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HARVARD  UNIVERSITY 


^Ckbrar^ 


OF  THeT*-^.  /b  v^ 

Museum  of  Comparative  Zoology 

IVIUS.  COMP.  ZOUL 
LIBRARY 


TRANSACTIONS 


OF  THE 


KANSAS 
ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCE 


VOLUME  XXVI. 


CONTAINS 

LIST  OF  OFFICERS  AND  PAST  PRESIDENTS;   MEMBERSHIP 

LIST  JANUARY  1,  1914;  MINUTES  OF  FORTY-SIXTH 

ANNUAL  MEETING;  PRESIDENT'S  ADDRESS; 

SOME  PAPERS  READ. 


December  23  and  24,  1913. 


KANSAS   STATE   PRINTING  OFFICE. 

W.  0.  Austin,  State  Printer. 

TOPEKA.      1914. 

5-2682 


TRANSACTIONS 


OF  THE 


KANSAS 
ACADEMY  OF  SCIENCE. 


VOLUME  XXVI. 


CONTAINS 

'''"uS^TAKnfpt^"'^  '^''  PRESIDENTS;   MEMBERSHIP 

LIST  JANUARY  1,  1914;  MINUTES  OF  FORTY-SIXTH 

ANNUAL  MEETING;  PRESIDENT'S  ADDRESS; 

SOME  PAPERS  READ. 


December  23  and  24,  1913, 


KANSAS   STATE   PRINTING   OFFICE. 

W.  C.  Austin,   State  Printer 

TOPEKA.      1914. 

5  2682 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

I.   Introductory: 

1.  Present  Officers  of  the  Academy   ^""^l 

2.  Membership  of  the  Academy  January  1    1914 I 

3.  Secretary's  Report  of  Forty-sixth  Annual  Mee'ting n 

4.  Address  of  the  Retiring  President  of  this  Annual  Meet- 

•    5.    Historical  Sketch  of  the  Academy of 

6.    Constitution  and  By-laws    

II.    Chemical  and  Physical  Papers  • 

1.  The  Value  of  Corn  Oil  as  a  Substitute  for  Olive  Oil  and 

Cottonseed  Oil 

2.  In^P^ovement  in  the  Comme'rd'al   Supply 'of  SpiVe's,'  and      ^' 
Clause  of  the  Same 

e..      47 


3.    Development  of  Mechanical'  Power  "in  the  Last  Decad.' ' '      ^^ 

III.  Geological  Papers: 

1.  Geological  Development  of  Kansas 

2.  The  Glacial  Epoch   ' ^^ 

3.  Lowering  of  the  Ground-water  Table' . .  .  '.  .  '  .' .'"."." H 

IV.  Biological  Paper: 

1.    Additions   to   the   List   of  Kansas   Coleoptera   for   1910 
lyil,  and  1912 ' 

V.    Miscellaneous  Papers: 

1.  Phenomena  Beautiful 

2.  "Witching"  for  Water  and  'other  'Things.' .' .' lol 

3.  University  Extension   

^'I.   Necrology: 

1.  Robert  Kennedy  Duncan   

2.  Alton  Howard  Thompson  j"^ 

VII.    iM.E.x   .  

115 

(3) 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  ACADEMY,  1914. 


President,  W.  A.  Harshbarger Topeka. 

\'ice  President,  J.  A.  G.  Shirk Pittsbure 

Vice  President,  J.  E.  Todd '  " .'  Lawrence 

Treasurer,  L.  D.  Havenhill [[  Lawrence" 

Secretary,  J.  T.  Lovewell '.  Topeka. 

EXECUTIVE  COUNCIL. 

Ex  officio  the  President,  Treasurer  and  Secretary. 
Elective  for  1914. 

E.  H.  S.  Bailey.  L.  C.  Wooster. 

F.  B.    DAINS.  J.    T.   WiLLARD. 


MEMBERSHIP  OF  THE  ACADEMY. 

January  1,  1914. 
Dates  signify  date  of  election  to  membership  in  the  Academy. 


HONARARY   MEMBERS. 

G.  P.  Grimsley,  Ph.  D.,  1904,  Martinsburg,  W.  Va. 
Edw.  L.  Nichols,  Ph.  D.,  1897,  Cornell  Univ.,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 
W.  S.  Franklin,  So.  D.,  Lehigh  Univ.,  South  Bethlehem,  Pa. 
Geo.  Wagner,  Ph.  D.,  1904,  Univ.  of  Wisconsin,  Madison,  Wis. 
S.  W.  Williston,   A.  M.,   M.  D.,   Ph.  D.,   1902,  professor   of  paleontology, 
Univ.  of  Chicago,  Chicago,  111. 

ASSOCIATE    MEMBER. 

Mrs.  R.  J.  Brown,  1903,  Leavenworth. 

LIFE   MEMBERS. 

E.  H.  S.  Bailey,  Ph.  D.,  1883,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

Edward  Bartow,  Ph.  D.,  1898,  director  of  water  survey,  Urbana,  111. 
Joshua    William    Beede,    Ph.  D.,    1894,    associate    professor    of    geology, 
Bloomington,  Ind. 

F.  W.  Bushong,  Sc.  D.,  1896,  Mellon  Institute,  Univ.  of  Pittsburg,  Pa. 

F.  W.  Cragin,  Ph.  D.,  1880,  economic,  geologic  and  historical   research, 

Colorado  Springs,  Colo. 
Lewis  Lindsay  Dyche,  M.S.,  1881,  professor  of  systematic  zoology  and 

curator  of  birds,  mammals  and  fishes,  state  fish  and  game  warden, 

Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 
Geo.  H.  Failyer,  M.  Sc,  1879,  Manhattan. 
E.  C.  Franklin,  Ph.  D.,  1884,  Stanford  Univ.,  Palo  Alto,  Cal. 
I.  D.  Graham,  1879,  Live  Stock  Com.,  Panama  Ex.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

(5) 


6  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

Wm.  Ashbrook  Harshbarger,  B.  S.,  1900,  professor  of  mathematics,  Wash- 
burn Coll.,  Topeka. 

Erasmus  Haworth,  Ph.  D.,  1882,  state  geologist,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Law- 
rence. 

Warren  Knaus,  M.  Sc,  1884,  entomologist,  editor  and  publisher,  Mc- 
Pherson. 

D.  E.  Lantz,  M.  Sc,  1887,  biological  survey,  Washington,  D.  C. 
J.  T.  Lovewell,  Ph.  D.,  1878,  chemist,  Topeka. 

F.  O.  Marvin,  A.  M.,  1884,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 
Ephraim  Miller,  A.  B.,  A.  M.,  Ph.  D.,  1873,  Pasadena,  Cal. 
*E.  A.  Popenoe,  A.  M.,  1872,  entomologist,  Topeka. 
L.  E.  Sayre,  Ph.  M.,  1885,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 
Alva  J.  Smith,  1903,  city  engineer,  Emporia. 

*B.  B.  Smyth,  1880,  curator  Goss  Orinthological  Collection,  Topeka. 
Mrs.  L.  C.  R.  Smyth,  M.  S.,  Ph.  D.,  1902,  curator  of  Goss  Orinthological 
Collection,  Topeka. 

E.  G.  Smyth,  1901,  entomology,  Santa  Rita,  P.  R. 

C.  H.  Sternberg,  1896,  explorer  and  collector,  Lawrence. 

*A.  H.  Thompson,  D.  D.  S.,  1873,  Topeka. 

M.  L.  Ward,  D.  D.,  1880,  Ottawa  Univ.,  Ottawa. 

J.  T.  Willard,  M.  S.,  1883,  Kansas  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 

ANNUAL   MEMBERS. 

Frank  G.  Agrelius,  A.  M.,  1905,  State  Normal  School,  Emporia. 

Bennet  M.  Allen,  1913,  professor  of  zoology,  Lawrence. 

H.  C.  Allen,  1904,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

Agnes  Anderson,  1913,  chemist. 

John  J.  Arthur,  1904,  Topeka. 

Wm.  R.  Arthur,  B.  A.,  1903,  dean  of  law  school,  Washburn  Coll.,  Topeka. 

W.  M.  Bailey,  1906,  teacher,  Holton. 

Elam  Bartholemew,  M.  S.,  1905,  mycologist,  Stockton. 

W.  J.  Baumgartner,  1904,  professor  of  zoology  and  histology,  Univ.  of 

Kansas,  Lawrence. 
Frank  G.  Bedell,  1904,  Dodge  City. 

F.  H.  Billings,  Ph.  D.,  1909,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 
Julius  Brandt,  1907,  Bethany  Coll.,  Lindsborg. 

H.  H.  Braucher,  1907,  teacher,  K.  S.  N.,  Emporia. 

Frank  P.  Brock,  1911,  Ind.  research,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

E.  W.  Brown,  B.  S.,  1909,  Chehalis,  Wash. 

Edw.  Bumgardner,  M.  D.,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

L.  D.  Bushnell,  1909,  professor  of  bacteriology,  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 

H.  P.  Cady,  Ph.  D.,  1904,  professor  chemistry,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

M.  E.  Canty,  1903,  Buffalo,  Kan. 

I.  D.  Cardiff,  Ph.  D.,  1909,  professor  of  botany.  State  Agr.  Coll.,  Pullman, 

Wash. 
V.  B.  Caris,  1911,  professor  mathematics,  M.  T.  S.,  Pittsburg, 

F.  P.  Clark,  M.  D.,  1909,  Univ.  Hospital,  Kansas  City,  Kan. 
W.  A.  Cook,  M.  S.,  1907,  Baker  Univ.,  Baldwin. 

R.  A.  Cooley,  1910,  Ag.  Expt.  Station,  Bozeman,  Mont. 

*  Deceased. 


Membership.  7 

Rev.  John  T.  Copley,  1908,  clergyman,  Manhattan. 
E.  G.  Corwine,  1905,  Mulvane. 
E.  F.  Crevecoeur,  1899,  entomologist,  Onaga. 

S.  J.  Crumbine,  M.  D.,  1909,  secretary  State  Board  of  Health,  Topeka. 
Frank  Burnett  Dains,  Ph.  D.,  1902,  professor  of  chemistry,  Univ.  of  Kan- 
sas, Lawrence. 

B.  J.  Dalton,  C.  E.,  1909,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

Geo.  A.  Dean,  M.  S.,  1912,  professor  of  entomology,  Manhattan. 

0.  P.  Bellinger,  professor  of  biology,  M.  T.  S.,  Pittsburg. 

S.  A.  Deel,  1913,  professor  of  physics.  Baker  Univ.,  Baldwin. 

Emil  0.  Deere,  1905,  Bethany  Coll.,  Lindsborg. 

*Robt.  K.  Duncan,  B.  A.,  1906,  professor  of  industrial  chemistry,  Univ.  of 

Pittsburg,  Grand  Boulevard,  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
R.  B.  Dunlevy,  M.  A.,  1896,  S.  W.  Kansas  Coll.,  Winfield. 

E.  H.  Dunmire,  B.  S.,  1895,  Lawrence. 
J.  W.  Eby,  1903,  banker.  Harvard. 

C.  W.  Edmondson,  Ph.  D.,  1909,  professor  of  geology  and  histology,  Eu- 
gene, Ore. 

H.  W.  Emerson,  B.  S.,  1904,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

B.  F.  Eyer,  B.  S.,  E.  E.,  1904,  professor  of  electrical  engineering,  Man- 
hattan. 

T.  L.  Eyerly.  1906,  high  school,  department  of  physiography,  Dallas,  Tex. 

Fred.  Faragher,  A.  B.,  1904,  with  Alden  Spear's  Sons  Co.,  Chicago,  111. 

A.  0.  Garrett,  1901,  teacher  high  school,  Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 

Roy  W.  Gragg,  1907,  accountant,  Bartlesville,  Okla. 

A.  A.  Graham,  1910,  la\vyer,  Topeka. 

0.  S.  Groner,  Sc.  M.,  1907,  professor  of  chemistry,  Ottawa  Univ.,  Ottawa. 

Mary  Herman,  Ph.  D.,  1912,  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 

H.  J.  Harnly,  B.  S.,  1903,  professor,  McPherson  Coll.,  McPherson. 

L.  D.  Havenhill,  D.  Phar.,  1904,  professor  of  pharmaceutical  chemistry, 
Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

Thomas  J.  Headlee,  Ph.  D.,  1907,  professor  of  zoology  and  entomology, 
Rutgers  Coll.,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 

W.  C.  Hoad,  B.  S.,  1904,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

D.  A.  Horton,  1913,  entomologist,  McPherson. 

W.  F.  Hoyt,  A.  M.,  1902,  State  Normal  School,  Neb. 
.\lbort  K.  Hubbard,  Ph.  D.,  1904,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 
L  W.  Humphrey,  1912,  Mellon  Institute,  Univ.  of  Pittsburg,  Pa. 
Thomas  M.  Iden,  1897,  State  Normal  School,  Emporia. 
H.  Louis  Jackson,  B.  S.,  1909,  state  food  analyst,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Law- 
rence. 
*John  J.  Jewett,  1902,  physicist,  San  Diego,  Cal. 
A.  W.  Jones,  B.  S.,  1894,  Wesleyan  Univ.,  Salina. 

F.  E.  Jones,  1909,  manual  training  school,  Lawrence. 
W.  H.  Keller,  1898,  high  school,  Emporia. 

H.  H.  King,  A.  B.,  A.  M.,  1909,  asst.  professor  of  chemistry,  Agr.  Coll., 

Manhattan. 
Leslie  A.  Kenoyer,  1906,  Independence. 
Harry  L.  Kent,  1904,  nature  study,  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 

*  Deceased. 


8  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

John  H.  Klopfer,  1904,  collector  and  mining  expert,  Topeka. 

Pierce  Larkin,  A.  B.,  1902,  geology,  Univ.,  Norman,  Okla. 

W.  S.  Long,  1913,  food  laboratory  chemist,  Lawrence. 

R.  D.  Landrum,  B.  S.,  1909,  Lisk  Manufacturing  Co.,  Canandaigua,  N.  Y. 

Marcus  A.  Low,  1906,  attorney  C.  R.  L  &  P.  railway,  Topeka. 

L.  A.  Lowther,  1907,  superintendent  of  schools,  Emporia. 

R.  Matthews,  D.  D.  S.,  1898,  dental  surgery,  Wichita. 

J.  W.  McCulloch,  1911,  field  agent,  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 

David  F.  McFarland,  Ph.  D.,  State  Univ.,  Urbana,  111. 

J.  M,  McWharf,  M.  D.,  1902,  physician,  Ottawa. 

Grace  R.  Meeker,  1899,  botanist,  Ottawa. 

C.  F.  Menninger,  M.  D.,  1903,  physician,  Topeka. 

S.  T.  Millard,  M.  D.,  1909,  physician  and  surgeon,  Topeka. 

W.  L.  Moodie,  1906,  State  Normal,  Bellingham,  Wash. 

Roy  L.  Moodie,  Ph.  D.,  1909,  instructor,  Baylor  Univ.,  Dallas,  Tex. 

Merle  M.  Moore,  1909,  student,  Ottawa  Univ.,  Ottawa. 

Celia  Mulvehill,  A.  B.,  1911,  high  school,  Pittsburg. 

R.  K.  Nabour,  1910,  instructor  in  zoology,  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 

C.  A.  Nash,  1907,  Univ.  of  Cincinnati,  Ohio. 

C.  F.  Nelson,  1913,  chemist,  Lawrence. 
N.  P.  Neilson,  1906,  architect,  Topeka. 

A.  M.  Nissen,  A.  M.,  1901,  farmer,  Wetmore. 
H.  N.  Olson,  1895,  Bethany  Coll.,  Lindsborg. 
J.  B.  Parker,  1909,  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 

Frank  Patrick,  1903,  microscopist,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 
Leslie  F.  Paull,  B.  S.,  1903,  Agr.  Coll.,  Fort  Collins,  Neb. 
Rev.  P.  B.  Peabody,  1909,  clergyman,   (ornithologist).  Blue  Rapids. 
L.  M.  Peace,  A.  B.,  1904,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 
Arthur  D.  Pitcher,  A.  M.,  1906,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 
L.  M.  Plairs,  asst.  entomologist,  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 
L.  M.  Powell,  M.  D.,  1906,  physician,  Topeka. 
Silas  Eber  Price,  D.  D.,  president  Ottawa  Univ.,  Ottawa. 
Charles  Smith  Prosser,  D.  Sc,  Ph.  D.,  1892,  educator  and  geologist,  Co- 
lumbus, Ohio. 
Wm.  S.  Prout,  M.  D.,  1904,  Emmet,  Kan. 

D.  L.  Randall,  Ph.  D.,  1911,  professor  of  chemistry,  Baldwin. 
Albert  B.  Reagan,  1904,  director  of  Indian  school,  Orr,  Minn. 
L.  J.  Reiser,  1911,  chemist,  Topeka. 

Geo.  E.  Rex,  1911,  mgr.  treating  plants,  A.  T.  &  S.  F.  Rly.,  Topeka. 

H.  A.  Rice,  C.  E.,  1909,  asst.  professor  of  engineering,  Univ.  of  Kansas, 

Lawrence. 
J.  Risser,  1913,  professor  of  zoology,  Washburn  Coll.,  Topeka. 

B.  R.  Rogers,  D.  V..  1907,  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 

Eulalia  E.  Roseberry,  1909,  teacher  of  physiography,  Pittsburg. 

J.  C.  Russell,  1911,  professor  of  agricultural  chemistry,  Univ.  of  Minne- 
sota, Minneapolis,  Minn. 

Frank  K.  Sanders,  D.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  LL.  D.,  1909,  president  Washburn  Coll., 
Topeka. 

D.  C.  Schaffner,  1903,  Coll.  of  Emporia,  Emporia. 


Membership.  9 

John  H.  Schaffner,  A.  M.,  M.  S.,  1902,  professor  of  botany,  Univ.  of  Ohio, 
Columbus,  Ohio. 

Theo.  S.  Scheffer,  M.  S.,  1903,  Dept.  Agriculture,  Washington,  D.  C. 

J.  W.  Scott,  Ph.  D.,  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 

M.  Sebastian,  1911,  Parochial  School,  Parsons. 

Miriam  Sheldon,  A.  M.,  1906,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

Edwin  Taylor  Shelly,  M.  D.,  1902,  physician,  Atchison. 

Claude  J.  Shirk,  A.  M.,  M.  S.,  1905,  instructor  in  physics  and  chemistry, 
Ottawa. 

J.  A.  G.  Shirk,  1904,  professor  of  physics,  Pittsburg,  Kan. 

Eva  Schley,  A.  B.,  1903,  natural  history,  Univ.  of  Chicago,  Chicago,  111. 

Ralph  C.  Shuey,  1905,  Univ.  of  Pittsburg,  Pa. 

S.  G.  Stewart,  M.  D.,  1904,  physician  and  surgeon,  Topeka. 

Chas.  M.  Sterling,  A.  B.,  1904,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

Frank  Strong,  LL.  D.,  Ph.  D.,  1905,  chancellor  of  University,  Lawrence. 

E.  F.  Stimpson,  1904,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

M.  C.  Tanquary,  Ph.  D.,  1912,  instructor  of  entomology,  Agr.  Coll.,  Man- 
hattan. 

E.  L.  Tague,  A.  M.,  professor  of  chemistry,  Washburn  Coll.,  Topeka. 
Edgar  H.  Thomas,  1907,  State  Normal  School,  Emporia. 

F.  J.  Titt,  B.  S.,  1898,  Kingfisher  Coll.,  Kingfisher,  Okla. 

J.  E.  Todd,  A.  M.,  1907,  professor  of  geology,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

David  Train,  1907,  Bethany  Coll.,  Lindsborg. 

E.  S.  Tucker,  1904,  associate  professor  of  entomology,  Dept.  Agriculture, 
Baton  Rouge,  La. 

W.  H.  Twenhofel,  1910,  professor  of  geology  and  paleontology,  Univ.  of 
Kansas,  Lawrence. 

Edith  M.  Twiss,  Ph.  D.,  1910,  professor  of  botany,  Washburn  Coll.,  To- 
peka. 

W.  A.  Van  Voris,  1907,  State  Normal  School,  Emporia. 

Henry  L.  Viereck,  1913,  entomologist,  Lawrence. 

P.  F.  Walker,  1905,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

J.  D.  Walters,  M.  S.,  1894,  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 

Laurance  A.  Walworth,  1913,  taxidermist,  Baldwin. 

E.  C.  Warfel,  A.  M.,  190?,  lawyer,  Topeka. 

H.  J.  Waters,  B.  Sc,  1909,  president  Agr.  Coll.,  Manhattan. 

E.  R.  Weidlein,  1911,  Univ.  of  Pittsburg,  Pa. 

J.  E.  Welin,  A.  M.,  M.  S.,  1899,  professor  of  chemistry,  Bethany  Coll., 
Lindsborg. 

Archie  J.  Weith,  1906,  636  W.  Twenty-second  st.,  Chicago,  111. 

J.  B.  Whelan,  1909,  professor  of  chemistry,  Univ.  of  Kansas,  Lawrence. 

E.  A.  White,  1909,  chemist,  Kansas  City,  Mo. 

Stanley  D.  Wilson,  B.  A.,  1910,  instructor  in  chemistry,  Univ.  of  Chicago, 
Chicago,  111. 

W.  B.  Wilson,  B.  S.,  M.  S.,  1903,  professor  of  biology,  Ottawa  Univ., 
Ottawa. 

C.  H.  Withington,  B.  S.,  1903,  high  school,  Topeka. 

T.  M.  Wood,  B.  S.,  1909,  instructor,  M.  T.  S.,  Pittsburg. 


10  Ka7isas  Academy  of  Science. 

H.  I.  Woods,  M.  S.,  1902,  professor  physics  and  asti'onomy,  Washburn 

Coll,  Topeka. 
Lyman  C.  Wooster,  Ph.  D.,  1897,  State  Normal  School,  Emporia. 
J.  A.  Yates,  M.  S.,  1897,  geologist,  M.  T.  S.,  Pittsburg. 
C.  C.  Young,  1909,  chemist  State  Water  Survey,  Lawrence. 


SECRETARY'S  MINUTES 

FORTY-SIXTH  ANNUAL  MEETING,  KANSAS  ACADEMY 

OF  SCIENCE. 

J.  T.  LoviowKLL,  Ph.  D.,  Secretarij. 

Baldwin,  Kan.,  Friday,  Dec.  26,  1913. 
The  Academy  met  for  its  forty-sixth  annual  meeting  at 
Baldwin,  Kan.,  in  Science  Hall  of  Baker  University,  and  hav- 
ing come  to  order,  the  president,  A.  J.  Smith,  called  for  the 
secretary's  report  of  the  last  meeting  of  the  Academy.  This 
report  having  been  published  in  the  last  volume  of  the 
Transactions,  its  reading  was  dispensed  with,  and  the  president 
announced  the  standing  committees  of  the  present  meeting  as 
follows : 

Program:    Dains,  Wooster,  Harshbarger. 

Press:    Sayre,  Gronei",  Cook. 

Ajidit :    Shirk,  Knaus. 

Membership:    Agrelius,  Knaus,  Mrs.  Smyth. 

Time  and  Place:    Havenhill,  Miss  Anderson,  Randall. 

Nominations:    Bailey,  Wooster,  McWharf. 

Resolutions:    McWharf,   Sterling. 

The  treasurer's  report,  as  given  below,  was  read;  from 
which  it  appeared  that  there  is  a  balance  in  the  treasury  of 
$900.62.  This  report  was  referred  to  and  approved  by  the 
auditing  committee,  and  adopted  by  the  Academy. 

Treasurer's  Report  to  the  Kansas  Academy  of  Science,  Dec.  26,  1913. 

Receipts: 

Dues    $82 .  00 

Sale  of  Transactions 2 .  08 

Interest  on  deposits 25.17 

Total     $109.25 

Balance  from  1912 818.68 

Total    receipts    $927.93 

Disbursements  : 

Expenses,  Publication  Committee    $7.57 

Expenses  Executive  Committee   4.24 

New  York  Botanical  Gardens    3 .  00 

Standard   Encyclopedia    12 .  50 

Total     27.31 

Total  cash  on  hand  Dec.  26,  1913   $900.62 

Signed,  L.   D.   Havenhill,    Treasurer. 

Approved  December  26,  1913.     J.  A.  G.  Shirk, 

W.  Knaus, 

Auditing  Committee. 

(11) 


12  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 


TITLES  OF  PAPERS. 


Following  are  the  titles  of  papers  in  the  order  received  by  the  Secretary. 
The  time  of  reading  will  be  announced  by  Program  Committee. 

1.  An  Experiment  in  Irrigation.     A.  A.  Graham,  Topeka. 

2.  Frying  Eggs  in  the  Sun.     A.  A.  Graham,  Topeka. 

3.  How  to  Keep  Cool.     A.  A.  Graham,  Topeka. 

4.  How  to  Scratch.     A.  A.  Graham,  Topeka. 

5.  How  to  Relieve  Stomach-burn.     A.  A.  Graham,  Topeka. 

6.  Phenomena  Beautiful.    W.  A.  Cook,  Baldwin. 

7.  Lowering  of  the  Ground-water  Level.    W.  A.  Cook,  Baldwin. 

8.  A  Graphic  Method  of  Determining  Food  Values  for  Different  Food- 

stuffs.    D.  L.  Randall,  Baldwin. 

9.  On  Ammonium  Molybdate.     D.  L.  Randall,  Baldwin. 

10.  An  Exhibition  of  Folley's  Photographs  of  Sound  Waves.     S.  A.  Deel, 

Baldwin. 

11.  A  Description  of  the  New  Waterworks  for  Baldwin  City.     S.  A.  Deel, 

Baldwin. 

12.  Some  of  the  Exhibits  in  the  University  Museum.     C.  S.  Parmenter, 

Baldwin. 

13.  Improvement  in  the  Commercial  Supply  of  Spices  and  the  Cause  for 

the  same.     L.  E.  Sayre,  Lawrence. 

14.  Corn  Oil  as  a  Substitute  for  Olive  Oil  and  Cottonseed  Oil  in  Certain 

Preparations.     L.  E.  Sayre,  Lawrence. 

15.  Glacial  Epoch :    A  Discussion  of  Theories  of  Scientists — What  Are 

the   Critical    Periods   of  the   Earth,   and   Why   Do    They    Occur? 
A.  B.  Reagan,  Orr,  Minn. 

16.  A  New  Automatic  Electric  Bell  System.     J.  A.  G.  Shirk,  Pittsburg. 

17.  On  Some  Thiohydantoin  Derivatives.    F.  B,  Dains  and  A.  E.  Steven- 

son, Lawrence. 

18.  The  Action  of  Acid  Reagents  on  Substituted  Ureas.    F.  B.  Dains  and 

R.  C.  Roberts,  Lawrence. 

19.  "Witching"  for  Water  and  Other  Substances.    J,  T.  Lovewell,  Topeka. 

20.  Determination  and  Records  of  Insects  Collected  at  Piano,  Tex.     E.  S. 

Tucker,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

21.  Progress  in  Power  Development  in  the  Last  Decade.     F.  E.  Sibley, 

Lawrence. 

22.  Flora  of  Kansas— Part  III.     L.  C.  R.  Smyth,  Topeka. 

23.  Vocational  Education  in  Kansas.     Dean  P.  F.  Walker,  School. of  En- 

gineei'ing,  University  of  Kansas. 

24.  Osmosis  as  a  Chemical  Phenomenon.     Prof.  C.  F.  Nelson,  University 

of  Kansas. 

25.  The  Source  of  Food  Supplies.     Prof.  E.  H.  S.  Bailey,  University  of 

Kansas. 


Forty-sixth  Animal  Meeting.  13 

26.  Animal   Life  in   Puget   Sound.     W.   J.   Baumgartner,   University  of 

Kansas. 

27.  The  Composition  of  Natural  Gas  Occurring  near  Junction  City,  Kan- 

sas.    H.  H.  King,  Manhattan. 

28.  Insects  in  Western  Kansas.     W.  Knaus,  McPherson. 

29.  Insects  Among  the  Sand  Hills.     W.  Knaus,  McPherson. 

30.  Geological  Development  of  Kansas.     L.  C.  Wooster,  Emporia. 

31.  Determination  of  Acetic  Acid  in  Vinegar.     Miss  Anderson,  Lawrence. 

32.  Weed  Seed.     L.  D.  Havenhill,  Lawrence. 

33.  Preservation  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Sheep.     Mr.  Walworth. 

34.  Acidity  in  Wheat  Flour.     Its  Relation  to  Phosphorus  and  Other  Con- 

stituents.    C.  C.  Swenson,  Manhattan. 

35.  Preliminary  Study  of  the  Conditions  which  Affect  the  Analytic  En- 

zymes in  Wheat  Flour.     C.  C.  Swenson,  Manhattan. 


Professor  Sayre  called  attention  to  the  importance  of  a 
strong  legislative  committee  who  should  also  look  after  the 
Academy's  interests  in  the  Memorial  Building.  On  motion, 
Sayre,  Bailey,  and  Knaus  were  appointed  as  such  committee, 
A  lecture  on  University  Extension  was  next  given  by  Professor 
Croissant,  and  on  motion  of  Professor  Sayre  the  secretary  was 
requested  to  prepare  a  report  of  this  lecture  to  publish  in  the 
Transactions. 

The  Academy  next  proceeded  to  the  reading  and  discussion 
of  papers.  The  Program  Committee  selected  from  the  pub- 
lished numerical  list  of  titles  the  following  papers,  which  were 
next  read  and  discussed:  Nos.  7,  8,  9,  10,  13,  14,  17,  18,  25, 
28,  29,  31,  and  35. 

The  reading  of  these  papers  introduced  some  interesting 
discussion,  which  was  enjoyed  and  occupied  the  Academy  till 
time  to  adjourn  for  the  evening  session. 


EVENING  SESSION. 

The  address  of  the  retiring  President,  A.  J.  Smith,  was  read 
by  its  author,  and  then  followed  a  lecture  on  The  Early  His- 
tory of  Explosives,  by  Dr.  F.  B.  Dains.  This  was  historical, 
and  was  illustrated  by  many  lantern  projections  showing  how 
the  old  methods  of  hurling  projectiles  had  been  supplanted  by 
the  use  of  gunpowder.  President  Smith's  subject  was  Prog- 
ress in  Sanitary  Engineering  Practice.  Both  of  these  able 
productions  were  listened  to  with  marked  interest. 

Professor  Randall  announced  that  a  stenographer  had  been 
secured,  who  would  be  on  hand  in  the  morning  to  make  a  full 


14  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

record  of  discussions  on  the  papers.     The  session  adjourned 
till  9  o'clock  to-morrow  morning. 

When  the  Academy  assembled  at  the  appointed  hour  the 
Committee  on  Time  and  Place  announced  that  Topeka  would 
be  the  place  of  our  next  meeting,  and  the  time  would  be  deter- 
mined after  the  question  had  been  settled  whether  the  Academy 
should  merge  with  the  Engineers.  Professor  Willard,  taking 
up  the  discussion  of  this  report,  thought  this  was  a  matter 
of  great  importance.  First,  while  there  are  ten  times  as  many 
people  engaged  in  scientific  work  as  there  were  thirty  years 
ago  our  membership  has  not  correspondingly  increased.  Why 
are  they  not  here?  The  dates  of  our  meetings  must  be  ar- 
ranged so  that  they  can  come.  Running  around  over  the  state 
is  not  conducive  to  the  strongest  membership.  We  must  bring 
younger  people  into  our  meetings.  There  is  a  tendency  to 
specialization.  Our  institutions  have  science  clubs,  but  there 
is  never  a  time  when  all  departments  of  science  are  repre- 
sented. We  do  not  come  here  mainly  to  hear  and  read  papers, 
but  primarily  to  get  acquainted.  The  most  important  thing 
now  is  to  secure  a  good  meeting  at  Topeka  next  year. 

Professor  Wooster  thought  that  while  this  is  an  age  of  spe- 
cialization we  can't  be  good  specialists  unless  we  keep  in  touch 
with  the  rest  of  the  world.  There  are  general  phases  in  the 
work  which  affect  each  one  of  us.  Authors  of  papers  should 
prepare  abstracts  giving  the  points  which  are  of  interest  to 
all  of  us.  Most  of  us  would  like  to  have  our  papers  published 
immediately.  The  time  before  they  appear  in  the  Transac- 
tions is  too  long.  In  regard  to  time  it  would  be  better  to  get 
away  from  the  holiday  season.  We  should  have  a  tim.e  when 
we  can  have  excursions.  Professor  Dains  thought  Topeka  the 
most  satisfactory  place  to  meet,  and  we  must  make  vigorous 
effort  to  get  people  out. 

