the skull to which they are attached are also the 
‘temporal bones.” In the superficial comparison to which Mr. Grant Allen has 
restricted himself in bearing testimony on a question which perhaps affects our 
fellow-creatures, in the right sense of the term, more. warmly than any other in 
human and comparative anatomy, the obvious difference just pointed out ought 
not to have been passed over. It was the more incumbent on one pronouncing 
on the paramount problem, because the ‘“‘ sagittal ridge in the gorilla,” as in the 
orang, relates to and signifies the dental character which differentiates all Quad- 
rumana from all Bimana that have ever come under the ken of the biologist. 
And this ridge much more ‘‘strikingly suggests” the fierceness of the powerful 
brute-ape than the part referred to as ‘‘ large bosses.’’ Frontal prominences, more 
truly so termed, are even better developed in peaceful, timid, graminivorous 
quadrupeds than in the skulls of man or of ape. But before noticing the evi- 


546 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


dence which the teeth bear on the physical relations of man to brute, I would 
premise that the comparison must not be limited to a part or ‘‘ fragment ”’ of the 
bony frame, but to its totality, as relating to the modes and faculties of loco- 
motion. 

Beginning with the skull—and, indeed, for present aim, limiting myself 
thereto, —I have found that a vertical longitudinal section brings to light in great- 
est number and of truest value the differential characters between lowest Homo 
and highest Szmza. ‘Those truly and indifferently interested in the question may 
not think it unworthy their time—if it has not already been so bestowed—to give 
attention to the detailed discussions and illustrations of the characters in question 
in the second and third volumes of the ‘‘ Transactions of the Zoological Society.” ? 
The concluding memoir, relating more especially to points of approximation in 
cranial and dental structure of the highest Quadrumane to the lowest Bimane, 
has been separately published. t 

I selected from the large and instruction series of human skulls of various 
races in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons that which was the lowest, 
and might be called most bestial, in its cranial and dental characters. It was 
from an adult of that human family of which the life-characters are chiefly but 
truly and suggestively defined in the narrative of Cook’s first voyage in the En- 
deavor.? 

Not to trespass further on my readers, I may refer to the ‘‘ Memoir on the 
Gorilla,’ 4to, 1865. Plate XII gives a view, natural size, of the vertical and 
longitudinal section of an Australian skull; plate XI gives a similar view of the 
skull of the gorilla. Reduced copies of these views may be found at p. 572, 
figs. 395, 396, Vol. II, of my ‘‘ Anatomy of Vertebrates.” 

As far as my experience has reached, there is no skull displaying the charac- 
ters of a quadrumanous species, as that series descends from the gorilla and chim- 
panzee to the baboon, which exhibits differences, osteal or dental, on which 
specific and generic distinctions are founded, so great, so marked, as are to be 
seen, and have been above illustrated, in the comparison of the highest ape with 
with the lowest man. 

The modification of man’s upper limbs for the endless variety, nicety and 
perfection of their application, in fulfillment of the behests of his correspondingly 
developed brain—actions summed up in the term ‘‘ manipulation ’’—testify as 
strongly to the same conclusion. ‘The corresponding degree of modification of 
the human lower limbs, to which he owes his upright attitude, relieving the man- 
ual instruments from all share in station and terrestrial locomotion—combine and 
concur in raising the group so characterized above and beyond the apes, to, at 
least, ordinal distinction. The dental characters of mankind bear like testimony. 
The lowest (melanian), like the highest (Caucasian), variety of the bimanal order 


2 ‘*Qsteologica! Contributions to the Natural History of the Orangs (Pzthecus) and Chimpanzees 
(Droglodites niger and Trog. gorilla.)”’ i 

3 Hawkesworth’s 4th ed., Vol. III, 1770, pp. $6, 13°, 229. The skull in question is No, 5,°94 of the 
“* Cat: logue of the Osteology”’ in the above Museuw, 4:0, Vol. II, p. 823, 1853. 


OUR ORIGIN AS A SPECIES. J d47 


differs from the quadrumanal one in the order of appearance, and succession to 
the first set of teeth, of the second or ‘‘ permanent” set. The foremost incisor 
and foremost molar are the earliest to appear in that series; the intermediate 
teeth are acquired sooner than those behind the foremost molar. 4 

In the gorilla and chimpanzee, the rate of course of progress is reversed; the 
second true molar, or the one behind the first, makes its appearance before the 
bicuspid molars rise in front of the first ; and the third or last of the molars be- 
hind the first comes into place before the canine tooth has risen. This tooth, in- 
deed, which occupies part of the interval between the foremost incisor and fore- 
most molar, is the last of the permanent set of teeth to be fully developed in the 
Quadrumana ; especially in those which, in their order, rank next to the Bzmana. 
To this differential character add the breaks in the dental series necessitated for 
the reception of the crowns of the huge canines when the gorilla or chimpanzee 
shuts its mouth. 

But the superior value of developmental over adult anatomical characters in 
such questions as the present is too well known in the actual phase of biology to 
need comment. 

In the article on ‘‘ Primeval Man,” the author states that the Cave-men 
“probably had lower foreheads, with high bosses like the Neanderthal skull, and 
big canine teeth like the Naulette jaw.”’® 

The human lower jaw so defined, from a Belgian cave, which I have care. 
fully examined, gives no evidence of a canine tooth of a size indicative of one in 
the upper jaw necessitating such vacancy in the lower series of teeth which the 
apes present. There is no such vacancy nor any evidence of a ‘‘ big canine 
tooth’’ in that cave specimen. And, with respect to cave-specimens in general, 
the zoological characters of the race of men they represent must be founded on 
the rule, not on an exception, to their cranial features. Those which I obtained 
from the cavern at Bruniquel, and which are now exhibited in the Museum of 
Natural History, were disinterred under circumstances more satisfactorily deter- 
mining their contemporaneity with the extinct quadrupeds those cave-men killed 
and devoured than in any other spelzan retreat which I have explored. They 
show neither ‘‘lower foreheads” nor ‘‘ higher bosses”’ than do the skulls of ex- 
isting races of mankind. 

Present evidence concurs in concluding that the modes of life and grades of 
thought of the men who have left evidences of their existence at the earliesy 
periods hitherto discovered and determined, were such as are now observable in 
“savages,” or the human races which are commonly so called. 

The industry and pains now devoted to the determination of the physical 
characters of such races, to their ways of living, their tools and weapons, and to 
the relations of their dermal, osteal, and dental modifications to those of the 
mammals which follow next after Bzmana in the descensive series of mammalian 
orders, are exemplary. 


y) 


4 ‘* Odontography,”’ 4to., 1840-44, p. 454, plates 117, 118, 119. 


5 Fortnightly Review, September, p. 321. 


548 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


The present phase of the quest may be far from the bourn to yield. hereafter 
trustworthy evidence of the origin of man; but, meanwhile, exaggerations and mis- 
statements of acquired grounds ought especially to be avoided.— Longman’s Mag- 


azine. 


IS EVOLUTION GODLESS? 


This important question has sometimes been hastily or ignorantly answered 
in the affirmative. How it is answered by a master of the subject, who accepts 
the great truths of Christianity as fully as he does the doctrine of evolution, and 
who can give a reason for both the scientific and the theological faith that is in 
him, may be seen from the following abstract of Dr. Winchell’s lecture on the 
question : 

The religious nature of man has always manifested a tendency to revolt 
against any general theory of development in the processes of the world. Such 
doctrines have been equally opposed among the Greeks, among the religious 
minds of the Middle Ages, and in our own times. They have never commanded 
any general assent even among the purely scientific, until within less than a quar- 
ter of a century. Since Charles Darwin pointed out, in 1858, the existence of 
tendencies in the organic world which would go far toexplain the means by which 
transmutations of species may be effected, thinking minds have generally been 
led to the belief that evolution is the method of nature, and the protests of the re- 
ligious sentiments have not been able to stay the progress of opinion. 

These protests, it must be particularly observed, are based on the supposition 
that a method of evolution must be a method of self-evolution. With this under- 
standing religious opposition is inevitable and is right. The religious nature is 
an original and ineradicable constituent of humanity, and has the same right to 
exercise as the intellect itself. It meansmore. The objects toward which its ac- 
tivities are directed must be recognized as realities. They are ultimate truths, as 
valid as the intuitions of reason. A spontaneous evolution robs these faculties of 
their object, and they protest. It falsifies an affirmation of the fundamental au- 
thority of our being, and must be an smposszbility. 

But such an interpretation of evolution is unnecessary. , It cannot be de- 
fended. The doctrine of evolution is simply a statement of /act concerning the 
muthod of the succession of events in the natural world. In affirms nothing re- 
specting any efficient connection between the successive terms of the series. It 
affirms nothing respecting the mode of origination of the first term of the se- 
ries. It says nothing of beginning, but only of the mode of continuance. It is en- 
tirely compatible with the supposition that the first term was the product of 
immediate creation. 

But scientific writers speak of causes. They tell us that such and such mod- 
ifications of structure are produced by such and such conditions or antecedents. 
How is such language to be reconciled with the statement that evolution has nothing 


LS EVOLUTION GODLESS. 549 


to say about causation? It is important to be borne in mind that the word cawse is 
employed in literature in twosenses. By cause the scientist means only a uniform 
antecedent. But every one immediately understands that mere antecedence is in- 
sufficient. Some effictency must be exerted in the preceding term which passes over 
into the following term. There must be a bond connecting the two whichis more 
than simple successiveness. This is is the other conception of cause. This is the 
conception of real and only cause. ‘The scientific conception of cause is merely 
that of uniform antecedence among material phenomena, and is therefore not a 
conception of true efficient causation at all. 

Now, all real efficiency originates in zz//. Our own experiences teach that 
every result attained in the realm of human activities proceeds from human voli- 
tion. Tools, machinery, the elements of nature,—these are only intermedia 
which will employs for the accomplishment ofits ends. All the eminent authori- 
ties concur that the same conclusion must be applied to events in the natural 
world. All its phenomena are the products of some causal volition. 

But the mere fact of volitional causation implies much more. ‘The exercise 
of will implies a real being, possessing such an attribute. The effects to be pro- 
duced must be first conceived or apprehended. ‘This is an act of intelligence. 
The suitable conditions must be chosen; appropriate instrumentalities selected. 
These are other acts of intelligence. ‘The premeditated effect must be desired ; 
there must be a motive for producing it. Motive and desire belong to the emo- 
tional nature. Finally, the exertion of will for the effectuation of the result com- 
pletes the circle of attributes constituting personality,—that is, separate, self-sus- 
tained existence. Inteilect, sensibility, and will are the three moments of our own 
personal being. 

Now, to apply this analysis to the organic changes which sometimes take 
place in animals and plants, we must keep clearly before the attention the dis- 
crimination between the fact of an evolutionary mode of succession, the condztions 
under which it is effected, the zzstrumentalities employed in the effectuation, and 
the cause whose efficiency employs the iustrumentalities under the conditions to 
make a given effect a fact of nature. It is plain that when an animal comes into 
the possession of a modified structure that structure has grown. ‘The result has 
b-en attained through the action of the growing forces. A denser covering of fur 
may have come into existence in connection with the advent of a colder climate. 
The change in the climate is the condition to which the organism becomes adapt- 
ed, and the changed action of the vital forces produces the adaptation. But the 
physiological activities within the animal are themselves only instrumental. 
They are merely physical activities directed to certain ends. They do a work not 
planned by the organs. ‘These facts point to the existence of some real cause yet 
undiscovered. It must be an immaterial cause, since the deepest scrutiny of our 
microscopes discloses only matter engaged in the physical activities just referred 
to. ' It must be an intelligent cause, since it selects and builds according to in- 
lelligible plans. Only intellect performs such works. Manifestly, then, some in- 
telligent and immaterial cause employs the physiological forces to build the or- 


550 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ganism according to certain methods, into such growths as shall be best suited to 
the external conditions under which the animal lives. 

The theological deductions from such a scientific conclusion follow immedi- 
ately. There must be a first cause. The immaterial cause operative in nature 
must act constantly, not periodically. The world was not created in some begin- 
ning, and set running hke a clock. Sustaining power is imminent in the world. 
This view is maintained by eminent authorities in science and philosophy. The 
cause of the world is possessed of attributes co extensive with the origination and 
maintenance of the visible universe. This to us means a body of infinite attri- 
butes. But the metaphysical infinity of the first cause is reflected in our neces- 
sary intuition of the infinite. 

Thus evolution is a world embracing plan expressive of mind. It lifts us to 
the highest possible apprehension of the wisdom and power and unity of the Su- 
preme being, and brings into the most intimate relations with the Father of All 
in all the phenomena of the natural world, and all the experiences of our daily 
lives. — Boston Journal of Chemistry. 


VELOCITY OF PROJECTILES. 


It is most unfortunate that none of the ships at Alexandria are armed with 
guns of the new type. If there were in the fleet even a few of the new 8-inch or 
g inch guns, the ships possessing them could lie completely out of danger from 
the Aboukir forts, and destroy them by a long range fire without giving them a 
chance. Something of this sort actually happened in the Chiliand Peruvian war. 
A single new 8-inch Armstrong gun was placed on board a common steamer call- 

ed a ‘‘ pig-boat,” and bombarded at its leisure the Peruvian forts on shore. The 
' Peruvians sent out a gunboat to come to closer quarters with its ridiculous antago 
nist. Three shots from the 8-inch Armstrong were, however, sufficient to dispose 
of the gunboat. The first was short, the second over, the third got the right 
range, so that the shell fell on deck. The gunboat literally disappeared in a 
moment, being blown up by the one shell which struck her. Such is the advan- 
tage of having guns which impart a very high velocity to their projectiles. All 
the new English guns give muzzle velocities of about 2,000 feet per second, and 
this is 400 feet more than that of the 80-ton gun, 640 feet more than the Egyp- 
tian to-inch gun, and 580 feet more than the g-inch. Though we place the veloc- 
ity of the new type guns at 2,000 feet, most of them give a velocity considerably 
higher. For instance, the 12-inch 43-ton gun has already given a velocity of 
Die Giss WEL 


on 
— 


NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF SHELLS, NO, I11, 5) 


ZOOLOGY “MNUB) SORTA. 


NOES ON Tab DiStTRiBULION OF SHELES. N@r ine 
F. A. SaMPSON, SEDALIA, MO. 


At one time I thought I had made a full list of the shells found near Sedalia, 
but having at different times, even down to the writing of this article, made ad- 
ditions to the list, I would not claim that I now give all. Fora time after com- 
mencing to collect, I was unsuccessful in finding the small shells, and wrote to 1 

friend that there were none in the county. He insisted that there were, and 
gave some directions about how to hunt for them, after which I soon learned 
how to fi: d them, and at all suitable stations I now obtain several species, though 
none of them are commen to all stations which appear to be equally suited to 
them. Of the three zomztes which are most abundant, arboreus, viridulus and in- 
dentatus, some one is generally plenty to the almost or wholly total exclusion of 
the other two. 

~The following will be of interest as showing the association of species, the 
comparative number, as well as the actual number of each found in a search of 
about one hour at each place. The first locality is in and close toan abandoned 
stone-quarry a mile northwest of the city. It is surrounded by ‘brush, but no 
heavy woods, and is close by a small stream of water. The shells were all found 
under stones. The second is southwest of Sedalia in the bottom on Flat Creek, 
in an open place in the woods. There being no rocks at this place the shells 
were obtained under logs and sticks. No shells were found in the woods where 
“dense, but in an open space where the most of the timber had been cut down 
and grass had grown up: 


LOCALITY: WO, 1s WO. Ze TOCA VEE) NIOwn a Ni@at 2 
Zonites indentatus . . 25 fo) US COMLTACLEE AR ct) rane se rn 215 
DX UUIAULUS 2 fo) UPOGUPICOIEe sts ha 20 ° 
Jin, COUIRIIS 5 bio eae) JE, WOU Es 6) es 5) 2 
Z. minusculus . . . 5 fo) Stenotrema leati . . . 6 I 
Flelicodiscus lineatus. . 8 fo) Vallonia labyrinthica . 1 4 
Rupa armipera... 37 = 18 


The following list gives all that are now known to be in the county, but from 
the fact that some have been found but at a single place, and at a single time, we 
may expect further search to bring others to light : 


1. Macrocyclus concava, Say.—But few specimens have been found and 
those are either of small size or else they are not full grown. ‘ 


552 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


2. Zonttes arboreus, Say.—In some localities this is found in large numbers 
to the exclusion almost of the two following species, while in other places one or 
both of them takes its place. Generally one of the three largely predominates 
and but one of the other two is found with it. 

3. Zonites viridulus, Menke.—In numbers almost equal to the preceding. 

4. Zonites indentatus, Say.—Not so plenty as either of the two preceding, 
though I have found it in one locality, at least, the prevailing one of the three. 

5. Zonites mixusculus, Binney —Not plenty but common in the different 
localities. 

6. Zonites ligerus, Say.—Not common or plenty. 

7. Zonites pulvus, Drap.—Found on bark on the underside of lying logs, 
but in small numbers. 

8. Helicodiscus lineata. Say.—-Common but not plenty. 

9. Limax campestris, Binney.—Plenty in woods and open pastures. 

to. Patula solitaria, Say.—Found on the sides of bluffs, the size being 
about one half that of the same species from Indiana. 

11. fatula alternata, Say.—In some places in considerable numbers, and 
in size smaller than those from Indiana, but there is not so much difference as in 
the preceding. 

12. Strobila labyrinthica, Say.—Not plenty, and generally found in same 
place as Zonites fulvus. 

13.  Stenotrema hirsuta, Say.—Not plenty. 

14.  Stenotrema leatt, Ward.—This fine little shell is quite common, being 
found not only close to timber, but sometimes extending along fence rows into 
the open fields. 

15.  Zvrtodopsts inflecta, Say.—Specimens in woods on higher land, in small 
numbers, somewhat smaller than those from Indiana. 

16.  Mesodon albolabris, Say.—A variety which is almost identical with 
specimens of this species found at Eureka Springs, Arkansas, of which Prof. Weth- 
erby says: 

“Specimens of the average size have the spire very much depressed, the aper- 
ture correspondingly elongated transversely, and the surface very highly polished. 
The reflection of the peristome is much narrower, so rendered by its being some- 
what folded. It is a very distinct variety, which I have not before seen.” 

It is quite rare here. 

17.—WMesodon elevata, Say.—Specimens cannot be distinguished from the In- 
diana ones. Found on the sides of loamy bluffs. 

18.  Mesodon thyroides, Say.—Y¥ound in the woods or a creek bottom in 
considerable numbers. " 

19. Mesodon clausa, Say.—I have found a few dead shells but no living 
ones, and they are evidently scarce. . 

20. Bulimulus dealbatus, Say.—Has been found in one locality in the coun- 


ty and one in Cooper County, about twelve miles from this city. I have not be-~ 
& 


NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF SHELLS, NO. 111. 000 


fore known of its occurring so far north, not having heretofore collected it north 
of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. 

21. Lupa pentodon, Say.—A few have been found in open timber under logs 
and sticks. 

22. Lupa fallax, Say.—Yound in stony places, not only under the larger 
stones, but among small ones where they are thickly imbedded in dirt, a space 
of a foot square, sometimes furnishing two or three hundred of this and the next 
species. 

23. Lupa armifera, Say.—Found along with the last, and also under logs, 
not imbedded in the ground but above it, and generally encrusted with dirt. 

24. Pupa contracta, Say.—Rather plenty. 

25. Lupa rupicola, Say.—Not common. 

26. Pupa nordeacea, Gabb(?).—A very few of what seem to be this species 
were found, but the identification is not certain. 

27. Pupa —— —— (?)—A very small Pupa or a Vertigo, not yet determined. 

28. ~Succinea lineata, W. G. Binn.—In the summer of 1881, a few speci- 
mens of what seems to be this species, were found on roots of trees which were 
standing partly in water. Several searchings during the past summer failed to 
find a single specimen. 

29. Succinea avara, Say.—A few were found along the preceding. 

30. Succtnea ovalis, Gould.—Found on the under side of logs in bottoms in - 
open timber. The largest were seven mm in length, the typical specimens being 
given as fifteen mm long. 

31.  Lebenophorus carvlinensis, Bosc. 

32. Carychium exiguum, Say.—Some years ago I found about forty under 
one log in a creek bottom, but have never since found any. 

The water shells are much more numerous than the land shells, though there 
are not so many species. I have collected the following : 

33. Limnea columella, Say.—The only place where I found this was in a 
fountain in the yard of Mr. O. A. Crandall, the eggs having evidently come 
from Flat Creek through the pipes of the water-works, a distance of two or three 
miles. In the same fountain occurred Physa heterostrophe, Planorbis trivolois, and 
a Sphereum. : 

34.  Limnea desidiosa, Say.—On Spring Fork close by a spring I found this 
species in abundance, but have not seen it at any other locality. ©The specimens 
were eight to ten and a half mm in length. 

35. Limnea humilis, Say.—Some five years ago I found great numbers in 
a small wet-weather pond by the roadside, but when I next visited thelocality it had 
dried up, and there has not since been any at that place. They were six mm in 
length and quite solid. The only other place where [ obtained any was on Flat 
Creek, where they were smaller, thinner and scarcer. 

36. Physa gyrina, Say.—Very fine specimens of this were found a few 
years ago in a wet-weather pond which soon after dried up. They were twenty 
mm in length with apex eroded so that only three full whorls remained. These 


5o4 ' KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


have been identified by different conchologists as the variety Az/drethiana, Lea, but 
they were evidently the mature form of others which all identify as gyrzzma. The 
smaller ones were sixteen mm in length, of six whorls and entire apex. 

37.  LPhysa heterostrophe, Say.—In no two streams are these shells exactly 
alike. In some the shell is clear and pellucid; in others quite black. Again at 
some seasons of the year they will be pellucid and at others black. The size and 
the shape vary almost as muchas the color, and while it is the most common species 
of the genus, conchological authorities do not agree in their identifications, even as 
between this and the preceding species. The same process that would make 
Stenotrema monodon and S. leati one species, would also make these one. 

38  Planorbis trivolots, Say.—Of this common species there are two va- 
rieties found. One is about thirteen mm in diameter and the other eighteen mm. 
The first is more uniformly with basal portion of the labrum horizontally subrec- 
tilinear, and not extending below the level of the base, though this is not the case 
with all, and a part of the larger variety are of that form. | 

39.  LPlanorbis bicarinatus, Say.—-Not very common. 

40. Planorbis parvus, Say.—In November, 1882, I found this species for 
the first time, and then got only a few specimens from a pond on Flat Creek. 

41. Llanorbis .—From Flat Creek I obtained a couple of young 
shells, between one and two mm in diameter. They do not seem to belong to 
any of the species before named, and I have not yet been able to identify them. 

42. Ancylus tardus, Say.—Fine: specimens of a reddish color. 

43.  Melantho integer, Say.—Common. 

44 Amnticola porata, Say.—In the summer of 1881, when the streams were 
very low, this was obtained in large numbers. 

45. <Amanicola orbiculata, Lea.—This very rare shell was ebieniee in small 
numbers with the preceding. 

46. Gontobasis cubtcoides, Anth.—This was found in small numbers at one 
place in 1881, but during the past year with diligent searching, I could not find any. 

47. Sphereum partumetum, Say.—Plenty. 

48. Sphereum striatinum, Lam.—Plenty and typical. 

. 49. Sphareum stamineum, Cour.—Rare. Has been found only on Little 
Muddy. 

50. Listdium variabile, Prime.—Not plenty. 

51. L1sidium compressum, Eenae: —A few were found in 1881, but the same 
locality in 1882 did not furnish any. 

As the Unzos in all our streams are too much eroded to make good cabinet 
specimens, I have not made an effort to get a full collection of them, and will 
not now give a partial list. The number of species here given is not equal to 
those in many local catalogues having a similar fauna, but in some of these latter 
I have noticed some very doubtful identifications, such as locating a West India 
species in one of the northwestern States. When necessary corrections shall have 
been made in each of the lists, the number here will probably be found about the 
average of more northern localities, with a somewhat larger number of rare species. 


THE LIGNIFIED SNAKE FROM BRAZIL, , 559 


THE LIGNIFIED SNAKE FROM BRAZIL. 
PROFESSOR ASA GRAY.’ 


The Popular Science Monthly for November, and the Bulletin of the Torrey 
Botanical Club, for the same month, have reproduced an account given in the 
French Zz WVature last April, of a remarkable phenomenon. The abstract in the 
Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club is the most condensed, and the essential 
part is copied here: the cut illustrating the object, however, is poor; that in the 
Lopular Science Monthly is a somewhat better representation. 

‘¢The object represented is a small Brazilian reptile—the jaracaca—which 
was found within the trunk of an ipe-mirim, a tree of common occurrence in the 
province of Matto Grosso, to the north of the Amazons, where the specimen was 
discovered. ‘The piece of wood containing the reptile, after an examination by 
the scientists of Rio de Janeiro, was taken to France by Mr. Lopez Netto (Brazil- 
jan Minister to the United States,) and placed in the hands of Mr. Louis Olivier, 
who, after a careful study of the specimen, submitted the results thereof to the 
Botanical Society of France. 

‘¢ What is astonishing,’’ says Mr. Olivier, in an article on the subject in Za 
Nature, ‘is that the entire body of the snake is lignified,! the anatomical study 
that I have made of it having shown me that it consists of cells and fibres like 
those of the secondary wood which surrounds it. It is impossible to explain the 
fact by saying that there has occurred a formation of these elements in a hollow, 
which, having been traversed by the animal, has preserved the form of the latter ; 
for on the piece of wood it is not only the contour of the snake that is visible, 
but, indeed, the whole relief of its body. 

Just beyond the head there is likewise observed in relief a small cylinder 
which appears to represent the larva of aninsect. It seems, then that the snake, 
in pursuing the latter into a fissure in the tree, has insinuated itself between the 
wood and the bark into the cambium-layer, which is well known to be the gener- 
ator of wood and secondary liber. The function of this cambium-tissue is two- 
fold; in the interior it gives rise, in a centripetal direction, to ligneous elements, 
the youngest of which are consequently found at periphery of the wood; but, to- 
ward the exterior, on the contrary, it produces, in a centrifugal direction, liber- 
fibres, elongated cells, and prosenchymatous elements, the youngest of which are 
therefore, situated on the internal surface of the bark. If, then, a foreign body 
be introduced as far as the external limit of the wood, it will, in a few years, be- 
come invested with a series of ligneous layers, which are themselves protected by 


1 Except the center, in which are found the constituent elements of the animal. 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


OT 
Or 
(or) 


an abundance of bark. Now, in the case under consideration, not only has there 
been an investment of concentric zones around the reptilé, but, besides this, cells 
and ligneous fibres derived from the cambium-tissues have been substituted for 
the elements which constituted the external portions of the snake in measure as 
these have become absorbed. The places that these occupied have, as they grad- 
ually disappeared, been taken by secondary wood, whose hypertrophy is proved 
by the very relief of the snake’sbody.” So far Mr. Olivier. 

‘«The result, as in cases of petrifaction, is that in some parts of the body 
certain delicate details of the animal’s organization are clearly visible. This is 
especially the case with regard to the nostrils and orbits, and to the arrangement 
of the scales and cephalic plates over the entire half of the surface of the head.” 

The narrative in the Popular Science Monthly adds from another source the 
names of the distinguished botanists who were present at the session of the Botan- 
ical Society of France, and who are said to have adopted the view of M. Olivier. 
The Bulletin of that Society in which the proceedings of that meeting is recorded 
have not yet come to our hands. We shall be much surprised if it fully bears out 
this statement. 

Through the kindness of the Brazilian Minister, we have seen and examined 
the original specimen, and have been presented with an electrotype of it. It is. 
a great curiosity. The resemblance to a snake is wonderfully close, although 
‘the scales and cephalic plates,’’ which Mr. Olivier identifies with those of a 
particular Brazilian snake, exist only in a lively imagination. The snake like sur- 
face is covered by delicate meshes of woody fibres; and here and there particular 
fibres or woody threads can be traced from the body to the woody surface. 

The adopted explanation requires us to suppose that a snake had forced his 
way between the bark and wood of a living tree, in a position exactly under a 
grub or larva; had perished there when within an inch of its prey; was somehow 
preserved from decay, even to the eye-sockets and the markings of the skin, until 
a woody growth had formed, the elements of which replaced the whole superfi- 
cial structure of the animal,—until the animal was lignified! Two other and 
more probable explanations have suggested themselves. One is, that the snake- 
like body is of the nature of a root, an aérial root, like those of a C/usza or a 
Ficus, which was making its way between bark and wood; and that the supposed 
larva is an incipient root of the same kind. ‘The other supposes that the sinuous 
course is the track of a wood-eating larva or some kind of insect, the burrowing 
of which had not destroyed the overlying liber; consequently the new growth 
filling the space (except at certain points) had naturally assumed the likeness of 
asnake. This explanation was suggested by Professor Wadsworth, of Cambridge, 
examining the specimen along with the writer; and it is to be preferred. Still, 
that head and neck should be so well outlined, and the former so well represent 
a pair of orbits, were surely most wonderful. But a close inspection of the elec- 
trotype showed that there had been some cutting away at the right side of the 
neck, and that the narrowing there was in part factitious; and less decisive indi- 
cations suggested that other outlines had been touched up. ‘The subsequent in- . 


RESULTS IN AERIAL NAVIGATION. | 587 


spection of the original confirmed this; and likewise enlightened us about the 
eyes. For the left orbit was found to occur, not in woody structure, like that of 
the right side, but in a dark material having the appearance of pitch or cement 
of some sort. 

We may rest assured that whatever there may be which is factitious in this 
most curious /usus nature, originated before it came into the hands of His Excel- 
lency the Brazilian Minister at Washington. If these marks were hot discerned 
by any of the Parisian savants in question—which we are slow to believe—they are 
less likely to have been noticed by Sefior Lopez Netto, whose honor and good 
faith are incontestable.— American Journal of Science. 


le leat OSM GiSy 


RESULTS IN AERIAL NAVIGATION EXPECTED FROM THE STOR- 
AGE OF FORCE AND THE CHEAPENING OF ALUMINUM. 


PROB. SEs Cy SiEDMAN: 


The following bit of news, with some remarks by Professor New pen, upon 
its importance, appeared ia the Z7zbune of Thursday, Dec. 14: 

‘¢Lonpon, Dec. 13.—A process for the cheap production of aluminum has 
been discovered The invention causes no little excitement in the metal trade at 
Birmingham and Sheffield.” 

I contributed to Scribner's Monthly February, 1879, an illustrated article en- 
titled ‘‘ Aerial Navigation (A Prori).” In it I gave the gist of certain notes and 
diagrams made in 1858 concerning the greatest of unsolved mechanical problems 
—that of the true method of navigating the air, that ‘‘element everywhere 
abounding, covering one all over like a cloak, earth’s garment, man’s aureola, in 
which he moves, breathes, and has his being ; the most delicate, the strongest of all; 
invisible, yet making all things plain; light, yet pressing everywhere; elusive, yet 
waiting to be overcome, and to confer gifts upon its sovereign beyond his most 
extravagant conjecture !” 

In the quoted article I claimed that the model of the future ‘‘aérobat” or 
‘‘aéronon”’ would be taken from the fish, and not, as many believed, from the 
bird, but added : 

‘« Various hints, however, may be gained from the bird, one of which relates 
to the structure of the frame and machinery of a vessel that shall navigate the at- 
mosphere. The hollow bones of the bird furnish the natural model for the union 
of lightness and and strength in aérial mechanics.” 

In 1879 three factors were still needed for the successful construction and 
use of an aéronon built upon the model suggested—that of a ‘‘ parabolic spin- 


508 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


dle” in such a state of equipoise that a slight force obtained from a vertical screw 
would cause it to rise or descend. These requirements were: 

A. A motor distinguished by a greater economy of power than the best hitherto 
constructed. After the appearance of my article I received from the eminent Chief 
Engineer of the Erie Railway, Mr. Octave Chanute, Vice-President of the Amer-_ 
ican Association of Civil Engineers, carefully prepared tables of the ratios of in- 
creased atmospheric resistance to increased speed, showing what powerful and 
economical motors are required to overcome the former. ‘This gentleman also 
has made experments, by affixing apparatus to railway cars, in order to determine 
the shape of a moving structure which shall meet with the least resistance from 
the air. } 

B. A Method of Storing Force, so that it could be applied to the propulsion 
of the aéronon, with economy of weight, without danger to the structure of ig- 
nition, and in quantity sufficient for prolonged flight. I wrote that ‘‘ the electric en- 
gine will be required. Electricity, in fact, will be as indispensable to the aérobat 
as to one of Jules Verne’s imaginary structures. The electric light will flash from 
its lookout station and illuminate the inner galleries; while the steering and pro- 
pulsion will be governed by electric signals.”’ 

Within this year the marvellous invention of the Faure Accumulator has 
solved the problem of the Storage of Force, and we are assured that equally sur- 
prising advances may be expected in its capacity to render a greater amount of 
energy for the given bulk and weight of the reservoir. 

C. .A cheap process of obtaining aluminum in quantity was yet to be dis- 
covered. 

I wrote that ‘‘ lightness and strength”? must be the watchword. ‘‘All the in- 
ternal stays, ties, braces, to be made of strong but delicate metallic rods, wire and 
tubing.” The following reference was made to the metal best suited for the pur- 
pose : 

‘«Some years after I began to think of this subject I fell into conversation with 
an intelligent machinist, the chance companion of a railway trip. He remarked 
that he thought that the solution of our problem might depend upon the increas- 
ed production of aluminum—then a comparatively new metal. 

‘« This, one of the most abundant. of metals, is so difficult of extraction from 
the clay that the cost at that time was $1.80 per ounce. By 1867 it was obtained 
through an improved process from cryolite, at a cost of ninety cents per ounce. 
Recent authorities quote the cost of manufacture as low as $4 a pound. Its spe- 
cific gravity, when hammered and rolled till strong as iron or stronger, compares 
with that of iron and copper as 2.67 to 7.78 and 8.78 respectively. It is, there- 
fore, but ome-third as heavy as the lighter of these metals, and even weighs less 
than glass. There are signs that it will yet be produced so cheaply as to be use- 
ful for much of the jointed frame work of our structure, and for portions of the 
machinery not subject to excessive heat. But though it cost its weight in sil- 


ver it might well be afforded, if by its use a structure could be made to navigate 
the air. 


RESULTS IN AERIAL NAVIGATION. | 5d9 


‘¢ Aluminum bronze, ten parts aluminum and ninety parts copper, has a spe- 
cific gravity of only 7.69. It is three times more rigid than gun metal, and forty- 
four times more so than brass; and, in consequence of its transverse, tensile and 
elastic strength, exceedingly strong tubing and rods could be made of it, at a vast 
economy of structural weight.” | 

Professor Newberry now tells you that ‘‘aluminum, (it is time that metal- 
lurgists should make a final choice between the terminations in zaum and inium,) 
has not been largely used yet, because of the cost that has attended its produc- 
tion, but for a long time everybody has been looking for a cheaper method. The 
price of it when I first saw it was $8 an ounce, a year ago it was $1 an ounce, and 
now there is a Philadelphia firm that offers to supply it in large quantities at 40 
cents an ounce, while a Connecticut manufacturing company say they that can 
produce it for less.” He continues: ‘‘ Think how valuable it would be in bridges 
and all structures in which lightness combined with strength and durability is de- 
sired. J/f we ever have machines to navigate the air it will be an extremely important 
element, for tt can be easily wrought into tubes that will be strong and light.” 

It is not within my province to enlage upon the thousand departments in 
which this light, strong and non-corrosive metal will take the place of iron. And 
_we have yet to learn how cheap is the new method of its production, but if your 
London telegram is well-founded, and if the cost of aluminum can be reduced to 
any sum approximating the cost of steel, making allowance for the difference in 
specific gravity of the two substances, we can safely assert that the vear 1882 has 
provided two of the three factors required for the solution of the problem of aérial 
navigation. 

The public may remember that an imperfect machine, in some features re- 
sembling my design, has lately achieved a measure of success in France. M. Tis 
sandier is now constructing a spindle-shaped aérobat to be driven by electricity. 
Owing partly to its disadvantageous separation of the car and aérostat, its speed 
will not exceed fifteen miles an hour in calm weather. 

In Mr. Chanute’s ‘*‘ Annual Address,” 1880, before the convention of the 
American Society of Civil Engineers, he spoke as follows: 

‘¢There are signs that a new motive power will be invented, which shall be 
safer, of greater energy, and less wasteful than steam. You know that chemists 
tell us that the theoretical energy of a pound of coal varies between eight and 
eleven millions of feet pounds, while we utilize with our best steam engines but 
from three to eleven per cent of the theoretical value of the fuel. I think it not 
impossible that we shall perfect methods of employing directly the gases produced 
from our fuels (instead of using them to generate another gas out of water), and 
thus obtain better economical results than with steam. I know of several prom- 
ising attempts in this direction. | 

‘¢ And, with a new motive power, perhaps will come the solution of the last 
transportation problem which rémains to be solved. I suppose you will smile 
when I say that the atmosphere still remains to be conquered; but wildly improb- 


560 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


able as my remarks may seem, there may be engineers in this room who will yet 
see men safely sailing through the air.” 

I write this letter as a further and timely statement of the advances made to- 
ward aérial navigation, and would gladly aid in extending, even thus slightly, the 
interest felt in the theme. I believe that the time is not far off when capitalists 
will take hold of the problem with results proportionate to their means and enter- 
prise. The first aéronon of practical value will not be constructed except by 
skilled engineers authorized to expend upon it at least the half million dollars re- 
quired for the construction of a steamship. The sum was raised at once for Capt. 
Ericsson’s vessel when he invented his caloric engine, twenty odd years ago. 
Among the scores of communications which my article of 1879 brought me—not 
only from more or less intelligent (and ‘‘ distressed ”’) inventors, each with a mod- 
el or caveat of his own, but also from amateurs and engineers—those from laymen 
often made light of the topic or subjected me to severe criticism. To my surprise 
many professional experts of high standing expressed the greatest interest in my 
views, and, allowing for the defects and crudeness incident to my limited study 
of the subject, in the main coincided with them. I judge that the prediction of 
an early solution of the problem is not without a basis. If it shall be solved, all 
the results which I have dwelt upon with some enthusiasm most surely will fol- 
low apace. A speedy revolution will be observed in the social, commercial and 
political systems of human life upon this globe. —M. Y. Tribune. . 


A THAMES LAUNCH PROPELLER D BY BENG PRC liye: 
SYLVANUS P. THOMPSON. 


Having been one of a privileged party of four, the first ever propelled upon 
the waters of the River Tnames by the motive power of electricity, I think some 
details of this latest d2parture in the application of electric science may be of in- 
terest. 

At 3:30 this afternoon I found myself on board the little vessel Hlectricity, 
lying at her mooring off the wharf of the works of the Electrical Power Storage 
Company at Milwall. Save for the absence of steam and steam machinery, the 
little craft would have been appropriately called a steam launch. She is twenty- 
six feet in length and about five feet in the beam, drawing about two feet of water, 
and fitted with a twenty-two inch propeller screw. On board were stowed away 
under the flooring and seats, fore and aft, forty-five mysterious boxes, each a 
cube of about ten inches in dimensions. These boxes were nothing else than 
electric accumulators of the latest type, as devised by Messrs. Sellon and Volck- 
mar, being a modification of the well-known Plante accumulator. Fully charged 
with electricity by wires leading from the dynamos or generators in the works, 
they were calculated to supply power for six hours at the rate of four-horse pow - 
er. These storage cells were placed in electrical connection with two Siemen’s 


THE COMING MOTIVE POWER, . 561 


dynamos of the size known as D 3, furnished with proper reversing gear and 
regulators, to serve as engines to drive the screw propeller. Either or both of 
these motors could be ‘‘ switched ” into circuit at will. 

In charge of the electric engines was Mr. Gustave Phillipart, Jr., who has 
been associated with Mr. Volckmar in the fitting upof the electric launch. Mr. 
Volckmar himself and an engineer completed, with the writer, the quartet who 

'made the trial trip. After a few minutes’ run down the river, and a trial of 
the powers of the boat to go forward, slacken, or go astern at will, her head was 
turned citywards, and we sped—I can not say steamed—silently along the south- 
ern shore, running about eight knots an hour against the tide. At 4:37 London 
bridge was reached, where the head of the launch was put about, while a long 
line of on-lookers from the parapets surveyed the strange craft that without steam. 
or visible power—without even a visible steersman—made its way against wind 
and tide. Slipping down the ebb, the wharf at Millwall was gained at s:o1, thus. 
in twenty-four minutes terminating the trial trip of the Electricity. 

For the benefit of electricians I may add that the total electromotive force 
of the accumulators was g6 volts, and that during the whole of the long run the 
current through each machine was already maintained at 24 amperes. Calcula- 
tion shows that this corresponds to an expenditure of electric energy at the rate 
of 3 1 11 horsepower. ; 

It is now forty-three years since the Russian Jacobi first propelled a boat 
upon the waters of the Neva by aid of a large but primitive electro-magnetic en- 
gine, worked by galvanic batteries of the old type, wherein zinc plates were dis- 
solved in acid. Two years ago a little model boat was shown in Paris by M. 
Trouve, actuated by accumulators of the Faure-Plante type. The present is,. 
however, not only the first electric boat that has been constructed in this country, 
but the very frst in which the electric propulsion of a boat has been undertaken 
on a commercial scale.— London Times. 


THE COMING MOTIVE POWER. 


The simplest and one of the most clever: and interesting applications of 
electricity to purposes of daily use was shown last week by Mr. C. Vibbard in 
his Broad Street office, where a model of the apparatus and a track was laid the 
length of the room. It is an automatic safety signal for railway trains. The 
road is cut up into blocks, which may be only 500 feet or twenty miles in length, 
as may be desired. A train coming on this block or section from either end 
automatically operates a simple instrument, which puts all signals on either end of 
the section, and on any switches that may immediately come in, at ‘‘danger.” By 
the same operation, when the train passes off the block the last car releases the in- 
strument, which is hidden under the rails, and safety signals are in turn displayed. 
There is no dependeuce upon the rails as conducting mediums, as has been the 
case with former automatic signals, the electric power being conveyed by an in- 


562 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


dependent wire running below the ground from an instrument buried under the 
track, to a telegraph pole where it is held aloft from all disturbing influences. 
_At night red lights are displayed. No weight less than five tons can open or 
close the circuit. In this way the danger of collision is avoided and likewise the 
overtaking of a slow train by a fast one, particularly at night on curves. To 
show how quickly the value of a thing will appreciate if solid people can only be 
induced to use it, this invention could have been had a couple of years ago for a 
mere song. After a while the Pennsylvania Railroad was induced to try it on 
their Tyrone division, the worst railroad division in the United States. Not an 
accident occurred while it was in use. Then the road ordered it put on the 
entire line from New York to Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Chicago, and on all 
connecting lines, and to-day the patent that could have been bought two years 
ago for a trifle could not be had for $1,000,000.—V. Y. Cor. Buffalo Express. 


A LOCOMOTIVE WITHOUT A SMOKE-STACK. 


Mallett’s device for consuming smoke is about to be tested on the Erie rail- 
way, on which a consolidated locomotive is being equipped. The smoke-stack 
disappears entirely, and in its place is a man-hole merely. The gases produced 
by the complete combustion will escape about the periphery of the extended boiler 
casing. The fan is worked by a small engine in the smoke box, and a powerful 
draft is maintained when the locomotive is at rest. ‘The exhaust steam passes 
along the side of the locomotive to the tender, which is divided into three com- 
partments. The upper one is for fresh water, the middle one contains copper 
tubes connecting with the external air in front and with a suction fan in the rear. 
The exhaust steam circulates around the copper tubes and becomes in part con- 
densed, the resulting hot water falling into the lower compartments. The uncon- 
densed steam that comes in contact with a spray of water falling from the upper 
compartment and the condensed water enters the lowest compartment, whence 
hot water is pumped into the boiler. The air used to condense the steam is em- 
ployed for heating and ventilating cars, being delivered through a conduit which, 
with coupling ends, passes along beneath the cars. ‘This system does away with 
coal stoves or heaters, and supplies the cars with fresh air and warm air without 
danger of fire in case of a smash up. When the locomotive now under way is 
completed, it is proposed to make with it a transcontinental trial trip.— Radway 
Age. 


THE CROPS OF 1879, 1881 AND 1882, 


UNI DOISTIRUAIS INCINES. 


THE CROPS OF 1879, 1881 AND 1882. 


On 


(Se) 


The Agricultural Department Statistican, Mr. J. R. Dodge, has just finished 


the compilation of the crop statistics for the year 1882, which will accompany the * 


annual report of Commissioner Loring. The following exhibit of wheat and corn 


production, together with the yield for 1879 and 1881, is taken from the report, 
and will be found of great value: 


States. 
Maine. 


New Hampshire 


Vermont 

- Massachusetts . 
Rhode Island. 
Connecticut . 


Northeast . 


New York. . 
New Jersey. . 
Pennsylvania . 
Delaware s. ] y. 


Middle . 


Maryland . 
Virginia . ° 
North Carolina . 
South Carolina . 
Georgia . 
Florida . 


South Atlantic . 


Alabama . 
Mississippi . 
Louisiana . 
Texas . 
Arkansas . 


Southern . 


West Virginia. . 
Tennessee . 


WHEAT (BUSHELS). 


1879. 1881. 
665,714 617,000 
169,316 175,000 
337>257 378,000 

15,768 19,000 

240 260 
38,742 39,000 
1,227,037 I, 228,260 
11,587,766 10,844,000 
1,901,739 2,018,000 
19,462, 405 18,797,000 
1,175,272 I 044,000 
34,127,182 32,703,000 
8,004,834 7,213,000 
4,822,504 7,165,000 
313975395 4,579,000 
962,353 988,000 
3,159,771 2,933,000 
422 480 
235347,312 22,878,480 
1,529,057 I, 479,000 
218,850 197,000 
5,934 52350 
2,567,760 3,230,000 
I, 269,730 I,017,000 
5,591,071 6,037,350 
4,001,711 - 4,413,000 
713315353 6, 408,000 


1882. 
512,100 
148,700 
378,000 

20,100 
300 
43,600 


1,102,800 


12,145,200 
2,098,7¢0 
20, 300, 700 
I, 200,600 


35;745, 200 


8,665,600 
8,311,400 
5,494,800 
1,729,000 
3,812,900 

600 


28,004, 300 


T, 700,806 
250,100 
7,000 


4,173,700 
1,566,100 


7,597,700 


4,854,300 
8,971,200 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


Kentucky . 


Central 


Ohio . 
Indiana . 
Illinois . 
lowa . 
Missouri . 
Kansas. . 
Nebraska . 


Surplus States. . 


Michigan .. 
Wisconsin . 
Minnesota . 


Lake. 


‘California . 
Oregon . 
Nevada . 


Pacific Coast . 


Colorado . 
Territories . 


District . 


United States. . 


States. 
Maine . 


New Hampshire . 


Vermont. . 

Massachusetts. 
Rhode Island . 
Connnecticut . 


Northeast... 


New York . 
New Jersey. . 
Pennsylvania . 
Delaware . 


Middle . 


Maryland . 
Virginia . 


North Carolina 


11,356,113 


22,689,177 


46,014,689 
47,284,853 
51,110,502 
31,154,205 
24,906,627 
17,324,141 
13,847,007 


231,702,204 
3535425543 
24,884,689 
34,601,030 


95,018, 262 
29,017,797 
7,480,010 
69,298 
36,567,015 


1,425,014 
6,718,829 


9, 203,843 
6,402 


8,625,000 


19,446,000 
38,520,000 
So SS SnCO® 
26,822,000 
18,245,000 
20,399 000 
TO 90971999 
13,840,000 


169,091,000 
21,220,000 
17,987,000 
35,952,000 


75,159,000 
28,406,000 
12,673,000 

48,000 


41,127,000 


1,310,000 
11,300,000 


12,610,000 


459,479,595 


388, 280,000 


' 


CORN (BUSHELS). 


1879. 
960,633 
T, 350,248 
2,014,271 
1,797,593 
372,967 
1,880,421 


8,376 133 


25,875,480 
11,150,705 
45,821,531 

3,894, 264 


86,741,980 


15,968,533 
29,106,661 


28,019,893 


1881. 
1,064,000 
I, 262,000 
1,990,900 
1,406,000 

327,000 
1,427,000 


7,476,000 


20,085,000 
7,820,000 


34,599,000 
2,940,000 


65,453,000 


16,277,000 
27,200,000 


23,977,000 


17,250,000 


39,975,500 
45,453,600 
45,461,800 
52,302,900 
25,487,200 

27,539,600 
33,248, 000 
14,947,200 


244,439,300 


Spo) in4i 22 
20,745,400 
Bise3enee 


90,491,300 
34,546,600 


12,039,300 
49,400 


46,635,300 
17,598,200 


17,598,200 


502,798, 6c0 


1882. 
904,400 
807,700 
1,939,300 
1,237,200 

277900 
1,115,800 


6,376,300 


20,687,500 
9,942,800 
41,518,800 
3,930,600 


76,085 700 


17,904,700 


35,994,900 
34,260, 700 


RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION IN THE U, S. DURING 17882. 


South Carolina . 


Georgia . 
Florida . 


South Atlantic . 


Alabama 
Mississippi . 
Louisiana 
Texas . 
Arkansas . 


Southern. . 


West Virginia. . 


‘Tennessee . 
Kentucky . 


Central . 


Ohio. 
Indiana . 
I}linois . . 
Iowa. 
Missouri . 
Kansas .. 
Nebraska . 


Surplus States 


Michigan. . 
Wisconsin . 
Minnesota . 


Lake 


California . 
Oregon 
Nevada . 


Pacific Coast 


Colorado and Ter- 


ritorles - 


United States. . 


11,767,099 : 


23,202,018 
39174, 234 


Tt SIGNS), Hor 


25.441,278 
21,340,800 
9,906, 189 
29,005,172 
24,156,417 


109,979,856 
14,090, 609 
62,764,429 
72,852,263 


149 797,301 
NII C7 ya Nael 
115,482,300 
325,792,481 
275,024,247 
202,485,723 
105,729,325 
65,450,135 


1,201,841,295 
32,461,452 


34,239,579 


14,831,741 


81,523,772 


1,993»325 
126,862 
12,891 


2, 133,078 


3,379,696 © 


8, 809,000 


19,745,000 
3,170,000 


102,178,000 
25,250,000 
16,646,000 

9,693,000 


33)277,00° 
21,028,000 


101,994,000 
12,980,000 
36,232,000 
51,624,000 


100, 836,000 


79,760,000 
79,618,000 
176,733,000 
173.289,000 
93,069,000 
79,377,000 
58,913,000 


737; 759,090 
25,068,000 
29,040,000 
13,252,000 


71,360,000 


3,633,000 
IOI,000 
13,600 


2,747,000 


6,113,000 


115,856,200 
29,617,500 
8,608,9:0 


137,252,000 


30,982,500 
28, 233,600 
14,636,400 
63,416,300 
34,485,900 


IL) [S4in (CS 


14,927,000 
73,188,600 


79,500,900 


167,616,500 


93,319,200 
107,484,300 
187,336,900 
178,487,600 
£14937 00° 
150,452,600 
82,478,200 


973,595,800 
30,081,600 
30,201,600 
21,127,600 


81,410,800 


2,799,900 
IOI,000 
iT 1 KCK) 


2,903,600 


7,500,000 


I, 754,861,535 


1,194,916,000 


1,624,917,8co 


565 


RAILROAD CONSTRUCTION IN THE UNITED STATES DURING 1882. 


The Railway Age has furnished an advance slip of an interesting article giv- 
ing an account of the railway construction in the United States during the year 


1882. 


The following the Age’s summary of new track actually laid from January 1 
to December 1, length of main line only, indicated by distance between termini, 


566 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


being considered, and no account being made of new sidings or of additional side 


track : 

STATES. : NO. LINES. MILES. 
Alabama . 2 By 
Arizona : 2 192 
Arkansas. (09.0 2tgeie: iiccasitadiys er iia kite Wine aan} 529 
California 7 285 
Colorado. 12 500 
Connecticut. . I Se): 
Dakota. . 16 480 
Delaware. . —_— — 
Florida. . 6 204 
Georgia 6 305 
Idaho 3 300 
Illinois . scuegee 16 385 
lindiansernitonyenncys sath ca iekucny eee: I 60 
bivdiana ye ecu or: ar haenematie 9 528 
Iowa. . 24 953 
Kansas. . 8 217 
Kentucky 3 86 
Louisiana. . 4 52 
Maine . 3 28 
Maryland. . 5 2 41 
Massachusetts . . 2 5 
Michigan . 13 DDS 
Minnesota . 13 441 
Mississipp1 . eas We. ets 3 80 
MEISSOUTL. Geeta Ayah) aes RE emote 8 12 308 
Montana . 2 309 
Nebraska . es 210 
Nevada See I 44 
New Harnpshire . La 17 
New Jersey. . fone bie : 5 85 
New: Mexicow tun i manos spite en. venus 3 Pi 
New York . : 22 fig 
North Carolina . IO 154 
Ohio. . {ie res legmcrum Murs tard 17 554 
Oregons cecie. erento eee are B 198 
Pennsylvania . 31 464. 
Rhode Island . Soe cornea OR ee | ae = 
South: Canelnivat te) Gass te gmmeeneme Mic as 57 
Mennesseecof.. cn) wees ene” Su aes We eta 133 
SRGRRBIS Ag ost ood Patina cob iis 2 71a Darang 100) 817 
Uta ei mi eee aie hc a aan ee RS Sts a 175 
Mermont 2). Byte Mery, cick mike ch Moved OR ee 8 
Van GVA 0 soko Poca pecans eve me nates te ee cay UO 228 
Washington) crmtony. sein ne nas = 
West Virginia) 78) Sanya hmeneis lane e te Whemih mes 20 
WHISCOMSIN lui ania een area memCt A oie eo aR 397 
Wiy OMI Goa od eee ate aero nce 25 


otal 2)! NGS aaa Mem nee trees s apt 10,821 


BATES COUNTY COAL MINES. 567 


Where, as in several cases, the same line has been built in two or more 
States it is counted as but one line in the grand total, so that the footing under the 
column ‘‘ No. of lines’’—316—is less by 22 than the actual sum of the number of 
lines taken separately by States and Territories. 

Thus it appears that track-laying has been in progress during the year in 
forty-four of the States and Territories, upon 316 different railways, with the re- 
sult of adding no less than 10,821 miles to our railway system, and it is not un- 
likely that this may be increased to 11,000 miles by the final returns. These 
figures place 1882 far ahead of any other year in respect to railway building, the 
increase over 1881, hitherto the year of most extraordinary construction, being 
about 1,500 miles, or more than 16 per cent. For the purpose of comparison 
there is given below the figures of yearly mileage found in Poor’s Manual, as- 
suming them to be approximately correct, and adding our figures for 1882: 


YEAR. MILES BUILT. TOTAL MILEAGE. 
SIC UR\s ciiesi a Sarto bin ce ley lompsemy tot AO 70,278 
MO Aerie ot bes olabah Wu suerte ck ey EL OG 12m YOR 
OPIS S Ripa es pyleneout 2 rusher ee 8 og Phe 74,096 
11S) 7) Chas Sey ip sc etch che aa arte puesta Mae Ae co ate 76,808 
TESTA ey Vit LULA Rati MR OC SRS. 79,089 
SiO: Anz es eT tare RPA eee 2ROOT 81,776 
ROL IO Mada Res eeaAk ri erick ter su A cay GEL cei AN gO 86,497 
MO OOM eT te ass 4 Be ne OU Ween re Tp 93,671 
OOS NE Man Meat air ah eee 6a pO ROO 104,813 
. MOOR anne Het bre heed et TOOT 115,634 


In regard tu the prospects for future construction of the 316 roads which are 
covered by this record, at least 140 are still uncompleted, and on many of these 
work will be resumed in the spring, if it is not continued during the winter. 
Bearing in mind that the number of lines on which grading was actively in prog- 
ress during the year, although no track was laid, is very large, and that a host 
of new projects have been inaugurated upon which no tangible work has yet been 
done, and it appears that railway building is likely to be active during 1883, 
though it will probably be better for the country if it does not proceed with the 
extraordinary speed which has characterized the past two years. 

The amount of capital which has been invested in railways in the last year 
is almost incredib!e. Allowing $25,000 per mile as a fair average for the cost of 
a road equipped and in operation, the 10,800 miles of which we have record 
have cost $270,000,000, to which is to be added the vast and unknown sum ex- 
pended in preparing road beds in which track ts not yet laid. 


BATES COUNTY COAL MINES. 


The shipping of coal from Rich Hiil began in the fall of 1880. Late in Oc- 
tober the Rich Hill Coal Company commenced operations on a small scale from 
surface mines, but on account of insufficient rolling stock on the Missouri Pacific 

VI—36 


568 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


railroad, the coal company were unable to keep their employees at steady work, 
and consequently were unable to supply the demand for coal. The number of 
cars shipped out that falland the following year of 1881 amounted to 8,706. Dur- 
ing the past year of 1882 the shipments have been as follows: 


1882. CARS. 
IENONUEW AA nme es aoa Busted ware Som) ons lo 9 HyAgo) 
February yJ39 2. YAU Romi WOU, Bee oD Roe ae Aer detest 170) 
Maarchiie hcdicls aceke webb igs eres epee ret tod Reese acd ener (5 
April yi 5 05) shy oo diet ees ecalistemehe Cae Sete ASU oO Nes gcc ARS 
VIER Aer mn per eirnerinrpsnan sins) Ui Ucn Bilin | foul orion SOLO 
tS 0 See ec rN RAS eat ti hy sh Museen. gio ye ON B 
Jaly Se SE Rs, eS Mee EST EAB Ae oe rreeasT ee 210 
AUQUSt L.A it) UG ROMO! Ose So rele de eabe Ne relgn@ OM 
September...) ict iil deter ye Jia eve could oiprshnon ye ue ate, OMG) 
October eee Ca ei es Bear ene aaa KOT 
November PRM els Vue Mba fetus terht 23, 0315 I] 
December Mh skew Mec Anot ome y becuse nie te aetna EL Oy 


The average car load, by actual weight, exceeds sixteen and one-half tons. 

The shipments of the Gulf road have not been quite as large as those over 
the Missouri Pacific, but still make a good showing. Coal was first shipped over 
the Gulf road about the 1st of October, 1880, and during that year 3,081 cars 
were sent out; in 1881 the shipments ran up to 17,436. During 1882 Keith & 
Perry, the principal shippers over the Gulf road, were developing new mines, 
and a large portion of the year shipped but very little coal, but the total fer the 
year runs up to 12,960 cars, and their shipments now average 65 cars per day. 
This makes a total shipment .over the Gulf road since its construction, of Coal 
from Rich Hill, of 23,477 cars, up to December 31st, 1882, and overthe Missouri 
Pacific of 27,221 cars, or a grand total of 50,698 cars, or 329,537 tons. 

During all this time there has been avery large output for the local trade, 
which has made the coal business of good proportions for a new mining field. — 
Lich Hill (Mo.) Mining Review. 


REPORT OF THE KANSAS CITY STOCK YARDS FOR 1882. 


This report, made by E. E. Richardson, Secretary, shows the receipts at the 
yards for the year to have been as follows: Cattle, 439,671; Hogs, 963,036; 
Sheep, 80,724; Horses and Mules, 11 716. The shipments were: Cattle, 439,- 
521; Hogs, 961,906; Sheep, 80,708; Horses and Mules, 11,607. Total receipts 
in twelve years: Cattle, 2,722,291; Hogs, 4,657,606; Sheep, 457,719; Horses 
and Mules, 88,614. Grand total 7,926,230. 


COLORADO COAL, a69 


COLORADO COAL. 


The coal deposits of Colorado are practically inexhaustible, and they are to 
be found in almost every portion of that State. The Denver Republican in a re- 
cent issue gives some interesting statistics concerning them. The northern belt 
—in three counties—some twenty mines, are now being worked, the coal from 
which is free-burning, semi-bituminous, and of fair quality, the output for last 
year having amounted to 550,000 tons. The middle region—that lying between 
Denver and Colorado Springs—from the only mine being worked the output dur- 
ing the last half of the year was some 34,000 tons; while in the southern belt, 
which includes Trinidad and El Moro, the entire region is rich in fine quality of 
coking coal. At the Starkville mine 100,000 tons were mined and shipped last 
year, the value of which loaded on the cars was about $2 per ton. At the same 
point forty coke ovens are in operation, the product of which is worth $4.50 per 
ton, and all of which goes to Arizona. The Eagle mine shipped 400,009 tons of 
coal and 12,000 tons of coke, and another mine produced 20,000 tons of coal. 
The output of coal from the Cafion region was 160,000 tons for the year; while 
that from the Gunnison country was 43,500 tons of soft and 2,000 tons of anthra- 
cite coal. The Colorado Coal & Iron Company manufactured at their mines at 
Crested Butte 10,000 tons of coke. 

The area of soft coal land outside of Cres‘ed Butte is very extensive, coal of 
more or less degree of excellence being found under hundreds of square miles. 
throughout Gunnison County. The anthracite coal is found over an extensive 
territory, but much of it is inaccessible and of an inferior quality. The best coal 
is found at the head of Anthracite Creek, about three miles from Crested Butte. 
An equally good quality is also found on Rock Creek; but the immense seams 
found down Anthracite Creek toward the North Fork of the Gunnison River 
hardly come up to the Pennsylvania standard of excellence. The anthracite 
trade of this region is yet in its infancy, but when preparations that are now being 
made for mining and handling it are once fairly under way, it will probably be- 
able to furnish 200 or 300 tons per day, and the demand will inevitably increase. 
The coal is in=all respects the equal of the Pennsylvania anthracite, chemical 
analysis and physical structure failing to show any material difference. 

La Plata County is also very rich in excellent coal, the largest vein of which 
is the Mammoth, near Durango, which is 52 feet in width. In this county the 
seams are numerous and large, and for the most part so situated as to allow of 
cheap and expeditious mining. The character of the coal is mainly bituminous 
and well adapted to coking, though some of the seams yield a steam coal of re-- 
markably good quality. The output in 1882 from the various mines there was: 
about 5,900 tons, to which should be added the output of the railroad mine at- 
Monero, which is in this belt, which produced 12,000 tons, making a total of 


570 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
17,900 tons for the county for the year. At Como, in Park County, 75,000 tons 
of coal and 96,000 tons of coke were sent to market. 

In summing up, the Republican says: Coal was produced in other sections 
of the State, of which no returns could be secured, but it is believed that rco,000 
tons will cover it all. The output was, in other words, nearly 2,000,000 tons, 
valued at about $4,000,000 at the mines. ‘The anthracite output, nearly 2,000 
tons, value about $10,000, and the coke production reached the sum of nearly 
100,000 tons valued at $4.50 at least, a total of at least $450,000, making tle 


value of entire coal output $4, 460,000.— Age of Steel. 


BULLION PRODUCT OF COLONNADE: 


The Denver Z7zbune gives the following table of the bullion product of Colo- 
rado for 1882: 


COUNTY. AMOUNT. 
Boulder . IG BECLOLO 
Chaffee 225,500 
Custer . 705,116 
Clear Creek 2,001,629 
Dolores . 125,000 
Fremont . 19.960 
Gilpin . 2,006,516 
Grand. 10,000 
Gunnison 600 000 
Hinsdale. . 275,000 
Lake . Wp aL S23 
‘La Plata, San Juan : 675,000 
Ouray . 5 329,760 
Park 283,564 
Pitkin . 3 100,000 
Rio Grande . 310,000 
Routt . 100,000 
Sagauche. 52,0C0 
Summit T, 250,000 

Totals. : ; . $26,750,898 
The product for 1881 was $22, 203,500, showing an increase this year of 


$4,547,389. 
Lake County.—The following table gives the bullion output of Leadville 


for the year ended December 30, 1882: 


QUANTITY. 
POUNDS OF POUNDS OF TONS OUNCES OF OUNCES 
BULLION, LEAD, OF ORE. SILVER. OF GOLD. 
Total rst quarter . . 23,487,082 23,380,743 12,924 2,042,323 3,056 
Total 2d quarter . ..20,510,096 20,415,647 12,175 1,838,596 2,886 
Total 3rd quarter . . 22,713,006 22,605,015 28,050 1,743,876 6,548 
Total 4th quarter. . 19,747,065 19,646,027 36,953 1,648,454 3,923 
Total for year 1882.86,457,349 86,047,412 90,101 7,273,249 16,413 


SEWER GAS AND ITS DANGER TO HEALTH. 571 
VALUE. 
VALUE OF VALUE OF VALUE OF VALUE OF TOTAL 
LEAD, SILVER. GOLD. ORE. VALUE. 


Total rst quarter . $1,169,037 $2,328,248 $ 61,120 $ 485.762 $ 4,044,167 
Moribsdiguarter > 1,020,779) | 25003).301 49,720 599,059 Buys Te 
Miecalbzdyquarter’-" 1,130,251 1,988,142! 130,960 1,326,111 4,575:334 
‘Total 4th quarter . AZ OT a T1027 4501 78,45 in Woosh a4 4,734,129 


Total for year 1882.$4,263,044 $8,237,252 $320.257 $4,296,066 $17,127,402 


Total for 1881 amounted to $13,170 576, showing an increase this year of 
$3.956,826. In figuring the commercial value of the last quarter’s product, silver 
is calculated at $1.11 per ounce, and lead 4°8 per pound. Previous productions 
were calculated on a fair average of the ruling quotations at the time.— Evgincer- 
ing and Mining Journal. 


MEDICINE AND HYGIENE. 


SEWER GAS AND ITS DANGER TO HEALTH. 
WM. PAUL GERHARD, C. AND S. E. 


Many erroneous ideas still prevail about sewer gas and its danger to health 
which arises, by having so-called ‘‘ modern conveniences ”’ in our dwellings. tt 
is the purpose of this paper, without in any way adding to the ‘‘ plumbing scare,’ 
clearly to define wherein the danger consists, but at the same time to establish 
rules for the proper draining and plumbing of houses, which, if carefully observ- 
ed, will secure to the anxious house owner work of superior quality and of a posi- 
tively safe character. : 

Plumbing fixtures, which were considered a luxury years ago, are now be- 
lieved to be necessary, not only for comfort and convenience, but also, and even 
more.so, for health and for cleanliness. Even a small house is nowadays gener- 
ally provided with a kitchen sink, a water closet, and sometimes a bath-tub, 
while in a costly modern residence, arranged with an elaborate system of plumb- 
ing, we find kitchen, pantry and scullery sinks, slop sinks, laundry tubs, station- 
ary wash-basins in closets near bed-rooms, a great number of bath or dressing- 
rooms, with water-closets, urinals, bath and foot tubs, bidets and other fixtures. 

The suggestions and recommendations of this report apply with equal force 
to the drainage and plumbing of tenements, small houses, costly residences, 
villas, apartment houses, hotels, factories, school houses or public buildings. As 
every plumbing fixture is not only an outlet for the waste water to the drain, but 
possibly may become an inlet for drain air, the danger increases with the number 


Or 
Sy 
Lo 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


of fixtures. A multitude of fixtures requires a large number of soil and waste 
pipe-stacks, and the chance of leakage of sewer gas through defective joints in- 
creases correspondingly. But be the house large or small, its drainage and 
plumbing system should always be so arranged as entirely to exclude any possi- 
bility of the escape of sewer gas. 

Sewer Gas.—I shall, first, briefly consider what is meant by the term 
‘“sewer gas. This term, as Prof. W. Ripley Nichols has truly said,? is ‘‘an 
unfortunate one, and gives rise to a quite widespread but very erroneous idea. 
Many seem to suppose the ‘sewer gas’ to be a distinct gaseous substance, which 
is possessed of marked distinguishing characteristics, which fills the ordinary sewers 
and connecting drains, and which, as a tangible something, finds its way through 
any opening made by chance or by intention, and then, and only then, mixes 
with the atmospheric air.” 

Sewer gas is a mechanical mixture of a number of well known gases, having 
their origin in the decomposition of animal or vegetable matter, with atmospheric 
air. This mixture is continually varying, according to the more or less advanced 
stage of putrefaction of the foul matters, which form a sediment and a slimy coat- 
ing of the inner surfaces in drains and pipes. It is also variable with the charac- 
ter of this sediment or deposit, and with the physical conditions (moisture, heat, 
etc.) under which the decomposition takes place. 

The principal gases found in sewers and drains are oxygen, nitrogen, car- 
bonic dioxide, carbonic oxide, ammonia, carbonate of ammonia, sulphide of am- 
monium, sulphuretted hydrogen and marsh gas. 

The three first-named gases are the principal constituents of the Anmorepnere 
surrounding the globe, and are found present in the following average propor- 
tion, viz: 

20.9 vols. oxygen | in 100 vols. of air, together with 2 to 5 vols. carbonic diox- 
79.1 vols. nitrogen ide in 10,000 vols. of air. 
According to R. Angus Smith the amount of oxygen is: 


In the average, 20.95 vols. in 100 vols. of air. 

In pure mountain air, 20.98 vols. in 100 vols. of air. 

At the sea shore, 20.999 vols. in roo vols. of air. 

In streets of populous cities, 20.87 to 20.90 vols. in roo vols. of air. 

The air in sewers and drains contains much less oxygen, as some of it com- 
bines with the carbon of putrefying organic matter forming carbonic dioxide. 
The amount of nitrogen in the air of sewers is little different from that in the at- 
mosphere which we breathe; but the amount of carbonic dioxide present is greatly 
increased. 

The lowest amount of oxygen in sewer air is recorded to be 17.4 vols. in roo 
vols. of air; the amount of carbonic dioxide is in the average 2.3 vols. in 100 vols. 
Sulphuretted hydrogen varies greatly, but the quantity is generally so small as not 


1 See Fref. Ripley Nichols’ Repert upen Chemical Ex: mination of the Air of the Berkeley S reet 
S.wer, in Bo_ton, Mass., 1878. 


SEWER GAS AND ITS DANGER TO HEALTH. d73 


de’ rmined. Still more difficult is it to find by chemical analysis the 
proportion of ner g~~es of decay. 

