554 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



A NOVEL PHENOMENON. 



Messrs. Editors : 



While several students of the University 

 of Nebraska were geologizing in an outcrop 

 of the Dakota group, situated in the western 

 portion of Lancaster County, Nebraska, about 

 thirteen miles west of Lincoln, they brought 

 to light a curious freak of Nature. This was 

 a leaf-impression, or rather the fragment of 

 an impression, that preserved the green color 

 which it wore several million years ago at the 

 commencement of the Cretaceous period in 

 geological time. 



The deposit in which the leaf was found 

 is a maroon - tinted sandstone, quite soft 

 when first quarried, but solidifying rapidly 

 after exposure to the atmosphere. The to- 

 tal thickness of the layers which outcrop at 

 this point is about forty feet. The true 

 dip is too sliglit to be accurately measured. 



None of the layers of sandstone — and 



this is the sole kind of rock found in the 

 Dakota group of Lancaster County — are of 

 the peculiar reddish shade except that which 

 contains the leaves. This layer averages 

 nine inches in thickness, and is situated 

 near the upper surface of the group. 



The leaf-impressions obtained were many 

 of them very beautiful and complete, repre- 

 senting various species of Juglans, Latirea, 

 Liquidamhar, Salix, and Qucrcus, with many 

 others. They wei-e very numerous, as many 

 as two thousand specimens being obtained 

 in a few hours. 



The unique green leaf-fragment was too 

 small to allow of successfully determining 

 its genus or species. It is probably Laurca, 

 however, since it was found in a mass con- 

 taining impressions of Lauvea almost ex- 

 clusively. C. G. McMillan. 



1503 H Street, Lincoln, Nebkabka, | 

 Octoher 23, 18S4. f 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



'■'3IIND AS A SOCIAL FACTORr 



THIS is the title of an article con- 

 tributed by Mr. Lester F. "Ward 

 to the quarterly periodical "Mind." 

 Mr. "Ward, as is -well known, is the au- 

 thor of "Dynamic Sociology," which 

 contains an elaborate attack, with all 

 the weapons of science and philosophy, 

 upon the doctrine of laissez faire, as it 

 is termed, or the policy of meddling 

 less, and leaving things social more to 

 their own natural courses. One of the 

 chief arguments of the book is repro- 

 duced in this paper, and, as the sub- 

 ject is important, we propose briefly 

 to examine it, and offer some objections 

 to the view taken. 



Mr. "W'ard argues that the laissez- 

 faire school of thinkers fail to recog- 

 nize the true office of intelligence in 

 controlling social activities and accom- 

 plishing social ends. He begins by 

 stating that they make their constant 

 appeal to Nature, to the laws of Na- 

 ture, and the method of Nature, as all- 

 sufficient for working out social good, 

 so that man's agency in the matter, 

 ■where not mischievous, is superfluous. 

 He then proceeds to show that this 

 view leaves out of account the most 



momentous fact in the history of this 

 world, namely, the advent of mind as 

 a controlling agency in terrestrial af- 

 fairs. He does not deny that there is, 

 or has been, a method of Nature, and 

 that in past times it has accomplished 

 great things. He recognizes that it 

 worked on, by the law of evolution, 

 through vast periods, reaching higher 

 aod higher stages, until at length -was 

 ushered in the grand era of mind. A 

 new order of things was now initi- 

 ated. In the matured epoch of mind, 

 advanced human intelligence took con- 

 trol of the planet. Its forces were sub- 

 jugated and pressed into human service. 

 The old method of Nature, by which 

 progress came through destruction, 

 wastefulness, and cruelty, gave place to 

 a new method, that of art, which is the 

 antithesis of Nature, and of humane pro- 

 tection of the weak instead of their re- 

 morseless destruction. The new era of 

 mind was marked by inventions, con- 

 structions, and industries, by the rise of 

 institutions of justice and beneficence, 

 of governments, civilizations, and all the 

 regulative agencies of human affairs. 



Mr. Ward then takes the ground 

 that those who still talk of following 