Professor  Shirk  is  very  much  interested  in  the  proposed 
union  with  the  Engineers,  and  said  they  would  like  the  date 
of  the  annual  meeting  sometime  in  February.  The  holiday 
season  is  not  the  best  time  for  all  concerned.  Each  of  the 
different  sections  must  have  some  one  to  push  it.  Professor 
Cook  thinks  the  holiday  season  is  bad  for  then  is  the  time  when 
people  go  visiting.  It  is  too  near  the  time  of  other  important 
meetings  which  many  of  us  wish  to  attend.  President  Smith 
said  that  from  the  discussion  we  can  get  an  idea  of  the  senti- 
ment.   It  is  impossible  to  arrange  a  time  that  will  suit  every 


Forty-sixth  Annual  Meeting.  15 

one,  and  each  will  find  it  necessary  to  make  sacrifices.  Pro- 
fessor Bailey  presented  the  following  report  from  the  com- 
mittee on  the  proposed  merger  with  the  Engineers,  which,  on 
motion,  was  adopted : 

REPORT  OF  COMMITTEE  ON   A   MERGER  WITH  THE   KANSAS 
ENGINEERING  SOCIETY. 
Your  committee,  in  considering  the  question  of  a  possible  merger  with 
the  Kansas  Engineering  Society,  would  I'ecommend: 

1.  That  the  present  funds  of  the  Academy,  including  the  receipts  of 
the  current  year,  be  set  aside  as  a  fund  in  trust  for  the  following  specific 
purposes : 

a.  Necessary  additional  furniture  for  rooms. 

b.  Additions  to  library. 

c.  Publicity  for  the  Academy. 

d.  Procuring  speaker  for  Memorial  Hall  dedication. 

e.  Other  necessary  expenses  for  the  furthering  of  the  objects  of  the 

Academy  as  it  now  exists. 

2.  We  further  recommend  that  a  bonded  trustee  be  appointed,  who,  in 
conjunction  with  the  president,  secretary  and  treasurer,  shall  be  charged 
with  the  expenditures  of  this  fund,  as  above  indicated. 

3.  We  further  i-ecommend  that  on  the  completion  of  this  merger  a 
new  general  fund  be  created  for  the  joint  benefit  of  the  merged  societies, 
if  effected,  consisting  of  the  two  affiliated  organizations. 

4.  That  we  instruct  the  Executive  Council  to  take  all  necessary  steps 
toward  furthering  this  merger,  to  bring  about  the  broader  usefulness  of 
this  Academy. 

5.  That  if  the  Engineering  Society  desires  to  merge  with  the  Academy 
of  Science,  we  instruct  the  Executive  Council  to  extend  to  it  an  invitation 
on  the  above  conditions. 

6.  We  recommend  the  appointment  of  a  committee  of  three  on  pub- 
licity, of  which  Secretary  Lovewell  shall  be  one,  whose  duty  it  shall  be  to 
promote  the  interests  of  the  Academy  by  publicity,  and  that  the  sum  of 
$50  be  appropriated  for  the  purposes  of  the  committee. 

(Signed)  L.   E.   Sayre. 

W.  Knaus. 
E.  H.  S.  Bailey. 

Secretary  Lovewell  read  the  report  of  the  Committee  on 
Merger  made  at  the  meeting  one  year  ago. 

P.  F.  Walker:  I  make  a  motion  that  a  committee  be  appointed  to  con- 
sider the  questions  which  have  been  discussed  here  this  morning,  and  to 
report  this  afternoon;  the  committee  to  be  appointed  by  the  chair. 

The  motion  was  seconded  and  carried. 

Committee  appointed:  P.  F.  Walker,  J.  T.  Willard,  J.  A.  G. 
Shirk. 


16  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

E.  H.  S.  Bailey  presented  the  report  for  the  Committee  on 
Dedication  of  Memorial  Hall. 

A  motion  to  adopt  the  report  was  made  and  seconded. 

DISCUSSION. 

Secretary  Lovewell:  In  regard  to  name  of  the  speaker:  We  have 
two  distinguished  members  of  the  Academy,  Doctor  Wilson  and  Doctor 
Nichols,  either  of  whom  would  be  desirable.  I  must  say  that  I  prefer 
the  selection  of  the  committee.  If  Doctor  Nichols  should  be  selected  I  do 
not  believe  we  could  do  better. 

The  question  was  put  and  carried. 

Secretary  Lovewell:  Report  on  obituaries:  I  have  previously  re- 
ported four,  and  there  is  nothing  further  to  report. 

Report  of  Nominating  Committee : 

Officers:  President,  W.  A.  Harshbarger,  Topeka;  first  vice  president, 
J.  A.  G.  Shirk,  Pittsburg;  second  vice  president,  J.  E.  Todd;  treasurer, 
L.  D.  Havenhill,  Lawrence;  secretary,  J.  T.  Lovewell,  Topeka. 

Additional  members  of  Executive  Council:  E.  H.  S.  Bailey,  F.  B. 
Dains.  L.  C.  Wooster,  J.  T.  Willard. 

Motion  was  made  to  accept  the  report  of  this  committee. 
Seconded.    Carried. 

Motion  was  made  that  the  secretary  be  instructed  to  cast  a 
ballot  for  these  candidates.  Seconded.  Carried.  Secretary 
was  so  instructed  and  reported  the  ballot  cast  and  the  officers 
and  members  of  the  Executive  Council  duly  elected. 

L.  E.  Sayre  read  report  on  Publicity,  for  Committee  on 
Publicity.     Motion  made  to  adopt  report.     Carried. 

There  being  no  further  business  before  the  meeting,  the 
time  was  given  to  the  reading  and  discussion  of  papers  as 
follows : 

Paper  No.  36,  Weed  Seed,  by  L.  D.  Havenhill,  Lawrence. 

Exhibits  were  presented  and  a  few  questions  asked. 

Paper  No.  11,  A  Description  of  the  New  Waterworks  for 
Baldwin  City,  by  S.  A.  Deel,  Baldwin. 

Charts  were  used  for  this,  and  the  paper  was  followed  by 
discussions  as  to  the  permanency  of  the  water  supply. 

J.  T.  Willard:  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  there  will  be  very  little  let 
up  of  the  water  supply. 

J.  A.  G.  Shirk:  We  have  been  doing  a  little  figuring,  and  estimate 
that  the  rainfall  averages  about  three  million  gallons  per  day  for  the 
year,  on  the  area  described. 

E.  H.  S.  Bailey:  In  regard  to  the  quality,  this  is  one  of  the  very  best 
waters  in  the  state.  There  are  very  few  localities  where  we  have  this 
sandstone  water,  and  sandstone  water  is  especially  good.  In  regard  to 
the  drainage  area,  are  there  many  farms? 


Forty-sixth  Annual  Meeting.  17 

S.  A.  Deel:  There  are  nine  farms,  but  only  one  that  would  be  at  all 
dangerous  because  of  drainage. 

President  Smith:  I  believe  that  the  arrangement  will  fail  after  a 
few  years.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  this  1300  acres  is  all  going  to 
take  up  rain  water  and  that  all  the  rain  water  which  it  does  take  up  will 
run  down  to  the  filter  wells.  When  the  water  that  is  already  stored  in 
the  sandstone  is  drawn  out  the  supply  is  going  to  fail. 

W.  A.  Cook  :  Indications  are  that  the  land  all  drains  through  a  point 
where  the  filter  galleries  are  located. 

President  Smith:  From  other  experiments  in  other  places,  notably  in 
California,  such  supplies  always  fail. 

Paper  No.  10,  An  Exhibition  of  Folley's  Photographs  of 
Sound  Waves,  by  S.  A.  Deel,  Baldwin. 

This  was  given  with  the  lantern,  and  no  discussion  followed. 

Motion  was  made  to  fix  the  time  of  adjournment  at  12:30, 
which  was  carried. 

Motion  was  made  to  present  papers  by  authors  not  present 
by  title  and  refer  to  Committee  on  Publication. 

Paper  No.  6,  Phenomena  Beautiful,  by  W.  A.  Cook,  Baldwin. 

discussion. 

L.  E.  Sayre:  The  speaker  has  been  able  to  see  thirty  miles  in  the  dis- 
tance. I  should  like  to  ask  whether  on  shipboard,  for  example,  where 
you  have  no  obstruction,  is  not  the  range  of  vision  about  fifteen  miles? 
Ordinarily  it  is  impossible  to  see  beyond  fifteen  miles.  The  distance  in 
this  case  is  doubled.     This  is  due,  of  course,  to  the  refraction. 

F.  E.  Sibley:  From  the  shore  of  Lake  Erie  I  have  been  able  to  see  a 
town  sixty  miles  away  across  the  lake,  the  city  appearing  upside  down. 

Miss  MEEKEat:    Asks  as  to  time  of  year  affecting  the  mirage. 

W.  A.  Cook  :    They  may  be  seen  at  all  times  of  the  year. 

J.  A.  G.  Shirk:  In  Texas  and  eastern  New  Mexico,  in  the  middle  of 
the  summer  after  a  heavy  rainfall  when  the  low  places  are  filled  with 
water,  it  is  hard  to  tell  the  mirages  from  the  real  pools. 

:    In  Arizona  I  have  seen  lakes  of  water  reflected  from  at  least 

twenty-five  to  thirty  miles  from  the  Colorado  river,  or  it  may  have  been 
a  reflection  from  Salton  Sea.  In  regard  to  this  halo  about  the  moon,  I 
made  a  diagram  o:  the  phenomena  as  I  saw  it,  only  I  think  it  was  a  halo 
around  the  sun  instead  of  the  moon.  There  was  a  large  halo,  with 
smaller  halos  on  each  side. 

Preisdent  Smith:  In  regard  to  Salton  Sea,  I  have  also  seen  this 
phenomenon.  When  we  finally  came  to  the  sea  itself  it  looked  just  as  it 
had  looked  in  the  mirage.  We  could  not  tell  which  was  which  until  we 
got  within  about  one  hundred  feet  of  it. 

Paper  No.  27,  The  Composition  of  Natural  Gas  Occurring 
Near  Junction  City,  Kan.,  by  H.  H.  King,  Manhattan. 
—2 


18  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

DISCUSSION. 

F.  B.  Dains:  Asks  concerning  amount  of  carbon  dioxide  in  the  three 
samples.     (Mr.  King  reports  same  in  all  three.) 

E.  H.  S.  Bailey:  The  percentage  of  methylene  is  remarlvably  low. 
The  percentage  of  nitrogen  is  high.  From  analysis  obtained  in  the  South 
we  find  that  the  illuminating  percentage  of  metnylcne  is  gradually  dimin- 
ishing.    The  oxygen  does  not  increase.     CO2  increases. 


MINUTES  FOR  AFTERNOON  SESSION. 

December  27,  1913. 
Session  opened  at  1 :45  by  Pres.  A.  J.  Smith. 
P.  F.  Walker  offers  resolution  on  organization. 
Motion  made  and  seconded  to  adopt.     Carried. 

discussion. 

Mr.  Walker:  This  was  not  arranged  especially  in  the  interest  of 
chemists  and  physicists.  We  have  intended  that  this  resolution  should  be 
entirely  general,  with  the  provision  that  there  will  be  at  least  one  general 
session  of  the  Academy. 

E.  H.  S.  Bailey:  Does  this  contemplate  having  a  separate  chairman 
for  each  division? 

Mr.  Walker:    It  does. 

Mr.  Bailey:  I  think  this  will  stimulate  the  men  in  the  different  lines 
to  write  papers  and  take  an  interest  in  the  meeting.  If  we  can  in  this 
way  concentrate  the  efforts  I  think  it  will  advance  the  interests  of  the 
Academy  very  much. 

Question  put,  and  carried. 

The  following  papers  were  presented  by  title : 

No.  15,  Glacial  Epoch:  A  Discussion  of  Theories  of  Scien- 
tists— What  are  the  Critical  Periods  of  the  Earth,  and  Why 
do  They  Occur?  by  A.  B.  Reagan,  Orr,  Minn. 

No.  20,  Determinations  and  Records  of  Insects  Collected  at 
Piano,  Tex.    E.  S.  Tucker,  Baton  Rouge,  La. 

No.  24,  Osmosis  as  a  Chemical  Phenomenon.  Prof.  C.  F. 
Nelson,  University  of  Kansas. 

No.  26.  Animal  Life  in  Puget  Sound.  W.  J.  Baumgartner, 
University  of  Kansas. 

Motion  made  by  P.  F.  Walker  that  a  committee  be  appointed 
by  the  president,  of  which  the  retiring  president  be  the  chair- 
man, to  confer  with  the  Engineering  Society  at  their  next 
meeting  and  discuss  with  them  plans  for  the  aflSliation  of  their 
society  with  the  Academy  of  Science. 

Seconded.     Carried. 

Committee  appointed:  A.  J.  Smith,  W.  A.  Harshbarger, 
P.  F.  Walker. 


Fortij-,^i.vth  Ainnial  Meeting.  19 

Membership  Committee  reports  two  names.  Motion  made 
to  accept  report  and  that  the  secretary-  be  instructed  to  cast 
a  ballot  for  the  new  members.  The  secretary  reported  ballot 
cast  and  new  members  duly  elected. 

L.  C.  Wooster  raises  a  question  as  to  those  who  do  not  pay 
their  membership  dues. 

Secretary  Lovewell:  All  those  who  have  not  paid  tlieii'  dues  have 
been  and  will  be  notified.  Some  pay  and  some  do  not  pay.  In  regard  to 
that  matter  I  will  say  that  the  dues  are  payable  in  advance  at  the  begin- 
ning of  each  year,  but  it  has  been  the  custom  recently  for  a  good  many  to 
postpone  payment  of  dues  until  the  end  of  the  year.  I  think  that  is  the 
practice  of  the  majority  at  this  time.  There  is  a  ruling  under  which  I 
do  not  send  out  the  Transactions  to  those  who  have  not  paid.  The  mem- 
bers of  the  Academy  not  paying  their  dues  will  not  receive  a  copy  of  the 
repoi'ts.  The  paper-covered  reports  were  sent  to  all  members,  but  the 
cloth-covered  volumes  will  not  be  sent  to  those  who  have  not  paid  their 
ilues.  There  is  another  ruling  in  regard  to  the  proceedings  of  the  annual 
meeting,  and  that  is  that  abstracts  be  presented  of  all  papers,  but  that 
rule  has  not  been  followed. 

L.  E.  Sayre  moved  that  the  action  of  the  secretary  be  ap- 
proved. 

Seconded.     Carried. 

Paper  23,  Vocational  Education  in  Kansas,  by  P.  F.  Walker, 
School  of  Engineering,  University  of  Kansas. 

Discussion  omitted  because  of  lack  of  time. 

Paper  38,  The  Preservation  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  Sheep, 
by  Mr.  Walworth. 

Paper  21,  Progress  in  Power  Development  in  the  Last  Dec- 
ade, by  F.  E.  Sibley,  Lawrence. 

Mr.  Sibley  concluded  his  paper  by  stating:  "It  is  not  a 
question  of  what  shall  we  do  for  power,  but  will  we  have  brains 
enough  to  develop  the  power  we  have. 

Paper  19,  "Witching"  for  Water  and  Other  Substances,  by 
•I.  T.  Lovewell,  Topeka. 

DISCUSSION. 

Mr.  Lovewell:  There  has  been  considerable  investigation  made  and 
t'.e  conclusion  has  been  that  when  the  experiments  were  properly  con- 
ducted there  was  nothing  to  warrant  us  to  believe  that  there  was  any 
'.ivination  to  locate  water.  The  experiment  shows  that  people  are  pre- 
disposed to  accept  things  as  proved  which  are  not  proved,  which  are 
really  mere  chance.  Some  claim  that  the  method  will  not  answer  unless 
there  is  a  stream  of  water,  not  merely  the  water  in  the  strata.  If  the 
water  has  an  affinity  for  the  twig,  how  about  snow?  It  is  claimed  that 
it  applies  just  as  well  then  as  at  any  time.     But  the  question  is,  does  it 


20  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

apply  at  any  time?  I  think  we  shall  find  it  is  on  a  par  with  table  tipping, 
the  clairvoyant,  and  others  of  the  same  nature.  There  is  a  great  deal  of 
superstition  in  the  human  mind  that  likes  to  explain  things  by  applying 
some  mysterious  force.  There  is  much  to  be  said,  which  I  hardly  con- 
sider worth  the  consideration  of  a  scientific  body,  only  that  so  many 
people  believe  it. 

S.  A.  Deel:  The  value  given  for  methylene  is  45  pounds  per  cubic  foot, 
according  to  the  Smithsonian  report.  We  find  the  gas  in  the  pipes  here 
is  much  heavier,  running  about  47  pounds  per  cubic  foot. 

E.  H.  S.  Bailey:  It  is  repeatedly  asserted  that  air  is  mixed  with  the 
gas,  but  from  repeated  analyses  this  has  not  been  found  so. 

P.  F.  Walker:  With  the  existing  rock  pressure  on  the  gas  as  it  comes 
from  the  ground,  it  would  be  more  expensive  for  the  gas  companies  to 
pump  air  into  the  pipes  than  to  use  the  gas,  and  also  very  dangerous. 

Motion  made  that  when  we  adjourn,  we  adjourn  to  1 :45 
P.  M.,  and  to  fix  the  hour  for  adjourning  the  afternoon  session 
at  3  :45.     Carried. 

The  Committee  on  Membership  reported  the  following  ap- 
plications and  moved  that  they  be  admitted  to  membership : 

H.  A.  Horton,  entomologist,  McPherson  College. 
Miss  Agnes  Anderson,  chemist,  Lawrence. 
J.  Risser,  zoologist,  Washburn  College,  Topeka. 

Eugene  G.  Smyth,  entomologist,  Ensenada,  Porto  Rico  (for  life 
member). 

Henry  L.  Viereck,  entomologist,  Lawrence,  Kan. 

Bennet  M.  Allen,  professor  of  zoology,  Lawrence,  Kan. 

Laurance  A.  Walworth,  taxidermist,  Baldwin,  Kan. 

S.  A.  Deel,  professor  of  physics,  Baker  University,  Baldwin. 

C.  F.  Nelson,  physiological  chemist,  Lawrence. 

L.  T.  Reser,  professor  of  botany.  Baker  University,  Baldwin. 

On  motion,  the  rules  were  suspended  and  the  secretary  re- 
quested to  cast  the  ballot  admitting  to  membership  the  persons 
above  named.  The  secretary  reported  the  ballot  cast  and 
motion  carried. 


RESOLUTION  ON  ORGANIZATION. 

Resolved,  That  in  order  to  advance  the  work  of  the  Academy  and  pro- 
mote the  active  interest  of  science  workers  in  specialized  lines,  sections  in 
various  branches  be  formed  from  among  the  membership,  the  basis  for 
such  organization  being  as  follows: 

1.  A  section  may  be  formed  when  not  less  than  eight  members  so 
request. 

2.  Papers  which  bear  directly  upon  the  line  of  work  represented  by 
any  section  shall,  at  the  option  of  the  Executive  Council,  be  presented 
before  that  section;  provision  for  the  separate  section  meetings  to  be 
made  at  each  regular  meeting  of  the  Academy, 


Forty-si.rth  Annual  Meeting.  21 

3.  Each  section  shall  elect  its  chairman,  who  shall  be  a  vice  president 
of  the  Academy,  and  other  officers  as  it  may  desire. 

4.  Each  section  is  expected  to  make  special  effort  to  secure  papers  for 
its  own  meeting. 

5.  Each  section  may  take  such  action  as  it  may  see  fit  to  raise  funds 
to  further  its  own  work,  this  to  be  in  addition  to  the  regular  dues  of  the 
Academy. 

6.  These  provisions  contemplate  the  holding  of  at  least  one  general 
session  for  the  reading  of  papers  of  general  interest  at  each  annual 
meeting  of  the  Academy. 

Submitted  by:  P.F.Walker. 

J.  T.  WiLLARD. 

J.  A.  G.  Shirk. 

Adopted. 

President  Smith  appointed  as  a  Committee  on  Publicity,  in 
accordance  with  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Merger,  J.  T. 
Lovewell,  L.  E.  Sayre,  W.  A.  Harshbarger. 

Paper  28,  Sandhill  Collecting  in  Coleoptera  in  Reno  county, 
by  W.  Knauss,  McPherson. 

Discussion  (general  on  last  four  papers). 

Mr.  Wooster:  Estimates  made  concerning  rainfall  show  that  there 
is  ^IVz  cubic  miles  each  year,  on  an  average.  One-half  of  that  flies  off 
in  evaporation.  One-third  runs  off  and  comes  out  as  springs.  One- 
sixth,  only,  soaks  in.  So  of  that  three  million  gallons,  only  about  500,000 
gallons  soak  in.  There  are  under  Kansas  about  forty  years  of  rainfall, 
and  from  that  you  can  figure  your  water  supply. 

P.  F.  Walker  moved  that  the  Executive  Council  be  given 
power  to  make  such  expenditures  as  appear  to  be  necessary 
for  the  proper  furnishing  of  the  rooms  in  the  new  building  at 
Topeka. 

Seconded.    Carried. 

Secretary  Lovewell  was  instructed  by  the  Academy  to  look 
after  the  wiring  in  the  new  building  for  the  use  of  a  lantern. 

Meeting  was  adjourned  to  meet  at  time  and  place  as  ar- 
ranged by  Executive  Council. 


22  Kansas  Academij  of  Science. 


ADDRESS  OF  RETIRING  PRESIDENT. 


PROGRESS  IN  SANITARY   ENGINEERING   PRACTICE. 

By  Alva  J.  Smith. 

FIFTY  years  ago  there  was  no  class  of  men  devoting  their 
entire  time  and  attention  to  the  subject  of  sanitation. 
Engineering-  covered  such  a  broad  and  indefinite  field  that  little, 
was  accomplished  along  the  lines  of  what  is  now  sanitary 
engineering.  In  1828  civil  engineering  was  described  as  the 
art  of  directing  the  great  sources  of  power  in  nature  for  the 
use  and  convenience  of  man.  Then  the  practice  of  the  civil 
engineer  might  cover  most  of  the  numerous  subjects  now 
classed  under  the  six  widely  distinct  departments  of  engineer- 
ing— mechanical,  mining,  marine,  sanitary,  chemical,  and 
electric.  But  there  were  philanthropists  and  public-spirited 
men  interested  in  the  public-health  questions  who  strove  to 
better  the  condition  of  their  fellow  men,  to  lower  the  death 
rate  of  the  community,  and  to  inculate  into  the  minds  of  the 
people  the  wise  saying  of  Benjamin  Franklin  that  "Public 
health  is  public  wealth,"  and  that  of  John  Wesley  that  "Clean- 
liness is  next  to  godliness."  Specialization  in  matters  per- 
taining to  sanitation  gradually  set  in,  however,  until  there 
developed  a  new  class  of  individuals  in  sanitary  affairs, 
namely,  sanitary  engineers  and  inspectors  and  health  officers, 
whose  efficient  and  praiseworthy  efforts  have  been  a  promi- 
nent factor  in  giving  us  the  high  standard  that  is  held  to-day 
in  sanitary  aifairs.  Sanitary  engineering  is  now  a  profession 
concerned  with  matters  pertaining  to  public  health.  Since 
pure  food,  pure  water  and  pure  air  are  essential  to  public 
health  the  sanitary  engineer  busies  himself  mostly  with  the 
design,  construction  and  inspection  of  the  two  systems  so 
vitally  important  to  every  community:  first,  for  furnishing 
an  abundance  of  pure  water,  and,  second,  for  the  sanitary 
disposal  of  sewage. 

Before  noting  the  great  strides  that  have  been  made  since 
sanitary  engineering  became  a  profession,  let  us  consider  the 
real  beginning  of  its  development.  We  find  it  almost  lost  in 
antiquity.  "It  always  has  been  and  always  will  be  an  art  to 
preserve  health  and  ward  off  disease,"  says  Seneca  Egbert, 


Forty-sixth  Annual  Meeting.  23 

in  his  book  on  Hygiene  and  Sanitation.  Hippocrates,  about  400 
B.  c.  in  his  treatise  on  Air,  Water,  and  Places,  defined  the  prin- 
ciples of  public  health  or  sanitation,  and  summed  up  the  knowl- 
edge of  his  day  on  the  subject.  The  excellence  of  the  Mosaic 
code  of  the  Hebrews  is  acknowledged  by  all  sanitary  authori- 
ties, and  in  the  comparative  longevity  of  the  race  we  see  its 
effect.  Therefore  the  present  may  be  said  to  be  a  second  advent 
of  sanitary  engineering  as  a  profession,  for  the  importance 
of  sanitary  problems  was  recognized  very  early  in  the  history 
of  man. 

In  Egypt  artificial  lakes  were  made  to  provide  an  adequate 
supply  of  water  in  places  where  the  natural  supply  from  the 
Nile  was  insufficient.  Remains  of  gigantic  water  basins  have 
been  found  in  Peru  and  Mexico.  In  Ceylon  there  is  found  the 
remains  of  a  great  artificial  lake  40  miles  in  circumference. 

Necessity  drove  the  ancient  Mound  Builders  of  Yucatan  to 
dig  hundreds  of  wells  as  sources  of  water  supply,  some  of 
which  were  of  large  dimensions.  In  one  case  a  winding 
passageway  1400  feet  long  led  to  a  supply  of  water  at  a  depth 
of  450  feet.  Many  of  their  wells  were  constructed  the  shape 
of  our  modern  cisterns,  i.  e.,  with  a  small  opening  at  the  top, 
a  form  favorable  to  resisting  contamination.  From  the  num- 
ber of  wells  constructed  in  this  form  one  is  induced  to  believe 
that  the  builder's  purpose  was  to  protect  the  quality  of  the 
water. 

About  312  B.  c.  the  early  Greeks  and  Romans  met  our  prob- 
lem of  supplying  the  people  with  water  of  sufficient  quality 
and  quantity,  and  considered  it  a  problem  of  importance. 
They  were  compelled  by  the  demand  for  more  and  better  water 
to  abandon  their  wells  and  construct  their  great  systems  of 
aqueducts.  These  aqueducts  are  masonry  conduits  from  two 
to  eight  feet  in  diameter,  constructed  in  tunnels  through  the 
hills  and  on  series  of  arches  over  the  valleys  for  hundreds  of 
miles.  It  was  here  that  municipal  water  supply  reached  its 
zenith  as  to  quantity.  The  first  great  aqueduct  supplied  Rome 
with  pure  water  drawn  from  a  distant  mountain.  At  the  end 
of  the  first  century  A.  D.  Rome  had  14  aqueducts  supplying 
375,000,000  gallons,  or  about  300  gallons  per  capita,  daily. 
This  water  was  mostly  supplied  through  public  fountains  to 
which  the  people  came  in  great  numbers ;  however,  some  of 
the  houses  had  direct  connection  with  the  aqueducts  through 
lead  pipes. 


24  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

Two  thousand  years  later  Emporia  built  a  waterworks 
wherein  the  purification  process  is  sedimentation  and  a  treat- 
ment with  alum,  instead  of  sedimentation  and  a  treatment 
with  salt  as  was  the  method  of  the  Romans;  the  only  ap- 
parent progress  in  the  method  of  treatment  in  2000  years  in 
this  case  being  a  substitution  of  alum  for  salt. 

If  the  Romans  had  to  vote  bonds  to  build  their  waterworks, 
there  is  no  record  of  the  usual  fight  against  the  proposition. 
Neither  are  we  told  who  was  the  Doctor  Crumbine  of  that  day 
who  insisted  that  such  a  system  be  installed. 

Paris  and  Lyons  in  France,  Metz  in  Germany,  and  Segova 
and  Seville  in  Spain  were  well  supplied  with  water  at  about 
the  time  the  Roman  aqueducts  were  built. 

Wells  -were  constructed  by  the  Chinese  at  a  very  early  date. 
These  wells  were  often  very  deep  and  some  were  sunk  through 
solid  rock. 

Among  the  ruins  of  nearly  all  large  cities  of  ancient  civiliza- 
tion are  found  remains  of  both  tile  and  masonry  sewers.  The 
oldest  sewers  of  which  I  have  found  any  record  were  built  by 
the  Assyrians  about  900  B.  c.  These  sewers  were  constructed 
of  stone  masonry  with  flat  bottoms  and  arched  roofs.  One 
of  the  earliest  applications  of  the  principle  of  the  arch  to 
structural  purposes  is  found  in  these  Assyrian-  sewers. 

Some  of  the  great  sewers  of  ancient  Rome  were  built  700 
years  B.  c.  and  are  in  such  a  good  state  of  preservation  that 
they  are  still  in  use  after  a  lapse  of  2600  years. 

It  is  evident  that  the  ancient  Greek,  Roman  and  Assyrian 
engineers  were  not  only  proficient  in  accuracy,  with  ability 
to  plan  enduring  construction  work,  but  they  had  developed 
engineering  science  to  a  point  where  considerable  efficiency 
in  the  matter  of  sanitation  was  reached.  Roman  engineers 
especially  had  at  this  early  date  developed  some  excellent  and 
systematic  sanitary  engineering  methods. 

For  a  thousand  years  following  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Em- 
pire, 476  A.  D.,  sanitary  engineering,  with  other  branches  of 
science,  suffered  great  degeneracy.  As  a  result  of  neglecting 
sanitary  precautions  through  the  Dark  Ages  following,  impure 
water  supplies  contaminated  by  accumulations  of  filth  pre- 
dominated, resulting  in  the  prevalence  of  disease  and  pesti- 
lence throughout  the  period.  The  neglect  of  their  great  sys- 
tem of  drains  was  so  complete  during  this  period  that  some  of 


Forty-sixth  Annual  Meeting.  25 

them  became  filled  up  and  the  people  actually  forgot  what  they 
were  for. 

In  the  eighteenth  century  the  subject  of  sanitation  was 
revived  and  again  brought  before  the  people.  In  a  monograph 
entitled  "A  New  Method  of  Purifying  Water  by  Ascent,"  is- 
sued by  James  Peacock  in  1793,  we  have  the  first  published  ac- 
count of  a  water  filter.  This  filter  was  constructed  of  sani 
and  gravel,  much  as  filters  are  made  to-day,  and  its  operation 
was  much  the  same,  excepting  that  the  water  passed  through 
the  filter  from  bottom  to  top  instead  of  descending  through 
it  as  is  customary  at  this  time.  The  filter  was  washed  by 
reversing  the  flow  of  the  water  through  it. 

This  filter  may  have  operated  fairly  well  on  English  waters, 
but  could  not  have  been  long  successful  if  applied  to  the  highly 
turbid  waters  of  our  Kansas  streams.  However,  this  little 
publication  proves  that  the  principles  of  water  filtration  were 
being  carefully  studied  at  that  early  date  and  that  considerable 
progress  had  been  made  in  developing  the  practical  features 
of  the  process. 

Even  before  this  date  development  in  other  lines  of  water- 
works improvement  had  begun.  A  system  of  waterworks  was 
built  in  Boston  in  1652,  and  improvements  were  made  in  the 
London  and  Paris  waterworks  about  the  year  1700.  More 
rapid  advancement  was  marked  by  the  introduction  of  steam 
pumping  machinery,  which  came  into  use  about  one  hundred 
years  later.  The  development  of  modern  waterworks  systems 
has  progressed  much  more  rapidly  since  1850,  and  radical 
changes  in  processes  of  pumping  and  purification  are  sfll 
taking  place.  About  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century 
Charles  Kingsley,  an  English  clergyman,  struck  some  mighty 
blows  for  reform  and  urged  the  clergy  of  England  to  agitata 
the  subject  of  sanitation  as  part  of  their  bounden  duty  to 
their  flocks. 

In  following  the  history  of  the  human  race  we  find  that 
many  methods  have  been  used  in  the  removal  of  waste  ma- 
terial. During  the  time  that  the  functions  of  microorganisms 
were  unknown,  and  even  their  presence  unsuspected,  elaborate 
preparations  were  made  in  the  larger  communities  for  the 
more  or  less  prompt  removal  of  what  they  realized  from  experi- 
ence to  be  dangerous  accumulations.  The  first  effort  to  dis- 
pose of  these  accumulations  were  probably  made  in  the  way 


26  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

of  burial,  as  indicated  in  the  23d  chapter  of  Deuteronomy  and 
in  the  early  Hindoo  writings.  Later  came  the  use  of  vaults 
and  cesspools,  removal  by  carts,  dry-pail  methods,  burning, 
compressed  air,  and  water  carriage,  with  its  final  develop- 
ment into  methods  of  aiding  bacterial  decomposition  in  the 
modern  disposal  plant. 