In well ventilate and well flushed sewers, Dr. Russell, of Glasgow, found 
the following ratio : 

20.70 vols. of oxygen in 100 vols. of air. 

78.79 vols of nitrogen in 100 vols. of air. 

0.51 vols. of carbonic dioxide in too vols. of air. 

No sulphuretted hydrogen in too vols. of air. 

Traces of ammonia in 100 vols. of air. 
Carbonic oxide is present only in excessively minute quantities, and even then it 
may have entered the sewer or drain through leakage of illuminating gas from 
gas mains. 

In the absence of more satisfactory methods of analysis, it is usual with 
chemists to determine the amount of pollution of the air, or the organic matter in 
it, by determining the amount of carbonic dioxide present, assuming that there is 
a certain fixed proportion between the amount of carbonic dioxide and the organic 
matter. Thus, Prof. W. Ripley Nichols records as the average of many care- 
fully conducted experiments in Boston, the amount of carbonic dioxide in a 
sewer in. that city as follows: 


The average of 
31 determinations in January, 1878, was 8.7 vols. of CO, in 10,000 vols. of air. 
44 determinations in February, 1878, was 8.2 vols. of CO, in 10,000 vols. of air. 
47 determinations in March, 1878, was 11.5 vols. of CO, in 10,000 vols. of air. 
12 determinations in April, 1878, was 10.7 vols. of CO, in 10,000 vols. of air. 
8 determinations in June, 1878, was 27.5 vols. of CO, in 10,000 vols. of air. 
8 determinations in July, 1878 was 21.9 vols. of CO, in 10,000 vols. of air. 
6 determinations in August, 1878, was 23.9 vols. of CO, in 10,000 vols. of air. 
7 determinations in January, 1879, was 8.0 vols. of CO, in 10,000 vols. of air. 
14 determinations in February, 1879, was 11.6 vols. of CO, in 10,000 vols. of 
air. ; 
20 determinations in March, 1879, was 11.8 vols. of CO, in 10,000 vols. of air. 
He remarks: ‘‘It appears from these examinations that in such a sewer as 
the one Berkeley Street, which, being of necessity tide-locked, is an example of 
the worst type of construction, the air does not differ from the normal standard 
as much as many, no doubt, suppose. In a general way, as we have seen, there 
is a larger amount of variation from normal air during the warmer season of the 
year; but even when the amount of carbonic acid was largest, it was only ex- 
tremely seldom that sulphuretted hydrogen could be detected.” 0 Me chy 
“<7 think that it should be said that the soil pipes and house drains are much 
more likely causes of discomfort and danger than the sewers.” 
Hence the importance of a thorough ventilation of all the soil, waste and 


drain pipes in a building. 


: 1 Such is strictly tr e only fora r fouled by respi ation, while it may not give accurate results in other 
Cases. 
In regard to this interesting question I must refer to the Report of Prof. lra Remsen on the subject ot 
Orgai.ic matter in the air, published in the National Board of Health Bulletin, Vol. II No. 11. 


574 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Are the above-named constituents of sewer air the origin or cause of the sick- 
ness so commonly attributed to the inhaling of sewer gas? 

Although many of the gases named are poisonous, if inhaled into the system 
in large quantities, and may, even if present in smaller quantities, cause nausea, 
asphyxia, headache, vomiting, etc., none of them can be said to produce any of 
the so called ‘‘ filth diseases.” To determine the exact origin of these is a still 
unsolved problem of physiology. While some believe that the particles of de- 
composing organic matter, present in sewer air and known as ‘‘organic vapor” 
cause disease, others seek the origin of the latter in microscopic spores or germs 
which live and feed upon such organic vapor and are capable of reproduction 
under favorable conditions, such as presence of putrefying filth, excess of 
moisture, heat, lack of oxygen, etc. 

Whatever theory may be accepted as true, it is evident that, by preventing 
the decay of organic matter within sewers, drains and soil pipes, or by depriving 
these germs (if such be the cause of disease) of the conditions facilitating their repro- 
duction, we can best prevent the outbreak of excremental diseases. In other 
words, by completely removing as speedily as possible all waste matters from the dwell- 
ing by pipes thoroughly and tightly jointed, and by a sufficient dilution of the air in these 
pipes with oxygen, the danger of infection, arising from defective drainage and plumb- 
ing, may be reduced to a minimum. 

It should be mentioned that some hygienists, notably Dr. Soyka and Dr. 
Renk, both assistants of Pettenkofer in Munich, have lately denied the existence 
of any positive proof of a connection between sewer gas and the spread of epi- 
demic diseases—just as Naegeli and Emmerich doubt the possibility of infection 
from drinking water contaminated by sewage. Dr Renk considers the exclusion 
of gases of decay of the interior of dwellings necessary only so far as they. 
are offensive to the sense of smell. In this view, however, I cannot concur; in 
regard to ‘‘filth diseases,” their causes and origin, I accept the theory of Drs. 


Simon, Parkes and others. zy a5 * — Van Nostrand’s Maguzine. 


THE TREATMENT OF DIPHTHERIA. 


[Rules adopted on the subject by the Philadelphia Health Authoratzes. | 


The great degree of fatality attending sickness from diphtheria, particularly 
among children, makes it important that every precaution be taken against the 
spread of the disease, and that the treatment of those coming down with it be 
prompt and intelligent. In view of the general lack of information with regard 
to the proper treatment of diphtheria patients, the resolutions just adopted by the 
Philadelphia Board of Health are interesting and valuable. These resolutions 
have been printed and given to the teachers of public and private schools for 
distribution among their pupils. By way of parenthesis, it may be remarked that 
every particular with regard to the unsatisfactory sanitary condition of the Jack- 


son School, recently brought out in the Globe-Democrat, has been verified by th 
€ 


THE TREATMENT OF DIPHTHERIA. 1 


report of the City Health Officers of St. Louis, who have just completed investi- 
gation in the neighborhood. The report of the Philadelphia Board of Health is 
as follows: 

Recent investigations having proved that the poison of diphtheria is portable, 
communicable by infection, and capable of reproducing itself outside of the 
human body, diphtheria must now be ranked as both a contagious and infectious 
disease. The following rules are, therefore, more imperative than ever before: 

1. When a child or young person hasa sore throat, a bad odor to its breath, 

and especially if it has a fever, it should immediately be separated and kept 
secluded from all other persons except necessary attendants, until it be ascertained | 
whether or not it has diphtheria or some other communicable disease. 
. 2. Every person to besick with diphtheria should be promptly and effectually 
isolated from the public. Only those persons who are actually necessary should 
have charge of or visit the patient, and these visitors should be restricted in their 
intercourse with other individuals. Children residing in a house where there 1s a 
case of diphtheria should not be permitted to attend school. 

3. When a case of diphtheria is fully developed, the same precautions in re- 
gard to free ventilation, disposal and disinfection of discharges, bed or body linen, 
etc. , isolated during convalescence (or management of the corpse, should death 
unfortunately occur), etc., etc., ought to be enforced which have already been 
recommended in regard to small-pox. 

4. It is particularly important that persons whose throats are tender or sore 
from any cause should avoid possible exposure from the contagion of diphtheria. 
Children under ten years of age are in much greater danger of taking the disease, 
and after they do take it of dying from it, than are grown persons. But adults 
are not exempt, and mild cases in them may cause whole series of fatal attacks 
among children. 

5. Numerous instances are recorded where the contagion has retained its 
virulence for weeks or months, in cesspools, heaps of decaying vegetable matter, 
damp walls, etc., and been carried for long distances in clothing, in sewers, in 
waste pipes from stationary wash stands, and in other conduits. Henceall sewer 
connections and other carriers of filth should be well ventilated and disinfected, 
and children particularly should not be allowed to breathe the air of any water 
closet, cesspool or sewer into which discharges from patients sick with diphthe- 
ria have entered, nor to drink water or milk which has been exposed to such 
alr. 

6. Beware of any person who has a sore throat; do not kiss such a person 
or take his or her breath; do not drink from the same cup, blow the same whistle, 
nor put his pencil or pen into your mouth. 

7. Do not wear nor handle clothing which has been worn by a person dur- 
ing sickness or convalescence from diphtheria. 


576 KANSAS C/TiY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


Mitt ZOn@L OGY 


METEOROLOGICAL SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR 1882. 
PREPARED BY PROF. F. H. SNOW, OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS. 


The weather of 1882 abounded in superlatives. It had the highest mean 
temperature, the highest maximum barometer, the smallest and best distributed 
rain-fall, the coolest summer, the warmest autumn, and, with one exception (1877) 
the warmest winter months upon our fifteen years record. Notwithstanding the 
extremely small rain-fall, crops of all kinds were abundant, in most cases surpassing 
all previous yields. This furnishes further confirmation of the statement of our 
reports of 1871 and 1875, that a comparatively small amount of rain, well dis- 
tributed, is more desirable than a larger amount unfavorably distributed. 

TEMPERATURE.—Mean temperature of the year, 54.94° which is 1.51° above 
the mean of the fourteen preceding years. The highest temperature was 105° on 
September 12th; the lowest was 65° below zero on the 7th day of December, 
giving a range for the year of 111j5°-) | Miean ati7 AC) Mi.) 4o)20 4. cab aes 
IQOH B ake Oy lew MIE 5h, 6) 

Mean temperature of the winter months, 35.19°, which is 5 18° above the 
average winter temperature; of the spring, 54.67°, which is 0.72° above the aver- 
age; of the summer, 72.92°, which is 3.61° below the average; of the autumn, 
56.97°, which is 3.81° above the average. 

The coldest month of the year was December, with mean temperature 31.25°, 
the coldest week was January 16th to 22d, mean temperature 25.01°; the cold- 
est day was December 7th, mean temperature 3.2°. The mercury fell below 
zero only once, on December 7th, not having previously touched zero since Feb- 
ruary 19, 1881. 

The warmest month was June, with mean temperature 74.14°; the warmest 
week was June 27th to July 3rd, mean 82.83°; the warmest day was June 28th, 
mean 84.2°; the warmest hour was 2:30 to 3:30 P. M., September 12th, mean 
105°. The mercury exceeded 100° on two days, September 12th and 13th, and 
reached or exceeded go on forty days, viz: 1 in May, 12 in June, g in July, 11 
in August, and 7 in September. 

The last hoar frost of spring was on May 22d, the first hoar frost of autumn 
was on October 19th, giving an interval of 150 days, or nearly five months en- 
tirely without frost. The last severe frost of spring was on March 24th, the first 
severe frost of autumn was on the rith day of November, giving an interval of 
232 days, or nearly eight months, without severe frost. This is the longest period 


METEOROLOGICAL SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR 1882 DTT 


of immunity from severe frost in the past fifteen years. No frost during the year 
caused damage to fruit buds or trees. The hoar frost of May 22d injured straw- 
berries in some localities. 

Rain.—The entire rainfall, including melted snow, was 27.60 inches, which 
is the smallest annual rainfall on our fifteen years record, and is 7.12 inches be- 
low the average. [Either rain or snow, or both, fell on 102 days, one less than 
the average. On fourteen of these days the quantity was too small for measure- 
ment. 

The longest drouth in the fifteen years of observation, was from July 3oth to 
September 18th, during which period of seven weeks less than a tenth of an inch 
of rain was registered. This drouth was not disastrous, because the staple crops 
were already well matured before the drouth began. 

The number of thunder showers was twenty six. Hail fell on seven days. 

Snow. —The entire depth of snow was eighteen inches, which is 3.31 inches 
below the average. Of this amount two inches fell in January, two in February, 
nine in March and five in December. Snow fell on fourteen days. The last 
snow of spring was on March oth, the first snow of autumn was on November r6th. 

Face oF THE Sky.—The average cloudiness of the year was 45.41 per cent. 
which is 1.08 per cent. above the average. The number of clear days (less than 
one-third cloudy) was 162; half clear (from one to two thirds cloudy) 103; cloudy 
(more than two-thirds) roo. There were eighty days on which the cloudiness 
reached or exceeded 80 per cent. There were fifty-three entirely clear and forty- 
seven entirely cloudy days. The clearest month was August, with a mean of 
32.37 per cent.; the cloudiest month was December, mean 61.61 per cent. The 
percentage of cloudinessat 7 A. M. was 50.41; at 2 P. M. 49.82; at 9 P. M. 35.99. 

DIRECTION OF THE WiND.—During the year, three observations daily, the 
wind was from the S W. 272 times; N.W. 269 times; S.E. 155 times; S. 128 
times; N.E. 102 times; N. 72 times; E. 71 times; W. 26 times. The south 
winds (including southwest, south and southeast) outnumbered the north (includ- 
ing northwest, north and northeast), in the ratio of 555 to 443. 

: VELOCITY OF THE WinD.—The number of miles traveled by the wind dur- 

ing the year was 137,736, which is 687 miles below the annual average for the 
nine preceding years. ‘This gives a mean daily velocity of 377 miles and a mean 
hourly velocity of 15.71 miles. The highest hourly velocity was sixty miles on 
March 2tst, the highest daily velocity was 919 miles on January 16th; the high- 
est monthly velocity was 16.608 miles in March. The three windiest months 
were March, April and May; the three calmest months were July, August and 
September. The average velocity at 7 A. M. was 14.51 miles, at 2 P. M. 17.73 
miles, at 9 P. M. 15.49 miles. 

BAROMETER.— Mean height of barometer column, 29.113 inches, which is 
with one exception (1874, 29.121 inches) the highest annual mean on our record. 
Mean at 7 A. M. 29.141 inches; at 2 P. M., 29.085 inches: at 9 P. M. 29.114 
inches; maximum 209.985 inches on December 17th, which is more than two- 
tenths of an inch higher than any previous maximum; minimum 28.349 inches 


578 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


on March 26th; yearly range, 1.636 inches. The highest monthly mean was: 
29.200 inches in January; the lowest was 28.992 inches in June. The barometer 
observations are corrected for temperature and instrumental! error. 

- RELATIVE Humipity.—The average atmospheric humidity for the year was 
68.23; at 7 A..M. 70.65; at 2.0 Me soos; at io) Ey Mo vic o3n. aaincmGlanapess 
month was December, with mean humidity 76.70; the driest month was Septem- 
ber, mean humidity 59.20. There were fourteen fogs during the year. The 
lowest humidity for any single observation was 7 per cent. on September 12th. 
This extreme dryness of the air existed during the continuance of the withering 
simoon of that date 


2 =| 2 S 2 SS g 
S =} i) Sa oF : r=] a 
qi 3 2 30 ° Pm =] 

1882 EMIS PES BE se) ly | ee 

S|) Se ae | Se | os : 2 Alas 

5 ge iss = 4 S S 2 

28 | 48 ace ates O 

Jey oe Bos so 6 6 5 | BOS |, OF. 5.0 |11,673| 66.25 | 0.70 | 2.0 | 51.72 
JESDIPOBIIY g Goo 6 « . ... 141.65 | 730) 12.0 |13,907| 69.70] 1.66 | 2.0 | 45.59 

Manel yay ere ienaene erie 45:90| 770 | 17.0 |16,608 64.93] 162] 9.0 | 40,22 

FeV 0} ell DcoteeaPey le) saswan een kero e 56.83 | 88.0 | 35.0 |14,226| 61.77 | 3.20] 0.0 | 51.77 
IMAP o> 6 6 0 0 0 oO 6 60.27 | 90.0 | 36.5 |13,695| 66.40 | 3.53 | 0.0 | 63.44 
ane neicad. Neneh, te . . | 74.14 | 99.0 | 44.5 |10,874| 69.90] 4.72 | 0.0 | 38.99 

myo 6 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 ol FAG | COO | 5a |) W/ Aoal W5.©0 | 2@3 | © | 28.02 

ANUBUBES 6 9 \6.'p 6 al 6c 72.55) 95:0 | 52.5 | 7,463] 72.40] 0.cg | OO | 32 37 
SEMIN 5 5 6 o oo o 69.30 | 105.0 | 46.0 |10,026| 59 20] 1.65 | 0.0 | 35.67 

Octoberkec) Avsueeens . .| 58-54] 845 | 34.0 |11,435| 69.20; 3.08 | 0.0 | 4.5% 

November . Beoh . . | 43.07 | 80.0 | 20.0 J1I,118| 7200] 2.08 | 0.0 | 43.11 

December 2p Sl 25y| 95 9-ONe OFS) i247 7 OW7,O)| a2 4 elena mca 

WIGEIS G95 6 5 5 eo a | SALOML © | AOL@ [ii aS) O80} || 2.20) 1.6 | agar 

COMPARISON WITH PRECEDING YEARS. 

Sie | es he Ana S 

Sh) psu & S) goles S| = © 

g sles |_s ae 5 z Zs 7 Ti as 

5 3 = 

& a g = v ©) a (a4 a a4 

{Ne 5 bo 8 ao oll SOLRO || VOLO WSNOS Po Ao 6 | ABBE lo 3 15 | Boal || Bo SO 77 
S) 6 ob oo 0 2 |) SOHCO) |! GOO] BO@Ols 5 6 6] 40.23) 7E.2 1 Bd Sir || 10.60] fos 
Meo oo 8 dog | FSO || WOXO-S1OO)]s o oo! Aes | OS | BiL32 | ©.50} Ico 
TS aks cogs ecg ae 54°30) 103.0 |/— 6.0]. . . 47.37 | 65.9 | 33.23 | 29-75 120 
M72 so 6 0 oo 4 | GUsCO! O7OVSu@ lo o oo) AR GR |] G44) |) BAO3 | 23.25 116 . 
1873... .. . .| 52.71 | 104.0 | -26 0 | 154,508 | 42.46| 640 | 32.94 | 26.50 IOI 
1874... . .. .| 84 20] 108.0 | — 3.0 | 145,865 | 45.54 | 65.7 | 28.87 | 43«0] . 99 
LOTS ee . . | 50.60] 99.0 | ~-16.0 | 145,316 | 44.81 | 66.7 | 28.87} 5.00 106 
yO 6 6 6 6 4 5} S270] GIO] =] FO 7 LAS TAO | Ae? | GOS || Aan 4 Ba, 7s, 102 
Wp 6 6 oto 6 a || RMbIG | COO | = O.6 || 11R.O07 | AN 02 | 726 | Ai.@8) | TE50]| rae 
1o78) 9. « = « « =) 55-33) | 98:0) — 6 0) 12'5,'793) 40.65) || 7022) | 38.395) 255501 ealoz, 
TSO evs canals . | 54 67} 99.5 | -16 5 | 124,768 | 40.01 | 67.1 | 32.68 | 10.35 90 
RO SOm me . . . | 54.01 | 10t.0 | -12.0 | 146,039 | 40.15 | 67.9 | 32.65 | 7.00 89 
US Sie a ear aarenl cacao 54.65 | 104 0 | — 8.0} 141,430 | 47.52 | 70.1 | 33 27 | 32.50] I10 
WSS Qeatis vee eel. 54.94 | 105 0 | ~ 6.5 | 137,736 | 45 41 | 686 | 27.€0| 18.00]. 102 
Mean of 15 years.! 53.53 | 101.0 | -12.2 | 138,377 | 44.40 | 68 3 | 34.25 | 21.07| 103 


THE KANSAS WEATHER SERVICE. 79 


The foregoing ‘tables give the mean temperature, the extremes of tempera- 
ture, the velocity of wind, the percentage of cloudiness, the relative humidity, 
the rainfall (including melted snow), and depth of snow, for each month of the 

_ year 1882, and a comparison with each of the fourteen preceding years. 


REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 
WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 


BY PROF. J. DT. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 


The usual summary by decades is given below. 


Nov. 20th Decrist Dec. t1oth Mean 
TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. to 3oth. to 10th: to 20th. 
MIN. AND MAx. AVERAGES. 
INDIR 6g) SBUNG Beg! a GS NG) Saeco ONS 213 14.5 16.4 17.4 
IVIPAKGEN ae pei even octet ve etna 45-9 46.1 45-4 45.8 
INGin|, ene) Wb 6 S56 5 aos 5/6 33-6 30.3 30 9 31.6 
IRGMRE 6 do 6 60010 oo Ono 8 23.6 31.5 290 28 0 
TrI-DAILY OBSERVATIONS. 
GP Gla Tee’ Jon etl NORD uO ECR ca MDC: 2 28.2 23.5 25.8 25.8 
#3 Do iis «5 6 5 oO OG 60 Gr oo. s 41.4 35-7 : 40.7 39 3 
@ Do Ts o 5 a6 Boo 0 oo 66 6 30.6 26.3 32.4 29.8 
NIGER'S sah dh Squealer ae 31.7 29 6 33.0 31.6 
RELATIVE HUMIDITY. 
Fo, Gb SIDS 6 Sac ale eon ae eer nmr 87 
2) [Do Ii vo: aja Naat Melee Mach a eer aiartal 64 
@) Do WN 6 © do ed) “a Bilal die Eye) 
IMIGENN SG Satyt Be pam iite herrea 76 
PRESSURE AS CBSERVED. 
W] ls tk, So 29.13 29.07 28.78 28.99 
2) By, TING tote Oe en Rome rntere caren IE 29.07 29.05 28.75 28 96 
9 p.m 29.11 29.08 28.80 29.00 
IMGanpieerinsde ge re eh haan us 29.10 29.07 28.79 28.98 
MILES PER HouR OF WIND ; 
7 Bo Wes 6 6 Ssa 6 Soyoil oo 5 6 75 9.7 
7. {Bo T88lo: Oya ka Ban ORBLE ORC een 12.7 16.5 
@) {Ds tly co: big Meda) om oueh ion eos 12.6 13.6 Sie 6 6 
BG Gallermillesy ermine tee: ys) etl Bee 4125 2852 9839 
CLOUDING BY TENTHS. 
Wf Bo Tle oS a 989 a0 616 bo 6 2 6 3 
2) D5 TS 6 5.1 6.8 
@) Jals Tae! aes p Bacrerten enced cme ceseeay en 4.5 5.0 
RAIN. 


JENCNSSG Gs Men Siice nemo aye £12 .cO .70 82 


The Sun was not visible for a moment at this station, December 6th, so no 
one saw the transit of Venus. The morning of December 7th the minimum ther- 
mometer recorded 11°. At sunrise the standard thermometer was at 6.5°. 

Snow fell on the 6th and roth, and ice on the river has been about four 
inches thick. ‘There have been during the month more meteors than usual visible, 
thus verifying the predictions of astronomers. 


580 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


THE METEOROLOGY OF SHAKESPEARE. 


We may safely assume that Englishmen in the olden time, like their sons in 
these days, took much interest in the weather. They discussed the influence of 
the past portions of a season, the effects of the present showers or sunshine, and 
the good or evil signs for the coming day, month, or year. For this they had even 
stronger inducements than ourselves. A wet harvest time might bring the perils 
of actual famine home, not merely to scattered individuals, but to entire districts. 
Further, the weather and its signs were looked on in what we should regard as a 
superstitious light. Unusual seasons over and above their own unpleasantness 
were held to forbode foreign wars or civil tumults, pestilence and other calamities. 
It may be, therefore, not uninteresting to glance at the weather-lore of our fore- 
fathers, and ask in how far their rules for a foreknowledge of the season were well 
founded. For connecting this subject with the name of Shakespeare we have 
good reason. We have no certainty as touching the scraps and jingles in which 
popular meteorology is embodied. They may be old as the hills, or they may 
date no further back than the last century, and may have been blended with the 
results of modern investigation. But for the passages on this subject which we 
find here and there in the writings of Shakespeare we have a minimum limit. 
They must represent the traditions current in the days of his youth, and which 
had been handed down for at least a couple of generations. They must have arisen 
in an age when the barometer, the thermometer, and all other meteorological in- 
struments were still unknown. 

The first point we notice is that the south wind is held in strange disrespect. 
It is regarded as unhealthy, as boisterous and wet, and as especially connected 
with fog. Thus we read— 


‘¢ All the contagions of the south light on you.” 
‘Coriolanus, I., 8. 


“<A south-west blow on ye 
And blister you all o’er !” 
Tempest, 1., 4. 


Elsewhere we find— 
‘« The south fog rot thee !” 
And again— 
‘Like foggy south puffing with wind and rain.” | 


In short this wind is never well spoken of by Shakespeare, except in one pas- 
sage: 
“* Like the sweet south 
That breathes upon a bank of violets, 
Stealing and giving odour.”’ 
Twelfth Night, \., 1. 


THE METEOROLOGY OF SHAKESPEARE. 581 


So exceptional are these lines to all other references to the south wind that in 
Knight’s Cabinet Edition an amendment is proposed. The editor would read 
‘¢sound ” for ‘‘south.’’ 

It is scarcely necessary to say that this emendation involves greater difficul- 
ties than the one it is intended to remove. Shakespeare assuredly would never 
have likened a strain of music to a ‘‘sound,” nor spoken of a sound carrying 
along with it the odours of the violets. 

But how comes the poet to couple the south wind with fogs? We know that 
fogs are exclusively connected with the ‘‘ polar current,” z. ¢., northerly or east- 
erly winds, though of course so gentle as to be only just perceptible. The mo- 
ment the wind turns to the south or southwest London breathes afresh, and finds 
that the threatened doom of the great city is not yet. Besides, one of the pas- 
sages quothed is self-contradictory. ‘‘ Foggy south puffing with wind and rain!” 
Puffing wind and rain, from whatever quarter, dispel a fog. 

Nor are the charges of unhealthiness brought against the south much better 
founded. The southwest wind, especially, blowing as it does over a wide ex- 
panse of ocean, is exceedingly unlikely ever to have wafted any pestilence to the 
shores of England. We think of the proverb still current in Yorkshire and Lin- 
colnshire : 


‘* When the wind is in the west 
The weather is the best; 
When the wind is in the east 
It’s neither good for man nor beast.” 


It is still possible that as fens and marshes were much more abundant in the 
Elizabethan age than they are now, and that as the south wind is generally accom- 
panied by warm weather, malaria may have been more common in times of south- 
erly winds than when the weather was colder. But in all other respects we can- 
not do other than pronounce the epithets which Shakespeare applies to the 
south wind grossly libelous, and the traditions upon which they are founded in- 
stances of loose observation. We should, indeed, be glad to escape coming to 
this unfavourable conclusion ; for our great poet, though his attention was mainly 
fixed upon human passion and human character, had yet a keen eye for external 
Nature, as we shall show below. The Ancient Britons are said to have applied 
the name ‘‘ cloudy or misty sea” to the German Ocean, from the fact that winds 
blowing from that quarter were apt to bring fog and gloom. But if the south wind 
was little admired in the Elizabethan days, the northern wind fared no better. 
Shakespeare would not have committed himself by writing an ode like that perpe- 
trated by Kingsley. The longing which some people in these days profess for a 
good old-fashioned winter, and the opinion of the ‘‘ bracing” character of a north- ° 
easter, are, we suspect, notions of somewhat modern origin, and are often chim- 
ney-corner aspirations, about as real as Jamie Thompson’s praises of early rising. 
Shakespeare shows no love for winter : 


582 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


‘‘ You and you are sure together 
As the winter to foul weather.” 
As Vou Like lta Niner. 


It is only luxurious ages and persons who can expose themselves to the 
weather only when and how they like, and come in to a comfortable home when 
sufficiently ‘‘ braced,” who can like winter. 

The opinion is often expressed that the climate of these islands, and indeed 
of western Europe altogether, has undergone a change for the worse during the 
last two or three centuries. Even if our average temperature has not decreased, 
or our mean rain-fall—or rather number of wet days—been augmented, we have, 
men say, a less prospect of warmth, and dryness, and calm coming when they are 
wanted,— that is, from the blooming of the wheat to the ingathering of the vari- 
ous crops. True, we have had, since 1870, great store of unseasonable weather, 
among which 1879 holds a memorably evi) pre-eminence. But et us listen to the 
following passage : 

‘¢ Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, 
As in revenge, have sucked up from the sea 
Contagious fogs; which falling on the land 
Have every pelting river made so proud 
That they have overborne their continents ; 
The ox hath therefore stretched his yoke in vain, 
The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn 
Hath rotted ere its youth attained a beard. 
The fold stands empty in the drowned field, 
And crows are fatted with the murrain flock. 
The nine men’s morris is filled up with mud, 
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green, 
For lack of tread are undistinguishable. 
The human mortals want their winter cheer, 
No night is now with hymn or carol blest ; 
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods, 
Pale in her anger, washes all the air 
That rheumatic diseases do abound. 
And through this distemperature we see 
The seasons alter; hoary-headed frosts 
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose ; 
And on old Hyem’s chin and icy crown 
An od’rous chaplet of sweet summer buds 
Is as in mockery set. The spring, the summer, 
The chiding autumn, angry winter change 
Their wonted liveries, and th’ amazed world 
By their inverse now knows not which is which.” 
Midsummer Nights Dream, Act II., Sc. 2. 


> 


THE METEOROLOGY OF SHAKESPEARXKE. 583 


Is this mere imaginary descripti n? We should say that it is a most faithful 
picture of such a season as that of 1879, with all its distressing features. Wehave 
summer frosts, short fits of mild weather coming when cold would be more sea- 
sonable, overflowing rivers, fields swamped, sheep perishing of foot-rot and of 
‘<flukes’’ in ‘he liver, the corn rotting before it can reach maturity, the field- 
paths becoming indistinguishable because impassable. It is, inshort, 1879 to the 
life, as any faithful observer—especially if living in a rural district—would have 
found it, and no one could have given its sad characters at once so strikingly and 
yet so briefly. We see, then, that cold wet summers are not a misfortune pecul- 
lar to the nineteenth century. A. glacial epoch may be returning, but ‘‘ cruel 
1879’ is no proof that such is to be the doom of our immediate posterity. 

The appearance of the sky at sun rising has always been considered an indi- 
cation of the weather that is to follow. Proverbs in common use in France and 
Germany, as well as in Britain, warn us against a red skyin the morning. Shakes- 
peare was no stranger to this view, which does not always hold good. 


‘« As doth the blushing discontented sun 
From out the fiery portal of the east, 
When he perceives the envious clouds are bent 
To dim his glory, and to stain the track 
Of his bright passage to the occident.” 
eicharas IMAGE Ullio.) SC.0 3. 


Here we have a picture of a particular type of unpromising morning, which 
every observer of the weather must have observed, and which was but too com- 
mon both in 1879 and in 1882, The sun rises ‘‘ blushing ”—z. e., red—into a 
tract of clear, fiery sky, beyond which lies a dense bank of clouds, which main- 
tain their position and thicken till the whole sky is overcast, and the rain 
sets in. 


Another red dawn is described, as on the day of the battle of Shrewsbury: 


‘* How bloodily the sun begins to peer 
Above yon busky hill! The day looks pale 
At his distemperature. 
The southern wind 
Doth play the trumpet to his purposes, 
And by his hollow whistling in the leaves 
Foretells a tempest and a blust’ring day.” 
ELC MU are Lee NCtVE SC inte 


Here, in addition to a red dawn, we have another indication of rain drawn 
from the peculiar character of the wind. In various rural districts we have heard 
a ‘‘bustling wind ” spoken of asa sure sign of rain, and, as far as our observations 
have gone, it has invariably proved correct. The wind is by no means violent ; 
it does not seem to move the stems or the larger branches of trees or shrubs, but 
it Causes a great commotion in the leaves, especially if these are broad. 

VI—37 


~ 


584 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


It is, perhaps, curious that in the writings of Shakespeare we find no refer- 
ence to the sunset as an augury for the day to come. Nor is the rainbow men- 
tioned, concerning the signification of which there exist not a few contradictory 
proverbs. All, we think, agree that a rainbow in the morning is a bad sign. But 
the English countryman is apt to regard— 


‘© A rainbow at night 
As the shepherd’s delight.” 


The French peasant, on the contrary, says, more wisely, as we think : 


“* Arc en ciel du soir 
fantom” 


Certainly in settled fair weather rainbows, either at morning or night, are not 
likely to make their appearance. } 

The cry of the owl seems to have been held as characteristic of stormy 
weather : 


‘<The obscure bird 
Clamoured the live-long night.” 
Macbeth, Act Il., Se. 5. 


It may be doubted whether this circumstance is mentioned as characteristic 
of stormy weather, or as an omen that mischief of other kinds was about. We 
have never met with any popular saying which connected the voice of the owl 
with rain and storm, nor have we observed it to be a “‘ weather-wise” bird. The 
notion that its hooting is a sign of death has been common for centuries. Some 
wise man attempted to explain this supposed fact by the assumption that the owl 
smells the approach of death in a sick man, and flutters screaming round his 
house in an effort to get at the body. This is a curious collection of blunders. 
The owl prefers, like a true sportsman, to kill game for its own dinner, and does 
not care for a prey which has died a natural death. Secondly, the bird has, by 
no means, a very acute sense of smell, and would be utterly unable to detect the 
odour of a dead or dying man outside the house. She is very possibly attracted 
by a light in the sick chamber, and puzzled thereby, as are sea-fowl by a light- 
house, flutters around instead of attending to her lawful business. 

The notion of the unwholesomeness of the night air must have been already 
current in Shakespeare’s time. We read: 


‘¢'To dare the vile contagion of the night, 
And tempt the rheumy and unpurged air.”* 
SONOS (CRA, INGE IU, SE, - 


It is indisputable that in malarious districts the night air is especially danger_ 
ous. But it may well be doubted if the extreme dread of the night air common 
in England is anything more than a superstition. There are many people who— 
whatever may be the temperature, and how dry and calm soever the weather— 
would be horrified at sleeping with their bed-room windows open. It has hap- 


THE KANSAS WEATHER SERVICE. . 585 


pened to us more than once, when on a visit at friend’s house, to find that during 
dinner the servants had carefully shut the windows, ‘and thus secured—for us at 
least—the luxury of a-restless night. Perhaps in Shakespeare’s day malaria might 
have been more common than in the present time, and to shun the night air was 
therefore good policy. There are even yet districts in England where we should 
. not prefer to sleep with open windows in an autumn night. 

To conclude these somewhat random remarks we will quote a very faithful 
description of the hush which often precedes a storm: 


‘‘But as we often see against some storm 
A silence in the heavens, the rack stand still, 
The bold winds speechless, and the orb below 
‘As hush as death; anon the dreadful thunder 
Doth rend the region.”’ 
JEM, INC Woy SCs Ye 


This passage, like the account of the wet season which we cited above, is evi- 
dently the fruit of personal observation, and not of tradition.— London Journal of 


Science. 


REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 
WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 


BY PROF. J. T. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 


The weather in the first decade of this report was characterized by extreme 
cloudiness although the precipitation was small. During the last two decades 
the mean temperature has been much lower. 

A very cold period began on the 17th which reached its culmination on the 
21st, when the low temperature of—21° was recorded. The most disagreeable 
day to be out was the 20th, the temperature not rising above zero the entire day 
and a strong north wind prevailing. 

A snow storm on the 15th brought four and a half inches of snow which 
gave a week of tolerable sleighing. 

On the evening of the 18th a brilliant lunar halo was observed, the Moon 
being near the zenith and both a primary and a secondary arc were visible for 
nearly 180° on the south side of the Moon. The former was about 50° from the 
Moon and the prismatic colors well defined. The secondary arc was about 20° 
from the Moon and fainter—the prismatic colors being wanting. 

The usual summary by decades is given below. 


586 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Dec. 20th Jaa. Ist Jan. t1oth 


Mean. 

TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. to 3oth. to roth. to 20th. 

MIN. AND Max. AVERAGES. See 
Ut SB GMI oie 25 ge bob. 6 a 18.2 2.1 4.5 8.3 
Mia Al colette Sues noMedet ale een Mois ' 38.0 31.5 28.7 B27) 
Min. and Max. ......... 28.1 16.8 16.6 20.5 
Range. Sy Se oi) 1h ea ers ee 19.8 29.9 2A 2 eh 24.6 

TRI-DAILY OBSERVATIONS. 

PORNATIN sc Wr eeHomey ce oH cca pe stata 22.5 oP 8.2 12.6 
PWG ANG bo Ov0l a. d010 0 0 05 28.4 22.2 25.0 25.2 
Cie AN a oon 60 6 od oo 6 24 1 14.3 15.3 17.9) 
INSET ATS vero Me tio ealig’ (el nai 0 24.8 18.5 16.8 20.0 

RELATIVE HUMIDITY. 

SAUNT cis Nose asi mah a obs cligenaree ele 
G3 Se ins, Gaby Gina Gig) pony On CuABL iGo 
@) Ds HN, 6 9 

Witeammran smeiaresee ne 

PRESSURE AS OBSERVED. 

G jatar eaietadey as aes eat A Genta te 29.09 29.21 29.13 29.14 
P09: To. Golo ogo. 6 VO. 6D Os.0 40 29.09 29.14 29.08 29 10 
Oni oy re ha peas evlovenites Mie hee ane al cn 29.11 29.21 29.14 29.15 
Mle ain. cenavjatt esse aur mtad Releg me aes 29.10 29.19 29.12 29.13 
MILES PER Hour OF WIND. 

G] Bn Ms o 3 ‘Sla!o 6 5 216 bo 6 8 13.8 

A Do ie RRR aU ean ren en ah 12.2 

Olid My deo Nane een eu oe Von fo ob 11.6 he 3) 6 Saas 
dotallimillesiyaes ees eu teeee te 2539 3071 4995 10605 

CLOUDING BY TENTHS. 

Gf ig UN SSO WIRE feta SEMEN GN 9). da) Onno 7.6 3.1 3.4 4.7 
PAS OY TNR Re NMRA i is Aimee 4.9 BR 2.1 Syil 
@) [DTM 6 o 6 Naa Sn tegehs sae 3.4 2.0 4.0 3.5 

RAIN. 

Inches iene sass cole ng ren eae .10 .0O 53 63 
ASI OWN OWS 


THE STARS FOR FEBRUARY. 


The northern heavens present no change of special importance since last 
month. The Dragon has been carried away from his former hovering position, 
and now appears as if swooping downward, though in a direction contrary to that 
of his real motion around the pole. The ancient observers do not seem to have 
attached any importance, by the way, to the direction in which the star-sphere 
turns; and indeed, a motion so slow as not to be perceptible by ordinary vision 
might well be left out of account in forming imaginary star-groups. Some of the 
figures go forward, as Orion, the Great Bear, Bootes (the Herdsman), the Lion, 
and so forth; others go backward, as the Dragon, the Ram, the Bull, Pegasus (the © 
Winged Horse), and so on; while others, like Ophiuchus (the Serpent bearer), are 
supposed to face the observer and so travel sideways; and others again, travel on 
their head, as Hercules, Cepheus, and Andromeda. It is quite clear that those 


THE STARS FOR FEBRUARY. 58¥- 


who invented the constellation figures did not trouble thernselves much about the 
‘rotation of the star-vault. 

There may be noticed in the northern heavens, as seen in February, a vacant 
space above the pole, girt round by the constellations Auriga (the Charioteer) 
overhead, Perseus (the Rescuer), Cassiopeia (the Seated Lady), Cepheus (her 
royal husband), and the two Bears. In this poverty-stricken region there are no 
stars of the first three magnitudes, and only four or five of the fourth magnitude. 
The ancient astronomers could imagine no constellations in these spaces. It is 
to the moderns, and especially to Hevelius, that we owe the constellations 
which have been figured in these barren districts. The Camelopard, or Giraffe, 
is one, the Lynx another. I cannot say, for my part, that I see either a giraffe 
or a lynx there. Certainly, if you draw the connecting lines shown in the map, 
you get as fair a picture of a giraffe (inverted at present) as can possibly be made 
with a couple of lines; but it seems to me—though I do not claim to be an artist 
—that rather more than two lines are needed to picture a respectable giraffe. 
Besides the lines are not on the sky, and the liveliest fancy would not think of 
connecting these stars by imaginary lines, so widely remote are the stars, and so 
insignificant. 

The Little Bear is now gradually getting round (at the selected hour of even- 
ing observation) to a position such as a bear might reasonably assume. Last 
‘month, this small bear was hanging head downward by the end of his absurdly 
long tail. He is now slowly rising from that undignified position, and by next 
month he will have fairly placed himself on his feet. For the present we can 
leave him to his struggles; but next month we shall consider his history and the 
duties which he has discharged for many hundreds of years. 
| Turning to the southern skies, we find full compensation for the relatively 
uninteresting aspect of the northern heavens. The most resplendent constella- 
‘tion in the heavens is now in full glory in the south. There, close to the merid- 
jan, or mid-south, 


‘« Begirt with many a blazing star, 
Stands the great giant Algebar, 
Orion, hunter of the beast: 
His sword hangs gleaming by his side, 
And on his arm the lion’s hide 
Scatters across the midnight air 
The golden radiance of its hair.” 


No one can mistake this most beautiful constellation. The two bright 
shoulder stars, Betelgeux (a/fa) and Bellatrix (gamma), the brilliant star Rigel 
on the giant’s advanced foot, the triply gemmed belt (ze/a, epsi/on, and delta), and 
the pendent sword tipped with the bright star (zofa), distinguish Orion unmis- 
takably. But, besides these glories, there are others; the curve of small stars 
forming the giant’s shield (a lion’s hide), the misty light of the great nebula which 
lies on the sword (where shown), and on clear nights the dappled light of the 


588 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


Milky Way, which really extends over a part of this constellation, to say nothing 
of numbers of faint stars scattered all over it, justify the words of the poet, who 
sang: 
‘¢ Orion’s beams! Orion’s beams! 
His star-gemmed belt, and shining blade; 
His isles of light, his silvery streams, 
And gloomy gulf of mystic shade,” . 


From the beginning of astronomy, and probably long before astronomy was 
thought of, this constellation was figured as a giant: sometimes a giant hunter, a 
sort of celestial Nimrod; sometimes as a warrior, He commonly wields an im- 
mense club in his right hand, and a shield in his left. The star Beta of the con- 
stellation Eridanus really marks the giant’s bent knee; and originally the constel- 
lation Lepus, or ‘‘ the Hare,’’ formeda chariot in which the hunter or warrior stood. 
In some old manuscripts of the Middle Ages, the stars of Lepus formed a throne for 
Orion. In fact, this little constellation, although named the Hare from’ time im- 
memorial, has been called by other names, insomuch that Ideler, after quoting 
several, wrathfully adds, ‘‘ And God knows how many more there are.”’ 

Orion is somewhat out of drawing, because of the necessity of keeping cer- 
tain stars in particular positions with respect to him. ‘Thus Betelgeux is derived 
from the Arabic zé¢-a/-jauzd, the giant’s shoulder; Bellatrix, or ‘‘the Amazon 
star,” belongs of right to the other shoulder, and Rigel to the advanced foot, 
while the three stars of the belt fix the position of the giant’s waist. To tell the 
truth, he is an ill-shaped giant, anyway, and cannot be otherwise depicted. 

Below Lepus (the Hare) you see the neat little group Columba, or ‘‘ the 
Dove.” This is one of the younger constellations, and was invented by Heve- 
lius, perhaps to show that the ship Argo, which you see low down on the left, is. 
no other than Noah’s Ark. In fact, the name given to the small group originally 
was Columba Noachi, or ‘‘ Noah’s Dove.” Approaching the mid south, you 
now see the brightest star in the whole heavens—Sirius, the famous Dog-star. 
The constellation Canis Major (the Greater Dog) which might much better be 
called simply Canis, was one of Orion’s hunting dogs, Canis Minor being the other ; 
but we can hardly suppose Lepus was the sole prey pursued by so great a giant 
and two such fine dogs. The constellation Canis Major is chiefly remarkable 
for the Dog-star. In old times this star was thought to bring pestilence. Homer 
speaks of it (not by name, however) as the star 


“¢ Whose burning breath 
Taints the red air with fevers, plagues and death.” 


Many among the ancients supposed that this star was in reality as large as the 
Sun. Thus Manilius said: 


‘«°T is strongly credited this owns a light 
And runs a course not than the Sun’s less bright; 
But that, removed from sight so great a way, 
It seems to cast a dim and weaker ray.” 


THE STARS FOR FEBRUARY. 589 


It has been shown in our own time, however, that even this estimate, which was 
by many thought too daring, falls far short of the truth. It has been calculated 
that Sirius gives out two hundred times as much light (and doubtless two hundred 
times as much heat) as our Sun. So that it would make us rather uncomfortable 
if our Sun were removed and Sirius set in its place. Sir W. Herschel says that 
when he turned his large four-foot mirror on this star, the light was like that of 
the rising Sun, and it was impossible to look at the star without pain to the eye. 
Sirius is in reality in rapid motion, though owing to his enormous distance he 
“seems at rest. He is rushing through space at the rate of about thirty miles in 
every second of time! In a year he traverses nearly six times the distance which 
separates our Earth from the Sun. This enormous annual journey is only about 
srussath part of the distance which separates him from our Earth; and as he is 
traveling away from us, we need not be greatly troubled on account of him. 
He is so far from us that his light has been no less than twenty years on its way 
to us, so that in reality, instead of saying we see Sirius, we ought to say we see 
where Sirius was some twenty years ago. Most of the stars are even farther 
away, so that if every one of them were in a single instant destroyed, we should 
still see them—that is, their light-—for many years, and probably the greater 
number of them would still seem to be shining in the heavens long after the 
youngest of us were dead; perhaps even after our great grandchildren had passed 
away. 

Canis Minor (the Lesser Dog) is a much less important star group than Canis 
Major, but still it is one of the ancient constellations. Its chief star is call Pro- 
cyon, or ‘‘the Fore-dog,” because his star is seen as a morning star earlier than 
Sirius. The Arabian astronomers gave it a name of similar meaning, to-wit, A/ 
helb-al-mutchaddem ; but I think Procyon sounds almost as well, and as it is the 
name by which the star is usually called, it may, perhaps be better to use it in- 
stead of the Arabian name, though this is very pretty. Procyon, like Sirius, was 
supposed to be a star of evil omen, especially as bringing bad weather. ‘‘ What 
meteoroscoper,’’ said Leonard Digges, the astrologer, ‘‘ yea, who that is learned 

in matters astronomical, noteth not the great effects at the rising of the star called 
the Litel Dogge?” 

The constellation Gemini, or the Twins, is now approaching the south, but 
will be more fully within the range of next our monthly map. The sign marked 
o> is that of Cancer, or the Crab which the Sun enters at mid-summer. You will 
observe that we have now reached the part of the ecliptic highest above the 
equator, which is, of course, the part reached by the Sun at midsummer. The 
point marked 95 is at its highest in the south at noon on or about June 2rst, and 
is then occupied by the Sun; it is at its highest in the south at midnight on or 
about December zoth, and the Sun is then exactly opposite to this point, or at 
his lowest below the northern horizon. 

Those who live as far south as New Orleans, see, well raised above the hori- 
zon, the star Canopus, in the stern of the good ship Argo. There is presented 
to them, at this season, a view of more first magnitude stars than can be seen at 


590 KANSAS CLL YV REVIEW SOF SCIENCE: 


any other time in one quarter of the heavens. For besides the splendid equal- 
sided triangle formed by Procyon, Betelgeux, and Sirius, they see Aldebaran, 
Rigel, and Canopus, the last-named surpassing every star in the heavens except 
Sirius alone. 

Next month, the great ship Argo will have come better into view ; and I de- 
fer till then my account of this fine constellation. 

The eastern and western maps for this month, when compared with those for 
January, show how the stars, observed at any given hour month after month, 
change in position just as though they were watched hour after hour on the same — 
night. Thus in the January eastern map the Lion is seen low down, and the ar- 
rows scattered over the map, which (except the arrow on the ecliptic) point the 
way the stars are apparently moving, show that the I.ion is passing upward and 
shghtly toward the right, or to’just such a position as the constellation has in the 
eastern map for this month. In fact, if the stars had been observed in January 
two hours after the time when the Lion was placed as shown in the January map, 
it would have been found that the Lion had reached the exact position occupied 
by the constellation in our present map. Two hours’ motion on any given night 
produces the same change of position as one month’s motion for stars seen at 
any given hour. This remark applies to all stars; and the young student will do 
well to compare together the two eastern maps and the two western maps (for 
January and February), following up the work by noting month after month how 
the star groups rise up from out of the eastern horizon, and pass down toward the 
western. Also he will find it interesting to notice how six months hence the stars 
which are now rising at any given hour in the east will be found at the same 
hour setting in the west ; while those which at any hour are now setting in the west 
will be found six months hence rising in the east. What is true of the present 
time, and six months from the present time, is true of any part of the year, and 
six months before or after that time. 

In the east we see that at the hours named under the map (and of course at 
intermediate hours on the intermediate dates) the constellation Auriga has passed 
overhead, leaving only two stars visible in the space covered by the map, and 
even those two (Leta and Theta) have passed over to the western side of the 
north and south line overhead. ‘The Lion is now the chief constellation of the 
east; and the student will do well to study it there, for this group is not so well 
seen at any other part of the year. When in the south, indeed, it is better placed 
for the astronomer, who cannot have the stars too high above the horizon. But 
the general student of the skies can note the shape of star gioups more conven- 
iently when they are at a moderate elevation. 

I think few can recognize in the constellation Leo, as now figured, the shape 
ofalion. The stars Mu, Epsilon, and Lambda now mark the place of the lion’s 
head, while his tail ends at the star Beta, and his forepaws reach from /2 to Omz- 
cron. It requires a strong imagination to see a lion among these stars. But I 
think a much larger lion can be readily seen, the head lying in Cancer, the mane 
reaching to Leo Minos, the forepaws on the stars Zeta, Epsilon, and Delta, which 


THE STARS FOR FEBRUARY, 591 


mark the head of Hydra (the Sea-Serpent), and the hinder paws on the stars 
Beta and Zeta of Virgo. It seems to me likely that originally the constellations 
named after men, animals, and other objects, were not, as now, separated from 
each other ; but that if any group, large or small, seemed to resemble any object it was 
named after that object, whether it formed part or not of any other group already 
named, or whether it included part of such a group or was itself partly included 
in another constellation. 

Of Virgo, which is just beginning to rise above the horizon, I shall have 
more to say next month. 

In the west Pegasus, which was nearly in full view last month, has almost 
wholly set. Andromeda (still head downward) is following the Winged-Horse, 
but not toward the same part of the horizon. Perseus, or ‘‘the Rescuer,”’ who 
was overhead last month, now lies between Andromeda and the point overhead, 
while Auriga (the Charioteer) now occupies the highest region in the heavens. 

Two interesting constellations, which last month could not be seen in the 
western map, have now passed within its precincts, namely, Taurus (the Bull), 
and Cetus (the Sea Monster or whale). 

It is very easy to identify the Bull, first by the Pleiads, and, secondly, by 
the bright and somewhat ruddy Aldebaran. The famous cluster—the so called 
seven Pleiads—in reality contains an immense number of stars, forming a very 
beautiful and amazing object when examined even with a small telescope. It is 
fabled that there were once seven Pleiads visible to the naked eye, but that one, 
called the lost Pleiad, has faded from view. With good eye-sight, however, not 
only can the original seven Pleiads be distinctly seen, but several others. A few 
observers have even seen as many as fourteen Pleiads. 

The star (Omicron) Ceti is perhaps the most interesting star in the heavens. 
It is shown, in the map, of the second magnitude, but is in reality variable. At 
its brightest it shines as a star of the second magnitude; but it only shines thus 
for about two months out of ten. For about a fortnight it shines as a star of the 
second magnitude, then by degrees it fades away, until at the end of three months 
it can hardly be seen. After remaining about five months invisible, it gradually 
increases in brightness for about three months when it isagain asecond magnitude 
star. It occupies about 331 days and eight hours in going through these changes. 
—Easy Star Lessons. 


092 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


GC COLOGN: 


GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS OF KANSAS AND MISSOURI. 


In the Legislatures of both of the above named States bills have been intro- 
duced providing for geological surveys of the respective States. We give the 
full text of that for Kansas, sent us by Mr. Geo. S. Chase, Chairman of the Com. 
mittee appointed by the Kansas Academy of Science to attend to the matter: 


Be wt Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas : 

SECTION 1. That the Governor, Attorney-General, and President of the 
Kansas Academy of Science are hereby constituted a Board of Commissioners 
who are authorized and required, as early as may be, after the passage of this 
Act to appoint and commission a competent geologist for the purpose of organiz- 
ing and prosecuting a geological survey of the State. 

Sec. 2. Said geologist shall be authorized to appoint and associate with him 
a competent assistant geologist and paleontologist and an experienced analytical 
and experimental chemist and mineralogist, and such other collaborators and as_ 
sistants as the best interests of the work may from time to time demand, provid- 
ed the compensation for such assistance does not exceed the sum hereinafter ap- 
propriated for the maintenance of the survey; the appointment, direction and 
dismissal of assistants connected with the survey to rest in the hands of the geo- 
logist in charge. 

SEc. 3. The objects and methods of the survey are the acquisition of a 
cemprehensive and detail knowledge of the geological structure and mineral re- 
sources of the territory embraced within the limits of the State. This shall in- 
clude besides a careful study of the superficial reliefs of the State from such data 
as is or may be accessible, a thorough investigation of the stratigraphy of the va- 
rious geological formations occurring within its bounds with the view of ascer- 
taining their constitution, magnitude, and distribution, and the character, extent 
and value of the mineral or other products of economic importance occurring in 
connection with such formations. In view of the necessities for the realizations 
of the largest scientific and practical results in the prosecution of these investiga- 
tions the work of the geological survey shall be proceeded with systematically, 
and with as great energy and despatch as may be consistent with its efficient exe- 
cution. For this purpose the State shall be divided into at least three divisions, 
which shall correspond with the three principal hydrographic basins occurring 
within its limits, viz: The Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas drainage systems. 
These systems to receive a careful preliminary examination in order to determine ~ 


GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS OF KANSAS AND MISSOURI, 593 


the salient, physical and geological features pertaining to each division and to the 
whole State. With the consummation of these preliminary exploration the detai\ 
investigation of these divisions shall be begun, commencing with the oldest geo- 
logical formation, and expanding the work by the detail survey of each county 
until the whole territory of the State shall have been thus systematically explored. 
For the greater expedition of this work the geologists shall further devote their in- 
vestigations to special formations and districts, as far as may be, thereby allowing 
the examinations to be carried on in all parts of the State at one and the same 
time. 

Sec. 4. It shall be the duty of said geologist in charge to make as complete 
a series of examinations of the superficial geological deposits as shall aid to an 
understanding of the origin, character, and extent of the different sorts of soils, 
the probability of obtaining water by means of artesian wells, especially in the 
western counties; also of all rock exposures, coal-beds and other mineral deposits. 
as practicable, and the information thus gained shall be embodied in such notes, 
diagrams and sections as may be necessary for the clearer elucidation of the local,. 
structural and stratigraphical features of the geological formations occurring in 
each county, and over the entire State. 

Said geologist shall also secure as complete collections as possible of the min_ 
erals, rocks, soils, fossils, salines, and mineral waters occurring in the State that 

in any way have a value as aids to a thorough knowledge of its geological his- 
tory. 

A complete suite of said collections to be retained in the museum of the 
Kansas Academy of Science at the Capitol where they shall be classified and ar- 
ranged, and be a permanent exhibition of the geological survey; a full series of 
the duplicate specimens similarly classified and authenticated to be placed at the 
disposition of the State University, State Agricultural College, and State Normal 
Schools. The geologist in charge shall also be authorized to use every means in 
his power, not otherwise interfering with the efficient conduct of the survey, to 
make accessions from abroad of geological material to the collections of the sur- 
vey that may in any way contribute to the value of the economic, and education- 
al results of the same. 

Sec. 5. The said geologist in charge shall cause to be submitted to the 
chemist all ores, minerals, rocks, soils, salines, and mineral waters the chemical 
investigation of which may be of economic and scientific utility ; also the chemist 
shall be afforded practical facilities for the prosecution of researches in the field 
wherever such may be essential to the interest of knowledge or of practical utili- 
ty : and he shall in all cases be required to report the results of his analyses and 
investigations to said geologist. 

Sec. 6. It shall be the duty of said geologist in charge to submit to the 
Governor on or before the first Monday in January of each year, a concise report. 
of progress of the field-work for the current year in which the more important 
economic results shall be made public. 

Sec. 7. At the earliest practicable date the geologist in charge shall pre) are 


O94 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


reports on the regional or county geology including reports of assistant geologist 
and chemist, each county so described to be accompanied by diagrams, sections 
and a map on which shall be indicated the location of all important mineral de- 
posits the existence of which shall have been made known, and as far as practica- 
ble the extent of forest and prairie, nature and distribution of soils, and such 
other occurrences as may be deemed of importance for the information they af- 
ford regarding the economic resources, and industries dependent thereon, and 
the general aspect of the counties of the State. Said reports shall be placed in 
the hands of the Governor, who shall bring them to the attention of the Legisla- 
ture at its earliest session thereafter with recommendation for blnet speedy publi- 
cation. 

Sec. 8. On the completion of the field-work of the survey the geologist in 
charge shall make and cause to be made final reports on the geology of the whole 
State, including reports of the assistant geologist, chemist and collaborators of the 
survey, which shall embrace discussions of the physical, geological and mineral 
ogical features of the entire area of the State, and its relations in these respects to 
contiguous regions; said reports shall be accompanied by charts, diagrams, and 
other necessary illustrations, vertical and profile sections embracing generalized 
presentations of the stratigraphy and valuable minerals associated with the geolog- 
ical formations present in various parts of the State, and a large sized map of the 
State on which shall be indicated by colors, and other appropriate means the ex- 
tent of surface occupied by the various geological formations occurring within its 
bounds; in fine, such reports shall present a full digest of the scientific and eco. 
nomic results attained during the prosecution of the survey, together with such 
other relevant matter relating to the more complete exposition of the geological 
history of the State as may be available. And on the completion of such reports 
the said geologist shall transmit the same to the Governor who shall cause them 
to be laid before the Legislature with recommendation for their suitable publica- 
tion. The said geologist shall have the supervision of the preparation and ue 
lishing of all reports emanating from the survey. 

Sec. 9. The salary of the geologist in charge shall $2,000 perannum. The 
salaries of the assistant geologist and chemist not to exceed $1,200 per annum 
each. For the services of specialists, local assistants and other persons tempora- 
rily employed on the survey the compensation shall not be greater than that ordi- 
narily paid for similar services. 

Sec. 1o. In order practically to carry out the provisions of the foregoing 
sections of this Act the sum of $10,000 is hereby annually appropriated for the 
term of two years, out of such monies remaining in the treasury as are not other- 
wise appropriated. : 

This fund shall be drawn as required for the purposes of the survey on req- 
uisitions signed by the geologist in charge approved by the Governor, and the 
warrant of the Auditor of State, and the Auditor is authorized to issue his war- 
rants upon the Treasurer for the sums named in such requisition. 


BOOK NOTICES. 595 


The Bill introduced in the Missouri Legislature is similar in most respects, 
as the abstract below, sent us by Prof. Broadhead, will show. 

The Governor appoints a board of four persons, himself Ex-Officio member 
and President of board. They shall appoint a State Geologist, who is not con- 
nected with or under influence of anyschool. State Geologist to appoint his assist- 
ants and have power to remove them—Governor and Board may remove State 
Geologist. State Geologist and assistants to make surveys, maps and reports of 
work, and also may have power from time to time to issue bulletins of work done , 

also to furnish newspapers with items—provided it does not interfere with other 
work. State Geologist also has power to furnish duplicate sets of specimens to mu- 
seums within the State—provided the expense of fixing up and labelling such is paid 
for by the museum or persons conducting the same, and also provided such work 
does not interfere with the progress of the survey and that the State collection is 
not deprived of necessary duplicates. Bill provides for a State museum and head- 
quarters to be, if possible, at the Capitol of the State, otherwise to be where 
quarters can be best obtained. Headquarters to be at Jefferson City. Reports to 
be made to each General Assembly of progress, condition and expenses. Has: 
authority to take possession of all matter belonging to former surveys, but does 
not give power to take possession of any cabinet of specimens already in place. 

Salary of geologist $3,000 per year; assistants $1,800 and $1,500, and no 
others over $5 per day. Board only receive their necessary expenses, when in at- _ 
tendance. Gives power to employ a paleontologist if necessary ; also to negotiate 
for chemical work. Amendments to this give chemical work to Sch6dol of 
mines. $15,000 annually appropriated. 


BOOK NOTICES. 


Housr-DRAINAGE AND SANITARY PLUMBING. By Wm. Paul Gerhard; pp. 205, 
18mo. D. VanNostrand, New York, 1882. 50¢. 

This is No. 63 of VanNostrand’s ‘‘Science Series,” and is an exceedingly 
well written and useful essay. A general idea of the author’s style and manner 
of handling the subject may be gained from the article on ‘‘Sewer Gas and its 
Danger to Health,” on page 571 of this issue of the Review, which is copied from 
the first chapter of the work. The other topics treated are mainly as follows: 
Defective and Good Plumbing work ; Hssential Elements of a System of Plumb- 
ing; Soil and Waste Pipes; Traps; Absorption of Gases; Drainage of Cellars ; 
System of House-Drainage; Bath and Laundry Tubs; Sinks; Water Closets ; 
Flushing Appliances, etc. 

This small volume contains much common-sense information and instruction, 
and might well be studied by engineers and architects as well as property owners 
who intend to build. 


096 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


Tue Lowesr Forms oF WaTER ANIMALS. By N. D’ Anvers. Square 16mo. 
pp. 59. Illustrated. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1882. For sale by 


M. H. Dickinson, 50c. 

This is No. V of the Science Ladders, those preceding it being Forms of 
_Land and Water; A Story of Early Exploration; Vegetable Life; Flowerless 
Plants. 

The volume under consideration takes up in simple style the discussion of 
the subject of the lowest forms of water animals by defining what an animal is; 
what protoplasm is; then the successive forms of such animals; the Rhizopoda; 
Sponges ; some forms of Infusoria ; the life of a Hydra and a Medusa; Sea Ane- 
mones and how they live; Coral-Makers and how they grow; some of the Polyzoa; 
some tiny creatures with water-works, and closes with a series of questions to 
test the young reader’s memory and comprehension. 

Mr. Db’ Anvers aims to teach the great laws of nature in language simple 
enough to be intelligible to the youngest readers and to awaken in them the habit 
of observation and reasoning. In these objects he is sure to succeed so far as 
he has readers. 


Mititary Lire tn Iraty. By Edward De Amicis: with illustrations; 8vo., pp. 
440. G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1882. For sale by M. H. Dickin- 


‘son, $2.co. 

All of De Amicis’ works are full of enthusiasm and spirit, and this one is no 
exception to the rule. In addition to this feature these sketches carry with them 
a lesson of inspiration and consolation to the soldier and of admiration and es- 
teem for him to the civilian. Every side of human nature is skillfuily depicted 
in them, the serious as well as the comic, and no reader will .regret spending a 
few hours in perusing the book. Among the best of the sketches are The Con- 
script, The Son of the Regiment, and Dead upon the Field of Battle. 


How to SuccEED. Edited by Lyman Abbott, D.D. Square 16mo., pp. 131. 
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1882. For sale by M. H. Dickinson, 5o0c. 
The readers of the Christian Union have already seen most of the essays in 

this admirable collection, but for the benefit of those who have not we will say 

that the book is No. XX VI of the Handy Book Series, and is made up of a num- 
ber of essays on ‘‘ How to Succeed” by some of the most able and practical 
men of this country in their several departments of labor. 

Hon. T. F. Bayard and Hon. Geo. F. Edwards write upon How to Succeed 
in Public Life; Rev. John Hall, D.D., gives advice How to Succeed as a Minis- 
ter; Willard Parker, M. D., tells How to Succeed as a Physician; Gen’l Wm. 
Sooy Smith, How to Succeed as a Civil Engineer; Wm. Hamilton Gibson, How 
to Succeed as an Artist ; a New York, merchant anonymously gives rules for suc- 
ceeding in Mercantile Life; Lawson Valentine, How to Succeed in Business 


BOOK NOTICES. . 597 


Life ; Leopold Damrosch, How to Succeed as a Musician; Hon. Gea. B. Loring, 
as a Farmer; Thomas A. Hdison, as an Inventor; Rev. E. P. Roe, in Litera- 
ture; while Rev. Lyman Abbott gives his views upon the Christian conditions 
of success. 

Nearly all occupations are thus touched upon by men who have had practi- 
cal experience and who are living examples of the practice they preach, and 
these essays, whether read by the young or by those interested in their welfare, 
must have a beneficial effect. 


Easy Star Lessons. By R. A. Proctor. Crown octavo, pp. 239, illustrated. 

G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1882. $2.50 

The popularizing of knowledge seems to have been the special work of 
scientific men within the past twenty years, and of the many contributors in this 
direction none has done more or done it better than Mr. Proctor. Though but a 
comparatively young man he has achieved a world-wide reputation as profoundly 
skilled in more branches of science than one, although he is mainly regarded as 
an astronomer. 

The above named book is his latest production, and his publishers have evi- 
dently striven by the exercise of the best taste and the use of the choicest materials 
in the book-maker’s art to make it worthy. Paper, print and binding are superb, 
and the illustrations, including forty-eight star-maps and thirty other engravings, 
are admirable in execution and thoroughly practical. To the stars of each month 
in the year is devoted a chapter and four maps showing the proper position of each 
constellation and the prominent stars in the northern, southern, eastern and west- 
ern skies for that month So interesting and so unusually plain and practical are 
these descriptions, even without the maps, that we give on page 586 the whole 
chapter on ‘‘ The Stars for February.” By a careful use of it, the reader may 
pick out the constellations with little trouble, while by the additional use of the 
maps the whole sky may be read hke a printed book. : 


THE OpyssEy oF Homer. Done into English prose by S. H. Butcher, M. A., 
and A. Lang M. A. t2mo., pp. 427. Macmillan & Co., New York, 1882. 


Price $1.00. 

The translators in the preface to this work, claim that there can be no final 
English translation of Homer from the fact that the taste of each successive gen- 
eration differs regarding poetical style, whether versified or not, from all preced- 
ing periods. Thus, in the Elizabethan age Chapman modified the antique sim- 
plicity of Homer to suit its peculiar requirements, and rendered the poem in high 
sounding and luxurious conceits which would in no respect satisfy the more fas- 
tidious tastes catered to by the elegant Pope in Queen Anne’s time. Later, 
when the ballad collectors of Europe were forming the tastes of the people, Homer 
was regarded a ballad minstrel, and his poems rendered by Maginn, Gladstone, 


998 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


and others with the simplicity and baldness of the verses of the minnesingers. 
Still Jater the romantic vein was discovered and worked with marked success by 
Mr. Worsley, who made an admirable translation of the Odyssey, in which ‘‘the 
liquid lapses of the verse, the wonderful closeness to the original, reproduce all of 
Homer in music and in meaning that can be rendered in English verse.” 

The object of this prose translation is to supply a demand now existing for 
simple descriptive or historical documents, without modern ornament and with 

. nothing added or omitted, a thing with which poetry, or, at least verse, is almost 
incompatible. 

The work of the translators, looked at from this standpoint, seems well done, 
and the prose form certainly gives a better opportunity than verse for a close ad- 
herence to the Homeric language and style.’ To those readers who wanta strictiy 
reliable, scholarly rendering of the story in ‘‘ unadorned English,” nothing can be 
more satisfactory. 


FRONTIER ARMY SKETCHES. By James W. Steele. 12mo., pp. 329. Jansen, 

McClurg & Co., Chicago, 1883. $1.50. 

That these ‘‘ Sketches ”’ are the work of an observant, sympathetic, cultured 
man who has actual and practical experience of the pleasures, hardships, excite- 
ments and inexpressible tedium of frontier military life is self-evident. His cor- 
rect and just appreciation of the West Point graduate, whom he portrays under the 
title of Captain Jinks, his abhorrent and overpowering disgust for and detestation 
of the cruel and treacherous Indian of the plains, his perfect delineations of west- 
ern character, good and bad; his skillful command of language, his expressive 
grouping of words and his forcible and graceful sentences, all betray an excellent 
education and cultivated tastes, as well as a military training. 

Every one of these sketches is a model of good literary. style, and most of 
them are exceedingly real, piquant, lifelike, and dramatic. They remind one 
of Theodore Winthrop in many respects, and are far superior in all respects to. 
Bret Hart. : 


THE Court AND Cross. By W. J. Henry. Octavo, pp. 568. Methodist Book 

Concern, Cincinnati, 1882. 

The object of this work, whose author is a lawyer of this city, is set forth in 
the preface as being to present the principal events of Christ’s wonderful career in 
their relation to the Sanhedrin or great court of the Jews; also to portray his life 
as it was affected by the views, actions and deliberations of that influential body, 
as well as to bring vividly before the mind the times, places and conditions of the 
Jewish nation ; also a description of the principal, political, judicial and ecclesias- 
tical tribunal, the council or great court of the Jews, into which the author has 
attempted to carry the reader in imagination and give him a probable statement 
of the arguments and views of its members upon the case before them. 


BOOK NOTICES. 599 


Further it is attempted by the author to combat the views of those who doubt 
the Divinity of Christ, the authenticity of his miracles and the truth of his doc- 
trines. 

In carrying out this plan Judge Henry has shown great skill in bringing to- 
gether historical facts bearing upon the case, while his legal acumen has been of 
the greatest service in arranging the argumentative portion of the work. It will 
be found decidedly interesting to all classes of readers, not only for these reasons, 
but because the author has left the beaten track and taken up a line of hodeDe 
and argument not heretofore presented so far as we know. 


OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 


The Wew York Medical Journal, Vol. XXXVII, Nos. 1 and 2, quarto, weekly, 
pp. 28, edited by Frank P. Foster, M. D., published by D. Appleton & Co., 
N. Y., $5.00. Zhe Electrician, Vol. 11, No. 1, quarto, Williams & Co., New 
York, editors and publishers, monthly, $1.00 per annum. Zhe Wheelman, Vol. 
I, No. 4, Jan’y, 1883, octavo, pp. 80, illustrated, edited by S. S. McClure, pub- 
lished by the Wheelman Co., Boston, monthly, $2.00. Carboniferous Rocks of 
Eastern Kansas, G. C. Broadhead, reprinted from Proceedings of St. Louis 
Academy of Sciences, pp. 12. Review of the Telegraph and Telephone, Vol. 
I, No. 22, quarto, pp. 16, edited and published by Geo. Worthington, N. Y., 
semi-monthly, $2.00. Bulletins of the Americun Museum of Natural History, 
Vol. I, Nos. 2 and 3. Fifteenth Annual Report of Peabody Museum of Ameri- 
can Archeology and Ethnology, Vol. III, No. 2, F. W. Putnam, Curator. 
New York Medical Record, Vol XXII, No. 26, octavo, pp. 28, weekly, edited 
by Geo. F. Shrady, M. D., and published by Wm. Wood & Co. New York, $5.00. 
Report of the Secretary of the Interior to June 30, 1882. Natural Science in Sec- 
ondary Schools, F. Miihlberg, pp. 9. Instruction in Morals and Civil Govern- 
ment, A. Vessiot, pp. 4. Trumbull, Reynolds & Allen’s 12th Annual Cata- 
logue. Circulars of Information of the Bureau of Education, No. 3, 1882. The 
University of Bonn,—National Pedagogic Congress of Spain,—High Schools for 
Girls in Sweden. Thirteenth Annual Report of the American Museum of Natural 
History, Central Park, N. Y. Fifth Annual Announcement of the Fulton & 
Trueblood School of Elocution and Oratory. Constitution and By-Laws of the 
Iowa State Academy of Sciences. Yellows in Peach Trees, D. P. Penhallow, 


Boston, 1882, pp. 8. 


VI-38 


600 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


SOQMSINIMIEIC WASCE UL NINN. 


LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD. 


The people at large are to have the opportunity, it is stated, to subscribe to- 
ward the fund for the pedestal upon which Bartholdi’s statue of ‘‘ Liberty En- 
lightening the World” is to be erected in New York Harbor. It is especially 
desirable that the ‘‘ people at large” in the United States should do this for the. 
reason that the present is from the ‘‘ people at large” in France; and itis thought 
meet that it should be received in the spirit in which it is given—namely, as a 
testimonial of affection from one liberty-loving people to another. It is the first 
time that such a substantial evidence of international amity has been furnished in 
the history of the world. If it were not for the carrying out of the idea that the 
whole people should have something to do with the reception of the gift the 
money for the pedestal could be readily raised in New York inaday. Sufficient 
indications of the truth of this proposition appeared at the great mass-meeting at 
the Academy of Music, in that city, held on Tuesday evening last, to set the ball 
in motion to prepare the base for the statue which is nearly completed. Just 
what arrangements have been made to collect the funds is not stated, but they 
doubtless will be effectual. 

The figure itself will be the most remarkable structure of the kind ever creat- 
ed. The Colossus of Rhodes was only 105 feet*high. This statue will be 155 
feet, and will be mounted on a pedestal of equal height, the whole arrangement 
being placed on Bedloe’s Island, which is just about large enough to receive it 
comfortably and is situated just where it is wanted for the purpose. It will thus 
tower some 300 feet above the water level—a most imposing feature by day and 
a light-house by night whose beacon will be seen far and wide. The cost of this 
gift to the French people will amount to about 1,250,000 francs, and it will cost 
us about the same ($250,000) to furnish the pedestal. Besides its value as a testi- 
monial and as a light-house it will be a triumph of art. A finely built goddess of 
liberty holding a lighted torch 300 feet in the air and welcoming ships and peo- 
ple of all nations to the chief seaport of a free country and of the new world, is a 
fine idea from an artistic point of view, especially when it is remembered that it ~ 
was constructed jointly by the peoples of the two principal republics in the world. 
It becomes a figure full of significance and promise and will throw a little relief 
of poetry upon the otherwise prosy and business-like appearance of the harbor. 

_ The above is from the Glode- Democrat, and we quote below a very interest- 
ing description of the statue from Harper's Weekly of January 6, F 883 : 


M. Bartholdi, the ingenious and daring designer of this statue, isalready famous 


LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD, 601 


for the skill with which he has handled colossal subjects; for apart from the gen- 
ius necessary to form a grandiose conception of such a work of art as that with 
which the friendship of the two great republics of the world is to be celebrated, 
there is required no small amount of mechanical knowledge to bring it to com- 
pletion. The resources of modern mechanics render this a matter of comparative 
certainty. The sculptor is no longer required to perform such prodigies of labor 
or to undergo such agony of suspense and fear as those described by Benvenuto 
Cellini in his letters, recently published, containing an account of the casting of 
his ‘‘ Perseus” and ‘‘ Medusa.” But though the artist of to-day goes about his 
task with confidence in its accomplishment, the erection of a statue of more than 
155 feet in height—not counting the pedestal—to stand in an exposed situation, 
unsheltered by adjacent structures, is decidedly the most gigantic enterprise of 
its kind. ; : 

The work is now going on in the yards of Messrs. Gaget, Gauthier & Co., 
in Paris. The hard alone will be 5 metres (16 feet 5 inches) in length; the in- 
‘dex finger will be 2.45 metres (a trifle over 8 feet) long, with a circumference at 
the second joint of about 7 feet 6 inches; and the nail of this finger will present 
a surface about 13 inches by 10. These figures will give some idea of the enor- 
mous dimensions of the statue. Those who have a liking for other means of 
calculation may be interested in knowing that the whole statue (without the ped- 
estal) will overtop the famous Venddme Column more than nine feet; that in 

the head forty persons can assemble, and in the torch at least a dozen more. 
The statue, as is well known, is to be hollow, and is to be literally “‘ built ” of 
plates of hammered copper nine-tenths of an inch in thickness. The method of 
construction 1s curious and interesting. ‘The first essential was, of course, the 
“¢sketch model” of M. Bartholdi, which was what may be called life size, being 
6 feet 7 inches in height. This was the basis of the measurements, which, how- 
ever, were twice multiplied. It was first magnified four times, and reviewed and 
remodeled by the artist. It was then divided into sections, which are reproduced 
four times larger yet, with the greatest possible care. Models in plaster of the 
final and definitive size are made in the vast yards. The workmen first sketch the 
general form in frames of wood covered with laths and recovered with a coat of 
plaster. They then verify the principal measurements thus established, and 
finish the modeling of the surfaces and the details. When a course is finished, 
joiners take the forms by means of planks cut in s¢/houet¢e to fit the form of the 
plaster. 

These are then so arranged together as to form a species of imprint of the 
parts to which they have been applied, and make what are technically termed 
gabari's, or wooden moulds, into which the hammerers pressed the copper sheets. 

_ by the pressure of levers, or by beating with hammers. The copper is then fin- 
ished by beating with smaller hammers or rods, outside and inside, to conform 
closely to the lines of the forms desired, which have been taken in detail by 
means of sheets of lead pressed upon the model. The workman in doing this 
part of his task places himself directly tefore the plaster models, and compares 


602 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


every part as he proceeds with the utmost patience and exactness. This done, 
the separate pieces are carried to an immense court to be placed together, and 
fixed upon a powerful frame-work of iron, which supports what may be called the 
entire envelope of the statue. When the statue is removed for transportation, it 
will be taken apart in more than 300 pieces. Its entire weight will be some 
450,000 pounds, of which over 200,000 pounds will be copper, and the remainder 
the iron frame-work. 

The workshops and yards of Messrs. Gaget, Gauthier & Co. are thrown 
open to the subscribers to the statue, to witness the process of construction, on 
Thursdays and Sundays of each week, and the pupils of the School of Fine Arts 
are also admitted free. Those who are not subscribers can obtain admission by 
purchasing an engraving of the monument, which is sold for the benefit of the 
work, in all sizes and states of perfection, from those costing ten cents only to 
the elaborate representations of the various parts. The place is much frequented, 
particularly on Sundays, which is the Parisian holiday for all sorts of diversions, 
from sight-seeing to a revolution. The great yards are a veritable spectacle in 
themselves, but the motley gathering of visitors is still more of one. The work- 
men in their caps and blouses are a noticeable element, and occasionally an im- 
promptu orator will address his chance audience with a glowing eulogium of America 
in terms which the wandering citizen of this happy land does not always recognize 
as truthful, and sometimes thanks Heaven that they arenot. But the impression- 
able hearers drink in the praises of the ideal republic with eagerness, and reward 
the speaker. with cries of *‘ Vive la Liberte! ’’ ‘‘ Vive la Republique Americaine! ” 
The great work of M. Bartholdi has, moreover, been carefully inspected by 
many of the sculptors and engineers of the Continent, and has given rise to much 
discussion as to its probable stability, as well as its artistic merits. The verdict, 
‘on the whole, has been one of approval, and there is no reasonable doubt that 
when it is securely placed on the pedestal which Mr. Evart’s committee is to 
prepare, it will be a worthy symbol of the generous sentiment to the expression 
and perpetuation of which it is consecrated. 


TREATMENT OF NATURE BY AMERICAN AND ENGLISH POETS. 


One of the results of my study of American poetry has been to assure myself 
that certain specific and well-defined causes have worked together to fix, as a 
characteristic of that literature, a universal tenderness toward ‘‘ the speechless 
world,” the creatures in fur and feathers that fulfill such great and beautiful func- 
tions in our world’s economy. This pitifulness, co extensive with nature, may be 
almost accepted as a new departure in poetry, for I do not find that sympathy with 
world-life is by any means an invariable rule with poets. i 

The causes I refer to are not far to seek. In the first place, the popular 
mind in America is not so familiarized with classical images and allusions as in 
Europe, and the American poet, therefore, does not recur so readily as his Eu- 


TREATMENT OF NATURE BY AMERICAN AND ENGLISH IAQ IOS, (SUS 


ropean congener, to the fancies and mythology of antiquity. In the next, the 
beasts and birds of the New World are not the same beasts and birds that play 
such important parts in Old-World fables, give point to Old-World proverbs, and 
form the object of so many Old-World prejudices and predilections, and the 
American poet therefore finds his creatures as yet untampered with by antique 
misrepresentation or popular superstitions. He has not got to rummage for his 
natural history among the ‘mossy roots of a reverend folk lore, or a heraldry that is 
sanctified by national associations. The larks, robins, and magpies of America are 
not the birds that are known by the same names in Europe, and so the poet of 
the West finds the ground still virgin soil before him. Popular superstition has 
not had time yet to lichen over the familiar objects of his country-side, and he 
has thus few temptations to the logicians’ fallacy from antiquity. Indeed, there is 
even noticeable sometimes a tendency toward irreverence for ‘‘the widowed ”’ 
turtle, and a disposition to make fun of the nightingale that ‘‘ bruised his bosom 
on a thorn,” as if they were antiquated favorites of an obsolete era of thought, 


‘ Though still the lark-voiced matins ring 
The world has known so long, 
The wood-thrush of the West still sing 
Earth’s last sweet even-song! ” 


But this, after all, is only a very partial protection, for though some of his 
beasts, birds, fishes, and insects are new to poetry, the remainder—such as tke 
wolf and the lion, the owl and the raven—are not things of any one time or place. 
Thus an American raven flies with just as ‘‘ prodigious” a flight as a Scotch one 
or a Roman; the owl and vulture might be quite as ‘‘ obscene ” in ‘‘ Evangeline” 
or ‘‘ Mogg Megone”’ as they are in Wordsworth or Cowper. But I do not find 
Longfellow or any of his fellow-countrymen taking advantage of the license of 
poetical prejudice extended to them by high prescription. On the contrary, they 
compassionate the raven, and handsomely meet the vulture and the owl with a com- 
pliment. They speak ill of nothing. And I can not, for myself, help admiring 
this absence of cynicism. ‘They are as gentle always as Keats, while in their 
more general passages they show all Shelley’s appreciation of the harmonious 


unity in nature : 
‘« Come, learn with me the fatal song 


Which knits the world in music strong, 
Whereto every bosom dances, 

Kindled with courageous fancies ; 
Come lift thine eyes to lofty rhymes, 
Of things with things and times with times, 
Primal chimes of sun and shade, 

Of sound and echo, man and maid, 

The land reflected in the flood, 

Body with shadow still pursued, 

For Nature beats in perfect tune, 

And rounds with rhyme her every rune!” 


e 


694 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Apart, therefore, from the specific causes to which I have alluded, there 
must be sought some larger, more national influence at work to account for this 
complete catholicism in kindliness. Nor somehow is it difficult, so I think, to 
imagine the poets of a country with some distant horizons as America, so vast in 
certainties, so infinite in possibilities, refusing to limit their sympathies to merely 
continental boundaries, or to cramp their interests within the domains of any 
single crown, or ‘‘hop about from perch to perch in paltry cages of dead men’s 
dead thoughts.” Accustomed to such large maps, they may be easily supposed 
to be intolerant of geographical prejudices, and priding themselves before every- 
thing upon independence of thought, may have carried their sympathy with an 
unconventional freedom into their treatment of natural objects. ‘‘ Our country 
hath a gospel of her own.” For myself, I am content to believe this, and to at- 
tribute their just recognition of the place of animal and insect life to the large- 
hearted tone of American intellectual thought. And I would not know where to 
go for a more adequate statement of the poet’s means and ends in nature than 
Emerson’s ‘‘ Wood Notes,” or for thoughts more fully in sympathy with nature 
than Longfellow’s or Whittier’s, with his ear ‘‘full of summer sounds.” Lovers of 
wild life will find it hard to outmatch Bret Harte’s apostrophe to the coyote and 
the grizzly, Emerson’s to the humble-bee, Wendell Holmes’ to the sea-fowl out- 
side his study window, or Aldrich’s delightfully appreciative touches of wild life. 
Quadrupeds, birds, insects—everything that has life is looked‘ at kindly and un- 
selfishly apart from human interests, and this, too, with a respectful sympathy 
that bespeaks something more sincere than Cowper’s lip-service or Pope’s acidu- 
lated praise. Our furred and feathered fellow-beings, seniors to ourselves in ex- 
isteace, though subjected to us, are not, as in the European poets, accepted as 
mere accidents of the human economy, or as secondary properties of man. They 
seem to remember—unless it be only my own whimsical interpretation of their 
tenderness—that our earth is the other creatures’ earth too, that they are a crea- 
tion of themselves, that each had a day set apart for itself, a morning and an 


evening, at the first miracle of the world’s making. —Puit Roprnson, in Harper’s 
Magazine for February. 


GOLD IN ANCIENT TIMES. 


Gold was in excess in ancient times, and mostly taken from the rivers in 
Asia. The fables of Pactolus, of the golden fleece of the Argonauts, of the gold 
from Ophir, the history of King Midas, etc., all point toan Eastern origin of this 
metal. According to Pliny, Cyrus returned with 34,000 Roman pounds of gold, 
(about $10,000,000). The treasures exacted from Persia by Alexander the Great 
amounted to 351,000 talents, or $400,000,000. Gold also came from Arabia, 
and upon the Nile from the interior of Africa. Pliny calls Asturias the country 
in which the most gold is found. A tablet bearing the following inscription was 


SI WUE RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANIC ARTS, 605 


found in Idanha Velha, Portugal: ‘‘ Claudius Rufus returns his thanks to Jupi- 
ter for having permitted him to find one hundred and thirty pounds of gold.” 

The sources of wealth have ceased to flow, and the endeavors of several 
Englishmen to reopen them have been unsuccessful. Bohemia, Mahren, Silesia, 
and Tyrol, all have produced gold, and the receding of the glaciers has caused 
old mines to be uncovered, while upon the Italian side, at Monte Rosa, Val Se- 
sina, and Val Ansaca, gold mines are still worked to-day, although with indiffer- 
ent success. ‘The only works of any note are those of Kremnitz, Hungary. It 
may, therefore, be safely asserted that Europe is completely exhausted in this 
respect.— From ‘* The Decrease ae Gold,” by F. Von BRIESEN, ix Popular Science 
Monthly for February. 


SOME RECENT IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MECHANIC ARTS. 
BY F. B. BROCK, WASHINGTON, D. C. 


COMBINED SaD-lRoN HEATER AND MeEat-RoastEer.—This novel invention 
has its base provided with a heating chamber to receive theirons. A lid or cover is 
hinged to the base and drops automatically over and covers the heating chamber. 
It is provided with slots open at their outer ends to receive the handles of the 
irons, and a slide is placed on the under side of the lid and is provided with a 
series of slots open at their outer ends and coinciding with the slots in the lid. 
Mechanism is provided whereby the slide may be moved laterally for the purpose 
of opening or closing the slots in the lid. 


AUTOMATIC FEED-WATER REGULATOR FOR STEAM BOILERS.—This new au- 
tomatic feed-water controller for steam-generators consists of an upright cylindri- 
cal chamber, communicating with the steam and water spaces of the boiler. The 
chamber has also a steam eduction port communicating with the actuating cylin- 
der of the feed water pump. A float is arranged to control the egress of steam 
from said chamber, and a horizontal disc is suspended from the float and spans 
the chamber to receive a direct vertical water-pressure, thereby overcoming any 
‘suction that may be exerted on the float by the steam-eduction port. 


SteAmM PackiInG MaTErRIAL.—A late invention consists of a steam-packing 
material composed of granulated strips or shavings of cork, asbestos and dissolved 
gum, covered with a layer of asbestos and linen. 


METHOD OF STRETCHING BeLtTs.—An improved process for stretching belts 
for machinery consists of first opening the belt through its entire length, then: 
“stretching it over two or more rollers and connecting the ends by a suitable 
‘stretching device and finally applying tensile strain to its two ends and increas- 
ang it from time to time, until elasticity of the belt is exhausted. 


606 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


DEVICE FOR RAISING AND LOWERING ELECTRIC Lamps.—A recent inven- 
tion designed for raising and lowering electric lamps, consists of supporting- 
cables secured at their ends to the walls of the building. A carriage is provided 
having pulleys adapted to travel upon the supporting cables, and insulated brack- 
ets secured thereto have also pulleys for the reception of the cables. A cross- 
beam, having at each end thereof a grooved pulley, is pivoted to the insulated 
bracket to adapt it to travel upon the carriage supporting cables. The cables are 
rigidly secured to the cross-beam and pass over the insulated pulleys upon the 
carriage to the lamp suspended below. Conducting wires connect the positive 
and negative wires of the circuit with the supporting cables and the insulated 
pulleys of the cross-beam, are also connected with the supporting cables. 


AFRICAN EXPLORATION. 


Foreign dispatches have lately contained frequent allusions to the controversy 
between the explorers, Stanley and DeBrazza, regarding the French claims on the 
valley of the Upper Congo. The New York Herald gives a sketch of the whole 
matter. DeBrazza went into the service of the French branch of the African In- 
ternational Society in 1875 to seek a trade route from the coast up to Stanley 
Pool, the point where navigable water extending goo miles into theyinterior be- 
gins. His first journey was along the Ogowe, following that river to the mount- 
ain, and then striking the Congo at Stanley Pool. Subsequently he advocated 
another route, starting from the west coast at Banga, and reaching the Congo at 
the same point. Mr. Stanley’s route was by way of the Congo all through, pass- 
ing the series of falls that obstruct navigation between the Lower and Upper 
Congo by means of roads, or eventually of canals, if ever commerce should justi- 
fy such extensive works. 

M. DeBrazza’s original route was some 500 or 600 miles longer than Stan- 
ley’s. His second route, from Banga, is also of much greater length than along 
the banks of the Congo. On the roth day of September, 1880, DeBrazza, hav- 
ing reached Stanley Pool and established himself with King Makoko, obtained 
from the latter an agreement to the celebrated treaty ceding the territory on the 
north side of the Pool to France. Stanley had explored the Congo in his trip to 
finish Livingstone’s work, and in 1879 he went back there in the service of the 
Belgian branch of the same society which had started DeBrazza out. When Stan- 
ley, proceeding up the river, had passed the last cataract and reached the navi- 
gable waters extending from the Pool inland, he found DeBrazza’s lieutenant, 
Malamine, with two seamen in possession of a station on the north bank, and the 
natives refused to give him the right to establish a station there, because they had 
given it to the French. He, however, was well received by the chief on the 
south bank, and there built a station of 113 houses. He then, having launched 
his steamers, proceeded to explore the Coango, a main tributary of the Congo. 


After ascending it 150 miles he found a lake 70 miles long and 6 to 30 miles: 


. 


MICHAEL ANGELO. 607° 


broad, which he named in honor of the King of the Belgians, Leopold II. Stan- 
ley says the Belgian stations, 5 in number, which he established, are commercial 
in a sense that they are expected to be self-supporting and that the King is inter- 
ested in Africa in a spirit of a philanthropical geographer, simply as a man who 
lives the dear old continent for which he has always felt a sort of respectful mel- 
ancholy. Stanley says the French have had a colony at Gaboon since 1857, and 
never heard of the Congo until they read of it in the Avald and London TZéle- 
graph. He argues nothing from DeBrazza’s occupation of the north bank at the 
Pool, even should the French Government ratify his treaty and persuade the na- 
tives to respect it. He wants a series of international posts maintained, with the 
river free to the traders of all nations. — American Inventor. 


MICHAEL ANGELO. 
W. W. STORY. 


The overthrow of the pagan religion was the deathblow to pagan art. The 
temples shook to their foundation and art withered in her crumbling shrine. 
When through the ancient world was heard the mournful cry, first echoed by the 
sunlit waves of the A®gean sea, ‘‘Great Pan is dead!” then the nymphs fled 
from the hallowed groves of Arcadia, and were seen no more. The hamadryad 
deserted her oak and the naiad her fountain. Of all the great tribes to which the 
poetic and religious instincts of Greece and Rome bowed, only Orpheus remain- 
ed, and he was transformed into a monkish saint. Christianity struck a death- 
blow not only to pagan art, but to all art, which atrophied and shrunk for cen- 
turies, until, driven out of the rest of the world, its sickened and diseased body 
found refuge in some monastery. The statues of the gods were overthrown and 
buried under the earth—those wonderful creations of beauty which voice the 
highest demands of humanity. Only bloodless saints remained. Humanity 
trembled in the grasp of an iron-cased bigotry. Youth and beauty and joy were 
suppliants, where once they were free and prince-like. Religion and art, which 
cannot live apart, were divorced. The long, dark night of the middle ages came 
on—a night without a star, and the blackness of a sordid ignorance blotted out 
all fair sights or scenes. Only arms remained. For music and poetry, and 
sculpture and science there were only the butcheries of the battlefield. But the 
seasons of the soul are like those of nature. After the long, cold winter of the 
dark ages came the springtime of the renaissance—the new birth of humanity. 
The church awoke. Guelfand Ghibelline began their memorable contest. Com- 
merce flourished, and_art, literature, science, religion itself, burst into new and 
vigorous life. Then flashing from the firmament of mind the brilliant stars of art 
and literature shone out in lambent glory—Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarch, Filo- 
mena, Machievelli, and all that bright galaxy of lights that cast a morning radi- 
ance far back even into the hideous night that had preceded it. Music took 


608 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


upon herself a fairer form, art blossomed into most fragrant fruition, science it- 
self awoke from its sleep and began its wonderful course. The marble gods that 
had lain so long beneath the earth arose from their graves and reasserted their 
dominion over the souls as they had formerly wielded it over it the minds of men. 
Here lived and wrought Leonardo Da Vinci, the most versatile and comprehen- 
sive intellect the world has ever seen; Angelo, the greatest power that ever 
worked on stone; Raffaelle, the soul of beauty and grace, with his pencil dipped 
in the colors of Paradise; Titian, who stole from the sunset the secret of its hues ; 
Gallileo, Columbus, and many others. These were the men who lived with, or im- 
mediately preceded, Michael Angelo. It was the renaissance, the morning after 
the night. As Italy is above all others the land of the renaissance, so is 
Florence above all other places in Italy the city of its new birth. There is scarce- 
ly a street in that beautiful city, or a square, that has not something to say of the | 
brilliant glories it once shared. One walks the city guided by memory rather 
than by vision. The old families still give their names to the streets. The whole 
city is filled with ghosts, even in whose pallor we can read what was the. blush 
and bloom of her flowering days. j 
Then brilliantly and gracefully, the lecturer drew a brilliant and graceful 
sketch of the Tuscan capital in the days of its glory, and described the treasures 
of art that are heaped there—the Duomo, the Campanile, the Palazzo Vecchi, its 
beautiful churches, its wonderful statues, its marvelous paintings. Lingering a 
moment over the mighty memories of Brunelleschi, of Dante, whose statue the 
city jealously guards, though the justly indignant poet would not let her have his” 
bones; of Savanarola, of Giotto, and the hundreds of other names that have im- 
mortalized /a bella Florenz1, he briefly sketched the life, the works, the character 
of Michael Angelo Buonarotti. Poet, painter, sculptor, architect, engineer, he 
was supreme in each and unapproached in ali. Bornin 1474, of noble, if not of 
royal blood, he lived and worked incessantly for ninety years. His capacity for 
work was marvelous. He accomplished the impossible, and overcame the insu- 
perable. As asculptor, his grand and glowing genius is above the rules of the 
schools, having sought and found on the white steeps beyond human power the 
law which governs and the soul which inspires his wonderful creations. No 
name other than that of Phidias may be mentioned with his. As an artist he 
taught even Raffaelle, and the latter learned from the lesson a still more graceful 
touch and a still loftier, serener beauty. As an architect, the grandest fabric 
ever wrought by man swings in the mid air of Rome to attest his supreme genius, 
the dome of St. Peter’s, which is the lofty brow encasing the brain of the church. 
As an engineer, the stubborn defense of his native Florence is a competent wit- 
ness that as a soldier he could have been as great as anartist. Asa poet, though 
he swept no Lydian strains from his lyre, yet the clear, sweet, piercing melody of 
his song sweeps the eternal heights with no uncertain sounds. Asa man he was 
well nigh perfect. His sentiments were cast in the same mould as was his lofty 
intellect. Pure, high minded, magnanimous, generous, brave, just, and true, his 
fe unspotted by a single stain, there is nothing sordid, nothing mean, nothing . 


MICHAEL ANGELO. ; 609 


low in his whole composition. Modlesse oblige was borne with him in his every 
fibre. He was impatient of everything low or mean, and his temper was, like 
his nature, fiery and impetuous. Yet he was always forgiving, always gentle, 
unless his dignity as a man was insulted. He was never peevish nor irritable. 
He led a lonely life. Kind to all and lavish of his slender means in the allevia- 
tion of want or of misery, he yet had no intimates. He had no friends but two. 
and yet think who were those two. Savanarola and Vittoria Colonna. It is 
probable that he loved the latter, but it was a love in which sense had nothing 
whatever to do. In the lofty, serene regions where his giant spirit lived the at- 
mosphere was too pure and rare for the senses to dwell. She must indeed have 
been a woman of the loftiest and most perfect type, this famed Vittoria di Col- 
lonna, to have won Michael Angelo’s love. 

Popularly most famous for his work in the Sistine and Pauline chapels at 
Rome, and for the dome of St. Peter’s, his lofty genius is best shown in the 
chapel of the Medici attached to the church of San Lorenzo in Florence. Here 
the mausoleum of the Medici commands an attention which, once given, is given 
always. ‘The great figures of ‘‘ Day’’ and ‘‘Sleep”’ and ‘‘ Night,” of ‘‘ Aurora” 
and ‘‘Crepuscule,” enchain the beholder. ‘These figures are tremendous. Look- 
ing at them you are brought to know what thoughts fill the human breast when 
the perfection of human intellect grapples with the mysterious problems of man’s 
origin and destiny. They are the symbols of humanity’s struggles with the tre- 
mendous and unseen forces of nature. A great intellect has flung itself into the 
marble and wrought out thoughts rather than human beings. Michael Angelo is 
the one man who has sculptured ideas. These statues are not Greek, and belong 
to a different race. The Greek sculptured beauty in repose—his gods, when 
they suffer, are serenely majestic, and they smile calmly even with the fox gnaw- 
ing at their vitals. Even in the Laocoon the suffering is subdued grace. But 
Michael Angelo belonged to a different race. The mysterious Etrurian, whose 
civilization was old and gray and heavy with the weight of his own completeness 
ere a stone was laid on the seven hills by the Tiber, transmitted to Michael An- 
gelo along with his blood, his sombre thoughts and his mystic moods. Etrurian, 
and not Italian, no tradition of Aryan race inspired his soul or informed his 
mind. He was of the old gods; he dwelt with Saturn and Hyperion beneath the 
dim umbrageous recesses of the woods, rather than with Jove and Apollo and 
the other deities of the new era. And the tremendous truths caught and known 
by an older and truer civilization than the world of his day knew has left their 
giant shadows as an incubus on his soul. 

The artist pictured the difficulties he labored under in his great work of 
painting the Sistine chapel, described the wonderful productions of his genius on 
those walls and ceilings, drew a beautiful comparison between him and Raffaelle, 
who was in most cases his antithesis; related the subsequent life of Michael An- 
gelo, sketched his character with a light but bold touch, and closed with a mag- 
nificent picture of the Medici Mausoleum, when the tombs were opened in 1857 
and the bodies, many of them, were found plundered of theirornaments. ‘‘ There 


610 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


lay the dishonored dust of the Medicean rulers of Florence, discrowned and 
plundered, not even safe in death from outrage and disgrace, while the artist that 
they patronized and thought beneath their rank now wears a crown of immortali- 
ty at which the world willingly bows down.” —WVational Republican. 


‘CU VIER: 


As the scope of this magazine enables it to cull from all sources we gladly 
place before our readers an account of the early life of the great anatomist taken 
almost bodily from the pages of the late George Henry Lewes and which has 
probably met the eyes of but few of our readers.—[Ep. 

It was a dream of the youth Cuvier that a history of Nature might be written 
which would systematically display the unusual dependence of one organ of an or- 
ganism upon another. It wasin the Academia Carolina of Stuttgardt that in 
1787 Cuvier, Pfaff (the once famous supporter of Volta), and a small circle of fel- 
low students, who particularly devoted themselves to Natural History, formed a 
society of which Cuvier drew up the statutes and became the president. They 
read memoirs, and discussed discoveries with all the gravity of older societies, 
and even published among themselves a sort of Comptes Rendus. They made 
botanical, entomological and geological excursions, and still further to stimulate 
their zeal Cuvier instituted an order of merit, painting the medallion himself; it 
represented a star with the portrait of Linné in the centre, and between the rays 
various treasures of the animal and vegetable world. 

At this period Cuvier’s outward appearance was as unlike M. le Baron, as 
the grub is unlike the butterfly. Absorbed in his multifarious studies, he was. 
careless about disguising the want of elegance in his aspect. His face was pale, 
very thin and long, covered with freckles and encircled with a shock of red hair. 
His physiognomy was severe and melancholy. He never played at any of the 
boys’ games. He was reading all day long and a great part of the night. No 
work was too voluminous or too heavy for him. ‘‘I remember well,” says Pfaff, 
‘¢how he used to sit by my bedside going regularly through Bayle’s Dictionary.’’ 
It was during these years that he laid the basis of that extensive érudition which 
distinguished his work in after life. It was here also that he preluded to his suc- 
cess as a professor, astonishing his friends and colleagues by the clearness of his 
expositions, which he rendered still more striking by his wonderful skill with the ~ 
pencil. Cuvier’s facile pencil was always employed; if he had nothing to draw 
for his own memoirs or those of his colleagues, he amused himself with drawing 
insects as presents to the young ladies of his acquaintance—an entomologist’s gal- 
lantry which never became more sentimental. 

In 1788, that is in his nineteenth year, Cuvier left Stuttgardt for Normandy, 
where he lived till 1795 as tutor in anobleman’s family. Here he was discovered 
by the Abbe Tessier who sent some of his manuscripts and drawings to Paris 
- which, falling under the eye of Geoffroy St. Hilaire, who though younger than » 


CUVIER. 611 


Cuvier was already a professor at the Jardin des Plantes, he at once wrote to 
Cuvier ‘‘Come and fill the place of Linnzus here; come and be another legislator 
of Natural History.”’ Cuvier came and Geoffroy stood aside to let his great rival 
be seen. 

Goethe has noticed the curious coincidence of the three great zodlogists suc- 
cessively opening to their rivals the path to distinction. Buffon called Dauben- 
ton to aid him, Daubenton called Geoffroy and Geoffroy called Cuvier. Geof- 
froy and Cuvier knew no jealousy then. In after years it was otherwise. 

Geoffroy had a position—he shared it with his friend; he had books and col- 
lections—they were open to his rival; he had a lodging in the Museum—it was 
shared between them. Daubenton, older and more worldly wise, warned Geof- 
froy against this zeal in fostering a formidable rival, and one day placed before 
him a copy of La Fontaine’s fables open at Zhe Bitch and Her Neighbor. But 
Geoffroy was not to be daunted, and probably felt himself strong enough to hold 
his own. And so these two happy active youths pursued their studies together, 
wrote memoirs conjointly, discussed, dissected, speculated together—and as 

Cuvier has said ‘‘ never sat down to breakfast without having made a fresh discov- 
ery.” From this time on Cuvier was famous, but the real foundations were laid in 
those seven years on the Normandy coast when every animal he can lay his hands 
on is dissected with the greatest care and every detail of interest preserved with the 
pencil. Every work that is published of any importance in his line was read, 
analyzed and commented upon. ‘The marvels of marine life, in those days so 
little thought of, he studied with persevering minuteness and admirable success. 
He dissected the cuttle fish and made his drawings with its own ink. Six years 
later, Pfaff on arriving at Paris, found that his old fellow student was ‘‘a Person- 
age,’’ yet his life was simple and wholly devoted to science. He had a lodging 
in the Jardin des Plantes and was waited on by an old housekeeper, like any 
other simple professor. 

On Pfaff’s subsequent visit, things were changed. Instead of the old house- 
keeper, the door was opened by a lackey in grand livery. Instead of asking for 
‘* Citizen Cuvier ” he inquired for Monsieur Cuvier; whereupon the lackey in- 
quired if he wished to see Monsieur le Baron, or M. Frederic his brother. ‘‘I 
soon found where I was,” says Pfaff. ‘‘ It was the baron separated from me by 
that immense interval of thirty years and by those high dignities which an empire 
offers to the ambitions of men.’’ Cuvier had almost entirely exchanged science 
for politics and here we leave him.—Sczentific and Literary Gossip. 


612 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


DDIM Opi AN Odes: 


OWING to a variety of causes, inciuding 
illness, delay in obtaining suitable pa- 
per, change of business location, etc., it was 
impracticable to get out the January number 
of the REVIEW; hence we issue a double 
number this month, which we hope will at 
least come as near satisfying our subscribers 
as it does us, and that is not very close. 


It is thought that tin ore has been discov- 
ered in Texas. Miners have sent sample 
specimens to Prof. John D. Parker, of Fort 
McKavett, asking him to have the matter 
authoritatively determined. These speci- 
mens have been submitted for examination 
to three eminent chemists, and when the 
analyses have been made and reported, the 
results will be duly published in this REVIEW. 
Miners claim that the ores are undoubtedly 
those of tin, and say that the ores are rich, 
and that the mines can be worked with pro- 
fit. 


THE American Society of Microscopists, 
which held a very successful meeting at El- 
mira, N. Y., in August, 1882, elected Albert 
McCalla, A. M., of Fairfield College, lowa, 
President, and selected Chicago as the place 
for the meeting of this year and fixed upon 
the 7th day of August as its date. 


On January 15th blue-birds were seen in 
this city and wild geese observed flying north; 
on the 19th the mercury averaged 8° below 
zero all day. 


Henry N. Copp, of Washington City, has 
added to the list of similar books written 
and compiled by him, one entitled ‘‘ The 
Settlers’ Guide,” which contains about all 
that a person going into any of the new Ter- 
ritories to locate himself need want to know 
of the laws and rules applicable to locating 
Government lands of any kind. 25c. 


THE Fifteenth Annual Report of the Pea- 
body Museum of American Archeology is 
before us. 
enthusiastic temperament and habit are visible 
all through it, from the scheme for raising 
funds for prosecuting his favorite study to 
the extremely successful results of his. sum- 
mer’s work and the valuable additions to the 


Professor Putnam’s energetic and 


museum, as reported. 


WE are indebted to Dr. A. B. Stout, of 
San Francisco, for a copy of the several arti- ~ 
cles published, in the Transactions of the Cal- 
ifornia Academy of Sciences, upon the pecul- 
iar foot-prints discovered in the rock at the 
Nevada State Prjson. They were at first 
supposed by several savazs to be human foot- 
prints, but it is now pretty unanimously ad- 
mitted that they are the tracks of one of the 
huge lizards of that period of the earth’s hi;- 
tory. 


SINCE our last issue the list of the Jackson 
County Flora by Mr. Frank Bush, of Inde- 
pendence, then announced, has been publish- 
ed in a neat pamphlet and laid upon our ta- 
ble. It appears to be very full and complete. 
Mr. Bush is to be thanked for doing so la- 
borious and difficult a work so thoroughly. 


THE Historical Society of St. Louis is 
taking measures to raise funds for the erec- 
tion of a suitable building for the accumula- 
tion and preservation of appropriate material, 
which is very abundant within and in the vi- 
cinity of that city. The building is to cost 
about $75,000. 

Ifthe Kansas City Academy of Science, 
which includes among other branches a sec- 
tion of Local History, could raise one-fourth 
as much or even $10,000 for the erection ofa 
building, its collections and library would 
soon be an object of pride to every intelligent 
citizen. 


EDITORIAE NOTES. 


For the coming year Professor Lovewell 
will do his meteorological work in connection 
with the Board of Agriculture, having been 
appointed State Meteorologist of Kansas. 


A bill was introduced in Congress on Jan- 
uary 8th, by Hon. Mr. Anderson, of Kansas, 
for the construction of a railroad and wagon 
bridge over the Missouri River at Leaven- 
worth City. 


AT the meeting of the Kansas State His- 
torical Society the address of Hon. T. Dwight 
Thacher was a most important and valuable 
contribution to its literature. It was a full, 
accurate, analytical history of the four con- 
stitutional conventions of that State and their 
doings, together with brief accounts of sever- 
al of the prominent members thereof. As a 
model of condensed history it should be, as 
it will be, carefully preserved among the 
papers of the Society. 


Ir is certainly a great gratification and a 
source of no small degree of hope, that a 
‘Government officer’s report can be published 
and distributed before the end of the year to 
which it pertains. We refer to Prof. C. V. 
Riley’s Report as Entomologist of the De- 
partment of Agriculture for the year ending 
June 30, 1882, which was issued in Decem- 
cember, 1882, It is, as is always the case 
with Prof. Riley’s published papers, full, 
complete, valuable and handsome in execu- 
tion. 


THE Memphis extension of the Kansas 
City, Ft. Scott & Gulf R. R. is now complet- 
ed, and regular trains running to West 
Plains, Howell County, Mo , 315 miles from 
Kansas City. The line will reach Augusta, 
Oregon ‘County, Mo., about February 20th, 
and will be completed and open for business 
to Memphis, Tenn., about June 1, 13883. 
This is a result of great importance to Kan- 
sas City and the west. A Kansas City and 
Memphis railroad was projected many years 
ago, and work upon several lines commenced 
at different times, but for many reasons none 
has been effectually pushed until now. 


613 


Pror. NIPHER’S bill for a State Weather 
Service in Missouri ought to be passed with- 
out hesitation, as it will be of the greatest 
service to the agricultural interests and will 
cost a very small sum to establish it. 

The bill only asks for $1,000 for the pur- 
chase of instruments for 114 observers, or one 
for every county, and it asks for the next two 
years a sum of $1.500 annually for the pay- 
ment of actual expenses, including the hire 
of a clerk at the central office at $700 a year. 
The bill provides that no money shall be paid 
as salary to the Director, or to any other of- 
The Director 
and trustees are to be appointed by the Goy- 
ernor, ard are to account to him in detail for 
the money expended. 

It is intended to use this sum in giving 
daily andsystematic study to our Jocal storms, 
the reports being sent by mail each day trom 
the stations. It isexpected that in two years 
enough wi | be known of our storms to justi- 


ficer or member of the service. 


fy the commencement of harvest warnings. 
Each harvest rain does damage enough to pay 
the expense of weather service for years. 


Is it to be credited to shakespeare as scien- 
tific foresight that at the very time, 1603, 
when Dr, Gilbert was groping blindly amid 
the simplest experiments in magnetic atrac- 
tion, he put into the mouth of King Lear, 
when apostrophizing the lightning, the pro- 
phetic words: ‘‘ You sulphurous and ¢hozght- 
executing fires”? 


ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS. 
Subscribers to the REVIEW can be furnished 
through thts office weth all the best magazines of 
the Country and Europe, at a discount of from 
15 to 20 per cent off the retail price. 


THE Northern Indiana School Journal is now 
in its third year and is certainly one of the 


‘best educational magazines that comes to our 


table. It is a monthly octavo of 48 pages, 
filled with wholesome and valuable matter 
adapted to scholars and teachers, edited and 
published by Prof. W.J. Bell; at Valparaiso, 
Ind., at $1.25 per annum, 


614 


Pror. Oris T. Mason, of Columbia Col- 
lege, Washington City, in the November 
American Nuiuralist, to which we have so 
often referred as one of the very best scienti- 
fic magazines published, refers with much 
pride to the growth of anthropology as a 
science. He deprecates the idea that every 
gatherer of old bones and arrow-heads is a 
scientist, but insists upon it that the subject 
is of the highest value scientifically and that 
each of its branches, named by him, respec- 
tively, Anthropogeny, Anthropography, An- 
thropology and Anthroponomy, will afford 
ground for the deepest researches and pro- 
found philosophy. The meetings of the An- 
thropological Section at the Montreal meet- 
ing of the American Association were largely 
attended, and most of the papers read were 
able, instructive and interesting. 


Rtv. 8S. D. Peet, editor of the American 
Antiquarian continues in the January number 
his interesting and well written articles upon 
ancient village architecture in America, in- 
cluding Indian and Mound-Builder’s villages, 
_also several suggestive editorials. Albert 
S. Gatschet a well-known anthropologist of 
the Smithsonian Institution, contributes a 
paper upon the Chumeto Language. Mr. 
Read’s description of the Old Pecos pueblo 
differs so widely from our own personal ob- 
servations in 1880, that if it were not for his 
reference to the ruin of the ancient Spanish 
church, we should hardly recognize it as 
applying to the same place. The oriental 
notes are a very attractive feature. The 
Antiquarian is the only periodical in the 
country wholly devoted to archeology and 
deserves a liberal support. 


THE Aflantic Monthly presents for 1883 an 
ariay of contributors not excelled in number 
or ability to instruct and entertain by any 


magazine in the country. Oliver Wendell. 


Holmes, who has resigned his professorship in 
Harvard University in order that he may de- 
vote himself more fully to literary pursuits, 
will write exclusively for it; Henry James, 
_Jr., will write essays, criticisms, etc., in addi- 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. ~ 


tion to his dramatized version of ‘‘ Daisy Mil- 
ler ;” W. D. Howells will send from Europe © 
the results of his observations in travelling 
through Europe; Charles Dudley Warner 
will contribute several of his characteristic 
sketches, while both Longfellow and Haw- 
thorne will be represented by a dramatic 
poem and a novel, respectively, left by them 
nearly completed. Besides all this the usual 
variety of serial and short stories, essays, 
poetry and reviews of current literature will 
serve to keep the Azlantzc, now in its fifty- 
first volume, fully up to its regular standard 
of excellence. 


NUMBERS 38 and 39 of the AHwmboldt Li- 
brary, published by J. Fitzgerald & Co., New 
York, present ‘‘Geological Sketches,”’ by 
Prof, Archibald Geikie, LL.D. Nothing can 
be more interesting or instructive than these 
sketches, and the publishers are to be credit- 
ed with rare good judgment in the selection 
of the articles they reprint from month to 
month. 48 pages octavo, well printed, for 
15c. 


THe U. S. Monthly Weather Review for No- 
vember, 1882, has reached us in new and im- 
It is now stitched and- bound 
Even 


proved form. 
with a neat paper cover and trimmed. 
the weather maps are fasteved in, so that it 
is some satisfaction to handle tne /evzew. 
If the Chief Signal Officer will now have the 
the numbers «nclosed inenvelopes, for mail- 
ing, as are those of the Oficéal Gaztte of the 
Patent Office, instead of folding them, it 
will be an additional improvement. 


We observe that a weekly scientific maga- 
zine after the style of Vature, and to be call- 
ed Sczence is about to be started in Cambridge, 
Mass., under the management of Prof, A. 
Graham Bell. We wish it success and feel 
sure from the character of the gentlemen 
connected with it that it will occupy a high 
position and maintain itself without resorting 
to any such dishonorable practice as its late 
namesake of New York has done for a very 
small consideration within the past year. 


Tue Worth American Review for February 
opens with a symposiuin in which six promi- 
nent theologians, representing as many relig- 
ious denominations, give expression to their 
views upon the question of the ‘‘ Revision of 
Creeds.”’? Prof. Alexander Winchell, in an 
article entitled «« The Experiment of Univer- 
sal Suffrage,” institutes a profound inquiry 
into the essential conditions of stable popular 
government, which he finds-to be, substan- 
tially, virtue and intelligence; but these con- 
ditions, he maintains, are absolutely unat- 
tainable under our existing political system, 
where an electorate either ignorant or vicious, 
or both, by the mere force of superior num- 
bers, practically nullifies the suffrages of the 
better and wiser portion of the people, whose 
right to control the government of the com- 
monwealth is grounded in the very nature of 
things. Bishop McQuaid writes of “The 
Decay of Protestantism,” and in essaying to 
prove his thesis, makes a very adroit use of 
conuhve 
Political Situation” is the joint title of two 
articles, the one by Horatio Seymour, the 
other by Geo. S. Boutwell, who offer their 
respective views upen the causes of therecent 


admissions of the protestant writers. 


overthrow of the Republican party. An ar- 
ticle by Dr. D. A. Sargent, on ‘*‘ Physical Ed- 
ucation in Colleges,”’ treats asubject of prime 
importance to the welfare of the youths in 
our higher educational institutions. Finally, 
there are two articles on ‘* The Standard Oil 
Company,”’ Senatcr Camden of West Virginia 
defending tha’ corporation against its assail- 
ants, and John C. Welch setting forth the 
reasons for condemning it as a dangerous 
monopoly. Published at 30 Lafayette Place, 
New York. 


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Establishment. And your are assured of every courtesy and attention. 


You can rely upon the most prompt and intelligent attention being paid to 
your wishes. We send without charge or any obligation to purchase, samples of 
the newest Silks, Dress Goods, Etc. We illustrate and give prices of our entire 
Stock in our large Catalogues which we mail free to all who send for them. 

Hundreds of orders are filled daily and Goods sent by Mail and Express to 
all parts of the country with full privilege of return and refund of money if they 
do not suit. By sending to us you can get better Goods for less money than you 
can at home. ; 


DCO. 


712, 714 and 716 MAIN STREET, 


KANSAS CITY, - - - MISSOURI] 


Dry Goods, Ladies’, Gentlemen’s and Children’s Wear, and Housekeeping 
appointments. 


TAINS ACS Cie 


REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, 


A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 


SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 


VOL. VI. MARCH, 1883. NO. 11. 


CHE IEOG NS. 


THE ANCIENT MISSISSIPPI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES.! 


J. W. SPENCER, B. A. SC., PH. D., F.G.S., PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY IN THE STATE 
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI. 


Physical geology is the science which deals with the past changes of the 
Earth’s crust, and the causes which have produced the present geographical feat- 
ures, everywhere seen about us. The subject of the present address must there- 
fore be considered as one oi geology rather than of geography, and I propose to 
trace for you the early history of the great Mississippi River, of which we have 
only a diminished remnant of the mightiest river that ever flowed over any terres- 
trial continent. 

By way of introduction, I wish you each to look at the map of our great 
river, with its tributaries as we now see it, draining half of the central portion of 
the Continent, but which formerly drained, in addition, at least two of our great 
lakes, and many of the great rivers at the present time emptying into the colder 
Arctic Sea. 

1 This lecture was delivered in the Chapel of the State University, at Columbia, as an inaugural ad- 
dress on January 10, 1883, and illustrated by projections. The author has purposely avoided the very lengthy 
details of scientific observation, by which the conclusions have been arrived at, relating to the former wonderful 


condition of the Mississippi, and the subsequent changes to its present form ; as a consideration of them would 
not only cause him to go beyond the allotted time, but might, perhaps, prove tiresome. 


VI—39 


616 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Let us go back, in time, to the genesis of our Continent. There was once 
a time in the history of the Earth, when all the rocks were in a molten condition, 
and the waters of our great oceans in a state of vapor, surrounding the fiery ball. 
Space is intensely cold. In course of time the Earth cooled off, and on the cold, 
solid crust geological agencies began to work. It is now conceded by the most 
accomplished physicists, that the location of the great continents and seas was 
determined by the original contraction and cooling of the Earth’s crust; though 
very greatly modified by a long succession of changes, produced by the agencies 
of ‘‘ water, air, heat, and cold,” through probably a hundred millions of years, 
until the original rock surface of the Earth has been worked over to a depth of 
thirty or forty miles. 

Like human histories, the events of these long gous are divided into periods. 
The geologist divides the past history of the Earth and its inhabitants into five 
Great Times; and these again, into ages, periods, epochs and eras. 

At the close of the first Great Time—called Archzean—the Continent south of 
the region of the great lakes, excepting a few islands, was still submerged be- 
neath a shallow sea, and therefore no portion of the Mississippi was yet in ex- 
istence. At the close of the second great geological Time—the Palseozoic—the 
American Continent had emerged sufficiently from the ocean bed to permit the 
flow of the Ohio, and of the Mississippi, above the mouth of the former river, 
although they were not yet united. 

Throughout the third great geological Time—the Mesozoic—these rivers 
grew in importance, and the lowest portions of the Missouri began to form a trib- 
utary of some size. Still the Ohio had not united with the Mississippi, and both 
of these rivers emptied into an arm of the Mexican Gulf, which then reached to 
a short distance above what is now their junction. 

In point of time, the Ohio is probably older than the Mississippi, but the 
latter river grew and eventually absorbed the Ohio as a tributary. 

In the early part of the fourth great geological Time—the Coenozoic—near- 
ly the whole continent was above water. Still the Gulf of Mexico covered a 
considerable portion of the extreme southern States, and one of its bays, extend- 
ed as far north as the mouth of the Ohio, which had not yet become a tributary 
of the Mississippi. The Missouri throughout its entire length was at this time a 
flowing river. 

I told you that the Earth’s crust had been worked over to a depth of many 
miles since geological time first commenced, Subsequently, I have referred to 
the growth of the Continent in different geological periods. All of our continents 
are being gradually worn down by the action of rains, rills, rivulets and rivers, 
and being deposited along the sea margins, just as the Mississippi is gradually 
stretching out into the Gulf, by the deposition of the muds of the delta. This 
encroachment on the Gulf of Mexico may continue, yea, doubtless will, until that 
deep body of water shall have been filled up by the remains of the Continent, 
borne down by the rivers; for the Mississippi alone carries annually 268 cubic 
miles of mud into the Gulf, according to Humphreys and Abbot. This repre- 


7HE ANCIENT MISSISSIEPI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 617 


sents the Valley of the Mississippi losing one foot off its whole surface, in 6000 
years. And were this to continue without any elevation of the land, the Conti- 
nent would all be buried beneath the sea in a period of about four and a half 
million years. But, though this wasting is going on, the Continent will not dis- 
appear, for the relative positions of the land and water are constantly changing, 
in some cases the land is undergoing elevation, in others, subsidence. Prof. 
Hilgard has succeeded in measuring known changes of level, in the lower Mis- 
sissippi Valley, and records the Continent as having been at least 450 feet higher 
than at present, (and if we take the coast survey soundings, it seems as if we 
might substitute 3000 feet as the elevation), and subsequently at more than 450 
feet lower, and then the change back to the present elevation. 

Let us now study the history of the great river in the last days of the Cceno- 
-zoic Time, and early days of the fifth and last great Geological Time, in which 
we are now living—the Quatenary, or Age of Man—an epoch which I have 
called the ‘‘ Great River Age.” 

It is to the condition of the Mississippi during this period and its subsequent 
changes to its present form that I wish particularly to call your attention. During 
the Great River Age, we know that the eastern coast of the Continent stood at 
least 1200 feet higher than at present. The region of the Lower Mississippi was 
also many hundred feet higher above the sea level than now. Although we have 
not the figures for knowing the exact elevation of the Upper Mississippi, yet we 
have the data for knowing that it was very much higher than at the present day. 

The Lower Mississippi, from the Gulf to the mouth of the Ohio River, was of 
- enormous size, flowing through a valley with an average width of about fifty miles, 
though varying from about twenty-five to seventy miles. 

In magnitude, we can have some idea, when we observe the size of the 
lower three or four hundred miles of the Amazon River, which has a width of 
about fifty miles. But its depth was great, for the waters not only filled a channel 
now buried to a depth of from three to five hundred feet, but stood’ at an eleva- 
tion much higher than the broad bottom lands which now constitute those fertile 
alluvial flats of the Mississippi Valley, so liable to be overflowed. 

From the western side, our great river received three principal tributaries— 
the Red River of the south, the Washita, and the Arkansas, each flowing in 
valleys from two to ten miles in width, but now represented only by the depau- 
perated streams meandering from side to side, over the flat bottom lands, generally 
bounded by bluffs. 

The Mississippi from the east received no important tributaries south of the 
Ohio; such rivers as the Yazoo being purely modern and wandering about in the 
ancient filled-up valley as does the modern Mississippi itself. 

So far we find that the Mississippi below the mouth of the Ohio differed from 
the modern river in its enormous magnitude and direct course. 

From the mouth of the Ohio to that of the Minnesota River, at Fort Snelling, 
the characteristics of the Mississippi Valley differ entirely from those of the lower 
sections. It generally varies from two to ten miles in width, and is bounded 


x 


618 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


almost everywhere by bluffs, which vary in height from 150 to Sige feet, cut 
through by the entrances of occasional tributaries. 

The bottom of the ancient channel is often 100 feet or more below the present 
river, which wanders about, from side to side, over the ‘‘bottom lands” of the old 
valley, now partly filled with deér1s, brought down by the waters themselves, and 
deposited since the time when the pitch of the river began to be diminished. 
There are two places where the river flows over hard rock. These are at the 
rapids near the mouth of the DesMoines River, and a little farther up, at Rock 
Island. These portions of the river do not represent the ancient courses, for 
subsequent to the Great River Age, according to General Warren, the old chan- 
nels became closed, and the modern river, being deflected, was unable to re-open. 
its old bed. 

The Missouri River is now the only important tributary of this section of the 
Mississippi from the west. Like the western tributaries, farther south, it meand- 
ers over broad bottom lands, which in some places reach a width of ten miles or 
more, bounded by bluffs. During the period of the culmination, it probably dis- 
charged nearly as much water as the Upper Mississippi. At that time, there 
were several other tributaries of no mean size, such as the Des Moines, which 
filled valleys, one or two miles wide, but now represented only by shrunken 
streams. 

The most interesting portion of our study refers to the ancient eastern tribu- 
taries, and the head waters of the great river. 

The greater portion of the Ohio River flows over bottom lands, less exten- 
sive than those of the west, although bounded by high bluffs. The bed of the 
ancient valley is now buried to a depth of sometimes a hundred feet or more. 
However, at Louisville, Ky., the river flows over hard rock, the ancient valley 
having been filled with river deposits on which that city is built, as shown first 
by Dr. Newberry, similar to the closing of the old courses of the Mississippi, at 
Des Moines Rapids and Rock Island. However, the most wonderful changes 
in the course of the Ohio are farther up the river. Mr. Carll, of Pennsylvania, 
in 1880, discovered that the Upper Alleghany formerly emptied into Lake Erie, 
and the following year, I pointed out that not only the Upper Alleghany, but the 
whole Upper Ohio, formerly emptied into Lake Erie, by the Beaver and Mahon- 
ing Valleys (reversed), and the Grand River (of Ohio). Therefore, only that 
portion of the Ohio River from about the Pennsylvania—Ohio State line, sent its 
waters to the Mexican Gulf, during the Great River. Age. 

Other important differences in the river geology of our country were Lake 
Superior emptying directly into the northern end of Lake Michigan, and Lake 
Michigan discharging itself, somewhere east of Chicago, into an upper tributary 
of the Illinois River. Even now, by removing rock to a depth of ten feet, some 
of the waters of Lake Michigan have been made to flow into the Illinois, which 
was formerly a vastly greater river than at present, for the ancient valley was 
from two to ten miles wide, and very deep, though now largely filled with drift. 

The stuay of the Upper Ancient Mississippi is the most important of this ad- 


THE ANCIENT MISSISSIPPI AND ITS TRIBUTARIES. 619 


dress. The principal discoveries were made only a few years since, by General 
G. K. Warren of the Corps of Engineers, U. S. A. At Ft. Snelling, a short dis- 
tance above St. Paul, the modern Minnesota River empties into the Mississippi, 
but the ancient condition was the converse. At Ft. Snelling, the valleys form 
one continuous nearly straight course, about a mile wide, bounded by bluffs 150 
feet high. The valley of the Minnesota is large, but the modern river is small. 
The uppermost valley of the Mississippi enters this common valley at nearly right 
angles, and is only a quarter of a mile wide and is completely filled by the river. 
Though this body of water is now the more important, yet in former days it was 
relatively a small tributary. 

The character of the Minnesota Valley is similar to that of the Mississippi 
below Ft. Snelling, in being bounded by high bluffs and having a width of one or 
two miles, or more, all the way to the height of land, between Big Stone Lake 
and Traverse Lake, the former of which drains to the south, from an elevation 
of 992 feet above the sea, and the latter only half a dozen miles distant (and 
eight feet higher) empties, by the Red River of the north, into Lake Winnipeg. 
During freshets, the swamps between these two lakes discharge waters both ways. 
‘The valley of the Red River is really the bed of an immense dried-up lake. The 
lacustrine character of the valley was recognized by early explorers, but all honor 

to the name of General Warren, who, in observing that the ancient enormous 
Lake Winnipeg formerly sent its waters southward to the Mexican Gulf, made 
the most important discovery in fluviatile geology,—a discovery which will cause 
his name to be honored in the scientific world long after his professional succes- 
ses have been forgotten. 

General Warren considered that the valley of Lake Winnipeg only belonged 
to the Mississippi since the ‘‘ Ice Age,” and explained the changes of drainage 
of the great north by the theory of the local elevation of the land. Facts which 
settle this question have recently been collected in Minnesota State by Mr. Up- 
ham, although differently explained by that geologist. However, he did not go 
far enough back in time, for doubtless the Winnipeg Valley discharged south- 
ward before the last days of the ‘‘Ice Age,” and the great changes in the river 
courses were not entirely produced by local elevation, but also by the filling 
of the old water channels with drift deposits and sediments. Throughout the 
bottom of the Red River Valley a large number of wells have been sunk to great 
depths, and these show the absence of hard rock to levels below that of Lake 
Winnipeg; but some portions of the Minnesota River flow over hard rock at 
levels somewhat higher. Whether the presence of these somewhat higher rocks 
is due entirely to the local elevation, which we know took place, or to the change 
in the course of the old river, remains to be seen. . 

_ Mr. Upham has also shown that there is a valley connecting the Minnesota 
River, at Great Bend at Mankato, with the head waters of the Des Moines Riv- 
er, as I predicted to General Warren a few months before his death. At the 
time when Lake Winnipeg was swollen to its greatest size, extending southward 


620 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


into Minnesota, as far as Traverse Lake, it had a length of more than 600 miles 
and a breadth of 250 miles. 

Its greatest tributary was the Saskatchewan—a river nearly as large as the 
Missouri. It flowed in a deep broad cafion now partly filled with drift deposits, 
in some places, to two hundred feet or more:in depth. 

Another tributary, but of a little less size, was the Assiniboine, now empty- 
ing into the Red River, at the City of Winnipeg. Following up this river, 
in a westerly direction one passes into the Qu’ Appelle Valley,—the upper 
portion of which is now filled with drift, as first shown by Prof. H. Y. Hind. 
This portion of the valley is interesting, for through it, before being filled with 
drift, the south branch of the Saskatchewan River formerly flowed, and consti- 
tuted an enormous river. But subsequent to the Great River Age, when choked 
with drift, it sent its waters to the north Saskatchewan as now seen. There were 
many other changes in the course of the ancient rivers to the north, but I can- 
not here record them. . 

As we have seen, the ancient Mississippi and its tributaries were vastly larger 
rivers than their modern representatives. At the close of the Great River Age, 
the whole continent subsided to many hundred feet below its present level, or 
some portions, to even thousands of feet. During this subsidence, the Mississippi 
States north of the Ozark Mountains formed the bed of an immense lake, into 
the quiet waters of which were deposited soils washed down by the various 
rivers from the northwestern and north central States and the northern territories 
of Canada. ‘These sediments, brought here from the north, constitute the bluff 
formation of the State, and are the source of the extraordinary fertility of our lands, 
on which the future greatness of our Statedepends. However, time will not per- 
mit me to enter into the application of the facts, brought forward, to agricultural 
interests. But although this address is intended to be in the realm of pure science, 
I cannot refrain from saying a word to our engineering students‘as to the applica- 
tion of knowledge of river geology to their future work. The subject of river 
geology is yet in its infancy, and I have known of much money being squandered 
for want of its knowledge. In one case, I saved a company several thousand 
dollars, though I should have been willing to have given a good subscription to 
have seen the work carried out from the scientific point of view. 

I will briefly indicate a few interesting points to the engineer. Sometimes 
in making railway cuttings it is possible to find an adjacent buried valley through 
which excavations can be made without cutting hard rock. In bridge building 
especially, in the western country, a knowledge of the buried valleys is of the 
utmost importance. Again, in sinking for coal do not begin your work from the 
bed of a valley, unless it be of hard rock, else you may have to go through an 
indefinite amount of drift and gravel; and once more, in boring for artesian wells, 
it sometimes happens that good water can be obtained in the loose drift filling 
these ancient valleys; but when you wish to sink into harder rock, do not select 
your site of operations on an old buried valley, for the cost of sinking through 
gravel is greater than through ordinary rock. 


GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF MISSOURI. 621 


In closing, let us consider to what the name Mississippi should be given. 
In point of antiquity, the Ohio and Upper Mississippi are of about the same age, 
but since the time when in growing southward they united, the latter river has 
been the larger. The Missouri River, though longer than the Mississippi is both 
smaller and geographically newer,—the upper portion much newer. 

Above Ft. Snelling, the modern Mississippi, though the larger body of 
water, should be considered as a tributary to that now called Minnesota, whilst 
the Minnesota Valley is really a portion of the older Mississippi Valley—both to- 
gether forming the parent river, which when swollen to the greatest volume, had 
the Saskatchewan River for a tributary, and formed the grandest and mightiest 
river of which we have any record. 


GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF MISSOURI. 
PROF. S$. H. TROWBRIDGE. 


A bill has been introduced by Senator Britts, in the Upper House of the 
State Legislature now in session, to provide for the resurrection of the geological 
survey of our State. It is a measure that merits the approval and best efforts in 
its behalf of every citizen interested in the prosperity of one of the richest States 
in natural resources in the Union. On this account, there is perhaps no other 
State that would receive equal benefit from a complete and thorough survey of the 
natural wealth within her borders. 

The first State Geologist was Prof. G. C. Swallow, who held the office from 
1853 to 1861. Of the work done during this time, only that embodied in two 
bound volumes has been published by the State, though some still remains in 
manuscript form. The first volume contains the ‘‘ First and Second Annual Re- 
ports”? and was published in 1855. These reports were based upon information 
gained during a hasty reconnoissance lasting about eighteen months. The 
first was simply a report of progress four pages long. The second was in two 
parts, of 207 and 239 pages, and gave a brief discussion of the general geology 
of the State, reports of five counties, and a report on the then most important 
mineral resources. From the time of publication of this first volume to the dis- 
continuance of the survey in 1861, twenty-one additional counties were surveyed 
by G. C. Broadhead, B. F. Shumard, and F. B. Meek. These counties are 
scattered somewhat promiscuously through the State, fifteen south of the Missouri 
River and six north, and none very near the western border. The second 
bound volume containing reports of these counties was printed in 1873. It con- 
tains 323 pages. ; 

From 1861 to 1870 the survey was entirely inactive. At the latter date the 
Legislature organized a ‘‘ Bureau of Geology and Mines,” which had power to 
appoint a State Geologist. This Board appointed Prof. Albert D. Hager, from 
Vermont, who served one year, and published a report of progress of no special 


622 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


value. After Prof. Hager, Dr. Norwood had temporary charge of the survey till 
Prof. Raphael Pumpelly was appointed, in the latter part of 1871. He entered 
upon his duties in the spring of the following year, and during this year the ma- 
terial for his report, forming the third bound volume, was collected. This report 
was an octavo, published in 1873 by Julius Bien, of New York. The volume is 
divided into two parts; the first, of 214 pages, devoted to the great iron interests 
of the State; the second, 441 pages, discusses the perhaps equally great coal inter- 
ests. Most of this was the work of Mr. Broadhead. ‘The work is accompanied 
with a large atlas. Under Mr. Pumpelly, eight counties were surveyed. On his 
resignation in the summer of 1873, G. C. Broadhead was unanimously appointed 
State Geologist. He, with the assistance of Mr. C. J. Nowood, surveyed fifteen 
additional counties, and published in 1874 a report of about 800 pages with num- 
erous figures and a series of maps. Dr. Adolph Schmidt, who was at one time 
director of iron works in Europe, and afterward in charge of extensive Bessemer 
steel works, gave great attention to the iron ores of the State during the last two 
administrations. Many other assistants were employed from time to time on the 
survey. Owing to mistaken notions of economy, the Legislature of 1874 voted to 
discontinue the survey and turn over its property, collections, etc., to the State 
School of Mines at Rolla. From that time to the present nothing has been done. 

Without entering at all into the details of the work thus far accomplished, 
and without even noting some gemera/ results of more or less value, we find that 
less than half of the counties have been examined, and even these, through no 
fault of the geologists in charge or their assistants, have not been examined at all 
exhaustively. Enough has been done, however, to show that the State is re- 
markably rich in all those natural products which contribute most largely to her 
material prosperity. What is now imperatively needed is to have this vast wealth 
s9 thoroughly investigated, presented in correct and intelligible form, and given 
to the world, that it shall afford the much needed assistance to her own citizens, 
and shall attract the large immigration to her soil which she can so bounteously 
support. Individuals and corporations have expended much in private surveys 
for their own special purposes, and immigration societies and local associations 
have published, with more or less fulness and accuracy, representations of the 
peculiar attractions in certain sections. ‘These, however, are necessarily limited 
and fragmental, and are often highly colored to meet the ends each party has in 
view. 

An impartial, comprehensive, and thorough showing of the State’s resources 
can be had only by disinterested and competent geologists, conscious of their re- 
sponsibility to the public and true to the interests of science. ‘To such a source 
explorers will confidently look for facts regarding the wealth which the earth 
possesses; and the settler will there find a satisfactory exhibit of the natural 
wealth of his future home, and, by the use of these revelations of scientific re- 
search, he can study beforehand the country, select, bound, and parcel his claim, 
locate his buildings, and carry with him anaccurate picture of itall. For this pur- 
pose much attention should be given to the construction of topographical maps of 


GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF MISSOURI. 623 


the territory surveyed. This is also necessary to enable the geologist to describe 
the exact position of any valuable deposit beneath the soil, and for the land-owner 
to know just where on his farm to search for it. This necessity can be largely ob- 
viated in Missouri, for any special and local deposit, by giving its position with 
reference to range and section lines; but for valuable deposits in strata at a cer- 
tain level, on all farms, verbal description is totally inadequate. Even if the 
facts have been observed with the greatest accuracy, they will lose much of their 
value to the individual owner because the descriptions cannot specify the exact 
locality for him. He may easily be misled into vast expenditure in search of 
some mineral in a stratum not present within his limits, though perhaps abundant 
all about him. 

The position of strata, upon which all geological information is based, is de- 
termined largely by a study of the fossils they contain. To make this work in- 
telligible to the public, these fossil forms must be correctly described and clearly 
figured, so that one with sufficient skill may examine the rocks on his own farm and 
see, by comparison, whether the beds of coal, lead, zinc, etc., described in the 
State reports, are likely to be found within his limits or are not. For this pur- 
pose the figures of fossils are of far greater value to the uninitiated than verbal 
descriptions ; and it requires considerable acuteness of observation to notice, even 

‘in these, slight differences in form or marking which may indicate widely differ- 
ent strata, and may easily and greatly mislead an unskilled observer. The col- 
lection, examination, and classification of fossils in the rocky strata form a large 
large part of the geologist’s work. While much of this work has been done in 
the State, it has been scattered and fragmentary, and there is great need of a 
systematic and thorough revision of it all, and especial need of its publication in 
a compact and easily accessible form. The publications under State authority 
present a very meager showing of the fossils and their instructive teachings with- 
in our limits. In all the State surveys thus far published, there are only three 
paleontological plates, and these illustrate but forty-five species. These are in 
Swallow's report, published nearly thirty years ago. 

Other fossils of the State are described and figured in the Transactions of 
the St. Louis Academy of Science, in geological reports of neighboring States, 
and elsewhere at private expense, and still others are described but not figured 
in reports of certain railroad and other corporations. But the State herself should 
publish, with well executed figures, a full series of the fossils characteristic of the 
various rock horizons to be found here, many of which have never been describ- 
ed. Illinois has a most excellent exhibit of her fossils in her six volumes of 
Geological Reports, which are of great benefit and credit to the State and of im- 
mense value to science. lowa, too, another of our nearest neighbors, is far 
ahead of Missouri, though much behind Illinois. Missouri, with natural re- 
sources, doubtless surpassing either or both of these States, should not be over- 
shadowed for the simple lack of making a published showing of her own vast and 
rich possessions. 

Another work much needed in the State is an exhaustive investigation of her 


624 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


archeological remains. In these Missouri possesses remarkable wealth and pre~ 
sents a most attractive and profitable field of research. Much of this wealth has: 
already gone to enrich eastern museums, which would have remained here had 
its value been properly appreciated, and much more, doubtless, has been lost or 
destroyed for the same reason. Traces of our pre-historic inhabitants are rapidly 
disappearing under the destructive agencies of the plow and other imple- 
ments of modern civilization; and unless the State takes speedy action in 
the matter and places upon permanent record the descriptions and exact localities. 
of these ancient remains, they will be lost beyond recovery. Every clue to the 
history of the former occupants of our soil is daily increasing in value and inter- 
est, and Missouri has a rare opportunity of advancing her own credit by contrib- 
uting what she can to the settlement of these important scientific questions. The 
archeological Section of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences is doing a most val- 
uable work in this direction, and members of the Kansas City Academy are also 
hard at work, as well as many private parties elsewhere. But the State, with a 
liberality which would do her immense credit, has far the best opportunity to place 
upon record a complete history of these ancient works, and this should be em- 
braced before it is forever too late. 

