WARD’S NATURAL SCIENCE BULLETIN. 
5 
some of them in great perfection, but the most 
that can be said of them is that there are some 
striking imitations of organic structure to be seen, 
but every chemist or lithologist working with 
the microscope is sure to encounter as striking, 
and often much more striking, resemblances in 
artificial and natural compounds. 
E. E. H. 
The 1882 Crop of Meteorites. 
Mr. H. H. Warner, of this city, (proprietor of 
the Safe Remedies and the munificent founder of 
the Astronomical Observatory where Dr. Swift 
holds his nightly vigils for comets and other 
errant celestial bodies) has, as all seem now to 
know, offered a prize of $200 for every new 
meteorite (stone or iron) which shall be seen to 
fall , promptly collected and sent to him. As he 
has in this offer made Prof. Ward the umpire or 
referee as to the true character of all specimens 
so sent, the number of so-called meteorites sent 
to us in the last six months has been very great. 
At least a dozen letters lie still unanswered 
which describe meteorites which have fallen of 
late in various parts of the Union. They all 
(the meteorites) were accompanied with a'distant 
rumbling, a bright light, a fearful detonation 
(one party calls it a “grand peiroteknick dis- 
play ”), and a terrible thud as the fiery bolt 
strikes the ground close to the observer’s feet. 
We can not doubt the fact; for parties have seen 
with their eyes, heard with their ears, and have 
burned their fingers in trying to pick up the 
celestial visitant. Some, too, have accompanied 
their detailed description of the “fall,” by their 
affidavit taken and signed under oath before a 
Justice of the Peace. 
One of these letters {ex uno disce omnes) will 
serve to illustrate the close discrimination and 
intelligent observation of the modern meteorite 
hunter. The case is, moreover, an interesting- 
one, as showing clearly the presence of vegeta- 
tion in at least one meteorite: 
Branch County, Mich., June 4, 1882. 
Bear Sir:— Having- seen an offer by Mr. H. H.Warner 
and you being- the referee I address you. My atten- 
tion was called to an offer of a prize by said Warner 
while reading- in Toledo Blade of May 25, and as I think 
I have something of the nature for which vou adver- 
tise. While sowing grass seed upon a piece of land 
which has been cleared for years, and which I have 
also ploughed a good many times, I found a hard, 
stony substance of grayish color, to the amount of 
about one-half bushel, scattered about, and entirely 
upon the surface of the ground over perhaps one-half 
rod of ground. I dug under surface and could find no 
indications of any in the ground, all being on the 
surface, to all appearences having been in a molten 
state when it struck the earth. 1 think 1 found one 
unmistakable evidence of vegetable life in the shape of a 
charred piece of straw , apparently sticking fast and 
leading into a piece of it. It was connected in such a 
manner as not to be mistaken for a piece of straw which 
it might, have fallen upon in a highly heated state. 1 feel 
sure it came from out the skies. . . . Should you 
think me entitled to your prize offered, it would be 
thankfully received by one who is needy. 
Yours truly, E D. H 
Of course Professor could not doubt an observ- 
ation so circumstantially and honestly described. 
He wrote for a specimen at once; and how hurt 
were his feelings when there came the following 
reply : 
T . J ane 17, 1882. 
1 received your postal, and in reply would say: I 
know just as well now as I would after I went to the 
trouble of collecting and forwarding to you that it 
came from the skies. As it is a matter you must of 
course be more interested in than I, I would respect- 
fully decline your offer, for I believe that in so doing 
I will be my postage ahead, at least. 
Yours truly, E D. H 
We are still grieving over our loss of the 
meteorite with the wheat straw in it. Who will 
send us one, and receive Mr. Warner’s prize? 
In the mean time we are sending to many 
clients slides of the Knyahinya meteorite, show- 
ing the famous organisms (?) described and 
figured by Dr. Hahn. 
We have lately received some of the curious 
“hell-fire rock,” about which we will have 
more to say in the next Bulletin. 
We can still furnish fine specimens of the 
Dictyophyton tuberosum , at prices ranging from 
$1.50 to $3.50. 
Homo Diluvii Testis, or the Fossil Salaman- 
der of Oeningen. 
Professor Ward has 
told on another page 
thestory of our giant 
salamander from Ja- 
pan. We in the Pa- 
laeontological build- 
ing can see him and 
go him nearly a foot 
better by our cast of 
the great fossil sala- 
mander of Oeningen. 
Back of the little 
village of Oeningen, 
on tbe right bank of 
the Rhine and almost 
opposite the town of 
Constance, in Switz- 
erland, is a hillside 
where are exposed 
large beds of a chalky, 
shaly lacustrine lime- 
stone of Miocene Ter- 
tiary age. The Profes- 
sor has brought us 
from there many fine 
fishes and leaves and 
other fossil forms. 
Geologists have flock- 
ed to these beds as 
to a famous hunting 
ground for more than a century past. Indeed, 
as early as the year 1726 the locality was made 
famous by one John Jacob Scheuchzer, who 
appears in his many writings as Doctor of Medi- 
cine and member of many scientific societies. 
He also added to his scientific pursuits the study 
of theology. The ruling passion of this physi- 
cian had long been to collect fossils which might 
be considered as evidences of the deluge. These 
he had described and prepared to publish in a 
work entitled Physica Sacra, when he had the 
fortune to find in the Oeningen rocks a fossil 
about three and one-half feet long, which he 
censidered as indubitably human. This fossil 
he published in 1726 in the “Philosophical Trans- 
actions,” and afterwards made it the subject of a 
special dissertation entitled “Homo diluvii testis 
et Theoscopus ” — Man a Witness of the Deluge. 