In  the  operation  of  the  biological  machine  known  as  the 
human  body  a  large  quantity  of  waste  material  is  produced. 
In  the  elimination  of  this  material  millions  of  bacteria  of 
various  kinds  pass  from  the  body.  McNeal,  Latzer  and  Kerr 
report  an  average  of  33,000,000  millions  excreted  from  the 
normal  adult  in  one  day.  These  facts,  which  are  matters  of 
common  knowledge  with  us,  were  generally  unknown  to  the 
earlier  generations  of  the  human  race.  That  anj^  escape  the 
dangers  from  the  accumulation  of  this  excretal  material  scat- 
tered by  millions  of  flies  and  other  insects  is  almost  a  marvel. 
To  effectually  destroy  the  pathogenic  species  of  these  micro- 
organisms in  order  to  prevent  recontamination  of  food  and 
water  supplies  of  human  habitations  is  one  of  the  problems 
confronting  the  present-day  sanitary  engineer. 

While  many  of  the  complex  processes  that  enter  into  the 
decomposition  and  mineralization  of  sewage  contents  are  yet 
imperfectly  understood,  the  work  of  the  chemist  and  bacte- 
riologist are  yielding  definite  results  in  this  line,  as  is  indi- 
cated by  the  recent  construction  of  many  sewage-disposal 
plants  designed  more  nearly  than  ever  before  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  theories  developed  in  the  laboratory.  By 
careful  study  of  putrefactive  processes,  and  accurate  compari- 
son of  structural  features  with  results  in  sewage-disposal 
plants  now  in  operation,  the  necessary  requirements  to  pro- 
duce a  satisfactory  effluent  under  different  conditions  as  to 
kind  and  quantity  of  sewage  are  well  defined.  Good  results 
are  now  certain  with  properly  constructed  plants. 

The  functions  of  the  various  types  of  bacteria  in  the  puri- 
fication of  sewage  are  now  being  carefully  determined  in  the 
numerous  experiment  stations  and  laboratories  for  sanitary 
research  throughout  the  country.  The  results  obtained  by 
experiments  on  Boston  sewage  by  the  sanitary  research  lab- 
oratory and  sewage  experiment  station  of  the  Massachusetts 
Institute  of  Technology  have  done  much  to  bring  exact  knowl- 
edge of  the  necessary  processes  in  sewage  purification  to  the 


Forty-sixth  Annual  Meeting.  27 

attention  of  sanitarians.  In  carrying  on  their  investigations 
they  tapped  the  main  sewer  of  the  city  of  Boston,  which  carries 
sewage  from  500,000  people,  and  installed  pumps  for  lifting 
the  sewage  as  needed  by  the  experimental  apparatus.  The 
sewage  was  then  treated  in  different  kinds  of  tanks;  sprink- 
ling, trickling  and  contact  filters,  and  the  mineral,  bacterial 
and  other  contents  of  both  influent  and  effluent  sewage  care- 
fully noted.  The  recorded  results  of  these  experiments,  which 
were  conducted  by  a  corps  of  expert  engineers,  chemists  and 
bacteriologists,  have  been  recognized  as  authoritative,  and 
their  findings  have  been  adopted  in  large  measure  by  those 
who  are  intrusted  with  the  design  and  construction  of  sewage- 
disposal  works. 

At  Lawrence,  Mass.,  experimental  methods  have  been  put  in 
practice  by  the  State  Board  of  Health  since  1886  when  the 
Lawrence  experiment  station  was  established.  Experiments 
have  been  conducted  at  this  station  in  both  sewage  and  water 
purification  continuously  since  1887.  This  station,  through  its 
long  series  of  annual  reports  extending  over  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  has  gained  perhaps  the  highest  reputation  of  any 
organization  working  in  the  experimental  field  of  sanitary 
science.  Other  prominent  stations  for  the  study  of  conditions 
relating  to  sewage  purification  are  located  at  Worcester, 
Mass.,  Pawtucket,  R.  L,  Berlin,  Ont.,  Columbus,  Ohio,  Water- 
bury,  Conn.,  Reading,  Pa.,  Baltimore,  Md.,  Gloversville,  N.  Y., 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  and  Chicago,  111. 

The  purposes  to  be  attained  in  sewage  purification  are  two- 
fold. First,  is  the  decomposition  and  oxidation  of  the  organic 
matters  into  stable  forms  that  will  not  putrefy  and  create  a 
nuisance.  Second,  is  the  elimination  of  pathogenic  bacteria, 
so  that  streams  into  which  the  effluent  is  discharged  may  not 
become  contaminated,  and  thus  endanger  the  health  of  the 
people  living  below  the  outfall.  Disposal  plants  are  now  being 
built  that  are  reasonably  efl'ective  as  to  the  first  object,  but 
in  bacterial  eflficiency  much  remains  to  be  desired. 

The  average  bacterial  efficiency  of  a  large  number  of  Ameri- 
can plants  which  are  operating  without  the  application  of  a 
germicide  is  58  per  cent,  with  a  minimum  of  21  per  cent  and  a 
maximum  of  about  90  per  cent.  Some  of  the  other  plants, 
where  the  effluent  is  disinfected  with  copper  sulphate,  have  a 
bacterial  efficiency  as  high  as" 99.95  per  cent. 


23  Kansas  Academy  of  Science.  , 

With  the  establishment  of  the  fact  that  bacteria  are  the   ' 
cause  of  many  of  the  diseases  that  afflict  the  human  race  came 
the  main  incentive  to  the  progress  that  has  recently  been  made  , 
in  the  development  of  sanitary  engineering.     Bacteria  bemg 
the  cause  of  disease,  the  elimination  of  these  pathogenic  or- 
ganisms from  the  air,  food  and  water  that  enter  the  human  , 
system  was  the  logical  method  of  preventing  disease. 

In  following  scientifically  the  course  above  suggested  the  j 
sanitary  engineer  has  done  much  to  aid  the  medical  profession  , 
in  developing  the  methods  that  now  prevail  in  modern  sanita- 
tion as  is  well  witnessed  by  the  remarkable  results  obtained  m 
the  Panama  Canal  Zone.  The  success  of  scientific  methods  ap-  | 
plied  to  water  purification  is  splendidly  illustrated  by  the  re-  j, 
suits  obtained  in  the  operation  of  many  plants.  I 

The  lack  of  vital  statistics  in  Kansas  covering  sufficient  time  j 
to  allow  reliable  deductions  to  be  drawn  therefrom  prevents  | 
me  giving  at  this  time  some  local  data  that  point  very  strongly  j 
to  satisfactory  results  in  the  future.    I  am,  however,  present- 
ing  statistical  charts  of  Hamburg,  Albany  and  Cincinnati  and  j 
a  death-rate  table  of  a  number  of  other  cities,  giving  the  drop 
in  the  typhoid  death  rate  resulting  from  the  installation  and 
operation  of  up-to-date  filtration  equipment  at  these  places. 
We  know  from  results  of  bacterial  analyses  made  of  the  water 
being  furnished  many  Kansas  cities  and  towns  at  the  present 
time°that  similar  gratifying  results  may  soon  be  reported  from 
local  plants. 

The  first  filter  applied  to  a  large  public  water  supply  of  which^ 
we  have  a  record  was  installed  by  the  Chelsea  Water  Company' 
of  London  in  1829,  and  was  a  success  in  improving  the  whole- 
someness  of  the  water  from  the  start.  Owing  to  the  good  re- 
sults obtained  from  this  filter,  the  city  of  London  in  1855  made 
compulsory  the  filtration  of  all  water  supplied  the  city  from 
rivers. 

Berlin,  which  draws  its  water  supply  from  the  river  Spree, 
installed  filters  in  1856.  These  filters  served  the  city  in  con-, 
tinuous  use  until  1893,  when  they  were  replaced  by  a  new| 
plant  at  Lake  Muggel.  About  1875  Berlin  developed  an  addi-i 
tional  supply  of  water  from  a  well  system,  but  this  water  con- 
tained enough  iron  to  encourage  the  growth  of  crenothrax  to 
such  an  extent  that  the  supply  was  abandoned  in  1883  and 


Forty-sixth  Annual  Meeting. 


29 


another  filter  plant  was  constructed  to  purify  water  taken 
from  Lake  Tegil. 

At  Hamburg  the  waterworks  were  built  with  the  intention 
of  installing  filters,  but  for  some  reason  delay  was  occasioned, 
and  work  on  their  construction  was  not  begun  until  1891.  It 
was  originally  intended  to  devote  three  years'  time  to  the  work 
of  building  the  filters,  but  a  cholera  epidemic  occurred  in  1892 
and  swept  away  8605  of  the  city's  inhabitants.  This  served 
strongly  to  emphasize  the  need  of  a  filter  plant.  The  cause  of 
this  epidemic  was  traced  directly  to  water  pollution,  and  to 
prevent  a  recurrence  of  the  scourge  work  was  continued  on 
the  filter  night  and  day  until  it  was  completed  in  1893. 


m 

r- 

■ 

1 

HAMBURG     &ERM/JN  Y 

'  M 

■ 

■  'in 

'40 

1  ^0 

1 

|20^^H 

Jl 

k //i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

^^J 

^^^^^^^^^^^H 

M 

§  ^ 
5 

CM    -^    >(.     iT)    \s,     ;v 

-  UN  FILTERED 

00       <J>       S       ^        CV,       r 

^    cv     c^     ^J. 

-  riLTEREL 

l^     ^      (^      OO 

J 

< 

XAS 

«^^^ 

The  wonderful  success  of  the  Hamburg  filter  plant  is  shown 
in  the  remarkable  drop  in  the  typhoid  death  rate  in  the  city  of 
91.6  per  cent.  The  Hamburg  death-rate  chart,  which  I  have  the 
pleasure  of  showing,  with  others,  gives  a  graphic  illustration 
of  the  actual  results  that  have  been  achieved  by  the  eflficient 
operation  of  the  modern  filter  equipment. 

The  largest  filters  built  in  America,  at  least  prior  to  1900, 
are  those  at  Albany.  These  filters  were  constructed  in  1898 
and  1899  at  a  total  cost  of  $496,633,  and  have  a  rated  capacity 
of  14,700,000  gallons  daily.     They  are  of  the  slow  sand  type 


30 


Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 


1903   not  19 


1903     /ycrt  l^u:>     •J""   -^"-    .^.^^     .^-^ 

^-  UNFILTERED-—\- FILTERED 


0..i5mxVV 

and  have  developed  a  bacterial  efficiency  of  over  99  per  cent. 
The  supply  of  water,  which  is  often  muddy  and  always  con- 
taminated with  sewage,  is  taken  from  the  Hudson  river  about 
four  miles  below  Troy.  After  treatment  the  water  is  cleai, 
sparkling  and  wholesome.    The  effect  of  filtered  water  on  the 


Forty-sixth  Annual  Meeting.  31 

typhoid  death  rate  in  Albany  will  be  shown  on  the  screen  later, 
in  the  Albany  death-rate  chart.  Since  the  filters  were  placed 
in  operation  in  1899  a  reduction  of  74.3  per  cent  in  the  typhoid 
death  rate  has  occurred. 

The  Cincinnati  filter  plant  was  completed  about  the  close  of 
1907,  and  is  now  furnishing  the  city  of  400,000  people  an 
abundance  of  wholesome  filtered  water.  The  operation  of  these 
filters  has  resulted  in  reducing  the  typhoid  death  rate  in  the 
city  from  280  per  100,000  to  48,  or  approximately  93  per  cent. 
The  typhoid  death  rate  both  before  and  after  the  installation 
of  the  filters  is  shown  graphically  in  the  accompanying  death- 
rate  chart. 

TABLE  OF  TYPHOID  DEATH  RATE  PER  100,000. 

Plant  Per  cent 

installed.  Before.  After.  reduction. 

Binghamton,  N.  Y 1902  47  15  68% 

Columbus,   Ohio    1908  78  11  86 

Hoboken,  N.  J 1905  19  14  26 

Paterson,   N.   J 1902  32  10  69 

Watertown,  N.  Y 1904  100  38  62 

York,  Pa 1899  76  21  72 

Lawrence,  Mass 1893  114  25  78 

Washington,  D.  C 1905  57  33  42 

Passaic,  N.J 1902  36  13  64 

All  streams  in  an  inhabited  country  are  more  or  less  pol- 
luted. As  the  population  within  the  watershed  of  a  stream 
grows  larger  the  probability  of  the  dangerous  contamination 
of  the  stream  is  proportionately  increased.  Therefore  the 
necessity  of  purifying  the  water  that  is  taken  from  the  sur- 
face stream  for  domestic  consumption  is  an  increasing  one. 
This  necessity,  however,  is  being  met  in  a  very  creditable  way 
by  most  of  the  cities  of  Kansas  where  surface  water  is  con- 
sumed, though  some  are  yet  slow  to  recognize  the  importance 
of  the  matter. 

Of  thirty-nine  municipal  water  plants  in  the  state  taking 
their  supply  from  surface  water  twenty  are  equipped  with 
filters,  nine  with  sedimentation  basins  and  coagulation  appa- 
ratus, and  ten  have  no  provision  for  purifying  the  water.  All 
of  the  filter  plants  except  two  are  in  good  condition,  and  are 
yielding  a  satisfactorily  pure  water  when  properly  operated. 
In  most  of  the  cases  where  coagulation  and  sedimentation 
only  is  the  method  of  purification  the  treatment  is  inadequate. 

More  than  half  of  the  cities  of  Kansas  secure  their  water 
supply  from  wells.  This  well  water  in  a  few  cases  is  aerated 
and  passed  through  a  sedimentation  basin  before  entering  the 


32 


Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 


mains.  Ground-water  supplies  are  generally  quite  satisfac- 
tory where  a  sufficient  quantity  is  available,  though  the  deep- 
well  waters  of  southeastern  Kansas  are  not  so  acceptable  as 
some,  on  account  of  the  large  amount  of  sulphureted  hydrogen 
contained. 

The  total  number  of  cities  in  the  state  having  waterworks 
is  187.  There  are  only  seven  cities  having  a  population  of 
over  1000  that  are  without  waterworks.  There  is  none  having 
a  population  over  2000  without  such  plants. 

TABLE  OF  CITIES  HAVING  WATERWORKS. 


12  with  a  population  over 


16 
20 
23 
55 
61 


10,000 


of    5,000  to  10,000 

3,000  to     5,000 

2,000  to     3,000 

1,000  to     2,000 

under  1,000 


TABLE   OF  CITIES  IN  KANSAS  HAVING  SEWER  SYSTEMS. 


Census  of  1911. 


cities  of  over 
"     5,000  to 
"     3,000  to 
"     2,000  to 
"     1,000  to 

city  under 


10,000. 
10,000. 

5,000. 

3,000 . 

2,000. 

1,000. 


total  population, 


'320,211 

113,311 

63,908 

38,515 

25,467 

763 


81  Total  population,  562,175 

TABLE   GIVING  CITIES   IN   KANSAS   HAVING  NO   SEWER 


2  cities  of 
7 
44 

53 


SYSTEM. 

3.000  to  5,000 total  population,  6,491 

2.000  to  3,000 "                "  15,213 

1,000  to  2,000 "                "  61,631 


Total  population,     83,334 

There  are  50  sewage-treatment  plants  in  the  state,  purify- 
ing the  sewage  from  40  cities.  There  are  22  septic  tanks 
operating  alone,  and  3  Imhoff  tanks  and  25  septic  tanks 
operating  in  connection  with  contract  filters. 

To-day  87  per  cent  of  the  Kansas  people  living  in  towns  hav- 
ing a  population  over  1000  have  the  privilege  of  connecting 
with  sanitary  sewers. 

In  comparison  with  other  states,  Kansas  ranks  sixth  in  the 
number  of  towns  sewered  and  fourth  in  the  number  of  sewage- 
treatment  plants  in  operation.  This  and  the  number  of  water- 
works installed  go  to  show  that  Kansas  is  one  of  the  leading 
states  in  modern  sanitary  practice. 


Forty-sixth  Annual  Meeting.  33 

The  application  of  sanitary  science  in  the  state  is  very 
largely  due  to  the  efforts  of  the  State  Board  of  Health.  In 
this  Board  we  have  united  in  congenial  cooperation  a  corps 
of  medical  advisers,  engineers,  chemists,  bacteriologists  and 
inspectors,  of  whom  the  people  of  the  state  should  be  proud. 
The  work  of  this  Board  has  been  aggressive,  efficient  and  ef- 
fective, as  is  shown  by  the  results  that  have  been  attained  in 
the  cities  and  towns,  and  now  the  work  is  being  pushed  into 
the  country  districts  with  the  same  energy  that  was  applied 
to  the  city  problems. 

I  sincerely  hope  that  the  entire  membership  of  the  Academy 
of  Science  will  enlist  in  earnest  cooperation  with  the  members 
of  the  State  Board  of  Health  in  their  work,  and  thus  aid  in 
bringing  to  Kansas  an  era  of  sound  practical  sanitation. 

Although  the  progress  that  has  been  made  in  sanitary 
engineering  in  the  past  decade  is  worthy  of  compliment,  only  a 
furrow  has  been  made  in  the  field  that  lies  before.  What  may 
be  achieved  in  the  future  depends  on  the  joint  efforts  of  the 
scientist  and  the  experienced  workman.  Let  the  people  be- 
come awake  to  the  truth  and  join  in  the  effort  to  eradicate 
disease,  and  sanitary  engineering  will  advance  to  an  important 
place  in  the  life  of  the  twentieth  century. 


—3 


34  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH. 


T^HE  organization  of  a  Kansas  association  of  scientific  men 
-^  at  an  early  date  was  due  to  the  efforts  of  Rev.  Johns  D. 
Parker  and  Prof.  B.  F.  Mudge,  who,  in  July,  1868,  issued  a 
call  signed  by  seventeen  men  for  a  meeting  of  all  persons  in 
the  state  interested  in  natural  sciences  to  meet  in  Topeka. 

The  first  meeting  was  held  in  September  of  that  year,  in 
Lincoln  College  (now  Washburn),  and  the  Kansas  Natural 
History  Society  was  organized  and  officers  elected.  The  ob- 
ject, as  stated  in  the  original  draft  of  the  constitution,  "shall 
be  to  increase  and  diffuse  a  knowledge  of  the  natural  sciences, 
particularly  in  relation  to  the  state  of  Kansas."  At  the  fourth 
annual  meeting,  held  in  Leavenworth,  in  1871,  the  name  was 
changed  to  the  Kansas  Academy  of  Science.  In  1873  the 
Academy  became  a  coordinate  department  of  the  State  Board 
of  Agriculture  by  the  terms  of  the  following  act  of  the  legis- 
lature : 

"The  Academy  of  Science  shall  be  a  coordinate  department 
of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  with  their  office  in  the  agri- 
cultural rooms,  where  they  shall  place  and  keep  for  public 
inspection  the  geological,  botanical  and  other  specimens,  the 
same  to  be  under  the  direction  and  control  of  the  officers  of 
the  said  Academy  of  Science.  An  annual  report  of  the  trans- 
actions of  said  Academy  of  Science  shall  be  made  on  or  before 
the  15th  day  of  November  of  each  year  to  the  State  Board  of 
Agriculture,  for  publication  in  the  annual  transactions  of  said 
board." 

The  Academy  has  increased  in  membership  from  the  original 
small  body  of  scientists  to  nearly  200.  It  has  held  thirty-seven 
annual  meetings,  of  which  eighteen  have  been  held  in  Topeka, 
five  in  Lawrence,  four  in  Manhattan,  two  in  Leavenworth,  two 
in  Emporia,  and  one  each  in  Atchison,  Baldwin,  lola,  McPher- 
son,  Ottawa,  and  Wichita. 

Nineteen  volumes  of  the  Transactions  have  been  published, 
varying  in  size  from  a  few  pages  in  the  early  numbers  to  350 
pages  in  the  later  volumes.  These  publications  contain  many 
papers  of  recognized  scientific  value.  The  exchange  list  in- 
cludes over  500  names  of  societies  and  libraries. 


Kansas  AcacJemij  of  Science.  35 

The  Academy  is  now  installed  in  the  east  wing  of  the  capitol 
building,  at  Topeka,  in  rooms  on  the  fourth  floor.  It  has  two 
connecting  rooms,  used  for  the  office  and  library,  and  in  the 
adjacent  corridor  a  museum. 

The  museum  has  been  greatly  increased  by  the  gift  of  the 
state  mineral  display  erected  at  the  St.  Louis  Exposition,  and 
given  suitable  cases  to  hold  this  large  amount  of  material.  It 
thus  has  the  finest  economic  collection  of  the  Kansas  mineral 
industries  in  the  state — an  exhibit  which  received  two  gold 
medals,  twenty-two  silver  medals,  and  fourteen  bronze  medals. 

This  sketch  shows  that  Kansas  was  early  to  recognize  the 
importance  of  science  in  building  up  a  state,  and  the  Academy 
has  long  since  justified  the  expectations  of  its  early  founders. 
It  has  contributed  as  a  body  and  through  individual  members 
to  the  discovery  and  development  of  our  resources.  The  state 
coal  mines  at  Leavenworth  is  an  instance  of  one  of  the  con- 
tributions of  the  late  Professor  Mudge,  one  of  our  Academy's 
founders.  We  do  not  often  think  of  the  wonderful  mineral 
resources  of  Kansas,  but  our  clays  and  shales,  no  less  than 
coal,  oil  and  gas,  are  assets  that  must  be  counted.  Science 
must  be  coupled  with  toil  and  these  natural  resources  will 
bring  no  less  profit  than  corn,  wheat,  and  alfalfa  now  furnish. 
It  has  come-  to  be  seen  that  farming  is  applied  science,  and 
there  is  no  department  of  industry  in  the  shop  or  on  the  farm 
where  the  teaching  of  the  schools  fails  to  bring  good  returns. 
The  Academy  is  a  bond  of  union  between  scientific  workers 
whether  in  or  out  of  the  schools.  Such  institutions  as  our 
Academy  are  recognized  as  indispensable  in  all  our  progressive 
states.  They  fill  a  place  in  correlating  and  binding  together 
our  other  educational  agencies.  The  leading  scientific  publica- 
tions of  the  world  are  on  our  list  of  exchanges  and  are  con- 
stantly increasing  the  valuable  resources  of  our  state  library. 


36  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 


CONSTITUTION. 


Section  1.  This  association  shall  be  called  the  Kansas 
Academy  of  Science. 

Sec.  2.  The  objects  of  this  Academy  shall  be  to  increase 
and  diffuse  knowledge  in  the  various  departments  of  science. 

Sec.  3.  Members  of  this  Academy  shall  consist  of  two 
classes,  active  and  honorary  (including  associate).  Active 
members  may  be  annual  or  life  members.  Annual  members 
may  be  elected  at  any  meeting  of  the  Academy,  and  shall  sign 
the  constitution  and  pay  a  fee  of  one  dollar  and  annual  dues 
of  one  dollar;  but  the  secretary  and  treasurer  shall  be  exempt 
from  the  payment  of  dues  during  the  years  of  their  service. 
Any  person  who  shall  at  one  time  contribute  twenty  dollars 
to  the  funds  of  this  Academy  may  be  elected  a  life  member  of 
the  Academy,  free  of  assessment.  Any  member  who  has  paid 
dues  to  the  Academy  for  ten  consecutive  years,  or  who  has 
been  legally  exempt  during  any  portion  of  that  time,  may  ba 
elected  a  life  member  on  the  payment  of  ten  dollars.  Any 
member  who  has  been  a  member  of  this  Academy  in  good  stand- 
ing for  twenty  years  may  be  elected  a  life  member  without  pay- 
ment of  further  fees  or  dues.  Honorary  members  may  be 
elected  on  account  of  special  prominence  in  science,  on  the 
written  recommendation  of  two  members  of  the  Academy.  In 
any  case,  a  two-thirds  vote  of  members  present  shall  elect  to 
membership.  Applications  for  membership  in  any  of  the  fore- 
going classes  shall  be  referred  to  a  committee  on  applications 
for  membership,  who  shall  consider  such  application  and  report 
to  the  Academy  before  the  election. 

Sec.  4.  The  officers  of  this  Academy  shall  be  chosen  by 
ballot  at  the  annual  meeting,  and  shall  consist  of  a  president, 
two  vice-presidents,  a  secretary,  and  a  treasurer,  who  shall 
perform  the  duties  usually  pertaining  to  their  respective  offices. 
The  president,  secretary  and  treasurer  shall  constitute  an 
executive  committee.  The  secretary  shall  have  charge  of  all 
the  books,  collections  and  material  property  belonging  to  the 
Academy. 

Sec.  5.  Unless  otherwise  directed  by  the  Academy,  the 
annual  meeting  shall  be  held  at  such  time  and  place  as  the 


Kansas  Academy  of  Science.  87 

executive  committee  shall  designate.     Other  meetings  may  be 
called  at  the  discretion  of  the  executive  committee. 

Sec.  6.  This  constitution  may  be  altered  or  amended  at  any 
annual  meeting,  by  a  vote  of  three-fourths  of  attending  mem- 
bers of  at  least  one  year's  standing.  No  question  of  amend- 
ment shall  be  decided  on  the  day  of  its  presentation. 


38  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

BY-LAWS. 


I.  The  first  hour,  or  such  part  thereof  as  shall  be  necessary, 
in  each  session,  shall  be  set  aside  for  the  transaction  of  the 
business  of  the  Academy.  The  following  order  of  business 
shall  be  observed,  as  far  as  practicable : 

1.  Opening. 

2.  Reports  of  officers. 

3.  Reports  of  standing  committees. 

4.  Appointment  of  special  committees. 

5.  Unfinished  business. 

6.  New  business. 

7.  Reports  of  special  committees. 

8.  Election  of  officers. 

9.  Election  of  members. 

10.  Program. 

11.  Adjournment. 

II.  The  president  shall  deliver  a  public  address  on  the  eve- 
ning of  one  of  the  days  of  the  meeting,  at  the  expiration  of  his 
term  of  office. 

III.  No  meeting  of  this  Academy  shall  be  held  without  a 
notice  of  the  same  having  been  published  in  the  papers  of  the 
state  at  least  thirty  days  previous. 

IV.  No  bill  against  the  Academy  shall  be  paid  by  the  treas- 
urer without  an  order  signed  by  the  president  and  secretary. 

V.  Members  who  shall  allow  their  dues  to  remain  unpaid 
for  two  years,  having  been  annually  notified  of  their  arrearage 
by  the  treasurer,  shall  have  their  names  stricken  from  the  roll. 

VI.  The  secretary  shall  have  charge  of  the  distribution,  sale 
and  exchange  of  the  published  Transactions  of  the  Academy, 
under  such  restrictions  as  may  be  imposed  by  the  executive 
committee. 

VII.  Eight  members  shall  constitute  a  quorum  for  the  trans- 
action of  business. 

VIII.  The  time  allotted  to  the  presentation  of  a  single  paper 
shall  not  exceed  fifteen  minutes. 

IX.  No  paper  shall  be  entitled  to  a  place  on  the  program 
unless  the  manuscript,  or  an  abstract  of  the  same,  shall  have 
been  previously  delivered  to  the  secretary. 


II. 

CHEMICAL  AND  PHYSICAL  PAPERS. 

1.  "The  Value  of  Corn  Oil  as  a  Substitute  for  Olive  Oil  and 

Cottonseed  Oil." 

By  B.  E.  Pool  and  L.  E.  Satbe. 

2.  "Improvement  in  the  Commercial  Supply  of  Spices  and  Cause 

OF  THE  Same." 

By  L.  E.  Sayre. 

3.  "The  Development  of  Mechanical  Power  in  the  Last  Decade." 

By  F.  E.  Sibley. 
(39) 


THE  VALUE  OF  CORN  OIL  AS  A  SUBSTITUTE  FOR 
OLIVE  OIL  AND  COTTONSEED  OIL. 

H.v  H.  E.  Pool  and  L.  E.  Sayke. 

CORN  OIL  may  be  considered  as  a  by-product  from  cereal 
manufacturing,  and  is  made  principally  by  the  Corn  Prod- 
ucts Refining  Company  of  New  York.  It  is  comparatively 
cheap,  being  quoted  at  50  cents  per  gallon  for  the  refined 
grade.  Olive  oil  and  cottonseed  oil  are  quoted  at  $3  and  75 
cents  per  gallon,  respectively. 

The  cheapness  of  corn  oil  suggests  the  possibility  of  wise 
economy  in  substituting  it  in  place  of  the  more  expensive  oils 
wherever  this  can  be  done  without  injury  to  the  product  in 
which  it  may  be  employed.  The  investigation  of  this  subject 
embraces  the  following: 

First,  a  comparison  of  the  chemical  behavior- of  the  corn 
oil  with  those  of  the  other  more  expensive  oils  mentioned. 
Second,  a  comparison  of  the  products  resulting  from  the  sub- 
stitution of  corn  oil  for  the  other  oils,  in  cases  where  the  other 
oils  are  prescribed,  in  such  preparations,  for  example,  as  oint- 
ments, liniments,  plasters,  etc.,  where  the  nature  of  the  oil  does 
not  have  any  physiological  or  therapeutical  significance. 

In  the  examination  and  comparison  of  corn  oil  with  other 
oils  the  following  data  have  been  sought : 

I.    Physical  properties. 
II.    Saponification  number. 
III.    Iodine  absorption  number. 

Corn  oil  has  a  pale  yellow  to  a  golden  yellow  color,  a  slight 
characteristic  odor,  a  pleasant  taste,  very  similar  to  that  of 
freshly  ground  corn  meal.  The  solubility  in  various  solvents, 
as  absolute  alcohol,  acetone,  and  glacial  acid,  is  as  follows : 

Solubility  at  15°  C.  in  100  parts  by  volume. 

Absolute  alcohol 3 

Acetone    26 

Glacial  acetic  acid  3 

This  compared  to  cottonseed  oil  and  olive  oil  is  as  follows: 

Cottonseed  oil.      Olive  oil 

Absolute  alcohol 2  2 

Acetone    27  24 

Glacial  acetic  acid   4  3 

(41) 


42  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

The  congealing-  point,  composition  and  refractive  index  of 
the  three  oils  may  be  seen  from  the  subjoined  table: 

Corn  oil.  Cottonseed.  Olive. 

Congealing  point    —10  to  15°  C.     —0  to  —5°  C.     —0  to  —5°  C. 

Composition: 

Solid  fatty  acid* 2T/c  32%  15% 

Liquid  fatty  acidf   73%  68%  85% 

Refractive  index  by 

Strohmert   at   15.5°  C...  1.4768  1.4743  1.4698 

In  order  to  test  and  compare  the  corn  oil  with  the  other  oils 
mentioned,  a  large  number  of  medical  preparations  were  made 
up,  substituting  this  oil  for  the  other  oils  prescribed  by  the 
United  States  Pharmacopoeia  and  National  Formulary.  The 
various  classes  of  preparations  experimented  with  were  as 
follows : 

Liniments — Ointments — Cerates. 
Plasters — Oleates. 

In  most  every  case  where  the  corn  oil  was  substituted  for 
either  olive  or  cottonseed  oil  as  prescribed  in  the  formula,  a 
product  was  made  which  was  equal  in  most  if  not  every  par- 
ticular. 

This  being  the  case  the  question  is  pertinent,  Would  it  not 
be  a  matter  of  economy  to  use  corn  oil  in  many  preparations 
where  a  nondrying  oil  is  used  for  other  than  medicinal  prepa- 
rations; for  example,  food  preparations?  Suggestions  along 
this  line  of  substitution  are  worthy  of  further  study. 

In  conclusion,  we  would  summarize  our  observations  as 
follows : 

In  the  assay  of  corn  oil  it  was  found  to  have  properties 
very  similar  to  the  cottonseed  and  olive  oil  and,  by  comparison, 
it  is  found  to  be  very  similar  in  appearance.  After  testing 
it  by  direct  substitution  in  the  various  medicinal  preparations 
in  which  the  other  oils  are  used,  and  finding  so  very  little 
change,  it  would  seem  not  only  to  be  a  good  recommendation 
to  make  that  com  oil  be  recognized  by  the  U.  S.  P.  and  N.  F. 
for  certain  medicinal  preparations,  but  it  would  also  serve  as 
a  means  of  economy,  bringing  into  use  this  cheap  and  valuable 
oil  for  which  there  is,  at  present,  very  little  or  comparatively 
no  market. 

*  Solid  fatty  acid,  in  all  cases,  was  composed  of  Palmetic  and  Stearic. 
t  Liquid  fatty  acid,   in  all  cases,   was  found  to  be  Linoleic  and  Oleic. 


Chemical  and  Physical  Papers.  43 


IMPROVEMENT  IN  THE  COMMERCIAL  SUPPLY  OF 
SPICES  AND  CAUSE  OF  SAME. 

By  L.  E.  Sayre. 