The surface geology of the State, too, presents an inviting and profitable 
field of scientific investigation. The results of glacial action and drift agencies. 
have received far less attention than their importance demands. ‘The bluff or 
loess deposits are greatly in need of thorough study. In the first place, the dif- 
ferent kinds of soils need to be subjected to exhaustive chemical analysis to 
show what crops can be grown to best advantage upon each, and what ingredients. 
need to be supplied in the form of fertilizers. Secondly, the study of these sur- 
face deposits is attracting increased attention from geologists of the adjoining 
States, and the gap which has thus far existed in Missouri should be filled by 
careful examinations here to give completeness to the scientific work going on 
elsewhere in the Mississippi Valley. 

Among other excellent features of the bill now before the Legislature, stands 
prominently the section requiring that suits of specimens of minerals, ores, rocks, 
fossils, etc., representing the wealth of the State, be furnished, on easy terms, to 
the colleges and public museums of the State. This is an important move in the 
right direction, and should of itself insure its passage. Our school instruction, 
of all grades, at the present time is notoriously deficient in facilities and studies 
capable of fitting students for practical life. This accounts for the facts that ‘‘the 
ratio of school graduates to our population is continually decreasing,’’ and that 
‘‘men withdraw their sons from the schools when they deem it time to teach them 
the practical arts and duties of life.’”” Such collections in the colleges of the 
State, if properly used by teacher and pupils, would go far toward giving the sons 
of farmers and others a knowledge of practical science which would result in a 
great saving of useless expense, and be a rich source of revenue to individuals 
and the State. 

The knowledge thus acquired would enable the son of many aland-owner to 


GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF MISSOURI, | 625. 


see the danger of the (le wisdom which led his father to spend his living 
vain attempt to obtain various precious minerals from deposits which the addi-. 
tional knowledge he has gained assures him are utterly worthless. It would pro- 
tect him from the well meant but financially ruinous zeal of his father in mining 
for coal, lead, ochres, and other ores, on the unsafe supposition that, because a 
neighbor in the valley below him finds these in abundance, he will have equal 
success by sinking a shaft to the same level. His interest in geology, excited by 
the tangible illustrations his school furnishes for study, would enable him to see, 
by a brief survey of the rocky strata which he can easily make, that the rocks 
which his neighbor finds so productive dip away from him, or, by an upward 
‘curvature of the earth’s crust which formed the elevation on which he stands, 
the wealth-bearing stratum was exposed on the surface to the action of frost and 
flood, and has been completely washed away. It would enable him also to avoid. 
the useless expenditures of his father in boring for a bed of coal, even in a region 
of coal, away down into rock-layers in or below which coal never was and never 
will be found; and to show his father, from a simple examination of the kinds 
and position of the strata beneath, that it would be useless to even start his drill 
in the desired place in search of water. Such practical information as this, so 
easily gained by any intelligent teacher or pupil when the proper opportunities 
are afforded, would be of inestimable advantage to mining and farming interests.. 

The popular impression, too, which this practical education would create, 
of the value of scientific information in ordinary life, would go far toward secur- 
ing more intelligent legislation on other points most intimately connected with 
our material prosperity. Every farmer can make an estimate for himself of the 
value of the crops annually destroyed by the ravages of insects throughout the 
State. The most charitable estimate could not fall short of many millions of dol- 
lars. Our former State Entomologist agrees with others that in one year Illinois 
alone lost at least $73,0c0,000 from the destruction of corn and wheat by the 
chinch-bug. ‘‘ Bugologists” variously estimate that from one-tenth to one-half 
of the $300,000,000 annually destroyed in the United States might and should 
be saved. The amount thus saved, if devoted to missionary enterprise, would 
soon convert the world. What should be saved each year in Missouri alone 
would furnish an income of seven per cent on all the real estate within her bor- 
ders, or an average annual income of $200 on every farm from one of three acres 
up. It would build every year as much railroad for carrying agricultural products. 
as would reach twice the length of the State. A live farmer of Howard County 
toid me some years since, from his own standpoint and not from the scientific, 
that C. V. Riley, while State Entomologist of Missouri, saved the farmers of his 
own and adjoining counties $50,000 by asingle item of advice concerning a single 
destructive insect. Yet the State lost his services, prized everywhere else, in 
their wise! and economical!! purpose to save $3,000. If we are losing at this 
rate by stopping of the entomological survey, it is sincerely to be hoped that we 
may make what amends we can by re-establishing the Geological Survey. 

For every reason that could be urged, it is emphatically desirable that all 


626 . KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


friends of the State and its prosperity, of science, of education and of popular en- 
lightenment, will exert their influence to secure the adoption of the pending bill 
and a vigorous prosecution of the important work it proposes. 


THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN. 


In the National Academy of Sciences, yesterday, in Columbia College, Prof. 
A. E. Verrill, of Yale College, described the physical and geological character of 
the bottom of the sea off our coast, especially that which lies beneath the Gulf 
stream. He made 1,500 observations this summer for the United States Fish 
Commissioners. He has cruised from Labrador to Chesapeake Bay and about 
200 miles out to sea. About sixty miles outside of Nantucket is a streak of very 
cold water, and animals dredged up are like those caught in Greenland, Spitz- 
bergen, and Siberia. The water is fifty fathoms deep, and the bottom of the 
ocean is of clay. Boulders weighing eight hundred or one thousand pounds 
are dredged up. Prof. Verrill believes that they are brought down by icebergs 
from the Arctic regions and dropped when the ice melts. The boulders are found 
as far south as Long Island. Further out to sea, seventy to one hundred and 
twenty miles south from the southeastern coast of New England, the bottom of 
the sea, which has inclined very gradually eastward, forming a table land, takes 
a sudden dip downward, so that whereas the water on the edge of the bluff is 100 
fathoms deep, at the bottom of the basin it is 1,000 fathoms deep. ‘The slope is 
as high and as steep as Mount Washington, and on its summit, which is level, a 
diver, could he go to so low a depth, could not put out his hand without touch- 
ing a living creature. The bottom of the sea is covered just there with a fauna 
which has never been before found outside of the Mediterranean Sea, the Gulf 
of Mexico, the Indies and other tropical regions. 

The number of species of fish dredged up is 800, and over half of them have 
never before been seen by naturalists. Seventy kinds of fish, ninety of crustacea 
and 270 mollusks have been added to the fauna. ‘The age of many of the speci- 
mens shows that they must be permanent in that region. The trawl let down 
from the ships by a mile of rope brings up a ton of living and dead crabs, shrimp, 
star fish, and as the trawl simply scrapes over a small surface the ocean bed is 
plainly carpeted with creatures. 

Sharks are seen by thousands in this region, and countless dolphins, but it 
seems strange that not a fish-bone is ever dredged up. A piece of wood may 
be dredged up once a year, but it is honeycombed by the boring shell fish, and 
falls to pieces at the touch of the hand. Thisshows what destruction is constant- 
ly going on in these depths. If a ship sinks at sea with all on board it would be 
eaten up by fish with the exception of the metal, and that would corrode and dis- 
appear. Not a bone of a human body would remain after a few days. It is a 
constant display of the law of the survival of the fittest. Nothing made by the 
hand of man was dredged up after cruising for months in the track of ocean ves- 


THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN. ; 627 


sels excepting coal clinkers shoved overboard from steamships. Here Prof. Ver- 
rill corrected himself. Twenty-five miles from land he dredged up an India rub- 
ber doll. That, he said, was one thing the fish could not eat. 

Here the Gulf stream is forty miles further west than any map shows, Prof. 
Verrill continued; and this stream of warm water from the south nourishes the 
tropical life near Massachusetts. The temperature further in shore is 35° in 
August, on the edge of the submarine Mount Washington 52°, and toward the 
bottom of the basin 39°, while further out to sea the temperature of the water 
grows colder. On the surface the jelly fish, nautilus and the Portuguese man-of- 
war, with other tropical fish, are found. In this belt the tile fish, about which so 
much was said a year ago, were found in immense quantities, but this summer, 
although expeditions have been made for the express purpose of catching some, 
not one could be taken. Undoubtedly they had been killed, to a fish, by a 
storm which carried the cold water into the gulf stream; indeed, it is known that 
a cold current of water resting on the ocean’s bed may contain Arctic fish, and a 
current of warm water floating over it on the surface may be alive with tropical 
fish. 

As to the quantity of light at the bottom of the sea there has been much dis- 
pute. Animals dredged from below 700 fathoms either have no eyes, or faint 
indications of them, or else their eyes are very large and protruding. Crabs’ 
eyes are four or five times as large as those of a crab from surface water, which 
shows that the light is feeble, and that eyes to be of any use must be very large 
and sensitive. Another strange thing is that where the creatures in those lower 
depths have any color, it is of orange red, or reddish orange. Sea anemones, 
corals, shrimp and crabs have this brilliant color. Sometimes it is pure red or 
scarlet—in many specimens it inclines toward purple. Nota green or blue fish 
is found. The orange red is the fish’s protection, for the bluish-green light in 
the bottom of the ocean makes the orange or red fish appear of a neutral tint and 
hides it from enemies. Many animals are black, others neutral in color. Some 
fish are provided with boring tails, so that they can burrow in the mud. Finally, 
the surface of the submarine mountain is covered with shells, like an ordinary 
sea beach, showing that it is the eating-house of vast schools of carnivorous ani- 
mals. A codfish takes a whole oyster into its mouth, cracks the shells, digests 
the meat and spits out the rest. Crabs crack the shells and suck out the meat. 
In this way come whole mounds of shells that are dredged up.—WV. V. Sun. 


628 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


LIN SUR CNP OLOGY 


THE KINDRED OF MAN. 
ARTHUR ERWIN BROWN. 


Mr. A. R. Wallace once called attention to the similarity in color existing 
‘between the orang and chimpanzee and the human natives of their respective 
countries. It would indeed seem as if but half the truth had been told, and that 
the comparison might be carried also into the region of mind ; the quick, vivacious 
chimpanzee partaking of the mercurial disposition of negro races, while the 
apathetic, slow orang would pass for a disciple of the sullen fatalism of the Malay. 
‘Such, at least, was the impression left by careful observation of several specimens 
of each species which have been exhibited in the Philadelphia Zodlogical Gar- 
den. 

A curious study are the moral qualities of the chimpanzee—for he has morals 
—not altogether such as would serve for the ordering of a human community, but 
very well adapted, seemingly, for his own needs. Watching them closely, in all 
their moods, all their passions, it was impossible to avoid the feeling that here 
was man in his primitive stage of moral development—‘“‘ nature’s ground plan” 
only—self-love predominant, the brute mainly, with but an occasional flash of the 
possibilities which the hand of nature was yet to shape. 

‘“¢ Adam” and ‘‘ Eve” were both young, probably not more than three or 
four years old, and not half grown, as the chimpanzee is believed to require some 
twelve or fifteen years for the completion of that stage of existence. They were 
about the same size—perhaps they were twins—they had no family Bible to settle 
the question, but the extraordinary likeness between them was strongly in favor 
of the supposition ; indeed, if Adam had not been ornamented with a black 
smudge across the nose, they could hardly have been told apart; but twins or 
not, they loved each other with a most devoted affection, or, at least, so it seem- 
ed, but subsequent events cast a doubt on the real depth of their feelings. 

Being young they were eminently social, for it may be said that as a rule, 
among wild animals, moroseness and ferocity come only with age. When they 
were first coaxed out of their traveling cage they were visibly embarrassed, and 
retired into the nearest corner, locked tightly in each other’s arms, which, as 
we afterwards learned, was a universal refuge in time of doubt, but it? was not 
long before they began to feel at home, and thenceforward were always ready to 
make friends with anybody who made his approaches in due form. As has been 
said, they were very fond of each other, and it was on rare occasions only that . 


THE KINDRED OF MAN. : 629 


they were not clasped in a fohd embrace, and not once during their life in the 
garden was anything but the most perfect accord manifested between them. No 
pretence of partiality in feeding, no petting of one to the exclusion of the other, 
could excite a trace of jealousy; the slighted one would simply retire to a corner 
and sulk, but their mutual relations were undisturbed; resentment was all towards 
the giver, not to the one who received. Each was at all times ready to stand by 
_ the other; probably the keeper has not forgotten the ferocious assault Eve once 
made on him from the rear, while he was engaged in pouring a dose of medicine 
‘down the throat of her companion. 

Their anger was something ludicrous; the male especially was liable to par- 
oxysms of rage, during which he would tear his hair with both hands, hurl him- 
self down on the floor with a perfect tempest of yells and roars, but in a moment 
it was all over, and he was ready to make peace and accept any small attention 
‘by way of amende. But his masculinity asserted itself more particularly when 
danger seemed to threaten—then he was grand ; advancing inch by inch, brand- 
ishing his arms, stopping after each step, with a stern frown, to emit a terrifying 
roar, he seemed an impersonation of resolution and defiance—a very Ajax—but af- 
ter all, he was only a Thersites, a more arrant little coward than he, at heart, 
had never lived, and if his appearance did not have the desired effect, if the in- 
truder stood his ground, the dignified approach gradually became slower, the 
resolution ebbed away and the inevitable end was a final stop, a hasty turn and 
an ignominious flight into the corner—generally, it is painful to say, behind 
Eve. We could only blush, we dared not blame him; one nearer to us far than 
he, his namesake, under circumstances which brings the action home to each of 
us, had done the same. 

Many experiments were made to test the mental capacity of these animals, 
with quite fruitful results; the primary mental operations, and even some which 
involved a greater or less combination of ideas, were performed by them with 
facility ; indeed, it may be doubted if the undirected efforts of a human child of 
the same age, ignorant of language, could produce results of a much higher 
grade. 

A mirror being placed in the cage, the male, after cautiously investigating | 
the figure reflected, turned it over, and finding nothing but bare boards, he 
placed it face downward on the floor and executed a sort of war dance on the 
back. Having repeated this a number of times, the glass was firmly held before 
him; he then gave it more attention, at first attempting to drive away the figure 
he saw; at last a resemblance seemed to strike him, and after performing a varie- 
ty of antics, seemingly for the purpose of comparison, it was quite evident that 
he became aware of his.own identity——and in this, perhaps, afforded a trace of 
that self-consciousness which conservative philosophy allows only to the lordly 
intellect of man. In this case it is probable that he had become accustomed to 
see a faint image of himself reflected from the glass front of his cage. 

Perhaps, though, the most striking evidence of their power of reasoning was 
given when a dead snake was taken into the room and shown to them. As is 


630: KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


well known, monkeys have an intolerable dread of snakes, and these were terri- 
fied beyond measure. They fled at once to the highest point of the cage, utter- 
ing their expressive cry of fear, and there they remained for hours, refusing to 
come down even at sight of their accustomed dish of food, and when at last they 
did so, it was with the greatest caution; a slight movement in the straw covering 
the floor, was enough to cause a panic, and it was some hours before they fully 
recovered equilibrium. Finally, when both were sitting quietly near the glass. 
front, the snake was suddenly shown to them on the outside, but there, the ob- 
ject which had caused such terror in the same room, was powerless; the glass 
which they themselves could not pass, was a barrier as well to their enemy, and 
they simply sat still, pointing at it with their fingers and uttering the oo-hoo 
which expressed doubt, dislike and disgust. It was suspected that they had only 
become accustomed to the sight, and to complete the experiment the snake was 
again thrown in through the back door, when the terror of the two animals was. 
as great as on the previous occasion. ; 

It was quite clear that they possessed a limited means of vocal communica- 
tion. Sounds, to the number of three or four, were uttered by one, which met 
with a different response from the other, either by voice or action, and in which 
it was quite possible for the human ear to detect a difference. 

The imitative habits common to the whole tribe of monkeys were strongly 
marked in them, and made it relatively easy to teach them to use a spoon or 
drink out of a cup, and to perform various small tricks. In cleaning the glass in 
front of the cage with paper, the keeper generally threw two pieces on the floor 
beside him, when each chimpanzee would take one of them and set to work pol- 
ishing the glass in like manner, deriving, apparently, great satisfaction from the 
performance. The delicacy of their taste became developed to an extraordinary 
degree by the varied diet afforded them; both were fond of the taste of sherry, 
which was always put in their tapioca and corn-starch, but when brandy, whisky 
and rum were substituted, they stuck out their under lip in disgust and refused 
to eat it. 

For music they had no ear whatever ; the notes of an accordeon and violin 
produced in them only distrust of the instrument, and when these were put into 
their hands, their insatiable curiosity prompted only efforts to find out what was 
inside. 

For many months Adam and Eve were the pets of the ‘‘Zoo”; few days 
there were when they were not surrounded by a crowd of interested spectators, 
some of whom, to a critical eye, were fully as amusing as the animals they came 
to see. 

It is learned from African travelers that the native tribes inhabiting the range 
of the gorilla and chimpanzee believe them to be human beings who have degener- 
ated from their original state, and that out of pure laziness they refuse to speak, 
in the fear that if their possession of the faculty should become known, they will be 
set to work in the fields; indeed, the native name of the chimpanzee, Lmge-e-co, 
means ‘‘hold your tongue,” and evidently originated in this belief. It frequent- 


THE KINDRED OF MAN. 631 


ly seemed as if similar ideas prevailed among a certain part of the visitors, and 
that class especially whose acquaintance with the forms of orthography had not 
reached a familiar stage, seemed to find in the scientific name of the animal, 
Anthropopithecus niger, indications of a relationship to the humble man and broth- 
er whose ancestors sprang from the same soil. 

But at last, in spite of tender care and attention, Eve became sick—poor 
little thing, how she did suffer. Of course she ought to have been a good and 
grateful patient and have known that everything done for her was for her ultimate 
benefit—they always do in the animal literature of the day—but she had read 
little, and so was hardly to blame in following out the instincts of her nature. 
She might have been expected to look appealingly into the eyes that bent over 
her, but she did not; she ought to have pressed affectionately the hand that cut 
the hair from off the region of her little stomach and gently applied a mustard 
plaster to the affected part, but instead, she bit it savagely; and to crown all, 
she was so little sensible of the soothing influence of that mustard plaster that it 
took the united efforts of three men to keep it in place until its work was done. 

Alas for all the works of fancy! a long experience of sick and suffering ani- 
mals compels the conclusion that one of the things which is beyond the grasp a 
mind to be found among the lower animals is surgery. 

And so Eve passed out from the familiar places of the ‘‘ Zoo. Her funer- 
al urn stands ranged on a shelf in that universal mausoleum of nature, the Acade- 
my of Natural Sciences, and her ‘In Memoriam,” by Professor Chapman, was 
published in the Proceedings of that venerable institution. 

Adam was left alone to mourn, but to his shame be it said that although he 
was inconsolable at first, so long as the dead body of his late companion was in 
sight, he soon got over it, and in forty-eight hours not a trace of her seemed to 
exist in memory, excepting that to.the day of his death, some months later, he 
- was afraid to sleep alone on the floor, where the two had always slept together, 
and with the shades of night he followed out his ancestral habit, climbed as high 
as he could get toward the roof, and there composed himself to peaceful slumbers. 

For some time the garden was without any specimen of the higher apes, un- 
til in the autumn of 1879, a young orang-utan was safely received. 

There is something about the orang that irresistibly suggests a spider—one 
of those red, hairy, long-legged spiders which one sees with an instinctive feel- 
ing of repulsion. At no age can the animal be called handsome, and the old 
males, covered with coarse, reddish-brown hair six or eight inches long, with a 
huge protruding jaw and a mass of hardened skin on each cheek, are about as 
unprepossessing as anything that nature has produced. ‘‘Topsey,” however, as 
is sufficiently indicated by her baptismal name, belongs to the fairer sex; her age 
—probably for that reason, is unknown. When she arrived she was supposed to 
be about two or three years old, but as the lapse of time has made hardly any 
change in her personal appearance, save in the way of embonpoznt, it is probable 
that she was older, although she is certainly not half grown; if, indeed, as has 


»? 


VI—40 


632 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCTEN CE. 


been suggested, she may not be a dwarf—a sort of feminine Tom Thumb among 
orangs; and in this, possibly is the explanation of the unusually good health 
which she has enjoyed through a lifetime much longer than is common to her 
species in captivity. The amount of nutrition required to simply maintain the 
existing condition of body, would of course be less than if the processes of 
growth were in full activity, and the assimilation of food, which is probably de- 
fective in most caged animals, would, as has been the case here, be sufficient to 
keep her in good condition. 

Between the orang and chimpanzee there is a marked difference in moral 

qualities. The latter is full of life, vigor, vivacity ; lively and child-like in dispo- 
sition, enjoying life to the full, and taking interest in all that goes on about it. 
Quite the reverse with the orang—it is slow, sluggish and calculating ; philosophi- 
cally indifferent to everything but its immediate wants—voluptuary and stoic in 
one—life is only for the means of living, and life itself is hardly worth the pain 
of an exertion. It is exasperating—the apathy of the orang; for hours it will lie 
wrapped in a blanket close to the front of the cage, lazily following with its eyes 
the motions of any person within its range of vision, or slowly blinking at a strag- 
gling fly upon the glass, moving—when it must move—only with the greatest de- 
liberation. If left hanging by one hand to a rope or branch, there it will hang, 
perhaps for several minutes, before making up its mind to take hold with the 
other or let go altogether. Laterly the contrast in the disposition of the animals 
has been made very striking by the presence in one cage of specimens of each 
species. A second pair of chimpanzees, about the same size as the orang, were 
placed with her, and with their natural liveliness at once made overtures of ac- 
quaintance, which were as promptly repulsed, and during the first week she suf- 
fered so much fright and uneasiness from their perfectly good-natured attempts to 
induce her to join in their play, that it became necessary to partition off with 
wire screens a corner of the apartment, and there, hour after hour, while the two 
chimpanzees are climbing, swinging and tumbling about the cage, never at rest 
except to plan some new scheme of amusement, the orang lies flat on her back, 
fingers and toes closely interlocked in the air, enjoying a dolce far niente, the relish 
of which she seems to intensify by quiet wonder at the reckless prodigality of 
force indulged in by her neighbors. 

This stolidity is characteristic of the species in a wild state; there they live 
mostly in the tree tops, cautiously crawling from branch to branch, testing every 
limb before resting their weight upon it, moving only to satisfy the demands of 
hunger, and-when that stimulus to action ceases, subsiding into a half-sitting posi- 
tion with the trunk or branch of a tree to hold up the back, head bowed on the 
breast, hands hanging down—not asleep—it can be nothing but laborious thought 
that produces such perfect bodily repose. Who can tell how deeply the medita- 
tive orang has penetrated into the mysteries of the cosmogony of which he is a 
part? how many systems of philosophy have dawned, after hours of reflection, 
into his weary brain? how deeply he has pondered on the origin and destiny of | 


THE KINDRED OF MAN. x 633 


his race, and to how many metaphysical final causes has his speculative career 
traced its way ? 

The orang is really not so stupid as appearances would have it, and it is an 
interesting fact that the actions of the one in question once gave evidence—and 
the only evidence the writer has ever observed among the lower animals—of what 
seemed to be some understanding of death. Another orang had been procured 
as a mate, and arrived in bad health; it was exceedingly irritable, and though 
weak from disease, managed to appropriate the only blanket in the cage, and 
fought off the rightful proprietor whenever she approached. This, with other griev- 
‘ances, caused Topsey to regard the intruder with marked dislike and fear. She 
watched it from a distance all through the several days of illness, and the more 
attentively as the last moments drew near and pain and weakness were showing 
plainly their ravages, until finally, after a hard struggle, the little sufferer lay 
motionless and dead, then, for the first time, she drew near, looked at the body 
for a moment, pushed it with one hand, and then after putting her nose close 
down against its face, as if to listen for a breath or any sign of life, she began 
pulling from under it the coveted blanket which it was no longer able to defend, 
and in the most satisfied manner wrapped herself up and laid down in peace. 

Much less opportunity has been afforded for critical observation of the re- 
maining anthropoids—the gorilla and the gibbons—as few of either have been 

“kept in captivity; but the former may fairly be considered as not presenting 
marked mental differences from the chimpanzee, and the latter seem in all re- 
spects to be below the level of the others. 

In considering the proper station of man and these animals in the zoological 
system, a brief glance must be given at the other members of the order to which 
they belong. 

Three remaining families complete the group of Primates: the Catarrhini, 
embracing all the monkeys of Africa and Asia, and the Platyrhini, inhabiting 
‘tropical America and the West Indies. Besides these are usually included in the 
order, the Lemurini, a large and ill-assorted group known also as Prosimiz or 
half-apes, all of which fundamentally are of the monkey type of structure, but 
many forms of which partake also in the characters distinctive of bats, rodents 
and insectivores. The two groups of old and new world monkeys are very well 
distinguished by anatomical peculiarities ; thus in the Platyrhine group the nos- 
trils are far apart and look almost directly forward; there are no cheek pouches 
for the stowing away of food, nor any of the brightly-colored callosities on the 
haunches, which are common to many of the others; all the American monkeys 
have long tails, which in many species are strongly prehensile and serve almost 
the purpose of a hand, while in all of Atrica and Asia not a prehensile-tailed 
monkey is known, and a number of species, including the higher apes, have no 
tails at all; in this group, too, the nostrils are close together and look downward. 
The number and arrangement of teeth correspond to that of man, while the great- 
‘er part of American monkeys have two more teeth in each jaw, and in those 
which do possess the same number the arrangement is unlike. Geographically 


634 - KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


and structurally the apes we have been describing belong to the old-world group, 
and geographically and structurally, too, man’s alliances make it necessary to 
consider him a member of the same family. 

But though it is assuredly no part of the writer’s purpose to belittle the evi- 
dences of this genetic connection, the candid acknowledgment must be made, 
that a somewhat undue prominence has been given to the anthropoid apes in this 
respect—although probably more in popular misconception of what men of science 
have written than in anything which the writers themselves have intended to con- 
vey. : 
The points of resemblance are many and close, but the category contains. 
many in which each ape stands closer to man than do any of the others, and there 
are as many more, perhaps, in which similarity is found, not among the higher, 
but in some of the lowest of the monkey tribe. 

A full list of the points of close alliance would be far longer than the purpose 
of this paper demands, and it will be sufficient to mention a few cases of resem- 
blance and of difference, simply to indicate the complex nature of the relation- 
ship. 

The gorilla resembles man most in actual bulk, in size of the brain, in pro- 
portional length of the hand, and of the thumb and great toe to the spine, of the 
two segments of the arm to each other, and in the presence of the transversus 
pedis muscle; but he has no flexor longus pollicis in the hand, no plantaris and 
no flexor accessorius in the foot, both of which are found in man and most of the 
lower monkeys. 

The chimpanzee is man-like in shortness of arms compared with the spine 
and with the leg, in many details of brain structure and in the possession of a 
palmaris longus muscle, but the plantaris, the transversus pedis, and sometimes. 
the flexor accessorius are absent, and the flexor longus pollicis is variable. 

The orang excels in the proportion of hand to foot, in some details of the 
pelvis, and in general brain development is, perhaps, higher than either of the 
others; it also has the palmaris longus and a part only of the flexor accessorius, 
but the flexor longus pollicis, the plantaris and transversus pedis are absent, and 
the flexor longus hallucis belies its name by giving no tendon to the great toe. 

In the form of larynx, one of the gibbons comes quite near man, but in other 
respects is less like him than the other apes. 

The chimpanzee and gorilla, like man, have eight bones in the wrist and 
ankle, while the orang has one additional in each ; the human number of twelve 
ribs is found only in the orang, but to more than offset this, it has in the foot a 
special muscle, the opponens hallucis, making of the big toe almost a thumb, 
and of the foot almost a hand—a degraded structure which is not known in any 
other monkey nor in man. 

A close approach to the human form of teeth is found in the anthropoids, 
but for the reduced size of the canines, the absence of a space both in front and 
behind each canine, and in some details of the grinding surfaces of the molars, a 


THE KINDRED OF MAN. ° 635 


parallel is found only in some South American monkeys and in one of the lowly 
organized lemurs. 

The orang and gorilla have the same number of spinal vertepree as man, but 
in the curves of the backbone which they form, and which are vitally important 
to his habitual attitude, the baboons bear a closer resemblance. So, too, with 
the position of the occipital foramen in the base of the skull, enabling the head 
to preserve a balance on the vertebral column—a necessary condition of an up- 
right posture—and in the cranio-facial angle, a similar gap between man and the 
anthropoids, with a closer approximation on the part of some of the lower forms, 
may be traced. 

Owing to the articulations of the tarsal bones, no animal but man can habit- 
ually walk erect, and the apes can approach such a position only with the help of 
some external support ; the gorilla, chimpanzee and orang all walk by touching 
the ends of the fingers or the knuckles on the ground, and in the gibbons the 
arms are so long that the animal swings itself between them as on a pair of 
crutches. Some of the South American monkeys, however, notably those of the 
genus Ateles, are able to walk erect on the hinder extremities for a considerable 
distance, the long tail serving, to some extent, to preserve the balance. 

It has been asserted and maintained by a number of European anatomists, 
against the venerable authority of Professor Owen, that in the anthropoid brain, 
the backward projection of the posterior lobes of the cerebrum overlap and com- 
pletely hide the cerebellum from view, when looked at from above, as is the case 
in man—an almost steady progression from the lowest types of brain towards this 
arrangement being found throughout the mammalian series. It must be said, 
however, that in three chimpanzees from which the brains were removed, a. few 
hours after death, by Professor H. C. Chapman and the writer, in spite of pre- 
conceived notions, this was found to be clearly not the case, and in the orang, 
the cerebellum was covered to a very slight extent only, postero-laterally. There 
are few of the lower monkeys, however, in which the man-like relation of these 
parts does not exist, and in one, at least, the squirrel monkey (Chrysothrix) of 
South America, this posterior projection is even greater than in man himself. 

Observation renders it quite probable that mental capacity in these animals 
has, to a considerable degree, maintained a relation to the complexity of detail in 
brain structure, although undoubtedly, from a mere comparison of human and 
anthropoid brains, a far greater degree of intellectual power than that which 
really exists, might be expected from the latter; it should be remembered, how- 
ever, in favor of the ape, that the specimens from which our ideas of their intelli- 
gence have been derived, have for the most part, been very young, and it is pos- 
sible that more mature age may bring with it a higher degree of mental faculty. 
On the whole, however, it is quite certain that the intelligence of the lower ani- 
mals has been greatly overestimated. All experienced observers of their actions 
know how easy it is to place a motive and an understanding where none probably 
exist. It is difficult, except after long training, to withstand the influence of the 
subjective tendencies of the mind, which lead the observer to translate into the 


636 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


terms of his own intelligence, those actions which seemingly correspond to his- 

own desires, and there are few works on this subject in which constant evidence 

is not given of its presence. In experimenting with the animals which form the 
subject of this paper, the difficulty was constantly met with, and a large propor- 

tion of the phenomena observed were set aside, reluctantly in many cases, be- 

cause of the doubt. 

In the slow development of anatomical structure, the presence or absence of 
a single bone or muscle must be of vast importance in working out the pedigree 
of an organism, and enough has been said to show how varied are the directions. 
in which man’s alliances seem to point.. 

It is held generally, in popular misconceptions a the doctrine of evolution, 
that man is a direct descendant of the higher apes, and the gorilla is commonly 
looked on as. being his nearest progenitor. From thestandpoint of science, how- 
ever, no student of biology will maintain that the ancestry of man has yet been 
fully traced, but will limit himself to the conviction that at some period of the 
prehistoric world, the forces of nature, acting from without, on the plastic ma- 
terials of life, have brought down from an unknown point of departure—perhaps 
among the lemurs—two diverging lines of development, one of which finds its. 
present type in man, the other in the Catarrhine monkeys and their highest form. 
—the anthropoids. 

Perhaps the future of science may unfold the details of development, but to: 
do this it is probable that ages of geological upheaval will be required to bring 
above the ocean continents long buried, in which the process took place and in 
which the records are contained. 

Manlike as are the apes, there is a contrast which the resemblance serves, in 
great part, but to intensify—anatomy finds similarity throughout and takes note of 
little that is unlike, while function, based upon these structures, has become so 
specialized and elevated during progress from the lower to the higher, as to become 
almost difference, and man and ape are in fact, as in time, separated by a gulf so 
vast that the furthest reach of science can catch, as yet, but shadowy outlines 
of the other side.—American Naturalist. 


THE CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE NEW MEXICAN CANONS. 


The archzeological and ethnological explorations in the southwestern terri- 
tory, of which the 77z6une published an account at the close of last season’s work, 
have been continued with success under the direction of Prof. Powell during the 
season which has just ended. The wisdom of Congress in making provision for 
this work three or four years ago is becoming strikingly apparent as the railroads 
extend their lines into this, the most interesting region to the archzeologist within 
the borders of the republic.. Private collectors and specimen hunters are now 
overrunning the places which are thus made accessible, and all that remains of 
scientific interest which is movable becomes their spoil. The already abundant 


THE CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE NEW MEXICAN CANONS. 637 


collection of specimens in possession of the National Museum will become price- 
less as the opportunity for their duplication passes away. 

The incompleteness of the work of exploring may be inferred from the fact 
that many of the ancient cliff villages seen by exploring parties during the last 
three months were merely sketched from a distance. They appeared to be in a 
remarkable state of preservation, but were not even visited. These villages, so 
far as could be learned from Indian guides, were never before looked upon by the 
eye of civilized man. ‘They were inaccessible by any means at the command of 
the explorers, who, of course, will not rest satisfied until in some future trip they 
have reached them and carried away their treasures. The collections made from 
New Mexico and Arizona already number somewhere between 25,000 and 35,- 
000 specimens of pottery, stone implements, weapons of war, articles of husband- 
ry, musical instruments and a thousand and one things which appertain to and 
illustrate the daily life of the people who made and used them. Two parties, es- 
pecially charged with the branch of science work referred to, were sent into New 
Mexico and Arizona lastsummer. One, in charge of Victor Mindeliff, went to 
the Moqui country, in northwestern Arizona, to make surveys of the Indian villages 
and ruins to be found in the region known as the province of Tusavon. The 
other party, under the direction of James Stevenson, has recently returned. It 
took for its field of exploration the cliff villages and ruins in the Cafion de Chelly 
and its branches. The main cafion has very rarely been visited by white men, 
and its branches—some of which are equal to it in extent, in grandeur of scenery 
and scientific interest—have, it is believed, never before been explored. 

The ‘‘ nests” (no other word is so expressive for the purpose) of the old 
dwellers herein were built, like those of wasps, in crevices of the cliff. The 
places selected were too small from front to rear to be properly termed caves. 
They were probably formed by the swirling eddies of the torrent, ages ago, 
before it found its way down to its present bed, hundreds of feet below. The 
solid upper crust is long and forms a lofty, sloping roof over a whole village. 
What could have been the character and habits of life of generations born and 
brought up amid such surroundings, with a sky of dull red rock overhead, with 
the outer world possibly narrowed to the limits between the two walls of the 
cafion, and even that outer world inaccessible except by a perilous feat of climbing: 
such as none but expert gymnasts of this day would care to attempt; a little 
world upon which the Sun could only shine two or three hours of its daily round. 
It is to answer these question as well as may be that the explorers were sent out. 

Colonel Stevénson was led to the selection of the Cafion del Muerte, in pref- 
erence to others which branched off from the main cafion, upon either side, by 
the representations of his chief Indian guide, who said that ruins of a more in- 
teresting character than elsewhere were to be found there. The party entered 
the mouth of the cafion and went a day’s journey along its bottom until they 
reached a place beyond which their wagons could not go, and here they estab- 
lished their camp. The walls of the cafion were of nearly uniform height, about 
1,000 or 1,200 feet from top to base, always perpendicular, except where great 


658 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


piles of debris, broken from the cliffs, had filled up a portion of the space below ; 
now approaching each other, narrowing the cafion to a mere crevice in the earth 
less than too feet in width, and again spreading out half a mile apart. 

Proceeding on foot three miles beyond the camp, the explorers found the 
ruins of a cliff village, so well preserved and remarkable that it more than 
fulfilled ‘he promises of the guide. The place must have been the home of 
between 2,000 and 3,000 human beings. It occupied two ‘ caves” under 
the same roof, but partially separated by a projection of rock. The ex- 
tremes of the habitable floor were 1,500 feet apart, while the width from the 
rear wall of the cave to the edge of the precipice below might have been one- 
twelfth that distance. ‘The floor of the two wider portions of the cave was 
studded thick with dwellings built of square stones laid in mortar, all of which 
were in a state of ruin. An edifice of grander proportions, and almost as well 
preserved as in the day of its cccupation, nearly filled up the narrow space in 
front of the dividing rock projection to the edge of the precipice. 

The fortress-like structure referred to consisted of along, narrow building one 
story in height, divided into many rooms or dwellings, opening into each other, 
but having no communication with the outside except through the towers which 
stood at either end. ‘The largest of these towers—that at the southern end—was 
three stories in height, with the joists for each of the upper floors projecting two 
or three feet beyond the outer walls. Holes through the floors formed the means 
of communication between the different stories, while window-like openings from 
the second story of the towers, looking out upon the roof of the connecting one- 
story structure, formed the only mode of exit from the fortress, if such it was. 
An inhabitant of one of the central apartments of this building, avishing to emerge 
to daylight and pure atmosphere, must have been compelled to pass through the 
bed-rooms and kitchens of all his fellow-tenants upon one side into the tower; 
then to climb up through the ceiling to the second story of the tower, swing him- 
self by a wooden bar which still remains in place, out of one of the windows up- 
on the roof of his dwelling, and thence pass by a ladder down to the floor of the 
cave—the ‘‘street’’ of the village. If his duty or pleasure led him to a greater 
distance, he still had the perilous journey before him down the rocky ladder, 300 
feet to the bottom of the cafion. 

Many interesting architectural designs were noted by the explorers, which can 
not be described here. No evidence of the use or knowledge of metals was 
found; stone implements fashioned all the materials out of which the structure 
was built, of which fact the rough but careful chiseling of the stone gave abun- 
dant evidence. Cross-pieces were laid upon the joists for the flooring of the tow- 
ers, and upon these pieces twigs about the diameter of a man’s finger were ar- 
ranged side by side, but in series which formed a curious mosaic of angles and 
squares. In the larger division of the cave, and in the smaller division, one of 
the curious circular structures which might have been the places of worship, or 
perhaps of amusement, of the cave-dwellers, was found. 

The structures are common enough in that section of the country, but these . 


THE CLIFF-DWELLERS OF THE NEW MEXICAN CANONS. 639 


were different in many respects from any before examined by the members of the 
party, and especially different in their interior ornamentation, which was quite 

elaborate. In one of them a wide band, laid on in bright, durable colors, ran 
entirely around the structure, resembling a Greek fret, with narrower bands above 
and below and with the interior spaces filled with curious artistic designs, the 
meaning of which none of the party could guess. Evidence of the long use of 
these places for some purpose was found in the fact that some seventy or eighty 
different thin’ layers of mud had been plastered upon the interior, each having 
in its time borne its own ornamentation in colors. The roofs of the buildings 
were gone, and the floors were covered with debris. 

It was at this village that the discovery of skeletons was made. J. Stanley 
Brown, who accompanied Col. Stevenson, was one morning climbing over a 
portion of the ruins which had not before been visited, and observed some small 
round poles projecting from the face of the bluff, to which fact he called atten- 
tion. By scraping away the debris, human skulls were reached, and further ef- 
forts disclosed entire skeletons. A regular burial-place of the ancients had here 
been broken into; two complete skeletons, with parts of two others, were found. 
Great care had evidently been taken to place the bodies away in the manner best 
calculated to insure their preservation. The place of their interment was in 
shape like a large oval baking oven, and the desiccated remains, in sitting post- 
ure, with knees and chin touching, had been placed within. Thecontents of the 
tomb were carefully exhumed and are now on their road to the museum. Hair 
of a brownish hue, which may, however, have been black at the time of burial, 
is still found clinging to the skulls; while the shriveled flesh and skin, as hard as 
stone, remains upon some of the lower limbs. 

Another village in this cafion of equal extent and similarly situated, though 
in a more advanced stage of ruin, was visited, and some exceedingly interesting 
discoveries were made. Among the debris of the fallen building sandals, finely 
woven, but resembling nothing with which the present occupants of this Territory 
are familiar, were found, as aiso were portions of matting and of garments made 

from the fiber of the yucca. KHvidences of the great antiquity of some of these 
ruins are mixed with those of later occupancy in a manner most confusing to the 
archeologist. The Indian guide, George, in reply to an inquiry upon the sub- 
ject, said that the Navajo tradition went back twelve times the length of the 
life of their oldest chief, now eighty years of age, and that the ruins existed unoc- 
cupied then. This carries one back about 1,000 years, but the evidence is hard- 
ly reliable.—V. Y. Tribune. 


640 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


THE MOA AT HOME. 
EDWIN E. HOWELL. 


Every one who has written anything about New Zealand for the past thirty 

or forty years, whether about its inhabitants, its archzeology, its natural history 

or its geology, has had much to tell us about the great wingless birds that once 

inhabited that group of islands. From this great mass of material we have en- 

deavored to sift out the leading and most important facts and present them to the- 
readers of the Budletin in a brief summary. 

The Rev. Richard Taylor, F. G. S., thinks he was the first discoverer of the 
Moa (the name given to all these great fossil birds). While journeying to Poverty 
Bay, in the early part of 1839, he found the bone of a Moa near the East Cape, 
which the natives told him was the bone of a large bird which they called Tarepo, 
and which lived on the top of Hikurangi, the highest mountain on the east coast. 
He found later that the natives of the west coast called the bones Moa, and were 
entirely ignorant of the name Tarepo. 

It seems probable, however, that to the Rev. W. Colenso, F. G. S.. belongs 
the honor of first discovery of the Moa, as he was the first, also, to investigate 
the nature of the fossil remains and determine the struthious affinities of the birds. 
to which the bones belonged. In 1842 he wrote: ‘‘ During the summer of 1838 
I accompanied the Rev. W. Williams on a visit to the tribes inhabiting the East 
Cape district. While at Waiapu I heard from the natives of a certain monstrous 
animal, while some said it was a bird, and others a person. All agreed that it 
was called a Moa; that in general appearance it somewhat resembled an. immense 
domestic cock, with the difference, however, of its having a ‘face like a man’s; ’ 
that it lived on air, and that it was attended or guarded by two immense Tuataras, 
who Argus-like, kept incessant watch while the Moa slept. Also, that if any one- 
ventured toapproach the dwelling of this wonderful creature he would be invaria- 
bly trampled on and killed by it. A mountain named Wakapunaki, at least 
eighty miles distant, in a southerly direction, was spoken of as the residence of 
this creature; here, however, only one existed, which it was generally contend- 
ed, was the sole survivor of the Moa race. Yet they could not assign any possi- 
ble reason why it should have become all but extinet. While, however, the ex- 
istence of the Moa was universally believed (in fact to dare to doubt of such a be- 
ing amounted, in the native estimation, to a very high crime), no one person 
could be found who had ever seen it. Many of the natives, however, had from 
time to time seen very large bones, larger, from their account, than those of an. 
ox; these bones they cut up into small pieces for the purpose of fastening to their 
fish hooks as a lure, instead of the Haliotis shell.” 

Other Europeans have been told this same myth, and other high mountains. 
have been designated as the dwelling place of this strange creature. It is hardly 


THE MOA AT HOME, 641 


necessary to add, however, that subsequent explorations have failed to reveal the 
hiding place of ‘‘the last Moa,” and that we owe our entire knowledge of the 
bird to the study of its fossil remains. These have been found in many places 
and under varying conditions. 

According to Dr. Haast, ‘‘ the oldest beds containing Moa bones, are proved 
to belong to the great glacier period, where they occur in morainic accumulations 
and silt beds, as well as in fluviatile deposits, formed by rivers having issued from 
the terminal face of gigantic glaciers during that period. Here they have been 

_traced as low as roo feet below the surface. In the loess deposits they are also 
of frequent occurrence, where their existence has been proved to a depth of more 
than fifty feet. Advancing to the quaternary period, Moa bones are found in 
turbary deposits or in silt or loess on the plains or lower hills, in caves and in 
fissures of rocks, in fact, everywhere where favorable conditions for their preser- 
vation prevailed. 

“From the observations we were thus able to make the conclusion has been 
forced upon us that these gigantic birds must have been able to sustain life over 
a long period, because the same species which occur in the lower lacustrine and 
fluviatile deposits are again found in the bogs and swamps, in the fissures of rocks, 
and in the kitchen middens of the Moa-hunting race, which latter evidently marks. 
the end of the Dinornis age.” 

Dr. Hector mentions heaps of bones with stone implements, on the top of 

* Corrio Mountains (South Island), 5,000 feet above the sea level. 

Mr. B. S. Booth, (Transactions of New Zealand Institute, 1874), gives a 
very interesting description of a Moa swamp at Hamilton. 

Mr. Booth says: ‘‘ The surface lagoon, before being disturbed, was rather 
higher than the surrounding surface, and consisted of from one to two feet of 
black peat mixed with a blackish silt which rested on and was mixed with the 
bones to the very bottom ” Below the bones there was one foot of a fine whit- 
ish, very soft, and somewhat elastic clay. ‘The bones were deposited princi- 
pally in the northeast part of the lagoon, in a space exactly the shape of a half 
moon, forty feet from point to point, and eighteen feet across the center, and 
varying from two to four feet deep.” 

He estimates that nearly seven tons of bones were taken out of this space, 
most of which were badly decomposed, and that the number of individual birds 
could not have been less than 4oo. ‘The bones ‘‘ lay in every imaginable compli- 
cation of tangle,”” with ‘‘no bone on top.” 

‘“A great quantity of quartz gravel and smooth pebbles occurred among the 
bones, and in the shallowest parts of the deposit, under pelves or breast bones 
which had not been disturbed, they lay in bunches. ‘‘ There was no gravel in 
the lagoon except amongst the bones, and no small gutter or water course could 
be found by which it might have come in.” 

The only explanation, apparently, which can be given for the presence of the 
pebbles is that they were brought there in the gizzards of the birds. This theory 
is supported by numerous instances where similar pebbles have been found con- 


642 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


nected with Moa bones in such a way as to admit of no other explanation than 
that they were connected with the birds. The bones on the top were in a much 
better state of preservation than those at the botiom. There were a large number 
of bones that had been broken and healed. ‘‘A disease of the foot appeared to 
have been very prevalent amongst them, as a great number of the joints presented 
unmistakable indications of rot, so much so that some of the toe joints had even 
grown together.” 

There were no bones of young birds near the top, and no fragments of eggs 
were found anywhere in the deposit, although careful search was made for them. 

After stating these and other facts, Mr. Booth goes on to discuss the differ- | 
ent theories to account for this wonderful accumulation of bones. He shows that 
they could not have been deposited by running water, neither could the Moas 
have been surrounded and driven in there in such great numbers by sweeping 
fires, the birds could not have been bogged, certainly not the latter ones, with 
two or three feet of solid bones under them. And that the bones were not 
thrown there by savages seems proven by the fact that not a trace of their work 
could be found, not a hacked or scratched bone nor an implement or trinket of 
any kind. 

Mr. Booth thinks that a true explanation of the deposit explains the extinc- 
tion of the Moa, at least in that section, and that that time was much earlier than 
the date generally accepted, and was caused by the gradual lowering of the tem- 
perature until the warmth of the earth and air was not sufficient to hatch the eggs 
of these birds, from which time they gradually declined, until they finally all dis- 
appeared. ‘‘ When the frost and snow of winter began to set in, though far 
milder than now, it would have distressed the Moa, as on account of its great 
size it could not find shelter like smaller birds, hence it would select places where 
it found the most warmth. 

The spring water in the bone pit being of the same temperature as the earth, 
and far above freezing point (in fact, it may have been a thermal spring), when 
all around the bird could not put down his foot without being bitten with frost, 
or without placing it in snow and ice, what would be more natural for them than 
to step into this comparatively warm water, which, to some extent, would relieve 
their suffering from cold in their lower extremities. ‘Thus, the period when frost 
and snow began to set in I place as the commencement of the deposit of bones in 
this pit. The accumulation would have been very gradual, perhaps for centuries, 
and the periodical deposits would only have increased at the same rate as the 
frost and snow. This process continuing, until not even in the most favored 
places would their eggs hatch, and the last of their race were, therefore doomed 
to annihilation, a period would arrive which must have been with the poor birds 
a time of indescribable suffering. Thus afflicted with pain, famishing with hun- 
ger (as whatever their food was it lay deep under the snow-mantle of the earth), 
and finding cruel nature arrayed against them, pinching their bodies with pierc- 
ing winds, from which they had no shelter, and cutting their feet with ice and 
frost, were it only as an alleviation of pain when dying, I can see nothing more 


THE MOA AT)HOME. 643 


natural than for them to have plunged into this spring. The water being of the 
same temperature as the earth, would feel quite warm to them, and there being 
no inducement for them to get out, as their food was cut off, they would settle in 
deeper and deeper, and remain till numbness and hunger put an end to their suf- 
fering. 

Hence I-account for the bones being soundest on the top, as they would 
have been deposited so much later. Hence, also, I account for there being no 

bones of young birds on top, as it was long after incubation ceased that the old 
family was gathered to its resting place. Hence I account for the absence of 
egg-shells, as these deposits only took place in the winter season, which was nev- 
er the breeding season with the birds. And by the trampling round of the birds 
when in the spring, I account for the equal distribution generally of the gravel 
amongst the bones; the trampling being the disturbing cause from which alone 
some bunches of gravel from the gizzards escaped by being covered with a breast 
bone or pelvis. 

Mr. Booth further adds: ‘‘If itis asked, why are there no bones in the 
surrounding lagoons? my answer is, that as they are all (as far as I have examin- 
ed)surface lagoons, they would have been frozen over when the cold drove the 
birds into the spring water which never froze.” 

This theory of Mr. Booth has much to recommend it, and we agree with 
him that the theory of cold seems more plausible to account for the heaps of 
bones at Lake Wakatipu, described by Dr. Hector, than the theory of fire which 
the Doctor advances. The Moas would certainly have been quite as likely to 
have sought shelter under a precipitous ledge of rocks to protect them from cold 
snow storms as from sweeping fires, and would have been much more likely to 
have reached such shelter. Notwithstanding, they perished in clusters. This 
occurring periodically, perhaps for many years, would naturally account for the 
many distinct skeleton heaps found by the Doctor in that place. 

Many many pages have been written in relation to the time the Moa became 
extinct. That it was contemporary with man, and owes its final extinction to him, 
is a fact accepted by all, but whether the old Moa hunters were the ancestors of 
the present New Zealanders or, if not, whether the ancestors of the Maories hunted 
the Moa at all, or inhabited the islands before the Moas were all gone, is still a 
disputed question, with competent observers on each side. 

As bearing on the time when the Moa became extinct in that part of the 
South Island, we quote again from Mr. Booth’s paper, ‘‘I find below a certain 
level that would leave the whole Maniototo plains under water, there are no Moa 
bones to be found, with the exception of about the mouths of the burns coming 
in from the hills, where the bones have been brought down by freshets.”’ ci 
* = ‘Now what does this fact point to? The only answer I can 
give is that the Moa was extinct in this locality when the whole Maniototo plains, 
from the level spoken of, were yet under water.’’ ‘These statements by Mr. Booth 
agree well with the position maintained so stoutly by Dr. Haast, previously quot- 
ed, who is the strongest and most prominent defender of the theory of the early 


644 KANSAS CITY xnEVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


extinction of the Moa throughout the whole of New Zealand. He claims that it 
became extinct before the occupation of the islands by the present Maori race, 
and gives us a great deal of geological data in support of this position. At Moa- 
bone Point cave he found a stratum ‘‘three or four inches in thickness, mostly 
consisting of refuse matter from human occupation, and of ashes. It was es- 
pecially in some localities, as for instance near the entrance of the cave, replete 
with kitchen middens of the Moa-hunters,” among which were found polished 
and unpolished stone implements, a few small tools made of bone, personal orna-- 
ments, fire sticks, etc.. ‘‘ And now as it were at once, the Moa-hunters disap- 
peared from the scene,” and the cave remained uninhabited for a considerable 
space of time, as shown by ‘‘the clear line of demarcation between that layer 
and the shell bed above it, in which no Moa bones were found,” and by the de- 
posit of blown sand between the two, about a foot thick at the entrance of the 
cave, and gradually thinning out as it advanced toward the interior. Below this 
line, Moa bones and fragments of egg-shells were very abundant, and with them 
-were the bones of seals and a few other animals. Above this line, which doubt- 
less represents a long interval of time, there were no remains of the Moa to be 
found, and the deposits showed the cave to have been occupied for a long period 
by a race who lived mostly upon shell-fish, a food which was apparently used 
very little by the Moa hunters. Dr. Haast and others give us the details with 
reference to a number of other localities which tell the same story, viz: That the 
Moa and Moa-hunters flourished and passed away, and that another race, with 
different habits, after a long interval, occupied the same places; still after all it 
may have been the same Moa-hunting race returned, after long wanderings, to 
their former habitat. There being no more Moas to eat, they feasted on shell- 
fish. 

The Reverends W. Colenso and J. W. Stack, gentlemen versed in Maori lore, 
have reached nearly the same conclusions as Dr. Haast, from entirely different 
data. According to these gentlemen, the old traditions, songs, and poetry of the 
New Zealanders furnish no evidence that they knew aught of the Dinornis. The 
word Moa occurs but seldom in their songs and legends, and has various other 
meanings besides that of a large bird, and it was sometimes used figuratively in 
allusion to the myth that the Moa lived on air. A love-sick maiden who mourn- 
ed her lover and would not eat was christened Hinemoa (the young lady who 
lived on air). | 

Mr. Colenso has evidently given this whole subject a great deal of time and 
careful study. In his paper, written in 1842, previously referred to, he says: 
‘‘From native tradition we gain nothing to aid us in our inquiries after the prob- 
able age in which this animal lived; for although the New Zealander abounds in 
traditionary lore, both natural and supernatural, he appears to be totally ignorant 
of anything concerning the Moa, save the fabulous stories already referred to,”’ 
and thinks it certain that this would not be the case if such an animal lived within 
the times of the present race, but in an exhaustive paper published in the Trans- 


TAE moa @ Sime T HOME. 645 


actions of the New Zealand Institute, three years ago, he sums up his final con- 
clusions thus: 


1. ‘That the bird AZoa (some of those of its genera and species) was really 
known to the ancient Maori. 

2. ‘‘That such happened very long ago, in almost prehistorical times: 
long defore the beginning of their genealogical descents of tribes, which, as we 
know extended back for more than twenty-five generations. 

3.  ‘* That this conclusion is the only logical deduction from all that I have 
been able to gather; whether myth, legend, proverb, song, or the etymological 
rendering of proper names of places, persons, etc,” 


In regard to the numerous accounts published of Maori descriptions of the 
Moa, he says: ‘‘ From January, 1838, (when I first heard of the Moa), down to 
1842, and later, no man could possibly do more than I did in my quest after it, 
and no man could have had better opportunities.” Es cs *k ‘¢ And 
I again assert, that it was through me that the Maoris generally got to know of 
the M/oa having been a veal (or common) &zrd. I showed them repeatedly, at 
the station, the plates in Rees’ cyclopzdia, containing all the S¢ruthzous birds, 
and told them of their habits, etc., and of the opinion of the extinct Moa; that 
information was catried almost everywhere (with, no doubt, many additions), and 
that information, together with simple leading questions on the part of the in- 
quirers (especially when put by the governor of the colony, or any superior, — 
which, according to Maori etiquette, would not be negatived even if wrong) and, 
also, with but a small knowledge of the Maori tongue on the part of the Euro- 
peans, fully explains all ¢o me, and that very satisfactorily.” 

Mr. Colenso remarks that the condition of things forty years ago, or before 
the colony was established, was very different from what it is now, and says his 
inquiries ‘‘were carried everywhere throughout the length and breadth of the 
North Island ; they were the constant theme of conversation among the Maoris, 
who then had little of a novel nature to talk over,—increased, from the fact of 
rewards being offered for bones, feathers (if any) and for information.” 

It requires but little knowledge of the workings of the savage mind to see the 
force of these arguments. 

Notwithstanding, many competent observers believe that the Moa became 
extinct in very recent times, Dr. Hector, Director of the New Zealand Geolog- 
ical Survey, among the number. Mr. Walter Mantell (son of the eminent geolo- 
gist) was the first explorer of the artificial Moa beds, soon after the settlement of 
the colony, and advanced the idea that Moas existed to very recent times. And 
Mr. Mantell seems very certain that Maoris in the south at the date of his early 
explorations, in 1846, were well acquainted with the former existence of the Moas 
and the circumstances which led to their extinction. He also thinks that canni- 
balism prevailed, but in the North Island only, at the time the Moa was used for 
food. 

Several bones of the Moa, with the dried ligaments still attached, have been 


646 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


found, together with portions of the skin and a few feathers; although Dr. Haast. 
claims that the conditions were exceptionally favorable for their long preservation, 
others contend that they cannot be very many years old. 

Capt. Hatton thought that the weight of evidence goes to show that the re- 
mains from the Earnsclugh cave ‘‘are not very old, and that probably they do 
not date further back than the commencement of the present century,” but in 
speaking of the bones with dried skin from the Knobby Ranges, found more re- 
cently (1874) in a crevice among the rocks, he says: ‘‘ The extraordinary juxta- 
position of decayed and lichen-covered bones with well preserved skin and flesh 
seems to me to point to some peculiarity in the atmosphere which enabled flesh 
to resist decay when shaded from the rays of the Sun, and by no means to prove 
that the bird to which this neck and flesh belonged lived at a later date than 
those whose bones we now find buried under the soil.” 

D. W. Murrison thinks that if what Dr. Haast and Mr. Colenso say is true 
for the North Island. it certainly cannot be made to apply to the South Island, 
and says, ‘‘I think from the evidence we are in possession of, there is every 
reason to suppose that the Dinornis has existed within the last hundred years.” 
And thus the discussion is kept up as to the time when the Moa became extinct. 

As a sample of the traditions which Mr, Colenso explains away, we quote 
from Mr. J. W. Hamilton (Trans. N. Z. Inst., 1874): ‘‘In 1844, at Wellington, 
I was present, as Governor Fitzroy’s private secretary, at a conversation held 
with a very old Maori, who asserted that he had seen Capt. Cook. This Maori, 
so far as my memory now serves me, I should guess was seventy years old, at 
all events he was brought forward as the oldest of his people then residing about 
Port Nicholson. Being asked had he ever seen a Moa, he replied, ‘ Yes, he had 
seen the last one that had been heard of,’ and on being questioned described it 
as a very large bird with a neck like that of a horse.” Mr. H. further says: 
‘In 1844, and for many years later, it was believed by our people for a certainty 
that the Moa was still to be found alive in the South Island, of which very little 
was then known,” and that stories were currently reported of one or two old 
settlers in the south about Otago and Foveaux Straits who had actually eaten 
Moa flesh. 

For the details of the osteology of these birds we must refer our readers to 
Prof. Richard Owen’s description published in the Transactions of the Zodlogical 
Society of London, begun in November, 1839. Prof. Owen at first made two 
genera, Dinornis and Palapteryx, but afterward discarded the latter genus and re- 
ferred all the different species to the genus Dznornis. 

In 1875, Dr. Haast, Director of the Canterbury Museum, proposed two 
families, with two genera in each family, thus: Family Démornithide : (a) genus 
Dinornis ; (b) genus Metonornis, and family Palapierygide : (a) genus Palapieryx 5 
(b) genus Luryapteryx. 

Under these four genera, as proposed by Dr. Haast, there fee been about 
twenty species described. ‘These species are founded mainly on the size and 
proportion of the bones—particularly the bones of the leg, and it is not improba- 


THE MOA AP HOME. 647 


ble that as more careful comparisons are made of larger series of bones, the num- 
ber of species will be reduced. It is an interesting fact that Cook’s Straits, 
which separates the two islands, ‘‘seems to have been an effectual bar to any 
migration from one island to the other,” as the same species are not faund on 
both islands. Prof. Owen infers from the beak of the Dznornis, ‘‘ formed after 
the model of the adze or pick-axe,”’ and ‘‘the robust proportions of the cervical 
vertebre, especially of their spinous processes,” that it had ‘‘a more laborious 
task than the mere plucking of seeds, fruit, or herbage,” and that ‘‘the beak was 
associated with the feet in the labor of dislodging the farinaceous roots of the 
ferns that grow in characteristic abundance.in New Zealand.” 

Portions of dried skin and a few feathers of the Joa, as already stated, have 

been found ; the color of the barbs of the feathers are chestnut red and the round- 
ed portion of the tip is white. These feathers, according to Capt. Hatton, show 
the bird to have been more nearly allied to the American Rhea and Emu than to 
any of the struthious birds of the old world. 
Fragments of A/Zoa eggs are quite numerous, particularly in the kitchen mid- 
dens of the Moa-hunters, and a few nearly or quite perfect specimens have been 
found. Dr. Hector describes one 8.9x6.1 inches in diameter, which contained 
the remains of an embryonic chick. Another specimen measured 9.5 inches 
long. 

These are certainly monstrous eggs, and yet the fossil bird of Madagascar 
(Aepiornts), although a smaller bird than the great Dénornzs, laid a much larger 
egg, two specimens of which are in the Garden of Plants, Paris, and measure re- 
spectively 13x9 and r2x1oinchesindiameter. And yet, after all, neither of these 
birds laid as large an egg in comparison to its size as does the Apieryx of New 
Zealand at the present day. 

And now as a fitting close to this brief summary, we quote from Prof. 
Owen’s first paper on the Dinornis: <‘‘The extraordinary number of wingless 
birds, and the vast stature of some of the species peculiar to New Zealand and 
which have finally become extinct in that small tract of dry land, suggest it to be 
. the remnant of a larger tract or continent over which the singular struthious 
Fauna family ranged. One might almost be disposed to regard New Zealand as 
one end of a mighty wave of the unstable and ever shifting crust of the earth, 
of which the opposite end, after having been long submerged, has again risen 
with its accumulated deposits in North America showing us in the Connecticut 
sandstones of the Permian (Trias) period the foot-prints of the gigantic birds 
which trod its surface before it sank; and to surmise that the intermediate body 
of the land-wave, along which the Dnornis may have traveled to New Zealand, 
has progressively subsided, and now lies beneath the Pacific Ocean.” —Watural 
Science Bulletin. 


VI—41 


648 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


BOTANY. : 


SEEDS: THEIR PRESERVATION AND GERMINATION. 
REV. L. J. TEMPLIN. 


In all the realm of nature there are few if any other objects that conceal so 
many wonders or around which cluster so many interests as that of a perfect, 
living seed. ‘Though apparently possessing no more life than a grain of sand or 
a small gravel, yet hidden within that lifeless exterior, and folded away in those 
simple cerements, is a living germ, possessed of latent powers and energies, that, 
when subjected to favorable conditions, and animated by the vital principle, will 
develop a living, growing vegetable organism. ‘very seed is the product of a 
plant and is the result of the fertilizing influence of the pollen on the ovules of 
a flower. The parent plant has not only given life to each seed, but it has so 
stamped on it the parent’s nature and characteristics that the resulting plant must 
resemble its parent in all essential particulars. 

It is true that each plant may vary slightly from its parents, in those qualities 
that are not essential to specific existence, but these variations are always within 
narrow limits with a general tendency to revert back to the parental form. 

I am aware that many able scholars and noted naturalists hold the opinion 
that these variations may go on in a particular line until it results in the produc- 
tion of a new species; but that any species has ever been produced by such va- 
riation the proof is not forthcoming, although it has been ‘‘sought for carefully 
and (almost) with tears’’ by hundreds of the most careful observers and expert 
investigators of the age. A seed is strictly the product of nature. It is inimitas 
ble by art. With all his knowledge of the elements and his mastery over the - 
forces of nature, man cannot construct a seed. Men who seem ready to accept 
the theory that living organisms may arise, spontaneously, from lifeless matter, 
cannot, with all the materials of nature in their possession and all her forces at 
their command, in a single case produce life from non-living matter. They 
may manipulate, organize, and combine to the utmost of their skill, yet im the 
absence of the living principle, which comes alone from a vital connection with a 
previously living organism, no life will or can appear. Nothing short of a Divine 
Giver of life could have originated the seed. The office of the seed seems to be 
two-fold; first to facilitate the dispersion of plants by the ease with which they 
may be conveyed from one place to another; second, to perpetuate the species 
by the number of their production and the facilities their forms offer for preserva- 
tion from one season to another. 


SEEDS: THEIR PRESERVATION AND GERMINATION. 649 


Seeds vary almost infinitely in their form and construction as well as in the 
-constituent elements of which they are composed. A careful examination, how- 
ever, will show that every seed contains a living germ or embryo, which is really 
a plant in miniature, in or around which is stered up a supply of food for the 
nutriment of the young plant till it shall have attained age and strength to secure 
this from the soil and air. The materials thus stored up consist of starch, gluten, 
albumen, oils, gums, and various other substances. The kernel of most seeds is 
composed largely of starch and thealbuminous compounds. _ It differs, however, 
in different plants, being oleaginous in the poppy, castor bean and peanut; muci- 
laginous in the flax, fleshy in the peony and barberry, corneous or horny in the 
coffee, and having the appearance and consistence of ivory in the ivory-palm. 
The seeds of the cereal grains and of grasses are chiefly composed of starch. 
The wisdom and goodness of the Creator are strikingly shown in the selection of 
this material to compose the principal part of the seeds of that class of plants upon 
which not only the well being but the very existence of man and the higher ani- 
mals depend. Starch is not only a very important article of food but it is a sub- 
-stance not readily affected by cold or moisture, hence seeds composed of this 
material will endure great exposure without injury to their vitality. Germination, 
-or the awakening of the plant germ to active life is affected, and, to a considera- 
ble extent, controlled by several external influences. The plant food stored up 
in the seed cannot be appropriated to the use of the germ until reduced to a liquid 
‘condition. Or in other words the plant cannot digest solid food. But it must 
not only be dissolved but it must be conveyed from those parts of the seed where 
‘it is stored to the germ before it can be used by that or for its benefit. For these 
‘purposes water is essential to the germinating seed. But there is a limit to the 
amount of water that is beneficial to the seed at this time. 

Aquatic plants grow very well in the water, and many seeds of land plants 
will germinate when immersed in water, but they will not make a healthy growth 
in the presence of so much water as to exclude the air. For most seeds a moist 
‘but not wet soil is most conducive to a healthful germination and vigorous 
growth. 

The presence of atmospheric air is also essential to the proper germination 
‘of seed. This will be better understood when we consider the changes that take 
place in the seed during the process of germination. A growing plant in the 
‘presence of air and sunlight absorbs, through its leaves, carbonic acid from the 
‘air; this is decomposed in the plant and the oxygen is expelled while the carbon 
is employed in building up the plant structure. This process can take place only 
in the presence of sunlight. The reverse of this takes place in the process of ger- 
‘mination, which is generally most readily performed in the dark. During this pro- 
-cess the seed absorbs oxygen which, combining with a portion of the carbon of 
the seed, forms carbonic acid or carbonic anhydride, as the chemists now call it, 
which is given off to the surrounding air, thus reducing the substance of the 
‘seed. The total loss in this process, according to Boussingault, was, in an exper- 
‘iment of his as follows : 


650 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


TOTAL WEIGHT. 


She \6 Pe me AEN Poe ol) Cbd Meh. Oe Gin) dic Go So OZ 
Plamtyss 05) ye toa fink) ee spe teictich a led Peel tte kerk Pore meee) 
Difference 02 A mee hes, PG) ie doc ih ec LOO 


thus showing a loss of more than one-half of the solid substance of the seed dur- 
ing germination. . The process by which this matter disappears from the seed is 
a real combustion and results in the elevation of the temperature of the seed to a 
greater or less degree. 

The necessity of the presence of air to the germinating seed leads to the nec- 
essary conclusion that if seeds are buried so deeply in soil, or so surrounded by 
water as to exclude the air, germination cannot take place. The seeds may rot 
but they cannot grow. 

This leads to a consideration of the question as to the depth at which seeds 
should be planted. This will be found todepend upona variety of circumstances. 
It is evident that a small seed should not be planted as deeply as a large one. 
The depth should also vary with the climate and the soil. In a dry climate or a 
porous soil the seeds must be buried to a greater depth than if the reverse be true. 

This is necessary that the requisite amount of moisture may be secured at. 
the same time the aridity or porosity of the soil is more permeable to air, thus in- 
suring a supply of oxygen to the germinating seed at a greater depth than if the 
soil were compact or saturated. In some very dry countries it is necessary to 
bury seeds at a much greater depth than would be safe under other conditions. 
Thus it is said that the Indians on some of the dry plains of Colorado plant their 
corn ten to twelve inches deep, by this means securing sufficient moisture to in- 
sure its germination and growth, which it would not have if planted at a much 
less depth. As a general rule, in ordinary agricultural soil seeds may be planted 
to a depth of about five times their diameter w:th fair promise of success, varying 
from this according to the condition of the soil as to compactness and moisture. 

The limits of certain degrees of temperature are also essential to the healthy 
germination of seed. The seeds of some arctic and alpine plants are known to 
germinate at the temperature of melting ice, while some of a tropical habitat re- 
quire a temperature equal to that of our hottest days to awaken their germs into 
active life. Between these extremes seeds are found germinating at every varia- 
tion and degree of temperature. For all species of seeds there are certain limits 
above or below which they will not germinate. These limits vary, of course, 
with the different kinds of seeds. 

