23 



NATTTBAL SCIENCE NEWS. 



many individuals who took a lead- 

 ing part in the Reformation by 

 loathsome objects from the animal 

 and vegetable creation, and com- 

 pleted the artistic group with a 

 sprinkling of "composite" demons. 

 He was seriously vexed, and be- 

 haved very rudely to a stranger 

 under his own roof, who had pro- 

 fanely designated his favorite 

 (stuffed) Bahia toad as "an ugly 

 brute." 



These and similar instances of 

 bad taste we think Dr. Hobson 

 might have left unrecorded with 

 advantage. Still, there was much 

 to like as well as to admire about 

 the great Naturalist. No museum 

 of natural history elsewhere could 

 compare with the beauty and finish 

 of the specimens, prepared by the 

 squire's own hand with wonderful 

 skill and patience, which adorned 

 the inside of Walton Hall. "Not 

 even living nature," says our au- 

 thor, "could surpass the represent- 

 ations there displayed." In alti- 

 tude, you had life itself; in plu- 

 mage, the lustrous beauty that 

 death could not dim; "in anatomy, 

 every local prominence, every de- 

 pression, every curve, nay, the 

 slightest elevation or depression 

 of each feather." The great stair- 

 case glowed with tropic splendor. 

 At the top of it was the vertical 

 cayman mentioned in the Wander- 

 ings, on which the squire mounted 

 in Essequibo, and the huge snake 

 with which he contended in single 

 combat. Doubts have been thrown 

 on both these feats, but Dr. Hob- 

 son relates instances of presence 

 of mind and courage shown by the 

 squire in his own presence, quite 

 as marvelous as these. Wishing 

 to make experiment as to whether 

 his Woorali poison, obtained in 

 1 8 1 2 from the Macoushi Indians, 

 was more efficacious than the bite 

 of the rattlesnake, he got an Amer- 

 ican showman to bring him twen- 

 ty-four of these dangerous reptiles, 

 and took them out of their cases, 

 one by one, with his own hand, 

 while the Yankee ned from the 

 room in terror, accompanied by 

 very many members of the Facul- 

 ty, who had assembled to witness 

 the operation. In his old age, he 

 alone could be found to enter the 

 cage of the Borneo orang-outang 

 at the Zoological Gardens, in or- 

 der, minutely to inspect the palm 

 of his hand during life, and also 

 the teeth. It was with difficulty 

 that he obtained permission to run 

 this hazard, the keepers insisting 

 upon it, that the beast would 

 "make very short work of him." 

 However, nothing daunted, the 



squire entered the palisaded en- 

 closure. "The meeting of these 

 two celebrities was clearly a case 

 of love at first sight, the strangers 

 embracing most affectionately, kiss- 

 iug one another many times, to the 

 great amusement of the spectators. 

 The squire's investigations were 

 freely permitted, and his fingers 

 allowed to enter his jaws; his ape- 

 ship then claimed a similar privi- 

 lege, which was courteously grant- 

 ed after which the orang-outang 

 began an elaborate search of the 

 squire's head. 



The strength and activity of 

 Waterton were equal to his phys- 

 ical courage, notwithstanding that 

 he was wont to indulge in vene- 

 section to a dangerous extent, al- 

 ways performing that operation 

 himself even to the subsequent 

 bandaging. At eighty-one, the 

 supplenesss of his limbs was mar- 

 velous; and at seventy-nine years 

 of age our author was witness to 

 his scratching the back part of his 

 head with the toe of his foot! 

 Death, however, claimed his rights 

 at last in the squire's eighty-third 

 year. 



Charles Waterton lies buried in 

 a secluded part of his own beauti- 

 ful domain, at the foot of a little 

 cross with this inscription written 

 by himself: — 



Orate 



Pro anima Caroli Waterton, 

 Viatoris: 

 Cujus jam fessa, 

 Juxta tianc crucem 

 Hie sepeliuntur ossa. 

 Even those iron limbs of his 

 grew weary and he died. — Cham- 

 bers Journal. 



Geology of North and South 

 America. 



The first lecture of Prof Agassiz' 

 course on South America before 

 the New York Association for the 

 Advancement of Science and Art, 

 was delivered to a large audience 

 on the 5th of February, 1867, and 

 was reported in the Scientific Amer- 

 ican as follows: 



In substance it was a general 

 statement of the geological origin- 

 ation and structure of the conti- 

 nent North and South, with a 

 somewhat too hurried elucidation 

 of the general principles of geol- 

 ogy through which its history is 

 revealed. 



A remarkable analogy was traced 

 between the geological histories of 

 North and South America, each 

 revealing three grand structural 



epochs, three successive upheavals 

 of the crust of the earth, and three 

 continental walls thus successively 

 erected in the form of a triangle. 

 In both divisions, this triangular 

 framework stands in about the 

 same position, like an italic V, as 

 we view the map, with its open 

 top closed. The side first-erected, 

 in both cases, was the northern, 

 extending from east to west, con- 

 stituting the northern (central) 

 United States, British America, 

 etc., in the one, and the plateau of 

 Guiana in the other. 



The vast contraction of the 

 crust of the molten globe in cool- 

 ing and thickening progressively — 

 beneath the boiling ocean which 

 still cooled it and still by its in- 

 creasing coolness was more and 

 more condensed upon it from the 

 enveloping vapors — this tremen- 

 dous contraction could not but 

 cause the violently compressed 

 mass within to break its shell and 

 make room for itself, wherever the 

 shell was weakest. At the same 

 time, the cooling and contraction 

 going on upon the exterior surface 

 of the crust while the interior sur- 

 face lay half fused upon the molt- 

 en mass within, necessarily parted 

 the exterior surface in great fis- 

 sures, weakening the crust and 

 permitting a grand upheaval along 

 the line of fissure to relieve the 

 pent and laboring ocean of fire be- 

 neath. Precisely in accordance 

 with this effect we find the crust 

 disposed in many mountainous dis- 

 tricts, of which the Jura is a beau- 

 tiful example. Passing over suc- 

 cessive mountains and valleys 

 varying thousands of feet in eleva- 

 tion, we trace our undulating crust 

 of identical rock throughout, but 

 broken at the summits and falling 

 off each way like the roof of a 

 building from its ridge. 



It is worthy of remark that the 

 oldest upheavals in the northern 

 parts of North and South America 

 respectively, appear to have been 

 broader, less violent and less 

 sharply defined, while the latter 

 upheavals have been narrower and 

 loftier, and the latest, narrowest, 

 sharpest and loftiest of all. This 

 is what would naturally result 

 from the causes above stated. In 

 proportion as the crust of the earth 

 was younger and thinner, in the 

 earlier stage of its contraction, the 

 inclosed molten contents would 

 lift and stretch the yielding super- 

 incumbent crust in vast tracts, and 

 thus make room for themselves 

 with less difficulty and conclusive 

 violence. Hence the oldest sys- 

 tem of hills in both parts of the 