IT  is  instructive  to  note  that  the  commercial  supply  of  spices 
has  improved  to  a  marked  degree  since  the  enactment  of 
the  food  and  drugs  law.  At  one  time  the  common  spices,  such 
as  cloves,  pepper,  cinnamon,  allspice  and  ginger,  were  so  freely 
adulterated  that  the  public  became  accustomed  to  the  use  of 
large  quantities  of  spices  for  flavoring.  Recently  the  chef  not 
aware  of  recent  improvements  in  quality  has  been  somewhat 
surprised  that  such  small  quantities  of  these  aromatics  are 
required  to  produce  the  desired  effect. 

Recently,  commercial  samples  of  spices  were  collected  from 
different  grocery  stores  and  examined  in  order  to  study  the 
question  of  market  supply — whether  an  improvement  existed. 
First,  two  recognized  spices  were  collected — cloves  and  ail- 
spice.  Examination  was  made,  under  supervision,  by  Mr. 
John  F.  King,  a  senior  student.  The  data  obtained  from  these 
were: 

1.  Moisture. 

2.  Ash. 

3.  Volatile  ether  extract. 

4.  Nonvolatile  ether  extract. 

5.  Crude  fiber. 

This  was  considered  sufficient  for  the  purpose  of  this  in- 
vestigation. 

It  may  be  remarked  that  adulteration  always  implies  added 
foreign  substances.  Cloves,  for  example,  sometimes  contain 
a  large  percentage  of  stocks  upon  which  the  clove  buds  are 
borne.  These  are  imported  in  considerable  quantities.  They 
yield  about  5  or  6  per  cent  of  volatile  oil,  while  the  genuine 
cloves  should  contain  from  15  to  20  per  cent.  Another  product 
of  the  clove  plant  is  the  nearly  ripe  fruits,  which  are  desig- 
nated as  mother  cloves.  They  are  dark  brown,  ovoid,  one- 
seeded  berries,  crowned  by  the  remains  of  the  calyx  teeth. 
They  contain  but  little  volatile  oil.  Both  clove  stocks  and 
mother  cloves  have  been  used  to  adulterate  ground  cloves. 

Clove  stocks  may  be  detected  by  the  presence  of  numerous 
characteristics,  nearly  isodiametric,  sclerenchymatous  cells — 


44  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

the  latter  by  the  large  starch  grains  which  the  seeds  contain. 
Blown  cloves,  also  an  adulterant,  are  those  which  have  been 
collected  after  the  petals  have  expanded.  Both  the  petals  an  i 
stamens  have  been  broken  off,  leaving  the  thick  portion  of 
the  clove  crowned  by  somewhat  prominent  calyx  teeth. 

It  is  evident  from  the  above  that  the  microscopist  has  a 
ready  means  for  detecting  these  spurious  admixtures,  and 
coupled  with  the  chemical  analysis  furnishes  data  which  is 
legally  satisfactory. 

In  connection  with  the  chemical  examination,  we  note,  from 
the  results  of  a  prominent  food  inspector,  R.  O.  Brooks,  the 
following  maximum  and  minimum  limits  of  constituents,  found 
in  eighty-six  analyses  of  botanically  pure  cloves : 

Minimum.  Maximum. 

Per  cent.  Per  cent. 

Moisture 2 .  90  11 .  80 

Volatile  ether  extract    (oil) 11 .03  20.53 

Nonvolatile  ether  extract 4 .87  12.00 

Quercitannic   acid    11 .  28  24 .  18 

"Protein"    (N  X  6.25)     4.20  7.06 

"Starch"   (by  diastase  method) 2.08  3.15 

Crude  fiber   6.18  9.75 

Ash    (mineral  matter) 5 .  03  13.05 

Ash,  insoluble  in  acid  (sand) 0.00  0.13 

This  author,  speaking  of  clove  stems  as  a  common  form  of 
adulteration,  says  the  federal  standard  provides  for  a  reason- 
able and  unavoidable  presence  of  clove  stems,  viz.,  5  per  cent. 
The  skilled  spice  microscopist  can  tell  very  closely  whether  this 
limit  has  been  over-stepped,  although  it  is  doubtful  if  strictly 
chemical  means  would  prove  it,  unless  the  adulterant  is  present 
in  large  amounts.  The  most  noticeable  difference,  chemically, 
which  would  upset  the  chemical  values  of  pure  cloves,  if  a 
considerable  admixture  were  attempted,  is  the  decidedly 
greater  portion  of  fiber  found  in  the  stems.  The  following 
he  gives  as  the  mean  results  of  two  analyses  of  clove  stems : 

Per  lent. 

Moisture 8 .  74 

Volatile  ether  extract 5 .00 

Nonvolatile  ether   extract 3  .  83 

Quercitannic   acid    18 .  79 

"Protein"    (N  X  6.25)     5.88 

"Starch"   (by  diastase  method) 2.17 

Crude  fiber    18.71 

Ash    (mineral  matter) 7.99 

Ash,  insoluble  in  acid  (sand) 0.60 

In  order  to  adulterate  a  clove  with  clove  stems,  the  clove 
must  be  very  rich  in  oil,  because  of  the  low  volatile  ether  ex- 


Chemical  and  Physical  Papers.  45 

tract  which  clove  stems  yield,  which  would  preclude  them  as 
favorable  adulterants. 

Other  adulterants  which  have  been  reported  as  having  been 
occasionally  found  in  ground  cloves  are  allspice,  exhausted 
ginger,  cereal  products,  ground  nut-shells,  olive  stones  and 
charcoal.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  microscopical  analysis 
readily  shows  any  such  sophistication. 

Analysis  of  a  recently  secured  sample  of  pure  cloves  gave 
the  following  results: 

Moisture   :  .  1 . 84% 

Ash    5.80% 

Volatile  ether  extract   '. 12.49% 

Nonvolatile  ether  extract 8.21% 

Crude   fiber    8 . 64% 

Tabulated  below  will  be  found  the  results  of  analysis  of  four 
samples,  which  fairly  exemplify  the  average  condition  of  the 
present  market.  These  samples  were  selected  out  of  a  num- 
ber of  others  as  representative  for  the  investigation.  It  will 
be  noticed  that  no  estimation  was  made  of  the  tannic  acid, 
which  is  always  present  in  the  form  of  gallotanic,  or  querci- 
tannic,  acid  in  cloves.  This  constituent  is  usually  present  to 
the  extent  of  about  13  per  cent.  The  most  essential  constitu- 
ent, of  course,  is  the  volatile  oil  contained  in  the  ether  extracts. 

Sample.  Moisture. 

No.  1  1 .  52 

No.  2  2 .  43 

No.  3  2.05 

No.  4  2 .  69 

Microscopical  examination  showed  the  powder  to  be  the 
product  of  the  clove  fruit  without  foreign  admixture  of  ex- 
traneous substances. 

ALLSPICE. 

This  condiment  is  composed  of  the  full-grown  but  unripe 
fruit  of  the  "Jamaica  Pepper"  plant.  The  berries  are  gath- 
ered before  they  are  fully  ripe,  as  the  aroma  is  partly  lost  if 
the  fruit  is  permitted  to  mature  completely.  On  drying  the 
berries  become  almo.st  black.  Sometimes  they  have  been 
made  more  attractive  by  coloring  them  with  a  brown  ochre, 
a  sophistication  of  which  may  readily  be  detected. 

Allspice,  like  mother  cloves,  contains  starch,  which  under 
the  microscope  appears  as  nearly  circular  granules  with  a 
central  spot  or  hilum,  and  often  arranged  in  groups  as  are 


Total  ether 

Volatile  ether 

Nonvolatile 

Crude 

Ash. 

extracts 

extract. 

ether  extract. 

fiber. 

8.43 

16 .  39 

9.44 

6.95 

10.03 

7.91 

18.06 

11.10 

6.96 

9.38 

6.54 

21.04 

12.97 

8.04 

8.10 

6.58 

19.72 

11.41 

8.31 

8.97 

46  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

buckwheat  starch  granules.  There  are  other  starchlike  or 
gummy  substances  in  the  fruit  which  by  acid  inversion  yield 
a  considerable  amount  of  reducing  material. 

R.  O.  Brooks'  analysis  of  twenty-five  samples  of  pure  all- 
spice has  yielded  the  following  maximum  and  minimum  per- 
centages of  proximate  constituents : 

Minimum.  Maximum. 

Moisture    5.51%  10.14% 

Ash    (mineral  matter) 4.01  7.51 

Ash  insoluble  in  acid 0.00  0.95 

Volatile  ether  extract   (oil) 1.29  5.21 

Nonvolatile  ether  extract 1.60  7.72 

Starch  by  diastase  method '.  .  1 .  82  3 .  76 

"Starch"  by  acid  inversion    16.56  20.65 

Crude  fiber   13.45  23.98 

Protein    (nitrogen  x  6.25) 4.03  6.37 

Quercitannic   acid    4.32  12 .  48 

Our  analysis  of  commercial  allspice  as  collected  promiscu- 
ously on  the  market  is  represented  fairly  well  by  the  following 
selected  analyses  from  a  number  of  samples: 

Total  ether      Volatile  ether      Nonvolatile      Crude 


Sample. 

Moisture. 

Ash. 

extract. 

extract. 

ether  extract,    fiber. 

No.   1    

....    1.43^. 

3.17% 

9.56Vo 

5.09%   13.39% 

No.  2    

....    4.19 

4.76 

8.22 

2.38% 

5.84       17.45 

No.  3    

1.17 

5.29 

8.49 

3.11 

5.38       14.51 

No.  4    

....    3.12 

5 .  53 

9.21 

3.35 

5.86       14.10 

No.  5    

3.17 

4.36 

8.77 

5.61 

15.03 

These  results,  both  microscopically  and  chemically,  show 
that  since  the  enactment  of  the  pure  food  and  drugs  law  few 
samples  of  these  spices  on  the  market  are  adulterated.  How- 
ever, before  the  enactment  of  the  law,  the  majority  of  spices 
were  found  to  contain  much  foreign  material. 

It  should  be  added,  in  this  connection,  that  the  same  state- 
ments hold  true  with  regard  to  black  pepper.  At  the  time  of 
the  enactment  of  the  food  and  drugs  law  it  was  stated  it  was 
a  question  whether  ten  per  cent  of  the  spices  that  were  on  the 
market  previous  to  the  passage  of  the  law  were  unadulterated, 
the  adulteration  sometimes  running  as  high  as  92  per  cent 
of  ground  olive  pits.  The  examination  of  the  samples  of  the 
market  of  recent  date  show  that  the  actual  percentage  of  low- 
grade  pepper  amounts  to  less  than  ten  per  cent.  This  is  a  good 
showing  for  the  administration  of  the  food  and  drugs  law. 


Chemical  and  Physical  Papers.  47 


THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  MECHANICAL  POWER   IN  THE 

LAST  DECADE. 

F.  H.  SiHi.KY,  Ijinvii'iice. 

EVEN  as  we  are  accustomed  to  think  of  history  as  divided 
into  epochs,  having  more  or  less  well-defined  limits,  so 
the  future  historian  will  undoubtedly  define  the  present  era 
probably  as  the  age  of  the  industrial  revolution.  One  of  the 
chief  agencies,  probably  the  principal  agency,  in  this  revolution 
is  the  production  of  mechanical  power. 

Few  realize,  as  they  go  about  their  daily  affairs,  how  in- 
dispensable is  this  commonplace  thing  to  modern  life.  Sub- 
tract all  of  its  results  and  see  what  we  have  left :  rapid  tran- 
sit by  stage  coach,  every  convenience  depending  upon  the  ap- 
plication of  electricity  eliminated ;  home-spun  clothes,  little 
variety  of  food,  little  or  no  ice;  little  communication  between 
distant  individuals,  few  books  and  no  newspapers.  In  short, 
subtract  everything  that  is  wholly  or  in  part  dependent  upon 
power,  and  how  much  of  the  progress  of  the  last  thousand 
years  would  be  apparent? 

While  we  have  gone  far  and  fast  in  the  production  of  power 
to  meet  the  continually  increasing  demands  of  an  industrial 
age,  when  we  consider  the  lavish  supply  of  materials  for  its 
production  with  which  the  earth  is  stored,  and  the  fact  that 
most  of  it  is  wasted  through  ignorance  and  inefficient  methods, 
we  must  humbly  admit  that  the  art  of  producing  mechanical 
power  is  still  in  its  infancy. 

In  the  most  successful  attempt  that  man  has  made  to  utilize 
the  forces  of  nature  for  this  purpose,  the  development  of 
the  water  fall,  he  is  able  to  realize  only  about  33  per  cent 
of  the  actual  power  of  the  water  in  useful  work  per- 
formed. In  plants  which  derive  their  power  from  stored  heat 
energy  the  showing  is  much  less  favorable,  the  work  of  the 
street  car  in  ton  miles  or  the  candlepower  of  the  electric 
lamp  being  commonly  less  than  two  per  cent  of  the  equivalent 
heat  energy  stored  in  the  coal. 

Percentages  make  little  impression  on  the  mind  unac- 
customed to  dealing  with  these  matters.  Let  us  put  the  state- 
ment in  a  little  more  startling  way.    In  1908,  an  average  year, 


48  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

the  production  of  coal  in  the  United  States  was  approximately 
400  million  tons.  Of  this  amount  8  million  tons  actually  did 
some  good;  the  rest  was  wasted,  and  wasted  at  an  enormous 
expense  outside  of  the  mere  intrinsic  value  of  the  fuel.  If  we 
figure  the  cost  of  mining  and  marketing  coal  at  two  dollars 
per  ton,  the  loss  represented  by  the  handling  of  392  million 
tons  of  wasted  coal  amounts  to  the  tidy  sum  of  784  million 
dollars,  or  almost  enough  to  run  the  United  States  govern- 
ment for  a  year.  This  is  over  and  above  the  value  of  the  coal. 
The  actual  power  value  of  the  coal  lost  may  be  illustrated  by 
another  example.  Take  a  pound  of  coal — a  lump,  say,  as  large 
as  a  man's  fist.  If  all  of  the  energy  of  the  lump  could  be  in- 
stantaneously liberated  the  force  would  be  sufficient  to  lift  its 
own  weight  about  two  thousand  miles  into  the  air.  If  the 
490  million  tons  which  are  now  nonproductive  of  useful  work 
could  all  be  made  available,  it  would  produce  585  million  horse- 
power for  a  year,  twenty-four  hours  a  day.  In  other  words,  it 
would  produce  all  the  power  used  in  the  United  States  for 
twenty  years  at  the  present  rate  of  consumption. 

For  natural  gas  and  petroleum,  the  other  two  great  sources 
of  power,  the  showing  would  be  somewhat  better. 

Consider  now  all  the  loss  of  life  at  the  mines  and  in  trans- 
portation, the  cost  and  discomfort  of  polluting  the  atmosphere 
and  spoiling  structures  with  smoke,  and  we  begin  to  get  some 
conception  of  our  enormous  inefficiency  in  dealing  with  this 
matter.  Our  future  historian,  commenting  on  the  useless 
waste  of  life  and  property  in  an  era  like  the  French  Revolu- 
tion, may  have  some  uncomplimentary  things  to  say  about  our 
industrial  revolution. 

After  this  discouraging  statement  of  waste  and  inefficiency, 
we  can  appreciate  more  fully  the  fact  that  real  progress  in 
improving  our  methods  has  been  made  in  the  last  quarter  of  a 
century,  and  in  the  last  decade  the  progress  has  amounted  to 
as  much,  perhaps,  as  in  the  whole  previous  period  of  develop- 
ment. 

In  the  earlier  designs  of  prime  movers  the  efforts  of  in- 
ventors were  directed  mainly  to  making  the  wheels  go  around — 
no  small  task  in  itself — and  the  attendant  waste  of  fuel  was 
looked  upon  as  more  or  less  unavoidable,  or  not  considered  at 
all.  The  old  wooden  water  mill  wasted  fifty  times  as  much 
water  as  it  used,  but  it  sawed  the  logs,  ground  the  corn,  and 


Chemical  and  Physical  Papers.  49 

drove  the  loom.  Watt's  steam  engine,  working  at  an  efficiency 
of  probably  less  than  a  tenth  of  one  per  cent,  made  the  steam 
plant  possible  and  made  the  industrial  community  independent 
of  the  water-power  site.  Stephenson's  link  motion  put  the 
railroad,  such  as  it  was,  on  the  map;  Fulton  built  a  marine 
engine  that  propelled  a  boat,  in  spite  of  the  predictions  of  his 
friends,  and  the  clumsy  and  noisy  old  free-piston  engine  of 
Otto  and  Langen  demonstrated  the  possibility  of  the  modern 
internal-combustion  motor. 

Ten  years  ago  the  situation  in  the  power  world  was  about  as 
follows : 

The  perfecting  of  electrical  apparatus  had  made  possible  the 
construction  of  water-power  plants  at  some  distance  from  the 
site  of  the  industry  to  be  served.  The  original  American  plant 
of  the  Niagara  Falls  Power  Company,  with  its  .5000  kw.  gen- 
erating units  and  22,000-volt  transmission  line,  was  in  opera- 
tion, and  represented  advanced  practice,  although  more  recent 
designs  were  in  process  of  construction. 

In  steam-engineering  practice  the  compound  engine  had  been 
carried  to  its  logical  limit  in  the  huge  triple-  and  quadruple- 
expansion  engines  of  such  ships  as  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm.  These 
engines  were  built  in  units  as  great  as  15,000  horsepower,  and 
would  develop  a  horsepower-hour  on  a  pound  and  a  half  of 
coal  or  a  little  less. 

The  steam  turbine,  which  began  to  assume  commercial  im- 
portance about  1900,  had  reached  an  efficiency  about  equal  to 
the  best  steam  engine  when  built  in  large  sizes.  There  were 
two  distinct  types,  called  the  impulse  and  the  reaction,  and  one 
or  the  other  of  these  types  was  rigidly  adhered  to  in  the  con- 
struction of  a  single  machine.  They  were  not  regarded  with 
great  favor  for  marine  propulsion,  because  they  are  not  re- 
versible. The  largest  units  for  land  service  were  5000  horse- 
power, and  these  were  looked  upon  as  wonders. 

The  internal-combustion  motor,  which  began  its  commercial 
career  about  1890,  had  reached  its  greatest  perfection  in  the 
automobile  motor  of  the  period  and  in  the  small  marine  motor. 
Gas  engines  for  power  purposes  were  built  in  sizes  as  large 
as  50  horsepower,  but  this  was  regarded  as  about  the  limit. 
The  gas  producer  was  just  coming  into  existence,  and  gas- 
engine  designers  were  beginning  to  think  about  the  problem  of 
larger  and  more  efficient  units. 
—4 


50  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

Ten,  perhaps  fifteen,  years  ago  began  what  may  be  called 
the  up-to-date  period  of  power  development.  As  might  be 
expected,  efforts  in  this  period  have  been  directed  mainly  to 
producing  better  efficiencies  from  machinery  already  developed, 
yet  this  period  has  produced  two  entirely  new  power  motors 
and  the  experimental  investigation  of  a  third. 

In  water-power  development,  after  the  successful  completion 
of  the  American  plant  at  Niagara,  many  other  projects  were 
undertaken.  These  are  of  three  general  classes :  medium  head 
plants  like  the  one  just  mentioned;  high  head  plants  like  those 
in  California,  where  the  fall  is  several  hundred  feet;  and  low 
head  plants  like  that  at  Keokuk,  where  the  head  is  only  about 
thirty  feet.  At  Niagara  the  turbine  wheels  are  5  feet  4  inches 
in  diameter  and  at  Keokuk  they  are  16  feet  2  inches,  while  for 
the  high  heads  that  are  developed  on  the  Pacific  coast  an  en- 
tirely different  type,  known  as  the  impulse  wheel,  is  used. 
Progress  has  been  along  two  main  lines :  the  perfection  of 
wheels  to  give  best  efficency  for  these  different  sets  of  con- 
ditions, and  increase  in  transmission  voltages.  We  have  ad- 
vanced along  these  two  lines  to  the  point  where  any  sort  of  a 
water  power  may  be  successfully  developed,  from  an  immense 
volume  with  little  fall  to  a  small  volume  with  a  high  fall. 
Voltages  have  increased  from  22,000  to  150,000,  and  power  may 
be  successfully  carried  150  miles  or  more,  so  that  the  industry 
and  the  town  is  in  a  sense  independent  of  the  location  of  the 
power  site. 

In  steam  engineering  there  has  been  a  return  from  the 
complicated  triple-  and  quadruple-expansion  engine  to  the  older 
two-stage  compound  type.  This  has  been  made  possible  by 
superheating  the  steam,  that  is,  raising  it  to  a  temperature 
above  that  due  to  its  pressure.  Development  and  change  in 
the  use  of  steam  turbines  has  been  so  rapid  in  the  last  decade 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  say  what  the  best  practice  is  ai 
the  present  time.  We  are  able  to  distinguish  two  directions  in 
which  changes  are  being  made,  but  whether  they  indicate  per- 
manent progress  the  future  only  can  "reveal.  One  of  these 
is  increase  in  size.  Where  ten  years  ago  5000  horsepower  was 
regarded  as  a  monster  unit  it  is  now  regarded  as  a  small  one, 
30,000  horsepower  being  the  large  one.  The  other  direction  in 
which  change  is  being  made  is  in  mixing  the  types,  impulse 
and  reaction  in  a  single  machine.  This  enables  the  designer  to 
take  better  advantage  of  the  high  and  low  pressures  of  the 


Chemical  and  Physical  Papers.  51 

steam  as  it  flows  from  a  state  of  high  to  a  lower  temperature. 
The  turbine  is  also  combined  with  the  reciprocating  engine, 
each  forming  a  stage  in  a  compound  unit.  In  this  way  the 
turbine  is  enabled  to  get  as  much  power  out  of  a  pound  of 
steam  after  it  has  expanded  to  a  pressure  at  which  it  would 
be  thrown  away  in  a  noncondensing  plant  as  the  noncondensing 
steam  engine  would  get  out  of  that  pound  of  steam  above  that 
pressure,  thus  adding  a  large  percentage  to  the  efficiency  of 
the  plant. 

With  every  new  invention  in  power  machinery  comes  the 
statement  that  the  steam  engine  is  doomed  and  about  to  be 
relegated  to  the  museum  as  a  curiosity.  This  happened  when 
the  steam  turbine  came  into  use,  and  it  is  happening  again 
with  the  advent  of  the  Diesel  motor ;  but  that  the  steam  engine 
has  managed  to  hold  its  own  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  of 
the  total  horsepower  produced  in  the  United  States,  after 
fifteen  years  of  the  steam  turbine  and  gas  engine,  75  per  cent 
or  more  is  by  the  reciprocating  steam  engine.  Not  only  has  it 
held  its  own  as  a  mechanical  device,  but  its  thermal  efficiency 
has  been  increased  to  keep  pace  with  improvements  in  other 
lines.  Speaking  roughly,  we  may  say  that  the  efficiency  of  the 
steam  engine  has  been  practically  doubled,  both  for  small  and 
large  units,  in  the  last  decade.  The  agencies  that  have  brought 
this  about  are  the  invention  of  the  German  uniflow  engine, 
which  has  an  ordinary  efficiency  about  equal  to  the  best  mul- 
tiple-expansion engine  working  under  the  most  favorable  con- 
ditions ;  the  locomobile,  a  combined  engine  and  boiler  which 
will  give  an  efficiency  for  small  plants  about  as  good  as  the 
best  multiple-expansion  engine  under  the  most  favorable  con- 
ditions ;  the  elimination  of  smoke  and  consequent  saving  of 
fuel;  the  superheating  of  steam,  which  saves  the  losses  from 
condensation  and  reevaporation. 

The  development  in  the  production  of  gas  power  has  been 
mainly  in  the  direction  of  reliability.  In  this  period  gas 
engines  have  been  perfected  to  the  point  where  they  will 
f^tart,  and  riin  after  they  get  started.  With  the  perfection  in 
details  has  come  an  increase  in  the  size  of  the  units,  so  that 
whereas  fifteen  years  ago  a  gas  engine  of  over  40  horsepower 
was  the  exception,  we  now  find  them  running  successfully  in 
units  of  several  hundred  horsepower. 

The  gas-producer  plant  has  shown  less  development,  perhaps. 


52  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

than  any  other  type  of  power  plant  during  this  period.  Per- 
haps the  time  for  its  development  has  not  yet  arrived.  It  may 
be  waiting  for  the  notion  of  the  great  central  power  plant  to 
get  more  firmly  fixed.  Distributed  over  the  country  are  enor- 
mous deposits  of  lignite  coal.  This  coal  is  worthless  as  an  ordi- 
nary fuel,  but  it  may  be  burned  in  properly  constructed  pro- 
ducers and  give  a  fuel  efficiency  nearly  as  great  as  that  of  good 
steam  coals.  Probably  this  type  of  plant  will  not  be  greatly 
used  until  the  railroads  and  scattered  industrial  plants  give  up 
their  own  little  wasteful  units  and  learn  to  take  their  power 
from  great  central  plants  located  at  the  mines  and  distributed 
through  high-voltage  transmission  lines,  as  is  now  coming  to 
be  the  practice  in  water-power  installations.  In  connection 
with  gas  engines  this  decade  has  seen  the  invention  of  a  new 
type  of  unit  that,  so  far,  excels  in  efficiency  anything  previously 
devised.  This  is  the  constant-pressure  engine,  known  as  the 
Diesel  motor.  The  thermal  efficiency  of  this  engine  is  over  30 
per  cent  under  actual  working  conditions.  What  this  means 
may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  it  has  reduced  fuel  con- 
sumption from  one  and  a  half  to  less  than  a  half  pound  per 
horsepower-hour.  As  a  marine  engine  it  has  multiplied  the 
steaming  radius  of  vessels  by  three,  and  the  fact  that  its  fuel  is 
liquid  makes  it  possible  to  store  and  handle  it  with  much 
greater  economy  than  is  possible  with  coal.  Engines  of  this 
type  have  been  in  operation  in  Germany  on  the  tarry  by- 
products of  petroleum  and  asphaltum,  heretofore  wasted;  so 
that  power  has  actually  been  produced,  not  only  at  no  cost,  but 
its  production  has  disposed  of  an  otherwise  inconvenient  waste 
material.  Why  should  not  the  gas  producer,  using  lignite  fuel, 
produce  gas  for  the  common  gas  engine,  and  at  the  same  time 
supply  fuel  for  the  Diesel  motor  in  the  form  of  the  trouble- 
some tarry  products  that  now  form  one  of  the  disadvantages  of 
the  producer  plant.  We  should  then  have  our  great  central 
station  operating  at  an  efficiency  now  unthought  of,  and  using 
a  fuel  which  is  at  present  almost  useless.  This  development 
remains,  perhaps,  for  the  next  decade. 


III. 

GEOLOGICAL  PAPERS. 


1.  "The  Geological  Development  of  Kansas. 

By  Lyman  C.  Wooster. 

2.  "The  Glacial  Epoch." 

By  Albert  B.  Keagan. 

3.  "Lowering  of  the  Ground-water  Table." 

By  W.  A.  Cook. 


(53) 


GEOLOGICAL  DEVELOPMENT  OF  KANSAS. 

By  Lyman  C.  Wooster. 
THE   RAIN   OF  PLANETESIMALS. 

THE  nebular  hypothesis  of  Kant  and  Swedenborg  has  failed 
to  meet  the  tests  applied  by  modern  men  of  science,  and 
soon  will  be  remembered  as  being  merely  one  of  the  dreams 
of  philosophy.  Finding  that  the  nebular  hypothesis  is  un- 
supported by  scientific  data  in  many  vital  parts,  the  writers 
of  the  later  scientific  texts  have  substituted  the  planetesimal 
hypothesis  of  Chamberlin,  believing  that  it  gives  a  truer  ex- 
planation of  the  development  of  the  earth.  According  to  this 
hypothesis  the  earth  began  as  one  of  several  nuclei  in  an  arm 
of  a  spiral  nebula,  a  form  of  nebula  very  common  in  the 
heavens  at  the  present  time,  and  has  slowly  reached  her  pres- 
ent size  through  the  accretion  of  myriads  of  small  planetesi- 
mals  which  were  drawn  in  from  the  neighboring  regions  of 
the  nebula. 

As  the  planetesimals  accumulated  the  pressure  within  the 
young  planet  eventually  became  so  great  that  many  absorbed 
gases  were  forced  from  their  enclosing  cavities  and  driven 
to  the  surface.  When  the  earth  had  reached  nearly  her  present 
size  the  escaping  nitrogen  and  oxygen  were  recaptured  by 
gravity  and  remained  as  an  atmosphere;  heated  hydrogen  and 
oxygen  united  to  form  water  vapor  somewhere  in  the  earth's 
crust,  and  on  escaping  into  the  atmosphere  it  cooled  and  con- 
densed into  rain,  which  returned  to  the  earth  and  filled  up  all 
the  depressions  on  her  surface  and  became  the  seas  and  oceans ; 
some  of  the  oxygen  picked  up  carbon  and  became  carbon- 
dioxide  gas,  which  escaped  into  the  atmosphere  through  fis- 
sures or  volcanoes  or  bubbled  up  through  the  water  and  became 
one  of  the  greatest  agents  in  the  reconstruction  of  the  earth's 
surface  and  one  of  the  substances  of  the  highest  importance  to 
the  future  plants  and  animals;  hydrogen  and  carbon  also  united 
somewhere  in  the  interior  of  the  earth,  and  possibly  became 
the  petroleum  and  natural  gas  so  highly  prized  in  the  arts. 

Footnote. — The  limits  of  this  paper  forbid  giving:  more  than  the  story  of  the  geological 
development  of  Kansas.  The  data  in  full  and  the  scientific  arrangement  of  these  data  will 
be  found  in  the  various  reports  and  manuals  that  give  the  geology  of  the  states  occupying 
the  Great  Plains. 

(55) 


56  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

Most  of  the  heated  gases  on  escaping  from  the  earth's  in- 
terior made  various  chemical  unions  on  reaching  the  cooler 
crust  and  served  various  uses  in  nature's  laboratory.  It  has 
recently  been  learned  that  the  water  of  tropical  Atlantic  ocean 
is  twice  as  rich  in  oxygen  at  a  depth  of  4000  feet  as  at  400 
feet.*  This  may  be  partly  explained  by  regarding  the  crust 
of  the  earth  beneath  the  ocean  as  a  storehouse  of  oxygen. 

The  earth's  nucleus  and  the  planetesimals  in  the  spiral 
nebula  were  probably  cold,  according  to  Chamberlin,  but  the 
force  pulling  the  tiny  solids  towards  the  center  of  the  mass 
became  in  time  so  great  that  the  nucleus  with  the  inner  plan- 
etesimals became  very  hot  under  the  compressing  force.  The 
surface  of  the  earth,  however,  remained  cold  and  solid,  except 
where  the  molten  interior  poured  forth  through  fissures  and 
buried  the  crust  beneath  great  sheets  of  molten  lava.  In  the 
earlier  history  of  the  earth  this  happened  so  frequently  and 
at  so  many  places  that  little,  if  any,  of  the  primitive  crust 
remains  at  the  surface. 

AND    HIGH    LAND   APPEARED. 

So  far  as  the  geologist  now  knows,  the  first  permanent  high 
land  to  appear  above  the  general  level  of  the  earth's  crust  in 
what  is  now  North  America  arose  as  great  mountain  ranges, 
which  (1)  stretched  along  our  Atlantic  border;  (2)  bounded 
Hudson  Bay  on  the  east,  south  and  west;  (3)  followed  the 
general  course  of  what  are  now  the  Rocky  Mountains;  and  (4) 
reared  aloft  granite  summits  a  little  east  of  where  are  now 
the  Sierras. 

The  winds  and  rains  of  a  moisture-laden  atmosphere  and  the 
waves  of  mighty  seas  and  oceans  beat  upon  these  great  moun- 
tains for  fifteen  or  twenty  million  years,  wearing  them  down 
and  sorting  and  scattering  debris  in  the  seas  and  oceans  till 
low-lying  mountains,  bordered  by  shallow-water  sand  flats  and 
mud  flats,  were  all  that  remained  of  the  mighty  ranges  of 
granite  and  lava.  Before  these  mountains  were  formed,  life 
may  have  established  itself  in  the  seas  and  oceans.  No  one 
knows  whence  it  came,  but  the  geologist  finds  evidence  that  the 
waters  teemed  with  life  in  the  Archeozoic  era ;  first  plants,  and 
then  animals  of  simple  organization. 

While  the  mountains  were  being  denuded  in  the  Proterozoic 
era,  worms  and  primitive  crustaceans  had  their  habitats  on 

*  Science,  October  17,  1913,  p.  546. 