The following table, given by Johnson, (How Crops Grow, p. 133,) shows the 
extreme temperatures between which some of our most common agricultural 
plants germinate, and also the degree at which the process takes place most 
rapidly: 


SEEDS; THEIR PRESERVATION AND GERMINATION. 651 


LOWEST. HIGHEST. MOST RAPID. 
AWA ahs es tiiks PL eat mS ON: eyte IR  oe Gns Ie 
Beale Vary rss s ee Mareen Al 104 84 
IESE): Gi Be Seen aR eA ey as 102 84 
INUAIZER aye) eS sagen AO II5 93 
Seanlet sBeanis: 2 is: an 1/40 HE 1 1g 
Soiwaslieier Gale alneiein e054 T15 93 


Sachs, from extensive experiments with agricultural seeds, concludes that the 
lowest temperatures at which they will germinate range from 40° to 55°, and the 
highest from 102° to 116°. 

Géppert found none to germinate below 39°. DeCandolle sprouted mustard 
(Sinapis alba) at less than 32°, and thinks it would have germinated at a still 
lower temperature had it been possible to keep water around the seed in a liquid 
form at a temperature of 31.1° or 30.2°. 

Mustard germinated in seventeen days at the lowest degree at which water 
could be retained in liquid form. ‘The seeds of this plant,germinated at 


35.6° in fifteen days. 39.2° in nine days. 
54° to 68° in two days. 69.8° in one day. 


At 77° in a little over one day; at 82.4° only a small portion of the seeds 
came up after three days; at 104° none. 

It is said the cocoanut will not germinate readily under about 120° Germi- 
nation is influenced not only by the degree of heat but also by the uniformity of 
the temperature. 

In the investigation of the relation of heat to the phenomena of plant-growth 
Koppen has reached the conclusion that a uniform temperature is more favora- 
ble to plant-growth than a variable one even though the variable one be a higher 
one. He concludes that any variation in the temperature is prejudicial to the 
growth of the germ, and that a low but uniform temperature will result in a more 
rapid germination than a higher one if subject to variation. A uniform spring 
temperature with a cloudy sky is, in the opinion of this authority, more condu- 
cive to rapid development of vegetation than an alternation of hot days and cool 
nights though the average temperature be the same. Sachs is of the opinion that 
the degree of temperature at which germination takes place has an important in- 
fluence on the relative development of the different parts of the plant. A low 
temperature, according to this observer, is unfavorable to the development of new ° 
roots and leaves, but the organs already formed in the embryo are greatly extended ; 
but under the influence of a high temperature new roots, leaves and buds are 
rapidly formed even in advance of the complete development of those already 
existing in the embryo. 

Though not fully understood in all its bearings the question of temperature 
is recognized as exerting a capital influence on the phenomena of germination. 
A very important influence also is exerted on germination by the presence of 
light. 


652 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


In former times it was believed that this would not take place in the presence- 
of direct sunlight. But this view is now generally rejected, as it is well known 
that seeds frequently germinate while lying on the surface of the ground and ex- 
posed to the full light of the Sun. But the probability is that even in this case 
the germination principally takes place in the night, and that this does not dis- 
prove the general theory that direct sunlight is detrimental to change. The 
change that takes place in the substance of the seed during this process seems to 
demand such an explanation. But while there is some doubt on this subject, 
there is none whatever that certain rays of light do have a very important influ-- 
ence. 

About forty years ago Robert Hunt made extensive experiments to deter-. 
mine the influence of light on the germination and growth of plants. The con-. 
clusions to which he was led so far as germination was concerned are: 

1. Light prevents the germination of seeds. 

2. Actinic, or chemical rays quicken germination. 

These views have been called in question by several able investigators. But 
this seems to have grown out of the fact that sufficient attention has not been 
given to the distinction between germination proper and plant-growth. But this 
distinction is of capital importance as these different processes involve exactly 
opposite principles and are attended and followed by entirely different phenomena.. 

In germination oxygen is imbibed and carbonic acid exhaled, while in plant- 
growth carbonic acid is absorbed and oxygen exhaled. The conclusion at which 
we arrive is that the chemical rays penetrating, as they do, the upper stratum of 
the soil, while the luminous and calorific rays are cut off, determine the germi- 
nation of the seed. As corroborative of the correctness of this view, as well as of 
the wisdom of the adaptation of the laws of light to the demands of the vegetable 
world, it is pertinent to remark that during the spring, when germination gener- 
ally takes place, the actinic rays predominate, and during the summer, when wood- 
growth is the chief desideratum, the luminous rays that exert the most potent in- 
fluence in the development of this part of the plant, are in excess of the others, 
while during the latter part of the season there is a preponderance of the calorific 
rays which exert a capital influence in determining the physiological processes of 
flowering and fructification. 

It is a well established fact that electricity exerts a very marked influence in 
accelerating the growth of plants. In 1782 Dr. Marat found electrified seeds 
germinated many days sooner than those not so treated but otherwise subjected 
to the same conditions. These conclusions have been verified by many experi- 
menters from that time on. It has even been found that seed that from age 
would not grow at all under ordinary conditions, after being subjected to electric- 
ity for some hours grew vigorously. Considerable light was thrown on this sub- 
ject by Pouillet, who in 1825, proved that in the process of germination a nota- 
ble quantity of electricity is disengaged. It is claimed by some experimenters 
that an electrified wire buried beneath growing plants or even stretched in the 
air above them exerts a very strong influence in accelerating their growth. IE 


SEEDS: THEIR PRESERVATION AND GERMINATION. 653 


come now, in the last place, to consider the question: How long will seeds 
under any circumstances retain their germinative power? Long experience has 
shown that under ordinary conditions the various farm and garden seeds will re- 
tain their vitality from one to eight years. Regarding this there is no difference 
of opinion. But, from the assertion that, under extraordinary circumstances seeds 
have been known to retain their power of germination for scores of years and 
even centuries, there is strong dissent. Among the most noted opposers of this 
theory is Mr. Thomas Meehan, editor of the Gardener’s Monthly, and one of the 
ablest vegetable physiologists of the age. He says, (G. M., Vol. 17, pp. 212,) 
in speaking of the notion ‘‘that seeds usually with a limited vitality will live for 
an indefinite period when in the ground, or ‘ Egyptian tomb,’”’ that ‘‘ There is 
no good evidence of this.” Again, speaking of the reported growth of poppy 
seed that had lain dormant in a Grecian mine 2000 years old, he remarks, (G. 
M., Vol. 18, p. 344): ‘‘We know of zo evidence satisfactory to us, that any 
seeds have been found vital under the extraordinary circumstances claimed. The 
whole theory of great vitality through long periods when buried in the earth, is 
at best founded on nothing but shrewd guesses, and in the main on the evidence 
of persons of no more importance in a scientific point of view than those who be- 
lieve that wheat is transformed into chess.” But at another time (G. JZ, Vol. 12, 
p- 173,) he admits that he had formerlf held the opinion that Magnolia seeds 
would never germinate after they had become dry. But he found this opinion 
to be erroneous and gives facts to disprove it as follows: ‘‘ Once we found a 
package which had been thrust under a rafter in a tool shed in spring, which 
grew as well as any. More recently, Mrs. Col. Wilder found a package of Mag- 
nolia soulangeana seed in Mr. Wilder’s wardrobe, which had been there between 
two and three years, and which on sowing, produced a plant for every seed.” 

If everybody had been mistaken regarding the longevity of these seeds, may 
not those be in error who refuse to admit the extraordinary vitality claimed for 
some seeds under special circumstances. Let us inquire somewhat concerning 


this question. Mr. D. C. Eaton, of Boston, in a ‘‘ Yale Agricultural Lecture” 


states that ‘‘ Cucumber seeds have been kept seventeen years; corn, thirty; 
French beans, thirty-three, and from one bag of seeds the Jardin des Plantes was 
supplied with sensitive plants for sixty years. 

The Gardener's Monthly, (Vol. 23, p. 24,) gives us the following example of 
vitality: <‘‘Mr. LeRoy, of Columbia College, looking over, in the winter of 
1879-80, tlie plants of Wilkes’ Exploring Expedition, collected in Patagonia, be- 
tween 1838-42, found three seeds of a gourd, which were planted in his garden 
in the spring of 1880. Two of the three grew and bore fruit the same season. 
This fixes forty years of vital power for these seeds.”’ 

But if these seeds had been perfectly protected from air and moisture why 
might not this vitality have extended to centuries just as well as it did to decades P 
According to Johnson, (How Crops Grow, p. 305,) Girardin sprouted peas that were 
over a century old. It is said that Grimstone with great pains raised peas from 
a seed taken from a sealed vase found in the sarcophagus of an Egyptian mum- 


654. KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


my, presented to the British Museum by Sir G. Wilkinson, and estimated to be 
near 3,000 years old.’”” And again, ‘‘ Count Sternberg and others are said to 
have succeeded in germinating wheat taken from an Egyptian mummy, but only 
after having soaked it in oil.” 

After mentioning some failures to revive seeds that had lain long dormant, 
Mr. Johnson adds: ‘‘The fact appears to be that the circumstances under 
which the seed is kept greatly influences the duration of its vitality.” The fol- 
lowing item I find in my scrap-book, but the authority for the statements made 
is lost: ‘‘ Seeds found with the coins of the Emperor Hadrian in an ancient bar- - 
row in England, and a heliotrope from a Roman tomb 1,500 years old and more, 
vegetated and grew vigorously. ‘The same was the case with wheat, rose and 
clover seeds found with an Egyptian mummy, and Indian corn from a Peruvian 
mummy 1,200 years'old.” An anonymous writer gives an account of the drain- 
ing of a bog on the estate of a gentleman in Scotland about the year 1820. The 
drain had to be cut through a ridge to the depth of forty feet. At the bottom of 
this and extending out under the bog was a stratum of sandy soil. In this were 
found buried acorns of the black oak species. These, on being brought up to 
the surface where they were subjected to the influence of light and warmth, ger- 
minated and grew. _ 

Black oak logs had occasionally been found buried in the bogs in that re- 
gion, but none had been known to exist on the estate in question for 300 years. 
Had these acorns been buried in some convulsion of nature, or during a change 
of land in that vicinity and lain for ages retaining their germinative power till 
accidentally thrown out to grow? Who can tell us? Or shall we take that easy 
method of avoiding all intellectual toil by discrediting the whole narrative.” 

The Sczentific American is authority for the statement that, ‘‘In the course of 
late explorations in the ancient ruins of Egypt, General Anderson, an English 
traveler, found enclosed in a sarcophagus beside a mummy, a few dry peas, 
which he preserved carefully and, on his return to Great Britain, planted in the 
rich soil of the Island of Guernsey. The seed germinated, and soon two little 
plants appeared, from which at maturity sufficient peas were gathered to plant 
quite a large tract of ground in the following season.” 

I close by simply asking, are all these statements and authorities to be set 
aside only because they do not agree with our opinions? or shall we accept them 
as facts that can be overthrown only by positive disproof ? 


PROFESSOR MEEHAN ON EVOLUTION. 


Professor Thomas Meehan, in response to the invitation extended him at the 
Cincinnati Meeting to address the Biological Section on this occasion spoke on 
‘* Variations of Nature, and Their Bearing on the Doctrine of Evolution and the 
Theory of Natural Selection.” He premised that the Doctrine of Natural Selec- 
tion as propounded by Mr. Darwin could not be controverted in so far as the 


PROF, MEEHAN ON EVOLUTION. | 655 


continual dropping out of the intermediate forms was concerned, which left the 
extremes without connections and gave us the idea of distinct species. He 
thought there were some weaknesses in Mr. Darwin's method of advocating his 
views, but these removed only left Mr. Darwin’s position stronger than he him- 
self perceived. He then proceeded to show that variations in nature were much 
greater than Mr. Darwin evidently had knowledge of. The popular idea that no 
two leaves on a tree were exactly alike in every respect was shown to be literally 
true. Many illustrations were given and specimens exhibited showing the great 
variations in seedlings of the same species, often from the same seed vessel ; some 
from the latter would be regarded by any botanist who found them wild, as dis- 
tinct species. A series of sixteen cones of Pinus rigida was exhibited, each from 
a separate tree, all growing within a circle of twenty miles, and the central links 
being taken away left nominal Pinus serotina at one end, and Pinus rigida at the 
other. Other species could be made by taking the interior series of forms. The 
speaker contended that variation was not a mere condition, but had to be accept- 
ed as a primary law of existence. As no two things have ever been produced 
exactly alike, so far as we know, the result must necessarily.be a wide divergence 
in time, and, as we know that death is also a certainty to individuals, distinct 
forms must certainly ensue. 

_ Heredity, as established by Mr. Darwin, was next reviewed, and shown to be 
established as a counterpoise to variation. It held variation in check, but was 
finally overpowered by this, the greater force. Sex was an attribute of heredity. 
Sex in flowers had no bearing on the future good of the race, and therefore 
crossing by insect agency or otherwise had no reference to the good of the race 
by aiding variation in the direction of change to suit environments. It rather 
brought back what Mr. Darwin would imagine a useful variation toward its start- 
ing point. A variation which had started from the centre of a circle, had to be 
cross-fertilized if at all from the centre from which it sprung, and the progeny 
was thus brought back toward its parents starting point. 

The next point made was that variations had no relation to the good of the 
individual or race. Numerous cases were adduced to show that the forms which 
had prevailed had not the slightest physiological advantage over the forms dis- 
placed, and that those who argued to the contrary were reduced to the solitary 
argument that there must have been some advantage, or the species could not 
have survived. It must be so because it is, is an argument which has no place 
in researches such as we are engaged in now. The actions and behavior of both 
plants and animals were not for their own individual good. Their whole efforts 
were in the interest of their progeny—for posterity—for the future—for objects 
wholly unknown to the individual. Yet we found from the science of the past 
that all this self-sacrifice—pleasant as it was made to be to the individual,—and 
ignorant as these individuals were of what they were working for, all had resulted 
in present harmony. In the speaker’s language ‘‘ we and all organic things are 
the invited guests of nature. She makes our stay with her as pleasant as possible: 
but she ruthlessly dismisses us the moment we cease to serve her future purposes.” 


606 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


The laws by which destruction was brought about, were then considered, and the 
manner in which species were created by the aid of this destructive power dis- 
cussed; and how, under the operation of the law of heredity, surviving forms. 
found a temporary standing ground, until the greater law of variation again finally 
removed them. 

Finally the speaker took up the objection that Mr. Darwin’s views were de- 
structive of Christianity and showed that they were in reality the strongest con- 
firmation of Christianity’s essential features. To his mind Christianity differed 
from all other systems of religion by insisting on the necessity of self-sacrifice. We 
have ‘‘to.do the Father’s will’”’ regardless of all consequences to ourselves, as 
the condition of happiness, and the Great Teacher himself sealed these doctrines 
which shine from almost every page of the New Testament, by the Saviour offer- 
ing up His own life. This is precisely what science, as he had endeavored to 
trace it, was now teaching. A wiser power than any science had as yet been 
able to fathom, was directing all things to some far away object, to us unknown ;. 
not for the individual benefit of anything, except in so far as it was in harmony 
with this power, holding all things together for good in spite of the seeming 
clashings of individual interest, and he was assured that the time would come 
when evolutionists and especially those who advocated the theory of natural selec- 
tion, would come to be regarded as true Christianity’s warmest friends. —Watural- 


ist’s Monthly Bulletin. 


CORRESPONDENCE. 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 


PaRIs, January 13, 1883. 


The doctrine which attributes all the diseases that men and animals labor 
under, to the presence in their tissues of zzjiniment petits animals or vegetables, is. 
not exactly known, though popularly ascribed to M. Pasteur. Indeed at one 
period M. Pasteur was hostile even to the doctrine. If the distinguished chemist 
has not had the honor of the conception of the original idea, he has in a remark- 
able manner, multiplied its applications, and rendered demonstrations evident to- 
minds obstinately rebel. Pasteur has shown materially, what was demonstrated 
logically. This tiny animal or vegetable, called mzcrobe by M. Sedillot, has en- 
abled M. Pasteur to arrive at two practical conclusions. Firstly—that the mi- 
crobes so far known to us, can be cultivated artificially in certain liquids. Sec- 
ondly—by this artificial culture, the microbes can be attenuated in such a man- 
ner, that, introduced into the organism of large animals, they there determine 
either a malady very much less intense than that resulting from the natural con- 


SCIENCE LETTER FROM PARIS. 607 


tagion, or a simple modification which gives place only to some phenomena hardly 
appreciable, but which nevertheless preserves the animals from the natural malady 
which so ofter kills them. 

This species of preservation is called vaccination, on account of its analogy 
with the vaccination of Jenner. It has proved efficacious in the case of the dis- 
ease charbon, which attacks cattle and horses—the former especially, and sang de 
rate in sheep. With man the disease is designated malignant pustule. 

These Observations will serve to introduce a still further discovery made by 
M. Pasteur, in the case of the ‘‘red malady,” or souget, and which in the province 
of the Rhine, carries off 20,000 pigs yearly, and those of the white, the most val- 
uable breed, especially. M. Pasteur has found the microbe of the disease; the 
parasite has the form of a figure (8), and resembled the same found in hen chol- 
era; it is smaller and more difficult of detection, but its physiological properties 
are different; thus it exercises no action on poultry, but kills rabbits and sheep. 
The microbe artificially produced, when employed to inoculate pigs, induces the 
same symptoms as if the scourge had been spontaneously produced. When vac- 
cinated with a benign pus specially prepared, the pigs were able to resist the 
the disease in its mortal form. However, it has been considered prudent to wait 
till spring for the results of additional experiment. 


In the history of science, the spectacle has never been previously witnessed 
of a single individual making so many discoveries in a period so relatively short 
as Pasteur. He now gives us the results of his investigation into that terrible 
problem—hydrophobia. It is the malady which presents the most obstacles for 
inquiry. ‘The saliva was the sole matter where the presence of the rabic virus 
was to be detected. But this saliva, inoculated either by bite, or injection di- 
rect into the cellular tissue, did not infallibly communicate the malady. Then 
even if the latter did show itself, the period of incubation could not be exactly de- 
termined. There were also other drawbacks. All these, however, were set at 
rest by a new and sure plan of action. Pasteur found that the central nervous. 
system was the principal seat of rabic virus, and that it could be gathered there 
in a state of perfect purity; again, that this virus, taken from the surface of the 
brain by trepanation, if inoculated, communicated the disease surely and rapidly. 

The symptoms of hydrophobia are variable, though proceeding from the same 
virus, and these variations depend on the points of the nervous system—the spinal 
marrow, or the brain, etc., where the disease may be localized and developed. 
The saliva rabical contains microbes along with the virus, either of which can 
produce death. The saliva of a man or a child, can be virulent, is contagious, 
and can kill by inoculation, from an excessive development of pus. The virus. 
of an individual affected with hydrophobia is everywhere characterized by the 
same virulence, whether that virus be taken from the brain or the marrow, and 
so long as decomposition has not set in. Pasteur has conserved a brain pending 
three weeks with all its rabical virulence intact. Inoculating the surface of the 


658 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


brain or the blood with virus, produces hydrophobia in the course of six to ten 
days and invariably fatal. 

Hydrophobia induced by the injection of the virus in the blood, produces 
not the same symptoms as the malady resulting from the direct bite of a mad 
dog, or inoculating the surface of the brain. In the first case, the spinal mar- 
row is immediately attacked. When a dog is inoculated and does not succumb, 
that does not prevent the animal from, later, contracting the disease. - Pasteur 
records the spontaneous cure of hydrophobia after the first rabic symptoms were 
developed, but never after the acute symptoms set in. Cases have occurred, of 
the complete disappearance of the first symptoms and’ the development after two 
months of the acute symptoms, terminating fatally. In 1881, Pasteur inoculated 
three dogs, two died rapidly of madness, the third displayed the symptoms of the 
first stage of the malady, but nothing since, and though inoculated twice in 1882, 
by the brain, the animal never contracted the disease. This is an important 
factor in the road of prevention against hydrophobia. In the laboratory, there are 
also three other dogs to which the madness cannot be communicated, no matter 
how they may be inoculated. The aim of all the experiments is to discover a 
method to preserve dogs against hydrophobia, and so render their bites harmless 
to man. Pasteur does not despair of attaining this end. The brain of a cow, 
dead from hydrophobia contracted from the bite of a dog, communicated, by in- 
oculation, death to all the animals operated upon. M. Pasteur has experimented 
on no less than 200 dogs, rabbits, and sheep; they have so far only thrown a brill- 
jiant light on the road to the solution of a terrible disease which never forgives. 
Within two years that desired solution has made more progress than it has within 
centuries. 


The following is a simple and ingenious plan for utilizing the electric, which 
now supersedes the ordinary, bells in houses, and to convert them into clocks, 
to chime or strike, following the parent time-piece. The latter can be of any 
model provided it strikes or chimes. Attach the end of the negative wire of the 
electric gong to the metallic works of the clock, then arrange the positive wire 
with the hammer, that is, a little above it: when the hammer rises to strike the 
bell, it will touch the wire, the ‘‘circuit’’ will be thus interrupted, the current 
will pass, and will travel along the wires to set the electric gongs to tint. The 
tinting will be repeated as many times as the hammer of the clock rises, and 
touches the wire in its proximity. Every room, corridor, or passage, of a house, 
can thus be simultaneously informed of the exact hour by the mother clock. 


Relative to time, the 21st of December is the winter solstice, and the days 
are the shortest of the year. The Sun, as is well known, cuts the day in two 
equal parts, by arriving at noon at the meridian. But if an almanac be consulted 
it will be seen, that on the rst of December, the Sun rises at 7h. 34m., and sets 
at 4h. 4m,; the 15th of December, it rises at 7h. 49m. and sets at 4h. 2m.; the 
31st of December it rises at 7h. 56m. and sets at 4h. 11m. ‘Thus the days di- 
minish during the forenoons throughout the month, while they augment during 


1 


TAXATION OF COLORADO MINES. 659, 


‘the afternoons. How does it arise then, that the forenoon is shorter than the 
afternoon, the morning unequal to the evening? ‘This anomaly or equivocation, 
is due to the circumstance, that since 1816 the clocks mark not the time, but the 
mean time. ‘They are regulated after a fictitious, not the real Sun. The latter 
never arrives at the meridian two days in succession at thesame hour. The “‘of- 
ficial’’ Sun is more regular, hence, perhaps why it was invented; the calculation 
is made for each day, by how much it is in advance, or behind, the true Sun, 
and the difference at noon is called the equation of time; that permits to have 
the mean, when we have the real hour. This difference begets the inequality 
between the forenoons and the afternoons. Accordingly then, as the mean time 
is advanced, or behind, will the mornings or evenings, indicated by a watch, give 
the inexact risings and settings of the Sun. These errors, in either sense, will be 
produced during the year, save the 15th of April, the r4th of June, the 31st of 
August, and the 24th of December, when the mornings and evenings will be 
equal, because the true and real Sun then agree as to the hour of passing the 
meridian. On the other hand, the most important differences will occur on the 
toth. of February, 28m.; the 14th of May, 8m.; the 26th of July, (12m therrstuen 
November, 32m. The maximum difference can thus amount to half an hour. 


France may be said by her initiative of the International Electric Exhibition, 
to have given the impulse to electric illumination; she at present stands still, 
waiting to ascertain the results of the several rival systems before the public. 
The Edison system has never exactly taken here, but it is impossible to close the 
eyes to its working in New York, where the light is laid on with the regularity of 
gas and water, and automatically controlled with marked simplicity. If Paris 
remain a little behind, that must not be construed as a want of faith in the future 
of the electric light, but to the immense resistance the gas company here can 
make. Further, the Jamin candle, in favor here, possesses incomparable merits, 
its lighting is automatic, it burns by its inferior end, and it yields a greater total 
of illumination than other systems, though the initial production of the electric 
current be common to all. en (Ge 


TAXATION OF COLORADO MINES. 


*k * k * * *K 

There is a good deal of dissatisfaction expressed in Colorado over the pas- 
sage by the Legislature of the bill imposing a tax on the net output of ores in that 
State, and Governor Grant is strongly urged to veto it. The status of the case is 
this. A man may spend any amount of money, say $25,000 upon a mine before 
he takes out paying ore. Immediately upon doing this, before he gets a dollar 
remuneration for the $25,000 previously expended, the valuable ore is assessed, 
and as it becomes really for some time merely the interest upon the $25,000 as 
principal, the interest is of course reduced. That is, a man invests $25,000 which 
he may lose altogether, but upon which he anticipates to realize, let us say, 10 per 


4660 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


cent, but by the taxation bill this is decreased at least to 7 per cent, and it may 
be to still less. As mining operations are in their very nature a matter of faith, and 
of sight, the disastrous results to the mining industry of the State passing such a 
law will be readily conjectured. One such was passed in Nevada, and capital 
went to other fields of investment at once. The spirit of the Colorado press and 
people is strongly against the bill and may prevail on the Governor to veto it. 

Be Bats 


INS) | EOIN OIG 


METEORS AND COMETS. 


The fifth of Prof. Charles A. Young’s illustrated lectures was delivered in 
the Church of the Strangers last night. The subject was ‘‘ Meteors and Comets,” 
and the learned lecturer made his audience acquainted with a great deal of astro- 
nomical information in a very entertaining way. A great variety of views were 
displayed on the screen, and the explanations of them were couched in terms 
easily understood by all attentive listeners. Prof. Young held in his hand a small 
grayish stone with a black crust as he ascended the platform to begin his lecture. 
He said that it was a piece of a large stone, weighing forty pounds, which fell 
from the sky in February, 1857, at Parnallee, in Southern India. The falling of 
‘meteoric stones was usually accompanied by loud reports, which to the startled 
hearers seemed to last fifteen or twenty minutes. Prof. Young said it was not 
probable that any such reports ever lasted more than two minutes. There had 
been numerous instances of the falling of meteoric stones in this country, one of 
the most remarkable of which was the falling of about 1,000 pounds of stone at 
Weston, Conn., December 14, 1807. In the cabinet of Amherst College there 
is treasured a meteoric stone which weighs 450 pounds. 

A person seeing a meteor, fall at night at first sees a ball of fire about the 
size of the moon. As the meteor approaches the earth, the light grows larger 
and brighter, like the head-light of a locomotive. Generally, a train of light 
follows the ball of fire. The falling of meteors is accompanied by loud explo- 
sions, and it has been claimed that these explosions occur at intervals when only 
portions of the meteor fall, while the main body passes on. Meteors first appear 
in the sky at a distance of eighty or ninety miles from the earth, and they disap- 
pear from view when at a distance of seven miles from the earth. They move 
through space at the rate of ten miles a second, and sometimes with a velocity of 
forty or fifty miles per second. There is not a single element in the composition 
of meteoric stones that is not found in the earth. The substance of the meteors, 
however, is put together differently, so that their mineralogy is unlike the miner- 
alogy of the stones of the earth. Meteors are known to be heated when they 
reach the earth, but on one occasion, a meteoric stone, when dug out of the 


METEORS AND COMETS, 661 


earth, was found to be covered with ice. The majority of the meteors that strike 
the earth are stone, and not iron, as is commonly supposed. Some, however, 
are of pure iron. Out of the 500 or 600 meteoric stones that have been found 
on the earth and preserved not more than ten were iron. | 

Meteoric particles are striking the earth all of the time. Some astronomers 
estimate that as many as 10,000,000 particles strike the earth each day, while the 
lowest estimate puts the number at 7,500,000 per day. Many more of these parti- 
cles strike the earth in the morning than at night, and frequently observing persons 
in their morning walks can plainly see evidences of the meteoric showers. These 
meteoric particles seem to be circulating in space, and the earth as it moves in its 
orbit strikes against them. Some of the meteoric showers are very copious and very 
bright. One writer has likened a meteoric shower that he saw to a snow-storm, 
the flakes being of fire instead of congealed vapor. Astronomical observers have 
detected, by means of the spectroscope, sodium, magnesium and sometimes iron 
in these brightshooting stars. Oneconsequence of this constant falling of meteoric 
particles is that the earth is growing larger, but the lecturer said that there was no 
immediate danger of any radical change taking place in the surface of this sphere, 
for at the present rate of the meteoric fall, it would take 500,000,000 years for 
the earth to gain one inch of surface. Meteors are known to come in periodical 
showers, probably the most remarkable being the shower that occurs about the 
aiith or 12th of November. It appears that meteors follow in the track of comets. 
They are related to comets in some way or another, but exactly how the lecturer 
was not prepared to say. Some scientists thought that the meteors were the 
debris or cast-off particles of comets, while others thought that perhaps the comets 
were simply aggregations of meteoric particles, and the falling stars were the part- 
icles that did not get into the aggregations. It is certain, at any rate, that flocks 
of meteors follow the various comets at few millions of miles behind. 

Comets, Prof. Young said, had always been puzzles to the astronomers and 
terrors to the superstitious. It had been seriously urged that comets were the 
forerunners of unhealthy and disastrous periods on the earth, but such beliefs 
had been vigorously ridiculed by scientists. The modern improvements in tele- 
scopes had caused a rapid increase in the number of discovered comets. These 
strange bodies are now being discovered at the rate of five or six every year. 
There are 650 comets in the catalogue at present, very few of which are bright 
ones, however. According to the most trustworthy astronomical statistics there 
were twenty-three bright comets between the years 1500 and 1600, twelve bright 
comets between 1600 and 1700, eight between 1700 and 1800, nine between 1800 
and 1850, and since then there have been ten bright comets visible. Thecomets 
seen during the last few years were more or less remarkable. Astronomers be- 
come very enthusiastic in their search for comets. One ardent scientist bewailed 
the death of his wife a few years ago because the event lost him a comet, which 
a competitor happened to discover. There are about fifty comets that move in 
elliptical orbits. The theory is that each of these comets has been caught by 
some planet and held captive, being compelled to move around and around in 


662 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


the same orbits continually. They appear to the people of the earth at stated 
periods ; some have longer periods than others. Encke’s comet has the shortest 
period, viz.: three and one-half years, while some comets have periods as long as 
thirty-three, forty and even seventy-five years. A view of the great comet of 
1811 was shown on the screen. That was the largest comet ever known, The 
diameter of the head was not less than the diameter of the Sun. That comet 
never came within 100,000,000 miles of the earth, and yet it was a remarkable 
sight. Its tail was 60,000,000 or 70,000,000 miles in length. Prof. Young said 
that he had seen comets more than 50,000 miles in diameter running centrally 
over stars without dimming the stars in the slightest degree. It had been esti- 
mated that the mass of a large comet was equal to a lump of iron roo miles in 
diameter, but the lecturer was inclined to doubt the correctness of that estimate. 
It had been clearly demonstrated that astronomical observers could see through 
the thickest part of a comet. Several views were exhibited to give the audience 
an idea of the different shapes and phases of comets. Biela’s comet divided into 
two parts in 1842. The parts separated and gradually disappeared from view, 
and Prof. Young said that all that remained of them now was a shower of falling 
stars. The present comet was illustrated by various diagrams. One of the most 
remarkable things about this comet is the nearness of its approach to the Sun. 
It apparently almost scraped the solar surface. Moving at times with a velocity 
of 300 miles per second it had gone from one side of the Sun to the other inside 
of three hours. The comet of 1843 was very like the present comet. Its tail 
was about 100,000,000 miles in length, but it, too, succeeded in going from one 
side of the Sun to the other in three hours. The ‘‘whiskiness’’ of the tail of 
the comet of 1843 had caused much comment and discussion among astronomers. 
It was a matter of wonderment that a tail of so great length should be able to 
encircle the Sun in so short a time. Various different theories had been advanced 
on this point. . 

The office of comets in the planetary system is not known. Much has been 
written on the subject and many opinions have been advanced, but nobody can 
feel that a correct explanation of the use of these remarkably brilliant bodies has 
been given. It was suggested by Sir Isaac Newton that comets supplied the 
material for the preservation of light. Prof. Young did not know but that such 
might be the fact. It was an established fact that carbonic acid was an essential 
element of the atmosphere, and it was known that that element was disappear- 
ing. Who knows but that the comets are destined to supply the subtle influence 
needed to preserve the light with which the people of this globe are favored ? 
The lecturer stated that he had received a letter which, he judged from the hand- 
writing, must have come from a lady, asking whether there were inhabitants on 
the planets other than the earth. In reply, he desired to say that in point of 
actual fact the inquirer knew as much about the matter as he did. The only 
known planets that could possibly be inhabited by people such as dwelt on the 
earth were our nearest neighbors, Venus and Mars. It was possible that there 
were people, used to tropical climates on this planet, who could live on Venus. 


TUNNELS IN GENERAL AND THE ST. GOTHARD IN PARTICULAR. 663 


There they would enjoy a perpetual summer. ‘The lecturer thought it also likely 
that there might be some hardy Esquimaux who could manage to exist on the 
planet Mars. As for the other planets, if they were inhabited at all, they were 
inhabited by people of whom nothing was known, but who must necessarily be 
adapted to the peculiar qualities of the various planets.—V. Y. Zimes. 


JEL INYGoAUNT Feb eh JING Gis 


TUNNELS IN GENERAL, AND THE ST, GOTHARD IN 
PARTICULAR. 


% 


Many curious things might be said about tunnels, old as well as new. For 
instance, the stupendous work—whose history links modern with ancient engi- 
neering—the object of which was to connect ‘Lake Fucinus, now called Celano, 
with the Liris, now the river Gariglino, was undertaken 42 A. D. It took near- 
ly eleven years to complete, and 30,000 men are said to have been engaged upon 
it. ‘This subterranean canal was executed by order of the Emperor Claudius. 
For nearly eighteen centuries it seemed to have been forgotten; but on its dis- 
covery, about sixty years ago, the Neapolitan Government resolved to clear it 
out. This was accordingly done, but not until several years had been spent up- 
on the task. The improved tunnel is four miles long; the original length was 
three miles. Prince Torlonia of Rome gradually bought up the shares, and car- 
ried on the operations at his expense until his death in 1871. 

Modern tunneling—which by-the-way, is quite a distinct profession—is of 
three classes: First, tunneling through soft ground, such as clay, loose rock, etc. 
Second, rock-tunneling without machinery ; Third, tunneling solid rock by the aid 
of machinery. In piercing a hill or other mass of earth, a large quantity of timber 
for temporary arching is required, until the brick or stone work has been provided. 
In some methods of tunnel-making it is judged more secure to brick the timber in. 
But this is very costly, especially when all the heavy timber has to be conveyed 
down a shaft or slope. Where the ground is rather yielding, and much 
water appears, an inverted arch is constructed across the bottom of the tunnel, 
so as to resist the pressure from beneath. There are now, however, other meth- 
ods of construction in use. A new system has been devised of employing iron 
centers as a substitute for timber. Tunneling through loose rock, timbering, and 
then arching, is a method mostly in use in England and America; and where the 
length is comparatively short, hand labor is found cheaper than the employment 
of machinery. But at the present day, this kind of engineering is conducted on 
a vast scale with steel and diamond-pointed drills, driven by compressed air (at 
about forty pounds to the square inch), which latter serves for ventilation pur- 


V1I—42 


664 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


poses. In this way longer holes can be cut, and heavier charges of dynamite em 
ployed. 5 


The first sub-aqueous tunnel in England was that under the Thames from 
Wapping to,Rotherhithe, known as the Thames Tunnel. It was begun in 1807; 
the operations were stopped after a time ; but recommenced by Sir M. I. Brunel, 
in 1825. The work was again interrupted by accidents; but the causeway was 
eventually opened for foot-passengers in 1843. In the year 1867 it was purchased 
by the East London Railway Company. It is 1,200 feet in length. Another 
subway is planned between the north side of the Thames and South Woolwich; 
it will be much deeper below the bed of the Thames than the older subway, and 
is to be constructed to admit of the transit of troops and war-material from Wool- 
wich to the north side of the river, thus avoiding the circuitous route over London 
Bridge. Of this class we must also mention the Severn Tunnel, commenced in 
1875, and now well on toward completion; but the bursting of a spring last year 
caused a serious interruption to the operations. The cutting has been mostly 
through rock, and about 100 yards in the centre of the channel yet remains un- 
pierced. 

- Among other important works, the sof of the eminent engineer above men- 
tioned constructed Box Tunnel, on the Great Western Railway, in the vicinity 
of Bath; it is nearly four miles long. The Woodhead Tunnel, near Manchester, 
is three miles in length; a second cutting, of the same dimensions, was afterward 
made parallel with it, but separated by a longitudinal pier. The Kilsby Tunnel, 
on the London and Northwestern Railway, was four years in construction; it is 
2,400 yards long, and cost £350,000; nearly four times the original estimate. 
Peculiar difficulties were encountered in making the Sydenham Tunnel (London, 
Chatham and Dover Railway). Itis cut through the London clay, and while 
the works were in progress the clay commenced swelling and crushing the mason- 
ry. This was so serious that over 8,000 cubic yards of work had to be rebuilt. 

Considerable progress is now being made with borings for the tunnel to be 
cut by the Mersey Railway Company under the bed of the Mersey. The shaft 
on the Birkenhead side has been sunk to a depth of about 120 feet with most 
satisfactory results. The boring is through the New Red Sandstone; on the 
Liverpool side, a depth of 100 feet has been reached. It is scarcely necessary to 
mention the tunnel which forms the chief feature of the Metropolitan (or-Under- 
ground) Railway of London, opened January 10, 1863, and since extended in 
several directions. A similar work is projected for Paris, at an estimated cost of 
46,000,000. There are now over eighty miles of tunneling in England. 

Tunnels for portions of canal in hilly regions are sometimes of great length— 
such as the Canal de St. Quentin, more than seven miles long; the Huddersfield, 
and the Mauvages (Canal du Marne au Rhin), three miles each; Sapperton, 
Thames and Medway, Dudley, Blisworth, Soussey, Pouilly, ranging from two to 
four miles. ; 

Transatlantic enterprise of this class has made. great advances of late years. 
We select two or three out of nearly ascore which deserve mention. ‘The Hoosac 


TUNNELSIN GENERAL AND THE ST. GOTHARD IN.PARTICULAR, ‘665 


Tunnel was constructed to provide a direct route to the Hudson River. Until 
the cutting of this one, all rock tunneling in the United States was effected by 
hand-labor. It was commenced in 1858, and after several delays, arising from 
pecuniary difficulties and a serious accident in October 1867, it was finished in 
1874. Under Lake Michigan there is a tunnel, or rather aqueduct, constructed 
to convey pure water to the city of Chicago This important work was begun 
in 1864, and completed: in 1867; and a tunnel under the Hudson River at New 
York is progressing rapidly. In August, 1857, the celebrated Mont Cenis Tun- 
nel—incorrectly so termed, because it is sixteen miles from that mountain, the 
tunnel actually passing under the Grand Vallon—was commenced by manual 
labor, and continued so to be worked until 1861, when rock-boring machinery 
came into use, in consequence of which rapid advances were made. The First 
Napoleon constructed a magnificent military road over Mont Cenis Pass, and 
this was used regularly by travelers. At length, when the French railways had 
crept close to one flank of the range, and Italian railways close to the other, 
plans for a railway tunnel to connect the two were formed. The French and 
Italian Governments agreed to share thecost between them. ‘The tunnel is near- 
ly eight miles long, and as much as 5,000 feet above the level of the sea. After 
working from opposite sides of the mountain, the workmen at length met in the 
centre, December 26, 1870. On the 17th of September in the following year the 
great undertaking was inaugurated in state, the ceremony being graced by the 
presence of the Empress Eugenie. 

And now, in spite of the German prophecy, that ‘‘a large lake would be 
met with which would put a sudden end to all the work,” we are able to record 
that on Sunday, February 29, 1880, the St. Gothard Tunnel, another gigantic ef- 
fort of engineering, was accomplished. Thus for the seeond time have the hoary 
Alps been pierced through their very heart. 

The St. Gothard, until the present century, had been one of the least fre- 
queated passes, although the hospital of the monks of St. Gothard was founded 
in 1331. In 1816, however, a regular post between five Swiss cantons and 
Milan was established ; yet up to 1820 the path was only practicable for horses 
and pedestrians, and until lately the journey from Lucerne to Turin occupied 
twenty-five hours and a half, whereas the same journey henceforward will occupy 
but eight hours. The convention for the construction of this railroad was signed 
by Italy and Switzerland in 1869, and in 1870 the North German Confederation 
adhered to the convention. Engineer Gelpkeand the geometrician, Koppe, were 
the chief designers. At first seven companies sent in their estimates—one Swiss, 
one Franco-Swiss, one Italian, one German, two English, one American. Final- 
ly L. Favre, of Geneva, and the Italian Society of Public Works in Turin, head- 
ed by Grattoni, the constructor of the tunnel through Mont Cenis, were the only 
competitors, and to Favre the contract was assigned, his offer being considered 
the most advantageous. 

” Meanwhile, the administration of the St. Gothard railway had arranged for 
the commencement of the excavations of the grand tunnel, begun in June, 1872. 


666 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


For the perforation the waters of the Reuss were utilized on the northern slope ; 
those of Val Tremola on the southern. In 1879, Favre, who directed all the 
works in person, died suddenly of apoplexy in the tunnel as he was explaining 
the operations to some foreign visitors; nor was he the only victim, 179 workmen 
having lost their lives by accidents or suffocation, while hundreds of others have 
contracted maladies which sooner or later will bring them to the grave. 

The work which was never interrupted day or night, occupied nine years. 
and three months—3,330 daysin all. ‘The first estimates of the sum total to be 
expended amounted to 227,000,000 francs, of which Italy agreed to pay 55,000,- 
ooo, while various municipalities and provinces made up another 15,000,000 ; 
Germany and Switzerland contributed 63,000,000, the remainder of the sum be- 
ing made up by shares, of which a vast number are held by Italians; so ‘that in 
fact Italy has contributed far more than half of the sum total, the province and 
city of Milan alone furnishing 2,500,000. 

The gallery of the St. Gothard runs in a straight line from the village of 
Goschenen to Albinengo, a village to the west of Airolo. The tunnel to be ex- 
cavated along this line was 14,912 metres long, 2,700 metres longer than the 
gallery of Mont Cenis. In order to join it with the railroad which comes toward 
Airolo in an east-to-west direction, another gallery of 150 metres was excavated ; in 
fact, between Goschenen and Brunnen there are twenty-seven galleries. ‘The alti- 
tude at the entrance of the tunnel at Goschenen is 1, 109 metres above the sea level ; 
in the centre fifty metres higher, at Airolo forty metres higher. The geological 
formation differs essentially from that of the Cottian Alps. The bore of the gal- 
lery after some 2,000 metres of granite or granite-gneiss, entered into crystalline 
schist, intersected with veins of serpentine, a mass, in short, of the hardest rock, 
which at first threatened to baffle the perforating machines. The hydraulic works 
were also extremely tedious, owing to the difficulty of obtaining a sufficiently 
strong body of water from the Reuss, while, on the Airolo side, during the win- 
ter, avalanches often obstructed the bed of the tremola, rendering it necessary to 
excavate a bed under the snow. Signor Favre, in order to overcome the diffi- 
culty with the Reuss, constructed an enormous reservoir and a canal, while to 
baffle the avalanches he caused the water to be conducted by means of a wooden 
canal into the bed of a minor torrent, the Chiesso, less subject to avalanches. 
Other difficulties were encountered and overcome by his indomitable will, so that 
at his death it may be said that only the mechanical portion of the work re- 
mained. 

This was completed really in 1881, but the inauguration was delayed, owing 
to various circumstances, until May 21, 1882. Then Italy, Germany, Switzer- 
land, and we may say all Europe, participated with thorough satisfaction in the 
ceremonies attendant on the opening of the St. Gothard Tunnel ; but, as is usual- 
ly the case, the promoter, the initiator of that great international work has been 
almost entirely forgotten in his birthplace, Milan, as in his beloved Lugano, 
where he spent the last twenty years of his life in study and poverty, dying there 
in 1869. Carlo Cattaneo, the greatest philosopher and political economist of 


TUNNELS IN GENERAL AND THE ST, GOTHARD IN PARTICULAR. 667 


modern Italy, the guide and inspirer of the Five Days of Milan, in 1848, when 
the unarmed citizens defeated and drove out from their city the entire Austrian 
army under Radetsky, as early as 1859 insisted on the tunnel through the St. 
<Gothard, in the interests of Italy and Switzerland alike. 

It appears that, fearing injury to their traffic from Paris to Brindisi wa the 
Mont Cenis, the French are now, in consequence of this new tunnel, boring 
through the Simplon—estimated at eleven and one-half miles in length—and 
“already there are rumors of schemes to bore through the Tarentaise and the Col 
-du Mont; and even Mont Blanc is threatened with a tunnel,” consequent upon 
the feverish competition likely to arise among the Swiss, German, French and 
Italian lines. 

Five years ago, Za /Vature reported that in Spain an inter-continental rail- 
way company had been formed to carry out the scheme of connecting Europe 
and Africa by a tunnel under the Straits of Gibraltar, but nothing has been done 
in the matter. 

But the bold idea of a tunnel under the British Channel will, if carried out, 
eclipse all former undertakings of this kind. The present ‘‘ Channel Company” 
was formed in 1872; Sir John Hawkshaw, F.R.S., Mr. Brunlees and M. Gamond 
being appointed engineers. ‘The route finally decided upon places the tunnel on | 
a line extending from a spot between Folkestone and Dover, through the ‘‘Old — 
“Gray Chalk,” to a point between Sangatte and Calais, on the opposite coast. 
‘The total length will be thirty-one miles, of which twenty-two will be under the 
Strait. Shafts are to be sunk on each shore to a depth of about 450 feet below 
high-water mark ; and drift-ways from the bottom of these, for the draining of the 
tunnel, which is to begin 200 feet above the driftway. These driftways will be 
‘driven from both ends on a down gradient of one in eighty to the junction of the 
drainage driftway ; and then on an up-grade of one in 2,640 to the middle of 
the Strait. The crown of the tunnel in all parts will be not less than 200 feet 
below the bed of the Dover Strait. It is hoped that the excavation will be 
mostly through chalk, in which case comparatively rapid progress will be made. 

It has been estimated that the probable cost of this titanic task will be about 
‘$20,000,000; but Sir John Hawkshaw considers it best to double this estimate, 
in anticipation of greater obstacles which may arise. The preliminary works are . 
now being prosecuted with great activity. A shaft has been sunk at Sangatte, 
to the depth of over 100 metres, and the experimental gallery has been commenc- 
ed, and is to be continued for a kilometre—that is 3,250 feet—under the sea. 
‘The raising of the capital for the tunnel itself is, however, still a knotty problem ; 
but if this can be accomplished, so much the better for all parties. As the pas- 
senger traffic between England and the continent amounts to nearly 400,000 an- 
nually, and is yearly on the increase, the opening of this marine subway will be 
of enormous public advantage. 


668 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


BOO INOTICIES, 


A Srupy or THE Manuscript TRoano. By Cyrus Thomas, Ph.D.; Quarto, 
pp. 237+ Illustrated. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1882. 
This is a most thorough and comprehensive description and explanation of 

one of the three published Maya manuscripts which escaped destruction by the 
Spanish priests at the time of the conquest of Central America. It was named the 
Troano MSS., a compound of the two names of its former owner, Don Juan de 
Tro y Ortolano, by the Abbé Brasseur (de Bourbourg) who found it in his posses- 
sion at Madrid in 1864. This valuable manuscript consists of thirty-five leaves 
or seventy pages written upon a kind of paper manufactured from the leaves of 
the maguey plant. The paper is in the shape of a strip, about fourteen feet long 
and nine inches wide, covered with a white paint or varnish and upon it the char- 
acters are painted in black, red, blue and brown. Itis folded fan-like, into thirty- 
five folds, and presents the appearance, when closed, of an ordinary octavo vol- 
ume. The hieroglyphics and figures cover both sides of the paper, the writing 
or painting having been executed apparently after the paper was folded, so that 
each page is distinctly legible. 

As the Maya family was probably the most ancient and highly civilized on 
this continent, whether we judge by its traditions, records or architectural testi- 
mony, a careful and scholarly examination of its literary remains should be a 
most interesting and important study, and the perusal of the results of such an exam- 
ination, prepared by a competent and enthusiastic investigator and a critical and 
attractive writer should be an extremely instructive and entertaining occupation. 
Such we find the works of Mr. Thomas, and such we believe will be the verdict 
of all other readers. i 

The introduction by Dr. Daniel G. Brinton is a dissertation upon thought 
and sound-writing in general, and the system of the Mayas in particular. It also 
comprises an account of the other Maya manuscripts as far as published. 

The whole work is copiously illustrated and may. be regarded as quite ex- 
haustive. The contents are mainly as follows: The graphic system and records 
of the ancient Mayas, by Dr. D. G. Brinton; the manuscript and its characters, 
the Maya calendar, explanation of figures, etc. in the manuscript and the Dres- 
den College; probable meaning of other figures; symbols, etc. that can be classed 
as written characters; the written characters in the manuscript; illustrations of 
the Day columns; a discussion of dates; inscriptions on the Palenque tablet. 
Appendices: extracts from Landa’s ‘‘ Relacion, etc.,”’ quotation from Sefior Mel- 
gar, translation of Tanda’s description of festivals, mode of building houses among 
the Yucatees from Landa, manner of baptism in Yucatan, Landa. 


BOOK NOTICES. 669 


Kwnicut’s New MecuanicaL Dictionary. Section III. Edward H. Knight, 

A. M. LL.D.; octavo, pp. 240. Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston; $2.00. 

It is a fortunate thing for the subscribers to this valuable work that its author 
had fully completed it before his death, which occurred but a few weeks since, 
for we know of no one who could have successfully taken up and finished the 
task. As it is, the publication of the successive volumes will be slightly delayed 
—a few weeks at most, however—by reason of the proofs having to be read with- 
out the author’s assistance. 

The volume extends from the monstrum horrendum participle ‘‘ Hydraulick- 
ing’’ which is the ‘‘ short”? among miners for washing down a placer claim by 
means of a hose or giant nozzle, to Printing Press, including descriptions of all 
kinds of hydraulic apparatus, ice machinery, laboratory apparatus, leather and 
its imitations, locomotives, magazine guns, marine engines, metallurgy, micro- 
scopes, mill machinery, mowers, nautical instruments, oil-stoves, oyster culture, 
pavements, phosphor bronze, photography, pile-drivers, plate machinery, pneu- 
matic apparatus, porcelain manufacturing, portable engines, etc. Every page 
contains elaborate illustrations of the machines described, and with all the import- 
ant titles are given references to full descriptions in other works. Thus, under 
the title ‘‘locomotive ” more than three hundred references are made to articles 
upon various branches of the subject in the Augencer, Scientific American, Manu- 
Jacturer and Builder, Thurston's Vienna Reports, Van Nostrand’s Magazine, Le 
Technologiste, Railroad Gazette, etc. 

It seems impossible to think of an appropriate subject that has been omitted 
and in most cases the treatment is full, clear and exhaustive. The printing and 
engravings are exceedingly well done. 


THE THEORY OF THE Gas ENGINE. Dugald Clerk; 18mo., pp. 164; LIllustrat- 
ed. D. Van Nostrand, New York; 5oc. 
After pointing out the inefficiency of steam engines, the best of which do not 

credit more than ten per cent of the heat used by them into work and many of 

them not over four per cent, and the impracticability of gas engines, notwith- 
standing their apparent compliance with all necessary conditions, the author pro- 
ceeds to show that the gas engine presents the best prospect of satisfactory results. 

He names three well defined types of engines that have been proposed. 

1. An engine drawing into its cylinder gas and air at atmospheric pressure 
for a portion of its stroke, cutting off communication with the outer atmosphere, 
and immediately igniting the mixture, the piston being pushed forward by the 
pressure of the ignited gases during the remainder of its stroke. The in-stroke 
then discharges the products of combustion. 

2. An engine in which a mixture of gas and air is drawn into a. pump, and 
is discharged by the return stroke into a reservoir in astate of compression. From 
the reservoir the mixture enters into a cylinder, being ignited as it enters, without 


670 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


rise in pressure, but simply increased in volume, and following the piston as it 
moves forward, the return stroke discharges the products of combustion. 

3. An engine in which a mixture of gas and air is compressed or introduced 
under compression into a cylinder, or space at the end of a cylinder, and then — 
ignited while the volume remains constant and the pressure rises. Under this 
pressure the piston moves forward, and the return stroke discharges the exhaust. 

Several minor types have been proposed and many modifications of these 
three methods are used. A thorough understanding of these, however, renders 
it possible to judge the merits of any other. 

Types 1 and 3 are explosion engines, the volume of the mixture remaining 
constant while the pressure increases. Type 2 is a gradual combustion engine in 
which the pressure is constant but the volume increases. 

The author, in the course of his experiments on gas engines, has found that 
1,537. Centigrade is the temperature usually attained by the ignited gases in his 
engine, and he has accordingly investigated the behaviour of air under different 
conditions at this temperature. 

The results of his investigations are carefully and mathematically set forth in 
this volume which will at least be interesting to engineers and physicists. 


Tue Use or Toxpacco. J. I. D. Hinds, Ph.D., Lebanon, Tenn.; 12mo., pp. 

138. 55c. by mail. 

Prof. Hinds is teacher of Chemistry in Cumberland University and has ac- 
quired a high standing as a chemist as well as teacher of natural science, in the 
South. His little work upon the Use of Tobacco gives evidence of his skill in 
both departments, since it not only furnishes a chemical analysis of the plant, but 
also gives its history, describes its botanical character and its physiological and 
pathological effects upon the system. He makes the statement that nearly nine 
hundred millions of the inhabitants of the globe are users of tobacco, and justly 
claims that an article that holds subject nine-fourteenths of the human race is 
certainly worthy of attention. 

The chapter upon its physiological effects is largely made up of quotations 
from some of the best writers and thinkers of the day and is well worthy’the care- 
ful perusal of all persons addicted to the use of ‘‘the weed.” It is a very inter- 
esting and valuable monograph and should have a large distribution. 


THE BREWER, DISTILLER AND WINE MANUFACTURER. Edited by John Gard- 
ner, F. C.S.; 12mo., pp. 278. Illustrated. P. Blakiston, Son & Co., Phil- 
adelphia, 1883. $1.75. 

This is the first of a series of Technological Hand books designed to meet 
the wants and pockets of those who need practical information on special subjects 
and do not care to purchase cyclopedias or expensive ‘technological works. It 
is intended to be equally valuable to the expert as to the beginner. This volume 


WHAT STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED. 671 


gives full directions for the manufacturing of beers, spirits, wines, liquors, etc., 
and will be found convenient and useful to all, and indispensable to many, who 
are interested in the manufacture and sale of alcohol and its compounds. ‘The 
next volume will be devoted to bleaching, dyeing and kindred subjects. 


OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 


Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Vol. I, November, 
1880, to May, 1882. Industrial Art in Schools, by Chas. G. Leland, of Phila- 
delphia, being No. 6 of the Circulars of Information issued by the Bureau of 
Education. Mumboldt Library, No. 41, Discussions in Current Science, by W. 
Mattieu Williams, F. R. A. S., F.C. S., 15¢c. The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign 
Literature, February, 1883, E. R. Pelton, Publisher, N. Y., Monthly, $5.00 per 
annum. Report on the Development of the Resources of Colorado for 1881-2, 
J. Alden Smith, State Geologist, 35c. The Forestry of the Mississippi Valley, 
Preliminary Report, by Hon. F. P. Baker, Topeka. 


SCIAEIN WV CIMoS CaaS 


WHAT STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS HAVE ACCOMPLISHED. 


As a kind of appendix to Professor Trowbridge’s article on the Missouri 
‘Geological Survey, in this number of the Review, we have compiled a few items 
‘showing practically the results of such work in a few States. 

The Missouri Geological Survey defined the boundaries of our coal fields, 
showing them to include three principal divisions, the Upper, the Middle and 
the Lower. The upper is barren; the lower productive and their limits are ap- 
proximately laid down on the map. The map of coal fields with Report of 1872 
gives the line between the upper, the lowerand the middle measures. Only the 
geological surveys have accomplished this, for previously nothing was known. 

Black slate is generally associated with coal. But there are also beds of 
black slate which do not belong to the coal formations. Such beds exist in New 
York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and most of the Ohio Valley States and Missouri in a 
limited degree. 

The Ohio survey saved thousands to the State by showing that these slates 
did not belong to the coal formation. 

We have seen similar slates in Ralls County, Missouri, and have been where 
two shafts had been sunk upon them in search of coal. If a geologist had been 
previously consulted this expense could have been saved. 

Ten or fifteen years ago Henry Engelmann, assistant Geologist of Illinois, 


672 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


advanced the opinion that the Big Muddy coal of over four feet in thickness: 
could be reached in a shaft at Centralia at a depth varying frem 560 to 660 feet. - 
Certain shafts were sunk, but not so deep, and no coal obtained; the parties at. 
work several times stopped work but he continued to encourage them. Their 
efforts were finally crowned with success, coal was reached at 570 feet and six 
feet in thickness. 

Gen. Pleasants, in charge of coal mining at Pottsville, Pa., had borings ex- 
tended to 1,558 to a fourteen-foot seam of coal and 1,909 feet to a seventeen-foot. 
seam. This was done to verify his theory, and the company, I understand, would 
or did appropriate $100,000 in works. 

In 1874, Prof. G. C. Broadhead published Missouri Geological Report, over 
700 pages with atlases. This report included certain coal producing counties of 
northeastern Missouri, with others rich in coal in the southwest. In each County 
Report approximate calculations were made of probable amount of coal in each 
township. Bates County was included in this Report. Within a few years there- 
after the citizens of the county published a small paper giving extracts from the 
Report when the thickness of coal beds and quantity of coal was named. The 
paper in each instance gave credit to the Missouri Geological Report with the 
figures. This paper was circulated very widely. From that time to this the eyes 
of capitalists and railroad managers have been turned to Bates County. . 

In 1880 the Missouri Pacific Railroad was completed to the Bates County 
coal fields. The town of Rich Hill was started—now a thriving town of over 
4,000 inhabitants with its hundreds of coal miners, two railroads and another in 
contemplation; zinc works put up also, and carloads of coal being continually 
carried off. (See statistics in January Review). 

In Michigan the prodigious results of the salt borings in the Saginaw district 
were the direct consequence of instructions given by the State Geologist before any 
intelligent work had been done there and after thousands of dollars had been 
wasted in ineffectual efforts around the edges of the great salt basin where the dilute 
brine was overflowing. In this instance the State Geologist not only pointed out 
out the different strata to be pierced ,but also the depth necessary to be bored in 
order to reach the vast body of salt from which the valueless springs derived their 
saline qualities. Within one year afterward 4,000 barrels of salt were produced, 
and within four years the production in the State was 2,678,598 barrels. 

A few years ago Prof. Aughey prepared a monograph on the ‘‘ Superficial 
Deposits of Nebraska,” a hundred thousand of which were published in pamphlet 
form for gratituous distribution. These were circulated not only in the United 
States but also in Europe, and a year or more ago the railroad officials estimated 
that Prof. Aughey’s little volume had brought a hundred thousand people to ~ 
Nebraska. 


THE KANSAS CITY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE, 673. 


THE WIGGINS STORM OF MARCH otx TO 11TH, 1883. 


The President has received the following communication from Prof. E. 
Stone Wiggins, LL.D., Astronomer of the Canadian Finance Department, under 
date of Ottawa, November 25th: 

On the 23rd of September last, I announced through the Canadian press 
that a great storm would occur in March next; that it would first be felt in the 
Northern Pacific; would appear in the Gulf of Mexico on the night of the oth, 
and, being reflected by the Rocky Mountains; would cross this meridian from 
the west at noon, Sunday, March 11, 2883. Novessel, whatever her dimensions, 
will be safe out of the harbor, and none of small tonnage can hope to survive the 
tidal wave and fury of this tempest. As the wind will blow from the southeast, 
the planetary force will be sufficient to submerge the low lands of the American 
coast, especially those bordering on the Gulf of Mexico and washed by the Gulf 
Stream, where the air currents for several hundred miles along the east side of 
the Rocky Mountain Range, owing to great atmospheric pressure in those re- 
gions, will spread universal destruction. The New England States will also suf- 
fer severely from wind and floods. No point outside the harbor in the whole 
area of the Atlantic, especially north of the Equator, will be a place of safety. 
For this will be pre-eminently the greatest storm that has visited this continent 
since the days of your illustrious first President. In view of this event, there- 
fore, I take the great liberty of representing to your Excellency the advisability of 
ordering all United States ships into safe harbors not later than the 5th of March, 
till this storm be passed. - 


THE KANSAS CITY ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 


About seven years ago the Kansas City Academy of Science was organized 
and has maintained a healthy and prosperous growth ever since. For nine 
months in each year, 1. e. from September to May, it has monthly public meet- 
ings at which scientific papers by its members, usually of a popular character, 
are read and discussed. In addition to these entertainments, it has had several 
courses of public lectures, at which our citizens have been addressed by such 
eminent thinkers and speakers from a distance as Professors R. A. Proctor, W. 
I. Marshall, B. F. Mudge, Laws, Marvin, Swallow, Snow, Nipher, Lovewell, 
Broadhead and Robins; Doctors E. R. and I. D. Heath; Reverends Alexander 
Proctor, Richard Cordley and C. L. Thompson. 

It has made an exploration of the Ancient Mounds of Clay County, as well 
as the interesting geological deposits of the carboniferous strata and the loess of 
this immediate vicinity. The Proceedings of this body when collected into vol- 
umes will be a valuable contribution to western science. 

The Academy Library comprises about 300 volumes, principally U. S. Geo- 


674 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


logical, Archeological, Astronomical and Smithsonian Reports, also Explora 
tions, Surveys, Geological Reports from various States, besides monographs and 
pamphlets in large numbers. This library is now placed on the list of exchanges 
at the various departments in Washington and will receive as they are issued all 
of the most important publications of all of them. 

Its cabinets now comprise nearly two thousand specimens of minerals, fossils 
and archeological relics, all of which are preserved at its rooms on the third floor 
of the Diamond Building at the junction of Main and Delaware Streets. 

The present officers of the Kansas City Academy of Science, are Hon. R. 
‘T. VanHorn, President; W. H. Miller, Vice-President; Dr. R. W. Brown, Re- 
cording Secretary; Theo. 5S. Case, Corresponding Secretary, S. D. Bowker, M. 
D., Treasurer, and S. J. Hare, Curator and Librarian; Executive Committee, 
Hon. R. 1. VanHorn, Prof. Geo. Halley, M. D:, Prof. 12 J; Haton; VE ape 
Major B. M. Woodson, and Rev. J. D. Parker, U. S. A. 

Its evenings for regular meetings are the last Tuesday of each month, except 
in Summer. 


THE KANSAS CITY INSTITUTE. 


This organization is now about one year old and has made a rapid and 
healthy growth under the management, mainly, of Judge E. P. West, its Curator. 
In addition to the ordinary work of scientific societies the Institute is paying at- 
tention to the cultivation of art in this community and hasgiven two public exhibi- 
tions at which such specimens were among the chief attractions. At the exhibi- 
tion of the collection in the Museum of the Kansas City Institute, on the even- 
ing of February roth, the works of art were as follows: 

Miss Vaughn, two paintings, namely—‘‘ Kansas City in 1867,” and “‘ Black- 
Hawk’s Pulpit.” 

Mr. W. W. Findlay, four paintings, namely—‘‘ Conway Meadows,” ‘‘ Win- 

er,” ‘‘Summer,” by Colby; and ‘* Waldeinsamheit,” by Langben. 

Mr. Ruggles, nine paintings, namely—‘‘ Coast on Boston Bay,” ‘‘Scene near 
Concord, N. H.,” ‘‘ Pueblo Indian Shepherd,” ‘‘ Mid-Ocean,” three portraits 
taken from life nad two fruit studies. 

Mr. Campbell, four paintings, namely—‘“‘ nec ‘¢ Holy Family,’ after 
Raphael, ‘‘ Portrait of Major Rollins,” after Bingham, and ‘‘ A Landscape.” 

Miss Vaughn and Mr. Campbell are well known in the city as artists of 
merit. Mr. Campbell is widely known in the East and maintains there a high 
reputation as a scuptor and designer. Mr. Ruggles is not so well known here, 
having been in the city less than seven months, but judging from his work on 
exhibition he will soon attain an enviable position among the artists of the coun- 
try. 

In Paleontology there were over 1200 upper coal measure fossils (our home 
formation) including specimens collected along the Missouri River from Omaha, 


WAS LORD BACON AUTHOR OF SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS ? 675 


Nebraska, to Camden, Mo., and bones, teeth and fragments of the tusks of extinct 
mammals found in this county. The leg bone is now over forty inches. It must 
have been originally more-than four feet; molar more than eleven inches across 
the crown longest diameter. One of the largest of the extinct mammals ever 
found. 

Archeology. Shell beads and fish vertebree found in vase in a mound at 
Weston, Mo., pottery and rough stone implements from ‘‘ Old Fort,” Saline Co., 
Mo., and other points along the Missouri River from Omaha, Neb., to St. Louis, 
Mo. Human bones found in Kansas City eighteen feet beneath the surface em- 
bedded in the loess. A fine meteorite, and two beautiful cases of minerals. 

All of these were tastefully and appropriately arranged in the rooms of the 
Institute in the basement of the Unitarian Church on Baltimore Avenue, between 
toth and rith Streets. 

The officers of the Kansas City Institute are as follows: President, Hon. 
A. Krekel, Judge U. S. District Court; Vice-President, Hon. Turner A. Gill, 
Circuit Court No. 1, Kansas City; Recording Secretary, Captain E. H. Webster; 
' Corresponding Secretary, Warren Watson, Clerk U. S. District Court; Treasurer, 
J. S. Chick; Collector and Curator, Judge EK. P. West. 


WAS LORD BACON THE AUTHOR OF SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS ? 


Mrs. Pott has lately published in England a book concerning Lord Bacon’s 
Promus. The following notes reproduce its striking points: 

The writer of the Preface is of the opinion that the similarities to Bacon in 
Shakespeare arise merely from the latter having borrowed from Bacon. Many 
attribute them to their having studied the same books. But this obliges us to 
believe that from these books two men so different derived identically the same 
theories and turns of expression, tastes, andantipathies. In looking at the Promus 
it really seems asif Bacon had been taking notes for Shakespeare. We find in it 
hundreds of notes of which no trace has been discovered in any of his own writ- 
ings, or in those of any of his contemporaries except Shakespeare. 

In almost every department of knowledge and opinion we have Bacon’s mind 
in Shakespeare’s writings. 

In many cases we have identical forms of speech, words, and uses of words 
not found in previous or contemporary writers. 

There are recorded in the Promus 203 English proverbs, of which no less 
than 150 are to be found in Shakespeare, while scarcely one of them is to be 
found in Bacon’s own writings. Why would he have noted them if he had not 
intended to use them ? 

In one case we find two proverbs combined in the Promus and also in the 
plays, and yet they do not occur together in the book from which Bacon took 
them. 


676 KANSAS ClZ REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


There are a few proverbs not in the Promus that are in Shakespeare, but 
these may be found in Bacon’s letters and speeches. 

There are 240 foreign proverbs in the Promus and 151 of then are alsoin the 
plays. It is hardly probable that Shakespeare had sufficient knowledge of French, 
Italian and Spanish to enable him to introduce them alone and adopt sentiments 
from them as if they were household words. 

The frequent occurrence in the plays of the wise saws of the ancients leads 
to the conviction that they were not taken at first hand from the various classical 
authors, but from the commentaries of Erasmus, and there are 225 of these Er +- 
mus notes in Shakespeare. And it is remarkable that they are not set down 
the Promus in the order in which they occur in Erasmus, but are arranged a: 

for a purpose. if 
. In the Promus occurs the adage, ‘‘'To drive out a ‘nail with a nail.” T 
adage is introduced in ‘‘ The Two Gentlemen of Verona’’ and also in ‘‘Co1 
lanus,” and its setting in both pieces is so peculiar and Baconian as to be mo: 
remarkable. We see Bacon’s strong tendency to use antithetical forms of speech 
and metaphors founded upon his scientific researches, and in both cases appears 
an original and erroneous scientific theory of Bacon’s regarding heat. It is almost 
past belief that any two men should, at precisely the same period, have conceived 
the same theories and made the same mistakes. 

The few Latin proverbs which were favorites of Bacon, and often quoted by 
him in letters and speeches (though not in the Promus) are all in Shakespeare. 

One of his favorites Bacon does not use later than 1600; nor does it appear 
in any play of Shakespeare written after that time. Of 350similes and metaphors 
in Bacon, 300 are found in Shakespeare. ; | 

In some of Bacon’s letters, in which he discusses his writing by name, there 
is allusion to another class of writings which he calls ‘‘ Works of creation,” with- 
out describing them definitely. Sir Toby Matthew, to whom these letters were 
written, wrote to Bacon: ‘‘The most prodigious wit that ever I knew is of your 
name, though he be known by another.” 

Perhaps this does not prove that Bacon and Shakespeare were identical, but 
such evidence as it affords might suffice to hang a man if he were on trial for his 
IWS COA ING We SOs 


The popularity of the new Pulsometer Steam Pump is largely on the increase, 
both at home and abroad. ‘The Company has just received an order from the 
Philadelphia & Reading Railroad for thirteen of its No. 8 pumps, 5-inch suction, 
750 gallons per minute, to be used on its steam colliers for pumping water ballast. 
It is now working on orders received from South America, Cuba, and Mexico, 
for pumps of various sizes. —Coad. 


‘ 


i 


‘ 
a 


LDITORIAL 


ODES. 


BO MOr A NOmas: 


Dr. EDWIN R. HEATH, the noted South 
American traveler and explorer whose ad- 
dresses before the Kansas City Academy of 
‘Sciences and whose articles in the REVIEW 
‘have been received with so much pleasure 
and instruction by Kansas City audiences 
and readers, is now engaged in preparing ac- 
counts of his labors for the American Geo-'‘ 
graphical Society and for Harper's Monthly 
Magazine, 


CapTAIN ANTHERNE of the British Steamer 
Stanmore, bears testimony to the value of oil 
upon a violent sea, having recently reached 
New York after a most stormy passage, dur- 
ing which every other expedient was resorted 
to ineffectually, and this with great success. 


THE Linnzean Society, of New York, has 
just published the first volume of its Trans- 
actions in extremely attractive style, illustrat- 
ed with a frontispiece portrait of Linnzas ; 
Royal octavo, pp. 168, $3.00. 


