THE MUSEUM. 



'55 



the shells of Florida, etc. The col- 

 lections are rich in species from the 

 deep-sea dredgings in the Atlantic, but 

 only a small part is on exhibition. 



Overhead are models of two of the 

 huge Cephalopods of the world, — one 

 of twice the natural size, an Octopus 

 from California, 28 feet in diameter 

 (between the tips of opposite arms), 

 and the other, of natural size, a spec- 

 ies of the Newfoundland seas, related 

 to the Squids, having enormous eyes, 

 and a length, from the posterion ex- 

 tremity to the tips of the longer arms, 

 of 42 feet. 



The southern exhibition room of the 

 zoological story contains a collection 

 of skeletons in cases on its east and 

 south sides, beginning near the door. 

 The skeletons of mammals, beginning 

 with man and the apes, occupy all the 

 east side; and then come the birds, 

 reptiles, and fishes. The rest of the 

 cases are occupied with collections of 

 vertebrates, both mounted and alco- 

 holic, and include a nearly complete 

 series of the species inhabiting New 

 England. 



Nutmeg. 



A Rock with a History, 



In many places in the United States 

 are found huge boulders resting upon 

 the top and sides of hills, where they 

 have been deposited after having been 

 brought, sometimes many miles, and 

 often taken from a much less elevated 

 location, and by means of some 

 mighty force, raised and transported 

 to their present position. Such 



boulders are so common that they do 

 not form objects of curiosity. Specu- 

 lation as to the agencies by which they 

 were removed and transported can 



evolve but one reasonable theory, and 

 that is, that, at some time in the geo- 

 logical history of the globe, that sec- 

 tion was submerged, and that at some 

 period during the submergence the 

 water was covered with immense 

 sheets of ice into which the boulders 

 were frozen, and which as it gradually 

 melted dropped their loads. 



In the spring of 1881, there occur- 

 red a remarkable corroboration of this 

 theory. 



In the northwestern corner of Iowa, 

 about ten or twelve miles south of 

 Rock Rapids, and in the valley of the 

 Rock River, was a boulder of quartz- 

 ite similar in appearance to the rock 

 quarried at LuVerne, Minn., about 

 thirty miles north. This boulder was 

 about four feet in diameter, and rested 

 in the center of a circular depression 

 about sixty feet in diameter and having 

 .1 depth of about three feet at its deep- 

 est point. The bottom of the depres- 

 sion was of clay and impervious to 

 water; so that, in the autumn of 1S80, 

 when the fall rains came, the depres- 

 sion, or basin, became filled with wat- 

 er, which became frozen fast around 

 the boulder. 



The following winter was what is, 

 even now, known as the "Hard Win- 

 ter." Snow fell to a depth of four 

 feet. The temperature remained un- 

 usually low until the last week in Ap- 

 ril when it suddenly moderated. Warm 

 winds blew and in ten days the snow 

 almost wholly disappeared. This re 

 suited in a tremendous flood. Rock 

 River was out of its banks and spread 

 itself entirely across the valley from 

 the bluffs upon one side to those upon 

 the other. The ice in the basin had 

 not melted, but the water flowed un- 

 der it, and raised it to the surface with 