Geological  Papers.  57 

the  sandy  bottoms  or  on  the  mud  flats  beyond,  for  the  fossil  re- 
mains of  a  few  of  them  have  been  found  in  the  indurated 
rocks  formed  of  this  sand  and  mud.  Besides  this  direct  evi- 
dence, indirect  evidence  of  life  having  flourished  in  these  seas 
and  in  fresh-water  swamps  on  the  flanks  of  the  mountains  is 
abundant.  Beds  of  graphite  are  not  uncommon,  which  possibly 
may  represent  the  metamorphosed  peat  of  the  swamps.  Beds 
of  limestone  occur,  and  these  are  usually  considered  as  being 
proof  of  the  previous  existence  of  marine  life,  with  skeletons 
of  carbonate  of  lime.  Then,  too,  beds  of  iron  ore  of  great 
thickness  are  found  interstratified  with  the  debris  of  these 
ancient  mountains.  Iron  ore  is  deposited  from  solution 
through  the  chemical  action  of  organic  compounds  set  free  in 
the  decay  of  the  tissues  of  plants  and  animals.  Probably  bac- 
teria helped  in  the  deposition  of  the  ore,  either  by  causing 
organisms  to  decay  or  by  robbing  compounds  of  iron  of  all  the 
other  elements  except  oxygen.  Copper  and  silver  were  pre- 
cipitated in  the  same  sand  and  mud  flats  and  concentrated 
later,  especially  where  Lake  Superior  now  lies,  possibly  by  the 
same  organic  reagents  or  by  bacteria. 

DRY  LAND  INCREASED  IN  AREA. 

The  development  of  the  earth's  topographic  features  has 
always  been  hastened  and  emphasized  by  periods  of  mountain- 
making.  Each  great  range  of  mountains  was  thrown  up  after 
millions  of  years  of  comparative  stability  of  the  earth's  crust. 
It  was  once  believed  that  the  great  ranges  of  mountains  came 
up  in  a  few  weeks,  or,  at  most,  in  a  few  years,  but  it  is  now 
known  that  they  require  thousands,  probably  millions,  of  years 
to  reach  maturity. 

The  most  ancient  mountains  known  to  the  geologist,  the  ones 
already  described,  were  forced  above  the  general  level  at  the 
close  of  the  Archeozoic  era.  Then  followed  the  fifteen  or 
twenty  million  years  of  erosion  and  deposition.  The  interior 
of  the  earth  continued  to  shrink  very  slowly  because  of  loss  of 
heat,  while  the  sand,  clay  and  calcareous  mud  and  the  various 
ores  and  organic  compounds  were  being  deposited  in  the  seas 
bordering  the  ancient  mountains,  or  in  swamps  on  their  flanks, 
till  finally  the  accumulated  stresses  in  the  crust  of  the  earth 
compelled  it  to  wrinkle,  and  thus  enabled  it  to  rest  on  the 
smaller  interior.  The  wrinkles  followed  lines  of  weakness,  and 
these  have  been  shown  over  and  over  again  to  be  along  ancient 


58  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

mountain  ranges  worn  nearly  to  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  espe- 
cially in  the  belt  of  debris  on  one  or  the  other  flank,  or  some- 
times on  both  flanks. 

In  this  second  yielding  of  the  crust  of  the  earth,  this  time  at 
the  close  of  the  Proterozoic  era,  the  ranges  of  the  Archeozoic 
era  were  rejuvenated,  the  sand  and  mud  flats  on  their  flanks 
were  folded,  the  folds  were  crushed  together,  and  the  sediments 
were  metamorphosed;  that  is,  semifused  and  compacted  or 
crystallized.  By  this  metamorphism  the  sand  and  sandstone 
were  converted  into  quartzite,  like  that  in  the  drift  hills  south 
of  Topeka,  shoved  down  from  Minnesota  and  South  Dakota  by 
the  Kansan  glacier;  and  the  more  or  less  pure  clay  was  com- 
pacted into  slate  and  various  schists.  The  limestone  became 
marble,  and  the  coal  graphite. 

Among  the  mountains  of  the  United  States  that  date  from 
the  close  of  the  Archeozoic  or  Proterozoic  eras  are  the  Blue 
Ridge  of  Virginia,  the  Adirondacks  of  New  York,  the  low 
mountains  about  the  synclinal  trough  now  occupied  by  Lake 
Superior,  the  Ozarks  of  Missouri,  the  Arbuckle  and  Wichita 
mountains  of  Oklahoma  and  some  near-by  mountains  of  Texas, 
various  granite  ranges  along  the  belt  now  occupied  by  the 
Rocky  Mountains,  and  some  scattered  ranges  east  of  where 
now  lie  the  Sierras. 

WHERE   WAS    KANSAS? 

During  all  these  millenniums,  and  many  more,  Kansas  lay 
peacefully  sleeping  beneath  the  waters  of  old  ocean,  at  least 
what  there  was  of  her,  little  disturbed  by  the  mountain-making 
east,  south  and  west.  Sediments  were  undoubtedly  deposited 
within  her  borders,  but  of  these  we  know  nothing  by  observa- 
tion. Of  this  much  we  are  pragmatically  certain,  however: 
during  the  twelve  million  years  of  the  Cambrian  and  Ordovi- 
cian  periods  of  the  Paleozoic  era,  the  winds,  rains  and  ocean 
waves  tore  down  the  mountains,  squeezed  up  at  the  close  of  the 
Proterozoic  era  and  continued  the  work  of  filling  up  the  oceans, 
making  in  them  the  foundations  of  continents  and  islands  that 
appeared  above  the  sea  later,  on  which  land  life  was  to  flourish. 
Of  this  debris  Kansas  undoubtedly  received  her  share. 

Before  the  dry  land  appeared,  the  sands  were  cemented  into 
sandstone,  the  clays  became  shale,  and  in  the  deeper,  clearer 
waters  great  beds  of  limestone  were  formed  of  the  skeletons 
of  coral  polyps,  crinoids,  brachiopods,  clams,  snails,  chambered 


Geological  Papers.  59 

shell  animals,  and  of  the  lime  carbonate  and  silica  of  sea  weeds 
and  sponges. 

THE   THIRD   PERIOD   OF    MOUNTAIN-MAKING. 

At  the  close  of  the  Ordovician  period  the  earth's  crust  was 
again  forced  to  wrinkle  as  it  adapted  itself  to  a  shrinking  in- 
terior, and  old  mountains  were  rejuvenated  and  new  mountains 
appeared  along  their  borders  or  along  new  lines  of  weakness. 
Among  the  new  mountains  and  ridges  formed  at  this  time 
were  the  Green  and  Taconic  mountains,  and  a  great  anticlinal 
ridge  of  especial  importance  to  Kansas.  It  stretched  south 
and  southwest  from  what  are  now  Put-in-bay  islands  of  Lake 
Erie,  along  the  western  border  of  Ohio,  and  through  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Arkansas  and  Oklahoma.  In  Oklahoma  the  Ar- 
buckle  and  Wichita  mountains  were  rejuvenated  by  this 
geanticline,  and  in  Missouri  this  great  earth  fold  reelevated 
the  Ozarks  and  thus  gave  a  mighty  impetus  to  the  develop- 
ment of  Kansas. 

Unknown  billions  of  tons  of  clay,  sand  and  gravel  from  the 
Ozarks  and  the  Oklahoma  mountains  were  poured  into  the  Kan- 
sas basin,  and  myriads  of  ocean  plants  and  animals  added  their 
skeletons  to  this  debris  from  the  mountains.  At  about  the 
close  of  the  six  million  years  of  the  Silurian  and  Devonian 
periods  the  accumulation  of  sediment  and  the  continued  forc- 
ing up  of  the  neighboring  mountain  regions  probably  brought 
the  southeastern  portion  of  Kansas  above  the  level  of  the 
ocean,  the  first  dry  land  in  the  history  of  the  state. 

The  crust  of  the  earth  is  never  stable,  especially  in  regions 
of  mountain-making,  and  Kansas  had  to  oscillate  up  and  down 
many  times  before  she  reached  her  present  condition  of  com- 
parative stability.  After  being  dry  land  for  some  thousands  of 
years,  southeastern  Kansas  sank  beneath  the  level  of  the  sea 
and  received  a  stratum  of  limestone  mud  six  or  seven  hundred 
feet  thick  in  which  were  included  great  quantities  of  flint  de- 
rived from  plants  and  animals,  which  secrete  silica  (the  chief 
mineral  of  flint)  from  sea  water  for  their  skeletons.  Another 
oscillation  and  southea.stern  Kansas  became  dry  land  again, 
and  the  thick  coating  of  limestone  mud  became  hardened  into 
rock  now  known  as  the  Mississippian  limestone.  This  time 
southeastern  Kansas  remained  dry  land  so  long  that  the  rains 
wore  away  more  than  one-third  of  this  formation.  Part  of 
the  rain  water  followed  the  joints  of  the  limestone  deep  into 


60  Kansas  Academy  of  Scieyice. 

its  interior  and  dissolved  out  the  rock,  making  great  caves 
like  those  of  Missouri,  Kentucky  and  Indiana.  Then  Kansas 
sank  beneath  the  waters  of  the  ocean  once  more  and  the  water 
of  the  crust  of  the  earth,  charged  with  various  minerals  which 
it  had  dissolved  from  distant  portions  of  the  limestone,  surged 
into  the  caves  and  proceeded  to  fill  them  with  flint,  zinc  sulfide, 
lead  sulfide  and  calcite. 

WHENCE    CAME    THE    MATERIALS    OF   THE    SHALES    AND    SAND- 
STONES  OF    KANSAS? 

There  seems  to  be  little  question  that  the  clay  and  sand  of 
the  shales  and  sandstones  of  eastern  Kansas  came  from  the 
granites  and  lavas  of  the  Ozarks  of  Missouri  and  the  Arbuckle 
and  Wichita  mountains  of  Oklahoma.  Sand,  clay,  carbonate  of 
lime  (calcite),  and  flint  (silica)  have  little  physical  resem- 
blance to  granite,  gneiss  and  lava,  but  chemically  they  are 
near  relatives.  The  granites  and  gneisses  consist  chiefly  of 
orthoclase  feldspar  and  quartz.  This  feldspar  is  a  double 
silicate  of  alumina  and  potash.  Carbonic  acid  of  rain  water 
takes  away  the  potash  of  the  feldspar  and  leaves  the  simple 
silicate  of  alumina,  which  is  the  chief  ingredient  of  common 
clay.  The  carbonic  acid  unites  with  the  potash,  making  car- 
bonate of  potash.  This  remains  in  the  water  and  eventually 
serves  a  very  important  function  in  food-making  in  green 
plants.  The  clay  residue  from  the  feldspar  is  washed  away 
and  floats  out  to  sea,  where  it  settles  in  deep  water,  leaving  the 
quartz  of  the  granite  and  gneiss  to  follow  more  slowly  to  the 
seashore,  where  the  waves  soon  grind  it  into  beach  sand. 

The  feldspar  of  lava  is  quite  different  from  that  of  granite 
and  gneiss.  It  is  usually  a  triple  sihcate  of  alumina,  soda  and 
lime.  Carbonic  acid  of  rain  water  unites  with  the  soda  and 
the  lime,  making  carbonate  of  soda  (washing  soda)  and  car- 
bonate of  lime  (the  material  of  limestone),  leaving  the  silicate 
of  alumina,  the  chief  ingredient  of  clay,  as  before.  Carbonate 
of  soda  is  very  common  in  volcanic  regions.  Should  it  en- 
counter nitric  acid  in  rain  water  it  becomes  sodium  nitrate,  a 
very  important  plant  fertilizer;  if  it  meets  hydrochloric  acid 
it  becomes  sodium  chlorid  or  common  salt,  so  abundant  in  the 
ocean  and  in  salt  lakes.  The  carbonate  of  lime  has  also  a  very 
important  history,  and  is  very  acceptable  to  some  plants  and 
many  animals  for  use  in  their  supporting  hard  parts. 


Geological  Papers.  61 

Carbonate  of  lime  can  not  stay  in  solution  in  water  unless 
there  is  an  excess  of  carbonic  acid  present.  Green  plants  use 
great  quantities  of  this  acid  in  elaborating  their  foods,  such  as 
the  sugars,  starch  and  the  proteins,  and  hence  water  plants 
produce  a  scarcity  of  carbonic  acid  in  the  water,  and  conse- 
quently the  lime  carbonate  is  precipitated  and  they  are  buried 
in  it,  making  much  limestone.  But  where  there  are  many 
water  animals  near  by  they  relieve  the  plants  of  the  carbonate 
of  lime  and  use  it  for  their  skeletons,  later  to  become  limestone. 
In  this  way  are  produced  shell  beds,  crinoidal  limestone,  fine 
chalk  like  that  of  England,  France  and  western  Kansas,  and 
coarse  chalk  like  that  quarried  at  Cottonwood  Falls,  coral 
rock,  and  common  limestone  made  of  calcareous  mud  derived 
from  any  or  all  the  preceding. 

Some  of  the  quartz  of  granitic  rocks  is  dissolved  in  water 
containing  alkali,  from  which  it  is  removed  in  several  interest- 
ing ways.  Certain  rhizopods,  sponges  and  the  diatoms  use  it 
in  making  their  skeletons.  Hot  alkaline  water  will  drop  silica 
on  cooling,  as  in  the  overflow  of  geysers.  A  very  interesting 
form  of  deposition  occurs  wherever  the  alkaline  water  of  lakes, 
ponds  and  rivers  holding  silica  in  solution  encounters  organic 
acids  derived  from  the  decaying  bodies  of  plants  and  animals. 
In  this  way  great  quant'ities  of  wood  in  Kansas  and  elsewhere 
have  become  petrified  (silicified),  and  cavities  have  been  filled 
with  flint,  as  in  the  Mississippian  limestone  (together  with 
zinc  and  lead  sulfids),  and  in  the  Wreford  (Flint  Hills)  lime- 
stone and  in  other  limestones  of  the  state. 

Before  all  the  strata  of  the  Mississippian  period  were  laid 
down  in  Missouri,  Kansas  and  Oklahoma,  the  earth  forces 
proceeded  to  squeeze  up  the  Ozarks  and  the  Wichita,  Arbuckle 
and  neighboring  mountains  of  Oklahoma  to  an  altitude  com- 
mensurate with  the  earth's  needs  and  thus  made  dry  land 
again  in  eastern  Kansas  and  Oklahoma.  How  many  thousand 
years  eastern  Kansas  continued  dry  we  do  not  know,  but  we 
do  know  that  certain  readjustments  which  always  attend 
mountain-making  resulted  in  the  downfall  of  the  crust  be- 
tween the  Ozarks  and  the  Arbuckle  and  Wichita  mountains. 
Indeed,  in  eastern  Oklahoma,  beneath  where  the  Arkansas 
river  now  flows,  the  crust  sank  more  than  a  mile,  involving 
eastern  Kansas  in  the  downthrow.  This  breakdown  did  not 
occur  suddenly  or  continuously,  but  was  accomplished  during 


62  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

some  thousands  of  years.  The  downward  movement  was  slow- 
enough  for  the  mountains  to  yield  enough  clay  and  sand, 
mostly  clay,  to  fill  the  basin  nearly  as  fast  as  the  bottom  sank. 
This  deposit  became  the  Cherokee  shales  and  sandstone.  Long- 
before  the  Cherokee  shales  were  all  laid  down,  swampy  places 
existed  here  and  there  in  eastern  Kansas  and  in  eastern  Okla- 
homa, which  continued  to  grow  swamp  vegetation  long  enough 
to  make  all  the  peat  for  all  the  coal  now  mined  at  McAlester, 
Weir  City  and  Lansing.  Nor  is  this  all,  for  in  the  sandy  places, 
in  the  shale,  enormous  quantities  of  petroleum  and  natural 
gas  accumulated,  which  either  originated  in  the  decaying  bodies 
of  plants  and  animals  under  the  sand  beds,  or  poured  up 
through  fissures  in  the  bottom  of  the  trough  from  deep  in  the 
interior  of  the  earth,  no  one  is  certain  which.  This  great 
synclinal  trough  must  be  still  sinking,  at  least  the  stress  on  the 
strata  of  shale  which  filled  the  syncline  is  not  fully  relieved, 
for  bottom  shale  in  the  McAlister  coal  mine  buckles  up  here 
and  there  to  the  great  alarm  of  the  miners. 

For  four  million  years  after  the  deposition  of  the  Cherokee 
shales  the  eastern  third  of  Kansas  changed  its  physical  geog- 
raphy scores  of  times,  with  the  shore  line  much  of  the  time  in 
Missouri  and  Oklahoma.  Scores  of  times  the  ocean  would  be 
free  from  clay,  and  layers  of  limestone  would  be  laid  down, 
made  from  the  skeletons  of  plants  and  animals;  then  the  seas 
would  be  deep  and  muddy  and  shales  would  accumulate,  or  the 
shore  line  would  advance  westward  and  sand  for  sandstone 
would  spread  over  the  southern  and  eastern  portions  of  the 
state.  At  times  sweet  water  swamps  would  exist  long  enough 
for  peat  to  form,  later  to  be  buried,  and  finally  to  become  beds 
of  coal  such  as  the  Osage  bed  in  Osage  county  and  many  others 
in  eastern  Kansas.  These  alternations  were  repeated  so  many 
times  that  a  list  of  the  more  important  strata  would  comprise 
more  than  fifty  names,  but  every  millennium  saw  some  sub- 
stantial gain,  for  the  shore  line  was  pushed  westward  nearly 
one-third  across  the  state  when  the  fourth  great  time  of  moun- 
tain-making came  which  drove  the  ocean  permanently  from  the 
eastern  half  of  the  continent. 

WHEN  THE  APPALACHIAN   MOUNTAINS  WERE   MADE. 

The  fourth  great  period  of  mountain-making,  the  Appa- 
lachian revolution,  completed  the  Appalachian  system  of  moun- 
tains,  elevated   somewhat   and    permanently   established   the 


Geological  Papers.  63 

Ozarks,  Arbuckle  and  Wichita  mountains,  and  probably  ele- 
vated some  of  the  ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  above  the 
level  of  the  sea. 

About  this  time  middle  Kansas  experienced  the  greatest 
drouth  of  its  history.  The  water  of  several  great  interior  seas 
evaporated,  the  basins  were  filled  with  salt  water,  the  water 
again  evaporated,  the  basins  were  filled  again  with  salt  water, 
the  water  once  more  evaporated — this  process  being  repeated 
till  hundreds  of  feet  in  thickness  of  rock  salt  accumulated,  and 
many  feet  of  gypsum,  in  deposits  which  extend  from  King- 
man to  Kanopolis.  Next,  all  that  remained  of  the  Kansas- 
Oklahoma  basin  was  filled  with  sand  and  some  gypsum,  prob- 
ably from  the  Wichita  mountains  and  some  mountains  in 
Colorado  and  New  Mexico,  and  the  work  of  the  Paleozoic  era 
in  Kansas  was  completed. 

THE  AGE  OF  REPTILES. 

For  more  than  four  million  years  Kansas  w^as  as  level  as 
Iowa  is  to-daj',  and  as  free  from  ocean  water.  Reptiles  fought 
in  her  swamps  and  rivers  and  cycads  dominated  in  her  forests. 
The  life  of  the  coal  period  had  largely  vanished.  Ferns  con- 
tinued in  the  swampy  places,  but  the  great  lepidodendrons, 
sigillaria  and  calamites,  whose  fossilized  trunks  we  find  in 
eastern  Kansas,  are  represented  by  very  different  descend- 
ants. The  amphibians  of  the  coal  swamps  of  the  preceding 
period  had  likewise  changed  to  adapt  themselves  to  new  con- 
ditions. The  ocean  life,  also,  kept  pace  with  the  land  life  in 
a  general  advance  to  higher  structures. 

This  Jura-Trias  period  of  three  and  one-half  million  years 
closed  in  America  with  the  fifth  period  of  mountain-making, 
this  time  on  the  Pacific  side.  The  Sierras,  Cascades  and 
several  ranges  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  region  were  squeezed 
above  sea  level. 

For  many  thousand  years  after  the  close  of  this  period  of 
mountain-making  the  entire  plains  belt  from  North  Dakota 
to  Texas  was  covered  with  a  sea  of  shifting  sand  that  must 
have  drifted  from  the  old  Rocky  Mountains.  This  sand  became 
cemented  into  a  sandstone  known  as  the  Dakota. 

The  Cretaceous  system  of  rocks  in  Kansas,  of  which  the 
Dakota  sandstone  is  the  first  member,  consists  of  the  usual 
alternation  of  shale,  sandstone  and  limestone,  all  salt-water 
formations  except  the  Dakota,    The  shales  associated  with  the 


64  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

Dakota  contain  much  salt  and  gypsum  and  a  bed  of  lignite. 
Part  of  the  limestone  of  the  Cretaceous  is  composed  of  the 
shells  of  rhizopods  and  is  a  chalk  of  the  same  age  as  the  chalk 
of  England  and  France.  The  life  of  this  period  is  quite 
modern.  Flowering  plants,  nectar-loving  insects,  bony  fish, 
reptilian  birds  and  reptilian  mammals  had  been  developed 
from  the  lower  forms  of  life  which  preceded  them.  Among 
the  fossil  leaves  found  in  the  Cretaceous  of  Kansas  are  those 
of  the  tulip  tree,  willow,  maple,  sassafras,  walnut,  sequoia  and 
fig.  The  fruits  of  the  last  two  have  been  found  well  preserved. 
Reptiles,  however,  continued  to  be  the  dominant  type  of  life. 

At  the  close  of  the  Cretaceous  many  of  the  western  moun- 
tains were  rejuvenated  and  the  western  half  of  the  continent 
emerged  from  the  ocean  with  nearly  the  present  outline,  but 
with  much  less  elevation.  Great  interior  seas  occupied  the 
basins  throughout  the  western  interior  and  received  the  abun- 
dant sediments  from  the  mountains. 

THE  AGE  OF  MAMMALS. 

The  Tertiary  period  followed  the  Cretaceous  and  is  noted 
for  the  reign  of  mamnials  and  the  rise  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
At  first  the  drainage  of  Kansas  was  westward  into  the  interior 
seas,  but  later  in  this  period  with  the  rise  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains the  slope  was  reversed  and  the  drainage  as  we  know 
it  to-day  became  established.    The  mountains  slowly  increased 
their  elevation  for  more  than  a  million  years,  and  the  crushed 
and  metamorphosed  strata  yielded  readily  to  the  combined 
action  of  the  wind,  rain  and  carbonic  acid.    The  high  gradient 
produced  by  the  rise  of  the  Rocky  Mountain  plateau  to  an 
elevation  finally  exceeding  three  miles  enabled  the  torrents  of 
rain  water  which  fell  at  that  time  to  spread  coarse  and  fine 
debris  over  the  entire  plains  region  as  far  eastward  as  central 
Kansas  and  Nebraska.     The  sediments  with  which  western 
Kansas  was  flooded  at  that  time  consisted  of  gravel  four  and 
five  inches  in  diameter,  grading  down  to  fine  sand.     The  peb- 
bles represented  the  common  rock  species  of  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains.    In  the  list  are  pebbles  of  granite,  syenite,  porphyrj'', 
rhyolite  and  basalt,  not  yet  disintegrated,  and  polished  pebbles 
of  quartz.    Great  lakes  occupied  the  plains  of  western  Kansas 
and  received  this  debris.    As  their  basins  filled,  the  sediments 
became  on  the  whole  finer  and  constitute  the  surface  soils  in 
that  part  of  the  state. 


Geological  Papers.  65 

The  gravel  layers  have  furnished  an  excellent  channel  for 
a  subsurface  flow  from  the  mountains  of  surplus  waters,  and 
are  the  source  of  the  invaluable  sheet  water  of  the  western 
part  of  Kansas  and  neighboring  states.  The  Staked  Plains 
are  underlaid  by  the  same  stratum  of  Tertiary  gravel,  and 
thousands  of  acres  are  now  irrigated  with  water  from  wells 
that  penetrate  this  source  of  water  supply. 

Among  the  strange  mammals  which  roamed  the  plains  of 
Kansas  were  camels,  mastodons,  three-toed  horses,  rhinoc- 
eroses, saber-tooth  tigers  and  wolves,  but  man  had  not  yet 
appeared. 

THE  AGE  OF  ICE  AND  OF  MAN. 

By  the  close  of  the  Tertiary  and  the  opening  of  the  Quater- 
nary periods  the  great  interior  seas  were  much  smaller,  and 
many  of  them  were  completely  filled  with  sediment.  The 
forms  of  life  became  more  nearly  what  we  find  in  Kansas 
to-day.  Early  in  the  new  period  the  climate  became  so  cold 
that  finally  the  snow  stayed  on  the  ground  summer  as  well  as 
winter,  and  the  great  Kansan  glacier  pushed  into  the  state 
from  the  north  as  far  as  the  Kaw  and  Big  Blue  rivers  and  a 
little  farther.  This  glacier,  as  do  all  others  in  a  plains  region, 
pushed  the  hills  into  the  valleys,  dug  deeper  into  the  soft 
shales  than  into  the  hard  limestones,  and  shoved  great  quanti- 
ties of  northland  bowlders  and  gravel  into  southern  latitudes. 
The  limestone  in  Nemaha  county  shows  the  planing  work  of 
glaciers,  and  the  hills  south  of  Topeka  are  full  of  quartzite  and 
granite  bowlders  from  Minnesota  and  South  Dakota. 

While  the  glaciers  were  still  plowing  the  northern  states 
man  made  his  appearance,  whether  in  Europe  first,  in  Asia, 
Africa,  or  America,  no  one  knows ;  but  of  this  we  are  sure,  he 
dominated  the  world  when  he  made  his  entrance  in  it.  He 
soon  became  intensely  interested  in  flocks  and  herds,  in  crops 
and  soils,  and  in  forests  and  rainfall.  Wherever  these  are 
directly  influenced  by  the  geological  development  of  Kansas, 
we  shall  find  material  for  profitable  study.  Therefore  with 
soils  and  water  supply  this  paper  must  close. 

THE  SOILS,  SUBSOILS  AND  CROPS. 

As  explained  in  the  preceding  pages,  Kansas  owes  the  clays, 

sands  and  calcite  of  her  shales,  sandstones  and  limestones, 

respectively,  first,  to  the  disintegrating  granites  and  lavas  uf 

the  Ozarks  and  Oklahoma  mountains ;  second,  to  the  floods  that 

—5 


66  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

shifted  enormous  amounts  of  debris  from  the  crushed  strata 
of  the  earth's  crust  pushed  up  in  the  Rocky  Mountains ;  third, 
to  the  disintegration  of  the  miscellaneous  assortment  of  bowl- 
ders, gravel  and  finer  drift  pushed  into  Kansas  from  the  states 
north,  by  the  Kansan  glacier;  and  lastly,  to  the  myriads  of 
plants  and  animals  that  have  used  the  calcium  carbonate  and 
silica  in  solution  for  their  skeletons,  and  then  in  the  course  of 
nature  laid  down  their  skeletons  in  beds  of  limestone. 

Then,  in  turn,  the  shales,  sandstones  and  limestones  dis- 
integrated where  exposed  to  air  and  rain,  and  the  various 
subsoils  were  formed.  The  relationship  is  so  close  between 
the  subsoil  and  the  underlying  shale,  sandstone  or  limestone, 
except  where  running  water  or  the  wind  has  shifted  the  sub- 
soil, that  a  map  showing  the  shales,  sandstones  and  limestones 
of  the  state  serves  equally  well  for  a  map  of  clay  subsoils, 
sandy  subsoils  or  calcareous  subsoils.  The  overlying  soils 
differ  from  the  subsoils  chiefly  in  the  possession  of  humus, 
without  which  no  crop,  except  some  of  the  legumes,  will  ma- 
ture. The  fourth  visible  essential  of  soils  and  subsoils  is 
water,  and  the  relationship  between  water  and  all  growing 
vegetation  is  so  intimate  that  tillage  is  chiefly  concerned  in 
conserving  the  water  supply.  The  fifth  essential  of  a  produc- 
tive soil  and  subsoil  is  porosity,  that  air  may  circulate  freely 
about  the  roots  of  plants.  The  best  soils  and  subsoils,  then, 
must  be  composed  of  clay  and  sand  to  give  consistency  and 
penetrability,  and  of  humus  to  conserve  air  and  water  and  to 
serve  as  food  for  bacteria. 

KANSAS   SOILS. 

The  proper  admixture  of  clay,  sand  and  humus  determines 
the  physical  qualities  of  a  fertile  soil ;  but  these  ingredients 
may  be  present  in  best  proportions  and  the  soil  remain  unpro- 
ductive. Certain  chemicals  must  be  present  and  be  in  solution 
in  water  or  not  a  plant  will  grow.  The  following  compounds 
serve  two  great  purposes  in  the  plant  economy:  1.  Water, 
carbon  dioxide,  and  the  nitrates,  sulphates  and  phosphates 
furnish  the  chemical  elements  used  in  food  elaboration.  2. 
Compounds  containing  potash,  iron,  lime  and  magnesia  to- 
gether with  common  salt  and  silica  are  necessary  in  the  chemi- 
cal physiological  processes,  but  are  not  found  in  plant  foods. 

These  minerals  so  essential  to  the  continued  existence  of 
plants  and  animals  on  the  earth  come  directly  or  indirectly 
from  subjacent  or  neighboring  rocks.     As  has  been  stated. 


Geological  Papers.  ^  67 

clay  is  derived  from  shales,  slates,  granites  and  lavas;  quartz 
sand  comes  from  disintegrated  sandstones  and  granites  and 
from  pulverized  quartzites;  potash  is  taken  from  the  feldspar 
of  granite,  and  soda  and  lime  from  the  feldspar  of  lava. 

Potash,  soda  and  lime  were  taken  away  by  carbonic  acid 
and  exist  in  the  waters  as  carbonates  or  bicarbonates ;  but  the 
carbonic  acid  will  vacate  in  favor  of  almost  any  other  acid. 
Carbonate  of  potash  becomes  nitrate  of  potash  in  the  presence 
of  nitric  acid  generated  by  bacteria  or  by  flashes  of  lightning 
in  thunderstorms.  The  carbonate  of  soda,  so  abundant  in 
lakes  in  the  craters  of  volcanoes,  may  be  changed  to  a  nitrate 
on  encountering  nitric  acid,  or  to  chloride  (common  salt)  in 
the  presence  of  hydrochloric  acid.  In  a  similar  way  potash 
carbonate  may  become  a  chloride. 

The  bicarbonate  of  lime  in  rivers,  lakes  and  ocean  is  used 
in  skeleton-making  by  myriads  of  animals,  which,  however, 
reject  half  of  the  carbonic  acid.  Great  quantities  of  the  bi- 
carbonate of  lime  are  precipitated  as  a  carbonate  by  sea  weeds 
which  rob  it  of  half  of  its  carbonic  acid. 

The  sulphates  are  among  our  most  abundant  minerals.  The 
plants  and  animals  of  Kansas  will  never  sufl"er  from  lack  of 
sulphur  so  long  as  gypsum  (lime  sulphate  plus  water)  is  such 
a  common  mineral,  and  epsom  salts  (magnesium  sulphate)  is 
so  generally  present  in  spring  water. 

Phosphatic  minerals  are  fortunately  widely  distributed  in 
the  crust  of  the  earth,  especially  the  mineral  apatite  (in  tri- 
calcium  phosphate).  Chemists  say  that  nine  one-hundredths 
of  one  per  cent  of  the  crust  of  the  earth  is  phosphorus. 
From  the  first,  life  has  found  phosphorus  indispensable 
as  an  ingredient  of  its  protoplasm,  and  no  soil  will  pro- 
duce crops  without  it.  All  sedimentary  rocks  in  Kansas  con- 
tain small  amounts  of  this  element  and  on  disintegration  yield 
it  to  the  soils  and  subsoils.  The  amounts  are  very  small  and 
must  be  expressed  in  hundredths  of  one  per  cent.  Sandstone 
has  about  seven,  shale  about  seventeen,  and  limestone,  not 
weathered,  forty-two.  As  an  argument  in  favor  of  deep  plow- 
ing it  must  be  remembered  that  the  subsoils  are  richer  in 
phosphorus  than  the  soils  because  of  leaching. 

Potash  is  necessary,  in  some  way  not  well  understood,  to 
plants  in  their  work  of  food-making,  and  where  lost  to  soils 
by  leaching  must  be  supplied  in  a  fertilizer.  The  other  min- 
erals listed  above  are  necessary  to  the  work  of  plants  but  are 


68  Ka7isas  Academy  of  Science. 

supplied  by  our  rocks  in  such  quantities  that  plants  are  not 
likely  to  suffer  from  a  lack  of  them.  To  this  statement  there 
is  one  important  exception :  Water  is  necessary  and  the  sup- 
ply is  scanty,  in  all  the  state  sometimes  and  in  part  of  the  state 
all  the  time. 

