Natural Science News, 



VOL. I ALBION, N. Y., OCTOBEK 12, 1895. No. 37 



Natural Science News. 



A Weekly Journal Devoted to 

 Natural History. 



FRANK H. LATTIN, Editor and Publisher, 

 ALBION, N. Y. 



Correspondence and Items of Interest, to the 

 student of any of the various branches of the 

 Natural Sciences solicited from all. 



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 The Atlanta Exposition. 



The opening of the Cotton States 

 and International Exposition, at 

 Atlanta, Sept. 18, marks a new 

 epoch for the South. To one who 

 misses the deeper significance of 

 it, the display at Piedmont Park 

 is still an exhibition that will ex- 

 cite much praise; but the best of it 

 is lost if we do not look behind the 

 exhibition itself into the origin of 

 the movement that has led up to 

 its accomplishment, and to the 

 spirit that governed the opening 

 exercises. 



It is the first ambitious display 

 of the products and resources of 

 the central South. It is the great- 

 est exhibition ever attempted by a 

 city of a hundred thousand people. 

 It was conceived and begun in the 

 midst of a period of profound de- 

 pression, when people were re- 

 trenching, and business enterprises 

 of every sort were drawing in rath- 

 er than spreading out, for the pur- 

 pose of calling attention to the 

 real wealth of a country that had 

 suffered drasticly from "fool 

 friends" and from that strange 

 speculative craze known as the 

 "boom." -It is the largest and 

 most comprehensive display ever 

 made with the amount of financial 

 resources commanded by the man- 

 agers. Less than two million of 

 dollars have been expended but so 

 economically and judiciously that 

 nothing attempted has been com- 

 pelled to stop short of completion. 



At the opening, for the first time 

 in the history of the South (unless 

 at a political or religious gather- 

 ing), men of two races, the Cau- 



casian and the Negro, met in equal- 

 ity on a public platform; and for 

 the first time in the history of great 

 exhibitions, the negroes have been 

 been accorded a special depart- 

 ment in which to show the achiev- 

 ments of their race. 



The site of the exposition is a 

 singularly fortunate one. Pied- 

 mont Park, just on the edge of the 

 city, is some two hundred acres in 

 extent, and much money had al- 

 ready been expended upon it in 

 such a manner as to make it espe- 

 cially adaptable for exhibition pur- 

 poses. The portion on which the 

 principal buildings of the exhibi- 

 tion are grouped is amphitheatre 

 like in form, so that a view of the 

 whole may be had at a glance 

 from almost any standpoint. In 

 the centre is a little lake, and back 

 from this stretches a small park- 

 like expanse of green verdure, in- 

 terlined with broad walks and dot- 

 ted with decorative shrubbery. 



At the main entrance, near the 

 Administration building, one may 

 stand and look down into this lit- 

 tle vale, and on to the lake, and 

 still across to the buildings on the 

 further side, and witness a most 

 pleasing and busy scene. As is 

 customary with great undertakings 

 of this sort, the opening came 

 rather too soon for most of the 

 exhibitors, and indeed for some of 

 the builders. The construction of 

 the main building is pretty well 

 completed, but painters and fin- 

 ishers are still bus}', and the sound 

 of the hammer and the saw rings 

 constantly on the air. Many of 

 the smaller buildings, such as 

 those of the individual States, are 

 just in process of erection. In but 

 one or two of the principal struc- 

 tures are the exhibits all in place, 

 and "No Admittance" was the 

 signs on many of the doors on the 

 day of the opening. 



Over in the "Midway," which is 

 called by some other name, but 

 which will still be the "Midway," 

 to all who witnessed the aggrega- 

 tion of wonders and commonplaces 

 that were grouped under that name 

 at Chicago, there is as yet little 

 but the bare buildings. I went in- 

 to the Mexican Village, and found 

 perhaps a hundred Mexican men 

 and women, seated at long board 

 tables in a newly-erected shanty, 

 breakfasting with much noise and 

 merriment. A single booth was 

 open, in which a few native figur- 

 ines were displayed; an arena, for 



the exhibition of feats of riding, 

 was about completed; and outside 

 was a modest sign, "Admission to- 

 day, ten cents." Certainly that 

 was as much as it was worth. 



The Fine Arts building, which 

 is the handsomest structure on the 

 grounds, being of classic design, 

 and finished with white stall, thus 

 giving an echo of the Columbian 

 Exhibition, was almost completed 

 and ready for opening — almost, but 

 not quite. The pictures were all 

 hung, and the interior was clean 

 and cool. Some workmen were 

 yet busy setting statuary in place, 

 while others were placing the rail- 

 ing that was to protect the art 

 treasures from the too inquisitive 

 hands and canes and umbrellas of 

 occasional vandals. 



The building is well arranged 

 and lighted, and the walls are well 

 covered with pictures, hung rather 

 heterogeneously. Some good pic- 

 tures are there, and some very am- 

 bitious canvasses. As is to be ex- 

 pected, the South is well repre- 

 sented, and we have to conclude 

 that the judges were sometimes 

 governed by 'sectional sentiment 

 rather than by artistic discernment. 



A little way from this building 

 the Plant System, the great rail- 

 way and steamship company of 

 Florida, has a unique display. 

 This consists of a building, in the 

 shape of a pyramid, a hundred 

 feet square at the base and fifty 

 feet high. It is covered with 

 broken rock phosphate, and shines 

 white and clear in the brilliant sun. 

 Inside is grouped what is perhaps 

 the best display of Florida pro- 

 ducts and resources that has ever 

 been made. It will be remember- 

 ed that at Chicago the Florida dis- 

 play was a dismal failure. Not- 

 withstanding the reverses the State 

 has since suffered, it has come for- 

 ward here most brilliantly. In 

 this building, and in the agricul- 

 tural as well, it has much that will 

 interest both the casual visitor and 

 the prospecting home-seeker — not 

 tropical fruits alone, but the grains 

 and woods and phosphates, wines, 

 tobacco and curious things from 

 the land and the sea. The effort 

 seems apparent to show that Flor- 

 ida is capable of producing some- 

 thing of value besides the orange, 

 and thus to convince people that 

 it is not a State of a single re- 

 source. This is a movement in 

 the right direction; for, so long as 

 a State or section is dependent up- 



