THE MUSEUM. 



ng power between land and water, 

 would set up atmospheric currents, 

 and create much of what we call 

 weather; and these winds in conjunc- 

 tion with the growing shore lines of 

 land, would result in helping to form, 

 and give direction to ocean currents. 

 It is a well ascertained fact, made 

 known by deep borings into the earth, 

 and confirmed by volcanic, and hot 

 spring eruptions on the one hand, and 

 by deep sea soundings, in many parts 

 of the ocean, in recent years, that as 

 we descend in depth into the earth, 

 the temperature rises; while as we de- 

 scend into the ocean, the temperature 

 falls. Now the result of this natural 

 enough law, is the induction and set- 

 ting up of magnetic currents through 

 the earth, (or for some distance be- 

 neath its surface) and an effect on the 

 deposit of ores in veins, lodes and 

 dykes, over the whole earth; in many 

 cases even to the iridescent hues of 

 coloring they often show; as anyone 

 may witness by exposing a specimen 

 of chalcopyrite (copper Pyrites) to the 

 electric current. If anyone should ask 

 why, in the very earliest geological 

 ages, the plan of the continents was 

 outlined, and this plan was ever after 

 adhered to without deviatian; why, 

 according to this plan, the main bulk 

 of the dry land was to be in northern 

 latitudes, with a tapering form to the 

 south, in continents and peninsulas as 

 well; and why, in arctic altitudes, the 

 elevation of the land is small but grad- 

 ually increasing in altitude to the re- 

 gion of the tropics; the correct answer 

 no doubt is, there were unseen natural 

 laws by which this was accomplished, 

 but it was law working in obedience 

 to a Divine Purpose; and that Purpose 



seems to have been prospective organ- 

 ic life upon the planet. 



For, imagine a reverse order of 

 things to have been — a vast mass of 

 land in high arctic altitudes, having a 

 great altitude and a small amount of 

 low land in equatorial regions, and we 

 would have such intense cold over the 

 globe as would utterly preclude life 

 upon its surface. 



In a future number some of the laws 

 that have regulated, and are still mod- 

 ifying life at the present time, may be 

 noticed. Geo. M. Crofts, 



Keokuk, Iowa. 



Among the Rockies. 



BY M. J. ELROD. 

 IV. 



The writer has been twice over the 

 road along the Snake river from Poca- 

 tello to the Yellowstone National Park, 

 and twice around the park. The first 

 time was in the summer of 1894, when 

 a party of students, from the Illinois 

 Wesleyan University were taken on a 

 scientific expedition in search of speci- 

 mens, as mentioned in preceding ar- 

 ticles. The second was during the 

 past summer, when a second party, 

 including four ladies and the writer's 

 little six-year-old girl, made practi- 

 cally the same trip, though taking in 

 many things not observed on the first 

 expedition. As the Snake river basin 

 is a vast volcanic field full of geologi- 

 cal interest, it is best to devote a paper 

 to it before beginning on the wonders 

 of the park. 



Pocatello is styled "The Gate 

 City of the West," because the Black- 

 foot River here cuts the mountains in 

 two, making a passage-way for the 

 railroad. The city is thus in the en- 

 trance to the great Snake river basin, 