OWING to floods and other delays incident 
to winter, the Atlantic, Harper, and Popular 
Sctence Monthly, for March, and several other 
valuable exchanges were received too late for 
notice. Even a casual examination, how- 
ever, shows them to be fully up to their usual 
standard of excellence. 


\ THE total eclipse of the Sun which occurs 
on May 6th, will only be visible during its 
totality, from two small islands in the South- 
ern Pacific Ocean, named respectively Flint 
and Caroline, From these the totality of the 


eclipse will be seen to last almost five and 
one-half minutes, which is within one and 
one-half minutes of the greatest possible to- 
tality. For this reason it will bea most not- 
able event, and astronomers from all quart- 
ers of the globe will visit these islands, pro- 
bly more than doubling their present popu- 
lation, which is limited to about thirty souls. 


Rev. E. PEPPER, of Bradford, N. H., who 
is a regular reader of the REVIEW, writes to 
a friend in this city, ‘‘I find much in it that 
is fresh and interesting—improving—and a 
little that is characteristic of modern world- 
building. Hs re = rs Thaveen- 
joyed most of the articles in the REVIEW. 
They are suggestive and instructive. The 
REVIEW is a sure indication that other things 
than money getting inspire the new West.’’ 


Dr. D. G. BRINTON, of Philadelphia, an- 
nounces the publication of a series of volumes 
to be known as the Library of Aboriginal 
American Literature, of which the following 
are the titles of those to appear first: The 
Chronicles of the Mayas, Central American 
Calendars, The Annals of Quanhtitlan, The 
Synod of the Creeks and the Chronicles of 
the Cakchiquels ; $3 each volume. 


Pror. E. Strong WIGGINS explains that the 
cause of his failure to correctly foretell a 
storm on February 9th, was that he ‘“‘ wrote 
down eight days eleven hours astronomical 
instead of calendar time which caused his 
storm to strike the western coast of America 
on the night of the 8th instead of the eastern 


678 


coast on the morning of the 9th, the Earth 
requiring seventeen hours more to turn the 
Atlantic toward the forces that were to gen- 
erate the storm.” He asks as a favor that 
‘¢the movements of his great March storm 
be carefully watched,” which will be surely 
done involuntarily if it isaccompanied by the 
terrible disturbances he predicts. To enable 
our readers to grant the favor asked we pub- 
lish elsewhere his letter to President Arthur, 
dated November 25, 1882. 


CRYOLITE has been discovered of a fair 
quality in El Paso County, Colorado, near 
Pike’s Peak. At present most of this miner- 


al is brought from Greenland, and if future ! 


developments prove the Colorado discovery 
to be of any extent, it wiil be of considera- 
ble value to the manufactures in which it is 
employed. 


Capt, E. L. BERTHOUD, one of the valued 
contributors and friends of the REVIEW, has 
been elected one of the board of trustees of 
the Colorado State School of Mines. 


A Microscopical Society was organized in 
Denver, on the 17th, with a number of char- 
ter members. Prof. S. H. Short, of the Den- 
ver University, was thé principal originator 
of the Society. 


ERNEST LE NEVE FosTER has been ap- 
pointed by the Governor as State Geologist 
of Colorado, The appointment meets with 
the hearty approval of the geologists of that 
State. 


ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS. 
Subscribers to the REVIEW can be furnished 
through this office with all the best magazines of 
the Country and Europe, ata discount of from 
15 to 20 per cent off the retail prace. 


In the course of an extended notice of the 
REVIEW, the editor of the Modern Argo ex- 
presses the following flattering opinion: 
‘¢ The general scope and high character of 
this magazine places it on a level with the 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


best of this kind of important and useful lit- 
erature. It certainly is not only a credit to 
its editor and proprietor, but is also a publi- 
cation that is an honor to Kansas City. The 
gauge of outside opinion is as often fixed by 
the character of the publications a communi- 
ty supports as by any other influence, and 
for this reason, even if for no other, Col. 
Case’s magazine is worthy of the most liberal 
support. The REVIEW is now nearing its 
seventh volume and its progress in keeping 
up with modern thought and experiment in 
its domain is a matter for congratulation.” 


WE have received the first number of 
Science, the new weekly periodical to which 
we called attention in our last issue. Itisan 
octavo of twenty-eight pages printed in double 
columns, and presents a very attractive ap- 
pearance. Mr. Sam’l H. Scudder is the edi- 


_ tor-in-chief, with several collaborators whose 


initials, as appended to their notes, are more 
or less familiar to the scientific reader. 
Among the contributors of original articles 
and critical notices of books are—Prof. S. P. 
Langley, Capt. Geo. E. Belknap, U. S.N., 
Samuel Kneeland, Prof. Asa Gray, and oth- 
ers. Under the circumstances of its origina- 

tion, its able editorial force and its pecuniary 

backing it must certainly be a success and 

become one of the necessities of the profes- 

sional and popular reader. We were, in 

view of our own short-comings, delighted, to 
detect even one typographical error in its 

columns. Cambridge, Mass.; $5. 


THE Acadian Sctentist kindly says, ‘* The 
Kansas City REVIEW is the popular science 
monthly of the West, and seems to indicate 
to a large degree the spirit of enterprise that 
characterises our Western friends. We are 
always sure of finding its columns filled with © 
able articles of scientific interest. 


THE American Naturalist entered upon its - 
seventeenth year with the January numbex 
and at the same time enlarged its dimensions 
by adding thirty pages of reading matter and 
taking in two new departments, Physiology 
and Psychology. | ; 


LAIN SS AcS); Cia 


REVIEW OF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY, 


A MONTHLY RECORD OF PROGRESS IN 


SCIENCE, MECHANIC ARTS AND LITERATURE. 


WOE V1. APRIL, 1883. N@w 12: 


lel Ouse se, 


DIALECTS OF BOLIVIAN INDIANS. 


A Philological contribution from material gathered during three years residence in the 
Depariment of Bent, in Bolivia. 


EDWIN R. HEATH, M. D. 


In the northwestern part of Bolivia, along the rivers Beni, Mamore and 
Yacuma, there are various Indian tribes, some civilized, others still savage, each 
tribe having its own distinct language, even though living side by side, having 
constant intercourse and intermarrying. The civilized tribes, living on the Ma- 
more and Yacuma Rivers, are the Cayuaba, Moima, Canichana and Trinitaria. 
The first named live in and about the village of Exaltacion. They are physically 
well formed, although short in stature, seldom exceeding five and a half feet, 
while the Mobimas, who live at Santa Ana on the the river Yacuma, twenty-nine 
miles further south, seldom ever are under six feet. ‘The Canichanas resemble 
the Mobimas, in stature but differ in form, being leanand bony. The Trinitarias 
partake of the peculiarities of the other three tribes. The two last named reside 
at San Pedro and Trinidad, still further south of the others. The Mobimas have 
a preference for agriculture and stock raising. The Canichanas make the best 
cartmen, while the Cayuabas, Canichanas and Trinitarias make excellent boat- 
men. On the east side of the Mamore, from Exaltacion as far north as the 
mouth. of the river Guapore or Itenez, are found the wandering tribe of Houbarayo 


savages. Their name is a terror to those who ascend and descend the river. 
V1—43 


680 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


Many a paddler has ended his voyage by an arrow from their ambushes—nor 
does the owner of the boat escape them always. Opposite them, on the west 
side of the river, are the Chacobo savages, but extending further north, even to 
the river Beni. At one time they were a part of the Cayuaba Mission. Late 
years they have returned to their old barbaric ways. Ascending the Madiera 
River from San Antonio, in Brazil, the head of steamboat navigation the traveler 
has to guard himself from the Cangaparangas, who shot and wounded Peter 
Collins, one of the brothers who had the Madiera and Mamore R. R. in contract; 
from the Carapuna and on the Mamore River from these two savage tribes. 

Well do we remember the anxious scrutiny of every bush and deeper shaded 
point. Very few are the stoppages when once south of the Guapore, the Indians 
willingly paddling from 1 A. M. torr P. M. Often have we seen them sound 
asleep, yet never missing a stroke of the paddle, even though they make from 
forty-five to fifty strokes per minute, all dipping their paddles in unison. One 
night, having camped on the Chacobo side, after supper, the fires being extin- 
guished, we all lay down for a good sleep. About 1 A. M. the crackling of a 
twig and sound of stealthy steps aroused the camp and all as quickly and noiseless- 
ly as possible took to the boats and paddled to the other side. Turning a bend 
in the river we came suddenly on a camp of the Houbarayos who were spending 
the night there. Taken by surprise they had no time to make an attack. ’Tis a 
question, which were the most frightened, they or our boatmen. The steersman 
immediately turned the boat away from the bank and it needed no order to make 
each paddle do its best. Reaching shallow water, some of the boatmen jumped 
overboard and held the boat till morning, changing duty in the water; as one be- 
came exhausted another took his place. Meanwhile we kept a close watch with 
our arms ready. As daylight came our danger passed, as none of these Indians 
will attack openly where there is any danger to themselves. At another time 
while ascending the Mamore with the two Indians and a small boat with whom 
and which the author had made the exploration of the river Beni, hugging the 
eastern shore to escape the currents, a voice as if some one was hallooing for as- 
sistance was heard. Carefully scanning the opposite bank, for some time, with 
powerful field-glasses, a naked Indian (Chacobo) was seen standing alone on a 
bit of sand-bar at the edge of the river. Besides calling he made signs for us to 
cross over to him. Seeing we paid no heed to him he ceased calling when there 
descended the bank from their ambush some twenty-five others each with their 
bow and arrows. 

On the river Beni, between 11° and 12° south latitude, are the small tribe of 
Pacavaras. ‘There are but four families left, consisting of from eighteen to thirty 
individuals each. Their skin is almost white, bodies well formed, and the women 
very handsome, features more Caucasian than Indian. They pierce the septum. 
of the nose and thrust feathers through it from each side making them look as‘ if 
having heavy mustaches: The women wear small flaps or aprons. They attend 
to the planting, cooking, and every day go to the woods for their fuel, including 
a wood which, once set on fire, never goes out tiJl consumed, even though cut 


DIALECTS OF BOLIVIAN INDIANS, 681 


green. With this, they build a fire under their hammocks, the smoke of which 
protects them from the sand-flies and mosquitoes, while they loiter away the time, 
one in each end of the hammock with their feet hanging out each side as repre- 
sented in Orton’s Andes and the Amazons, a position often criticised as impossi- 
ble. They practice polygamy, every man having as many wives as he can pro- 
vide meat for. 

On the river Madidi, a few miles above its junction with the Beni, is the 
mission of Cavinas—about seventy individualls comprise the mission. Nearly 
every year they suffer loss from wandering cannibal tribes, probably the Araunas 
who live on the banks of the river Madre de Dios north and west of them. That 
the Araunas are cannibals is beyond a doubt. At one of their visits to the mis- 
sion one of the men went out to hunt, but returned empty handed, whereupon 
he went up to his wife, who was nursing a child, took it by the feet, dashed its 
brains out against the earth and cast the body upon the embers. When done, 
mother and all sat down to the feast. One could readily believe them to be can- 
nibals, as a more gaunt, ugly, small formed tribe is seldom seen. They wear the 
hair long and go naked and are greatly feared by the Pacavara and Cavinas In- 
dians. ‘The Cavinas Indians use the Tacana language. In latitude 14° S., some 
twenty miles west of the river Beni is the village of Tumupasa and, northwest 
eighteen miles, that of Ysiamas. The former is the village where the civilized 
Tacana Indians live, the latter that of the uncivilized ones. Rumor says, they, 
having by chance found a stone bearing a remarkable resemblance to man, ac- 
cepted it as deity and yearly, during the dry season, assemble there and pass a 
few days feasting, drinking and dancing. What their ceremonies are, if any, is 
kept a secret. 

Opposite them, on the east side of the Beni, and some twelve miles from the 
river is the little town of Reyes. Here the Maropa tribe live, probably related 
to the Tacanas as the Portugese are to the Spaniards. The Maropas are a well 
formed and generally intelligent people, there being among the females many 
beautiful forms and faces. 

Some forty miles up the Beni is the mission of Muchanes; beyond that Santa 
Ana; and just above the junction of the rivers from Cochabamba and La Paz, 
(forming the Beni), and on the former, that of Covendo. These are composed 
of Mosetena Indians. Their language is Frenchy in its pronunciation. 

Falb, the German scientist, returning to La Paz from a visit to these missions 
announced that he ‘‘ had found the origin of language.”’ The women of allthese 
civilized tribes do their own spinning and weaving, in which they become experts. 

. Their spindle is a small stick made of black palm pointed at both ends one of 
which is thrust through leather about a half inch. Seated on the ground with the 
left leg double. up, the leather end is inserted between the large toe and the one 
Next to it and the stick is then rolled down the right thigh or along a stick of 
wood prepared expressly for that purpose. Many of the old women have the 
skin On the thigh thick like the soles of their bare feet. As soon as a child is 
born it is plunged into cold water. Among the Maropas, as soon as the mother 


682 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


is well through with her parturition the father of the child goes to bed and the 
mother has to wait on him as if he were the one who had given birth to the 
child. If very sick they have their coffin made and placed in the house so as to 
be ready when needed. 

While in Santa Ana we were called to see a very sick Mobima chief. He 
resided in the country, but preferring to die in the village he had sent the measure 
for his coffin ahead. While examining the patient a man entered and to our sur- 
prise began to measure him. Comparison of his measurement with a string he 
held in his hand gave him to understand that the coffin he had just made was too. 
short, upon which, he had supplicated the sick man to excuse his mistake and 
oblige him by not dying yet for an hour, as by that time he could rectify the 
mistake. Wait! was his parting word as he ran out of the house to his work- 
shop, and to his great satisfaction as he returned with the coffin, he found his 
chief still alive. All these civilized tribes are very cleanly as to their persons and 
dress. 

To this article is appended a comparative vocabulary of languages. The 
words selected are from the 211 words adopted by the Smithsonian Institution. 
Care has been taken to perfect the words so that they may be of use to travelers 
and persons studying languages. The Mobima idiom was first obtained from the 
Indians themselves and then read to Mrs. Cornelia Serabia de Suarez, an educated 
lady, who corrected the words, spelling and meaning of many. 

The Canichana was corrected by Don Hugo Boger, a German and fine lin- 
guist, long resident there. Tthe Maropa by Mrs. Fetterman, a Bolivian lady who 
learned it as her native tongue. The Tacana and Mosetana by the Padres of the 
missions. The sounds of the vowels and letters are after the rules of the Spanish 
language. The foot notes will assist one to understand them. It will be seen that 
there is a great similarity between the Maropaand Tacana idioms. The Maropas 
have many words that have significations widely different. Etra means bone 
and also hair. Biya means a louse, wasp or urine. The Pacavaras count by 
doubling into the palm of the hands the thumb and fingers repeating the word 
nata as each is moved till the last, when they say echasu. Pointing to each toe 
in succession and repeating nata, echasu, they count totwenty. Further numer- 
ation is made by repetitions of the same twenty counts. The wanting numerals 
of the other tribes are made by using the Spanish. 

Don Francisco Keller in his ‘‘ Amazon and Madeira Rivers,”’ gives a short 
comparative vocabulary and Orton copies it, but they have greatly been misled 
by some one, as reference to this vocabulary will prove. Keller was in Exaltacion 
and Trinidad but a short time. The author spent two years carefully perfecting 
his work. 


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688 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


CGE OIOG. 


TERTIARY COAL MEASURES OF GUNNISON COUNTY, COL. 
JOHN K. HALLOWELL. 


Some time since, a communication in the form of a query was published in 
the Denver and Gunnison papers over the signature of Charles Henry Baker, M. 
E., asking, in reference to the coal found in that county, ‘‘Is it anthracite?” 

I send you the following, thinking it may help to settle the question, as well 
as give some additional information of possible practical value; this being the re- 
sult of personal observation during a close examination lasting nearly five months, 
spent in and around these coal measures, with a view to determine their age, 
structure, and, in a measure, their commercial value, as seen locally and in com- 
parison with data obtained from other sections. 

The first five years of my geological work being among the coal measures of 
Missouri and Kansas, I have always been much interested in what had been 
brought to me in the way of specimens from the Gunnison country coals. For 
two years these specimens had come, the parties having the same claiming the 
product to be anthracite. This I disputed, as no one could inform me of any 
change in the connecting rocks that showed an opportunity for a change in the 
coal, by metamorphism, from a bituminous coal to an anthracite. In fact, I con- 
sidered (without tests) that the appearance of the specimens was, in gravity, 
fracture, and luster, against such a result. The coals appeared more like the 
Albertites of Nova Scotia, or a coal highly charged with bitumen. On the other 
hand, the chemists’ analyses shown me gave such high results in fixed carbon that 
it must be rated as an anthracite; and if the latter, the rocks accompanying the 
coal-seam must show a corresponding change. As stated, of this none could tell 
me, and, as a geologist, I must confirm what the chemist had shown or find out 
the reason why. 

The geological structure of this coal measure formation, as seen by myself in 
the Crested Buttes and Ohio Creek basins, was a revelation, as nothing like it is 
known or described in any works that I have; many things appeared to be re- 
versed and not at all analogous to other known localities where coals occur. So 
great was this difference that I must give the facts as seen by an ordinary observ- 
er, and then try correctly to describe the geological structure, adding thereto a 


TERTIARY COAL MEASURES OF GUNNISON COUNTY, COL. 689 


description of the characteristics of other sections, that the difference may be 
realized. 

Take the first openings back of Crested Buttes town, and to my amazement 
the coal lay upon shale, with a solid sandstone roof; and for 1500 feet thick, as 
these measures appear to be, the rock formation is shale, coal, and sandstone ; no 
limestone belongs to this series, and nowhere does any animal life appear to have 
existed in the waters that deposited the sediments making the present existing 
sandstones and shales. All other coal measures known have most abundant re- 
mains of shell-fish in the limestones, sandstones, and shales of their respective 
ages. 

The only fossils are the impressions of leaves of land plants and trees that 
floated out to sea, sank, and left a record in the sands, saying here was a tropical 
climate, as most beautiful palm-leaf impressions are obtained in one horizon, as 
well as many other leaves grown in a like latitude or climate, whose names I do 
not know. 

The sandstone itself is a marvel, in places many feet thick, and repeated just 
the same many times in different strata; as, in looking for a cause that would ac- 
count for the absence of life in these waters, I found the sandstone was not the 
detritus from the wearing away of other rocks, but was a precipitation of particles 
of quartz from a hot sea, carrying an excess of silica in solution, cemented by a 
small amount of material that was produced from dissolved feldspar; not a round- 
ed pebble in the whole series, but even-grained and homogeneous throughout. 

I examined too square miles of these measures, and in the midst of it all 
found 2000 acres of anthracite coal, the finest of its kind known on the continent, 
a four foot vein, giving from go to 94% per cent of fixed carbon and no iron or 
sulphur in an appreciable quantity. 

To finish with, 1000 feet of conglomerate had at one time been deposited over 
the whole of this, and in another locality recent lavas were found overlying these 
Tertiary sandstones. 

If the above, which can be seen by any one, was not a geological problem, 
I have never met one. To solve it, I had to find the rocks of the next oldest 
age, which proved to be Cretaceous, large shale beds of this age existing partly 
metamorphosed to a slate, and containing the characteristic fossil—/noceramus— 
of the Cretaceous seas. 

The closing of this age gave me the key to very much, as locally it is marked 
by one of the most stupendous eruptions of volcanic paste that ever was known, 
covering hundreds of square miles on a Cretaceous sea-bottom, not only flowing 
over these muds, where lived the /noceramus, but also elevated in enormous mass- 
es, which now show as mountain ranges, as well as single mountains or cones. 
This volcanic mass is now geologically identified as granite porphyry, its constit- 
uents being silica, horn-blende, feldspar, a small amount of mica, and occasion- 
ally a small crystal of sanidine. The feldspar separated into beautiful crystals, 
with perfect sides and terminations, some of them of large size, held most firmly 
by the silica which makes the bulk of the paste. So much harder is this inclos- 


690 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


ing paste that it was difficult to get good specimens of the crystals, the latter de- 
composing more readily, and leaving perfect casts in the rock. 

This granite porphyry would make the most beautiful building stone, as it is 
more easily quarried than Maine granite, more readily dressed, is just as durable, 
will take as high a polish, and when finished is as beautiful as any marble known, 
has no mineral constituents to oxidize and stain, and is in inexhaustible quanti- 
ties. It comprises such mountains as Crested Buttes, Gothic, Carbon, Edgely, 
Beckwith, and Marcellina, as well as the ranges known as Ragged Mountains, 
the Anthracite range, and Wheatstone group. Near to part of these now run two 
railroads, and in time along these lines will be mammoth quarries; for here is a 
better rock to send East than the East can possibly send West. 

The next move of nature in this locality was to elevate these submarine 
mountains above sea-level, so that shallow marshy seas were at their bases. The 
climate was at this sea-level, I think, more tropical than anything that we are 
acquainted with at the present time; as not only was the latitude such as to have 
hot seasons, but, in addition, towering up thousands of feet in every direction, 
were these mountains of volcanic material, giving off large volumes of heat by 
radiation ; large masses of volcanic rock cool slowly in the atmosphere. In the 
gorges and open shallow seas of this Tertiary age, at the feet of these mountains, 
and among all of this warmth—and very great moisture there must have been in 
the atmosphere, too—commenced the growth of the plants that now make these 
Tertiary coals. How long time is, under such circumstances, as we reckon it, 
we can have no data; but sufficient was the period of rest here, for these plant- 
growths to accumulate several feet thick. 

Here I want to do a little local reasoning, that in principle may apply to © 
other eruptive localities. To begin with, this eruptive matter must have been the 
product of internal heat below the earth’s surface; the overlying crust must have | 
been proportionably strong to hold such a vast quantity confined, with its cumu- 
lative force of steam and gas; when this power had accumulated sufficiently to 
exert itself, the eruptive power was in ratio to the power used, which again was 
in proportion to the thickness or resistance of the overlying earth-crust; after the 
eruption, there would be an internal cavity approximating in size to the cubic 
contents of the mass recently brought to the surface; the original surface rocks 
would have the tonnage to support represented by the mass of eruptive material ; 
this weight on the underlying shell then became to a greater or less extent plastic, 
and, without internal support, would cause a local sinking at varying periods, 
which periods of subsidence were represented by changes in the more recent sed- 
iments which were afterward deposited on the new floor or sea-bottom ; and each 
and every one of such changes of sea depths can be counted by the variations in 
the newer strata of rocks. 

Noting the above reasoning, in these coal basins, we find after a time a sub- 
sidence, and on top of the coal plants flowed a greater depth of water. The 
mountains were still hot, the exposed surfaces somewhat decomposed, this influx 
of water was heated to a great degree and took into solution silica, which com- 


TERTIARY COAL MEASURES OF GUNNISON COUNTY, COL. 691 


ing in contact with the organic matter in the then sea-bottom, was precipitated, 
and also by the gradual cooling of the waters. 

Here this section for a time was stationary, and the sands gradually filled 
these watery depths until another shallow sea was repeated, and a subsidence 
followed which washed all of the loose moveable soil of the adjoining lands and 
islands into the deep sea. This material made the mud deposit—shales now— 
which follows the sandstone. On these muds in shallow water the growth of the 
coal plants again commenced, to be followed in repetition by what has already 
been shown; and this was repeated six different times, for eighteen different sub- 
sidences and periods of rest are now shown to have occurred here locally; per- 
haps more, if we could get at the deepest part of any one of these basins. The 
strata built up, as near as I could ascertain, aggregate 1500 feet in thickness. 

Then followed a greater subsidence at once than at any single time previous; 
a wider area of territory was acted upon by deeper waters; and instead of sand- 
stones, resulting from precipitation, we have 1ooo feet of conglomerate, which 
covered all of the named mountains of granite porphyry. 

This Tertiary age was closed by the eruption of the lava showing on the di- 
viding ridge between Ohio Creek and East River near Howville or Jack’s Cabin. 
Subsequent erosion shows this lava on top of the Tertiary sandstones, and sub- 
sequent erosion has worn down these sedimentary rocks deposited in the old 
mountain gorges between peaks and ranges of granite porphyry, laying clear the 
structure from the latest strata to where it began, and all to be seen and reasoned 
out as I have shown. 

Now for the anthracite. I spent two days on Anthracite range, camping out 
to get at the following: Standing on the top of this range, it could be seen that, 
at the time of the recent or lava eruption, a deep gorge or crevice had opened 
from the eruptive point through between Wheatstone group and Mount Carbon. 
This opening came against the end of the Anthracite range, with the effect of 
setting or splitting off a single mountain mass by itself. This crevice, evidently, 
was also filled with eruptive matter, not coming to the surface, but exerting 
force and pressure sufficiently to slowly crowd this single mountain northward, 
which in its turn pressed against the coal measure strata built up at its feet and 
against its sides with such force that these originally horizontal sedimentary rocks 
were raised to an angle of twenty-one degrees. The heat and pressure generated 
by this rock movement metamorphosed a coal-bed under 2000 acres from a bitu- 
minous coal to a four-foot vein of the finest anthracite that is now known. Here 
geology and chemistry agree, and at this point, [ think, Mr. Charles Henry 
Baker, M. E., is answered that it is anthracite. 

The eruption of this lava raised the Tertiary beds so that all of the strata dip 
away from the lava outcrop, eight and one half feet in each roo feet; although in 
the Ohio Creek basin, I think, from what I saw, that the dip gradually increases 
as the lava mesa is approached. ‘The sedimentary rocks broke in short cross- 
sections; along these breaks, lines of erosion now exist, wearing the surface into 


692 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


numerous gullies, exposing the coal-seams and thus making opportunities for orig- 
inal discoveries. 

In the Ohio Creek basin, the greatest development is in the South Park coal- 
seam, opened under the superintendence of Mr. William Housely. The work is 
laid out on the English or long-wall system, and certainly showed the best work 
and most economical results of any of the work which I examined. In this 
basin, another vein, the Richardson, has been opened on the Augusta and Owens 
claims, as well as on many others. 

A section of these coal measures in the Crested Butte basin, where they are 
principally worked, would approximate as follows: 


NO: 1-1) sco tect from! top of hillism ne ootomcoal: 
INO} 257) Sonfeet belowatiis isis) ee en eeoniCe molmcodis 
INoi37) 05 feet below thisnis) 11mm ae Pee cLromcodle 
Nora) 185 feet below thisiisi’. -e ass eens tOncetroiucodla 
No! 52 70 feet below thisiis) 0) 1-1 eOnectroimeoals 
No. 6. To this add in the Ohio Creek basin 


Hoo) NESE WSO TS 5 5 45 6 6 oo 5 7 ESE OF Goal. 


Seam No. 1 is practically worthless. 

Seam No. 2 is that opened and known as the Howard F. Smith bank, up 
Slate River. 

Seam No. 3 is opened on the Smith & Jefferson claim, on the Weaver prop- 
erty, and one place between the anthracite coal near Irwin, on Anthracite range, 
is in this horizon. 

Seam No. 4 is opened by the Colorado Coal and Iron Company, and in 
Baxter’s Gulch. In the Ohio Creek basin, No. 4 is represented by the Richard- 
son, Augusta, Kubeler, and Owens openings. 

No. 5 is the coking coal vein now worked in the Crested Buttes basin, by 
the Colorado Coal and Iron Company. 

No. 6 is only known in the Ohio Creek basin and in the South Park Com- 
pany’s openings. 

The eruption of the lava caused the fissuring of these Tertiary rocks, so that 
now we have what has hitherto been unknown, namely, silver veins containing 
rich ruby and native silver ores, passing through coal measures. Where these 
veins break though, the coal-seams are liable to be broken and faulted; and in 
immediate vicinity to the fissure-vein, the coal will contain more or less iron and 
sulphur; at the same time, fragments of the coal will be found inclosed in the 
gangue-rock of the crevice. 

Having some remarkable analysis of fixed carbon shown me from an opening 
up Slate River, three miles beyond Crested Buttes, I went especially to examine 
the openings on the property. This vein would be the No. 2 of the series. The 
coal originally outcropped in a small gulch eroded into the side of the ridge rising 
from Slate River, and opposite to the entrance to O-Be-Joyful basin. 

The coal was followed in for nearly 200 feet, most of it being good merchant- 


TERTIARY COAL MEASURES OF GUNNISON COUNTY, COL. 693 


able coal, some of it having fixed carbon enough to be rated as an anthracite, 
and showing remarkably well in the face for this No. 2 vein. Numerous cracks 
or faults occur in the roof or sandstone, now making mud seams ; near these, the 
coal was broken and worthless. 

A new opening has been made into the hill from the head of the gulch, now 
nearly 300 feet in. On one side of this opening the coal is constant; on the 
other, a fissure-vein filled with eighteen inches of calc-spar, coming from the di- 
rection of O-Be-Joyful Gulch. This will certainly carry mineral with depth, and 
makes a connecting link through to the veins of Washington Gulch, and abso- 
lutely proves in fact what I had first advanced as a theory, that in localities the 
mineral veins would be found passing through coal seams. 

I followed these Tertiary rocks across the head of Washington Gulch, be- 
tween Gothic and Baldy Mountains, back of Belleview Mountain, down the val- 
ley of Rock Creek, over Mineral Point, Meadow and Arkansas Mountains; and 
could see where they again came in below the lake near Rock Creek. Here 
erosion shows these old Tertiary sea-bottoms to have been deep enough for the 
coal-seams to again appear, and report says there are much stronger veins than 
those in the particularly described basins. 

The coal series of the Front Range of Colorado, as well as in Middle and 
South Parks, belong to the Cretaceous age. While I found Cretaceous rocks in 
abundance on the west slope in the section examined this season, I did not find 
the coal of the same age, except in one locality, namely, Chicago Park, two miles 
from Pitkin. Here some holes have been sunk, disclosing the coal, but also 
showing, from evident and easily perceived causes, that it is worthless, being 
highly charged with iron and sulphur. The quantity here also must be very 
limited. 

As to the character of plants that grew in these waters to make these coal- 
seams, there appears to be such a diversity of opinion among the highest authori- 
ties, that I do not think this character of metamorphism has been sufficiently 
proved as yet. This I would like to record, that from my personal work this 
season, the great difference between ordinary bituminous coal and that which is 
called the coking coal, would certainly seem to arise from a material difference 
in the original vegetation. 

I spent five days at Jack’s Cabin, examining the rocks in connection with the 
lava outcrop, principally, because I had been informed that large bodies of hemat- 
ite iron existed here; in fact, one of the United States geological reports gives 
this locality as the place where the largest body in iron ever seen occurs. After 
five days’ work, I could not find it, and came to the conclusion that the first ex- 
amination was a hasty one and the conclusion jumped to that this black lava 
was hematite iron, when, as a matter of fact, it does not contain ten per cent of 
iron. 

I thoroughly examined the eroded basin between the two lava mesas, hoping 
to find evidence of the coal-seams here, and that the heat and pressure from the 
over-lying eruptive rock would have changed such coal to an anthracite, but I 


694 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


could not find a particle. At present, I feel, from the showing, that the basin is 
not eroded to great enough depth to catch the coal-seams. On the other hand, 
there is a possibility, for all that now shows, that on this edge of the coal basin 
the underlying rocks rose, and only allowed the upper coal measure strata of 
sandstones and shales to be deposited over the older rocks, and the coal-seams 
do not exist. 

I note the above from the fact that farther up on the Slate River, this same 
thing has occurred, from about the entrance to O Be-Joyful basin. The Cretace- 
ous shales appear by the roadside, and above them is the overflow of granite por- 
phyry, overlain in turn by the strata of Tertiary rocks, but only having in places 
the upper veins of coal Nos. 1 and 2, while the two seams worked by the Colo- 
rado Coal and Iron Company are entirely wanting. This occurrence is repeated 
up Coal Creek, a short distance from the Colorado Coal and Iron Company’s 
openings ; a break occurs across the hill between Coal Creek and Baxter’s Gulch, 
which, I believe, will mark the end of the two lower veins of this basin west- 
ward. 

Such results as are set forth in the above paragraphs show how limited is the 
real coal area of the Crested Buttes basin, while on the Ohio Creek side, such 
things do not appear to have occurred, which makes the area of this latter basin 
very much greater for a possible product of merchantable coal. 

In speaking of the geology of coal sections, Dr. J. S. Newberry says ‘‘ that 
many of the coal-seams of Ohio have been worked into, and exposed the follow- 
ing phenomena to view: 


1. ‘‘A fire-clay below each seam, permeated with roots and rootlets of 
stigmaria. 
2. ‘A coal-seam having a maximum thickness of six feet in the bottom of 


the basin, thinning out to feather edges. 

3. ‘* The coal on the margin of the basins is sometimes thirty or forty feet 
above its place in the bottom. 

4. ‘‘An average of two and a half per cent of ash. 

5. ‘*A roof composed of argillaceous shale, of which the lower layers are 
crowded with impressions of plants.” 


The above might be used for a general description of all bituminous coal- 
fields of the Carboniferous age. 

The field I examined differs from No. 1, in that there is no appreciable 
amount of fire-clay, and argillaceous shales make the floor; from No. 2, in that 
in one place I found the seam of coal full size, abutting directly against granite 
porphyry, although, when the field is fully explored, there may be localities thin- 
ning out to feather edges, the same as in Ohio. 

No. 3 might be found to differ locally in all coal basins. Of No. 4 the same 
might be said. ; 

I think these Tertiary coals average more than two and a half per cent of 
ash. 


TERTIARY COAL MEASURES OF GUNNISON COUNTY, COL. 695 


They differ from No. 5 in that the roof is sandstone and the shale occurs 
below the coal. 

A recent examination of the Cretaceous coal at Golden, Colorado, shows 
veins varying from six to sixteen feet thick, average nine feet, standing nearly 
vertical, a slight dip to the west, with a 70of of fire-clay, affording excellent mate- 
rial for the manufacture of fire-brick and terra cotta. 

Concerning the economic values of these Tertiary coals, I obtained the fol- 
lowing data. ‘Tests were from the Smith bank: 


IMOIStuC LALO Sues a oiean silo att s(n In ean ee nTP TO 
Volatile matter at Fed Heat SR RS. BRE eRe Ae 
BIKE ONCAnDOM cain a ames ete ile: Linke Oy) OONZzO 
ENGIN Gay case Teepe EL ey eet PRET tI von eae a) et SMe FRO. 


Specific gravity at 60° Fahrenheit 1.410, acubic foot of coal weighing eighty- 
eight pounds. Of five samples: ' 


Moisture and volatile matter was. . ..... . 7-346 
SIC CRCAT DOMME M Us neu a al gis A See al i Sicn OOD 
INS okey Srlaoor Goes SMEAR SL hth dl oaks Meu eeu dS en 


Other tests gave the lowest fixed carbon at seventy-seven percent. Average 
amount of sulphur is 0.403 from three separate veins. 
In calorific power the maximum amount of carbon is 80. 8o. 


Pemmswil Yai, alms CVSS 651g vc wee deel & 17K OS 
Colorado anthracite gives... . Sree euro RASS. 
Cafion City, Colorado, Cretaceous coal Sted, ee OOS OM 
Wavommines CretaceousicOdliiy iy mere...) Sereno A 
Weber Cation, Utah, coals. . . Ne ein Ghent mined Sf Ior 
CSallifommmiaycoOalst Fs pawn pment Ares r anes Neocles MPIC REG 


The above is a statement made, by Charles P. Williams, chemist, Philadel- 
phia, Pa. 

Had the anthracite from the Anthracite range section been used for a com- 
parison of calorific power, I am confident the record would have equaled the 
best Pennsylvania anthracite, as this coal is constant in fixed cerbon from ninety 
to ninety-four and one-half per cent. 

From another source [| learn that the amount of illuminating gas from these 
Tertiary coals is seven and a quarter cubic feet per pound of coal, or 14,500 
cubic feet per ton of 2000 pounds, not equaled anywhere as far as now known, 
except perhaps by the Albertites of Nova Scotia. 

Of the coking coal seam, the following was obtained from Mr. James K. 
Robinson, Superintendent of the Colorado Coal and Iron Company’s mine. 
Sample came from 1200 feet in, and was the latest test up to October 6, 1882: 


VAS TREN DN Acien ce hoe Auld yake Meet MN a Rie bed Smee ic 27D 


Molatilenmatient ements ihr galenrmatmenad cit Mame Wo tiou 
viI—44 


696 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Pixed“carbon score ve ce ts seh erreune Wee nacrn tomas aOR 
US en ee eM aac HUG RIME RRA Ge Allo hs tots. BaO@ 
In comparison Connellsville coal shows: 
IMMOISture ys 7. a saeie: (ree Ri mens cere ee aire eo cm Near a LEO) 
Volatilemmatter (7: oi 8, oi ot ey ene a en OMNOr 
WDNEGGl Cand NOI Yak 5 a oes aia g a ¢ 56 1s 2 §O-G06 
PN eae OAL rts ad tn aa PM a ih dal 5. 1, BAO 
Sulphuty) 237) k) Ss Ae eect ein anna OMRON 
While tests from a coking coal in Kentucky ranged in 
Volatileimatter 5) 2a) io ee OOO CRLORay nOS 
Bixedicarbon = 20). 4) 5 i) ae nen ONL OLO 2 EROS) 
Moisture. . ; E25 6.000 (O90 
ANS ates ees A Tea, co Ane cl eat key ee OOO LC On AO 
Sulphuric 05) SoS cies ieee deen ulate ee AO nO ae Terris 


Thus showing these Tertiary coals far ahead in economic value. 

The average value of bituminous coal at Golden, Colo., for two years has 
been $3.30 per ton; cost of mining and hauling, $2.57 per ton. In the East, 
this grade of coal is worth, on an average, $1.22 per ton; cost of mining, $o. 88. 

Connellsville coke at the ovens is worth $1.75 per ton, and a protective 
freight tariff in favor of Colorado production of $20 to $45 per ton. 

With the above named freights, Gunnison County ought to get a share of that 
business on a very profitable basis. 


DENVER, COoLo., January 8, 1883. 


ORIGIN AND CHARACTERISTICS OF PRECIOUS STONES. 


Before the Chemical Society of the School of Mines in Columbia College, 
Professor Thomas Egleston, Ph.D., delivered a lecture,on precious stones, in 
which he described their origin, characteristics and imitations. ‘The history of 
gems, the lecturer declared, was the history of nearly all the intrigues, wars and 
good deeds of mankind since the world began. Many superstitions have been 
attached to precious stones. The amethyst was considered a cure for drunken- 
ness and was dedicated to Bacchus; jasper was used as a charm by athletes. 
Although the diamond is made of common carbon, no successful attempt has 
been made to reproduce it. Its composition was discovered in 1694, and its 
weight was determined by the weight of a bean found in the east called a carat. 

A diamond of more than ten carats is called princely ; a diamond of more 
than 100 carats sovereign. There are not 1,000 known diamonds that weigh 
over ten carats, and not twenty that weigh more than 100. The value of the 
diamond is determined partly by color and partly by weight, and in this country- 
there is an absurd custom of considering no diamond worth having that is not - 


A NEW STAR AND THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 697 


absolutely white. Flaws in diamonds are black specks, carbon that has not crys- 
tallized, or bubbles of gas or liquid, er natural faces of the diamond that have not 
been ground off. Black diamonds are mostly used for tools, but in Russia they 
are worn when the Court is in mourning. They are beautiful gems with a brill- 
iant lustre. 

The lecturer described some of the famous diamonds of the world, and then 
characterized the ruby as the most precious of all the stones when it has the true 
pigeon-blood color. A ruby of five carats is worth twice as much as a diamond 
of the same weight. The ancients held this stone to be a charm against poison, 
disease, and wicked thoughts. Sapphires, to be beautiful, must be of uniform 
deep blue. The lecturer said he had seen a small stone which was ruby on one 
side and sapphire on the other. In an experience of twenty years he had seen 
only five oriental emeralds and one oriental amethyst. Of the five varieties of 
cat’s-eye that he had come across, only one—chrysoberyl—was valuable. The 
deeper the green of the emerald the better, and this stone loses no brilliancy by 
artificial light. Its color was supposed to be the same element that colors the 
leaves of trees. The opal, considered the unlucky stone, was to the ancients the 
only gem that seemed to store up the light of day. It cannot be successfully im- 
itated. The hard opal is found in Hungary, the soft in Mexico. Five per cent 
of water is a constituent of the latter, and when placed in water the dull stone 
resumes its wonted brilliancy. Garnets are found in Bohemia; the most beautiful 
are gathered in Nevada. They have been seen of almost every color of the rain- 
bow, but green and red are used in jewelry. 

The lecturer urged in conclusion that his auditors should not lose confidence 
in human nature by reason of the widespread imitation of precious stones which 
he had described. 


IAS ROU OIMONG 


A NEW STAR AND THE STAR OF BETHLEHEM. 
WILLIAM DAWSON. 


The Sccentific American is authority for advancing the idea that a new star of 
great brilliancy may become visible in the constellation; of Cassiopeia, some time 
during the present or coming year. In the night of November 11, 1572, as 
Tycho Brahe, a noted astronomer of Denmark, was returning from his observa- 
tory, he found a group of persons looking at a brilliant star in Cassiopeia, which 
he felt sure was not there an hour before. It then shone like a star of the first 
magnitude; but grew brighter for some time and equaled Venus in brilliancy, 
when it could be seen easily with the naked eye in day-time. Ina short time it 


698 | KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


began to decrease in brightness—steadily growing dimmer for several months, 
until about the middle of March, 1574, when it disappeared entirely ; having thus 
been visible, after a very sudden appearance, during a period of sixteen months. 
This star was white when first observed ; it: afterward changed to a red color, and 
finally again to white. 

Old records indicate the observation of a similar star in nearly or quite the 
same place in 1264, and 945. ‘These dates indicate periods of 308 years and 319 
years between the times of visibility of these grand stellarshows. Applying three 
more such periods backward curiously enough brings us to about the time of the 
birth of Christ ; when a bright star appeared as a guide to wise men in the East. 
Now there are one or two other circumstances by which it might seem possible 
to reconcile the ‘‘ guiding star” with the one above described. The Nativity 
was probably in the latter part of December, at which time Cassiopeia, and of 
course any star in it, is on or near the meridian quite early in the evening; and 
not very far from the zenith, though considerably north of it But as the night 
goes on these stars appear to move westward on account of the earth’s rotation; 
and further west also by reason of the earth’s revolution around the Sun. The 
place where the wise men lived and started from is perhaps 200 or 300 miles east- 
erly from Bethlehem, and it would seem that their star ‘‘ the guiding star’’ should 
be westerly from them and move eastward, apparently, as they approached the 
_ place where the young child was; for when they arrived the star was over that 
place. But may we not safely admit that the star which led the Magi to the in- 
fant Jesus was a supernatural phenomenon in no way connected with the fixed 
stars in the distant heavens? Some persons have believed that the new stars of 
1572, etc , were simply apparitions of the ‘‘ Guiding Star” seen at Bethlehem, 
so they, or it, has sometimes been called the ‘‘Star of Bethlehem.” 

Other new or temporary stars have been seen at different times—notably in 
1604, when a bright star blazed out rather suddenly in the constellation Ophiu- 
chus; and one of less prominence was observed in Cygnus, May, 1366. 

Now, there are quite a number of stars which are always visible and yet are 
known to change in brightness. They are called ‘‘ variable stars.” Prominent 
among them is Algol, a star in Perseus, which commonly shines as one of the 
second magnitude. But every three days (or rather two days and twenty hours), 
the light of this star diminishes to that of the fourth magnitude, where it stays for 
twenty minutes, and in three and one half hours resumes its wonted brightness. 
A variable star in the Whale, called Mira, is invisible to the naked eye most of 
the time. But about every eleven months it shines out with a brightness of 
second or third magnitude; remaining so for about two weeks. It loses light 
for three months and disappears to natural vision. In about five months after- 
ward it becomes light enough to be just visible to the naked eye—a sixth magni- 
tude star—and reaches its maximum brightness in three months more. But the 
changes of Mira are less regular than those of Algol. Its period is sometimes 
longer, and other times shorter, than eleven months. Its greatest brightness is 
sometimes that of second magnitude, and sometimes of only third magnitude. 


ANNOUNCEMENT OF ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVER/ES. . 699 


This ‘‘ wonderful” star is expected to be bright again in May, this year; in April, 
1884; March, 1885; February, 1886, and so on—about a month earlier each 
year. And now, may we not reasonably infer that the new stars of 1572, 1604, 
etc., are but variable stars of long periods, and will brighten up into visibility at 
their appointed times? A telescopic star has long existed nearly or quite where 
Mr. Brahe saw his brilliant star in 1572; but whether it is the identical star is 
rather uncertain. 

Cassiopeia is on the opposite side of the North Star from the Great Dipper, 
and nearly as far. It may be known by three stars in the form of a triangle, and 
one above (as seen in the evening at this time of year). The place where Tycho’s 
star appeared is just to the right of the triangle, nearly in the point that would 
fill out the square. There is, indeed, one or two small stars in that corner, or 
region, which may be seen when the sky is clear and there is not too much 
moonlight. Make yourself familiar with these stars; and the new star, or its ap- 
parition, may be easily recognized when it does appear. 


SPICELAND, IND., March 8, 1883. 


ANNOUNCEMENTS OF ASTRONOMICAL DISCOVERIES. 


For several years the Smithsonian Institution has done valuable service in 
collecting and distributing information of discoveries and phenomena that require 
immediate and wide-spread investigation. This labor was undertaken and con- 
tinued because there seemed to be no other way by which the want could be 
filled. But the need of a more speedy and accurate system has been strongly 
felt, and has resulted in the transference of the work to Harvard College Obser- 
vatory. Mr. John Ritchie, Jr , of Boston, has been appointed to take charge of 
this service, and it is he that has mapped out the details of the scheme. The 
plans include European as well as American observatories. An association of © 
about fifty European observatories has recently been formed for the same pur- 
pose, and this association has requested Harvard College Observatory to cooper- 
ate with it and forward information of American discoveries. As there is also 
cable connection between Europe and South Africa, South America, and Aus- 
tralia, the system is quite complete, and may be looked to as a means of facilitat- 
ing the work of the astronomer. 

The outline of the plan, as taken from the circular, is as follows: Discov- 
erers of asteroids, comets, suspected comets, or of any celestial phenomenon de- 
manding immediate attention are requested to telegraph at once to ‘‘ Harvard 
College Observatory, Cambridge, Mass.” Such announcements will be at once 
cabled to Dr. Krueger, Kiel, Germany, and by him distributed to the European 
Union. They will also be distributed in this country in three ways—1. Through 
the Associated News Companies; 2. By special circulars of the Sczence Observer ; 
3. By special telegrams. 

The first two of these methods are already in successful operation and need no 


700 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


explanation. The special telegrams will contain that information which experi- 
ence has shown to be especially valuable. Whenever possible, these telegrams 
will be in cipher according to the Scéence Observer Code, a cipher language de- 
vised to lescen the number of words and to render the message less liable to muti- 
lation and misunderstanding. To those persons who do not possess the code, 
the telegrams will be sent in ordinary manner, but abbreviated according to the 
following form: 

TELEGRAM.—Comet Swift eleventh May fifteen six ascension zero fifty-nine 
north fourteen thirty-six plus six south four tenth. 

TRANSLATION.—Comet discovered by Swift, May 11d. 15h. 6m., Washing- 
- ton Mean Time, in R. A. oh. 59m., Declination + 14° 36’. Daily motion, R. 
A. + 6m., Declination—4’. Tenth magnitude. 

The date will be expressed by the name of the month, preceded by an ordi- 
nal number giving the day of the month, and followed by two numbers express- 
ing the hour and minute in Washington Mean Time (civil). Right ascension 
will be given in hours and minutes, preceded by the word ‘‘ascension.” Decli- 
nation will be given in degrees and minutes, preceded by the word ‘‘ north” or 
‘‘south.’’ Daily motion in R. A. will be given in minutes of time, preceded by 
the word ‘‘ plus” or ‘‘ minus,” and in declination in minutes of arc, preceded 
by the word ‘‘ north” or ‘‘south ”. : 

Magnitude will be expressed by an ordinal number. 

The actual expense of sending the telegrams will be borne by the persons 
receiving them, though, for convenience, the charges will be prepaid and annual 
accounts sent to the subscribers. 

Mr. Ritchie has already had considerable experience in this kind of work 
while sending the Special Circulars of the Sczence Observer; and his success in 
this almost guarantees the success of the larger undertaking. 


Pls ULOSOR IL, 


INDUCTION IN SCIENCE. 
PROF. H. S. S. SMITH. 


The scientific method, as usually understood, is the method of induction. 
By it the statement of a law of action is formulated from a knowledge of many 
facts that bear on the subject. The progress of science clearly shows that the 
principles of induction may be used in two ways and we may call them, for con- 
venience, qualitative induction and quantitative induction. In many respects 
they differ widely from one another. The qualitative is essentially metaphysical 
in its manner of procedure and as such, in many instances, produces naught but 


INDUCTION IN SCIENCE. 701 


barren results. The quantitative is the true scientific method of dealing with 
facts, and it is by its aid that real advance is made. 

Qualitative induction is that which, starting from a knowledge of a connec- 
tion between two events, or of the fact that a certain phenomenon is consequent 
upon a certain combination of circumstances, produces from this knowledge a 
generalization of a higher order, but of less exactness. There is no estimate of the 
amount of action either in the facts on which the hypothesis is based or in the 
hypothesis itself. The kind of action is the only consideration. It is not un- 
common to find that the natural results of the supposed action have been over- 
looked, for had they been considered it would have been seen that they be di- 
rectly contrary to known facts. Sometimes considerations that are connected 
with the subject are entirely neglected and when brought to bear on the point, 
even in their qualitative aspect, are found to nullify the whole argument. Taken 
at its best, qualitative induction is unsatisfactory, and frequently proves mislead- 
ing and baneful. The operation requires a well trained scientific imagination, 
and it is too often true that the scientific part is less developed than the imagina- 
tion. 

Quantitative induction is that method of procedure in which accurately 
known facts, known both in kind and in amount, are taken as the basis from 
which the advance is to be made. On these facts is built a generalization which 
conforms to the knowledge already possessed and awaits the development of new 
facts with a considerable degree of confidence. For it is one of the sure founda- 
tions of science that nature is ever consistent with herself; although her laws are 
contingent truths, they are ever constant. If, after the best endeavors, the gen- 
eralization can only give an explanation of the kind of action, and is unable to 
determine the amount, it is a theory, and reaches its highest limit when it can pre- 
dict a true result from a given combination of matter and force. Should it attain 
the perfection of being stated in a definite mathematical form, it becomes the ex- 
pression of a law, and as such is acceptedastruth. A generalization thus formed 
has in it the elements of exactness. It knows its grounds and stands on its own 
merits. Founded on facts it is as near the truth as the efforts of fallible man can 
place it. The offspring of labor, rather than the child of fancy, it has come to 
stay and to make its presence felt in thinking minds. It is the result of a slow 
growth. The accumulation of facts may have occupied years; some people col- 
Jecting them with the definite object of reaching an explanation, others gathering 
information either by accident or for the mere satisfaction of learning ‘‘ some 
new thing.” It is never given to one person to gather all the facts and develop 
the result even in one line of research. Life is too short. Seldom indeed that 
one person formulates a theory in all its completeness. Usually, the final result 
is the outcome of the labors of many men. It is not so much the work of man 
as it is the answer which nature has given to patient questioning and persevering 
scrutiny. 

In physics and astronomy—the sciences which deal with the very small and 
the very great—we find example of both kinds of induction. The minuteness and 


702 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


rapid motions of the molecules, and these are the units of physical problems, 
render them inaccessible to our grosser senses and it becomes necessary to study 
them as best we can by the effects that they and their motions produce. By cor- 
relating and comparing the knowledge. thus obtained, it is possible, at times, to 
learn somewhat of the nature and conditions of the molecules themselves. Some- 
times the result, satisfactory at first, has been found to be fallacious; sometimes 
it contains the elements of truth and grows. Newton, in order to account for 
the phenomena of light, advanced the corpuscular theory—a qualitative attempt. 
Put to the test of fact, it failed. Then Hooke and Huyghens put forth another 
qualitative hypothesis—the undulatory theory. Newton supposed that light con- 
sisted of exceedingly small portions of matter sent out from a luminous body in 
all directions and with inconceivable, though finite, velocity. The undulatory 
theory supposes the existence of the luminiferous ether, a continuous, elastic and 
very ‘‘subtle”’ medium, pervading all space. When considered casually, these 
two suppositions seem equally improbable. But nature herself has decided be- 
tween them. The corpuscular theory has been disproved,’while the undulatory 
theory, though still awaiting its ultimate and complete establishment, is steadily 
gaining ground. 

In astronomy, the vast distances—too great to be even imperfectly compre- 
hended, and huge masses—too large to be the subjects of experiment, render 
progress slow and complete explanation difficult. Time is the chief element of 
success, time in which the unknown laws, by their continuous action, may pro- 
duce results that can be interpreted. As a finished example of quantitative in- 
duction we may take the law of gravitation. Tycho Brahe and Kepler had laid 
the foundation of facts on which it was to be built. Newton, taking these facts 
and dealing with them in the most rigorous manner, produced the clear and 
mathematical statement of the law. It sprang full grown from his brain. . It has 
not been changed, increased, or modified by subsequent researches. The work 
was finished when he proved that the moon was rigorously subject to the law. 

But is seldom that a theory can be framed as completely as this when first 
presented. Qualitative induction has its field of usefulness, and without it actual 
progress would be slow. There are but few men that are sufficiently patient and 
have enough faith in the future to spend their days in the laborious accumulation 
of mere facts and figures. The work is apt to become pure drudgery unless there 
is the impetus of comparing the facts with some hypothesis. A working hypothe- 
sis is of itself an incentive to new work and new discoveries, It gives glimpses 
of unexplored territory and the natural desire is to enter and investigate. Lock- 
yer’s hypothesis that the so-called elements are compound and that the real ele- 
ments only present themselves as such under the tremendous temperatures of the 
Sun has produced, beside the inevitable discussions, sound work and real ad- 
vance in solar physics. Maxwell’s statement of the theory of the connection be- 
tween electro-magnetism and light has stimulated research and seems to promise, 
in one direction at least, an explanation of that marvel of the philosophers, action 
at a distance. Ampére’s idea that magnets are but collections of currents of 


LETTER FROM TEXAS. 703 


electricity greatly simplified the understanding of magnetic phenomena and has 
resulted in combining the two subjects of galvanism and magnetism into one— 
electricity. 

Although there are times when qualitative hypotheses are allowable and use- 
ful, it not unfrequently happens that they are confidently offered to public con- 
sideration without any sufficient cause for their existence, without even a sem- 
blance of proof, and utterly innocent of the charge of probability. Their con- 
tinuance consists in the fact that they can be neither proved nor disproved, and 
consequently one person has as much ground for believing in them as another 
has for considering them to be entirely false. They usually treat of subjects that 
are practically beyond the reach of the experimenter with his measuring line and 
balance, and beyond the ken of the observer with his microscope and telescope. 
Prominent examples of this numerous class are Le Sage’s theory of the cause of 
gravitation, and C. W. Siemen’s ‘‘ New Theory of the Sun and the Conservation 
of Solar Energy.” It is, of course, impossible to say that these efforts are not in 
the right direction. But if judged of by analogy, and especially if brought into 
contrast with the necessities of the case and with known facts, these, and others 
like them, appear to be lamentably deficient. They may serve a good purpose 
in some cases and with a few individuals, but in general they cumber the ground 
and cause a waste of energy. 


COME SPONDING: 


LETTER FROM TEXAS. 


Marcu 6, 1883. 


Epitor REVIEW oF SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY: 


Last October while on my way from San Antonio, Texas, to Fort McKavett, 
_I was detained at Mason, one day, until long after midnight, to make connec- 
tion with the line of stages running from Burnett. The printers were working on 
the Wews ftem that night, and the proprietor very kindly invited me to spend the 
time in his office, as it was uncertain when the stage might arrive, and they would 
not wait for passengers. I spent most of the night very pleasantly talking with 
Mr. Stimpson, who was formerly a resident of Kansas, but is now engaged in min- 
ing in Texas. We discussed at length what plan we ought to pursue in order to 
develop the mineral resources of Texas, to diffuse scientific intelligence and to 
create a scientific spirit among the people. Among other things Mr. Stimpson 
stated that he believed he had discovered tin ore, and offered to send me sam- 
ples if I would have the matter determined by competent chemists. 

In accordance with this plan, several weeks later, I received three samples 


704 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


from three different localities, of alleged tin ore, with some other minerals, for 
assay. I sent one specimen of the alleged tin ore for analysis, to each of the fol- 
lowing chemists: Prof. G. E. Patrick, State University, Kansas; Prof. G. H. 
Failyer, State Agricultural College, Kansas, and Prof. Chas. A. Schaeffer, Cornell 
University. In due time I received replies from all these chemists. Prof. Fail- 
yer wrote that the specimen sent to him was a first-rate specimen of garnet. 
Prof. Patrick wrote that the specimen forwarded to him was a fair specimen of 
oxide of iron. 

Prof. Schaeffer, of Cornell University, wrote me at some length, about the 
alleged tin ore and the other specimens forwarded. He says in substance: 

‘As to the specimens you forwarded, I am sorry to say, I shall have to give 
a very unfavorable report. The tin ore, from Burnett County, contains no tin, 
and consists of garnet. The cinnabar, from Gillespie County, is very good 
looking hematite. And the lead and silver specimen proves to be a chunk of 
metallic lead with only a trace of silver—just about as much as is usually found 
in all commerxcial samples. The small fossils are casts of the interior of some 
species of the genus Zurrzella. As the sub-genera and species are distinguished 
by the external markings of the shells and the shape of the mouth, it is impossi- 
ble to name them any more definitely. The genus extends from the Silurian 
to the present time. Prof. H. S. Williams, thinks, however, that the specimens 
in question are probably Cretaceous. 

‘‘In spite of the foregoing I shall always be happy to assist you to the ex- 
tent of my power in your efforts to develop the hidden resources of Texas. 
During the past year I had some experience in that State which was quite inter- 
esting. Early in the year I received a number of specimens of limestone 
which I found contained gold, some of them being quite rich. The result of the 
matter was that I was sent there to investigate, and spent about six weeks in June 
and July in Williamson County. ‘The particular point of my operations was about 
eighteen miles north of Georgetown, very near the border of Bell County. I 
certainly found gold, but came to the conclusion that there was very little pros- 
pect of finding enough to pay. I have written a brief paper on the subject to be 
read at the next meeting of the mining engineers. JI have no doubt that there 
are vast possibilities in the State. The hematite you sent, by the way, looks like 
a very pure article, and as soon as I can find time, I shall make a complete anal- 
ysis of it. I fear though that the point where it occurs is so far from any iron 
works, that it will not amount to much financially.” 

Nature unfolds to the observer in Texas a wonderful variety and luxuriance. 
The mineral resources of the State are known to exist in almost unlimited quan- 
tities. But we have no geological survey, and I have received so far very little 
encouragement in trying to repeat my work in Kansas and Missouri in founding 
an Academy of Science. I am satisfied, however, that such a society could be 
organized in due time, after enough hard work. If Texas had an Academy of 
Science, composed of active scientists, in various parts of the State, it would exert 


LETTER FROM SCHLIEMANN, 795 


a powerful influence in molding the people, and in inspiring them to prosecute 
scientific investigations. 

I only wish to add, that it will afford me pleasure to assist any miners in 
the State in securing analyses of alleged tin ore. ‘Tin is now found in Alabama, 
and it is probable that it also occurs in Texas, as miners generally believe. 


Very truly, Joun D. PARKER. 


LETTER FROM SCHLIEMANN. 


ATHENS, January 20.—In a letter headed ‘‘ The Archeological Discoveries 
in the Levant,’”’ dated Athens, 18th ult., and published in the Zzmes of the roth 
inst., it is stated that ‘‘ the resumption of my excavations at Hissarlik has failed 
to develop anything confirmatory of my Ilian hypothesis, and that the famous 
stratification of civilization which was supposed to testify to the extreme antiquity 
of the city is shown to be untenable.” The anonymous writer is evidently no 
archeologist; moreover, he does not speak of my excavations from personal in- 
spection, nor does he seem to have the slightest knowledge of what has been 
written on the subject since August last. 

I excavated in 1882 for five months—namely, from March 1 till August 1, 
employing all the time 150 laborers, and aided by two of the most eminent archi- 
tects of Europe, Mr. J. Hoffer of Vienna, and Dr. Wm. Dorpfield of Berlin, the 
latter of whom superintended for four years the technical part of the excavations 
of the German Empire at Olympia. Not only have these excavations been no 
failure, but, on the contrary, they have yielded far more important results than 
all my previous excavations at Hissarlik since 1870. The success of five prehis- 
toric and two latter settlements, as given by me in ‘‘Ilios,” is confirmed by my 
architects (see Dr. Dorpfield’s.letter in the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung of Sep-- 
tember 29, 1882, and an extract of it in the Academy of October 14) who have, 
however, proved to me that the enormous masses of calcined debris, which I had 
_attributed to the third city, really belong to the second city, which perished in 
some fearful catastrophe, and which had on the hill of Hissarlik only its Perg- 
amus, with five or six edifices of very large dimensions, while its lower city ex- 
tended east, south and west on the plateau. 

We have excavated most carefully all the buildings of the Acropolis, among 
which two, of very large proportions and with walls respectively 1 meter 45 and 
I meter 25 thick, seem to us, for many reasons, to be temples. Nothing could 
better prove the great antiquity of these buildings than the fact that they were 
built of unbaked bricks, and that the walls had been baked zm sztu by huge mass- 
es of wood piled upon both sides of each wall and kindled simultaneously; each 
of these buildings has a vast vestibulum, and each of the front faces of the lateral 
walls is provided with six vertical quadrangular beams, which stood on well- 
polished bases, the lower part of which was preserved, though, of course, in a 
calcined state. We, therefore, see that in these ancient Trojan temples the ante 


706 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


or parastades, which in later Hellenic temples fulfilled only a technical purpose, - 
served here as an important element of construction, for they were intended to 
protect the wall ends and to render them capable of supporting the ponderous 
weight of the super-incumbent crossbeams and the terrace. We found similar 
primitive av/@ in twe other edifices, and at the lateral walls of the northwestern 
gate. 

We also found that the great wall of the ancient Acropolis has been built of 
unbaked bricks, and had been baked like the temple walls, zz sztu. I lay stress 
on the fact that a similar process of baking entire walls has never yet been dis- 
covered, and that the am/@ in the Hellenic temples are nothing else than reminis- 
cences of the wooden azfe of old, which were of important constructive use. 
We discovered in the Acropolis of the second city three large gates, all of which 
ied down to the lower city. Homer knew of only one gate at Troy (the Sczan, 
sometimes also called the Dardanian Gate), but this gate was on the west side of 
the lower city; the gates of the Pergamus are never mentioned in the poems. 
The three prehistoric settlements which succeed each other in the calcined ruins 
of the Acropolis were poor and insignificant, and none of them extended beyond 
the hill of Hissarlik. The ruins of the lower city, therefore, remained deserted 
for ages, the bricks crumbled away, and the stones of the walls served the new 
settlers of Hissarlik for building their houses, or, as the legend ran (see Strabo, 
xlll, 599), they were used for building the walls of Sigeum. 

The site was in later times occupied by the olic Ilium, which stood for 
more than 1,000 years, but nevertheless the traces of the ancient burnt city have 
not been obliterated ; the huge masses of prehistoric pottery, perfectly identical 
with. that of the second city on the Pergamus, which were found in the extensive 
excavations made by me on the lower plateau, testify to its existence on the spot. 
Its existence seems further to be proved. by the vertical wall represented in 
“<< Tlios,” p. 24, N. 2 B., as well as by the three gates, and above all by the 
ground plan and the number of loose edifices in the Pergamus. I have now ex- 
cavated the latter entirely, and for this reason alone the excavations at Troy 
must be considered as terminated forever. I have also excavated seven more of 
the conical tumuli, called heroic tombs, and have thoroughly explored the an- 
cient city on the heights of Bunarbashi, as well as the sites of four other ancient 
towns. 

A full account of this, my last Trojan campaign, with excellent plans and 
about 200 engravings of the most curious finds, will be published by Mr. John 
Murray. 

HENRY SCHLIEMANN. 


NATURAL SCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY. 707 


DG Cie @INe 


FOURTEENTH ANNUAL GRADUATION EXERCISES OF THE KAN- 
SAS’ CITY MEDICAL COLLEGE. 


The fourteenth annual Commencement of the Kansas City Medical College 
was held March 7th in the auditorium of the Walnut Street M. E. Church. The 
church was filled with friends of the college and the class, and others interested 
in the proceedings. 

The music was furnished by the Opera House orchestra, and was of an excel-. 
lent character. 

After.an overture from ‘‘ Zampa” the evening’s exercises were opened with 
prayer by Rev. C. C. Woods. The orchestra discoursed several selections from 
‘¢Ernani,” and Rev. C. L. Thompson was called upon to deliver the address of 
the evening. Dr. E. W. Schauffler, president of the faculty, presided over the 
commencement exercises. The members of the faculty occupied seats on the 
rostrum. 

NATURAL SCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY. 


In his address to the students of the College and the members of the grad- 
uating class, Rev. C. L. Thompson spoke as follows: 

A minister is to speak to you, young gentlemen, on the threshold of the 
medical profession. At first thought it might seem inappropriate. I might be 
warned off this ground by the old saw: ‘‘ We sutor ultra crepidam.” But in 
these days the shoemaker’s last stands for more than one thing. The realm of 
learning has so widened, the circles of learning, like those of the skies, so cut 
each other, that each is kin to all. The professions are articulated and each be- - 
longs to all. It is especially so between us. You are doctors, I am a minister. 
We are each at a work upon the same man. ‘Therefore I have a right to speak 
to you—you have aright to speak tome. We are building on the same house, 
a house not made with hands. If we build wisely, we will build together, each 
in loyalty to the one plan of the architect. 

When a pseudo doctor works away at the symptoms or special form of disease 
without taking account of the whole man, you call him a quack. You disfellow- 
ship him. Let us beware that you and I be not quacks of a higher sort, but 
quacks all the same ; you doctoring the man’s digestion and respiration and cir- 
culation, and ignoring his mental and moral condition, and I, doctoring his - 
conscience, while I ignore his liver. A full science takes in the whole man. 

So, young gentlemen, in proportion as we are scientific, we are brethren. 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


Indeed, we must be specialists. Only a fool will think in a score or two of years 
he can learn enough to doctor a whole man. Remember the German professor 
who lamented on his death-bed that he had been fooling away his life by studying, 
or attempting to study, the whole Greek alphabet. If he had another chance he 
would devote his entire life to the study of the one letter ‘‘ Iota.” And remem- 
ber what Dr. Holmes tells us of the professor at the breakfast table who had scat- 
tered and wasted his energies by devoting them to a study of beetles. If he had 
life to live over again he would devote his time to the study of the hind leg of 
one class of beetles. One can sail around the world, but in so doing nothing is 
discovered. The ocean is only an empty desert. But cast your anchor. Let 
down your bucket, and out of that bucket select one trembling drop of water and 
put on your spectacles, Oh! microscopist, and the heavens and the earth seem 
to be open under your concentrated gaze. So we must be specialists because 
we cannot successfully be generalists. The Bible says, ‘‘ the eyes of the fool are 
in the ends of the earth.” So he sees nothing. The earth has noends. The 
eyes of the wise man will be at home selecting one thing from the infinite multiplic- 
ity of nature and magnifying it by a concentrated attention until it becomes ‘‘ the 
deputy of the world.” ‘That is genius, and that faculty of absorption in one thing 
makes the scientific man and the worthy scientific result. 

But while this much in favor of specialism must be conceded to the largeness 
of the world, there is also a great truth on the obverse side. The specialist who 
gives himself to one part of the body needs to form a partnership with other 
specialists who give themselves to other parts of the body. The oculist needs to 
be sympathetically joined to the aurist, for if the whole body were an eye, where 
were the hearing ? and if the whole body were an ear, where were seeing? Thus 
specialties supplement and complement each other. But now the man is not all 
body. He has something besides physical organs. 

The physical specialties need an ally. You want to take me into partner- 
ship. Sana mens in sano corpore. Wecan hang out no shingle of a universal doc- 
trine. We distrust the medicines that cure everything. But we can hang out a 
broad sign, on which shall be written the names of the great firm of Dr. Corpus 
and Dr. Mens. Drs. Corpus & Mens, Professors in the Institute of Humanity; 
their partnership bodes great good to the future of humanity. 

And as between them there need be no jealousies. Is there any truth in the 
sometimes slanderous affirmation that doctors have long coat-tails—that are easily 
trodden upon—that they balance professional chips on their shoulders and are 
jealous of their special prerogatives? I trust so. A man who is not sensitive to 
the honor of his calling is not worthy of a place in it. A proper professional 
dignity befits alike the doctor of medicine and of theology. I know a doctor of 
medicine, who being recently called to attend upon an intelligent lady, was met 
by the feminine caveat, ‘‘ Doctor, you must stipulate that you will not give me 
any quinine, morphine or calomel.’’? The doctor, seeing with alarm the pharma- 
ceutical ground thus rapidly narrowing under his feet, exclaimed with becoming 
dignity, ‘‘ Madam I am not going to take you into partnership with me in the 


NATURAL SCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY, 709 


practice of medicine.’’ ‘That was all right, because both the doctors of that firm 
would have been in the quinine, morphine, calomel department, and that might 
have caused a collision. 

But, young gentlemen, you have got to take me into partnership with you. 
For you, without me, will not cover the whole man. If the whole body were an 
eye, where were the hearing? If the whole man were a body, where were the 
soul? Specialists of the physical department of humanity, you need the preach- 
er. It will be the sign of a broader science when you leave room on your shingle, 
and in your theories, for him, the doctor of souls. 

I think there only are two grounds on which you can resist the partnership 
for which I am pleading. 