THE   CONSERVATION   OF   WATER. 

In  spite  of  its  scarcity  at  times  and  in  places  it  is  evident 
that  water  has  played  the  leading  part  in  the  geological  devel- 
opment of  Kansas,  and  in  the  industrial  development  as  well. 
It  is  fitting,  therefore,  that  the  paper  should  conclude  with  a 
brief  discussion  of  water  supply  and  how  it  may  be  best  con- 
served. The  estimates  given  below  are  adapted  to  Kansas 
from  some  statistics  quoted  by  President  C.  R.  Van  Hise  in  his 
book,  "The  Conservation  of  Natural  Resources  of  the  United 
States." 

The  annual  rainfall  of  Kansas  totals  on  the  average  thirty- 
seven  and  one-half  cubic  miles.  Of  this  amount  about  one- 
half,  eighteen  and  three-fourths  cubic  miles,  flies  off  very  soon 
after  a  rain  into  the  air  (by  evaporation) .  Six  and  one-fourth 
cubic  miles  are  consumed  by  plants,  or  sink  very  deeply  into 
the  earth,  so  far  that  they  do  not  get  back  again  except  through 
volcanoes.  At  any  rate,  they  are  lost  to  the  statistician.  One- 
third,  or  twelve  and  one-half  cubic  miles,  runs  off  directly  or 
sinks  into  the  ground  and  feeds  springs  and  rivers  by  seepage. 
Possibly  one  or  two  cubic  miles  of  this  ten  run  off  at  the  sur- 
face and  make  Kansas  floods,  and  the  balance  flows  slowly 
through  the  ground  to  the  rivers  and  keeps  them  going  be- 
tween rains.  Many  in  times  past  have  believed  that  wells  are 
fed  from  near-by  rivers,  but  careful  experiments  have  shown 
that  water  in  wells  near  streams  stands  higher  than  it  does 
in  the  stream  and  that  the  ground-water  flows  towards  the 
watercourse.  This  is  true  at  all  times  except  when  heavy 
rains  towards  the  source  of  the  river  cause  temporary  flood, 
when  the  reverse  is  true. 

Below  this  shifting  surface  water,  to  a  depth  of  seven  miles, 
are  forty  times  as  much  more,  or  twelve  hundred  cubic  miles 
of  water  under  Kansas,  which  flow  slowly  back  and  forth,  up 
and  down,  or  in  a  circle,  deep  in  the  crust  of  the  earth,  dis- 
tributing and  concentrating  the  ores  and  other  minerals. 

All  these  forms  of  water  present  to  the  observer  interesting 
material  for  study,  but  the  run-off  of  ten  cubic  miles  of  water, 
rich  in  all  the  minerals  that  plants  and  animals  need,  demands 


Geological  Papers.  69 

immediate  study  into  ways  and  means  for  preventing  this 
waste.  Obviously,  if  the  water  can  be  kept  on  the  land  where  it 
fell  as  rain,  most  of  the  waste  of  soil  fertility  will  be  prevented. 
Two  ways  of  doing  this  will  be  stated  very  briefly. 

One,  that  of  constructing  dams  for  reservoirs  to  keep  the 
water  awaj'  from  the  rivers  as  long  as  possible,  is  already  prac- 
ticed hy  our  wisest  farmers.  Forests  on  the  hillside  serve  the 
same  purpose.  Both  methods  conserve  stock  water,  and  timber 
as  well. 

The  second  plan  consists  in  opening  up  the  soil  and  subsoil 
very  deeply,  so  as  to  make  a  reservoir  of  the  fields.  This  plan 
is  also  practiced  by  wise  farmers,  especially  where  rainfall  is 
scanty.  The  rainfall  of  two  years  is  made  to  serve  the  crops 
of  one  year.  The  one  harvest  is  more  than  twice  as  bountiful 
in  the  dry  belt  as  two  harvests  where  the  old  plan  of  a  yearly 
crop  is  followed. 

•  With  water  properly  conserved,  rains  will  increase  their 
value  to  the  people  of  Kansas,  costly  gullies  and  small  creeks 
will  disappear,  and  the  surface  of  the  state  will  approach  a 
stability  long  absent  from  her  borders.  Man's  kingship  of  the 
earth  will  consist  in  the  scientific  mastery  of  his  environment, 
and  not  in  the  haphazard  mastery  so  long  practiced.  This 
scientific  mastery  must  come,  if  it  come  at  all,  through  a 
thoughtful  study  of  the  geological  development  of  the  state, 
given  point  by  making  such  a  study  terminate  in  the  present 
condition  and  needs  of  the  entire  state.  Man  can  not  be  truly 
happy,  he  can  not  be  truly  prosperous,  till  he  forgets  what 
seem  to  him  to  be  his  immediate  personal  interests,  and  works 
for  the  good  of  all.  When  he  does  this  he  will  strive  earnestly 
to  conserve  soil,  rainfall,  plants,  including  forests,  the  useful 
lower  animals,  and  the  human  race. 


70  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 


THE  GLACIAL  EPOCH. 

By  Albert  B.  Reagan. 

Discussion  of  Theories  of  Scientists  Regarding  This  Interesting 

Period  of  the  World's  History — The  Author  Presents  a 

New  Theory — What  Are  the  Critical  Periods 

of  the  Earth's  History,  and  Why 

DO  They  Occur? 

OF  ALL  SUBJECTS  in  geology,  with  probably  the  excep- 
tion of  the  subject  of  evolution,  the  glacial  epoch  is  the 
most  interesting,  the  most  discussed,  and  one  of  the  least  un- 
derstood. 

The  questions:  Why  did  the  earth's  climate  change  from 
the  universal  tropical  Tertiary  to  the  frigid  ice-drift  climate? 
Why  did  the  animals,  without  respect  to  kind,  seek  shelter,  at 
the  beginning  of  said  epoch,  in  caves  and  in  every  conceivable 
place,  where  they  were  overcome,  as  their  fossil  remains  indi- 
cate? Why  did  the  then  large  tropical  species  allow  the  ice 
drift  to  overtake  them,  instead  of  moving  towards  the  equator 
as  it  advanced?  and  What  force  lifted  the  water  into  the  air, 
which,  when  condensed,  constitued  those  world-cloaks  of  frozen 
water?  are  still  in  conjecture. 

Many  theories,  it  is  true,  have  been  advanced  to  explain  the 
causes  of  the  glacial  climate  of  said  epoch ;  but  a  mere  glance 
at  them  will  show  that  they  all  have  objectionable  points,  the 
deluge  theory  as  the  cause  of  the  drift  having  already  lost 
credence. 

The  theory  advanced  by  many  geologists  and  scientists,  that 
the  change  of  climate  was  caused  by  the  combined  influence  of 
northern  elevation  in  high  latitudes,  which  elevation  caused  a 
broad  connection  of  North  America  and  Europe  in  the  higher 
regions;  of  the  sinking  of  the  Central  American  lands,  thus 
changing  the  Gulf  Stream  from  its  present  course  into  the 
Pacific  ocean,  therefore  depriving  the  North  Atlantic  of  the 
Gulf  Stream's  warming  influence,  and  also  of  the  tendency  of 
cold  to  perpetuate  itself  by  ice  accumulation,  like  the  theories 
that  will  be  mentioned  later,  has  many  objectionable  phases. 
In  the  first  place,  the  above-mentioned  cause  would  not  produce 
an  ice  sheet  one  mile  in  thickness  as  far  south  as  the  city  of 
Des  Moines,  Iowa,  which  city  is  situated  in  the  glaciated  region, 


Geological  Papers.  71 

because  even  now  the  non-ocean-current-influenced  plateau  of 
eastern  Turkestan,  nearly  one-half  of  which  country  is  north 
of  that  city,  has  an  altitude  of  more  than  two  miles  greater 
than  that  of  the  above-mentioned  city  of  Des  Moines  (Swin- 
ton's  Geography,  p.  110)  ;  yet,  though  cold,  it  is  not  covered 
by  an  ice  sheet  one  mile  in  thickness,  6000  feet  being  the  sup- 
posed thickness  of  the  ice  sheet  in  the  New  England  and  North 
Central  States  (Le  Conte's  Elements  of  Geology,  p.  576),  nor 
by  any  ice  sheet  at  all  in  the  summer.  And  furthermore,  the 
plateaus  of  the  Desert  of  Gobi  and  Mongolia,  which  are  situ- 
ated, for  the  most  part,  wholly  north  of  said  city,  and  whose 
altitudes  are  more  than  one  and  one-half  miles  greater  than 
that  city's  altitude,  are  not  covered  by  perpetual  ice,  though  the 
balmy  and  moisture-carrying  breezes  from  the  Pacific  ocean 
are  shut  out  by  the  Khingan  mountains.  Not  only  that,  but 
there  are  places  in  interior  Asia,  on  the  same  latitude  as  St. 
Petersburg,  that  are  over  2000  feet — the  supposed  elevation  of 
glacial  times  (Le  Conte) — higher  than  that  city,  yet  perpetual 
snow  does  not  rest  upon  them.  Another  serious  objection  to 
the  elevation  theory  is,  that  now  we  are  having  northern  eleva- 
tion of  land  and  southern  depression  of  the  same.  Neverthe- 
less, the  antarctic  ice  sheet  is  at  present  larger  and  thicker 
than  the  now  existing  ice  cap  in  the  northern  hemisphere. 
(Le  Conte's  Elements  of  Geology,  p.  613.)  Still  another  serious 
objection  is  that,  had  the  arctic  plains  been  elevated  and  after- 
wards depressed,  as  the  theory  suggests,  they  would  have 
faulted  as  has  the  basin  region;  but  no  such  faults  are  to  be 
found.  Geological  causes  alone,  therefore,  are  quite  insuffi- 
cient to  explain  the  causes  of  the  frigid  climate  of  the  glacial 
epoch.  To  use  the  words  of  Mr.  T.  J.  Bonney,  "Each  attempt 
to  account  for  the  glacial  epoch  solely  by  terrestrial  causes 
places  us  on  the  horns  of  some  dilemma."  (Story  of  Our 
Earth,  p.  495.) 

To  meet  the  objections  to  the  above  theory,  Mr.  Croll  has  ad- 
vanced the  theory  that  the  glacial  epoch  was  caused  by  the 
combined  influence  of  the  precession  of  the  equinoxes  and  the 
secular  changes  in  the  eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit.  (See 
Lyell's  Principles  of  Geology,  vol.  I,  p.  275.) 

This  condition,  says  this  accepted  authority  on  the  subject, 
would  make  the  northern  winter  twenty-two  days  longer  and 


72  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

20°  colder  than  now,  and  the  summers  twenty-two  days 
shorter  and  much  hotter.    (See  Le  Conte's  Elements,  p.  614.) 

As  a  first  objection,  the  winter  temperature  at  Des  Moines, 
Iowa,  which  city,  as  is  stated  above,  was  in  the  glaciated 
region,  is  about  16°  above  zero,  and  the  summer  average  is 
77°.  Now  the  winter  average  in  glacial  times,  according  to 
the  above  theory,  was  4°  below  zero  and  the  summer  average 
much  hotter  than  now.  This  would  not  give  a  glacial  climate 
at  that  city,  for  even  now  the  average  yearly  temperature  for 
St.  Petersburg  is  much  lower  than  that  of  the  site  of  the  city 
of  Des  Moines  in  glacial  times,  to  use  the  above  figures.  Not- 
withstanding that,  St.  Petersburg  does  not  enjoy  perpetual 
winter.  This  theory  does  not  also  account  for  the  long  con- 
tinuation of  the  glacial  epoch,  which  is  supposed  to  have  lasted 
160,000  years  (see  Le  Conte's  Elements  of  Geology,  p.  617), 
because  within  this  period  the  equinoxes  would  have  made 
more  than  seven  complete  precessions,  26,000  years  being  a 
precession  (Ly ell's  Principles  of  Geology,  vol.  I,  p.  275),  and 
would  therefore  have  been  in  complete  opposition  to  a  glacial 
climate  more  than  seven  times  during  the  epoch. 

To  meet  the  many  objections  in  Croll's  theory,  Mr.  Wallace 
combines  all  the  above-mentioned  theories  in  one  and  says 
that  the  glacial  epoch  was  due  to  the  combined  influence  of 
aphelion  winter,  maximum  eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit, 
and  northern  elevation.  (See  Le  Conte's  Elements  of  Geology, 
p.  616.)  To  this  theory  there  are  many  objections.  Croll  says 
that  the  highest-latitude  northern  regions  were  not  elevated 
in  that  epoch,  but  were  lower  then  than  now,  the  elevation 
theory  only  being  used  as  a  hypothesis  to  account  for  the  cold. 
(Climate  and  Time,  p.  391.) 

H.  B.  Norton  also  agrees  with  Mr.  Croll  in  believing  that 
northern  elevation  of  land  did  not  then  exist.  His  remarks 
on  the  subject  are  as  follows : 

"When  we  come  to  study  the  cause  of  these  phenomena  (the 
phenomena  of  the  ice  age)  we  find  many  perplexing  and  con- 
tradictory theories  in  the  field.  A  favorite  one  is  that  of 
vertical  elevation.  But  it  seems  impossible  to  admit  that  the 
circle  inclosed  within  the  parallel  of  40° — some  7000  miles  in 
diameter — could  have  been  elevated  to  such  a  height  as  to 
produce  this  remarkable  result.  This  would  be  a  supposition 
hard  to  reconcile  with  the  present  proportion  of  land  and 
water  on  the  surface  of  the  globe  and  with  the  phenomena  of 


Geological  Papers.  73 

terrestrial    contraction   and    gravitation."     (Popular   Science 
Monthly,  October,  1879,  p.  833.) 

On  the  same  subject  Geikie  says : 

"It  has  been  demonstrated  that  the  protuberance  of  the 
earth  at  the  equator  so  vastly  exceeds  that  of  any  possible 
elevation  of  mountain  masses  between  the  equator  and  the 
poles  that  any  slight  changes  which  may  have  resulted  from 
such  geological  causes  could  have  only  an  infinitesimal  effect 
upon  the  general  climate  of  the  globe."  (The  Great  Ice  Age, 
p.  98.) 

We  must,  therefore,  fall  back  to  Croll's  theory,  which  Mr. 
Wallace  and  many  other  scientists  and  geologists  say  was  not 
sufficient  to  produce  so  protracted  a  glacial  epoch  as  is  sup- 
posed to  have  existed.  But  if  Mr.  Croll's  theory,  or  even  Mr. 
Wallace's,  is  accepted  it  is  simply  because  no  better  one  has 
been  advanced,  for  it  does  not  account  for  a  contemporaneous 
southern  ice  sheet  which,  as  is  proved  below,  did  then  exist. 

As  evidence  of  contemporaneous  glacial  action,  Le  Conte 
says  that  the  glacial  action  in  the  glacial  epoch  was  as  exten- 
sive in  the  southern  hemisphere  as  in  the  northern.  (Elements 
of  Geology,  p.  596.) 

In  reference  to  the  same,  Dana  says : 

"In  South  America  in  glacial  times,  indications  of  great  ice 
masses  are  met  with  from  Fugia  as  far  toward  the  equator  as 
37  ,  and  especially,  as  Agassiz  has  shown,  in  the  great  valley 
between  the  Andes  and  the  coast  mountains  to  the  latitude  of 
Conception." 

He  also  states  on  the  same  page  that  there  were  glaciers  in 
that  epoch  in  New  Zealand,  and  also  in  Australia  and  Tas- 
mania.   (Manual  of  Geology,  4th  ed.,  p.  977.) 

Now,  since  the  above-mentioned  men  are  recognized  au- 
thority on  this  subject,  it  is  evident,  beyond  the  least  shadow 
of  a  doubt,  that  the  glacial  epoch  was  not  caused  by  the  com- 
bined influence  of  northern  elevation,  the  precession  of  equi- 
noxes, and  maximum  eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit,  for  as 
Mr.  T.  J.  Bonney  says  (Story  of  Our  Earth,  p.  502),  the  pre- 
cession of  the  equinoxes  and  aphelion  winter  in  conjunction 
would  produce  a  cold  climate  in  one  hemisphere  and  the  direct 
opposite  in  the  other,  because  if  said  aphelion  winter  and  the 
precession  of  equinoxes  in  conjunction  would  make  the  winters 
twenty-two  days  longer  than  now  in  the  northern  hemisphere, 


74  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

and  the  summers  twenty-two  days  shorter  than  at  present,  as 
Croll's  theory  suggests  (see  above),  the  summer  in  the  south- 
ern hemisphere,  since  in  said  hemisphere  the  seasons  are  the 
opposite  of  ours,  would  be  twenty-two  days  longer  than  our 
present  northern  summer,  and,  no  doubt,  on  the  whole  much 
hotter,  and  the  winters  of  that  epoch  in  said  hemisphere  would 
be  twenty-two  days  shorter  and  less  cold  than  now.  It  is, 
therefore,  necessary  to  look  for  some  other  cause  for  the 
frigid  climate  of  the  glacial  epoch — a  cause  that  will  account 
for  the  contemporaneous  ice  sheets,  the  one  in  the  northern 
hemisphere  and  the  coexisting  and  equally  extensive  one  in 
the  southern  hemisphere. 

To  find  the  real  cause  of  the  climate  of  said  epoch,  it  is 
necessary,  it  seems  to  me,  to  inquire,  What  was  the  glacial 
epoch?  What  epoch,  in  comparison  with  the  other  epochs  of 
the  earth's  history,  does  it  represent?  To  use  the  words  of 
Professor  Le  Conte :  'The  Quaternary,  of  which  the  glacial 
epoch  was  the  first  part,  is  a  critical  period."  (Elements  of 
Geology,  p.  619.) 

This  definition  leads  to  other  and  more  complicated  ques- 
tions, some  of  which  are :  What  are  the  critical  periods  of  the 
earth?  and.  Why  do  they  occur? 

In  answer  to  the  first  question,  Le  Conte  says  (Elements 
of  Geology,  p.  619)  that  the  critical  periods  of  the  earth's 
history  have  been  periods  of  oscillation  of  the  earth's  crust 
between  the  great  eras,  periods  of  rest,  and  therefore  of 
changes  of  physical  geography,  marked  by  unconformity  of 
strata;  and  of  changes  of  climate,  marked  by  apparently 
abrupt  changes  of  species,  /.  e.,  periods  of  revolution  and  rapid 
change.  Again,  Le  Conte  says,  on  the  page  opposite  to  the 
one  mentioned  above,  that  three  of  the  known  critical  periods 
have  been  periods  of  cold  in  one  or  the  other  of  the  hemispheres 
or  in  both,  the  latter  being  known  to  have  occurred  in  the 
glacial  epoch. 

The  second  question,  "Why  do  critical  periods  occur?"  is 
very  hard  to  answer  and  involves  a  cosmical  cause,  a  cause 
which  when  once  understood  will  explain  not  only  the  causes 
of  the  glacial  epoch,  but  most  if  not  all  of  the  geological 
phenomena  of  our  globe  as  well.  As  an  answer  to  this  question 
the  author  will  submit  the  following . 


Geological  Papers.  75 

In  the  American  Encyclopedia,  vol.  XV,  page  471,  it  is  stated 
that  our  sun  moves  in  space,  and  that  it  is  moving  from  v^est 
to  east  at  the  rate  of  more  than  150,000,000  miles  per  annum. 
And  concerning  the  same  subject  Mr.  Todd  says  that  the  sun 
is  moving  in  space  from  a  point  midway  between  Sirius  and 
Canopus  toward  the  constellation  Vega  (New  Astronomy, 
p.  431)  ;  and  another  astronomer  says  (see  an  astronomical 
article  in  the  July  number  of  McClure's  Magazine  for  1899) 
that  though  our  center  has  been  known  to  be  moving  in  space 
since  the  early  days  of  the  Chaldeans,  yet  it  is  not  known 
whither  he  is  gong  or  where  he  is  transporting  his  entire 
family  of  planets,  satellites,  and  comets. 

Now,  since  astronomers  have  proved  that  the  sun  moves  in 
space  it  evidently,  therefore,  must  have  an  orbit,  because  all 
bodies  moving  in  space,  whose  courses  can  be  traced  out  at  the 
present  time,  have  orbits,  and  the  sun,  like  all  other  bodies  in 
space,  is  composed  of  matter  and  does  move,  and  consequently 
must  obey  some  attractive  law.  It  therefore  has  an  orbit,  but 
one  of  immense  size,  for  Mr.  Todd  says  (see  above)  : 

"So  vast  is  this  orbit  of  the  sun  that  no  deviation  from  a 
straight  line  is  as  yet  ascertained,  although  our  motion  along 
that  orbit  is  about  twelve  miles  per  second." 

Now  if  the  sun  has  an  orbit,  as  Mr.  Todd  and  all  of  our 
leading  astronomers  say  it  has,  and  which  the  very  facts  in 
the  case  indicate,  it  must  have  a  central  attractive  center  the 
same  as  all  other  bodies  so  far  as  known  which  have  orbits. 
This  attractive  center,  most  likely,  is  a  central  sun,  as  was 
a  favorite  hypothesis  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century; 
or,  if  not  a  central  sun,  it  is  at  least  a  great  central  magnetic 
center,  whose  attractive  influence  controls  not  only  our  sun, 
with  his  attendants,  but  all  matters  throughout  limitless  space. 

Just  where  this  attractive  center  is  located  is  unknown,  but 
it  is  easy  to  conjecture  with  a  great  deal  of  accuracy  that  it  is 
located  in  the  northern  heavens,  in  the  vicinity  of  or  beyond 
the  dippers,  or  in  the  opposite  heavens,  because  not  only  our 
earth,  but  all  the  brother  planets  and  even  the  sun  himself 
have  their  axis  inclined  toward  the  plane  of  their  respective 
orbits  toward  a  point  in  the  northern  heavens  (American 
Encyclopedia,  vol.  XV,  p.  471) .  Now,  if  this  center  be  positive 
it  is  located  in  the  northern  sky,  because  the  north  magnetic 
pole  of  our  earth  is  negative,  but  if  negative  it  is  situated  in  the 


76  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

southern  heavens,  for  the  reason  that  our  south  magnetic  pole 
which  would  be  attracted  by  it  is  positive.  For  this  discussion, 
however,  the  author  will  suppose  that  this  central  magnetic 
center  is  situated  in  the  northern  heavens  nearly  in  line  at 
present  with  Polaris,  and  around  this  center  our  sun,  in  con- 
junction with  the  universe,  is  making  his  grand  journey. 

Now,  the  sun's  orbit  is  not  an  exact  circle,  but,  like  all  the 
orbits  that  have  been  traced  out,  it  is  elliptical.  Again,  when 
the  sun  reaches  the  point  in  his  orbit  nearest  the  great  center, 
at  which  point  he  probably  is  near  now,  for  reasons  which 
will  be  given  hereafter,  his  axis  together  with  the  axis  of 
his  attendants  must  incline  more  and  more  as  he  advances 
from  said  point  in  order  to  still  keep  in  line  with  said  great 
mag-netic  center,  as  they  do  now;  and  should  our  system  ad- 
vance in  space  to  or  even  beyond  Vega  before  making  the  turn 
in  his  journey,  it  is  not  beyond  the  possible  that  the  earth's 
axis  will  then  be  inclined  30  degrees  to  the  plane  of  its  orbit 
in  order  that  its  magnetic  axis  still  be  in  line  with  said  mag- 
netic center.  To  this,  of  course,  astronomers  and  geologists 
will  object  by  saying  that  no  such  change  in  the  inclination 
of  the  earth's  axis  due  to  said  cause  has  been  detected.  As 
answer  to  the  above,  may  it  be  sufficient  to  say,  as  Mr.  Todd 
says  (see  above) ,  that  though  the  solar  system  has  been  ob- 
served to  be  moving  in  space  since  the  early  infancy  of  our 
race,  yet  so  vast  is  its  orbit  that  no  deviation  from  a  straight 
line  has  been  observed  it  would  be  impossible  as  yet  to  detect 
any  change  in  the  inclination  of  the  earth's  axis  due  to  said 
cause?  Nevertheless,  if  the  sun  does  move  in  space,  the  axes 
of  our  earth,  the  other  planets  and  even  of  the  sun  himself 
must  change  their  angles  of  inclination,  as  a  simple  experiment 
will  show. 

As  the  earth's  axis  becomes  more  and  more  inclined,  after 
the  sun  reaches  the  nearest  point  in  his  orbit  to  the.  great 
center  while  he  is  making  his  grand  journey  toward  Vega,  the 
arctic  and  antarctic  circles  will  advance  toward  the  equator 
till  the  frigid  zones  will  reach  from  60  degrees  or  even  less  to 
the  poles,  instead  of  66V2  degrees  as  now.  This  greater  in- 
clination of  the  earth's  axis  will  cause  a  greater  difference  of 
temperature  between  summer  and  winter  and  between  the 
equator  and  the  poles  than  now  exists,  which  Croll  says  is  of 
itself  sufficient  to  produce  a  glacial  epoch;  but  we  will  go  3 


Geological  Papers.  '  77 

step  farther.  This  greater  inclination  will  cause  during  win- 
ter a  higher  barometer  than  now,  i.  e.,  greater  atmospheric 
pressure  over  the  high  latitudes  and  a  low  barometer  in  the 
tropics.  In  addition  to  this,  the  much  heavier  winter  snowfall 
will  greatly  increase  the  pressure  in  the  high  latitudes.  In 
summer,  of  course,  the  condition  of  things  will  be  reversed. 
It  is  evident,  therefore,  the  the  northern  hemisphere  will  then 
be  enjoying  a  higher  pressure,  while  the  southern  will  be  enjoy- 
ing a  lower  one  than  now,  and  vice  versa.  Besides  this,  the 
attractive  power  of  the  sun  and  also  of  the  moon  upon  the 
higher  latitude  regions  of  the  earth  will  vary  more  between 
summer  and  winter  than  at  present.  Now,  Mr.  Alexis  Perry 
has  shown  conclusively  from  the  comparison  of  a  tabulated 
list  of  nearly  all  the  earthquakes  that  have  occurred  in  our 
history : 

1.  That  earthquakes  are  a  little  more  frequent  when  the 
moon  is  on  the  meridian  than  when  she  in  on  the  horizon. 

2.  That  they  are  a  little  more  frequent  at  new  and  full 
moon  than  at  half  moon. 

3.  That  they  are  a  little  more  frequent  when  the  moon  is 
nearest  the  earth  than  when  she  is  farthest  away. 

(See  Le  Conte's  Elements  of  Geology,  p.  139.)  Also,  Le 
Conte  says  that  by  an  extensive  comparison  of  this  same  list 
of  earthquake  occurrences  with  the  seasons  it  has  been  shown 
that  earthquakes  are  more  frequent  in  winter  than  in  summer. 
And  furthermore,  Professor  Knott  has  shown  (see  Le  Conte's 
Elements,  p.  139)  that  the  earthquakes  of  the  present  time 
are  brought  on  for  the  most  part  by  the  change  of  excess  of 
pressure  between  summer  and  winter  and  between  the  equator 
and  the  poles.  It  is  conclusive,  therefore,  that  if  the  present 
changes  of  pressure  betw^een  summer  and  winter  and  between 
the  poles  and  the  tropics,  and  the  variation  of  the  attractive 
power  of  the  moon  upon  the  earth  from  full  moon  to  full  moon 
again,  and  her  variation  of  attraction  in  conjunction  with  the 
sun's  upon  the  middle  latitudes  and  the  polar  regions  from 
summer  in  one  hemisphere  to  summer  in  the  other  are  the 
main  causes  of  the  quaking  of  the  earth's  shrinking  crust  to- 
day, this  greater  change  of  excess  of  pressure  and  of  the  sun's 
attractive  influence,  and  also  of  the  moon's,  from  winter  in  one 
hemisphere  to  winter  in  the  other,  will  cause  the  earth's  crust 
to  yield  in  all  its  weakest  points,  which  Le  Conte  says  is  at  or 


78  Kmisas  Academy  of  Science. 

near  the  coast  line  where  the  thickest  sediment  has  been  de- 
posited.   This  thick  sediment  will  yield  to  the  lateral  pressurb 
and  will  be  mashed  together  and  upswollen  into  a  mountain 
range.     Not  only  will  it  be  upswollen  into  a  mountain  rangp, 
but  in  that  very  act  the  sea  bottom  and  land  surface  will  be 
faulted  and  fissured,  the  former  while  yet  beneath  the  seas. 
The  sea  water  will  rush  in  to  fill  the  opened  space.    The  water 
will  come  in  contact  with  the  heated  rocks;  steam  will  be  in- 
stantaneously generated ;  explosions  will  follow,  explosions  that 
will  rend  the  earth  from  pole  to  pole,  the  debris  being  hurled 
beyond  our  atmosphere,  probably  thousands  of  miles.     (Read 
the  account  of  the  eruption  of  Krakatoa  in  the  Strait  of  Sunda, 
whose  erupted  dust  particles  remained  suspended  in  the  at- 
mosphere for  over  two  years.)     Gases  destructive  to  life  will 
also  be  generated;  the  air  will  become  vitiated  with  said  ob- 
noxious gases  and  dust  particles ;  the  then  existing  animals 
will  seek  refuge  in  every  conceivable  place  from  this  poisonous 
gaseous  deluge,  where  they  will  be  either  overcome  by  it  or 
by  hunger  and  thirst,  or  by  the  great  lava  flood  which  will  be 
mentioned  below.     Other  animals  will  preserve  their  kind  by 
migration,  while  still  others  will  live  in  more  favored  parts  of 
the  earth,  the  gases,  of  course,  being  most  destructive  approxi- 
mate to   the   disturbed   districts.     There   will   be,   coincident 
with  and  continuing  after  the  great  explosions,  eruptions  of 
lava  both  on  land  and  sea  throughout  the  full  length  of  the 
faulted  disturbed  regions ;  the  former  devastating  the  land 
surface ;  the  latter,  together  with  the  contact  rock  heat  and  novv- 
greatly  heated  atmosphere,  will  evaporate  much  of  the  ocean, 
whose  vapors,  rising  to  higher  atmospheric  regions,  will  be 
wafted  toward  the  poles,  where,  when  the  reaction  sets  in, 
they  will  be  condensed  and  fall  as  snow.     This  snow  will  con- 
tinue to  fall  and  the  temperature  to  decrease  till  the  high  lati- 
tudes will  be  covered  with  immense  ice  sheets,  because,  as  Mr. 
Newton  has  proved,  to  every  action  there  is  an  equal  and  op- 
posite reaction.    Not  only  that,  but  the  change  will  be  brought 
on  so  suddenly  that  many  of  the  remaining  species  of  the 
earth  that  have  survived  the  fiery  lava  and  gaseous  dust  storm 
will  be  overtaken  by  it  and  there  perish  with  cold.     This  is 
the  next  future  critical  period  of  our  earth,  and  also  a  glacial 
epoch,  not  in  one  hemisphere  only,  but  in  both,  in  which  the 
ice  sheets  will  be  equally  extensive  and  coexisting.     Was  the 


Geological  Papers.  79 

glacial  epoch  of  prehistoric  times  brought  on  by  similar  causes? 
Let  us  see. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Tertiary  age  our  sun  was  at  a  point 
in  his  orbit  nearest  the  central  magnetic  center  in  his  journey 
toward  Sirius.  The  axis  of  the  earth  was  probably  inclined 
less  than  now,  likely  not  more  than  twenty  degrees ;  a  perpetual 
summer  prevailed  from  pole  to  pole.  To  use  the  words  of 
T.  J.  Bonney  (Story  of  Our  Earth,  p.  496)  :  "Switzerland, 
and  in  fact  all  Europe,  was  16  to  20  degrees  warmer  than  a  I. 
present  in  Eocene  and  Miocene  Tertiary  times;  and  Le  Conte 
says  that  in  the  Miocene  Greenland,  Iceland  and  even  Spitz- 
bergen  were  covered  with  luxuriant  temperate  vegetation. 

Another  writer  says :  "This,  the  Tertiary  period  indeed  for 
America,  was  the  golden  age  of  animals  and  plants.  .  .  . 
The  country  was  more  interesting  and  picturesque  than  now. 
.  .  .  This  state  of  things,  doubtless,  continued  throughout 
many  thousands  of  years,"  (Popular  Science  Monthly,  Oc- 
tober, 1878,  p.  648.) 

A  more  recent  writer  says :  "The  middle  era  of  this  age — 
the  Miocene  Tertiary — was  characterized  by  tropical  plants, 
a  varied  and  imposing  fauna,  and  a  genial  climate,  so  extended 
as  to  nourish  forests  of  beeches,  maples,  walnuts,  poplars  and 
magnolias  in  Greenland  and  Spitzbergen,  while  an  exotic 
vegetation  hid  the  exuberant  valleys  of  England."  (American 
Antiquarian,  July,  1881,  p.  280.) 

