Natural Science News. 



VOL. I 



ALBION, N. Y., OCTOBER 19, 1895. 



No. 38 



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. 



foreign stamps made by the postal 

 department, or the letters from 

 foreign potentates, with their pro- 

 fuse expressions of regard for our 

 own political head; or the maps 

 hich show the progress of our 



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At the Atlanta Exposition. 



Perhaps it is not quite fair to 

 the general purpose of the expo 

 sition to give the display made by 

 the general government great 

 prominence. But there are two 

 reasons why I am inclined to do 

 so. First, the government gave 

 liberally — $200,000. True, this 

 has gone wholly into a buildin 

 for housing the special display of 

 the government. But this is of 

 the widest interest and greatest 

 educational value. Second, while 

 the displays which particularly il 

 lustrate the South will be of most 

 interest to northern visitors, the 

 people of the South itself will with 

 difficulty find anything more en 

 grossing and stimulating than this 

 exhibit of the functions and ad 

 ministrative faculties of the gener 

 al government. Many of those 

 who visit the Atlanta fair will be 

 from the interior, and from dis 

 tricts more or less remote. They 

 did not, to any large extent, have 

 the opportunity of visiting the ex 

 position at Chicago, and Wash- 

 ington is almost unknown to them 

 Many of them have never been at 

 the sea. Laboring under disad- 

 vantages of remoteness and lack 

 of means for travel, they have 

 seen little of those things which 

 help toward the broader knowl 

 edge of life and of the world. To 

 such the display made in the gov 

 ernment building will prove ; 

 boon and an educator. Whether 

 it is the miniature light-house, the 

 operations of the life-saving ser 

 vice, the daily forecasting of the 

 weather, or the curious displays of 



w 



territorial extension; or the por- 

 traits of the presidents and secre- 

 taries from the beginning of our 

 national existence down to the 

 present time — all these help to- 

 ward an understanding of the 

 power and extent of our country. 



But it is in the department of 

 agriculture that we may look for 

 the things that will particularly in- 

 terest the readers of the Country 

 Gentleman. Here are the instru- 

 ments and maps the weather mak- 

 ers use. Close by is a collection 

 of models illusrrating both poison- 

 ous and edible mushroons. A col- 

 lection of native grasses, particu- 

 larly those of the southern states, 

 in sheaves, gives evidence that 

 grass can be grown in the South. 

 Weeds of economic importance, 

 and weeds that are always "plants 

 out of place," are also shown in 

 such manner that they may be 

 easily studied. And for boys who 

 wish to gain some practical knowl- 

 edge of botany, and to make col- 

 lections of plants about their own 

 homes, outfits used by the pro- 

 fessional collector; and in prepar- 

 ing plants for the herbarium, may 

 be seen. 



The Bureau of Animal Industry, 

 by specimens and photographs, 

 illustrates the ravages of diseases 

 among our domestic animals, and 

 a complete set of the publications 

 of the Department of Agriculture 

 help us to an understanding of the 

 great amount of information that 

 has been collected and distributed, 

 for the benefit of the agricultural 

 interests of the United States. 

 Birds, mammals and insects that 

 are injurious to agriculture are 

 bere shown in their true colors, so 

 that all may become acquainted 

 with them. Fibres that can be 

 grown in the United States, both 

 those of accepted value and others 

 which are as yet only experiment- 

 al here, are displayed, together 

 with exhibits of the products man- 

 ufactured from them. Diseases 

 of plants, and the methods used to 

 combat them, will attract the at- 

 tention of the horticulturists, as 

 will also the exhibits in the divis- 

 ion of pomology, among which I 

 would call special attention to the 

 fresh fruit preserved in carbon di- 

 oxide (carbonic acid gas, CO2). 



I can safely recommend all 

 classes to give abundant time to 

 the display under the charge of 

 the Smithsonian Institution. The 

 purpose is to convey to the minds 

 of those who see it an impression 

 similar to that which they would 

 receive if they visited the Smith- 

 sonian buildings in Washington. 

 It illustrates every phase of the 

 activities of the Smithsonian, and 

 particularly of the wonderful and 

 comprehensive National Museum. 

 One of the first things to catch the 

 eye is a map, 10 by 20 feet, show- 

 ing the geographical distribution 

 of the correspondents of the in- 

 stitution, who are 24,000 in num- 

 ber, and who reach into every cor- 

 ner of the world. 



In the department of mammals 

 are 43 specimens, illustrating the 

 range of forms in the class of 

 mammals, and in a general way 

 the manner of their classifications 

 by naturalists. 



Of still greater interest is a 

 series of costumed figures which 

 illustrate the physical characters 

 and ethnical costumes of twelve of 

 the most characteristic types of 

 the human species. The figures 

 are in sculptor's plaster, modeled 

 either from life or from the abund- 

 ant materials in the museum, and 

 the costumes have been collected 

 by correspondents and explorers 

 for the institution. The types are: 

 The Papaun, from New Guinea, 

 with costume of a feather plume, 

 ear-rings and nose-pin, anklets of 

 shell disks with a pendant boar's 

 tusk, armlets and wristlets of shell, 

 and a waist-belt of bark; the Aus- 

 tralian, who carries the boome- 

 rang, and is clothed in a scant 

 apron of kangaroo skin; the Zulu 

 from Southeast Africa, who carries 

 an assegai, and wears an apron of 

 cow tails — and nothing more. 



The above_ are of the black 

 types. Next come the~brown red 

 men — the American Indian from 

 Peru, wearing an apron made from 

 the brilliant plumage of tropical 

 birds, and with ornaments of 

 beetle wings, seeds and the teeth 

 of monkeys and pumas; the Dyak, 

 from Borneo, wearing a Malay 

 sarong, and carrying a spear and 

 shield ornamented with tufts of 

 human hair, and the curious ser- 

 pentine dagger known as the creese; 

 the Maori of New Zealand, one of 

 the most perfect types of physical 

 beauty, and one which is now on 

 the verge of becoming extinct. 

 The costume is a robe of New 