First.—You can say there is no second department. You can say aman has 
no soul; or, if he have what, by courtesy, may be called a soul, it is only refined 
and sublimated matter. It bears only such relation to the grosser body as the 
sunbeam bears to the lump of clay it beautifies—matter—only in another form. 
Precisely this a great many doctors are saying. They deny the duality of life, 
they run their craft against that philosophic current which has the sweep of all 
historic time in its movement; that stream which sprang from beneath the porches 
of the Athenian academy, and flows with accepted music through all schools of 
thought the affirmation, viz. of a dual naturein man. This you can do. You 
can build the man up from protoplasm. You can say I.am a lobster, converted 
for the nonce into what is called a man. If I should be drowned lobsters will 
quickly reconvert me into lobsterian protoplasm. You can say, as Huxley said 
in a lecture on the physical basis of life, ‘‘ All vital action may be the result of 
the molecular forces of the protoplasm which displays it. And, if so, it must be 
true in the same sense and to the same extent that the thoughts to which I am 
now giving utterance and your thoughts regarding them are the expression of 
molecular changes in the matter of life, which is the source of our other vital 
phenomena.”’ i 

Now, when you adopt that creed, that there is but one thing in the universe, 
and that one thing matter, when you have thus remanded to the same _ protoplas- 
mic base, the fungus that clings to the rock, and the thoughts of Plato, or John 
Milton (thoughts that wander through eternity) you are then ready to dismiss the 
preacher. The partnership must be broken up. If you have ever admitted the 
mind doctor into your counsels you may get rid of him at once. He is only an 
impertinence. He stands for an unreality. He is only painting pictures which 
death’s dust will pretty soon quench. 

I will not say if this is your theory that your calling is worth nothing. It is 
worth while to soothe a toothache to day, though the tooth may have to be pulled 
to-morrow. But I will say that so your profession is robbed of itschief grandeur. 
You are not serving an immortal being. Your work has no immortal projection. 
It is not a parabola, whose unfinished curve points past the stars. It is like the 
curve of a broken rainbow, one end of it veiled by a storm, and the other end 
shooting down into the ground. And you who work at the ground end of the bow 


710 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


may possibly find the pot of gold. But you shall have no higherreward. On 
this theory you and the horse doctor—the veterinary surgeon, and the veteran 
surgeon of human bodies, may as well go into partnership and hang out your 
sign together. 

Or, second, you can resist the partnership for which I am pleading on quite 
another ground. Instead of being a monist, and holding to only one substance 
and that substance matter, you may be a dualist of such extreme pattern that you 
will say ‘‘there are two things, mind and matter, and they are so far apart that 
the one has no connection at all with the other.’’ You may say, ‘‘I will doctor 
the body and you, preacher, may doctor the soul. Our fields have nothing in 
common. Calomel and catechism have no relations. There is no reason why 
either profession should consider the other. ’ 

And yet, whatever theories of the entire dissimilarity and non-connection of 
these two professions you may hold at the beginning of your calling, I believe 
you will modify them as you goon. You will gradually discover that calomel 
and catechism have points of contact. Perhaps you remember of a broken bodied 
and broken-hearted man who went to an eminent French physician to be cured 
of something, he knew not what. He seemed hopelessly low spirited. The 
doctor, after various experiments, concluded that his patient needed mental not 
physical stimulus, and advised him to go and hear a distinguished actor who at 
that time was convulsing Paris with his comic performances. ‘‘ Alas!” replied 
the gloomy sick man, ‘‘I am that actor.”” And then the doctor was nonplused. 
But he was wise in his prescription. He recognized the subtle connection be- 
tween brain and thought; between heart and hope. The minister of large ex- 
perience knows very well that often he comes to the point where he must say to 
his patient, ‘‘Go to the doctor; there is no chance of your getting a good hope of 
heaven till your liver is cleaned out.” A hopeless kind of battle the religious 
leader is fighting when he puts comforting doctrines against confirmed dyspep- 
sia. Dr. Alexander used to say he always had a good hope of heaven except 
when the east wind blew. Many another would be a serene Christian if only a 
villainous digestive system would let him. On the other hand, some of these expert- 
enced physicians have often reached the French physician’s point, where they 
were ready to surrender physics to philosophy, where, across the shadowy bor- 
derland between the physical and the spiritual, strange influences reached from 
the latter to the former, neutralizing the effect of medicine, suspending natural 
law, and introducing into all professional calculations abscure and confused and 
confounding conditions. 

So I believe the last words of science on this subject are these two: 

First—The proper duality of human nature, a body that is not the mind—a 
mind that is not mere bodily effloresence. 

Second—A closeness of connection and sympathetic action between the two 
of the most intimate kind; so intimate as to palliate the error of those who under 
a sense of their identity forget their difference. 

I venture to propose therefore to you, young gentlemen, as a supplemental 


NATURAL SCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOGY. 711 


course of study, (for the true physician is a student to the end of the chapter) an 
examination of the borderland of your science; the influence of psychic states 
on physical conditions. I believe we are beginning to get some lights for that 
shadowy realm, and that by those lights the reverent student will be able to walk 
forward to many results that will greatly aid the practice of medicine. I have 
observed that a good deal has been said lately of the importance of having medi- 
cal students better prepared in general knowledge—especially in fundamental 
natural science—before they begin the study of their profession. Thus they 
would lengthen your course at the beginning of it. 

And IJ would lengthen it at the other end, where it reaches up into psycholo- 
gy. For you are to doctor a man who has a soul of such dominant activity that 
it often affects most profoundly and even commandingly that physical basis on 
which your science is to work. 

That study is an obscure one, but it is one of rising importance; importance 
both to the preacher and the doctor. To the preacher, for I must know what 
checks and reactions my doctrines will meet when they impinge on a disordered 
or cantankerous physical system. And to the doctor, for he must know what al- 
lowance to make for those intangible and imponderable agencies, that like spirit 
hands manipulate his drugs, now paralyzing their action and again intensifying it 
beyond computation. 

Young gentlemen, you have a great profession, because it involves the care 
of an immortal being from the ground up. You have not compassed it, when 
you have found specifics in nature’s pharmacy for the ills of the flesh. I think 
specifics more and more retire from the advance of true science, because science 
gets comprehensive, and every prescription must contemplate the entire man. If 
you work away at this or that symptom without intelligent vision of all that being 
which the symptoms inhere, you are only tinkering. So study the whole of that 
being ; sometimes to get at a man’s physical condition it is as necessary to sound 
his conscience as it is to tap his lungs. ‘‘A bad heart” isa phrase that has two- 
meanings. Those meanings may be related, and each be interesting to the phy- 
sician. 

One word more as to those upper ranges of your profession. You and I are 
servants of mankind. Victor Hugo somewhere says, ‘‘the priest’s door should al- 
ways be open, the doctor’s door should never be shut.”” We cannot be true to our 
calling and wall ourselves into our own pleasures or our own comfort. We are not in 
the highest view scientists, we are not money makers, we are not ambition hunt- 
ers. Weare missionaries. A sort of divine obligation pushes us on. If we 
realize the grandeur of our calling the world’s praise or blame glides past us like 
the idle winds. We have a ministry, and among bruised bodies and bruised 
- spirits we are as those whoserve. Now toserve—nota principle, and nota creed, 
and not a school, but a living and deathless being we need a certain poise of 
character and tenderness of touch, which comes only from contact with calming 
and ennobling spiritual virtues. ‘herefore you need not only to remember that 


VI—45 


712 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


your patient has a heart and a conscience, but you need them yourself. If you 
would be an expert surgeon your professors have told you you must do nothing 
to unsteady your hand. Only so can you move successfully around those cen- 
tres of life, where a manual tremor might be fatal to your work. My old friend, 
Dr. Mussey, of Cincinnati, when he had a very delicate surgical operation to 
perform, would go to bed for a day, that with a rested system and unjaded brain 
and a level hand he might come to his perilous task. Young gentlemen, I com- 
mend to you that restfulness of spirit, that best balance of all your powers which 
comes from the silence and calmness of leaning on God. This will help you to 
do your work to the best. You will interpenetrate the physical with the spirit- 
ual. You will carry a serene, a cheerful countenance that is sometimes bet- 
ter than medicine. An element of helpful sympathy, undulled and unprofession- 
al, will accompany and glorify your ministry to the body; your heart will be kept 
true to the highest sentiments of your calling, and your faith in God will sustain 
you under the failures with which human mortality steadily confronts you; but if 
you work on high levels, it cannot cheat you of your reward. That reward will 
not always be to save life. It will be enough if, joining hands with the minister, 
you teach a man how to die; teach him how along the altar stairs of a breaking — 
body, to climb through. this world’s darkness up to God. 


After music President Schauffler conferred the degree of Doctor of medicine 
on the members of the graduating class, giving each his diploma and administer- 
ing the usual Hippocratic oath. . 

The names and addresses of the members of the graduating class are as fol- 
lows: 

Graduates in medicine—Henry P. Ball, Shawnee, Kas.; Samuel R. Coates, 
Kansas City ; Charles M. Chambliss, Bozeman, M. T.; Joseph S. Fisher, Middle- 
port, O.; Charles E Griffith, Rose Hill, Mo.; Alexander H. Ironsides, Kansas 
City; Edwin T. Phillips, Manhattan, Kas.; Henry E. Pitcher, Shawnee Mound, 
Mo.; James R. Ladd, Cambridge, Mo.; Richard P. Walker, Platte City, Mo.; 
John B. Wann, Harrisonville, Mo.; William H. Young, Spring Dale, Ark. 

Graduates in dentistry—David C. Lane, and Joseph P. Root, Jr., Wyan- 
dott, Kas. 

President Schauffler then said that while this was the fourteenth annual anni- 
versary of the Commencement of the Kansas City Medical College, it was at the 
same time the first annual Commencement of the Kansas City Dental Eollege, or 
dental department of the Medical College. Unfortunately this fact has not been 
mentioned in the programme. ‘The degrees and diplomas were conferred on the 
members of the graduates in dental surgery, and Dr. T. B. Lester arose to de- 
liver the address to the class. 


DR. LESTER’S ADDRESS. 


Dr. Lester said that thirteen years ago it devolved upon him to speak the 


NATURAL SCIENCE AND PSYCHOLOCY. 713 


parting words to a graduating class. going out into the world to perform their 
duties as doctors, even as was the class he now addressed. ‘The speaker reverted 
to the time when the Kansas City Medical College was started. It had succeed- 
ed against some opposition and under many difficulties. The good people of 
Kansas City had always been the friend of every enterprise that claimed Kansas 
City as its home, and this was the secret of her greatness. 

During the existence of this college it had graduated 124 physicians. They 
were scattered all over the United Statesand Territories. The college was proud 
of them, and they had all been an honor to her. The speaker did not think the 
present class would tarnish this record. 

Turning from this subject, Dr. Lester called the attention of his hearers to 
the great changes in medicine which were going on. The science of medicine 
was becoming more accurate every day. These advances all accrued to the in- 
terest of the people. 

The arrest of experimental research by legal interposition was severely com- 
mented upon. Man himself killed animals for food and clothing, made slaves of 
them and slaughtered them for amusement. In England this fanaticism most pre- 
vailed. It had not yet reached America. No one but a fanatic would cry out in 
favor ef a dog or a cat and oppose scientific vivisection with law, if by the ex- 
periment something might be learned which would benefit thousands of men and 
women. 

The speaker urged his class not to fall into the error that they had nothing 
to do but to absorb the knowledge thus gained in the past. They must go on 
and enlighten the world themselves. Another error was the thought that there 
was nothing else to be done. Science may make more advancement in the future 
than it has in the past. 

Despite the fact that American students of the past, in a new country where 
colleges were few and books scarce, had struggled under difficulties of every 
kind, yet the country had produced a race which were giants in medicine. The 
medical men of the United States were admired all over the world. 

It was not necessary to go abroad to learn thoroughly the science of medi- 
cine. In the great schools and hospitals of both Europe and America, only that 
practice could be gained which would make a great surgeon. Europeans had 
made great concessions to us, and we had always admired their thoroughness and 
ability in surgery and medicine. 

To the graduating class Dr. Lester, in conclusion, addressed words of good 
advice and hearty sympathy. He urged them to be true to their profession and 
themselves, and bade the class, on behalf of the faculty, God speed and good-bye. 


The awarding of prizes was next.in order. There are several prizes in the 
gift of the college. The first of these is the Holden prize of $100, given to the 
student who passes the best examination. The prize was founded by Howard 
M. Holden, of this city. Besides this there is the faculty prize of $25, given to 
the next best student. Dr. Halley, professor of surgery, offered a competitive 


714 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


prize, consisting of ‘‘ Agnew’s Surgery,” in two volumes, to the best student in 
surgery, and Dr. Fryer, professor of diseases of the eye, offered a fine opthalmo- 
scope to the best student in his classes. 

The prizes were awarded as follows: 

First— Holden prize of $100, to Edwin T. Phillips, Manhattan, Kas. 

Second—Faculty prize of $25, to Samuel EK. Coates, Kansas City, Mo. 

Third—Agnew’s Surgery, two volumes, to A. H. Ironsides, Kansas City, 
Mo. 

Fourth—Opthalmoscope, to D. P. Walker, Platte City, Mo. 

With a concluding selection by the orchestra the members of the class re- 
ceived the congratulations of their friends, and the audienence dispersed. 

After the commencement exercises were concluded the faculty of the college, 
together with the graduating class and the members of the alumni association, 
adjourned to the Centropolis Hotel, where everything was waiting and an excel- 
lent banquet served. 


SECOND ANNUAL COMMENCEMENT OF THE MEDICAL DEPART- 
MENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS CITY. 


A large and brilliant audience gathered at the Walnut Street M. E. Church, 
March 13th, on the occasion of the Commencement exercises of the University 
of Kansas City. The platform was filled by a number of the most prominent 
citizens, notably: Hon. T. B. Bullene, Rev. Dr. Mathews, Dr. J. W. Jackson, 
~chief surgeon of the Missouri Pacific Railroad; Judge H. P. White, Drs. A. Jam- 
reson, N. H. Chapman, E.R. Lewis,” J; Millers). 2: jackson) is Bamintiamys 
Willis P. King, J. M. Allen, Judge R. E. Cowan, Drs. A. P. Campbell, C. W. 
Adams, J, R» Snell, He I Hereford, James Me Wood, GW.) Davissainee 
Lewis, L. A. Berger, O. Baldwin, and J. M. Wilson. 

The exercises began with an overture from Stradella, which was exceedingly 
well rendered. ‘This was followed by prayer by Rev. Dr. Mathews, at the con- 
clusion of which the diplomas were presented by Mayor Bullene, who said that it 
was expected that Governor Crittenden would honor the occasion and himself by 
presenting these diplomas. It occurred to him that some were born great, and 
some had greatness thrust upon them. ‘This was his fate to-night. He believed 
that it was the practice upon such occasions for the president to say something. 
If this address was delegated to him it would be a custom more honored in the 
breach than the observance. It was with pleasure that he could testify to the ex- 
ceptionally severe test which the class had undergone, and to the exceptional 
triumph that they had achieved. The diplomas were then presented. In 
conclusion the mayor urged the young gentlemen to be worthy of Kansas City, 
their country, their alma mater and themselves. 

The graduating class, whose names follow, then received the diplomas in the 
order given : 


MACHINE SCIENCE. 715 


Dupuy Snell, Clay County, Mo.; John W. Gossett, Paola, Kas.; Frank A. 
Caughill, Chamois, Mo.; James E. Logan, Kansas City, Mo.; Albert F. Schmitz, 
Sedalia, Mo.; Eugene L. Friedenberg, Kansas City, Mo.; Alexander B. Peters, 
Salem, Kas.; Grayson B. Scholl, Girard, Kas. , 

The following prizes were then awarded. 

Surgery—Professors J. P. Jackson, M. D., and J. W. Jackson, M. D., 
given to the one attaining highest grade. James E. Logan, A. F. Schmitz and 
Dupuy Snell having each attained the same grade, each was presented with a 
copy of ‘‘ Bryant’s Surgery.” 

Obstetrics—Prof. H. T. Hereford, M. D., prize awarded to F. A. Caughill. 

Eye and Ear—Prof. Tiffany, M. D., first prize, E. L. Friedenberg ; second 
prize, Jas. E. Logan. 

Orthopedic Surgery—Prof. J. Miller, M. D., prize awarded to E. L. Fried- 
enberg. ; 

Anatomy—Prof. E. R. Lewis, M. D., prize awarded to Dupuy Snell. 

At the conclusion of the distribution, the orchestra rendered selections from 
the ‘‘ Merry War.” Dr. James Elmore Logan then delivered the valedictory ad- 
dress. Mr. Logan began with Pope’s well known lines: 


‘¢ Know thou thyself; presume not God to scan. 
The proper study of mankind is man.” 


If this be truth, as it undoubtedly is in ordinary life, how much more is it 
true as regards the physician whose study is this intricate body of ours? Who 
deals with life itself? The speaker depicted the responsibilities, etc., of a phy- 
sician’s life; contrasted the profession with others, and closed by thanking the 
faculty for their kindness to the class, and by a few words of admonition to his 
fellow students. 

In an eloquent address the valedictorian reviewed the work done by the Class 
and the life work yet before them. The faculty were again warmly thanked for 
their efforts in behalf of the instruction of the class, and the speaker closed his ad- 
dress with a few well chosen words of advice and farewell to his fellow graduates. 
The valedictory was warmly received by the class and the audience, being fre- 
quently interrupted by applause. 


MACHINE SCIENCE. 


Col. Theo. S. Case then delivered the following address : 

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN :—For some years past we have been accustomed 
to hear very frequently the expression ‘‘ machine politics;” more latterly the 
phrase or term ‘‘ machine education”’ has been launched forth. In the one case 
it is applied to. the management of political affairs by systematic party discipline 
or drill, by which, to a certain extent, at least, the will of the individual voter is 
subordinated to that of his party leaders. In the other, it is used to describe 
‘‘the rigid, mechanical, law-established routine’? applied to the education of 
children in the public schools of some of the States. 


716 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


In either case the same benefits and the same evils flow out of the system. 
Great cumulative force and power are attained, and a high average degree of ex- 
cellence and success results. At the same time the process may not be exactly 
adapted to every individual voter or pupil. The objection is that by such ma- 
chine management the important elements of individual judgment ‘and self-reli- 
ance are left out of the question. It is a system of forced results rather than of 
independent action. But it is not alone in politics and education that we find 
the machine at work. It pervades every branch of business, and may naturally 
be looked for in mental processes also. Professor Bain, in speaking of the early 
history of the English universities, refers to ‘‘ the fatal sterility of the middle ages 
and of our first and second university periods, which had to do with the mistake 
of gagging men’s mouths and dictating all their conclusions. Things came to 
be so arranged that contradictory views ran side by side, like opposing electric 
currents, the thick wrappage of ingenious phraseology arresting the destructive 
discharge.” Though we must repudiate ‘sterility’ as a factor in our day and 
in our institutions, yet we may do well to examine our processes of thought and 
investigation and see if we are not tending, in some respects at least, to a similar 
position in scientific matters. 

Many illustrations, pointing suggestively to this tendency, might be furnish- 
ed; but one, which is exceedingly prominent, will suffice for this occasion. 

The year 1882 will long be remembered as one of unusual mortality among 
distinguished literary and scientific men. We were, within its brief compass, 
called upon to mourn the loss, successively, of such men as Darwin, Draper, 
Emerson, Marsh, Longfellow, Pusey, and others almost equally eminent in their 
different lines of labor and usefulness. Of all these, however, probably none left 
sO many admirers or so lasting a fame, certainly none made so marked an im- 
pression upon the thought of his generation, as Charles Darwin. 

When he died, last April, the naturalists, the philosophers and the theolo- 
gians of both hemispheres united spontaneously and almost involuntarily in ren- 
dering tributes to his memory. All awarded him, unhesitatingly, the character of 
a fair-minded and careful investigator, a scrupulously honest and faithful recorder 
of intelligently observed facts, and a conscientious and logical generalizer. To him 
more than to any other student of nature of the present century is science indebt- 
ed for a reasonable and probable theory of the origin and descent of species, and 
upon his head was poured a larger share of criticism, opposition, even personal 
ridicule, than has fallen to the lot of any other writer during the same period of 
time. On the other hand, no other writer has ever received from his followers 
and during his lifetime, so large a meed of praise as the constructor of a theory 
of development which, it is claimed, has within less than twenty-five years ‘‘re- 
formed science and constrained the whole perception, thought and volition of 
mankind into newer and higher courses.” . 

Darwin’s theory was not altogether new, for it had been broached many 
years before by Lamarck in his ‘‘ Philosophie Zodlogique.’’ In fact, Aristotle, 
himself, suggested it more than 2,000 years ago, while quite a number of com- 


MVEA CETLIN EE: S@UE NICE, 717 


paratively modern investigators, including his own grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, 
had discussed it before he published his first work upon the subject in 1859. But 
at just about that period in the history of science, the geologists, biologists and 
theologians had somewhat harmonized their differences and disagreements, and 
there was comparative peace. Consequently, when the development theory was 
promulgated, great excitement ensued. It ran counter to established beliefs and 
convictions, arousing the most vehement assaults from all sides. However, the 
more it was combatted, the more it was brought into prominence and its claims 
tested in the light of investigation and philosophy, the better its facts, premises 
and conclusions were understood, and the stronger hold it took upon men’s 
minds, until to-day, though not even yet demonstrated, it is more generally ac- 
cepted and approved than any other. 

This theory is known indifferently by the ordinary reader as the development 
or evolution theory, and, as opposed to the theory of special creation, may be de- 
fined to be an explanation of the processes of nature in originating and perpetuat- 
ing life upon the earth by evolution, or by the derivation of one species from the 
one preceding it; modified by the attendant circumstances or environment. 

It appears very clear to a great number of the leading naturalists of the 
world that the adoption of such a theory need not affect men’s belief in a prime 
originator or Creator. On the contrary they deem it only a stronger evidence of 
his wisdom and power, that He was abie to animate the first atom or germ of 
organic matter and give to it the potentiality to develop, by innumerable steps or 
grades, and through an immensely prolonged period of time, from a moneron into a 
man. Such thinkers are known as theistic evolutionists. There are, however, 
other thinkers and investigators who assume that the processes of development 
are entirely independent of any divine originator, and that they are self-originat- 
ing and self-existent. These are styled atheistic evolutionists. 

It is not the object of this address to discuss the facts of the evolution or de- 
velopment theory, but simply to inquire what effect, if any, its various phases. 
(for it has received many alterations and additions, ) are having or may have up- 
on students of any branch of science requiring physical investigation or philo- 
sophic examination. Such an inquiry seems to me eminently proper at this time, 
in view of the-fact that the officers of the University of Kansas City contemplate 
the establishment of its other departments very soon. Professors in other 
branches will shortly have to be chosen, and the welfare of the public, through 
its youths, is vitally concerned in this choice. It would be an excellent thing to 
have our university well endowed and well provided with the means of instruc- 
tion, but after all it is the professors who will make the reputation of the institu- 
tion and it is their teachings that will make sound and practical men or shallow 
dullards of our children. Mr. Hewett says, ‘‘ Inability on the part of a professor 
to impart to a student the distinct methods and training of a scientist, or philolo- 
gist or a student of history, is to pervert and misdirect the energies and often to 
vitiate the fruits of years of study.” 

The purpose of a university is to develop the intellects of its students in ev- 


718 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


ery department of education, art and science that comes within its scope or func- 
tion. Medical students are not merely to be taught the names and uses of bones, 
muscles and organs, or the practical applications of medicines, but also the subtle 
actions of brain and nerve; not merely anatomical structures, but the mysterious 
physiological processes; they are to be taught to ‘‘ minister to a mind diseased”’ 
as well as to set a broken limb. Students in other departments are also to be in- 
structed not only in the routine of practical forms, but in all the mental processes 
by which such forms are arrived at and made common and practical. Mr. Sill, 
in discussing Herbert Spencer’s theory of education says: ‘‘ There is a perma- 
nent aspiration in man for spiritual enlargement, for higher and richer planes 
of intellectual being. This aspiration has in every age reached out, no doubt 
more or less blindly, after whatever was greatest and best in preceding human 
attainment.” *k ** aos ‘« From many desires and motives, no 
doubt, but most of all from this permanent hunger for intellectual illumination 
and spiritual enlargement have grown up our universities and our systems of lib- 
eral culture.’”’ He would be a strange teacher of medicine who at the present 
day would content himself with informing his class that blue mass was ‘‘ good for 
biliousness,” and that morphine was ‘‘good for sleeplessness,” and fail to lay be- 
fore them any explanation of the subtle and mysterious action of those agents up- 
on the liver and brain. That was the old-fashioned, machine way of teaching, 
and the result was that men went through their lives bleeding, salivating and 
blistering their patients by rote, and deeming themselves lucky when they had 
thrown them into fits, for the reason that you have all heard so many times. If 
it had happened in the formation of the human system that the liver had been | 
left out, such doctors, as I have heard one of our most respected and progressive 
city physicians say, would have been ‘‘in a mighty bad fix.” 

But such crude and empirical instruction has been abandoned in all intellec- 
tual communities, and every effort is put forth by professors, whether of medi- 
cine, law, science or literature, to combine instruction with investigation, and to 
enlarge by all their powers the bounds of human knowledge. ‘The responsibili- 
ties resting upon them are not easily measured. In these days of unsettled beliefs 
the importance of furnishing young men with a firm foundation of classified 
knowledge and of well balanced habits of thought cannot be overestimated. A 
failure to accomplish this in our universities is not only to perpetrate an inesti- 
mable wrong upon the students themselves, but to do more or less permanent in- 
jury to the cause of education in the community. The one object to be kept in 
mind by all earnest and faithful instructors is the exclusive pursuit of the truth in 
whatever line of study they may be engaged, and this is to be done by adherence 
to facts, known and resulting from investigation, and by the generalization of the 
facts in exact accordance with the laws of reasoning and thought. These pre- 
cedent points being fully established, the professor need have no hesitation in 
taking his pupils wherever logic leads. ‘Truth thus sought will bear exposure 
under all circumstances. 

This brings us back to Darwin again. His theories have become so com- 


MACHINE SCIENCE. Je) 


pletely commingled with the scientific and philosophic thought of the day that 
scarcely any investigator in natural science, especially in the domains of zodlogy, 
geology, botany or anthropology, has failed to be affected by them. The phrases 
‘‘natural selection,” ‘‘evolution,” ‘‘origin by descent,” ‘“‘the survival of the 
fittest,’’ are as common as household words, and, without stopping to consider 
the differences between these divisions of the general theory, I proceed to dis- 
cuss the bearings of university teaching upon the questions of theistic and atheis- 
tic evolution. The influence of the theory itself will be felt in the investigation 
and study of almost every branch of science, and nearly every professor will be 
compelled to give to his classes a reasonable account of the opinion he entertains 
regarding it, and this opinion will or should naturally give.at least a bias to their 
subsequent thought and labors. 

Now, while natural science has not yet been able to prove the correctness of 
the evolution theory by facts, and has been obliged to call philosophy and meta- 
physics to its aid to work out a plausible demonstration of its claims, still evolu- 
tion is so widely admitted to be the most probable explanation of the processes of 
nature that it will be adopted by future scientists, at least as a guide in their in- 
vestigations. Consequently, the question to be settled first of all seems necessa- 
rily to be whether the true path of investigation lies in the theistic or the atheistic 
acceptation of the theory; whether we are to regard an infinite God as the origi- 
nator of the world and the designer of the processes of development in the organ- 
ic and inorganic kingdoms, or whether we are to adopt the doctrine of the atheis- 
tie evolutionists, who deny the supernatural or creative origin of man or any of 
the animals, and account for them all by attributing their origin to spontaneous 
generation and their subsequent development solely to the operation of law. 

Taking up first the consideration of the atheistic line of thought and argu- 
ment, and passing over the question of spontaneous generation of life, which the 
experiments of Tyndall, Bastian and others seem to have answered negatively, 
but assuming it to be possible, for the sake of the subsequent argument, we come 
to the consideration of development by law. Now law, as understood in science, 
is inexorable and inflexible, exact and complete, The law of gravitation is so ex- 
act in its requirements and fulfillments that the movements of the most distant 
planets or other heavenly bodies can be calculated with the utmost accuracy, 
whether we reckon centuries backward or forward. The laws of chemical affin- 
ity are so precise that the most minute quantities of any given substance can be 
detected with exact certainty, while the proportions of the constituent elements 
of any known compound, base or acid are utterly invariable, and their combin- 
ing equivalents unalterably fixed. Any violation of these laws, either by error in 
calculation or misapplication of their rules, inevitably results in failure to attain 
the object sought. Every true calculation, in the one case, or correct combina- 
tion of chemical equivalents, in the other, will produce identically the same re- 
sult, even if repeated a thousand or million times. This should be the case with 
all laws; when once discovered and formulated, they should stand forever, im- 
mutable, invariable and unyielding. 


720 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


No scientific man questions the reign of law in organic nature any more than 
in mathematics or physics, hence the two questions for teachers and students’ of 
science to consider are what really is law, and whence the law. ‘These being 
definitely settled, the field is clear and the goal within certain reach. 

Now, again admitting what has not been distinctly proven, that the laws gov- 
erning development of species have been discovered, let us ask what will be the 
result upon young investigators when they are taught by their trusted instructors 
that these laws are self-evolved, self-existent and self-operative? That they be- 
gan just after chaos, have been operating inflexibly ever since, and will continue 
to rule irresistibly, unchangeably and relentlessly until the end of time? What 
must be the necessary, effect of the knowledge or the credulous belief in the ex- 
istence and enforcement of such unbending, rigorous, cast-iron laws? As Schmid 
puts it, he (the investigator) sees ‘‘all the rich treasures of human life and history 
become a result of blindly acting forces; the history of the world, ethics and all 
spiritual sciences are, in the progress of perception, dissolved into physiology, 
and physiology into chemistry, physics and mechanism.’’ Can a student see any- 
thing to hope for such, under rigid, cramped and inelastic conditions? Will it 
not appear to him useless to investigate, to try to get at the causes and effects of 
the phenomena he perceives around him? 

If these assumed laws of the atheistic evolutionist actually are laws, with no 
elasticity and with no superior to control or modify them, then all thought neces- 
sarily turns back upon itself, and the fatalism of Buddha is the result. All things, 
past, present and future, are immovabiy and unchangeably fixed. Law rules; 
human effort and skill and energy avail nothing. Development goes steadily, ir- 
resistibly, ruthlessly onward. Active and powerful, but lifeless and soulless, it 
tends neither upward nor downward, neither to the right nor to the left. On- 
ward it goes, without ultimate object or aim; ponderously crushing out senti- 
ment, reverence, love, faith, hope. It seems to me that this is the irresistible 
logic of atheistic evolution, and that the young man who accepts it as his guide 
in physical or philosophic investigation leaves hope behind. He sees everything 
in nature’s processes blocked out for him in advance. He has no worthy object 
in view for which to strive; he mounts the machine, gets into the ruts of ‘‘ the 
survival of the fittest”? and ‘‘ natural selection;” he rides between walls of ada- 
mant, too dense for penetration and too high to allow any light to fall upon from 
above. Even those by-paths which open dimly along his course he is forbidden 
to explore. Law rules; its narrow limitations allow of no divergences or digres- 
sions. ‘The machine carries him on, he knows not where, overpowering him with 
its noise and force, until he becomes part and parcel of it; a mere machine him- 
self, plodding in his methods, cramped in his ideas and routine in his practice. 
The machine is self-evolved, self-regulated, inexorable law, having neither intelli- 
gent beginning, intelligent aim nor intelligent conclusion, evolved by chance 
from chaos, developed without object or design and closing in the obscurity in 
which it began. It is the stultification of intellect to separate this atheistic con- 


MACHINE SCIENCE. 721 


ception from its ‘‘thick wrappage of ingenious phraseology ” and follow it to its 
legitimate and logical conclusion. 

‘¢ But,” say the upholders of this theistic, this Godless view of the question, 
“there are modifications of this law; there is a law of variability. Although this 
strict succession or sequence of events is absolutely required by a literal render- 
ing of the law of development, there are some few, solutions of continuity allow- 
ed.” Ah? are there, indeed? Then either you have no law whatever or that 
law is controlled and guided by a superior power, the Great Law Maker Himself, 
perhaps. Exact law knows no variability ; admit of a variation and your law isa 
nullity! Yield one inch to environment as a modifier of a single step in the syllogis- 
tic process and you give up law forever, as the atheistic evolutionist has con- 
structed it, and as he must hold to it, if he believes bis own postulates. Law let 
alone is a merciless and despotic autocrat. 

Where have we landed? We know that the laws of development and de- 
scent are most probably true and in operation all around. us. The investigations 
of scientists from the days of Aristotle to the present time point clearly to them. 
The words of the wise man in the Scriptures unmistakably point to them when 
he says ‘‘ The works of the Lord are done in judgment from the beginning: and 
from the time he made them he disposed the parts thereof.” 

Let us turn for a few moments to the doctrine of theistic evolution. Here, 
according to my belief, we shall find plain sailing. Law rules as before, but the 
machine is gone. Flexibility, elasticity, variability, all are present, essential 
corollaries to the law, and in strict harmony with the design of the Creator. He 
could and did foresee all things from the beginning, and has provided for their 
development in strict accordance with law, but at the same time He guides, 
directs, and controls the phenomena of nature as the world progresses steadily to- 
ward the ultimate and pre-arranged goal. The soulless machine is gone and hope 
returns. Intelligent, free-willed man investigates, studies, contemplates, draws 
closer to his Maker, comprehends more and more fully the grandeur of the cos- 
mic scheme, realizes the magnificence and brilliancy of the original plan; observes 
and appreciates the comprehensive precision, the facile power and the apparent 
ease of its execution ; and now, in his turn, resorting to philosophy to supply the 
“¢missing link,” his consciousness, his reason, his faith, all point unerringly to 
the final disclosure of the object of the Divine plan, which, commencing with God 
‘¢in the beginning” has run its course with rhythmic harmony of development 
and only awaits the fullness of time to logically, fittingly and triumphantly cul- 
minate in the glorious after-life depicted in the apocalypse. 

The discussion of such questions is, in my judgment, as strictly within the 
scope of university teaching as any others, and while they may not at present 
come as fully within the range of the course of instruction in this university as 
they will when the other departments are established, they certainly should be 
. considered, and doubtless are considered, in some of the lectures before the 
medical classes. That eminent physiologist, Professor Martyn Paine, gives the 
question the most careful and profound examination in his work, the ‘‘ Physiolo- 


122 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


gy of the Soul and Instinct as Distinguished from Materialism.” He brings to the 
treatment of these matters, practical experience, various and deep learning, vast 
research, equal familiarity with physical and metaphysical methods, and a most 
intimate knowledge of anatomy and physiology. His arguments against that ma- 
terialism which would resolve the qualities of mind into molecular action are plain, 
practical and irresistible. Very few noted physiologists advocate materialism. 
Their researches almost universally result in opposite conclusions. They cannot 
ignore the law of design. 

While the position I have taken may be questioned by some scientists, I have 
the satisfaction of knowing that such eminent geologists as Dana, Dawson and 
Winchell, such distinguished botanists as Gray and Braun, such learned and 
skillful naturalists as Wallace and Owen, and such able metaphysicians as Mc- 
Cosh and Braubach uphold the theistic side of the case from their respective 
standpoints. But it cannot be denied that the tone and tendency of thousands of 
investigators, and especially metaphysicians, are toward atheistic evolution. If 
they are correct, which seems to me impossible, we shall necessarily have to sub- 
mit. Weask only for honest investigation, candid and logical generalization 
and reasoning, and are willing to accept the results. 

Another phase of teaching which is becoming more and more necessary with 
the advance of science and which is especially appropriate in university instruc- 
tion, and which I am glad to point out as being fully appreciated in this institu- 
tion, is the investigation and study of special divisions of different branches of 
professional science. We must not forget that nowadays each branch of science 
is so extensive that to keep abreast of the progress in it alone is no light task, 
while to excel in it requires the exercise of all the powers of mind and body of 
the most vigorous person. The duties of citizenship, intelligent, useful citizen- 
ship, at present of themselves demand large stores of general information and 
culture, and it is a fact beyond question that a larger share of accurate and mi- 
nute knowledge is required of our professional men than ever before. Hence 
specialism becomes a necessity before success, in all departments of scientific in- 
vestigation. The nearer our knowledge can be reduced to mathematical precis- 
ion, the better for the world, and this can only be reached by division of labor 
and systematic, logical and truthful investigation of branch by branch, subject 
by subject, item by item. But the specialist must not go to the extreme of over- 
looking the interdependence of all the sciences. If he does, he is liable to mount 
the machine again and get into the old ruts of routine and empiricism. 

But I have said enough. We all have our duties to perform—teachers as 
well as students—and the problem for all to work upon, and, if possible, to solve, 
is how to do the right thing in the most beneficial manner to ourselves and our 
fellow creatures. We may never solve the problem of the design of the uni- 
verse in our day. The day of its solution may never be reached by man on this 
earth. As Dr. Hill beautifully says: ‘* That day ever recedes into the glorious 
future as we approach it. ‘The rate of scientific progress increases from decade 
o decade, and yet the new problems and the new instruments for their solution 


MACHINE SCIENCE, 723 


increase even more rapidly. The divine intellect can never be exhausted by the 
human.” While this is true, each one of us can do something toward the un- 
tangling of the knot. If he cannot reduce the interweaving threads to order, he 
can at least hold the skein. In the words of the oldest epic poem in the En- 
glish language: 
‘« Each of us must 

An end await 

Of this world’s life; - 

Let him who can 

Work high deeds ere death.” 


At the close of Col. Case’s address the honorary degree of Doctor of Physics 
was conferred upon him by President Bullene, of the Board of Regents. 

Dr. Willis V. King then addressed the assembly, and gave the good and bad 
side of the medical profession, and also a humorous description of a young physi- 
cian’s dream, etc. He then pictured the reality. The real life of a physician 
must commence in the abodes of the humble and the poor. The practice of 
medicine requires more courage and more devotion than that of a soldier. He 
spoke of the ideas prevalent as to the mystery of medicines. He alluded to pop- 
ular superstitions, such as carrying potatoes in the pocket, buckeyes, etc. He 
described his first visit and several other incidents of his early professional life. 
He urged upon the class the necessity of temperance, If any man’s brain should 
always be clear it was that of the physician. He concluded by presenting what 
he termed the bright side of the profession, and enlarged upon the possibilities 
for good in the life of the medical man. It isa sacred trust and you must be 
worthy of it, more is expected of you than of other men, the epidemic is the true 
physician’s battle field. The physician who knows and does his duty is one of 
the noblest sights presented to men. It is the height of folly for a doctor to 
mix himself in anything that will impair his power for good. ‘The physician’s 
face should pring sunshine to the sick room. He must not be frivolous ia the 
house of mourning, and will never deserve his high calling if he does not realize 
and express his appreciation of the situation. He must learn these things for 
himself; no books can teach him. He must realize how much depends upon 
his words and presence. His conclusion was a beautiful appeal to the class to 
remember the higher side of the profession, and to cultivate a tender heart. 

The exercises then closed with the benediction by Dr. Mathews. 

At a later hour the Board of Regents, faculty, graduates, students of the 
University, and a large number of invited guests met at Morton’s, where a gener- 
ous feast was enjoyed by all. The toasts and speeches were continued until 
after midnight. 


724 KANSAS CIT' EVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


KANSAS CITY HOSPITAL COLLEGE. 


The First Annual Commencement exercises of the Kansas City Hospital Col- 
lege were held March 15th in the Unitarian Church. The house was well filled 
and great interest was manifested in the proceedings. After the overture ‘‘ Silver 
Bells ” by the orchestra, Dr. D. E. Dickerson, the dean of the faculty, took the 
chair. Dr. Bowker then prayed for the blessing of “God upon all liberal ideas 
and institutions. After the prayer the orchestra played the march from ‘Stra- 
della.” 

The dean presented the diplomas to the graduating class and congratulated 
them upon their success in passing the severe examination to which they had been 
subjected. There were eighteen matriculants and seven graduates. The names 
and residences of the latter are as follows: 

Charles F. Kuechler, Edwin G. Granville, William H. Kimberlin, James 
Carpenter, Kansas City ; James Gilbert, Jackson County; Jbseeh H. Robinson, 
Tennessee; Rawson Arnold, Oakland, Cal. 

Mr. Bin G. Granville then delivered the valedictory addres which was 
in substance as given below. 

LaDIES AND GENTLEMEN.—In universities and colleges, says Lord Bacon, 
“«Men’s studies are almost confined to certain authors from which if any dissent- 
eth, it is enough to make him be thought a person turbulent.” 

That this is true no one can successfully deny. Weak and bigoted men al- 
ways gratify their vanity in opposing the introduction of additions to our knowl-_ 
edge, which not being taught in the schools in which they were educated, are 
consequently above their comprehension. The concurrent denunciations of 
medical theories and practices by many of the enlightened professors and practi- 
tioners of medicine in modern times, and the innumerable failures of the practice, 
proves that medicine as it has been generally taught, understood and practiced, is 
not what it should be—is not an adequate supply to the demand of the age. 

The ancients endeavored to elevate physic to the dignity of a science, but 
failed. The moderns, with more success, have endeavored to reduce it to the 
level of a trade. Science has heaped wealth in the lap of commerce; to the heal- 
ing art, she has been a meagre patron. The commercial man cordially receives 
her magnificent contributions; the medical devotee looks with jealous eye upon 
her beneficent discoveries. 

Their so-called regular State and County societies are not combinations to 
advance medical knowledge, for no one who happens to have mastered methods 
of practice unknown to these associations, essentially different from their meth- 
ods, could bring any discovery or demonstration before them without being in- 
sulted or rejected without a hearing. 


The new must e’er supplant the old, 
While time’s increasing current flows, 


SENTIMENT AN. \CIENCE, 725 


Only new beauties to unfold, 
And brighter glories to disclose ; 
For every crumbling altar stone 
That falls upon the way of time, 
Eternal wisdom has o’erthrown, 
To build a temple more sublime. 


The cry for more liberality in medical education has continued so long that 
it has become one of the demands of the age. And to Kansas City belongs the 
honor of establishing the first college of medicine as an adequate supply to imper- 
ative demand—one in which all approved systems are united, and in which all 
remedial agents are weighed in the scales of utility, and admitted or rejected ac- 
cording to their merits. 

Fellow graduates, we are now by the authority of the State of Missouri’ and 
the judgment of this faculty Doctors in medicine. It now becomes us, through 
application and fidelity to our profession, to secure the recognition and patronage 
of the public, to whom we pledge our most earnest and conscientious efforts. 
Let us so live and work that when our service here is done, the sentence shall fol- 
low: ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.” 


At the conclusion of the valedictory, the dean introduced the Rev. John E. 
Roberts, who spoke upon ; 


SENTIMENT AND SCIENCE. 


Lapies aND GENTLEMEN.—Sentiment is thought plus feeling; science is 
unimpassioned thought; sentiment is the child of the brain and the heart; science 
is the offspring of the brain; sentiment is ardent, sanguine, buoyant; science is 
frigid, formal, sedate ; sentiment is elastic, roseate and joyous; science is rigid, 
colorless and solemn; sentiment is eager, impetuous and daring; science is me- 
thodical, slow and cautious; sentiment delights in results; science delights in proc- 
esses; sentiment gathers flowers; science collects bulbs and roots; sentiment 
thinks science too slow; science thinks sentiment too fast; sentiment sometimes 
goes wrong ; science—ditto. 

Sentiment and science sometimes call each other names—then both have- 
got wrong. I want to show you that there is not only room for both sentiment 
and science in the wide field that lies before us as students, but that the work of 
each will be imperfect and incomplete without the aid of the other. 

The scientific method is not new. It dates, in fact, from before the begin- 
ning of the Christian era, but the grea: thinker who first defined it thought vastly 
in advance of his age. He was, therefore, destined to be misunderstood and un- 
appreciated for centuries. There came one at last whose intellectual endow- 
ments added him to the list of which Aristotle was the last, and now for two cen- 
turies and a half the inductive method has been the process by which facts have 
been treated and scientific conclusions reached. 

Following this method the workers of the world—each in his own chosen 


726 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. — 


field—have been patiently observing and arranging facts. Beneath the disguise 
of endless variety they have detected hints of unity. Conversant with the ‘‘ un- 
bounded nature and unitability of particulars,” they have drawn nearer and near- 
er to the subjects that are general and invariable, until, flushed with success and 
bewildered by the vastness of their deductions, they have invaded almost every 
realm of thought and emotion, and that, too, in the name of the inductive 
method. 

There is a dogmatic positiveness too often displayed by scientific teachers— 
that is on the one hand unhealthful to real knowledge and on the other unwar- 
rantably presumptuous. The results of this dogmatism are pernicious to the last 
degree. It drives the man who accepts its authority as final to the bitter conclu- 
sions that the universe is an eternal machine and himself a transient and insignifi- 
cant part of it. 

To him ‘‘ nature conceals God, for through her whole domain nature reveals 
only fate—only an indissoluble chain of mere efficient causes without beginning 
and without end, excluding with equal necessity, both providence and chance. 
An independent agency, a free original commencement within her sphere and 
proceeding from her powers is absolutely impossible. Working without will, she 
takes counsel neither of the good nor of the beautiful, creating nothing, she casts 
up from her dark abyss only eternal transformations of herself unconsciously and 
without an end, farthering with the same ceaseless industry decline and increase, 
death and life, never producing what alone is of God and what supposes liberty, 
the virtuous, the immortal.”’ 

Reacting from this soulless materialism, some have reached the other ex- 
treme. Denying to science the claim of authority which she sets up for herself, 
they have lapsed into a sentimental mood, in which unsubstantial imaginings, un- 
supported by demonstrations or unwarranted by analogy, are vested with supreme 
authority. This is intellectual lawlessness. Under this order of things diseased 
imaginations have no check. ‘The grotesque creations of unbalanced minds pos- 
sess equal authority with the carefully proved deductions from observed facts— 
the hope of unity and harmony is blotted out—the world of matter becomes chaos 
again and the world of mind a pandemonium. 

There is ample room for the careful student between these two extremes. 
He may accord to science all she can justly claim and yet be unfettered. He 
may also take counsel of his hope and aspirati.n concerning the realm in which 
science can gather no facts for demonstration, and still give no offense to reason 
nor presume upon analogy. 

It becomes us to treat all demonstrated truths with reverence and honesty. 
It also becomes us to discriminate between proof and assumption, between fact 
and hypothesis, between certitude and probability. It is susceptible of demon- 
stration that the majority of the conclusions reached by science are as yet only 
strong probabilities. What are popularly regarded as facts are in many instances 
regarded by the specialists as simply hypotheses. It is strangely true that the 
unscientific, dogmatic spirit of science is not entertained by the great teachers, 


SENTIMENT AND SCIENCE. 727 


but is the result of hasty conclusions and sweeping generalizations made by the 
masses. . 

The people ought to remember what the faithful investigator cannot forget, 
that science is yet largely tentative and hypothetical, and that her best established 
conclusions are only strong probabilities. 

A recent English scholar has expressed his conviction, ‘‘ That before a vigor- 
ous logical scrutiny the reign of law will prove to be an unverified hypothesis, 
the uniformity of nature an ambiguous expression and the certainty of our scien- 
tific inferences to a great extent a delusion.” 

The value of science is, of course, very high, while the conclusions are kept 
well within the limits of the data upon which they are founded, but it is pointed 
out that our experience is of the most limited character, compared with what 
there is to learn, while our mental powers seem to fall infinitely short of the task 
of comprehending and explaining fully the nature of any one object. ‘‘ Ours 
must be a truly positive philosophy, but that a false negative philosophy, which, 
building on a few material facts, presumes to assert that it has compassed the 
bounds of existence, while it nevertheless ignores the most unquestionable phe- 
nomena of the human mind and feelings.” This writer defines a law of nature 
not as an uniformity which must be obeyed by all objects, but ‘‘merely an uni- 
formity which is as a matter of fact obeyed by those objects which have come be- 
neath our observation,” and adds that it would not be incompatible with logic 
nor any reproach to our scientific method if objects were discovered which should 
prove exceptions to any law of nature. 

It is not my purpose to awaken unreasonable doubt where certainty may be 
had, but I want to suggest the propriety of caution and candor, the distinguishing 
traits of the real student in whatever field. As the domain of knowledge widens 
man discovers with an ever increasing degree of probability that no one branch 
of science is independent of all or any of the others and that no one of them all 
can be rightly understood without taking account of its relations to the rest. 

The too exclusive study of a single subject leads to an over confident and 
dogmatic spirit, to unjust and harmful discriminations. The labor of specialists 
is, it is true, enriching the world with its results—but the labor of many special- 
ists—not one 

There is a large amount of conceit in the reputed dying statement of a cer- 
tain German student, regretting that he had not devoted his entire life to the 
single letter ‘‘Iota.” But the world would have been little better for his ‘‘ Iota,” 
if others had not studied the rest of the Greek letters and all of the cases. In 
the better mood of our age no department of learning will say to any other ‘‘I 
have no need of thee.” Each acknowledges to every other its peculiar domain 
and its peculiar importance, and each in its own way points onward to a more 
complete understanding of man, ‘‘ the proper study of mankind.” 

This institution, in observance of whose first annual Commencement we have 
gathered here to-night, is founded upon this principle of comparative study. It 


seeks to apply the general principle to the special department of medical science. 
Vi—46 


728 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


It is to be both congratulated and commiserated. The first because it strives 
to exhibit the broad principles of fraternity and to make common cause for the 
common good; the second because by virtue of its advanced position it has im- 
molated itself upon the pale of obloquy; it has executed its own irrevocable de- 
gree of ostracism. 

The constituents of this, its first class of graduates, will go down to their 
chosen work as Ishmaelites. ‘‘ Treat such men as gentlemen if you know them 
to be gentlemen,’’ said a respected physician at a recent Commencement of an- 
other school, ‘‘ but have nothing to do with them professionally.” 

Such sentiments as that may be necessary to the preservation of some an- 
cient code of professional ethics, but the common people, untrained in the discrim- 
ination of such hypercritical refinements can discover neither necessity nor justice 
for such unwholesome teaching. 

Without assumption, I think I may say to the members of this class that the 
position you will occupy as the first representatives of this college demands of 
you in a peculiar way the virtues of modesty and forbearance. 

By following the curriculum and receiving diplomas from a school that does 
not acknowledge the supreme and all sufficient authority of any one principle or 
formula, you stand committed to a practice that must be variable without being 
fickle and persistent without being inflexible. 

Persuaded that the last word has. not been said in this nor in any other 
science you must be listeners. Persuaded that the sum of human knowledge is 
yet incomplete, you will be patient learners. Francis Bacon compared himself 
to the statues of Mercury, which indicate the way although they do not pass over 
it themselves. 

Every true student, even in this age, does best who can, when his task is 
done, point, not to the finished work his hand and brain have wrought, but to 
the work suggested—perhaps begun—but quite too large for one life to compass. 
To him who is willing to learn the world has much to teach. To him who listens 
well there are many voices. 

Modesty then is the virtue I would commend, the modesty that makes men 
teachable, the modesty that keeps the greatest learning humble, the modesty that 
gives one respect for every man’s doubt and a far greater respect for every man’s 
honest belief. By the virtue of forbearance I mean that equable temper born of 
confidence in one’s mission that renders him calm and silent under the stinging 
lash of criticism, ridicule and obloquy. The world moves slowly, but it moves. 
When any man leaves the beaten track to make for himself and others a new 
way—albeit that way leads out by flowers and singing brooks—he brings upon 
his devoted head storm after storm of bitterness. In other ages the rack and the 
stake were the rewards that grateful people meted out to the men who thought 
differently from their times. More than many times have God’s rivers been 
called upon to bear out to the everlasting sea the ashes of God’s best interpreters 
and humanity’s best friends. é 

The method has changed. The spirit remains. Persecution has been refin- 


THE KANSAS WEATHER SERVICE. 729 


ed to indifference and contempt, but it is persecution still, Some one has said 
and said wisely that ‘‘ only he is great who can bide his time.” Justice is some- 
times tardy, but it comes at last. It will devolve upon you to compel respect for 
your position by your calmness, your patience and your dignity, to be liberal 
without being illiberal—to be honest, conscientious and to wait. It will not be 
fair to conclude that all who criticise are unworthy men. 

Bear in mind that this is yet only an experiment, and that many faithful and 
good men honestly believe it both impracticable and absurd. One of the most 
dangerous enemies that this movement will encounter will be found in the man 
of little brain and less conscience who will make it a means to obtain for himself 
the cheap notoriety of sensationalism or to invest his quackery with respectability. 
The best thing may be put to the worst use. 

If through these things you are able to hold your way, unvexed by HoneeE 
criticism, unangered by dishonest pretenders, then you will have done more than 
much toward breaking away from unhealthfui technical restraints and in teaching 
men so. 

The world is wide and full of ignorance, want and pain. Superstition casts 
its weird shadows over the cold, unlighted hearthstones of reason. Despair puts 
out the torch of hope. The dew falls nightly on new made graves. Whatever 
his special calling, the true man wiil find a field wider than his profession. He 
will need knowledge that no curriculum gives, medicine that no text book sug- 
gests, remedies that no formula supplies. Only as his heart is touched with the 
deeper tenderness and filled with the sublimer sympathies; only as he rises above 
the formalities and literalism of mere profession; only as he is truly man, will he 
be able really to help men, and in helping bring himself and them into wider 
liberty, into clearer light and nearer God. . 


Rey. Dr. Bowker next addressed the class, giving them timely warning of 
the difficulties which must beset their paths during professional life, At the con- 
clusion of his remarks Rev. Mr. Roberts pronounced the benediction. : 


MEE Oln@ LON. 


REPORT FROM OBSERVATIONS TAKEN AT CENTRAL STATION, 
WASHBURN COLLEGE, TOPEKA, KANSAS. 


BY PROF. J. T. LOVEWELL, DIRECTOR. 


The extreme cold weather which closed our last report (Jan. 20th,) has con- 
tinued through the first two decades here recorded. There have been two pe- 
riods of extremely low temperature, the first lasting from January 18th to Jan- 


730 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


uary 24th, and the second from February rst to February 9th. The tempera- 
ture reached —21° on January 22d and February 4th. 

During the storm of February 15th the lowest barometric pressure was reach- 
ed—as observed 28.460, reduced to zero and sea level 29.395. 

The highest temperature was 65°, February 14th. 

The usual summary by decades is given below. 


Jan. 20th Feb. Ist Feb. 10th 


‘Mean. 
TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. fo 30th. to roth. UD BO. 
MIN. AND MAX. AVERAGES. 
IMU aoe cts cinerea ocd eenyelins aaekticia re 2.3 —3.9 19.2 
Mia xe aisle Uamethcr ate cienieien oamremisanlye 32.0 19.3 47.2 
Min.and Max. ......... 17.1 7.4 33-3 
IRENE 6 6146 600 0 6 2 o 0 6 30.3 25.4 28.0 
‘TRI-DAILY OBSERVATIONS. 
bP EMO arte ey bec Gr Ra aeaRe A CERES tar eae 10.0 24.1 24.1 
$186 tl 6 6 6) o 6 GO Goa 0 60 6 26.6 38.7 38.7 
@) fo Ws 6 oo 6 605 000 0 5 6 18.0 31.1 31.3 
WIGAI 6 5 6 5 6 Gece lac patmoa sont 18.2 30.1 31.1 
RELATIVE HUMIDITY. 
Tae OULe Ae clea nial ell cake at erilie re 
2p. m Sisson MQ sD epaLO mes lOo : 
ype se ests veneers aed test dhe latatiavs 
Meantieni cs bili Bay Sealy eer Naau chee 
PRESSURE AS OBSERVED, 
Pa pT sicily vail took Arete ko val at aca YaNNerepietatn ie 29.17 29.41 29 28 
9304 Wily ‘Go dso oO! O01 Bod 0 00 29.17 29.38 29.19 
Qype Ms tea antennae Bae 29.20 29.43 29.21 
IMreaniy Mipspes Neier Sa se oh tol ae sent ene 29.18 29.41 29.23 
MILES PER Hour OF WIND 
TRAMETIN rout niic) ate its slay Negra 14.0 14.5 14.9 
DN TMTILEs Wey coral) OR lish o. fata fatigue ae tw Pas 10.0 15.7 18.2 
Qi Proms ero ec fey cy cee eae nee 14.0 13.4 17.9 Jue 
siotalmileshisraqy es cine 3071 2686 3570 9327 
CLOUDING BY TENTHS. 
Ae eT Met cal Vets aerated ise gs Rapiae he Novant 5.0 6.7 6.5 o4ie 
Yip sult ngecaisecteds pie el usr cat cksc eaten pata 3.0 6.0 5.6 Aes 
Quprmatga ye Cavs heey Ayaan te ieuans 5.0 2.5 4.2 
RAIN. ; 
Incheseaeae Peau e ett een 0.0 0.20 1.50 1.70 


The weather at this station since February 2oth, when the above report closed, 
has been much warmer, and yet there have been but three cays when the freez- 
ing temperature was not reached. ‘The rainfall has been light but the first de- 
cade was very muddy, owing to previous rains and depth of frost. 

On the north side of a building, twenty feet distant, there was frost in the 
ground as late as March 2oth. There has been no weather thus far to favor the 
premature putting forth of fruit buds, and altogether the season is much more 
backward than usual. In addition to the usual report by decades the following 
items are given: 

Highest temperature, 74°, on March 14th. Lowest temperature, 9°, on 
March roth. 


AN OLD MAP. 731 


- Highest pressure, 29.730. reduced 30.654, on March 3d. Lowest pressure, 
28660, reduced 29.608, on March 18th. 
Greatest velocity of wind, 60 miles, on March 13th. 
The usual summary by decades is given below: 


Feb. 20th Mar. Ist Mar; toth Mean 
TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR. to 28th. to Toth. to 20th, 
MIN. AND MAX. AVERAGES. 
Witiateprgmiriy.) \obessea es: SS site : 24.4 25.0 24.2 24.5 
Mase 5 i Baad ies a teithes 48.9 55:7 58.5 54 4 
Min, and Max eyes oe ays Bye 40.1 41.9 Bor, 
IRAs oo 086 6 Seite 24.4 28.6 31.4 23.1 
TRI-DAILY OBSERVATIONS. 
MUNA societies. eae ce Maa 28.8 32.4 Bee Ai 
2) (Os (0 et ee Oana ee 47.0 51.8 52.1 50.3 
@) [Os LDS) nel tree are eee eae a ae 36.9 38.4 38.1 - 37-8 
Mean . Br serene 37.4 41.5 41.6 40.2 
RELATIVE Houmipriy. 
MARDI eee riba Netven ters ath Lael Aree, fares o. 8 
2p. m. 
9 p. m. 
Mean . 
PRESSURE AS OBSERVED. . 
Of Bley. TONE, eye gl erie ght ey arte en oma as 20.27 20.27 29.09 29.21 
MP RMM eS estas Me cui are ati) Prat 29.26 29.25 29.06 29.19 
©) (De, TCA Ae i eaetinepe rer oa eae 29.24 29.05 290.17 29.15 
Mean... : : 29.26 29 24 29.08 29.18 
MILES PER Hour. OF Winn. 
MAEM) ts Sachs 9.2 II.o 14.6 11 5 
2 p.m Pts sooscce ieee 16.1 20.0 22.8 19 6 
CDs iG be Reeth aa te II.0 12.5 15.4 1320; 
iotalsmilless =) = - Bape ciety ve 2560 3906 4035 IO5OI 
CLOUDING BY TENTHS. 
7 a.m, Pai ee tae ae 5-9 4.8 5.7 5.1 
2 Do Ts 5 Sores cee 4.0 4.8 1.5 3.4 
9pm 5 Se Uae 3.5 4.6 27) 2.0 
RAIN. ; 
Iinichie<sieatae Mea ee 1.40 0.75 of 2.16 
UnCISUAs OL OGCNG 


AN OLD MAP. 


Wm. J. Florence, the actor, has sent to this office from Middletown, Conn., a 
little pocket-map of Missouri in 1829, which is a curiosity. The leather cover is. 
three inches by two, and the map inside is ten by twelve inches. There are 
twenty-eight counties in the State—St. Louis, Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, 
Ste. Genevieve, St. Francis, Perry, Madison, Cape Girardeau, Scott, New Mad- 
rid, Gasconade, Cole, Wayne, Cooper, Saline and Lillard south of the Missouri 


732 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


River, and St. Charles, Lincoln, Montgomery, Pike, Callaway, Ralls, Boone, 
Howard, Chariton, Ray and Clay north of it. 

Wayne is the largest County in the State, Gasconade next, and these two 
counties embrace two-thirds the area south of the river. Lillard is the only 
County whose name does not survive in the existing county nomenclature. It 
_ embraced area bounded by the Missouri on the north, the Osage on the south, 
the western border on the west and Saline County on the east, now one of the 
finest districts in the State. The western border runs in a straight line north and 
south across the Missouri River at the point where Kansas City now stands. 
The ‘‘'Platte purchase,” embracing the rich and productive region included be- 
tween this old border and the Missouri to the Iowa line, had not then been added 
to the State. This map was published by A. Finley, northeast corner Chestnut 
and Fourth Sts., Philadelphia, in 1829, and the copy sent to us was picked up by 
Mr. Florence in Middletown, Conn.—S?. Louis Republican. 


THE DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 


The Academy of Natural Sciences had last evening, March sth, an unusual- 
ly large and interesting meeting. 

The Publication Committee reported the completion of the printing of the 
third part of Volume III of the ‘‘ Academy Proceedings,” and the reception of 
the engravings; the volume being now ready for binding, which will be done 
without delay. 

The Librarian, Miss Dr. McCowan, reported the addition to the library dur- 
ing the month of thirty-two bound volumes, forty-one pamphlets, thirty-nine cir- 
culars and bulletins, thirty-three daily and weekly papers—total, 145; exclusive 
of the city papers. . 

The Curator presented for inspection a coliection of thirtéen of the ‘‘ curved- 
base ’’ mound-builders’ pipes just received from that indefatigable explorer and 
collector, Rev. J. Gass. These pipes were collected the past year from the 
mounds in Muscatine, Rock Island and Mercer Counties, by Mr. Gass, his broth- 
er and some neighbors, and he has recently acquired full possession of them for 
the benefit of the Academy, with a full description of the mounds, their structure, 
eteymerc: 

One of these pipes is a finely carved stag’s head, representing the antlers 
bent around the bowl and carved in relief; another is an eagle, perched, and 
holding some small animal in its claws, and two others are neatly carved birds. 
These four are of ash-colored pipe-stoner Another is a finely sculptured black 
bear and is very appropriately cut in a smooth fine-grained black stone. The 
sixth is supposed to represent a fox with the face turned backward, carved in a 
beautiful bright red catlinite; the seventh, a non-descriptive animal is also cut in 
red catlinite, very much spotted. 


BOOK NOTICES. 739 


Two of plain form, all composed of plain red catlinite, The other four are 
made of a light brown stone, rather small and of the simplest form. 

There is also an ‘‘axe” of the exact usual form of the plano-convex copper 
‘¢axes” so-called, which is also made of the catlinite, or red pipestone, and a 
small charm of the same material. 

This constitutes a very important addition to this already unequaled collec- 
tion of the relics of the mound-builders and bringing the collection of pipes of 
this typical form up to the number of fifty-six, including several unfinished speci- 
mens, and by far the largest collection of its kind in the world. 

Mr. Gass presents these in the name of his little son, and a committee was 
appointed to draft and present to him resolutions expressive of the heartfelt thanks 
of the Academy and their high appreciation of his noble, disinterested and self- 
sacrificing labors for the building up of this magnificent collection of the relics of 
the remote past of our immediate locality. 

It was voted that the Curator, Mr. W. H. Pratt, be requested to prepare a 
paper on the mound-builders’ pipes for the meeting of the American Association 
for the Advancement of Science, to be held in August at Minneapolis. 


ER ARS 


BOOM, NORIC as. 


History oF THE NEGRO Race IN America. By George W. Williams. In two 
volumes, octavo, Vol. II.; 1800 to 1880; pp. 611. G. P. Putnams’ Sons, 
New York. For sale by M. H. Dickinson, Kansas City, $3.50. 

To those persons who doubt the ability of the colored man to accomplish ex- 
cellent literary work we commend these volumes of Mr. Williams. He has devot- 
ed seven years to their preparation and has produced the best account, in many 
respects, of the negro race on this continent, of any author who has essayed the 
task. The arrangement of the various branches of the subject, the selection of _ 
the matter, the style of the composition, are all characteristic of education and 
taste of a high order. Historical work is by no means easily managed so as to 
convey the facts in an attractive manner, but Mr. Williams has succeeded ad- 
mirably in maintaining the interest from beginning to ending and at the same 
time in keeping all the important points in the foreground. 

The first volume covers the period from 1619 to 1800, but the second relates 
to that portion of the history of the race which is by far the most interesting to 
the reader and important to the negro himself, viz.: from 1800 to the present 
time, including the fierce political struggle for the restriction or extension of slav- 
ery ; the anti-slavery agitation movement; the national legislation upon the sub- 
ject ; the John Brown invasion of southern territory; the war for the Union; the 


734 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


valorous conduct of the colored troops; the emancipation proclamation; the re- 
construction measures; the results of emancipation, etc., etc. All this is told in 
earnest, faithful, truthful, forceful language which carries conviction with it and 
gives to the reader a full conception of what the nation has gained by the late 
war aside from the restoration and perpetuation of the Union. 

Despite a few inaccuracies of minor importance and some inelegancies of ex- 
pression, this book will remain a monument to the author’s laborious study and 
marked ability as a writer, while to future students it will be a text-book, full, 
reliable and accurate. The publishers have put it forth in very handsome and 
durable shape, as it deserves. 


ANNUAL REPORT OF THE CHIEF SIGNAL OFfFicerR, U. S. A., for the year end- 
ing June 30, 1881. Washington; Government Printing Office, 1882. Oc- 
tavo, pp. 1296. 

This very bulky, and inconvenient to-handle, volume contains a vast amount 
of information, much of which has been already published in the ‘‘ Monthly 
Weather Review,’ and much that will be new to most readers. For instance, 
few, we presume, are aware of the extent of the diffusion of weather forecasts, 
warnings of anticipated frosts, floods and storms, or of the great practical bene- 
fits derived from them by the agricultural, commercial and other industrial inter- 
ests of the country. Most people are aware that storm signals are shown at prin- 
cipal sea and lakeports for the benefit of shipping interests. Some may know 
that bulletins for the benefit of farmers are distributed by telegraph and mail, but 
very few comprehend how widely the system extends and how highly tobacco 
and cotton growers prize these warnings received. It will doubtless be a surprise 
to many to learn that in 1881 six thousand six hundred and seventy-two Farmers’ 
Bulletins were distributed daily, being telegraphed at 1 A. M. to centers of dis- 
tribution in various postions of the United States and there printed and made 
ready for mailing by the first trains to all points within six hours reach. The 


Railway Builetins, sent by codperation of the various railways of the country with 


the Signal Office, also cover an immense field and are of the greatest service, not 
only to the railroad companies themselves in enabling them to prepare for storms, 
but also to the people along their lines. Ninety-three companies, represented by 
2937 telegraphic stations, are volunteering and gratuitously assisting in this serv- 
ice. Boards of Trade, Chambers of Commerce and other commercial organiza- 
tions throughout the country take an active interest in assisting in procuring and 
disseminating these daily reports. The planters in the cotton region have de- 


manded and received similar bulletins from a large number of stations all through. 


the belt; the prominent newspapers of the larger cities have found it beneficial to 
their readers to publish the daily meteorological charts and data; the river men 
have been furnished warnings regarding freshets, ice-gorges, etc.; the cultivators 
of sugar-cane (as well as those of cotton and tobacco) have received frost warn- 
ings which have enabled them to guard against injury to their crops. The orange 


BOOK NOTICES. 735 


interests of Florida and the fruit interests in other sections have also been largely 
benefited by these warnings. The correctness of these warnings and storm pre- 
dictions have been carefully verified by observations and found to agree very 
closely with the actual results, the percentage of accuracy running as high as 95 
on the average. 

There is no question of the value and importance of the Signal Service work 
to the country at large, and the number of persons consulting the charts and 
tables in our post-offices, daily, shows the confidence placed in the observations 
and predictions by the public generally. 


THE Buritpers’ Guipe. By Fred. T. Hodgson; 12mo. pp. 326; New York. 

The Industrial Publication Society, 1882. $1.00. 

This work is chiefly intended as an aid to the builder and contractor in mak- 
ing estimates of the cost of work they may be competing for. The author is edi- 
tor of the Buzlder and Woodworker and is fully competent to offer advice and in- 
formation on all branches of the builder’s business. In addition to the ordinary 
rules for estimating found in such books, he has given prices of material, labor, 
tools, ete , which, if not applicable at all localities, will serve as a general guide 
at least to proportional values and enable the mechanic to avoid the reckless guess- 
ing which so often appears in their bids. 

' Many pages are devoted to valuable tables and memoranda of a useful char- 
acter compiled from the standard works of Nicholson, Barlowe, Rankine, Trau- 
twine and other well known authors, also to various rules and recipes that must 
prove of service to builders and all others interested in the construction, repairs or 
decoration of buildings. A very concise summary of the Mechanic’s Lien laws of 
most of the States of the Union is given which adds largely to the value of the 
work to laboring men and those supplying materials. Nearly sixty pages are de- 
voted to a glossary of architectural terms, and the whole is concluded with a care- 
ful index. Apparently it is just the book needed by estimators, contractors and 
mechanics. 


REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE U, S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, 1881. Quarto, 

pp. 588. U S. Printing Office, Washington, 1882. 

This is the Second Annual Report of the Survey and is made by Major J. 
W. Powell, the capable successor of Mr. Clarence King, who resigned March 11, 
1881. It comprises a general account of the work done, with the administrative 
reports of the several assistants and several valuable accompanying papers, such 
as The Physical Geology of the Grand Cafion District, by Captain C. E. Dutton; 
Contributions to the History of Lake Bonneville, by G. K. Gilbert; Abstract of 
Report on. Geology and Mining Industry of Leadville, by S. F. Emmons; A Sum- 
mary of the Geology of the Comstock Lode and the Washoe District, by Geo. F. 
Becker ; Production of the Precious Metals in the United States, by Clarence 


736 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


King; A New Method of Measuring Heights by Means of the Barometer, by G. 
K. Gilbert. List of illustrations. 