On  the  same  subject  Dr.  Dawson  says:  "This  delightful 
climate  was  not  confined  to  the  present  temperate  or  tropical 
regions.  It  extended  to  the  very  shores  of  the  Arctic  sea.  In 
North  Greenland,  at  Atanekerdulk,  in  latitude  70'  north,  at  an 
elevation  of  more  than  two  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  were 
found  the  remains  of  beeches,  pines,  walnuts,  limes,  and  vines. 
The  remains  of  similar  plants  were  found  in  Spitzbergen  in 
latitude  78    56'.     (Earth  and  Man,  p.  261.) 

Dr.  Dawson  continues:  "Was  not  the  Miocene  period  on  the 
whole  a  better  age  of  the  world  than  that  in  which  we  live?  In 
some  respects  it  was.  Obviously,  there  was  in  the  northern 
hemisphere  a  vast  surface  of  land  under  a  mild,  equable  climate 
and  clothed  with  a  rich  and  varied  vegetation.  Had  we  lived 
in  the  Miocene  we  might  have  sat  under  our  own  vine  and 
fig-tree  equally  in  Greenland  and  Spitzbergen  and  in  those 
more  southern  climes  to  which  the  privilege  is  now  restricted." 
(Earth  and  Man,  p.  264.) 


80  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

The  earth,  therefore,  in  the  Tertiary  was  a  fair  and  lovely 
world ;  it  was  a  garden,  a  paradise ;  but  this  condition  of  things 
could  not  last  forever.  As  the  Tertiary  began  to  wane  a  change 
came  over  the  fair  face  of  nature,  more  terrible  than  we  have 
language  to  describe.  The  sun  was  nearing  Sirius  in  his 
western  journey,  the  earth's  axis  had  become  inclined  to  prob- 
ably thirty  degrees,  an  ice-cap  had  begun  to  form,  the  great 
difference  in  temperature  between  summer  and  winter  and 
between  the  equator  and  the  frigid  zones,  the  great  change  of 
atmospheric  pressure  from  summer  to  winter  and  from  the 
tropics  to  the  poles,  and,  furthermore,  the  great  difference  of 
the  sun's  attraction  and  also  of  the  moon's  on  the  higher  lati- 
tudes between  summer  and  winter,  caused  a  tremendous  strain 
upon  the  earth's  crust,  a  strain  that  the  earth's  crust  could 
not  withstand;  and  as  a  consequence,  it  yielded  in  all  its 
weakest  points.    This  event  ushered  in  the  Pliocene  Tertiary. 

To  use  the  words  of  Professor  Le  Conte  (Elements  of  Geol- 
ogy, p.  567)  :    "At  the  end  of  the  Miocene,  i.  e.,  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Pliocene,  there  occurred  the  greatest  event  of  the 
Tertiary  period,  one  of  the  greatest  in  the  history  of  the  Ameri- 
can  continent.     At  that  time  the  sea  bottom   off  the  then 
Pacific  coast  was  crushed  together  into  the  most  complicated 
folds  and  upswollen  into  the  coast  chain,  and  at  the  same  time 
the  fissures  were  formed  in  the  Cascade  range,  with  the  out- 
pouring of  the  great  lava  sheet  of  the  northwest,  covering 
150,000  square  miles  with  a  lava  sheet  from  three  thousand 
to  four  thousand  feet  in  thickness.     Coincidently  with  this 
there  was  a  settling  down  of  the  basin  region  and  the  plains. 
Then  after  a  short  lapse  of  time,  speaking  geologically,  there 
was  a  general  upheaval  of  the  continent.     Coincident  with 
this  general   uplift,  mountain-making  by  crust-block  tilting 
occurred  on  a  grand  scale.    The  Sierra,  the  Wasatch,  and  the 
Basin  ranges  assumed  their  present  form  and  height ;  and  the 
great  north-and-south  fault  cliffs  of  the  plateau  region  were 
formed.     At  the  same  time  there  were  great  disturbances  in 
the  Old  World.    The  Himalayas  were  raised  above  the  sea ;  the 
great  Deccan  lava  flow,  covering  200,000  square  miles  with  a 
lava   sheet   6000   feet   thick,   occurred;   Europe   assumed   its 
present  form;  Asia  added  much  of  her  southern  lands;  and 
large  parts  of  the  African  continent  were  raised  above  the  sea ; 
the  Pacific  ocean  continent  went  down,  and  most  likely  the 


Geological  Papers.  81 

Lost  Atlantis  also.  The  gases  generated  by  volcanic  action 
proved  fatal  to  life.  ( Consider  the  destructive  sulphurous  gases 
generated  by  Vesuvius  in  one  of  her  eruptive  periods,  or  of 
Mount  Pelee,  for  example,  and  then  remember  that  an  eruptive 
period  of  Vesuvius  or  of  Mount  Pelee  represents  only  in 
miniature  the  great  volcanic  fissure  eruptions  of  Pliocene 
Tertiary  and  glacial  Quarternary  times.  It  is  no  more,  in  com- 
parison with  the  eruptions  of  that  period,  than  a  single  atom 
in  comparison  with  the  volume  of  the  whole  earth.)  The 
animals  sought  shelter  in  caves  and  grottoes  and  in  whatever 
place  protection  could  be  found  from  the  hot-ashy-dust-gaseous 
invader,  and  there  huddled  together  they  perished,  and  their 
remains  are  known  to-day  as  the  lime-cavern  fossils.  In  this 
terrible  catastrophe  there  perished  in  America  the  horse,  bos, 
mastodon,  camel,  elephant,  and  many  of  the  other  then  tropical 
and  temperate  species  which  roamed  over  her  plains.  In  ad- 
dition to  this,  many  of  the  animals  that  had  escaped  the  gas- 
eous storm  were  overtaken  by  the  lava  flood  which  followed. 
A  few  species,  however,  migrated  to  more  favorable  parts  of 
the  earth  and  in  this  way  preserved  their  kind.  Coincident 
with  the  lava  eruptions  on  land  there  occurred  greater  erup- 
tions and  disturbances  at  sea,  because  the  crust  mashing  was 
inaugurated  beneath  the  sea;  and  the  sea  water  was  heated  by 
coming  in  contact  with  the  heated  rocks  and  incandescent 
lava  and  the  now  heated  atmosphere,  the  temperature  of 
which  had  been  raised  by  coming  in  contact  with  the  molten 
lava  hurled  out  on  the  land  surface.  The  seas  were,  at  least 
a  great  deal  of  them,  evaporated.  (Mr.  Thomas  Belt,  in  the 
Quarterly  Journal  of  Science,  says  that  the  formation  of  the 
ice  sheets  at  the  poles  in  the  glacial  epoch  must  have  lowered 
the  level  of  the  oceans  of  the  world  at  least  two  thousand  feet. ) 
The  vapors  thus  formed,  having  been  wafted  on  high,  so  to 
speak,  were  carried  toward  the  poles,  where,  on  being  cooled, 
they  were  condensed  and  fell  as  snow.  Also  the  volcanic  dust 
hurled  by  the  volcanic  explosions  beyond  our  atmosphere,  and 
surrounding  the  earth  as  rings  of  dust,  would  take  up  much  of 
the  sun's  heat  before  it  could  reach  the  solid  earth,  thus  in- 
<  reasing  and  maintaining  the  cold. 

This  great  change  was  as  sudden  as  was  the  almost  instan- 
taneous earth-crust  disturbances  and  lava  eruption,  which  was 
the  immediate  cause  of  the  excessive  evaporation.    So  sudden, 
—6 


82  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

indeed,  was  it  that  the  cold  wave  overtook  many  of  the  living 
tropical  and  temperate  species  of  the  earth,  and  their  remains 
are  to-day  found  frozen  in  the  northern  ice,  where  they  are 
often  found  heaped  up  in  such  quantities,  at  places  in  which 
they  huddled  together  for  protection  from  the  icy  invader,  that 
Admiral  Wrangle  tells  us  that  in  certain  parts  of  Siberia  he 
and  his  men  climbed  over  ridges  and  mounds  composed  en- 
tirely of  their  bones.     (Agassiz,  Geological  Sketches,  p.  209.) 

That  the  coming  of  the  cold  wave  was  sudden,  and  that  the 
animals  were  slaughtered  outright  by  it,  is  attested  by  more 
than  one  scientific  author.  On  this  subject  Louis  Figuier  says : 
"The  northern  and  central  parts  of  Europe,  the  vast  countries 
which  extend  from  Scandinavia  to  the  Mediterranean  and 
Danube,  were  visited  by  a  period  of  sudden  and  severe  cold; 
the  temperature  of  the  polar  regions  seized  them.  The  plains 
of  Europe,  but  now  [Miocene  Tertiary]  ornamented  by  the 
luxurious  vegetation  developed  by  the  heat  of  a  burning  cli- 
mate; the  boundless  pastures,  on  which  herds  of  great  ele- 
phants, the  active  horse,  the  robust  hippopotamus  and  the 
great  carnivorous  animals  grazed  and  roamed,  became  almost 
instantly  covered  with  a  mantle  of  ice  and  snow."  (The 
World  Before  the  Deluge,  p.  435.) 

Figuier  continues:  "We  can  not  doubt,  after  such  testi- 
mony, of  the  existence  in  the  frozen  North  of  the  almost  entire 
remains  of  the  mammoth.  The  animals  seem  to  have  perished, 
suddenly  enveloped  in  ice  at  the  moment  of  their  death ;  their 
bodies  have  been  preserved  from  decomposition  by  the  con- 
tinual action  of  cold."    (The  World  Before  the  Deluge,  p.  496.) 

And  again  Cuvier  says :  "If  they  [the  animals]  had  not  been 
frozen  as  soon  as  killed,  putrefaction  would  have  decomposed 
them ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  this  eternal  frost  could  not  have 
previously  prevailed  in  the  place  where  they  died,  for  they 
could  not  have  lived  in  such  a  temperature.  It  was,  therefore, 
at  the  same  instant  when  these  animals  perished  that  the  coun- 
try they  inhabited  was  rendered  glacial.  These  events  must 
have  been  sudden,  instantaneous,  and  without  any  gradation." 
(Ossements,  Fossils;  Discourse  sur  les  Revolutions  de  Globe.) 

The  above-mentioned  snow  continued  to  fall  for  ages,  till 
an  ice  sheet  of  immense  thickness  was  formed,  not  at  one  pole, 
but  at  both.    This  is  the  glacial  epoch. 


Geological  Papers.  83 

The  sun,  with  his  attendants,  had  passed  the  turning  point 
of  his  orbit  near  Sirius,  and  was  now  advancing  toward  Vega ; 
and  notwithstanding  the  tendency  of  cold  to  perpetuate  itself 
by  ice  accumulation,  the  ice  sheets  had  begun  to  recede,  and 
would  have  continued  to  do  so  in  both  hemispheres  if  aphelion 
winter  and  maximum  eccentricity  had  not  intervened  and 
caused  the  northern  ice  sheets  to  advance  again ;  but  their  com- 
bined influence,  together  with  the  still  great  inclination  of  the 
earth's  axis,  could  not  make  it  advance  as  far  south  as  it  for- 
merly had  been ;  and  when  the  eccentricity  of  the  earth's  orbit 
begun  to  wane  from  its  maximum  point  the  ice  sheets  again 
receded  and  inaugurated  the  Champlain  flood  epoch,  which,, 
after  it  had  filled  the  bays  and  gulfs  up  to  their  former  level, 
sedimented  up  the  river  troughs  cut  during  the  time  that  the 
oceans  were  lowered  by  evaporation,  (Notice  here  the  differ- 
ence: Instead  of  the  lands  being  elevated  during  the  glacial 
epoch,  the  seas  were  lowered  by  evaporation.) 

Since  the  ushering  in  of  the  Champlain  epoch  the  ice  sheets 
have  been  gradually  receding,  and  will  continue  to  recede  as  the 
sun  advances  toward  the  nearest  point  in  his  orbit  to  this  cen- 
tral magnetic  center,  till  they  may  disappear  altogether,  and 
a  paradise  on  earth  be  established  similar  to  the  one  that  ex- 
isted in  Miocene  Tertiary  times,  though  it  is  conclusive  that 
the  climate  will  be  less  hot  than  in  that  period,  because  our 
sun  is  a  waning  star. 


84  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 


LOWERING  OF  THE  GROUND-WATER  TABLE. 

By  W.  A.  Cook,  Baker  University,  Baldwin,  Kan. 

SINCE  the  dry  season  of  1901  the  people  of  the  eastern  half 
of  Kansas  have  been  more  or  less  concerned  about  the 
water  supply;  and  the  dry  weather  of  1910  and  the  drouth  of 
last  summer  have  increased  the  growing  anxiety  about  water 
for  domestic  purposes.  For  the  past  three  years  the  streams 
of  eastern  Kansas  have  been  low,  at  times  very  low,  and  for 
the  greater  part  of  that  time  many  have  been  dry;  in  face, 
in  some  localities  creeks  and  wells  which  went  dry  in  1901  have 
never  recovered  their  former  stability.  This  statement  holds 
good  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  the  major  streams  of  this  part 
of  the  state  have  passed  through  two  of  the  greatest  flood  areas 
known  in  their  history. 

Surface  wells  and  water  courses  dependent  on  surface  water 
are  likely  to  go  dry  during  any  period  of  decreased  rainfall. 
Such  cases  are  of  more  or  less  local  extent  in  their  happening. 
However,  when  the  eastern  half  or  two-thirds  of  the  state 
begins  to  experience  such  a  condition,  it  becomes  more  than  a 
local  question,  the  seriousness  of  which,  like  the  cause  of  the 
condition,  seems  to  be  little  understood  by  the  people  in  gen- 
eral. Creeks  and  rivers  that  were  seldom  dry  or  very  lov/ 
in  former  years  are  now  dry  a  large  part  of  the  time.  Wells 
that  were  inexhaustible  now  have  only  a  meager  supply  of 
water,  and  many  have  had  to  be  dug  deeper.  Thus,  many 
people  ask :  "Why  do  the  creeks  go  dry  in  two  or  three  weeks 
after  a  rain  has  filled  them  bank  full?"  The  answer  is  easy, 
but  hard  to  get  the  average  person  to  understand  and  believe. 
The  ground-water  has  been  perceptibly  lowered,  and  the 
ground-water  table  has  sunk  below  the  beds  of  the  streams. 
Hence,  instead  of  the  ground-water  flowing  through  the  ground 
and  feeding  the  streams,  causing  a  continuous  flow,  the  water 
from  the  streams  in  a  very  short  time  soaks  into  the  banks 
and  bottoms  of  the  streams  and  settles  to  the  level  of  the 
ground-water  table,  leaving  the  streams  dry  except  in  the 
deepest  pools. 

In  the  western  part  of  the  state  the  wells  and  springs  and 
creeks  fed  by  springs  which  are  connected  with  the  under- 


Geological  Papers.  85 

flow  have  not  varied  perceptibly  in  the  period  of  time  that 
the  writer  has  known  western  Kansas,  which  is  nearly  thirty 
years.  Thus  it  is  well  established  that  the  underflow  is  not 
dependent  on  the  rainfall  in  that  section  of  the  state.  Another 
proof  of  that  fact,  if  another  were  needed,  is  that  creeks  and 
ponds  dependent  on  surface  water,  or  that  coming  from  local 
rainfall,  are  dry  most  of  the  time.  The  underflow  varies  but 
slightly  in  wet  and  dry  years,  and  often  the  variation  is  con- 
trary to  would  be  expected. 

In  eastern  Kansas  the  ground-water  table  is  a  different 
proposition.  The  water  that  falls  on  the  surface  and  does  not 
run  off  in  the  streams  or  is  not  used  up  immediately  by  vege- 
tation percolates  through  the  ground  and  settles  down  to  a 
certain  level  known  as  the  ground-water  table,  or  the  top  of 
the  permanent  water  supply.  In  general,  this  table  is  marked 
by  the  top  of  the  water  in  the  streams  in  any  part  of  the  state. 
The  location  of  the  table  in  any  particular  locality  depends 
on  the  condition  of  the  aquifer.  Also,  the  underlying  and  over- 
lying rocks  being  pervious  or  impervious  influence  the  amount 
of  water  received  by  the  aquifer  as  well  as  the  retention  of  the 
same. 

To  say  that  the  ground-water  table  has  been  lowered  four 
feet,  or  six  feet,  or  eight  feet,  does  not  refer  to  any  particular 
locality,  but  means  that  the  area  comprising  the  eastern  half 
of  Kansas  taken  as  a  whole  has  had  the  ground-water  depleted 
until  it  has  sunk  somewhere  in  that  range.  In  the  vicinity  of 
Baldwin  some  creeks  are  dry  that  had  pools  as  deep  as  eight 
feet,  while  in  others  the  water  maintains  its  level  at  about 
five  feet  below  the  former  level.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
writer  knows  of  one  well  of  living  water  that  lowered  nearly 
twelve  feet,  and  several  others  that  were  lowered  from  five  to 
eight  feet.  Nor  is  this  locality  very  different  from  those  all 
over  this  part  of  the  state.  From  reports  gathered  from  this 
entire  end  of  the  state  the  writer  estimates  that  since  1901 
the  water  table  has  been  lowered  an  average  of  five  or  six 
feet.  And  what  makes  the  condition  all  the  more  serious,  in 
many  places  several  feet  of  dry  earth  intervene  between  the 
water  table  and  the  surface  water  from  the  late  fall  rains. 
The  amount  of  rainfall  necessary  to  thoroughly  soak  the  ground 
all  the  way  down  to  the  ground-water  table  is  very  problemati- 
cal. However,  this  is  one  of  the  conditions  to  be  met  before 
the  raising  of  the  table  begins. 


86  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

Granting  that  the  above  facts  are  approximately  correct 
and  disregarding  the  last-named  condition,  it  is  interesting 
to  note  some  of  the  estimates  necessary  to  restore  the  ground- 
water table  to  its  former  level.  It  will  take  all  the  rainfall 
for  two  average  years  to  restore  it;  or,  it  will  take  twenty 
per  cent  above  average  for  ten  years  or  ten  per  cent  above 
average  for  twenty  years.  A  gain  of  two  inches  per  year  for 
thirty-five  years  would  make  up  the  loss.  As  the  surface  water 
is  seldom  sufficient  in  any  part  of  Kansas  to  last  through  the 
dry  parts  of  the  year,  it  is  evident  that  stockmen  and  munici- 
palities should  seek  a  water  supply  well  below  the  present 
water  table  to  be  sure  of  a  permanent  water  supply.  Although 
the  records  since  1836  show  a  gradual  increase  in  the  rainfall 
in  eastern  Kansas,  at  the  same  rate  it  would  not  restore  the 
shrinkage  in  the  next  fifty  years.  Then  the  question  naturally 
arises,  will  the  former  ground- water  table  ever  be  restored? 
Is  there  a  probability  that  there  will  be  an  excessive  rainfall 
in  the  next  ten  or  twenty  or  even  fifty  years,  sufficient  to  re- 
store the  former  level?  Can  a  system  of  ponds  and  small 
lakes  be  built  by  damming  the  draws  and  creeks  sufficient  to 
restore  the  old  table  or  to  aid  in  maintaining  the  present  level  ? 
Will  the  creeks  continue  to  build  up  their  flood  plains?  And 
if  so,  will  they  become  permanent  surface-water  streams? 
Such  questions  can  not  be  discussed  in  this  paper,  but  they 
suggest  that  the  lowering  of  the  ground-water  table  is  one, 
not  only  of  much  scientific  interest,  but  also  one  of  great 
economic  importance  to  farmers,  stockmen,  and  city  authorities 
who  have  to  provide  a  permanent  water  supply  for  domestic 
purposes. 


IV. 

BIOLOGICAL  PAPER. 


1.   "Additions  to  the  List  of  Kansas  Coleoptera  for  1910-'11-'12. 

By  W.  Knaus. 
(87) 


ADDITIONS  TO  THE  LIST  OF  KANSAS  COLEOPTERA 
FOR  1910- '11- '12. 

By  \V.  Knaus,  McPherson,  Kan. 

A  DDITIONS  to  the  list  of  Kansas  Coleoptera  since  1909  have 
jt\.  not  been  very  numerous.  The  State  University  has  had 
collecting  parties  in  the  field  each  summer,  but  so  far  the  most 
of  the  material  in  Coleoptera  gathered  in  these  expeditions  has 
not  been  worked  out. 

The  writer  has  done  only  occasional  collecting  the  past  four 
seasons,  and  the  list  is  due  principally  to  the  monographic 
work  of  Major  Thos.  L.  Casey,  of  Washington,  D.  C,  who  has 
worked  over  a  number  of  generic  groups.  The  results  of  his 
taxonomic  work  have  not  been  accepted  by  all  scientific  Cole- 
opterists,  and  it  will  probably  be  some  years  before  these  differ- 
ences of  opinion  are  adjusted. 

Notes,  whenever  of  interest,  are  appended  to  the  species  of 
the  list. 

1.  Cicindela  sterope  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

This  is  the  species  commonly  recognized  as  12-guttata  Dej.  in 
Kansas  collections  of  Coleoptera. 

2.  Cicindela  circumpicta   Laf. ;    subspecies   ambiens   Csy.     Memoirs   of 

Coleoptera  IV. 

This  is  a  deep  blue  variety  of  drcumpicta. 

3.  Cicindela  globicollis  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

Clark  county.    This  is  evidently  a  small  form  of  Cicindela,  var. 
apicalis  W.  Horn,  which  occurs  on  Kansas  salt  marshes. 

4.  Cicindela  lepida  Dej.;   subspecies  insomnis  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Cole- 

optera IV. 

The  Seward  county  form  of  lepida,  with  blue-green  head  and 
thorax. 

5.  Pasimachus  vemicatus  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

6.  215  Pasimachus  duplicatus  Lee. 

One  specimen.     Dodge  City. 

7.  Diplochila  oblonga  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

8.  Diplochila  cliens  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

9.  Dicalus  ocellatus  Blatchley. 

One  specimen.     Wilson  county. 
10.    Calathus  obesulus  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 
Mount  Hope,  Kan. 

(89) 


90  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

11.  1111  Harpalus  oblitus  Lee. 

One  specimen.     Scott  City;  July. 

12.  Helophorus,  sp. 

One  specimen.    Wheeler,  Cheyenne  county. 

13.  1662  Sphaeridium  scarabaeoides  Linn. 

A  European  species  of  a  hydrophilid,  or  scavenger,  that  has 
been  gradually  working  westward  for  the  last  seventeen 
years.  First  taken  in  Kansas  by  the  late  E.  A.  Popenoe, 
near  Topeka,  in  November,  1910,  and  a  single  specimen 
taken  near  McPherson,  October  23,  1911. 

14.  1720  Sphasrites  glabratus  Fab. 

One  specimen  referred  to  this  species  by  the  late  E.  A.  Popenoe, 
of  Topeka. 

15.  1957  Rhexius  Insculptus  Lee. 

Four  specimens  from  Onaga,  collected  by  F.  F.  Crevecoeur. 

16.  Apalonia  divisa  Csy.    Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IL 

Mount  Hope. 

17.  Atheta  kansana  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  II. 

Sedgwick  county. 

18.  Dimetrota  sentiens  Csy.    Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  I,  page  105. 

Onaga.     Collected  by  Crevecoeur. 

19.  Sableta    (Anatheta)    planulieollis    Csy.      Memoirs    of   Coleoptera   I, 

page  112. 

Meade  county.     Collected  by  W.  Knaus. 

20.  Platandria  deductor  Csy.    Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  I,  page  173. 

McPherson.  Collected  by  W.  Knaus;  description  drawn  from 
two  o  . 

21.  Quedius  compransor  Fall. 

Cotype,  Manhattan.  Taken  by  Theo.  Schaeffer,  January,  1911, 
from  nest  of  the  pocket  gopher. 

22.  2179  Philonthus  longicornus  Steph. 

One  specimen.     Topeka.    Taken  by  Popenoe;  November. 

23.  2539  Lathrobium  ventrale  Lee.     Trans.  American  Ento.  Soc.  VIII. 

24.  Bledius  armatus  Say. 

Kansas.  Near  Superior,  Neb.,  June  1,  in  sandy  mud  on  banks 
of  Republican  river.'  Incorrectly  given  in  Transactions  of 
ICansas  Academy  of  Science  for  1895-'96  as  Bledius  ineptus 
Csy.  See  Misc.  Notes  on  N.  A.  Coleoptera,  by  H.  C.  Fall, 
Trans.  American  Ento.  Soc,  vol.  XXXVIII,  pages  102,  103. 

25.  3329  Laemophloeus  nitens  Lee. 

Salina,  Kan.;  August,  September.  Under  cottonwood  bark, 
occurring  with  Bactridium,  striatum  Lee,  heretofore  re- 
corded from  this  state  by  a  single  specimen  taken  at  Bene- 
dict. Kan. 


Biological  Paper.  91 

26.  Sapiinus,  sp. 

A  very  large  specimen,  unlike  any  species  of  this  genus  seen 
from  this  state.  •  Taken  October  6  from  under  a  decaying 
watermelon,  by  H.  A.  Horton,  near  Salina,  Kan.  Now  in 
possession  of  A.  B.  Wolcott,  of  Field  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  Chicago,  111.,  for  description. 

27.  3779  Stephostethus  liratus  Lee. 

Onaga,  Kan.     Collected  by  Crevecoeur. 

28.  Porcinolus  crescentifer  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III,  page  32. 

Baldwin,  Kan. 

29.  4048  Entomopthalmus  rufiolus  Lee. 

One  specimen.    Onaga,  Rare.    Collected  by  Crevecoeur. 

30.  4307  Melanotus  decumanus  Er. 

One  specimen.     McPherson. 

31.  Melanotus  diversicornis  Blatch. 

One  specimen.     McPherson,  Kan. 

32.  Amphicerus  gracilis  Csy.    Studies  in  Ptinidse,  etc.    Journal  of  N.  Y. 

Ento.  Soc,  vol.  6,  page  69. 

33.  5404  Ennearthrus  thoracicus  Zieg. 

Benedict,  Kan.     In  fungus.     Common. 

34.  5429  Canthon  probus  Ger.     Coleopterorum  Catalogus,  part  38. 

35.  Prionus;  subgeus  Riponus  debilis  Csy.    Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

36.  Prionina  simplex  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

Wallace  county. 

37.  Physocnemum  densum  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

38.  Crossidius,  subspecies  retractus  Csy.    Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

39.  Crossidius  debilis  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

Northwest  Kansas. 

40.  Cyllene  angulifera  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

41.  Cyllene,  sjibspecies  kansana  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

42.  Brachyleptura  dehiscens  Lee.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

43.  Typocerus  confluens  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

44.  Typocerus  caligans  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

45.  Monilema  nubucula  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

Hamilton  county. 

46.  Monilema,  subspecies  deinissa  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

47.  Pogonocherus  simplex  Lee.    Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

48.  Mecas  saturnina  Lee.    Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

49.  Mecas  brevicollis  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

50.  Oberea  ferruginea  Csy.    Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

51.  Tetraopes  velutinus  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

Hamilton  and  Finney  counties. 

52.  Tetraopes  brevisetosus  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  IV. 

53.  6657  Pachybrachys  striatus  Lee.  Trans.  Am.  Ento.  Soc,  vol.  VIII. 


92  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

54.  6770  Graphops  simplex  Lee. 

One  specimen.    Wheeler,  Cheyenne  county. 

55.  Glyptasida  turgescens  Csy.    Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

Kansas  University  collection. 

56.  Glyptasida,  subspecies  obesa  Csy.     Memloirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

Wallace  county. 

57.  Glyptasida,  subspecies  furtiva  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

58.  Glyptasida  procrustes  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

Wallace  county. 

59.  Glyptasida  strigipennis  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

Westei'n  Kansas. 

60.  Gonasida  compar  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

Gove  county. 

61.  Gonasida,  subspecies  reducta  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

62.  Gonasida,  subspecies  prolixa  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

63.  Euschides,  subspecies  retusus  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

64.  Euschides  globicollis  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

Northwest  Kansas. 

65.  7281  Euschides  convexus  Lee.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

Western  Kansas. 

66.  Euschides  gracilior  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

67.  Euschides  facilis  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

Western  Kansas. 

68.  Asidopsis,  subspecies  opaca  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

69.  Asidopsis,  subspecies  futilis  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

70.  Asidopsis  collega  Csy.     Memoirs  of  Coleoptera  III. 

State  University  collection. 

71.  7898  Xylophilus  melshimeri  Lee. 

Onaga,  Kan.    Collected  by  Crevecoeur. 

72.  Anthicus  lutulentus  Csy. 

Meade  county;  September. 

73.  8045  Gnathium  texana  Horn. 

Englewood,  Kan. 

74.  8051  Zonites  rufa  Lee. 

One  specimen.     Salina,  Kan.     Rare. 

75.  Apion,  sp. 

Medora,  Kan. ;  October. 

76.  Thecasternus  affinis  Lee. 

Western  Kansas. 

77.  Ephieerus  suleatus  Csy. 

Western  Kansas. 

78.  8427  Phytonomus  punctatus. 

One  2  .    North  Topeka;  September  17,  1910.    Collected  by  E.  G. 
Titus. 


Biological  Paper.  93 


79.  Phytonomus  trisittatus  Lee. 

80.  8430  Phytonomus  comptus  Say. 

81.  10824  Macrops  dorsalis  Dietz. 

One  specimen.     Scott  City;  July. 

82.  Miarus  consuetus  Csy. 

83.  Near  11173  Nicentrus  ingenuus  Csy. 

Onaga,  Kan.     Collected  by  Crevecoeur. 

84.  8996  Sphenophorus  sayi  Gyl. 

Onaga,  Kan.     Collected  by  Crevecoeur. 


V. 

MISCELLANEOUS  PAPERS. 


1.    "Phenomena  Beautiful." 

By  W.  A.  Cook. 

2.    "Witching  for  Water  and  Other  Things.' 

By  J.   T.    LOVEWELL. 

3.    "University  Extension." 

By  DeWitt  C.  Croissakt. 

(95) 


PHENOMENA  BEAUTIFUL. 

By  W.  A.  Cook,  Baker  University,  Baldwin,  Kan. 

THE  human  eye,  one  of  the  most  valuable  of  our  members, 
is  one  of  the  easiest  to  deceive  of  our  sense  organs.  Look- 
ing through  a  screen  door,  the  plane  of  which  is  at  right  angles 
to  the  line  of  vision,  the  rising  moon  seems  to  send  its  rays  in 
straight  lines  forming  a  Greek  Cross,  the  arms  running  par- 
rallel  to  the  wires  in  the  screen.  Turn  the  screen  to  an  angle 
of  forty-five  degrees  and  the  horizontal  bar  of  the  cross  divides 
into  two  bars  making  an  angle  of  from  forty-five  to  sixty  de- 
grees with  each  other,  depending  on  the  mesh  of  the  screen. 
The  rays  of  light  coming  through  the  screen  between  the 
arms  of  the  cross  are  deflected  until  they  do  not  reach  the  eye, 
hence  only  those  coming  through  in  straight  lines  are  seen. 

The  mirage,  which  may  well  be  termed  "Phenomena 
Wonderful,"  is  one  of  the  greatest  illusions  the  eye  beholds. 
The  sights  and  scenes  depicted  in  the  old  poem  of  "Seeing 
Things  at  Night"  do  not  approach  the  wonderfulness  of  the 
mirage.  But  the  mirage  has  another  quality,  that  of  beauty, 
and  the  more  appropriate  name  would  be  "Phenomena  Beauti- 
ful." So  leaving  out  the  physical  principles  involved  in  the 
mirage,  which  are  familiar  to  all,  the  writer  will  present  with 
the  use  of  charts  some  illustrations  that  it  has  been  his  privi- 
lege to  see,  and  which  will  warrant  the  name  "Phenomena 
Beautiful." 

Traveling  westward  from  Salina,  along  the  Smoky  Hill 
river,  an  observer  may  see  the  most  wonderful  and  most 
beautiful  shifting  scenery.  Hills  suddenly  rise  out  of  the  midst 
of  the  blue  of  beautiful  lakes,  to  shiver  and  smoke  like  active 
volcanoes  for  a  few  minutes  and  then  as  suddenly  sink  back 
into  the  lake,  or  being  torn  into  fragments  gradually  vanish 
away  into  nothingness.  The  beautiful  lakes  themselves  are 
ever  just  a  little  beyond,  settling  in  among  the  hills  or  spread- 
ing away  to  limitless  distances  over  the  prairie.  Around  the 
borders  of  these  lakes  familiar  objects  appear  near  at  hand,  as 
if  by  magic,  or  assume  grotesque  shapes  as  they  come  and  go  in 
the  kaleidoscopic  view.    Hence  the  name  Smoky  Hill  river. 

