342 NATURAL SCIENCE. Nov.. 



The Standard Oil Company has an interesting exhibit in the 

 form of a large scale model of a geological section across Ohio, 

 Pennsylvania, and New York, showing the positions of their chief 

 wells, and the relations of the oil-bearing shales. Except for a few 

 geological maps, this is the only exhibit of the kind in the whole of 

 the Fair. Apropos of the Oil Company, it may be mentioned that the 

 twenty huge boilers that supply all the power on the grounds are 

 heated by petroleum brought a distance of eighteen miles in a pipe. 



In the Anthropological Building, Professor Wright illustrates by 

 numerous specimens and photographs the relations of man to the 

 Glacial Period in Ohio, of which he gave an account in the Popular 

 Science Monthly for May of this year. Here, too, are a couple of 

 marvellous exhibits. First, some footprints of various animals from 

 a quarry of what appears to be Tertiary Sandstone at Carson, 

 Nevada, among which certain large depressions, about the size of 

 an elephant's footprint, are confidently assigned to Man. This, of 

 course, upsets all the conclusions of the geologists and biologists. 

 There have never been wanting cranks in America to uphold the 

 existence of Man in any geological period, from the Silurian down- 

 wards ; but we hardly expected to see their " notions " seriously 

 admitted into the World's Columbian Exposition, And yet, close by, 

 is an even more childish case, entitled Freaks of Nature, and con- 

 taining such rarities as Noah's Canar}-, Mother Eve's Mitten, and 

 Little Ham's Pegtop. At the end of the same gallery is an enormous 

 map, illustrating the psychic lines of force that govern the structure 

 of continents, from which the future course of events on our planet 

 may be confidently predicted. Truly the Americans are a great 

 nation, and the Anthropological Building is a great building, so they 

 can afford to amuse us with a little folly. 



Botany, considered as a Science, is not largely represented at 

 the Fair, although the Botanist should find plenty to interest him in 

 the Horticultural, Forestry, and Agricultural Buildings. In the first 

 of these, the Japanese garden, with its dwarf trees, attracts some 

 attention. Here one may see a pine tree loo years old, and only 

 2 ft. high. The process of dwarfing appears to consist chiefly in 

 eliminating a large number of the leaves and pruning the fresh shoots. 

 The Forestry Building is chiefly devoted to polished woods, many of 

 which are also to be found in the various State Buildings. The most 

 interesting botanical exhibit is probably the selection from a wonderful 

 series of glass models of flowering plants, shown by Harvard University. 

 These are made by Blatschka, of Dresden, in his inimitable manner, 

 and represent the plant as fresh as a daisy, as well as enlarged 

 anatomical details. Nothing so beautiful exists in any other Museum 

 of Natural History. After these, one cares little for the ordinary 

 herbarium ; but those who wish to see dried plants will find a few 

 in the State Buildings of CaHfornia and Michigan, as well as in the 

 Woman's Building. 



