Natural Science News. 



VOL. I 



Natural Science News. 



A Weekly Journal Devoted to 

 Natural History. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence ana Items of interest to the 

 student of any of the various branches of the 

 Natural Sciences solicited from all. 



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Photography. 



In the News of May 25th, I no- 

 ticed an article on photography, 

 and, having a little different no- 

 tion from the writer on some points, 

 I concluded to give a few of my 

 ideas on photography. 



I liked the dark room very well, 

 but think that Eikonogen develop- 

 er, (a formula for the use of which 

 is given by nearly every manufac- 

 turer of dry plates), is far ahead of 

 pyro,and does not stain the hands, 

 which does away with finger stalls 

 or rubber mittens. 



Blue paper does not bring out 

 the detail very well, but makes 

 very nice pictures from some neg- 

 atives as he says. Gelatine papers 

 are far ahead of Colodion papers, 

 in my estimation, although it re- 

 quires a little powdered alum, or 

 some hardener in the fixing bath. 

 A little Sulphite of Soda will keep 

 the prints from bleaching out while 

 fixing. Collodion paper has one 

 very bad detriment which is the 

 scaling off of the surface, and pict- 

 ures are very easily spoiled in this 

 way, even if kept in an album. 

 Most of the collodion paper curls, 

 which is also very bad in handling. 



I only offer this as a little sug- 

 gestion and would like to hear 

 from others and get some ideas on 

 this line of work. 



J. W. Wolf 

 Garden City, Kans. 



ALBION, N. Y., JUNE 29, 1895. 



The Ice Age in Indiana. 



When under the influence of 

 more than arctic cold the incon- 

 ceivably vast masses of ice accumu- 

 lating upon the northern plateau 

 moved southward they overwhelm- 

 ed the Canadian Hills, then fol- 

 lowing the line of drainage they 

 scooped out the river valleys into 

 great lake-basins, and loaded with 

 vast masses of debris invaded In- 

 diana. 



The glacier did not appear as a 

 single stream, but rather as a num- 

 ber of mighty branches uniting 

 into one vast ice sheet. The re- 

 gions whence these various cur- 

 rents came are clearly indicated by 

 the nature of the substance which 

 they transported hither. In stud- 

 ying the surface of a limited range 

 we may find in our collections 

 granite and other crystalline rocks 

 which we know must have come 

 from the Canadian highland, frag- 

 ments of the Water Lime and 

 Corniferous Limestone with char- 

 acteristic fossils from the islands 

 of Lake Erie, rocks and fossils of 

 the Hudson River Group of Can- 

 ada north of Lake Ontario, 

 and masses of native copper and 

 greenstone (diabase) transported 

 400 or 500 miles from the copper 

 series of Lake Superior. From 

 the iron regions back of Marquette 

 we have fragments of granite, slate 

 and iron ore. From the north of 

 the head of Lake Michigan and 

 the islands in Lake Huron we 

 have silicified corals and other 

 fossils. In addition to these posi- 

 tively identified relics we have 

 specimens of magnetic iron which 

 probably came from the Lauren- 

 tian series north of Lake Ontario 

 and the St. Lawrence. 



The blended streams from all 

 the directions indicated by these 

 fragments moved down over Indi- 

 ana, crushing, tearing up and 

 grinding to a powder the outcrop 

 of the Paleozoic rocks, polishing, 

 grooving and striating the surfaces 

 over which they moved, and ac- 

 cumulating great quantities of de- 

 bris, cither borne on their crests 

 or perished before their moving 

 front. 



The northern part of the state 

 is traversed by a remarkable up- 

 heaval of the Upper Silurian strata. 

 Beginning near the boundary of 

 Ohio this line which is called the 

 Wabash Arch, is best studied 



No. 22 



where it is laid bare by the Wa- 

 bash river. It is also plainly 

 traceable in Illinois, northwestward 

 past Chicago, then to the volcanic 

 region of Lake Superior, where it 

 is probable the ancient disturbance 

 originated of which this axis of 

 upheaval is a projection. 



The Wabash Arch probably 

 modified the action of the glacier 

 for a time, perhaps checked its 

 progress temporarily and then the 

 great ice sheet moved on. As- 

 cending the elevated region in the 

 east central part of the state, the 

 so called "Alpine region of Indi- 

 ana" it reached the Ohio river, 

 sent a projecting spur into Ken- 

 tuck)', and then, its force spent and 

 the terrific cold relaxing, it began 

 to recede. 



Its retreat was not sudden nor 

 uniform, but like its advance was 

 marked by variations and vicissi- 

 tudes, and long struggles with the 

 mightiest obstacle that had ever 

 crossed its path, the Ohio river. 



When the lobe of the glacier 

 known as "Wright's dam" crossed 

 the Ohio at Cincinnati the waters 

 of the obstructed stream accumu- 

 lated in the vast "Lake Ohio" to 

 the depth of hundreds of feet. 

 From time to time the ice front 

 would yield to the pressure of the 

 imprisoned water, and Southern 

 Indiana would be overwhelmed by 

 an inundation of frightful force 

 and extent. This was repeated 

 again and again until the recurring 

 floods had left traces which are 

 discernable to this day, but at last 

 the ice front receded, quit the field. 



Farther and farther north it 

 drew, receding and advancing, 

 back and forth like the swinging 

 of a pendulum, but with oscilla- 

 tions enduring through centuries 

 of time. 



In its first advance the ice had 

 overwhelmed a flora far more lux- 

 uriant than has since flourished in 

 this region, utterly obliterating it 

 in some places and in others bury- 

 ing great accumulations of vege- 

 table matter beneath mountainous 

 heaps of bowlder clay and gravel. 

 A fauna too, richer in genera and 

 species than that of the present 

 and containing larger forms than 

 any now lying on earth had been 

 driven out or exterminated, leaving 

 the remains of many of its mem- 

 bers hidden beneath debris and 

 till. 



The innumerable basins scooped 

 out by the advancing ice sheet 



