556 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 



might kill a fireman; or a wet flag-pole jutting out from a house might serve as 

 the conductor for a devastating current. In fact, security in the case of the elec- 

 tric light wire, depends upon keeping intact a slight covering that is swayed by 

 every breeze. 



The subject is, however, one of indisputable difficulties, particularly in cases 

 where, as in the telephone, single wires are conveyed for considerable distances, 

 and the income from them is of necessity small. To insist that every telephone 

 wire shall be placed underground would, under existing conditions and until this 

 modern luxury is much more generally enjoyed, frequently amount to prohibtion. 

 It is becoming a serious question, too, how far it is advisable to carry the system 

 of underground communications in the streets. What with sewer, water, gas 

 and steam pipes, the streets of many cities are being pretty constantly dug up, to 

 the obstruction and even prevention of the travel which is their principal office. 

 Perhaps the solution of this complex problem may one day be the adoption of a 

 general and uniform system of underground communications, like a common sub- 

 way which shall contain all the appliances for distributing heat, gas and electricity, 

 and shall be of sufficient size to permit of ready access for additions or repairs. 

 The cost of such a system would, doubtless, be very great, but it v^rould settle 

 the problem once and for all. 



GEOLOGY. 



THE CRAWFORDSVILLE CRINOIDS. 



PROF. D. A. BASSETT. 



About thirty-five years ago, the students of Wabash College in their rambles 

 along the bluffs of Sugar Creek, not far from the town of Crawfordsville, were 

 greatly delighted with beautiful little cavities which they discovered in pieces of 

 rock picked up or pulled from the loose shale of the bluff. These cavities resem- 

 bled moulds of beautiful flowers. There was the impression of a slender stalk, 

 a calyx singularly marked with rows of little dimples, and a corolla of long slen- 

 der petals with deUcate pinnate fringes. These were impressions left in the rocks 

 by fossil crinoids whose decayed remains had been washed away. 



As I am informed, the first crinoid found in this locality was picked up by 

 Rev. H. C. Hovey, at the time a student in Wabash College. This specimen^ 

 however, differed so much in form and appearance from the beautiful impressions 

 alluded to, that it suggested reptiles rather than lilies, and hence was labelled, 

 " a petrified toad " by this young scientist, who has since won for himself much 

 honors among the caves. 



The deposit from which the crinoids were taken, is situated in the bluff on 



