248 



THE MUSEUM. 



the jar the young lobsters have "hatch- 

 ed" and immediately rise to the top of 

 the zcater. They are then carried, of 

 course, by the tube into the larger 

 jar where the fine wire netting or 

 cheescloth keeps them from overflow- 

 ing. 



The young lobsters remain in this 

 jar for about two weeks, when they 

 have attained sufficient size, and are 

 consigned to the tender mercies of 

 "mother ocean" either to "pursue the 

 even tenor of their ways," or to fur- 

 nish a meal for some festive bass. 



During the season 1893-94 this sta- 

 tion liberated 100,000,000 young lob- 

 sters. This number was greatly in ex- 

 cess of previous years; the largest 

 number liberated previously, being 

 70,000,000. The average number 

 liberated, however, being about 55, 

 000,000. 



Should this article by any chance 

 escape the editor's waste basket, I will 

 endeavor at a future date to describe 

 the operation of cod-fish hatching at 

 this station. 



Occurrence of Nickel Ore at Keo- 

 kuk, la. 



For the Museum. 



In the great labratory of Nature, 

 forces always are and have been busy 

 in converting, but not creating; which, 

 in fact, is a power that has not been 

 delegated to lifeless matter. We be- 

 come so accustomed by experience to 

 expect great results from the operation 

 of prodigeous force, that we do not won- 

 der in seeing great metallic wealth stor- 

 ed up in the mountain's embrace, where 

 the prodigeous force of mountain 

 making, in the way of dislocation, 

 pressure, and heat, has been at work; 

 but we feel some surprise when we see 



a fertile surface soil, capable of sup- 

 porting a teeming population, floored 

 by strata of ordinary limestone rock 

 as evenly and regularly laid down as 

 the covering of a well prepared bed. 

 Such are the conditions, however, un- 

 der which the Nickel Ore, called 

 Millerite, occurs at Keokuk, Iowa. 



At the Southern extremity of the 

 city, and beneath a precipitous ledge 

 of limestone rock, facing the Mississip- 

 pi river, is one strata in the ledge, 5 

 or 6 feet thick, of hard, flinty lime- 

 stone, having here and there geodetic 

 cavities which are often lined by beau- 

 tiful calcite crystals; among and 

 through which sometimes shoot the 

 most beautiful capillary and needle 

 crystals of the Nickel Sulphide, called 

 Millerite, — sometimes like a mass of 

 cobweb fibers — sometimes a pencil of 

 radiating needle crystals — sometimes 

 penetrating the calcite crystals — but 

 always redolent with splendor. Occa- 

 sionally, there are nodules of it scat- 

 tered here and there through the 

 more impure limestone. 



It will not likely ever prove a valu- 

 able source of Nickel in this locality. 

 The thinness of the strata in which it 

 occurs — the fact that in going South it 

 soon comes to the surface, while in 

 other direction it dips beneath the riv- 

 er, the scantiness of the cavites in 

 which it occurs, and the almost phan- 

 tom form of its crystals, — all forbid 

 that, and especially when we remember 

 that the production of Nickel from its 

 ores is both tedious and expensive; 

 and that the value of the pure metal 

 does not often much exceed one dollar 

 per pound. 



But are we never paid for anything 

 the possession of which does not add 

 dollars to our bank account. There 