In this dissertation he grows eloquent with the 
inspiration of his fossil, and says: “We have, 
next to the infallible witness of the word of God 
as many other proofs of that universal and terri- 
ble water flood as there are countries, mountains, 
valleys, stone quarries, lime pits, etc. Plants, 
fishes, four-footed animals, vermin, shells are 
found in the earth without number. But of men 
who found their death at that time, there have 
thus far but few relics been found. They floated 
dead upon the water’s surface, and then decom- 
posed, leaving remains which were so rare and 
broken as to be rarely recognizable as of men. 
The picture which we now exhibit to the learned 
public for their deepest reflection, is one of the 
truest, indeed, most infallible remains of theMel- 
uge. It is certain that this schist contains the 
half, or nearly so, of the skeleton of a man; that 
the substance even of the bones, and, what 
is more, of the flesh and of parts still softer 
than the flesh, are there incorporated in the 
stone; in a word, it is one of the rarest relics 
which we possess of that accursed race which 
was buried under the waters. The figure shows 
us the contour of the frontal bone, the orbits 
with the openings which give passage to the 
nerves of the fifth pair. We see there the re- 
mains of the brain,” etc., etc. 
On the publication by Scheuchzer of his 
Physica Sacra this dissertation was repeated, 
accompanied by an engraving of the skeleton, 
and beneath the latter the lines 
“ Betrilfites Being-eriist von einem Sunder, 
Erweiehe, Stein, das Herz der neuen Bosheitkinder.’’ 
“Accursed skeleton of an ancient sinner, 
Soften the hearts of our later children of wick- 
edness.”- 
For a time this Pre-Adamite “ witness of the 
deluge ’’ made a great noise in Germany, and, 
indeed, in all Europe. But unfortunately there 
came forward two “children of wickedness” — 
the naturalists Pierre Camper and George Cuvier 
—who boldly asserted that these were no human 
remains, but only those of a monster Amphibian 
very closely allied to the giant Salamander of 
Japan. The fossil was subsequently described 
by the naturalist Tschudi, by whom it was 
named (in allusion to its supposed humanity and 
its discoverer) Andrias Scheuchzeri. W e have this 
interesting fossil among our casts (No. 297 of 
Illustrated Catalogue), and herewith give its 
figure. How a naturalist could have perceived 
in this enormous head and weak, short members, 
tbe least resemblance to the osseus parts of a 
man, is incomprehensible. We can only account 
for it by the blindness which an excited imagi- 
nation and a determined adherence to theory can 
produce. 
Such instances are not entirely unknown, even 
in our more enlightened age. F. W. S. 
GEOLOGY . 
Under this heading we invite attention in the 
first place to our extensive series of ROCKS— 
IGNEOUS, METAMORPHIC, and SEDIMEN- 
TARY — in which all the noted foreign localities 
from the Giant’s Causeway to the Islands of New 
Zealand are represented as well as other collect- 
ing-grounds nearer home. These are in speci- 
mens of a uniform size, with fresh surfaces and 
well marked characters. For those who are not 
specialists, and whom this wealth of material 
would puzzle to select from, we have carefully 
prepared several general COLLECTIONS OF 
TYPICAL ROCKS to facilitate the teaching of 
this subject. Briefly these collections are: 
The UNION SCHOOL COLLECTION of 50 
specimens, price $20. 
The ACADEMY COLLECTION of 100 speci- 
mens, price $45. 
The COLLEGE COLLECTION of 275 speci- 
mens, price $200. 
These collections are arranged according to 
mineral composition. We have also two in 
stratigraphical order: 
A GENERAL STRATIGRAPHICAL COL- 
LECTION of 100 specimens, including Chart of 
Geological Time, price $50. 
ROCKS OF THE NEW YORK SYSTEM, 
100 specimens, with diagrams giving thickness 
of the different strata on the bottom of each block 
and with chart of Geological time, $80. 
The respective prices affixed include all labels 
and mountings , and printed catalogues. (For fur- 
ther details see our General Catalogue of Geology, 
price 20 cents.) 
Besides these trimmed rocks for collections we 
have a varied assortment of material illustrating 
special points in PHENOMENAL GEOLOGY 
(faults, veins, etc.) and as adjuncts in teaching 
GEOLOGICAL MODELS in wood showing 
graphically the effects of erosion, faults, out- 
crops, etc. Also, RELIEF MAPS of interesting 
regions (Vesuvius, Etna, Mont Blanc, Colorado 
Canon and others), and GEOLOGICAL CHARTS 
and LANDSCAPES, for information concerning 
which consult our Catalogue" of Geology and Lith- 
ology. 
Our steam saw is in steady operation, cutting 
the Augusta Co. (Va.) Metoric iron, of which we 
expect in the course of six weeks or thereabouts, 
to supply slices of any desired size. We already 
have such of the Cohahuila iron; also turnings 
of the same for chemical analysis. 
We have just received specimens of the Wis- 
consin Meteorite (iron) found near Milwaukee; 
also of the Waconda, Kansas (stone), and the 
rare Warren Co., Missouri (stone) fall of January 
3, 1877. 
Andrias Scheuchzeri. 