The volume is admirably printed and, as can beseen by the above statement 
of its contents, it is an exceedingly valuable work. The expenses of the Survey 
for the year were $156,000. 


es = a 


GEOMETRY AND FairH. Thomas Hill, D. D.; 12mo., pp. 124. Lee & Shepard, 

Boston, 1862. “$1.25: 

The Rev. Dr. Thomas Hill, who was at one time President of Harvard Col- 
lege and who was regarded by the late Professor Peirce as one of the finest 
mathematicians of this country, has again rewritten and sent forth his little work 
with the above title. It was first published in 1852 as a supplement to Charles 
Babbage’s ‘‘ Ninth Bridgewater Treatise,” and with the same object in view, i. e. 
to refute the idea that ardent devotion to mathematic studies is unfavorable to 
faith, and also to indicate the aid which the evidences of Christianity may receive 
from such studies. It is admirably adapted to such a purpose, inasmuch as it 
combines precise mathematical statements with the imagination of the poet, the 
eloquence of the orator and the learning of the sage. Very few can read the sey- 
eral chapters of the work and fail to be convinced that there are ‘‘ proofs of a 
divine intelligence behind and beneath the order of nature, manifest alike in the 
grandest and minutest forms, alike in the most abstract and the most concrete 
laws of the universe.”” He applies the strictest mathematical tests to the proces- 
ses and results of nature, and shows beyond question therule of law as formulated 
and operated by a prime originator and Creator. It is just such a work asa lover 
of the higher mathematics would be attracted by, and at the same time it is ex- 
tremely fascinating to any reader. 

Doctor Hill is also an eminent Hebrew scholar and has devoted some of his 
leisure hours to the translation of the Old Testament scriptures and the books of 
Apochrypha. He has now in hand a translation of Ecclesiasticus, which he re- 
gards as ‘‘a grand old book, fully worthy (as far as I can see) to take its place 
by the side of the Proverbs.” 


OTHER PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED. 


Missouri Historical Society, annual address of the President, Geo. E. Leigh- 
ton, January 16, 1883. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of 
Philadelphia, Part III, October to December, 1882. Capital and Labor, Henry 
McKinney, Great Bend, Penn., roc. Discussions in Current Science, by W. 
Mattieu Williams, Humboldt Library, No. 41,15c. Bromide of Ethyl, by Julian 
J. Chisolm, M. D. Cambridge Entomological Club, Annual Report for 1882. 
The Researches of Colorado, 1881 and 1882, J. Alden Smith, State Geologist, 
pp. 160, 35c. Annual Report of the Board of Health of Kansas City for the 


THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE CRAZE. 737 


the year 1882, by John Fee, City Physician. Zhe Mew Jdea, weekly, Frank H. 
Fenno, Altay, N. Y., $1.00 per year. The Eclectic Magazine, February, 1883, 
monthly, E. R. Pelton, Publisher, $5.00 per annum. The British Quarterly 
- Review, the Leonard Scott Publishing Co., N. Y., $2.50 per annum. ‘The His- 
tory of the Science of Politics, by Fred Pollock, Humboldt Library, No. 42, 15¢. 
On Some Enclosures in Muscovite, by H. Carvill Lewis. 


SCS IN We We MSC JLAIN 


THE BACON-SHAKESPEARE CRAZE. 
RICHARD GRANT WHITE. 


And now we are face to face with what is, after all, the great inherent ab- 
surdity (as distinguished from evidence and external conditions) of this fantasti- 
cal notion,—the unlikeness of Bacon’s mind and of his style to those of the writ- 
er of the plays. Among all the men of that brilliant period who stand forth in 
the blaze of its light with sufficient distinction for us, at this time, to know any- 
thing of them, no two were so elementally unlike in their mental and moral 
traits and in their literary habits as Francis Bacon and William Shakespeare ; and 
each of them stamped his individuality unmistakably upon his work. Both were 
thinkers of the highest order; both, what we somewhat loosely call philosophers : 
but how different their philosophy, how divergent their ways of thought, and 
how notably unlike their modes of expression! 

Bacon, a cautious observer and investigator, ever looking at men and things 
through the dry light of cool reason; Shakespeare, glowing with instant inspira- 
tion, seeing by intuition the thing before him, outside and inside, body and spirit, 
as it was, yet moulding it as it was to his immediate need,—finding in it merely 
an occasion of present thought, and regardless of it, except as a stimulus to his 
fancy and his imagination: Bacon, a logician; Shakespeare, one who set logic at 
naught and soared upon wings, compared with which syllogisms are crutches: 
Bacon, who sought, in the phrase of Saul of Tarsus,—that Shakespeare of Chris- 
tianity,—to prove all things, and to hold fast that which is good; Shakespeare, 
one who like Saul, loosed upon the world winged phrases, but who recked not 
his own rede, proved nothing, and held fast both to good and evil, delighting in 
his Falstaff as much as he delighted in his Imogen: Bacon, in his writing, the 
most self-asserting of men; Shakespeare, one who, when he wrote, did not seem 
to have a self: Bacon, the most cautious and painstaking, the most consistent 
and exact, of writers ; Shakespeare, the most heedless, the most inconsistent, the 
most inexact, of all writers who have risen to fame: Bacon, sweet sometimes, 
sound always, but dry, stiff, and formal; Shakespeare, unsavory sometimes, but 


738 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE, 


oftenest breathing perfume from Paradise, grand, large, free, flowing, flexible, 
unconscious, and incapable of formality: Bacon, precise and reserved in expres- 
sion; Shakespeare, a player and quibbler with words, and swept away by his 
own verbal conceits into intellectual paradox, and almost into moral obliquity :* 
Bacon, without humor; Shakespeare’s smiling lips the mouthpiece of humor for 
all human kind: Bacon, looking at the world before him and at the teaching of 
past ages with a single eye to his theories and his individual purposes: Shakes- 
peare, finding in the wisdom and the folly, the woes and the pleasures of the 
past and the present only the means of giving pleasure to others and getting 
money for himself, and rising to his height as a poet and a moral teacher only by 
his sensitive intellectual sympathy with all the needs and joys and sorrows of hu- 
manity: Bacon, shrinking from a generalization even in morals: Shakespeare. 
ever moralizing, and dealing even with individual men and particular things in 
their general relations: both worldly-wise, both men of the world, and both these 
master intellects of the Christian era were worldly-minded men in the thorough 
Bunyan sense of the term: but the one using his knowledge of men and things 
critically in philosophy and in affairs: the other, his synthetically, as a creative 
artist: Bacon, a highly trained mind, and showing his training at every step of 
his cautious, steady march: Shakespeare wholly untrained, and showing his want 
of training even in the highest reach of his soaring flight : Bacon, utterly without the 
poetic faculty even in a secondary degree, as is most apparent when he desires to 
show the contrary: Shakespeare, rising with unconscious effort to the highest 
heaven of poetry ever reached by the human mind. To suppose that one of 
these men did his own work and also the work of the other is to assume two mir- 
acles for the sake of proving one absurdity.—Adantic Monthly for April. 


THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF MAY 6TH. 


A total eclipse, of the Sun occurs on the 6th of May. The Sun and Moon, 
the chief actors in the grand display, regardless of the convenience of terrestrial 
observers, have located the scene of operations in the Southern Pacific Ocean. 
The line of totality sweeps over a vast extent of watery waste, including in its 
passage only two small islands, where the eclipse can be seen to advantage. 
These two islands are Caroline Island and Flint Island. The former is about ten 
miles in circumference, and is inhabited by thirty natives of the Malay race and 
one white man. ‘The latter is five or six miles in circumference, and is, we be- 
lieve, uninhabited. Both islands are out of the beaten track of those who go 
down to the sea in ships. But small as the islands are, and difficult as they are 
to reach, the wise men who wish to study the eclipse, and all others who desire 
to witness the most glorious celestial phenomenon that ever takes place, will have 
to congregate on these two little islands. Thousands of miles of ocean must be 
traversed, and all manner of privations and hardships must be endured, in order 
to behold the awe-inspiring spectacle. But never yet in the history of the human 


THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF MAY 67TH. 739 


race have any difficulties in the way prevented zealous men of science from at- 
tempting to fathom the mysteries that enshroud our celestial neighbors. 

Two French expeditions are being equipped, one to observe the eclipse at 
Caroline Island and the other at Flint Island. The British nation will not allow 
their neighbors across the channel to outdo them in scientific research, and will, 
doubtless, send an observing party to Caroline Island. The Americans are now 
strongly agitating the question of sending some of the best astronomers to the 
same fortunate island, and there is little doubt that the means will be forthcom- 
ing. Amateur astronomers are debating the question of joining the expedition, 
and the prospect is that when the 6th of May dawns a colony of scientists, from 

many quarters of the globe, will be assembled in this lone land of the Pacific to 
find out what secrets they can discover while the face of his majesty, the Sun, is 
veiled from mortal view. 

The eclipse of May next is especially favorable for observation on account of 
the long duration of totality, which will amount in some localities to nearly six 
minutes. The longest time that a total solar eclipse can last is not quite seven min- 
utes. The eclipse observed last year in Egypt lasted only seventy-two seconds, 
and it is a rare event for an eclipse to last nearly six minutes, as will be the case 
with the coming eclipse. Caroline Island is situated in 73° 20’ W. longitude 
from Washington, and 9° 40’ S. latitude. The duration of totality there will be 
five minutes and twenty seconds. Flint Island is situated in 73° 40’ W. Longi- 
tude from Washington, and in 11° 30’ S. latitude. The duration of totality there 
will be.five minutes and thirty-three seconds. ‘ 

The approaching eclipse is therefore a very important one, on account of 
the unusually long continuance of the total phase; for the law is, the longer the 
totality the more favorable are the conditions for observation. Astronomers will 
do their best to increase their stock of knowledge on three important points, two 
of which are connected with the surroundings of the Sun, never revealed except 
on the rare occasions of a total solar eclipse. They hope in the first place to add 
something to what has already been learned during previous eclipses concerning 
the corona, especially in regard to the immense appendages which branch out 
from the corona in all directions ; to find out whether they are dependencies of the 
coronal atmosphere, or whether they are swarms of meteors circulating around 
the Sun. In the second place, they will make a study of the zodiacal light and 
its relation to the Sun’s surroundings In the third place, they will carefully 
search for the small intra-Mercurial planets that probably circulate in the imme- 
diate neighborhood of the Sun, and which can only be seen when making a 
transit over his disk or during a total solar eclipse. The spectroscopist, the pho- 
tographer, and the observers with the naked eye will do their allotted parts in 
the difficult and delicate work. ‘The tropical locality of the places of observation 
is favorable for clear weather on the momentous occasion, and there is reason to 
hope that discoveries will be made and observations confirmed that will render 
ilustrious the astronomical annals of 1883.— Providence Journal. 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


OU Ov WAIL INO INES: 


THE present number concludes the sixth 
volume of the REVIEW, and again we tender 
our thanks to our subscribers for their sup- 
port and their frequently expressed apprecia- 
tion of our efforts to instruct and enter‘ain 
them. We are also indebted to our contrib- 
utors for their unremunerated assistance in 
maintaining the character of the REVIEW for 
originality and ability. We haveat all times 
endeavored to give prominence to Western 
discoveries, inventions and theories, and up- 
on looking over the back numbers we are 
quite surprised at the extent and value of 
this kind of matter we have secured and giv- 
en to the public. Not less than 1,200 pages 
have been written by Missouri contributors 
and devoted to the material interests of this 
State ; nearly 1,000 by Kansas writers upon 
subjects connected with the advancement of 
the scientific and commercial interests of that 
State and nearly 500 by scientists of Colora- 
do upon her mining and metallurgical inter- 
ests. Allof the other Western States have 
been represented by original articles upon 
industrial or other important practical sub- 
jects, while the Central and even the Eastern 
States have been frequently heard from 
through their best thinkers and writers. 

The REVIEW has succeeded in gaining a 
standing among the standard periodicals of 
the country, which is highly creditable both 
to the community whence its principal sup- 
port comes and to the character of the arti- 
cles published. 

It is, however, again necessary and proper 
to call the attention of the friends of popular 
science and education to the fact that the 
REVIEW is not even yet upon a self supporting 
basis, and to ask their aid in establishing it 
on so firm a footing that the tax upon its 
editor and publisher will only fall upon his 
time and energies, and not upon his pocket 
also, as heretofore. The magazine is one of 
the recognized factors in the general advanc- 


ment of this region and consequently deserves 
the support of all classes of citizens. 


THE Kansas City Academy of Science has 
given its regular monthly entertainments 
during the past winter, which have in most 
cases been fairly attended. The lecture by 
Rev. Doctor C, L. Thompson upon ‘ The 
Science of Religion”? was repeated by re- 
quest on the last Tuesday of February 
and was enthusiastically received. That of 
Professor George Halley, M. D., upon “ Pris- 
ons and Prisoners,’’ owing to the threatening 
weather and the multiplicity of other enter- 
tainments on last Tuesday, was postponed un- 
til a more favorable occasion. The writer 
hereof has had the privilege of hearing a 
great portion of it read and can testify to its’ 
originality and worth. There will be two 


Ly) 


more meetings this spring—the last Tuesdays 
of April and May respectively. The latter 
named evening is the occasion of the Eighth 
Anniversary of the Academy, when an ad- 
dress by the President upon the progress of 
Science may be expected. 


Pror. F. F. HILpER, of St. Louis, recent- 
ly delivered a lecture before the Davenport 
(lowa) Academy of Sciences upon ‘‘ The Art 
Wonders of Ancient Egypt.” As Professor 
Hilder spent several years as a civil engineer 
and interpreter in the service of the Egyp- 
tian Government, his opportunities for acquir- 
ing intimate knowledge of his subject were 
exceptionally good and the lecture was large- 
ly attended. 


THE mistake of 1000 years in our state- 
ment of Wiggins’ prophecy in the March 
REVIEW, though made without collusion 
with him, will probably, in view of the results 
March gth to 11th, be regarded by him as a 
saving clause, and will be adopted as the 
true text by his adherents, 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 


IT is probable that Prof. W. I. Marshall, 
who delivered an illustrated lecture at the 
Opera House upon ‘‘ The National Park and 
its Great Geysers,”’ under the auspices of the 
Kansas City Academy of Sciences three years 
ago, will be induced to visit the city in May 
and give a series of entertainments illustrated 
by stereopticon views of the wonders of 
the Pacific Coast. Ifthe Academy succeeds 
in this our citizens can prepare for a rich 
treat. 


Mr. T. CUMMINGS, in the Sczentefic Amerz- 
can claims to have discovered that the Egyp- 
tian obelisk in Central Park is not granite, 
as has been supposed, but simply a concrete 
composed of crushed granite, asphalt and 
hydraulic lime (not cement). He gives the 
Egyptians great credit for knowing how to 
make first-class concrete, but offers to dupli- 
cate the obelisk in the same material for 
$15,000. If history is correct as to the age 
of thisjob, Mr. Cummings would have to em- 
ploy a longer lived insurance company than 
ordinary to furnish a satisfactory guaranty ot 
the durability of this duplicate. 

THE transportation car of U.S. Fish Com- 
mission, in charge of Mr. Moore, remained 
here a few days last week, affording quite a 
number of our citizens an opportunity to in- 
spect it and the manner of handling the 
young fish. It has been discovered by ex- 
perience that if the water containing them is 
kept at about 40° it is not necessary to change 
it more than twice a week, even when there 
are twenty or thirty fishes to the gallon. 


A coal mine has been discovered in the 
vicinity of Gentryville, Mo., and a company 
is being organized to develop it. The vein 
is about three feet thick, and the coal is said 


to be of good quality. 


A slight shock of earthquake was felt all 
along the Pacific coast east and south of San 
Francisco, on the 30th of March. At Wat- 
sonville nine shocks were felt, and at Hol- 
lister plate-glass windows were broken and 
brick walls cracked. 


Mr. KEELY, the inventor of the motor 
which he claims will revolutionize all motive 
power, proposes to make a trial trip on the 
4th of July. The apparatus will have a ca- 
pacity of 500-horse power. The parts of the 
engine are massive, and are composed of 


‘Austrian gun metal and the hardest of hard- 


ened steel. 


THE fourth centennial anniversary of the 
birth of Raphael was celebrated at Rome, 
March 18th, with great pomp. A bronze 
bust of the great artist was unveiled at his 
tomb, 


Dr. Lewis Swirt, Director of the Warner 
Observatory, received from Minister 
Morton at Paris 540 frances, the Lalande 
prize of the Paris Academy of Science award- 
ed each year to the astronomer most distin- 
guished during the year. ) 


has 


The prize also in- 
cludes a silver medal of the Institute of Paris, 
of which Dr. Swift becomes an honorary 
member. 


THE Annual Reports of the City Comptrol- 
ler, City Engineer and City Physician are the 
fullest, most complete and most satisfactory 
of any ever made by similar officers in the 
history of this city. We shall take occasion 
to quote from the last named in our next. 


SENATOR BrYANT’s bill appropriating 
$100,000 for enlarging and repairing the 
State University of Missouri passed the Sen- 
ate on March 23d, and has since been ap- 
proved by the Governor. 


A new test for gold leaf was accidentally 
discovered at the Farrell Venetian Art Glass 
Manufacturing Company’s worksin Brooklyn. 
By the Farrell process the leaf is placed on 
the incandescent glass, which is then blown. 
The expansion splits the leaf iato beautiful 
and fantastic forms, and the object is then 
fired, covering the glass with the vitreous 
material. In using a guaranteed 999 quality 
of gold leaf the workmen found that the ex- 
pansion separated the gold from a copper al- 
loy, and the object was ornamented with gold 


742 


and handsome green, the latter color being 
due to the oxidation of the copper. 


THE U. S. Signal Officer, at St. Louis, pre- 
dicts that the current of the Mississippi Riv- 
er will cut its way into the Atchafalaya Ra- 


you within a year or two and make that the 


main channel from the mouth of the Red 
River to the Gulf. This will shorten the 
line to the Gulf about 200 miles, but as the 
cities along the present course and Captain 
Eads will decidedly object to the change, it is 
likely that such steps as we suggested last 
season will be adopted to prevent the change 
and at the same time allow of the overflow in 
very high water from the Mis issippi through 
the Atchafalaya Bayou to the Gulf and thus 
save the country below the mouth of the Red 
River, 


THe National Academy of Science will 
hold its regular annual meetiug next month. 
A larger attendance than usual is anticipated, 
as the members of the Academy will be in- 
vited to participate in the ceremonies attend- 
ant upon the unveiling of the statue of the 
late Prof. Henry, for many years in charge of 
the Smithsonian Institution. The 19th of 
April has been selected as the time for the 
ceremony, and in deference to the simplicity 
that characterized the life of the deceased, the 
details of the occasion will not be elaborate, 
but will consist of an oration by President 
Noah Porter, of Yale College. The statue is 
the work of W. W. Story, whom Congress 
specially named in the law appropriating 
$15,000 for it. Besides the members of the 
National Academy, President Arthur and his 
Cabinet and committees representing Con- 
gress, as well as other distinguished persons, 
will be present. The figure is of bronze, sev- 
en feet high, and represents tte late Professor 
standing ina meditative attitude, one hand 
resting upon a support, the whole effectively 
and gracefully draped in an academic gown. 
The pedestal is of red beach granite, and the 
base and top of Quincy gray granite. The 
red granite is polished and bears upon its 
surface, in clear-cut Roman letters, the sim- 
ple inscription ‘Joseph Henry.” 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 


ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS. 
Subscrébers to the REVIEW can be furnished 
through this office with all the best magazines of 
the Country and Europe, at a discount of from 
15 to 20 per cent off the retadl price. 


WE have received Harper's Monthly for 
April, also the latest numbers of the Weekly 
and the azar, Without entering into de- 
tails, we cannot avoid calling attention to the 
constant improvements being made in each 
of these periodicals, not only in literary mat- 
ter but in engravings, printing and general 
style. The editors of these magazines seem 
to have no idea of ceasing their progressive 
efforts, though the public have regarded 
them as nearly perfect for a long time. 


We learn fromm ‘‘Notes and News” in 
Sczence of March 16th, that the American 
Archeological Institute of America, at Bos- 
ton, has about 80 life and 220 annual mem- 
bers, and besides its Reports and its papers, 
has commenced the publication of a Bulletin 
giving the full reports of its agents in Greece, 
New Mexico, Cyprus, the Troad, etc. 


THE contents of the Popular Sctence Month- 
ly for April are as follows: Nature and 
Limits of the Science of Politics, by | rofessor 
Sheldon Amos, LL.D. The Economic Func- 
tion of Vice, by John McElroy. Progress of 
the Backboned Family, by A. B. Buckley, 
(Illustrated). Curiosities of Superstition, III, 
by Felix L. Oswald M. D. Perceptional In- 
sanities, by Dr. W. A. Hammond. Dwarfs 
and Giants, by M. Delbceuf. The Census 
and the Forests, by N. H. Egleston. Origin 
of the Donkey, by C. A. Pietrement. Spec- 
ulations on the Nature of Matter, by Henry 
H, Bates, M. A. The Legal Status of Serv- 
ant Girls, by Oliver E. Lyman. The New 
York Geological Survey, by James Hall, sli 
D. The Origin of the Calendar and Astrolo- 
gy, by Professor W. Foester. Sketch of In- 
crease Allen Lapham, LL. D., (With Por- 
trait); Correspondence; Editor’s Table; Lit- 
erary Notices; Popular Mis:ellany; Notes. 


EDITORIAL NOTES. 


THE Art Interchange, published by Will- 
iam Whitlock and edited by Arthur B. Tur- 
nure at 140 Nassau Street, New York, is an 
admirably conducted periodical. In the 
number for March 15th we find several most 
beautiful designs for the use of amateur and 
art students. Eleven columns are devoted 
_ to Notes and Queries upon art topics. Among 
the subjects considered are—Plaster Casts, 
Dacca Silk, Easter Church Trimming, Spray 
Work, Drawn Work, Decoration for Fire- 
place, Oil Colors for Grapes, Mirror Silver- 
ing, Decorations for four sets of Scrym Cur- 
tains, Inlaid floors, Text Book on Composi- 
tion, Painting on Silk and Satin. 

All subscribers to the A7vt Interchange are 
entitled to the privilege of asking advice on 
topics connected with art, literature, and 
etiquette. $2.00 per annum. 


THE April Adlantec opens with the first in- 
stallment of the dramatization of Henry 
James’s Daisy Miller, with new characters 
and scenes. This is followed by Pillow- 
Smoothing Authors, an essay by Dr. Holmes, 
who furnishes a prelude on Night-Caps, and 
comments on an old writer, namely, Burton, 
from whom he makes copious extracts. 
Charles Dudley Warner contributes a re- 
markably excellent article on Modern Fic- 
tion. Miss Sarah Orne Jewett has a delight- 
fully characteristic New England story en- 
titled A New Parishioner. Richard Grant 
White contributes an article on the Bacon- 
Shakespeare Craze. Bradford Torrey, writes 
for this number an interesting article on 
Bird-Songs. Elizabeth Kobins writes of 
Stage Buffoons in different countries and 
times. There are poems by Mr. Aldrich, 
-Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, and others, to- 
gether with reviews of important recent 
books, and the usual variety of the Contribu- 
tors’ Club. 


In the Worth American Review for April, 
the scriptural and legal aspects of Divorce 
are presented respectively by the Rev. Dr. 
Theodore D. Woolsey, well known for his 
insistance on the indissolubility of the mar- 
riage tie, and by Judge John A. Jameson, a 


743 


jurist whose long experience with divorce 
cases in Chicago, both on the judicial bench 
and at the bar, lends to his observations a 
very special value. Dr. P. Bender, under the 
title A Canadian View of Annexation, makes 
a forcible presentation of the reasons which 
incline many citizens of the Dominion to 
favor the idea of absorption by the United 
States. Senator John A. Logan sets forth 
the need which exists for National Aid to 
Public Schools in the several States and Ter- 
ritories. The Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby 
writes of The Dangerous Classes that men- 
ace the perpetuity of civil order and the 
peace of the community, meaning the manip- 
ulators of corporation stocks and the men 


who, having amassed enormous wealth, use 


it for nefarious purposes. James C. Welling, 
President of Columbian University, treats of 
Race Education, the problem that confronts 
the philosophic statesman, of the presence 
in our body politic of a strong Negro contin- 
gent, The Water Supply of Cities is discuss- 
ed by Charles F. Wingate; Ethic Systems, 
by Prof. F. H. Hedge; Street Begging, by 
Rey. Dr. Charles F. Deems, and Criticism 
Christianity, by O. B. Frothingham. Pub- 
lished at 30 Lafayette Place, New York, and 
for sale by booksellers generally. 


‘ 


WE are indebted to Prof. C. V. Riley, the 
U.S. Entomologist, for a copy of Vol. I of 
the Proceedings of the Biological Society of 
Washington, containing an account of the 
Darwin Memorial Meeting, May 12, 1882, 
with the addresses delivered on the occasion. 


Harpers Weekly for March 31st contains an 
illustrated account of the lacustrine village of 
St. Malo, at the foot of Lake Borgne, which 
for fifty years has been occupiea by certain 
Malay fishermen from the Phillipine Islands. 
The description of the manners and customs 
of this strange settlement, in which there are 
no womeu, is very interesting. Except for 
the possession of modern firearms and one an- 
tiquated clock, the life of the lake dwellers of 
St. Malo would seem to be about on a paral- 
lel with that of the Swiss lacustrine settle- 
ments of the Bronze epoch. 


eD Coa 


THE BOOT & SHOE MERCHANT 
of this City, sole Agent of the Celebrated 


boots 


& GENTLEMEN’S WEAR. 


Burt's Shoes and 


—FOR— 
LADIES’ 


I also have a large stock of other leading manufacturers on hand, to select from, at the lowest cash 


prices. > Please call and examine. 


532 Main, Street - 


Kansas City. 


THE DIAMOND DRUG STORE. 


A large 
assortment of Fine 
Toilet Goods, Perfumery, Toilet 
Soaps, Sponges, Etc. Trusses, and Supporters, 
‘Homeopathic Medicines and Spe- 
cifics constantly on 
hand. 


HOLMAN & FRENCH 


Proprietors. 


Have the 
most complete ‘stock 
Drugs, Medicines Chemicals, 

Etc., to be found in the city. Prescriptions 
compounded only from purest med- 
icines, and by competent 
persons. 


Cor. 9th & Main Sfs., 


Kansas City. fio- 


free 


JAMES REDHEFFER,. 


Well known Dealer in STOVES and 
House-Furnishing Goods of All Kinds, 
assures the Readers of the REVIEW that 
the 


ARGAND 


Hard Coal Base-Burner 


Is the Best HEATING STOVE in this 
Market. 

It is also the best looking and Cheap- 
est Stove. 


CALL AND SEE IT! 


RED FRONT STORE, 
518 MAIN STREET. 


AMERICAN ANI QUARIAN 
ORIENTAL JOURNAL, 


AN ILLUSTRATED QUARTERLY. 
—— $3.00 PER YEAR.—— 


Devoted to American Antiquities and the Science 
of Anthropology. 


Published by 


JAMESON & MORSE, - - Chicago, Ill. 


Edited by Stephen D. Peet. 


Eight departments represented : American 
Antiquities, Oriental and Classical Antiqui- 
ties, Biblical Antiquities, Indian Linguistics, 
Mythology and Folk Lore, Man in Geology, 
Archeology of Art and Architecture, Hiero- 
glyphics and Inscriptions. 


« x 
V4 oe C 
Vot. VI. May, 1882. No. 1. 
—™~ 
OF 
EDITED BY 
THEO. S. CASE. 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
PAGE. PAGE. 
METEOROLOGY. MINING AND METALLURGY. 
1. Meteorological Sub-Conditions.* C. A. 1. A Low-Grade Stamp Mill.* Mrs, Flora 
‘SUNG Micbroustn ot soem Monee skull proces 1 HAliCe Stevenson erd. coaee ty oN Diet 47 
2. Weather Report for April, 1882. Prof. 2. Mining Prospects in Colorado for 1882.*. . 48 
SMO Waianae lari Mae Gec aeie uAea Ne 6 3. The Product of Gold and Silver for 885 
8. The Precipitation and Average Tempera- VALS Hiern 2 Suaainccnuanecieh Mi Woke mead aig 
ture ae Sa egs Hight years at Morri- 
son, [}linois Ax Maxwell... 2°... 7 * 
4. Kansas Weather Service,* Prof. J. T. Love- BOOK NOTES: 
Relea Arachis s 8 J]. The History of the St. Louis Bridge. G. I. 
Range ARE ai fee ales ones, 6c Cots ea ice even sh cera eset EG 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 2. Birds-Nesting. Geo. A. Bates. ...... 59 
“1, Arrival of Man in NYOpe! o2c8. oP et cea 9 2 Jenn Inglesant, (a,romance).; MacMillan & 
ASTRONOMY. 4. The First Lesson in Geology. i Providence a 
“ ithognap lye Nj leiet -pisn /mlernet tee aie 
Ee eee AeA ue Eee 14 5. The Transactions of the Academy of 
2, Coincidence of Sun-Spots and Auroral Dis- 6. O Soluce St. Sees a ena 60 
plays.* Edgar L. Larkin. . eee ai . Other Publications Received... ... . 60 
BT cas ot Ae 16 a. | BOLENTIRIC MIACHLEANY: 
Ay Caometste Ral: Cartycnsan te aeeciict tv 23 1. Some Recent Improvements in the Mechan- 
5. Facts and Fancy Concerning Comets.* ic Ants, #3B. By Brocks.3 2 aye ©. yes. tases 
Profcb ssh barkimis ics eaen yen ea rata 98 pre Dio Ax tiiiclalobiltrationyaucusth ores esoicuieimecias eau 61 
6. Astronomical Notes for May.* W, W. 8. Ancient Roman Coins.* F.F. Hilder .. 62 
: AleX ANGEL! Sins sces ph sitet oteaee kets 3p 
GEOGRAPHY. EDITORIAL NOTES........... 64 
1, The Jeannette and Her Survivors.* 37 
2. West Indian Geographical Notes * E. L. t 
Berthoude twee aie aero went ne a 446 | ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS... .. 66 


*Written for the REVIEW. 


Subscription Price, $2.50 per Annum, post-paid; Single Numbers, 25 Cents. 
For Sale by the AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 39 and 41 Chambers Street, N. Y. 
y Entered at the Post ont (sent pe. « as second class matter. 


\ YF 
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gla 0 


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ti4 


EVERY LADY 


ENDING to us for goods by letter is assured of the most 
S faithful care for her wishes and interests. Many ladies do 
not know how ready we are to send them samples of goods and 
to answer questions about goods. We aim to extend our trade 
over the whole country, and such inquiries are the chief means 


by which we can become known. 


We sell everything usually found in a large Dry Goods 


House, and a great deal besides. 


We sell nearly everything on condition that it may be re- 


turned if it does not suit. 


Send for our large Illustrated Catalogue, which will inform 
you what kind of goods we keep, how some of them look and 


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KANSAS CITY, -  - =  MISSOURTL 


Vo.t. VI. 


JuNE, 1662... No. 2. 


THE 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW 


OF 


CIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 


EDITED BY 


THEO. S. CASE. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


PAGE. 
PALAZONTOLOGY. 
1. The Origin and Development of the Exist- 
ing Horses.* J.L.Wortman..... 
METEHOROLOGY. 


1. Tornado Studies for 1882.* J. P. Finley, 
IPSS ARs Hee ter oer tar arramanaats 76 
2. False Notions in Regard to the Weather.* 
Visaach ENO VES ue. hei erat cn ous lbedea tl tele 87 
3. Mescaraigedeat. 
4 


Inferences from Tree- 

GROW EU SWar ane ati ote nten hen etlao rice 

Kansas Weather Service,* Prof. J. T. Love- 

WGI Miya mteutchrensat shacks atari ees ap delist cereiaeis s 
CORRESPONDENCE. 


1. Science Letter from Paris.* F. Connor. . 94 


2, Benevolence for Science.* 


HISTORICAL NOTES. 
1. Loyola and the Early Jesuits.* a P. Lor- 


IRI ES Deen niet ac iaiiew ees Rota cpa ces ole, 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 
1. Indo-Chinese Civilization.* Translated by 
AR Eva SEOUL RNR Wg revi nots «iim hn - 102 
2. Climate of Paris in Prehistoric Time. a 
CapteholwBerthond. sores. a5 tee 104 
oe Missouri Archeology. ds tiejere settee ws 104 
MINING AND METALLURGY. 
1. The Substantial Prosperity of Colorado. . 108 
2. Analysis of Leadville Ores. ....... 10 
8. General Mining News from Colorado. . .111 


R. P. Redding .97 | 


PAGE, 
| ASTRONOMY. 
1. Astronomical Notes for May.* W, W. 
Alexa ndie rr) har sis sisi cs ase sen cane 118 
2. Living on'Mount tna. 5. 2 2. Sy) oS 114 


BOOK NOTICHES.* 


1. Handbook of Invertebrate Zoology. Sik. 
Cassino, Publisher. ....... . 115 
2. Atlantis ; ; The Antediluvian World. Harp- 
er & Bros foe Sees ee Ries Deas 
3. Zell’s Condensed Cyclopedia. T. Ellwood 
7A) ARSE aRe en sep Nh BUM Gate RI ys Rea gs se 117 
4. Morocco: Its People and Places. G. P 
Putnamys:Sons: sects Gon eae ne ao 117 
5d. Thomas Carlyle, Harper & Bros... .117 
6. Garfield’ s Place in History. G.P. Put- 
NAMES SOD Sieve ae eotrame teen ae tee ae 118 
7. Other Publications Received. ..... . 118 
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 
1. The Problem of Life.* D. Eccles... . .119 
2. Some Recent Improvements in the Mechan- E 
LG Aris * yb Brock cater ayia tna 121 
3.. Cost and Maintenance of Streets in Paris . 123 
4. Berlin’s Electric Railway......... 124 
5.- The Proper Dimensions for Brick Piers in 
Building 37 Res ti onio, osama ne coo 125 
Gi wheslays Porpedorss so) cremate ar ae 125 
7. The Original Home ofthe Horse. . . . . 127 
8. The Bacillus Tuberculosis the Cause of 
Fabercle ss. wah meme sah ss eau an sess 128 
EDITORIAL NOTES.......... . 128) 


*Written for the REvIEw. 


Subseription Price, $2.50 per Annum, post-paid; Single Numbers, 25 Cents. 


For Sale by the AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 39 and 41 Chambers Street, N. Y. 
_ ws Post Office at Kansas City, Mo., as second class matter. 


KANSAS CITY, MO. 
Press OF RAmsry, MILLETT & Hupson. 


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Table Linens. 
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CARPETS, CURTAINS. 
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Vou. VI. JULY, 136382. Noi-2: 
ELE 
f KANSAS CITY REVIEW 
OF 
EDITED BY 
‘EPELHIOw SS. CASH. 
|TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
ANTHROPOLOGY. PACE STSTORICAL NOTES. ua 
1, Man’s Zoogenetic Lineage.* H. A. Reid.131 1. Kassas in 1786.* J. R.Mead....... 183 


2. The Stone Agein Africa,* J. F. Snyder, 
M. 137 


ant seh eats ieee tiwte fit els levee) vet aie hae 


142 


son 


METEOROLOGY. 
1. Tornadoes: Their Special Characteristics 
and Dangers.* Sergt. John P. Finley . 144 
2. Kansas Weather Service.* Prof. J. T. 
HOWE Ned ss sre wascis cate eh ela canon cate Praia 


GHOLOGY. 


1. Geological Notes on a Part of Southeast 
Kansas.* Prof. G. C. Broadhead . . . 172 


PHILOSOPHY. 
1, The Causes and GonciHads of Knowledge.* 
TR 2) AN Cras oe aan th ain tation ope 175 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
1. Science Letter from Paris.* F, Connor. . 180 


2. ‘Treaties with [ndian Tribes for Land in 


Missouri.* John P. Jones... ..... 
BOOK NOTICES.* ‘ 
1. Appleton’s Annual Cyclopedia...... 189 
2.. Gateways tothe Pole. R. P. Studley & 
Cate Raion: chav at hak Sas ae naine Rerete orrs 189 
3. Worms and Crustacea. Ginn, Heath & Co.190 
4. Wanderings in South America. MacMil- 
Lange Won canner na casein al omni age tanta 190 
5. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural 
SciencesiofPhyladelphia...0. 2s i.0 sae 90 
6. Horses’ Teeth. William H. Clarke. . . .190 
7. Other Publications Received. ...... 191 
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 
1. The Thunder-Bird.* Wm. H. R. Lykins,192 
2. Charles Darwin.- John Fiske....... 193 
Bia ChemicaliStoveric payee acee a cain ey ce 194 
4. /Deadening) Sounds\< jv ices. etsy cites coins 194 
alse ap eras valas . 195 


EDITORIAL NOTES. . 


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TABLE OF 


‘PAGE, 
GEOLOGY. 
4d. North Park, Colorado.* G.C. Broadhead.197 
2. The Loup Fork Group of Kansas,* Chas. 


Hi eenniDercen were a ar sees as scaracls 208 
ARCH AOLOGY. 
1. Indian Pictographs in Missouri.* Chas. 
PReEUDNeEE ry  paste cue steal oe Sa IO « 208 
2. Ancient Remains in Marion Co., Kansas.* 
Melvin @e Billin esi wes. 1 getty co erence daen 211 


3. The Tablet of the Cross.* 
4. The Tablet of the Cross.* Prof. Otis T. 
IVT AS Ors IS eh late y see Sah ene IG aren vaumilies 
HISTORICAL NOTES. 


1. Fenoloza’s Expedition to Quivira.* John 


VRE aloe KOSS SB eek Seaeneord we atarear a deere ik, dene C5) 
2. Cabot’s agp of the World.* Translated 
by, Capt; Ho. Berthoud. cic. 9) a eke 218 


_ENGINEERING AND MINING. 
1. The Improvement of the Missouri and Mis- 
sissippi Rivers, Hon, R. T. VanHorn. 219 


F. F. Hilder . 212> 


CONTENTS. 


METEOROLOGY. 
_ i. The Cyclone at Brownsville, Mo., April 18, 


1882.* W. H. Williams 1... . 45 
2, Kansas Weather Service.* Prof. J. T. 
Tove Welles 22 iii aimee Benet inc OT AM 248 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
1. Molecules from the Denver Mining Expo- 
sition.* Mrs. Flora Ellice Stevens . ~ 249) 


BOOK NOTICES.* ae 


1. Knight’s New Mechanical Dictionary. ~ | « 
Houghton, Miffin & Co. 2-22), DAB eR he 
2. Orient Sunbeams. G. P. Putnam’s Sons. 254 _ 
3. Celetrated Gaetan Caverns. Robert 
‘ Clarke & Co. .... . 254, 
4. The Great Pyrite S. H. Ford & Co... 255 y 
5. Adventuresin the Far West. C. V. Waite 
Be CORES Se EN cer dope ahh aera aia a a 255 
6. The Present Rei'gious Crisis. G. P. Put- — 
TLAIMASHS ONISHAE AML eet pose enya aes , 256 
7. Other Publications Received. ...... 256 


o” weadvillefand: Vicinity Foe. io. ee 225 | SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 
1. Recent [mprovements in the Mechanic 
eee Aves OUR CR bek YUE tas 257 
* 1, Review of ‘‘S allo’s Concepts oh Phy siea 
Dro Robt. (Gy Heele's\ i522. . 8 “399 
ASTRONOMY. EDITOREATON OTMS io eee 528 
1. How to tell the Distance ofthe Sun.* Ed- j i 
Pe clgarkine tas hem eee es Shee nineteen oars NES FROM PERIODICALS... . 260 


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Ore re MOE: I 1883. 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW 
CIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 


THEO. S. CASE. 


4 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
ANTHROPOLOGY eee 5S 
1. Who Were the Mound-Builders?* F. F. BOOK NOTICES.? 
Ai hertie eine cee etal SR ol ep eS ok ets 261 1, The Elements of Forestry. Robert Clarke 
2. The Tablet of the Cross.* Warren Watson.269 NEO ey edt eterna Comm aime lots '. .dl4 
8. Relics of a Race of Mound-Builders in Cal- 2. National Religions and Universal Reli- 
MOMMA aa copa a er otc tey ails: eucay te 270 nas eer Chas. peuvaces: Sonse sacar 315 
3. nnual Report ofthe Regents of the Smith- 
CHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY. sonian Institution for 1880. Government 
1. Alcohol and its Effects,* Rev. L. J. Temp- Printing sO freee Agee tas veaeire 316 
TED ee alesis Wise eae iat eee eee ays 274 4, Report Upon the U. S. Geographical Sur- 
2. The Will-O’-the-Wisp .......%.. 279 veys We of the Saeum eats Meri- 
ian overnment Printin fice. . 316 
CORRESPONDENCE. 5. Other Publications Received . i Ripeaa eas 316 


1, Science Letter from Paris.* F. Connor . 285 


MINING AND ENGINEERING. 
1, Engineering; Past and Present. Ashbel 


SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 
1. Artificial Butter. Geo. Lanzendoefer . . 317 


Wlele lie caer ks ihe a Sirgen APIO 288 2. The Telephone and Electric Light in Egy pt319 

DCSGolorad oMIneS iets ick ee es 301 pe vATihclal|Ouimine 4. teenie kets rome 319 

9% Artesian Wells in Colorado...) ww 503 4. Corrosion of Iron Under Steam Pressure. 320 

4, Missouri Copper Mines. ......... 304 5. Panes Mester Service.* Prof. J. T. 39 

OVS Wel ue sree aevico ree alinel sa bai hy Mes oe 1 

5. ACoalProblem......... - + + - 806 6. Measurementof Water. ......... 322 

ZOOLOGY. 

Perens rece ya ey. 3 any Hl. EDITORIAL NOTES...........322 
ASTRONOMY .. ; 

1. Meteoric Shower of Aug. 10, 1882.* Wm. ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS... .324 
PAWROMGove MT eiie rect ten, aiscit cn wide eien civen s 812 


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NEEL wt 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW 


OF 


SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 


EDITED BY 


THEO. S. CASE. 


TABLE OF 


: PAGE, 

PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 

1. The dlst Annual Meeting of the American 
Association for the Advancement of Sci- 


SS 
Ww 


. BR 


2 oF 420 
~« NOVSAC 


CONTENTS. 


GHOLOGY AND GEOGRAPHY. 


1. Geology and Mineralogy of: the Pacific 
States. E. T. Cox 349 


ence. “Reported by Theo. S. Case . 2. Source of Bitumen a the Ohio Shale. Ed- 
2. President Dawson’s Address. ..... . 226 wards Oickani- an ac nny veuteeee ren toes erumarelee 349 
‘3, Retiring President Brush’s Address. . . . 330 3. Sueeaee Fal aroaie Mois of Heaters ip 
z orth America. J. Dawson . . 0 
ASTRONOMY. : 4. Mastodon Remains near Freehold, N. J. 
1. Transit of Venus. Wm. Harkness... . 335 SamueltWockwoudize ee sss. ae ae 350 
2. Evolution of the Earth. Rev.Sam’l Haugh- ‘5. A New Geological Society ........ 300 
t 338 : 
BI so ashe MR AUMo,en te da eh se claai ee 
MICROSCOPY.’ 
PHYSICS. 1. Histolog d Mi 
d S yan icroscop A. H. Tuttle, 
1, Instructionin Physics. T.C. Mendenhall.339 Chairman. EAS aH ie Sits! COMER CRON ane 366 
2. Instrument for Determining the Location of 2. The House-Fly as a Carrier of Poison 
Hebets pee Human Body. Alexander ve Germs: oDhomas Paylor a.) 4-2) 4ek. 366 
aban ene per cteice ran atte eee ey kote 3 
3. Color Blindness. E, L. Nichols... .. 343 | ECONOMIC SCIENCE. 
4. The Diatenic Scales. P. H. VanderWeyde 343 1. Economic Science ‘and Statistics. E. B 
CHEMISTRY INORG Shen tamer ce nea teary cies eos 370 
1, Chemical Literature. H.C. Bolton... .344 Pe ae aaron 
1. Opening of the Peter Redpath Museum. . 371 
MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 2ie-Bxcursion-toO@uebec 270 sane eas 373 
1, Importance of Experimental Research in 3. Excursion to Uttawa  .......... 376 
Mechanical Science. W.P. Trowbridge.345 METEOROLOGY. 
2. Aerial Navigation Practicable. Joseph 
TERRI orks Gee A Ng 347 1. Kansas Weather Service.* Professor J. 
8. Aerial Navigation. W.H. Lynch . 347 Fe Ove wieNde 110 cet oe a a fe ale 379 
BIOLOGY. 4 Pee ee c. p 
1. Biclegy of American Mollusks. Wm. eee . foe 1eno rae eerie Onet os Paceanon ey 
Sp eirenatcta Y it S 7a ae Nee Genta eemaenr Bact 2. Sparks from a Geologist’s Hammer. S.C. + 
ANTHROPOLOGY. : Griggs CiCoe eas. fa runes aie + 881 
1. Some Physical Characteristics of Native 3. ane lea neae Hast of North American 
Tribes of Canada. Daniel Wilson . 313 4. FI ee S “ stes ; panies SANE hed Reqs any (ys 382 
2. A Scheme of Anthropology. Otis T. Ma- oating Matter of the Air. D. Apple- 
Some tts Pere Sais Ma 355 SO Gn ee Oe cee 
oliet’s Historical Record ........ B} 
3. ee ae a Se Sats tie 6. Other Publications Received... .... . 384 
4. A Stone Grave in Illinois. Chas. Rau. .38 | SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 
5. Chief Piaitics in American Religion. A. ase 1. Some Recent Iemprovements in the Me 
GATS SINSTS Se eee Pavia Soi Sioi a avid G i as 
6. Beliefs and Superstitions of the Iroquois 2. Li chanic ean F.B.Brock...... 384 
Indians Mrs. Erminnie Smith ... . 360 Be aN oe GEN ical Measiier pte) s c 385 
7. Indian Migrations as Huidenscd by Lan-. 
mame ShloratiowhHale sie. sa crwra eon wut 2 agp 
8. Amnines Between Ancient Customs in EDITORIAL NOTES........... 386 
America and other Continents. J. W. 
Bienes Sys) oper ite eee om ante aras (kee eae 863 ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS. . 387 
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1882. No. 7. 


sl Gra ide 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW 


OF 


SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 


EDITED BY 


TELE O. Se CASE. 


TABLE OF 
PAGE, 
ASTRONOMY. 
1. The Coming Transit of Venus.* Prof. H, 
SPANO IN aras steaies ih ower ots 389 
2. Speculations About Comets........ 394 
3. Electricity and the Phenomena of Comets.397 
GEOLOGY. 
1, The Remoteness of the Final T Catestrap he os 
: JabseParker UW. Se Acs ipsa s he ves 398 
ZOOLOGY. 
y. Animals and Their Diet 2 5... . ..°. 403 
2. A Lesson in Comparative Zoology .. . . 408 
BOTANY. 
1. Some ofthe Wastes of Nature.* Rev. L. 
Aismenipline sy piacis oi ke) Ve Gaigioks sete tis 413 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
1. Science Letter From Paris.* F.Connor . 417 
METEOROLOGY. 
1. Meteorological Factors and Phenomena. * 
isaacuP NiO vies sis va vo yet ei taiius ee) a ietns 421 
2. Weather Prognostics.* S. A. Maxwell . 428 
3. Hailand Hailstones....... Sie - 431 
4. Kansas Weather Service.* Professor Te 
PR oviewellagests vo ch ai eae cet ete vein 32 
CHEMISTRY. 
eC hemicaleliteratures sss Ges erste eu ale 433 
2. Extraction of Precious Metals from Ores 
Diy BIS CtrOlysisrs\ scons cee fo benclia ee 437 


CONTENTS. 
PAGE. 
PHYSICS. 
1. Telegraphing Without Wires... .. . . 488 
ARCH AiOLOGY. 
1. Aztec Remains in Colorado.* F.E.S. . 442 
2. Human Foot-Printsin Solid Rock... . . 442 


PHILOSOPHY. 


1, The Origin of Matter and the Indéstructi- 
bility of Mind.* Wm, Stevens... . . 443 


BOOK NOTICES.* 


1. The Currents and Temperatures of the 
Rering Sea. Government Printing Of- 
ICE rae m Era icaeraney! eather wee . 447 
2. Publications of the Washburn Observatory, 
WO dbs 0 a ets 448 
3. Knight’ s New Mechanical Dictionary. 
Part Il. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. . . 449 
4, Slight Ailments. P. Blakiston, Son & Co.449 
5. Other Publications Received. . . 450 


SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 


1. Some Recent Improvements in the Me- 


e 8 © © 


chanic Arts.* F.B. Brock ..... .450 

2, The Comet.* T. Berry Smith.* ..: . 451 
EDITORIAL NOTHS...........451 
. 452 


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SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 


EDITED BY 


THEO. S. CASE. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


PAGE, PAGE. _ 


vt 


ANTHROPOLOGY. GHOLOGY. 
1. The Ancient Man of Calaveras. W. O. 1 Supposed Jura-Trias of the Front nee 
AS AIGS an ios oma erak ete Oe tek FA ee ten bemoan 453 of Colorado.* John T. Haleweles » 492 
es a9 | GHOGRAPHY. 
+ 8. Human Remains in the Loess of the Mis- 1, Boliviaa New Source of Rubber ... . 496° 
souri ee: E.P. West. . . . 461 2. How DeLong and His Men Were Buried . 499 
A mimes foot Peisin Solid Rock® Thee... | PROCREDINGS OF SOCIETIES, 
1, fifteéith Annual Meeting of the Kansas# 
ASTRONOMY. Academy BES CLeM Ces ae ire leis eh 500 
1. Observations of Comet B, 1882.% Prof. H. atin 
SMS Smittite ace ee aeewet gi oo tea aa care 465 
2. On Some Volcanic Formations in the Moon. 
FVerma es: MMLeUres oaths. vale Ae ieouliomseie Neto 467 
8. Transit of Venus, December 6, 1882.* Ww. 
Wearictleman densa ji scr acess. ia alee deans 508 
4, Solar Upheavaland Magnetic Storm, * Ed- ; : 3 
jiecad Eed DEY allt At RAN Area.” iii 510 OF gl TES Se SUE SR SP ere sock Ne OM SAB 50 


ANATOMY AND bevoceee. Amie Sie gow Ua te Sea 506 


* Beautiful Houses. Scribner & Welford . . 507° 


1. Teeth and Brain.“ R.Wood Brown, M. Ee)! 
De DED Shia es. ei eT eee ee 471 | % 26. Braceridge Hall: Old Christmas. Mac- i 
2. Eccentricity and Idiosyncrasy. William is SRM anibe, Cones wy caticniaccck rely aimee aes 508 
AsAtammond Mis Dyke. ed eaten alte = 476 7. The Doctrines Cea St ey With 
: a Synthesis. avid Eccles... .. 
MINING AND METALLURGY. 8. Other Publications Received. ..... . 509 


1. General Mining News of Colorado . . . 483 
2. Extraction of the Precious Metals from SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. . 


Ores by Electrofysis.—Continued . . . 486 1. Some Recent Improvements in the Me- 


METROROLOGY. chanic Arts.* F.B. Brock’, ..... . 509 _ 


1. Hailand Hailstones.* Francis E. Nipher.487 

2. Kansas Weather Service.* Professor J. EDITORIAL NOTHS...........515 
T. Lovewell.. ... . 5 489 2 5 : 

3. Annual Growth of Trees. A. L. Child, M. 
IDS seaees ante Sch Meus ManGmona hie ama e 490 | ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS... .517 


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Abiegiisl 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW 
ENCE AND INDUSTRY. 


i EDITED BY 
THEO. S. CASH. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


PAGE, 
ASTRONOMY. 
1. Transit of Venus, December 6,1882.* Ed- 
Sey ANU aal beh ankee Cimon ats Wao oh ease mie ee A 519 
2. The Stars for February. R.A. Proctor . 586 
ARCH AOLOGY. 
1. The Kitchen Middings of Maine. Prof. 
[at MNPBE TRAE Lee) co bye teea Mars eriy Are macro tS aOUae eee 523 


2. The Stone Graves of Brentwood, Tenn. . 526 
3. The Ancient Cemetery at Madisonville and 


LeSwecuiliar AiSh-PitSya cecis dis bese eine 529 
Ainesstone Acie in Oregon... nes heels 6 531 
GEOLOGY. : 


G. C. Broadhead . . . 534 


1. The Jura-Trias.* 
Rev. J. D. Parker, U. 


20° The Bee Pit." 


Se ae eae Ee tana Mavtgiee Seow ADR as waters 540 
Orbe, Gosiocical Surveys of Kansas and 
WMGSSorie yar ee kk CeIn ps aohtes 592 
‘CORRESPONDENCE. 
1. Science Letter from Paris.* fF. Connor . 54] 
' PHILOSOPHY. 


1. Our Origin asa Species, Richard Owen, 544 
2. Is Evolution Godless? Prof A. Winchell.543 


ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. 
1. .The Distribution of Shells, Art. I11.*. F, 


PARIS AMI SONG otahtelncltsyien corer ats ne hot ae 5ol 
ge bhie Lignified Snake of Brazil. Prof. Asa __ 
AWN crear cleegiomatsienran atheenvers ipo ayin a) 
PHYSICS. 


1. Results in Aérial Navigation from the Stor- 
age of Force and the Cheapening of Al- 
uminum. Prof, E. C. Stedman... . . 57 


ae Velocity, of Projectiles: ii. ccsee ss) epee ae 550 

3. A Thames Launch Propelled by Eleetri- 
city. Sylvanus P. Thompson...... 560 

4, The Coming Motive Power........ 561 


INDUSTRIAL NOTES. 


1- The Crops of 1879, 1881 and sees - 563 
2. Railway Construction in the U.S. in 1382. AGS 
3. The Bates County Coal Mines... .... 067 


5. A Locomotive Without a Smoke-Stack . . 562 


PAGE. 
4, Report of the Kansas City Stock Yards 
St LOM LOBS dcuiale wa. eae tek etnewl a) Johnny wi peur gm re 508 
Da ColoradorGodlass ster maren sien soca linnei wwe des 569 
6. Bullion Product of Colorado ....... 570 
MEDICINE AND HYGIENE. 
1, Sewer Gas and its Danger to Health. . . 5/1 
2. The Treatment of Diphtheria ...... 574 
METEHOROLOGY. 
1. Meteorological Summary for 1882 « . . O76 
2. Kansas Weather Service, December, 1882. x 
Professor J. T. Lovewell..... - UAUSIONG 
8. Kansas Weather Service, January, 1883.% 
Professor J. T; Lovewell. 2. 2.052): 58d. 


4, The Meteorology of Shakespeare... . . 580 
BOOK NOTICKES.* 


1. House Drainage and Sanitary Plumbing. 
Di VianINostrand cn juss acne tone 95 
2. The Lowest Forms of Water Animals. G. 
PRPintriamiessSOns: wie, ew eeiee cavalier 596 
3. Military Life in Italy. G. P. Putnam’s 
SOUS ure ep amma tate city elite Mann Cue au aes 596 
4, How to Succeed. G. P. Putnam’s Sons . 696 
5. .Fasy Star Lessons. G. P. Putnam’s Sons.597 . 
6. The Odyssey of Homer. Jansen, Mc- 
Clare teow ern one ers. 4 eu nam arr on aE 598 
8. The Court and Cross. Methodist Book 
Concerns je icaneeror ie tet BAS eae) 
9. Other Publications Received. ...... 599 
SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 
1. Liberty Enlightening the World. .... 600 
2. Treatment of Nature by Poets...... 602 
3. Goldin Anclent Times. ......... 604 
4. Some Recent Improvements in the Me- 
chanic-Arts.* (EF .\B. Brock 2). 2.2.0. 605 
DW eAlriGankesx ploratlometc poh cdestie eh faite ere , 606 
Ges Michaelangelo save.icnen aie ia tae aciten © 607 
Mepe OUVIC Re esr eee EA ro Le ne veh ol eaten T cheers 610 


EDITORIAL NOTEHS...... 


ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS... .613 


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ee ee 


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a Vous VI, CT MARCH, 1883. No. 11. 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW 


OF 


SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 


EDITED BY 


DPHHO. S. CASE. 


€ 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


; PAGE, PAGE, 
GEOLOGY. BOOK NOTICES.* 
I, The Ancient Mississippi and its Tributa- 1, The Manuscript Troano. Government 
ries.* J. W. Spencer, Ph.D., F. G. 8.615 ‘Primtin S(O mee: sayy hk eae 668 
2. Geological Survey of Missouri.* Prof. S. 2. Knights’ New Mechanical Dictionary, 
PIE POW DTIC R ey ode paras a eletaver ts je 621 Part II]. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. . . 669 
3. The Bottom of the Ocean......... 626 83. The Theory of the Gas Engine. D. Van- 
INGSEran dpi3.7 coc oike een sie We) oT 669 
ANTHROPOLOGY. 4. The Use of Tobacco. J.D. Hinds. . 670 
ome: Minded of Manto iti. oa eek 528 0. The Brewer, Distiller and Wine Manu- 
2, The Cliff-Dwellers of the New Mexican facturer. P. Blakiston, Son & Co. . . 670- 
aN ONS Sires) Sos oh ee MOREE BCR 636 6. Other Publications Received. ...... 671 
Dareuine Moa vabhtOmes ice oie fe ccssican er tee 641 SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. 
BOTANY. 1. What State Geological! Surveys haye Ac- 
1, Seeds: Their Preservation and Germina- conplisbed*titen. pra tae ote eeu tee 671 
CE Lat Re RY PEN UR sar Rg Reta 648 2. The Wiggins Storm of March 9th to 11th, 
2, Professor Meehan on Evolution... . . 654 lieteB I pute eG aaunen som. Gogh . 673 
i | , 3 The Kansas City Academy of Science? . . 673 
CORRESPONDENCE. 4, The Kansas City Institute*.. . . 674 
‘I, Science Letter from Paris.* £. Connor . 656 5, Was Lord Bacon the Author of Shake- 
2. Taxation of Colorado Mines.* §£,E.S. . 659 speare’s Plays?.. .......... . 675 
ASTRONOMY. 
die Metearstands Comets snc cs ese sent neces 660 | BDITORIAL NOTES.......... O77 
ENGINEERING. 
1, Tunnels in General, and the St. Gothard y 
ingBarticularite teu \sriciieseee Bee Ss 668 | ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS... .678 


4 


*Written for the REvIEw. 
Subscription Price, $2.50 per Annum, post-paid; Single Numbers, 25 Cents. 
For Sale by the AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 39 and 41 Chambers Street, N. Y. 


Entered at the Post Office at Kansas City, Mo., as second class matter. 


KANSAS CITY, MO. 
Press or RAMSEY, MILLETT & Hupson 


BOOKS FOR ALL TIME! 


a i re 


M. 


620 Main Street, = 


H. DICKINSON, 


KANSAS CITY, MO., 


Invites the attention of all lovers of good literature to his magnificent collection of 


standard and miscellaneous books, in plain and fine bindings. 


The very best books of Travel, 


History, Biography, as well as Religion, Philosophy and the Sciences, are represented on 


his shelves. 


In addition to these he is constantly picking up rare and scarce books, and 


makes a specialty of supplying libraries with such books as are not to be had through the 


regular channels of trade. 


The Norman Conquest. By EdwardA. 
Freeman. 6vols., cloth. .... $15 00 
Napier Peninsular War. Standard edi- 


tion, 5 vols, crown 8vo., cloth . 7 50 
Michaud’s History ofthe Crusades. In 

3 vols., crown 8vo., cloth. .... 3°75 
Life and Times of Titian. 2 vols., large 

SVG: NCLOtM aire veer en enema tae nate 7 50 
Thier’s History of the French Revolu- 

tion. 5 vols., large 8vo., cloth . .14 40 


Thier’s History of the Consulate and 
Empire. 5 vols.,8vo., cloth . . . 10 00 


Rawlinson’s Works. The Five Great 
Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern 
World. 3 vols., 8vo., extra gilt tops, 
maps, and nearly 600 illustrations, 
Cloth VON ees matte tance 

The Sixth Great Monarchy (Parthia), 


9 00 


I vol., 8vo., with maps and illustra- 

tions, cloth, silt top: £252. 3 00 

Half morocco ... 5 50 
The Seventh Great Monsreny (The gas: 

sannean or new Persian Empire), 2 

vols., with maps and _ illustrations, 

cloth; ;ailt:tops: 55 emicpoctiiogucne: 6 00 

Halfimorocco,,. 2) soem senate II 00 
The History of Ancient Egppt, 2 vols., 

8vo., with numerous illustrations, 

cloth) silt: tops, < aaa: eismarhe ts put 60 

Halismoroceo ss. ist Sane esta II 0O 


Sets of Rawlinson’s Monarchy, in cloth or 
half morocco, in boxes without extra charge. 


In his stock the following are particularly worthy of mention: 


Brugsch’s Egypt under the Pharaohs; 
2 vols, 8vo, second edition, revised . 12 00 


The Making of England, by John Rich- 


ard (Greens: SVOrNs Shatsa cst lynen nee $2 50 
Mackenzie’s The 19th Century ... I §0 
Mackenzie’s History of America . .. I 50 


Events and Epochs in Religious History 


by Jas. Freeman Clarke, 8vyo. . . . 3 00 
Through Siberia, by Henry Landsell. 
2 vols, 8vo., illustrated . . ... - 8 00 


Morocco, Its ae and Places, De- 


Amicis. 2 00 


Atlantis, The Antediluvian World, by 
Ignatius Donnelly, 12mo..... . 
Gospel of the Stars, or Primeval As- 
tronomy, a new work by Seiss . . . 
Rude Stone Monuments of all Coun- 
tries, by James Ferguson, 8vo., cloth, 

SCATCE ci fi. Mahia legge ines monie 
Parton’s Life of Voltaire. This as 
work of this eminent writer is meet- 
ing with a large sale; 2 vols. 8vo. . 
To the Central African Lakes and Back, 
by Joseph Thompson; 2vols. 12mo . 


9 0O 


6 00 


6 00 


Magyar Land. A narrative of travel 
through the highlands and lowlands 
of Hungary, elegantly illustrated, 2 
vols. 8vo. 

The Land of the Midnight Sun, by Du 

Chaillu, 2 vols. 8vo, illustrated . 


7 50 


Mr. Dickinson possesses the largest stock of catalogues and Bibliographer’s aids of any 


store in the West, and is glad at any time to give his customers the benefit of his long ex- 
perience in selecting books. Any information cheerfully furnished. Mr. Dickinson also 
makes a specialty of Wall Paper, Window Shades, Children’s Carriages, as well as Blank’ 
Books and Stationery, of which he ha; the largest stock in the West. : 


‘Vor. VI. oo Ape, 1883. No: 


deletes 


KANSAS CITY REVIEW 
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY: 


EDITED BY 


PEABO Ss. CAS H. 


TABLE OF CONTENTS. 


PAGE. PAGE. 
PHILOLOGY. 3. Ist Annual Commencement. Kansas City 
1, Dialects of Bolivian Indians.* E.R. Heath, aS piltaAle ollep ese SIM osuies car anocat ae 724 
IM Cod Dp et age atte Bats nk anti htaal earn 679 METEFOROLOGY. 
GHOLOGY. -1, Kansas Weather Service, February, 1883.* 
1, Tertiary Coal Measures ae Gunnison Co., PLM OVE W Cpin ei Sat aire woghe hse maNeer 729 
Colo.* John K. Hallowell... .. . . 688 2. Kansas Weather Service, March, 1883.* 
GE Caleta and Characteristics of Precious eee ove welleccseairc.csa ce oat racine anes 730 
HOMES saat oe sf Reine mer Luieiel Fact taesneis ye 696 
ARCH AOLOGY. 
ASTRONOMY. J. An Old Map of Missouri... .-....... 731 
1, A New Star and the Star of Bethlehem.* 83. The Davenport Academy of Sciences... . 732 
Wale Dawsons ayaercctim alc seda once Ae tokions 697 
2. apouncements of Astronomical Deer BOOK NOTICES.* 
Meciedeteet verre qontioies\ickion a rayon! einer erate 99 5 f the N R A 
S. he Total Eclipselof May 6 1883. 2 | 738 tHE Ro eee cen SNS a: 733 
2 Annual Report of the Chief Signal Officer, 
PHILOSOPHY. x : U.S. A. for 1881: Government Print- 
1. Induction in Science.* Prof. H. S. S. PER SAOM Ce ee eae Nee Ghent one 734 
Smith... ee ee 700 8 The Buiders’ Guide. Industrial Publica- 
2,- Natural Science and Psychology.*. Rev. HOneSOCleuyan Min ath amen 735 
C.L. Thompson, D.D...... - - 107 4. Report of U. S. Geological Survey, 1881. 
3. Machine Science. Theo. S. Case... . 715 | Government Printing Office... .... 735 
4. Sentiment and Science. Rev. J. E. Rob- 5. Geometry and Faith. Lee & Shepard... 736 
STIS. 2 ee ee ee we ee sae - 725 6. Other Publications Received. ...... 736 
CORRESPONDENCE. . SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANY. _ 
1 ee from Texas.* J.D. Parker, U. Sie 1. The Bacon-Shakespeare Craze. ..... jal 
2.” Letter from Athens, Greece) 1 ; i . 705 
EDUCATION. 
eb Annual Commencentont Kansas City TO ee i ae ce 
MedicaliColleserrii ccc. Rijn tts juris ve rates 707 


2. 2d Annual Commencement Medical De- 


partment Kansas City University... .714 | ITEMS FROM PERIODICALS... .742 
. ; . *Written for the Revizw. ; 


Subscription Price, $2.50 per Annum, post-paid; Single Numbers, 25 Cents. 
For Sale by the AMERICAN NEWS COMPANY, 39 and 41 Chambers Street, N. Y. 


Entered at the Post Office at Kansas City, Mo:, as second class matter. 


KANSAS CITY, MO. 
PRESS OF RAMSEY, Mittett & Hupson 


BOOKS FOR ALL TIME! 


M. H. DICKINSON, 


620 Main Street, = 


KANSAS CITY, MO., 


Invites the attention of all lovers of good literature to his magnificent collection of 


standard and miscellaneous books, in plain and fine bindings. 


The very best books of Travel, 


History, Biography, as well as Religion, Philosophy and the Sciences, are represented on 


his shelves. 


In addition to these he is constantly picking up rare and scarce books, and 


makes a specialty of supplying libraries with such books as are not to be had through the 


regular channels of trade. 
The Norman Conquest. By Edward A. 

Freeman. 6vols., cloth. . . $15 CO 
Napier Peninsular War. Standard edi- 

tion, 5 vols, crown 8vo., cloth. . . 7 50 
Michaud’s History of the Crusades. In 

3 vols., crown 8vo., cloth. . .. «= 3 75 


‘Life and Times of Titian. 2 vols., large 

SVG Chobe se ah eye ake we eo SO 
Thier’s History of the French Revolu- 

tion. (5 vols., large 8vo., cloth . .14 40 
Thier’s History of the Consulate and 
5 vols., 8vo., cloth . . . 10 00 


Rawlinson’s Works. The Five Great 
Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern 
World. 3 vols., $vo., extra gilt tops, 
maps, and nearly 600 illustrations, 
clothgaie aur 9 00 

The Sixth Great Moonee (eats, 

8vo., with maps and illustra- 


Empire. 


I vol., 

tions, cloth, gilt top . 

Half motoccoiss <1. 5 50 
The Seventh Great ioenehs (The sae 

sannean or new Persian Empire), 2 

vols., with maps and illustrations, 

Cloths oil COPSya neuen than OOD 


Halfimorocco;: <2. Leen uae Te OO 
The History of Ancient Fe Mone 2 vols., 
8vo., with numerous illustrations, 


cloth, gilttops. . , 6 00 
Half morocco .. . 
Sets of Rawlinson’s Monarchy, in cloth or 


half morocco, in boxes without extra charge. 


3 00 | 


eral Melinienenceti ra II OO } 


In his stock the following are particularly worthy of mention: 


Brugsch’s Egypt under the Pharaohs ; 
2 vols, 8vo, second edition, revised . 


The Making of England, a ae Rich- 
and Green Ovo ges) 


12 00 


- $2 50 
I 50 
I 50 


Mackenzie’s The 19th Geaany 
Mackenzie’s History of America . . . 


Events and Epochs in Religious History 
by Jas, Freeman Clarke, 8yo. .. . 
Through Siberia, by Henry Landsell. - 

2 vols, 8vo., illustrated |. 


3 00 


Morocco, Its ee and Places, De- 
ENUM CTS uel eck Saou pak ene 


Atlantis, The Antediluvian World, by _ 
Ignatius Donnelly, 12mo.... 2 00 


2 00 


Gospel of the Stars, or Primeval As- 
tronomy, a new work by Seiss . . . I 50 

Rude Stone Monuments of all Coun- 
tries, by James Ferguson, 8vo, ue) 
SCALCE st: Neste cara ores me 


Parton’s Life of Voltaire. This last 
work of this eminent writer is meet- 
ing with a large sale; 2 vols. 8vo, . 6 00 


9 90 


To the Central African Lakes and Back, 


by Joseph Thompson; 2vols. 12mo. 6 00 


Magyar Land. A narrative of travel. 
through the highlands and lowlands 
of Hungary, elegantly illustrated, 2 
vols, 8vo. - IO 00 

The Land of the Midnight cans by Du 

Chaillu, 2 vols. 8vo, illustrated . 


7 59 


Mr. Dickinson possesses the largest stock of catalogues and Bibliographer’s aids of any 
store in the West, and is glad at any time to give his customers the benefit of his long ex- 


perience in selecting books, 


makes a specialty of Wall Paper, Window Shades, 


Any information cheerfully furnished. Mr. Dickinson also 


Children’s Carriages, as well as Blank 


Books and Stationery, of which he has ay pees stock “ay 
* ae 


eg 


35 


6 


ipa 


at y 
aN 


i 
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SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION LIBRARIES 


3 9088 01300 1805 


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