(97) 


98 


Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 


Imagine  yourself  traveling  over  the  level  prairie  where 
sight  travels  for  twenty  or  thirty  miles  unobstructed,  and  see 
three  miles  before  you  a  herd  of  cattle  stringing  across  the 
prairie  at  right  angles  to  your  road.  Then  suddenly  find  your- 
self on  the  shore  of  one  of  those  beautiful  shimmering  lakes. 
While  you  are  viewing  with  wonder  the  beauty  spread  before 
you,  you  soon  have  it  spoiled  by  the  grotesque,  for  the  cattle 
coming  up  to  the  edge  of  the  lake  find  legs  fifty  feet  long  on 
which  they  wade  out  into  the  lake  and  disappear.  Travel  a 
mile  farther  and  you  again  come  in  sight  of  the  cattle  wending 


their  way  across  the  prairie  on  their  ordinary  short  legs  and 
none  the  worse  for  having  passed  through  the  magic  waters 
in  their  "Seven  League  Boots."  Such  scenes  are  very  common 
where  the  buffalo  grass  causes  the  unequal  heating  of  the  at- 
mosphere so  that  you  look,  not  straight  ahead,  but  along  rays 
of  light  that  lead  upward  into  the  smoky  blue  of  the  atmos- 
phere, and  the  objects  which  chance  to  be  on  the  margin  of 


Miscellaneous  Papos.  99 

this  illusion  struggle  to  maintain  their  proper  shapes,  with 
results  both  fascinating  and  ridiculous. 

The  mirage  does  not  belong  to  any  particular  season  of  the 
year.  On  New  Year's  morning  in  1896  the  writer  stood  on  the 
north  slope  of  Hackberry  creek  in  Gove  county,  and  looked  over 
a  bluff  more  than  one  hundred  feet  high  on  the  south  side  of 
the  creek,  and  saw  distinctly  a  train  of  cars  on  the  Missouri 
Pacific  railroad  fully  thirty  miles  to  the  south.  Not  only  did 
the  train  stand  out  clear  and  plain,  but  above  it,  with  wheels 
upward  and  the  smoke  of  the  two  merging,  was  another ;  and 
immediately  above  this  one,  with  wheels  against  wheels,  was 
the  third  train.  This  view  lasted  for  about  three  minutes  in 
fairly  perfect  form.  There  was  a  coat  of  sleet  and  ice  on  the 
ground  at  the  time,  and  as  the  sun's  rays  struck  the  ice  they 
were  reflected  back  into  the  air,  super-heating  a  layer  some 
distance  from  the  ground,  thus  the  three  layers  of  atmosphere 
produced  the  extraordinary  view. 

In  April  of  1891,  and  again  in  the  morning,  I  viewed  the 
most  extensive  mirage  I  have  ever  seen.  This  mirage  was  of 
especial  clearness  and  of  about  seven  minutes'  duration  in  all 
directions,  and  lingering  as  long  as  fifteen  minutes  in  some 
directions.  I  saw  this  mirage  from  the  prairie  about  half 
way  between  Gove  City  and  Grainfield,  from  a  point  where 
ordinarily  none  of  the  points  to  be  mentioned  were  visible. 
On  the  Union  Pacific  railroad  I  saw  Collyer,  Quinter,  Park, 
Grainfield,  Grinnell  and  Oakley;  to  the  north  of  these  Hoxie 
was  in  view;  toward  the  south  I  could  see  Gove  City,  Tiff'any 
Rocks,  Castle  Rock,  Orion,  Jerome,  Shields,  and  Pendennis. 
I  had  the  feeling  of  standing  in  the  bottom  of  a  huge  basin  and 
looking  outward  and  upward  to  where  the  various  places  were 
located.  My  range  of  vision  was  fully  thirty  miles  to  the  north 
and  about  forty  miles  to  the  south.  Toward  the  southwest  was 
the  only  place  where  the  view  was  not  clear,  and  in  this  direc- 
tion the  hills  of  the  Smoky  Hill  river  were  blurred  with  haze. 

One  of  the  most  beautiful  of  these  phenomena  was  observed 
in  October  of  1892.  This,  however,  was  observed  at  night  and 
^vas  difl'erent.  although  involving  the  same  principles  as  the 
mirage.  The  moon  was  nearly  full  and  nearly  overhead. 
Around  the  moon  was  a  very  clear  primary  halo  or  ring,  and 
outside  a  well-defined  secondary-  ring.  There  was  a  second 
primary  ring  one  edge  of  which  passed  through  the  moon  and 


100  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

the  other  through  the  secondary  ring.  There  was  also  a  mere 
trace  of  another  secondary  ring  around  this  second  primary 
ring.  This  extraordinaiy  occurrence  was  seen  by  many  peo- 
ple, and  some  of  the  more  superstitious  thought  it  a  portent  of 
some  dire  calamity.  It  was  only  another  manifestation  of  the 
''Phenomena  Beautiful,"  showing  that  the  physical  laws  gov- 
erning light  were  applicable  at  night  as  well  as  in  the  day. 

As  stated  in  the  beginning,  the  writer  has  not  attempted  to 
discuss  the  phj-sical  laws  governing  these  phenomena,  but  has 
presented  only  a  few  of  the  extraordinary  illustrations  of  the 
mirage  seen  in  a  twenty-year  residence  in  the  midst  of  the 
magic  scenery  of  the  Smoky  Hill  country*  of  western  Kansas. 


Miscellaneous  Papers.  101 


"WITCHING"  FOR  WATER  AND  OTHER  THINGS. 

By  J.  T.  LovEWELii,  Topeka. 

FROM  time  immemorial,  at  least  for  hundreds  of  years, 
there  has  existed  a  widespread  belief  that  certain  persons 
have  the  ability  to  discover  underground  streams  of  water 
through  the  agency  of  a  forked  twig  of  witch-hazel,  peach  or 
willow,  which,  held  in  a  certain  way,  is  moved  downward  on 
passing  over  a  subterranean  stream  or  body  of  water. 

The  forked  twig  is  not  essential,  for  a  watch,  suspended  by 
its  chain,  or  any  heavy  body  similarly  supported  pendulum- 
wise,  will,  it  is  sa"id,  set  up  vibrations  on  being  carried  over 
subterranean  water.  We  had  in  Topeka  a  believer  in  water- 
witching,  who  found  his  carriage  whip  held  by  its  slender  end 
was  an  effective  indicator  of  water,  bowing  down  under  its 
influence.  The  common  name  with  us  for  persons  who  thus 
locate  wells  is  water-witches.  In  England  they  call  them 
dowsers  or  dippers,  while  in  France  they  are  termed  sourciers, 
or  discoverers  of  sources.  The  Germans  have  a  term  with 
similar  meaning,  wasser  finders.  Their  business  is  important 
enough  so  that  we  may  call  it  a  trade,  to  which  is  added  gen- 
erally the  prosaic  occupation  of  well  digger.  They  commonly 
are  persons  with  little  pretension  to  culture  or  scientific  knowl- 
edge, and  it  is  surprising  how  many  who  want  a  well  dug  are 
willing  to  contribute  a  fee  for  witching  it,  They  may  not 
admit  a  belief  in  the  witch-hazel,  but  justify  the  practice  by 
saying  that  everybody  knows  in  digging  a  well  it  makes  m 
great  difference  where  you  put  it,  and  these  diggers  by  long- 
experience  can  tell  the  best  place  by  general  appearance  of  the 
locality  or  by  the  divining  rod,  it  matters  not  which,  and  so 
they  earn  their  fee. 

We  propose  to  examine  the  validity  of  these  claims  of  the 
water-witches  with  the  candor  due  to  many  people  of  ac- 
knowledged ability  and  integrity  who  believe  in  them.  There 
is  a  great  deal  of  mystery  in  the  construction  of  this  earth  on 
whose  surface  we  live.  We  can  not  penetrate  it  more  than 
about  one  mile,  nor  can  we  rise  above  it  more  than  about  five 
miles.  Geology  enables  us  to  guess  more  or  less  closely  what 
is  the  construction  of  this  thin  shell  less  than  one  ten-thou- 


102  Kansafi  Academy  of  Science. 

sandth  part  of  the  diameter  of  the  earth.  The  seas,  lakes  and 
rivers  send  up  into  the  air  their  tribute  of  vapor,  which  is 
finally  precipitated  upon  the  earth  and  is  carried  by  gravity 
back  to  Mother  Ocean.  Part  of  this  precipitation  soaks  into 
the  soil,  as  we  say;  it  settles  down,  saturates  the  surface  de- 
posits and  the  rocks  below,  and  finally  reaches  a  ground-water 
level  where  it  never  dries  out,  and  this  is  the  layer  which  our 
wells  must  penetrate.  Gravity  still  acts  upon  the  water  at 
this  level  and  it  still  continues  its  onward  journey  to  the  sea. 

There  are  very  likely  rifts  in  rocks  where  are  underground 
rivulets  and  our  wells  strike  some  of  them,  but  more  often  the 
movement  is  a  percolation  through  gravel  and  sand  where 
capillary  forces  come  into  play,  modifying;  and  retarding  the 
flow.  Most  wells  simply  enter  this  porous  stratum  and  in  no 
proper  sense  do  they  tap  a  flowing  stream. 

They  only  act  as  reservoirs  and  gather  up  the  water  as  it 
flows  into  the  cavity  of  the  well.  In  some  instances  water  will 
come  into  a  well  which  at  first  appears  to  be  dry,  and  after  a 
time  there  will  be  a  supply  of  water  sufficient  for  domestic  use. 
This  means  that  the  flow  of  water  into  the  well  cavity,  at  first 
imperceptible,  after  a  time  becomes  stronger  as  obstructions 
dissolve  out  and  is  sufficient  for  the  demands  of  the  well.  With 
these  facts  before  us  with  reference  to  the  sources  of  water  in 
our  wells,  we  may  consider  the  pretensions  of  the  source 
finders.  It  is  evident  that  water  may  be  found  almost  any- 
where in  the  crust  of  the  earth  if  penetrated  to  the  ground- 
water level,  but  the  question  is,  Can  the  favorable  or  unfavor- 
able place  for  a  well  be  discovered  by  the  divining  rod?  It  is 
claimed  that  there  is  a  sort  of  attraction  of  water  upon  the  rod 
but  this  is  not  manifested  except  in  the  hands  of  persons  of 
peculiar  temperament.  This  exception  is  the  stumbling  block  in 
the  waj^  of  any  accurate  tests.  It  introduces  a  psychological 
inquiry  and  begs  the  question  if  we  are  to  decide  it  by  the 
established  principles  of  science. 

It  would  seem  that  the  first  question  to  settle  is  whether 
such  discoveries  are  actually  made  by  the  means  employed, 
and  here  w^e  are  met  with  abundance  of  conflicting  testimony. 
Many  people  of  good  faith  and  intelligence  have  asserted  that 
water  has  been  found  in  this  way  much  oftener  than  the  doe- 
trine  of  chance  would  justify,  and  yet  just  the  same  evidence 
may  be  found  for  table  tipping,  clairvoyance,  "spirit  rappings," 
etc. 


Miscellaneous  Papers.  103 

When  the  French  scientists  asked  Frankhn  to  explain  why 
a  fish  swimming  in  water  loses  its  weight  that  philosopher 
wisely  asked  if  the  fish  really  did  lose  its  weight,  and  testing 
by  experiment  they  found  the  fish  weighed  just  as  much  in 
water  as  out  of  it,  and  there  was  nothing  to  explain. 

So  when  we  investigate  the  witch-hazel  our  first  inquiry 
should  be  whether  it  is  drawn  down  when  passed  over  a  stream 
or  body  of  water.  Our  test  is  not  quite  so  simple  as  was  the 
case  with  Franklin's  fish.  In  the  first  place  it  costs  consider- 
able to  verify  by  digging  and  the  chances  are  that  we  shall 
find  water  anywhere.  In  the  second  place  the  "witch"  must 
be  a  person  of  peculiar  temperament,  and  so  we  have  a  psy- 
chological problem  thrust  upon  us  and  must  argue  with  spirit 
rappers,  clairvoyants,  table  tipping,  levitation,  and  witches 
pure  and  simple,  such  as  Cotton  Mather,  Luther,  and  many 
others  have  believed  in.  All  who  enter  this  realm  may  as  well 
abandon  science.  Nevertheless  experiments  have  been  made 
in  Germany,  France,  and  in  this  country,  with  the  result  that 
no  valid  proof  has  been  found  to  substantiate  the  claims  of 
the  water-witches,  and  few  scientists  give  them  any  credence. 

But  there  is  another  phase  of  the  subject  which  "queers"  the 
whole  proposition.  It  is  claimed  that  the  divining  rod  can 
discover  oil  and  gas  just  as  certainly  as  it  reveals  water.  It 
can  also  show  where  are  deposits  of  lead,  zinc,  and  the  precious 
metals.  This,  of  course,  opens  up  a  profitable  trade  to  the 
"fakirs,"  who  never  lack  victims. 

The  credulous  believers  try  to  silence  their  critics  by  quot- 
ing the  old  Shakesperian  adage,  "There  are  more  things  in 
heaven  and  earth  than  are  dreamed  of  in  your  philosophy." 
Then  they  talk  about  electricity,  radium,  the  constitution  of 
matter,  as  if  these  puzzles  of  science  were  excuses  for  belief 
in  "old  wives'  fables."  My  conclusion  is  that  all  the  claims  of 
water-witches  are  delusions  unworthy  scientific  consideration. 


104  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 


UNIVERSITY  EXTENSION. 

By  DeWitt  C.  Ceoissaxt. 

AS  A  REPRESENTATIVE  of  the  Extension  Division  of  the 
-  University  of  Kansas  I  very  greatly  appreciate  the  oppor- 
tunity to  appear  before  you  and  to  present  the  question  of  the 
possibility  of  our  mutual  cooperation.  Your  purpose  is  the 
discovery  of  knowledge ;  the  purpose  of  the  Extension  Division 
is  the  dissemination  of  knowledge  and  of  education.  The  Ex- 
tension Division  is  trjdng  to  make  available  to  all  of  the  peopie 
of  the  state  all  of  the  facilities  of  the  University  and  of  such 
bodies  as  your  own.  We  are  trying  to  make  the  state  more 
efficient  bj^  giving  it  the  material  with  which  to  increase  its 
own  efficiency  b^'  its  own  efforts.  Your  purpose  is  along  the 
same  line,  for  all  research  has  as  its  ultimate  aim  the  benefit 
of  humanity. 

The  Extension  Division  does  not  restrict  itself  to  the  strictly 
University  activities,  but  seeks  the  material  which  it  endeavors 
to  communicate  to  the  various  citizens  of  the  state  in  whatever 
direction  it  may  be  found.  We  are  giving,  for  instance,  courses 
through  correspondence  in  fire  protection,  and  are  conducting 
other  courses  in  cooperation  with  the  Board  of  Health  of  the 
state,  and  stand  ready  at  any  time  to  introduce  work  which 
may  be  a  benefit  to  the  citizens  of  the  state  wherever  that  worlv 
ma3  be  found.  We  are  glad  to  cooperate  with  this  or  any  other 
organization  in  disseminating  knowledge  which  may  be  of 
value  to  the  state.  We  are,  for  instance,  preparing  to  send  out 
material  to  all  sorts  of  people  on  weights  and  measures ;  we 
prepare  outlines  for  clubs  or  private  studies;  we  furnish  ma- 
terial to  go  with  these  outlines ;  and  we  are  glad  to  list  lectures 
by  men  of  established  ability  who  have  something  worth  while 
to  communicate. 

There  are  various  activities  of  the  Extension  Division,  all 
of  which  are  available  to  you,  if  they  are  practicable,  for 
spreading  a  knowledge  of  the  work  that  you  are  doing  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind.  In  the  first  place  there  is  our  Ck)rre- 
spondence-study  Department,  which  is  not  limited  to  purely 
academic  work  or  to  academic  men.  We  are  giving,  through 
this  department,  work  in  vocational  lines  for  men  who  are 


Miscellaneous  Papers.  105 

working  in  the  trades,  and  who  are  not  able  to  go  to  regular 
schools;  we  are  offering  a  course  by  the  fire  marshal  of  the 
state,  and  we  are  conducting  a  course  in  vital  statistics  by  the 
state  registrar.  If  you  have  work  that  can  be  put  into  this 
department  we  shall  be  very  glad  indeed  to  use  it. 

The  Municipal  Reference  Bureau  deals  with  all  sides  of  the 
life  of  the  various  communities;  it  deals  with  the  engineering, 
with  the  legal,  with  the  social,  with  the  administrative  phases 
of  community  life.  In  connection  with  this  Municipal  Refer- 
ence Bureau  we  are  maintaining  a  library,  and  if  there  are 
any  of  your  publications,  papers,  or  special  information  which 
any  of  you  may  possess  which  will  bear  on  municipal  prob- 
lems, we  shall  be  very  glad  indeed  to  have  them  and  to  file 
them  with  our  other  material  so  that  they  may  be  available 
for  the  uses  of  those  whom  they  would  benefit  the  most. 

So  in  our  club-study  work,  in  which  we  prepare  outlines  for 
dozens  of  clubs  in  the  state,  and  in  which  we  furnish  a  great 
many  lecturers  for  the  various  communities,  it  may  be  that  you 
are  possessed  of  information  or  are  able  to  suggest  lines  of 
work  that  would  be  of  benefit  to  the  serious  and  studious 
women  and  men  of  this  state.  If  so,  we  should  be  very  glad 
to  have  such  suggestions  as  may  come  from  your  experience 
along  special  lines,  and  shall  be  very  glad  indeed  to  base  our 
outlines  and  to  furnish  the  material  along  these  lines. 

One  of  the  most  important  phases  of  the  University  Exten- 
sion work  is  the  furnishing  of  what  are  called  package  li- 
braries, which  are  clippings  from  various  publications  and 
which  are  furnished  free  of  charge  to  those  who  may  be  in- 
terested in  writing  for  them.  The  articles  on  various  subjects 
are  bound  together  and  are  furnished  to  those  who  are  work- 
ing in  the  subject.  We  suggest  subjects  to  these  people  by 
publishing  every  year  a  list  of  the  principal  package  libraries, 
and  we  shall  be  glad  indeed  in  this  field  to  have  any  con- 
tributions that  you  may  make. 

So,  too,  we  publish  from  time  to  time  various  bulletins  on 
subjects  of  general  or  public  interest,  and  we  are  glad  to  have 
contributions  from  any  source  whatever  towards  the  making 
of  these  bulletins.  The  only  question  involved  is  as  to  the 
public  and  general  value  and  interest  of  the  material  that  we 
present. 


106  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

The  University  Extension  Division,  which  you  see  is  pri- 
marily an  intermediary  for  the  distribution  of  information 
and  knowledge,  is  trying  to  get  results.  We  try  to  attack  our 
problems  from  the  practical  side,  and  are  always  willing  to 
give  credit  to  those  who  do  the  real  work.  Cooperation  is  one 
of  the  modern  tendencies,  and  we  of  the  University  are  glad 
to  offer  you  our  facilities  for  spreading  the  gospel  of  knowl- 
edge and  of  efficiency. 


VI. 

NECROLOGY. 


1.  Robert  Kennedy  Duncan. 

2.  Alton  Howard  Thompson. 

(107) 


ROBERT  KENNEDY  DUNCAN. 

TTTAS  born  in  Brantford,  Ontario,  November  1,  1868,  and 
'  '  died  in  Mercy  Hospital,  Pittsburg,  Pa.,  February  18, 
1914.  His  Scotch-Irish  descent  was  quite  characteristically 
shown  in  his  logical  thinking  and  farsightedness  and  in  his 
optimistic  outlook  and  happy  disposition. 

He  graduated  from  the  University  of  Toronto  in  1892,  with 
first-class  honors  in  physics  and  chemistry.  He  was  Fellow  in 
Chemistry  in  Clark  University  in  1892-'93,  and  a  graduate  stu- 
dent in  Columbia  University  in  1897-'98.  The  University  of 
Pittsburg  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor 
of  Science,  in  1912,  during  the  exercises  celebrating  its  125th 
anniversary. 

He  was  instructor  in  physics  and  chemistry  in  the  Auburn 
(N.  Y.),  Academic  High  School,  1893-'95,  Dr.  Juhus  Sachs' 
Collegiate  Institute  (N.  Y.),  1895-'98,  the  Hill  School,  Potts- 
town,  Pa.,  1898-1901,  Professor  of  Chemistry  in  Washington 
and  Jefferson  College,  1901-'06,  Professor  of  Industrial 
Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Kansas,  1906-'10,  Director  of 
Industrial  Research  and  Professor  of  Industrial  Chemistry  at 
the  University  of  Kansas  and  at  the  University  of  Pittsburg, 
1910-'13. 

Doctor  Duncan  became  a  member  of  the  Kansas  Academy 
of  Science  when  he  came  to  Kansas  in  1906.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber also  of  the  American  Chemical  Society,  the  Society  of 
Chemical  Industry,  the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science,  the  Society  of  the  Sigma  Xi,  the  Royal  Society 
of  Arts,  and  a  Fellow  of  the  Chemical  Society  of  London. 

In  1899  he  married  Miss  Charlotte  M.  Foster,  of  Brantford, 
Ontario,  who  survives  him,  as  do  also  his  only  daughter, 
Elspeth,  and  his  brothers.  Dr.  Norman  Duncan,  the  well-known 
story-writer,  and  Ernest  H.  Duncan,  of  Willoughby,  Ohio. 

In  the  years  1900,  1903,  1904  and  1906  Doctor  Duncan 
studied  abroad,  gathering  material  to  be  used  in  his  chosen 
field  of  literary  activity — the  interpretation  and  popularizing 
of  chemical  science — in  which  his  clear  and  charming  style 
made  him  an  acknowledged  master.     In  addition  to  his  nu- 

(109) 


1 10  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

merous  contributions  to  the  magazines— notably  Harper's— 
he  was  the  author  of  "The  New  Knowledge,"  published  m  190b, 
"The  Chemistry  of  Commerce,"  1907,  and  "Some  Chemical 
Problems  of  To-day,"  1911. 


ROBERT  KENNEDY  DUNCAN. 


He  made  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  conditions  under 
which  the  chemists  employed  in  American  manufactories  do 
their  work,  and  promoted  their  welfare  by  advocating  the 
betterment  of  these  conditions  and  the  greater  recognition  ol 
the  value  of  their  services.  A  leading  motive  in  his  later  writ- 
ings was  to  bring  together  the  scientifically  and  technically 


Necrology.  Ill 

trained  researcher  and  the  American  industrialist  into  mu- 
tually advantageous  correlation  for  the  solution  of  important 
manufacturing  problems  and  the  attainment  of  increased  effi- 
ciency. This  culminated  in  the  birth  of  a  new  idea  in  educa- 
tion— the  Industrial  Fellowship — which  was  conceived  while 
he  was  attending  the  Sixth  International  Congress  of  Applied 
Chemistry,  held  in  Rome,  in  1906,  and  was  put  into  actual 
operation  in  the  University  of  Kansas  in  January,  1907.  The 
experiment  soon  attracted  the  attention  of  industrialists 
throughout  the  country,  and  in  1910  the  University  of  Kansas 
authorized  Professor  Duncan,  while  retaining  his  full  position 
as  Director  of  the  Department  of  Industrial  Research  in  Kan- 
sas, to  accept  as  well  a  similar  position  at  the  University  of 
Pittsburg,  in  order  that  these  Fellowships  might  be  established 
in  the  East  as  well  as  in  the  West. 

At  the  time  of  Doctor  Duncan's  death  a  new  granite  struc- 
ture was  being  erected  to  be  the  home  of  the  Mellon  Institute 
of  Industrial  Research  and  School  of  Specific  Industries.  Its 
completion  has  been  amply  provided  for  and  it  will  be  a  monu- 
ment to  his  unselfish  devotion  to  a  glorious  vision. 

What  was  it  that  enabled  this  man,  genius  though  he  was, 
to  accomplish  such  extraordinary  results  in  so  short  a  time? 
Two  very  simple  words  fully  answer  this  question :  faith  and 
love — faith  in  God — faith  in  humanity — faith  in  "his  boys" — 
love  for  God — love  for  humanity — love  for  "his  boys."  He  was 
a  father  to  those  who  were  privileged  to  work  under  his  guid- 
ance and  inspiration.  Their  joys  and  sorrows  were  his — and 
his  were  theirs.  Whenever  one  of  them  made  a  discovery  his 
first  expression  was,  "How  fine  for  the  boy!"  From  the  very 
beginning  he  impressed  upon  them  the  importance  of  main- 
taining the  "spirit  of  the  laboratory,"  which  was  expressed 
in  the  motto  on  its  walls : 

"Quaecunque  igitur  volueritis  ut  faciant  vobis  homines,  ita 
et  vos  facite  eis,  ita  enim  est  lex  et  prophetie."    (Matt,  vii,  12.) 


112 


Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 


A.  H.  THOMPSON,  D.  M.  D. 

ALTON  HOWARD  THOMPSON  was  born  April  8,  1849,  at 
-  Logansport,  Ind.,  his  parents  coming  from  Juniata  county, 
Pennsylvania,  and  his  childhood  was  spent  in  Logansport, 
Ind.,  Juniata  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  Dalton,  Ga.,  where 
his  father  was  in  the  banking  business.  In  1866  he  studied  den- 
tistry in  Mifflintown,  Juniata  county,  Pennsylvania,  and  after 
practicing  in  country  towns  came  to  Topeka,  Kan.,  in  1869, 
where  he  has  practiced  till  the  present.    In  1872  he  graduated 


ALTON  HOWARD  THOMPSON.     • 

from  the  Philadelphia  Dental  College,  and  during  the  season 
of  1899-1900  lectured  in  that  institution.  He  assisted  in  the 
founding  of  the  Kansas  City  Dental  College  in  1880,  and  has 
lectured  there  almost  continuously  ever  since,  principally  on 
comparative  dental  anatomy.  He  has  given  short  courses  on 
the  same  subject  in  various  other  dental  colleges. 


Necrology.  113 

Having  from  childhood  been  much  interested  in  natural 
science,  he  soon  became  attracted  to  the  Academy,  and  joined  it 
at  Lawrence  in  1873,  and  ever  since  has  been  a  devoted  mem- 
ber. At  that  early  day  the  noble  men  who  were  the  founders 
were  the  active  members — Professors  Mudge,  Parker,  Frazer, 
Snow,  and  others,  who  were  just  in  their  prime — and  furnished 
a  program  that  was  a  delight  to  an  enthusiastic  amateur.  In 
1883  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Academy,  and  gave  an 
address  on  its  history.  All  through  the  long  years  since  then 
he  has  taken  an  affectionate  interest  in  it,  and  cherished  as  one 
of  the  most  precious  memories  of  his  life  the  friendships 
formed  there. 

He  has  been  a  contributor  to  the  Transactions  upon  anthro- 
pological and  evolution  subjects.  He  wrote  also  extensively 
for  dental  and  medical  journals  on  professional  subjects — com- 
parative dental  anatomy,  and  the  connection  of  anthropology 
and  evolution  with  his  profession.  He  was  the  author  of  a 
small  textbook  on  comparative  dental  anatomy  for  dental  stu- 
dents. He  also  wrote  some  articles  on  anthropological  subjects 
for  dental  journals. 

He  is  a  fellow  of  the  A.  A.  A.  S. ;  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
American  Anthropological  Association ;  member  of  the  Amer- 
ican Folk  Lore  Society,  the  National  Dental  Association,  the 
American  Medical  Association,  of  two  International  Dental 
Congresses,  of  the  Society  of  Americanists  of  Europe,  and  of 
various  state  and  other  dental  societies. 

In  1875  he  married  Miss  Fannie  Geiger,  who  died  in  1903. 
Two  children  were  born — Isabel,  who  died  in  1897,  aged  17, 
and  a  son,  Wallace.  Doctor  Thompson  was  married  in  1906  to 
Miss  Helen  Moon. 

Doctor  Thompson  has  been  a  prolific  writer  for  dental  jour- 
nals, an  essayist  before  various  dental  societies,  mainly  on 
topics  relating  to  his  specialty  of  comparative  dental  anatomy, 
on  which  subject  he  wrote  a  textbook,  "Comparative  Dental 
Anatomy,"  for  dental  students,  which  was  published  in  1899  by 
the  S.  S.  WTiite  Dental  Manufacturing  Company.  This  book  is 
now  being  revised  by  Dr.  Martin  Dewey,  and  will  be  published 
during  the  summer. 

Following  this,  with  his  other  hobbies,  archfeologj^  and  an- 
thropology. Doctor  Thompson  has  carried  his  studies  of  the 
comparative  anatomy  of  the  teeth  to  the  different  races,  and 
— R 


114  Kansas  Academy  of  Science. 

made  some  extensive  investigations  on  the  Peruvians,  Mexi- 
cans and  Mound  Builders.  The  list  of  scientific  articles  by 
Doctor  Thompson  covers  the  field  of  dentistry  as  few  others 
have  done. 

In  1880  Doctor  Thompson  assisted  in  founding  the  Kansas 
City  Dental  College,  and  he  was  identified  with  it  continuously, 
until  his  sickness,  as  professor  of  "odontography,  human  and 
comparative."  In  the  winter  of  1899-1900  he  went  to  Phila- 
delphia, and  was  connected  with  the  Philadelphia  Dental  Col- 
lege for  the  session,  teaching  comparative  anatomy.  He  has 
given  courses  at  various  times  at  Northwestern  University 
Dental  School,  University  of  Tennessee,  and  other  schools. 

Doctor  Thompson  was  a  member  of  the  Presbyterian  church. 
He  has  served  as  president  of  the  Kansas  State  Dental  Associa- 
tion and  has  been  connected  with  a  number  of  societies  of  his 
profession. 

Doctor  Thompson  had  symptoms  of  paralysis  some  years 
ago,  and  the  disorder  steadily  increased,  and  for  the  past  year 
he  has  been  incapacitated  for  his  profession.  His  mind  re- 
mained clear  till  a  few  days  before  death  came  to  his  relief,  on 
May  13,  1914. 

By  his  death  our  Academy  loses  one  of  its  early  and  most 
useful  members.  We  all  enjoyed  his  enthusiastic  and  delight- 
ful comradeship,  and  shall  cherish  his  memory. 


INDEX. 

page 

Academy  Membership    5 

Officers   5 

Constitution    and   by-laws 36 

Historical  sketch   34 

Presidential  address,  A.  J.  Smith 22 

Biological  paper 87 

Chemical  and  physical  papers 39 

Geological  papers    53 

Miscellaneous  papers    95 

Necrology 109 

IMinutes  of  last  meeting 11 

Admitted  to  Membership 20 

B.  M.  Allen,  Agnes  Anderson,  S.  A.  Deel,  H.  A.  Horton,  C.  F. 
Nelson.  L.  T.  Reser,  J.  Riser,  E.  G.  Smyth  (life  member), 
H.  L.  Viereck. 

Officers  Elected  16 

President,  W.  A.  Harshbarger;  First  Vice  President,  J.  A.  G. 
Shirk;  Second  Vice  President,  J.  E.  Todd;  Treasurer,  L. 
D.  Havenhill;  Secretary,  J.  T.  Lovewell;  Executive  Coun- 
cil (elective),  E.  H.  S.  Bailey,  F.  B.  Dains,  J.  T.  Willard, 
L.  p.  Wooster. 

Resolutions  on  organization  for  future  work 20 

Report  of  committee  on  merger  with  Kansas  Engineering  Society.  ...  15 

Papers  Read: 

Geological  Development  of  Kansas,  L.  C.  Wooster 55 

The  Glacial  Epoch,  A.  B.  Reagan 70 

Corn  Oil  as  a  Substitute  for  Olive  Oil,  B.  E.  Pool  and  L.  E. 

Sayre    41 

Improvement  in  Spices  and  its  Cause,  L.  E.  Sayre 43 

Development  of  Mechanical  Power,  F.  H.  Sibley 47 

Additions  to  List  of  Coleoptera,  W.  Knaus 87 

Lowering  of  Ground  Water  Table,  W.  A.  Cook 84 

Phenomena  Beautiful,  W.  A.  Cook 97 

"Witching"  for  Water  and  Other  Things,  J.  T.  Lovewell 101 

University  Extension,  D.  C.  Croissant 104 

Obituary  Notices: 

R.  K.  Duncan  (by  F.  W.  Bushong) 109 

A.  H.  Thompson  (by  J.  T.  Lovewell) 112 

(115) 


j 


3  2044   106  308  471